It’s January, the year of goals, dreams, changes, updates, and resolutions. There’s actually a designated day in January named National “Ditch New Year’s Resolution Day.” The truth is, that means that less than one in 24 New Year’s resolutions, or rather less than 4% of New Year’s resolutions we make are ever realized or achieved.

As you start the new year keep in mind the SMART acronym S M A R T when you are setting your goals.

Most new year’s resolutions are vague, such as “I’m going to work out more” or “I want to manage my finances better” or “we’re going to grow the practice this year,” or “let’s add a membership plan to the mix.” 

Besides being vague, the first problem with these goals is that most are not written. There’s also a fallacy where many people think that if they simply write down their goal they will achieve it. Unfortunately, this isn’t true. When you make a resolution and don’t write it down, you have a very low chance of achieving that resolution.

As mentioned above, there’s a 4% or less chance to achieve it if you don’t you write down your goal and make it specific. Studies show that your chance of achieving that goal increases to somewhere around 10% when you do write it down.

The 3 Big Keys to achieving your goals this year are:

1. Making them SMART
2. Write them down somewhere you can see them regularly, such as in your planner or on a vision board.
3. Get an accountability partner. When you do all three of these things, your chance of achieving your goal skyrockets to around 90%. The accountability partner could be a friend or family member, co-worker, or a coach or mentor.

The most important lesson here is that you verbalize this and write it down to someone who will work with you on the goal and help you achieve it. Then work backwards with the desired result and measurable outcome as you kick off 2022 and work to make your goals attainable. 

I challenge you to think about how you can grow your practice and your personal life together. If adding more membership plans as a bigger part of your practice is something you’re aiming for, be sure to check out our recent blog and podcasts for more information. (www.yourpracticegrowth.com/podcasts and www.yourpracticegrowth.com/blog)

WE ARE HERE TO HELP YOU!

If you want to crack the code on membership plans and learn how you can double, triple or even 10X your practice using the profitable growth that comes from membership plans, contact us on our website or email me  twilliams@yourpractice.growth.com to learn about our next growth mastermind program. 

We hope you have a remarkable start to 2022!

Dr. Tyler Williams

During my senior year of high school, a bunch of the guys we’re over at a friend’s house. Her parents were going through a divorce. So her mom was organizing and cleaning out the garage. There was a pile of odds and ends from which her said we could take what we wanted. The only item that was off limited to keep were some old-fashioned fire extinguishers. She told us that we could borrow them, but not keep them. Of course, we were drawn to the thing that we couldn’t have because it was the most interesting.

Before I knew it we were filling it up with water at a local gas station to see how much pressure it could hold. When I younger, my dad told me about the old-fashioned fire extinguishers that you had to fill on your own with water, before the modern pre-filled red containers were available. These “old school” extinguishers released enough pressure to knock a kid off his bike. Next we began cruising around the neighborhood in my friends car with the filled tank, seeing what we could find to hit with our new water cannon.

First we pulled up to a stop light next to a couple of girls about our age. They laughed as they rolled down their window. As soon as the light turned green, I shot a burst of water into their slightly cracked drivers side window and they sped off, giggling a bit and the chase was on!

These was far superior to any squirt gun or Super Soaker I had as a child. Following our first test, we drove by a Super Target store where a group of employees were hanging out in the parking lot, just getting off work. Some of them were sitting in the back of the parking lot in a truck. They kind of yelled at us, but because we came in and out of the parking lot so quickly, they had no chance of catching us. The drive by water rifle worked like a charm.

We had no idea that they (or someone nearby) had made a call to the local police station about some teenage punks with water guns. In the meantime, and ironically, that first set of girls we squired pulled up right next to us again (not to far away from the first location) stopped again at another light. This was a one-in-a-million change of happening.

We took it a little slower this time and signaled for them to roll down their window to talk. After some brief back and forth chatting, I grabbed the handle on the extinguisher and shot a full blast burst of water ammo through the driver’s side window, which was all the way down. It ricocheted off the passenger side window, and created an interior whirlpool of cold water inside their car. That was our last chance to put our weapon away.

After just a few more stops and squirts, we noticed blue and red lights behind our car, and the next thing we knew the police were pulling us over confiscating our new toy…

Our friend’s mom wasn’t too happy about the situation, but she kind laughed, almost like she knew what was going to happen when she let us borrow the extinguishers. She was really pretty cool about it, and was willing to go to the police station in the early morning hours to regain her impounded property.

I was never the type to go out and party, and I never got into any real trouble with the law. We just enjoyed spreading a little bit of havoc like many teenage boys do. This time, a little too far.

The next day, one of my friends who worked at Target after school, heard some of his coworkers talking about it. Of course, our parents soon discovered the truth, as did other classmates. This was my first time turning something that was previously sitting idle in someone’s garage and transforming it into an unused viral asset. This was something that many would write off as “boring”, that we turned into something new and uninteresting for us.

The Question

What idle, dormant assets do you have lying around your office or practice that can be repurposed into something new and exciting, or dusted off and reintroduced into boosting your production?

It may be an intraoral camera that you’re not using anymore, but should be to increase your case acceptance.

It’s possible that you bought a Laser and it’s been put away in a drawer somewhere, unused and unproductive. You could use it to help your patients save more of their teeth, stop bleeding gums, and eliminate bad breath.

These ideas and many others are simple ways to boost the value you give to your patients, especially something could make as a free or discounted exclusive benefit for patients who are enrolled in your in-office membership plan.

There really is nothing new under the sun, and the sooner you realize that old saying is true, the better off you will be. The sooner you make a difference in someone’s smile or health, the sooner you can see a massive increase in your bottom line with almost no additional overhead (the best part!).

Everyone knows about Amazon Prime, but most people forget that in the 1950’s, you could call your local grocery store and your groceries by phone. Then you would back your station wagon up to the front door of the store and have it delivered to your vehicle, never setting foot in the store.

This came along way before Door Dash, UberEATS, or online home delivery services existed. The concept is not new. The reason for the change to in-store purchases, is that grocery stores discovered that when you go inside to get your groceries, you spend a lot more. So the phone to car delivery faded away, but now it’s back as strong as ever. Even though now you use a smartphone or iPad to order, the idea is exactly the same.

During the holiday season, take some time to reflect on what you’re thankful for and what you’re grateful for. Your team, your patients, your office, and your dusty assets that are being underutilized. Spend some dedicated down time in organization and planning with your team, and be sure to spend some time planning out your 2022 calendar. When you put together a calendar, a lot of power is unlocked.

While you’re at it, check to see what assets you have in your closet office that can be reintroduced to help you finish the year strong.

Have a great week!

Dr. Tyler Williams

“The Membership Doctor”

We’re going to break this topic down into two parts over two different episodes. This episode is really about asking the question, should you offer membership plans? 

Maybe you should, maybe you shouldn’t. 

But we’ll go through some things that should help you decide if you’re not currently offering a plan, if you should, or if you are offering a plan, how you can make it better. 

Maybe you even should stop offering a membership plan. We’ll go through the 9 Deadly Sins of memberships, and how they’re usually done wrong. 

You may have heard a patient say something like “you billed my insurance wrong, it’s your fault, not mine.” Or the “He Said, She Said” game.

Blah, blah, blah! Right?

This is not a good situation to be in. It’s not fun for anybody. And it’s frustrating for patients and team members because you want to do what’s right for your patients, and they just want to get the dentistry they need. You just want to be as clear and transparent as possible. 

So on a future podcast, we’re going to talk about ways to make treatment planning more clear, especially with your membership plans (including how we actually always give our patients our written estimate before we start, rather than after how that’s helped us grow the practice). 

Maybe it’s something that even keeps you up at night, which is figuring out the questions – just how do you please all of these patients, do the right thing and deliver GOLD Star Service?

The first thing I’ll say is to not let that keep you awake, you can’t please everybody. If you try to be everything to everybody, you won’t be anything to anybody as the saying goes. This certainly applies to  running your dental practice. 

Memberships done wrong Deadly Sins:

1. Poor return on investment, and or making hygiene a loss leader
2. Your membership plan sounds too much like insurance
3. Not promoting your membership internally and externally
4. Not knowing the lifetime value of your patient
5. Not knowing your numbers
6. Flat rate discounting.
7. Not making it look professional
8. Thinking your patient is too sophisticated or too smart to want something like a membership plan
9. The worst sin of them all. BEING BORING!

So depending where you live, you may hear things like:

There are too many dentists in your area!

It’s too crowded!

The market is saturated.

I’ve certainly heard that in my area. The truth is, anywhere that’s nice to live these days is going to have competition. The word gets out faster with technology. When people find somewhere nice to live or nice to vacation, word gets out quickly. People want to live in those nice places. 

So unless you want to live in a cold, isolated area, where there’s no shopping, no movie theaters, and nothing fun to do, you’re probably going to have some competition.

The REAL truth is that your competition really is much less about other dental offices as it is just life, your patients have bills to pay. They have accidents that happen. They have unforeseen expenses. They have vacations. Christmas and weddings, college and retirement, fixed income and new jobs and all these things to plan for. 

Your focus should be to really think like a patient when you create a membership plan, NOT think like a dentist or dental hygienist. 

Think about your competition as other things in life. Because, roughly 50% of the population has not seen a dentist in the past year. That number may be even higher now, since many people have isolated or quarantined themselves in some areas, or been fearful of their safety. 

Certainly, people need to see a dentist like you obviously, and a lot of people who are not seeing dentists are not people who are severely financially challenged. A lot of these people who aren’t regularly seeing a dentist are teachers, doctors, physicians, lawyers, healthcare professionals, engineers, and other kinds of professions.

You know the number one reason they haven’t come to see you? It’s really no lack of perceived need. That is really the bottom line of why people don’t come to see you as often as they should sometimes.

Back to the point, when you’re thinking about membership plans in your office, and you think about these 9 deadly sins, think about what’s valuable to your patient in their personal lives.

There’s a saying that goes like this. You can come to the ocean with a teaspoon, a bucket, a barrel, or a dump truck, and pull water out of the ocean, and the ocean is not going look or feel any different. 

There’s plenty of opportunity out there, more than enough! You have to shift to a creative mindset, not a scarcity mindset.

There’s plenty of money to go around, there’s plenty of needs to be met for all of us, patients and practice owners alike. The first thing is you got to clear out the head trash. May time, insurance is the problem. Saturation really isn’t the problem, and being short money is not the problem. Sit down with your team, or your pen and pad, and think about all the opportunities around, and how you can offer new and interesting things to your patients that may make them interested in signing up for your membership plans. 

Warren Buffett has stated that he stays away from investments in companies that have lots of technology or are technology driven, where there’s fixed pricing. What is price fixing? A bad, low paying PPO plan is a perfect example!

So, if you’re a low tech office, if your office is kind of old school and you don’t worry about updating a lot of things, and you are just very bright “bread and butter” in your services, then, being heavy insurance driven may be just fine. However, if you’re a progressive and growing office, you may want to take another look at how much control any given PPO has over your office. 

Two reports to run tomorrow when you get into the office, and study:

1. IVNI (Insurance vs Non-Insurance Patients in your practice)
2. NIVI (Non-Insurance Insurance vs Insurance Payments Total Collections in your practice)

Have a great week and join us on the next episode!

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If you’d like to learn more about this topic, check out this episode by clicking here.

Recently the most valuable and expensive pair of shoes ever sold in an auction for nearly $1.5 million. They were a pair of 1984 Nike basketball sneakers worn by Michael Jordan.

Health and relationships are the most valuable assets and prized possessions we have in our lives.

However, the things you spend the most money on are often things that can be replaced. For example, cars can be repaired or traded up. Homes can be rebuilt or repaired after a flood or fire. But your health, wellness and the relationships you have with your family and patients simply cannot be replaced.

The question to ask yourself is how much are your patients worth to you? And how much is confident smile worth to your patients?

For many, avoiding pain, anxiety, fear of the dentist or worry about losing a front tooth is enough for someone to put themselves into quarantine away from people who they may feel self concious or embarrassed around.

Don’t ever forget this. And when you set up membership plans or update your savings club, remember how much a confident smile is worth to your patients. Although you may not be able to put an exact number to this, never sell yourself short. Always remember how valuable the services are that you provide.

Don’t let insurance companies dictate the way you treat your patients and never make it the first point of conversation in a case presentation discussions, or it will outright undermine the value you provide.

To learn more about improving the memberships in your practice, listen to this week’s podcast here.

Have a great week!

Dr. Tyler Williams

When your new patient responds with “I’ll think about it,” what do you do next?

The best part about dentistry is that you never need to “sell“ anything!

Simply respond with “no problem at all” anytime you run into that, and then practice the fine art of shutting up and listening.

It diffuses the pressure, which they are trying to put back on you for cost, no sense of urgency, etc.

I like to follow up with something like “what remaining questions do you have in your mind I may not have answered for you, so I can be sure I cover everything that you may be thinking of.”

Now go practice this and role-play it with your team so that it feels comfortable to you, and so that helps you and your team show your genuine concern and compassion for your patients.

Plus it’s one of the secrets we’ve used to consistently double our case acceptance (75-100% higher) than the national average.

To learn more and join our 4 week, Double Your Practice Profits mastermind, visit YOUrpracticegrowth.com/double today (limited spots remaining this month).