Dental A Team w/ Kiera Dent and Dr. Mark Costes

Does it seem like there are communication troubles in your practice? Spoiler alert: That usually has to do with accountability. Kiera and Dana riff on why creating an accountability ladder a) isn't as difficult as you think, and b) will save tons of time, energy, and money. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: The Dental A Team (00:00) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera and I've got the one and only Dana back with me today. I wanted to podcast with Dana, so I ⁓ maybe selfishly took her for two podcasts today. So Dana, welcome back to the podcast. How are you today?   DAT-Dana (00:12) Doing pretty good, I'm ready for round two.   The Dental A Team (00:15) Good. I do love podcasting because Dana and I were just able to rift and jive and it's fun. I think when you work with people for quite a while and you both have a ton of passion, makes podcasting very easy. So Dana, I wanted to just kick us off today on, I think, accountable teams. I think accountability is a buzzword in practices and people might be like, womp, womp, accountability. But I'm going to say like, no, it's not womp, womp. It's a, if you don't have accountability, your team is freaking chaos. And yet I think   offices don't want to have accountability and then we're going to do a pivot of like what happens if your doctor doesn't want to be accountable. So tune in. I hope you guys are ready. We're going to dive into it because it happens and I don't just think it's teams that aren't accountable. It's also doctors that aren't accountable. Like what do do because if accountability is such a like ick and issue and constant stressor for everybody. Well, like what the heck? Like how do we, how do we fix this and overcome? So Dana, let's dig in. Let's talk about like   I'm gonna just walk us through. It's gonna be a short rift today, but walk me through like, we get new offices. And I found that usually the number one issue they have is communication, which usually leads down to accountability. That's at least what I find. But I think that it's like, well, where do you start and how do you know like, is my team accountable? Is it not like, what do accountable teams look like? What do accountable teams not look like? Walk me down through like what you see in the practices you consult.   DAT-Dana (01:35) Yeah, I agree with you. It typically will come down to communication. And so when I talk to a team about accountability, I always say, there's accountability ladder, right? So we have to hold ourselves accountable first, right? Then we've got leadership team to hold us accountable. And then we've got practice owner typically there at the top. But there's always a caveat to that. And that is it has to be seen from the top down. So yes, we have to hold those lines. We have to follow those ladders as far as the chain of accountability. But   the tone for accountability is set from the top down. So if we don't have an accountable practice owner, we're probably not gonna have accountable leaders, which means we're not gonna have an accountable team. And so that's usually how I kind of open that discussion and that it does really come down to communication and some personal integrity, right? If we say we're gonna do something, do it. And if we notice that somebody isn't, have the conversation. So like you said, it really truly comes down to 100%.   of communication ⁓ and clear expectations.   The Dental A Team (02:39) Yeah. Gosh, Dana, like I love the accountability letter. Thank you. I have not heard that from you. So I think that's a fun, like you're right. It does start as you. And then it goes to your leadership team or your direct manager. And then it goes to the practice owner. And as you said that, just thought like, my husband and I were chatting the other day and something Jason, hi, I don't know why I do the things I do half the time. Jason and I were watching love is blind. So we decided to say like, okay, if we were in the pods, what questions would we ask each other?   And Jason, think Jason is a very, uh, he hears what's not being said. And Jason said, I would ask the question of what things are going to make it really easy to be in a relationship with you and what things are going to make it really hard to be in a relationship with you. And I was like, that's pretty good. Pretty great question. And I told Jason, I said, like, one of the things for me with Jason is a lot of times Jason, feel, um, tries to kind of like form himself into the relationship he is. And so he'll maybe not say everything a hundred percent the way like,   Like we had an issue and he was like, you know, like, and tried to just like almost sugar coat it for the person. And I, I called JSAO. I was like, Jay, why, like, why, why don't you just say like, I'm sorry. And Jason told me, he said like, well, in this scenario I'm embarrassed because I didn't do X, Y, or Z. And, ⁓ gosh, this is coming from years and years and years of coaching. ⁓ so that's the only reason I was able to see it. And thankfully Jason and I have a very open relationship where like he tells me like the hardest thing for me is like, girl, you gotta let go of control. think Dana would agree.   Like I need to just let go and like trust people like that is my zone. So he will call me out of like care. That's like you're controlling, like just let it go. Thank you. ⁓ and for him, I was like, just having that personal integrity, I know will give you confidence cause I've done it as well. So for example, if I'm embarrassed with something, say like, Hey, I missed that and I'm really sorry. Like I dropped the ball, but even in those small little instances of like, I don't know if like Dana, I was supposed to do a podcast and I messed up with her. It's like, Hey Dana, I'm real sorry. I dropped the ball on that podcast.   You can count on me in the future to do X, Y, Z. And in those small little subtle areas, I think that that's where you start to build personal accountability and confidence. And then like you said, Dana, it then is like peer to peer. And I know it gets weird and people are like, I'd rather not tell my team. I'm like, really? Cause let's just play, let's play the game. We either tell our team members and we have direct honest communication where we're able to have that. Or we sit in artificial harmony where everyone's walking on eggshells. Like you choose me, which practice you actually want to live in. And then that's also going to help us start to have that.   And I do think, Dana, like as consultants, it's really fun to be able to open the floor to teach people like, okay, let's start with ourselves. And like, this is how we're going to have personal integrity. Like you literally say what you, if you tell someone you're going to get back to them by Friday, you get back to them by Friday. And we start with these little accountability check-ins. Like if you messed up, you take ownership for that and you say what people can count on you for. Then we go into like this week, everyone's going to hold each other accountable to one thing. So everybody's going to do that together. Like   We all know everyone's got the floor. We go around the room and ask like, Dana, are you good if people hold you accountable? If they see something and she's like, yes, you get every person to say yes, because now we've got buy-in from the team. We have it. Now they all start to hold to their accountable. And Dana, I guess the question is like, does this really work or is this just consultant theory of like a pipe dream that nobody actually ever gets to?   DAT-Dana (05:51) ⁓ I I truly and honestly think it actually works I think that people just have to be willing to dig in they have to be willing to get a little bit uncomfortable and they have to be willing to work on communication so never am I like okay just freely go and have these conversations right we talk about how to communicate we talk about like have you noticed somebody isn't receiving what you said very well right read body language and understand hey this is what I wanted you to hear it looks like maybe that upset you a little bit   The Dental A Team (06:07) You   DAT-Dana (06:21) Can you tell me where I maybe lost it or can I start over? So it really then truly comes down to breaking down communication. And I think that teams that can learn to navigate conflict, that can learn to navigate these hard conversations, I honestly and truly feel like it is doable.   The Dental A Team (06:24) Mm-hmm.   And I agree with you, Dana, because we've watched it and I have teams, your highest producing less stressed practices are the ones that are accountable. And like you said, it starts top down. So, and what I can count on, and it's always crazy because I can tell if I give a doctor action items within our coaching call, if they get them back to me within the week, I know that team's going to be an accountable team. If that doctor misses every coaching call and gives me excuses every time, I know the team's going to be a struggle.   and the doctor's going to blame the team and say, team's not accountable. And Dana and I have the really fun job of saying, well, let's first work on action items with us. Because if you can get to be like, if you tell me you're going give this to me by Friday, I'm going to expect you to get it to me by Friday. Because it's those small micro integrity pieces that I feel people don't think are important. But to me, I feel like it's the floodgate to saying, like, do we actually do what we say we're going to do? Or is it just a free for all? Like, we just talk nonsense and it doesn't matter.   And I think owners and doctors, like if you tell your team you're going to produce, you got to produce. If you tell your team that these are the goals, but you're not willing to show up and do it like that, that's a, that's a huge disconnect. Why should your team be pulling when you're not pulling? you can change the goals. You're allowed to change them. That's totally fine, but you can't say we're going to do this, but then you don't show up or I want everybody here for huddle, but then you're not there on time. ⁓ I think teams watch and they mirror and you've got some people that really want to be great.   but doctors and owners and office managers, like I've walked into some offices and front office are like just sitting there eating food and like not answering phones. And I'm like, whoa, I don't know, Dana, could you imagine our team with me? She's like shakes her head no. And I guess Dana, why? Why is that? Because some teams feel like that's totally acceptable. And for you, you know, like I have never said anything. It's not in our rule book. It's not in our handbook. It's not like, what is the difference?   DAT-Dana (08:20) new.   The Dental A Team (08:33) that you feel that like, think team members are something. So Dana, what is it? Cause like literally watching you're like, absolutely not. Like you would never talk. You're right. I wouldn't. So I'm glad. I'm glad you know that without me saying it, but what is it?   DAT-Dana (08:38) Yeah. ⁓   Yeah.   I think part of it is just ingrained in like our innate culture. And I think too, it's just the way you show up. Like I know that if we are in a team meeting where we need to be paying attention and we need to be on it, like we won't be there eating and you won't be there eating either. ⁓ And so I think that it's just like, we know how you show up. And so   The Dental A Team (09:02) you   DAT-Dana (09:07) we know that that's kind of the innate expectation. doesn't have to be said. It doesn't have to be. It's shown to us every day. And so, you know, I think core values can help with that. I think that like, you know, we read passion, present, result, solutions, and I know that part of present is being truly present, right? So I just think that, again, it's you set the tone for those things as the leader of the company. And I don't   The Dental A Team (09:21) you   Yeah.   DAT-Dana (09:34) Like you said, it doesn't have to be said. think we just know because that's how you show up.   The Dental A Team (09:38) for sure. And Dana like, thank you. Thanks for stroking my ego today. And I know it wasn't like a, we did not rehearse this. I literally was like, Dana, you got a few extra minutes because I'll take you. I think that that's for leaders. And the reason I wanted that is because right here you have a team member and an owner sitting on a podcast. I have never once said, I remember I showed up to work one day, we had our little HQ, it's an employee who's no longer with us. And I remember looking at her, she opened the door for me because it was locked and she had like powder sugar from a donut down her shirt. Her hair was   really wild and she did not have shoes on. And I was like, Hey, so, what's going on today? She's like, I didn't expect you to be here. And I said, well, fantastic. am here. And this is absolutely not how we show up ever. Like, and if I ever walk in here again, this will be the change. Like, great. You need to go home and you need to go clean up and come back and like be in a professional setting. You are the leader of our company. And for me, I want to throw up when I have those conversations, I will have those conversations, but then I was definitely like, it's uncomfortable for me.   However, I also think like my job is to make sure our team has a leader that they can count on. And if it's not driving to the standards and expectations that I want, that's on me. And I think what you tolerate in your team is actually what you tell your, like, it's not what you say. It's what you tolerate are your true standards. And so I think when it comes to accountability, look at yourself first and like, how am I showing up? And then look to see it like, what the heck? I remember Britt, it was Britt, Tiff and Shelbi. And they came to me like, Kiera, I feel like our goals.   are so outlandish, like it's almost laughable. And I was so grateful for that date. And probably remember is like what we had as our vision, it was psychotic. And yet all of us were quote unquote following me, but I was so grateful to have a team that called me out of like, here, these goals are not realistic and they're almost deflating. So like we reset and we build goals that like we all agreed to that were stretch goals, but they were realistic. And I think like, I watched our whole culture change. So I think like owners, it's also okay for you to admit when you're wrong.   but it's not okay in my opinion to be like sloppy and messy about it. Like if you say like I messed up, you've got to hold that consistency longer. You need to be the person. And I don't know. I just think of like doctors come and complain to us all the time. They're like, my team's not hitting this. My team's not doing that. And Dana and I have a very nice bird's eye view straight into your real life. And I'm like, well, you're not either. So let's start with you first. Let's change you first. If you want to have these big audacious goals, cause that's what you need. I need you to freaking go diagnose like   I can't do that for you and I need you to go deliver. I can't change that. I need you to be on time when you say you're gonna be on time. So let's start there and then let's go after your team. But I promise you, you fix you first, your team will be accountable. ⁓ I don't know, Dana, thoughts on that from a team or from an owner? I just feel like it's such an annoying thing, but when you get it and you even start making one or two steps, and again, we're not going for perfection, we're just going for progress over perfection.   So one or two little steps where it's like, are on time for morning huddle. Let's start there. Cause I think it's like wherever you're visibly present for me, I start like huddles. Everybody knows like we are on time and if you're not going to be on time, you slack for it. Like we start on time. I don't mess around with it. We end on time. Like if we're on events, everybody will be there right on time. Like it's just like start there even. And then whatever you say you're going to do follow through on that. it's shocking. You start to promise a lot less. So I don't know. Those would be like my quick, like maybe two areas that are very visibly prominent.   And then if you're already doing those, then like move into meetings that we hold on time, then like be realistic with our goals. And if you're going to set KPIs and goals, well, guess what? They look to you to see, are you going to hit the goals every week or are you going to just let those slip and fall? Because whatever you choose to do, they'll follow and that like leads to office managers and team leads too. Like, I think it's one of the biggest privileges and I don't know, privilege slash.   responsibility is to, if I say I'm going to hit these goals and I'm going to hit these rocks, I deliver every time regardless of anyone else does it because then I know I showed up. And then I'm also going to help my fellow teammate rather than me just being the winner to the end. Like I'm going to carry the team with me. I'm going to show up. I think that builds team camaraderie and accountability. But Dana, those are my thoughts. What are your thoughts as we wrap today?   DAT-Dana (13:43) No, I completely agree with you. think it's just understanding like, start small, right? Just like I know you've used the analogy, I use this all the time going from, you know, I want to work out, so I'm to work out seven days a week for five hours, right? Every single day. So I think that like, yes, I want you to hold yourself accountable. I you said start with morning huddle, then go to your team meetings. we're not moving team meetings. These are super important, right? You coming prepped for them. Yep.   The Dental A Team (13:57) Yeah. Nope.   and I'm gonna be on time. I'm gonna   get done with my patient on time so you can count on me. How much does that like burn? It burns a team so much. I love when they're all sitting there with their notebooks and doctor is like running and blowing through. And I think like, I used to have this opinion of, no, I'm the owner. Like I can do these things. And then I thought you need to check your ego at the door and realize you are no better than anyone else. And you live by the same standards they do when it comes to accountability.   on time, like if you're going to expect your team to be at a meeting, you are at that meeting. You can wrap up a patient guys, you can. I know it's inconvenient. I know you can do things. like, no, we can't. They're in the middle of a crown prep. Well, guess what? It can happen once every quarter. But beyond that, if you're doing it more than that, then that's an issue with you and your time management. It's not a thing that your team needs to continue to tolerate. And you need to accept that, own that, and move forward. Otherwise your team will forever be unaccountable.   And you can sit here and you can hire every single coach and you can have all the things and you can say we did a great job or we didn't. But if you yourself is not willing to change and grow and evolve. And I think like to me, that's the torch that I chose to pick up by being a CEO of a company. And if I'm not willing to do that, then maybe I need to reconsider my position. And I say that with love. I say that with tenacity. And I say that with honesty, because I think that that's what we chose to do when we signed up for this job. Just like Dana, like she knew sign up for consulting like.   You get calls at weird times of the day and like that's just part of the job. Each of us has parts that we love and parts that we don't love. But to me, I know my team watches what I do and I need to be an example to them.   DAT-Dana (15:40) Yeah, I agree with you. I think it's how we show up for those parts, regardless of if we love them or don't.   The Dental A Team (15:45) I agree. And I think that how you show up for the parts you don't love actually says more about your leadership and accountability than how you show up for the things that you do love. So Dana, think, ⁓ I will say as consultants, I think that we helped create this bridge. I also think that we can be a mirror for doctors and doctors you hired us to say the uncomfortable and we're going to. And so I think, realize that when you have a consultant, what they're telling you is said from love and you need to listen and follow otherwise.   The problem, we're not telling you things just for our own egos. We're telling you because you need to move these things forward to get the results you're actually after. And then team members, you said, Dana, I think for everybody, let's see, are we showing up on time? Are we doing the things that we say we're going to do? Even in small little things at home, at work, on our drive, with our family, with our friends, I think every one of us checked that in. If each of us could even level up 1 % better, your whole practice and your patient experience and your accountability of your team will level up. And teens are like, no, I don't want to do it.   I promise you teams, this is so much better than artificial harmony because now you can hold each other accountable, we're accountable and everything just moves like a smooth, like well-oiled machine rather than feeling like clunky and broken and awkward and stress and frustration and chaos. It's your choice. So choose how you want to show up, but I think it starts with you. So Dana, any last thoughts? I appreciate you jumping on today and always appreciate your insights.   DAT-Dana (17:03) No, no last thoughts. think you hit it. You hit it hard right there at the end.   The Dental A Team (17:07) Thanks, Dana. I appreciate you being here and for all of you listening. Thank you for listening. Reach out anytime if we can help you with this. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. As always, thanks for listening. We'll catch you next time on The Dental A Team podcast.

Does your P&L team cost feel high? Tiff and Dana provide insight on how to reduce your overhead besides scaling back team members. There could be easy solutions, from cleaning up definitions and job descriptions in your ops manual, to facing the numbers when it comes to debt, and many more. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: The Dental A Team (00:00) Hello Dental A Team listeners. I am here with you today ⁓ with Dana. Dana, you know, is one of my favorite humans on earth. We are starting our Monday with you guys. And I know it may not be Monday while you're listening to this, but you know these are pre-recorded, these aren't live. That's not a shock to you. So we record these on Mondays and Fridays. And Dana has been so gracious to share her Monday morning with us. Dana, how are you on this beautiful day?   DAT-Dana (00:27) I'm doing pretty good. I know I'm loving the weather right now. As you know, I'm like a sunshine lizard, right? So I love the sunshine we're getting right now. And I love some extra tip time on a Monday. It's a great start to the week.   The Dental A Team (00:30) beautiful.   I agree, I agree. was like, yesterday I was like, oh gosh, what is tomorrow? know, like, because I had prep the week before, I think we all kind of prep, but then Sunday you're like, wait a second though, what was that again? I've had two days to forget what I'm supposed to be doing tomorrow. And I checked, I'm like, oh yeah, podcasting with Dana is gonna be so great. So we're here today with you and Dana, this one's a really fun topic. I know you and I, notoriously, if anyone goes back into the archives and listens to the other 5,000,   It feels as though it's been 5,000 podcasts on operations manuals that we've done. That's just Dana's fun girl for that. But today is team related but less about training and kind of operations manually kind of things. And I think it's just a really fun version of a team aspect. And I say that because this is coming at it from a business standpoint. I think you guys all know that Dental A Team focuses on profit.   and profitability, but we focus first and foremost on happy people and having a fantastic business that can support your personal life, but then also having a fantastic business that supports an awesome team. And so being team focused and being people focused first, we truly believe that that's what creates a business that's sustainable over a lifetime and gets that profit for you. If we went profit first, not the book, we love the book. If we went profit first and never the people,   I think we would just be doing you a disservice. So today is all about how to get profitable, how to be profitable without sacrificing the team. And Dana, I know you and I, I think our whole company is really, really strong in this belief, but you and I specifically very, very strongly believe that treating the team right and not looking at the team for the cuts in the overhead is, that's how we start. So I'm gonna.   Just pick your brain some today, Dana. First of all, what are you seeing today? It's 2026, recording this. It's close to the beginning of the year. We're about almost done with Q1, honestly. So I'm flying by, but we're getting towards the end of Q1. But with that, we've had some financials. I don't know why, but in my world, financials are hard to come by this year. I love you CPAs, and I'm just hoping that we can get a little bit better towards Q2.   But so far in the financials, what are you starting to see and what did you see out of 2025 with your clients? What kind of trends were you noticing?   DAT-Dana (03:14) Yeah, think ⁓ financials, know expenses going up in different areas, a lot of that expense does come from team members. A lot of my conversations right now are like how do I show my team appreciation? How do I create things for my team when it comes to pay increase raises, things like that. ⁓   and still keep my payroll within where it should be. So a lot of team pieces are part of these financial conversations, I think even pretty heavy in 2026.   The Dental A Team (03:46) Yeah, totally agree with you. I've seen those same things and towards the end of the year too, was like Christmas bonuses. I know you and I worked, we talked about it. So I know, I know at least you and I did. I'm sure the rest of the team did too, but we talked about it towards the beginning of last year, I think on a podcast of making sure that we were getting our clients prepped to give bonuses. So they're saving some little acorns every month over in a bucket for that. So hopefully it didn't hit them, but it still looks ugly on the PNL no matter what, you pull wherever you're pulling that money from. So.   I totally agree. And then I do think wage increases. I mean, if we compare 2018, 2019 to today, drastic difference. And I know, I think in our brains, it doesn't feel like COVID was that long ago. It feels like it was yesterday, but gosh, like 2017, 2018, 2019, those were the years of like dentistry. Dentistry was really doing well for team's sake at least. It was easy to find people. You could pay people whatever you wanted. Like people really worked for their dollar.   And then you flash forward now it's been, gosh, almost seven, eight years since that time period. when we, in dentistry, when it comes, and this is just my opinion, when it comes to pay and team pay, I think that we are all still very much stuck in seven, eight years, nine years ago, like time period. And we forget because COVID, the emphasis on COVID and the emphasis on the   the world as it is today and all of our, gosh, attention is being so distracted by all of that stuff that it's almost like that time just disappeared. We didn't live that time. so team pay wise, we're still stuck back there, but the inflation and the reality is if you compared 2007 to 2017,   You would never pay someone what we were paying in 2007 in 2017. Those, those pays would be so different. But I think we're trying to like transplant that still today of the gold, the golden years, the good old days of what money was back then, forgetting that that much time has elapsed in the middle. And we're just truly not caught up yet in my opinion. So I don't know, Dana, is that just me? Do you feel that that we just like, we lost years. like just forward jumped.   DAT-Dana (06:07) Yeah.   Yeah, I feel like it was kind of like a time warp and I feel like especially in dentistry because I don't think dentistry hurt a ton as far as what we were able to produce. But I think that there was a big time warp when it came to salary increases and things like that. And I'm talking about that a lot on my calls because you know, yes, is it astounding that we're paying people in the dentistry where what we are right now. But again, I always say look at your area, what is fair for your area, what is competitive for your area because these team members bring value.   The Dental A Team (06:13) Yeah.   DAT-Dana (06:39) that is associated to the salary that we're looking at and while yes it has made a big jump I think sometimes it's just shocking how specific areas too have seen bigger jumps than others ⁓ but I do feel like we kind of got lost in time there for a while.   The Dental A Team (06:55) Yeah, yeah, I totally agree. was having a conversation the other day with someone about dentistry and he is like newly exposed to dentistry and a financial aspect. And I've been in dentistry, you've been in dentistry like it was in high school, right? We've been in dentistry since we were kids and it's kind of just what we know. But watching someone come into dentistry from the outside as an adult, as a professional, as a business person, he's like, this is kind of wild. the way that, and he's like, why don't we just like.   focus on quality people paying value for quality people. He's like, I feel like these practices might be able to hire less people to do the job because you're hiring quality people paying them well to do the job instead of hiring two, three people to do one job. that's another tangent. Goes into overhead for sure because I think that that's the space where   When you're talking about overhead, when we're looking at P &Ls and we see this 33 % to 35 % marker on team cost, and our standards and dental industry standards across the country still say it should be 28 to 30%, but now we're seeing 33 to 35 % California, it's like 42 % sometimes. That makes, I think, business owners and CPAs and professionals go, wait a second.   you're high and you have too many team members or you're too high, you're paying too much. And the reality is for us, like no, there's a missing piece and possibly, I mean, I've scaled back teams before that it's like, gosh, you do have three people doing one job because their jobs are so jumbled. So clearing up definitions and job descriptions go back to our operations manual days. Like clearing those pieces up, I think solves a lot of ⁓   team capacity issues and overpaying, whether you get rid of team members or not, them doing their prospective jobs helps to make them, it's just clearer. We're more effective, there's less overtime, there's more productivity when we're super clear on our position. So that does help, but I've I've cleaned some of that up, but then Dana, when we go in and practices, doctors are like, I'm heavy in my team. Are you?   Or can we look somewhere else? where are other areas that where, like, what are your markers? I know what mine are. Like, what are your markers? You look in and you're like, okay, team is there, but where are these other pieces? What are you looking for when you're trying to reduce overhead without touching the team?   DAT-Dana (09:32) So usually when I'm looking at that first and foremost, wanna make sure, right, production and collections are healthy. That's the first thing that I look at. Is it just with our team we are under producing, under collecting? ⁓ So that's honestly and truly the first piece that I look at. ⁓ And then I'm looking at anything that isn't a fixed cost.   Right anything outside of the team that is something that we can do anything about do we have budgets for CE? Do we have budgets for? Supplies have we negotiated labs so I'm looking at any variable cost in the practice and considering that first because typically when it comes to team like I know I can get them more efficient and I know that likes that's usually what the issue is if I say do you have right people in the right seats? Do you love your team members? Do you have team members that like are really bought in and value the practice and if that answer is yes, then we've just got to find a fish   somewhere else. So those are just the heavy hitters that I look at initially.   The Dental A Team (10:25) I love what you said there. I do the same thing and it just like lights me up to be able to chat with a doctor, look at a schedule and be like, well, for the hours of operation, you're staffed for the number of hygienists, the number of dental assistants you need for a full schedule, the number of operatories you have, the number of providers that you have for front office, that you are adequately staffed.   but your staffing cost is high, that immediately tells me we're not utilizing your schedule correctly, right? Or it's time to drop some insurance companies. Maybe we just need to get your fees higher to accommodate because the reality, Dana, and I think this is exactly what you're saying with right people, right seat, is that no matter whether you're a producing team member or not, meaning hygienist and associate doctor, it's very easy from a business standpoint to be like, yeah, they paid for themselves. My hygienist is at.   three to three point times their rate of pay. My associate is making me money, they're paying for themselves, but then you look at a treatment coordinator or a dental assistant and you're like, well, am I over, how do you see that? This is how you see that. People should be paying for themselves and it should be very clear because it should reflect in your overhead and you should be able to say with the right treatment coordinator, my schedule is freaking stellar. With the right billing coordinator, my collections is 98 to 100%.   all of the time and so the money that I need, my bare minimum and then some that I need coming into my account is accurately reflected on my P &L from QuickBooks. when you say Dana, the other like fixed, the non-fixed costs, right? So I love that and I think Dana, something that I've noticed that a lot of doctors get stuck on is this, the Anophis Mills, which is wild because these things have been around for like,   I don't know, 20 years now, it feels like they've been around for so long, but there's still such an area of they're either really working for you or they're really holding you back still in dentistry, which is crazy to me. But what are you seeing when it comes to that and what are you suggesting doctors do?   DAT-Dana (12:16) Are you?   you   I do feel like that for a lot of practices still just a big source of inefficiency. So I think that it really is like timing things, know what you can side book when it comes to meals, know how long pieces are going to take, know when it is more beneficial to just have the patient come back at a different time. And so I think that's kind of where we struggle, but yet doctors really want to use them because obviously they're paying for them, right? So it's an open expense, but in a lot of offices, it does take time and it is an area where we are   The Dental A Team (12:38) Yeah.   DAT-Dana (13:02) inefficient and we're just inefficient with the scheduling of it not necessarily the utilizing of it.   The Dental A Team (13:08) Absolutely, I completely agree. And I love them because it will reduce lab costs. But I think something actually that I haven't just thought of is, I don't know why I've never thought of this before, something that we don't account for, at least I don't, we account for the debt. So we have, you when we run through your P &Ls and we plug them into our sheet, we've got your true overhead, your top overhead, your pay, your debt services, and then what's remaining is your actual true profit.   But Dana, I'm sitting here thinking, well, we're paying monthly on this debt. we're saying where I was, what I was about to say was that it can and will eventually reduce your lab overhead. But realistically, that debt should be accounted in that percentage for the labs. And I've never thought of that before to like accurately reflect the true cost of labs. But I think that we're always finding another layer, you guys. I think that's like another layer that we could really help our.   our practices to be able to see what are you truly spending in the labs? And I had a conversation last week with a client. It was actually really fun. It's a husband and wife that I chat with. And we're always talking about their finances. It's very important. We've done a ton of work over the last two and a half, almost three years, to reduce their overhead by legitimately almost 20 % at this point. ⁓ But we've got debt.   And he's like, OK, well, we've got to add this. And we've got to this. This is our new BAM. we're like, yeah, we're going through it. And his wife in the background is like, when do we stop just doing more? And she's like, can we pay off some of this debt? And I said, you know, honestly, you've got $11,000 a month going out to debt. If we strategically start paying that down, because they do have profit, so they are saving in buckets. And if we strategically start paying that down,   Now that's 11 grand additional every month that you're pouring into buckets. So just like our personal costs, I think we do really well from the third party perspective seeing treat this like you do your personal banking as long as your personal banking is in line, right? Like you're paying off your debt first, kind of like the Dave Ramsey effect, right? Like why are we not Dave Ramseying our businesses?   but we're doing it in our personal life, but then it's so easy as a dentist to see the new scanner and be like, well, that's better than the one that I have. I'm almost done paying that one off. So tech, it's like girl math, right? Like I paid for the dog grooming $200, it was worth it. On Saturday with cash that I was supposed to deposit months ago, that was out of, like it was already out of my account, right? Like it was already gone. So I was like, oh, it's basically free. We're doing that with, I said my dog grooming was quote unquote free because it was money I hadn't accounted for anymore.   I think we do that with our purchases in dentistry. We're like, well, this scanner's already paid off, or this one's almost paid off. So technically, I'm not really adding. I'm just continuing instead of getting rid of it. And it's like turning in your car when you've just paid it off for a new car because you're used to having a car payment. So that was a long tangent on the lab space. But I think it was all pretty relevant. And I think, Dana, for us, that's a   Valid space to be able to say yes, you've decreased your lab costs with the mill and with the scanner But if we add back that debt payment right now your lab percentage is actually at this   DAT-Dana (16:32) Yep. Yeah. And I think that that's something like when I'm talking to doctors about purchasing these things or looking at these things, those are honest conversations that we have to have. Okay. You're absolutely right. That will save you on your lab. How many crowns do you have to do to see a savings? Right. And, and are you prepared to do that many?   The Dental A Team (16:44) Yes.   DAT-Dana (16:49) right? And how do we fit that many in your schedule? And so I think that those are conversations that yeah, like we have to look at those things because honestly, and truly, if we don't do enough crowns to save on our lab space, right? And then, again, it's like then we're talking about team members and it's like, well, we wait, right? Just just wait a second, because we made this decision. So now we just have to get the team to be efficient to hit a number of crowns that we need to actually make it lower.   The Dental A Team (17:04) That's just thinking that.   DAT-Dana (17:14) lab costs. I think these are conversations that we have routinely with clients. think these aren't always things that dentists in general think about when making those purchases because yeah, they look at the lab savings and they look at the fact that they get to grow what they offer. And these things are exciting. We totally understand that. But I think it is looking at all those pieces and saying also does this make financial sense?   The Dental A Team (17:37) Yeah, I totally agree with you. I was thinking too as you're speaking on like efficiencies and how many crowns will it take. Also, we forget how much time does it take from a human. So as we're being efficient with the schedule, you're also losing an assistant to go mill that crown, to go design it and to mill it. So there's like 30 to 45 minutes unless, I mean, there's a lot of practices you can cut it down and they're getting much quicker. So whatever, we'll say 40 minutes that you've lost someone.   that would otherwise be able to do the next patient. And that doesn't get accounted for in the employee cost where it's just a shift. It's just a shift. And being able to see all of those pieces and those aspects and make those confident decisions is massive. And then how long will it take to pay those things down at the cost, the fee, the rate that you're paying because realistically that, again, is your lab cost.   and you would be paying a lab for sure, but over the long run, is it going to be a big enough savings is a big consideration. And if you already have the mill, start thinking that way. Like, okay, well, what is my true lab cost? then supplies, I mean, everybody knows supplies and we're not in the, I think there was that massive increase, right? COVID with the PPE, like that got wild and we were at like 8%, but I'm starting to see people, like you guys are back down to the five, 6%. So I don't think that that's.   huge space but realistically the lab fees, the same doctor, ⁓ sometimes I'm like ⁓ how did we get GP dentists? How are we at a $15,000 lab bill? He's like well I like their work and I'm like so do I and then we need to find something cheaper.   DAT-Dana (19:22) ⁓ But yet. Here   we are talking about this number every month.   The Dental A Team (19:27) Yes,   yes, and I said that's fine, then we need a drop insurance company. So I think those are the conversations and it's just so easy to jump to say we're over staffed or we're paying too much money or we're doing too much overtime. When I see practices that have overtime, I'm like, okay, why? One, overtime is more expensive than another human. So are we understaffed and we need to divvy some more things out? And two,   Overtime is a huge indicator that we're inefficient somewhere. So it's either our schedule is constantly running behind because we're ineffectively scheduling, or we've got, again, like overlapping duties and just chaos going on when there's confusion in your brain, you're slower. And so when things are clear and clean, you work more effectively, you're more productive, and you move on things faster.   Huge spaces, huge spaces, but going back, I think to straight to the beginning, Dana, I love it. The first thing doctors for you to look at is exactly what Dana said. Production and collections, are you producing enough because you need the staffing for the schedule you should have. If you don't have the staffing and the schedule comes first, you're gonna be in overtime. You've gotta have the staffing. I'm not saying go hire a million people because in five years you want this.   Make sure you've got enough people to run the schedule that you want. Make sure that you're being productive, that it's getting on the schedule and that on the back end it's getting collected. If you're not getting enough new patients for the production, like all of those things go into it and that's why we make you guys fill out scorecards and watch trends and see it all in one space is because all of those things play a massive role and the first place it's gonna show up on your overhead scorecard is your employee cost. It's just.   the truth. That's the first place it's going to pop up and then from there you'll see all of the little ones but it's your biggest expense.   DAT-Dana (21:27) Yeah, and I think that what you said is and I talk about this all the time, like especially when we get a doctor that comes in and really is cash flow that is the reason that they come and it's I can slice and dice your P &L a hundred different ways but at the end of the day most of the things that I can slice and dice are low-hanging fruit and the biggest impact that we can make on those overhead costs and those percentages is to produce and collect more. Hands down, bottom line.   The Dental A Team (21:51) Yep.   Yeah. Which either means more efficient schedule and getting more people on the schedule or raising your fees and dropping insurance companies. Yeah. Yeah. Awesome. All right, guys. If you don't know how to read your P &L, by all means, reach out. We have all kinds of, you know, videos and podcasts and all kinds of other things that we can share with you. And we are always happy.   DAT-Dana (22:01) Yeah.   The Dental A Team (22:19) to help you in the best ways possible. So first and foremost, action item, go read your P &L, go figure it out, go see where your expenses are at, be really familiar with your bank accounts, with your P &Ls, with your debt services, treat it as though it's your personal money, because realistically, you guys, it is. You're a business owner, it is your personal money, so treat it as though it matters. And go look at that, look at your production, and by that we mean is your schedule efficient and actually productive?   Do you have 90 to 95 % of the time at the end of the day, you're hitting goal and you're like, that was awesome. Or are you 90 to 95 % of the time, like, what did I do all day? How is this my life? I'm so stressed out. You tell us, go do those two things. Love on your team. Make sure you have right people, right seat. You guys, ⁓ again, a million podcasts to discuss all of that stuff. Go find them. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. We will find them for you and send them to you. You just tell us.   Dana, anything else you can think of aside from learning your P &L forwards and backwards, looking at production collections first and then looking deeper and reaching out to us?   DAT-Dana (23:26) No, I think you hit all three of the big ones.   The Dental A Team (23:29) I love it. Awesome guys. Okay, go do the things you guys. It is way easier than it sounds and it honestly is way more fun than it sounds. I Dana and I have both come full circle on our love of P &Ls and numbers and being able to find the little secret sauces here and there. go do the things, reach out Hello@TheDentalATeam.com when you're ready. We are here to help you forever. We're always here. And you guys drop us a five star review below. Let us know.   how this goes for you with your P &L review. Let us know how helpful this was. And again, go love on your team. Dana, thank you so much for being here with me today and we'll catch you next time, guys.

Kiera joins Dr. Paul Etchison on the Dental Practice Heroes podcast to talk about the infamous front desk and how to finally figure out what levers should be pulled and which should be pushed to get the department in ship-shape. The best part about this episode is that Kiera and Dr. Etchison make the steps to success easy to understand and implement. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: The Dental A Team (00:00) Hello, Dental A Team listeners, this is Kiera. And today we are sharing a guest interview I did on another podcast. And it was too valuable not to bring you guys here.   this episode, you're gonna hear this host lead the conversation and then I'll wrap us up at the end. I cannot wait. It was truly one of my most incredible episodes and I truly hope you enjoy.   speaker-0 (00:19) Kiera, so glad to have you back on the podcast. It's always a joy having you on here. And I'll tell the listeners, I've worked personally with Kiera a number of occasions, someone I very much trust, someone I respect entirely in the industry and just knows her stuff and always a great guest to have you on. And today we're going to be talking about, you know, front desk stuff where   I work with a lot of clients. Do you work with a lot of clients? I don't know if you share the same regard. I would love to hear your opinion on this, but I would say most of the clients that I work with, the front desk tends to be their most chaotic and unorganized department. I mean, do you feel that you share the same sentiment?   speaker-1 (00:59) Yeah, Paul super excited to be on the podcast with you. Always enjoy a good chat and I mean, think proof's in the pudding. Do you remember the number one reason you called me to work with you the first time? Oh yeah, I was front office.   speaker-0 (01:12) I think it was the second time and the third time.   speaker-1 (01:14) It really all those times were and the answer is yes and this is why I created Dental A Team is because like Working in the dental college and seeing so many dental students like you guys learn how to Drop your box on an MO and like how do I have a perfect crown prep? You don't learn how do I do the billing and how do I do the insurance and how do I schedule patients like you learn how to have patient etiquette and great dentistry and so that's why I created Dental A Team like it's dentists and teams like hey dentist let's get you to rock your space and then let's work on the team side because   because even myself as a team member, there was no learning. It was like, just do it. And I'm like, well, what do I just do? And so I think the front office just feels so elusive. It feels so scary. And like, Paul, you're in someone's mouth. You're not like, ⁓ how do I do an insurance claim? And so I think there's so many nuances, but also for dentists, the front office is the gatekeeper of your money. Like they're the ones who schedule for you. They're the ones who present your cases for you. They're the ones who collect the money for you. They're the ones who bill for you. So so much of your financial freedom and like,   your paycheck is also directed by a department you don't even understand. So I think that that's why there's so much just like, it's not conflict, it's just almost like unknown and it feels daunting. And so you don't even know what levers to push or pull because you don't even understand how the how the engine works. It'd be like, hey, Kiera, my car is making a sound and I'm like, good, I don't know what to do. Like, that's not even my realm. And I think that that's how a lot of dentists feel about the front office. So, yeah, that's why that's why I exist and why I love to   be on the podcast and share because it doesn't need to feel daunting or scary, nor do you need to do it all. I think just being aware and knowing what things to look for, what things you can expect and having a hopefully a trusted voice in the industry where like, hey, I'm here, no judgment. Like just ask all the questions and let's help you guys get your team up to par. And also for team members, cause they, lot of times don't even know what they should do either.   speaker-0 (03:05) Yeah, absolutely. They're just thrown in there and said, here, figure it out. Do it. Just answer the phone and do all this fun stuff. I mean, like, I think what struggles for dentists as practice owners is we just don't understand, like you mentioned. We don't understand, like, how to send a claim, how to look at an insurance breakdown. But whereas every other element of the practice, we have a deeper understanding on it. Do you think, I mean, I'm sure it would be beneficial, but is it necessary for a dentist to learn everything about claim submission and all these things?   front desk related? Or can we get by with some more higher level organizations such as you provide?   speaker-1 (03:41) I think, Paul, it depends on who you are. think Paul Etchison, I would say you probably can get by with some high level. You got it, you got it figured out, you can sift through. For some other doctors, they want to at least know. But I would say it's a blanket statement across the board. I think at least having a slight awareness, go up to the front office and just sit there and be like, hey, walk me through how you submit a claim. ⁓ I think you even knowing some of the jargon, the language of   what's going on up there. Like, can I see an EOB? ⁓ That's like, and I think it's kind of like, go back Paul, being a business owner, I equate front office to like a PNL and CPA and bookkeeping. We have all learned how to run a business without being a CPA or a bookkeeper, but it's because we're in the language of the PNL. And I think, how can you get into the language of the front office? You know yourself, but.   I think abdication and just like delegation, like hands off is probably a dangerous space to be, think for any business owner. Like I don't want to be in sales, but if I don't understand the sales process, that's not going to work. Marketing, like, okay, great. But I need to at least understand the nuances of it. And I think that's the same for front office. So I would say as a simple blip, why not just go up and listen to how your front office schedules? Why not go up and just see how they submit claims or verify insurance?   And then, yes, I would talk to and listen to podcasts by the Dental A Team or other trusted individuals in the field. ⁓ We have online courses that we've created for all of these. Not so dentists learn it, but just to like, what's kind of my, I don't know, like front office for dummies, like go back to those books that they had, like, what's my quick overview to where I'm not going to get screwed over, I'm not going to get embezzled from, I'm going to know what to expect of my team. And I'm even happy to share even simple job descriptions of what those roles   can and should be doing. I think even that knowledge alone helps doctors just feel more confident and competent of like, ⁓ my office manager should be acting like a COO. My billers should be acting like a CFO or an accountant. Like they should at least know this and be able to bring things in. And my over 90 should be know more than 5 % of my collections. Like knowing just those little pieces, I think ⁓ that's just going to give people more confidence. But again,   equated to how you work with your CPA and your bookkeeper. You didn't know that, but you were immersed in the language of it. And I think the more you can just look, know, learn without doing. And I'm talking like this is like a week or a month. Like it's not like years and years. Like you could just quickly get affiliated with it. But I think audits and spot audits once a quarter would really be beneficial. And if you're a hands-on person like myself, literally have your front office have you like submit one claim and submit and   put in one payment onto the software, ⁓ do one insurance verification, do one scheduling. It might feel weird, but just like you have your front office come back and watch a crown so they can explain it in a treatment plan, just doing it one time also gives you a lot of familiarity that I think you can catch a lot of things just because you almost know what does A plus B equals C, how does that equation actually work.   speaker-0 (06:54) Yeah, and I love that CPA analogy because that makes a lot of sense. Like we don't get deep into the bookkeeping and deep into the profit and loss, but we do know enough that we can use it. You know, and I see with like the front office is that a lot of dental practice owners, just don't see the value and they just don't see like why to provide the training out there. And it's such a large part of the practice. I mean, just like, like if you could like pick just a few, what are some downstream things that happen that us as owners see that is more visual to us?   evidence of lack of training upfront.   speaker-1 (07:27) Yeah. ⁓   Paul, I don't disagree and I think it's something crazy because it's like hygiene is so important and so we like focus a lot on hygiene and make sure it's there. But your front office is the, I call it like the bookends of the practice. They're the initial ⁓ information for the practice and the first impression and then they're also the last impression. And I can't tell you how many doctors I'm like, Paul, you're amazing, but your front office is actually destroying your business and you don't even know it. So things that you might not catch or see are sometimes like your front office with billing, like look at your review.   because if your billing is having problems, it will pop up in reviews and they'll say like, they charged me wrong or they didn't quote me right. Like that's gonna do some red flag alerts for you just to be able to quickly see. Usually the billing issues downstream are gonna show up in the reviews and patients leaving the practice that you might not even know about. ⁓ Other things that I think you can catch are like, if you have any type of recording of phone calls or have a family member that you trust, just be a random new patient with air quotes on it.   and give feedback of how they were treated on the phone. I think that's a really good way to find out because if your front office puts them on hold or they don't have like genuine care and customer service centric, patients are going to leave that you don't even get the opportunity and you're spending all this money on marketing. But then our front office is like, could you please hold? And it's like, great, super happy to be put on hold or I can't get you scheduled in or even like, I think sometimes dentists, you.   Kind of like myself, when I go into a practice, I'm like a creepy little hangout behind the scenes. Like, doctors, if you have a little bit of downtime, just go like hang on the wall and listen to how your front office team is answering the phones, how they're presenting treatment plans. You probably like, areas that I see a lot of opportunities that are missed are, how are we converting our phone calls and getting patients on the schedule? How are we scheduling? Like, are my patients saying, I cringe when I go in. I cringe when I hear phone calls.   I cringe when I hear another scheduling. I cringe when we're presenting treatment. If a patient's like, I'll just wait. They're like, OK. I'm like, OK. No, like, we should go past this two times. There's ways to do it. Or if a patient calls about a balance and they're like, it's OK. We'll just write it off. And I'm like, we're writing that off? ⁓ You can look at audit trails to see what is being written off on your accounts in billing. ⁓ You also can look at your AR. You could quickly just run the AR report. You don't even have to know.   A good benchmark is less than 1 % of your collection, or like one month's worth of collections should be all that's in your AR. So if you're producing 100 grand, we should have no more than 100 grand in total AR. So those are just some downstream of, think, like really making sure our schedule's full and we're treating patients amazing so they're not leaving before we even get that opportunity. Are cases being closed? And like we've got great verbiage to close cases.   And then honestly, like there was a practice and I walked in and there was a huge stack of checks and I was like, what are these doing? They're like, I just don't have time to enter those. And I'm like, well, we don't have time to like pay you either. So get those checks in like really truly. I'm not trying to be a jerk, but like you've got to get these in. ⁓ And then looking at the claims and how much AR sitting in there just to see, and then doing a quick audit trail to see I had a practice. had about, gosh, about a million dollars worth of AR.   And I was like, is high. And they're like, yeah. Like if we can't get in touch with the patient, we just write it off. And I was like, I'm sorry, what? Like you just write? They're like, yeah, we try. But like, if they don't answer, we just write it off. And I was like, so that's like not allowed. And we need to have the doctor approve those. So I think some of those little pieces, and those can be set up with audit trails or permissions within the software. And I think even just some of those safeguards can really help a practice.   Like these are, think, a lot of red hot fires that could be worse than you realize. Dr. Paul, you could be doing amazing dentistry, but if your front office team is not great on the phone, not great with case acceptance, not great with billing, you might accidentally be losing a lot of, like there's just a lot of open holes and you're trying to put in more by diagnosing more and doing more dentistry at the top. But our buckets got quite a few little leaky holes that even if we put like patched a couple, you'd see your practice grow a lot more with minimal effort.   speaker-0 (11:47) Yeah, I always like to think of the idea that if we've got like a $1 million practice and typically we see case acceptance in like the one third, like 33 % ish, you know, when we're looking at a fee. So you would think that we're diagnosing $3 million. So most doctors will focus on the things such as like, well, let's work on the way I talk to the patient. Let's work on this. Whereas completely missing the fact that, I mean, just even getting a 5 % increase in case acceptance that would come from training on the front desk end versus   stuff that you would do on the back. So it's like, it's a valuable part of the office. But, you know, I'd love to ask you, we've got this part of the office that is a lot of competing demands, a lot of different things to do at once. And what I see is doctors often getting upset at their front desk when they're not filling the schedule because the doctor has a cancellation and now the doctor has time to like say what is going on and they go to the front, they say, well, who's filling the schedule? And everyone's like, well, we're doing this, this, this, and this. How do you, as an owner, like,   help a department see these competing demands and have the right sort of priorities.   speaker-1 (12:53) Yeah, Paul, there's a great book ⁓ that I am obsessed with this year. We sent it out to a bunch of people and let's see. Hold on. I'm looking it up.   You know, I really love it. Clearly. I think it's called Begin with We. Let me just double check myself on it. I'm pretty confident looking it up real quick. ⁓ It's We. Yes, Begin with We and it's by Kyle McDowell. And it was something that I really got obsessed with this year because there was a one of his 10 rules is outcomes over activity.   And I realized that I think that that is one of the greatest hiccups in the dental practice is we're so obsessed with activity, but not outcomes. And so in a dental practice, I'm really big on what is the outcome that this position needs to get.   I don't want them and I used to do this. Like I used to have end of day checklists that were like front office team needs to make 25 re-care calls. And then I was like, why am I saying that? What I really want from those 25 re-care calls is I want a full schedule and I don't want my team to be perfect, but I do need to make sure that the main outcome. So like one main outcome or KPI or metric per position and they know and like some people are like, Carol, how do get your team to do this? And I'm like, my team knew that if our schedule was not full, they were not going home.   like period, like you're gonna, I don't care, you're gonna stay until eight o'clock at night, but like that schedule is expected to be full. And it's not that I'm like driving hard lines. It was, this is the most important thing. So my scheduler, their goal is that they need to have my doctor scheduled to goal 90 % of the time, like we are scheduled to go or it's front office team knows that my hygiene schedule needs to be completely full with all confirmed patients because don't worry, they play games and it's like, well, my schedule is full. And I'm like, yeah, well, half of these weren't confirmed. They're gonna be no shows. So it's a...   My schedule is full or we're allowed one hygiene opening with all of our hygienists per day. But like by end of day, this needs to be done in every day that that's our goal. And our goal is to make sure that hygiene is up to goal 90 % of the time. We track it daily. We track it weekly. We make sure they're there. My treatment coordinator, my doctors need to be up to goal, like to their scheduled daily production goal. That's the expectation every day is that they're scheduled to goal. And when I look at the course of a week or a month, my expectation is that 90 % of my days, Paul, you're hitting your daily goal.   Well, now that and that's like, that's their main focus. I think so often we're like, we want the schedule full, we want the patient experience, we want this and we want that. But I'm like, if I can simplify it for my team, just like my AR, my AR needs to be less than one month's worth of collections and I need less than these amounts per category. Great. There's so many other things they can do that they can get busy and like, I got to answer the phone. But if I know before I leave, like the way I win and the way I check my day off is.   I've got my doctor scheduled to goal, I've got my hygiene schedule full and we've got our months collections done. Those are three of your biggest areas. Of course there's a thousand things, but when we lock and load on that and my doctor needs to diagnose X amount, ⁓ it does also then impact our case acceptance because guess what? Now that treatment coordinator is like, shoot, I have to get Dr. Paul up to, I don't know, 5,000, 8,000, whatever your daily goal is. And I know that that's my expectation and I'm going to be reporting every single week on this.   And what happens if I don't hit goal? So some people incentivize with bonuses. Some people, this is just part of your job description. Some people are meeting on weekly one-on-ones and like helping them through it. Some people like treatment coordinators work with their doctors and they review treatment cases every single week. But if you can laser focus each one of them, but it's not a would like to have, it's a must have as a culture. And we are a culture of we hit our outcomes consistently and we don't miss those. We don't have to be perfect, but that's what we track and measure by.   That's how you improve at practice. And then all the other noise goes away because me as a team member, I'm not trying to compete for what I think is most important. You've helped me know and we've aligned and we've agreed. And I know what's going to be the outcome if I choose not to. And then everything else kind of falls into place. As a front office team member, there's a lot to do. But I think just giving one or two really helps streamline that.   speaker-0 (16:56) So like what I hear you saying is that if it's important to you as the owner, you've got to.   make it important to the team as well. And that's by discussing, making it a focus. Yet, I find that a lot of practice owners are very scared, and I don't know if scared is the right word. Maybe fearful of ⁓ pressing too many buttons up there. know, like upsetting people, over-asking, asking too many things. I mean, do you think that practice owners need to have a mindset shift around the leadership that comes with the front office?   speaker-1 (17:29) I think it's a...   I don't know, like it's almost like a family motto and it's a team motto. Like we all work and contribute and each of us is part of this bigger whole. And so like if Dr. Etch does not diagnose enough dentistry for us, like that's a broken part in our whole like wheel. And I need to be as a team member able to count on Dr. Etch to be on time for our patients and to diagnose enough treatment for us. Like that's his part of our puzzle. And if he doesn't do that, I need to hold him accountable. And so it's not a Dr. Etch's   like top dog supervisor, we're all part of this to make a hole and we all need to be able to have like go to five dysfunctions of a team. Like how can we have more healthy debate and call each other out? ⁓ I love thinking of sports analogies where like they want to win. We all know what like win on the scoreboard looks like and I can only imagine like, could you imagine like we'll just use the Chiefs. I like everybody knows the Chiefs like right now. So like could you imagine Patrick Mahomes?   Like someone doesn't block for him and he gets completely smashed and he's like, Hey coach Reed, could you please tell the team to tell them to block? It would be ludicrous. Like Paul, you even laugh about it because it's so ridiculous. Instead in the moment he's like dudes block for me. Like I'm not, we're not going to win if you don't do your job. But yet in the dental office, we don't see ourselves in that way of being able to call each other out when we're not, we're not doing our part of the puzzle to win on the team. And so I think doctors, I think that's the mindset.   mindset shift of you should be able to hold them accountable just like they should be able to hold you accountable and if we see it, a lot of times I like these KPIs to be up on a board where it's visible and it's either green or red and my name's on it and I know that I've got to contribute and we look at this whole family aka your practice every week and are we green or are we red? Did Dr. Etch hold up his end of the deal? Did I hold up my end of the deal? Did our other person hold up their end of the deal? And when you start to see that,   It's like a sports team and we say we have this scoreboard to know if we're getting the W at the end of the day or if we're getting the L and we have to call each other out when we're not. Yes, we're here to help, but we also are a team of outcomes over activity and a team of ownership mindset where I own that and I make sure that I'm blocking for you so you can like go and win the touchdown. But all of us are winning collectively together. We don't just have a superstar all star. It's a collective effort. So I think.   Yes, you can be concerned, I think doctors, you push buttons when you come up and you're like, who's filling my schedule? Rather than maybe you hang out and just listen for a minute and hear how things are going, that you could then take that into coaching in the future. ⁓ You are always praising good behavior, but you have a clear scoreboard. It's like you don't have to go up there. But if we're missing the scoreboard, then we have conversations more consistently, so it doesn't feel out of the blue. We're able to coach and counsel more often, and that's just part of it. We call each other out in the moment rather than like,   talking around each other, we call each other in the moment.   speaker-0 (20:26) I love like just the idea of that it's a culture piece and you make a part of your culture and it's more like macro level. It's like we're looking like, like you mentioned, the outcomes over the activity. ⁓ if, if I'm a doctor and I'm listening to this podcast right now and I'm like, yeah, that sounds great in theory, but that would never work in my office, not with my personnel and not with my team. They wouldn't take that sort of constructivism or that, that feedback and they wouldn't have that, that team attitude. And I deal with this a lot with coaching clients and I'm sure you do as well.   It's a culture change that's required, but it could make the owner's life so much easier if we just only had to focus on the outcomes and not so much micro things. How would you suggest a doctor maybe have this conversation with their front office team to say, like, I want it to be more like this. This is what my vision is for this. Help me get to this point. Like, what do you think that would sound like?   speaker-1 (21:22) Yeah, and I do love this. This is why we coach like doctors and teams. This is why we come in because sometimes an outside voice is easier than an inside voice, right? Like I get it. It's scary for me. This is why like know yourself and be free. And if you're not the one that's like I'm good at setting a vision, but like holding lines like this is not my jam rock on like you need a good pair to you. That's a great office manager who's really good at communicating this and getting a team on board. So I think like sometimes doctors show they've got to be   the producer, the diagnoser, the sales, marketing, all the pieces plus the accountability. I'm like, know what you're really good at. Paul, I look at you, you're an amazing visionary, you're really talented at dentistry, you're great at culture, and your office manager was kick a next to you. She did so good at holding pieces together and you would bring in training to give her support so they could grow to the next level.   You are like you're like I'll kind of do it, but like that's not who I am. I'm the same way I've got an operations person next to me and can I do it? Yes, but is that my zone of genius? No, and that doesn't mean we abdicate and we're like, well just because I don't like it don't do it, but I think like if you're really good at this then rock on and do it.   But doctors, we need a vision of where you're going. And that's your main thing that we need from you of like, what does this look like? Where are we headed and why? Like what's the lighthouse on the hill that we can all rally behind? And then we need a really good like leadership team or office manager next to us. And every time I talk to doctors about joining us in consulting, my first question is like, great, what are your issues, problems? Like tell me about your practice and who's your implementer next to you. And if they don't have a strong OM next to them, I know that that's 90 % of their problems. So we need to fill that seat next to them because   a good yin and yang, Paul you know this just like I do, they need to be that accountability person. You're drilling and filling, but then that becomes part of our culture and I think if you've never been this way, a good way to take this into action is like let's have a team like state of the company or like next vision or whatever you want to call it, but like this is how we've been operating.   And this is where we're moving to and this is why and this is how it's going to make all of our lives easier. And I understand that it's going to be a little jostly and hey, so maybe you hire a coach or consultant that's going to help with that. Maybe you and your office manager rally. But I have found and I have seen that a lot of times having somebody outside can help. Like Paul, that's why you hired us is because like we needed an outside voice even though we were saying the same thing.   to come and I love all of our consultants, we've been team members, we've been in the front office, like we've been there, done that, done it successfully to really empathize and understand. But I think it's gotta be a, is where we've been, this is where we're going, this is why. And if a doctor were to say, that's not my team, they won't relate to that, I would say, look at you first and say, like, choose your heart. If your team's that way, like, do you really wanna move into this next layer? Like, how bad is that pain?   Because if you're not willing to do this, your team's not going to follow you either. But you are the culture setter of your practice. So what you tolerate, it's not what you say, it's what you tolerate. And so that is truly your standards of the practice. So I would say it's also a, you got to have like a little like conversation with you in the mirror of, I really willing to change my culture? Am I really willing to go through the like, there is a chasm you've got to cross.   But the other side is truly beauty and it does work and teams do actually thrive if they know how do I get my win? What does my doctor truly want from me? And teams genuinely do want their doctor to thrive. Like that's why they're there. So I think you have to be committed to holding that line, to driving that vision, to having the uncomfortable conversations and making them comfortable and having a really good person next to you. It can be a DA, it can be an OM, it can be a hygienist.   But I think a lot of times having two voices that move it forward oftentimes are easier. But doctors, you've got to be a really strong lighthouse on the hill. And you've got to be committed. And you're willing to go through the effort to change a culture. ⁓ Culture doesn't happen overnight. Culture is a slow burn that takes a while to turn. ⁓ But I think it's like the Titanic. You don't think it's moving. But then when you look up, it has made progress, even though it didn't feel like it. And I think that that's the same with culture.   speaker-0 (25:35) Do you feel that, I mean, it's almost like, and I see this with my clients, is that they're focusing on the wrong area. Like, we're looking at, someone might reach out to you and say, hey, my front desk, I want them to do this, they're not doing this. I want them to do this other thing. They dig their feet in, they say no. I mean, can you tell the story of a recent client that you worked with that maybe came in and was pointing a lot of fingers, but really, it just needed to look in the mirror?   speaker-1 (26:01) Yes, this happens often. And I think it's like a whack-a-mole. And I think that that's why people do reach out for coaching. I think that they recognize that I'm spinning all these tops and I just don't know where I need to go. And it's like, great. So a recent client that I would say they were so obsessed about their hygiene department and they were trying to run around. They're like, we need to fix this, we need to fix that.   And I was like, actually what you're saying with all these words that you don't realize is you just want more profitability. You're stressed out of your mind. So you're going after all these different things when we just need to get your profitability dialed in. We need to figure out like where are we cash bleeding and fix that issue because your hygiene department probably only needs like a small uptick, but you're after that. You're after this person, you're after this, but your real main problem is your cashflow low. Like that's it. And that's a you thing. That's a you not knowing business. That's a we need to fix that.   And then we look at which systems do we need to implement or which department do we need to go attack that's going to actually fix that problem for you. And so I think so many times people want to, like we hear podcasts, right? So it's like, okay, I'm taking notes today. I'm going to go check in on all these KPIs. But sometimes like something I love about how we consult is a lot of consulting companies like ABCD, you got to do that. And for me, I look at, all right, what are we already doing really well?   what is the true pain point of the practice and what's the one, two or three things that are very easy changes that are going to exponentially get you out of the problem you're in and move you forward. I might have a set way that I want you to say a phone script. I might have a set way that I want your case acceptance to go but those might not be the root issue and the root issue might be you as a leader need to get us a vision. I will tell you Paul, we had a mastermind in person and people were like complaining like my team's not bought in, my team's not bought in and I was like all right guys, I just have a quick question.   If I were to walk into your practice today, how many of you like talk to your team, you're not allowed to give them influence. How many of them could tell me where we're going and like where we're headed in the next five to 10 years? They did not raise their hands. And I was like, that's your problem right there. You have not given this team where we're going, why we're going. And so they're just rowing their own little boats over here thinking they're doing the most important thing versus I'm headed towards this. This is my number. This is how I win. And you gave them that clarity.   and you looked in the mirror first and got the vision. So I say, this is twofold. There was one of, you need to give the vision to your team. You need to have the clarity of where you're going. And second, instead of playing whack-a-mole and like trying to fix every little thing, what's our true root problem that we need to solve? And if things are going good or like mostly good, let's go after the fastest, easiest levers. Like people are like, I need more profit or production. I'm like, okay, what are the easiest, fastest ways? Increase our production, increase our collections, decrease our spending. Production.   diagnose more, close more cases, look at our block scheduling and look at our hygiene. Like those are like your simplest easiest ways and make sure like our schedules fill to goal. Like that's really there's not a lot that we have to do that I think we sometimes over complicate when we could simplify and make it a lot easier. And I think that that's probably the whole message of this of there. I think it's actually a lot easier to get to where you're trying to go. I just think like go all the way back to the beginning.   It's like my car is making this sound and I don't know how to fix it. So I'm going to try the spark plugs. I'm going to try the brakes. I'm going to try the da da da. When really all you needed to do was just like fill it up with gas. So just finding that simple piece I think is where people, it's hard because they don't know. So they're going to play whack-a-mole rather than give me the vision, get the numbers dialed in and let your team thrive in those departments.   speaker-0 (29:39) I couldn't agree more. I love that you said that. I think that's going to be so useful for so many people to hear. Talk about what the Dental A Team is up to this spring and how people can reach out to you if they want to learn more.   speaker-1 (29:51) Yeah, we are always like, we're just here to help. So we do doctor and team training, we do virtual and in-person. We have in-person masterminds, which are super fun for doctors to get connected. And I didn't like to be the owner that like, I go get rallied and then my team doesn't. So I'm really big on like, let's rally you and your team so you don't have to try this. Like, got super pumped on the podcast, but like, hey, OM, could you go listen to this podcast and do your job better?   So we do a good job of blending for people. so, yeah, in February we're in person and then in April we're doing our master, our summit. So we always do a summit. And if you guys tell us that you heard about it ⁓ on Pulse, definitely you will get ⁓ a VIP ticket, but that's going to be on April 24th. It's a four hour CE. It's our amazing summit. Head on over to TheDentalATeam.com or you can email us Hello@TheDentalATeam.com I'd love to have you there.   But yeah, if you're like, gosh, I just need help. We do like a full practice like autopsy with you and like, hey, let me just give you some free advice. Let us help you out. But yeah, anyway, we can help you and your team streamline. So doctors can be amazing doctors and CEOs. Teams can level up to their highest potential and we do it together. Conjecture like Paul, Paul's an amazing doctor. Like talk to him about like doctor mindset. I don't know how to tell you how to do a fill. Like that's Paul's world, but how to get your team on board and how to rally with you and support you in the life you deserve. That's what deadly teams about. And   I would say doctors, be selfish. You're CEOs. You should be the dentist. You should be the CEO. You don't need to be the everything. You don't need to know all the front office. are people that can help you and support you. ⁓ But learning that and getting your team the tools, that is your job to do. And I would encourage you to reach out if we can help in any way. And always, always a huge fan of Paul and his group. And listen to Paul. He's got brilliant ideas. He's one of my favorite dentists that I've ever coached. And he's an amazing person at culture and.   of being able to drive people to results. And I think I'm just a good jelly to his peanut butter. We do the team side. do the helping your doctors get to the life they want through team execution.   speaker-0 (31:50) Awesome, Kiera. Thank you so much for coming on the podcast. I always enjoy having you on, love connecting with you and listeners. Go check out Kiera's stuff. She's brilliant. She is a brilliant person and she knows how to get your team on board and to do the things that you want them to do. So thank you so much, Kiera.   speaker-1 (32:06) Thank you. I appreciate it so much, Paul. Thank you so much.   The Dental A Team (32:09) All right, Dental A Team listeners, that was the guest interview that I absolutely loved. And I hope that if there was one idea that stood out to you, don't just agree with it, but actually go implement it this week. And if you need help setting this up in your practice or you need help just navigating or need a friend, head on over to TheDentalATeam.com and I'll be able to help you guys out. Click on the book of call or any way that we can support and serve you. That's what we're here for. That's what we're obsessed with. And as always, thanks for listening and I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team podcast.

Re-releasing a DAT listener favorite! Chris Sands and Brent Saunier are on the podcast to talk about the hottest topics in the dental accounting world. Founding partners of Pro-Fi 20/20, these dental CPAs chat with Kiera about how to reduce overhead and expand the number of patients coming in, expense metrics from the hundreds of offices Pro-Fi works with, a tax rule you NEED to live by, what to stay away from financially with your business, and a ton more. Pro-Fi 20/20 is an accounting business that the Dental A-Team recommend. This episode is a goldmine of information from two fellows who know what they're talking about — especially with regard to the dental industry. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: Kiera Dent (00:00) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera. And today we are bringing you something so special. I am so excited because this is one of our most popular episodes from the archives. Whether you're hearing this for the first time or catching it again, I am so excited because it's jam packed with a ton of takeaways that you can start using right now in your practice. We have released thousands, literally thousands of episodes. And I wanted to start bringing a few of these amazing episodes back for you. So I hope you enjoy. And as always, thanks for listening and I'll catch you next time.   on the Dental A Team podcast.   speaker-0 (00:31) today I wanted to bring on two special guests. These are actually CPA in the CPA world. Believe it or not, Dental A Team actually consults this company. So we definitely love them. They went a step above most CPA companies and they really wanted to get to know the ins and outs of the dental world. So I'm super jazzed to bring them on and to just have them dive into some of the hot topics in the accounting world. ⁓ two people that I trust and recommend heavily. ⁓ I   They are one of my top three CPA firms that I refer and recommend constantly. So I'm excited to welcome Chris and Brent from Pro-Fi. How are you gentlemen today?   speaker-1 (01:06) Awesome, Kiera. Thanks so much for having us. We're excited to be with you.   speaker-0 (01:10) Yeah, absolutely. Brent, how are you doing today?   speaker-2 (01:12) I am doing great. I appreciate the invite. I'm looking forward to this 30 minutes with you.   speaker-0 (01:17) Yeah, absolutely. Well, who knows? We'll see how long this ends up going, guys. Brent, can't put a time on us. It could be dangerous zone.   speaker-1 (01:24) You're lucky he said he's doing great because we're in the heat of extended tax season, so he's kind of in the trenches. Lucky he's in a good mood.   speaker-0 (01:32) I know Tiffany has been trying to get back out to you guys to see you and Beth you heard this awesome rock star in the company She keeps saying like tiff. It's like extended tax time or it's this or it's that deadline I'm like, my gosh, you guys just have I think you're secretly adrenaline junkies of CPAs even though you don't come across that way But I think you love it cuz tax season I feel is just like adrenaline rush like trying to get to the deadline. I just can't imagine that stress like   Every quarter every year you just hit it. So props to you guys. That's not my world but super jazz to have you guys on here. ⁓ so Chris let's dive in I know there's some things so we're gonna kind of hit on overhead we're gonna talk about some taxing some Some things to be aware of i'm just so excited because this is a world I don't know and I do purposely bring really really talented and educated cpas and financial advisors onto the podcast because I'm we have a three-fold approach in our company. It's focusing on   Money and finances making sure your business is profitable you as a person and as an individual and then systems and teams top to bottom So I am big I think as a business owner. I wasn't profitable when I first started. I didn't know how to look at my numbers I didn't even know what the heck over influence. I was like googling how to figure it out So i'm just jazzing you guys are here. So Chris kind of take us away I know you had some great topics for today and i'm excited to just   Rift a little bit with you, dive into these things, things that are really tangible for our practices now, especially where you guys work with hundreds of offices across the nation. Lots of good data to be pulling out for our practices listening.   speaker-1 (03:04) Sure, well, ⁓ Kiera, I think that there's a lot of discussion around, does the DSO world seem to do a better job with overhead than the private practice world? I think a lot of private practice doctors are wondering that, they're frustrated or how do I get my overhead down? And a lot of times, I think when you focus on expenses, you tend to attract expenses. And in our world of accounting, I will often tell doctors that, ⁓   Accounting cannot make you money, it cannot generate revenue. The expenses part is the easy part for us that we can work on trying to reduce some things, but you either have a revenue problem or an expense problem. And in most cases it's actually, you creating enough revenue on your fixed expenses? And most of dentistry doesn't understand how simple that is to scale the dental business model when you look at it from a high level.   You scale a business and reduce overhead with doctor production. Okay. And so that means you need enough patients to see the practice that I worked in from my experience was 40 to 60 new patients a month per doctor, per full-time doctor. And it means you need to be reinvesting enough into marketing. And I'll talk about that, that expense or reinvestment of marketing in a minute to get those new patients. And you need to be.   monitoring the phones that get answered properly and there's conversion rate of those inbound calls to appointments scheduled. And then the real job is case acceptance. Okay, and so here I am in an accounting firm coming on your podcast and I bet you didn't think I was gonna like be talking about case acceptance.   speaker-0 (04:46) was like, wonder we didn't talk about all your time. I'm just kidding.   speaker-1 (04:49) So, know, dentistry is really the product that's being delivered. And if you're ethically diagnosing the need and creating the treatment plan, your job is to help the patient understand the urgency and necessity of fixing the problem and paying you to do that work. So your job isn't really the dentistry itself, it's case acceptance.   And your first task is to become great at case acceptance yourself as a practicing clinician. But then the real task as the owner is to be able to teach other doctors to become good at it. So I think, you know, the only the only variable overhead that the dental business model has is paying doctors a percentage of the dental collections that they create. And then you have labs and you have supplies.   associated with the dentistry that's delivered. those expenses are variable. They track with the amount of dentistry that gets done. Everything else is fixed overhead when you really think about it. Marketing is fixed and it only changes based on your choosing. Your team expenses are fixed and they only change when you hire or fire. Your rent and facility costs are fixed. Your equipment costs are fixed and only changed by your choosing. And the various required admin costs, they're all pretty much fixed. They only change by your choosing.   So if you can create more doctor generated collections with the same team and fixed expenses, your profit margin goes up, your percentage overhead, your percentage overhead to collections ratio goes down. Okay. And so I guess we see most private practice or single, should certainly say single location, solo doctor practices. We see them failing at this because they choose not to reinvest enough.   back into the business, into that marketing for new patients. They're not monitoring the phones. They're not training their team. They're not training their doctors on case acceptance. And they're too closely focused on just the clinical delivery of the dentistry. Don't get me wrong, that's required, but that's not what makes you successful or financially successful. So I can give you ⁓ some generic ranges for expenses, but the real thing is that   You know, the real way to scale a business is to generate more revenue on the same overhead. That's kind of the definition.   speaker-0 (07:20) And isn't that basically then probably the DSO model because they have lower fixed costs per se. They've figured out how to have centralized billing, centralized call center, centralized. So many things centralized that they don't need all these different things. So solo practices, if I'm understanding correctly, they've got all the costs associated, but they only have X number of revenue where when you start to add in those multiples of practices,   That's where your fixed costs, it's going, yes, of course your fixed costs will increase a bit, but I mean, I do know our fixed costs did not go up that much more when I added our second practice to it because I already have my base of fixed costs there and then we're just able to add more revenue. Is that kind of what you're saying? Am I understanding?   speaker-1 (08:01) Yeah,   I mean, you know, that, part about centralizing is, know, when you, when you do have multiple locations, I would say three or more, then you can consolidate the amount of team that's working the front desk into one location. Instead of needing three to five team members at the front desk in every office, you may only need three to five team members for all three offices. You're having one of the best things by the way, as kind of an aside, one of the best things that private practices can do as they grow is to get those phones off the front desk. You know, let.   speaker-0 (08:20) Right, right.   I agree.   speaker-1 (08:30) You know, like there needs to be, that needs to be in a totally separate admin space. But, ⁓ you know, I get asked that question a lot. Like my overhead is 65 % and how can I afford to hire another associate doctor and pay them 30 or 35 %? Well, you know, that doctor is going to create new collections. That's the point. It's not to give them your patients. It's to grow the number of patients coming in that, that you as one doctor maybe are stressed.   and you hire the next doctor and you've got to continue to invest in the marketing to keep your job as the owner is keep the chairs full, right? As long as the chairs are full, if that associate doctor is ethically diagnosing like you are, if you guys have a ⁓ clinical standard of care in your practice, if you guys talk about how you treatment plan and your treatment planning the same way, that's all required. But here's the real test. You know, how do they connect with people? How do they, how do they,   establish a relationship, establish trust and get them to move forward with that treatment. So I think dentists hate to use this word in dentistry, but the job is kind of sales. You know, if you believe in your product of dentistry to solve this need and like, again, if you diagnose decay and they don't get rid of it, you failed. I could go on a tangent on that, but the new doctor will bring new collections and you might have to hire at most, you know, an additional   speaker-0 (09:46) Yeah.   speaker-1 (09:55) Assistant or two and that would be a new fixed overhead. You would increase your fixed over it slightly But other than that the doctor covers all their costs with their their percentage pay the labs that are associated with it that the supplies are associated with it and You should net somewhere in the ballpark of 40 to 50 percent on the new collections they create and that that just adds to your profit Because all the other fixed overhead stays the same   speaker-0 (10:19) So I think there's a few things on there of like, I just, think it's a matter of realizing a lot of people bring on associates though, because they're tired, they want more free time. They don't want to be working as much. And I think it's important to clarify that if that's your model, that's totally fine. Everybody knows on the deadline team, I am not somebody who judges. I think everybody has their own personal path.   And so whatever jives with you and resonates with you. So if you're wanting to bring on an associate to have more free time, to not have to produce as much, fantastic, but realize that that overhead might not trickle down because now you're kind of replacing your cost with an associate that you're paying. And some doctors I know don't take as much pay as they would pay an associate per se, which to me, I think is a somewhat failed model. I'm really big on prepping and preparing for that associate, paying yourself as if you were an associate. So you know, these costs before you bring on an associate.   ⁓ but I really think it's important to note that because like you're saying that overhead will go down as long as the doctors are producing. And as long you're able to bring on that other doctor and have them produce, cause they should cover themselves. I definitely agree with that. ⁓ also I'm sure people are saying, yeah, but Chris, like in order to bring on another associate, I'm going to have to build out ops. That's a huge cost and expense. So I am curious, what have you guys found in Brent? You might have some answers to this Chris, you might. ⁓ but if an office is having to say, build out two more ops.   in their practice to be able to bring on an associate, how long does it usually take when you're doing build outs for that cost to be recouped and start being more profitable? Because oftentimes I do think that that gets into the problem with a lot of doctors is they're constantly building more to bring on these other doctors. So they're always adding more and more expenses. Like when do they ever break even? So what have you guys seen with build outs and different things like that of that break even point? How long should they plan for it to not be as profitable?   speaker-1 (12:09) Okay, I'm gonna give you a lot of answers on this. So number one, we use a metric called revenue per chair. So, you know, every, you   speaker-0 (12:17) What   do recommend? What do you guys recommend per chair?   speaker-1 (12:19) So yeah, everyone has a space and you have only a fixed number of spaces or operatories you can have in it. And there's only a fixed amount of time and days and hours and a number of doctors that you have. And revenue per chair capacity, we see a range between 25,000 to 40,000 per chair per month. And it does not matter when you do this. This is just, take collections and divide it by the number of chairs you have. ⁓   This does not matter how many chairs are for hygiene or how many chairs are for dentistry. That's your choice. Actually, you know, there are models where every chair can do everything and the patient never, but the 25 to 40,000 at 35,000 of revenue per chair, you're running fairly efficiently and you're going to need to be planning to expand. You're going to start to run out of space. So that's our metric first and foremost. And so if somebody tells us, well,   speaker-0 (12:53) Sure.   speaker-1 (13:09) I've got four chairs right now, but I have space for seven. I haven't built out the other three. I tell them, you don't need to build out the other three until you're approaching that $35,000 a month of revenue per chair. Question you asked, how much does it cost and when do you recoup that? So in my experience, typically it's around $25,000 per ⁓ operatory to equip it, assuming it's already plumbed. ⁓   after you just take that number and say, so let's say you were equipping a few operatories, so $50,000, you ⁓ essentially, your cost of the doctor plus the lab and supplies should max out at 50%. Okay, now they have to be producing. So until you get them, they've produced over $100,000. All right, let me do it per chair.   They need to do over $50,000 per chair for you to get your costs back. After that, you're in the money.   speaker-0 (14:09) which I think is also smart because I don't know. think dentists kind of err on two different sides. Sometimes they're too slow to actually build out. They are so cost conscious and so concerned about that build up, about the cost of the chair, about all the other things that they're missing, that that one chair is going to generate several thousands of dollars of revenue. I've had a few doctors where I'll say, sure, no problem. We'll do a deal. I will happily pay for that one chair and you pay me all.   the revenue that comes through from that chair for the next three months. That's all I ask is three months. and I know I'm going to come out way ahead of you because it will generate and it will produce, especially in high producing practices. So I think so often people are just so scared to do those build-outs because they see the cost or they do the flip side where they believe like, if we build it, they will come and they're overly aggressive and they don't have necessarily the patient base or the doctors in play to be able to accommodate that. So   I love, I need to agree. It's either cut costs or increase your revenue. Like that's really overhead.   speaker-1 (15:12) One more way to think about it is, you know, if they have patients that are having to wait so many weeks or months to schedule out to come in. if you can calculate your collections divided by the number of patients seen for any given time, for year to date or for a full year, you can get your average revenue per patient. Okay. And if you know your average revenue per patient, you know how many either new patients or how many more patients you need to fill that chair to cover the cost.   Okay. So if your average revenue per patient was, you know, $1,500 per patient, um, and the cost of that chair is 25,000, just take 25,000 divided by 1500. And that'll tell you how many patients have to be seen in that chair before you pay for that chair. Sure. You're to be in the money, you know, it's in terms of the construction. That's another basically upfront, one time fixed costs that you're going to cover. And then all the future revenue that it's going to generate. So.   Maybe if you like, think before we end this topic on overhead, I'll give you kind some of our expense metric. ⁓   speaker-0 (16:18) Sure, yeah, absolutely.   Well, hang on, before you go into expense metrics, I want to bring up one piece that I think often gets missed, because you're saying like we're in the money. But I also want to bring up something that I really love to point out, and that is return on emotion. Some people don't want to bring on an associate. Yes, like as a business model, you can be more financially successful with an associate. Yes, you can, having more chairs, more build out, more practices. ⁓ But I also want to point out there is a return on emotion. There are sometimes   Bigger headaches, they're also sometimes less headaches with bigger organizations. I personally love to consult larger practices. The pettiness, the cattiness, the smaller drama is way less in larger practices or multiple locations. So like that drastically drops down. They figured it out. They're dialed into systems. But at the same time, I think it's important for people to assess that return on emotion. You might have a dreamy life. You might be doing exactly what you want and sure you could produce more.   But if you're off work at say two or three o'clock every day and you work two or three days a week and you're shelling and seven fifty to a million in profit, not a bad lifestyle. So I think it's also important to assess like what you ultimately want and what your return on emotion is before just saying like, I'm going to build because this is the way to do it. I think if you're looking at your practices as a business model, which I personally think a lot of us should look at it that way, ⁓ just to see what you what you ultimately want, what's your end game. And that's also where I love financial advisors of   Like what is your total term? Like where do you want to get? Does it make sense to grow? Does it make sense to stay where I'm at? ⁓ I think oftentimes we, we forget that return on emotion and how that is. We always think of like return on investment, but what does that return on emotion too? So just want to put a plug of like, I think everyone's on their own path, their own journey. Definitely agree. There are lots of ways that you can be insanely profitable and having multiple practices is a great, great, great business play. And you're able to help more practices. I'm all in favor.   You're gonna have multiple locations. Make sure you're doing awesome dentistry because sure, it can be very lucrative. Just be ethical because I think that plays out long-term. So Chris, with that, what are some of the metrics you guys look at? Because I agree, I love to hear people's metrics. I think we're pretty closely aligned with you guys on metrics, which is another reason I really love working with you guys and your clients.   speaker-1 (18:32) So I think if you ⁓ were to survey the Academy of dental CPAs and all of their, what you see them put out statistically, they're gonna tell you the metric of one to 2 % for marketing. When you go and you immerse yourself in the DSO world and their conferences and get to know what they're doing, you're gonna see more of an average of six to 8 % reinvestment into marketing. DSOs have a harder time with retention. They have more patients going out the back door. Private practices.   degraded retention, but they don't often invite enough people to the party. So we don't go by the one to 2 % number. think that's an area where people try to, they're trying to keep costs down. You know, your business is the greatest asset that you own that provides the greatest return and you have the most control over. So you should be reinvesting in it more than you reinvest in the stock market or anything else. So our metric for marketing is three to 8%. Private practices, like to see at least three to five.   I mean, excuse me, in GP practices, in specialty practices, especially like orthodontics, needs to be on the higher end. Team expenses between 20 to 30%. We certainly try to keep that under 30%. Team expense does not include doctors. Okay. So that's all of your, all of your, uh, your, your entire team, including a hygienist as well, but not doctors, uh, dental supplies somewhere five to nine, five to 10 % labs.   speaker-0 (19:36) Yes, absolutely.   speaker-1 (19:58) four to 7%. So again, those dental supplies and labs really should not be greater than roughly 15 % total. Rent and facilities, five to 9%. What does that mean? So if you have a high percentage in your rent and facility costs, if your rent facility is let's say nine, 10, 11%, that means you're probably not maximizing the space and getting the collections that is possible there. Again, using that revenue per chair metric.   When you're on the lower end, if you have 4 to 5 % rent of facility, means you're running very efficiently. You're probably going to be running out of space and need to expand or potentially relocate or get another location. And then there's general administrative costs somewhere in the range of 4 to 10%, depending on the practice type and what additional folks they have.   speaker-0 (20:48) Cool.   speaker-1 (20:50) That's it on everything.   speaker-0 (20:51) No, I love it so much because I think so often people don't look at their P &Ls and they don't even know what they should be targeting for. It's just like, well, do I have money left over or do I not? And then I don't know. like all of that combined should equal about 50 % there. Is that correct? Those are 50 % and then doctor pays 30 % to give a 20 % profit margin. And then you subtract debt services from that. that kind of your guys' model? That's what I've heard. It's what I typically recommend.   speaker-1 (21:18) Roughly. mean, yeah. You know, I, the most ideal is that I think when the average doctor starts to work with us, their profit margin is in the twenties, the 20 % range. our goal is to get them into the forties. Okay. And everyone does chase this like 50 % number, but I will tell you that eventually if you have to scale again, if you have to reinvest, that's the part like you're, drive yourself nuts. Would you rather have, you know, 50 % of 1 million or do you rather have 40 % of 3 million? Right.   You know, and that's that. So it's not always just about that overhead percentage. Uh, it is about if you choose to scale and you're, you're buying, you're reinvesting some of your, your overhead percentage, you're reinvesting some of your money to buy back your time. Like you said earlier, okay. Um, whether that's on multiple doctors or not, you know, being a slave to the chair is difficult and high risk to you as a business owner. It's one of the riskiest business models there is.   speaker-0 (22:12) Right.   I think that that's such a good point.   But guys, you don't know, can, Pro-Fi is fantastic. You can reach out to them, have them help you with your PNLs. Also your current CPAs, you can get a chart of accounts and give them these percentages and say, this is where I want it to be. Help me get there, give me some information because a lot of CPAs are not dental specific and they might not know these industry standards. And I agree with you. I also think it's important to think of growth years and also profit years. Some years you are definitely massively.   reinvesting into the practice and you might not be sitting at as high of an overhead, but you're doing it with the intent. Like when I bring on new team members, when you bring on new doctors, your overhead is going to go down. It should go down because you are investing and you're growing, but you need those people. This year on Dental A Team is a growth year. I am heavily bringing on new team members. My overhead is not as great as it has been in the past years. But if I, like you said, chase that X number of overhead and never invest in that growth,   I can't get to the next level of where I wanna go. So I thought that was really, really helpful. Thank you for that, Chris. And I know now we wanna spin over to Brent. Brent's been hanging out silently over there of some tax things. And I do love that you guys ying and yang on practice metrics because that's what we're all about. And then the tax world that I'm like, here's the thing. Here's my take on taxes. I am so grateful to live in a country where I get to pay taxes to have my own business. Like I truly think that is a massive blessing of the country we live in.   With that said, I also think it's my responsibility as a business owner to be as savvy as I can on taxes and not overpay on taxes because I'm just dumb and I'm not actually looking at strategy using smart people beyond myself to do it. So Brent, I'm so jazzed. Talk to us kind of about some tax things that you've been thinking of that your clients are dealing with.   speaker-2 (24:00) Yeah, absolutely. So I remember a few early evening calls with you and you're calling and saying help.   speaker-0 (24:06) It was in December last year, like literally right before the end of the year. And I was like, Brent, I owe so much dang money in taxes. Any ideas? It's fine, guys. It's fine.   speaker-2 (24:19) One of the foundations of Pro-Fi that we built it on is education. So we are very big believers in educating our clients to understand, first and foremost, how do you even generate taxes? So the number of conversations we have with dentists that just don't have a basic understanding is really astounding to me. So we first take an approach of, you have to understand how do you generate income tax? You generate income tax by the salary or W-2 you take.   and profit. The key thing here is it does not matter if you take a dollar of that profit out of the business, you still owe tax on the profit. So here, when you're looking at your P &L, let's say a doctor has a half a million dollars of profit and they choose not to take it home and leave it in the business, they will still pay tax on half a million dollars. I had a call today, the exact conversation is like, why didn't take any of the money home?   speaker-0 (25:18) It doesn't matter. were profitable brother, sister, like rock on. Happy day for you.   speaker-2 (25:23) You know, as Chris was alluding to, if you choose to reinvest in the practice, do marketing or other items like that that are deductible, that will obviously reduce your burden. The second thing, the second biggest mistake is don't underestimate your effective tax rate. So Chris and I have, we call it, I guess the golden rule or the 40 % tax rule. And that is geared towards over-preparing a business owner when it comes time to send in those quarterly estimates.   And I'll come back to that one in a minute, but the 40 % tax rule, if you have a pen, I would write that down because that is a rule to live by. And also ask your CPA advisor, whoever they are, whether it's us or your other another CPA, ask them before you make the decisions. So I got a call yesterday from a doctor in South Carolina. He's like, hey, I want to buy a machine that's going to cost me $85,000. My equipment rep said I'd get a 40 % tax deduction.   Just about that much.   speaker-0 (26:23) That was a clever salesperson.   speaker-2 (26:26) Yeah, they all do it. We love equipping reps. No badging equipment reps. But understanding, depending upon your entity type, whether or not you will be able to deduct that in the current year is a huge thing that you have to understand. Chris and I have seen so many doctors over the years that have come to us after the fact. And I think we've done a great job of educating, hey, I bought this equipment, it's $100,000.   When we do the tax return, it's like, you're not involved deducted. They're like, why not? The equipment reps that I could. So just make call your advisor before you do it. That's the best thing you can do for yourself.   speaker-0 (27:02) Well, and I, to that point, I just say like, you should have experts on your board as a business owner, people that you genuinely trust for taxes. And like you said, ask them, ask your rep about the best products and what they're seeing of results within the patient's mouth. Cause that's where they're experts. But I'm just going to put a massive plug, like, gosh, the number of dollars I have spent personally, because I didn't ask,   If we can save anybody even a couple of grand, like you're welcome. You're welcome. Just ask, ask before you do it.   speaker-2 (27:36) Right, absolutely. Then I kind of look at what are some things that you can do to make sure you're not blindsided by that tax surprise? ⁓ One thing we do is we always recommend in your business, you have to run multiple bank accounts. And one of those bank accounts is a tax savings account. Your business should fund and pay for your personal tax bill. So think about like ⁓ grandmother's cash envelope system.   create different buckets in the business, move the money out of your OpEx account because, know, like for me, if I have 20 bucks, $20 in cash in my pocket, I'm going to spend it. But if I put it away in the bucket where it's intended, it'll be there when I need it.   speaker-1 (28:18) My bucket, right?   speaker-0 (28:19) Yes, you can just send them my way this year Chris. It's fine Brent. It's fine I'll take him but Brent I want to speak so highly to that because ⁓ It really does help. I will also put a plug of like have really good financial planners and tax planners with you because I am actually really really good at saving money for taxes What I really get frustrated with is when it comes to December and I have been saving and I have been putting that away ⁓   And then they're like, Kiera, you owe an extra X amount. And I'm like, what the heck? I've even saved this. So that's where I also think it's really pro to have really good CPAs that are that actually no tax. So I am curious. You guys tell me the truth, because I don't know how this works. I'm not a CPA, but I swear every year I get a call December 1st and it's like almost a double what I've already saved for the whole year. And I'm a saver. Like I don't spend a dime in my business.   speaker-1 (29:14) call you get all year long, Kiera.   speaker-0 (29:16) It's not well, I have a monthly call with them and we even plan for taxes, but this year my quarterly taxes It's okay guys. I'm interviewing new cpas. It's okay. my cpn doesn't listen to the podcast I don't think if so, it's great. We've had a good run for several years But like that's where I get a surprise. Is it common? Should you be getting a surprise call on december 1st? If you've got good tax people, and you've been planning and preparing and putting money aside all year long is that   speaker-1 (29:41) As you answer this question for her and I would go over safe harbor estimates, but Kiera to set you up for what Brent's going to say. What happens is somebody tells you a number and you kind of start to operate like a zombie and you're like, okay, I put that number away, put it away and you did it. And you're like, okay, I put the number where you told me, but at the same time you're trying to grow your business.   speaker-0 (30:06) To that point though Chris I'm gonna like back on this because I think I'm actually a really smart business owner But every freaking year this happens. I'm trying to fix this and hopefully someone   speaker-1 (30:15) I think it has to do with your growth.   speaker-0 (30:18) I   overestimated what my growth would be this year. So I said I was going to be double what I was last year and we're coming in at about a 70 % growth of what I was last year. So I gave my CPA a 30 % extra window to project on me and we're still coming up a hundred, I'll say a different number, but I'm coming up more than I had saved.   almost three times as much as they had saved for me. cause I get burned every single year. So I'm like a squirrel with nuts and I put away for tax savings in my company because I never know what I'm going to owe. And it scares me. So with that said, I agree with growth. If you can, if you can project where you're going to go and you're having consistent quarterly meetings with your CPA, is it common to still have a massive like uptick in December? I would ask.   speaker-1 (31:04) No, it's not.   So look, to keep it simple, like, you know, I'm kind of talking on the managerial accounting side of things and Brent's talking on the tax side of things. If you're meeting with that accountant and you look at that bottom line profit, okay, you owe 40 % of that profit, whether you took it home or not. And then if you made any estimated tax payments, you can subtract those tax payments from that 40%. Okay. ⁓ And then you can apply some deductions and maybe bring the number down.   speaker-0 (31:24) Agreed.   I'm asking for a friend hashtag myself right now I mean I get better every year around taxes because I hate the surprise and I think most people do but I also wanted to point out I'm like I think I'm pretty savvy with business I talked to a ton of CPAs like this isn't like my first day running a business So and I'm happy to hear and with that 40 % So here's another thing that I've also which maybe I'm just dumb Maybe I'm just coming around the block to this so you guys can tell me ⁓ but it's 40 % of the profit correct like   And that profit also includes my W-2 as a business owner. So I've got to like...   speaker-1 (32:10) That profit is after your W-2. Hopefully your W-2, you have normal withholdings. Sure. you're like zero or one, you can kind of pretty much say, hopefully the federal and state taxes are all withheld from that for you. Right. have to worry about it. Okay. It's the profit that's left over after your W-2 and all the other expenses of the business you have 40 % on. So Brent, tell her about what happens at the beginning of the year.   When we talk, they those first estimates. think everybody starts to like, they get glued to the estimates and they never update them.   speaker-2 (32:41) Yeah, so a couple things. So, Kiera,   speaker-0 (32:45) Call   you in December, Brent. We're going to have this conversation in year two.   speaker-2 (32:49) Maybe we should start in January for next.   speaker-0 (32:51) I like that strategy is much better. I'm like I've even I started my tax meetings in July this year guys Like this is how much I'm paranoid and I'm like they're just shelling a ton on me again And I'm like how does it happen every year? I don't I don't understand so   speaker-2 (33:05) Here's a trend I noticed over the last four years. you know, there was in 2017, there was the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which changed the tax code. also changed. There's also been changes to the payroll tax tables. So I would take UW2, look at your federal tax withheld and divide that by your taxable wages in box one. More than likely, it's going to be in the 10 to 12 % range.   If you were in the 40 % tax bracket, you're already 30 % short on your taxes. Let's say you pay yourself $100,000. If you're 30 % short, that's a five digit dollar. So that's where I'd first start. And that is very, very, very common. You will not see any withholding in a W-2 being over 25 % unless you manually requested that from the payroll company.   speaker-0 (33:39) Right.   speaker-2 (34:01) bonuses or automatically taxed at 25%, but your regular payroll is probably in the 10 to 12 % range. So that's one reason it's happened. What Crystal's talking about, so let's say that we prepare your return in April. So let's say your 2020 return and every accountant will do what's called a safe harbor tax estimate, which basically says your estimates will be 110 % of your prior year tax.   speaker-1 (34:30) The IRS wants you to put 10 % more than last year away, like pay them in advance. They like you to do it quarterly because collecting money once a year is a bad business model.   speaker-0 (34:40) And it's a bad business model.   speaker-2 (34:42) So like Chris said, when a client gets those estimates, and let's say they're $25,000 a quarter, they are fixed on $25,000 a quarter. So what we do is with all of our clients in June and early July, we actually run tax projections or mock tax returns the upcoming year. We pull their year to date profit, we get all their deductions and we project out if that original safe harbor estimate has changed.   Then we do it again in November and early December to make sure that you're still on track and also looking for additional ⁓ tax strategies. But to answer your question from earlier, should you be surprised with a big number? No, not if you're doing proper planning.   speaker-0 (35:30) with like a little variance, but I just want to point that out because I think so many business owners get scared of taxes and this year, don't worry guys, it's on my vision board by the age of 36. I will be a tax expert. I look at it every single night. I have no desire to be a CPA, but I really think it's important as business owners to educate yourself on taxes and like you said to plan and to save for it because otherwise it's just this always surprise bill that creates stress. For me as a business owner, I know often I just feel like   I don't dare spend money because I'm gonna get hit with this big unknown. And so I'm like this girl, I literally have four tax savings accounts in my business right now. And they're in like four different business accounts, so my CPA can't see them all. Because I'm like, you come to me every year with this huge surprise and every year it's like double what I thought you were gonna say. And like I'm grateful to be very successful in what we do. However, I don't think business owners should be surprised, especially if you have a good CPA. So I just wanted to like find out like, that normal?   I feel like I'm on the anomaly, but good to know on that.   speaker-1 (36:33) Tax surprises cause cash flow problems.   speaker-2 (36:39) So Kiera, let me quantify that one of   speaker-0 (36:41) Guys,   don't worry. Everyone on the podcast, this is a Cura therapy session. You're welcome to be attending this. So we're glad.   speaker-2 (36:48) So can there be a tax surprise? Yes. The reason the tax price might happen is if you told your CPA, hey, I'm going to be doing these improvements and they're going to be done by December 31st. If in December you tell them, well, it didn't work out and I'm not going to have all these expenses. And yes, you're going to, you're going to get a surprise because you didn't, your plan didn't follow through. The other thing is talking about the separate tax account in the business. It's,   speaker-0 (37:12) That's fair.   speaker-2 (37:18) Absolutely recommended, but the most important part is you cannot spend it on anything but your tax bill. You cannot not rob Peter to pay Paul. That is probably the biggest mistake you could make is saying, well, I'll take it now. I have eight months to put it back in.   speaker-0 (37:34) That's like that makes my heart stop. I feel so stressed for people and also for anyone who wants to know like you I wish you could see the zoom right now with me Brent and Chris You know these guys love what we're talking about because Brent is literally getting like so excited and so animated talking about this So that's just when you know people are good at what they do I get so geek I'll geek out on dentistry and systems and like how we can help you and they're jazzing about some some tax benefits here So I agree. I think that if you aren't doing that, I also like the thought of 40 %   Do you guys recommend, because I know another piece to it, which I realized this year was like charitable contributions. I'm LDS. And so having charitable contributions, 10 % is something that I was like, that was funny. We didn't prepare for that. So that's like another check that I wasn't planning. And then also like SEP and 401ks. Do you guys have anything that you recommend for that of having a tax savings fund, but also building up those other funds and those payments that you'll be making to reduce your tax bill? Yes.   but those are also pretty big expenses, depending upon how your business does every year. How do you guys manage or navigate that? Or should I just be saving more? Because again, I'm like building these funds up to this, I've got four accounts, because I stress out about it.   speaker-2 (38:44) So Chris, I'm gonna let you take that one on the cashflow. It's really cashflow planning.   speaker-1 (38:48) Yeah, a lot of questions in there.   speaker-0 (38:50) Cool, like I said, this is why I podcast guys, because I can ask my own personal questions.   speaker-1 (38:57) In terms of okay, should you be doing okay. what do you want me to start a chair charitable chair?   speaker-0 (39:03) Just   like I think that a lot of people might get quote-unquote surprised at the end of the year because not only do we have a tax bill to pay, we have charitable contributions that we're paying. We also have 7401Ks. Like there are quite a few other funds that need to be paid out again to reduce our tax bills to help us. But those are also cashflow that you need to have on hand as a business owner to be able to front that money. So I've been also thinking that could be why other people feel like it's a surprise at the end of the year, just all lumped into taxes when it is just other pieces to help reduce that tax bill for you.   speaker-1 (39:33) if   something is important to you, then it needs a separate bank account. if charitable giving is important to you, I think you should have a separate bank account so you can visually see that you've got it ready to pay. And in order to make it tax deductible, it does need to be a 501C3. can't just be any random, say, it's... Right? So ⁓ when it comes to all of the retirement accounts, mean, ⁓ 401Ks and IRAs and simple IRAs and all of that,   speaker-0 (39:51) about last year.   speaker-1 (40:02) Roth, that's like the smallest fraction. That's like the, you know, the entry level league of the tax code in terms of savings. And it's, it's really kind of the stuff that the masses can do. I certainly think it's important to save and save for retirement. think when you're a business owner and let me say this, mean, upfront, I'm a contrarian. I think when you're a business owner, you have to be a contrarian and know that not everything applies to you the same way as everyone else. Sure. I, my bias is I have a much.   stronger tendency to say, you know, spend the money in your business or put the, I should say, invest, reinvest the money in your business for growth, because it's going, there's an asset value to that, to that business. need to learn what that is and what you one day can exit it for. And it creates, gives you the most, you know, income. ⁓ If you put money into a 401k or you put money into marketing in your business, you get the same tax deduction. So that's a question. If you're looking for like year end stuff, you know,   You could put the money into the, into the retirement plan, or you could prepay some expenses for next year. ⁓ You lot of people, think don't trust their business, which is weird because it's the thing you have the most control over, but they don't trust their own business. Typically it's cause they're not really great at managing their own cashflow and having discipline. And so they're, they're hesitant to invest the money in the business. And they'd rather go roll the dice and put it in the stock market. And at the time of this podcast recording, let me tell you.   We are in a recession. It has already begun. Everything is very high. Stock market's high. Real estate is high. Your business is one of the safest places to put your money right now. It provides you an inflation hedge, okay? And it creates revenue. ⁓ And it's tax deductions. I'm a big believer in putting the money into your business or getting another business. I think Brent can talk about, know, people ask us like, what are some of the largest   speaker-0 (41:47) Right.   speaker-1 (41:56) deductions you can play in. Like what, are the bigger things you can do outside of a 401k? Tax deductions. Generally speaking, the tax code rewards you for doing things that improve our economy. And that's primarily investing in businesses, you know, adding another location, employing people and commercial real estate, commercial real estate is a big one. Again, commercial real estate's really high right now. It may not be the perfect time to be buying or building. Cause all of the costs are really high.   save that cash, even if you have to pay some taxes, save the cash for liquidity for the tough times. when this recession happens, most practice owners are going to stop investing in their business, they're to stop marketing. And you got to do the opposite. That is the time where you can do all of that at its lowest cost. that's when millionaires are really made is during recession. So I'm going on a tangent now. You got me passionate   speaker-0 (42:50) No,   I like it. I like hearing it because I like thinking of other things. think so often you said it really well of business owners want to contract. They want to not reinvest in themselves. It's like, well, like let's put it in the stock market because that's what I heard that we should do. But I really do love that mindset. And that's why I love podcasting. That's why I love talking to different people. This is why I bring you guys on here because I purposely, intentionally bring different ways of thinking out there. You've got to make your own decisions.   But I'm a big like when people are zigging, I want to zag. So right now real estate's hot. Commercial's hot. The stock market's hot. Like I literally am sitting here just thinking like, here, just sit on some cash. Like, like you said, I might have to pay more taxes on it, but sit on that cash because you know, it's going to drop. And during that time, that's when you do the exact opposite of what everyone else is doing. So I really love that advice. And I think it's wise and it's prudent. I also love what you said, Brent, of having the 40%.   A lot of people say do 30%, but agreed a lot of dentists do tip into that 40 % tax bracket. And I would much rather over prepare than under prepare. Chris, to your point, I really love also having the buckets for like we said, charitable contributions, if you're going to do ⁓ 401ks, but I really, agree with you too. I think reinvest in your business. Look to see, I do end of year spending. I look to see what I could reinvest in, what things are gonna propel us the most. I look at marketing, I look at website rebuilds, I look at.   Different softwares that are going to propel us forward different ways to make our our practice more efficient What things are really going to invest in our company and our team? To make it and then I just do fun things like, know trips places I definitely don't get much ROI on that except for emotional ROI, but I know I know this is a longer podcast guys I really hope and I also hope team members listening realize that this is not just for business owners. I think that this is also   Individual tax prepping make sure you are preparing look for ways that you can reinvest in yourself What things could you prepare for what things can you build out? Do you have separate savings accounts for different things that you're going to maybe you don't have to save for taxes But guess what maybe one day you will be a business owner So teach yourself the discipline to save now to look for reinvestment. I also think is super valuable. So I want   speaker-1 (45:05) team members, for those team members, what side hustle can you create? What side of business can you create? know, and what, what commercial or what even residential property, rental property could you create to give yourself rental income? And there are deductions that come along with that. But if all you do is just do your day to day job, whether you own a business or don't own a business, you're not going to save anything in taxes, nothing significant. got it. You got to create some value in the world out there.   speaker-0 (45:29) Agreed. say deliver the biggest and best value. So you guys teased me. So I want to wrap up our podcast with some things to not be doing. You guys have kind of like a hit list right now of some things, some tips that a lot of us might be doing that are cracking down. I know I have been privy to some of these things as well. So take us away. We'll wrap this up with just some, some of that hit list of what not to do. ⁓ and   you know, as we get in there, thank you guys for sharing all that you have. Thank you for doing a personal session with me already. So I'm excited for the hit list now.   speaker-2 (46:01) So I would say the biggest one that I've seen is the fascination that doctors have with crypto.   speaker-1 (46:01) Go ahead, Brent.   speaker-0 (46:12) Brent, it's because we're bored. We don't know what else to do with ourselves, so we're like, why not throw a little into crypto?   speaker-2 (46:17) Here's the problem. So I have about a half a dozen doctors over last six months. They called me and said, Hey, I put $200,000 into the crypto market, Bitcoin. And I'm like, really? Where did you, where did you write the check from for that investment from the practice? Here's the problem. If that practice is an S corporation and they invest that money in crypto and they hit it big, they could potentially blow up their IRS S corp election.   and the IRS will take it away from you. So if you're gonna do investments, do not write the check from your practice. You can take the money home as a distribution, then put it into crypto, but do not do it through your business.   speaker-0 (47:01) This is a moment where I just had like a, I'm like, good. I'm glad I did that at least right. even knowing. Why is that?   speaker-1 (47:03) Sorry.   So that one, I mean, that one can cause some serious damage. ⁓ But the other ones that I think nobody wants to hear when they're listening to this, and I get in all these battles on social media, Facebook groups and all that. But the two things that come up over and over and over again that everybody's kind of cheating on and they're going to get busted on is number one, paying employees and especially dentists and hygienists, paying them as 1099 contractors.   This is going to get you in trouble not only with the IRS, but with the Department of Labor. And there are some significant penalties. There is a black and white 20 question checklist that the IRS provides. You can Google that. You can find it directly on the IRS website. And it goes through a checklist of yes or no questions to determine if you qualify to be a 1099 independent contractor or if you fit the requirements of a W-2. And to simplify it,   The main thing is the element of control who controls the schedule, who tells you which patients you're seeing and when who's providing all the materials and the tools and equipment. And 99 % of the time, anyone in dentistry falls under the category of an employee. Pretty much have to be a specialist that owns their own separate practice already coming in part time in order for you to 10 99 them. And if you're 10 99ing them, you're 10 and you have to do it to their business. The other thing that doesn't work is when, you know, they're like,   Oh, I'm an individual doctor. I'll just set up an S corp and you can 1099 my escort. The IRS is not stupid. Again, they're they're looking at what are your what is your role within that that place that you're receiving the income from the revenue from. So anyway, everybody hates that. But I'm telling you, I   speaker-0 (48:58) I   don't think it's a, it's not a good place to play with fire. Um, I have a really, really, really awesome unemployment lawyer, um, and employment lawyer. He represents Uber Lyft Red Bull. He's in, um, San Francisco. If you guys need him, he's amazing. Reach out to us. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. Um, but he told me he said, Kiera Uber and Lyft, which I personally think I'm no lawyer guys. I'm not there. Uber and Lyft to me are the epitome of 10 99 contractors.   but they are, ⁓ they're coming down, they're cracking down on it. And ⁓ I have heard that it is no longer just a small offense. It's a pretty big offense if you misclassify. To me, really, I'm a risky person, but I believe in being smart and also paying people the way they should be paid. As much as it's not fun, we transitioned our whole company and I just think play that one safe because labor laws are not something to ever mess with, in my opinion.   speaker-1 (49:51) Yep. And you know, the government has shelled out a lot of money through this pandemic and they've got to collect it and get it back. And they're going to get that back from small business owners. And, ⁓ you know, our, our dependent care systems of Medicare and social security are very fragile right now. And that's the one thing they do not want you to screw with. And so they collect that money through W2 payroll. They're going to, they're going to force more and more than everybody's W2, especially in the occupation of dentistry. Second thing is the cars. Okay. Everybody wants to run their cars through the business.   You might be allowed to run a car through your business. It depends on what type of business you're in. If you're in real estate and you're showing houses and you're driving your clients around, you can probably write your car off through your business. But in dentistry, you're going to sit across the table from an auditor and they're going to say, what does a car have to do with the business of dentistry? The IRS tax code says that your business expenses must be ordinary and necessary to the business for them to be deductible.   What does the car have to do with the business of dentistry? How is a vehicle ⁓ justified as 100 % business use as a necessary use in order to do dentistry?   speaker-0 (51:00) What if it's a wrapped vehicle that's marketing?   speaker-1 (51:03) That's different. there are very specific guidelines in the IRS tax code about what is marketing for a vehicle. must be fully wrapped. It can't just be magnets. It can't just be stickers. But it has to be significant that's used for marketing. What we find is not a lot of doctors want to wrap their test up.   speaker-0 (51:23) Because they're ticked off with the patient that Ruekinaal didn't go super well and they're cutting people off on their drive home and you don't really want your flashy business to be that car.   speaker-1 (51:31) Right. I mean, and to make it legitimate, mean, the car has to be legally registered in the business name. It has to be covered under business insurance, not your personal insurance. The loan has to be under the business name, not your personal name. And there's a, you know, most people are not doing that. They're doing, they're buying it personally. They're just making the payment out of their, out of their business. And they think that they can deduct the whole thing. And this is not true. There's even greater scrutiny if the business tries to buy, if the dental business tries to buy a vehicle.   and depreciate it, take it as 100 % use. So I know people hate to hear that, but I would just caution everyone listening, stay away from 1099 and cars in your business. But everyone's.   speaker-2 (52:12) doing   it!   speaker-0 (52:13) I heard a really great quote one day and they said Kiera everything's deductible until you get audited and I was like That's really good advice. I appreciate that. So guys, ⁓ Chris and Brent. Thank you guys for coming on the podcast Thank you for being people that I can call Brent. Thank you for being my December, you know midnight hour friend I loved last year. You said care. There's really not much we can do. Maybe we should have done this in January. So ⁓   But truly, I just appreciate you guys helping so many doctors. know you help a lot of our clients. Shout out to those clients that we mutually work together. I love working with CPA companies. I think we're a good peanut butter and jelly together. We help grow the practice, make them more profitable. You guys make sure that their books are in line. Give us the guiding stars of what levers to turn to help the practices. You take care of the taxes. So it's a really good yin and yang and   I hope all of you listening today found a lot of value. Team members, look at this for yourselves. Get the side hustle. I hope this spurred some, some topics, some conversation. Team members, can also help your practices reduce that tax bill. look for ways that you can spend end of year, just different things. So I definitely think team members have a lot of play in this as well. So Chris and Brent, thank you guys so much. It's super fun. If people want to connect with you, ⁓ maybe they're done with their CPA. Maybe they just want to find out if.   There might be another option out there. How can they connect with you? I know you guys specialize in DSOs, larger group practices, but also the solo practices as well. How can people connect if they're interested?   speaker-1 (53:40) Sure, so check us out online at our website, Profi2020.com. That's P-R-O-F-I-2-0-2-0.com. ⁓   speaker-0 (53:47) You did   that because 2020 was such a great year that you guys want to remember. ⁓   speaker-1 (53:53) That marketing plan went out the window. It was 20-20 clarity to give you clarity on your finance.   speaker-0 (53:54) No.   I   just thought I'd throw it out there. So no one will forget Pro-Fi 2020. 2020 was most memorable year guys. Don't forget it. They don't want to forget it ever.   speaker-1 (54:07) We have tons of free videos, a lot of great content on there. Check us out on our YouTube channel, all social media, know, at Profi2020. We're very easy to find. ⁓ But we're managerial accountants. It's way different than financial accountants out there. Make sure you look up that difference and know what you're asking for. ⁓ And we always do free consultations for anyone who would like it.   speaker-0 (54:29) Awesome. Well, Chris and Brent, thank you again so much, guys. Go check them out, Profi2020. Chris and Brent, they are the owners of the organization. So super grateful for you guys coming on here.   Kiera Dent (54:38) I hope you all loved today's episode as much as I did. It is crazy to think that this many episodes have been released since we started the Dental A Team Podcast. And I started looking to say, my goodness, our listeners need to be reminded of some of the things they may have learned a year ago or two years ago or five years ago, because so many things in our practices weren't relevant back then when we heard them, but they are relevant today. And I would be doing you a huge disservice if I didn't re-release some of these episodes for you to remember, to refine.   to optimize and really truly if you ever need a topic or you're like, my gosh, I wonder if the Dental A Team has anything like this, go onto our website, TheDentalATeam.com, click on our podcast tab and you can literally search any topic. So whether it's overhead or hiring or firing or team morale or engagement or case acceptance or hygiene   onboarding or whatever it is, we have so many episodes for you. And so I am going to intentionally be   re-releasing some of the top best episodes for you, pulling back some of the ones that I needed to remember, some of the things that I feel for you to really, really relearn right now and to re-remember, or if it's the first time, welcome. I'm so happy you're listening to it, but I hope you truly enjoyed today's episode. I hope that you share this with somebody. I hope that you go and implement today because we only have one day. We only get today. And so making today the best that it possibly can be. If we can help you in any way, shape or form, reach out Hello@TheDentalATeam.com.   And as always, thanks for listening and we'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team Podcast.

This episode is all about the simple power of a morning huddle. Tiff and Trish talk about the why behind these daily meetings, including what to include versus not include, how to look for opportunities in the schedule, why everything goes a lot smoother with a bit of communication. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: The Dental A Team (00:00) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. We are back at you again. We've got another fun topic today. This is one, honestly, we talk about these a lot. We talk about morning huddles. That's what we're gonna do, spoiler alert, morning huddles. We talk about these a lot, but I feel like we have not had an awesome recording, an awesome podcast recording on this in quite a little while. So I'm actually super excited for what's to come. And I've got Ms. here with me today. ​ cleared her calendar for some podcasting time with me today, which I always appreciate and adore. And we're actually, we pre-record these, you guys know this, so I'm just gonna drop this now. It kind of makes it a little funky, because this may be the end of March. I'm not sure where you're gonna get this, where this drops, so enjoy. But we're getting ready for our in-person mastermind. We'll be having another one in September, so that's why I don't mind talking about it. It's the end of February now, recording for March. But we're getting ready for our in-person event. ​ Literally two days from now. I can't believe that I moved podcasting here, but Trish I think we were I was at least sick I had to reschedule everybody's been sick, but holy cow what an amazing week I feel like the energy and the team is is crazy We've got a slew of doctors and office managers coming to Phoenix tomorrow ⁓ At the airport is gonna be wild and I'm excited to see everybody in person Trish. How are you? How excited are you for this mastermind? ​ Trish Lee Ackerman (01:26) so jazzed. They've just been so fun. It's one, it's always just neat to actually be able to like touch the people that we work with, hug the people that we work with, shake hands with the clients, with the new clients, and just on site is always just really, really, really fun. So I am very, excited for this and our weather is perfect for the people that are coming from the cold. So they'll be very happy. The spouses that are attending will really be enjoying the pool. It's just going to be a great, a great experience for everybody. ​ The Dental A Team (01:43) I agree. ​ I agree. think end of February in Phoenix has to be one of the best ideas we've ever had. I remember a couple years ago I have a practice out in Georgia and she and her girlfriends do, they do trips every year and it's this girls trip and it's so cute and it's so fun and they came out here and it was, it would have been like two weeks ago our time now so beginning of February which is always, February in Phoenix is, I think it's the best time. ​ of the year to be in Phoenix. Hands down, February in Phoenix is my favorite month. And it poured. And it was freezing. And she's like, girl, we came here because it was snowing at home. And I was like, I they went to Sedona and it was freezing. And I was like, ⁓ dang it. But now, fast forward, this weekend ⁓ is literally the best time of the year to be here. And when we go in person, the reason this is super relevant is we do ​ Trish Lee Ackerman (02:34) I bet. ​ The Dental A Team (02:51) Morning huddles we implement with all of our practices. We strongly believe in them. We will tell you why. When we come in person to you, we get this really cool energy. And gosh, we love being boots on the ground in offices, seeing where you guys work, seeing how you work together, getting that intel and that information. And it's just, I think all consultants can say, sets us on fire. Having you guys all come to us is just like heartwarming in a way. ​ It touches our souls that you want to be here with us and it's just a different, it's a different energy, a different vibration and having so many really cool brains and minds melding together to help one another and seeing the community and the camaraderie is just so cool. And I just, I'm so excited. So we're, we're stoked. The next one's in September. If you're not coming to this one or you're not, by the time you listen to this, you're not reminiscing on how cool it was. ​ You better be here in September. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. That's how you're going to get your ticket. You tell us you want to be here, we'll figure out a way. with that, we won't be talking about morning huddles this week because we do them as consultants. But Trish, morning huddles, I know, are super important. think every consultant probably on Earth right now is like, you should be doing morning huddles, especially Dental A Team consultants. What is your why behind a morning huddle? ​ How do you explain the practices? How do we convince the people here that are like, we don't need morning huddle. What's your why? ​ Trish Lee Ackerman (04:28) My why is because number one, communication to me is always like, you're never going to lose from communicating. When you have everybody on the same page in the morning to kind of start to direct the show for the day, it prepares you for those hiccups that can actually come up. There's this, I might have shared this with you, Tiff, there's this, and I don't remember the name of it, but it's a Navy SEAL video. And basically the title of it is like, if you want to change the world, make your bed every morning. ​ The Dental A Team (04:55) Yes. ​ Trish Lee Ackerman (04:58) When I watched that, was like, making the bed every morning, that's the morning huddle for the dental teams. And what he shares is like, if you can't do a simple task, like make your bed in the morning, how are you supposed to be prepared as your day goes on to face something more challenging? Because that's a simple task. The morning huddle is also, it's a pretty simple task, but it's kind of a big one because you get to look at this. Yes, you get to look at the schedule as a team. ​ We don't need to go patient by patient by patient. Everybody can see that they're on the schedule. What we're looking for is our opportunities and to celebrate a win. Like do we have a win from yesterday? That will certainly get the team charged up. But what is happening today? Who's coming in and where are the opportunities, especially like say from the hygiene department, who's coming in on the hygiene schedule today with an existing treatment need? It's clear it's there because they didn't do it last time. ​ We talk to them about it. when can we collaborate real quick on what are we going to do differently today? Do we need new photography? Like what's the story with that patient? But it's to align us as a team, note, like find our places. Like this would be a good place for an emergency. And, and again, just create clarity and accountability on what that day looks like right now. We know the dentistry changes many times and can throughout a day. ​ However, again, when we orchestrate together as a team in the morning and we start to direct the show, those days will, it's almost like it's guaranteed they're going to flow easier. They just are. ​ The Dental A Team (06:38) Yeah, ​ in compare to pull out your, your Navy SEAL video and like really combine those pieces. What you, what you said in there was preparing for preparing for the day. If you can do this task, like when something more difficult comes along. So it made me think as you're speaking there, you're saying, talk about the unscheduled treatment and what are we going to do differently? Because what I, what that said to me that I smashed those two things together in my brain. And I thought, well, if I'm the ​ hygienist or dental assistant and then I'm like, okay doc, what do you want to do? One, efficiency is my jam. One, that is a waste of time. If I've got the patient there but I have to wait for the doctor to come in to have a conversation about the treatment that was on there, we're losing time, we're losing trust, we're losing an opportunity. And then two, if I have to troubleshoot those all day, we haven't already troubleshot them, I'm troubleshooting those all day. ​ and my mill breaks, my mill, my crown broke in the mill. And now I'm troubleshooting that. Plus I've got another patient coming in that has unscheduled treatment that I'm responsible for that I have to get scheduled and I have to get their re-care. But this thing just over here, and now the ultrasonic is spilling water all over the floor. Like if I could have gotten all of those other small, like making the bed style stresses out in the morning with my team informed plans, this broken crown. ​ The ultrasonic, the phones went down, the internet isn't working today. My car broke and I can't get to my appointment. All of these things, these happen every day, every single day. So I think Trish, you'd like, I talk about morning huddles all the time, you guys, but you just changed it. You just even changed the small perspective for me just now and got me lit up of how can I help practices reduce small variable stresses. ​ so that those big stresses have space to live. ​ Trish Lee Ackerman (08:37) Right. Yep. That's exactly it. And if the doctor, you know, let's say there is a nine o'clock patient coming in that has unscheduled treatment from the last visit, but the doctor is now, like his time has now been used up with an emergency and his other patient has three composites that are trying to That's how he's fun. Now, hygienist is always already prepared because we talked about it this morning. We know new photography is going to be necessary and ask the right question. The doctor may not even need to go in there. ​ The Dental A Team (08:55) Yeah. ​ Trish Lee Ackerman (09:07) during that particular time. So it's just the organization of those what ifs that can happen throughout the day. Many teams, what do they usually tell us Tiff? Our huddles aren't productive and we'll go what? Because they literally just sit there and review the schedule. We don't need to. Yeah, I know me too. I'm like, well, no wonder it's boring. That's 15 minutes of your life that you could have slept in 15 more minutes. But when they do just kind of just pull out the meat and potatoes. ​ The Dental A Team (09:08) Yeah. ​ Yeah. ​ And drive's been crazy. ​ Seriously. ​ Trish Lee Ackerman (09:36) Where do we have opportunities on the schedule today? If that, nine o'clock hygiene patient does have existing treatment needs, are we able to slide them over and say, 10, can we make some other things work? And when they do it more like that, when they look at it more as like they're trying to design the business for the day versus just review who's coming in for the day, then they do find them way more productive. ​ The Dental A Team (10:02) Yeah, I completely agree. I thought, Trish, as you were talking there too, I thought how many doctors complain, how many team members are listening today and you can hear your doctor say, how do you not have an x-ray? Or they come in the room or how many hygienists, I know even as a dental assistant, I get so frustrated if he walked in the room and he's like, I need an x-ray. And I'm like, ⁓ I could have had that for him. Like I could have been prepared. I want to be a step ahead. ​ so that we're saving those spaces. And you mentioned like doing the treatment today, same day treatment. If we've already talked about it as a dental assistant, I've preset a tray, not opened, right? But I've got everything that I need that I can throw in a room for when that patient says yes, because we already talked about it. But being a dental assistant, and I speak from the dental assistant space, because I was a dental assistant for a really long time, and I loved it. And being the dental assistant, it would drive me nuts when I didn't have ​ the space, the capacity or the forethought. I didn't know something was coming. And then the hygienist comes at me frantic and rushed because she's like, my gosh, he wants to do this now. And he said it and I didn't, and I'm like, okay, like I'm taking on your energy. And I'm like, my gosh, like now everybody's frantic. And now the feeling goes wrong. And what should have been 30 minutes just took an hour and a half. And the patient that should have been fine, that had a scheduled appointment is now waiting because we just, we weren't prepared. ​ And then I think I offended an office once I didn't mean to but I think I did because they're they loved the doctors loved to go through every single appointment and literally to the point of like 20 modl and I'm like, are we talking about it because it should be a crown? No, that's what we're doing And so I told them like you're just basically telling your team that you can't they can't read a schedule ​ Trish Lee Ackerman (11:48) I'm not wearing glasses. ​ That's exactly it. ​ The Dental A Team (11:57) you should ​ have already done this. Everyone should have already looked at the schedule and if you want to meet with your dental assistants and powwow for every single appointment that way, by all means, but your hygienist in your front office, they were checked out 20 minutes ago. They're out. I think I slightly offended them, but they changed it and they left it. It was fine. Sometimes that's my job, right? It's like, sometimes we have to say the things you don't want to hear and move forward with grace. So we did it. ​ And then you you mentioned well when you mentioned a lot of practices are like they're not productive. I agree. So Trish agrees Sometimes they're not productive. So we come in and we help you make them productive another thing that I hear that I've had to troubleshoot with some offices and I know you have as well is We can't all be there early enough right maybe I have some doctors right I have some moms that drop their kids off in the morning and so they're really kind of skating in or some hygienists that are kind of skating in and ​ Or they've got split shifts. So they've got so many people that they've got multiple, you know, shifts coming in. And I've got some things that I've trouble shot, but what do you, how do you help them navigate that as well Trish to still get the prep and we call it like winning your day. Like how are we, how are we going to win today? ​ Trish Lee Ackerman (13:11) That is a common one, especially for like the larger practices. You know, I have a doctor, I have a practice that there's five doctors, everybody's coming in at different times. So what we have done with that team is they just have, have like mini huddles with their OM. So before, you know, if the, let's say one group comes in at eight, next group comes in at nine, that group comes in at 8.45 and they meet with the OM. So the OM sometimes it's like on some days does depend. She's having three separate huddles. ​ but she's running them just as efficiently as if it was an entire group. So those team members that are coming in at the later shifts, their focus is on like their columns, their hygienists that they're working with that day and the doctor. But as far as like getting out of it, there's always a solution to have a huddle, like always. Some teams will say like, well, we could do the end of the day. I never, ever, ever, ever recommend that. ​ The Dental A Team (13:59) always. ​ Trish Lee Ackerman (14:09) People want to go home. Dentistry is hard. It takes a lot out of us. And if you expect a team to want to sit with you at 4 p.m. or 4 30 p.m. to review tomorrow, it's probably going to land on deaf ears. But those other split shifts, that's the way it's handled. So you have your key people. They meet with the O.M. that is, you know, that was present for the main, the big morning. It's just delivered in a smaller group, but the alignment gets to stay the same. ​ The Dental A Team (14:30) All the other ones. ​ Yeah. ​ Yeah, it's like you're running it like there, you have so many doctors. So you're running it, those doctors are essentially working as an office, right? So you're running them as an office rather than like the full office because you're doing that doctor, their assistants, their hygienist and the crew that will be together. So I love that. I've also had a, I've had a doctor, he was, he was a really funny guy, is Louisiana. ⁓ ​ Trish Lee Ackerman (14:46) Exactly. Yeah. ​ The Dental A Team (15:04) And so he just, he was just a funny guy, you know, and he was like, well, me and my truck, right? Like he's coming in with his big dually from an hour away because he lives on a farm. And he's like, I can't, I can't leave any earlier. And I was like, that's fine. You've got speakerphone in your, your truck. It's going to be surround sound. You're there with them on surround sound in your truck. And he was like, you're right. And I'm like, there's no excuse. You're not doing anything else. You're just driving. So. ​ Trish Lee Ackerman (15:29) Okay. ​ Yes. ​ The Dental A Team (15:33) get there and he actually ended up more often than not getting there on time to do the huddle because he was intentional about it. was just, you just have to, you have to get through the block. You know, you have to see that there is a way around and normally you're gonna accomplish what it is that you're trying to do. I also have another office, both of us have been into this office together. We've done them together and they are really good at ​ Blocks, very good at blocks and they have a lot of blocks, a lot of blockers for huddle because they just, they just, they do. The timing is just not right for 90 % of the team. And that's really, that's really hard. And it's kind of, it was kind of defeating almost to them. Like, this is something that I'm hearing you, we should do this, but like, can't, you know, and it was defeating for them. And I was like, cool, do it at lunch. ​ So what they do is they'll do a 15 minute huddle at the end of their lunch hour. So they go to lunch a little early, you know, they kind of adjusted their schedule there and they'll huddle for the next 24 hours. So they do this afternoon and tomorrow morning and then look at tomorrow afternoon, but then split the day. So they're kind of adjusted it a little bit, but they're still meeting. And what you said in the beginning Trish was communication. And for most of my practices, and I think ​ We all experience this, Trish. Doctors come in and they're like, we need systems and our communication sucks. I'm like, well, you have systems and your communication is because you're not talking to each other. And so they're all in their own little worlds. They're in their own lanes. And what happens is we get this idea of what we want it to be in our lane. know my patients. I'm handling my patients. You do you. And we get siloed. And this and handoffs force communication. ​ Trish Lee Ackerman (17:10) Yes. ​ The Dental A Team (17:33) so that the team is a team. We can't be a team without actually talking to one another and it forces that. And so even for the practices that have to do splits, but they're talking to their OM, their OM is the glue, which actually Trish, what you did there and what they've done is solidify even more that the office manager is the glue of the practice because she's the one that they rely on. ​ Trish Lee Ackerman (17:58) the heart of cell. ​ The Dental A Team (18:02) to ensure that they're communicating correctly. it doesn't, morning huddle, nothing we do. Nothing we do has to be exactly the same as the way somebody else did it. And I think that's the beauty of our consulting and the way that we work with our clients is that we are going to take the system and the idea that we know works and we're tailor it around what's going to work for you. So it's not a one size fits all. It's not an everyday at 7.45, everyone in the country. ​ is meeting for a morning huddle. It's just not. And I have other practices that will do it by video, by Slack. So they'll record the morning huddle, and then the office manager is responsible for meeting with them, and they watch the video together. And kind of very similar, but they've got the video, so they've got the input from the first team, because the doctors and the assistants do kind of mingle a little bit more. ⁓ So it's kind of stacking communication throughout the day. ​ But I think the biggest piece there is it's, yeah. ​ Trish Lee Ackerman (19:01) That's another good one. That is a good ​ one. I personally have not had to roll it out, but I've worked with some practices that have done that. And I mean, there was no complaints and I was on a call with Kiera and ⁓ she was talking to a practice about doing that. So mean, there's always a way. There's always a way. It would just be 15 minutes to look at today and maybe even tomorrow, depending on the size of the team. today, today is really the most important. If we can get 15 minutes. ​ The Dental A Team (19:17) Yes. Yes. ​ Trish Lee Ackerman (19:30) somehow, someway, everybody seeing the plan for the day, then it's probably going to be a much better day than it could have been if you didn't have the 15 minutes set aside for this. ​ The Dental A Team (19:41) I agree. ​ I agree. All right, Trish. So thank you. I really wanted this to be on the go. A why on morning huddles? Because we've talked about morning huddles so much before. And most of our practices, at least, are doing them. I think our action items should be, if you are not doing a huddle, what are the top three things, Trish, that you would tell the doctors and practice managers out there to implement tomorrow if they are not doing morning huddle already? ​ Trish Lee Ackerman (20:10) and not even considering it like they're not gonna have it. Okay, then they've got to do, then they've got to have some form of like say a shared Google Doc where there's the schedule and they can put notes. Somebody's gotta have, they've got to have a view of the day with some kind of commentary that they can go in and I mean, Slack there's that, but maybe just the Google Drive, the schedule's there, they add their commentary, it's reviewed. ​ The Dental A Team (20:13) Yep. ​ Trish Lee Ackerman (20:38) They may be even initial so that they've read it. They can add more commentary, but something with this day in the office has got to be reviewed by the key team members for sure. And if that is something that they do, via a shared document, then that's what they do. it's got, like it's kind of a non-negotiable. It's got to happen. They're going to run into chaos. It's not fair to them. ​ and to have just something at a glance, that wouldn't even take 15 minutes. That'd probably be more, maybe even like five if they were doing it individually. But each provider does need to have a key team member with them. They need to review the day and add commentary and read any other commentary that was placed there. ​ The Dental A Team (21:26) Awesome. Thank you. Thank you. Perfect. All right, guys, go take a look at what you're doing. If you're doing morning huddle, phenomenal. Thank you so much. Drop a five-star review below and let us know what you're doing for your huddle because the ideas will flow. People will read those and they will see what you're doing as well. If you're not doing huddle, if you don't want to do huddle, you're still like, guys, don't believe you. Do what Trish just said. I think that is a beautiful idea. If you're ready to implement huddle and you don't know how or you don't ​ Want to get too crazy with it? Number one, reach out to us, Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. We will send you documents, we will send you information, we will help you. Number two, review your numbers, review your schedule for opportunities, meaning unscheduled treatment, unscheduled re-care, and time for limited emergency exams, and prep for how you're gonna win. What is something that went really well, and how can we make today an even better day than yesterday was? ​ So go do the things Trish. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you for sharing all of your tips and your tricks and all of your freaking almost had patience, but your practices. Like you share your practices. Guys, if you are Trish's client, you are flying high and we get to hear about you all the time because Trish just loves you guys to pieces and raves. So thank you Trish. Yeah. All right, everyone drop us a five star review below. Let us know how you're doing, your huddles. Let us know how you enjoyed this podcast and hello. Trish Lee Ackerman (22:44) Thanks, Tiff. The Dental A Team (22:54) Hello@TheDentalATeam.com and also don't forget to ask us how you can be part of September. Okay, bye guys.

Three months into 2026 and the Dental A-Team is already clocking how different patient flow is this year. Kiera talks about optimizing your practice for that unique 2026 patient. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: The Dental A Team (00:00) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera. And today I hope you're just having the best day. I hope that you're realizing things are so good. Things are amazing. I hope that you are just like on cloud nine. And today I'm really excited because this is a topic that I was like just so jazzed about. Cause I realize our patient flow is something that is different for 2026. Like we have it different. It looks different. And I...   I'm just really excited. So if you're new to the Dental A Team podcast, welcome. I'm super excited to be here with you. I hope that you are just jazzed. And I think that, like I said, this is going to be something that is going to be very fun for you. And I hope that you take it on. I hope that you look at it. I hope that you just get excited to like, Hey, amazing. We're going to be able to like fix our 2026 patient flow. So when I look at this, like 2026 is   very, very, very different than what it was even like when I started the company back in 2016. I think patients in 2026, they're not more difficult. They're just super aware of their time. It's not just enough to be good at clinical excellence. You know how to be really easy to do business with. And if patients feel like energy's off or the vibe's not there, they're going to possibly just leave without saying anything. And so I just wanted to come on today   talk to you about some things that I'm seeing in 2026, things that we're seeing with amazing practices that are doing really, really well to help you all, like let's optimize our patient experience, which I know I've talked so many years about patient experience, but I thought like the patient is different today in 2026, they're more used to everything being online. And I think let's not be foolish. We still sometimes have older patients and we need to make sure that we're not adapting everything and changing, but the new generation of patients are definitely a different breed.   than what we had before, which every generation is different. So looking for this, I just want you guys to really like get excited. Welcome to the podcast. I'm Kiera Dent and our job is to help you guys have thriving practices, possibly impacting the world of dentistry and to truly just like make it to where you guys feel like you get tactical practical tips on the podcast. I love hanging out with you. I wanna remind you, you're doing better than you think you are. And if this podcast has inspired you, touch your life in any way.   please be sure to leave us a review. Those five stars keep us top of mind for everybody. And also pop us in Facebook groups, us, tag us on Instagram. We will comment, we will respond to you and we always appreciate it because that is your subtle way of being able to help us infiltrate the world of dentistry in the greatest way possible. So with that, I just want you guys to know that like, ⁓ this patient experience flow is going to help everything improve. And it's for our production, our case acceptance, our team energy, patient loyalty, all of that. So.   Getting this patient flow, I believe is so important. So I think like really, really, really working on the first 15 minutes of our patient experience because patients are gonna decide about your practice immediately and they're gonna look at Google reviews, they're gonna look at your social media presence and then it's gonna be on how they make the phone call. So what's gonna happen for it? Like how can we optimize this? And I think one thing is how is your like...   hello on the phone. So ⁓ even if we need to record it, listen back to it. I put a mirror always with my front office team members. I want them sitting up straight. I want them smiling really, really big, like almost a cheesy grin. People can feel that energy through it. And then I look at like, how can I make it the easiest, smoothest check-in for them to where when they get to my practice, after I won them over the phone, when they come into the office, they feel different. So how can I make sure my check-in is very fast and personable? How can I make sure there's like minimal paperwork that's like   just annoying, iPads that don't work. My team is prep, so when they come and get the patient from the waiting room, they are concierge luxury without the like high price tag of that. Like I just want people when they come into the practice, I feel like people care a lot more about how they feel. They care about the experience of it. I mean, you guys have TikTokers, YouTubers, Instagram people, like that's the world we live in and they are walking everywhere around you. And so...   we make sure that they're going to want to showcase our practice and feel that way on time, getting seated on time. These are big things. feel like time is people's greatest commodity and feeling like they're important is the second. So when we look at it, I think that as I look at my processes, what can we do to speed up our check-in? What can we do to like make our paperwork that is clunky? Could we review? And I'm not saying like have anything where you're not legal. Like, of course we need to keep our standards there and we want to get our health histories, but   Like for me, when I send new patient paperwork, I ask them to send it back to me 48 hours before their appointment to make sure my team can be prepared. Just think of how nice it is for the patient. Like that's how they confirm their appointments. Totally ripped this off of IVF clinics. They're charging me 25 grand plus. And for me to even schedule my first appointment, my paperwork had to be submitted 48 hours before. Like I could not do it, couldn't schedule. And they just set the tone with me. Like this is how they operate. It was fine. I wasn't annoyed by it. Like, great. I got it right back to them.   And then when I got there, they knew all of my history. They took me right back on time. I just felt like it was such a different experience versus someone who's like having me fill out paperwork in the waiting room. I've gone to others. I went to a psychiatrist the other day and I was like, fill out the paperwork in the waiting room. It's just versus the IVF clinic where it's all online, it's seamless, it's very easy. It's not clunky. They text it right to my phone. I can fill it in. I don't have to print things out. I just think, how can you make it to where when they walk in,   It's the feeling and experience you want them to have. And I also think for a lot of practices, identifying what feelings do we want our patients to have. If you need help, go look at your Google reviews, have ChatGPT help you and say like, are the top five feelings that our patients feel when they come in here? And then look to see, is that what I want them to feel? And if it's not, change it up. Like how I feel when I walk into a spa versus when I walk into a dental office versus when I walk into an amusement park, there are very different feels that they want me to feel. And each of them needs to curate it. So for yourself, how can I do that?   Some practices actually have curated scents. So when you go into the practice, all of their practices smell the same. Some people have coffee bars. ⁓ I just think it's, what do want? Do want them to feel like high end luxury? Do you want them to feel like we are your family practice in the neighborhood? All of it's gonna go into effect on your decor, on your paperwork, on your experience, on how we answer the phone. So really making sure that that's dialed in and that's very solid is going to help a lot. The next thing is going to be...   Well, and a way to like, just put a nice pretty bow on that is ask yourself, like, where do patients slow down when they, when they come to our practice or when they're trying to schedule, that's going to help you figure out where can we maybe optimize that? Is it through phones? Like we could use a phone center. Where is it that patients slow down when they're trying to get here? Are they trying to arrive? And then where as we, as a team, are we slowing down? What's taking us the longest? That's going to help you like, just really optimize this patient experience. The next thing is going to be on like clinical momentum. You guys have heard us talk.   heavy about block scheduling. And I don't just do this for production. I do this for ease and flow of a practice. Like we tell people all the time, a great day for you is a great day for a patient. And they might want the 10 o'clock, but what they really wants to get in and out on time and they want our doctor to do the best work. So we just guide them to the schedule and say like, perfect. So Dr. Mike does crowns at 10 a.m. on Mondays and 2 p.m. on Fridays. Like whatever time you want it to be, but we guide them.   So our schedule is there. I'm not kidding because what this does is doctors are not bouncing between room to room. Hygienic is not waiting on a super long exams. Assistants are trying to like get from room to room and then we're out of materials or we're out of equipment that we can't use because we didn't schedule appropriate. We only have one thing for implants. We've got two implants next door to each other. Patients feel that you might feel like you are a duck on water smooth and you're paddling like crazy underneath, but patients can feel when it's tension and chaotic. So how can we put into place block scheduling?   How can we like utilize assisted hygiene, use our hygienist to help numb our patients? What can we do for exams? Like we are big on hygienists, all have the exact same exams. So when doctors walk in, we just tell them the same thing. We have the same handoffs. We use route slips, different things. We make sure we've got like, when's our doctor the most optimal at different times? So we build a schedule that's like our doctor's most optimal working time. We build SRPs when we're doing new patients. Like it's, how do we get a good flow and rhythm in the practice?   because patients feel that it feels like, wow, I've said it before on the podcast, I'll say it again, people feel perfection. And so how can we make them feel that the practices in sync, that we're flowing, that we're vibing, that we're jiving. And when we found out, a lot of times hygienists are complaining when we work with them and rightfully so, that doctors are taking forever to get to exams. So what we do is we streamline the hygiene appointment, we streamline the hygiene exam. So when doctor comes in, we actually role play these handoffs really clearly.   And then we have it set on the handoff with the doctor and also with the front office team. So that way everybody's getting the information as soon as you get in. We make it very easy for the doctor to connect to the patient, very easy for the hygienist and the patient to be very clear on next steps, and then very clear for the front office of what we're going to need to take for that patient. You better believe it's amazing when we get this dialed in, patients literally walk up to the front desk and they say, hey, Dr. Mike wants to see me back in two weeks for a crowd for an hour and a half. I need to get that scheduled. And you just sit back and like.   this just happen? The answer is yes. And a patient feels so good because they're clear on treatment. They're clear on where they need to go. I think a lot of times when we're looking at treatment and exam times and that people think it's quantity over quality. When it's like you can have a three minute exam and that patient can feel so seen, loved and heard. If we're clear, we're to sync and like everybody's working in a system and a process, they feel it. And doctors are more focused, hygiene's more on time and the team stress drops.   This is what happens. Like we're not adding extra. We're just doing it in a different flow. And so I would just say like, you can look at yesterday and figure out where was it most chaotic. Look back at the last couple of weeks. Where did we get into those traffic jams and what could we do to change this? Could we change up our hygiene exams? So that way every time doctor walks in hygienist, you're all different shades. So we need to like make sure that doctor, when he comes into hygiene room, one, two, three, four, or she, each doctor, that it's at least something similar and consistent because hygienist just like you.   like doctors need to give you the same type of exam, doctors need the same type of handoff no matter which hygienist they're working with. So look at that to see where can we figure that out? Where can we make our clinical momentum even easier with block scheduling, with hygiene exam consistency, with correct handoffs? Patients feel that and they love that. And then the next piece is like, this is tricky of like, what's gonna cause a patient? Like, okay, we figured out how to make it speedy when they come in.   We figured out how to make it more flowing throughout their appointment. Now what's going to happen at the end of our appointment that they're going to remember. And what I found is people don't like to wait. People don't like a lot of follow-ups. People like to have it very like tied with a bow and people want to move on with their life. say every time when people are in the office or thinking about dentistry outside, good luck. It's a free for all. So I think when you look at it, what's going to turn a patient off will be   waiting a long time to get out the building, like they're done, get me out. So how can we streamline our checkout? I sometimes call it like the HOV lane, like that's just fluoride payments. Sometimes we can even put that in the back versus we need to schedule you for a treatment plan and like go through more in depth. So can we have speedy checkouts for easier patients? Easy way to do it. What about like our treatment plan, making sure that handoff is really clear and then our treatment coordinators are super, super, super thorough and it's like, perfect, we schedule you.   We go through your questions, we present clean financials and we make it very easy for scheduling, very easy for financials, very easy for patients to get the treatment done that they want without a lot of headache. I coach a practice of five locations. We do multi, multi, multi millions. I will tell you those treatment coordinators are top, top, top notch. I work with them constantly two times a month and we have this dialed down to where it is so smooth and we close patients and we have been reviewing, we've been doing this for almost six years. And I just want you to know that type of like reps on your checkout process,   A patient experiences like bookends, the beginning and the end or what they're going to remember the middle. It can sometimes make or break, but usually it's the beginning and the end. So what can we do to make it where it's like an amazing, like I left you with a huge warm hug. You felt so loved, so valued, so appreciated, and I send you on your way, but I'm very efficient with that too. It's not taking me like 30 minutes to get there, but I want to make sure you're thorough. So that's going to be, I think convenience is no longer impressive. It's expected. And I think when we realized that like,   We used to think we're going above and beyond when we make it convenient and we have online scheduling and online bill pay. It's expected now. So I think when you ask yourself like, at the end of our appointment, is it easy for our patients to move through? Do they feel like they left our practice with like a warm hug? Is there anything that we could do to make it more convenient for patients that they might be expecting? If you're not taking online payments, online scheduling, you need to update that. Like that's, it's no longer an option anymore. We're not taking checks anymore. We need to have online payments for patient.   And so I think it's a, we're not just competing with other dental practices. We're competing with every other experience. So we're competing with Chick-fil-A, we're competing with Target. We're competing with Amazon. We're competing with anything that people are using day in and day out. Like I love working with Amazon. If I ever have an issue, I just message them and I get my refund and I don't have to worry about it. Like that's great. I'm going to shop with them a lot more versus hotels.com is super annoying to me. And anytime I have an issue, it's never fixed. It's never done. Now back.   prior to 2020, they were amazing. Now they're just junk and I don't want to work with them. Not because they're not great, but because they're just not easy to work with. Airbnb, VRBOs, like airline places. Everyone wants to make it as easy as possible. People get very frustrated. And I don't think we have a culture as rigid or as willing to like, I don't know, like almost plow through the noise like we used to. They want it to be decisions are easy. I felt loved.   I felt welcomed. I felt cared for. I felt like I got the best dental experience ever and I'm going to go on my way. So I think it could be a really great benefit for maybe you guys have a secret shopper, have a family member come through and give feedback on it. Maybe one of you goes through like call and make an appointment. How hard was that? How easy was that? And don't be nice because we're friends. Like we're genuinely wanting to give feedback so we can be the best practice. And how was my appointment? How was me sitting in the chair? How was checkout? How was follow up?   where could we make those just a little bit easier and make it to where we can still be so personable and really connected to our patient, but very efficient and convenient as well. So I think as a quick recap, looking through this of how do I make my bookends? Like what's my like first impression and arrival experience? Then what's our middle, like the clinical momentum and the experience and our handoffs. And then the end is how can I like minimize the lack of convenience, the inconvenience, the taking a long time? we...   separate our patients out and have a different exiting flow? Can we make it to where it's just a simpler process? Can we schedule it in the back more? Thinking of all these areas because it's not about moving faster, it's about being more intentional and making patients just feel like almost like this invisible thread where it was like seamless to go to the dentist and it was fun and it was enjoyable and whatever you want them to feel, helping patients have that. And so when people feel comfortable, when they feel wanted, when they feel seen, when they feel heard,   They actually say yes to treatment more. it's a double win. Not only are they going to like, leave you great star reviews, but they're also going to want to say yes to treatment because they like you. People say yes to people that they like. People say yes to experiences. People want to come back when they enjoy being there. And you have an opportunity because most people don't like the dentist. So even just doing a smidge of this is going to make you stand out. But I really think like, look at your 2026 experience. Look to see where are we maybe not serving the clientele as we had.   Be careful because you can accidentally get outdated very quickly if you're not willing to adapt, but make sure you're adapting to your culture, your experience that you want. Really have that as a clear core value, vision statement, mission statement. Here's how we want patients to feel when they come in. With Dental A Team, we want you to feel like it's easy. We want you to feel like you're loved. We want to make sure it's fun for you. We want to make sure that like, you know, that we're always going to do the right thing. That's Dental A Team. Like I'm not here to create like one off raving fans. I want you to be lifetime.   I want you to like love it. I want you to feel like we just got a review the other day and they said you're one of the greatest parts of our entire team and we're such a value to have you on our team. That's what Dental A Team is. It's because we make it easy. We make it fun. make it where it's like there's like we're your little fairy godmothers. We know where to take you. We know how to drive you. That's what I want in our core values like fun, ease, ownership, do the right thing. Those are all part of it. Grit. You figure it out. That's our culture.   and that's what I people to feel when they work with us. So if we can help you optimize your patient experience, optimize your practice, just be a, sometimes even having an outside, like literally I was paid a ton to go into an office and just fix their exit flow. That was their number one pain point that they didn't know they had. I watched it and I saw it, we fixed it. Case acceptance radically went up, patient experience radically went up, reviews radically went up. Small, simple things because you don't know what you don't know. You also can't see because you live there. So.   I'd love to help you out. team would love to help you reach out. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. Go to our website, TheDentalATeam.com book a call. I'd love to work with you. And as always, thanks for listening. I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team podcast.  

This one's for the business owners out there! Kiera discusses all things overhead — what's normal, what's high, how to lower it, and what overhead even means in the first place. She then goes into specific tips of what it takes to lower that overhead quickly and responsibly. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: The Dental A Team (00:00) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera and oh I hope you're ready for today's podcast today's podcast is one that I Love but you might not love it But guess what after today you're going to love it and you're going to know why because this is an episode for the business owners out there and office managers and team members guys, I   Love, love, love, love, love talking about overhead. What's normal, what's high and how to lower your overhead and what does overhead even mean? And I know that this is something where maybe you've heard it in the past and guess what? One of the greatest tools to learning is remembering. And so today I'm gonna walk you through how we get overhead and how we're able to lower it fast. ⁓ I have found when consulting hundreds and hundreds of offices, the number one pain point is cashflow. We actually just created ⁓ like,   amazing little graph and document of how offices are looking at things and how we, this is like just a pyramid. And if you guys are watching, we're going to see how good I do. Gosh, I'm not, okay, Paul, it's not pretty enough. I won't share it yet, but we actually built this like pyramid to show kind of a proven path from chaos to control and how we go.   Like what is the base layer that causes offices the most amount of stress and how it goes up. so base layer of this triangle is cashflow and profit stability. Then after that, it's time delegation or removing the doctors a bottleneck. Then we go up to systems and consistency. Then we do leadership and CEO transition, and then it's legacy and optionality. So, and this was like really fun because I like put it all together and I was like, okay, guys, I figured out what causes Dennis the most. Like we're talking hundreds and thousands of offices and putting it together.   And then our marketing team was amazing and Paul, shout out to him, he took it and he was like, all right, here, here you go. This is what it is. And what I looked at is so many people come in and like, here, we need systems, like, because we don't have cash. So they think that the systems will get them the cash, but knowing the right system. And this is oftentimes where it feels like whack-a-mole is we're putting in the wrong system, trying to get the outcome. And so it's like putting in the correct lever to be able to move. And then you're like, well, I need a leadership team.   But if you're on cashflow row, you're not thinking about a leadership team. You're like, I gotta get out of the burning bush. But if you're on cashflow positive, you're like, gosh, I'm just like stuck in all the weeds. Well, great, we need like to build you a leadership team and we need to get systems in place for you. And we need to look at which systems are not working. And so that's why I wanted to go into overhead for you today of how, like what is overhead and how is it working for me or against me? And how do I get this down fast, AKA more profit for you. And that's not because we wanna be rich and like,   whatever, I want you to actually be very wealthy. You like put in a lot of time and effort, but we want you to be making profit as a business. If you're not making money, it's a hobby and it's a liability and it's stressful. And we need to get you out of that stress zone so you can do the best dentistry, the best care. So when I look at offices, a lot of times they're not under producing, they might be overspending. And when I look at profitability, there's three levers. We need to produce more, collect more, or reduce our spending. are the three ways to get there.   And so that's how we're gonna look at these. Those three make more profit. So when I look at this and when I look at your biggest pain point that most offices are struggling with is cashflow. And why? Because you were taught to be a dentist, you weren't taught to be a business owner. So you're like, great, I made money, but I don't know how to spend the money and I don't know what I'm overspending. I was talking to someone and ⁓ this is a dear friend to me and she's running her business and this is like leading me into a possible other business idea that's been percolating for me. She was like, Kiera.   She's not in dentistry. She's in a different industry. she's like, Kiera, I made 200,000 this last year. And I was like, dang girl, I'm super freaking proud of you. And she's like, I took them 48,000. And I was like, what? She's like, yeah. And I said, well, hold on. She doesn't have employees. She's solo. And I was like, but why? Like, okay, 200,000, let's take taxes out of there. Even if you're sitting at 37%, which you're not, let's just.   we'll chunk 40 out of that, okay? Like let's do 40%. So was like, that's like 80. That's like really high. You probably are like 60,000 out for taxes. So we'll put you at 200,000 minus 60,000. We're at 140. Where did you spend like a hundred grand? And she was like, Kiera, I don't know. I don't know. And I thought to how many business owners feel like her? How many people feel like, but I made this money, but I don't have it and I don't know why.   Like gosh, 200,000 only taking home 48. Like you might as well go work for someone else. She's like, I worked more. I'm not with my family. I've done all these things. And I feel like that's how I feel so many dentists feel. They're like, I'm working harder than I was as an associate. I have all this stress. I'm not sleeping. I'm not with my family. And I'm not even making the money that I want to be making. And so I'm just really pro of like, Hey, there are solutions and there are ways. I think understanding what overhead is, understanding how business works.   and using it within your dental office is going to help. So, Dental A Team, I'm obsessed with helping you guys have your best lives. ⁓ Our job is to help you hit profit goals, control costs, not always have to produce and work more. Like let's work smarter, not harder. ⁓ And really it's just to positively impact the world of dentistry. We call it the Yes Model. So focusing on you as a human, earnings and profitability, and then systems and team development. Your business should truly serve your life, not the other way around. And so, ⁓   Let's just like dive into what is overhead. I don't want any of you to be like my friend and honest. I'm going to get that friend out of that dilemma. I'm like, I think this is how I was. I think that it comes from, right? Like, why do we build companies? We build them out of like necessity for ourselves. We build them out of like things that we had. We build them from like, I've been there, done that. And here's how I'm going to help you. But we also need to learn how to be really strong business owners. And something I feel like I've been really proud of and something I'm really grateful for is   The language of business has actually made a lot of sense to me. was good with math. used to, you guys ready? Another random Kiera job. ⁓ I was a math tutor for quite a lot of my life actually and taught littles. I didn't go, I was not into calculus. I was doing algebra, geometry, like little kids. I had a whole tutoring business. Like that was another business I started up. Cause I found out what they were paying me as a tutor versus what they were charging the client. And I was like, heck no, I'm doing my own business. It is really hard to do marketing in case you're wondering for tutoring, but.   I got my little business over the summer and drove around all these houses. ⁓ But math has always kind of made sense to me. Like one plus one equals two. And I like it because with math, maths, it's very fun. And so when I look at overhead and I look at targets, I'm like, all right, what does it mean? So overhead is the total amount of money that it costs to run a business. Okay. So that's what overhead is. And you know what? These are pretty slides. So I think Paul will be just fine.   ⁓ We actually have an entire presentation that we did on like preventing cashflow leaks and what is like the dentist profit plan? So I'm gonna actually show you guys if you're watching awesome. I think this will be a fun thing for you to see   Okay, so what is overhead? And I think these slides just break it down really simply. And if you're audio listening, great, I'm gonna tell you what's on the slide. So what is overhead? It's all the costs to run a practice. So we're talking payroll, rent, labs, supplies,   anything under the roof.   It does not usually include Dr. Pay. Now I'm gonna throw a disclaimer. I am not a CPA. Talk to your CPAs about this. I'm gonna just tell you how Kiera has learned it and how it's made sense for me when it didn't make sense, okay? So that's overhead. And I get annoyed with the overhead and this is why I prefer to talk profit versus overhead because the fact that it doesn't include Dr. Pay annoys me per CPA usual guidelines. Now I'm not saying all CPAs, but usually this is like how it is. It's all the costs, but they don't include Dr. Pay because you're a business owner. So like, why should we pay you?   Now, what is profit? Profit is the total after overhead and doctors are paid. So I like doctors to be paid 30 % of production. Think about it, that's what associates are usually paid. You can be 35%, I don't actually care. Like whatever it is. So in this simple equation, we would do revenue or production, AKA collections, minus overhead, minus doctor pay equals profit or available funds, okay? So if we're in a practice and we produce and collect, because if we produce but we don't collect, remember that's gonna hurt.   ⁓ 100,000, we minus 50,000 of overhead costs like our rent, our payroll, our supplies. We pay our doctor 30%, so 30,000. We would have profit with air quotes of 20 grand. Okay, I did perfect easy math for you. If our doctor was 30%, if our overhead was 50%, our profit would be 20 % on $100,000 practice, okay? So these are the levers. We either increase production, decrease costs or increase our collections. That's how we're gonna do it. Now, what is cash flow?   Cash flow is profit minus debt services, okay? This is where it gets weird, because you're like, well, it says I'm profitable and my overhead's good, but I have no cash. Well, this is why, because we have debt services, which oftentimes like our student loans and sometimes they're building loans. Those are debt services that don't actually get included in overhead. And this is a CPA, it's how it gets like deducted down and all of that. So like you can deduct certain things, but that doesn't mean the cash is taken out. It got.   written off, do tell the like laws that are way beyond my pay grade. So profit minus debt services is cashflow. So debt services are practice loans, equipment loans, student loans sometimes are or may not be included in this. You got to check with your CPA and your personal expenses. So what happens is we have a business and this business is producing 2 million for us, okay? Our overhead, let's say we're like really kicking it and we're at 50 % overhead and our doctor is being paid like rock on, doctor's paid.   So we've got money left over, but then on that leftover, yes, doctor, your business is doing well, but you as a human also have expenses. You have your life expense, you've got your student loans, you have all of this, which is why you don't feel like you've got cashflow, not to mention taxes, okay? So when we look at this, what is an ideal over it? And this is where it gets like really hard, like my overhead and my cashflow, and like my overhead's good, but I don't have cash. Well, it's because we haven't like put it all together for you and we haven't made it to where like, okay,   What is John's personal life? What are your costs? What are our debt services? What are the costs of the business? Great, now we set our office goals. And sometimes you have to be careful because your life expenses might be more than your business can produce. And I know that that's annoying and I'm really sorry, but we have to also live within our means of what our business can do. We can't squeeze out our business when we're looking at it and we're like, well, shoot.   you might be overspending. again, I'm not here judging. There's no judgment here. I just want to be realistic. One plus one equals two, always in math. And that's why I enjoy it. So when we look at this, our goal is to have you profit 20 % and an overhead of 50%. Remember, 50 % overhead of the cost, 30 % doctor pay, 20 % profit. That does not mean you're taking home 20 % of that profit and of doctor pay. You owe taxes on that. So that's super fun. Take that out. Just like my friend, right? We took taxes out. And then from there, we got to pay our debt services. We've got to have our life. Then whatever is left.   Over is your cash. That's why it's hard. So this is where people are like, I don't get it, Kiera. No, you do. And I'm gonna teach you, okay? So we wanna have those. Now, when we have an overhead calculator, what we do is we wanna get this to 50%, 60%, like that's great. Cause the less we spend, the greater our profit is, right? Like if I make a hundred dollars and I only spend $20, I have $80 left over. That's great. But if I have a hundred dollars and I spend $80, I don't have $20. We made a hundred.   but how are we spending? So again, it's either increased production, increase our collections, because your production might be there, but if your collections are lagging, you might not have as much cash. Why? You produced it, but we didn't collect it. That's a big problem. But if we produced and collected what we need, then what's our spending? And I will tell you, usually expenses can be pretty high. So we look over here, and on this example here, I've got it at 60 % total overhead. So like our payroll should be about 30%, dental supply should be about 5%, lab should be about 7%.   facility equipment 8%, advertising 2%, office supplies 1%. Like break this down however you wanna adjust it. Your rent might be so hard, bank charges I hope that they're less than 3 % for you. But all these add up and you can adjust these and these can be moved around and say like maybe if we only had our payroll at 25%, I'm not here to say pay your team less. We just are looking at like what things can we do? In this scenario on the screen, doctors only at 20 % of this and their profits 10%. Well, it's because our-   Our overhead is at 60%, we're high and we have debt services of 5%. That's why. So costs really do matter. So if we collect 100,000 and our overhead before we paid our doctor was 73,000, our overhead is 73.82. That's without even paying our doctor. Well, then our doctor got paid 20%, okay? So 73 plus 20, we're at 93%. Woohoo, we're living on the edge there. We have debt services at 5%, this poor doctor is negative.   They got 1.18 % on a $100,000 collection month. They're not quite negative. Like their total overhead over there, it's like not where we want it to be. So it's negative based on the thing, but their net profit on a hundred thousand is 1100 bucks. Well, that feels like junk. Like, yeah, I got paid 20 grand, but after I paid everything out, my total expenses for this, and this is where I think people get weird. And that's even before we paid taxes. My overhead was 73, my doctor salary is 20,000.   my debt services were 5,000. So we add all that together and that's how we get up to that 98, which leaves us with 1176. That's annoying. They're not doing good. This is where the cashflow crunch happens. So when we look at this, and this is why I really love to show you like what is cashflow, what is overhead, and hopefully you're able to see that. And if not, hopefully I explained it well enough for you. And I wasn't just talking on the screen. I tried to make it to where you guys could hear it and see it. But when we look at this, this is where I get annoyed because like, okay, what can I do then to reduce it? I just told you.   We either look at what are we spending and I just gave you some parameters. So can I get my payroll or my supplies or my labs down? Can I give my team a 4 % of collections from last month and that becomes our supplies? Yes, you can. And we can start tracking that. So there's little things we can look at and we can see what can I reduce down? How can I trim this down? And honestly, trimming your overhead. So we stop spending. If you're a CE junkie, great. We give you a budget of X amount of dollars and that's all you get to spend. The rest doesn't. We look to see where are we overspending?   Maybe we are overstaffed and so we need to increase our production based on the amount of staff members that we have. I love team versus staff, but like, let's look at that, okay? So let's look at it and let's find out where is one or two categories on your P &L that are out of it. And if you need an overhead calculator, be sure to reach out. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. I love to share that with people. So review your P &L, look at it. Let's look at our overhead, see where we are. Your goal is to be at a 50 % overhead before a doctor's paid or a 20 % profit, okay? Now we look at payroll.   Are there ways that we could look at this? Are there ways that we could cut it down? Can we make it to where people are not clocking in, clocking out too much? How are we going to be able to have this? And this like 30 % is all fringe benefits, everything included in there. So what can we do on there to make sure that we're profitable in that? Can we like look at other ways? Can we outsource things? Like our hygienists are expensive. So is there a way that we can maybe outsource some billing? Again, not to say to fire team members. want our team members. Teams are assets. They're not liabilities. But what things can we get creative on?   no overtime, that's a no-go. People only work 32 hours. We work on four-day work weeks and we rotate. There's a lot of different things you can do, but looking at that, committing to it. And then the next thing is like, let's figure out what is our true BAM of the company, including cost of the company, cost of paying our doctor, cost of our debt services, and then let's work backwards. Okay. That's how much we need to produce. And this is how much we need of profit. Then what do need to do on diagnosis and production on the top half?   and scheduling and creating a block schedule for that. Now, if you're like, I don't love numbers, Kiera, and what you just said was so awesome, but so scary, great. Reach Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. want to talk to you because when you can say and truly feel it in your bones, I love numbers and numbers loves me. You are going to feel so much more confident as a business owner. The reason people get scared on overhead and profit margins is because they don't understand the language of business. They don't understand how money works. They don't understand how taxes work.   So I decided I was so sick of crying in December. I said, that's it. I'm not gonna cry in December anymore. I'm going to become a tax expert on this. So what I do every single month is we have our overhead. We know what our overhead is. I know what Kiera's pay and comp is. So we take that. I also take taxes out of there. I have buckets set up of how much we're gonna put in of savings. I've got a BAM for our company. And I did not do this overnight. I make sure our collections are there, our productions there. We make sure that our overhead is in check based on industry standards.   We start to trim away one or two or 3 % from there. So we trim and make sure we've got all of our ducks in a row. Our collections are at 98%, our production's where it needs to be based on the cost of the business and our overhead, we've trimmed it down, we're getting it to 50%. You can also get your overhead lower by increasing your production. Could I do better higher dollar per hour procedures? What can I do to get my dollar per hour up 50 or $100 per hour more? Can we do same day treatment that's gonna help our patients? Absolutely yes.   What about our hygiene? Are we taking x-rays at the right time? Are we doing fluoride and fluoride therapy? Are we blocked scheduling correctly to make sure that we're hitting our numbers? Is our case acceptance, could we increase that? Yes, these are the ways that you get there and these are ways that you do it quickly. And so knowing your benchmarks, knowing how cash works, knowing how overhead works, knowing how this works, this is half the battle guys. Like just listening to the podcast high five, like pop the confetti. I wish I could like sprinkle confetti for you. This is half the battle.   So you learning it and committing to like, want you, I have a doctor and we were like profit and production. That's all we're going for. And that's what we talk about because this is the base. If we can get your cashflow up guys, everything else falls into place. Like truly it really does. And then we're able to do more things because cash is there. We know you're taken care of. You're more stable and confident. And I remember Ryan Isaac with Dentist Advisors. He and I were chatting, gosh, we're probably talking like 2019, 2020. And he said, team members, you want your doctors to be so profitable because when a doctor is confident in their cash.   they are confident in their business and they're not stressed out. Now, that doesn't mean that you can't have like spending problems. I've seen that with other doctors, like business is doing great, but we have a spending issue. That's a you issue and you need to like have discipline on that. But I will tell you being confident in your cash, being confident in your profit, being confident in your overhead, what those mean is half the battle. And this is what I actually obsess about. So we actually teach our doctors. ⁓ We have an overhead calculator. We look at your overhead every month. We have scorecards for you.   We teach you, we look at it, we have goals that we set together. We look at your diagnosis, we look at your case acceptance, and we figure out which lever will be the fastest, easiest to move with you. And this is how we're able to do it with you guys. So reach out, commit to being like cash is king, profit and production. You are going to be a profitable practice and you're gonna make the money that you deserve to make and that you want to make. And we're gonna just do a backwards equation with you. We're gonna figure it out and we're gonna lock down. I have a CPA and she said, Kiera, I will recommend Dental A Team all day, every day. She said, you have made my clients more profitable than.   any other consulting company, that's because we are going to be obsessive about profit and production and you getting your overhead down. So reach out, Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. And as always, thanks for listening. I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team podcast.

Tiff and Trish break down what it means to have the right person in the right chair that's best for your practice. This means gauging comfort levels and the ability to stay calm, but it also means supporting each position so they feel like they can win at their job. Listeners are invited to review their positions based on what personality would thrive there — not only to increase treatment, but to make everyone's lives better, too. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: The Dental A Team (00:00) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. We are here today with, honestly, really fun one. These are some of my favorite subjects, the things that we talk about on here. I tell you guys that all the time, but I have Ms. Trish here with us today. Her internal nickname, Dental A Team name, for all of her clients, you guys can use this, is Tada. There's all kinds of reasons for it. We don't need to hash out today, but just know Tada is here. And I know I've said this on the podcast before, but if you're new here, you haven't heard it yet, I love.   podcasting with these women and I love also handpicking the topics. get topics given to us from our marketing company. We have a lot of input and say on them as the consultants, but really we just kind of look, I look ahead and I'm like, that's what we're doing in the month of March. So fantastic. And then I kind of handpick which consultants I want because I love when   I get to watch someone and partake with someone speaking on things that they're passionate about, that they truly thrive in and they love. And Trish, this topic specifically today, I know I tell you guys this, I don't know if you believe me or not, maybe you do, maybe you don't, but I know this is something that lights you up and I'm excited to be here with you. Thank you for blocking your calendar for me. Thank you for getting this set up. know it's like, both of us are like a little chaotic storms.   when it comes to things like this. So I know both of us were like frantically getting ready. So thank you. How are you today? And how excited are you to be here? Like just, you know.   Tricia Lee Ackerman (01:24) Thanks. ⁓   Thank you. Thank you.   I'm doing great. I always love it when I get to podcast with you.   The Dental A Team (01:34) Thank you, thank you. I ⁓ feel like all of you ladies bring your own sense of ease to podcasting for me, which is fantastic, because then I don't feel like totally exhausted by the end, so thank you. ⁓ Something you're really phenomenal at is people, Trish. I think you read people really well. I think you read people quickly, and I think that it's very easy for you to determine.   where people should sit or what they should be doing, what they're really great at. It's very easy for you to walk into a room and say, my gosh, this person is born to be a treatment coordinator. She is born to be a billing representative. you mentioned, gosh, what were we on? We were on some call this week. And you mentioned that you were a really great treatment coordinator. And I think we did it. It was on our coaching call we did together.   Tricia Lee Ackerman (02:24) Yes.   The Dental A Team (02:24) last week and you mentioned that you are a phenomenal treatment coordinator and is your passion and I think that reading people piece is part of that. It's part of who you are, it's part of your personality and it's part of what makes you a phenomenal consultant but also what fed into that piece of treatment coordinating for you and I think Trish if I had to read you correctly I think you love it and I think it lights you up to be able to read people and get people established in something they can be passionate about.   because you can read personalities. So very easy to see why this kind of topic we're doing, know, personality versus experience when it comes to team members. Very easy to see why that was such an easy fit for me to choose you to be here today. And before we dive in too much Trish, I want to ask what, ⁓ gosh, what about reading people and being able to peg that?   What do you love the most? What do you love when you walk into a room and you can say, my gosh, this, like what lights you up the most about it?   Tricia Lee Ackerman (03:28) I think what lights me up the most is like I can easily target somebody who is comfortable talking. So if somebody just kind of looks like their, you know, their shoulders are down, they look like they're at ease, that's going to be a pretty easy person to go and approach. Then you have your people that smile and they obviously they still look very friendly, but there is, it's, again, Tiff, it's like they don't have something written on their forehead. So it is really a read.   It's an internal emotional read that I have where it's like, you know what, that person actually probably doesn't want me just going up to them, just like starting a big conversation. And even if I do, you can read a person's body language and see how they're engaging back. And if the engagement back is kind of light, then like that's not a person that you push on. I'm not gonna make them have a conversation with me about a recent wedding they attended if they...   The Dental A Team (04:04) Yeah.   Tricia Lee Ackerman (04:24) clearly see if it's showing that they just kind of don't want to do that. So I don't know, like, I don't think there's a book that you can read on how to do this. Maybe there is. I, I personally think that this is something that you either kind of have or you don't. That's just my, that's just my thoughts on that. because again, I mean, some people really struggle, really struggle with knowing how to read a room. I'm sure they don't want to, but yeah, if there was a secret sauce, I would   love to share it, but I do think it's kind of an internal characteristic that you may or may not be born with.   The Dental A Team (05:01) For sure, I totally agree. actually, have my son, you he's 17 now, the recording of this and we've always, myself and just the people on my side that have been involved in his life and forming him into the kid that he is, we were always really big on being like socially aware and really just aware of his surroundings. One, because you know, as a parent, was a single mom scared to death that somebody's gonna steal my kid, you know.   So I made sure like he was always insanely, intentional about watching his surroundings, but then also being the one that's courteous to everyone else. Like you just don't be in the way and not so much that you make yourself small, but don't be in the way because it's very easy to just be like, ⁓ awesome. Yep, you go around, know, like don't make it a thing. Just be super aware. And I know that Brody's got that kind of intentionality and that intuitiveness that   he can read people as well. And I wonder, often I watch him do it, and I'm like, gosh, is that because you're so aware of your surroundings and you're watching for your next move, right? Because I know for me, it's like, where am I going to step next even of a crowded grocery store? What's the easiest path? When I'm driving down the street, well, which lane is going to be the easiest for me that I'm not an inconvenience to other people as well? So kind of like double dipping there.   So I watch him do these things and I think to myself, there are so many people that are not aware of their surroundings. Is that a piece of it, right? And like you said, it's kind of ingrained as personality. Anyway, it's high tangent there, but I think one thing to do is to really ramp up your awareness of present, I guess really, right? It's being present with where you are at and the people that you're with. Because when we're in our heads ahead or behind,   we're not here and we're not intentionally paying attention to the things going on in the people around us. How do you feel like then? I mean, where can we talk about hiring? We can talk about all the pieces, but realistically, we get the biggest question is like, gosh, do I hire for personality? Do I hire for ⁓ experience? Do they have to have dental experience? Do they have to have management experience? But really, I think this also applies to looking at the team that you have today and making sure that   Tricia Lee Ackerman (06:59) Anyway.   The Dental A Team (07:23) We say this all the time, right? Person, right? Seed. It's a massive piece. And I think these pieces you can take and apply to both. When it comes to personality, Trish, and it comes to not just like, that's one thing, to be able to read personalities and be able to be in a room and navigate the situation, but personality versus experience. How do you help practices differentiate the two, even in any situation at all?   Tricia Lee Ackerman (07:50) Well, obviously, ideally, personality and experience at a high level, both. That's perfect. That's awesome. But but more than more times than than than not, we do have that situation where the doctor will say like she was really not, you know, hiring for an office manager. She was really nice. She was really great. She was all these things. But that's awesome. However, that's a position where we do need to see the skill set.   What type of leadership ⁓ experience does she have? And maybe she doesn't have any, but can we set her up for some? And how quick, how sharp is this individual? Because if they're really, really, I use the word cool. We can train skills, but we really can't train cool. You kind of either cool or you're not. And if they really like this person and they're sharp, then maybe we should entertain giving them some leadership activity homework.   and see how that comes. If it's somebody that has all the experience in the world, say like as a treatment coordinator, they've been doing it for a very long time, but they're kind of cold, they're kind of direct, ⁓ they kind of really don't know how to like maybe laugh or break some ice. Is that really the best treatment coordinator? Because that is really a role where you have got to be able to do both.   The Dental A Team (09:12) Yeah.   Tricia Lee Ackerman (09:15) And that's where I shined and loved it so much because I was able to read the room and I was so passionate about what I was actually getting ready to sell to them. But I could also tell if, if, mean, if they started sweating and like, okay, slow down, back up, let's start to find like what's happening with this person. So the personality, you know, that's, that's great. Most offices are looking for somebody that knows how to smile and   and things like that. The skill set, it doesn't always have to be right on point as long as we can give them some tools slash tests, which we can and we could deploy those to monitor like almost like their sharp skill set. Like how sharp are they? How quick are they? Because if they're nice and quick and sharp, it might just be our person. Some of the best people that I have hired through the years had zero dental experience, but they were sharp.   They were quick. were in the restaurant industry. That's an amazing industry because people know how multi-task like crazy they can order drinks, they can order food, they can serve, and they have to do it all with a smile because their tips depend on it. those are perfect. That particular group of people are excellent examples because most of them do have the personality and they're sharp. Easy to.   The Dental A Team (10:16) Mm, I agree.   Yep.   Yeah, I agree.   I totally agree with that. have hired, I tell practices all the time, when you're at a restaurant and you have a hostess or a server or somebody that you love, give them your card, whether you're hiring now or not, give them your card. ⁓ I totally agree. I think too, as you're chatting through all of that, I agree 100 % with all of it. And I'm thinking too, as you're saying that, yes, you're front office lead, you've got to have the leadership skills, you got to have these pieces, and does the dental   Is the dental necessary? Not necessarily, right? My best treatment coordinator ever, she didn't have any dental experience, but she loved people and she believed in the product, like you said. So she didn't even, half the time she didn't even know what she was selling. She was just like, I know that they said this was going to make you healthier. So like, why would you not get this done? And I was like, this is wild. Like, it's an SRP. Yeah, yeah. And they would schedule and it was great. And they would prepay, right? And it was like, gosh, she blew my mind with it, but she believed so much in the people being healthier.   Tricia Lee Ackerman (11:26) And it works. Yep.   The Dental A Team (11:36) that she just did it. But I'm also thinking as you're saying this, yes, there are personality pieces for that that's necessary. And then it's like, yes, there's also personality pieces for our billing coordinator. So I think that's where the avatar comes into play, right? And knowing what are the goals of this position and what kind of a personality can do that? Because you're bubbly, like for sure this person can do billing.   Right, I can do billing, Trish, can do billing. If we sat down, we can do it. But I'm gonna be bored out my mind and it's gonna take me 10 times longer than the personality who was built for it. Because my personality, I need to be, I need to move. I need to move more, I need less details. I am not a detailed person. And I need to just, I need more interaction. So that billing personality might be someone who's a little bit more muted, a little bit, you know.   and more introverted, ⁓ detail oriented, loves the numbers, wants to dig in, and you probably are gonna want some experience if you can find it, but again, a skill set that can be taught. How do you help your practices kind of navigate those avatars?   Tricia Lee Ackerman (12:51) Just yesterday, literally just yesterday, this was a topic. And it's an office that does have, that like the skillsets is there for all of the team members. However, they weren't in the right seats. So when I started digging a little, because of course case acceptance is always something that I really want to target, because what does that do? It increases production and it's just a big win. Okay. But what we discovered was that,   The Dental A Team (13:02) Awesome.   Tricia Lee Ackerman (13:18) the team member that was actually more say like the checkout seat that was kind of finalizing and kind of closing up the treatment plan was, was like really shy when it came to money, ⁓ really shy when it came to like asking for any kind of deposit. And so what we found was that when that particular team member is in that seat, we had less people scheduling.   So meanwhile, I had gotten to know this front office team a little bit more over the last even just six weeks. And I thought to myself, hold on a second. I know exactly who needs to be in that seat all the time. So no more rotating of seats. We're going to lock down this chair is for that person, this chair. And I had ⁓ a touch base this morning with the O.M. They're already feeling like less anxious.   because the person that is now there is good at both. She has no problem, you know, wrapping up a financial piece of things, but she can also talk dentistry if any of those questions do come up. we, and that was a fun exercise. I do like doing that. Like, let's look at your team. Who are all these people and where did they shine? ⁓ okay. But they're sterile tech. Maybe just maybe.   The Dental A Team (14:19) Yep.   Tricia Lee Ackerman (14:42) We could just hire a sterile tech and this could be your main treatment coordinator. So evaluating those seats and I think consistently evaluating the seats, because we do evolve with change, that is a really successful and not time consuming project that I think a lot of OMS and doctors could and should do regularly.   The Dental A Team (15:03) I totally agree with you. I love that you just did that yesterday. ⁓ And I love that you keyed in on the rotation of seats because I feel like a lot of practices do and I hear a lot of managers and team members and doctors say, yes, but I want everyone to know how to do everything. Cool. I do too. I want you to be able to fill in if someone decides to take a vacation. Absolutely agree with you. I don't want things to go left undone. But being responsible for everything.   Tricia Lee Ackerman (15:21) Yes.   The Dental A Team (15:31) because no one's responsible for anything, and then that means no one's, everyone's responsible for nothing, is a whole lot of things not getting done effectively and a ton of underlying stress that people don't even realize they're feeling. The anxiety of not knowing how to win in your position or not feeling fully confident in the things that you're doing because you're doing so many things that require different brain sets.   You actually, you, you feel it, but you really don't know that it's happening until you get stabilized in that seat with clear goals and a clear way to win and in a space and a seat that you thrive in. You're like, I feel free. Like I feel so much less stressed and I didn't even realize I was stressed. It's, so much fun to watch. And if you've ever felt it, you know what that feels like and Trish.   you keying in on that right now might be to me at least the biggest piece of this whole podcast because so many practices and I think both of us experience this fight that like no we all do it right we all do it we all we help each other we don't want to be a team that can't help each other ⁓ golly if you become a team that can't help each other because you're in a treatment coordinator seat instead of this float seat where you're doing 15 000 things that's a different issue   Tricia Lee Ackerman (16:44) Yes.   The Dental A Team (16:57) That's completely separate and your culture needs to be fixed. But right now, you're not helping each other. You're actually holding each other back and you're, as the manager, I think I'm gonna just, hard truth, as the manager and the doctor, allowing a space like that to exist is a detriment to the people that you've hired. And it, to me, says, I don't think you can do one thing really well, so we're gonna do all of the things all together to make sure nothing gets missed.   And in reality, there's so much stuff that gets missed.   Tricia Lee Ackerman (17:31) Yeah, a lot of missed opportunity for growth there. And it can be so, and now like this, in this case, the gal that is now in this seat and she's not moving, she's going to be so empowered. And then the other two that we moved into the seats that are appropriate for them, same thing. They're going to feel so empowered. And that, and I'm looking forward to a check in with them in two weeks. That I really truly am, but.   The Dental A Team (17:34) for sure.   Tricia Lee Ackerman (17:56) That's the key. The right people, right seats, we say it all the time, almost every day to at least one client or more. That's the ticket. Who are your people? Where do they shine? Where are they currently sitting? And where could a better seat be for them?   The Dental A Team (18:15) Yeah, yeah, and I think what are the seats that you have and what's the goal of that seat? Because when we don't know, when we just say, well, I've got five front office team members or three front office team members, cool, but what are those seats? Well, we have two that sit at the front and then one that sits in the back. Okay, but like, what is the seat? So if we're saying we've got a check-in, a check-out, and an office manager who does billing and treatment planning, great.   Tricia Lee Ackerman (18:30) Right, I did.   The Dental A Team (18:44) We got five seats, label the seats. What is the seat? What is their main goal, the main duty of that seat? And how can they win in that seat? I did that exercise. I think it's very similar to what you just did, Trish. I did this with a big practice, three doctors, lots of hygienists, lots of, and I've done it with, we've both done it with so many practices. The big guys are the ones that are the most fun to untangle because those webs are deep.   Tricia Lee Ackerman (19:08) Yes.   The Dental A Team (19:11) But we started untangling them and the doctors were like, wait, I like, want to, I want to help with this. And they untangled the seats and the goals. And even as far as three metrics per position in the front office that they can say this position is winning so that now that front office gal can take this job description and say, great, these are the things that I'm going to do. This is my operations manual for my seat.   on how I'm going to get there. And just being able to have that clarity alone, even for the doctors, they think it opened up a ton for them and I can't wait till they deliver it to the team because it's just, it's empowering. And when you're hiring, that's how you know if you've interviewed the right person. Does this, this seat, the seat that I've created, the job description, the goal and the metrics, what kind of a person will thrive   reaching those. I'm not going to put a like introverted, great with numbers person. I want great with numbers for a treatment coordinator for sure, but they're not selling anything. They're just reviewing it, which is fine, but if you want a different result, you've got to do it differently.   Tricia Lee Ackerman (20:29) Something else that comes up Tiff quite often is, and this can be such a hard decision for a doctor, they might have like their best dental assistant that they've ever had. And those two work so well side by side. However, that particular say dental assistant could be an absolutely incredible treatment coordinator. But when we bring that to the doctor, that's when they're like,   because they just can't imagine not having that person side by side with them as their assistant. And the doctors that do recognize it and go, ⁓ my gosh, you were so on to something. Those are amazing transitions because number one, that dental assistant that we're even considering putting into like a full-time treatment coordinator role, she knows that doctor inside and out. She believes in him. I she knows everything about him, the dentist.   that is somebody that can really grow a business, then we just hire, we replace the dental assistant and sharpen those skills with the same ones, the one that stepped out. But like that is also something that doctors don't, sometimes they don't even entertain that idea. We have to entertain it for them. And then when they see that, it's like, and I can only imagine, it's very scary for them to lose their key person sitting next to them all day, every day, but it can also be a,   The Dental A Team (21:45) I agree.   Tricia Lee Ackerman (21:54) really great move.   The Dental A Team (21:56) I totally agree with you. Totally agree. Love it. Thank you. I knew this topic would be fun for both of us. We both kind of love moving people around. I love seeing, I love when we can move someone, like you just said, like giving someone the empowerment to try something they've maybe not really done before, but that growth opportunity to go from chair side dental assistant to treatment coordinator and just like learn a new skill set is, it's super cool. Super fun to watch. So.   Thank you Trish. I think if I had to pick out some action items for everyone, I think based on what Trish is saying here, evaluate the people you have. Look at their personalities and look at their skill sets. Trish, said, like, where do they thrive? So what do they love to do? Oftentimes, too, when I say that, I like to look at their personal lives. Like, what kind of sports are they playing? Like, what activities are they doing? Are they knitting? Are they pottery? Are they, you know, are they volleyball players? Like, look at their personalities.   And then also look at your positions and what personality would thrive in that position, not only to get us more treatment on the schedule, but to fulfill them, to make their lives better, to make them happy, to make them love where they work, and in turn, make you love where you work. So I'd say go evaluate your people, evaluate your positions, and get the personality straight. Build those avatars and take a look. Trish, anything you want to add before we wrap this up?   Tricia Lee Ackerman (23:23) don't think so. really don't. The disc test, maybe I'll toss that in. That's always kind of good one. Doctors do love to do that. ⁓ You know, evaluate those. Everybody can even do them together when you hire somebody else on or if you're considering. and you know, vibe checks. We always talk about that. Do your vibe check. Let your team do a vibe check. And again, how's their personality? Does that personality fit the actual practice? Some practices are full of spunk and fun and craziness. I see some of these teams on Instagram and they just   The Dental A Team (23:24) Awesome. Yeah.   Tricia Lee Ackerman (23:52) track me up, that would be a great one for fun. And you know, some doctors are not. So you might not want to bring in say like a clown into a really conservative practice. They might not mesh. So evaluating personalities slash the skill set. Yes, it's not always that easy, but we can certainly help. And ⁓ once you do get those right personalities in those right seats, like you said, Tim, everybody wins.   The Dental A Team (24:21) Yeah, I love it. Thank you. All right, guys, you heard it here. Go do the things. Trish, this was phenomenal. Thank you for taking this journey with me. Everyone, you know where to get ahold of us. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com or leave us five-star review below or both. We love both of those. So we can't wait to hear from you. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. Trish, thank you.   Tricia Lee Ackerman (24:29) Thank you.   Thanks, Tiff.

Kiera is joined by Derick Van Ness of Big Life Financial to talk about taxes, and how to handle them beyond simply thinking of them as a necessary evil. The pair discuss knowing your numbers, utilizing tax credits, the magic touch of a CPA, and more. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: The Dental A Team (00:00) Hello, Dental A Team Listeners, this is Kiera. And today I am super excited. This is one of our top favorite guests that has been on the podcast. We're bringing him back on because there are some new updates and our clients love him. I love him. He is incredible. Derick Van Ness, he is with Big Life Financial. And you might have heard him on the podcast before talking about R &D credits, tax saving ideas, CPA.   This man does a lot of your wealth and how to build and keep your wealth. So I always love our conversations and just like his good information. Plus, if I remember right, he might know Garrett Gunderson. So obviously I've been a fangirl since day one. Derick, welcome back to the show. How are you today?   Derick Van Ness (00:42) Well, I'm doing great and really happy to be here with you, Kiera. I'm not Garrett Gunderson because he is taller and better looking, but I'm a good second place.   The Dental A Team (00:48) Ha ha ha!   I think that you're great. The fact that you know Garrett Gunderson, that already just has elevated you. I mean, I think it was one of our first conversations we ever had. And I was like, have you ever read like Killing Sacred Cows? And you're like, I actually know Garrett Gunderson. I was like, what? Fangirling. So ⁓ anyway, Derick, for those who have not met you, haven't heard your episode, because we do have new listeners to the podcast. Just kind of give them a little intro of who is Derick Bennis? What is Big Life Financial? And give the listeners a little intro to who you are.   Derick Van Ness (01:20) Okay, well outside of being ⁓ in love with my wife, in love with art and in love with racing sailboats, what I do professionally is I help ⁓ doctors and dentists to be smarter with their money. So what does that mean? That means how do you, not so much to make it, I mean we do help people scale, but once you make the money, which is something a lot of dentists are good at, how do you keep it through tax savings? How do you grow it and how do you protect it, right?   And today we're going to talk a little bit about how do you keep more what you make? Because honestly, for dentists, even though taxes seem boring when you don't have to write that $50,000 or $100,000 or $200,000 check, it gets a lot cooler. If you would have told me I'd be a tax and financial guy when I was a kid, I probably would have just taken an early exit somewhere and jumped off a bridge. But I really see money in what we do as a lifestyle business. It's not about money.   The Dental A Team (02:01) Yeah.   Derick Van Ness (02:17) If you have enough, then money is what it is. When you don't have enough, it's a problem. And I just find for a lot of people, it's the reason or excuse that they constrain themselves. They don't spend time with family. They don't think do things that they want to do. They don't have the experiences that are going to change their life. So when we can get money out of the way, then you can live your big life, which is why the company's big life financial, because it doesn't matter if you have more or less money. The question is, what's the life you're living? What's your quality of life?   And so taxes are a big piece of that. Obviously we can't talk about everything on a podcast like this, because you'd be buried under a ton of bricks. But that's what I do is I try to make this stuff easy. I try to make it fun. And I want you to realize that the whole point of all this money stuff is so that you can live a life you want to   The Dental A Team (02:55) You   Which Derick, that's why we have connected. You have met my husband. have had personal conversations outside of the podcast because I very much align and subscribe to this lifestyle and this mode of thinking. I believe that practices should work for us and us not work for our practices. I believe that we became business owners to have these big lives and these, audacious dreams. And yet I feel so many people live below their, their potential. They are trapped. They are.   Derick Van Ness (03:33) Mm-hmm.   The Dental A Team (03:34) It's crazy. I ⁓ had a client and she actually made so much money last year, which was amazing because the year before she was like, Kiera, I want to make more. So I was like, great, we're going after profit and production like blinders on. Don't talk to me about anything else. And she had like a crazy year and she's like, great. Now I have this huge check. I've got to write in taxes. And I was like, not my problem. Like you need better CPA help on that, but glad we made you the money. But I bring that up because one, it was a huge win for a client, but two,   Derick Van Ness (03:52) I don't know.   Yep.   The Dental A Team (04:02) I think that people being able to keep the money that they make, hold on to more money that they make. Like I love that we live in America and it's a free country and that we get to pay taxes. Like I'm so freaking grateful for that. With that said, I do not want to pay one penny more than I need to. And I want to maintain and keep as much as I possibly can to live the life I want and to not feel the guilt of being a successful business owner and to do the fun things that I always imagined and dreamed of doing without the guilt of doing it. And I think so many people are so scared of.   Derick Van Ness (04:11) Yep.   The Dental A Team (04:32) being financially free, they're scared to spend money. They get hit with tax burdens left and right. I can't tell you how many dentists that I hear at the end of their career and they've had great careers, but they have no financial stability. like, Derick, this is the stuff that stresses me out and keeps me up at night and which is why you're on the podcast because I want people to be smarter. want them to be more educated and I want them to live happier lives. So let's walk through like R and D credits and CPA and like how people can live a more enriched   Derick Van Ness (04:33) Mm-hmm.   Yep.   The Dental A Team (05:02) big life today rather than waiting. I think it's just a fun topic to talk about. I'm intrigued, so let's talk about it.   Derick Van Ness (05:07) Yeah   Well, let's do. mean, we can start generally with taxes and then we can kind of move into the credits piece because it is like a it's just a small very segmented piece of what you do with your taxes. overall, the biggest thing I see is most people see taxes as like a necessary evil. This is the thing I have to deal with. When people see something as a necessary evil, what do they do? They do the minimum. Right. And what that really turns into is   You're not talking with your CPA. You're not coordinating with them. You're not being proactive. At the end of the year, you just want to do the least. So you just hand them all your stuff. I realize people don't come in boxes anymore. Now it's like, here's my QuickBooks password. Or I add you to my account. ⁓ And then they tell you how much you owe. But if you ran your business that way, if you just didn't look at anything all year, and at the end of the year, you're like, I wonder how we did. Wouldn't go so well if you didn't talk to your team about anything. What's that?   The Dental A Team (06:01) People do that though, Derick. They do it all the   time. This is not abnormal. They do it all the time. They're like, my gosh, I owe how much? my gosh, we didn't hit goal. And I'm like, ⁓ let's at least look at our numbers. Like that's step one. Step two, let's talk to our team. You're not wrong. I'm just shocked at how many people do this in real life. And I'm like, hey, there's a different way of living. like, maybe let's take that path. Just try it out. It's like t-shirt. Try that one on. It might feel better than your current oversized, like two baggy of clothes that don't fit. And then you're angry.   Derick Van Ness (06:11) I know.   The Dental A Team (06:30) the time. anyway go on didn't mean to interrupt the rant.   Derick Van Ness (06:32) What if I'm gonna be   a Gen Z VSCO girl? I I want the Oversight T-shirt and the angst.   The Dental A Team (06:36) Well, as I said it, as I   said it, I was like, well, that's like the current style. Like what's uncomfortable clothing? Maybe it's like the wool scratchy. I just came back from Iceland and I'll tell you what, I didn't buy a single shirt there. I was like, that is gonna scratch me. I know it's warm, but I'm not wearing that for the rest of time. Like there are softer clothes in this world that are equally as warm. Like I'll choose that. So that maybe you're wearing a wool scratchy sweater. Cause you never look at your numbers. You're always irritable. You're always angry.   Maybe you might get the oversized hoodie that's way more comfy. Maybe that's the better analogy for today.   Derick Van Ness (07:07) Well, and so you help them look at their numbers, right? What's your P &L? What are your KPIs? There are tax numbers too, right? Like I'm usually meeting with clients in September-ish to say, OK, how much have you made so far this year? What does that put us on track for December 31st? And then we have November, I'm sorry, September, October, November, December to do things to get that number at the end where you want it to be. I'm not talking about go out and spend $1.   to save $0.40, right? People do that. Oh, go buy a car. If you don't need a car, that's just a waste of money. I literally had someone who's like, should I just buy a G-Wagon? I'm like, only if you were going to buy a G-Wagon anyway. They want the tax break, but.   The Dental A Team (07:45) I mean, I asked that question too.   I mean, I do. I do ask it as well, but it's unnecessary. You're right. Like, so I can repel you you're not going to do it. Don't just because you get the tax benefit. You just have to pay the money. So, but I do ask because I want to know, just tell me I can buy the boat, Derick.   Derick Van Ness (07:58) Yeah.   Well, boats are totally different. They're way more fun, but they're also way more expensive to maintain. So I love boats. I absolutely do. But they are not cheap, right? As the saying goes, break out another 1,000. That's what boat stands for. Just go to the ocean and throw $1,000 in it every month. That's what owning a boat's like if you don't use it.   The Dental A Team (08:05) They are not. I know.   gosh, I've never heard that.   That's hilarious.   That's hilarious. I've heard like the best day and worst day of owning a boat is the day you buy it and the day you sell it. Like that's the only best days. I have a boat. I do love the boat. It is an older boat. things I'm not... Maybe mine's like break out a 10 because we've got a much older boat. But like, know, when we upgrade then we'll be in the thousand realm. ⁓   Derick Van Ness (08:28) So.   Yep.   Yeah.   Yes, yes. So boats are great. Not usually the best tax strategy. But the big thing here is when you sail a boat or when you drive a car, I heard this the other day and I thought it was perfect. It's like when you drive a car, what's bigger, the windshield or the rear view mirror? Most people are doing taxes in the rear view mirror. That is not about your expansive future. That's about recording your past, right? And so if you just did business planning one year at a time,   Like you wouldn't ever buy the building. You wouldn't ever invest in the equipment. You wouldn't ever invest in the education, right? It's the same thing for taxes. It is part of a cohesive and ongoing plan. ⁓ so when you want to plan that, we have to look into the future. And so looking into the future allows you to control your income, control your expenses. But you have to know your numbers to your point, right? Like if you don't understand a P &L,   It's really hard to do tax work because we don't know what your income is. And I have some clients who come in that way. And I have to really get them to understand that if you don't have good books, you don't have good data, it's like trying to do dentistry without a diagnostic. You just go in and start drilling teeth to see what's happening. No, you wouldn't do dentistry that way. Don't do that way with your taxes either. should I just buy this and I'll just buy that and randomly and I help those work out?   Your P &L is really like your diagnostic, right? Both on the income side, but also that's related to taxes. And so I think the big thing for people is think of taxes as an additional income stream. If you do this right, you can keep, like a lot of dentists pay 40 % or more in taxes, right? So if we can cut that from 40 down to 20 to 25 % on average, that's 15 % straight to your bottom line.   And it probably takes an average of two hours a month at most, which is pretty good, right? Like if you could add a new service into your business, no employees, no marketing, no overhead, two hours a month, but profits went up by 15%, would you take it? Most dentists would say, yeah, that six figures is pretty good.   The Dental A Team (10:53) As long as I'm not going to jail, Derick,   I don't want to go to jail. That's my only line. Like, how is this legal? Because so many people talk about tax strategy and my line is I'm willing to live in the gray, I'm just not willing to go to jail. So how do you go from 40 to 20 that's legal and ethical?   Derick Van Ness (11:01) you   Yeah, we don't want to go to jail.   Yeah, so there's two things. There are lots of little things. So research and development credits, which we'll get to in a minute, is one of those things. It's not little. I would call it a medium thing. For a lot of dentists, it's worth between $10, depending on the size of your clinic, $10,000 $50,000 a year. So it's sizable. And then there's all the pay your kids, cost segregation, salary and dividends, all that kind of stuff. And those things stack up. If you pay your kids right, then that can save you   The Dental A Team (11:21) I agree, I would too.   Mm-hmm.   Derick Van Ness (11:40) 10, 15 grand if you're in a state where you can pay your state taxes and have a federal write-off that might save you 10, 15, 20 thousand dollars a year. Taking a salary, the proper salary versus dividends that might save you another 10 or 15 thousand. So these things start to stack up but when you're in that 500,000 plus tax bracket there are things like and I can't totally get into details because this is stuff for accredited investors and I don't know who the listeners are and all that but there are   Investments you can make that have big tax breaks, right? And that could be everything from energy types of things to short-term rentals, different types of real estate. There's a lot of different stuff, right? So that sort of depends on what's the life you want to build and aligning that. ⁓ There are lots of charitable and donation type strategies where you can create some really big tax breaks. There's entity structuring, ⁓ where you take your income and how you take your income matters.   So you can really layer all of this stuff and make huge chunks, take huge chunks out of your business. The bigger you are, the bigger you can do with these things. And honestly, once you get over a million plus in income, then there's another layer of stuff you can do. It's just a lot of times the setup costs, you have to have enough tax burden to make it worth it. But there's some really neat stuff out there. And some of the stuff with the big, beautiful bill. ⁓   bringing back bonus depreciation. There's some really neat things where, oh, if you do a solar thing, you can get some credits, but then you can also get all the depreciation in the first year. And so you put in $100,000 into this type of investment. You may not make a lot of money, but you might get $150,000, $175,000, $200,000 worth of write-offs on your taxes. And when I say write-offs, mean dollars you don't pay, like true credit dollar for dollar. That could be huge, right? Things like that.   The Dental A Team (13:10) Yes.   Right.   Derick Van Ness (13:38) that a lot of people are just unaware of. And don't take that as an investment advice. I'm just telling you about things that exist in the world that may or may not be for you. Check with your financial professional. But yeah, you start stacking all these things up and you go from, I wrote $150,000 check to, I wrote a $60,000 check. And then what I like to do is help people take that 90 grand you would have given to the government. And now let's add that to what you would already save. And for a lot of people, that's   The Dental A Team (13:47) That's amazing.   Derick Van Ness (14:07) a lot more than they were already saving. So we more than doubled their savings rate. And the fastest thing you can do to build wealth is just get more money into the equation. So that's really it is we're trying to create money that you can then put to work for you outside your business. Because what nobody ever tells you is, even if you're an amazing dentist and you make all this money and you sell your practice for top dollar, and you get all that money, you become a professional investor.   The Dental A Team (14:27) you   Derick Van Ness (14:36) And if you don't have any investment skills, if you don't know how to put that money to work, if you don't know how to protect it, you're just a lamb to the slaughter. You know, everybody shows up, they got an idea. Your brother-in-law wants to start a coffee shop or a brewery. Your neighbor has the next best tech app. And all of a sudden, all this money just starts disappearing because you're not seasoned. So one of the things we like to do is get people doing these types of investments, learning, getting a skill set around it so that when you do get that big   big shot when you sell your business or you have those huge tax or those huge years and you don't pay all the taxes, you know what to do with the money. Because that's a whole different skill set than running a dental clinic.   The Dental A Team (15:17) I don't disagree. And that's why Derick, I love having you on here. And I think your comment of the goal is to get more money to put into the equation. What are the things like, I have 90 grand or I have 150. What are some of those investments that, again, realize that we're being generic and there's a reason you have to be generic is because there are rules that financial planners, advisors, CPAs have to abide by. in general terms, Derick, what are some of the ways that   Derick Van Ness (15:25) Mm-hmm.   The Dental A Team (15:45) you found to generate higher levels of wealth? We're putting more money into the equation, but what's the equation that's going to get it? And again, I know this is very, I would say like vanilla. We're just talking very much basic.   Derick Van Ness (15:56) Yeah, yeah, I'll just   give you the principles, right? The philosophy behind it. One of the things is we always, all of our lives we've heard diversify your assets. Diversify, diversify, diversify.   The Dental A Team (16:06) all weather portfolio, Ray Dalio, right? Like you got to get it everything, have it all. What is it like? think eight uncorrelated assets or something like that is what it should be. Anyway, there you go. Okay.   Derick Van Ness (16:09) Yep.   8 to 16 non-correlated asset   classes. Yep. And the idea here is this. It used to be that you could put your money in the stock market. And each individual stock did its thing based on what its performance was. Since the late 90s, early 2000s, everything's kind of gotten grouped together. Almost everybody just buys the S &P 500 or just buys index funds, which is basically the whole market.   And so if you look at the top five stocks, which are usually the Google, Apple, Tesla, Nvidia, depending on one or two others, ⁓ whatever they're doing is usually what the market's doing, right? It all has a tendency to ebb and flow together because it's all been chunked together. So I don't see those all as different asset classes anymore. How I personally invest, I'm not saying you need to buy into my ideas, but so you can have money there. But then I do think you want to have money in other things.   that maybe aren't tied to the stock market. Maybe you've got some oil and gas. Maybe you've got some farming communities in Central America. Maybe you've got someone who's doing senior living homes, someone who's developing all these empty office buildings. And they're all tied to different things. So that way, if the stock market takes a dump and goes down, that's not all your portfolio. Maybe it's 15 or 20%.   if real estate takes a hit. Yeah, your real estate takes a hit, but maybe something else does well. Having things in your portfolio that if some of them struggle during inflation, some of them do well during inflation, right? Things like gold that holds its value. And so the idea is to be able to put your money to work in a way where it's in a bunch of different buckets that aren't all tied to the same thing. And what that really creates is stability, right? And why that's so important is when you're growing your money,   The Dental A Team (17:46) Mm-hmm.   Derick Van Ness (18:09) You can have the ups and downs a little bit, but when you go to start pulling money out, the volatility, the ups and downs are what really kill your ability to pull money out, because you have to always protect against the downside. And it's why if you look at the market historically, it'll go up, depending on who you ask, 6 to 8%. But when you're pulling money out of the stock market in retirement, the numbers say sustainably over the long term, you can only pull 3 to 4%. Why is that? You would think, ⁓ I can pull.   The Dental A Team (18:21) Mm-hmm.   Right.   Derick Van Ness (18:38) six to eight, but it's three to four because of the volatility. If you are counting on that, it crashes that year and you sell. Then when the market recovers, you have less money to recover with. And over time that stacks up. So the idea there is to work with someone who has the ability to put you into different asset classes, help educate you. This also gives you a chance to try different things. So you can start to get that seasoning we were talking about and learn how money really works because   The Dental A Team (18:43) Right.   Derick Van Ness (19:09) You know, money, health and relationships are the three things that really dictate the quality of your life. And it's funny, we don't spend a lot of time in them in school, right? And so, ⁓ so it's something you have to learn, just like if you don't learn how to take care of your health, you suffer. If you don't learn how to have good relationships, you suffer. And money is another thing. All of those you can get help with, but at the end of the day, you have to be able to be competent enough.   to get the results you want. And money is just one of those things.   The Dental A Team (19:40) Yeah. No, Derick, that's a, think it's such a good way to look at it. And I will say, I was very much a baby investor and I think I still would qualify myself as pretty naive. But it is, they say like, I don't know, what is it? The eighth wonder of the world is compound interest. And it's crazy because when you start out and you just get started on your investments, it feels like this is stupid. At least I have, I've so told many financial advisors, feel like they like,   Derick Van Ness (20:04) Mm.   The Dental A Team (20:07) money monster. So it's like the cookie monster. Like I give my money to you. I never can get it back. I have no clue how to access this money. And then you start to see it and you're like, wow, that started to compound and this started to become different. And we had our first year with it. We didn't have to write such a large check to the IRS and done legally and ethically. And I was like, wow, this is a very different world that I'm living in than I have been. And it wasn't as hard as I thought. And so I, like you said, I do feel like you're   Derick Van Ness (20:11) Yeah.   The Dental A Team (20:33) comfort level and they do say that women tend to be better investors than men because women, we just put money in, we give it to you. We're like, here you go. We don't ever like go check it and watch the stocks. Stocks. Whereas men are like, cons I'm like looking at those stocks, like my husband checks it like 10 times a day. And I'm like, just don't even look at it. Like I don't even, it's the cookie monster, the money monster. You take the money. I know you haven't like taken it. People get angry with me. They're like, Kiera, we can't legally take your money. And I'm like, no, but I just have no clue how to access it. They're like you email. And I'm like, I know.   Derick Van Ness (20:44) Right.   Yep. In your brain, right?   The Dental A Team (21:02) but it like stocks and then I got to pay taxes and I don't understand any of it. But I will say, I think it's like PNLs, the language of money, the language of investing. It's a skill that you are learning. And I do agree, the younger you can learn this, the more time you have to recover if you make mistakes and versus having to be perfect later on in life. So I really very much subscribe to your model of thinking. And I love that. I love that you've talked about taxes, how to save, how to get it into   Derick Van Ness (21:11) Mm-hmm.   The Dental A Team (21:31) Again, I remember I sat in a Tony Robbins wealth mastery thing. Ray Dalio was in the room. had no clue who half like Paul Tudor Jones. I think that's his name. Like so freaking smart. I had no clue who these people were. And like here you've got like five billionaires sitting in the room with us. And I was like, I had no clue. And they start talking about this stuff. And I feel like an idiot, but I will say it's an idiot that I love to be because the more I learn about the more I'm involved in it, the more you expose yourself, the more you learn how it works.   Derick Van Ness (21:38) John Paul Tudor, yeah.   Yeah, I remember.   The Dental A Team (22:00) And I think like what you're saying, Derick, I just hope people talk to your financial advisors, get your uncorrelated assets, start building that portfolio because time, like they say, you only have so much time and the best time to plant a tree was like a hundred years ago. The next best time is today. And I just, I don't want to be that person when it comes to my portfolio where I wish I would have started. All of us will wish we started sooner, but I am grateful that we started as young as we were and are building it the way we have versus   Derick Van Ness (22:23) Yes.   The Dental A Team (22:28) waiting until like, and I don't care if you haven't started then start today. If you've been doing it, figure out how you can do more. ⁓ But I think Derick, I have a question of, I always live in scarcity. So what do you tell a client like myself where I'm always afraid that I'm going to run out of money. I don't know where it comes from. It doesn't matter how much I have. I have acorns upon acorns upon acorns. I swear like you've probably can find money in my couch. I'm not that bad. I don't have it in the couch, but like,   Derick Van Ness (22:32) Yep.   The Dental A Team (22:54) How do you get to a level where you feel comfortable spending money rather than just always saving for retirement and not living today? What's the balance of that?   Derick Van Ness (23:03) Yeah, so what I've discovered working with over 2,500 people on all of this, Kiera, is like money problems don't like quote unquote go away. They just change. In the beginning, it's like, how do I make money? I don't have enough money. How do I manage the car payment or whatever? Then you make a little bit more and you're like, okay, now I'm past survival. Like, how do I start to grow? Right? So you invest in yourself, your business, your education, whatever. Then you start to grow some more.   Then you start saying, okay, now I'm growing and I'm making money and I'm living a decent life, but how do I build for the future? So it's not just the now, then it's the future, right? And then what happens is you definitely get to a point, at least I've seen this for myself and a lot of clients is you start to make a good amount of money and the problem becomes how do I make sure that this doesn't ever go away?   Right? Like now I'm living this really good life and I can travel and I can spend time with family and I can do the things that I want to do. And I can buy nice clothes or go to nice dinner or do nice things for my kids or whatever your thing is. And I don't have to think about money. But then there's this fear of like, what if I lose that? Right. And going back. And so the money problems just change. I believe it's an instinct that's built into us. Like the monkeys that ate bananas and then just stopped worrying and didn't hoard them.   ended up dying faster than the ones that hoarded them, right? And so, like, I think it's an instinct to be paranoid, to be fear-driven, and that's where we have to, as humans, understand our wiring and say, my wiring is for survival, not for happiness and fulfillment, right? Because survival is what reproduced. Happiness and fulfillment, especially in a scary world of survival, ⁓ doesn't do very well.   The Dental A Team (24:27) Sure.   Derick Van Ness (24:52) Right? So, so we have to try to rewire our brain as much as we can. ⁓ And I think the biggest thing is to focus on a big future, a big vision. When you're moving towards something, then you're not focused on moving away from something. When you're in fear, you're, moving away from something. I'm moving away from failure. I'm moving. I'm trying to avoid losing money. I'm trying to avoid running out, trying to avoid making a mistake. You know, this about business ownership, like you can't avoid the mistakes. You just try and minimize them.   and learn from them as fast as you can. Like making mistakes is part of success and nobody says it that way, but I think it's really, really important to get that. And when you're moving towards something, you're in abundance, you're in striving, you're in goal oriented, whatever your thing is. And that doesn't have to be about money. That could be, I wanna be a great parent. I wanna get in better health. I wanna have more free time and make the same money.   So this isn't like just a money conversation, but when you're moving toward those, you have a tendency to lose your fear. I think it's when we aren't sure where to go next that we get afraid of losing ground and we do that. And so I think sometimes it's just a matter of clarity and reminding yourself, where do I want to go? What am I building? Like once you get past a certain point, like, you know, once you get past a certain amount of income or a certain amount of wealth, it's not about money anymore.   Right. It's really about contribution. It's about impact. And I think when we, our mind can really only focus on one thing at a time, especially as men, ⁓ women are much better at seeing the big picture. ⁓ But, but really when you're focused on something that holds your attention and then it doesn't drift to some of the other stuff as much, it doesn't mean you won't. Cause I'll tell you, I'm at my most vulnerable when I wake up in the morning and my brain starts doing payroll and all these other things. And like you said,   The Dental A Team (26:26) you   Derick Van Ness (26:47) I have enough cash stored away that I could not make a dollar for a year and still pay for my whole business and do the whole thing and be fine. But that doesn't mean that that instinctual part of me doesn't freak out for a minute until I come in and say, hey, we're building massive things. We're changing people's lives. Let's just focus on that and let the rest take care of itself. That really is the best thing for me is to focus on where I'm going, not where I'm afraid I might end up.   The Dental A Team (27:15) Absolutely. I   think that was good. Good wisdom there. You are the person, if you guys have heard me talk about it on the podcast, this came from Derick. He's the one who's told me it's a return on emotion, not necessarily a return on investment and like what helps you sleep at night, what helps you stay there. And I love that you talked about like it is a survival instinct. It's not a bad instinct. so loving that side, but also tempering it so that way we can enjoy the fulfillment. And again, I also think that there becomes confidence in yourself. I think enough.   enough business crashes, enough mistakes, enough things where you come back from it also teach you that there's certainty within yourself that no matter what comes your way, ⁓ you know that you'll be able to survive it, you'll be able to come. Someone told me once, it's not unsafe, it's just uncomfortable. Unless someone's running at you with like a knife and it's truly life threatening, it's like if the stock market crashes, that's like we're still safe, it's just going to be pretty dang uncomfortable for a little bit. If we become bankrupt,   Derick Van Ness (27:47) Mm-hmm.   Mm-hmm.   The Dental A Team (28:13) We're not unsafe, we're just uncomfortable. And that has given me a lot of, I think, temperance on when you think about finances, like that'd be uncomfortable, but I am still safe and I would still be alive and we can come back and we can figure things out. So Derick, I know we wanted to pivot gears and talk R &D credits, because this is something that's new. yeah, let's kind of chat that because I think we've gone through tax strategy, building wealth mindset around ⁓ how to maintain and have that.   Derick Van Ness (28:30) Well, yeah, we'll keep it short here.   The Dental A Team (28:42) return on emotion and building those skills. And I really love that you just said money issues don't ever go away, they just change shape. And I think that that's the same as business, right? Business problems just become a different flavor and different color. ⁓ But now let's talk about like some R &D credits because we've talked about R &D. I've seen several clients do very well on R &D credits. So was excited to hear like, they're back and they're back again, and they look a little different. So I'm excited to hear if you guys don't know what they are, Derick will definitely explain them and how you can.   Derick Van Ness (29:02) Yep.   The Dental A Team (29:08) Dental practices are ripe for the picking of R &D, it's exciting to have a resource for dental practices.   Derick Van Ness (29:15) Yeah, dental practices really are because the R &D credits are designed when you do new things in your business that are based in technology. And that could be computer science, engineering, biological science, or physical science, like chemistry, ⁓ which dentists are doing all of that stuff. So when you do new stuff in your business, the government realizes you're taking a risk. You're trying a new implant system. You're trying a new ⁓   a new type of diagnostic, you're trying a new flow for your patients, whatever. Sometimes it blows up in your face. I everybody listening here has tried a new piece of software and after six weeks you wanted to throw the computer out the window and you're like, we're going back to the other one, we got to find something else, right? ⁓ Or we tried 3D printing and it was just really, really hard and like some people love it, some people hate it. But at the end of the day, every time you take that risk, the government knows that you could lose money.   The Dental A Team (29:57) Totally.   Derick Van Ness (30:11) So the R &D credits are really their effort to say, don't stop innovating. Don't stop trying to get better. We know you're going to take some skin, knees, and elbows along the way. And we're willing to give you some credits to help with that. so ⁓ dentists, like dentistry is moving so fast. I don't have to tell the listeners that. There's new stuff every single quarter, every single year. Five years ago, everybody was getting crowns to be milled. Now they're 3D printing teeth and doing all, you know.   digital scans and all the other stuff and pretty quick here, think we have robots doing surgery. I don't necessarily want to be the first person to try that, but.   The Dental A Team (30:45) Yeah, me neither. I'm like number   like 200,000. I'll try it at that point. I'm usually like number two jumping off a cliff if the first person's alive, then I'll jump. Unlike innovative robots, I only have 28 teeth left, so I'll just let them practice a bit more before they come to me. It's okay. Stick with the drill and fill. Yeah, the drill and fill, I'm okay with it. It's all right. It's better.   Derick Van Ness (30:51) Yeah.   Yeah.   Yep.   I'll just pay a little more for the people.   Yes. so effectively, most dentists just don't realize they're qualifying for these credits. And so what we try to help them do is we do a free estimate to help you understand, OK, let's go through the different things that you did in your practice. It takes maybe a half an hour to identify the different things you've done. And right now, there's a window. And this is why we wanted to talk about this today, that closes on the 4th of July of 2026. So we've got about three or four months left.   where you can go back and you can file for 2022, 2023, and 2024. I don't want to bore everybody, but effectively when they did the 2017 tax rewrite, the first Trump tax rewrite, it broke the R &D credits in 2022. You could file for them, but the downside was bigger than the upside, so it wasn't worth doing. Now, they kind of did that on purpose to balance the budget, and they thought, oh, we'll change it before 2022, and then COVID happened, so they never changed it.   So it got broken. So they came back and they fixed it and said, hey, you guys can go back and claim this, but you really only have until the 4th of July. So they gave us one year to do it. ⁓ And so it's a big opportunity, a big window right now where you can get three years worth of credit. So you can literally go back. The government will send you a check for taxes you've overpaid, and you can get that money back. I won't tell you the IRS is really fast at processing this stuff, but they do get to all of them.   The Dental A Team (32:23) Wow.   No.   Derick Van Ness (32:34) And the checks come in, and we've done over 1,000 of these for clients. So it's definitely a legit thing. And the credits have been around since the 80s. They became a permanent part of the tax code in 2015. So they were kind of new. They've been around about 10 years. But the first couple of years, nobody knew. then over the last couple of years, they've become more and more popular. But then they kind of screwed them up in 22 through 24. So the reason I wanted to talk about them is if somebody is a dentist, they're not claiming these credits. But they are doing.   The Dental A Team (32:38) Wow.   Derick Van Ness (33:04) Innovative things upgrading equipment trying new software trying new techniques new implant systems new Diagnostics, whatever you probably got all these credits sitting there. You don't know about and It's worth getting a free estimate to see what's on the table. Yes You do have to amend your taxes, which is a very small pain in the butt But your total time into this should be an hour or two, which is really a short conversation You send over tax returns ⁓ A team like ours would give you an estimate   And if it seems like it's worth doing it, then you do it. You just let them do their thing and you write the check for the fee, right? So it's pretty hard to beat bang for your buck hour for hour. And like I said, for a lot of practices, it's between 1 to 2 % of your gross revenue. This is not a quote. This is just like what I've generally seen. So if you have a million dollar practice, it's probably 10 to 20 grand a year if you're doing these types of things. I mean, I have some. We just did a doctor who's got   Six offices they're getting almost a half a million dollars back right it can be it can be major and Doesn't take him any longer than to take someone with one office so you know it's it's just a big window of opportunity that I wanted to try and squeeze in here and People who haven't done this or unaware. It's like hey, we got a big opportunity and you can do this for 2025 moving forward every year. It's it's back indefinitely and so my hope is   The Dental A Team (34:07) It's incredible.   Derick Van Ness (34:32) People can do the catch up. And then from here forward, you don't even have to amend. You just party your tax return. You just don't pay the taxes. Just like you depreciate equipment or anything else and just get the tax break, the difference is tax credits are dollar for dollar. So if you get $10,000 tax credit, it's just $10,000 you don't pay in taxes, not a $10,000 write off, which might be worth $3,000 or $4,000.   The Dental A Team (34:40) awesome.   Mm-hmm.   Totally. No, and I think Derick, I'm so glad you brought this up. And at first I was creeped out by you. I'm not going to lie. Like when you first started talking about it, was like, are these like, I don't know, what are they called? The opportunity zones. And like, I heard a lot of people got their shorts burned on those. And I was like, do I even put this on the podcast? But I will say, Derick just said he's done thousands of them. They have had great success. I have seen clients tell me, thank you. So that's why I wanted Derick to come on because any client that comes from Dental A Team does get preferred.   Derick Van Ness (35:03) you   huh.   The Dental A Team (35:26) I don't know treatment. don't know what you guys do, but I do know that there's, ⁓ you guys get, you just said you get pushed to the front of line. If you mentioned you heard on Dental A Team podcast, we also have a link with big life financial. I'm pretty sure Derick, if I remember right, I'm pretty sure we do. ⁓ but definitely wanted you guys to have that, especially with a closing in July. And it's something where I love that Derick will just like, he's met with me and my husband several times to talk about multiple things. Derick is non pushy. And I appreciate that about you, Derick. You ⁓ educate.   Derick Van Ness (35:27) Treatment, yep, yep, front of the line.   We do. Yep.   The Dental A Team (35:56) and then give people the information and then you're to make the decisions on your own. So I think like, why not? Why not reach out to Derick? Why not just like see what it looks like? And then you have their resources. They're not going to file unless you want them to. You don't have to break up with your CPA if they file for you. I'm pretty sure. Is that right? Like you don't have to switch.   Derick Van Ness (36:09) Correct.   No, no, yeah,   you don't have to. We can amend it for you. But in a lot of cases, it makes sense to just have your CPA do it. They've got all your information. So but we can handle it either way.   The Dental A Team (36:25) So I think like on that, I just feel it's very much worthwhile. And I know Big Life Financial does a lot. do. I'll let you like take it because I know you guys are added to more services. But I think like if nothing else, we want to have the call to action of like, just look into the R &D credits. Like I said, I have seen multiple checks go to practices. They have not been audited. ⁓ Things have gone very smoothly for them. I was skittish. But I mean, Derick, we've been talking about this, I don't know, almost five years now, if not longer, that we've been telling practices about it. So.   Derick Van Ness (36:52) Yep.   The Dental A Team (36:54) very excited, but Derick, kind of tell about the makeup of what Big Life Financial is and then how people can reach out to you, especially in particular to the R &D credits.   Derick Van Ness (37:04) Yeah, so for the R &D credits, just go to, it's just BigLifeFinancial.com So BigLifeFinancial.com/DAT D-A-T right? Dental A Team. And all you got to do is just set up a time there to talk with myself or someone on my team. It's like a 15 minute call. And we'll just screen it, see if it makes sense. Beyond that, we do offer full service taxes if for some reason you're looking for tax breaks or you feel like you're, for one reason or another, you need to make a change.   then we can do that. We do also work with an RIA. So if you're looking for some of these investments that might have tax breaks or other diversification or whatever, we have those capabilities as well. So we really try to be front to back like what we call like a family office or a fractional family office, which is what the super rich people have. They just have an attorney and a CPA and a   Uh, an insurance guy, an investment guy, or probably 10 investment guys who all just work for them. Obviously most people can't afford to have an entire team that just works for them. So we work with a limited number of people, but we have a coordinated team that way. And, and it's taken me like 10 years to find the right people to do that. That's, that's really it because the Uber wealthy have those people, the people who are making 50 or a hundred thousand bucks a year, they don't need it. We really work in this sweet spot where a lot of people make.   300,000 400,000 on the low end to 2 3 million on the high end. And they're kind of in between, not rich enough to have the team that's all working together all the time, but rich enough that you really need it. Like this segment of the population is the one that just gets crushed on taxes. ⁓ And so we're really doing our best to help minimize that. So that's why we work so much with dentists and doctors.   The Dental A Team (38:56) That's amazing. I love that Derick. And I think for everybody, it was BigLifeFinancial.com slash DAT. We'll be sure to like link that in the show notes and also add it for you guys. But, and Derick, love, I didn't know what a family office was at first. And then I found out hanging out with a lot of wealthy people, what it is. And so for you to provide that, think worth conversations ⁓ and definitely appreciate the insights today. It was a really fun episode. I'm glad we got back together. It's been too long. ⁓ And like truly guys, just reach out.   Again, I would do it as exploration. would do it as like, just find out anytime I hear things like this, I just go book meetings. It doesn't mean I need to actually execute on it. But I think again, learning the language of business, learning the education, seeing if it fills right for you. Now you can ask a million people, but like I said, Derick and I have been doing this for about five years and every client that has been referred to Big Life Financial has gone through, has told me how much they've been grateful for it. So Derick, I appreciate you. Any last wrap up thoughts today as we wrap up today? I appreciate our time so much today together.   Derick Van Ness (39:55) No, I think it's just understanding that part of building wealth is beyond just making income, right? Just making income won't build the life you want to live. Once you earn the money, you got to take care of it. And there's a lot of pieces to that. So whether it's with us or someone else, just take that on for your family's sake. It's not just about making it. It's keeping it and being smarter with it. And if you do that, you're going to be in good hands.   The Dental A Team (40:20) amazing. Well, Derick, thank you so much for being here today. Thank you all for listening. I love what Derick said, like it's not just enough to make the money, we need to figure out how to keep the money and set yourselves up for the great lives that you've been building and to truly have that big life as Derick has described it. So for all of you listening, I hope that today you don't just passively listen, but you actively take action and commit to having the wealth of your life, the wealth of your dreams to have that life that really ⁓   is the life of your dreams. there's a quote from my mirror from when I was little where I said, don't just dream, do. And I think that that's how I'll leave you today. So for all of you listening, thank you for listening and we'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team Podcast.

Chances are, your accounts receivable (AR) is not dialed in. Kiera provides very tactical, specific tips on how to get your AR cleaned up and start bringing in money you've already earned. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: The Dental A Team (00:00) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera and today is a very important topic But one the people like my rat rat rat, but guess what my rat rat rat is gonna make you a lot of money So I hope you're excited for it. So we'll take that rat rat rat into kaching Because it's dentistry party done and we're just gonna like help you out. I hope you guys enjoy hanging out with me This is my like nerdy geeky side that definitely loves and obsesses of being able to help you guys and it's been so fun I'm working with some people and teaching them about this and   getting them excited on how they can fix their AR ⁓ is something that just like really, really lights my fire because doctors, you do the freaking dentistry, get paid for it. Can I get an amen out there? Like seriously, you do the dentistry and AR and making sure you're paid is something that I am so obsessed about. So, and this doesn't mean doctors, have to do it yourself. So I want us to get into the AR like the womp, womp, womp, it's annoying, but guess what? These are billing tips that work that are gonna make you a lot of money for work that you've already done.   This is like people like, Kiera, how can I make more money and not do more work? And I'm like, just take the money, the what you've already done. it's crazy. lot of people come in and like, Kiera, you're really going to be able to like, ⁓ give us an ROI on your consulting. And I'm like, time. Why? Because I know your AR is out of control. have yet to meet a practice that has perfect AR. And if you are the practice email me, I'm going to give you a freaking shirt and we don't get out done on a team shirts anymore. So yeah, you should definitely email us. ⁓ there are a couple of practices out there.   But most the time, AR is something that is not dialed in. It does not have a plan. And this is something that is going to be very tactical for you. So first step is AR. What is AR? It's the accounts receivable. Okay. And there's two parts to it. AR has the patient portion and the insurance portion. Okay. So when we do dentistry, we need to make sure we collect money and we bill insurance and then we make sure that we get paid for that. Now, insurance is such a sneaky little game and I get so annoyed by it I love to teach people this.   So we need to have it where there's like a few processes that make AR really good. So we're gonna break it down very simply. Number one, good information in means good clean claims going out. I'm always like, we send clean claims. Clean claims mean, clean claims, clean claims. Clean claims, clean claims. ⁓ Clean claims. I'm gonna giggle saying it. I can hear the little jingle in my voice. Clean claims means that we...   have the correct information. So I've got the patient's name, the date of birth, the insurance information. That's all correct. I've got the group number and please for the love of everything, holy, do not make a million group numbers. Do not do that. Make sure AR are so messy and your insurance box is so messy. We just have it. We also need to have fee schedules that are up to date every single year. Please do that. We need to attach it. We do not want write-offs. So what this means, ⁓ also another like, it's not a pet peeve. It's just like,   Oh, I'm sorry. You need to like listen to the podcast and implement this. Stop reporting to me your fees in gross numbers and do it in net. So many times I get on calls with people and they're like, Kiera, we produced like 2 million, but we collected one. And I'm like, ouch. And they're like, well, like our net was like, you know, 1.2. I'm like, so tell me you produce 1.2. Let's live in real land numbers, not the 2 million. Cause you're always going to be mad at me. They're like, well, I produced 2 million, but I'm only making a million. Well, yeah.   Because guess what? You didn't really produce two million. I know you want to say you did, but guess what? Insurance is what really is paying you. So we've got to do that. And I know you don't want to, but when you will do this and you attach the correct fee schedules to it, you are actually going be able to predict your numbers better and your money and your finances are going to get better on your personal side too. So hear me out. It was the worst day. was worse than Christmas getting a lump of coal. I took our production and it dropped us by 30%. And guess what? My goals are to produce 20 grand in a five out practice per day. You want to know how hard that was? I was like, I'm never going to make it.   But guess what? Because I was reporting in real numbers, me even as a TC and an O.M. we were able to schedule more correctly and get us to the actual 15 grand of true 15, 20 grand per day of true production that we were collecting. How much do think my business grew? ⁓ a lot because we were actually producing incorrect numbers, not inflated numbers. So clean claims. We're back to that clean claims mean we've got correct information. We've got the correct ⁓ all of the information is correct.   We've got our insurance verification done and we've got the fee schedules attached. So then when I'm giving an estimate, I'm estimating to the best of my ability. We do not send pre-Ds. I call them pre-denials. You can have your own opinion, but I really truly do not like pre-denials. They take time, they waste energy. And to me, guess what? I got the best information. I'm a thousand dollars. I'm an insurance coupon. I need to be a dang good treatment coordinator that's able to communicate this. And if the patient owes money, guess what? We've got to be really good at communicating that too. This is our best estimate.   I'm gonna do my absolute best. We called your insurance company. I've got the best insurance verification. This is the absolute best I can get today. We're gonna take care of that. And on the flip side, hey, worst case scenario is you're gonna owe this much out of pocket. Tell them that. Then they're not mad at you when you call them. like, hey, insurance didn't pay as much as we thought. But remember, worst case scenario, this is what it is. And I can work with you to get that collected, okay? So then from there, we make sure we have correct documentation as well. We need to attach the correct narratives.   ⁓ insurance or excuse me, x-rays, intra-orals, whatever we need to get that paid. Insurance companies are obsessed with not paying for you, but it's because they play the game. So just figure out the rules of the game. We have our fee schedules in there. We send the correct documentation and we send it out every day and we check to make sure none of these claims get stuck in our claim sender. Okay, so we wanna make sure it goes through the clearing house. It doesn't get stuck there. I feel like that's like the post office for claims. We send it through and we make sure all of them get pushed through to the insurance company.   and then we follow up. And now this is where I need owners of each of them. So we need somebody to make sure that all of our intake process is correct. We need someone to make sure that our, what we send out in our claims is correct. And we tell the clinical team what we need for every single claim. And then from there, we have one person who owns our billing department. AR needs to have a clear owner. Who is our billing person that works on this every single day? Yes, you heard me. Because the goal is to get our claims paid within 30 days. You can do it. It's doable, but you gotta have a process.   So that person then their job is I recommend we run the AR list at the beginning of every single month. Then we put it into an Excel spreadsheet or however you want to do it. I found that it's easiest in Excel and then we have it color coded. And I like it to be broken down so that way the biller, their goal is to get through every single patient. Yes. And I have seen 2,500 patients, 7,500 patients. Like it is amazing how many like line items we can get. Hopefully you're more like the 500 to 700 patients on that AR list.   Then what we do from there is we've got patient portion and insurance portion. And what we want to do is we want to actually get this really, really dialed in to where we are collecting at time of service, the patient portion. My hope is that your patient portion that's due is very minimal. And the only time we have a patient portion due is because insurance didn't pay as much as we expected them to. So we got to go collect. We've already collected the money before they go out. Please, for the love of everything, holy do not let your patients just be like, I'll pay you with an insurance pays. Absolutely not.   collect the money today. It is much easier to collect today and give a refund than it is to go chase money. I'd rather you get paid today, wait on insurance. That's fine. But be like, hey, we call your insurance. We estimate really, really well. This is how much we're going to collect today. And then, hey, if it's good news, great. We're going to be able to get you a refund. And if it's not, then great. We're not going to have to call you and ask for as much in the future. So this is what we're estimating. This is our best estimate. We've called your insurance company. We've done everything we possibly can to make sure it's the best we can. And I guarantee you, we're going to take great care of you.   Collect the money. Then when it comes in, what I like for the biller to do is to look, what did this insurance company actually pay? And then go update your fee schedule to the true numbers, because fee schedules are just very generic, but for your area and your zip code, we actually like, if insurance billers will go through and look at that and be like, on a crown, Delta Dental actually pays $758. You're like, yeah, right here, it's like 500. Okay, so $558, but we had 500 in there.   Go update that so then we collect more accurately throughout the year. If we are really disciplined in this and our insurance biller will do this, your billing gets so much tighter and we have less money in our AR. Then we go through it, we go through every single claim. Now if your insurance is a lot in the AR, because we haven't worked it, you're gonna wanna work with the top pieces first. The most expensive, the biggest accounts, and I work insurance ones, and then I work patient ones. And I also am looking at the 90 days, and then the 60 days, and then the 30 days.   And then the zero, don't even like zero to 30. don't even touch that 30 to 60. Yes. 60 to 90. Yes. Over 90 for sure. I'm going to hit that. So you can sort your listing Excel of the biggest account balances. And we're going to call the insurance. We're going to call the patients because you feel like you made like a lot of progress. Also, we can look down at the bottom. Another thing too, is sometimes there's like $5, $10. If your insurance list is really big and your AR is really large, sometimes I recommend writing like below $10. Now this is your money. It's not mine. So you do what you want to do with it.   Sometimes I do recommend writing that off, but before we do it, we're to want to send statements to everybody, see if we can collect any of that. Then we have a set date where we're just going to write it off and call it bad debt. We're going to fix our processes moving forward. But if you will do this and you follow it and everybody follows it every single week, every single month, your AR is going to get cleaned up. So people are like, but it's so hard. And we have like one person who owns it. And I say like Tuesdays and Thursdays are insurance and Monday, Wednesday, Fridays are patients. And we call our patients and we do our insurance.   and we clean it up and we get the correct fee schedules and we make sure that we're following up consistently. We're hearing, excuse me, what they say on the ⁓ claims. We're hearing what they are denying. Also, just because it's on a claim and they on an EOB and they say, you need to write this off. We do need to be really smart on insurance and we don't just say, we wrote it off. Absolutely not. We double check, we verify why was it written off? What were the reasons for it? Can we resubmit it? Can we get this paid? Is this a patient portion that needs to be paid?   Do not just write it off because the EOB says it was written off. So we do not do that. Then what I also recommend is we often wait till the end of the month. We talk to our billers and they didn't get through all their AR. Office managers should be meeting every single week with their billing coordinator and the biller needs to be reporting. Here's how much AR I've completed. This is where I'm at. This is my plan for the next week. I'm going to get through every single patient this month. Also, we do not just send statements out. People love to do this. I'm very pro.   We call first, we text and then we send a statement. Why not just call them right then and there and be like, hey, Kiera, great news. We got insurance paid, we owe this amount and I can take card when you're ready and get that all cleared up for you. Send them a text with the payment link. Here you go, this is the balance and they will pay it. Send them a statement that has a QR code to pay online. You guys stop having them write checks and send it to the practice. Make it easy, talk to your payment processor. I love Moola for this. They make it so easy for patients to pay and their fees are so low. So if you need it, tell Moola, The Dental A Team, sent you.   They're incredible and they're a great processor for you. But this is where it has to be. And I'm really big on what we need to have our goals be. So I like to make this simple. Our over 90 should be no more. All of our collective AR should be no more than one month's worth of collection. So if you're producing 100,000, there should be no more than 100,000 sitting in AR. you've got more than that, let's fix   the way I like the goals to be is I like it to be it's no more than 15 % is in our 30 to 60. And the reason why is because that's going to be pretty big. Now zero to 30, I don't worry about, but it's 15 % or less in our 30 to 60. Then it's 10 % or less in our 60 to 90 and less than 5 % over in our over 90. We want to make sure that it follows that. So that way you guys are able to, but great. And those are very generic and you can get those lower. The only thing that usually impacts are over 90 are usually payment plans and also ortho.   So if you have those in there, there are ways that we can discuss with you on how to get those out to clean up your AR, but you've got to have this structured. We've got to have this to where people are following it. And we need to get this in every single week and like truly work with our billers. And if offices will follow this, you guys, this is something that is not hard, but it does take discipline and discipline does equal freedom. And doctors, had a doctor and she was just like, Kiera, I'm not making any money. And I was like,   I don't understand because you have so much money in AR and your production's so great, but we're not collecting the money. So step one is we collect. Now, if your AR is also like ballooned out of control, we can fix it and we collect money when they check in and we make sure we collect on the checkout. So this way we're catching both sides of when patients are in the practice. And some people are weird about that. And I'm like, why are you weird about that? We know they have a balance and we're gonna collect it when they check in. Think about going to the doctor's office. So like perfect, they collect money as soon as you check in every single time.   It's not weird for people to do that in healthcare. So let's collect on the intake and let's collect on the outtake when we're giving the treatment plans. These two areas are gonna fix AR and people are like, that's so hard. And I'm like, I would much rather collect money when they're in the practice rather than needing to call them. Also, another mode of thought is I don't ever give more than 1 % of collections in refund checks every single month. So refunds and credits can get really ballooned people are like freaked out about that. Cause maybe like collected too much, which is like,   High five, good. I'm not saying over collect, like, hey, insurance paid more like that's a win. But before we give those refund checks out, those are the ones I'm gonna call first to see, do they have unscheduled treatment? Like, hey, great news, your insurance paid more than we thought. Let's get you scheduled, let's use that credit for this treatment. So it's a great way to fill your schedule too. But hey, if there's a true credit on the account, let's just start writing 1%. So if we're producing 100,000, what's 1 %? You got it, a thousand bucks, okay?   So 1 % of that, we're gonna then write those refund checks back for that month. This way it doesn't hurt your overhead of time. Now watch because there are certain state laws that do require you to give refunds sooner than that. So check your state laws and make sure like whatever it is. There are some new ones that have just come out. So be sure to check that so you're compliant with your state laws. If there's nothing about it, 1 % is usually a pretty good frame of mind. So that was a quick down and dirty and I hope you enjoyed it. But really taking it from clean claims, you're welcome.   to fee schedules being entered in, to submitting claims and making sure they go through, to following up on our insurance, making sure that we're tracking that so everybody knows where our claims are at, what things are going on with that. And then from there, we're gonna make sure that we have ⁓ every single week check in with our biller. And billers know we want 15 % in our 30 to 60, 60 to 90 is 10%, over 90 is no more than 5%, no more than one month's worth of collections total in our AR, and giving back 1 % refunds.   You guys, this is something I obsessed about. This is something we work with billers on. I have a practice in Oklahoma that we worked with. They had 2,700 line items of this and we just worked with our team and we cleaned and we cleaned it and it took us about two years and we were able to get them back into perfect collections, perfect processes. It took a while, but discipline, dedication and setting these things into place now are going to protect you and prevent this from happening in the future. Also, there are some great AI companies that you can use.   ⁓ Lassie is a great one that I've heard of. There's a few new ones coming up on the market. So if you need help with it, insurance verification, you can outsource. We have a lot of resources. So if you need any email Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. And if you're like, I need help, I'm drowning, I'm not making money. Let's talk. Profit production guys. it's the way we get more profit. We either increase our production, decrease our spending or increase our collections. Those are the three levers. So whatever those three we need to work on. And sometimes it's so hard because you're like,   But like I'm doing dentistry all day long, Carrie, I have time. You're right. You're supposed to be the dentist and the CEO. Let us train your team for you. That's what we love to do. Work with you and your team. So reach out. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. Commit to being profitable this year. Commit to getting your AR in place. Commit to following these billing tactics. You guys, it is not hard, but it does require discipline. And we're happy to help you set it up. We're happy to follow through. We're happy to show you how to have the conversations. We're happy to show your team how to do this. We're happy to build KPI scorecards so you can watch it and utilizing analytics for it. So it's never daunting and scary.   It's disciplined dedication and dedicated time to make sure this happens. And usually team members get scared and it feels daunting. So it's kind of like the laundry. just like keep letting it pile up, but doctors, this is your hard earned money. And I don't believe it should be like laundry that piles up. It'd be, should be something that we are actively engaged in fixing and working through to make sure that you're getting paid what you need to be paid. So reach out. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. And as always, thanks for listening. I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team podcast.

The Dental A-Team Podcast has been around for seven years, if you can believe it! Kiera reflects on her original goal with the pod, how that goal (and dentistry in general) has changed since. It's been an evolution of leadership, systems, culture, and growth, and the ball is still rolling. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: The Dental A Team (00:02) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera and happy birthday to the Dental A Team podcast. guys, gosh, if this was a child that I would have had, Dental A Team podcast today is seven years old. We started this back in 2019. So is that right? 2020 would be one, 21, 22, 23, 25, 26, seven. Guys, seven years. We've been hanging out together. Like gosh, I would have a seven year old child. Like that's insane. And I just think like, thank you.   is what I is my biggest piece of ⁓ if I was blowing out the candles today, which I usually actually do. ⁓ That thank you for going on seven years of a journey. Thank you for listening to me when I used to car cast and I didn't have video and I was so new. I remember like one of my first ones was like nailing jello to a wall. And like, gosh, I just think back to don't break up with me and so many of the podcasts over the years and the guests that we've had and the   people that I've met because of this podcast, like I get emotional, I get grateful of, gosh, like we just think that these things happen. We think that, it was just right time, right place, but I believe that there's something far greater than that to where all of us were working, we were being prepared, we were being put into place where it didn't just slip into place and happen. It was something that was magical, it was euphoric, and it was meant to be able to reach each other, to be able to talk to each other, to be able to serve you.   to be able to have you implement and put things into your place in your practices, to be able to be right time, right place, but due to lots of preparation to be here. So if you're new to the podcast, welcome, I'm Kiera Dent. I had this crazy idea to create a podcast that helps dentists and teams come together. Being a team member myself and being a business owner, guys, like this is the perfect platform to bring that together. And I think I have such a special vantage point to be able to share with you doctor and team members perspectives. And so today I just wanted to think about like,   growth doesn't happen overnight. And what the podcast was versus what the podcast has become, it's crazy to see how far we've come and how much we've evolved. You guys, have like 1100 plus episodes, never in my wildest dreams that I think I would hit record that many times and talk to you for this many years and hang out with you and travel across the globe with you. But it's one of those things of today is going to be reflecting back and a forward looking episode. And this I think very much applies to practices, team member evolution and how it goes. And I think   days often feel long and years seem short. And when we can do this, we're gonna look at like, gosh, what the journey has been in seven years and how fast it goes and how slow it goes and hurdles and challenges. But you guys, this is about how we reflect on the growth we've had on our practices and how it's gonna be able to serve you guys moving forward. So as we go through this truly, I hope that today, I don't know, just wrap your arms around yourself, give you a giant hug and pretend that's me giving you a hug.   a hug for listening, a hug for sharing, hug for ⁓ leaving reviews, a hug for ⁓ giving ideas, a hug for sharing in Facebook groups where we glean information, a hug for ⁓ being a pen pal to me, a hug for ⁓ allowing me a space to share my life to the podcast. It's been something where I will wake up in the middle and I'm like, my gosh, I got a great idea. I'm gonna go like podcasts this of sharing tips and tricks and things that I feel you guys would really benefit and serve. So just giving you like,   Just give a squeeze because I adore you. love you and I'm so grateful for this. So as we reflect back, ⁓ I think oftentimes we see growth as much easier if we look back, right? Like little kids, you don't see them growing day on day and day. But when you measure on a wall, you're able to see the growth. And it's like, wow, we have this. And so when I started the podcast, my goal was like, let's give teams, let's give tactical. And we stayed that stayed true. ⁓   But over time it's expanded and I recognize the needs of practices. mean, hashtag COVID, things changed, it became radical. We went through the great migration together. We've gone through team members and the evolution of hiring and firing and culture and going from like dentists and to where it's like, wow, we aren't just here at Basic. We're now looking at CEOs and we're running these multimillion dollar businesses. We've got startup practices. I've got practices doing 30, 40, 50 million in their locations like.   It's an evolution of leadership and systems and culture and growth. like, all of this is like, we can't say stuck. I mean, now we've got AI introductions. It's like, gosh, like the crazy cool stuff. And so it's something to see like how both industry and conversations have matured over time. And I think also for you and your practice, think today, one of when you started that might be this year. Kudos. There's some of you I know that just bought your practices and I'm so freaking proud of you. Hashtag my Midwestern students. I'm so proud of both of you ⁓ and you both know who you are.   You might be on day one of your practice ownership. You also might be on day like, I don't know, a thousand. Gosh, like, is it crazy to think that day a thousand's only about three years in? You might be on day 20,000. Shoot, how many years is 20,000? I'm gonna do some math, because 20,000 divided by 365 days, you'd be at 54 years. Some of you actually might be there. Some of you are maybe like 10 years in, so you're on day like 3650. I don't know, that was so hard for me, okay?   3650, 10,000, what'd we say on that? If you're at 10,000 days, you're at 27 years in the practice. A thousand, like just think about that. Sorry, I know my math earlier was a little off. A thousand days, that'd be about like just over three years. That's what I meant by the 10,000. 10,000, shoot, you're in 27 years plus. But when we look at this, we think about how everything's evolved. And I want you guys to really look at like.   How have things evolved in dentistry, even since the time you became a dentist? And if you're a dentist in school, like look back, it's an evolution. And so I think it's like, the goal is always like growth, but I think it's expansion and impact more than it's growth. Like we can just grow, but we can be unhappy. But expansion is not just about size, it's about reach and influence. And it's one thing like we could have thousands of followers, which honestly, you guys, I'm blown away when I look to see where our podcast reaches and the countries and the international impact and the...   the state side impact and the number of offices. You guys like that is such a blessing to me. That was the goal. The goal was how can I have a voice, a positive impact of tactical of being your friend in the industry that's always going to go out and always about the best companies and bet the best practices and be on the cutting edge of things. That's what it is. And it's about reaching influence and impact. Like in every one of my vision boards, impact is in the middle. I want to impact your life in the most positive way. And so when you're looking at it for you,   It's not just about growth, it's about expansion and impact and influence. And so it's, what does it look like in a practice? Like as we grow, you're going to have stronger teams, you're going to have cleaner systems, you're going to have healthier leadership. Think back to day one of practice ownership, to day 10 of practice ownership, like it's very different. Dental A team as a company this year hits 10 years old. Can you believe that? I was three years in when I started this podcast. Kiera Dent has evolved. We have a stronger team. We have clearer systems. We have healthier leadership, but I'm still evolving. Is there an out as like...   me and a couple of people, Tip was like almost like employee number one. And those are two girls who wanted to make an impact in this world. And while that has stayed the same, there has been maturity because we've had to, we needed to have cleaner systems. We have to navigate the change. We have to have different challenges, different opportunities. And it's something where it's like, we want to create, I think you go from like rapid fire excitement to keeping that into this more mature of what's the legacy, what's the impact, what's the expansion that we're going to go to. And so   ⁓ I think it's a space for you and your practice of what do I want my growth, aka my expansion, which is going to be about influence and expansion. That's my growth. What do I want that to look like? What do I want my teams to look like? What do I my leadership to look like? What do I want our reach and our impact in our community to look like? What do I my legacy to start to feel like? And I remember I was like on a plane and I was filling in what my 10 year vision of my business looked like. And I remember being like,   gonna be? I said it in 2019. you know, that's three years away and I was like, I'm gonna be 43. I was 33 at the time. I was like, my gosh, I'm gonna be so old. Now I'm getting close to that and I'm like, wow, that wasn't too bad. But it was so hard for me to imagine 10 years from now. But I think that exercise forced me to really get crystal clear of what do I want my life, my expansion, my growth, my impact to be? And then what kind of a team do I need around me?   What kind of ⁓ clients are we going to attract? You guys, I don't want all clients. I want the nice ones. I want the ones who are obsessed with their teams. I want those who are obsessed with giving back and growing and being the best. want people who are obsessed with giving to a community and taking from a community. I want people that want to their standards, rise to the next level. I want those people in our community. And if that's you, you better join us. Denali team.   is the place for you. And it's not just about growing and elevating your practice. Well, yes, we're all about ROI. It's about ROI on your life. It's about making you have a better life, a happier life, a more fulfilled life. So join us. That's what we're about. And if your practice feels that way, and that's the expansion and growth you want to have, it's a let's reflect back on who we were, and then let's focus on where we want to go and who we want to become. And so really truly having that of, I just want you to think of A, what's a podcast that you've implemented since listening for seven years? And B,   What's an area or an idea that if you look back, truly has shaped and changed the way you've done dentistry or run your practice? I know for me, hiring a coach is truly one of the most impactful times of my life. Liz, I will sing her praises forever. I met her in 2019, basically right when I started the podcast. Liz has been so influential for me and she's guided me. She's matured me. She's made me into a stronger leader. I've cried with her. I've argued with her. We've had to have timeouts together.   She's the person who like just a couple days ago. I called crying and I was like Liz I don't know what I'm doing again I sometimes feel like a child and she's just that like nurturing loving woman to me that has given me guidance has given me direction and I will tell you that that is something that I heard people like you need a coach you need a guide and I was like yeah, yeah, know what I'm doing I'm so good at this she has like I think steered me away from so many wrong decisions I could have made and helped me make better decisions. She helped me be profitable. She helped me learn number she   And she did it with no judgment. And I think giving that gift back to so many offices is so radical. But when you look at it, what is something that you are really proud of that was a decision you made that radically improved your practice? That's something that I want you to focus on. And then when I look ahead to where I need to go for us, like our next 10 years, I realize like, I need to hire a COO. Do you know how scary of a decision that was? I was like, yeah, I recognize I need someone who's been there, done that in corporate like companies like we.   We coach dental practices, but running a consulting company is so much different than a dental practice. And that was a decision. And that's what our 10 years needs to have. I needed somebody much stronger than me that could pair with me. And we're hiring that we've had somebody amazing in place for that. And we're bringing on our next full-time person for that. And I just think that's my next 10 years. That's what I need to hire. That's what it is. It's not an overnight change, but it is an evolution. It's an evolution of how we do our systems and our processes.   That's going to be an evolution. Our patient experience, our client experience, those are evolution. So looking at it of what was one that you implemented and then what's one that you're going to implement for your next 10 year stint. And then that goes into our next piece of how we look ahead with intention. And I think when we go into that expansion and that growth, it's going to require clarity and not urgency. And to me, I think that this has been the most maturity of like going from the podcast where it was like, Hey, I'm Kiera. And I just want to talk to you about like all these cool things too.   Hey, what does the podcast really need? And hey, what are the industry trends and what are things you're not thinking about that me on the podcast is a voice and a wisdom to guide you through? I need to be delivering for you. That's looking ahead with clarity and not urgency. That's morphing and evolving. And so looking to see how your practice can move forward and expand and grow with clarity and not urgency. Sometimes you need urgency, but what I found is as you go through the process, you actually stop making as many urgent decisions   and you move into more sustainable, ⁓ we're getting ready to do a say to the company. And what's great is I can share this with you because guess what? ⁓ My team will have heard of before this releases, so I can share it with you. ⁓ But Britt did a really awesome thing. And I loved her play on words of how we kind of are doing this. Like we're going ⁓ when we change our, like what we've been focused on. And we were on a rapid growth era.   And now we're moving into a consistent results era. And like the difference of that urgency zone, like just what it kind of feels like is like the focus and the urgency is focusing on fires and tasks. Our decisions are driven by urgency and gut instinct. Our leadership roles is that the owner is involved in everything. Our accountability is top down and reactive. Our growth and results, results fluctuate with effort and energy. Okay, so that's kind of that urgency. And we move into more of this consistent and having a bit more clarity on there, right? So it's gonna be   We have it on clarity. And what that looks like is our focus is outcomes over activity. So results over tasks. Like, what are we trying to achieve? What are the KPIs? What do we need to do? Yes, we've got these tasks, but like, I can make 50 phone calls, but not fill a schedule. No, the outcome is I fill the schedule, not just make the phone calls. Our decisions are driven by data priorities and long-term impact. So what's going to impact us the most? There was a doctor who talked about this the other day and he said like, how, like what takes up 80 % of my front office is time.   And how can I alleviate so they have like 80 % of their times on patient care? And I was like, that's freaking brilliant. Like asking questions by that leadership roles, ⁓ leaderships now lead, manage and hold accountable. They remove obstacles for their team and they elevate performance before it was like owners involved in everything. Now it's having a leadership team that's doing it. Accountability is shared systems driven and focused on outcomes. Growth and results are predictable, repeatable and driven by proven systems rather than like effort and energy. So like, if we get tired on that, our results dip down.   but we've got predictable, repeatable, and driven with proven systems. That's going to be that next level of how do you look ahead with intention? You move away from this urgent to this more clear zone ⁓ and really get that clarity that your team needs. Even just saying that and driving a practice into that, you feel calm, you feel connected, you feel centered, you don't feel this like constant panic, but getting from point A to point Z does take intentionality.   does take clarity, does take time. We didn't start the podcast on day one and get it to where it is today. That was an evolution, just like looking back at this. And this is something of like, we are focused on freedom, not from new stress. We're on intentional growth, not more growth. We start to prioritize our time, our needs, and you start to realize less is more. That's how it is. And I think when practices do this, they start out crazy. They should, that's how it is. And then we morph and we move into like, perfect, we're gonna have leadership teams and we're gonna have   ⁓ direction and we're gonna have numbers and data and we're gonna make decisions based on that. And then we're going to move into what does this look like for all of us of how are we getting there? And we roll out visions and we have a vision for the whole team and a mission that we're all rallied behind and every person's contributing to that. And we start to have more ⁓ awareness to the teams and departments and we have more outcomes and less burnout with less effort. And I think about the podcast, I used to podcast.   like a freaking beast guys. I'd be doing it on my drives. I'd be doing it in the middle of the night. I'd be doing it on planes. I'd be doing it like when I'd wake up at the hotel. That was very chaotic for me. And now we have like set days and we have a marketing team and we talk about ideas and we talk about you guys and we come up with plans for you. It's so much different than what it was. And I'm able to be my best self for you on the podcast rather than my frantic like, oh, I got to these podcasts done. It's something that I can look forward to. And I think the question for you to say of like, again, remember we went through this. had   Number one, reflect on the journey so far. Then we said celebrate expansions and impact. And then we look ahead with intention. And I think that the question for you is as you're evolving, even if you're on day one of practice ownership, or you're on day 27, or like 27 years, or 54 years, or 60 years, ask yourself, what does the next version of my expansion and impact look like for me in my practice?   And I think for us with the podcast, we just did this and I'm really excited. You guys are going to start to notice there's going to be a little bit of different vibe, a little bit of a different scene. What's been, it was not like so many of the things, the tactical, the practical, the giving you all of it, but there will be an evolution of things that you need. And I think when we look at our practices, what's the evolution that your practice needs to get to that next amazing version that's less is more, more outcomes over activity.   more clarity over urgency that you'll be able to really take to your team. You guys, this is how, like when we reflect back and I think about the podcast and I think about practices, this is how we're able to get clarity and how we're able to get impact and how we're able to get intentional growth that actually lasts and it's not like short spurts. You guys, I've done the short spurts. It's like, won't grow. we gotta retract. We won't grow again. We gotta retract. We didn't have it built. It's more intentional growth done with plans, with reflection, with learning from the past.   and going into the future. guys growth for me is a journey. And I think that celebrating milestones and sharing and doing birthdays and all of that is really fun. And I hope you celebrate the birthdays of your business. Britt asked me the other day, she Kiera, when are we at 10 years? And I was like, oh my gosh, like November 16th, 2026, 10 years, a decade of business ownership and the lessons I've learned, the opportunities, the lives, seven years on the podcast. You guys, that's so many incredible people.   that have been a part of this journey of growing me, of evolving us, of being a part of my life. And I just want to say thank you and celebrate these milestones, celebrate you. I think so often I can be like, cool, high five. And now onto the next one versus like, we freaking hit seven years guys together. That's a seven year relationship. A lot of people don't even make it that far. And yet we're in this together. So even if you want to share my like birthday gift wish would be.   Send me an email. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com of what's been a podcast that's inspired you or changed your life or a ⁓ tool or something that just really made you think because then I'm able to even get more contextual contact from all of you. This podcast built for you. It's built by an obsessed person for dentistry for you to make sure that you're living your best life, that things are the absolute best that they can possibly be for you. And I am so grateful for you guys. This podcast truly exists to support your growth, your leadership, your practice, your team today.   and in the future. And I cannot wait. Leave us a review, send me a note. A review would mean the world to me. A note. ⁓ I'm such a geek. I really do love like little letters and notes. I love to read reviews. I think those are ⁓ very public personal notes and they just mean the world to me. So thank you for being a part of this. Happy birthday to the podcast. I'm here for you guys today and in the future. And as always, I adore you. And if we can help you in any way, reach out. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com And as always, thanks for listening. I'll catch you next time on The Dental A Team Podcast.

Why is it so difficult for doctors to delegate, even when it so obviously impacts the team? Kiera and Dana discuss the art of delegation, and where it overlaps with clear expectations and accountability. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript:   The Dental A Team (00:00) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera and I love when I get the consultants to podcast with me. And today I got the one and only Dana,   I actually have a better nickname than Danie for you. I've like upgraded. I really do think you're Dynamite Dana. And so welcome to the show. Dynamite Dana. Like you just are dynamite in so many ways, so many areas. People love you. I know people are like donuts with Dana. That one was really catchy and clever, but I think like dynamite Dana is who I'm going to stick with. So how are you today there? Dynamite Dana.   The Dental A Team (00:27) Doing good. I'm glad you found one that felt right.   The Dental A Team (00:29) I mean, I still love Dainty   so much and that will probably always forever remain. ⁓ But Dana, truly you're a dynamite consultant and I've watched you evolve and it's like, ⁓ you were on the podcast with me last time where you took a practice from negative profitability to multi profitability in just a couple of months. And I think the dynamic and dynamite ability you have so like dynamic doesn't feel as cool as dynamite, but it's because you're this dynamic player and you're able to help teams, help doctors, help offices.   The Dental A Team (00:33) You   The Dental A Team (00:58) And really it's, think like role clarity, like really focusing on top priorities. And I think that that's like the clutch piece of consulting. If I like boil down what two consultants do differently is yes, we have this like Mary Poppins bag of tricks, but I think the piece is we know which Mary Poppins tool and prioritization and piece based on the numbers, based on the goals need to happen. And I think you're very, very dynamic and dynamite and being able to do that. So excited to have you on the show today.   The Dental A Team (01:26) Yeah, I'm really excited to be here. I haven't podcast in a while with you, so it's going to be fun.   The Dental A Team (01:31) great time girl.   think our last one was talking about your transformation practice. So today's gonna be fun because I think that this is a topic you and I see often is like   doctors struggle, teams struggle to delegate and they struggle to have like role clarity and I'm even guilty of this. Like I've watched myself like it's crazy when I have these podcast topics and I'm like hi it's me I know I'm the problem I know I'm hanging on to these issues I know I'm causing this chaos and so I kind of wanted to like talk about   why doctors struggle to delegate, why we get into this like bottleneck, and then what it can look like on the other side and how we've been able to help doctors. Like, I know you've got a couple in mind. I've got a couple in mind of what does it look like when we start to trust that process? So Dana, from your perspective, why do you feel like doctors don't delegate and we like bottleneck and we hold on or like owners and founders and office managers? Like, what is that? Like we know we're bottlenecking. Like it's annoying to me. I'm like, I know I'm having a temper tantrum and I don't know how to stop it. Like I know I'm not delegating. I know I'm holding on. know I'm freaking   like failing over here. What, like, why do think this is a rift? What are your thoughts?   The Dental A Team (02:32) I   I will say I feel like Dr. Personality is like a doer, right? They're so used to like to get to become a dentist, right? You have to have succeeded thus far in life. And I do feel like that in order to kind of get where they are, they've had to kind of always do right work really hard, hit the books really hard, hit the clinic really hard. And so I do feel like it's kind of ingrained in them just as humans is that they want to do all of the things. And I also think that there's a misconception of leadership. And being a good leader means doing all   things, making all the decisions, having everyone lean on you for everything.   The Dental A Team (03:07) Yeah, I love that you say that because ⁓ there's a book that, gosh, I should look up the name of it. mean, like, I really will actually, guys. Like, if you're watching, don't worry, I'm ⁓ looking this up right now. ⁓ But it's like the founder mindset. And I think so many of us, it's the founder's mentality, how to overcome the predictable crisis of growth. And I think about this book often because like you said, it's a...   what you have always done won't get you where you need to go. And like those habits and those patterns and the different pieces, it's this, like you said, like you had to work hard in dental school. You guys, watched you. Like I worked at a dental college. ⁓ We watched you be this person. And also there's a perfectionist piece of you literally are working in such small areas. Like the mouth is so small. You have to be perfect. You can't have that. Like, I mean,   shoot, you barely move that burr wrong and you're nicking the tooth next to it and you're like, dang, and now gotta like patch this thing up. Like you really do have such a small, finite controlling area. ⁓ But I think it's ⁓ a space of, we all know, Dana, it's like, logically, I know that if I delegate and I trust my team, my life gets better. So what do you feel like it is? Like, how do people actually let go of the vine? Maybe I'm asking for coaching for myself.   The Dental A Team (04:18) Yeah, and I think some of the hold back   is they might have tried to delegate something in the past and it didn't go very well, right? Because there's an art to actually delegating and delegating that is successful and setting real clear expectations. And so I find like, well, I've tried, right? But the person it fell through the cracks or there wasn't an accountability piece built in. And so I think it's like learning truly how to delegate correctly and delegate so that pieces come back to you and you're not chasing down the thing that you   thing that you gave because if you have to chase it down, if you have to check it, like it's still on your plate then, right? That, that it still hangs over your head if you, if those pieces aren't in place. And so sometimes I think too, it's like they have had a past history of trying to delegate and it's like not failing, but feeling like, I should have just done it anyway.   The Dental A Team (05:09) Totally. And I think as you said that like, I'm into now the how of like, okay, I hear that I agree. And I, it was funny, Jason, I, call it like tub talk, like think tank talk. Like we go out hot tubbing, we don't take our phones. It's like really beautiful and shoot, it just snowed. So I can't wait to get out there and like go hot tubbing in the snow. ⁓ it's a really magical world, but we were talking about it and I realized we're using a recruiter to help hire some team members for us that I'm really excited about that are like far out of my league that I don't even know how to hire. So   ⁓ brought in some executive recruiters for that. And I remember they were asking me, they're like, Kiera, what's going to break your trust the most? And I was like, I know actually, like for me, and so team members hearing this, the number one thing, and Dana, I'm saying this because you are not this person and I'm going to highlight you, I think there's also a space when doctors delegate to make sure the person we're delegating to is right person, right seat. ⁓ For me, I've learned that the way I lose trust the most is when people tell me they're going to follow through and they don't. Like I'm very, because I just feel like,   then don't do it. I get they have best intentions, but I'm more obsessed about outcomes and you delivering rather than you just taking a million things on to make me happy. ⁓ And so I thought about it, like, who are the people that I trust implicitly, like on our team and Jason, I'm not going to like do the role of X day. And I'm that's like unfair. You'll get to hear the like behind the scenes, Jason and Kiera talk. One doctor, he was like, Kiera, if I could just be a fly on the wall to hear the conversations you and Jason have. And I was like, I don't know if you want to know them all. ⁓   But I thought about it I was like, okay, my core crew that I really do trust, like what is it and how do I delegate to these people? Like Dana, I know, and this is why I called you Dynamite Dana and Dynamic Dana is Dana, I know with out of doubt, I can give you clients and you're gonna deliver and you're not gonna let me down and you're gonna follow up, you're gonna have scorecards, you're gonna show up to the coaching calls, you're going, like I never have to come and check in on you to make sure you're delivering to clients. Now, you may need help, that doesn't mean they're not gonna be like never asking, but I know you're gonna hit those deliverables. If I give you a project like, hey, you're gonna present,   Never in my mind have I been like, uh, Hope Dana is going to show up on that. Like I know I can count on Dana to be there. She's going to follow through. If she's got questions, you're going to proactively ask me. It like, I can give you tasks that they don't come back to me. Now there's other team members where I'm like, I feel like I'm playing whack-a-mole. I'm like, uh, did you check on that? Did you check on that? Did you check on that? Like, and I've noticed my anxiety is like lit to the next level. And I think as you were saying that and office managers and team members, I hope you hear this loud and clear.   This is the fastest way to break trust and not have a doctor trust you. And truth be told, like I'm going to just call out team members, not even just doctors. You're also being the bottleneck because your doctor doesn't trust you to give it to them. Now, doctors, there is a way for us to not take it back on. ⁓ But I was just, as you said that Dana, I think that there's a big space of doctors make sure that like, if you consistently have a person who's not following through and not delivering back to you, stop trying to make that person fit. Like just call it out of what it is and say, like, listen, this has to change. And if it doesn't, I recognize you're not right person.   Like Shelbi, ⁓ she's a kick-a personality for being that. She never lets anything slip through her. mean, Dana, she is on us like sticky. It's like, hey guys, where's this at? Where's that? But she's so nice about it. And there's just certain personalities that are that way. And then there's other personalities that are like more creative and you don't need them to be in. I don't need to delegate all that. Like they can have different projects. And so I think when you look at it, make sure that the person, and you can also look at people's personality profiles. There are some that are like detail centric.   They should be your operations. should be your office managers. They should be your billers. And then you're going to have people like myself. That's a little less on details, but I'm a dang good treatment coordinator. I don't need to have as many things. I just need to hit a goal. Like it's less confined versus an office manager. So I think also like picking people that are the right people for that. Dana, I talked a lot on that. What are your thoughts on that?   The Dental A Team (08:48) No, I completely agree. I do think it takes the right person in a seat and then once you have the right person clearly defining their role because sometimes too it's like who does it who has the capacity for me to delegate this to right and I think that sometimes things get lost because we ask the person that we always ask and yes they do but then we stretch them so thin things start to fall through the cracks because we haven't said hey is this something that you really feel like you can take on so it comes down to just like you said that trust that open communication and so I think   Role clarity helps delegation. It also helps like where does it make sense? Right? I'm probably not going to ask my biller to do treatment follow-up calls, right? I might probably ask the person that's working to my schedule or the treatment coordinator herself. So I think that all of these pieces, sometimes it's hard to like link when I'm like, okay, well, let's get clear job roles. Well, how does that help me delegate? Right? I think linking all these things together can really help a doctor see how   The Dental A Team (09:39) Mm-hmm.   The Dental A Team (09:45) easy it can become and not just for doctors like yes this is for the doctor that holds on to everything but for leads that hold on to everything for oms that hold on to everything this is just a really clear path for you to see do i have the right person in that seat is their role really really clear and who has the capacity to take on anything that comes up or something that you want to take off your plate   The Dental A Team (10:08) Totally. And Dana, as you said that something, our Dental A Team is in like such a fun transition or like we are, think Dana's feeling, our whole team's feeling it like we have gone from what Dental A Team was to what Dental A Team is becoming. And I'm super excited. We're going to roll out like a state of the company. Dana doesn't know it yet. Like it's coming. Like I can't wait. I know she's feeling the buzz around it, but I recognize as a leader that sometimes you've got to call out what was and where we're going. And   our team went through a, what I've called like a snow globe freaking shake. Like we decided like, let's just throw all the confetti, shake every person into different spots. And it's like, Britt's in a different role. I'm in a different role. Shelbi's in a different role. Thinking as like consultants, like Dana, you pretty much stayed the same, but like everywhere else around us, we just like ripped change tour and we built an accountability chart and we had to really say like, okay, what are the seats that the organization needs without names on it? What are the tasks that realistically should go under here?   And then like, let's look to see what open roles we have, who fits in what spots. And I remember we had a leadership meeting in September of last year. And who I remember, Britt was sitting at the table, Tip was at the table, I was at the table and Britt looks me across the eyes and she's like, Kiera, I just want to highlight and recognize that what you're about to go through and what I'm about to go through, Shelbi, Tiff, this whole leadership, like it is going to be a shake and it's weird. And we all actually like Dana hasn't seen it yet. You're about to get your PDF version come next week. ⁓   of our accountability chart, because right now it is that like, who does this make sense? Like I have normally gone to Shelbi because it's easy and Shelbi and I were working on like fees and different things. And I realized like, well, yes, I used to do that. Shelbi actually needs to be an EA and needs to fully be in that role. And Britt's over finance now and I need to go to Britt. So it's just like, we are constantly like pull out the legend. call it like, let's look at our big legend over here. Like who should this task be under? But I actually think that helps with delegation. And then the team actually is empowered to say like, Hey,   is this my role and not in a combative way, but like, let's make sure that instead of us just going for easy paths, we're going to the correct people. And then those roles actually have KPIs and then you got job accountability below it. So I think like, if you don't have something like that, and this is where like org chart and accountability chart, they get harped on. I recognize like operations people, they come in, they're like, marketers love to give me a growth plan. Like, cool, I hear it. It's like top to the funnel, down to the funnel. Operations people love to give me an org chart.   And what I've noticed though is if you have that clarity of who does what delegation becomes much easier and accountability holding to becomes easier because we can pull out the paper and I'll be like, Britt, it says right here online, like squint your eyes. It's right there. Or we're like, okay, here's a process. It's not on anyone's plate. Let's look to see under which seat going to your capacity thing, Dana, which seat does this make sense? And can they take the capacity today or what needs to shift so that way they can.   But also I remember Tiffanie, ⁓ she was like, you guys have never told me what my full job is. So for me to say I have capacity during hot, I don't even know what it all encompasses. And so ⁓ as I worked with offices, as I worked through our own company, I will say accountability charts and org charts need like an update like every six to 12 months. And we relook to see are there additional tasks because businesses innovate, they evolve. mean, Dana, what you were starting to do versus what you're doing today, it has evolved. Everyone evolves and   I also think like we noticed when we were going through it, we have a VA who's amazing. Everybody loves Joash on our team. Shout out to Joash. ⁓ And we happened to notice that like we needed somebody over in marketing and marketing. were going to go hire somebody and we're like, Whoa, Joash has like 75 % of his time available right now. We could actually deploy him over in marketing and make that tour. That gap can be filled. And so I think like even in consultant world Dana, like you probably are like, Hey, I actually have space. I could take on more projects if you guys need. And this is how it's a   right seat, right role delegate, but then look at all the other players and like, Dana, you got really great strengths and some areas. What if we deploy you in this? So that way your leaders are not, especially as organizations grow bigger, let's deploy and use our team players to the highest level of clear job and also capacity. I think like then accountability is not as hard because we're not inundating just two or three people, but gosh, like as I say, all this, is an evolution of practice. ⁓ Tiff, Britt, Shelbi, and I were all talking like,   It's been the core four for a long time. Like we've just done everything and we're like, we now have 17 team members having four people try to do like a one. I mean, we're not even using half of our team. And yet the co like the top leaders are drowning. It's just an evolution. And I think that this is where bottlenecks revisions having an outside person come in and see it helping you guys elevate really just paramount. And so I'd say like quick steps are get that org chart. Like Dana was saying in the accountability chart.   figure out where the gaps are and who should it go under, not name, but position, and then put names in and see where gaps are and who could we pull in to help out. Like you said, and then you get the job descriptions that are super clear. And then we start holding accountable to that job description. It's very easy when we all see it, got it, and getting the whole team bought in. I'm not going to lie. It's taken us like four months to get here to where whole team's going to see it. There's been a lot of shifting and shaking and making sure we have it right. And then letting the team know it's going to evolve.   But just giving clarity, but even for me, I now know who do I go to, who do I pass this task to? It becomes so much easier to delegate and get rid of those bottlenecks. Dana, that was so much knowledge. Like welcome to behind the scenes. You get to learn firsthand on the podcast, you're welcome. like thoughts about that as a team, as a consultant, like what do you see in that?   The Dental A Team (15:23) Thank   you   I love that and just like kudos to you here in the leadership team for just always trying to map out those pieces and I do feel like as a team member I think it's important for doctors leaders to understand like team members most team members if you have right people right seat like we talked about in the beginning most team members want to grow they want to do a really great job they don't want to let you down when you give them a task and so this is just a pathway that   Create success for everybody. You can get those things off. You can hold accountability You can do all of those things with success and your team members get to elevate themselves grow within their position grow within their skill set And so it's just like a win-win overall for everyone when it's done this way   The Dental A Team (16:15) Yeah, no. And Dana, thank you for saying that. And thank you for the reminding. I think sometimes ⁓ when you have like one bad apple or one bad experience, I think as a leader, even myself, I don't know, my brother-in-law, was a, he's like this really big wig and build like these most incredible homes and all that. And I remember when I got married to Jason 15 years ago, I was like, gosh, Jay, your brother's always so grumpy. And I'm like, I get it. Businesses can pick at you and almost like take away that naive   innocence of how much people are great and you might see the dark side of humanity in spite of the goodness that you see. And I think for me, Dana, like you saying that it's like, no, that's a good, that's a good remembering and reminder for myself of team members really do want to make your life awesome. Team members really do love you and they want to rally around you and they want to be great and they want to grow and they want to evolve. They just sometimes need to know like, what is it you want? And also empowering team members like, can't wait, Dana, we're going to show this and   I'm excited for team members to look at this and be like, Hey, like raise a hand. Like I got space. I can help in these areas. Like this is where you use collective brains to help out, but team members like falling through. ⁓ but I also think like owners don't lose faith in like the goodness of your team. And, sometimes they'll drops. It could be a wrong person, wrong seat. It also can be. There's a lot on that person and we need to like deploy or clarify to make it easier. So Dana, let's talk real life. I know you have some offices. I got some offices.   The Dental A Team (17:42) Yeah.   The Dental A Team (17:44) Let's talk about   like how, what does it look like when it's doing it well? ⁓ How does it feel for offices? Like, let's just kind of go through that.   The Dental A Team (17:52) Yeah, I think the biggest word that comes to mind when offices do this really, really well is just freeing, right? To have that trust in team, to know that you're going to give them something and that like you also have something in place that's going to show you that they are continuously doing it without having to track them down every day, without having to add it to your calendar. It just creates so much balance in a team and it just creates this freeing   sort of like innate trust amongst each other that like, yeah, we're gonna be able to keep a pulse on it. We're gonna check it for sure, right? We're going to trust and verify, but we've built in all of these pieces and getting to this point, right? It's not without a lot of work, right? And a lot of digging in together as a team and saying like, hey, we want more accountability. We want more responsibility. We want these pieces. We want the office to be successful. And I think once an office has it, it truly, truly is.   balancing, its alignment, and it's like freedom.   The Dental A Team (18:54) Mm-hmm. And I think for me, I feel often like I'll speak to the leader side. I sometimes like I'm the monkey who's got my hand in the trap holding on to the nuts so hard and trying to like get free and I can't and all I need to do is let go. And I think that there's a surrendering, there's a grace there's, ⁓ but I do also believe that teams rise to the level you believe they're capable of. And so if I'm sitting here like, they're going to let me down. We, we find what we focus on. And so.   Why don't I look to see how are they winning and what are the gaps and do we have a clear KPI where everybody knows like this is my number. I can't freaking wait Dana. I worked on it last night. I'm super jazzed. It's going to be a good time. But like even helping our consultants know like we've evolved. So what is it that like we expect our clients to be getting in the first 90 days, 180 days, 365 days like Dana, when you first started with me, I was like, good luck, go out there, do something fun.   But as we've gotten bigger and as we've evolved and we've evolved and we've attracted different clients, that needs to evolve. So what do your dental hygienists need to do? And what do your dental assistants need to do to win? And what does your front office, what does winning look like and making it so simple? So we have our top level of this is our number of accountability. This is what winning looks like. Then below that we have tasks of all the different tasks that are there. And what are the core processes? Do we have those documented and dialed in?   This is an evolution of business, but this really is like how you're able to delegate through role clarity. And like you said, Dana, there's freedom, there's alignment. Going through it, keep saying, at first I said, I feel like I'm an orange being squozed, Jason. I feel like we're trying to make oranges. And I was like, actually, I lied. feel like I'm an olive being pressed right now. We're not getting a whole squeeze out of this. It's like a drop by drop by drop. But I think if you can see the end result.   and you have a coach or a guide or someone who's been through it with you, I think it makes it so much easier. And Dana, I know you've got a client right now that you've been pushing on this. This client, I love so much. But just walk us through like a little bit of a glimpse in like, and of course, change of details so people can't figure out exactly what client it is. We'll peel back, we'll give you a couple, we'll mash them together. But like peel back how this doctor went from where they were to where they are today and what that looks like for this doctor.   The Dental A Team (21:07) Yeah, I think this is a doctor that just went through a practice transition where they took over a practice and you know, I think a lot of times when that happens, it's like you do want to be involved, you want to feel like you know every piece, you've got your hand in every piece, you're making all of the decisions. And then there comes a point in time where I usually say it's like the like six month year mark, where you realize like, crud, I can't continue to do this and not feel burnt out. So it's just been really fun to see them find the right people we   The Dental A Team (21:25) Thank you.   Yeah.   100 %   The Dental A Team (21:37) worked this entire last year on stabilizing team, finding the right people, finding good people, not rushing those decisions. And then when we realized they weren't the best people, right, making those decisions quickly too, because that can be stressful for everyone. And so it has been really fun that now that there are right people in right seats, like   being able to trust people to make decisions, being able to say, no, that's somebody like my office manager can answer that pushing team members to go to leads and something as simple as I use this as an example, they locks had to be changed at the office, right? A lock broke. And so all the locks had to be changed. And this doctor was just going through a lot personally and was out and the OM just made the decision called the locksmith, chose the locks, had them all replaced, like covered, like paid the bill all   The Dental A Team (22:12) Thank   The Dental A Team (22:26) of things. And I cannot even tell you just like how grateful how amazing it felt. ⁓ And just how it like opened the window of you know what? Yeah, when I let people make decisions when I let them do the things that I know I can trust them to do what a weight it takes off even something like that small.   The Dental A Team (22:47) That's.   The Dental A Team (22:48) And ⁓ I just remember on our call about that, it was just like a light bulb went off and it was like, the more and more I can do this, the better things are going to be. And everything worked out. Everything was fine. Was it maybe the exact lock like that he would have chosen? Maybe not. But at the end of the day, the building's secure, everything was handled and he didn't have to do it. He didn't have to come in on his day off, didn't have to do it. And it was just a really cool epiphany to see after the   last year that he's been through.   The Dental A Team (23:19) That's amazing, Dana. And I think like, as you say that it's crazy because I can coach this and then living in it. It's such a funny zone. Like I feel annoyed. Like I said before, it's like, can see that I'm throwing a temper tantrum and I don't know how to stop it, but I see it. And I think being aware of it is number one. And number two, I think it's really, ⁓ for me, at least, and again, my team listening will know I'm not perfect at this. So like, this is an evolution of Cure. And I'm not here to say like, I'm great at this today. It's an evolution. ⁓   And I think again, it's from founder, right? A founder or a new owner, like you got to do it all. You really do. And then it's like, my gosh, this got too big for me. Like I can't do it all. I'm up at two in the morning. I'm going to bed at 10 PM. Like this is not sustainable. And also for teams it's not, but I think it's this crazy piece. Like you said, what things do I really need to have an opinion on and what things can I be like, awesome, you did it. And like empower that team member and be so proud of them. And I think as we evolve, a lot of times we feel like   No, no, no, I need to be in control of everything. Like I really do. Like I need to pick the locks. Like that's out of budget versus I think if we can scale ourselves back and say like, that was actually awesome and kudos to them and train yourself to see how they did the right thing and how they did the best thing. And even if it's not your exact way, when you get a team that's running, they will actually be better than you will be on your own because you are evolving the whole, like the whole piece.   You as a leader need to set the vision. You need to say, here's where we're going. Here's the budgets, here's the parameters, and then truly trust your team. And I say that to myself, I say that to you, I say that to everybody listening, because I think it's a constant reminder until it becomes a habit and a personality. Like we're asking you to be like, okay, ⁓ I really love strawberries. And now I'm trying to get you to really love tomatoes. Like, they're both red. It's a different way of operating. It's a different method.   So we're gonna choose that. She's like, you have two wolves. You can feed the scarcity or the abundance. And which one am I feeding today? I'm gonna feed the one where I delegate, I trust, I empower. We have the pieces. But I also think Dana, like at the beginning, I do think some thought process behind like, let's get an accountability chart. Let's get job descriptions. Let's make sure everybody knows their KPI. And I think that sometimes that prep work is tricky. And then let's make sure we're really hiring the best people to do the job. Like...   I think there comes a space in business where at the beginning you hire and you gotta like grind it out. Like people don't know, we're trying to like make them into like, Hey Dana, welcome to being a consultant. Let's train it up versus like, Hey, we can hire consultants that have been consultants. Like there is an evolution. And I think at the beginning, yeah, rock on, you're going to be a lot more involved, but as you evolve, you're going to start to hire people that are just as good, if not better than you are and trust and let them run, ⁓ while still verifying and checking in.   You either choose to do that or you choose to hold and both are both are available, but it depends on what's your ultimate goal. And I think if you can focus on that, focus on the team you want and expect them to rise to that occasion. I watched it in organizations and I'm watching it in myself. Like truly it's amazing, right? People write C and clarity teams evolve and doctors feel a lot better. So any other thoughts, Dana? I know that was kind of a very fun, how you delegate, how you delegate it properly. And also like   how happy that doctor was like, shoot, I didn't even have to do that. That's incredible. What other things are they capable of as well? And kudos to that office manager for just like, I think like just taking the bull by the horns and be like, I'm going to do this and you're going to see that I'm awesome. And I'm going to win you over. think kudos to that office manager too.   The Dental A Team (26:47) Yeah, it was really fun to see.   The Dental A Team (26:49) Yeah. All right, Dana, as we wrap today, I think it's doctors teams like don't get stuck in the trap of not delegating. And just because it wasn't right before, let's look to see why wasn't it. Was it wrong person? Was it wrong path? Get your accountability charts in place. Get the map, get the rollout, get the KPIs, get the meeting cadences, like checking in with your leads every single week can really help get this cadence moving forward. You're not perfect. We're not looking for perfect, but we are looking for that evolvement. Not as much like sitting around your neck, but really empowering your team.   and rolling it out and continue to evolve that what you had before is not what you need today. And if you need a coach, mean, Dana does this, I do this, our team does this. This is what we live for is to make you and your practice like truly flourishing and thriving. So Dana, Dynamite Dana, thanks for being on the podcast today. I always appreciate it, you.   The Dental A Team (27:34) always a good time. Thanks for having me.   The Dental A Team (27:36) Of course, and for all of you listening, reach out if we can help. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. And as always, thanks for listening. I'll catch you next time on The Dental A Team Podcast.  

Are you providing your patients with a 5-star treatment? It starts with your front office. Kiera breaks down what a full rollout of peak client care looks like, identifying five different points to utilize as soon as that patient walks through the door (or calls). Episode resources: 5 Star Treatment Planning Document Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment  Leave us a review Transcript: The Dental A Team (00:00) Hello, Dental A Team listeners, this is Kiera. And today, I am so excited. Today is gonna be one of my absolute favorite topics, and it is getting more patients to say yes to treatment. You guys, I obsess about this, and I talk about it a lot, and I just feel that these are some really good things. And so I wanted to go through our five-star treatment planning process with you today, so that way you guys are able to help more patients say yes, be able to maximize your practice.   Because at the end of the day, a patient who comes into your practice, they want to do dentistry. There is a treatment coordinator that I worked with for years and she always says like, Kiera, my thoughts are when I go in and I treatment plan, like the reason is patients are gonna say yes to me because they're at the practice, they want to get this help. And I just think having that mindset helps so much. And so this is a five-star treatment planning and we've actually created it for the entire practice. And   one I'm gonna go through is,   specific and then we actually broke it down for our front office team, our clinical team and our doctors of this process of five star treatment planning. And what's really fun is when we implement this into a practice, we do a full rollout with the team. And then what we do is actually once they complete it, they actually get to check off their stars. And there's actually way you can become five star certified in Dental A Team. So if you're new to the podcast, welcome. I'm Kiera. Dent really is my last name. I'm obsessed with all things dentistry and I'm obsessed with teams and doctors having their best life possible.   Our team is so committed to you, to your practice, to making sure that you are thriving and not just surviving. And so really giving you guys tips and tricks that you can go implement into your practice to help more patients say yes, to be able to help your team be so thorough and so productive and really making life easier. So we love to hear from you. I love pen pals. You can always reach out Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. And if you're ever curious of, I wonder what consulting could look like in my practice.   Be sure to book a call. It's complimentary. We go through your practice with you. We assess your practice. We give you a roadmap, whether you work with us or don't, to make sure that you are always being able to positively impact your team, your life, and your community. Because our goal is to positively impact the world of dentistry in the greatest way possible. So with that, five-star treatment planning. So these are the quick five stars that we go. And like I said, then it's broken down more in depth of what each department needs to do. ⁓   The first one is going to be more for front office team members. And it also can be for clinical team if we're actually having them present treatment in the back. And so the first star is when we go into it, we're going to smile and assume the yes. So before we even walk into the room, we have confidence. We know that we're going to go into it. We know that we're going to have patients say yes to us and we smile.   We are going to assume that the patient wants to do dentistry. Why are we going through and saying like, my gosh, this is a big case. my gosh. I don't know if they're going to accept. my gosh. my gosh. Stop that. Why are we doing that? There's absolutely no reason to do that. Patients are at the dental practice and just because they don't love the dentist doesn't mean that they don't want to have healthy mouths and healthy teeth and being able to have confidence. I say our mouths are the coolest thing ever. We get to smile with them. We get to talk with them. We get to eat with it.   Like there's so much value to it. Like it truly is, I think, the gateway to our confidence. It's the gateway to our health. And so being able to help patients have that. So I'm always going to assume, like my mantra is, everyone says yes to Kiera and there's always a solution and we will find it together. So we go in and we have that and we're going to assume the yes. We also gonna use what I call the three E's and that is edification, empathy and energy. So I'm gonna watch the patient and I'm going to edify the doctor, which is star number two.   I'm going to have empathy for what they're going through and not just assume it's run of the mill, just because it's a crown for us, doesn't mean that that might be life altering for our patients. But we're not going to put negativity out there. We're still going to be able to have empathy and positivity for them and help them see that this is the best place for them to get their treatment done and then making sure our energy matches. You guys, I come in really high. I have a lot of energy. So many people are like, Kiera, we want to consult with you because we love your energy and our team needs that. Well, guess what? Our whole team has to have that because this is who I am.   And sometimes you need to have energy and like, need to get too excited on the podcast and I need to rally you. But for some of you, I remember there was a doctor who's like, Kiera, you're like a little much for my team. And my team's more like, hey, how are you? Well, guess what? That team is actually a better fit with Britney Stone. Britney is a much better match energy wise than I am. And so just making sure that we mimic and mirror the patient across from us. So star number one is smile and assume the yes before we even walk into it.   Star number two is we want to rave about the doctor and repeat a perfect handoff. So we want our patients to feel like they're on the winning team. And I think about it, if I'm going in like, I'm going in for surgery. And if that treatment coordinator who's presenting to me, so I've met the doctor, they've diagnosed the treatment to me. Okay, so all that needs to happen before we get to this spot. But the doctor told me, Carrie, you need to come back for surgery. If that front office person that I'm talking to about my financials said to me, gosh Carrie, you're so lucky.   ⁓ Dr. Kressler is absolutely incredible and you're going to get such great care. I've seen him do this surgery multiple times. I know you're in the best hands and truly I'm here to make sure that you're taken care of. We're super excited for you and I know you're going to have great results. Like even me saying that I feel this whoosh of like confidence of OK, got it like I am making the absolute best decision I possibly can. And so this is what we do. So number start number one is smile and assume the S use our three E's. Number two is rave about the doctor. Help them see that we're on the winning team.   and use that perfect hand up. It'd be like, awesome, Kiera, you are so lucky. Dr. Jones is so incredible. He's done this treatment so many times and we're gonna get you taken care of. Dr. Jones wants to see you back for a crown. We need to get you scheduled in about two weeks. We need to do about 30 minutes and we're also gonna get your cleaning scheduled for that. This is gonna be amazing. Doctor is incredible. And then we move to the third star, is schedule the appointment first and give two options. We wanna get the commitment.   So a lot of times treatment coordinators will like come in like, how was your visit today? Meh, I'm at the dentist. Why don't we control this narrative? I'm going to smile like, Hey, it's so great to see. I'm so excited to get you helped out. Dr. Jones is so incredible. You've made a great choice. And I know he's going to take great care of you. We're to get you scheduled for that crown in two weeks. It's going to take us about 30. It's going to take us about an hour and a half. I hope a crown's not 30 minutes. It's going to take us about an hour and a half. And we're also going to get that cleaning scheduled. perfect. First things first, let's get you scheduled.   I've got Monday or Wednesday, which works best for you. That's when Dr. Jones does all of their crowns. I've got Monday or Wednesday, which works best for you. The reason I wanna move right into scheduling is because this is gonna help me get a commitment. And I believe that words are free and we should use them to our advantage. So when I'm going through this, let's just make it very easy for the patient. We smile and assume the yes, we rave about our doctor and talk about our perfect handoff, and then we move right into scheduling. Now the patient might be like, well, I wanna know what this is going to cost. I say, absolutely.   I want you to feel so solid and rock solid confident moving forward. Dr. Jones is extra busy. So we always just make sure we get you on the schedule, make sure we get that appointment set. I'm to go over all the financials. I want you to be super confident with that. But we'll just get you scheduled since the schedule is so busy. I've got Monday or Wednesday, which works best for you. Now, if they push back again, don't stress, talk to them. But this way they're able to see the flow, how we're going to do this. Because for me, what I'm also doing on that is I'm putting emphasis of we are doing treatment. And the question is how we want to pay for it, not the question of are we doing treatment or not.   I'm not forcing a patient, I'm not making them doing it, but sequence does matter when it comes to treatment planning. And you guys, I am a dang good treatment coordinator. 50, 60, $70,000 cases paid in full same day. It is not something that is hard, but it is something that's finesse. And I do believe that it's an art, not a like set in stone science. It's an art, it's a feathering. It's a reading the patient, it's understanding. And I'm giving you guys literally how I do this and how it's worked for so many practices.   practices we've been able to add multiple millions annually by doing this process. So we schedule first, get them scheduled. Then after that, we're going to present the total treatment. So star number four is point to the amount. I don't say it out loud saying 10 grand is very loud and obnoxious and obtrusive. Pointing to it doesn't feel as bad. And I'm going to use the art of silence. So that's star number four in our five-star treatment planning. So once the patient's scheduled, we're gonna present the treatment, all right? So we're gonna go through that crown and that cleaning.   It looks like it's going to be this amount. This is what your insurance is estimated. I'm pointing with my fingers. I go down and your out of pocket total will be blank this when we see you on Wednesday. What questions do you have for me? I want you to be super confident moving forward. And then I zip my lips and I'm silent. And the patient usually will say, perfect. Nope, no questions. I'll see you then. Or they'll say, ⁓ I'm curious about that. Like that was a little bit more than I was thinking. Do you have any options? I promise you they will say that.   But instead of me right here, which is where I think most treatment coordinators and failing goes wrong is when they say, ⁓ my gosh, so do you have questions about financing or do you have any questions about this? One, I don't ever want a patient to say no to me. So I don't ever use the questions of do you want to, or do we want to do this, or do you have questions? I say, what questions do you have for me? Let's get you scheduled, not do you want to schedule? And these are just small little nuances, but if you watch yourself and you listen to yourself and doctors, same thing in your exams.   and clinical team members, same thing when we're back there. We're so obsessed with this like quick, yes, no, yes, no, yes, no, I wanna get you in and out versus I want to actually solve, I want to actually schedule patients and I want to actually be thorough with my patients. So what questions do you have? Words are free, use them to your advantage, use the art of silence and don't talk, zip your lips, but people get nervous and they don't want you to break up with them and they don't wanna be rejected so they start talking and they're like, my gosh, we can talk about finances, we can talk about, do you actually wanna just for free?   This is how discounts come about. This is how doctors are like, my gosh, I just gave that, it's a way for free. Stop talking. Let them process and let them ask, what questions do you have for me? I want you super confident moving forward. And I stop and I smile. And I truly do. And I might feel awkward, that's okay. But remember, I'm assuming the yes, they're going to say yes to me. Why wouldn't they say yes to me? And my second mantra is there's always a solution. And we together, me and this patient are going to find it because my job is to make them healthy, happy, and like total full care of health.   So then we go on to star number five, and that is over objections, okay? So objections do come, but objections to me are like, just remember that they need more information. We haven't educated them on something. That's all it is. They're not rejecting you. And so I say, go beyond the no with air quotes two times. And I do it as an S because I just want to find out and I want to dig to the root. I'm not forcing these patients, but 99 % of the time an objection just means I need to educate them more. I need to answer their questions. I haven't filled them in on something and that's all it is.   So we become a word ninja, we go past it, let's find a solution. And then if I've gone past it two times and I've really done my best, then I schedule them on a two, two, follow-up. So I call them in two days, two weeks, two months. So no matter what, they're still gonna talk to me and I'm going to make sure that they get the success. So that's our five star.   And when you start tracking it, we track it as well. We look to see our patterns and it helps our treatment coordinators get better and better. So now you're like, well,   But Kiera, that's great. Now let's talk about the objections. Cause I got my fifth star. My fifth star means I got to go past objections twice. Well, let's talk about some objections. Number one is a lot of people do think about just insurance. So they're like, okay, well, what about insurance? I like to explain that insurance is a coupon. So like just like Kohl's cash or coupons at the store. Well, you still want to buy the carrots, even though they're not on sale. And so what we do is we use our insurance and we maximize every single penny of it. but we also don't want to just wait on insurance and have insurance dictate because it's never going to be cheaper.   or more predictable than it is today. So we wanna make sure that we your treatment taken care of, you're worth it, you deserve it. And we're gonna squeeze every single dang penny out of that insurance company that we can. But we just have to recognize that dental insurance is different than medical insurance. And dental insurance is a coupon, medical insurance, we pay our deductible and they cover everything else. So that's why, and so our job is to help you out with this. We're gonna get you scheduled for this. I've got Monday or Wednesday, which works best. And we're gonna make sure that you're taken care of with that. Schedule.   If they're like, I need to check my work schedule. Fantastic, no problem. I, Kieran, you gotta be careful, use your words. I, Kieran, would hate to forget about you. The truth is, I literally will. I've got like 100 patients coming today. So I would hate to forget about you and let you slip through the cracks. Let's just pop you on the schedule and if that doesn't work when you get home, me a call and I'll happily change it for you. That's it. Then you're like, okay. If I say, oh John, I would hate for you to forget about this, he'll be like, I'm not gonna forget. But if I'm like, oh, I would hate to forget about you, patient's like, yeah.   Don't forget about me, Keir, put me on that schedule. It's all about psychology and making these patients feel like VIPs. I truly believe our patients are VIPs. I love them so much and I want them to get the best dental care possible. So that's what I'm gonna do for schedule or for work. Now if it's cost, I remind them and truth be told, it will never be cheaper or more predictable than it is today. So let's get you scheduled, let's figure this out, let's work through the solutions. I have so many solutions with you. Like let's work through it. What solutions do you have? Like this didn't happen overnight, we don't have to solve it overnight.   We do need to get going on it so it doesn't get worse. We present the other side of the problem. This is what happens if we choose to wait. And I just want you to know your options, you're worth it. Let's get this taken care of. There's always ways that we can work on cost. You guys, there's thousands of ways. We can do less treatment. We can split it up. We can do layaway, whatever your practices processes are. But usually it's not cost. Usually it's fear. And I'll say, let's talk about it. Do we have savings or do we wanna talk about third party financing?   I'm not gonna give them care credit to go home and apply for. Let's just apply right now. Let's find out what our options are. Let's see what we've got here that we were able to find out. And then like, I don't want you to have to go home and make this hard. Let's make this easy to where you feel confident and we're able to find the solution for you.   How many times do we actually spend the time to do that? To me, that's VIP care. I can't tell you how many times I've watched treatment coordinators like, here's the application, go home and do it. Well, guess what? They're not. That's hard. Let's make this easy for them. Let's find the easiest way for them to say, yes, that's VIP customer service. And I know you might be like, here, I'm so busy. Guess what? This is the fastest, easiest way to fill your schedule. How many of you want to make phone calls to fill that schedule? I don't. I'd much rather sit here and do five minutes of care credit with you rather than chasing you down, trying to do care credit, figuring it out. That's way harder.   Choose our heart here. And then spouse. Spouse like, need to talk to my spouse. Absolutely. I 100 % want you to chat with your spouse. What questions you think that they'll have? I want to make sure that you're fully prepared and confident to answer those. Well, I think they'll want to know about costs. I think they'll want to know about the... They'll tell you. They will tell you. Or if they're like, oh no, I'm like, hey, I really hate to try and like relay things to my spouse that I don't know about. I'm happy to get them on a phone call so that way we can talk about this openly. I'm here as a resource for you.   more than happy to do that with you. Now there's two ways you can do this. There's pressure or there's like confidence of I'm genuinely wanting to help you out. And truth be told, like I know this is so much easier. I think in all of treatment planning, I'm thinking how's the easiest way for this patient to say yes. How's the easiest way for me to help them. And this is where we're going to go. These are how I'm going to go past these objections. And I think for so many of us, we just want to like one and done. I did my job, check the box versus like it's outcomes over activity.   my outcome, I'm trying to get as many patients scheduled as possible, not the activity of I presented treatment plans. It's very different. So if I know my goal is not just to present treatment plans, my goal is to have like 80 % success. Well, then I'm going to look at this and I'm going to work through this and I'm going to check off all five stars and I'm going to become an expert. But realizing that I have to continually improve on treatment planning is going to be a great piece for you.   So this is the five-star treatment planning. And like I said, we have it for every single position. This was more of a front office. We have it for doctors. We have it for clinical team members, but this is a great way for you guys to increase your case acceptance, help more patients. And remember, 80 % of treatment planning is psychology, 20 % skill. So when we go through this, I think this is going to really be able to help you guys, guide you guys. And I know it will because I've done it for so many practices. So let's do it for yours. And if you need help, there are practices where we literally just do treatment planning consultations.   We consult them, we work with the front office team members, and what we do is we listen to the treatment plans, we help them out. And I've done this with many offices for multiple years. And it's crazy because in those practices, they're like, what happened? You guys also became like so successful and people were noticing that. And they're like, well, it all started when we hired this consultant and they've added multiple millions, but dollars are nice. Lives changed is better. And how many lives have we been able to help? How many people we've been able to help?   because we chose to be word ninjas, we chose to use our words to the best of our ability. We chose to listen and to see and to look at the results we're getting and change our processes and not be so set and like, well, this is what I do. I tell everyone that we coach, I don't actually care. There's no script. Like, yes, you guys can have this email us. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com   But more than that, what I care about is that you're able to help these patients and that we get the outcomes, the results. We're after results. We're not after the task. So if your results are crushing it,   You don't need to change anything, but if they're not and we're not getting the results we want, then change. And I would hope that you and your practice take on that none of us are perfect. All of us are here to expand, to grow, to evolve. And that's what we're here to do. We're here to help and serve more patients. So reach out if we can help you guys. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. Go implement this, go change more people's lives, go become treatment planning masters. And as always, thanks for listening. I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team podcast.  

Key Performance Indicators (or KPIs)! By establishing KPIs in your practice, you find ways to remove the emotion that doesn't need to be there. Tiff and Kristy explain how KPIs drive a practice — and how to implement them if you haven't started yet. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: The Dental A Team (00:00) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. We are back again today and I say we again because I've got Miss Kristy here with me. You guys know how much I love her and podcasting with her is just, I told her today, like I just, you bring a sense of calm and it's great and letting it be on a, like Thursday afternoon, this is kind of cool for me ⁓ and ending my week. I've got, you know, we've got things to do tomorrow, ending calls with this is really, really cool. So Kristy, thank you so much for being here today. How are you?   The Dental A Team (00:29) Good and you?   The Dental A Team (00:31) I'm good,   thank you. ⁓ I'm... I was gonna say that, like what the heck? I'm so glad you're here though because, you know, this time last year you were here in snow and ice and I'm so glad you're here but it is cold and I heard you guys, record these, this is January right now, it'll be released in February but it's like so cold. It's like 43 degrees in the morning here and us Arizona women are just not used to that so.   The Dental A Team (00:34) It's cold for Arizona.   The Dental A Team (01:01) I agree and there's supposed to be ice and snow coming, not for us, we get rain, thank goodness, but I'm like, that's why we live here, so we don't have to deal with ice and snow. yeah, puts a little damper on travel, so we'll see. We'll see how that goes, but I am glad that you're here. This is the time of year that everybody comes and visits. February is a massive, massive time to be in Arizona. In March, we've got spring training games going, we've got...   Waste Management Open, we've got, oh my gosh, every weekend there's a taco festival or something going on. So this is the prime time to be in Arizona. If you wanna come visit, tell us that you're coming and we'll be happy to give you some suggestions. Kristy, we talk about these a lot and I'm excited because I know you actually thrive in this world a ton. You make decisions based on these. are phenomenal at projections.   four practices and the world of KPIs, which you guys, for those of you who don't know, key performance indicators, those are the indicators within your practice that tell you how you're performing. I had years and years and years ago now, like way too long to even count, I had a manager one time and she said, Tiff, I want you to start joining the KPI meetings on Thursdays with the CPA doc and I. And I said, okay. And then I ran over to my computer and I was like, Google, what is KPI? What does KPI mean? I was like, I'll be there.   That sounds great. This is like growth for me. You're putting me in. I was like, yep, I'll be there. And then I was like, what does this mean? So if you don't know what it means, you're not using them, you are not alone. I had to Google that once upon a time. And that was before Chat GPT. I feel like I would have been so much better off if I had that to break it down for me. But alas, here we are. And Kristy, I love KPIs. I love black and white decision making. I love any opportunity we have that we can remove some emotion.   from a decision, especially in the dental industry. We have a lot of emotions in the dental industry and being able to remove those and say that yes or no something is or isn't working. And my favorite piece of that is when we do that, Kristy, I think it gives us the opportunity to tackle the system and not make it personal about the person. Like it might not be that you suck.   it's that the system's not working or we're not using it correctly. And if that's the case, I'm fine. We start using it correctly or we alter it. But I think, Kristy, it makes me feel a lot better about accountability and about KPIs and just about leading teams when it's less about a feeling and a person and more about the system. So I'm excited. Kristy, tell me, why do you love KPIs?   The Dental A Team (03:41) Yeah, for the same reason, Tip, because so many times we see people focused on the wrong thing. And when you really dial into the metrics, they start to tell a story, right? And sometimes even metrics can look a little bit deceiving, but that's why I like to say the numbers start to tell a story. And then we get to dig into it and figure out the story. So, you know, just in saying that, I think if I wasn't doing what I was doing, I would be some kind of detective. And I mean,   The Dental A Team (04:09) I think   you would too.   The Dental A Team (04:10) Maybe that's why it's so exciting for me, but like, and it's truth, right? The numbers don't lie. And so a lot of times we have misperceptions on things and that's the human aspect. So to give grace on us, and I also feel like what we measure expands, it grows, right? And so if we're focused on the wrong thing, what do we get more of? And so,   The Dental A Team (04:33) Mm, true.   The Dental A Team (04:40) I just think it's the fastest way to make improvements. And it's kind of funny Tiff, because in other things we do, if we want to lift weights or we want to lose weight, what do we do? Get on the scale or we're like, we lift 50 pounds. my gosh, I added another weight. We measure it really well, but in dentistry it's like taboo. ⁓ we can't do it. Like it's so bizarre, right? But I just, again, it's the true measure. We talked about this.   The Dental A Team (05:02) I agree.   The Dental A Team (05:07) on a different podcast of winning. It truly lets us know if we're winning or losing, and maybe we'll focus on the wrong thing, right? I know you've heard it a zillion times. Doctors come on, need more new patients. I need more new patients. I need more new patients. And we look at their outstanding treatment list and it's like $3 million. And I'm like, do you really know what you mean? Right? So again, sometimes it lets us win faster because we can breathe direct and focus on   The Dental A Team (05:26) You   for sure.   The Dental A Team (05:37) what's really gonna get us there.   The Dental A Team (05:40) Yeah, I love that you said that. I love the idea of focusing on the wrong thing because I think we do that a lot. focus on the negative, right? We're like, what was our attrition rate instead of what's our new patient and our active patient count? Are those growing? Because if our new patient count and our active patient count are growing, attrition's fine. But if we're looking at attrition rate, we're like, how many are we losing? We're grasping. It's a different kind of energy and that will grow. So if you're looking at it,   you want your attrition to grow, then keep watching it. If you want your active patient count to grow, keep watching it. And if it's not growing, then you tackle the systems and assume attrition is happening. So I love that you said that because it broke it down, I hope for everyone, a little bit differently there. And our podcast today is How KPIs Drive a Practice. And I think in that simple statement and those two minutes you were just talking, you just broke it down, like verbatim on how it drives a practice because   what you focus on will grow no matter what. you're right, it's so everything in our life, we count everything. Like it's just human nature to count and track everything we do. We track our money, we track our expenses, we track our weights, we track our weight, we track everything that we do, we track our gas mileage. know, my sister's always like, ah, I got 16 gallons or whatever. I need to go get the best gas price. And I'm like, girl, I don't.   I don't know what she's like, what is your car get? I'm like, I have no idea. But there's, know, she's tracking that. But like, then we go into a dental office, it's like, don't talk numbers. Don't talk numbers. Don't track it. Because that's going to make somebody feel bad. It's like, no, we're going to track it. We're going to see that we're winning. And we're going to feel really, really good. Like my sister, sometimes she comes home and she's like, ah, I guess mileage was down. Sometimes she comes home and she's like, guess what? Simple. But that's how simple it can be.   doesn't have to be astronomical, but those small wins add up to something astronomical. And I have had so many clients that, I've had clients that have purchased practices, they're like, all right, when are we starting marketing? I'm like, well, what do you mean? You've got, like, what's your patient count? What's your active patient count? And then what's the total patient count of that practice? Because you have, every patient right now is a new patient. Starting marketing,   is a wild use of your money. Let's internal market, let's get your exams better. There's so many different avenues that we think are just the norm, so we jump on board with them. But then when we pull and extract those actual KPIs, we can find the root of what we need and the root of any problems that there might be, any systems that need to be revamped. So I love that, because that's how you're driving success, by watching the KPIs.   Kristy, and you've got, I hope everyone knows, I don't say it every time, but Kristy's done so much in her dental career and held so many titles and she's consulted for far longer than she's even been a presence here at the Dental A Team. We're so grateful for her. Kristy, in all of your experience, what do you feel are the easiest KPIs to start tracking if we're not tracking any? And then what are the most valuable KPIs maybe that people don't think of?   The Dental A Team (08:53) Ooh, that's deep. Obviously, I think we have to look at it as like two different forks in the road, right? Because so many times we hear the practice of a million dollars and then we hear the practice of six million. And I think doctors, you guys get all ramped up and think if I'm the million dollar guy, why am I the six million dollar guy? And I'm thinking, wait, wait, you don't necessarily want to be that guy. You're actually more profitable than, you know.   The Dental A Team (08:55) I I like that one.   Correct.   The Dental A Team (09:22) So it's not just what's happening in the practice, but also how profitable you are, right? And truly us here at the Dental A Team, we're looking to make sure you're hitting that profitability because that's where the true freedom is. But with that being said, the biggest KPIs out of the gate is what do I need to hit every month to be profitable? And then I measure my production, net production.   and collections. And ⁓ I am going to throw new patients in there, but in a different way, because doctors do want new patients and a lot of times they're getting them. But don't just look at how many I'm getting. Look at how many are reappointing. ⁓ you know, it's one thing that you're getting them and you might be doing limited, limited and letting them go out the back door. So again, look at those, but also   put more weight on how many are getting reappointed. And then ⁓ I also like doctors to look at diagnostics, dollars and diagnostic or sorry, acceptance dollars and percentage. ⁓ They go hand in hand. It can't just be percentage of acceptance because maybe I'm not accepting enough to even get to that goal. Yeah.   The Dental A Team (10:31) case acceptance.   Yes,   yes, I love those. Yeah.   The Dental A Team (10:46) And lastly,   probably in that tip would be your reappointment rate. How many are we reappointing? Because keep those patients of yours. Don't have to spend so many external dollars to gain more because if we just keep what we have and too often we look at how many people are sitting in our inactive pile or we don't look at it and you have a whole nother practice sitting there that you could tap into.   The Dental A Team (11:13) Yeah, I love that. I love what you said about the case acceptance dollars, the diagnostics and the case acceptance dollars. I too have doctors, I love having them ⁓ track their diagnosis and then their dollars. Number one, I hated being a treatment coordinator that had no control over how much was being diagnosed and only initially when I was treatment coordinator, were really only looking at case acceptance, which is very popular.   So case acceptance, case acceptance, and then they're like on your neck and that call these three people, why didn't these, like call the people and like I have called all the people. I can't, and we have so many clients, right, that the TC's are like I've called all the people, Tiff, can't, Kristy, I can't call anymore. Cool, it might not be in the case acceptance. Sometimes it's in the diagnosis and then to loop back to your new patient statement, all of those go so hand in hand and this is why, ⁓ heaven help me, this is why.   things like our scorecards, clients of Dental A Team that talk about the scorecard. This is why the scorecard is so important because you can look at a dental analytics screen and it's choppy, all over the place. The scorecard brings it together so that you can see what's affecting something else because to your point of the new patients, I had a practice near and dear to my heart. He hit his massive goal this year and I'm so proud of him. We worked really hard on, it was, you know,   Timelined out for five years and he hit it literally two weeks before his deadline, his date. One of the things that was holding his practice back was the new patients. He needed more new patients, needed more new patients, so his marketing company is like, all right, we're gonna ramp up new patients. And then all of a sudden we've gotten new patients, but it's like, we're not growing. There's nothing on the schedule, what's happening? And so I said, okay, what kind of new patients? And we had so many emergency, limited, transient, going through town, looking for an emergency.   He was doing a lot of same day dentistry, but not getting things booked on the schedule and not really adding to his patient count, because there wasn't reappointments happening. When we dialed that in, we found that and I was like, here's the key, switched his marketing, his new patients went up,   Then we focused in on his case acceptance. And then like you said, with the dollars, we're seeing, are they accepting fillings?   Are they accepting crowns? Are we getting the near cases? Like what is the case acceptance percentage is cool, but what are we actually, what's the procedure that's being the dollar amount and is there a ceiling maybe in our treatment planning, either back office, front office, wherever it is, is there a ceiling that our system needs to be able to help us overcome in diagnosing a certain dollar amount or treatment planning a certain dollar amount?   The Dental A Team (14:03) Yeah, I love that you say that, And as the TC, that's the one that gets me because so many doctors go back up there or come to us and say, they're just not closing it. And I always tell my practices, case acceptance is a team sport. And literally, it starts from before they even call the office. Like everything you're doing is contributing to their trust. And so ⁓ truly, docs,   I know you don't want to hear this, but it's your job to get them to yes with treatment and ⁓ financial coordinators get them to yes financially. So some of them can work heroics and they do, but it is totally a team sport. So going back to the diagnostics too, you asked a tool that I use ⁓ that maybe isn't so looked at. And I would say print your procedure count report yearly and just take a look, you know?   Are you doing four surface fillings? And I'm not saying that you shouldn't, but is it aligning with your philosophy? And are you giving patients the choice for long-term care? Because sometime that probably four surface filling is going to turn into something, you know? And let your patients decide. Let them decide.   The Dental A Team (15:18) Yeah.   Yes, I love that I have worked with many practices that they do give the options, but they assume that their patient base wants something specifically or can only afford something specifically. So they may give the options, but they kind of talk them into starting with something and started just leaving it on the table and saying what, if this were your mouth and roles were reversed, that we often say,   this were your mom, if this were your sister, if this were your brother. But I like to think, what if we were in different seats and the patient or the dentist, you were sitting in that chair, what would you want someone to tell you? Because you might even still err on the side of like, mom, when it happens, we'll fix it, but like, let's just do this patch for now, right? Because I don't, we don't want to get you numb. Like you might still err on that side for a family member, the, know, quote unquote conservative, but if you were sitting in that chair,   what would you want the dentist to say to you? And I think that makes a massive difference. And that is like your detectiveness, right? That's your detectiveness, but it works and it's what practices need sometimes. And I think, Kristy, part of those pieces, and you showed me your AR thing yesterday and how you diagnose that. And sometimes we do have to go to those spaces.   The Dental A Team (16:17) Yeah.   Yeah.   The Dental A Team (16:40) because you can't see it in the other areas. like, gosh, something is here, but that's why you look at those KPIs that are gonna drive success. And then when one of them isn't working, when one of them isn't hitting the metric that you want it to, you dive deeper. You're not just going to say, okay, every month let's pull the procedure code report. You're gonna say, if case acceptance, if we're not hitting production, case acceptance isn't working or diagnosis isn't working, now we're gonna dig a little bit deeper.   I think what tends to happen is we either go surface and we're like, everything's fine and we ignore issues or we go so deep that we're in the weeds and nobody has time to see the patients. We're just pulling reports all the time.   The Dental A Team (17:20) Yeah, it's so funny. So much psychology goes into it, right? Like our doctors get so upset in dentistry. I remember like doctors thinking, well, we're the only ones that do free consults. Medical doctors don't do free consults. Why do we do it in dentistry? You know what I mean? But yet we also complain, my schooling costs so much and they don't want to pay me what I'm worth, you know? And it's like,   Almost everything, it's funny when we get into it and I work with clients, I'm like, we kind of caused it. We taught them. How many times do we answer the phone and we go, do you have insurance before we even know their name? You know? So it's funny. It's like an oxymoron in a way, but I love that you brought that up because many times we do it to ourselves.   The Dental A Team (18:10) Yeah, yeah, we just spin our wheels on something, to find it and trying to get it right in an industry where nobody's taught how to do this stuff. guys, doctors learned how to be dentists and that's it. It's a rare occasion that you come across anybody who is taught how to run a dental practice. And dental is different than medical. So even healthcare professionals, right? People who have a degree in healthcare management, it's different.   This is why we're here. This is what we do. This is this is years and years. mean, across the whole Dental A Team team, like we should count that up. That'd be a lot of years. I don't even know anymore. We've grown to so many consultants. I don't even want to try to count that right now. We'll do that later. We'll ask Josh to do that for us. But regardless, there's so much wealth of knowledge here in.   The Dental A Team (18:57) Yeah.   The Dental A Team (19:04) ensuring that and we've done such a great job at finding the solutions and the systems to at least get templates and things started to customize for practices. I think that's just an immense value that consultants like the Dental A Team bring is that space of uniformity. these are things that we've seen work. Let's start here and then let's layer on top for you and let's adjust it for your practice and your team.   and those KPIs that drive success, pretty universal. And you said, you know, the common ones, production collections, new patients, diagnosis, case acceptance, and I loved your reappointment rate for new patients and just in general, those tell you the stories. And then from there, we dig and dive deeper. So I love it, Kristy. Thank you so much. think if I were to give an action item, it would be to revamp.   your KPIs if you're digging too deep and grab some new ones if you're not going deep enough, if that makes sense. So, Kristy, anything else you'd like to add?   The Dental A Team (20:09) No, I love it. The only thing I would say, Tip, I know you have the saying down better, but use, love the numbers, right? Don't use them as sticks, is that?   The Dental A Team (20:17) Yeah.   Yes,   yes, numbers are here to guide us. They're stars to guide us. They're not sticks to beat ourselves up with. Yeah, years and years of presenting with Kiera. Awesome, well you guys, go check your KPIs, go check your scorecards. If you're a Dental A Team client, you should have a scorecard. If you don't, get after your consultant. Everyone has scorecards this year, so we're good to go. But if you don't know how to use it or if you're confused by it,   The Dental A Team (20:26) There you go. Love it. Yeah. Love it. ⁓   The Dental A Team (20:48) or if you're not a Dental A Team client yet and you want information on it, please by all means reach out. We're here to help you. We wanna make sure that everyone is successful, whether you are a one-on-one client with us, a group client, or just here as a listener, we wanna make sure that you are all successful. So reach out, Hello@TheDentalATeam.com, and you guys, we'll catch you next time. Thanks so much, thanks, Kristy.   The Dental A Team (21:08) Thank you.  

This episode is all about the power of a phone call, and how you can maximize it. Kiera goes into the formula for phone call success, and how it will boost your patients' interactions with your practice. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: The Dental A Team (00:00) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera and gosh, I decided to shake up the background and hang out in my house and have you come hang out with me. And so if you're watching this, welcome. This is the studio. This is where I live. This is where I hang out and just trying a couple different things. I really obsessed about making this podcast a space where you feel like you're hanging out with me in my living room. And we're just sitting here.   chatting shop, we're sitting here talking about all things dentistry. And today I wanted to just go through a quick episode with you guys of how we can improve our conversion rates. So there's a couple quick levers of how we can improve our calls, our being able to get our forms and documents and being able to do this without spending more time because that's something that we all wanna do. And so ⁓ I think it's a lot of times like how can we convert our calls better? How can we get things done a little bit more efficiently? Do we do AI? Do we not do AI? And so.   I really feel like just small improvements. You guys know on Dental A team, I'm obsessed about small little improvements done to create efficiencies. I remember I was in a practice and they said, ⁓ okay, Kiera, like come on in, we wanna see you. And I went in and we were able to add about 13,000 to their practice. And they were like, Kiera, what did you do? I'm like, what did I do? It was just very simple, easy things. was, ⁓ we had patients stop at the front desk and start making their payments so we were able to make our collections higher.   We had them doing a handoff to their team of what were the next steps. So that way the patient felt confident of what they were doing next. ⁓ and we just scheduled patients. We assumed the yes. And those are not hard things. Those are not sexy things. Those things are just things that are going to help you guys tremendously. And so today it's like, let's figure out how we can convert a few more things. So. Dental A Team is truly a company where I believe that growing and having sustainable growth comes from optimizing before we spend more. And I know that it feels so.   Alluring and something that I want to do is I want to spend more and I want to get the magic pill and the reality is that you can probably get the exact same results with minimal effort if we just optimize a little things and so figuring out how we can catch more missed calls or how we can convert more new patients or figuring out how we can get more patients to say yes to treatment is something that's really really fun   A Team's podcast is tactical, practical, implementable. That's how we operate. That's how we like to consult. And I love working with practices. I love being able to see you guys ⁓ in your offices, being able to do things, ⁓ being able to just live your best life. Life is our passion. Dentistry is our platform. So, all right, you guys ready to dig in? Because I'm ready to dig in. The number one thing is, let's talk about our phone calls and optimizing our phone calls.   because that is our number one zone. And I think it's crazy how much we spend on marketing to get these new patients and how much we work on having a great patient experience. And then we have our newest trained person that knows nothing about our practice answering our most important phone calls. And so things on this are like when we miss phone calls or we don't handle a phone call correctly, those are little lost opportunities. And this isn't to rag on our front office team. We're busy. You guys, I've sat in the front office. I prioritize the patient in front of me over the phone. And so what are some little things that we can do?   And there are softwares. There's like patient prism and they're like, I pretty sure with weave, they have them where we can actually track and monitor and see our, ⁓ our phone calls and see how we're doing. But we want to just help our front office team. Like it is crazy. Jason, husband told me, ⁓ he was like, yeah, I, Kiera, if you don't like what someone tells you at a practice, just wait, call back and you'll get someone else and you'll get a different answer. And I think about that in practices and how often are we possibly doing this? How often is our practice maybe.   doing it where we actually are having Susie follow protocol and Sarah isn't and therefore Susie is undercut, but Sarah was trying to do what's right. They're both trying to do what's right. So this is where we're at front office teams. Let's make sure we're all saying the same thing. So no matter if they get Sarah or Susie or Kiera or Jason or John, every single one of them is the exact same. And this is going to help. So number one, we need to have actually in the front office team, especially usually there's quite a few of them. We need to make sure that one person   is dedicated to like first on phone, second on phone, third on phones. So everybody knows like, hey, what is the ring, the ring place? Now, if you're a really large practices, sometimes they put it in a call center. All those are totally fine, but we need to make sure that every single person is actually optimizing our phone calls. And so it is a, you can even get a phone tree where we optimize new patients. We have a line for billing questions. So that way we can actually know which phone call should I prioritize and know exactly this is a new patient phone call. Now, when we,   When we answer the phone, I actually put mirrors in front of a lot of our team members. We want them to smile. We want the patient to feel the energy on the other side of it. We want them to feel like they chose the best place. And I actually feel this is one of the greatest ways to optimize is if you just give your patients a little bit different experience on the phone of like, we are so excited to have you call us versus we are annoyed that you bothered us in the middle of our day. That tone and intonation is going to help patients say yes or no a lot more to you.   I remember, and I shared this example a few years ago, I was trying to find a PT and I called around to a bunch of different locations and I literally chose the place based on how they answered the phone. And I think I truly believe in today's world of AI and automations that what is going to become the number one differentiator more than cost, more than anything else is kindness. Kindness and customer service is going to be what far outshines most everything else because it's becoming a trait. ⁓   People are grumpy, people have the COVID cranks still, people are annoyed. I walk into stores and like, we're closing in 30 minutes. I'm like, fantastic, I'll just shop on Amazon. They don't yell at me. This is where I think we need to recognize our society and people want to be loved. We are human beings, we are human connections. And so really being able to give that. it is about, let's answer the phone. Let's have our intonations and our tone and that big smile.   And then let's make sure that we're following protocols. So how we block schedule, how we schedule patients, how we handle a new patient phone call. New patient phone calls are great to optimize. It is a, like we take control of it instead of saying, you have insurance? It's amazing. How did you hear about us? Let's change that tone and that vibe. So that way they feel like, my gosh, like I heard about you on Google. We absolutely love our patients. Like our Google reviews are what we're so proud of. And we strive to make sure that you as a patient coming in.   are going to be able to leave us those same reviews because you have the best experience with the best dentist. I'm Kiera, it's so nice to meet you. Let's get you all ready and set up for your appointment. What are we looking for? we coming in like when was the last time we saw the dentist? I want to make sure I set you up for the right type of appointment. We just take a few minutes to be human. A new patient phone call can literally be done in five minutes and make them feel human. It's taking control of the conversation initially. It is saying.   Hi, how did you hear about us? I'm Kiera, welcome to our practice. I know you're absolutely going to love it here. Let's get a couple of information. Let me start with your name, your phone number in case we ever get disconnected. I'm gonna make sure I get you so taken care of and we truly cannot wait to welcome you into our practice. ⁓ And then we go through, if they have insurance, fantastic. If they don't, if they're on an insurance plan that we don't take, that's fine guys. These people can still come. want you to, I'm gonna drill this down so hard on optimization of our phone calls. ⁓   Just because a patient doesn't have insurance, we are not going to let $1,000 dictate if this person comes to see us or not. You guys, $1,000, I know that not all insurances are 1,000, but that's usually about the max, but they pay so much more than that. And this is about a long-term relationship rather than a short-term transaction. I'm going to say that again, our new patients, it is about a long-term relationship rather than a short-term transaction. And if we can remind them of this is the greatest place, you're so welcome to be here. You're so like, we are so happy to have you here.   People choose that all day long. People want to know they're on a winning team. So how can we make them feel like they made the absolute best choice by choosing our practice? And I want you to audit phone calls. So for the next couple of days, I would like, and we actually track, we have trackers where it's like, let's get our new patient trackers and how many of these new patient phone calls scheduled and didn't schedule. And if you have your front office team track this for about one week, they will actually be able to see how many new patients are actually getting, how many are we converting and why are we not converting it.   Then if we actually listen to these calls back, we can fine tune one or two statements and be able to optimize and get people to come in. You guys like, this is one of the things I'm like, I don't know how much more easy I can make this for you. But if we just prioritize two or three little things on our phone calls, making sure we all schedule correctly, that we welcome them and we're excited and we just role play this for the next month, you will absolutely increase your practice. I promise you, because we're going to convert more phone calls. We're going to have more happy patients.   We're going to have patients who are more excited to come to the dentist because they're already feeling welcomed. These are little things that don't make a big, like they don't seem grandiose, but they make a huge, huge, huge impact. so making sure that we're optimizing that you guys, the phone is one of your most powerful resources in your practice. And if we have like, you do not want your billing representative and billers, this is nothing against you. am not a great biller. I was like, I don't want to go to bat. I don't want to go figure out the one penny you do. And that's why we have different roles.   You want somebody who's so excited, who loves your practice. ⁓ I've had front office team members that are in this role that are from like tanning salons or from a high end customer service or from a waiter waitress situation or a hostess situation where they just love and they want to welcome and they want to greet and they're so excited and they just make that person feel like a million bucks. so making sure that our phone calls are optimized really truly is going to help us and help us really ensure that our practice is optimized. And so with that new patient phone call,   It is a, let's snag them at the beginning, let's ask them how they heard about us, let's capitalize on that, let's find out what type of cleaning that they want or what they're calling for or when the last time was that they went to the dentist and then let's schedule them appropriately with VIP customer service. And then what I typically do is if we are using insurance, I say, fantastic, I'm gonna send over our new patient welcome information right now while I've got you on the phone, make sure it gets to you. And then I do need to get that back 48 hours before your appointment to make sure it's confirmed. Did you get that email from me?   Fantastic. When can I expect to see this? I want to make sure I don't miss it for you. And that way I can get your patient, your appointment confirmed. I have them commit to me right here, right then, because if I do that, this patient's already more locked and loaded to come into me. They've committed that they're going to get this back to me in the next two days. I'm going to look for it. And if you really, really want to stand out and shine on customer service, following up in two days, hey, Kiera, I didn't see that paperwork come through. I wanted to make sure I didn't miss it. You can set little reminders for yourself. This is not hard.   and listening as front office, you be like, my gosh. But I wanna say what is actually hard? Choose your hard on this. Chasing a patient, not getting my insurance until the day of being, like having new patients, no show on appointments, that's hard. Me following up in two days on their paperwork and making sure that they give it to me so I can, 48 hours ahead of time to make sure their appointment's confirmed, that's not hard. That's just a shift of your process that optimizes your process and makes it to where you actually have a ton less work. It feels like hard work today.   Just like if I were to say, okay, go sign your name. You're like, okay, I can sign it. Got it. If I say, okay, now sign your name, but you have to sign it every other letter, that's going to feel hard because that's actually easier than you signing all the letters. And if you practice every other letter a few more times, you actually become faster at that than you were at your initial signature. So just because it's different doesn't mean that it's hard and it's not efficient. It just means you're doing it as a different way. And so really looking at that and seeing how can I actually make this to where we can optimize our phone calls. And that's what we're going into.   You guys, just a small optimization of our phone calls, of how we operate, of how we ask for information, that's going to cut down so much more time that allows you to be in front of your patients, because you're not chasing all these forms all the time. I promise you, get patients to commit to you before they even get into your practice, and you're going to have a completely different practice. And so I want you just to remember that this is a great way for you to optimize on a phone call. Now, there's several other ways that we can optimize. We can optimize on our handoffs. You guys have heard me talk about NDTR about a thousand times.   We optimize on that and I say it's like, we don't just get a drop a sheet with our front office or we drop a patient and say like, good luck. It's a, we hand them off so they know exactly what they're doing. We hand them off every single time. It is a well-oiled baton and we practice that consistently from front office to back office, back office. Like let's not like bicker towards each other. Let's figure out what does front office information need to give us so that way we are all set for our appointment. And then what does clinical team need to make sure is in the notes so our insurance claims go out correctly.   And then what does clinical team need to bring to the front office? So that way it's a smooth handoff. And what do doctors need to say to team members? So that way we get all the information necessary while making sure the patient's front and center. That small optimization, which I will do on another podcast for you with the handoffs and the different pieces are going to be able to make it to where your patients absolutely 100 % schedule their appointments. And people are like, but it's so hard to do. Choose your hard guys. This is not hard. You want to add an up level your practice?   Optimize your phone calls, optimize your handoffs, optimize your life. I promise you, patients can feel perfection. These are things that I would recommend you do on a monthly, weekly basis where we role play this out until we perfect it and this is how we operate it. Do you think at Disneyland that they just like hope and pray that those things are gonna work out and that's gonna be perfect? The answer is no. They practice, they role play, they practice, they do it. They make sure that the way people are talking to guests is the exact same way no matter who it is and they employ hundreds and thousands of people.   So in your practice, you think that this would be doable? I hope you say yes, because when we can optimize, when we can make sure that our phone calls are the most important thing and our handoffs are the second most important thing, your patients will feel that. And then we get raving fans and then we get the reviews. You guys, reviews aren't just happenstance. Reviews are intentional. It's because they can feel the process throughout. They feel loved, they feel cared about, and they feel like you are going to take care of them. So optimize, you guys. This is the time for you to just optimize.   to have it to where it's so much easier for you, to where you're able to really, really, really drive these patients forward. So as a quick recap, let's talk about it. Number one, we're going to shine and outshine our competition by kindness and customer service. And that might be a theme that I'd roll out to your practice this year of kindness and customer service. We want patients to feel wanted in our practice and we want them to feel excited to be here with us. So what we do from there is we make sure we find out when we take a new patient phone call, what exactly, how did they hear about us?   We tell them they're on the winning team. This is the best place for them. We scheduled the appropriate appointment. We have the correct information. And then we ask for their paperwork back to confirm their appointment. Just that small shift is gonna change a lot of things for you. And then we optimize our handoffs so we're not just dropping people off. We're optimizing front offices giving clinical team the correct amount of Clinical team, think of how happy you'd be if the paperwork is already in there before the patient arrived and you're able to take your patients back on time. That would be like a hallelujah. Everybody would pop confetti and we'd say thank you.   Also, clinical team members, shout out when you do get that. Go tell your front office thank you, because what we praise typically gets repeated. So make sure that we're saying thank you for that. We take them back on time, information's passed to our doctor, doctor's back to us, us up to the front office, and we have the correct information on our claims, and we're giving that feedback of, if claims are being denied, let's tell each other what's being missed. We get those things fixed. You guys, your practice will be.   next level. And this is something where, yes, we always look for optimization and dollars on the schedule. And I will tell you, we can add 5,000, 10,000, 20,000 very quickly, but it's through very, very, very simple things. And simple does not mean easy. And I think that that's where people shy away from this, but I'm going to encourage you to be the practice that's optimized, optimizing the little ways. Maybe we use AI, maybe we listen to phone calls, patient prism, other, other platforms that are going to be great for you. Let's, let's actually have somebody go through and video our handoffs of a patient.   Like, let's just see it. Let's watch it back. Think about pit stops. There's a great YouTube video where they do a pit stop that was optimized in ⁓ racing and they practice it over and over and over and they timed themselves and they got better and better and better to where it was so fast and everybody knew exactly what they were supposed to do. And I think about a practice that way. Are we optimizing? Are we practicing the most important things? Are we obsessing about crazy things that really aren't moving the needle forward? That's your challenge. That's your choice. And if we can help you with this,   These are things I'm happy to share our new patient phone call script. Reach out Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. Happy to share it and like, let's chat. Let's chat about your practice. Let's talk about what things we could optimize. What areas could we make more efficient for you? This is what I obsess about doing. This is what our team obsesses about doing. This is why we created Dental A Team. Things don't need to be hard for you to have success. And I encourage you to do that. Reach out Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. And as always, thanks for listening. I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team podcast.

Re-releasing a DAT listener favorite! News flash: Setting goals for yourself isn't selfish! In fact, Kiera encourages you to set personal, then professional goals. In this episode, she talks about why it's important to think about yourself a bit more, why taking personal time helps you AND your team, and the best way to actually set those goals. Say the things you want to have; be clear about the life you want. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: Kiera Dent (00:00) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera. And today we are bringing you something so special. I am so excited because this is one of our most popular episodes from the archives. Whether you're hearing this for the first time or catching it again, I am so excited because it's jam packed with a ton of takeaways that you can start using right now in your practice. We have released thousands, literally thousands of episodes. And I wanted to start bringing a few of these amazing episodes back for you. So I hope you enjoy. And as always, thanks for listening and I'll catch you next time.   on the Dental A Team podcast.   The Dental A Team (00:31) You guys, I hope today's an awesome day for you. I hope you're doing something great for you. Hope you're loving on your teams, giving them compliments, telling them how great they're doing, being very specific and intentional. And I hope you are just remembering that you are working in the best profession, in my opinion, that you could ever, ever, ever ask for. That's right. I believe that dentistry is the greatest profession any of us could ever work in. And I feel truly blessed and honored that we get to work and serve and   Give back to a community that I am obsessed with. So with that said, guys, please be sure to leave us a review if you have not done so. Yes, I'm talking to you. I don't know your name, but I'm talking to you. Please go leave us a review. I know you've been a podcast listener for so long. Please help us out. Help us grow our podcast and serve and give to to more people. Guys, it's very simple.   Whatever device you're listening to you scroll down to the bottom. There's a spot where you can either write an actual review or just leave the star rating. So please help us out. Keeping us at that five stars and giving back has been really, really beneficial. And then we're able to rank higher on the dental. When people search for dental podcasts, we're able to rank higher and help and serve more people. With that said guys, I want to talk about why as teams and owners, it's important for you to set goals for you.   That's right. I think oftentimes we get so obsessed with setting goals for our practice that we forget that it's okay to set goals for the life that we want to have, for the life and the practice that we want to have. Not the one that we think we should have, but the one we genuinely want to have. What happens with that is so often I was actually just talking to a doctor and he said, you know, I really, really, really want to have where I only work three days a week.   but I'm concerned that that's going to impact the team's goals of being able to grow and produce more since I'm such a strong producer. Okay. Number one, kudos to this doctor for loving on his team so much that he wanted to make sure his team was successful. Also with that  said, I have found that when you are setting goals for yourself personally, you're much happier and you want to work harder. And also docs, if you just tell us what your goal is, we as team members get to become insanely. Yep. You got it.   innovative. So we get to come up with it like this office. The office manager said, Hey, that's fine if you want to do this, because guess what? That gives us an opportunity to come up with different ways to change our insurances, to look for ways making sure that we have our fees exactly where they actually should be. It's going to eliminate patients who don't want to be paying for the services that we're offering. I love that this office manager took it on as a challenge.   of how she could actually reach the goals that the practice is set while also reaching the goals that the doctor had for themselves. So for you guys, it's really that thought process of how can we actually achieve the goals that we want? Want? Yes, I said it, want. I want you to achieve the goals that you want. ⁓ And so with that said, making sure that you're setting goals for you. Now, sometimes I think that we feel selfish. We feel like, well, who am I to deserve this?   But the answer is you're a person. You're a person of worth. You're a person who actually deserves to have the life you want if you want to have it. Or you can sit in a victim mentality and say, well, this is just the life it's going to be and I have to do this and I have to do that. Well, fantastic. You're welcome to stay in that mindset, but that's actually not true. You don't have to do anything. You get to choose the state of life you live in. You get to choose the state of being that you come to work every day in.   You get to choose those things. Those are things that you have full control over. You also get to determine the goals that your practice sets together. Doesn't mean you'll necessarily reach them, but guess what? You get to set that. You do. You do. And so because of that, make sure that you actually are setting goals that you want to achieve. And don't worry about being selfish. We often have these stories in our head that aren't real. Guys, if you're a doctor who only wants to work two days a week,   Please just say that. Say that because that way we can actually work and create something. We could hire an associate. We could do a lot of different things for you. We just need to know what you actually want. So I recommend setting three personal goals and three professional goals. Yes, tis the season guys for goal setting. I'm obsessed with it. I was just talking with my younger sister and she said, Kiera, I don't know how you have so much passion for setting goals. So if you feel that way too, that's okay.   ⁓ but my little sister also told me a few days later, said, Kiera, you ignite thoughts in my mind. You make me think of, should start setting goals. I want to set goals. What am I doing? And she said, so by you saying this, you're actually giving back on such a greater level because she said for me, I don't think like that, but you do. And so if I can actually benefit from listening to you and hearing your passion, I'm then able to set and create goals as well. When that's something that I just don't even think about often.   And I loved that. So I thought, okay, let's talk about this, but really getting into the nitty gritty of being okay, setting personal goals ⁓ of what you really want. So number one, I set three personal and three professional goals every single year at a minimum. This last year I had five of the five, I hit four of the five. The only one I didn't have hit was having a baby. ⁓ we can't get pregnant guys. And it's so irritating to me, but I probably shouldn't have set a goal around something I really don't have full control over.   So, ⁓ but beyond that, I did hit all the goals that we have and it's actually pushing us to go and start on a journey of IVF. If any of you have tips on that, please email me personally guys, it's not professional. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. I'm super excited. That's our 2022 journey. ⁓ The bottom line is setting those goals. So because I had a goal of having a baby last year, guys, and even though I didn't,   ⁓ It forced me to think of the company differently. It forced me to have our entire company work on getting our SOP manual done, of having people learn to run the business so it wasn't completely dependent on me, of getting it more internal and having a team that could do this for me versus it being dependent on me all the time. It was one of the best goals that I set because it forced the company to innovate, create, and go into a different realm than it's ever been before. So that's why it's a paramount, guys.   I hope I'm like drilling this into you to set goals that you actually want. Now, what do you do if you don't know what you   Well, let's just go do a dream session. All right. Let's have you go just dream and imagine of anything and everything you've ever kind of even wanted. I'm talking like silly things. Like I've wanted to have a home cooked meal every day. Like silly things.   Because what it will do is it will start to generate. an activity that I did that you guys can try is I'm going to give you three minutes, one sheet of paper, only one sided. Yes, you heard right. One sided. You can't write on the backside, only the front side. It has to be at eight and a half by eleven. I can see you guys getting huge poster boards, you overachievers. You got three minutes. You can even do it faster. Do it on two minutes. Set that timer for two minutes. Anything that's written on this paper, you will achieve.   If it's not written on this paper, you will not get it for the rest of your life. Yeah, I just made that real serious. The rest of your life. Okay. So it's forcing you to think, I will only get these things if they're written on this piece of paper and I have two minutes to write down what I actually want in life. I don't care if they are materialistic. I don't care if they're relationship. I don't care what the heck they are, but you have two minutes and you get nothing else on this list for the rest of your life.   That's a really good way to get you guys to think about what you actually want in your life. Okay, try it out. Then after that, go around and write one three or 10 years next to this. What is it going to be? Are you going to achieve this in one year, three year, five year, 10 year? Because some of those goals might take a little longer to achieve, but that's a great way to really see what do you actually want. Again, like really play by this. If this is all you are going to get for the rest of your life, the rest of your life, some of you might have a few years left. Some of you might have less time.   or more time, but this is all you're going to get. That's how you can start to see like, do you actually really want in your life? And then from there, that's how we can start to create these personal goals. I write silly goals. I write awesome goals. I write goals. you guys, every year I get better and better and better at this. I haven't always been good at it I don't think I'm great at it today. I just think I'm willing to consistently do this year over year over year. But I write things that I actually want. This last year.   You guys, I love to have savings accounts. You can ask Jason. I've got about like 12. My bookkeeper hates me. Not like hates, hates, but just drives him nuts. And I've got so many bank accounts, but I like to have these because they give me security. I've got my company bam. I've got my personal bam. I've got a fun from traveling. I've got a fun for my house decorations. Like I get crazy guys, but it gives me security. And so I oftentimes will write goals around how much money I want to have in my savings accounts. Guess what?   Every year I hit these goals. I write goals. I love cars. love fast cars. I did just buy a Tesla Model 3 performance. So zero to 60 in three seconds guys. And I freaking love it. It's so fun. I love fast cars. So oftentimes I write goals around cars. I also this year my goal is to be in the best shape of my life. So I hired an in-house chef. Guys it's actually cheaper than going grocery shopping. Just so you know I did the math on it. It is cheaper.   than grocery shopping to have an in-house chef. I don't know how I found this guy, but it was something that I wanted to have. So I'm hiring somebody. They're going to come cook for me one day a week. They make me three meals with eight servings each. That's 24 meals for me and my husband. They will put it into containers for me. Bada bing, bada boom. I've got dinner, lunch for an entire week and they come in once a week and they go grocery shopping for me. And it's cheaper than if I were to do my own grocery shopping. So things like that.   I want to be in the best shape of my life. You guys, I'm terrible. I love to cook. I just don't make the time for it. And then when I do cook, I go to, it's too quote unquote hard for me right now to eat healthy meals. So I said, okay, if I'm going to be in the best shape of my life, what do I need to do about it? So those are some fun goals that I do just so you guys know, I have a goal to not work Mondays and Fridays. I love to have Fridays as my own personal day to do Kiera's things. Monday, I love it to be business dream day.   that's not quote unquote work. I just don't want to be scheduled in meetings. I want to have a day where I can dream about the business. And if I want to work, I can. And I can start when I want to start. And I don't have meetings that are scheduled. That's something I want to do. So writing those things, being OK to say the things that you actually want to have. ⁓ In years past, it was that I wanted to travel out of the country one or two times. This next year, it's probably going to be that I have at least   four weeks off throughout the year where I can actually just go on vacation with my husband and we can go have a great time. Whatever it is guys, you can create these goals. So really making sure that you write your personal goals. Then you go to your professional goals. Notice I do personal and then professional. Reason being is because if I take care of me, it's just like on an airplane guys, you got to put your oxygen mask on you first. Then you find a way to create it within the business.   If you're clear of the life that you want to have, if you're clear about who you want to be, and this goes for owners and team members, guys, this is not just reserved for owners. This is reserved for everybody. Everybody, everybody can have this, you guys, every single person. So with that said, you guys then go to professional. If you want to have this life, what needs to happen professionally? What are the growth goals that the company needs to have? Now you might need to scale it back. It might be unrealistic for you to take four weeks off this year.   Maybe it's that we start this year at two weeks and then next year we go four weeks. Just know because you write it down, it does not mean it's written in stone. It can be adaptable. One of my new values that I've created for myself is flexibility. Cause I was like, no, I said four weeks, I will find a way for four weeks. Well, flexibility can really change my life. It can help me be happier and more content with it out of being as hard. So giving myself that permission to have flexibility is something that I really valued. And so.   Maybe I'm gonna change it. Maybe two weeks is still gonna give me that excitement and that happiness. But being able to start working towards the life I wanna have. I'll tell you guys, three years ago, I said I wanted the company independent of me. Took me three years, guys. And the only way we were able to actually find out if it was is because I got COVID and I was out for a week. Like down for the count. My head was spinning like a top with helium in there. Like that's literally how I described it. I couldn't do emails. I was stuck in New York. It was crazy.   Tiffanie was doing presentations for me. Sissy was running the podcast. Shelbi was running all the meetings. People were talking to sponsors for me. I wasn't around. I wasn't creating content. The other consultants have started to do podcasts where we get consultants information so you guys can hear from a different perspective. Like those were innovative things. Innovative things that took me three years to actually achieve. So don't be afraid if these things don't get done right away. But the biggest piece I wanted to drive home is   Be okay setting goals for you. Be okay taking care of you. You've worked hard. You deserve it. You guys trust me. feel selfish often. And then I started thinking, I'm willing to give everybody else their dream life. I care about my team members and I hear about what they want and I work really, really hard to create the life that they want to have. How come I can't be a great employer to myself? How come I don't care about myself as much? How come I don't allow myself   the opportunity to succeed and win. Guys, I bust my buns. Why am I not a good employer to myself? I've thought about it. If I was an employee for myself or let me rephrase that. If I was an employee for somebody else who treated me like I do myself, I would probably quit. Think about that. How do you treat yourself? You probably work sunup to sundown. You probably don't get many vacations.   So many of you called me during the holiday season, which I freaking loved. It like just fuels my fire. I love talking to you guys. We all get, we all get jittery. We don't know what to do ourselves with that much time off. We, we love to create. We love to work. We love to do these things. So we're like, how can I improve the business? Well, let's work on that. But just think if you worked for somebody else and they had you do that, you'd be livid. But that's how we treat ourselves. So I'm not saying it's wrong. I'm just saying be okay to also treat yourself really well.   Be okay to invest in yourself. Be okay to maybe spin the coin and say, hey, if I was truly an employee in this company and I was interviewing myself and I was caring about the goals and aspirations I have, what would I do for myself? How would I do it a little bit differently? How would I view me? Could I maybe show a little more kindness? Cause guess what? The kindness you show yourself, the investment you show yourself is the same investment you give your team. Don't fool yourself.   Guys, the kinder I've been to myself, the more giving I've been to my team, shockingly. The more I'm in sync with the life I want to live, the happier I am, and the more my team supports it. It's shocking, guys, because guess what? My team loves me. They want me to have an awesome life. They want me to be successful. They want me to have a family. Sometimes it's okay to accept that people love us. It's okay.   to accept that people want us to live our dream lives. It's okay to not want to work in the practice clinically every single day. Those are not wrong things. That's progression. That's growth. If you're not growing, you're dying. So be okay to set those goals. So I want you guys to take this, whatever stuck out to you in this podcast, I want you to go act on it today, not tomorrow, not in five days. I want you to grab a pen or a pencil, grab your phone, whatever you need to do, but write down, what are you going to do for yourself? Are you going to write personal goals?   Are you going to be kinder? Are you going to actually treat yourself like an employee and answer those same questions? What are your one, three, five, 10 year goals? Who do you want to become? Because guess what? You as an owner need to be growing and progressing just like your team does. You need to be investing in your success just like you do your team. And I will promise you your life, your relationships, your health, and your work life will all change for the better when you take care of you.   So guys, this is Kiera just giving you a big hug, high five, whatever you choose to receive of, it's okay. I want to give you permission, permission to live your best life, permission to be kind to yourself, permission to be crazy, permission to just live full out, permission to go off the rails, permission to be crazy. Guys, it was downright crazy to buy a Tesla. Do you know how much fun it is? Do you know how much I giggle? Going zero to 60, turning on Santa's sleigh and spreading holiday cheer?   laughing with my family, letting all of them drive it, going 115 miles an hour. shouldn't say that. Any of you cops, I did it, guys. It was so fun. I can't wait to take it to the racetracks. I can't wait to do these things. It's so fun. Is it any smart? No, but guess what, guys? I could die tomorrow. I'm not saying be crazy. I'm just saying make sure you're living and you're not waiting to live. All right, guys, as always, thank you so much for listening. I'm cheering you on. If I can ever be a help.   If I can coach you on these things personally or professionally, please reach out. I'd love to. This is what I geek out over and it just fuels my fire because if I can help you live your dream life while being profitable, while growing your teams and your systems, guess what? You're going to give back to your community, to your teams, to the people around you. And that's how we're going to massively impact this world for good. So please reach Hello@TheDentalATeam.com.   Kiera Dent (18:56) I hope you all loved today's episode as much as I did. It is crazy to think that this many episodes have been released since we started the Dental A Team Podcast. And I started looking to say, my goodness, our listeners need to be reminded of some of the things they may have learned a year ago or two years ago or five years ago, because so many things in our practices weren't relevant back then when we heard them, but they are relevant today. And I would be doing you a huge disservice if I didn't re-release some of these episodes for you to remember, to refine.   to optimize and really truly if you ever need a topic or you're like, my gosh, I wonder if the Dental A Team has anything like this, go onto our website, TheDentalATeam.com, click on our podcast tab and you can literally search any topic. So whether it's overhead or hiring or firing or team morale or engagement or case acceptance or hygiene or associate onboarding or whatever it is, we have so many episodes for you. And so I am going to intentionally be   re-releasing some of the top best episodes for you, pulling back some of the ones that I needed to remember, some of the things that I feel for you to really, really relearn right now and to re-remember, or if it's the first time, welcome. I'm so happy you're listening to it, but I hope you truly enjoyed today's episode. I hope that you share this with somebody. I hope that you go and implement today because we only have one day. We only get today. And so making today the best that it possibly can be. If we can help you in any way, shape or form, reach out Hello@TheDentalATeam.com.   And as always, thanks for listening and we'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team Podcast.  

A practice won't truly thrive until its team members are aligned and attached to your company's purpose. Tiff and Kristy go into what it takes to gain collective buy-in from those who keep your practice humming, including being reminded of fundamental desires, embracing vulnerability, understanding motivators, and a ton more. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: The Dental A Team (00:00) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. I'm so excited for you to be here today. You know, I'm   always excited. I love podcasting. I have loved doing this over the course of all of the years that Kiera and I have been putting these out. They are so much fun. It is so cool to reach you guys and it is amazing to get the time in with our consultants. And I'm bringing her live to you, well not live, I guess. It's live for me. It's recorded for you. But I'm bringing her all this month for you because...   We just busted them out in one day, if I'm honest with you, Kristy. Thank you for being here. Thank you for blocking your afternoon for podcasting with me. And I'm excited for this topic. How are you and how excited are you for this topic?   The Dental A Team (00:41) Excited and I'm doing well. It's not 49 degrees in the morning. It's actually 71 here Oh 72 now, so know that's a little chilly to us, but I'm excited the sun's shining and We get our time together. So I'm excited   The Dental A Team (00:49) ⁓   That's fair. I love walks and I was doing morning walks until like mid December and I was like, I can't, I don't know if it's because I'm an Arizona girl or if it's because I have, you know, thyroid stuff and Hashimoto's, but that chill, as soon as it hits my body, I'm done for. You don't want to be around me. You don't want to know me. And so I have not been going outside in the morning nor later in the evening because that Arizona desert does something   different when that sun goes down. So very happy to hear 71. Those are my, I really, think my sweet spot is like 73 to 76. That's my ideal. So if we can find a place that's always 73 to 76, I say we jet. That's where we're going. We just stay there.   So I love this topic today because, I mean, I love every topic we go through, because you tend to really spin it for me and make everything fun. ⁓ But I love the emotional side of life and the buy-in side, and today really talking about how to get teams bought into your big why. And I like that because I love purpose. I like everyone to have a purpose. And I think when a practice owner   knows what they're after, they have their purpose, it allows the team to then see their purpose within that that why within the owner's purpose. And we actually talked about this a little bit. Now that I say that, it's like I've repeated that we talked about this at the Mastermind in September. And it was actually fun. Anyone who was there will hopefully remember maybe recap will remind you. But Kira was talking we were talking about   writing their why's like what are they doing? What's their purpose? And Kiera spoke about hers and it was really really emotional because Kiera and I get emotional   it was fun to see for her how her   purpose and her why came to life when she spoke about it because I think it morphed a little bit as she was saying it but then it was really fun because she was able to see how my purpose   is fulfilled within her purpose in that I think for owners, it's scary to think that your team has a drive or a why or a want, and it can feel like everyone wants to be an entrepreneur. And if they have their own thing, they're gonna leave. And some of them will, that will happen. I've seen, I had a practice.   The Dental A Team (03:34) Hmm.   The Dental A Team (03:39) She was there in September. She'll remember, she'll know exactly what I'm talking about. I had a practice, I went, we did a stellar meeting. ⁓ it was so much fun. So much fun. She has the best practice, she has the best why. She's just an incredible human. Two days later, ⁓ she had a team member quit because she wanted to open up her own business and she wanted to do hair. And the inspiration from talking about why's and talking about what are we doing with our lives.   prompted her to quit and start a hair salon. She just, I was like, I am sorry and not sorry at the same time. So it can happen. And I think that's the fear for a lot of people. But watching Kira open up and then watching Kira get so emotional over how my why and my purpose is fulfilled within what I do, within my position.   The Dental A Team (04:15) Yeah.   The Dental A Team (04:33) it was like something morphed and changed for her and we all got to see it as like this butterfly effect. But I say that because I can't, I can have my own purpose and my own why, we all do. But when you can see how it aligns with the company that you're working with and how you can serve your purpose and your why within the job that you're in, that's really cool. And I think Kristy, for me at least,   personally as a team member, that helps keep me tethered to the job. Because if I don't know what the why is, where we're going, what are we growing for, why are we tracking these numbers, like what's the big deal, and I just wanna help people, I'm gonna move on until I find my place. And the find your place is being in alignment and being attached to the purpose that your company is serving and driving.   And that was a really long-winded way of introducing the topic. But I thought as soon as I said those things, I was like, oh my gosh, the September event. And so I hope all the doctors listening who were at the September event remember, because it was a really magical time for Dental A Team. And for those of you coming to future events, just buckle up, because there's always something really cool attached. But Kristy, passing the mic over to you, what are your thoughts? And really gaining team member buy-in, what do you?   What did I prompt for you in all of those words I just spewed?   The Dental A Team (06:02) Yeah. Yeah, and   all those words.   Tiff,   I know we were talking numbers earlier, so hopefully they were listening to that too, but the numbers are our gauge, but the buy-in has to be emotional. It's gotta be vulnerable and it's gotta go back to why you do what you do. Like, why'd you get into dentistry? And doctors why maybe, I mean, you said it, doctors why may be different than team members, but.   I venture to say almost every one of us that got into dentistry have some sort of passion for caring, you know? And we gotta get back to the root of that. And we even talked about ⁓ finances and getting to the emotional why. It's no different. If you want our teams to be bought in, you've gotta get to your emotional why. And you doctors have to be the North Star in that.   You can have leadership teams, right? But they've got to be very clear on the why. And it doesn't mean that our direction won't change, because it could change. But that intentional, why do you do what you do? Why do you wake up and get out of bed? We have to identify that.   The Dental A Team (07:17) I love that. You're spot on. And something shifts and changes, I think, for a person when they key in on that. And it's not just going with the motions. We can go through the motions in life very easily. And I think you finish high school and you go to undergrad and you go to school and you go to whatever. You go through dental school. You become a dentist. You do the thing and then you buy the practice. And it's like you get there and you're like, why did I do all that?   Right? They forget. They forget why they did the thing. And I listened to a Simon Sinek thing not too long ago. Well, you know, I love listening to him, his speeches. But one thing that he's been able to key in on for purpose is going back to your high school self. Because in high school really is when we decided what we wanted to do and we tagged it to a work.   like to a physical thing, like what is the job we're going to hold? But somewhere in there, our high school self wanted to serve a purpose and we attached the job to that purpose. So if we can kind of think back to our high school self and really think what did we love? What inspired us? What did we like doing? Where did we feel the most fulfilled and satisfied at that age?   that helps figure out what it was that you're intending to do in life. What is that purpose? Because the purpose isn't, this might rock a few of you, the purpose isn't to do the best dentistry in Kentucky and have smiles that last forever. That's not why you're here. You were not put on this earth to.   Do fillings you might be doing fillings, but that's the actionable piece. That's the what? but what's the why and We actually Kristy shared this recently with a client and Really like I feel like this kind of work on your purpose your your emotionally driven purpose is What can? re-inspire dentists   who might feel like they don't know what they're doing anymore. Why am I even here? Why did I become a dentist? Or teams that are like, what are we doing? Why are we pushing? What are we even after? But that emotionally driven why you can see where in your purpose, the what that you're doing, the job that you're doing, might be satisfying and fulfilling that space.   The Dental A Team (10:05) Wow, that was big. And yeah, you're absolutely right. We just went through this exercise and when you start feeling burnt out, it's great time to go back and revisit that why to reignite that fire and remember why you're doing it because you are going to go through the ebb and flow and the hard times to get there. But when you can let that be your burning desire in your gut, the rest of it's going to fall back into place. Yeah.   The Dental A Team (10:33) Yeah, yeah.   Thank you. I love all of this work. It's part of like who I am as a human is to help people figure out the inspiration that makes them love what they do every day. That is what I said in September. is my purpose is to inspire people to love what they do in life. So this stuff lights me up. Like I know I'm in my purpose when I get to talk about this stuff. So that's very easy. But how do you   Once we key in on that, Kristy, how do you suggest or coach doctors in sharing that with the team? Because it is incredibly vulnerable, especially when you figure out that your purpose has nothing to do with dentistry. Dentistry is the engine behind the purpose, a lot of, we talked about this earlier too, a lot of people are afraid to share those kinds of things. They're afraid to share the numbers, they're afraid to...   The Dental A Team (11:13) it is.   The Dental A Team (11:27) It's scary to be vulnerable and it's scary, it can be scary to inspire a team to want their own purposes too, again, because you don't, you're like scared they're gonna leave or go start a hair salon. But what do you, how do you coach them on that and how to be vulnerable?   The Dental A Team (11:46) Yeah. Well, I think it's funny that you said the hair salon, first of all, because that person can be a great referral source back to the practice. So it might not be all bad. That too. Yeah. And with that being said, it is vulnerable. And what's coming to my mind is how many times do   The Dental A Team (11:50) I do too.   That's fair. I was thinking that was the opposite of you. ⁓   The Dental A Team (12:11) And again, doctors, I'm not trying to pick on you, but how many times do they come to us and say, they're just here for a paycheck?   The Dental A Team (12:18) Mm. All the time.   The Dental A Team (12:21) And maybe we shouldn't make that wrong.   The Dental A Team (12:24) Yeah, I say   that. ⁓ my gosh, yes, drop the mic. I say that all the time. We are here for a paycheck. We have to pay our bills.   The Dental A Team (12:28) Yeah.   Yeah, and doctors paying something too, which means I think my soft spot goes back to sometimes doctors are afraid to say they're doing this for a quality of life or a legacy of life that they're going to leave and it is tied to money. And I don't think we need to be shameful of that anymore. I truly don't. And I think we need to give permission because even if I am here for a paycheck, that doesn't mean I'm going to serve differently. Right.   ⁓ It's okay and let that be the motivator because if they're getting that, they may serve even better.   The Dental A Team (13:13) Yeah, yeah, and you made me think of to speak to all the team members who are listening. For me, when I hear that somebody wants to a legacy or a legacy dental practice where their kids, if they decide to be dentists, can come be dentists, like this lifestyle, I want this lifestyle for my family. Well, I'm helping serve that I'm helping provide that. And in turn,   I'm also growing. I'm also reaping benefits of them succeeding. So I would much rather work for a doctor who's driven to keep going and keep growing than someone who's like, we're just here to do the fillings. Like cash your check, because I'm like, are we though? Are we going to be here in a year? Like is this stable? The doctor who's like, yeah, I want to build a legacy and I want to impact this community and my family in   XYZ ways. I'm like, cool, you're bought in. That means this is stable. I can get bought in on that because my family is going to grow as your family grows. And I can see myself here for a long time. And I think that's that team buying and that vulnerability of this is why I'm here because I'm here to serve my family. I'm here to pay my bills. I'm here to make sure Brody goes to college. I'm here to make sure that he has everything that he wants and desires. Ask my   The Dental A Team (14:16) Yeah.   The Dental A Team (14:42) checking account. That is my goal. Brody is happy and it's served by doing things like this. And if I want my goal, if my goal is to leave a legacy and be the entrepreneur who leaves a legacy for my family, that people can pick up that business and they don't have to work for anyone, then that's going to look different. I'm going go open a hair salon. I'm going to go do that thing. But I'm going to do that regardless of you telling me.   The Dental A Team (14:44) you   The Dental A Team (15:10) your purpose and your why, it's gonna happen no matter what. So don't be afraid to share it, just know you're serving, you're providing a space where people can grow. Whether they grow with you forever or they grow to a place where they're like, cool, I can go do that thing that I've always wanted to do, that's incredible. You got somebody to a point where they could go fulfill their life dreams, holy cow.   That's really freaking cool. And hopefully in the meantime, in the middle of that, you guys built some awesome systems that somebody can come in and learn. Because not everything's a guarantee, but the way you said that, Kristy, is just spot on. That vulnerability piece and allowing the team to decide if that's what they're here for or not, instead of leaving in the shadows, never speaking of it, and hoping that they stay anyway.   The Dental A Team (16:05) Yeah. How many times have you, I mean, I haven't worked at a lot of jobs, so I'm pretty loyal to my jobs, but for people that have gone, and I've interviewed people and hired people, so I'm speaking to myself in this too, but how many times have we shared our why in that process?   You know, and it all starts there. And you said something before, the what. The what may be getting to three million this year. And that's all we ever hear instead of the why. If we hear the why, then we can get behind the what. And then I like to say the core values just serve as how we behave to get to the why.   The Dental A Team (16:48) Yes.   Yes, yes, I love that because oftentimes core values are how we like how they want the community to view us. And so, you know, where we have integrity and we do great dental care and we have your dental, ⁓ your dentistry in mind and your dental health and is our is our heart. I'm like, I don't know how to show up to that. I don't know how to I don't know how to exude your dental health is my heart because it's not I don't.   I'm not here, I think dentistry is really cool, but I didn't go to dental school because I don't want to be a dentist. So that's spot on. It's hard to know what we're aiming for and what we're going for if we don't know the why or the what. A lot of times we're not trying the what either. So if we don't know what our goals are, if we don't know what our inspiration is, I tell people all the time, motivation is short lived. I can motivate you for a short amount of time, but if I can inspire you, inspiration lives inside of you.   Motivation comes and goes, it dies. It dies. That's why gym, you know, people who aren't inspired to go to the gym, they're not inspired by the change that the gym can make in their lives, like the steak, right? We talked about the steak and having ⁓ an all-on-four so we can eat a steak. If there's not inspiration tied to the health, the motivation to get up and go to the gym will die. It will fade. Every January, you're gonna be re-motivated to start the gym again. But if there's not inspiration living inside of you,   to be healthier, it will die off. So if I'm not inspired by the work that I'm doing, which if I'm doing new patient intake forms, like give me something to be inspired about. that's, you know, this can get really boring. Insurance verifications, why am I doing this? What difference does it make? Give me some inspiration so that I can attach to that and then give me the path of how I show up and live it every day. Those are your core values. So you need your   your mission vision, your why, what are we, why am I here, your inspiration, and then how do I show up to that?   The Dental A Team (18:55) I agree with you 100%. And I think you said something that we failed to realize. I wish I could remember the name of the book now, but there was one and he treats people that have heart attacks. And he's like, if you think I could motivate people, I should be able to motivate people because they're at best door, right? And I'm gonna try to get them to change eating or this.   The Dental A Team (19:06) Okay.   Yes.   The Dental A Team (19:20) they do for two weeks or two months because they remember what it was like to have a heart attack, but then they go back to the behavior. So even when we're faced with our own mortality, you just, I mean, it proves like we, it lives and dies. Yeah. Yep.   The Dental A Team (19:36) We're complacent.   Yeah, muscle memory sets in and it's easier to stay where you're at even in uncomfortableness. And even if your life is uncomfortable, it's easier to stay here than to make the change because you don't know what's on the other side of change. It's an unknown. You can't quite even imagine it or what you imagine you can't guarantee is going to happen. So it's easier to stay in the uncomfortable because it's what you know. There's no questions. It's gonna stop.   It's uncomfortable. It's easier to stay here and even face your own mortality than to say, okay, I'm gonna do this thing and whatever happens on the other side, I'm okay with, because that's scary.   The Dental A Team (20:17) Yep.   Well, I think the other thing, Tiff, that we failed to really tap into is you recognize it and you do it once. And how many times do we get with our clients and we're like, what is your what? Well, it's written down somewhere or it's in the drawer. Like you've got to revisit it and make it come alive or you just forget. And it's not front and center. And then that's when you get the burnout. And that's when you, you know, we've got to get back to that core and revisit it. So   I challenge you every time you have a team meeting, bring it up, talk about it. How are we living it? What are we doing that's in alignment with that and serving it? Because that's what's gonna inspire you to keep going. And so often, as a leader, that's one of my favorite things. How inspiring are you being in this moment? How inspiring am I being if I'm squatting, you're not doing this, you're not doing that. That's not inspiring change.   We talk about it all the time in hygiene. You say you're not flossing every day. Well, no, I just told you I'm not flossing. That's not inspiring me to floss every day. Right? So again, I just think putting a little spin and making sure you know your buy-in and then also revisit it. Don't put it in a drawer. ⁓ I once learned, and again, I apologize where I don't have the statistic behind me.   The Dental A Team (21:25) Yeah. Yeah.   resource.   The Dental A Team (21:45) They say, or resource, yeah, they say if you state your goal, you're a certain percentage ⁓ to achieve it. Is it James Clear? I don't know. Maybe. Maybe give them credit with credits on it. With that though, if you write it down, you're even exponentially higher. And if you say it, write it down and share it with somebody even more so.   The Dental A Team (21:55) I think so. Yeah. It might be atomic habits.   The Dental A Team (22:14) And then if you revisit it frequently, those are the people that really hit their goals.   The Dental A Team (22:16) Yeah.   And I challenge you to, you, meaning everyone and even myself, to consider goals that we're not willing to share with other people. It's much easier to tell ourselves that we're gonna do something and then not do it than to tell other people that we're gonna do something and then not do it. We will hold ourselves to a higher level of accountability if we vocalize it to people outside of ourselves, because we're okay to lie to ourselves. I'm okay. I'm okay to have.   low personal integrity until I can't take that anymore, until it hurts too much, but I won't do that public facing. So I encourage you guys to evaluate that to us there. Is there an unspoken goal that maybe if we just said it out loud and wrote it down and had some accountability partners around us, would we actually do it? Just like I said, I was gonna do a pull-up and let me tell you how many times Erin asks me if I've practiced for it.   The Dental A Team (22:51) Yeah.   Yeah.   The Dental A Team (23:14) You know?   The Dental A Team (23:14) I love it. You know, Tiff, I had a client one time that ⁓ she wrote, she was in a pretty tough spot financially and she wrote a check to herself, pulled it out a few years later and I mean, granted, visited through the way, did some of the things we talked about, but pulled it back out and it was like, holy cow, that she thought that was so undoable.   The Dental A Team (23:27) Mm, I love that.   The Dental A Team (23:42) and then it was surpassed. So challenge, I challenge our listeners.   The Dental A Team (23:44) ⁓ Yeah.   Yeah, I like it. Thank you. This was a fun. These are my favorite. You know that these are my favorite topics and I love having someone who's of the same mindset and I guess path of leadership. We listen to so much stuff and so many people and read so many books. So I love bouncing this stuff with you, Kristy. Thank you. And I think if we summed it up, I would say the biggest the action item from today is to sit down.   and get in touch with your purpose. And no, I know, Kristy, we've talked to a few clients, but specifically a client we worked with together that we had to stress that it's not perfect. It may not be perfect. It may take you months to really dial it in, but just start. You have to start somewhere. And oftentimes we hold ourselves back because we think we're not ready for perfect yet. It's not done. I don't have it like...   formulated yet. It's not my brain hasn't finished. Well, your brain's not going to finish if you don't get it on paper. Once you get it on paper, it's out of your brain and your brain can then process other things and other things come to light. So that would be my challenge. and Kristy, thank you again for today, for the whole day. Thank you. And thank you for just all of the, all of the light that you shed on this topic in general. think we can.   We can see lot of brilliance in that. So thank you for being here today, Kristy.   The Dental A Team (25:15) Yeah, thank you for ⁓ having the conversation with me.   The Dental A Team (25:19) Yeah, it's my favorite. I'll do this all day long. One care is like, what do you love? This is what I love. So how do we do that? But anyways, you guys, know, Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. If you are looking for advice, you're looking for guidance. If you're a client, obviously reach out to your consultant. We all dabble in this stuff. We all do the leadership. We all have those paths. And if you're not yet a consultant or someone who's going to be a listener forever, that's   cool too, just know we're here, reach out. We love this stuff, we are passionate about serving the dental community in the best ways possible and reaching as many people as we possibly can. That's why we started the podcast years and years ago. So reach out to us, Hello@TheDentalATeam.com Drop us a review below, let us know what you loved about today and honestly, Kristy and I would love to hear from you guys. Again, Hello@TheDentalATeam.com, tell them, send this to Tiff and Kristy. We would love to hear from you guys on what is your why?   What is your purpose? What's your inspiration? And how are you gonna use it? I, truth be told, would love to see those emails. I know, Kristy, you would too. awesome. All right, guys, go do the things. Go be inspirational and check back with us. Let us know how your teams do. Thanks so much.

Re-releasing a DAT listener favorite! Dr. Dave Moghadam joins Kiera to discuss getting your hygiene team on the same page and at the same point of understanding. He shares his approach, and goes deeper into the following: Gather all information and establish a flow of procedure Hold a longer meeting for your hygiene team to review and add their own ideas Allow a period of follow-up for questions Transition into monthly or quarterly meetings to continually update Dr. Moghadam utilized the Dental A-Team's hygiene course to help him come up with this approach to calibrate his hygienist team. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: speaker-0 (00:05) Hey everyone, welcome to the Dental A Team podcast. I'm your host, Kiera Dent, and I have this crazy idea that maybe I could combine a doctor and a team member's perspective, because let's face it, dentistry can be a challenging profession with those two perspectives. I've been a dental assistant, treatment coordinator, scheduler, filler, office manager, regional manager, practice owner, and I have a team of traveling consultants where we have traveled to over 165 different offices coaching teams. Yep, we don't just understand you, we are you.   Our mission is to positively impact the world of dental. And I believe that this podcast is the greatest way I can help elevate teams, grow VIP experiences, reduce stress, and create A-Teams. Welcome to the Dental A Team Podcast.   Hello Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera. And you guys, I am so excited to bring back on one of my favorite guests, one of your favorite guests, somebody who is in the real life with you guys. He is a practicing dentist, rocks our office. I've known him for quite a while. And he's a man that creates systems, implements and executes. And today I'm jazzed to bring him back on. Dr. Dave Moghadam, how are you today?   speaker-1 (01:13) Wonderful, Kiera. Thanks for having me back. appreciate it. It's gonna be a blast as always.   speaker-0 (01:17) It's   gonna be great if you guys have not heard his other ones we've talked about we've gone from acquiring practices Bringing on associate doctors. We've talked about team quarterly calibrations and now we're gonna dive into something that you started I actually think you started it maybe COVID maybe you're doing it pre-covid ⁓ But but it's going to be diving into hygiene calibration, which I think is so relevant. I mean right now hi, Janice are like more Harder to find than unicorns in my opinion. They're like real real tricky   But we just know that they're real. I think it's a great time actually to bring this in. So Dave, kind of walk us through, like I said, you're practicing, Dennis, this is your real life. This is what you're doing really in your practice, which is why I love having on the podcast. So kind of take us away on this hygiene calibration, how you even got the idea for it, what spurred that. I'd love to hear.   speaker-1 (02:08) Yeah, so I think as far as like, how did this come about? What was the situation? Everything like that. Some of the key things that were happening were I had focused a lot on a lot of the rest of the practice, like a lot on systemize this, do this, let's grow and everything else was just really just taking off. But the one thing year after year after year that was kind of like fairly consistent, not really like, my God, really, you know, growing was the hygiene department.   So I started to look into things of, how can we just improve? And I always feel like if we improve some of the other basic stuff, the numbers fall. So I think a lot of the things that I was ⁓ looking to do was just getting some consistency, make sure everybody's on the same page. At that point, had gotten, yeah, this was about two years ago. So we had just gotten a new hygienist to join our team who's been with us ⁓ since then.   We had another hygienist who was only there a day a week at that time. So it was kind of a little difficult to try and get everything all buttoned up. the way I went about it was one, I first took the big chunk of what we had in our operations manual, such as protocols, expectations, standards, record keeping, all that stuff. And then the other thing is I   contacted you and I said, Hey, what do you have for this? Because we're all going to be on our butts for a while when the world closed down for a little bit. we went through the hygiene course. I took some, some pearls from there. tried to organize things a little bit more. Uh, we did a little bit of coaching with, Tiffany as well, uh, virtually then. So we basically, the, outline for this, you know, it was basically protocols standards, you know, what   ⁓ record keeping, know, what if you encounter some hiccups with patients, you know, as far as, know, those types of situations, ⁓ you know, what's the appointment flow like, what's the communication, like what are the key points that we want to hit on, ⁓ teeing up the doctor, pre-teeing up the doctor, which I'll get into in a little bit. ⁓ And then, you know, a lot of this is kind of reviewing our, basically chunking out our routes.   is very detailed and that kind of like highlights a lot of this stuff. And then we get into you know some basis of treatment planning, incorporating some bundles which is a concept that you guys helped us you know incorporate and bring in, and then just talking about some of the other basic stuff like how do we talk about fluoride, you know why is it important to ask for referrals, and then you know financial discussions which basically means just don't have the financial.   speaker-0 (04:56) Right. Yes, I love it. Well, and I love it. Something I wanted to point out is I feel like there's actually a ton of opportunities all around us. It's just, we willing to see them and then actually execute on them? So you saw COVID as a time we're all hanging out. We've got nothing to do. This is the area that I haven't spent any time on. So like, let's make this rock solid. And I think there's so many opportunities like that. Hopefully not another pandemic shutdown, but there.   all around us all the time. So Dave, let's actually deep dive if you don't mind on a lot of these topics. I know that's kind what we came today for just so people get an idea of how you calibrated your hygiene team on this. Like you gave the resources. Yes guys, if you want to get our hygiene course, we're constantly updating it. It's getting ready to move to all videos. Once you purchase the course, you have it for life. definitely   speaker-1 (05:43) You're kidding, right? I wonder who gave that suggestion.   speaker-0 (05:46) That was Dave, which is great because I came in with steal of a deal and said like give me honest feedback and then I felt bad your team was going through as we were rampantly   speaker-1 (05:56) That's really going to button it up. ⁓   speaker-0 (05:59) Good   good. So we're working on videos working on audio, but we're constantly updating and innovating it and asking for your guys's feedback So if that's helpful for you fantastic, like Dave said we did do virtual calls with his hygiene team very spot specific but kind of like walk us down through this Of like what exactly does this calibration look like you listed those items kind of deep dive with us on it. Yeah   speaker-1 (06:19) Yeah,   that was just a lot of verbal diarrhea there. I just kind of threw it out there. So we'll break it down. We'll go section by section. Yeah. is what happens. So basically, as far as protocols and standards and things like that, I mean, that's just kind of the basics of what are we expected to do. It's kind of like if you think of onboarding, it's repetitive. It's a review. But kind of like, what do you expect to do in the morning, during the appointment, at the end of the day, kind of going through, making sure everybody knows what the   all that looks like, making sure that they're very clear on like what's expected for the end of day sheets that, you know, that they take pictures of and turn in every day, all that stuff. You know, record keeping, you know, how often are we doing, you know, probing, how often are we taking x-rays, you know, what kind of photos do we expect? And then as far as like pickups that relate to that, I mean, we, I think of it in a positive way, half our patient base is 60 and a   I love it. It's a really a wonderful type of practice, but in over the past five years of, ⁓ know, initially early on transitioning and taking over a practice like that, and then taking in other practices like that, we get a lot of stuff where people think that the X-ray head is gonna melt their faces. And, you know, because of that, it's kind of like, well, let's figure out a way, what's gonna be our kind of standardized way of how we're gonna address these concerns.   What are we going to go ahead and do? So we like a little pamphlet basically that shows some examples of things, why we take x-rays, what could be missed, all that stuff. Very simple, very straightforward. Has a little chart that we just kind of found somewhere on Google about radiation, the mouse, like that. And they kind of have their set kind of like, hey, we go through all that stuff. And if it kind of becomes a push versus shove moment, they have to come grab me, which I don't really love, but it is what it is.   And then we kind of go from there. So that's not to get sidetracked, but that's kind of, you know, one of those things. Like when we have situations where things may not necessarily go smoothly, it doesn't matter what the actual answer is. Everybody just has to know it.   speaker-0 (08:23) Right, right. No, I love that. And I was going to say, Dave, based on our last podcast we did, you know, they've to come get you maybe throw that into your calibration role play. What do we say to these patients? ⁓ But I really do.   speaker-1 (08:36) I don't necessarily want to encourage.   I like to do dental treatment and sit at my desk and drink water.   speaker-0 (08:43) I definitely agree and that's what I feel like most dentists feel. So I like that. So with that, I like that you do that. So how does this kind of hygiene calibration look? Do you do it consistently? Is it like once a year that you do it? Did the hygienist help create it with you? They brought up the issues that they were coming with. I kind of break it down. Like if I'm a brand new office, I don't really know. I want to do this. I'm hearing you do this. What are kind of the steps to be able to actually get this into my practice and start running it?   speaker-1 (09:10) Yeah, so I think the big thing is I think you gotta just like deep dive into it, like do it once over whether it's like one really long appointment or like maybe a couple of weeks of a couple of hours. I think it's a lot to try and like just be like, yeah, you're gonna like remember all of this stuff. Like even if we do every three months, stuff like that. ⁓ And right after we did it, we were doing weekly hygiene meetings.   So we kind of will like chunk out, you know, little pieces of this to kind of get a little bit more granular or kind of talk about how we improve doing weekly meetings is a lot, it just was really, and we were just being very, very inconsistent with it. So I was kind of like, ⁓ like it's Tuesday and yesterday was Monday and Monday was really hard. And now I'm really tired and you know, Dr. Seth's not here today and I'm around all morning. So you know what? I just feel like,   not doing this at once. That's what would happen. So now we basically have at least one scheduled each month and a second one that's kind of like floating. Where so that one we're going to no matter what kind of go through some of this. And then if there's another topic that we kind of want to dial, you know, dive into a little bit more, that's at the second one. It makes it a lot more manageable to go ahead and do things that way. I think when you chunk it out like that, these are not like 20, 30 minutes. You know I'm saying? Like, you know, after everybody's kind of   had some time to relax before we're to start to see our patients again. But I think the first thing is really making a big, you know, let's get all the information organized together. Let's go through it all. Let's make sure somebody's on the same page. ⁓ I would assume, you know, as we're going to hopefully be onboarding, we'll find an onboarding another hygienist, you know, over the next several months, it would be something that would be a big chunk of the onboarding process. But I think, you know,   we'll get to it. I mean, there's a lot, a lot more to go through, but I think having done this for a while and I realized sometimes when you kind of have this, even if somebody, if they've helped make it and you're kind of just driving those points home sometimes, you know, like we talked about in our podcast, things will get stale or there's a way to do it better. And I really have felt that, you know, uh, over time, if I've in the times that I've tried to really, you know, ask for feedback and listen in an environment that doesn't seem so   confrontational, know, hygienists and all my team members really sometimes bring these just like amazing, wonderful ideas that I never really would have thought of about. And that's really how I think it really kind of starts to really grow and evolve. And that's hard because, you know, a lot of times everybody, every team member is different. And we have some that are a little...   touchy about things. And a lot of times I try and explain that, you know, everything that we were talking about here is not like, Hey, you did like a crap job at this. It's kind of like, Hey, like, I want to try and see how we can make this a better situation for our patients, for you, for me, is there a way that we can maybe try this to see if this is better? Like what suggestions do you have? want to make sure you know, overall,   That's the thing, because I always am that type of person that's like, let's make this better, better, better. Sometimes people think it's like, hey, you're doing a not good job. like, no, you're doing a great job. I just don't sit still. And that's kind of a problem. I'm sorry it comes across that. So I've gotten my office manager a little bit more involved as far as like, you know, she's in the meetings as well and asking some more of these questions that I think it's led to a little bit less of a like.   confrontation, a lot of this confrontation, but less, you know, heated kind of environment. That's a great idea has come out of things here.   speaker-0 (12:53) Well, I think it's because you're also getting into that. Yeah, you're also calibrating with them. And so it becomes more of a learning versus a dictation. And that's where I think the freedom is the freedom to come up with ideas, the freedom to give that feedback when it's when it's coming together to calibrate and to connect versus judging critique. And so I feel like you did a good job of spinning it getting everyone there. So if I'm breaking this down for an office, it sounds like one.   gather all the information of like kind of the flow of the procedure. Like what is it, what's involved in that? Thinking of, mean, Dave gave you a really great checklist real quick of those items. And then from there, it sounds like set up a time, maybe over lunch, maybe do a longer one to two hour meeting where you kind of have the outline of it, go through it all. I did this with an office that I was consulting with and I literally gave them about an hour and a half. They went through the whole process, looked at everything, added pieces in. And then the next day we followed up, it was very short.   Just to make sure like what questions that they have Then they can roll into like monthly meetings on this or or every quarter just kind of calibrating reviewing checking to see But I thought you also brought up a good point of making sure that once it is solidified Which again duns better than perfect because guys it will never be perfect. It will constantly updated So don't spend your next three and sixty five days trying to perfect this darn thing like get it done So it's at least something for when you onboard people and then continually update it as well. So   Dave, you had said there's more that you want to dive into. So take it away. I'm not going to stop you. Give some examples.   speaker-1 (14:20) No,   for sure. mean, there's a lot. we've gotten talked about, you know, protocols, standards, record keeping stuff, you know, kind of any hiccups like in that, you know, so making sure everybody knows what the expectations are, you know, what to do if there's there's pushback there. The next thing we kind of will dive into is the flow of the appointment. You know, every office is different in how they want to go ahead and do things. You know, I always feel and I'm not the best at this, even though I preach it all the time.   that if you wait until like the last five, 10 minutes of the appointment and you sell somebody like, hey, you have all this stuff that's wrong inside your head, like you just run out the door. So I always feel that in the first 20 minutes, should be, records should be, ⁓ all gathered together, hygienists should start reviewing everything that they potentially see as a problem, kind of warming things up in a sense with the patients there.   and the doctor in that sometime in that next 20 minute window, ideally, somewhere between 20 after 30 after can get in there, talk about what the situation is. And then this time the patient has more time where they can ask questions, go over things. The front office has the heads up if it's something that's involved. Although a lot of times, honestly, if it's more than, it kind of moved more towards this.   If it's more than a couple of things and somebody is going to be in a sense spending more than 5,000 bucks, may want to set up even a small appointment just to re-review things, you know, with the doctor or somebody upfront or something like that. Cause it's all, it's a lot that they can. And honestly, a lot of times, you know, five, 10 minutes doesn't really do the justice that some people will need to really understand what the problem situation is and really own that.   speaker-0 (16:10) Right.   speaker-1 (16:11) comes   across as kind of like, my God, they want like, you know, 10 grand from me. I don't even know what the hell's going on.   speaker-0 (16:17) Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. No, you're exactly right. And I think something I love that you just talked about on that is you actually helped your team make better decisions without you always having to answer it by saying, hey, I want a consult if it's over 5,000, this is where we should be setting up a consult. I literally just had an office ask me, hey, Kiera, when do you recommend setting up a consult? And I'm like, it's doctor dependent. Because some doctors are presenting 30, 40, 50,000 and they're like, those are fine. It's just laissez faire.   Other dentists are saying, like, no, over, you know, five grand, 10 grand, let's bring them back for a consult. But by having this, like, just expectations and helping your team know the parameters, they can then make a lot smarter decisions moving forward. Independent and confident.   speaker-1 (17:03) There may be other people out there who are very slick and can get somebody to give them $30,000 in three minutes. That's just, that's.   speaker-0 (17:10) Right, right, exactly. Exactly.   speaker-1 (17:12) But   at the end of the day, wouldn't want it to be like that. The way we kind of do everything is like, let's really kind of make sure somebody understands something, makes feels comfortable with the decisions that they're making. Because I would much rather not do anything if somebody doesn't feel comfortable with it than do it and have an issue.   speaker-0 (17:29) For sure, absolutely.   speaker-1 (17:31) So I mean, think that's a newer thing that we're kind of moving towards. I think we kind of ballpark it in a sense. Sometimes it's not even a financial thing. Let's say somebody has been going to the same dentist for a long time, they show up and then it's like, my God, there's like, know, 16 surfaces of decay. And like, it's just like, okay, well, yeah, this is not gonna be a two minute conversation. This is like, hey, I see a lot of things going on. Let me highlight them for you, but let's have you come back and let's really talk about, you know,   what the options are and if something really involved I encourage them to bring a friend or a family member or a second set of years somebody that they can rely on as well because it's a lot of information you it can be overwhelming.   speaker-0 (18:12) Wow.   Right. Exactly. But I think like overarching big picture on this is you got your hygiene team calibrated with you. You got them because at the end of the day, I feel like hygienists tee up so much for the doctors. They're the ones who spend so much time with these patients. Doctors run in, run out, like you said. I also love that for you. And again, this is doctor preference. Some doctors don't like to do exams when they're not polished and clean, but I like your actually really love your thought process on it. You're right. If you come to an exam,   Lastly, right before that patient leaves, there is no time for them to ask questions to anybody but the front desk. And oftentimes if they have a lot of questions, they're out the door if they plan to be there for an hour. Whereas if they had exam can be in the middle of the appointment, they can ask questions to that hygienist. That hygienist can re-emphasize treatment as well, helping them see like, this is why, can you fill this catch with my instrument here? Like this is what Dr. Mogadam was talking about. So I really love that philosophy and I love that   Again, I think what I'm pulling from this that I hope a lot of other offices are hearing is that you are giving them confidence to make decisions independent of you that are in a line with the direction you want the practice to go. And when people have confidence, they know how to win the day, they've helped co-create it with you, they know how to give the patient the best experience, that gives team members freedom. That gives team members so much, like, just...   just help and greatness that they can do. So I really, really love that you brought that up and how you calibrated your hygiene team. Any other thoughts you have on it, Dave?   speaker-1 (19:43) other thing that I would mention that it's kind of beneficial if I actually get off my butt and show up at the time that I'm supposed to is let's say somebody has something that's not like, my God, over the top, like, you know, taking out a tooth, graphing it, placing an implant, restoring it, lot of in that. And we have like explosion codes in open dental, but somebody still has to kind of organize it. And then I always want that double checking kind of, you know.   What are we anticipating that their insurance may help them with all that stuff, kind of doing the breakdown. So, oh, know, a lot of times if it's something a little bit more involved, we don't need to bring somebody back though. I'll just walk up front and just say, hey, you know, we're doing this, this and this for Mrs. Jones. Just make sure you have that ready. So it's a much quicker, easier checkout process and just immediately get them scheduled. know, anything beyond like a couple of things, I usually make an effort to walk up there, give them a heads up and, you know, sit at my computer for a minute or two.   a fish, not a   speaker-0 (20:38) For sure. I love it. And again, I think it's important like guys, Dr. Dave here is telling you like this is what he prefers. This is his style. This is his flow. This is the vibe he likes to have and he's been able to create it in his practice. I will tell you from a team member's perspective and I'll be all I want my doctor super happy. That's literally what makes me so happy. So if I know that Dr. Dave wants to go drink his coffee and wants me to take care of everything else and he's given me the parameters of what to do. Awesome. I'm going to take it on.   If I know Dr. Dave's a dentist who doesn't want to let go, I'm probably going to push him a little bit and remind him he should let go because I got this for him. But at the end of the day, I'm going to do what I can to make him super happy because I know when my doctor's happy, that's one, what I'm there to do as an assistant, as a front office. I'm there to help my doctor's lives be so simple and easy and also to give our patients the best experience. So I just love like you, you looped it all together. You gave the parameters, you co-created with them.   and then you, now you get to have the life that you want to have. Go drink your coffee before seeing your patients, whatever it's needed, because then you also probably have a much smoother day that you look forward to. You probably enjoy dentistry a lot more, which means you're probably going to be a better diagnoser. You're probably going to be better to our patients, probably do better clinical because you are happier. You've got it set. We're able to all flow and gel, which is how the whole practice can move smoother.   speaker-1 (22:00) definitely. And not to sidetrack us, I'm going to forget if I mention it now. could set something up another time to kind of talk about scheduling protocols as far as how to remember to put borders together for bigger procedures that are multi-step and even also actually creating a schedule where everybody's going to be happy. Because there's the concept of block scheduling, but there's also the concept of what we started doing. I mentioned this to you a little while ago where we schedule based on the types of   procedures that we want to do, not necessarily financial values and stuff like that. And just like with most things that I do, that's not something that I learned myself or created out of thin air. You know, it was something that I heard in other podcasts that I love. They call it in their terms, they call it priority. You know, creating priorities for the types of dentistry that you want to do, which in my mind is way better. You know, I always gear towards things of like,   How do we want to go ahead and make things a better experience for our patients? How do we want to do more of the types of dentistry that we want to do rather than like we're chasing this magic number at the end of the day? Because as for myself, for my team, I know that doesn't really push the needle. But when we kind of talk about all the steps of what's going to get us there, all the stuff that the numbers go up and down, it's good. And then we keep the lights on and we continue to grow and we help more people and employ more.   speaker-0 (23:19) I love it. I love it. And I'm so glad that you said that and I agree. I think that'd be a really fun podcast to dive into. Because again, scheduling, and I love hearing it from a doctor's perspective, because I will harp on this all day long and say a schedule that you want is actually the best schedule for your patients. Because you're happier, you deliver better dentistry. And when you guys have those boundaries in there, it's so much happier for everybody. So I definitely want to dive into that. I also want to dive into our IT podcast as well, which will be a real fun one.   But to wrap up on hygiene calibration, how often, Dave, do you recalibrate with your hygiene team?   speaker-1 (23:58) So it's not something that we've done. It's just mostly because we do our meetings. So we kind of loop around on areas that are kind of falling through the cracks a little bit and then expanding on other teams. And a lot of times, you know, we'll get, ⁓ because of what we've talked about where we have like these discussions, ⁓ we'll incorporate some other great things. like we were kind of at certain times where things were getting a little bit lost in the shuffle as far as like, consistently doing probing at the times that we want to or basically having the ⁓   the appropriate codes in for when we're checking the patients out and you something gets lost in the shuffle of the handoff and this and that. So one of the hygienists thought of a great idea of, why don't we create just a dummy code for probing as well? And then, know, when then we talk about how like, you know, when you're creating your next appointment, put everything in that's going to be there, you know, put in put in the probing, put in whatever x-rays are necessary, put it all there. And then when you're doing you're basically you're setting up for the morning huddle.   in six months, it's very easy. All that stuff is basically there. And then we can start focusing on some of the stuff that I want to focus more on as far as like this stuff that actually relates to the patients, what's going on with them, their lives, because everybody can read the schedule, you know? So if that part is not important. Yeah. Yeah. Side note, I don't really love our morning puzzles. That's something we're going to work   speaker-0 (25:18) That's the next calibration one there Dave. So don't worry. got lots of tips on morning huddle I've revamped those many times and many practices, but I like it. ahead   speaker-1 (25:30) Yeah, I think getting back to some of the other things that we kind of talk about aside from, you know, appointment flow and everything like that. A lot of what we want the, you know, to all talk about, we have a nice route. So if it kind of goes over, like these are all the things we're checking. So, you know, that makes kind of teeing up the doctor pretty, pretty easy there for the most part. What I wanted to mention about pre-teeing up the doctor is let's say you get another doctor in the practice and it's   it's the first time, it's the second time, it's the third time, whatever time it is, people are going to be like, who is this human being that is walking in the door? So, you know, I think really, you know, taking a second and making sure that, you know, the hygienist know, you know, when they know it's going to be that doctor doing the exam, they know what to say. So what we kind of scripted out here is, you know, we've been fortunate enough to continue to grow as a practice to make sure that we spend enough quality time with each patient.   You know, Dr. So-and-so has joined our team. We're happy that we found another great doctor who shares our philosophies to join us and help take care of our patients. I'm so excited for you to meet them. I love it. know, something like that ahead of time is disarming. It sets everything up. It shows that we have, you know, confidence in this other person who's joined our team, that it's not a second rate situation and they're being pushed to the side. I love And then, yeah.   speaker-0 (26:55) Well, and something else that I want to point out is Dave, you have this all on a PowerPoint. You actually shared it with me, which I appreciate a ton. and something I love about is you've got pictures in there, you've got verbiage in there, you've got links in there and you update it, but that's a very quick, easy onboarding packet as well to give a new hygienist joining your team. It's also very quick for you to update it. And then there's no question of what is that? And so, and I also love that you guys use the route slip. I think that's a pro tip. If you guys aren't doing that open dental.   This is only for our open dental offices. There might be some others, Dentrix and Eaglesoft. Sorry, Charlie, you're out. But you can actually edit your route slips and you can put these questions in there. So a lot of the things like I'm big on not depending on human memories. I think the human brain is brilliant. I also think a lot of times in practices we try to implement new behaviors, but it takes quite a while for that new behavior to actually take off. So constantly thinking of if you want this to be hygiene checklist.   how could you make a quick checklist? If you can't put it on your route slip, you can create a laminated checklist that they check off for you for every patient. Some offices who work in Dentrix and Eagle Soft, they literally have their hygiene checklist printed on one piece of paper and then on the backside of it, that's where they print their route slips. So lots of ways to get creative with this. But what it sounds like you've done, Dave, is you went through the philosophies with your hygienist, you had them help co-create it, you've given them the parameters so you have a great schedule.   And then we also put into play a way for them not to forget. And that's, think, a key piece to success. And then you're continually talking about this in your quarterly meeting. So I would say for offices wanting to do this one, just start, like start right down every piece, get information, learn, get your hygienist together and get it all put together. Again, Dave, I love that you put it in a PowerPoint. Two, make sure that everybody's aligned. Three, add to it, have a set cadence of when you'll do it. Are you going to do it on a quarterly calibration?   Are you going to do it once a year where you review it, make sure it's up to date. But that's where oftentimes these great systems, these great protocols come into play, but fall off the bandwagon because we don't have a set cadence to do it. So Dave, I love it. I love you guys like breaking it down. And I'd say for all those offices wanting to do it, go for it. Reach out to Dr. Dave. He's awesome. start though, he gave you a really great list. Read, listen to this podcast, write it down. He gave you a lot of step-by-steps. know that's hours and hours of work that he put into this.   Lots of resources, lots of time that you guys already have a jumpstart. So take what he's given you, execute on it, and have a really calibrated hygiene team. So Dave, any last thoughts? I love what you've done. Thank you for sharing. It's always fun. You have so many great ideas that you love to share.   speaker-1 (29:34) I mean, I think there's a lot more that we could dive into. I think some of the other key takeaways is, I mean, working with somebody like yourself or other people, they can kind of give you some more of these ideas. Like we wouldn't have thought about kind of bundling procedures, things like that, trying to make things a little bit more clear overall. ⁓ Other key things as far as,   new patient blocks, lot of these key principles, all these other things, incorporating them and making sure that everybody's on the same page. Because we started to do that, didn't really have a discussion with the hygiene team. They started just not, you know, regarding or understanding that and putting things in. Then it's a whole big to do in a sense to try and reorganize the schedule there too. So one, if you're going to continue to learn and grow and incorporate new things, one, I encourage it and you should, but you should probably talk to everybody and not forget to do that.   speaker-0 (30:28) Amen, I do it all the time guilty Guilty people like care you forgot. I'm like, yeah There's like seven other people attached to this decision and I forgot to share with all of you and Dave Thank you for that agreed if we can help you guys I know Dave you reached out to us for resources. We also did virtual training with your team. We come to your practice So if there are ways this is something that you guys want help getting kicked off the ground by all means Please reach out to us. You can email us. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com   this is literally what we are made to do. This is what we love to do is where we are passion lies. and just kind of being that outside, think outside the box, giving ideas to, to make your life easier and more efficient. So Dave, as always, I appreciate you. Thanks for being on our podcast today. Thanks for sharing your ideas. You're just a wealth of knowledge. So thank you. All right guys, that wraps it up. Go execute. Don't just take this knowledge. Think it's a great idea, but actually execute, stick it in your planner, in your schedule, on your calendar, wherever you need to.   so you actually make it happen because you are always just one decision away from a completely different life. All right,   always, thank you for listening and I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team Podcast.   That wraps it up for another episode of the Dental A Team Podcast. Thank you so much for listening and we'll talk to you next time.  

Do you want your patients to feel confident and cared for and to become raving fans about your practice? Kiera takes listeners through specific steps to help practices refine what their patients go through upon entering to exiting your office. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: The Dental A Team (00:00) Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera. And today I'm excited for a quick tactical practical tip for you guys that I just think is magical. And I'll start with like a story about it to kind of kick us off. ⁓ Jason and I, we just recently went to Ruth's Chris. We decided we were gonna do a day date and Jason and I, went to the spa. I convinced him to go to the spa. He's not like obsessed about it, but really loved in like the hot tub room that they actually turned on a football game for him. So.   I don't know how the spa gods were on my side that day, but they definitely were. And then we decided to go to Ruth's Chris. And if you guys are familiar with Ruth's Chris, ⁓ it's ⁓ an amazing steakhouse. And ⁓ I noticed when we went in there, there was just a different vibe. And I've been very obsessive about high-end restaurants, reading the book, Unreasonable Hospitality. I think I'm more aware of it. If you guys haven't read that book, I definitely recommend putting that on your book wish list. And what was interesting is,   When we came in, they said, hi, Mr. and Mrs. Dent, great to see you. And they took us back to our table and the waitress was so kind to us. And she said, here's this information. What information do you guys need? There were seat spot for us. The busser came through and was like, we really love working with people like you. You guys just make our life so much easier. They're like, here, let's just box this up for you. You made great choices for you. They had all of our stuff boxed for us. The presentation was beautiful.   They didn't come by and they weren't annoying to us, but they were so genuine to us. And then as we were leaving, they said, thank you, Mr. and Mrs. Dent. And they knew all about us. Okay. So that was one experience. Another experience has been Jason and I were in Bali and we went to the four seasons and I remember if you've been to Bali, you'll understand. Jason and I both got Bali belly. And if you haven't heard mine was, I got it on our flight home. I've never in all my years of flying, knock on wood, I've never once thrown up ever on a plane.   Mine is my flight home that was a nice nine hour flight from Taiwan to San Francisco. And I threw up and had diarrhea the entire freaking time of that flight. I had thrown up about 13 times in two hours and I figured out, if I can make a system for this, like it was hold the vomit bag, go to the bathroom and brush my teeth all at the same time. I realized you can create a system for anything. So that's a little bit beside the point. So I'm here to tell you about great experiences. But at the four seasons, they were top notch. They had an app. They would text us.   When I asked them like, hey, you guys have any medicine? They're like, ⁓ we don't have medicine. Here's the pharmacy. We can get it for you. We'll have it to your room. They had it to our room for us. They brought different things for us because they knew that we were sick. They had a turndown service for us. They paid attention to our likes. Our wants, made sure everything was done every single night for us. It was one of the most incredible experiences. And I think about it, like people are like, Kiera, you traveled all over the world. You've gone to Antarctica. You go to these places. And I'm like, Bali, even though I threw up for eight hours on my flight home.   Bollywood one of my most amazing experiences and I'm like, what was it? Like it was how I felt at Four Seasons. It was how I felt of everybody was so happy for us to be there. They were so grateful for us to be there. People would say hello to us. They knew our names as we walked through. And ⁓ I've just been paying attention to like Ruth's Chris was recent. The Four Seasons was another one. And then I think about other experiences that maybe weren't as great. I think about...   Hotels Jason and I we flew home. We missed a flight coming home from an international flight So we had to snag a hotel the only hotel available for us was a hotel I will not say But it was we'll just say a budget-friendly hotel and I remember we checked in and no one was there They weren't happy to see us. They were annoyed to see us the shuttle. I'm not joking you It was supposed to be there in 15 minutes We waited two hours to get our shuttle and they kept telling us one's on the way one's on the way. They were like you need to call this person By the time we got there our bed was dirty   The bathroom was broken. And I just thought, man, I remember that experience. I don't remember the Four Seasons experience, but which one do I want to go back to? Which one do I tell my friends about? Which one am I like, I threw up and I was so sick from Bali. You guys, would never recommend doing a cooking class internationally. I know exactly what caused our sickness. my gosh. And my stomach like to this day still hurts about it. But yeah, I loved that trip so much because of how I felt. And so that's what I want to go into today of   the patient experience in designing and creating a journey that the patient wants to be a part of and they want to rave about. And I know we've talked about this at several other times ⁓ because it's something where I remember I was at a conference once and they said, Kiera, what people remember is the beginning and the end. They don't really remember the middle. And so in dental practice, it's our beginning. It's our first phone calls and it's the end on how they leave. Yes, they might remember the middle of the procedure, but typically speaking, it's those, those two points in anything like think about a show you go to. You usually remember the beginning.   You remember the end. think about Taylor Swift and I'm like, definitely remember the countdown clock. Like I can remember that. remember everything coming out. Middle, like there was a lot going on and the ending, everybody can remember that. But, and yes, there are still things and that's not to say the middle can't be great, but we want to make sure that it is this experience that people are so obsessed with because we want to help them feel so good. And I think the dental office is such an intimate space. Dentistry is intimate. Everything that we do in dentistry is intimate. And so if we can help patients feel   a certain way and that doesn't mean we have to be perfect, but it does mean that we create a patient experience and a patient journey for them. So for me, even in Dental A Team, it should be that the patient experience, our customer experience is very intentional and not accidental. So we kind of think through it, like what do want our patients to feel? What do we want our patients to say about us? And it's also crazy because you can go look at your reviews right now and see what the patient experience is today.   what you've created maybe not intentionally or intentionally. Just go read it. What is it? For us at Dental A Team, I want people to feel like it's fun. I want it to feel like it's easy. I want people to feel like, my gosh, like they understood me, that they're thinking ahead of where I'm at, that they can guide us and that we are non-judgmental and that you and your team are gonna rise to the next level. Go read our reviews. That's what it is. But that's by intentionality and design. That's our core values. That's what we talk about constantly. It's how we onboard our consultants.   It's how we refine. how we take feedback from clients of if they're not getting it, how can we make this process easier? How can we make it easier for our consultants? How can we give better education? Like what can we do because that's the experience we want them to have. And so, ⁓ this is going to be an episode. If you really want patients to feel like super confident and cared for and to become raving fans for you to where they love the dentist, you have an opportunity to change how people feel about going to the dentist. And I think it's an amazing opportunity if you choose to do it. So   Number one is like, let's think about first impression. Remember, like it's the it's the end caps. And I think if we can even just design those two really, really intentionally, like four seasons and Roos Chris, did you notice in both of those? And this is not on purpose. I just sharing the story. I talked about my entrance and my exit at Bali. We were freaking sick on that last day. And I remember that the most more than anything. Yes, they did the turn down service and that was great. But I didn't talk about our New Year's Eve dinner that we had. I didn't talk about the waiters like none of that.   And as I think back, I'm like, yeah, that was really nice. I remember our first initial and our ending. Same thing with Ruth, Chris, how they entered us and how they exited. I talked about both of those. Go back and rewind. And that was not on purpose, but this even just proves my point that the experiences you remember are those end caps, the beginning and the end. So what is our presence? So number one is how do we answer the phone on the first new patient impression? That's going to be it. I talked about this just recently. If you haven't heard that, go back and listen, but like, how do we greet people? And are we like smiling when we answer? Are we excited or are we like,   Oh my gosh, another freaking phone call, like, hello. Right? I don't know if any of you had a mom who had a mom voice where she's like, Kiera Cherie. And I was like, hello. My mom was like, I didn't do that. I'm like, oh mom, you did. And you had the snap and you'd give me those mom eyes, right? Moms had those two voices. My sister's husband, he was like, my mom used to like snarl at me with her teeth. My mom didn't do the teeth, but we all know like, and I feel like that's how it should be like, we could be busy in the patients, but as soon as that phone rings, I want our front office to feel like.   my gosh, I am so excited to be answering this phone call. We are so excited you're here. Like almost like buddy the elf, like you're so excited. Maybe not that enthusiastic, but like that same sentiment. We are so excited. So we want it to be this like welcoming. We are happy you're here. We're not annoyed that you're here. And that's the very first impression. And then when they come into the practice, this is our next first impression. And if we botch our phone, we oftentimes can make it up on our second, but I will tell you that first phone impression is going to be paramount. So get our best person answering those.   best person and all of our front office team needs to realize when you answer the phone, you go on stage and you like sit up and you smile, even put mirrors up there so they can see themselves. You guys, not a joke. My mom said I was so vain. She gave me a like desk with a mirror and I used to sit there and talk on the phone in front of the mirror. And I was like, why do you do this? And I'm like, mom, like watch how I talk and I look at things and I look at, I practice my smile and it could have been a little vanity. Uh, but I know it's helped me present and be able to speak. And I guarantee you a lot of that mirror training.   is why I'm able to go present on stage today and be able to engage and invoke emotion because I practiced for a long time in the mirror. So having that mirror, having people see how they are, because if I'm sitting down, I'm like, hey guys, welcome to the podcast versus, hey guys, welcome to the podcast. You feel two very different things. And I feel too, I'm like super jazz on the second one. The first one I'm like, cool, I got a freaking podcast today. No, like I'm excited. I'm excited to hang out with you. I'm honored that you share your time with me. So we want it to be, and whatever your experiences, and some doctors you might not be like Kiera level 20.   Well, guess what? My team is Kiera level 20. We want to answer the phone in that level. If you are more like subdued and you're more like spa boutique, your phone needs to answer. Like I would be utterly shocked if I called the spa and they're like, hi, welcome to the spa. I'd be like, whoa, tone it down. Like this is the spa. And that's even Kiera who's excited. The dental office, it's like welcoming and engaging and like, hi, I'm like so excited you called. We're truly going to take great care of you. And I'm really excited to bring you into the practice. Notice I even have a patient voice that's different than my podcast voice, which is different than a spa.   My spa was like, hi, welcome to Serenity Spa. I'm so glad you're here. And I'm Kyra Dent and I'm changing right here, but it's because I feel that. And that's what I want people to experience in our phone and how people walk in is going to be our first step. So we need you to truly train and what is it? And if you haven't built this for your front office team, help them see this is what our, this is what our patient experience is. We want a confident, energetic, calm, whatever it is, first interaction. And we want our   online experience. our website, our scheduling, our messaging, our phone messaging to follow that same experience. So if that's our first impression, they're still filling it. Then they want to make the phone call. And we want to just like reduce any friction. How can I make this easier? I'm going to send you the paperwork. I'm going to schedule you now. I'm going to make sure I get this back in 48 hours. So I've got your appointment confirmed. This is how we're going to work. And I'm also setting clear expectations of we are so excited to have you here. And these are the rules of the game that we play by.   You notice like I even feel myself go into like a confident and welcoming human. That's our first experience. And if you will refine this, you will start to notice you train your patients from day one of we are so happy to have you. This is how we operate. We have you run on time. We have you send in our information. You always confirm your appointments 48 hours ahead of time. And we are so excited to welcome you to our family, whatever it is. listening to our new patient phone calls, experiencing that, putting the mirrors up there.   And then it's a, when the patient comes into the practice, let's make sure that that's an amazing experience too. Is our waiting room area clean? Do we have our front office person? You guys like, it drives me wild when I walk into a practice and it is cluttery with paper. You guys clear that clutter and make it clean. Dental practices need to be sterile. Yes, you can have cutesy stuff, but it still needs to feel clean and sterile. Front office team members, I'm gonna be a little bit hard right now. Do not freaking eat food in the front where patients can see you.   Go to the back. watch it so often. You're just sitting there like you break your crack or anything. No one can see you. They can. They see crumbs. It just feels. People can feel perfection. They can feel cleanliness. They can feel dirtiness. And this isn't me like ripping into you. I bend that person. I used to my snack drawer down there. That's not professional and that shouldn't be in the front office. Get it into the back office. Let's make sure it's clean. You can have all your cups. You can have all the things, but it needs to be clean. It needs to be sterile. It needs to be welcoming and inviting. Think about when you walk into a hotel. It's very inviting. Some   junkie janky and you're like, I don't want to stay here. Some are like, my gosh, this is amazing. Same thing with restaurants. How do we want our patients to feel? Let's make sure that the ambiance feels the same way. Even if your front office is on the phone, you can always welcome and say hi. Like while you're on the phone, I'll be right with you. That way they can feel super welcomed or like, hey, here's an iPad. I'll chat with you. And then as soon as like, Kiera, I'm so happy you're here. Welcome to the practice. Let me grab you a bottle of water. Do you prefer stilled or, or like do you prefer room temperature or chilled?   little small things that does not take a lot of effort, but that sets a very different impression rather than welcome to the practice. Okay. So let's make sure that first impression is very, very important. This is that first end block of the practice and patient experience. It's going to make it radically different for you and your practice. Then on the other side, is it's going to be during the visit? We need to make sure that we're still well oiled because if our front and end of those bookends are good, but the middle is ick.   They're going to actually remember that more than they remember these polished pieces. So the middle doesn't have to be like perfect perfection every time. what? Dentistry runs long. But as often as we can, let's be on time to our patients. Let's make sure that we have really clean handoffs. Let's make sure that when we are presenting our exams doctors that we use that NDTR. What's the next visit? What's the date? What's the time to return and make sure our re-care cleanings are scheduled. Make sure that the patient has that every time. Look me in the eyes. Involve me in that experience of patient, doctor, clinician. We're here.   All right, Kiera, we wanna see you back in two weeks for that crown on the upper right. We're gonna take great care of you. I need about an hour and a half for that. And we'll make sure that sister Susie over here gets you scheduled for your cleaning. What questions do you have for me? I'm really excited to work with you. Great, they know. And I will tell you if doctors will take the little bit of time to be super concise and clear on next steps, next visit, that's what people are remembering. So again, remember, yes, you've got the bookends of the appointment.   but also within the appointment in the chair, they're remembering how you seat them and how you end. Doctors, the essay heard the exam, but they're remembering your anchoring point of your end point. So nail that end point. Clinical team members, remember the end point. I used to try to like make jokes at the beginning and then have a good time at the end because I knew that that's what they were going to remember. Even if the procedure was hard, I still made sure that they had a great experience at the end. And if it was a hard procedure, I'm like, gosh, you did such a good job. I'm really, really proud of you. You did it.   you're gonna have the best results after this, whatever it is, but just make sure that they're clear, especially on exams. There is nothing worse than confusion. Confusion is the enemy of execution. So be crystal clear on where we're headed. And then after that, what we're gonna do is we're gonna let them know like, here's the next visit, here's what's gonna happen, we're gonna move them through it. This way your patients are so crystal clear on what's going on. And then at the end,   We have an amazing experience. So front office team, you're back on the, you're the shining stars. You welcome them in, you talk to them on the phone, and then you're the last impression. So making sure your people who are sitting in those seats recognize their role and their value in this whole experience. So on this, it's a perfect, let's get you scheduled. I make this really easy for them. Beautiful. What questions do you have for me? We say the same thing from what they said in the clinical team to the front office team. Front office has really good notes. So the clinical team just picks it right up.   And we have this in here of a very, very, very good experience at the end. Then if they had a great experience, I asked them for a review and say, Hey, I'd love you to share your experience with us. I can't wait to see you next time. Gosh, you're seriously one of my favorite patients. And I'm so grateful you're a part of our practice. That's not that hard, but what's that patient? You remember, gosh, they loved me when I came in, they loved me when I went out. And what it is, is it's not all these little pieces. It's the experience of how they felt just like me. I didn't tell you all the nuances of Ruth's Chris   I didn't tell you that my steak was amazing. I didn't tell you I had sweet potatoes. None of that. What I did tell you is how I felt at both. And guess what? I could have told you any experience, but I told you what's crazy is even at the spa, the football game was at the end. I didn't even tell you about my massage. I told you about the little thing that stood out to me. And remember, bad things actually could be what your patient's experiencing, even though you think you've got good pieces. If I've got an amazing welcoming, but I've got a jerk of a team member who's rude,   they're gonna remember that, cause that's gonna stand out way shinier than this one. And sometimes my doctor can be amazing, but your front office cannot be the same experience and it feels disjointed. And so you gotta make sure that you're, you have a team that's very similar and that we talk about what is our experience? How do I patients to feel? What are our core values? This is culture, but it's patient experience too. And if we get a whole team rallied around this, you're going to be able to have massive raving fans, but it's done with ease. So doing simple little things. So what I would say is when we have this of,   Let's go through number one, what is our patient experience? How do we want patients to feel? Look at our reviews and see what are they already saying and is that what we want? And if not, let's change it. Then let's make sure our phone calls, our website and our first impression when they come into the practice is dialed in and exactly what we want. Let's make sure are in the middle, pretty dang good. Doctors, you're ending with great exams. Clinical team members were ending with a great experience at the end of the exam. And then we take them up to front office and front office, we shine, we dazzle and we are so grateful to have these patients.   Now, if you're listening as a front office team member, you're like, I absolutely don't want to do that. It might be a wrong seat for you. I'm just going to say that front office team members are on stage. Just like I don't want to put a Disneyland, like someone who absolutely hates greeting guests and like putting them through the ticket counter. If they're like, I hate this job. They're, they're not the person. Cause that patient's going to feel that that guest is going to feel like, ⁓ checking into a hotel. I've got the person who's like, gosh, here you are. This is just a job and you're driving me nuts versus the person like, we are so happy you're here.   Make sure I've got right people in right seats for this experience. And that's critical. They could be the right team member, just the wrong seat. So let's make sure if you're listening to this, that you love this. I truly do. And I know Tiff does, and I know Kristy does, and I know Dana does, Britt actually, she's not the front desk. She doesn't like that guys. So she's not always on the podcast. And if Britt was listening, she'd be like, that's correct. I prefer back scenes. She likes to be there. Shelbi, you've never heard Shelbi on the podcast, cause she's like hard past no Kiera, that's not who I am.   but I've got all my consultants who would be like, yeah, Trish put her on. She'd love it. She'd say to the friend, she'd make everybody her best friend, Monica, Pam. They'd love it. So make sure you've got right people, right seat, and then make sure you really commit to having this incredible patient experience and you can check it. Let's do a monthly review, like do an audit of what are the top things the reviews are saying, have Chat GPT help you. There's easy ways to make sure that what we want of our patient experience is what patients are saying. And if not commit to change, it's how patients feel that they're going to remember more than it's what you say.   And if we can help you guys reach Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. These are the small annoying like cobwebs that make the big difference for patients that we are obsessed about helping you with. So reach out, running a successful practice does not have to be hard and it can be very easy for you. So reach Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. And as always, thanks for listening and I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team Podcast.  

This episode is all about the (sometimes surprising) benefits of comprehensive financing! Kristy breaks down why putting together a FULL plan for health will help patients and your practice in the long run. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: The Dental A Team (00:00) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. Thank you so much for being here. I want you to know that the Dental A Team, we truly, truly love what we do. And I wanna start this out by just thanking all of you for allowing us to be here. I know we're with you in your car or while you're getting ready in the morning or while you're falling asleep at night, I don't know, maybe in your team meeting, but we're here with you somewhere or I wouldn't be able to say this and we value and appreciate that, the consulting team specifically.   We love what we do, we love helping clients, we love helping people, we love helping practices and practice owners build a business that works for them and not them always working for the business. So I'm just super excited to be here today. I wanted to just shout out you guys, massive thank you for the support that you give us, that you continue to bring to us and just know we're here. Dental A Team is here for all of your needs and just reach out, Hello@TheDentalATeam.com anytime you need us. And I have with me today,   Kristy, Miss Kristy, I adore you. Thank you so much for being here. I said on a different podcast we recorded that we have a slew of time together today and I'm just, I love it. It is the best way to end a call week. So thank you, Kristy, for being here with me today. How are you? And I'm excited because I think you're really excited about this topic. So how are you doing, Kristy?   The Dental A Team (01:17) Yeah,   I'm doing well. I'm grateful to have time with you. We don't always get time during the week, so I'm getting some extra Tiff time and it feels good to end the week this way.   The Dental A Team (01:30) I agree. I agree. I committed recently, just so everyone knows, to being more intentional about my one-on-one time with the consultants. it really made me not just podcasting, but like actual one-on-one time. But it made me think yesterday while I was going through the schedule, kind of figuring it out, it made me think of doctors too and practices. And this is not in alignment with our, get to it, we'll get to profit in a second, but it is kind of in alignment with profit because   We tend to forget, we just get in the machine of doing and in the machine of business and we forget that there's people and that you're not the only one who's busy or stressed or what have you and that the team is counting on you, the team needs you. So my leads and my doctors, it's just like a friendly nudge, a friendly reminder that if you're feeling stressed, you probably need to open up some time in your schedule to insert some team time. And while we push our clients to do one-on-ones, I do one-on-ones every month.   with our consultants, but sometimes you just need one-on-one time that's not a one-on-one. You know what I mean? You just need connection. And that's what I call it, is I call it our connection time. So we have our one-on-ones, and then we have our connection time. And I think in office, it's a little bit easier, because you guys are side-by-side and you're talking, but still, to just have that 10, 15 minutes, it's like, hey girl, tell me how your life is. What's new? What's going on? And really connect with people.   It's my strong nudge to remind you guys to give the kudos, give the connection, and make time for the people who are there doing this with you. So, Kristy, thank you. Thank you for bringing that up. And I am thoroughly enjoying this because I've had so much Kristy time and I get time tomorrow morning. So I am really enjoying this week and it really lights my life up. So thank you. Now.   The Dental A Team (03:17) You're welcome.   I was going to tell you, I love that you say that and I truly do believe this does tie to profits. And I know in practice we're super, super busy. I like to call it, go break bread with your people. Like be intentional with the time, even if you have to combine it, go break bread, take them out, get the work done on reviewing what you need to review, but then connect as people. And I do think that that reaps rewards in your profits because   The Dental A Team (03:24) I agree.   The Dental A Team (03:47) The teams that do this are more connected and they jive together. So I do think it ties together.   The Dental A Team (03:53) I agree, thank you, I agree.   Now tell me, Kristy, we've got quick tips to increase profit, and honestly, this is a quick tip to increase profit. We'll get you a couple more, but Kristy, tell me, because I agree, I think the connection does, but what about the connection do you think it is that does help the profit? It does help people really be on the same page and same team? What is that doing for the bottom line from a numbers standpoint? Because we can see it from an emotional standpoint and the relationship, but from a numbers standpoint, what do you see?   in those practices that do go break bread together.   The Dental A Team (04:26) Yeah, I love that you say that because it's connecting as humans and also like letting us see each other in different ways. It again, we talk about this so much. We look through loops, the providers do looking for problems. So really good at being nitpicky and finding problems. And you know, maybe you have the teammate that was late three times this week. And when you actually sit down and find out   my gosh, their grandma's going through cancer and you didn't know. It just sheds things in a different light and it lets us serve each other versus when we're in that critical mindset, we pull apart. So it really does connect us together. And when we're connected together, even the person that's going through the trauma or turmoil, they feel safe in the environment and protected and lifted up by their team. So they can leave it at the door.   I know we talk about that all the time and as humans, it's almost a false thing to say, because when you're in turmoil, it just doesn't stop. But when you know people understand, it can be your freeing space for just a few minutes or a few hours while you're at work. So it creates a different understanding and it allows you to connect as a team.   The Dental A Team (05:42) Yeah, and thank you. I agree. And that in itself, I think allows you all to be on the same ⁓ wavelength, like the same page we're connected where we're able, well, we're able to ask better questions and we're more comfortable, we're more vulnerable, and we're able to say when we need help. And I think that's massive because when we can be vulnerable with each other and say, hey, I'm not, I don't know what this means. I don't know how to credential a doctor.   tell me what do you suggest? Where can I learn it? Or we're just able to speak to problems that we're having or areas we need help in. Makes it easier to ensure that we are hitting those goals, because otherwise we're kind of faking it till we make it, thinking I'm the only one with an issue and I'm the only one who's stressed out and I'm the only one sitting in this space. But when you do have that alignment and connection, it's much easier for a team to be vulnerable with each other.   And then we actually can push KPIs and we can push goals and we can create profit because we're in alignment.   The Dental A Team (06:46) Yeah, you know what's funny? I went through a HR course one time and I remember them saying the biggest thing that's going to determine a new employee staying is how well they feel received. And I like to say truly, like, that goes for all your team members. And sometimes when we get in the rut of our day to day and we see the same faces every day, we forget to take care of each other. And so taking   Like I said, it doesn't have to be fancy, but get out of your space and reconnect as a human. It's gonna reap rewards on how they serve your patients too. They're gonna show up differently for each other and patients.   The Dental A Team (07:23) Yeah. Yeah.   ⁓ that's a massive one. Yeah, you're right. You're right. I love it. Thank you, Kristy That was that was fun. I know that wasn't ⁓ what you had in mind yet, but I it. I liked it. So everyone, there's one quick tip. ⁓ I think it's quick. think it's it's easy, but it's intentional. So you have to be very intentional about your schedule and how you're going to accomplish it. So set your goal. Do the thing. Now, Kristy, I am really intrigued and excited to hear your   Quick tip on, what do we call it? Increasing profit is what we're calling this one. So your quick tip on increasing profit. What is your, what is it? I'm so excited. You guys, she just like lit up when I told her. She's like, I've got an idea. And I'm just as shocked as you all are to hear it here. We're all hearing it the first time together. Let's go, let's hear it.   The Dental A Team (08:15) You think I'm going to say AR and I'm not.   The Dental A Team (08:18) I did!   The Dental A Team (08:21) Actually, it is part of it and we'll get to it. But the one that I'm thinking about right now is get to comprehensive financing. Everybody wants to just phase out phase one and you guys are tripping over dollars to make two. Like find a solution that gets people healthy. Then you can always back up to phase one if we can't find a solution. But so many times we dive into just the first phase.   The Dental A Team (08:29) Mm.   The Dental A Team (08:48) and we tap people out and then it's not till next year. So just try something different and get permission to share all you see clinically so your TC's can present comprehensive finances.   The Dental A Team (09:05) my gosh, you did. You came in swinging with that one. Okay, thank you. That is brilliant and I love that. And it is a quick tip. Now explain, define, make definitions here. So what would comprehensive financing by that, what do you mean?   The Dental A Team (09:19) What I mean is out of everything the doctor talked about, the total cost to get you healthy is, right? Presenting and finding a solution so they have a plan to get healthy. We're always gonna let the patient be in the driver's seat so we can do it in their timeframe or however their budget allows. But for the most part, give them a plan to be healthy, especially if that's what their goal is versus I don't wanna shock them. Literally the other day I had   a doc on and I was like, okay, so what you're telling me is if I come into you as a new patient and you're my doctor and you think I have cancer, you're not going to tell me that you're going to like just plant a little seed and then you're going to it come back and you're going to spring it on me. get permission. Well, number one, get in relationship with your patient and find out what their goals are and then get permission to share. And then also tell them we're going to   The Dental A Team (10:01) haha   The Dental A Team (10:15) we're gonna do this, they get to decide how fast or how slow we go. And so with that, then it can guide you because so many times I was telling, I remember back when I very first started, there was a doctor and he'd treatment plan crowns in all quadrants. And of course it was an elderly lady that had a budget, lived on a fixed budget. And I thought I was doing great, because I was just gonna get the first tooth done that was broken and obvious.   And one month later she called and was like, all I was doing was eating bread and that tooth broke. And I was like, so truly had I presented a solution that fit in her budget and she could get them all done at the same time, it would have been better for her and the practice. So I'm just challenging you to start with everything and then you can always go backward and you will capture more.   The Dental A Team (10:48) no.   The Dental A Team (11:12) doing that.   The Dental A Team (11:14) I love that idea. how does, thank you for the definition, how does that improve the profit point for them?   The Dental A Team (11:22) Yeah, you're doing more treatment on one person. It doesn't take as many patients and ⁓ I can schedule it all right now. And in fact, know, the same doctor that I was talking about, and I say this when I'm coaching my clients, I wish I was a brilliant person that thought about it, and I didn't even think about it at the time. It was years later when I learned better, but that doctor used to do wisdom teeth and practice.   And so I'd sit there and we'd diagnose people with fillings all over their mouth and he'd say, ⁓ you don't want to be numb on both sides. It's so uncomfortable. We'll do this side, then that side. And the next patient would come and they'd need wisdom teeth and he'd go, ⁓ you want them to do them all at the same time. You don't want to go through that again. Just we'll up everything. And I'm like, wait a minute. It was good for this person, but not that. How about we just let them decide? Do you want to do more, right? Versus, or do you want to do less and come more often?   The Dental A Team (12:13) Yeah.   The Dental A Team (12:19) So again, it doesn't take as many people and it slows down your day if we're doing getting people healthy.   The Dental A Team (12:19) Yeah.   Yeah, I love that because it's building better blocks in your schedule. It's utilizing your time. Your dollar per hour is going to increase and you're not as busy. You're not running around from patient to patient and room to room quite as much because you've got bigger cases that you're working on at a time. Yeah.   The Dental A Team (12:49) You got it. And naturally,   your overhead goes down. I used one instead of five bibs. I used one saliva ejector instead, you know.   The Dental A Team (12:53) Yeah.   Mm   hmm. Yeah. Yeah. And time in the chair, marketing dollars spent. Yeah. And you're targeting a different demographic of patient avatar, because you're targeting a patient avatar that wants to get healthy and can figure out the finances with you rather than just new patients who might need things diagnosed. I love that. Well, you you shocked me. You did it. I love that. So   The Dental A Team (13:03) Yeah.   You got it.   Yeah.   The Dental A Team (13:26) And I think actually those really tie in together now that I was going to repeat them and really in order to comprehensively diagnose and finance, right, to get the dollars for that, the team has to be in alignment. Like those things just don't, they don't happen for teams that aren't on board with your dental philosophies. And in order to be on board with your dental philosophies, you got to be connected as humans.   or they do start, I'm hands down telling you the truth from experience. If you lose the connection, they start to doubt you and what they're doing and what you're doing. They start really looking with a fine tooth comb at the things and it's just not worth it. So the connection piece, I do believe, like you said, it helps the profit points in multiple ways. And I think that's how to spearhead the comprehensive diagnosis and financing.   The Dental A Team (14:00) you   The Dental A Team (14:23) Also because then I can see a hygiene department who's on board with getting people healthy, co-diagnosing more comprehensively and pushing doctors to remember to diagnose comprehensively, which also will help on all areas, obviously.   The Dental A Team (14:38) Absolutely. I love that you say that. And I always use the saying Tiff, ⁓ happy team creates happy patients. You know, it happens by default. If you have a happy team, they serve the patients well and the money follows.   The Dental A Team (14:53) Yeah.   Yeah, absolutely. I totally agree with you. think everything that we do in life, if we can come at it with the right mindset and the right energy, we're pouring out the right, if we're pouring out the energy we want to receive, we can only see that energy. And so we only receive that energy. And even when people come across with a different energy, we're like, ⁓ dang, but it doesn't hit, it doesn't penetrate. It doesn't shake our whole days. And I remember so many times having team members that are like,   this Tiff, this patient said this, this and this that ruined my whole day. And I'm like, well, why the, why are you giving them that power? Like, what do you mean? It's 11 a.m. Like we got, we got six more hours together, lady. Like, what are we doing here? So when you have that connection and I have had, know, when I was in office, I was office manager, I did all the things wrong and I did some things right. And I learned and I, and I failed and I stumbled and I got back up and   I know one of the hardest pieces of culture was towing that line of being the supportive, you can come vent, friend, manager, and being the accountability space of like, we're gonna find solutions and just building the culture and the energy. it's not easy, it's hard and it takes work and it really takes, think everyone, you said it earlier, just really being in alignment.   with where we're headed and being connected on a relationship level that isn't just, it's personal and we've got this tangible relationship in between us, but it's also here because of those goals, because of what we're after, because of what we're doing, if that makes sense, rather than it just being the friendship. Yeah.   The Dental A Team (16:45) Yes, 100 %   I agree with you.   The Dental A Team (16:49) ⁓ I love that. So comprehensive diagnosis in general, I think helps profit points and then allowing your team the space and the ways to finance. What have you seen, Kristy, in your ⁓ experience, the best ways to do that? you said, within a budget, what are they doing? How are they doing this?   The Dental A Team (17:12) Yeah, well, again, I think it's getting in relationship with the patient and finding out what they really want, what's bringing them in. I mean, we talk about you got to, I say patients buy what they want, not necessarily what they need, right? And in dentistry, again, I'm there with you, we do things backward. We all want to say they're buying implants. No, no, no, they're buying what the implant gives them. They're not buying implants, but we want to   focus on, look at this, you know? And so we have to get to their level and figure out what is it gonna give them and tie everything back to that. And when you achieve that and you can show them how to get what they want, you're gonna win, you're gonna win. And then it's just about making it fit in their budget. So.   The Dental A Team (17:43) Yeah.   Yeah, to the patient drivers. Yeah. Yeah,   I remember I had ⁓ one of the first all on four cases that my doctor I worked for ever did. He, it was in the TC room and I remember hearing the treatment coordinator being like, what about that? Like, what do you miss eating? And the guy was like, I want a steak. I haven't had a steak in so long.   because he just had regular dentures. He's like, I want to chew a steak. And I remember, he wasn't buying an all-in-four denture. He was buying the steak. He was buying the lifestyle that he wanted to live. And I remember him coming back later and being like, I ate so much steak. He was just so happy. And the issues or the... ⁓   Like the rubbing, know, there's just so many, there's so many tweaks all in fours. They come with so many headaches, that's okay. He was like, I'm fine with it. I can still, I can eat my steak. Like let's fix it, let's keep going. But you're right. And anything we do in life in general, Brody used to say to me, we go to the store. He still does this, he's 17. But he's like, is it a want or a need? Mom, is it a want or a need? Yeah, my little four year old in the cart. I'm like, bro, we're here for me. So you don't need to ask me those questions.   But is it a want or a need? And I'd be like, well, it's a want that serves a need. And so we're buying, I'm buying it, right? But those are the spaces that we think people are buying for need, right? And that it's like, I'm buying an implant because I'm missing a tooth, but we're buying an implant because I want to be able to eat. We don't buy things just for need, we buy things typically.   I'll buy the expensive toilet paper because I want an expensive toilet paper lifestyle. I need the toilet paper, right? Like you're gonna, everything you do in life is based off of a want. So I love that you said that, Kristy, thank you. And you did, you came in with a shocker. I was so excited and my gosh, you nailed it. It was a home run. So I love it. I think we gave two quick tips on how to increase profit. I think they're very easily implemented. Again, easy versus intentional.   The Dental A Team (19:52) Yeah.   The Dental A Team (20:15) Be intentional and Kristy, thank you so much. I can go all day on action items, but if you had to serve them with two action items today, what would you tell them to do?   The Dental A Team (20:27) Ooh, boy, get in relationship with your team and see them as humans first and foremost, and then choose to get out of your comfort zone and share with your patients everything. Get permission to share everything and ease them and tell them you're gonna be here for the journey and we're gonna do it in their timeframe. Let them choose, don't choose for   The Dental A Team (20:49) nailed it. Yep, I love it. Thank you. Awesome. All right, listeners, I hope you loved this one as much as I loved this one. I had fun. Kristy, thank you for taking us down that journey. It was beautifully expansive. And if you guys can even just take a little glimpse into what it's like working with Kristy, today was your day. And Kristy, your phenomenal consultant, all of your years of experience and intuitiveness, if I might say.   Really provide you with some stellar services to give to our clients and the the Dental A Team listeners So thank you for being here Kristy and thank you for your knowledge everyone listening Drop her a five-star freaking review you guys. This is Kristy nailed it today and I want to see those five stars So drop us a five star below. Let us know that you enjoyed this topic Let us know what you're implementing right away and as always you can reach out to us at Hello@TheDentalATeam.com and   at TheDentalATeam.com website. You can sign up for a quick little consult with us, you guys. Our team is phenomenal. We're really great at keying in on some easy, implementable things that you can do right away, whether you start working with us or not. We will always give you some tools. go reach out and we cannot wait to hear from you all. Thanks.  

Kiera is joined by Alexis Gallati, founder and lead tax strategist at Cerebral Tax Advisors, to talk about tax strategy not just for 2025 success, but 2026 and beyond. They discuss asking your CPA the right questions, shifting income from your higher tax bracket down, the Augusta rule, and a ton more. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: The Dental A Team (00:00) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera and today I am super jazzed. I have an incredible guest joining us on the podcast today ⁓ to talk about last minute tax strategies before April 15th. Like why not? I mean, hey, maybe you were like, you're not the early bird. You were like, shoot, I forgot. Like what things can I do? And so I'm super excited. Alexis Gallati, she reached out to us. ⁓ She is founder and lead tax strategist at Cerebral Tax Advisors.   Ansari Real Wealth Academy. And I was so excited about this topic because I know you guys know I love to geek out about this and I have it on my vision board of tax expert ahead. Like I hate taxes. I love taxes. I believe that taxes are such a beautiful way for us to pay to be in this incredible country. But you better believe I don't want to pay a penny more than I need to. So really figuring that out just a little bit about her is she is got a dual master's degree in business administration and taxation, which is super rad because   Let's be real, she gets the business side of it. She gets the taxation and we were chatting before and she was like, what people make like their top line revenue versus their take home pay are two different things. And I was like, amen sister, preach on. She's enrolled agent, NTPI fellow and certified tax strategist. She also is the author of advanced tax planning for medical professionals. She specializes in high level strategic tax planning and multi-state tax preparation for healthcare professionals and business owners. She's raised in a family of physicians and married to one.   She empathizes with the financial challenges medical professionals face. This personal connection inspired her to create accessible, unbiased tax solutions tailored to their busy lives. Driven by passion and guided by cerebral thinking, Alexis forms Cerebral to help professionals keep more of their hard earned money. Amen sister. That's what we want. That's why you're here. Their approach breaks the mold of traditional financial advice, offering a unique perspective for medical professionals and business owners. So while yes, she's not 1000 % dental guys were in the healthcare world and she's so brilliant. So Alexis, welcome to the show today. How are you?   Alexis Gallati (01:54) Thank you so much for having me. I'm doing very well. Hope you had a wonderful holiday season.   The Dental A Team (01:58) Yes, likewise. And I was so excited when I heard that you would be a guest on our podcast. I geek out about this, Alexis, I know it's like our first day meeting, but ⁓ I just think the world of tax is such the game of monopoly. And I'm like, if you would have just told me that rule, I could have played and won the game better. But I feel like it's always as ever changing, ever evolving. And I know there were some big things that happened in 2025 that are impacting like our our taxes. And so, yeah, definitely a timely and   exciting podcast to throw out there. So Alexis, I know I gave you a very welcomed ⁓ bio and intro, but yeah, tell us a little bit about who is Alexis. You're married to a physician. You're in this world of tag. How does one become obsessive about CPA? I'm truly just curious. How do you like, how does this happen? How did you become this?   Alexis Gallati (02:49) Yeah, so I love law and I love money. And so when I was in undergrad, I took a tax and accounting class and loved more the tax side than the accounting side, I do admit. And so after meeting my husband in college and us starting to go through that full medical journey, was about a year and a half out from him.   The Dental A Team (02:54) you   Alexis Gallati (03:18) from him finishing his residency. And I really saw the writing on the wall. Even at that time, with him being in residency, about four months of his salary was going towards taxes. And I was like, that's not right. That's not right. With   The Dental A Team (03:36) No.   Alexis Gallati (03:38) hard he works and how hard   medical community works in general. ⁓ my gosh, that's not right. So that's when I really dedicated myself to   finding out, why do the Warren Buffets and the Bill Gates of the world have this really low to sometimes non-existent tax bracket? And I really dove into that tax planning. ⁓ And so, you know, what's very unique about, ⁓ you know, the way that I work and my business is that my husband and I are in the same exact position as majority of our clients. And so, yes, I'm looking for   strategies for my clients, but I'm also looking for those strategies for myself.   The Dental A Team (04:19) You're like, hey,   it's me. I'm going to help myself out. I'm very motivated to do this.   Alexis Gallati (04:25) Very motivated. And I love it. I love it. It's like you said, it's ⁓ Congress keeps us on our toes, changing the laws consistently year after year. ⁓ it's like a puzzle. Like, hey, how can I just keep more of what I'm earning?   The Dental A Team (04:43) Yeah, and I, this is what I get obsessed about. what I learned, gosh, it's like, I was so naive when I started the company. was like, marketing is marketing. I just need to hire a marketer they can do everything. And then I was like, oh, there's a content marketer. There's a copywriter marketer. There's a strategist. There's a growth marketer. There's like an AEO marketer now. There's an SEO. Like you guys, this thing is like a web. They're a content marketer. And then I started realizing it's similar to CPAs and financial planners that like,   I thought you hire a CPA, Alexis. Like I'm so naive to business. I'm shocked that I've made it this far. Like truly I'm proud of like the journey we've been on, but like not all CPAs are created equal. And then I realized like CPAs play by different rules. Like it's the same rule, but there's shades of gray. They're how comfortable are you with this and how uncomfortable are you with it? Like there's one CPA that told me like, here, you can totally go skiing in Tahoe. Just like put your logo on your skis and you can totally ride it off and like put your logo on your boat and you can ride it off.   And then there's like the Alexis of the world was like, oh, hard pass. No, you're going to like totally get flagged. But I'm like, what rule is right? And so I realized that there are, like you said, tax strategy and for higher wealth earners. I do believe that there's a game, like you said, how did the Warren Buffett's, how did the Bill Gates, like they're not paying this. And then you get into the real estate game and you get into all these other things. You're like, how can we do this? And so Alexis, I'm just jazz. This is me being nerdy. And I'm going to ask you a bajillion questions and I can't wait.   to learn. So let's kind of talk about most of your clients, what's the size of take home net pay that they do. So that way we know like what brackets were in. So that way right clients come to you. I also learned not all financial advisors take all people. I was like, I make 30 grand. They're like, great. So we're going to help you out just a little bit. And then like, when you get to this level, we'll chat with you. ⁓ tell us kind of that. And then let's dig into how do we keep more money, Alexis, legally.   Alexis Gallati (06:10) I love it.   The Dental A Team (06:39) I'm here for legal advice. I'm willing to go gray, but not go to jail. So that's my line. So as long as we're on the same page, I think we are, I'm here for it.   Alexis Gallati (06:40) Yes.   Definitely, yeah. I am more than happy to play in the gray areas. We just have to feel comfortable defending it in an audit. And so that's our line in the sand. ⁓ But yeah.   The Dental A Team (06:55) Mm-hmm.   She's like, this is why I went to law guys. This is why I like the law side and the CPA.   I like it. I like your style. It's so unique and I just am excited. So, okay, I'm ready.   Alexis Gallati (07:07) Yeah.   Yeah. at Cerebral, we work with those that earn at minimum $400,000 per year in taxable income. So we have lots of businesses, which by the way, 99.9 % of our clients are medical professionals. I think we have like maybe two clients that have zero ties to the medical industry. And so the practices we work with, you know,   generally range from anywhere from maybe about $700,000 in gross revenue all the way up to eight figures. So we tend to not work with those that are larger practices, that usually over 50 employees. And that's just because once you get above 50 employees, yeah, it changes quite a bit. So we're definitely in there with those smaller to medium sized practices.   The Dental A Team (07:56) Tax co-changes. Yep.   Amazing. No, that's super helpful. And I know we were talking before, like the average of your clients, about 700,000 like net pay is typical where you guys are at. You have some that are higher, but that minimum of 400,000, which is great because I do think that there are thresholds. ⁓ And I did learn through going through business that who Kiera needed as a tax support and advisor when I was in that 30,000 range compare and as a business owner, I thought it was so funny.   Gosh, taxes, like they hurt so bad sometimes. Like, whoa, easy come, easy go. Like I've never, I've always been a W-2. So that was such a fascinating world for me. But yeah, let's dig into some of the things you've seen for the medical world. Cause I know I have friends that were physicians and they're really big on real estate. And like I took the real estate Kool-Aid and I'm just like, is this really real? There's gotta be easier ways than doing this. And so I'm just jazzed to kind of go through what are some of the things we can do now before April 15th.   What are things that we can do even past April 15th to set us up for great success for 2026? So Alexis, this is your show. I'm just excited, kind of riffed us through it. Of course, I'm gonna geek out and ask probably about way more questions than you care to even be asked, but I'm really excited to learn more today.   Alexis Gallati (09:20) Yeah, great. Well, yeah, I hate to be a little bit of a Debbie Downer in the beginning and that when your past December 31st, ⁓ the number of tax strategies that are available to you are before you actually go to file your tax return are limited. It's just the nature of the code.   The Dental A Team (09:37) I agree. was super, when you were   like, what are the tech? I was like, I want to know because most of the times like when the clock strikes midnight on December 31st, it's like game over and we start again. But yes, which is why I want to know what are like the small ones, but then also Alexis like, let's set our listeners up for like, what things can they do this year to be better prepared for it in conjunction? So yes, before April 15th, but selfishly I want to know what else can I do this year that maybe I haven't thought of.   Alexis Gallati (09:52) Yeah.   you   The Dental A Team (10:06) because the clock hasn't struck midnight in 2026. So like we've got time. So yeah, for 2025 filing, but also for 2026 as well.   Alexis Gallati (10:09) Yeah.   Yeah, so let's talk about 2025 filing first. Especially if you're a business owner, there are actually a number of things that you could still put together for yourself that can impact your 2025 financials. ⁓ So even basic things like if you haven't been taking advantage of your home office deduction or ⁓ vehicle expenses ⁓ and unreimbursed business expenses. So those are expenses that you paid   personally, but our business expenses. So all of those items, you can still go and report on your 2025 return. So if you haven't taken the time to sit down and say, how much should I pay in my home utilities or insurance, repairs, et cetera, and take the percentage. So let's say your home office is 7%.   of your total square footage of your home. Well, then you can write off 7 % of your home expenses on your taxes. the treatment's a little bit different depending upon if you're a sole proprietorship or an S corporation. But in general, you still have that time to take advantage of that. And a lot of you might be like, oh, Alexis, it's such a little amount. I don't even know if it's worth it. Believe me.   All these little things can really add up together. And easily, I usually see between $10,000 to $20,000 of really ⁓ easy to grab savings for yourself if you just take even a few hours to gather all the information. ⁓ And you can even use ⁓ personal financial apps like Monarch Money or You Need a Budget, things like that to help.   organize that information for you throughout the year so it's a little more automated.   The Dental A Team (12:10) Yeah, that's amazing. I do love the YNAB. You're throwing me back to like pharmacy school days of you need a budget. I was like, oh my gosh, got to answer this every time. They have updated so much, but I love that you said like 10 to 20 grand, I think is worthwhile, but more than it being pennies or dollars, I think it's the discipline of having it prepared for next year too. So that way we don't, I think it's like, well, it might not be enough this year, but I'm like, you take that this year and we compound over the next year and the next year and the next year. I think these little things to me at least,   Alexis Gallati (12:15) Ha ha ha.   The Dental A Team (12:41) Like I said, it's their game of monopoly. And I'm like, okay, maybe I didn't get it that time, but I'm going to take that rule and I'm going to apply it this year and the next year and the next year. So I'm even taking notes over here, guys. So Alexis, if you see me, I'm writing it like, okay, I'm going to check in on that, check in on that. So make sure, make sure that they're being taken into consideration because I don't prep my own taxes. I don't even know half the stuff. Like they just tell me. So I also think being a good steward as well and always double checking your CPA to make sure like, are we maximizing every deduction we can?   Alexis Gallati (12:53) Good, I like it.   Of course.   Yeah. And being proactive is like you said, the number one thing because the IRS can deny deduction if you don't have that itemized receipt or you don't have the proper documentation. And 99 % of any fight with the IRS is that documentation. And I did a three year fellowship in IRS representation. So I'm obviously very focused on that tax savings, but also very focused on making sure   that everything's set up properly. So if the IRS were to challenge it or even the state, you're in good hands. then that way, you can just give them the stuff and say, go away.   The Dental A Team (13:51) Exactly. And I heard somebody once tell me, they're like, Kiera, it's not a matter of if I'll be audited, it's when. Like every business will most likely be audited at some point. I hope and pray like we're not. I think about that a lot of like cross my T's, dot my I's, make sure that I'm constantly trying to be compliant with things. But your wealth of knowledge on that Alexis of what things and how to become, I mean, shoot three years of IRS. Girl, you got my vote. That's impressive. And like love the love the authority piece that you're bringing to our podcast today.   Alexis Gallati (14:20) Thank you. Thank you. So some other things that you're able to do before you file that tax return, and this is a big one, is retirement. So you actually have until the filing of a tax return, and that includes extensions. So for example, if you're an S corporation or a partnership, have the original due date, which is March 15th, or the extended due date, which is September 15th, to go and   open and fund that retirement plan. So if you have employees, it can get obviously a little bit more complicated, but you still are able to do it and ⁓ do that employer contribution. And that's obviously really one of the lower hanging fruits when it comes to not only tax savings, but also wealth generation.   The Dental A Team (15:12) Yeah, no, I love that. That's a great idea. And I think a lot of people miss that. And again, CPAs, tax strategists, wealth advisors, they're all playing in their own lanes, but how can we make sure all of them are maximizing together? Because you as a human are trying to build that wealth. So I love that.   Alexis Gallati (15:30) Yeah. And don't forget as well, you know, kind of in the same vein as retirement is that health savings account. So if you had a high deductible plan throughout the year, but maybe your employer didn't actually provide a ⁓ health savings account, like so if you're a W-2, for example, or even if you're self-employed, you can still go open up your   own Health Savings account through, I think Fidelity has some, ⁓ Optum Bank, HSA Bank. So there's a whole bunch of different providers out there. can just Google and find the provider that works best for you.   The Dental A Team (16:07) Interesting. And I know like I just wrote that down because a lot of dentists don't have HSA. Like we are the providers for it. But hearing that that might even be a resource to attract people into your business if you were able to like, don't necessarily provide it, but these are some companies that we could help our employees get if they wanted to have an HSA because I know that that's something that my husband works at a hospital. So there's an HSA there, but as sole proprietors and S-Corps, a lot of times they aren't provided. That's actually really like, I think just a great tool and resource to   possibly provide to our employees, depending upon what it looks like for your business.   Alexis Gallati (16:40) Yeah, definitely. And then one other thing that you ⁓ may be able to do, depending upon your state, ⁓ to help with state taxes, is go and contribute to a 529 plan, which is for education for yourself or other dependent. And some states like Georgia, Indiana, Michigan, South Carolina, there's a number of them. They allow you to make that contribution all the way up to the   filing of the tax return.   The Dental A Team (17:13) Interesting. I did not know that I wrote that down. That's fascinating. I love this. This is like so fun. Keep going.   Alexis Gallati (17:20) Yeah. Yeah. So that, you know, is, a good, especially for, you know, higher earners. ⁓ that's kind of a good summary of what you can be doing before this, ⁓ April 15th or even the extended due date as well. ⁓ but when you start looking into 2026, who, that book, that book opens up, there is.   The Dental A Team (17:39) It does, right? It's like the   monopoly Bible. Like it's so big. Like how do I play the game of taxes? So I truly, and I think like for all the listeners, like the home office, the HSA, ⁓ retirement, the 529 plan, like there's still time. So go look at those things. And even if you can't contribute or do those things now, having that set up for next year, like, Alexis, truly, I'm like, I'm getting the popcorn. I'm getting my notepad. Like,   I am so excited because half these things I haven't heard of. And so it's very fun to just hear different perspectives. And I do love that you've got a legal background too. I love that you're in IRS. I love that you're in medicine and healthcare and like for your own personal savings too. It's like you're the Nancy Drew of like, how can I do the most amount through all of this? It's a very fascinating perspective you bring today.   Alexis Gallati (18:27) thank you. I appreciate that. yeah, when obviously when you are a W-2 employee still that your options are not as open for those that have a business. But ⁓ besides obviously retirement HSA that you can do all year, one thing that a lot of W-2 employees forget is to actually check with your employer to see what their reimbursement policy looks like.   The Dental A Team (18:29) course.   Alexis Gallati (18:55) because if you're maybe in a private practice with a large group, and I mean, these could even be groups that have sometimes hundreds of physicians in it, or even if it's just a hospital system, they'll have actually pretty generous reimbursement policies for things like your CME, your new loops, or going and   doing your mileage in between different hospitals or clinics, things like that. So making sure that you are keeping track of those things. Obviously, if you're a business owner, you definitely want to keep track of those. But some of my favorite for those that own their own practices, my absolute favorite is hiring your kids.   The Dental A Team (19:36) Of course, yeah.   Alexis Gallati (19:48) It seems so basic, but believe me, there are definitely steps in place that have to be done in order to make sure they ⁓ qualify. for me, the ⁓ court tested age is seven. So I usually don't recommend my clients going and hiring their kids until they're at least that age. You can do it younger, but the old my kids are models strategy is kind of ⁓ antiquated now just because ⁓   everybody has these great cameras now on their phones. And so it's kind of devalued, being a model ⁓ for those that aren't professionals basically. ⁓ But that's a really great way to shift income from your higher tax bracket down to their non-existent tax bracket.   The Dental A Team (20:21) Totally.   Right?   Alexis Gallati (20:40) and you can then put that money into a Roth IRA for them. And if you do that, let's say over like a 10 year period in 2026, that amount is 7,500 is the max you can put in. They're easily, by the time they're age 65, gonna have at least 2 million plus dollars in savings. So it's a really great way to create a legacy for your kids and give them a little headstart.   The Dental A Team (20:48) Mm-hmm.   Yeah, that's amazing. And I think so many people are like, I don't know how to help my kids with college or different things like that. And it's like, these are great ways to prepare them for the future for when they retire for things like that. I mean, how awesome I know a couple of ⁓ doctors because   The bulk of our audience, Alexis, are not W-2 earners. They are self-employed, like dental practice owners. ⁓ But I know that there were several that didn't tell their kids that they had done this for them. And then the surprise when they graduated college of, we've been putting this into place for you. I mean, shoot, that money's going to go to the government or to your kids. Why not invest in your children? You're going to pay that money regardless. So ⁓ definitely think that that's such a brilliant idea. And I've heard people, they're like,   their real job, like they have to have a real job. They're like a paper shredder. Like they like literally shred the paper or they open the mail or they like pick out the cards or they pick out the toys for the prize boxes, like actual legit jobs that they employ them for. But I think what an amazing gift and legacy to give your kids as well.   Alexis Gallati (21:51) they   Yeah, exactly. All four of my children are, obviously cerebral isn't a dental practice, but they're hired through cerebral. So that way they are earning enough to put that money into their Roth IRA. ⁓ And a lot of ⁓ my clients are like, man, I don't know what my kids can do. And like you said, there's a lot of admin work that they can do. Even a seven-year-old can.   like you said, shred paper, stamp envelopes. They can help with doing their ABCs and filing things away if you're an older ⁓ practice owner and they have ⁓ still the paper file system. ⁓ yeah, it really is a wonderful way to not only teach responsibility, but also to save. ⁓ I highly recommend ⁓ doing that. And even if you have parents that you financially support, you could even   The Dental A Team (22:45) Yeah.   Yeah.   Alexis Gallati (23:02) go and hire your parents through your practice ⁓ and write off their support. Of course, again, they need to also have a legitimate job in the business. with parents, you have to be careful if they have any benefits like social security or Medicare. Then you just want to make sure that you're not pushing them out of those benefits because of their income ⁓ or making any part of their social security taxable. So that takes a little bit more. ⁓   finesse than hiring a child.   The Dental A Team (23:36) No, that's great. That's a really good idea too, because I hadn't thought about parents. I have heard about children, but you're right, parents are retired. And if there's ways that you can support and give back rather than like, again, I love the government. I am happy to pay taxes, but if there's ways that I can support my own family, ⁓ I think it's great because I'm going to pay that money anyway, but paying it to people that I love and care about is really a great idea.   Alexis Gallati (24:00) Yeah. Another popular one I'm sure that you've seen on TikTok or other social media is the Augusta rule. ⁓ and this is where you're renting your home to your business. ⁓ and this is perfect example where documentation is absolutely critical. ⁓ but basically what happens is you rent your home to your business for 14 days or less. Those days do not have to be consecutive and your business gets to   The Dental A Team (24:07) Mm-hmm.   Alexis Gallati (24:28) right off the cost of that rent. So obviously lowers your taxes. But then you as the individual do not have to pay tax on that rental income. Now, if you do it for 15 days and you've ruined the strategy and you have to pay tax on all 15 days. So that's really important you do 14 days or less. But this is again a really great way if you have monthly board meetings, that's 12 days right there.   Or if you have employee parties, if you have colleagues over in discussing business, though, as long as you have a rental agreement in place between yourself and your business, and you document through meeting minutes everything that occurred during that event, then that is the documentation that the IRS would need in order to substantiate that.   strategy. And obviously a reasonable rental rate as well.   The Dental A Team (25:27) Yeah, no, didn't realize,   I did not realize that you needed a rental agreement. Can you expand more on that? like we check all the Airbnb's and the VRBO's in the area to see what does our house actually go for and like keep that documented every single year and then have an actual agenda and like have it in the calendar. So it's in our Google calendar. It's got an agenda. It's got a PDF didn't attach. But how does the rental agreement work? like, yeah, how do you, I didn't realize that that was a necessary piece to it.   Alexis Gallati (25:57) Yeah, so you can even just use ChatGPT to create it. ⁓ But essentially what you do is it's just that agreement between the business and personal. So ⁓ you just want to think about it like any other rental that you would do. If you were to go to a conference room in a hotel, for example, or go rent that Airbnb, you're going to be signing some sort of agreement saying that this can happen.   that this event can happen on this date. ⁓ you can either do one agreement for the entire year, spelling out like, here are the days that we're going to be doing these things, ⁓ or you can have an agreement for each time that it happens.   The Dental A Team (26:43) Very cool. That's super helpful. Yeah, I do love the addresses for all anything people. And I mean, I've had CPAs and like, don't go crazy. Like that's where I say like check Airbnb, check VRBO like what you think your house is worth versus what market value says your house is worth. Like, let's make sure that we are accurate on that. But yeah, that's definitely an amazing one that I think is great for offices to surely do.   Alexis Gallati (26:51) Yes.   Yep. Go and get two to three comps. So then that way can just take an average. I feel like that's a very safe way to, ⁓ show reasonableness. You're not just like, Hey, I'm taking the highest one on the block. You know, it's taking a few of them.   The Dental A Team (27:21) Totally. No, definitely agree. I love that. Okay, Alexis, what other ideas? know we're, I'm like just like sitting here. I'm like, I love this writing it down. Great ideas. What are some of the ones that like, yeah, anything else that's going to save us? Um, because like taxes are taxes and we are going to pay them, but like, what else can we do to, like you said, Bill Gates or, um, like Warren Buffett, what are the things that you found for like these higher net worth earners? Like, do they need to get into real estate and like use the big, beautiful tax bill or like,   Alexis Gallati (27:23) Yeah.   Okay.   The Dental A Team (27:50) anything else that you've seen that like really moves the noodles or is like, no, just the small consistent things are really going to help them out.   Alexis Gallati (27:57) Yes, well, they all help out. ⁓ But if you are looking for more of that, hey, Alexis, what's like Hail Mary that I can be doing to act to really save? ⁓ You can look at real estate. ⁓ That could be a whole podcast by itself. ⁓ But in general, you you tend to ⁓ get into real estate when you're not talking about like reets or things I can do through the stock market.   The Dental A Team (28:14) Right.   Alexis Gallati (28:26) ⁓ You're either doing like real estate syndications, ⁓ direct ownership, like long-term rentals or short-term rentals. And ⁓ each of those are treated differently and have different ways of making that ⁓ a tax deduction for yourself. So when it comes to, in general, ⁓ real estate syndications, this is where you're   The Dental A Team (28:49) Mm-hmm.   Alexis Gallati (28:54) buying into a partnership that maybe owns an office building. And you go in with other partners and ⁓ it's syndicated. So it's very passive. There's no way for you to write off any losses in that current year. ⁓ When it comes to direct ownership, the IRS basically says, hey, that real estate is considered passive unless you have real estate professional status or you do that short-term rental   deduction or excuse me, short-term rental exclusion. And so what ⁓ happens if you can qualify for the short-term rental exclusion or real estate professional status is that those what would have been passive losses that you can't use against your current income will be considered active losses. And then you can use it against your   active income, when I say active income, things like your W-2 or your business. So you're getting a current year deduction from that. And you can do cost segregation study to help accelerate depreciation. ⁓ So this is very, very much in the nutshell sort of explanation. ⁓ But it can really be a great way to lower your taxes if   The Dental A Team (29:57) Mm-hmm.   Yeah.   Alexis Gallati (30:16) you essentially want a second job. Just know that real estate is not as passive as the social media gurus go and ⁓ try to glamorize. It really does take a lot of extra work. You want to make sure that you are following the rules properly so that you can get that tax benefit in the current year. ⁓ But if you   The Dental A Team (30:19) Yeah.   Alexis Gallati (30:41) do have that prerogative and you want to learn and get do things properly, then it can really save you quite a bit of money.   The Dental A Team (30:48) Yeah. Are there any other things, Alexis, that are like real estate that save that much but don't require that much work? I'm asking you for the weight loss drug of taxes, please. What's our easiest way with the most amount of bang for buck that you've seen? These are the big hits that if you want, because agreed, real estate's great. If you do that short-term thing, but it is a lot of work. With the big, beautiful tax bill that came through, that 100 % depreciation is pretty fantastic. But like you said,   Alexis Gallati (30:54) Yes.   Mm-hmm.   The Dental A Team (31:17) got to have it rented out, you got to have the pieces, you got to like reno it like there are and you have to have it done by the end of the year and like it's a stressful zone. ⁓ So are there other things that you've seen that might be like 50 or 100 or 200,000 off taxes that aren't necessary real estate? The Augustus one, yes. Like paying people, there's things but is there anything else you've found that are like some of those bigger chunks that maybe people don't think about they don't recognize? Yes of course they're going to take a little bit more work but...   Alexis Gallati (31:17) You gotta work for it.   The Dental A Team (31:45) that you found that could be benefits to our audience.   Alexis Gallati (31:48) OK, so let's talk about my Hail Mary for tax savings. I   love this one towards the end of the year because you're going to want to know, have a good idea of where your tax situation is going to end up. So I use this a lot for year end planning. And this is oil and gas. When you ⁓ invest in oil and gas, again, just like with real estate, there's a lot of different options.   But my favorite is our drilling funds and this is where you invest in a partnership that owns oil and gas wells and these this allows you in that first year to Essentially write off usually somewhere between 80 to 95 percent of the investment that you've put in So let's say you invest a hundred thousand dollars Then you're getting about and let's say conservatively an eighty thousand dollar deduction that can go a   against your ordinary income. So if you're W2 or your business. usually, a good rule of thumb is that, let's say, if you're putting in $100,000, you're saving $30,000 in tax. You're putting in $200,000, you're saving $60,000 in tax. And then after year one, you're earning overall, during the life of the investment, about a 2x   The Dental A Team (33:10) Bye.   Alexis Gallati (33:11) you put   100,000, you're getting about 200,000 back. And so it's considered a very conservative investment. And just because the length of the investment, and this is one of the cons of it, is that it's usually about a 10 to 12 year period. So it's generally only about a 7 % return on investment over the life of the investment. the great thing about it is that   you let's say if you did put in that hundred thousand, you're getting that 30,000 in savings, and then you can go put that into something else that will earn you even more money. So then this is something that you can do every single year. And, you know, just depends on how much money you want to save and so that how much you put in for that investment.   The Dental A Team (33:57) Gosh, that's such a good one. And these are things of like just fun, like tips and topics. Like I said, it's the rules of monopoly. I caught like, how do we play tax strategy better? Alexis, what are any like resources? I feel like you guys have some resources. Like I feel the world of tax is so daunting. And so it's like, we hear from podcasts and we hear snippets and we see TikTok and it's like real estate games. like, where do people go if they like want to dig a little bit deeper and really become like more tax expert and more tax savvy and.   like tax strategy, like what are any resources you found or ways for people just to become a little bit more literate in the tax world.   Alexis Gallati (34:33) Yes, so ⁓ of course I'm to do a little shameful plug. My book, The ⁓ Advanced Tax Strategies for Medical Professionals, it's really just that it's a brain dump of all different types of strategies, whether it's for your business or W-2 only, charitable, these alternative investments. And so it's really a space.   The Dental A Team (34:36) as you should.   Alexis Gallati (34:58) for readers to learn more about their options. So then that was the way they can go online and do more research or bring it to their current advisor. So, you know, it's just about opening those possibilities. Otherwise, you know, one resource that is really great for especially medical professionals is the White Coat Investor that Dr. Dali, he has a wonderful, wonderful site and he puts out really good material.   The Dental A Team (35:11) Yeah.   Alexis Gallati (35:25) when it comes to not only taxes, but also for ⁓ just finances in general. And then, of course, on ⁓ CerebralTaxAdvisors.com, our website has wonderful ⁓ material that I put out all the time. There's lots of goodies there, as well as ⁓ different resources and worksheets and stuff like that.   The Dental A Team (35:52) Yeah, no, that's super helpful.   But Alexis, what do you find ⁓ as you go through this? Like one, how often are you meeting with your clients? Because I feel like so many CPAs and tax strategists meet with them in like December 1st and they're like, hey, you owe this much money. Is that how you guys plan? Like how should tax planning actually work?   or is that normal? Like I'm just trying to find a vibe of how this should work in the industry.   Alexis Gallati (36:15) Yeah.   Yeah. So when a medical professional first starts working with us, I design a tax plan for them. And that's really critical because right then and there, OK, what can we be doing to dramatically lower your taxes, legally, of course, and set you up for success? And then we meet with our clients at minimum twice a year. So we do a mid-year tax projection and a year-end tax projection.   The Dental A Team (36:34) course.   Alexis Gallati (36:45) And especially with medical professionals, your income is so variable throughout the year, depending upon insurance reimbursements or seasonality and things like that. And so we really want to make sure that we have a good, clear understanding, good six plus months in advance. Hey, what are you going to be owing tax wise? What does cash flow look like? What quarterly estimated payments do you need to make?   All of these things should not be a surprise. So that's why when I built Cerebral in the packages we have, I was really focused around how do we eliminate those surprises.   The Dental A Team (37:23) Yeah, no, I love that. that's super helpful because I feel like so many just wait till December and it's like, no, like there's things I could have been doing and if I would have known. So that's super helpful. And then I think the other question is like, okay, you guys are tax strategy. Are you CPA? Are you bookkeeping? Like kind of differentiate. Are you in the financial advisor world? Like what specifically would we say I need you for XYZ, but I'm going to need these people again, like marketing, right? Like what facet of my wealth management are you?   and who do I need paired with you?   Alexis Gallati (37:54) Yep, so we are your tax compliance, tax planning, your bookkeeping, and CFO services, and also business advising as well. So we're able to set up entities for you ⁓ as well as provide ⁓ just a lot of the years and years of experience that we have in running businesses and seeing different types of practices, et cetera. ⁓ We are not investment advisors, so we won't   say, buy Coca-Cola versus Pepsi. But we will introduce you to different investments that have tax benefits. And one very unique quality of Cerebral that's very different from other firms is that we do not take any commissions or kickbacks on any strategies we recommend or vendors we recommend. And we don't sell any products. So we're very education-based. I'm very focused on   you understanding your options so you can make a educated decision on what you want to move forward with. And then we are a white glove done for you firm that will implement those strategies on your behalf and make sure they're reported properly on your tax returns. Because that's what we've found being in this industry, especially specializing in medical professionals, is there's a lot of people out there that know about these strategies.   but they do not know how to implement them properly. And that honestly is 80 % of the fight when it comes to doing any of these strategies.   The Dental A Team (39:26) Yeah, no, that's incredible. So, and again, this is just like naiveness on my side. Do I need a CPA or are you guys the replacement of a CPA?   Alexis Gallati (39:35) Yeah, we're the replacement of CPA. We are CPAs. We are EAs. So we are taking care of your tax preparation, so personal and business. We do it all. I try to keep these packages as comprehensive as possible because I hate being nickel and dined. communication's a top priority for us. And so we don't want our clients to hesitate whatsoever to connect with us. And so that's why we don't.   The Dental A Team (39:56) Totally.   Amazing.   Alexis Gallati (40:05) shot like I, my gosh, I just got like a bill from my attorney the other day and it was for stuff that I talked to him about like in August. I'm like, I hate those pop-up bills. So that's yeah, that's, why I try to make it as comprehensive as possible.   The Dental A Team (40:10) Yep.   Right.   Awesome.   No, that's fantastic. That's really helpful. And I know a lot of people are very nervous to switch from their CPA. CPAs, feel like we're so embedded and we trust them with our souls. Truly, I see this. ⁓ So is there complementary calls we have with you? how do we start with that? Because I know, honestly, untangling from a CPA is such a pain. It is so annoying. so ⁓ how does that process work if people want to work with you, Alexis?   Alexis Gallati (40:46) So the best thing you can do is go to our website and go to the contact page. And you will ⁓ go through a very quick questionnaire to make sure that you're a good fit for us, because we also want to make sure we're a good fit for you. And we will ⁓ have a tax discovery session. And during that session, we will. We'll talk about what your needs are and what it's like to work with us. ⁓ I'm very focused on that return on investment. We actually have a guarantee.   with the design of our plans that I will save you at least two times what you pay us in ⁓ tax savings or you get the plan for free. And on average, our clients actually achieve 4.5 multiple with the design of our plans. So again, it doesn't make sense for us to work together if I can't save you more than what you're paying us.   The Dental A Team (41:39) That's amazing. No, that's incredible. And that's a great guarantee. And ⁓ then let's say hypothetical, we do get audited. How often do you guys go through audits and like success rate? Like I'm imagining if you were three years in IRS, you're probably pretty fantastic at that. But these are always things that I'm just curious. Like how does that work? And how often are your clients audited? And like, how is your success rate on that? And if you don't want to share this, I hope you do. We're just going to go for it. Like, yeah, I'm just going to ask the weird questions. Why not?   Alexis Gallati (42:01) Yeah.   I love the weird questions. They're the best. So yeah, that's one thing I can never guarantee that you won't be audited because of course there are always random audits that happen. We've only had three audits since I started Cerebral over 10 years ago. In 2014, I started Cerebral. ⁓ And ⁓ one of them was for the mortgage interest deduction. there's a limitation in that.   The Dental A Team (42:18) It's incredible.   Alexis Gallati (42:28) Um, and that was just, unfortunately, a client had not provided the correct information. And so we were easily able to just change it and be on our way. Um, and then another two were regarding actually real estate professional status. And that was just New York state saying, Hey, like we don't, we don't think that you're actually qualified for this. we're like, Oh, yeah, we do. Here's the paperwork. And they're like, Oh, okay. See you later. So yeah.   The Dental A Team (42:50) Yeah.   That's amazing.   That's a huge thing. And I'm so glad I asked the question because I think for me, that's something I'm curious on of like, I get it. Like you said, you can't guarantee that, but as long as you back in, do you guys charge extra for those audits or is that part of the plan? Like, nope, we stand behind it. Like, how does that work? Cause I know there's some firms that I have chatted with and if we do get audited, it's like 375 an hour for the audit. And I'm like, okay, like I'll just plan for that. But how does that work for you guys?   Alexis Gallati (43:18) Yep, so we back up all of our work and all of our packages. If you do receive a notice for anything that we prepare, you send it to us and we help you take care of it. So yeah, we 100 % back up our work. If you come start working with us and you have some a notice from a year that we didn't handle, like we didn't prepare, we'll still help you handle it. But that would be just.   at our hourly rate, depending upon the extensiveness of the notice. But to go back to your original question about making that change, I 100 % get it, especially if you've been with somebody for so long. And so you just have to look at that cost benefit and see, hey, staying with this person, how much is that costing me in tax savings versus   The Dental A Team (44:01) Right.   Alexis Gallati (44:12) going with somebody like cerebral and we try to go and make that process as seamless as possible when it comes to getting ⁓ up to date in your history and then ⁓ getting access to your bookkeeping and getting your tax returns. ⁓ And so, because I completely understand it can be daunting, but. ⁓   Happy to have a conversation around it when we meet about the discovery session and to see if it's something you'd want to move forward with.   The Dental A Team (44:43) Amazing. Alexis, has been such a great podcast and I just love meeting great individuals. I love how much you have a passion for the law and for the tax wealth and it's your own life and your own livelihood. So if people want to reach out, I know you said it before, how do they connect with you? So yeah, they can get started if they're interested.   Alexis Gallati (45:01) Yeah. So you can Google us or just go to CerebralTaxAdvisors.com. And which by the way, the reason why I have cerebral is because my husband is a private practice neurosurgeon and my dad's a retired private practice neurologist. hence cerebral in the brain. So if y'all can remember. But yeah, so CerebralTaxAdvisors.com is the best way to get a hold of us.   The Dental A Team (45:14) There you go.   I love it. Yeah.   Alexis Gallati (45:27) ⁓ And I look forward to potentially talking with y'all.   The Dental A Team (45:32) Well, Alexis, thank you so much for this. And for all of you listening, I hope you take advantage between now and April 15th. I hope you just like have a conversation. I'm always pro. I love CPAs. My CPA listens to this podcast and I'm always interested in meeting new people like Alexis, chatting with them. Are there different ways that they can benefit me? Because yes, I love my CPA, but I love more than that saving money and learning new strategies that maybe I didn't know about. So Alexis, I really hope a lot of them reach out to you, connect with you and for   All of you listening, thank you for listening. I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team Podcast.  

Kiera is joined by the tooth-healer himself, Jason Dent! Jason has an extensive background in pharmacy, and shares with Kiera where his pharmaceutical experience has bled over into dentistry. This includes the difference between anti-quag and anti-platelet and which medications are probably safe, what to do to shorten the drag time in the pharmacy, how to write prescriptions most efficiently, and more. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: The Dental A Team (00:00) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera and today is a really awesome and unique day. It is, think the second time I've had somebody in the podcast studio with me live for a podcast and it's the one and only Jason Dent. Jason, how are you? I'm doing well. Good morning. Thanks for having me. It is crazy. I I watch Instagram real like this all the time where people are like in the podcast and they're hanging out on two chairs and couches and now look at us. We're doing it. Cheers. Cheers.   That was a mic cheer for those of you who are only listening, but yeah, Jace, how does this feel to be on the podcast? It's weird. Like I was not nervous at all talking about it. I got really nervous as soon as you hit play. So if I stumble over my words, please forgive me ahead of time. Well, Jason, I appreciate you being on the podcast because marketing had asked me to do a topic about teledentistry and I was like, oh shoot, that's like not my forte at all. so   You and I were actually chatting in the hot tub. call it Think Tank session and you and I, we have a lot of good ideas that come from that Think Tank. A lot of business. no phones. That's why. We do leave our phones out. But I was talking to Jason and this is actually a podcast we had talked about quite a while ago. Jason has a lot of information on pharmacy. And if you don't know, Jason isn't really, we were going through all of it last night. It's kind of a mock in the tub. And I think it's going to be great because I feel like this is an area, I'm working at Midwestern and   knowing about how dentists, pharmacology was surely not your favorite one. Jason actually helps a lot of dentists with their clearances. And so we were talking about it and I like it will just be a really awesome podcast for you guys to brush up on pharmacology, different things from a pharmacist's side. So Jason, welcome. Thank you. Yeah, no, we were talking about it and here's like, what should I talk about on the podcast next? I have all these different topics and she's like, what do you know? And the only real interaction I have with dentists is doing clearances for procedures. We get them all the time, which makes sense.   Lots of people are on blood thinner, I've always told Kiera, like, hey, I could talk about that. Like, that's kind of a passion of mine. I'm not a dentist. Or my name is Jason Dent. So in Hebrew, Jason means tooth. No, no, no, sorry. Nerves are getting to me. Jason means healer and Dent means tooth. So my name means tooth healer. So, here's a little set. Hold on, on, hold Can we just talk about? I brought that up before you could talk about it more. So.   My name means tooth healer but I did not become a dentist. I know you wanted me to become a dentist. did. I don't know why. I enjoy medicine. I know what you're going to get to already. The things you're going to ask me. There's been years of this. But nevertheless, that's my name. We'll get that out of the way. But you did give me a great last name. So I mean, it's OK. You're All is fair and love here. SEO's up for that. But yeah, Jason, I'm going to get you right into the show. And I'm going to be the host. And we're going to welcome to the podcast show. Jace, how are you?   Good, good, good. Good, good, good. So by getting into clearances, right? This is what you're kinda talking about with you know, before we get to clearances, I actually wanted Jason, for the listeners who don't know you, who haven't talked to you, who don't know, let's kinda just give them like, how did you go from, Kiera wanted you to be a dentist, to now Jason, you are on the podcast talking as our expert on pharmacy. fantastic. I've always really loved medicine, a ton. As a kid getting headaches and taking Excedrin, like you just feel like a miserable pile of crap.   and then you take two pills and all of a sudden you feel better. Like that's amazing, like how does that happen? Also getting ear aches as a kid, just being in so much pain and then taking some medicine and you start feeling a lot better. I always had a lot of appreciation for that. I've always been mechanically inclined. I went to, started doing my undergrad and took biology and learned about ATP synthase, which is a spinning enzyme that's inside the mitochondria, like a turbine engine. I used to work on small engines on my dirt bike and thought that is so cool. So I really got wrapped up into chemistry.   All the mechanics of chemistry really pulled me in. I'm not getting goosebumps. checking. I usually get goosebumps when I think about chemistry. But it's so cool. You think an engine's awesome, like pistons and camshafts and pressures, the cell is the same thing. It's not as loud, so it's not as cool. But it's fascinating. that's why we're like. ⁓   chemistry and really got into coagulation. So I did my residency after pharmacy school. we went to Arizona for three years. ⁓ You did and your main focus, you were never wanting to be the guy behind the counter. No, I haven't done that. Yeah. No, I love them though. I've always really want to go clinical. ⁓ But I love my retail ⁓ pharmacists. They're amazing resources. And ⁓ I use the retail pharmacist every day still to this day, but I went more the clinical route, really love the chemistry aspect of it.   did my doctorate degree and then I did my residency in Reno. Reno's kind That's how we got here everybody. Welcome to Reno. Strategically placed because I was really interested in critical medicine and where we're located we cover a huge area. So we pull in to almost clear, we go clear to Utah, clear to California, all of Northern Nevada. We get cases from all over. So we actually are kind like the first hub of care for lot of areas. So we really get an eclectic mixture of patients that come in that need-   all kinds of different cases that are coming to them. So it's what I really wanted. So I did my residency in critical care there. And then for the next 10 years, I worked in vascular medicine with my final five years being the supervisor of the clinic. Ran all the ins and outs of that. So my providers, two doctors were on our view. So when we talk about dentistry, talk about production, those kinds of things, totally get it. My doctors were the exact same way, my vascular providers. ⁓   There's some pains there, right? You wanna be seeing patients as much as possible, being able to help as many people, keeping the billing up. And had other nurse practitioners, four practitioners, a fleet of MAs, eight pharmacists. We also had that one location we had, going off the top of my head, I think we had eight locations running as well. And we took care of all the different kinds of vascular cases that came to us. Most common was blood clots, ⁓ which is just a...   which is an easier way of saying VTE. There's so many different ways to say a blood clot. Like you might hear patients say, I've had a PE or a DVT or a venous thromboembolism or a clot in my leg, right? They're all clots, but in different locations. Same with an MI, and MI can be a clot as well. ⁓ there's a lot of, everybody's kind of saying the same thing, but sometimes the nomenclature can make it sound hard, but it really is actually pretty simple.   No. And Jason, I love that you went through, you've been in like, and even in your, ⁓ when you were getting your doctorate, you were in the ER. You also worked in retail pharmacy. remember you having a little sticker on your hand. And retail pharmacy, I have a lot of respect for those guys. They have a lot of pressure on them. and then you also, ⁓ what was that test that you had to take that? I don't know. You were like studying forever for it. ⁓ board certification for, ⁓ NABP. Yeah. So I did that board certification as well.   And now you've moved out of the hospital side onto another section in your career. Now in the insurance, right? So it's really, really interesting. So now I'm on the other side reading notes and evaluating clinical appropriateness and trying to help patients with getting coverage and making those kinds of determinations. So yeah, I've really jumped all over. Really love my clinical days. I know. don't I don't I do miss them. But yeah, kind of had a good exposure to a lot of.   pharmacy a lot a lot of dentists actually with all the places that come through which Jason I really appreciate that and honestly I know you are my spouse and so it's fun to have you on but when I go into conversations like this I don't know any of this information and so finding experts and Jason I think here's me talk more about dentistry and my business than I do hear about him on pharmacy so as we were chatting about this I really realized you are a wealth of knowledge because you've been on the clinical side so you've done a lot of patient care and you've seen how   medications interact and I know you've had a few scares in your career and ⁓ you've known some physicians that have had a few scares and ⁓ you've seen plenty of patients pass away working in the ER and gosh in Arizona drownings were such a big deal. I remember when you were in the ER on your rotations I'd be like who died today? Like tell me the stories and you've really seen and now going on to the insurance side I felt like you could just be such a good wealth of knowledge because I know dentists are sometimes so   I would say like maybe just a little more anxious when it comes to medications. I know that dental students from Midwestern were like here was like four months and we had to like pass it, learn it. And Jason, you've done four years plus clinical residency, plus you've been in it. And something I really love about Nevada Medicine is they've been so collaborative with you.   like your heart, your cardiologist, they diagnose and then they send to you to treat with medicine and... Yeah, I've been really lucky being here in Reno too. The cardiology team has been amazing to work with. We started a CHF program, sorry, congestive heart failure program for patients. So we would collaborate with cardiologists. They'd see the cardiologists and then they send them to the pharmacist to really manage all the medications. So there's pillars of therapy ⁓ called guideline directed medical therapy and the pharmacist would take care of all that. So that's gonna be your...   your beta blockers, your ACEs, your ARBs, your Entresto, which would be a little bit better, spironolactone. So just making sure that all these things are dosed appropriately, really monitoring the heart, and make sure that patients are getting better. we've had real positive outcomes when the, sorry, this is totally off topic. do, talk about that study. When we looked at when patients were coming to see our pharmacists in our clinic that we started up, the patients were half as likely to be readmitted. And this was in 2018, and our pharmacists,   We're thinking about all the medications. We're usually adjusting diabetes medications too at the same time. Just kind of naturally just taking care of all the medications because we kind of got a go ahead from the providers, a collaborative practice agreement that we could make adjustments to certain medications within certain parameters. So we weren't going rogue or maverick, but we were definitely trying to optimize our medications as much as possible. And then years later, some studies came out with, I'm sure you've seen Jardins and Farseegh. not trying to, I'm not.   I don't get any kickback from them. I have no conflicts to share. But because our pharmacists were really optimizing that medication, those medications were later shown to reduce hospitalizations and heart failure, even though they're diabetes medications. Fascinating. So it wasn't really the pharmacists. It was just the pharmacists doing as much as they can with all the tools that were in front of them. And then we found out that the patients were going back to the hospital.   half as much as regular patients. So, yeah, being here, it's been so amazing to work with providers here. the providers here want help, want to help patients, don't have an ego. I mean, I just, it's awesome. I love it. I do love how much I think Jason sees me geek out about dentistry and I watching Jay's geek about his pharmacy and how much he loves helping patients. And ⁓ really that was the whole idea of, all right.   Dentistry has pharmacy as a part of it. And I know a lot of dentists are sending in clearances and I know working in a chair side, it would be like, oh no, if they're on warfarin or on their own blood clot, you guys, honestly don't even know half of what I'm talking about because this is not my jam, which is why Jason's here. But I do know that there was always like, well, we got to talk with their provider. And so having Jason come in and just kind of explain being the pharmacist that is approving or denying or saying yes or no to take them off the blood thinners in different parts, because you have seen several dental   I don't know what they're called. What is it? Clarence's? that what comes to you? don't even know. All day my mind, it's like, here is the piece of paper that gets mailed to you to the pharmacist and then you mail it back. So whatever that is. But Chase, let's talk about it because I think you can give the dentist a lot of confidence coming from a pharmacist. What you guys see on that side. When do you actually need to approve or disapprove? Let's kind of dig into that. Yeah. Well, first of all, I think I'm not a replacement for any kind of clinical judgment whatsoever. Every patient's different. But the American Diabetes Association, you   I work with diabetes a lot. American Dental Association has some really great guidelines on blood thinners and I would always reference them. I actually looked at their website today. Make sure I'm up to speed before I get back on this again. They have resources all around making decisions for blood thinners. And I think the one real important thing in putting myself in the shoes of a dentist or any kind of staff that's around a patient that's in a chair, if they say I'm on a blood thinner, right, a flag goes up. At least in my mind, that's what goes up.   Like, okay, how do we get across this bridge? And I think the important thing to really distinct right then when they say they're on a blood thinner is that is kind of a slang word for a lot of different medications, right? Like it's the overarching word that everybody pulls up saying, I'm on a blood thinner. It's like, okay, but I don't know what say. It's like, I have a car. You're like, okay, do you have a Mazda? Do you have?   Toyota, Honda, what do you have? or even worse it'd be like saying I have a vehicle, right? So when somebody says they're on a blood thinner, it opens up a whole box of possibilities of what they're Blood thinners are also, doesn't, when they're taking these types of medications that are quote unquote a blood thinner, it doesn't actually thin the blood, like adding water to the blood, if that makes sense, or like thinning paint, or like thinning out a gravy, right? It doesn't do the same thing. Blood thinners, really what they're doing is they're working on the blood, which.   which is really cool, try not to tangent on that. ⁓ When they're working on the blood, it's not thinning it per se, but it's making it so that the proteins or platelets that are in it can't stick together and make a cloth quite as easy. So whenever somebody's on a blood thinner, I usually ask, what's the name of the blood thinner that you're on? It's not bad that they use that slang, that's okay, on the same page, but it's really broken into two different classes. There's anticoagulant and antiplatelet.   And a way to kind of remember which is which, when residents would come through our clinics, the way that I teach them is a clot is like a brick wall. You know, it's not always a brick wall. Usually the blood is a liquid going through. But once they receive some kind of chemical message, it starts making a brick wall with the mortar, which is the concrete between the and the bricks, the two parts. When it's an anti-quagent, it's working on that mortar part. When it's an anti-platelet, it's working on the bricks part, right? You need both to make a strong clot or strong brick wall.   But if you can make one of them not work, obviously like if your mortar is just water, it's not working, right? You're not gonna make a strong brick wall. So that's kind of the two deviants right there. So that's what I do in my mind real quickly to find out because antiplatelets are usually, so that's gonna be like your Plavix, Ticagrelor, Brilinta. And hold on, antiplatelets are bricks? Good job, bricks. They're the bricks. And so the reason I was thinking you could remember this because I'm, antiplatelets, it's a plate and a plate is more like a brick.   And anti coagulant, I don't know why quag feels like mortar to me, like quag, like, know, it's like slushy in the blood, like it's coagulating. It's a little bit of that, like, honestly, I'm just thinking like coagulated blood is a little bit more mortar-ish. And so platelet is your plate, like a brick, and anti-quag is like.   the gilly between the bricks. Okay, okay, I got it. Yeah, so there's an exception to every rule, but when they're on that Don't worry, this is Kiera, just like very basic. You guys are way smarter listening to this, and that's why Jason's here. No, no, you helped me pass pharmacy school. When we were doing all the top 200, you helped me memorize all know what flexorill is, all right? That's a muscle relaxant. Cyclo? I don't know that part. It's a cyclo, because you guys are cycling and flexing. I don't actually know. just know it's a muscle relaxant, so that's about as far as I got. When we're looking at antitick platelets, so that's the brick part, so that's going to be your, you know,   Hecagrelor, Breitlingta, Clopidogrel is the most common one. It's the cheapest one, so probably see that one the most. Those, I mean, there's an exception to every rule, but that's generally being used after like a stent's placed in the heart. It can be used for VTE, there's some out there, but that's pretty rare. But also for some valves that are placed in the hearts, it can be used for that as well. So antiplatelet, really thinking more like a cardiac event, right? Like I said, there's always an exception to every rule, but that's kind of where my mind goes real quickly, because we're gathering information from the patient.   They're on anticoagulant. Those are like going to be the new ones that you see commercials for all the time. So Xeralto, Alequis, those are the two big ones right now. They're replacing the older one. And also we were supposed to do a disclaimer of this is current as of today because the ADA guidelines do change. this will be current as of today. And Jason, as a pharmacist, is always looking up on that. I had no clue that you are that up to speed on dental knowledge. so just throwing it out there that if you happen to catch his podcast,   a few years back that obviously check those guidelines for sure. But the new ones are the Xarelto and Eloquist. They're replacing the older ones of warfarin. Warfarin's been around for a really long time. We've seen that one. Those are anti-coagulants. So when you're looking, when a patient says that, generally they're on that medication because they've possibly had a clot in the past or they have a heart condition called atrial fibrillation. Those are kind of the two big ones. Like I said, there's always caveats to it, but that's kind of where my mind goes real quickly. And then,   as far as getting patients cleared, the American Dental Association has really good resources on their website. You can look at those and they're always refreshing that up. They even say in their own words that there's limited data around studying patients in the dental chair and with anticoagulants or anti-platelets. It's pretty limited. There's a few studies, some from 2015, some from 2018. There's one as recent as 2021, which is nice. But really, all of those studies come together and it's really more of an expert consensus.   And with that expert consensus, they have kind of simplified things for dentistry, which is really nice. ⁓ comparing that to, we have more data for like total hip replacement, total knee replacement. We have a lot of data and we know really what we should be doing around then. But going back to dentistry, we don't have as much information, so they always say use clinical judgment, but they do give some really great expert guidance on that. So if a patient's on an anticoagulant, ⁓   they generally recommend that it doesn't need to be stopped unless there's a high bleeding risk for a patient. as a provider or as a clinician in the practice, you can be looking at high bleeding risk. Some things that make an oral procedure a little bit lower risk is one, it's in the compressible site, right? Like we can actually put pressure on that site. That's the number one way to stop bleeding is adding pressure. It's not like it's in the abdominal cavity where we can't get in and can't apply pressure. So number one, that kind of reduces the bleeding risk.   is number one. Two, we can add topical hemostatic agents. Dentists would know that better than me. There's a lot of topical ways to do that. So not only pressure, but there's those things as well. And also, but there are some procedures that are a little bit more likely to bleed. And that's where you and dentists would come in hand in What's the word in APO? Oh, the APOectomy. I got it right. Good job. like, didn't you tell me last night that the ADA guideline was like what?   three or four or more teeth? great question. So you can extract one to three teeth is what their expert consensus One to three teeth without. Without really managing or stopping anticoagulation or doing anything like that. I think that's some good guidance from them. I'm gonna add a Jasonism on that though. So with warfarin, I do see why dentists would be a little bit more conservative or worried about stopping the warfarin because warfarin isn't as stable as these newer agents. Warfarin, the levels.   quote unquote levels can go really high, they can go really low. And if the warfarin levels are high, they're more likely to bleed. So I do think it makes sense to have a really recent INR. That's how we measure what the warfarin's doing. I think that makes a lot of sense, but the ADA guidelines really go into the simplification version of all these blood thinners. Generally, it's recommended to not stop them because the risk of stopping them outweighs the benefit of stopping them in almost every case. Almost every case.   ⁓ So when you're with that patient, right, they say I'm on a blood thinner, finding out which kind of blood thinner that they're on, you find out that they're on Xeralto, right? How long have you been on Xeralto for? I've been on it for years. You don't know exactly why, but if they haven't had any recent bleeding, you're only gonna remove one tooth. ⁓ You can do what's called a HasBlood score. That kind of looks at the bleeding risk that they'd have. That'd be kind of going a notch above, but in my mind, removing one tooth isn't a real serious bleeding risk. I'd love to hear from my dentist friends if they...   disagree, right, but ADA says one to three tooth removals, extractions, that's the fancy word. Extractions, yeah, for extracting teeth out. Is not really that invasive. Sure. It's not that high risk, so it's usually perfectly fine. So if a patient was on Xarelto, ⁓ no other, this is in a vacuum, right? I'm not looking at any other factors, which you should be looking at other factors. I would be perfectly fine to just remove one to two.   And when those clearances come in, because dentists do send them, talk about what happens. You guys were working in the hospital and you guys would get these clearances all the time. do. We get them so often. I mean, we get like four or five a day. We'd love to give it to our students, student pharmacists, and ask them what to do. And they would usually look up the American Dental Association guidelines and come up with something. We're like, yep, that's what we say too. In fact, we say it so many times a day that we have a smart phrase.   which just blows in the information real quickly and faxes it right back to the So it's like a copy paste real quick. So what I wanted to point out when Jason told me this is dentists like hearing this and learning this, this can actually save you guys a ton of time to be able to be more confident, to not need to send those clearances on. And we were actually talking last night about how I think this might be a CYA for dentists. like, as we were talking, I think Jason, you seeing so many other aspects of medicine, like you've literally seen patients die, you've seen other areas.   And so coming from that clinical vantage point, we were realizing that dentists, we are so blessed to live in an injury. I enjoy dentistry because possibly there's someone dying, not super high, luckily in dentistry. The only time that I have actually had a doctor have a patient pass away, and it was only when they were completely sedated and doing ⁓ some other things, but that was under the care of an anesthesiologist. And so that's really our high, high risk. And so hearing this, Jason,   That was one of the reasons I wanted him to come on is to give you doctors more confidence of do we have to always send to a pharmacist? I mean, hearing that on the pharmacy side, they're just sending these back and not to say to not see why a to not cover this because you might be questioning like, well, do I really need to? But you also were talking about some other ways of so number one, you guys are just going to copy back the 88 guidelines. So so 88 guidelines. Yeah. And I think that that gives a lot of confidence to a provider or a dentist is that you can go to the 88 guidelines and read them, right? Like you're listening to some   nasally monotone pharmacist on a podcast. Rumor has it, people love him at the hospital. were like, you're the voice, he's been told he has a good radio So for the clinic, I was the voice. Like, yeah, you've reached the vascular clinic, right? And they're like, oh my gosh, you're the voice. But sorry, you me distracted. That'll be your next career, Jace. You're going to be a radio host. OK. I would love that. I love music. But you're hearing from a nasally guy, but you can actually read the ADA guidelines. You just go right to the ADA, click on Resources, and under Resources, it has the   around anticoagulants, I think that's the best way to get a lot of confidence about it because they have dentists who are the experts making calls on these. I'm just reiterating what they say, but I think it makes a lot of sense to help providers. And the reason why my heart goes out to you as well is having the providers that used to work underneath me, they're always looking for our views, which is a fancy way of making sure that they're drilling and filling. Can I say that? Yeah, can say drilling and filling. They're being productive, right? They're being productive, right?   They're always looking to make sure if a patient's canceling, like get somebody in here. Like I need to be helping people all day long. That's how I, we keep the lights on. That's how I help as many people. And so if you have a patient coming in the chair and it has an issue, they say I'm on Xeralto. Well, you can ask real quickly, why are you on Xeralto? I had a clot 10 years ago. my gosh. Well, yeah, we're pretty good to go. Then I'm not worried. We're only removing one tooth or we're just doing a cavity or a cleaning. Something like that. Shouldn't be an issue whatsoever because there's experts in the dental. ⁓   in the dental society, the ADA guidelines that recommend three teeth or less, minimally invasive. They really recommend if it's gonna be really high bleeding risk. And clinically, that's where you would come in, ⁓ or yourself. know, apioectomy is one that's like on the fence line. I don't know where implants set. though, and like we were talking, implants aren't usually like a date of procedure. Most people aren't popping in, having tooth pain, and we're like, let's do an implant. Now sometimes that can be the case, but typically that one's gonna have   a few other pieces involved. And so that is where you can get a clearance if you want to. ⁓ But we were really looking at this of like so many dentists that I know that you've seen will just send in these clearances because they are. And I think maybe a way to help dentists have more confidence is because you know, I love routines. I love to not have to remember things. So why don't we throw it in, have the team member set it up where every quarter we just double check the ADA guidelines. Are there any updates? Are there any other things that we need to do on that? That way you can just see like   getting into the language of this, of what do I need to do? Because honestly, you guys, know pharmacy was not a big portion for it, so, recommending different parts, but I think this is such a space where you can have confidence, and there's a few other things I wanna get to, and I you- I some pearls too. Okay, go. I'm so when she get me into talking about drugs, I'm not gonna stop. So, some other things around that too is these newer blood thinners like Xarelto Eloquist, they now have reversal agents, so a lot of providers in the past were really worried about bleeding because we can't turn it off. We can turn those off. Warfarin has reversal as well, right?   So I'm looking at these patients. It's really low risk. It's in the mouth, generally speaking. Very rarely are they a high bleeding risk. Now if you're doing maxillofacial surgery, this does not apply, right? This does not apply whatsoever. you're like general dentist, you're pediatric dentist. Yeah, yeah, and it's kind of on the fly. So just trying to really help you to be able to take care of those patients on the moment, have that confidence, look at the ADA guidelines, have that in front of you. I don't think it's a bad thing to ever...   check with their provider if you need to. If you're thinking, I feel like I should just check with the provider, I would never take that away from you. But I just want to kind of steer towards those guidelines that I have to help. But what did you want to share? No, yeah, I love that. And I think there were just a few other nuggets that we were chatting about last night that can help dentists just kind of get things passed a little bit easier. So you were mentioning that if they were named to their cardiologist, what was it? was like, who is the last? Great question. Yeah, when a patient's on a blood thinner,   It could be prescribed by the cardiologist. It could be prescribed by the family provider or could have been punted to like a vascular clinic like where I was working. It can go to any of those. And when you send that fax, right, if it goes to the cardiologist and it's supposed to go to the family care provider, like it just kind of goes, goes nowhere, right, from there. So I think it's a really good idea to find out who prescribed it last. If the patient doesn't know who prescribed their blood thinner last, you can call their pharmacy. I call pharmacies all day long.   I have noticed in the last year, they are way easier to get a hold of, which has made my job a lot easier, working on the insurance portion. So reaching out to the pharmacy, finding out who that provider is and sending it to them, because they should be able to help with that. I thought that was a good shift in verbiage that you had of asking instead of like the cardiologist, because that's who you would assume was the one. But you said like so many times you guys would take care of them, and then they go back to family practitioner, and you guys would get the clearances, but you couldn't clear because you weren't overseeing. So just asking the patient.   who prescribed their medication for them last time. That way you can send the clearance to the correct provider. then- And they might not know. You know patients, right? They're like, I don't know, my mom's or else, I don't know who gave it to me. Somebody told me I need to be on this. But at least that could be another quick thing. And then also we were talking last night about-   ⁓ What are some other things that dentists can do when like writing scripts to help them get what I think like overarching theme of everything we discussed is one how to help dentists have less I think drag through pharmacy. ⁓ Because pharmacy can take a little while and so perfect we now know the difference between anti-quag and anti-platelet. We know which medications are probably safe. We know we can check the ADA guidelines so that we were not having to do as many clearances. We also know if they're on a medication to find out and we do need a clearance.   who we can go to for the fastest, easiest result. And now, in talking about prescriptions, you had some really interesting tips that you could share with them. Yeah, so with writing prescriptions, right, pharmacies are pharmacies. So I'm not gonna say good thing or bad thing. There are challenges working with pharmacies. I'm not gonna play that down at all. ⁓ If you're writing prescriptions and having issues and kickbacks from pharmacies, there's some interesting laws around ⁓ writing prescriptions. Say that you're trying to ⁓ prescribe   augmentin, you know, 875 BID, and you tell the patient, hey, I want you to take this twice a day for seven days, and then you put quantity of seven, because you're moving fast, right? You want it for seven days, quantity of seven. Quantity would actually be 14, right? It's not that big of a deal. Anybody with common sense would say if you're taking a pill for twice a day for seven days, you need 14 tablets. But LAHA doesn't allow pharmacists to make that kind of a change, unfortunately. They have to follow what you're saying there. So you're going to get a...   An annoying callback that says, you wrote for seven tablets. I know you need 14. Is that OK? Just delays things, right? So ⁓ I really like the two letters QS. That's Q isn't queen. S isn't Sam. Yeah. It stands for quantity sufficient. So you don't have to calculate the amount of any medication that you're doing. So for me, as a pharmacist, when I was taking care of patients, I hated calculating the amount of insulin they would need for an entire month. So I would say.   Mrs. Jones needs 15, I'd say 15 units ⁓ QD daily. ⁓ And then I say QS, quantity sufficient, ⁓ 90 day supply through refills. So the pharmacy can then go calculate how much insulin that they need. I don't have to even do that. So anytime you're prescribing anything, I like that QS personally. So that lets the pharmacy use ⁓ common sense, as I like to call it, instead of giving you a call. I think that's super helpful. I also thought of one thing too.   going back to blood thinners is when it's kind of like a real quick, like they're not gonna have you stop the blood thinner at all. like you're seeing if you can stop the blood thinner for a patient, there's some instances it's just not gonna happen. And that's whenever they've been, they've had a clot or a stroke or a heart attack within the last three months. Three months. Yeah, that's kind of like the.   Because so many people are like, they had a heart thing like six years ago. And so I think a lot of my dentists that I worked with were like, we got to stop the blood thinners. But it sounds like it's within three months. Yeah, well, I'm just the time. Like this is general broad strokes. What I'm just trying to say is when you want to expect a no real quick. Got it. Right. So because benefits of stopping a blood thinner within those first three months of an event is very, very risky versus the, you know, the benefit of reducing a little bit of blood coming out of the mouth. Right. Like that's not that bad.   when somebody's had a stroke or a heart attack or pulmonary embolism, a clot in the lung, like we can't replace the lung, heart or brain very easily. We can replace blood a lot better. We've got buckets of it at most hospitals have buckets of it, right? So I'm always kind of leaning towards I'd rather replace blood than tissue at all times. So that's kind of a quick no. If they've had one those events in the last three months, we are really, really gonna watch their brain instead of getting.   root canal, right? Like really worried about them. So you'll just say no. And they could the dentist still proceed with the procedure or would you recommend like a three month wait? Or is it provider specific way the pros and cons because sometimes you need to get that tooth out. Great question. think then it's going to come into clinical. That's that's when you send in the clearance, right? Like, and it's great to reach out to the provider who's managing it for you. But I think it's kind of good to know exactly when you get a quick no quick no is going to be less than three months.   ⁓ Or when it's going to be like a kind of a typical, yeah, no problem. If it's been no greater than six months, they're on the typical anticoagulants or alto eloquence. Nothing crazy is going on for them. You're only removing two teeth. This is very, very low risk. But again, I'd urge everybody to read the ADA guidelines. That way you feel more comfortable with it. I'm not as eloquent as they do. They do a real good job. So I don't want to take any of their credit. I think they do a real good job of simplifying that and making you feel confident with providing.   more timely care for patients. Which is amazing. And Jayce, one last thing. I don't remember what it was. You were talking about the DEA and like six month rule. yeah. Let's just quickly talk about that and then we'll wrap this because this is such a fascinating thing for me last night. Yeah. So when comes to prescribing controlled substances, most providers have to have a DEA license. OK. First of all, though, what's your take on dentist prescribing controlled substances? ⁓ I don't think, you know, I worked on the insurance side of things. Right. And I look at the requirements for the   as the authorizations, what a patient, the criteria a patient needs to hit in order to qualify for certain medications. A lot of times for those controlled substances, they have pretty significant issues going on, like fibromyalgia or cancer-related pain or end-of-life care versus we don't, in all my scanning thread, I don't have a ⁓ perfect picture memory. Sure. But I don't usually see oral.   pain in there. There is some post-operative pain that can be covered for those kind of medications but I really recommend to keep those lower and in fact in a lot of our criteria it recommends you know have they tried Tylenol first, they tried, have they filled NSAIDs or are they contraindicated with the patient. So really they should be last line for patients in my two cents but there's always going to be a caveat to the rule right? Of course. comes through that has oral cancer and you're taking   like that would make sense to me. Got it, so then back to the DEA. Yeah, okay. Okay, ready. So as a provider, you should be checking the, if you're doing controlled substances, you should be checking the prescription drug monitoring program, or sometimes called the PDMP, looking to see if patients are getting ⁓ controlled substances from another provider. So it's really just a check and balance to make sure that they're not going from provider to provider to getting too many narcotics and causing self harm or harm to others.   And so with checking that PDMP before prescribing, I think a lot of providers do that. A lot of softwares that I'm aware of, EMRs, electronic medical records, sometimes have links so that you can do that more quickly. However, I don't think it's as intuitive that they need to be checking that every six months in some states. And like here in Nevada, you're supposed to be checking it every six months, not for a patient, but for your actual DEA registration to see if anybody else is prescribing underneath you. Because if you don't check that every six months, you could get in some serious trouble with...   not only DEA, but even more the Board of Pharmacy and your state. Now, I don't know all 50 states, so I check with your state to see if you need to be checking that every six months, but set an alarm just to check that real quickly, keep your nose clean. ⁓ I've had providers, I've had to remind to do that. And if somebody was using your account, prescribing narcotics, you'd never know unless you went and checked that PDMP.   Yeah, I remember last night you were like, and if that was you, I would not want to be you. The Board of Pharmacy is going to be real excited to find you. So that was something where I was like, got it. So, and we all know I'm big on let's make it easy. And Jason, I love that you love this so much and you just brought so much value today. And like also for me, it's just fun to podcast. fun. Yeah. But I got a nerd out on my world a little bit. Bring it into yours. I work with dentists or at least you know, when I was working in Vascular Clinic all day long. Great questions that would come through. Yeah.   So I think for all of us, as a recap on this is number one, I think setting yourself ⁓ some cadences. So maybe every quarter we check our ADA guidelines and we check our, what is it, PDMP. PDMP. so each state, so they call it Prescription Drug Monitoring Program. We need that. Yeah, but there are different acronyms in different states, though. That's just what it's called in Nevada. I forget what it is in California, but you can check your state's prescription monitoring program, make sure that opioids aren't being prescribed under your name. Got it. So we just set that as a cadence.   We know one to three teeth most likely if they're on a blood thinner is According to the 88 as of today is good to go You know things that are going to get a quick know are going to be within the last three months of the stroke the heart attack or the Clot I'm thinking like the pulmonary embolus. Yeah, that's what we're trying to prevent   Those are gonna be quick knows and then if we're prescribing, let's do QS. We've got quantity is sufficient so that we're not getting phone calls back on those medications that we are. And then on narcotics, just being a bit more cautious. Of course, this is provider specific and in no way, or form did Jason come on here to tell you you are the clinical expert.   Jason's the clinical expert on medications. And if you guys ever have questions, I know Jason, you geek out and you want to talk to people so that anyone wants to chat shop. Be sure to reach out and we'll be able to connect you in. we've even talked about possibly, so let me know listeners. You can email in Hello@TheDentalATeam.com of ask a pharmacist anything. I talked to Jason. I was like,   We'll just have them like send in questions and maybe get you back on the podcast or we do a webinar. But any last thoughts, Jace, you've got of pharmacy and dentistry as we as we wrap up today? No, I think that's pretty much it. So check the ADA guidelines. I think it's really good to have cross communication between professions. Right. If you're working with the pharmacy, CVS, Walgreens or something like that or Walmart, I know that it can be challenging. Right. They're under different pressures. You're under different pressure. So I think ⁓ just coming in with an understanding, not being angry at each other.   you know what mean, is super beneficial and working together. When it comes to it, every dentist that I've talked to is actually worried about their patient. Every pharmacist that I've worked with is really worried about the patient as well. So we're trying to accomplish the same thing, but we have different rules and our hands are bound in different ways that annoy each other, right? Like I know Dr. Jones, want 14 tablets, but you said seven. And I know Common Sense says I should give them 14, but I've got to make that change.   knowing that their hands are tied by the law. They can't use as much common sense, which is aggravating. I mean, that's why I love what I gotta do here. I gotta just kind of help a lot more and use common sense and improve patient care. But those kinds of things I think are really beneficial as you work together and then not being so afraid of blood thinners, right? So I think those guidelines do a great job of giving you confidence and not worrying about the side effects. And there's a lot of things that you can do locally for bleeding.   You have a lot of control over that. I think that's pretty cool, the tools they have. Yeah. And at the end of the day, yes, you are the clinician. You are the one who is responsible for this. so obviously, chat, but I think collaborating, talking to other pharmacists, talking to them in your state, finding out what are the state laws, things like that I think can be really beneficial just to give you peace of mind and confidence. And again, dentistry, are maybe a bit more risk adverse because luckily we don't have patients dying That's great thing. Yeah, that's fantastic. I want my dentists to be risk adverse. I think so too. But Jason, I appreciate you being on the podcast today.   And for all of you listening, ⁓ more confidence, more clarity, more streamline to be able to serve and help our patients better. if we can help you in any way or you've got more questions, reach out Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. And as always, thanks for listening. I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team podcast.  

No matter what position, no matter how many years someone's been in their position, every team member likes to know that they're doing a good job. Tiff and Kristy talk about why defining duties and responsibilities—and then measuring metrics against those duties and responsibilities—is so critical to "winning" at your job. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: The Dental A Team (00:00) Hello Dental A Team listeners. I am so excited to be here with you today I know I see that every single time but I hope you guys know how much I truly love podcasting it is a time away from like we'll call it work I feel like podcasting just isn't work for us and we love Speaking to you guys. love getting all this information out there for you and we love our time together So you guys afford us that and today I have an all-time fave I actually I know this is gonna make you blush but   I get some pretty incredible feedback. Kristy, I have Kristy here with us today. I get some pretty incredible feedback from a lot of our clients and a lot of listeners on the podcasts that we do together. So Kristy, I am here today in your presence and it just makes me feel so good. And I'm here to pick that brilliant brain. So thank you for showing up, bringing it and giving me, we've got an ample amount of time this afternoon together. So thank you, Kristy.   The Dental A Team (00:54) Yeah.   I always have fun when I'm here with you. You know that. It's just so natural that we can rip off each other. And ⁓ I don't know, you do a good job at picking my brain and pulling it out. So it's always fun. look forward to our time together.   The Dental A Team (01:09) Thank you.   Thank you. Thank you, Kristy. You guys should know something about Kristy. She is an incredible consultant and I know that this is our time that I get to kind of share and spread some light and joy on our consulting team. And Kristy, I think it's imperative for the world to know that, gosh, you have just an amazing list of clients who are really seeing some impressive results recently. We're into the new year. We're like,   Now when this releases two months into the new year, which is freaking wild, but that's fine. But so many of your clients saw so many successes last year and in those successes we're seeing systems development and within those systems development, really seeing goals being pushed, being reached, being surpassed. You've got some clients that I know you were looking at the goals that they were setting for themselves and you were like, yes, and that's one of my favorite Kristy-isms. Yes, and, yes, and.   I think you can do more. So you like are pushing them outside of their comfort zones and really projecting for them things that I don't think that a lot of your clients even see possible. I just think it's really cool. And today we're talking really about how accountability is gonna help reduce stress within the practice. And I say all of these things that you're doing really well for your clients right now, Kristy, because it takes so much accountability to be able to perform those pieces without   an overload of stress. You can grow and not have accountability. You can spin your wheels and cycle in the negative or however you want to say it. But when that accountability piece is also attached to the things that you're implementing, I think that's really where you see the true results. And that's where we've gotten some incredible feedback that Kristy is amazing. And ⁓ you've taught them so many skills that they can then take them themselves.   and carry it on. And I think it's really cool. It's just really valuable what you've been able to implement for practices. So my question, my first question to you, my first brain pick is why do you find it so important to uphold the accountability levels that you hold for your clients and that you train them to hold for their teams by proxy? Why is that so important to you and so valuable in the coaching that you do?   The Dental A Team (03:31) Yeah, I love that question because even us in what we do, we want to know if we're winning or not. Right. And so every team member, doesn't matter what job you're doing. You want to know if you're doing a good job and if you're winning. And if we don't have KPIs to measure or clarity in our roles, we're just, we're going day by day by default, you know, and we could have a success, but like you said, it's   How do we repeat it if we don't even know what we're looking for? So number one is defining those duties and understanding what am I responsible for and how do I know if I'm winning or   The Dental A Team (04:15) Yeah, I love that. you said a couple of things there that I keyed in on, but you said duplicate. So making it repeatable and making it so that that system can be driven by anyone. like anyone can do it, it can be duplicated and you can take a same or similar system and copy and paste it into a different department or a different goal. And I totally agree. Now, when you have something that's duplicatable, it's just kind of   I don't want to say on autopilot, but it feels more on autopilot because you're not having to put quite so much like thought process on everything, you know? It is kind of on autopilot. When you're able to do that, how does that, what level of accountability does that require? I guess is the question. Like we've got to, we can have all the systems in the world and the clarity and the job roles, we think we have the clarity and we hand it to them and then we walk away.   what's the next step? We've got the clarity, we've got the job descriptions. What does the accountability look like for those things and why is it so important to the overall stress of the team?   The Dental A Team (05:23) Yeah, again, in everything we do, it's either by default or by intention, right? And I'd rather be intentional. So using those duties and then following up. I'm a firm believer of performance reviews outside of wage reviews. Can they tie together? 100 % they can tie together. But I also feel as leaders in the practice, we have a responsibility to grow our people, not just grow our practice, but grow our people, right?   And so having those conversations to measure against their duties and the KPIs, not a feeling, I feel like I did a good job, right? ⁓ Having those to measure against, lets them know, they know before they even come in that they're winning or not. And it also gives us the opportunity to coach them up, right? If they're not winning or, you know, what's getting in the way of it, or really it could be an opportunity to coach them and train them.   And it doesn't necessarily mean us as leaders have to be the one to do it, but we can provide resources and we can get commitments around it so that we can measure, again, we don't have to hit perfection, but are we trending in a growth pattern? And the more that we grow our people, the more that our practice grows, you know?   The Dental A Team (06:43) Yeah,   yeah, that makes sense. So you're tying that accountability measurement, that accountability piece is less micromanaging and oversight and like, are you doing the thing but it's tied into the results being driven. So if we're tracking the KPIs, we're tracking the results that we're desiring and we're seeing, are we on track, off track? Are we growing? Are we declining? That's the accountability measurement and then inspiring our team to want to win within that.   that provides that feedback system, I guess, that loop back where they're like, hey, I'm seeing a downtrend. Maybe they're at a point now where they're inclined to speak up and ask for help or they see something that needs to be adjusted or switched and so they're doing it on their own rather than that micromanaged ⁓ over the shoulder accountability. Because I do think, Kristy, that a lot of times the definition of the word accountability can be   It's like ASAP, like when can you come ASAP? That could mean anything. Your ASAP versus my ASAP is who knows what that means. So that accountability piece, I think we all have our own definition or our own variation of defining it, but your version here is really looking at the results driving it and then constantly coming back to it. So I love that. are you having your doctors and your practices?   look at those results and talk about them because there's the one piece to assume that we're all adults and we're all going to look at them, we're all going to fill them in, we're all going to come to our leadership when we need help. But then that's where I get the phone calls from the doctors that's like, I thought I employed adults and they're not doing the thing. And they're well, we get busy too. So it doesn't always happen that way. So when are you suggesting or having your doctors and your practices really look at those results to bring that fold of accountability measurement into it?   At the one-on-ones for sure, is there anything else that you're adding in there?   The Dental A Team (08:42) Yeah, for sure. think that truly there's daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and yearly metrics, and they can be broken out. ⁓ Yes, one-on-ones are specific to them, but it's also a team sport, right? And so, again, I think I encourage everybody to be doing meetings.   If in a perfect world, I'd love them weekly and they're strategic to work on the business, not just in the business and in the ones that are doing it with intention and having those meetings and dialing in on those metrics. And, you know, they can tell if they're winning or not. It gives you the strategy to be able to course correct sooner than later. And it lets everybody know where they are and we can be support to each other. So to your question,   I don't think it's cut and dry, but I do think there's daily, weekly, monthly numbers that we should be having a pulse on. I don't want to wait till November to know I'm $100,000 behind for the year. It gets a little harder to chunk down. So ⁓ the other thing that you said, Tiff, too, is when you were saying accountability, I think that word in and of itself tends to have a negative connotation.   The Dental A Team (09:48) Yeah. Yeah.   The Dental A Team (10:01) I want to challenge our members and people listening to see it as a positive thing. Like literally it's your time to invest in your people. I literally just got off the phone with one that, and it's funny because our admin team, it's usually where it falls. It's like, hey, I need you to credential this doctor. Okay, I don't even know how to do that. whose doctors don't even know how to do it. So how is that team member going to know how to do it? Right?   Where do I start? And in fact, the doctor doesn't know how to do it. So sometimes it's, we can't just leave them out on an island and expect them to win. And if we check in early, we can provide resources. Again, I don't, a doctor, maybe they don't need to know how to do it, but can they guide them?   and give them the resource. And in doing that, look how much more valuable they've just made that team member.   The Dental A Team (10:55) I think you're spot on there. just that statement there of the team member, like I can picture is we want to talk about how accountability reduces the stress. And that's that scenario you just gave. I can picture the office manager being like, yeah, okay, I'll figure it out. And then all that does is add this underlying unknown stress in the back of her mind or his mind. They're thinking, I got to figure this out. I got to make this work. I got to   I gotta do it, but I've got all these other things first. And then dot comes in and is like, hey, did you do that? And they're like, no, like, right? And now we're stressed and we're freaking out. And it's like, there's that unknown space that we don't always know what we don't know. So we don't always know the questions to ask, but just really having that feedback system of accountability within the results, I think is the key there.   The Dental A Team (11:45) you one of the things we fail at as leaders is painting that clarity. Again, even if I asked you to do that, did you give me a timeframe? Because you might've wanted it done yesterday. I'm thinking, I could do it in the next month, you know?   The Dental A Team (12:00) Yeah, yeah, yeah, which is what I do, right? I'm like, yep, got it, it's on my list. But I've got 60 other things that are also on my list that if I'm not given a prioritization, I'm gonna prioritize it myself, right? And that's, it's gonna fall where it falls. And then you come back and you say, where's that thing? I'm like, well, it's on the back end of my list, because what does it trump? So what does it go above that I can replace?   it with, know, whatever. So you're spot on there. I love that, that it all loops together because in the beginning you said, then you just said to you like painting that clarity. And I always tell practices, and I know you do too, when you're building out the job descriptions and the org charts, you need one to three key metrics of results. What are the one to three things that this position is after? We want, you know, a schedule full to daily production goal. That's our schedulers goal.   So all of those little pieces that get us there, we don't tackle those until we're not reaching goal. So if we're not reaching that big overarching metric, that's when we say, okay, what system is broken? But I think, Kristy, what tends to happen is that people are like, no, accountability causes stress. Like Tiff, Kristy, you're crazy. The accountability causes stress because we're micromanaging the systems.   that get us to the result rather than holding the accountability lever to the result.   The Dental A Team (13:31) I agree with you 100 % and truly looking at the person as a human and how can I develop this within them, right? I don't think anybody walks in on any given day thinking how can I make this day horrible, right? They want to please their leaders and it's just sometimes they don't understand how. They don't really have the clarity on how and more so they don't know what   The Dental A Team (13:39) Yeah.   bright.   The Dental A Team (14:00) what winning looks like.   The Dental A Team (14:02) Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. No, I think you're spot on there and you're making me think that clarity piece,   clarity piece and knowing how to make someone happy, right? How do I thrive in this position and make my doctor or my manager, whomever my lead, happy also ties back to when accountability is only held in the negative. It's very easy to start to feel like   you're not, you can't win. There's no positive being brought to light. So it's it's celebrating when cause for celebrating and it's tackling system when cause for tackling systems and never tackling the person. Unless it's a personality, personnel issue that's separate, but when it comes to accountability results and driving the practice, it's more about celebrating and tackling as you need to and not only tackling, which in the dental industry,   The Dental A Team (14:43) You got   The Dental A Team (14:58) Our jobs, I tell practices all the time, patients come here so we can tell them what's wrong with their teeth. They don't come here so we can say, my gosh, that's the best smile I've seen all day. Like we want to say that, right? But when we see that good smell, we're like, you're all good, nothing here, right? That's not a celebration. We're just like, no problems. See you later. And we tend to do that in our KPI meetings too, where it's like, cool, you're good, you're good, you're good. you're not good, let's focus on you today. And it's like, well, shoot, when do I win?   I think you keyed on something really big there. I think deducting all of those pieces that you mentioned today, Kristy, it feels like the stress is typically going to be seen in more of an emotional capacity than in a physical can-do capacity. So it's in a mental capacity that turns into an emotional capacity that brings on the stress of the world and really just keying in on how to remove the emotion.   from it, bring in the black and white and celebrate those pieces.   The Dental A Team (16:02) I agree with you 100%. And I think it's why we always are speaking to right people, right seat, right? And I always joke when I tell my clients this, I almost think it should be right seat, right people instead of, you know what I mean? Yeah. yeah, spot on.   The Dental A Team (16:14) Yeah. Yeah, no, that's fair.   I love it. If you were to pick two or three things that a practice could do today that might be not like, I don't wanna say surface level, because I don't think it's surface level, but maybe not digging deep and uprooting a whole system. But what are some things that they could implement today or they could take a look at flushing out if they were to try to reduce stress today in their practice?   The Dental A Team (16:44) Yeah, I truly, I think the first thing would be, there one or two metrics that aren't where you want them? Let's pull out that system or identify what duties or what things do we do every day that contribute to that number and then pull out those systems and figure out it. It can be process or it can be people, meaning   Maybe as a person, I change the recipe, right? I always tell people, you change the chocolate chip recipe for a cup of salt, when it called for cup of sugar, you don't get to say the recipe doesn't work, right? So pull it back out. Let's look at it. Is the recipe, we tailored it and it's not working? Let's just get back to it. know, recommit, recommit as a team or an individual and then remeasure. Is it working? Right? So,   The Dental A Team (17:22) That's fair.   Yeah. Yeah.   The Dental A Team (17:38) That would be my thing and get energized behind it.   The Dental A Team (17:42) I love it. Well, thank you. It amazed me. actually just last night I altered I altered a recipe. I make these biscuit things for Brody and I was like, I'll do a gluten free flour because then I can have some too. And I really like bell peppers. So I'm gonna take the bell peppers out. But I didn't change the amount of flour. So they are real dry, you know, and Brody this morning was like, maybe you need a new recipe. And I was like, well, no, it was.   because I didn't have enough wet ingredients because I didn't put the bell peppers in there and to it I didn't reduce the flour so it's just funny that you said that because Brody was ready to throw out the recipe and find a whole new recipe but it wasn't the recipe it was me so I appreciate that you say that at home today. ⁓   The Dental A Team (18:22) You   I think   the with that though, you know, the ironic-ness that you just said that my son has celiac. So in the very beginning, we were learning to cook different. It's funny how you have to transition. I would encourage you to use applesauce in your... It puts it back to nobody's trying to make the day difficult. We're all trying to do our best and, you know, celebrate your people. Try to recognize the wins.   The Dental A Team (18:28) Yeah.   Yeah.   ⁓ smart! Yes, I do forget about that.   The Dental A Team (18:55) and the areas that aren't improving, address them as needed.   The Dental A Team (19:00) Yeah,   I love that. Thank you. Thank you. And thank you for the tip. Everybody has a gluten-free flour tip now as well. We're here for all of the things. Awesome, Kristy, thank you. And I hope you guys can see some spaces in your practice where you can dial in the accountability. I don't wanna say ramp up the accountability. I think it just needs to be dialed in and it just needs to be in alignment with what your goals are.   The Dental A Team (19:05) Right   The Dental A Team (19:27) And if your goals are to have a stress-free practice, it doesn't mean you remove the accountability. It just means that you find the alignment of the accountability to sit with your goals. take a look. You guys, think you know, Hello@TheDentalATeam.com is where to send questions. We are here for it. And a lot of those questions, just so you know, if they are tailored to specific things like this, they get sent to the consultant team and we are the ones that are providing the answers for them to respond to you guys. So you have us at your fingertips, just like our clients do if you are a client.   Reach out to your consultant, she's there to help you. We love what we do. you guys, drop a five star review below. We love hearing what you love. And you know what, when you use that applesauce, let us know how that goes too. So, Kristy, thank you so much for your time today. And with that, you guys, it's a wrap. We'll catch you next time.  

Kiera is joined by Dr. Paul Etchison to talk about changing the mindset of turnover = failure. This transition is part of the evolution of leadership. Both Kiera and Dr. Etchison share their own experiences in remaining true to core values, and keeping their definitions of success separate from whether a team member stuck around or not. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: Kiera Dent (00:00) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera and today is an extra special day. I have one of my faves and every time we podcast, people say, you two just seem like you love each other so much. And I really do. I've been to this man's practice. We've been friends in the industry for I don't even know how many years pre-COVID. That's a long time. And we've been on each other's podcasts a lot. He has an incredible podcast. He's an incredible human, incredible friend, incredible mentor. I got the one and only Paul Etchison on the podcast today. Welcome. How are you today, Paul?   Paul Etchison (00:28) Hey, I'm good. And I was just thinking about how you mentioned like the pre-COVID thing. You texted me a picture of when you came into my practice for two days. And it was like before COVID. And what was funny about it, and I don't know if it's funny or not, but like I looked at it and half of my team has turned over. They're all new people. So I know. ⁓   Kiera Dent (00:36) cute.   Mm-hmm.   It's real life, Paul. That's real life. It is funny and isn't because I go back and I used to   be embarrassed about that. So let's just kind of highlight on that. I used to actually be very embarrassed of like, my gosh, I don't have senior team members. And like, I hate the question. There was a hot minute. The Dental A Team felt like I was Johnny Depp in the middle of the ocean and my boat was full blown on fire. And I was like, I just hope another one shows up soon. Like I hope something comes. ⁓   And then I realized that's business ownership. Like that's real life. And yes, we built these great cultures, but you outgrow team members and team members outgrow you in life circumstances. And I'd rather be honest and real rather than perfect. And so the fact that like teams shift in a lot, mean, shoot, I used to have this vision board, Paul, you want to hear how ridiculous this was? And I took the team and I put them in the one year, the three year, the 10, and I just had this like same team follow with me. That lasted me for like six months. And I was like, rip this thing up.   Paul Etchison (01:31) Yes.   You   Kiera Dent (01:40) It's   gotten better, it's stabilized, but I think that that's real life. So thanks for talking about it.   Paul Etchison (01:44) It's hard,   yeah, I mean, we look at it and I think like the beginning of my practice career, I had very little turnover, but it was, I had to put so much into keeping that. Like it was such a hard thing to keep going. there was a lot of team members that I kept and I was able to make them happy and I was able to have it be a productive relationship and they were good at the practice. But sometimes I look back on it I'm like, man, it was just, that was a lot of energy I put into one person. I should have just moved on.   So that's how I practice now. It's different. There's a little bit more turnover and I think that's normal and that's part of business ownership. So we're okay.   Kiera Dent (02:16) What changed in your mindset for that? I have so many questions for you today. You guys, Paul and I, when we get on the podcast, it really is just like a free for all. And Paul has no clue. I have a full plan of what I'm asking you today, ⁓ but it's going to be a free for all rift of business ownership of teams. How did you change that perspective? Because I think so many people chalk that up to, I'm a failure of a boss if I've got turnover. Like I had a doctor the other day on a coaching call and she's like, Kiera,   Paul Etchison (02:19) Yeah.   Kiera Dent (02:42) What am I going to do for PR? Like I've got people turning over and how do I PR this? So anything is twofold. One, how did you get like mentally change that mindset? Cause I think it's a big mental game.   Paul Etchison (02:54) Yeah, for me, was everything that I've done in my career as far as like leadership growth and stuff, I think has always stemmed from some period of just struggle and burnout to some extent. It was like, I got to the point where I was taking everything that happened at the practice personally, every upset person at upset employees, they're bothered about something. They're they always, I mean, they're telling you how you should be doing things that not realizing that there's very complicated solutions. And sometimes there's not perfect solutions. A lot of times there's   perfect solutions. So I think what changed for me is I started looking at it from a point of my mental sanity saying I can't attribute my feelings on the happiness of all these team members anymore.   And all I need to do is just be very clear on what I want, be very consistent with the way that I treat them and hold them to that standard. But ultimately, I'm putting the ball in their court. It's up to them. And if they want to play ball, cool. If they don't, that's cool too. We can still be friends and you can go to some other office where it's more to your liking. But the biggest change for me was just realizing I can't be everything to everybody. And I did it for a long time and it was really exhausting. And I worked through that and I feel a lot better   it.   I think my team   is better for it.   Kiera Dent (04:08) Yeah, no, I don't disagree. And I'm glad you talked about that. It's been fun. think Paul, you felt like, I don't know, a big brother to me when we met and I came out to your practice and the fun things we've been able to do together and just the differences. ⁓ I think as we've grown up in the industry together, but I, I admired that because I always thought you had this amazing team. And I think to hear your version and then my version at the same time was very similar. I just realized like,   We got a killer team. Like this is an amazing company. And I think when I evolved to you're so lucky to work here, you're so like not in an egotistical way, but I think in a confidence way of like, this is a great place and we're going to attract people. I started realizing like I had confidence to make offers of what we actually wanted to pay versus what I felt like I had to chase to get people to be here. ⁓ we pivoted and I used to like chase all the time and try to be everything for everybody. And then I'm like,   Why am I doing this? Kiera, like you have built a company and a culture and a space that people love. And yes, there are changes and I will continue on forever evolve. I don't think that we're a perfectly set company, but I think that we're a pretty great, awesome place to work. And I think when I became centered, confident in me and what I was providing in the culture without having to be everything, I noticed I actually attracted a way different type of employee. I attracted somebody who wanted that same style. They, it,   It was like no more like games. think in like compensation and all this, it was more just centered. It was like, this is what we do and this is who we are and I want great people. And I also think it was very much attributed to like, got dialed in on core values. And I was like, I'm sticking to these. These are like rock solid. do not deviate from that. And if you don't fit. Fantastic. There is another opportunity, like go find your dream place and we're going to find our dream team member. And I say that in a very like confident, hopefully not egotistical. And I think you, sounds like you did a similar thing, but I.   I will say, I think you go through a space of realizing you're not a failure. It's an evolution. I think of, of leadership. It's almost like going from, I don't want to say immature. It's more like children and how's they grow. Like, I don't think a little baby is a failure for having that knowledge and that mindset. And I think some of us, are toddler baby owners. Like we've never done this before. We don't know. So we're going to have a different mindset. And then you just start to morph and evolve just like   Children grow up and they morph and evolve into these teenagers, into these college students, into like the prime of their life. To me, that also feels like a maturity of leadership as well to being confident with that.   Paul Etchison (06:42) Yeah,   I love that you point that out too, because we do, we hear a lot of complaints from our team members and then we start to, it starts to add up and then we start to really doubt.   Did we really create a great work environment? I mean, we just had an all day meeting maybe about two months ago, maybe six weeks ago,   like that. And one of the questions I asked, we use this thing called Slido. It's just in real time, you put on a PowerPoint slide and everybody can vote on their phone. There's a million like programs that do this. But I asked the whole team anonymously on a scale of one to 10, how fun is it to work at Nelson Ridge Family Dental? And I was terrified to throw that   Kiera Dent (07:03) Thank   Paul Etchison (07:19) there. I had no idea what people were going to say.   Kiera Dent (07:20) I don't blame you.   Paul Etchison (07:22) It was everybody was like eight, nine. There was like three or four sixes. Now I have 30 something team members.   So the   Kiera Dent (07:29) Yeah.   Paul Etchison (07:30) of it was very good, but it was, it was scary.   if you would have asked me what I thought it was going to   Kiera Dent (07:35) Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.   Paul Etchison (07:37) I did not think it was going to be that good because the squeaky wheel gets the grease. This, you know, that's what we hear. That's what we focus on. And it reminds me of this one coaching client I had, cause I coached dentists as well. had a coach coaching client named Isaac and he did very similar to you.   choir practice, he really got deep into the foundational core values of this is what the practice is. And   turned over his entire team and he said, I feel like such a failure. I feel like everybody's leaving. I feel like I'm just turning everybody off. Patients are coming in and asking where everybody is. I just don't think my leadership's good. And I told him, just hang through,   Hang, you'll find your people. And then six months later, he was like, I cannot tell you how much I love my team. And so I think the message of what you and I are saying, Kiera, is that no matter   Kiera Dent (08:12) Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.   Right.   Paul Etchison (08:22) what you want to do with what kind of vision you have for your practice, your team's out there. They are there. They are waiting for someone to take charge and just make it a big deal that that's the type of people we have at this practice.   Kiera Dent (08:26) Mm-hmm.   Paul Etchison (08:33) So if anyone's listening thinking like, have this issue at my office, get those core values out, talk to the team about it. Don't just like leave it on a document, bring it up with ⁓ a meeting and say, guys, this is what I truly want.   And sometimes apologize. I'm   I haven't been holding everyone to the highest regard or the highest standard, but I'm ready to do it and I need your help. So I love that you brought up those two points. Those are amazing things and I think everybody struggles with that.   Kiera Dent (08:55) Yeah.   I think, and I think that that's something that I feel you and I both strive to do is tell people feel like they're not alone. I think so many doctors feel like I'm the only one out there. I'm the only one who can't keep my team there. I'm the only one who has team turnover. And like, this is not the path that we were even on my radar to head, but I think it's obviously the most important path for people to hear. ⁓ I think Paul, it's the no judgment. It's the hang through it. It's, ⁓ having a guide, a mentor who's been there, done that, done that successfully. I mean, you and I can both like,   Gosh, you like grit through that and it's painful. But I also believe that while yes, painful, I feel it's an evolution of soul that you actually internally are craving. I don't believe that we rise to the call until we're ready. Like Kieran 2020, when I'm sitting on Johnny Depp like boat in the ocean, it was on fire. I was not ready for the call and the evolution that came in 2024 for me.   Like I just, wasn't ready for it, but come 2024. And I think it's a, it's a shedding, it's a shifting. It's a, like, I call it like the skin sloughing. Like it's like a snake, like you're leaving it behind. It's, I watched penguins when I was in Antarctica, like small flex there, Paul. Like the Antarctica trip was pretty rad. And we watched it. Right? We went to Antarctica. Penguins are so cute and they smell terrible. Like they're like little ketchup bottles that just squirt poop all day long. And it's disgusting.   Paul Etchison (10:11) I was just going to follow up on that. Whoa.   Kiera Dent (10:25) but they were molting when we were there and they just looked absolutely miserable. Like they sat there and they told us like, please don't touch the penguins. like, these look just, they're like, it's very painful for them. They're having to completely molt off all of these feathers. And I think that that's how I feel a lot of business owners are like, are you going through that molting process? But again, just like those penguins, just like us, I really do believe that when we're ready to be called to that higher level, one, you're not alone, two, you don't have to go through it alone.   Three, it's normal and it's part of growth, but like, there's also, you don't have to grow until you actually want to. Like, it sounds like Isaac was just ready. Like, I'm ready, I'm done. Like, I've hit my limit. I was ready, I was done. I was like, we are having a complete culture shift. Like, we're done and like, it needs to evolve. Sounds like you had it. But I also feel, and I don't know how you feel, Kieran 2020, Kieran 2024, even into 2025, leadership culture company.   keeps evolving. don't feel like I have as many of those like huge molting in 2020, huge molting in 2024, 2025. It's more of a shift in a refinement rather than a full molt. But that's, think how, at least for me, that's how I think I view leadership is.   Paul Etchison (11:37) Yeah, totally agree. It's like we go through these stages of leadership growth. And I remember for me, like leadership all the way up to COVID was like system, system, systems, consistency with team. And my team grew to like 35, 40 people and it got really unmanageable. And then when we came back from COVID from being shut down, I really wanted to try to do something different. And I wanted to keep that. ⁓   I just loved when we were shut down for COVID. I loved how it felt. It felt easy. And I said, I want that, but I don't want that craziness when we open up again. And when I did, I started to feel that same craziness. And I was going to therapy at the time. And like the therapist will tell you, just change your expectations. Don't take everything personally. And what I learned through that is there's no amount of therapy that can   broken leadership   Is that I had systems, I had consistency, but my team   had outgrown those systems. We needed more systems of leadership. So the next stage in my leadership was learning how to lead leaders and truly delegate and truly give them the autonomy to do everything. And when we did that, everything got so much better. there was parts of me that was like, I'm not the right person for this level of organization. not the right person for this size of a dental office. I'm just too anxious. I take   Kiera Dent (12:41) Mm-hmm.   Paul Etchison (12:59) too personally. And ultimately, I think it was just I   Kiera Dent (12:59) you   Paul Etchison (13:02) set up, I didn't set up my organization the proper way. So that was the next level up for me. And I think that's me shedding my skin finally once and for all to learn how to lead leaders. And who knows what's   Kiera Dent (13:14) Paul, I think that you are actually a really good example of letting go of control. How do you do that? Like,   I remember talking to you one day, this is offline, hopefully I'm not oversharing. And you're like, a lot of people say, like, what are you going to do if you retire? And I know you sold your practice to a DSO and you're like, I've never looked back. Like it was great. Um, you're like, I'm actually the person who's okay to just like sleep in and do nothing. Like I really am okay with that. Like, how did you let go of that control with your team? Um, knowing that they weren't going to do it exactly like you, like, I think people have this in theory. They try to do it, but.   Paul Etchison (13:23) No, of course not.   Kiera Dent (13:49) Like that's another molting. That's another really hard gap to go from full control. You're in charge of everything to I'm stressed out. Now I'm going to let team members take over and maybe you're, maybe you're an anomaly, maybe you're a unicorn, but how did you do it?   Paul Etchison (13:59) Yeah.   I think it's like we talked about the growth, but I think where we screw up as practice owners when we do this is we get upset that the team members are not doing exactly the way that we would do it. And there needs to be some wiggle room. There needs to be a lot of forgiveness. But ultimately, there's got to be clarity. And not enough practice owners are having the conversations with their team members. Like I always say, like, I'm coaching dentists all the time, and they're telling me about these issues they're having at their practice. And I'm saying, well, why do you think that is? And the answer is like, well, it might be this.   kind of think it's this and it's like, well, get curious, ask, ask your team. So for me, it was about telling my team what's expected and when   Kiera Dent (14:36) Mm-hmm.   Paul Etchison (14:42) didn't meet expectations, instead of like dancing around it, just going right at the   getting curious, what is going on with this? What is, why is this not happening? And then always like, you know, if you ask the right questions, the next step for any leadership, any leader is to validate their perspective.   no matter what it is and that will go so far. If you take one thing out of this podcast, do that. When your team members share something with you or if you're getting curious, asking them why things are happening, how they're feeling about something, validate their experience and watch how much they open up and they're.   open to behavior change and other options. And then that allows you the opportunity to then ask and invite participation in the solutions. What do you think we should do?   I noticed our cancellations are getting up there. Like, what are we doing about this?   What do you see happening? Getting curious. And they're saying, well, I don't know. Like, I got to ask some more   OK. And then validate their experience. I totally see how maybe you got busy with your other things and you haven't been asking your team. But we've got to ask the team and find out just so many little things.   For me, was getting out of the way, being clear with expectations. But then instead of trying to go around my leads and my leaders, my practice and go around them and deal with the other other teams myself, I let them do it and I let them fail and I help them and I support them.   And I think I know there's a lot of like team members that listen to your podcast, Kiera. I would hope if you're listening to this and you're team member, I would hope you understand how valuable you are to an owner. If you can take things, find solutions and hold your, your team members, your fellow coworkers to a certain standard, like you would be so valuable. Everyone's like, well, how can I get a raise? How can I contribute more value? I would people on my team, my leaders that do this for me, they are so valuable to me and every owner.   is just waiting for somebody to step in and fill that role. I mean, every practice could use   Kiera Dent (16:38) team members, their number one objective is to make their doctor happy.   every day, all day. That's like what my job is. That's what I want to do. That's how I want to serve. That's how I want to help out. ⁓ And I think as owners, I think it can be easy to see all the problems in your team. But I think it's what pair of sunglasses do I want to put on? Do I want to put on the one where I see like, what's wrong is just as available as what's right. Both are always available in every single scenario, every single situation. And so what are we bringing to the table and how are we looking at these different things?   How are we guiding our teams? How are we guiding our leaders? How are we showing up as leaders? How are we like, what is the filter I'm putting on every single day? Like those, those two sunglasses are right there as you walk out the door and which pair are you choosing to put on? Cause you're going to influence impact and create a team. No matter what we see what we want to see. And I believe that we create our own realities. I believe that reality is what we believe it is. And so, ⁓ I think shifting that seeing that, and I think having just a bigger plan, a bigger vision. know when I got very crystal clear of where am I headed?   What is my role? Like, this is gonna sound funny, Paul. I literally Googled like, what does a CEO do? I think doctors come out of school, like you're a doctor, like you do the dentistry, like that's what I'm supposed to do. And I remember one day I was sitting there and I'm like, what is the CEO even supposed to do? Like, I don't even know, like, like really, like where is a CEO, like dictionary, like job description, I realized, got it. It's profit, vision, and culture. Like those are really my main things. Stay out of the weeds and like go for it. And...   Paul Etchison (17:43) you   Kiera Dent (18:04) That's what I'm bred to do. Bring the great ideas, bring those different pieces. That's my job. That's my responsibility. I think dentists also have the second tier of you do dentistry too. So you are a clinician in there and then you have those pieces. But driving culture, driving a culture of accountability of fail, fail forward. like, gosh, I just read this really awesome book and they said, we measure it by outcomes, not activity.   Like just stuff like that. Like you start to become this person who wants to evolve your culture, evolve who your team is, evolve who you are as a person. And I think Paul, even in just knowing you, I think there's been an evolution of who you are as well. ⁓ I think that is just, and hopefully I've evolved too, like fingers crossed there's been an evolution and I'm not as quite, I don't know. I think we keep the best of ourselves. And then I think just evolve into our 2.0, 3.0, 4.0 levels. I guess I just asked the questions of   Paul Etchison (18:42) Absolutely.   Kiera Dent (18:58) I think you've got a fascinating story. You were full, full practice owner. You were in there. You sold out to a DSO. You're still in your practice. You still train. You, you've evolved. If you were sitting back when I met you, what would you tell that Paul of what you know today that would have made that whole experience, whether you're selling, whether you're growing, evolving. I mean, you have a very large practice. It's been real fun to watch you and your practice and everything. What would you have told that Paul?   Paul Etchison (19:27) Yeah, and this comes up a lot with my coaching clients. A lot of people ask me that. And one of the things, if we're looking at our practice, and I'm going back to the beginning, is if we want to sell our practice, if we want to cut back our days, if we want to have the most profitable practice ever, a lot of the times the strategy is identical. We're just trying to go through and create more freedom for ourselves as practice owners by empowering our team, getting them to do a lot of the responsibility.   Kiera Dent (19:48) Mm-hmm.   Paul Etchison (19:57) to be accountable for a lot of the stuff. So I think if I could go back and tell myself again, man, first of all, just stop taking everything so personal. And you come in and you look at it with these different lens of leadership and maturity and all these leadership skills. It's not just at the practice. It shows up in your relationships with your spouse, with your friends, with your kids, like all these things. Like it's all intertwined. But I would have much earlier got the leaders going in my practice because one of the things   Kiera Dent (20:16) Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.   Paul Etchison (20:27) happen through my practice sale is I just like I mentioned I felt like it wasn't I'm not cut out for this I'm sick of being miserable I'm sick of being stressed I'm sick of taking it home and I'm sick of taking it out on people that I love and so when I sold it I said okay I'm on my three-year exit plan I'm getting out of here I'm moving on I don't know what I'm gonna do but I'm gonna move on so I said you know my associate partner Dr. Kathy she owns part of the practice too   I'm gonna pass it to her and maybe she won't be able to do it as well as me. But I need to set this up so she is just, I wanna bless her with this amazing practice that runs on its own. And in the process of setting that up with my leaders, I realized, dang, I don't know if I would have sold. And I'm still happy I sold, don't get me wrong. I'm not saying I would have, but that's what I would have tried to do early in my career. I would have went, who are the leaders? ⁓ The whole thing with like the Dan Kennedy of the who, not how. Not how do we do it, but who's gonna do this?   Kiera Dent (21:11) Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm.   Right.   Paul Etchison (21:25) And I would have leaned into that a lot more because I think I would have been a lot happier. I would have been able to enjoy the journey more. But at the same time, it's like we learn from our mistakes and you got to make the mistakes to learn from. So it's like, so that whole Catch-22, would I change anything? I don't think so because I wouldn't be, if I didn't have the same experience, I wouldn't be the person I am today. But man, I wish I had learned it earlier. That's for sure.   Kiera Dent (21:45) Sure.   It's fair. And I'm actually happy to hear that because I feel like this is like the DSO conundrum and like the cell. And I'm happy to hear you say that because it validates what we try to coach on to. So many doctors are like, I'm just going to sell. And I'm like, well, let's just look at this. If you sell, let's look at what your life will look like on the other side of it. Let's look to see where you are today. And really, let's get to the root of why do you want to sell? And I think, Paula, if we would have asked you that same question.   Why did you wanna sell? My hunch is it was all these problems, all these issues. It was just like, I'm sick of it. Like, let's just pass this on. Let's move on. When a great leader, a great office manager, a CEO, a CFO could have easily come in, taken over for you. You could have had the exact same scenario. You just would have owned it and had more options on the table. Like you said, it's not right, it's not wrong. But I think like for everybody listening, I think today is a good reflection of one, are you going through a molt? Like, are we molting anywhere?   ⁓ and do we, or do we need to molt? Like, is there something we need to shed, let go of identity wise? And then two, I like to do this reflection a lot. And I encourage a lot of people to do it. It sounds like Paul, you do it. Like when we're in these issues in these problems, are we stopping and pausing and asking like, what is the root? Not the symptom, the top line symptom is like, I'm so stressed. And I got this and this and this, but like, do we ever stop and pause to dig to that route and find out   what is really at the root. For me, I often have many journals that are like this, this, this, and I just like list it all out of all these things are frustrating me. But what I'm trying to do is find what is a thread? What is the piece in that that's causing the chaos because then we go fix that. And that's what I love in practices because 99 % of the time what people tell you on the top line, so coaching offices, coaching doctors, coaching teams, like Paul, you know this, I know this. What people tell you at the top is not really what's the problem.   It's the bottom layered, there's something rooted, there's something under there. These are just symptoms on the top. Same thing with patients and case acceptance, right? It's the up at the top, what they're telling you is not really what they're feeling. And all you gotta do is just dig under, find out what that root is and stress and that will go away. And so Paul, thank you for, I just am curious. I've always been curious, like, would you have done something differently? Of course we never can, like, no, we're not going to. But if I could go back and tell that younger self things, like,   Kyri, get rid of your ego, honey. Like trust your team, trust that team to do amazing, trust them to do better than you are, trust them to be better than you, trust them to make better decisions than you do, because I want to create that kind of a team and me believing that is going to ultimately turn my team into that. They have the whole study about teachers with kids and IQs and like if they believe that they have a stronger IQ without doing anything different, that child actually ends up with a higher IQ. Well, why don't we take that same principle and apply it to our teams and see what happens.   Paul Etchison (24:23) Yeah.   It's so true. And I love that you say like the reflection that you did, because I noticed this with my coaching   is that there's a lot of, there's a lot of how, how do we do this? How do we fix this? But I think anyone listening, if you just sat down in a dark room, maybe not dark room, but you're sitting down in a quiet room for 30 minutes and you reflect it, what do I really, you know, I do this with my coaching clients. We call it a practice clarity and frustration exercise. What do we, what really bothers you with the practice? What is it that really just, you know, grind your gears,   it down and it sounds simple but once you write it down you can like visually see it and start to brainstorm for solutions and you start to make this progress that not only affects the way your practice runs but the way that you're the way that you feel and I think ultimately as practice owners we need to realize that the CEO hat you mentioned what does a CEO do we need time for that and we don't have time for that when you're doing four or five days of dentistry that's why when I'm working with clients the first thing I'm gonna do with a practice owner is I'm gonna get them down to three days clinic   Kiera Dent (25:10) Mm-hmm.   Paul Etchison (25:27) And it always works. so inefficient. There's so many things we can do with scheduling and efficiency and production that we can get you down to three days clinical. But now you've got that extra day to put on that CEO hat, to reflect on the things, to write down and figure out what your plan of attack is. I mean, that's what I've got a workshop coming up in February that that's focused on that. How do we get you down to three days? And that's all I want to do in this three day workshop. We're, of course, doing these reflection activities. But I think this is over the course of my career and working   Kiera Dent (25:27) Mm-hmm.   Paul Etchison (25:57) with people, that's what I've seen moves the needle the most. We need time and we need to give the energy where it's due. And it's not, we   be 100 % clinician. It just doesn't work that way.   Kiera Dent (26:09) Yeah, no, Paul, I love that. And think that's such a fun thing. I think dentists need this. Dentists need to have their vision, have their clarity. But I think from today, the wrap is it started out with a photo, unexpectedly, of this is what we're ⁓ kicking the day off of, going from where we were to where we want to be, ⁓ looking at that, reflecting back, seeing. Because   Paul Etchison (26:23) Yeah. How do we get here?   Kiera Dent (26:34) There's a client that you and I both know. They're pretty well known ⁓ that we work with. whenever I work with, gosh, it's so many practices. I think there's like 300 employees and I'm like, gosh, I remember all their names every time. ⁓ But they talk about how sometimes the best learning is just remembering. Remembering where we've been, remembering where we're going to go, remembering things that we've learned looking there. So it's like remembering where I've been so that way I can kickstart and project into where I need to go.   using your team to get there. Your team wants to be your best asset for that. So Paul, those are kind of my wrap thoughts. I know today has just been a real fun day. Always enjoy a good podcast with you. Any last thoughts you have?   Paul Etchison (27:15) No, you know, I would just close it off with   having the listener just believe, just believe in the possibility of what's going, what is possible with your practice. ⁓ There was a point where we talked about reflection. I reflected and I said, I wrote down everything I do at the practice and I wrote down how many of these activities bring me joy and how many of them I hate. And I believe it was something like 80 % of them I hated. So that's no way to live your practice life. You spend a lot of time at work. So why not do the reflection and put the time and energy into   Kiera Dent (27:38) Mm-hmm.   Paul Etchison (27:45) Making your practice a better place to be at it's not just gonna affect you. It's gonna affect your family. It's gonna affect your team ⁓ There's big your ripples that come from this little thing So I would say sit down find a coach find a mentor read some books it is possible believe in yourself and It all starts with the planning so sit down and write down some things journal love it   Kiera Dent (28:09) Journal it up. Well, Paul, I appreciate you so much.   I ⁓ just love what you're doing for our community. I love the things that we're able to accomplish together. ⁓ And yeah, guys, check him out in Dental Practice Heroes podcast. He's got some great stuff over there as well. ⁓ Paul, so good to have you on the podcast. I think you mentioned the event in February. If people want to know more about that, how do they connect with you on that?   Paul Etchison (28:35) Yeah, go to DentalPracticeHeroes.com slash freedom. So that's where the information on the three day workshop, it's going to   awesome. And I'm doing a money back guarantee. If you don't think you liked it, if you don't like what you signed up for, I'll give you all your money back. I believe in it that much. And I know from me coaching for the past six years, I know this is what produces results. So go check that out,   more about the courses, check out the podcast. And I'm always happy to talk to any listeners if they want some help or they just want to find out what we're more about. Please just go to the website, DentalPracticeHeroes.com.   dot com.   Kiera Dent (29:06) Amazing. Paul, thank you so much for being on the podcast. For all of you listening, I hope you do take the time to reflect. I do hope you think about where you want to go and what you want with your life. And just appreciate you guys all being here. And as always, thanks for listening. I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team Podcast.  

Kiera is here with a gift to make your practice even better: The three most common mistakes dental practices make, and guidance on how to get out of them. Is your practice making one of these mistakes? Delegating tasks without ownership Avoiding hard conversations Flying blind on your numbers Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: The Dental A Team (00:00) Hello, Dental A Team listeners, this is Kiera and today is one of my favorite topics of all time. It's how to avoid the pitfalls because I feel like these are costly mistakes that dental practice owners make. We make these costly pitfalls. We go into them. We don't know about them. And you guys, if you know me, I have a mantra and I say, don't lose money. I hate losing money. It's one of my biggest pet peeves and I don't want you to lose money. So I'm excited to talk about it. I hope you guys are excited because...   The reality is like so many people talk about like, success leaves clues and it does, but so does failure. And I I talk about this a lot when I present and when I speak and I say like success and failure are truly not radically different. They're not, they're like small little things. It's like successful practices are consistent. Successful practices put systems in, successful practices look at their KPIs, successful practices have team meetings that are effective. Successful practices have CEO time.   Successful practices have delegation and ownership. Successful practices ⁓ follow through. They look at their case acceptance. They make their re-care calls. They do their reactivation. They do different verbiage. Like that's what they do. Failure practices don't stay consistent. They always have an excuse. They're always blaming. ⁓ They don't check their case acceptance. They don't track their KPIs. They don't look at their numbers. They don't take CEO time. Like these are just little steps. And like with my fingers, if you're just listening, I'm like,   almost like scallops, like if we've got a middle point, success is I checked my KPIs, failure is I didn't check my KPIs. And while that's not like a huge move, it is moving you points away to where you end up either closer to success or closer to failure. And so I think when we realize this, these are the ones, like, how can I help you guys avoid these costs and mistakes? How can I like motivate and inspire you and like, not just motivate, but genuinely change you?   So that way it's not this I like, well, shoot, we're on failure row. Shoot, like, I don't really know about this. Like, I just want to talk about three of the most common mistakes that people make and how do you correct course because you're going to make mistakes. But like if I'm doing the scallops again, successful offices realize like we didn't do the KPIs. So we're going to start doing the KPIs and we don't miss those. We're going to hold the meetings and we don't miss those.   they course correct before they end up in the failure or the success bucket. They're course correcting constantly. And so this is just like where I'm at coaching hundreds and thousands of offices, team members galore, our team, like literally, I feel so blessed that we get to serve so many offices. I just saw like this really awesome highlight reel of all these doctors that came in person and I was watching it with Jason and I look over and Jason's just the sweetest thing. He's tearing up and he said, Kiera.   I knew when you started Dental A Team, it was going to be like, he's like, I never imagined it being what it is today. He said, but all those people's lives, including all of you listening to the podcasts, all of those lives that we've been able to change because of Dental A Team Gosh, that is just such a blessing. It's such a beautiful thing. And I just want to say thank you. Like, thank you for being here. Thank you for being a part of the offices. Thank you for being a part of my Dental A Team podcast family. Thank you for just showing up. Thank you for changing lives through dentistry. Thank you for giving people a gift of confidence. Like,   And for me to be able to give you a gift to make your practice even better, that's what I'm here for. That's what Dental A Team's about. So like we're here to help you recognize patterns. We're here to help you avoid burnout. We're here to help you make small changes before they become giant snowballs. And I think like my thought process has always been I'm here to positively impact the world of dentistry in the greatest way possible. We're here to share this podcast message with every single office out there. We're here to help offices realize like running a successful practice.   does not have to be hard. It can actually be easy. And let's give you the tools, the tips, the resources, all of that to make your life a grand success. So if that sounds great to you, we'll rock on. So step number one, mistake number one that's very costly is delegating tasks without ownership. So like so many offices, hear them like, Kiera, I listened to the podcast and we implemented it, but like it just didn't work out. And I'm like, yeah, cause you delegated it and you didn't have the structure, didn't have the ownership, you didn't have the accountability, you didn't have the metrics. Like, okay.   One of the doctors called this doctor out and they said, this doctor is a walking cheat, like cheat code. Go talk to him, go ask him what he does because he's been able to take his practice for massive success, which is true. When I met them, were doing about 1.5. Now we're clearing five. We're going to be crushing six to seven. And I just like, gosh, the giddiness in me for this office. Like they deserve the sun, the moon, the stars. Like you name it.   They're just such good humans. And so when I think about this, like we're talking, this is a practice that went from like 1.5, 2 million up to this six, $7 million practice now, something I've noticed. And like I said, this doctor is a walking cheat code. They, when we go in and we're like, okay, we're going to roll out this new process. So we're going to do a new process on how we do case acceptance, or we're going do new process on how we do cancellations. They don't just go to the team and be like, all right guys, we're going to do cancellations. They are like, we're going to build an SOP.   we're gonna have a team training, we're gonna have a metric, we're gonna do it for these four weeks. And they don't take a long time to execute on that. So it's like, perfect, we're gonna have this done in the next three weeks. But they execute, it's rolled out, it's like, it's very, very thorough. And this is a practice of a very large team and they all do it consistently. And when something gets off, they just go right back to the SOP, they update the SOP, where was it missed? What do we need to do? Let's do a team training on it. But I will say I've coached hundreds of offices and this is one office that I watch   constantly that is able to delegate, have ownership and be able to have a full team move and stay hyper accountable. So this is just like, you've got to have ownership. You've got to have SOPs. You've got to roll it out to the team, make sure everybody's aware. And then we've got to have the metrics and the check-ins to make sure something's not off. And if it is off, we follow through on it. So people know that when we roll out new processes, they're here to stick. They're not just like a flash in the pan of like, I heard it on a podcast. Let's try it out.   No, it's very, very, very thorough. So a quick check for you is like, go back and look at the last three things that you delegated. Did you assign them? Did you own them? And did you have follow up on it?   crickets. Yeah, yeah, because you did it. Darn it. But you're going to do it in the future. Or maybe you did. And I'm high fiving you. But most of the time, people don't. And this is so costly because then you can't ever be free. You think you're moving. You're taking one step forward, but you're actually taking like 500 steps backwards because nothing's actually getting delegated. Nothing's actually moving forward. And you're only relying on your A plus star players that are building all these ownership accountability pieces. And people are like, but I want everybody to be that way. And I'm like, human nature is not. Tell me how you're doing on your New Year's.   resolutions, probably not great because human nature by default doesn't stay accountable. Why do think I'm in business? because people, they know what they need to do. People are like, Kiera, I pay you to tell me like what to do that you do on the podcast. And it's like, yeah, because human nature is not follow through. Why do I pay a gym trainer? I've got all the resources, I got all the tools. I need somebody to literally hold me accountable to make me show up to work out. So look at the last three tasks. Did you delegate them? Was their ownership?   Did you follow up on them? Did they have a metric? If not, it up, fix that and start to delegate with ownership and accountability. So mistake number two, are you guys ready for this? It's avoiding hard conversations. ⁓ man, that's a crowd drop off. This is so real though, because we don't have like Patrick Lanziani has the five dysfunctions of a team. And if you and your team have not read this, I highly recommend it's a very easy fable. Have it as like some like,   evening reading. It's so fast, it's so easy and it's very, very great. And I think it's a reread. So if you've listened to it in the past or you read it, maybe do a reread. ⁓ But when we don't have trust and vulnerability and then we don't have healthy debate, AKA hard conversations, what happens is like little small issues become cracks and cracks aren't bad. But if cracks stay there, they actually break and then it becomes toxic and then it arose the entire team. So in leadership, we've got to have, let's like,   I coached his office. guys might know him. He's incredible. ⁓ They've got a lot of offices. think I did seven office visits ⁓ in three days. We were hauling booty. And I love this doctor because he pays for me to come in to coach his teams, to teach them how to have uncomfortable conversations, to remind them like this is why we're here. And the more we have just a few of these and we get away from the fear of discomfort.   and wanting to keep the peace, which is actually artificial harmony, we like care, we align and we move forward. And we use the sports analogy on this of, can you just imagine like pick your favorite sports team, basketball, baseball, soccer, I don't care what it is. Can you imagine for one second, like we'll just use basketball for instance, or football. Like if the quarterback or the point guard goes in, like let's do football, because they get thrashed. Like if that quarterback gets thrashed because his defensive line is not protecting for him.   or no one's open because they didn't follow the play, can you just imagine if that quarterback runs off the field and is like, hey coach, could you tell the defensive line to cover for me next time? Like absolutely not. Or if that quarterback is just like, I'm just so angry with my defensive line. Like they didn't block for me. Like, no, can you imagine? Like, no, they call it out. Like you got a freaking block for me. Like we need to win this game. I need this to happen. And they do it in real time because everybody on the team,   is committed to winning and they call each other in real time of their blind spots. Like my brother said, I'll play basketball. I played tennis. You got to call it in the moment. Like my dad is like, you got to call it in real time. You got to say, Hey, I need you to block. I need you to box out for me. I need you to like throw the ball. Like I'm here. Like I need you guys to get open, whatever it is. But like, if we can get a little bit better, that that's our culture rather than a, we sit here pretending to be perfect, but ultimately hating each other.   and hate's probably a strong word, but creating gaps. And so what I encourage is we normalize uncomfortable conversations. We normalize and encourage it. We push on peer to peer accountability. We have each other instead of it being up to the coach, AKA office manager or doctor, to each other, peer to peer, to where we talk about it. We wanna get the W, we wanna win. And so helping your team realize that this is going to be the best way for us to win is to have these hard conversations.   And it's not, I say it's not confrontation. It's just a conversation. Like let's take that hard out of there, but let's say what needs to happen. And so I would say, doctors, one of the worst things you can do to your great players is to tolerate the poor performance of a lower player. ⁓ Because they're watching you. They're watching to see standards are not what you say. They're what you tolerate. And so when you're A plus players are watching, like, well, doctor is going to do this constantly or doctors are not going to care about that. Now team members, can rise up and you can take care of things too.   Doctors, we've also got to make sure that we're encouraging and we're having the hard conversations too. I don't think you know how much I do not enjoy hard conversations, but I know as a leader, as a boss, as a CEO, as a consultant, I have got to have the hard conversations and I'm going to keep having them. They're not easy, but they are my responsibility and I'm going to show up as a good team member because actually that's better than living in artificial harmony. It's so much better. So there's a great quote.   If you want it, your success and happiness, that's my add on your success and happiness are directly proportional to the number of uncomfortable conversations you're willing to have. So if you want to grow, if you want to rise, how many of you look at your KPIs or your numbers like, gosh, freaking schedule is not full. Like, oh, like our profitability, like, but I go to my team meetings and I'm like, great job guys, you're doing great. Why don't we call it out? Hey, profitability is not where it needs to be.   What are our solutions to get it to where it needs to be? I'm not being a jerk. I'm not sitting here sizzling. Hey, our schedule is not up to goal. What are we doing to get that fixed? Let's have a conversation. Let's fix it. Let's normalize that. That's calling out in real time. Hey, our schedule is not to goal. Like what's our solution? How are we going to get there? It's like it's a huddle. It's a genuine huddle. Think about sports players. Like they get together. Like you need to block. I need you to call that person. I need you to do this. You guys need to call that all the hygienists. If you've got downtime, call seven patients, whatever it is. That's how we get the W.   something rude, let's normalize that we are a team. We call each other out. We celebrate when we win. Also like on the flip, like let's go to basketball, let's go to football. When they score a touchdown, the whole team that was just calling each other out of like, I need you to block, I need you to do this. They also go to the end zone and they freaking celebrate. They lift each other up, they're high-fiving. It's both. So let's make sure that we're calling each other out and normalizing that. And we're also celebrating and normalizing that as well. So this is something of, I would just encourage you to have   one honest conversation, and also I'd recommend in your next team meeting, let's have this if that's a standard, put it up in the break room. We normalize hard conversations. We encourage hard conversations. We are a company that does not sit in artificial harmony. Whatever it is, plaster that, build that into your culture. This is something you've got to like, if you guys could see, I'm like boxing out, like I'm pushing the defense. Like you've got to push this through all the way for you guys to get this to be that and to avoid that costly mistake.   All right, mistake number three. This one should come as a no brainer. You guys know I love numbers and numbers love me. It's flying blind on your numbers. So I think that production feeds the ego, profit feeds the family. So when I look at this, so many doctors are like, well, Kiera, I know you say that the numbers are there, but I don't have any money. And I'm like, yes, but making haphazard, crazy decisions because you're not looking at your numbers and you're not using them as a roadmap, you're just   flying by the seat your pants. And so when you look at this, you've got to know like, here's just a, guess, I guess to help you see like, am I flying blind on my numbers or do I maybe know my numbers? Question number one, what's your breakeven number? Now that's twofold. What's the breakeven number on the practice and what's the breakeven number paying you? Two questions, okay? My question is, what is your overhead on your supplies? What percent, what is your current overhead?   What is your debt services taken out of your overhead? What is your EBITDA? What is your net profit? AKA cashflow. Of that profit, are you saving your taxes? Hmm, something to think about. Fascinating, right? That's how you know. And if you can't answer those questions right now.   I know you're probably flying a little blind. Maybe you even just have like a eye patch on. That's okay. Maybe you're only half blind, not all the way blind. Or maybe you're like, Kiera, I'm walking in the dark. I don't even know any of that. don't even know where to find the PNL. It's fine. Wherever you are, you've got to get this dialed. Like I am a sticky broken record. haven't talked to her. Oh man, I'm so excited. She's going to get on podcast with me. And last year we were chatting and she was like, Kiera, like we were debating. Is she going to join consulting? Is she not going to join consulting? And she's like,   I have got to get profitable. And I said, all right, rock on, challenge accepted. We are going to get you profitable. I have been a broken record with this poor doctor for an entire year. It's production, profit, production, profit, production, profit, production, profit. Head down, produce, make sure your team's collecting and make sure we're profitable. That is what we've done all year long. And guess what? Come the end of the year, she's like, Kiera, I have so much money, I got to pay taxes on it. Like we did it.   and she did it in 11 months. So production, profit, production, profit. If you're producing, but you're not collecting and you're not looking at your numbers, you're not going to be profitable. If you're not planning for taxes and you're not saving for taxes, you're not gonna be profitable. If you don't know what your breakeven is on the practice and then what the breakeven is and what it needs to produce with you in there, you can't project this out and you can't forecast it and we can't figure out what your daily goal needs to be. And then you're just producing for the sake of producing for your ego.   Who was that a rank? Could you tell us there? If you like that email me Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. I might rap it. You guys, I used to have a rapper name Skittlez with a Z so I could wrap with Eminem. Tell Eminem I'd love to wrap with him. I've never gotten that far, but you know, Skittlez, Skittlez and Eminem. I don't know why I just told you that. Email me Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. If you think I should be Skittlez and rap it out. I'd love to hear from you. I genuinely love a good pen pal. So write me. But you've got to know your numbers. You have to.   non-negotiable. And this is, think, where accountability as a coach comes into play. I force our clients with our consultants to know their numbers. We call it the yes model. You've got to have your vision. That's the Y. E stands for earnings. You've got to be profitable, non-negotiable, otherwise go be an associate. And S stands for systems and team development. If we know the vision, when we look at the numbers, it's going to tell us the systems and team development we need to do, period. Period. That's the formula. That's all it is. So if you're flying blind on your numbers, like, ugh.   Guys, I'm scratching my head over here. This is stress. If you ever see me fluff my hair, it means I'm stressed, okay? My team has told me they're like, Kiera, what you do is it's a little like side fluff. And right now it's both hands fluff. Like I'm stressed out for you because I used to fly blind on numbers. So many clients flying by on non-numbers. They don't look at it. They've got multi-practices and they don't break it down. You guys, these are costly pitfalls. So remember, go back to the success and failure. They're not radically different. It's failure to look at the numbers.   It's failure to say like, I don't care if you don't know numbers or not, I don't know numbers either. But guess what? Kiera freaking loves numbers and numbers freaking love Kiera. That is how this works. It is, I'm going to force myself to learn this. You guys, on my goal board, I'm not joking you. I should like take pictures of this so you guys can see it. In my bedroom, Jason and I made this like joint goal board. If you guys wanna get your spouse involved in your life, cause you feel like you're just driving and growing without them.   Joint goal board between the two of us has been amazing and it sits in our bedroom. It's not pretty It was built on Canva. It cost me eight bucks. It took us a Sunday to do it together But I literally have this like sign and it says tax expert ahead. I Did not know taxes. I was getting burned every single year I was crying every single December and I was like I am never doing this again I'm going to become a freaking tax expert. I started reading books on it. I called up the CPAs. I started researching it I was like, okay, it's just a formula. Yes, of course. They're like all these ways I can reduce it   But at the end of the day, it's really just a very simple formula. Whatever my profit is, whatever my tax bracket is, I know, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, this is a very simplified version. CPAs don't come after me right now. It's just truly like, if I can take that, I'm always gonna have a slush and I'm not gonna cry. And I figured it out. And for you, I want you to take it on like, you're gonna learn taxes. You're going to be profitable. I want your goal for 2026, 2027, 2028, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, forever that you are profitable always.   I have a mantra and I say, Kiera Dent does not lose money. And I want you to be the same way. Always profitability, profitability, profitability, get the production, get the profitability. We got to, and again, the way we increase profit, increase production, increase collections, decrease costs. Those are the three levers. So look at the numbers, get your team bought in. This is a costly mistake that I don't want you to make. So commit that by Friday, you will have a KPI scorecard in place, or you're going to call Dental A Team.   TheDentalATeam.com go on over, email me, hello, book a call, whatever it is, I will help you out, but you are going to learn your numbers. There's no more excuses. It's not that hard. I promise you, our fee will offset the amount of money you are going to make. Most of our clients are like a two to one, eight to one, 10 to one ratio, meaning we are making that much more money. So a 10 to 30 % increase in production, 30 % would be a three to one ratio. Like you guys, it's insanity what we're able to do for offices. I love it. We usually pay for ourselves in the first couple of months.   So it's 100 % worth it. Know your numbers. You just knowing your numbers and tracking and measuring will make you more profitable. So don't be the person that has these costs and mistakes. You gotta take ownership. Like bottom line, the way we had this, mistake number one, delegating tasks and not having ownership. So think back to that. We gotta delegate like that office I told you about. Again, this is a $7 million practice. You wanna be like a $7 million? Do the things today to be the $7 million practice.   You've got to have the hard conversations, normalize that, have that be a part of your culture. And number three is you've got to freaking know those numbers. I love numbers, numbers love me. And if you're not great at this, that's why I've got the podcast. That's why we're here. Reach out, Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. Do not do this alone. Do not spend another minute struggling through these costly pitfalls. You don't deserve it. Your team doesn't deserve it. Your patients don't deserve it. So reach out, it's time. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. But please commit to yourself that you're going to do this.   You're not failing. You're not clear over the failure bucket. You're just a few little shifts away from it. And again, remember success and failure are not radically different. They're just small little micro steps. You can quickly make those back and get closer to where you actually want to be. It's not huge. It's not hard. It's not all these crazy things. It's small incremental changes that are going to radically change your life. So make the call, make the changes, commit. You're worth it. You deserve it. And as always, I'm cheering you on forever and ever.   I'm here on your team. I'm here in your corner. I'm here in your air pod. Wherever I'm at, just know I'm rooting for you. You deserve it. Let's do this together. Let's have you do this on your own, whatever it's going to be, but commit to not having these costly mistakes be your mistakes. And as always, thanks for listening. I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team Podcast.  

Tiff and Monica provide exclusive, step-by-step insight into creating hiring ads that both grasp your specific practice's strengths and needs, and attract those rockstar team members you've been looking for. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: The Dental A Team (00:00) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. We are back today. I think we used to call it Consultant Takeover and now it's just literally a podcast, but it's my consulting team. And gosh, I love these days. You guys get to hear me just brag about the consultant team and the Dental A Team in general. And I have one of my faves. All these women are some of my favorite human beings in life. we got to recently, we were able to spend some really good quality time together and really just.   Honestly, it was just fun. Like it wasn't even one-on-one, like getting to know each other. It was just really getting to know each other by proxy of having fun together. And if no one here listening knows, fun is one of our core values. And that is one of the core values. I don't even know. You may know this, but it was one of the core values that Kiera and I have had literally since day one. That was one that has never changed. Fun has always been there. We did have it really high. used to be our number one core value. And then we realized like,   it was setting a weird precedent. So it's not quite as high anymore, but fun is massive for us. And we really, truly believe if you're not having fun, what are you even doing? I think there's oftentimes in life that things are not necessarily quote unquote fun, but there should be some air of sprinkles on top that can make life a little bit more fun in the end. So Monica, you make podcasting fun, your way of thinking. I like following.   Monica (00:59) Yeah.   The Dental A Team (01:22) your thought process. really, it is really fun for me to follow the thought process, especially because I tend to think I'm pretty good at knowing where someone's going or what they're doing, what their intent is. Like I'm usually pretty good at keying into it, but sometimes you catch me and I'm like, dang, I love how your brain works. So I love it because you make me think a little bit harder, like a little...   more intentional, I like the word intentional. You make me think a little more intentional than I do on my day to day. So thank you for being here today, Monica, and shedding your brilliance on the Dental A Team, listeners and team. How are you this morning? It's a Monday morning for us and we're just at it bright and early. How are you?   Monica (02:09) I'm doing great, Tiff. Thank you. Thanks for inviting me. You know, I think one of the things that attracted me and I was really curious about the Dental A Team was that core value of having fun because, you know, we just kind of get a little serious and boring as we become adults. And I'm like, gosh, I don't ever remember thinking like, my gosh, this work should be fun. Sometimes it is fun, but should it be fun?   And I was so curious about that. to be honest, I think I shared this. I struggled a little bit with adding the fun factor in, you know, when I think about work and in my day. And I'm so glad that I decided to join the Dental A Team because that is my core value. Every day that I wake up, I'm like, I'm going to make this so fun today. What's going to be fun about my day? And I think fun is just a mindset.   Right? Because you can do hard things. You can have hard conversations. You can have a hard day and still look for the fun and still make it fun. ⁓ So thank you. Thanks for inviting me today. This is one of my, I guess, new hobbies, newfound passions is podcasting, unscripted podcasting, ⁓ going with it. Right. And just seeing what our brains kind of like come up with. So.   The Dental A Team (03:31) Yep.   Monica (03:35) just so you all know, this is unscripted. This is ⁓ just real time and I love it. I love the authenticity of it, right? Because this is where great ideas are born with no agenda. it's, you you and I have like this really great kind of cadence and engagement. One thought leads to another. And sometimes I have to stop myself because I can see myself going down and, you know, a rabbit hole and just, you know, and so we'll...   We'll keep it short and sweet and impactful.   The Dental A Team (04:07) Awesome. I love that. Thank you. And I'm glad that you, I'm actually glad that you mentioned that I do. I do think it's important for listeners to know, like this is literally off the cuff. Uh, 99.9 % of it, have a topic and we like brainstorm for a quick minute, but really we have no idea what's going to come out of these podcasts until it's done. So it is a really magical experience. And I like it that way because I think that, like you said, there's, there's more ideas that are born in that kind of a mindset and it does, it keeps it fun.   Monica (04:12) Thank   Yeah.   Yeah.   The Dental A Team (04:36) Monica, been actually, it's been really fun. From my seat, I get to see the evolution of consulting and the evolution of ⁓ your position at the, at the company. And it's, was, it was been really cool. And I think for the listeners to know the Monica that you see today has always been here, but she was more reserved. And I think that comes from, it's fair. It's fair. comes from just, like you said, the older we get, more.   we lose that like the Santa Claus effect. Like we lose that magic and the sparkles and reality sets in and we get, my boyfriend likes to call himself a realist. He's a pessimist a lot of times, but he calls himself a realist, which is fair. But we do become this like realist mindset when we're just like factual and we're like checking off the lists and we're so diligent and we tend not to laugh as much as we wanted to before. for us fun just means that   We enjoy what we're doing. We bring an element of fun to our consulting. So when we work with you guys, like we're having fun. We're enjoying what we're doing. We're laughing. We're making light of the situations that we can. And we're making massive changes with easy implementations that totally just change the game for you guys. And that to us is so much fun for us to sit back and see. We can make a millimeter tweak on something that feels so massive in your world.   and then it all falls into place. And it's just really cool. think of like the implants, know, they're tweaking, tweaking, tweaking and torquing. And you can go a millimeter too far or be a millimeter too short or be like spot on. And that's what I think of like that, that implant torque. We're not making massive adjustments, but we're making massive impacts and implant changes someone's life, but it's minimal adjustments.   Monica (06:25) Yeah.   Yeah, I think ⁓ just to add to what you said, it's really important to take some time to see through the childlike eyes, right? With awe and wonder. ⁓ think it's also important not to confuse fun with playtime, right? Because work is serious stuff, what we do, right? We can have fun and get the job done and have those really impactful days ⁓ because it is a serious   The Dental A Team (06:45) Yes.   Yes.   Monica (06:58) business, right? ⁓ And fun doesn't equal playtime. And I remember a client of mine saying, well, you know, it's all you guys sound to like fun. And I'm like, yeah, because work should be fun. What you're doing is amazing. You are helping people achieve their goals, their wellness goals, the smiles that they've wanted, maybe relieving someone out of pain and, you know, shame and everything that goes around, you know, dentistry.   The Dental A Team (07:23) Yeah.   Monica (07:28) And you're impacting, you know, your team's lives and your community's lives and your own life. And it should be fun. You should see the beauty of that, right? ⁓ So it's not all fun and games, guys. It is serious stuff. When we say fun, that means live life, you know, with joy and wonder and childlike lenses. So ⁓ if you, I think if you approach, you know, the day with that mindset,   everything is lighter, everything is ⁓ easier, right? There's a place to things and there's just, you you're operating from a heart space versus your mental space, you know?   The Dental A Team (08:08) I agree. Yeah,   I agree. I agree. And I understand that everybody's going to have a core value of fun and that's okay, too. You don't have to. You truly don't have to. And you don't have to come in in the same mindset as we do. Just know that's how we operate. And when you work with us, that's what you're getting. You're getting that fun mindset of how can we make small changes that make massive impacts. And one of those spaces, I've actually watched you, make some pretty massive impacts with a client of yours. So this is   Monica (08:17) Yeah.   The Dental A Team (08:36) This is a good topic that came up for us. We get our topics from our list and I thought this was a great one for Monica actually because you have been working with a client recently. This is on hiring and building hiring ads and I know you've got at least one and you've got multiple that are hiring, but you've got one that you've worked like literally hand in hand as though you're part of their, you are part of their team, but if your boots on the ground, part of their team because of their capacity and the type of hiring that they're doing.   We've done this with a lot of clients, especially when they're hiring like office managers, because the office manager would do the hiring, right? So when they don't, which is the situation you're in now where they don't technically have like a dedicated office manager ⁓ with enough space in their world to do the hiring, even down to writing the ads and let's face it, the dentist CEOs, it's not your forte, first of all, most of the time, and you don't have time for it either. So building that out and Monica, have...   the reason that it's applicable is you have had fun doing this with them. And there's been challenges too, but I think you've made some massive strides with them in this aspect. And the first space that you started was really learning the team, learning the practice, and writing ads that attracted the right type of people. And now you guys are in the interview process, but Monica.   From the lens of consultant working with this practice or other practices you've done as well, how do you advise them and how do you help craft those ads to speak to their needs? And everyone's so different, right? So how do you do that and what suggestions do you think people could take away from today to do that on their own as well?   Monica (10:18) Yeah, that's a great question, Tiff. And you're right, I've had a fun time ⁓ kind of wrapping my arms around this one client that does need it. I think one really important factor is like, remember who you are. Why are you great? When we are in a space of lack,   whether we're lacking appropriate team members or we're not, you know, doing what we want to do. We're not doing the dentistry that we want. We're not where we should be. ⁓ I think we go down this rabbit hole of like, and almost inertia kicks in, you know? So let's reframe that mindset. Why are you great? Why did you start this? You know, how do you measure success? So I always say great leaders at   ask great questions. ⁓ Ask yourself those questions. Why am I great? What's different about me? Do I want to be different? And if so, what makes me different? What do I do differently than my colleagues in the area? And identify who you are. What's your persona? What do patients say about you? Go to your reviews, pull up your Google reviews, do a little kind of investigative work, a self-discovery.   about your practice. What are your Google reviews? What are patients saying about you? What do you want to be known for?   The Dental A Team (11:52) Yeah, I love that. actually, Simon Sinek, I listen him a lot and he speaks about your why, right? Finding your why. And he says often, if you're trying to figure out what is your special gift, like what is your talent? What is it that you're here? What is your purpose? He says, ask your friends. Ask your friends why they are friends with you. What is it about you that your friends...   Monica (12:16) I love that.   The Dental A Team (12:19) stick around for or that they lean on you for. And I think Monica, that makes me think of the Google reviews. Like ask your patients, like why do your patients come back? Why does your team who you have currently, why are they your team? What are they speaking about you? And I think that can go twofold, right? Cause you're gonna find out some things that you may not have, that might not be super fun. It might not feel really good to hear some of the things, but those are areas that fantastic. Let's pull that into a KPI.   How can we improve that? But you're gonna hear so many things as to why people love you, why they love your practice, why you. so I love that self-discovery start. I think it's really, really massive.   Monica (12:55) Yes.   Yeah, you're absolutely right. You're gonna hear some things that you may not want to hear, but I would say approach this exercise with the mindset of gratitude. Be grateful for the feedback. Be grateful for the positive feedback and be grateful for the not so positive feedback. That's a little harder to swallow, you know? ⁓ Don't attach yourself to the outcome. Attach yourself to the process of, right? And so even when you don't have a good   The Dental A Team (13:03) Yeah.   Monica (13:29) ⁓ you know, less than favorable outcome or response or feedback. would say, thank you. Thank you for sharing that because this is how I'm going to get better. That's not how I want to be perceived. Right. Would you mind sharing more? Would you mind if I asked further questions? Right. Get curious and be grateful, grateful that people are willing to step out and be honest. Right. ⁓ it takes courage. It takes courage for that. so I always say don't.   attach yourself to the outcome, but the process of. You can learn a lot about yourself in that process and your practice. I think Google reviews are really important because it's your patient's perception of their experience, not of you per se. And it may not be your reality, but it's their reality, right? So it allows us an opportunity to dig deeper and learn more, right?   Opportunity, gratitude, what's your story? I would say start with those things, those three things, right? One of the other things that I like to do is I like to see what's out there. What are other ads that are posted in my area? What are the competitors looking for? What are they saying about their practice, right? And I put on my hat of I'm looking for a job and I am a rock star.   ⁓ whatever it is, office manager, treatment coordinator. I'm a Rockstar treatment coordinator and I am looking for my next home. What ad calls my attention? Which one am I going to click on? What ads am I scrolling through? Right? Because if you want Rockstar employees, you have to have a Rockstar ad. Right? And so if your ad is ⁓   The Dental A Team (15:17) Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.   Monica (15:24) the same as the other ads, ⁓ it's gonna be about the money. So who are you? Why should a Rockstar treatment coordinator come work for you? Start with your story. What are the qualities that you're looking for? What are the qualities that you have as a practice ⁓ to offer this Rockstar candidate? So start there, who are you?   The Dental A Team (15:49) I love that.   Monica (15:54) Why should I come work for you versus come work for me, right? Flip the framework of how you're posting your ad and how you're crafting your ad.   The Dental A Team (16:02) Yeah,   yeah, I love that because it makes me think of, you know, back in the day when I was in office and writing ads, it was like, I'm putting up like, five, six, seven sentences that's like, this is what we're hiring for. I need a treatment coordinator. Like, this is what you're going to get paid and people apply and we'd get thousands of applications, you know, and it's just, it's different now because I think people are looking for a place they want to have fun. They want to enjoy their job. They want to really work for a place that they feel   Monica (16:13) Yes.   The Dental A Team (16:30) seen valued heard and they want to know what that place is before they walk in and so rather than the old model of This is what we're you know, these are all of the things we're looking for ⁓ As far as the job. I think the new model is this is who we are. This is our vision These are our core values We're looking for somebody who aligns with that and this is the job that they're gonna do and I think it's flipped so much in the last five years Realistically almost six years now, right?   that we just have to think differently and we have to speak differently.   Monica (17:01) Yeah, and social media has also changed the game, right? mean, people can get an insight of your culture and who you are just by following your page, your Instagram page or your Facebook page or going on your website. But I truly believe social media and like those quick clicks, Instagram, Facebook are the persona of your practice, right? And so you gotta make sure that that's aligned with   The Dental A Team (17:06) Absolutely.   Monica (17:29) with the ad that you're posting and the reality of a day-to-day in your practice, right? And so social media can be so impactful, like Google reviews, whatever social media you use, a lot of people have TikToks, they have other things that I don't participate in because it can get overwhelming, you know? But social media is powerful. mean, you use that as your platform, your patience.   The Dental A Team (17:51) I can.   Monica (17:57) You best believe that people are going and checking your reviews and your space, your social media space, because they want to know. They want to know, is this truly who they say they are? Because we have choices, right? And let's be honest, our phone is glued to our fingertips 24 seven, even if we don't want to, it is. And there's power in that, right? So those platforms give a visual.   The Dental A Team (18:19) Yeah.   Monica (18:27) ⁓ to anyone basically. I mean, it's a world of referral nowadays, right? So I think use that to your advantage.   The Dental A Team (18:35) Mm-hmm.   Yeah, I do. I do too. I think earlier, I don't remember if it was this one or a different recording that we did, but you were speaking about, I think it was this one, being authentic. We're off the cuff here. And so being authentic in your ad and being authentic in your social presence. So what are people on the outside seeing of you is really, really huge because if you're saying you're someone and it   Monica (18:48) Yeah.   The Dental A Team (19:08) doesn't line up for you, first and foremost, the powers that you believe in are not gonna send you the people. They're not gonna come if it's not in alignment with who you are. But also, those who do come are gonna see that really easily, very quickly, and honestly, the ads usually, if we were to write an ad, if Monica wrote an ad, just blanket, wrote an ad, said, hey, five practices, you guys all use this ad. It might work for one of them because it may align closely   for one of them, but I think something you did, Monica, with this specific practice and the ones that you've worked with is you learned the practice. You actually, like you said, you put that hat on and you learned the demographics of the area and the demographics of other practices hiring, but you also learned that practice. You scoured their website, you talked to the team members, you asked them really hard questions, you scoured their reviews, you literally did your due diligence to learn who they are so that as you helped them   create the actual ad, it was speaking to them. And that authenticity really shines through. So if your social media is portraying someone that you're not, you're gonna hate it, you're gonna feel really icky, it's not gonna translate, and it's gonna make hiring really, really hard. So I think, these pieces, this introspection, this really knowing, this asking the questions, the hard questions, the easy questions, whatever you wanna call them, asking those questions and learning who you want to hire.   who you are and who you want to attract are gonna be massive pieces and really what highlights a good ad.   Monica (20:45) Yeah, I agree. And you're absolutely right. I I did a little bit of ⁓ of digging more than I than I normally would because I really want them to have the person that they deserve. And listen, sometimes we're not where we want to be. Right. So your reality right now may not be your desired space. And dream a big dream. OK, like create that that your ad can can be your future self.   The Dental A Team (20:53) Yeah.   Monica (21:14) But you need the right person to create that dream with you. So maybe you're not where you want to be or how you vision your office, but you want to get there and you're attracting, you want to attract the team members that will help you get there to that space. allow yourself to dream a big dream, be your biggest fan. I always say that, be your biggest fan, right? Fan your own flame.   The Dental A Team (21:20) Absolutely.   Monica (21:42) It takes, there's nobody else to motivate you but you. Motivation is from within, right? So yes, we have mentors and coaches and listening to them, they help us kind of reignite that flame that we all have, our internal flame, but you've got to be able to fan that flame. mean, if it's dim, you got to give it some air and some oxygen, right? And what gives us oxygen? It's all the feel good stuff.   What are my patients saying about me? Right. So one of the things that I did, cause it was, it was difficult for this client to kind of say like, gosh, what am I really great at? You know? And I'm like, well, let's go see what your patients are saying. And we pulled up some amazing reviews and here we thought like, nobody's asking for reviews. No one's giving us reviews. Well, guess what? There was some amazing reviews and I read them, you know, we, we went through the process of like, I went through the most recent ones.   The Dental A Team (22:14) Mm-hmm.   Monica (22:38) And I read this, not just one, but one that really sticks out. And I got to tell you, like, by the end of that, ⁓ reading that Google review, the doctor was sitting taller. eyes were like, there was sparkles in his eyes and, you know, his chest was out. I'm like, this is the kind of stuff that you need to be sharing on your social media stories. This is what people need to hear. He's like, wow, that's amazing. I said,   The Dental A Team (22:49) No.   Monica (23:06) print these every single day and read them to your team. Read them to yourself out loud. It feels good to know what others are seeing. We're our hardest critics sometimes. And we're not necessarily seeing the good stuff, because we're focused on all the other things that we haven't done and accomplished, but our patients see us through a different lens. And it feels great.   The Dental A Team (23:21) Yeah.   Mm-hmm. Yeah.   Monica (23:34) to be reminded of why you are who you are, why you have this amazing practice. you know, there's just so many things that we overlook because we're so focused on the things that we didn't do. Focus on the things that you did do great. What did I accomplish this year? If you change one life, guess what? That's amazing. You know, if you focus on changing one life at a time, at the end of the year, it's a trickling effect. I mean, you're...   The Dental A Team (23:57) Yeah, I agree.   Monica (24:05) your bowl is going to be or your cup is going to be overflowing. A thousand percent.   The Dental A Team (24:08) Mm-hmm.   Yeah, I totally agree. I totally agree. love the, ⁓ I focus on making, if I can make one person smile today, that, you know, I just want to make one person smile today. So I love this. Thank you, Monica. I knew it being so fresh, you're still in the process of helping them hire for this position, but I know it's been really, really close to your heart and you've been very intentional on getting them the results that they need and they need this hire to push for the results. I...   Monica (24:30) Yeah.   The Dental A Team (24:38) I've enjoyed watching you work with them and I know they've enjoyed working with you and will continue to enjoy working with you. You'll be hands on with them here this week. So I'm super excited for this. And Monica, think some of the pieces I've pulled out, we want those, know, actual pieces for you guys. And I think do the digging, do your research, figure out why people are referring you. Why do people want to come to you? What makes you special and different? And cultivate your ad around that plus   who it is that you want to hire and be super clear on what the position actually is. And front office reception is really hard to explain. So be super clear on what that position is, what will they actually be doing? What are your expectations so that somebody coming in can say, yes, I can do that. And Monica, thank you so much for your time. Thank you for everything you've poured into the clients that you have. But specifically today, we're talking about this one client and everything you poured into them.   Monica (25:18) Yes.   The Dental A Team (25:36) I know because I've chatted with them, I've talked with them, I know how much they appreciate it and how much they need your love and your support and your guidance. So thank you for everything you do for all of us every single day.   Monica (25:49) Thanks, Tiff. Likewise, thanks for your leadership, for your invitation, for this space where we can brainstorm and share our wisdom and ideas and impact the world of dentistry.   The Dental A Team (26:02) Yeah, in the greatest way as possible, right? I love it. That's our mission, everyone, just so you know. Thank you, Monica. And guys, I love podcasting. know that, Monica. She's a big podcast fan now. We're podcaster fan, which I appreciate and I love. So let us know what you think. Five star review below, but also Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. If you have further questions, if you need help, if you need guidance, or you're really not sure how to dig in and figure this out, please just...   Monica (26:03) Hahaha   The Dental A Team (26:29) Reach out, Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. We're here. A lot of those emails, most of those emails actually do get forwarded to the consultant team. So we are the ones that you're gonna be hearing from. Thanks so much and we'll catch you guys next time.   Monica (26:42) Thanks everyone.  

Re-releasing a DAT listener favorite! The Dental A-Team is Team Online Statements over Team Paper Statements! This podcast episode is a sign your practice needs to get on the online statement train. Lots of practices struggle getting collections up because they're doing it the old-fashioned way. Listen in for the four steps you should take to make it as easy as possible to collect payments from your patients. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: Kiera Dent (00:00) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera. And today we are bringing you something so special. I am so excited because this is one of our most popular episodes from the archives. Whether you're hearing this for the first time or catching it again, I am so excited because it's jam packed with a ton of takeaways that you can start using right now in your practice. We have released thousands, literally thousands of episodes. And I wanted to start bringing a few of these amazing episodes back for you. So I hope you enjoy. And as always, thanks for listening and I'll catch you next time.   on the Dental A Team podcast.   The Dental A Team (00:32) You guys, happy day to you. I hope you're doing fantastic wherever you are. And I hope you are just enjoying life. I think I need this podcast more than you guys might need this podcast. I've got the COVID crank, guys. I feel like I've just gotten angry and sick of not being able to hire people and frustrated with just feeling like I'm trapped. Maybe any of you are feeling that way.   Hey, just shoot me an email, say me too, you can text me. ⁓ But I hope we can all remember today, for me, when I'm in those modes, I have to literally go to my journal and do gratitude. And I also listen to, I've got a podcast that I listen to over and over and over again. Yes, you guys know I'm obsessed with Tony Robbins. ⁓   And this one is when it says change your life in 2021. And I will literally listen to that podcast over and over and over again and remind myself of how many great things there are in my life. ⁓ I don't think it's important to say like my life could be so much worse because while it can, that just negates your feelings of feeling yuck. And right now for me, I feel like I'm feeling very stagnant. But last night I had to remind myself that ⁓ just like...   The world has seasons, our life has seasons. And right now, instead of maybe being in massive growth and full bloom, it's not quite spring yet. So maybe being okay to hibernate, to slow down a little bit more, to get ready for that hustle and bustle of bloom seasons. I didn't feel like I really slowed down through the winter hibernation seasons. And so maybe just also allowing yourself and your practice to go through the seasons as well. That way you can have vibrant springs. You can have very   flowing summers, you can have more harvest in the fall and then have that hibernation quiet time as well. But definitely give yourself that space and not mitigate the reality of what you're facing. So today guys, ⁓ with that said, I'm here for you. If you wanna be here for me, I'll take it. So just email me guys. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. I'd love to hear from you. I truly do, I enjoy hearing from you guys. So thanks for being my pen pals.   I never really had a great pen pal growing up. Did any of you guys have a good pen pal? Because if you did, also tell me that. Like you guys, you don't understand. Your emails that are just like a, Kiera, I'm a massive fan, I love the podcast, yeah, I had a pen pal. Those ones are some of my favorite emails of the day. You guys, I average hundreds of emails every single day. And so to get those little sprinklings of fun ones, they just make my day. So thank you for those of you who have done that. And if you're thinking about it, do it.   Also, I do love ⁓ in the I travel a lot guys and I get bored a lot. I'm a very busy human. I appreciate when you guys leave us ⁓ reviews on the podcast. You guys are helping shout out to this podcast family guys. Our downloads are cranking. So whatever you're doing, keep doing it. If you're sharing this, if you're leaving reviews, do it, do it again. Have somebody else that you know do it as well because guys we are on track to break that millionth download this year and you guys are the only way that we can do this. So.   Keep it up, we skyrocketed in the month of January. February is on track as well. So guys, keep moving, keep moving. And the way you can help us out, I'll give you specifics. Number one, if you have not done so, go leave a five star review on the podcast. Whatever platform you're listening, that helps us, because it helps them rank us higher so other people can find us. Number two, download the podcast. I know it sounds so dumb, but actually,   Download it not just listen that helps it as well because then more people will find us because they're ranking us as a higher podcast and number three shared on social platforms So when you guys are listening, please guys have a story about us tag us in it post if there's a great topic that you're loving post that podcast because I know a lot of you guys are listening you can even just take a quick selfie while you're in the car and tag Dental A Team podcast you don't even have to list the episode those are three great ways you guys can help us   radically increase our downloads and break that millionth download. Why do we care about one million downloads? I'll tell you, because we're on a mission to positively impact the world of dentistry in the greatest way possible. Well, guess what? If you guys don't help us share the word, we can do the work all day long and create great content. But if you guys don't share, we're only going to be able to impact as many people as we have, which is thousands, guys. I can't believe how many people listen to this podcast. It's almost three years old, guys. And guess what?   you're helping to grow this into a legacy of helping other practices. So thank you guys. Kudos to you giving you a massive hug of appreciation. And with that, let's segue into a really great topic and that is on paper statements versus online payments. Ooh, sexy, fun, everything more. Just shut the podcast off right now. I hate billing. I'm just kidding. I'm going to make it fun for you. So if your practice is sending out paper statements, rock on. I'm happy for you. If you have online payments,   even better rock on. If you don't have online payments, get it done because online payments are the way of the future. Let me just ask you guys, how many things do you pay online? Let's just quickly like think of everything we pay online. I buy airline tickets online, hotels online, Amazon. I promise you everybody here shops on Amazon. ⁓ Amazon, I order Christmas presents online, birthday presents, gift cards to favorite restaurants.   99 % of everything we do is online. There's very few things that we actually still physically have to go to a location to do. So a lot of practices struggle getting their collections up because they're doing it a bit old fashioned. That's okay. It's worked in the past. There's still a great thing for it. But paper statements, you guys really, I think are becoming a way of the past. And we need to make sure we have an easy way for our patients to do it, to make payments.   I thought about this, if I were to say, could you please pay me, but I'm only available via check, which, or you can call me during the hours that I'm available. I probably wouldn't get many people paying their payments because odds are the hours that I'm available are the hours that they're actually at work making money to be able to pay those bills. Doesn't that feel a little backwards? Like if we really stop and think about what we've done, we're like, you need to call us between the hours of eight and five.   Like I have a company that's trying to get me to do a scheduling appointment. Oh, I want to poke my eyes out. I'm not kidding. I'm going on five months of trying to get this thing scheduled. Five, count them up. One, two, three, four, five. The reason that it's a pain in the booty is because they are asking us to go to this place from the hours of 10 to three. I don't know if he has, no, but from the hours of 10 to three.   I don't take a lunch, my coaching calls go straight through. My husband is a pharmacist and actually is a clinical pharmacist, so sees patients all day long in heart and vascular. So for us to get time to go to this appointment, what do we have to do? We have to take time off or do it on our lunch hours. But guess what? My husband's in leadership and I run a company, so lunch hours really don't   and it's an appointment I don't really have a burning desire to go do. Hashtag paying payments is something people don't really want to do. So how hard is it for them to actually get in your schedule and pay your bills? The answer is we've made it very hard for them. I don't like to make it hard for people to pay me money. So how can you make it easier? Number one, the first and foremost easiest way to do it is you can actually contact your credit card processor and see if they could actually put that button on your website. Believe it or not,   Dental A Team are pages for payments that clients, so if it's like gold or silver or platinum, those are actually made by my credit card processing company. They made the web pages for my payment portal. So your credit card processing companies can do that. If you need a great credit card processor, give me a call. ⁓ Email us, Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. We've got some great ones that have great rates. Make sure you're, that's actually a like fun, like just saving money for your practices, checking your credit card rates.   but you can have them literally put a button on your website for you. So that's like a great easy way to do it. Then you can update your software that says make a payment online. How many of you when you're paying bills, just go online to pay your bills? I will tell you I do it. The only time I call somebody is if my bill is different online than what it was on my paper statement. So there is a benefit of paper statements to let me know to pay it, but guess what? If we could go one step further and do a text to pay our statements,   we're way more likely to actually text than to respond to paper. So for me, when it comes to online payments, first and foremost, you gotta get it there. Secondly, Modento, and I do think, don't quote me on this, I do think Dental Intel either has or is coming up with online payments. Those are probably my top two. Flex also does it for Open Dental. They only work with Open Dental. Modento works with all the major softwares. ⁓ I know, ⁓ gosh, Care Stack, they also have a built-in for online payments.   but find a way to get online payments into your statements. I personally love to just text people their statement first. You can also email statements first. Think about how much money you're saving just on stamps and paper alone and printing by not mailing out these statements. Also, they've proven you're much more likely to get a text message open rate than you are to have people actually respond to emails or mail. So that would be how I would suggest you set this up. Then if we...   are still mailing paper statements, totally fine. ⁓ At the Dental A Team, we actually love to send two statements, so that's 60 days worth of statements, if they haven't paid via a phone call or a text message, okay? This is super important. A lot of people hear, Kiera said I can still send two statements. That is true if you have already called them and texted them to try and get payment before we mail a statement. Okay, did you catch that? Only do you mail a paper statement   if you've already called and texted to try and collect payment over the phone before we mail the statement. And that's both times we mail the statement. So for the 30 day statement and the 60 day statement. Then after that on the 90 day statement, we're going to send our third statement on red paper. Again, this is assuming they have not responded to two phone calls, two text messages, and two already normal letters. That means I've contacted them how many times? Two phone calls, two text messages, and two letters. That was two   four, six times I reached out to this person, okay? Then I'm gonna call them again, text them again. Now I'm up to eight times, I'm going to mail them a red letter. The red letter is going to be like final statement, okay? So you can see that red letter actually, Tiffany did it in a practice, drastically increase the collections because guess what? They saw this red piece of paper through the little window. That's going to probably tell them that they need to fix this quickly.   So that's going to drastically help you guys out a ton. So make sure that third one you sent on red paper. So those are some of the easiest ways, guys, to be able to get your AR down, get money into your practice faster and easier, and make it more convenient for your patients to pay you. But let's not forget the number one most proactive thing you can do, and that is make sure that we're collecting over the counter with correct estimates.   I really can't tell you how much people are just like, we'll bill you or we'll send you a statement. Guys, you can estimate a lot closer and more accurately. It's okay if there's a balance on the account, get smarter and adjust that for next time. So you get more and more accurate, but please, please, please, please, please collect over the counter first rather than just sending statements. Cause that's actually going to cut down the need for online payments. The goal should be that we actually can reduce that exponentially. So just wanted to give you guys a quick like.   Couple of ideas, I hope if nothing else, number one, get a way to make payments online. I don't care if you use a software, I don't care if you call your credit card processor, but this quarter, make it your goal that you will absolutely 100 % have a way for your patients to pay online. Number two, call and text those patients, utilize those services. Again, like I said, my dental's great, dental intel's great, ⁓ Flexa's great, find a way, that way you can text and email statements to your patients.   Your software probably can do it, so check that first. Then the third thing is make sure we're calling and texting before we send those statements out. This way we can make sure that we're maximizing our time and helping our patients do it. Let's think of how is the easiest way for these patients to pay their bills? Well, number one, not to give them a bill, right? Number two, to have it convenient because most people are going to pay bills after working hours when you're not in the practice. That's great. We want to be collecting money when we're not working. And number three,   How can we make sure that we have a solid follow-up process with them that makes it very easy and convenient? Send out two white letters and send the third one out on red paper if they haven't paid. The goal is you should be sending out maybe one or two, maybe at the most 10 red letters a month because we should have already been able to collect. So guys, I hope that was helpful for you. If you need help getting this set up, if you need us to help coach your billing team ⁓ or your practice, just kind of helping review that. Let us know this is what we love to do. So email me.   Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. This is literally my passion, my legacy, what I live to do. Yep, it's to geek out over dentistry. So call us guys. There's nothing like having somebody coach you, guide you, mentor you, save you hours of time and make your life easier.   Kiera Dent (14:09) I hope you all loved today's episode as much as I did. It is crazy to think that this many episodes have been released since we started the Dental A Team Podcast. And I started looking to say, my goodness, our listeners need to be reminded of some of the things they may have learned a year ago or two years ago or five years ago, because so many things in our practices weren't relevant back then when we heard them, but they are relevant today. And I would be doing you a huge disservice if I didn't re-release some of these episodes for you to remember, to refine.   to optimize and really truly if you ever need a topic or you're like, my gosh, I wonder if the Dental A Team has anything like this, go onto our website, TheDentalATeam.com, click on our podcast tab and you can literally search any topic. So whether it's overhead or hiring or firing or team morale or engagement or case acceptance or hygiene   onboarding or whatever it is, we have so many episodes for you. And so I am going to intentionally be   re-releasing some of the top best episodes for you, pulling back some of the ones that I needed to remember, some of the things that I feel for you to really, really relearn right now and to re-remember, or if it's the first time, welcome. I'm so happy you're listening to it, but I hope you truly enjoyed today's episode. I hope that you share this with somebody. I hope that you go and implement today because we only have one day. We only get today. And so making today the best that it possibly can be. If we can help you in any way, shape or form, reach out Hello@TheDentalATeam.com.   And as always, thanks for listening and we'll catch you next time on the Dental A Podcast.  

Kiera takes listeners through specific actions the most successful dentistry minds have incorporated into their day-to-day to stay elevated. She touches on: Planning out an ideal week Reviewing these numbers weekly Fostering problem-solvers And more! Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript:   The Dental A Team (00:00) Hello, Dental A Team listeners, this is Kiera and I hope that you guys are having an amazing day today. I hope you're loving dentistry. I hope you're loving your opportunities. I hope that you are remembering that we have one life and I hope that you're making it the absolute best life you can. There's a song that I recently heard called Time's a Ticken and it's like, so call your mom, love your babies, talk to your friends and...   I just think about it and another thing I saw were like, if your mom and dad are still able to call you, how blessed are we? And I know some people have strained relationships, but I think as much love that we can give and as much as we can foster great relationships in our lives and realize how much goodness we have, I think that's an amazing space for us. just hopefully you know how much I love and appreciate you and how much I'm rooting for you, whether I know you personally or whether...   you are someone in our Dental A Team family, or if you are in our podcast family, or if you're new to this, just know I'm rooting for you. Even if I don't know you personally, ⁓ you're doing better than you think you are today. Guys, it's going to be fun. I want to talk about CEO habits for next level, like what top practice leaders are doing and just some tips for you. As we're rolling into a 2026, I love looking at habits and not necessarily fads, but habits. And so what do things do? And I believe that habits, not just hustle,   are going to help you with success. ⁓ So many times it's like, well, what made the success successful? And it's like really consistency on doing the best things and the highest priority things consistently. And so giving a couple of three core habits that I think growth-minded leaders, practice owners have versus overwhelmed operators. And so really being able to give you that guidance and at Dental A Team we're obsessed with helping dentists become CEOs of their practices and having amazing teams thrive around them and.   ⁓ Giving you guys all of that today is really what it is and we want you guys to feel clarity, confidence and consistency. And I know sometimes when you're in the whirlwind of the day-to-day business, it can feel very hard to have this. But I will say, if you can build these as a building blocks, the noise can lessen. I'm not gonna promise it will go away, but it can definitely lessen and doing it over time. Just like with front office team members were like, I just don't have time, Kiera. And we're like, great, let's put in a power hour. And they're like, it's never enough time.   You're right. Today is not enough time, but if you do one hour a week blocked with no interruptions and you work on the highest level things, I've watched teams over and over and over again, be like, I actually don't need this hour anymore. And we get our recare calls done and we get our unscheduled treatment calls done and we block that and we do it. And office managers, they block that time and billers block the time to do insurance verification. It does not need to be a lot of time, but it does need to be consistent. So with that, you guys, this is going to be something that's a   a habit, ⁓ daily and weekly habits that you can create that you can really just put into your life now. So number one is, this sounds so silly and I do this often, it's creating and committing to an ideal week. ⁓ And so that's being able to have a rhythm and not reaction. so what I noticed and it's crazy because as my company evolves, my life and my business and my schedule needs to evolve as well.   When the business was smaller, I used to be able to run back to back to back to back meetings. There wasn't as much strategy that I needed to think about. There weren't as many hard decisions. There weren't as many like complex decisions that I used to be able to run a week like back to back to back. And then I realized like, I can't run like that anymore. I need to have like on time and off time, on time, off time. And then there's presenting like podcasts. Like you try to put meetings on a podcast day. You guys, am in podcast is creative land and I'm on presenting mode. And I'm like here hanging out with you guys and having a good time.   don't put meetings where I'm trying to like figure out a budget that is such a different mind than a creative mind. And so really being able to block this where we have it and color coding your calendar. What I really do believe is as a CEO of a practice, you're going to have clinician time, right? You're going to have being a dentist. Then you're going to have leader time where you're developing your leaders. And then you're going to have visionary CEO time. And if you can block this in there and you don't have to have it perfect. So do I have   leader time where I'm like developing my leaders and I'm spending time figuring out leadership pieces for them and investing in my leaders and coaching my leaders. Do I have that blocked in there? And then do I have this deep work visionary CEO time where I'm reviewing the financials and I'm answering questions from my office manager and doctors sometimes they even recommend you have another block of am I getting like all the busy work like the labs and the clin checks and the cases and looking at all the scheduling coming up. Do I have time to work on that? And   blocking this and it sounds like, gosh, there's so much and there is, this is why you feel overwhelmed and you feel radical. So having my doctor dentists in time, my leadership development time, my CEO time, and then if you need any other time, great. I also put in my personal time. So am I working out and taking care of my body? And we did this with our mastermind group where I learned a thing called rapid planning method from Tony Robbins and I really enjoyed it. And then I took it of course, ended Kiera spin to it.   But what I really loved is Tony actually had us rename our categories. So instead of saying workout time, it's my honoring my body time. And that was so much more fulfilling for me. And I also have buckets in there that are color coded of date time. Like I call it mine and Jason's forever love story. And what do I put into my calendar that's blocked specifically for that? And what's lovely is when you have colors around it, ⁓ you can actually make it to where you then are working on those specific areas.   and you're able to see them very, very easily. So when we look at this, I think about my colors and my favorite color is pink. So I always have my Kiera section where I'm honoring myself. It's in pink in my calendar. When I'm working on Dental A Team and I used to like call it just Dental A Team. Now it's my passion project and it's blue. Honoring my body is orange. I needed that like vibrant orange, like getting excited about it. And I have that in there.   my leadership visionary time, that's going to be a different color. For me, that's more of this like blue turquoise color. It's more serene, it's calm. So whatever that is for you, just having those color coordinated things and like I popped into my RPM planner. So I have my ⁓ ROASIS ⁓ is our home. And so working on my home, wealth, genius, fun, that's curious thing. And I always make sure I have fun built into my calendar. But I think like you can make it as complex or as simple as you want, but I would really recommend we've got our dentist time.   our leader time, so maybe that's like our give back time or our development time or our like my first team time and then my visionary, my exciting time. What does that look like and really blocking that in your calendar? And so then we audit our week at the end of the week and I remember I was taught like many times like the most productive thing is to go back and look where did I win my week? Where did I like lose the week and what do need to change for this? And   Even me going into a new year, actually have a new EA joining me pretty soon. So that's thrill. If any of you had a personal assistant EA that's been with you for a long time and you're getting a new one, let's ⁓ just say it's a thrill. And I'm really excited for Marissa to join as Shelbi's getting ready to have some life changes. And I'm so, so, so excited for her. ⁓ And going through that and being able to experience it, I realized I needed a different calendar.   What I've been doing is not going to get me to where I need to go. And so we've been working on it and I like built it. You guys, I like to like really mass and like if I'm in podcast mode, I'm in podcast mode. And if I'm in coaching call mode, I'm in coaching call mode. And if I'm in business mode, I'm in business mode. ⁓ but I realized what I was doing is I was business mode. I was coaching call AKA dentists thing that I was in heavy meetings and then I was in podcasting. And I think sometimes when we run that heavy, it's very hard to have like downtime. And so for you looking, you're working as a dentist all four days.   So could we block maybe Wednesday mornings where you have a catch up time or do we have a CEO day where it's a Friday and you actually have that block for four hours and you work on that. I have a dentist, he works Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursdays are always off and he works Friday. And I'm like, that is the weirdest schedule. He's like, Keira, I love it. I get all my admin stuff done when people are still there. I have time to think that's when I'm gonna work on my decisions. And then I go in and have a great Friday where I've got nothing on me and I produce my highest amount. And this doctor is a very high producing doctor but he's very regimented in how he does it.   And that's how he's been operating for the last like 30 years. So when you implement this and you commit, so I'm like, okay, let's break it down. guys know I like to make it easy. I like to make it tactical for you. You got to block these areas. What am I done to seeing? When am I leading? And when am I thinking about the greater big like CEOing of the company? And if I'm only going to do one, I'm going to block a two hour block every single week to work on high level of the business. Just like I recommended for our leaders blocking one hour minimum per week of deep work time.   and doing it at your prime optimal time. For me, it's early mornings. I operate so good from like 6 a.m. lately, it's been like 3 a.m. until about 11 and then like I'm out. I don't want to be thinking heavy. I don't like hard things. That's my operating. Just like I run on protein, Jason runs on carbs. Like it's just operating in how we function, but really making sure you do that. Again, this is a habit. It's a discipline. It's reviewing it. And I had a doctor who was really high level. We coached together for about a year and he said, Kiera, coaching with you was one of the most impactful years of my life.   because you taught me to prioritize my calendar, to review my calendar, to work on my family relationships, to work on my leadership, to delegate, to see what things were in my calendar that I could delegate. And this person has grown and added multi-multi-practices and I'm so proud of him. But truly, this is going to be your best thing. So action on this of getting this habit into place is block two hours as your CEO time, no operations, no calls. You are just fully focused on the business and commit to doing that.   for the next four months. Whoa, four months, can you imagine? Just try it. Test it out, tell me, Kiera, I'm trying the experiment. Email me, Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. I'm committed to it and I want you to not break that promise to yourself. You hold it strong. I had a doctor who did this. She put a like sign on her door and she said, do not interrupt me at all. Now you have to hold this strong because if someone's like, hey doc, I just have a quick question. Nope, right now is my time and I need you to respect my time. I'll be available at this time.   You call that one or two times and your team will not interrupt you again because they know you are dead serious on this. So review it. Now you're already doing that. I want you to take it one level further and I want you to add in your date time, your workout time, something that you are also adding in that needs to be blocked. And I want you to ramp it up one more. Okay, that's number one habit. Number two habit is reviewing your KPIs and your financials every single week. And you're making decisions based on data, not on feeling. So we all know that what we measure improves, right? All of that is there.   So what it is is KPIs, you gotta be looking at those, whether you're using dental Intel, we recommend Addit. Practice by numbers, I don't care. All of our clients do get Addit. So if you're like, hey, I'm thinking about consulting, but I'm not sure about cost or guess what, we cover that cost for you and it's free for you and we also have other perks for you. So ⁓ definitely cost savings that way. And we help you build a scorecard and a dashboard and we teach your team to look at this. But you as a CEO of your practice, this is how you become a CEO. CEOs make decisions based on numbers and metrics, not on feeling and gut.   but you have to take time to review the data to sift through the data. We have an amazing CRO on our team that's a chief revenue officer. didn't even know that was a position. And I have been begging our marketing team to go through our podcast data to figure out what did the listeners want? have, guys, oh my gosh, we're moving into, think our, we started in 2019. So this year, seven years on the pod, guys. I cannot believe that. Lucky seven over here. But thinking about it, I was like, go look at the data. want to,   not just what Kiera feels and what I think you guys, are 1,100 episodes in by now. Like we should be able to have great data of what you guys want. And you're gonna hear a change this year because we actually went through Paul kudos to him. He went through and he looked at all the data and he said, all right, Kiera, here are the episodes doing well here. The episodes not doing well. Here are the things that listeners want. Here's how we need to revamp it. And I was so proud of him and so grateful because now we're building content based on what the data is telling us. But you know how long that took him? It took him like three months to go through it all, sift through it all. And for you,   You've got data, you've got case acceptance data, you've got new patient call conversion data, you've got our billing, our AR data, you've got diagnosis of doctors, we've got hygiene period data. That is the stuff you need to be looking at to see how are we doing? You've got how long is it to our next appointment? We see how far out are we booking our new patients? We see how far out are we booking our six month appointments? Are we staying at six months? How much money are we losing? A doctor had me come in and I looked and saw it, you're booking your patients eight months out. It was about a million dollars worth of revenue that they were leaving on the table.   just by not having enough hygiene available. That is gold if you will take the time. So this is another step that we're gonna add in. So you've already got your CEO block. You can add this into it where we commit to reviewing our KPIs and our PNLs every single week and making adjustments to that. Now work in tandem with your office manager. Office managers, should be doing this as well. Every single week, where are we off and what do we need to do next? Every week. And we train our teams to use numbers, not feelings. And this is how we're going to lead.   So team members should be looking at the numbers. They should know their department. Are we on track? Are we off track? We have scorecards every single week. All of our departments are reporting. Where are we on? Where are we off of? Where do we need to pivot? We need lead measures and we need lag measures. We need to make sure we're looking at both of those. And you literally start looking at this. And I just told you like people who do this, I have an office and she was like, Garo, we need to increase. I want to increase it. And I was like, we are profit and production. That's all we're looking at, period. I cut out all the noise.   Profit production, what are the levers that are hitting that? How are we diagnosing? How are we block scheduling? How is our case acceptance? How are our new patients and how are we filling the schedule? Profit production, that's all we're hitting. And guess what? That doctor is the most profitable they have ever been. But it was because we had them laser focus. We focus on these numbers every single week. And this doctor was doing it, but they weren't optimizing and making decisions on where they really needed to go and focus on the most important thing. And I think even though you might look at the KPIs and data, are you focusing on the most important things that are gonna drive and move your practice forward?   So I want you profit and production are the number two that I go after. One and two, you've got to look at those two always. And then you use the other ones to boost those two up. And if you're struggling with that, hi, I'm Kiera. We work at Dental A Team. We're a consulting company committed to making you financially free, blissfully happy in your practice and getting the best life you want. So reach out, Hello@TheDentalATeam.com Okay, so let's have it number two. Habit number three is developing your people to solve problems instead of you always solving them. So.   This is something where it's like, what's leadership versus what's firefighting. And you guys, I'm not perfect at this. I do a lot of firefighting. I do a lot of problem solving for teams. And I'm like, my gosh, I'll just give you the answer. But the goal is we need to fix it. And we need to start asking the question. So I'm like, hey, here's a problem. Instead of being like, here's the answer. Then we train them that we're the person that they come to. Hey, what do you think is a solution? You can roll it out. It's a three solution company. If you've got a problem, you bring me three solutions, one of which does not cost money. We have one-on-ones that focus on development, not just updates.   I need to develop you as a leader. I need to work with you. I need to grow you. Where are we at? This is the things we need. Like, let's work through this. Is this really the best use of our time? Is this really the best KPI for us to be tracking? Is this really how we're gonna lead? You focusing and developing your leaders and coaching them, you don't wait for things to break. So like, let's look at the KPIs. All these, you can tell build upon each other. Let's look at the KPIs. Let's look at what you guys are needing. And then let's coach to that. But truly,   If you will coach your team, there's a practice that I have known for gosh, seven years. The doctors are working in there one day a week and their office manager is running the organization and they have leaders. They have people that are following up on issues. They have the team solving their own problems. They're a solution oriented organization rather than a problem like centric like, Hey, here's your problem. Go fix it. If you need a good book, ⁓ gosh, it's the monkey book. The one minute manager meets the monkey.   It's like a good little fable of don't let people put the monkey, like their monkey on your back and leave it. Another friend described it as a fridge with a magnet and like someone was like, here's this problem, here's this problem. We're like Post-it notes, right? Like they just put it all on you. Tiff and I did a video a long time ago where it's like Post-it notes all over you and you're just drowning in Post-it notes. Well, that's like draining your energy too. And if we can teach our team to solve problems and this is a habit, this is going to be, ⁓ this is going to be something that you work through.   So just letting you know, like, this is where it's at. This is how we do it. These are three habits for you. So how do we take action on this one of developing it is you're going to have monthly coaching one-on-one with each of your leaders and figuring out their gaps of where they need to grow and giving honest feedback to them. ⁓ There's some great things of, you guys know we run on EOS and we absolutely love EOS and there's quarterly conversations that you can have. it's like, how are they on core values? How are they on their position? How are they rating themselves?   ⁓ We are having the conversations and we're being direct with them and we're giving mutual reflection on things and how are we doing on our quarterly pieces and how's our team doing and what are the moving forward actions that we're doing and having these as consistent monthly and quarterly check-ins with our team, but growing them into leaders is going to be critical and pivotal for your team. So these are three, you guys, three quick habits that you can implement now.   If you need to read the book Atomic Habits, how do I stack things? How do I make this easy? Like, okay, I need to block CEO time. So CEO time sounds like C, I'm gonna C on Thursdays or C on Fridays. Like, I don't know, C, maybe at C2, I'm trying to think of like an alliteration for you. I need my CEO time, my power time. There's no P in the alphabet, in the Monday, Tuesday, So maybe it's like top time on Tuesday or Thursday. I'm gonna do my top time Tuesday or Thursday or like Focus Friday.   There you go, there's some alliterations for you, but I'm gonna block this and I'm gonna block my calendar. Then I'm also gonna commit to KPIs or numbers. So winning Wednesdays, that's when I'm always gonna look at my numbers. Or magic Mondays, I'm gonna look at my numbers. Or money Mondays, there you go. Money Mondays, I'm gonna look at my KPIs and I'm gonna make decisions and me and my OM are gonna meet on that. And then I'm going to have leaders that are solution oriented. So we roll that as a culture thing and I'm gonna set it to where once a month I meet with all of my leaders now.   Maybe we work on weekly in the future, ⁓ but I'm gonna make sure that I'm meeting with them once a month and that's where I'm putting my most important time. And I could add that as CEO time, that's fine, because you are working on leadership at that part, but you're gonna commit to one, two or three of these habits and you're gonna hold strong for at least four months and let me know how your life looks. Now, if you're like me, I have to have a gym trainer, otherwise I don't work out. I got all the workouts, I got all the things, I hear it, I see it, I see it on Instagram, I see how to make the good food.   But unless I have it booked, scheduled, and someone's holding me accountable to it, I don't do it. So if you're that person, hi, I'm Kiera. We have the Dental A Team and this is what I'm obsessed with. Second to sending you a carrier pigeon, we make sure that you stay accountable to this. Let's help you do that. Reach out Hello@TheDentalATeam.com because you deserve to be the CEO and sometimes just being redirected and getting a new habit and a new operating system is going to get you to where you want to be. So reach out Hello@TheDentalATeam.com and commit to this. I want you guys to act like the CEO of your practice.   and start with these three habits this week. Reach out, we're here to help. And as always, thanks for listening. I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team Podcast.  

DAT consultant Kristy breaks down what exactly took place for a practice that didn't have a solid admin team, struggled to find team members, and other challenges to hit its goal of $3 million in revenue. She touches on what core systems were implemented, how delegation worked, case acceptances successes, and more that got this office meeting its five-year goal 44 months early. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript:   speaker-0 (00:00) Good morning, Dental A Team listeners. I am so excited to be here. You guys know that the consultants and I love recording these podcasts and I get to be here. This is our Monday morning mix up here for Kristy and I. have switched on some of our podcast recording and honestly starting my day.   with these beautiful, beautiful minds has been something that's really, really turned a corner for me. I love starting the week and starting the day with podcasting. Kristy, thank you so much for being here today. ⁓ Gosh, how are you? How's life? How's Kristy's world?   speaker-1 (00:35) Absolutely. I love being here and starting the day and the week with you as well and going well. mean, hitting the ground running end of year and really pushing planning for next year. It's been fun. Fun celebrating with clients and looking toward new goals for the new year.   speaker-0 (00:55) Amazing. I love it. And you guys know we record these in ⁓ succession. We record these in advance and we get these prepped and ready for you. And something we're really excited to bring you today is something Kristy's found within her digging. So every year we help all of our clients prep for the next year. We look at what did we do this year? What was your growth this year? And it gives us an opportunity to see everything that has been done and what's worked really, really well. With all of our clients, we do this obviously monthly. And then we do a really big   quarterly report and get all those information over there and make sure that we're on track for our yearly goal. But at the end of the year, it's this big push to say, realistically, realistically, where are we? And then where can we take you next year to really prep and plan? So this I am really excited for. like to, you know, I like to pick the brains of the consultants. And towards the end of the year now, as Kristy is getting all of these things ready and this recording, you know, comes out early January that   or early new year, I should say at least. ⁓ We're just really excited to be able to see these numbers, share them with you, and then share some tactical pieces that Kristy's been able to develop and implement with this specific practice we picked today. So I am so excited, Kristy. Thank you for being here. Thank you so much for allowing me to pick your brain on your clients. I know you have a handful of platinum and gold clients that you work with constantly. are a... ⁓   you are a digger. Like I feel like you just you dig and you dig and you dig until you find that last missing piece that is that you know, I feel like you've got like thousand piece puzzle and you find you finally found that piece hiding under the table to finish your puzzle and that's it feels like that's what you did this year with this specific client. So Kristy again, thank you for letting me pick your brain and gosh, I I think the best place to start Kristy is to really highlight where they were this specific   practice and then we can get into where you were able to take them with your consulting and their ⁓ you know their leadership within the practice. So where were they when they came to Dental A Team? They signed up just so you guys know as a platinum client. So this means that they had an hour and a half of dedicated time with Kristy dedicated means an hour of time an hour and a half of time with Kristy with access to Kristy outside of that. So that's why it's that dedicated time. So   I know there were emails and there were text messages and then they also did the platinum package has two in office visits or our in person masterminds choice to be made there at sign up. So just so you know, they had the full package and Kristy take us, take us through it. Where were they when they signed up for that platinum package and they were just like, girl, get in my office. We need you here. What did their life look like? Yeah.   speaker-1 (03:38) ⁓ truly Tiff, they were about 2.8 million last year and really pushing, striving to hit over that $3 million mark for this year. ⁓ but really having, struggling with team. they had no admin team members really when we started. so, ⁓ outsourced insurance, ⁓ trying to get that back on track and really struggling to find teammates, ⁓ of quality.   So there was a lot of moving pieces I would say for this year.   speaker-0 (04:14) Yeah, and how many providers did they have in office at 2.8 million for reference?   speaker-1 (04:18) ⁓   Actually, they had ⁓ two and a half because they did have an associate starting the year as well, which phased out ⁓ through the year.   speaker-0 (04:31) and how many hygienists.   speaker-1 (04:34) three, three, four.   speaker-0 (04:35) Hygienist,   awesome. For two and a half doctors. Yes. Yeah, that makes sense. So thank you, Minette 2.8. I've been really looking to break that 3 million barrier with two and a half doctors, three hygienists. I like three hygienists is probably a little bit light for two and a half doctors, but that's where that 2.8 comes into play. It actually works out perfectly. So looking to really increase hygiene, to increase doctors, to really hit the ground running and get that 3 million.   speaker-1 (04:38) Yeah, two and a Okay.   speaker-0 (05:03) As you said, when they came, I think they, I recollect that they came and they just really didn't know what that extra piece was for that 200,000. Like they were like right on the cusp of it and where do I find it? And even just saying that, like going from 2.8 to 3 million, right? That 200,000 is like, oh, when I say it as 200,000, now I can think in providers, what do I need to do as far as providers, as far as treatment, et cetera?   That makes sense. So it sounds like they needed an extra at least 200,000. They needed team members. They needed to figure out why they didn't have team members and then probably reduce their outsourcing and bring stuff back in-house, I'm sure. So Kristy, as it just brought oversight before we get into the nitty gritty, that's where they started. 2.8 lacking team members, really needing a plan. I know their profit was reflective of   2.8, they were reflective of needing more profit. Now, by the end of the year, so by the end of 2025, working as a platinum client with you, where did they end up?   speaker-1 (06:10) Yeah, they're ending the year over 3 million and actually even cut working hours, Tiff. And I'll back up a minute and say truly, it was probably closer to two doctors by the time they split hours and still looking for another hygienist actually to add to the mix. with that being said, they hit their mark and surpassed it for sure. They've got about 18.5 % growth over last year.   and doctors working less hours.   speaker-0 (06:41) Amazing. And I think that's the ultimate goal, right? Most doctors come in and they're not like, okay, Kristy, teach me how to work five days a week and make $300,000. They're like, teach me how to work three days a week, two days a week, even get an associate in place and make $3 million or more, whatever that goal is. So 18 and a half percent growth is massive. And I know that's reflective also in their profit. And then where did their team kind of, I know that there's   You guys, just have to say this for whatever reason, an instability in teams is not super uncommon anymore. It's just, is an ever fluctuating space. It's a, it's a moving piece that dentistry has not had in our lives before. think it's been in other industries. think other industries have felt these kinds of waves and they've dealt with this. It's not something that dentistry has really had until the last few years. So to say that they,   had a lot of outsource to say that they had not as many team members as they might need coming into the year is not the most uncommon thing. And to continue to fluctuate with that is not the most uncommon thing. So I do want to preface with that, but Kristy, how did their leadership come along? And to get 18 and a half percent growth, there's got to be some sort of personal growth as well and leadership growth and kind of team stability in some areas at least. So how does that look?   speaker-1 (08:06) Yeah, absolutely. And you are spot on. We did a lot of self-reflection and dug deep in our own leadership style and working on ⁓ developing a feedback loop for team members and for team members to doctors, right? And giving that reinforcing feedback and then developmental feedback along the way. So making sure that we had team touches every quarter.   to guide the growth and development for sure.   speaker-0 (08:37) Amazing, amazing. So leadership within the doctors for sure and the owners, but also leadership within the team and self-reflection within the team of job descriptions. this what I'm really good at? Is this what I want to do? Where can I do better or ⁓ learn more to enhance my position within the practice and really talking about those things? feel like I remember this.   client and I remember because most clients are this way, they come in and they're just not talking about the things and I think that happens in every industry and every company and even families. We just don't talk enough and so really ramping up the communication within their departments and within each other as a full team, I think really helped to highlight some of the systems and implementations that you guys were able to develop. Do you agree?   speaker-1 (09:29) I agree 100 % painting that clarity through their duties. And really we worked on delegation too. Being able to delegate and trust and then come back and track and verify. And it gave the doctors a peace of mind that things were happening. And once they started seeing that, it was easier for them to continue to delegate.   speaker-0 (09:53) Absolutely. So I want to come back to the delegation because I know everybody is sitting there thinking, I need to write this down. How do I, what do I, what do I delegate? Right. It's not always just the, do I delegate? But sometimes it comes down to what do I delegate? So I want to come back to the delegate. But first I want you to maybe just highlight a few of the core systems that you guys were able to implement. And then we'll talk about within those systems, what were they able to delegate out to the team? So I can imagine.   that there was some room for growth and some space for some diagnostics and making sure that we're diagnosing enough. know the first place doctors like to go or practices like to go is new patients. And that is a space and I'm not going to discredit new patients. But oftentimes we have to really take a step back and think, we making the most out of the opportunities that we already have and have been given? Or do we need more opportunities? So that's a   That's a space where I think the consulting comes in and really helps to decipher based on the data that we have because we know what it takes to diagnose certain amounts. And yes, it depends. I know I've got an office that's in like a college area. And so yeah, he needs more opportunity because he's not got a lot of, you know, implants or whatever. But I know you guys really, really dug in and focused heavily on that aspect of the diagnosis, the new patients, all of that. So what were you able to uncover?   within the diagnosis space and realistically that turns into your case acceptance too.   speaker-1 (11:22) Yeah, really multifo-tiff, but for the most part, what we were noticing is doctors were really great at diagnosing. ⁓ They had probably over $3 million in diagnosed treatment even this year, and ⁓ case acceptance was a little bit lacking in that regard. ⁓ We had probably $2 million of unscheduled treatment walking out the door.   and being able to hone in on our skills for ⁓ case acceptance, not only ⁓ financially finding solutions, but also how we're speaking to patients at the chair to create that value. We really worked hard to dial that in and it showed. We really captured and gained more case acceptance from patients.   speaker-0 (12:17) Amazing. It sounds like that is again, going back to the communication within the team. So getting the communication or getting the team talking more, communicating more, really, really helps to increase the trust that the patient feels that the team starts trusting each other more. And you don't even walk around thinking I don't trust these people. It's not an apparent lack of trust. But the more you communicate with someone, the more intentional conversations you have. And the more you talk about   the needs even just treatment planning that trust naturally builds. And then you just, you have a closeness. All of a sudden you're closer with people than you were prior and that's what it is. You're not walking around thinking I don't trust people, but then all of a sudden you're like, my gosh, I love these people. And that's how it's developed. So developing that within the team then transpires into the team, communicating more with the patients as well and communicating on a different kind of level, think, chair side even.   regarding treatment and trusting the treatment planning. if we've got a team that's like, just honestly, if we've got a team that's not super emotionally close to the doctor or the practice or our vision or our why, if we're not bought into why we're here, we're not as intentional speaking about treatment. So really ramping up that communication, Kristy, feels like it was just such a space that transformed   how they communicated about the treatment that gave them the opportunity to level it up.   speaker-1 (13:48) Yeah, I agree with you 100%. We actually took a step back and revisited the doctors why and shared it with the team and let that really be our beacon of light in every, every interaction with our patients. So, um, and I would say even, even with that, you know, creating the team buy-in back to doctors, why and purpose for the practice. Um, and they were all committed and it showed.   speaker-0 (14:17) That's beautiful. That's beautiful. And it really does make a difference because we need to know, we need something to believe in. We need something to go after. We need a goal. And then we need the inspiration of a why of something to believe in. What are we even doing here? So I love that. How what kind of systems did you use? And you can use actual, you know, dental lighting systems are all here on these podcasts somewhere we love giving. We love giving the information out. But what were the actual chair side?   or ⁓ communication tools, what were the actual systems that you helped them implement that really changed their communication? So we can say, talk more. We've got to have the system behind it.   speaker-1 (14:57) Absolutely. ⁓ Number one, the handoffs, making sure we're communicating with patients, whatever they came in on the phone call, whatever they said, making sure that was communicated to the clinical team and addressed with the patient. So they understood out of the gate, wow, you listen to me, right? And then hygiene handoffs to the doctor when they come in the room. ⁓ And then back to...   the clinical team and clinical team going handoff to the front, all that whole connection all the way through Tiff. ⁓ And again, also working on our communication of what matters most to the patient, finding out their motivator and tying everything back to that. When we can find out the patient's why, we're not just telling them what they need, right? It really is relational, not just   the relationship between us and our handoffs, but the relationship with the patient. So those were some of the big ones that we really worked on to increase communication all around. ⁓ And I would also say financial ⁓ presentations, starting with comprehensively financing treatment, even if we're phasing it out, we found a solution to get the patient healthy, even if it was over time. And that made a huge difference.   in their case acceptance too.   speaker-0 (16:25) sure you made it relatable for the patient and attainable.   speaker-1 (16:29) Yeah, 100%. And if a patient didn't, mean, sometimes it does take a little bit to build trust, right? We did our two to two follow ups, making sure that, you know, the patients understood even though they left and they didn't schedule something, we care about you and it's important. And those make a difference too, because how many times do they leave and patients start wondering, well, do I really need it? They didn't. I mean, they don't care to call me. They just said, call me when you're ready. Right.   speaker-0 (16:58) Yeah,   totally, totally. we're not, it's not the same as when you go to the store and you want this jacket or this outfit or car bar, I don't know, whatever it is that you went to the store and you're like, gosh, I really want that, but not right now. Like not yet, I need to just wait on this. And then you go home and you're thinking about it you're thinking, gosh, I should have gotten it. I could be wearing those sweats right now. I could be so comfy. Like you're not thinking that about your dental treatment. You go home and you're like, well, I'm going to set this down on this counter over here.   and come back to it in six months when I go get my cleaning again, which hopefully we at least scheduled that. So I think that's beautiful. A follow up is key because we have to remind, know, Lululemon or Yori or whoever, like they're not calling me saying, don't forget you love those pants. You know, that's in my mind. I'm not going to forget it's there. I want it. But my dental treatment, I'm never going to think about again. If I leave the practice rarely ever, I can't say never, but rarely. I love that. So you were able to seriously change   the community that they're they're sitting in because you guys were able to really implement some amazing amazing tools and that 18 and a half percent is Nothing to cough at that is a massive amount of growth and again, that was while Like decreasing doctor hours so really tightening up the schedule so I imagine there was some some scheduling tools as well that were put into place and Scheduling tools that were put into place and really just like   ramping up what that schedule looked like. What did you do? I know we talked block scheduling a lot. So tell us a little bit about that block scheduling, because I'm sure that you have so much that you've done over there with that. And tell me a little bit more about that.   speaker-1 (18:40) Yeah, Tiff, we really dug into their procedure counts and formulated an efficient schedule. One doctor started the year about $9.50 an hour and ended his year closer to $1,100 an hour. Wow. Yeah. The other doc started about $600 an hour and ended close to $900 an hour. And hygiene.   speaker-0 (19:06) amazing.   speaker-1 (19:08) This will blow your mind. They started about 128 an hour and they ended at 147. They did ⁓ get a new laser for hygiene, but literally adding the blocks in there to make sure we had room for perio, make sure doctors had room for their big cases just by taking a look at where they were performing and leaving room for additional growth in that. And then ⁓ reverse engineering it to what   speaker-0 (19:14) my gosh.   speaker-1 (19:39) They wanted the outcome for their goal to be. Yeah, it was fun. It was fun. They designed it and I helped guide them with it and it worked and they all are following it because they see that it creates easier days for them and they don't have the roller coaster of really high production one day and then really low production the next.   speaker-0 (20:02) That's amazing. Even hygiene, and I know you said, yeah, they implemented the laser. They brought the laser on board. But bringing a laser, buying a laser, taking the course for the laser, getting certified, and then actually using it to increase production and increase your patient's health is a completely different thing. So they were able to, I would imagine, find the space within their   ⁓ our appointment or to our appointment or however long they were scheduling for that, they were able to find the space to actually implement it, to feel comfortable and confident to do it. That's really, really cool. I actually really love that. So to wrap it, you've done handoffs, you've done chair side handoffs, you've done handoffs with the front office, and then also blocked scheduling and really, really dove into the metrics and the numbers and how   It's kind of like that lemon that you have that you're like, gosh, I just have like one or lime, right? I have one taco left. Like I don't have any more limes. You're squeezing the last little bit of juice out of the taco, or out of the lime on the taco, but you're really making it so that everything is flowing better. Everything is smoother. It's more efficient and it's really running like a well-oiled machine so that they could get that 18 and a half percent increase.   speaker-1 (21:21) Yeah, 100 % Tiff. And truly, ⁓ it took us really dialing into the why because as you know, so many offices, ⁓ they do have relationships with their patients. But when you have healthy mouth patients and we're reappointing those and not leaving room for the infected patients, it directly affects the doctor's schedule. So letting them see, kind of triaging it like a...   hospital would, right? If I'm coming in and I'm bleeding, I'm going to take precedence over somebody that ⁓ has a, I don't know, ingrown toenail. Re-framing that and letting them know, hey, we can still see those people and we want to see them, but we need to formulate a schedule that allows us to not only make our goals, but treat our patients in a way that aligns with our vision.   speaker-0 (22:01) Yeah, absolutely.   speaker-1 (22:18) ⁓ and mission, it really made the big difference.   speaker-0 (22:23) That's beautiful. That's beautiful. That's amazing. And Kristy, kudos to you. Kudos to this team. You guys worked really, really hard. And I know you worked tirelessly with them to support them and guide them and give them the tools that they needed and really give them the support and the accountability. I did say I'd come back to the delegation so quickly. What did they end up being able to delegate to other, maybe team members so that it wasn't all the doctor or the owner?   speaker-1 (22:51) Yeah. First and foremost, it was them sitting in on those one-on-one meetings, guiding the new employees. Because as I told you, the admin team was... They weren't even there. So they ⁓ hired somebody that could help manage the office and allowing her to see their style. And then...   speaker-0 (23:05) They didn't have one. Yeah. ⁓   speaker-1 (23:15) watching her implement and run with it gave them the courage to let go and let her do it. ⁓ with that being said, that was huge implementation there.   speaker-0 (23:26) And I would imagine too, that they didn't do all of the informational search. They didn't do all the digging on the financial options, but they probably allowed their team to also help find what would work for the patients. And they're not going and sitting on these calls with Cherry and implementing the tools. they're allowing the team to have a part in this so that they're actually using the tools as well. Am I right?   speaker-1 (23:54) Yeah, absolutely. ⁓ In fact, bringing in other financial solutions. Yeah. One thing also that they uncovered was one of the insurance ⁓ insurance plans was really holding them back and allowing the team to have say in, hey, I think we need to look at this one and maybe eliminate it because it's not serving us.   speaker-0 (24:17) That's beautiful. So making more dollars per hour production for the treatment that you're doing, getting paid, getting paid what you should. I think that's brilliant. And this is, this is the time and age to be doing that. A lot of practices are looking at that. I love it. I love it, Kristy. So handoffs, chair side, handoffs, ⁓ just within the team in general, handoffs at checkout, handoffs at treatment planning, all those different spaces and really, really looking for the opportunities that are being missed. So we often look for   quantity and we look for, let's bring in more. We're not getting enough case acceptance so we need more like to diagnose. they often, oftentimes practices will look at that new patient space and it could be the new patient space. I'm not gonna discredit that, but sometimes it is within the case acceptance. And so you've already got it there, increasing the systems and really looking at the why, getting a team fully on board, delegating the things that you can delegate, increasing that can make a massive difference. And then you're.   serving the patients that are already there even better than you were before. So Kristy, this is beautiful. I think there are a lot of nuggets that people can take from this. And again, 18 and a half percent, that's nothing to cough at. And I'm not saying you guys that everybody's going to get 18 and a half percent. They have the space and the availability and they did it. I have seen 5%, 7%, 12%. I've seen 22 % growth. It just depends on where you're at, what you're capable of doing within the size limitations that you have. And we are just so happy, Kristy.   Thank you for working so hard with this practice and with others. You are an incredible consultant and your clients are very, very lucky to have you.   speaker-1 (25:50) Thank you. It was fun. It's fun. I love seeing their visions come true.   speaker-0 (25:56) Same,   same, I love it. Well guys, I hope that you were able to take some notes. If you are driving, please re-listen and then take notes. Don't drive and take notes at the same time. Drop us a five star review. We always love to hear what you're thinking or any nuggets that you picked up from this. And as always, you can reach us at Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. Thanks guys.  

Kiera and Tiff are on the pod together to ask, What are you working toward? Your professional purpose can often get lost when you're too buried in work, and the two invite listeners to take a step back and ask themselves key questions in order to recenter. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: The Dental A Team (00:00) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera and it is Spiffy Tiffy and Kiera back on the podcast. I messaged Tiff and just said, Hey, are you free? Because the topic today, I actually think Tiff and I can really rift on of such a solid conversation. I'm really excited about. So Tiff, welcome to the podcast. How are doing today?   The Dental A Team (00:19) I'm good. I'm excited because we haven't even, I don't even know what this, what you're thinking. So we're all learning this together, you guys.   The Dental A Team (00:25) you   It's true. This is the magic of Kiera and Tiff. We can truly pull each other in at any moment of any presentation and we pretty much can just pick up. And I think that's a beautiful thing when you have somebody that, I don't know, Tiff, it's just like, I was gonna say a funny joke, but I'm not gonna say that joke. We want someone who is so connected to you that just knows what you're going to do. It's truly pure magic. And we've literally had that since we met. So for those of you new to the podcast, welcome. Tiff and I are.   just two girls who love dentistry and wanted to change the world. And here we are. We really are passionate about life and business. We're passionate about dentists having their best lives, team members having their best lives. And that's really the core of what Dental A Team is about. So to get both of us, mean, literally I met Tiff when I was a rookie business owner. So the fact that we're still here together, we still love working together, I think is a pretty magical, incredible thing. And we would just always have said, we wanted to build a business that we are proud of, that we enjoy working in.   There have been times we have not enjoyed working here. I remember last year about this time I called you and we're both like, why is it so hard? Like I just remember it. And so there are ups and downs of a business, but in that vein, okay, Tiff, here's the preface. You ready? I'm going to tell you. So I was at the gym the other day and I absolutely hate with a passion sled pushes. Like I hate them. They are freaking hard. And Laura, my trainer, she like, I hate it. Like I don't have strong.   shoulders, my knees like hurt like that's why I go to the gym like I've got these like dumb problems and I was pushing the sled and like I'm shaking every ounce me wants to just give up it is so hard it's not that far but I really absolutely like loathe sled sled pushes and sled poles and Laura yelled at me she's like Kiera what are you working towards think about that while you push this and I was like I'm doing a podcast on this and Tiff I feel like you are the perfect person to podcast with me on   because that has set with me. And as I was pushing, I literally had the thought of I'm pushing to my 90, 100, 110 year old self that Tiff knows the vision. Cotton candy pink hair here, cotton candy blue hair on Tiff. We're going to be these like fit ripped grannies that are just living our best life, having so much fun. But I thought about that physically for my body. But I thought we do sled pushes and sled pulls in our business every single day. And to really start to think and dig deep of like   What are we working for? What is that purpose? And Tiff, know that this is right up your alley, which is why I didn't even have to prep you on it. Cause I'm like, let me just give a little preface and you're going to be all in. Cause one it's working out, which is your huge passion to its life. And three, we get to be on the podcast together. It's a triple win. You're welcome. So triple whammy. Here we go. So just thinking about that, I don't know. I want to just, have no agenda of where I want to take this podcast other than   The Dental A Team (03:01) I do love it.   Triple whammy.   The Dental A Team (03:15) It just made me really, I've been thinking about this. We're probably like four weeks since she said it to me, like literally it was a yell. So just imagine me and Tiff are your gym trainers here yelling at you, like, what are you working towards? What are you pushing this for? Why are you doing it? And I think sometimes that can get lost in people. And I think until we get that like yell wake up when it's like truly just like hard, I think sometimes we are asleep and hopefully today's podcast might wake you up and bring you to being present, being focused and being intentional. So Tiff.   It's okay, take it away.   The Dental A Team (03:45) Totally, I love working out, so thank you. Thank you for thinking of me and that reference. I don't do sled pulls because I don't like them, and I don't have a trainer telling me to do them, so I'm very proud of you for doing them. This is wild, I hate mountain climbers and knee ups. Those are my two worst enemies. So I'm with you on hating some sort of exercise at least. I'll do, I don't know, I'll do a burpee all day long for you, but ask me to do a knee up or a mountain climber, I'm out. But actually,   The Dental A Team (03:54) you   me too.   Mm-hmm.   The Dental A Team (04:14) This is, we're always like synchronistic. So it is fitting that this comes up. I actually like on a, think there's different scales that you could take this conversation. And I think there's the grand scale of like, why are we doing this? You and I come back to this constantly. And at about this time last year, we had really lost that vision and that drive. And so we did have to come back. I was actually thinking about that just the other day. was like, gosh, it was almost a year ago at this point, like by a couple of weeks, I think. Yeah. So yeah.   The Dental A Team (04:37) too. Crazy. Like literally.   The Dental A Team (04:42) Yeah, so I was thinking about it too, but this morning actually, I had a conversation with a client and it kind of, it's very pertinent to this subject and it kind of is interesting to me because we're thinking on a grand scale here and you're like, you're 80, 90, 100, 110 year old self is what you're envisioning and we go big a lot on like goals and visions and dreams and wishes for the, the.   clients for their practices, but something that I chatted about this morning was like as simple as something you're implementing. And the conversation was set around bonuses and bonus structures. And I was like, okay, you can do anything you want with a bonus. I don't care. I truly don't care what you decide. You need to be profitable at the bottom line, the end of the day. That's all I care about. My job is to make sure you're profitable. I don't care what your decision is. I have input on everything.   But the real question is, why are you doing a bonus? Because that will help answer the question of which style of bonus you want to do. And I think, Kiera, why are you exercising? Because that's going to help you decide what style of exercises are the best for that need. If you just woke up one day, people do this all the time.   They're like, I'm gonna exercise today. I'm gonna start today. And they're like, okay, there's, this is like, I think one of the main reasons people don't exercise, because you wake up and you're like, today's the day I'm gonna do it. And you're like, okay, there's 15,000 gyms to choose from, all ranging prices. I could get a trainer, but that's X amount of money. And I don't know that I need one or want one. I could do a CrossFit gym. I could do power lifting. I could do,   spin classes, I could do there's a million things. And so it's like, if you don't know the reason why you're doing the thing you're going to do, it's very difficult to pick what that looks like or to finalize or decide or clarify what that looks like down to the smallest decisions. And when people sit in indecision or I always say if something is really, really hard and I say this,   I always preface this with that doesn't mean life isn't hard. Life is hard, but when something is so hard that you're like, why isn't this working? I think of the toddler with that little game, right? And it's got the circle and the triangle and the square and the X. And this toddler has the square and the circle and they just sit there banging and banging and banging and banging and screaming in frustration because they know it's supposed to go inside the box. It's supposed to get inside the box, but they can't figure out.   The Dental A Team (07:10) Mm-hmm.   Thank you.   The Dental A Team (07:36) how it gets inside the box. And when we're sitting there like banging our heads against the wall, if you were doing all of these things in the gym, Kiera, felt this way about the sled and weren't seeing results, that's that space of like, I am doing everything I can possibly think of, why isn't this working? When you feel that way, I think my suspicion is that we've lost sight of why we're doing that thing.   The Dental A Team (07:38) Right.   Okay.   The Dental A Team (08:05) Right? Or that   thing isn't actually fitting the reason that we're here and we're doing the wrong thing. So we need to find that new path and that new thing circumventing what we're trying to do. We're trying to break through this wall, but sometimes it's like, no, actually that wall was supposed to be there. I was supposed to drive around. This is someone's yard. I can't just drive through their yard. Like this wall is supposed to be here. I'm actually supposed to drive around this wall, but my shortest path in my brain is through the wall. I hope that makes sense.   The Dental A Team (08:23) Right.   Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.   It does make sense and it actually made me think about Simon Sinek's why   starts with the why, which is the purpose. And then you go into the how, which is the process. And then you go into the what, which is the result. And I think so many people, you said Tiff, they're starting with the result. It's like, I want to have a six pack. ⁓ Great. But like why? When you can go bigger and I can think of, like when I was pushing that said pole, I'm like, I'm so angry pushing this thing. And I'm like, yeah, but 90 year old, 110 year old Kiera, if I can be running, I can be walking, I can be lifting things and my bones aren't frail.   That's the purpose. Like that's the big purpose. This is why we're even doing. What is the cause? What do you believe? Like I believe that I'm going to be 110 year old fit woman who can do all these things. Then the how is the process. I go to the gym three times a week and the result is I have strong muscles and I have the six pack. That's, that's the after effect. That's not the starting. And with your practice, like when Tiff and I, talked about it, we lost the why.   That's why I think things were so hard. Like I feel like we were the toddler trying to shove the X into the circle and saying like, get in there. Like this needs to fit. Like it has to be this way. Like you said, we were running into someone's yard. Like there was a wall there and we couldn't see it. And when we scaled it back and it was like, this is the purpose of why we're doing what we do. Then the how is the process we do consulting this way. And then the result is your business grows. The profitability is there. You look at your numbers. And I think when I just, it really was just a highlight of   I think people today listening, I would just implore you and encourage you to ask the question of why am I doing this? And not like you can have it to make money. That's a result, but there's got to be something deeper and bigger and more than that. That's going to sustain you through that. Like true sled pull push, because I don't know, like businesses are not, you are not profitable forever. Like that's not something that's just like you get to profit and you stay at profit. Just like you don't get to fit and you stay at fit. You don't get to.   a certain result and you stay there. You have to maintain, have to be vigilant. You have to be on top of it. Just because like, I remember there was an epiphany one day, Tiff, Tiffanie epiphany. There you go. It's not quite efficiency, but I'm going to get there. ⁓ it was an epiphany where I literally was like, I get not half to work out. get to work out now, not to look good, but to be able to walk and not have pain. Like it was this moment. Cause I used to just work out. Like I need to like, look a little bit better in my swimsuit. So like, we'll just go to the gym for that.   Then I was like, no, this is just a way of life. This is a process. And I think when you realize that that's business, like being profitable, looking at the numbers, being the CEO, getting the team on board, doing great dentistry, that's all part of this. It's not the, do this just because it's like, that's part of all that you're doing. But when you have a greater why, I mean, even just the last couple of nights, me and Gwendolyn, which is my chat GPT have been hanging out tip. And it was crazy because even though I'm exhausted,   I'm lit up and fired up and excited because of what we're building and the purpose and all that. And that's what you want to get to. And to think Tiffanie, a year ago, you and I, remember I was on a walk. I remember exactly where I was. And I just remember hearing you and like, it was so like painful. You're like, why is this so hard? And I remember stopping, sitting on the ground, literally crying. And I was like, I don't know, Tiff, like, this is not what we built this for. This is not the life we want to be living. Like something radically has to change. And it was because I think our why was   just grow a bigger business. wasn't, let's change people's lives. Let's impact people. Let's look at what we're doing and how we can shift it. So I know that was a bit of a rant on my side. I just hope people are waking up and remembering like, what are you working towards? All this pain, all this hardship is part of it. But when that why is so vigilant and so pressing and so driving it, you're able to get through the sled pole as much as you don't enjoy it and get to the other side because you know there's a bigger purpose you're working towards.   The Dental A Team (12:21) Mm-hmm. Yeah, I agree. And I think that we also have to remember that things shift and they change. The reasons that we do things change. So I have a couple of thoughts as you're speaking. First of all, you're having a difficult time ⁓ committing to a task or doing it all the time, or sometimes I forget, I'm like, shoot, I forgot. was gonna start going to the gym three times a week, like six weeks ago, and I haven't gone once, right? So if you forgot, it wasn't important, right? So my theory on that is either it's not the right thing.   So you chose the wrong thing to get you to the result you're after or your result you're after, your why, isn't strong enough. It doesn't hit fully yet, if that makes sense. So like Kiera, you said your reason for working out, right? When Brody was four, I think three, four years old, I was exhausted and I was tired and being a parent of a freaking three, four year old, like it was rough. was a single mom and it was...   The Dental A Team (13:04) Mm-hmm.   The Dental A Team (13:20) I was just tired and I was like, you know what? Like, this is ridiculous. I do not want my kid to remember that mom couldn't hang. Like I couldn't play with him at the playground because I was tired easily or I couldn't, whatever it was, color with him because I'm like, no, like I just gotta rest, right? If I couldn't do the things with him because I wasn't taking care of myself, because I was pouring into him and tired, like that crazy cycle, that wasn't enough for me and that's when...   realistically when ⁓ workouts and training and stuff took precedence in my life. So my, my Y was easy. It's Brody. My Y for everything is Brody, but that shifts and it changes. Brody is Brody is my entire life, but he's going to college soon. And so now like I'm in that stage of that we all get to personally and professionally of, what is my Y now? So I think something that we get stuck on is   what we think, what we put into the universe, what we say has to be forever. And that it's like, no, this is why I started this business. Okay, but like, it's not the 90s anymore, right? Like I can't keep, I can't wear my clothes from high school, even though they're coming back around. If I wear those clothes from high school, which I don't have anymore, I would look ridiculous, right? So like stop trying to be the past version of yourself and understand   and give value to the fact that you have grown and your business has grown. So who you are and who your company is today is outgrowing, kind of like the crabs, you know? Like they outgrow their shells and they get to gift that shell to a new crab. A new crab walks along who's at that stage and they're like, this is my space. Let me take this giant home. This bigger crab that left that shell behind,   The Dental A Team (14:57) Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.   The Dental A Team (15:12) is now in a bigger shell. And if you're not willing to shed that shell, you're one, keeping other people from growing. You're still, that crab can't find that home if you haven't left it behind. And you're keeping yourself from growing. So to Kiera's point of like, you're not always gonna be profitable. There's gonna be, it's all cyclical. And if we're not open to the idea that our why has to change and it has to evolve to continue to be important to us, then   I don't know why you created one in the beginning.   The Dental A Team (15:44) I don't disagree with you. And on the profit thing, our goal at Dental A Team is to make sure our offices are always profitable. So we're just going to put that asterisk there. I think it can be. It's just not something where it's like a set it, forget it. You can just walk away from it. ⁓ And Div, I love that you said that because I think the permission right now to change, because me working out used to be to just look good. Like that was honestly what it was. It was like, I want to have this ripped body, like.   but not like so ripped, like just toned. I didn't like truly didn't have to work super hard at it. So was like, I go to the gym like as a social thing. That was it. That was, that was my why at that point. Now it's a like, no, like 90 year old Kiera needs this 40 year old Kiera needs this today. Like just who I am today. And also my mental sanity needs it today. And so allowing yourself to morph, to evolve, to grow. And I think when you look at your business and it was wild. ⁓   We had outgrown our why a little bit and our why needed to change and we needed to come back home. I think there's still always threads of what it was, but like you said, Tiff, life changes, circumstances changes. I think I got to a spot where I realized all the goals I had set for myself and for our company, we had pretty much hit. Like, so was kind of just this like rogue, like, all right, we've done this. And as a grower and a creator and a builder, I don't want to just do the same thing day in day out. That's not who I am. That's not what I was built to do. That's not what our company was built to do.   And so we had to, but like, couldn't keep doing that myself. I needed to get the team button. I needed the team to help build a bigger vision. We needed to collectively all decide where do want this to grow? And I needed to have something bigger than myself. ⁓ I think is where that shifted. And so really for you, no matter where you are in the phase of the journey, no matter if it's personal, professional, if you're a team member listening, if you're a doctor listening, whomever it is, if this is a team meeting, I think also for every team player to find out what our why is, what are we working towards?   Like pretend we're your gym trainers and we're yelling at you right now. Like, what are you working for? What are you doing all this for? Is it the same as what it has been? For Tiff, it's always been Brody. And I'm actually really excited, Tiff, to watch you morph into another version of yourself where Brody goes to college. And Tiff, like for me, it was like, cool. We were trying to have children. We were trying to do all these different things. Like that didn't happen. And so I remember sitting there and I'm like, what the heck?   I'm not doing any this anymore. Like I want to work this hard. I want to be this tired. I want to be this exhausted. There's nothing bigger that I'm working towards. And when we lose that, you lose the momentum. ⁓ or if it gets foggy or fuzzy or life changes or things don't happen the way you planned really just, think reassessing today, what are you working for? What is, and working personally, professionally team wise. And I also like for me, I get lit up now when I find out what team members are working. I love tip. love our one-on-ones. love hearing.   what Tiffanie's personal goals are. love hearing Britt. And I used to say that now it's like even more fun because we can take the business and manipulate it to create people's dream lives for them and also change Dennis lives too at the same time. And to me, that's even like more of a fun why that's bigger and more engaging and more exciting. But like you said, Tiff, it's crabs, it's shells, it's evolving, it's evolution of soul. And I think allow yourself to evolve, allow your team to evolve, allow your business to evolve, but whatever you're doing, just make sure   If you've lost that spunk and like inspire, find it again. Have it to be more like, again, a year ago I did not have this and then two nights, the last two nights, I'm so excited to run spreadsheets at numbers and figure it out. Like the puzzle, it's like scheming over here with me and I can't wait to come talk to Tip and I can't wait to do the projects that we're building. And I know Tip feels the same way. Like it's just fun and there's energy because we're, I think we're centered and focused on what we really want to do and committed to that and willing to allow ourselves to rewrite it.   consistently to make sure that we're always being inspired, always being challenged, always growing and progressing. So that's like my, that's my, are you working for? Spielstift. Any last thoughts you've got to add to this and thank you for popping in unannounced. I knew you'd be the perfect person. I knew there'd be nuggets that we could both pull to this. And I didn't want to do this alone because I also think not intentionally, but as I just said it, I actually think building a why and a vision of what you're working towards is so much more fun when you have people and a community and a team of people that are bought in.   that is so much more fulfilling. And I think for a long time, Tiff, you probably could have tested this. I think I tried to be a lone wolf trying to pull the team along and I had to shift and realize it's so much more fun to collectively have a group focus, a group process. Yes, I need to be, I need to have like at least some starting point to it, but it's so much more enjoyable when there's more people bought into it rather than just myself. So maybe that's also why I felt the want and need to have you on this today too. So any last thoughts, things you think of?   as we wrap up today.   The Dental A Team (20:22) Yeah, I think a couple things. One thing, what you just said is to like make that actionable for people is that you provide a template. Like we can create what we want this company to look like, right? But it's not our company. And so you provide a template for us so that we can work off of that. And then together we create the vision and the mission and all of those pieces. But they align with who you are because that's what this company is here for. It would be ridiculous for anyone else to be the one that   creates that because it's not our company. ⁓ So I think you provide the template, which is, know, every time you ask me for something, I'm like, well, you're going tell me what you want it to look like. we all need that, the clarity. You provide the template and the clarity.   The Dental A Team (20:57) Thank   Can we,   can we ask Rick on that real quick because you, so let's go back to when we met a year ago. I remember you saying, Kiera, we joined this company because of who you are and the vision you had. inspired us to join you. And that was something like, it's still like, gives me like tingles hits me to my core. I thought I was being selfish building a vision and a template. And when you said that you're like, you've lost yourself basically like in more polite words than that.   But you were like, you need to get yourself centered and get us excited because you driving this dream, this vision is why we collectively have come together. And if you're this floating bubble off on no man's land, waiting for us to co-create it because you want us to take ownership, that's what's going to lose our team. And Tiff, I don't know if you remember saying that directly to me. I remember exactly where we were. We were looking across the room at each other when you said it. And I'm just grateful that you have the, I think, courage to say that to your boss, to your friend.   I think a lot of team members don't realize that you can really help your leaders ⁓ get enlightened when there may be a little fuzzy. But Tiff, as soon as you said that to me, like, I'm not being selfish. This is what you guys need from me. This is why we're all here together. And if I can give that template, that guidance, everybody can rally around that. But that's got to be something that's core in me because I can't fake fire and the team will not come if there's not a spark. I like excitement that's got to be built within me.   The Dental A Team (22:28) Absolutely, and that goes hand in hand with what I was going to say. And so it was like literally perfect timing. you provide the template and something, there's a lot in there, but something that I wanted to pull out that goes exactly with what   just said. one, number one, before I even say that, I think there are words in our dictionary that have an imposed ⁓ emotion attached to them that's completely wrong.   The Dental A Team (22:54) you   The Dental A Team (22:54) Anything   can be good, anything can be bad. And I think that everyone, every person, every human, every animal has to have some sort of selfishness within their personality   order for us to survive. Like for you to not be selfish and be like, no, like you're just going to give away everything. Like that doesn't work. You had to be selfish and be like, no, why did I create my company? Like, yes, this is our company and we all share it with you.   But at the end of the day, it's your company. Why did you do it? And without that, we can't share it. And so something I was going to say is, and what you said, Kiera, was that the words that I said made you realize that you, or it sounded like I was saying, which I was, that you had lost yourself, right? And I don't shy away from those statements because it's incredibly important to me. If you lose yourself, like what are we even here for? And the whole concept of this   The Dental A Team (23:40) Mm-hmm.   The Dental A Team (23:53) podcast today that why, right? If the why doesn't tie back to your personal life, why are you here? Like, what are you doing? It is not 1950s anymore where we are just like working to work and that's our lives. Like something shifted in the last, especially five years, but the last 10 years and we've really come to understand that work is to satisfy and project our personal lives so that we can be   The Dental A Team (24:00) I agree. I agree.   Mm-hmm.   The Dental A Team (24:20) the best we possibly can with the time that we have here on earth. So if your why cannot tie back to your business making your personal life incredible, or for me, I work so that I can have a fantastic personal life. I love you, Kiera, but I don't work. If you didn't pay me, I wouldn't be here. Right? Yes.   The Dental A Team (24:39) don't blame you. I don't blame you.   You're here for life.   The Dental A Team (24:41) I would still be friends with   you. I'll still podcast with you. But if I'm not able to support my family in the best ways that I know how by being a fantastic human by the time I get done with my work, by supporting us financially, and by providing my kid the vision of what work can be that I want him to have, what am I even doing? So if you can't, if your why isn't so important to you that it would break something inside of you personally, if you didn't hit that why,   then you haven't nailed your way.   The Dental A Team (25:12) I agree. And Tiff, I'm so glad you said that because I think there was a shift of working for the sake of working. And I, I like, this is a good, mean, I feel like I'm like unraveling like all of my layers right now. Like I'm all right. Okay. Let's like get really to the core of it. So thank you, Tiff, for pulling that out. Again, I knew I needed someone else on this, especially you. I knew I had to have the right person on this podcast to pull out what I really wanted to invoke in this podcast. I needed to one get   more beyond myself. Like you said, it has to be something where this is fulfillment for your life. And I had this aha moment where I'm like, hold on, this business was built to serve my life, not my life serving the business. And I think that that was a clutch moment for me to realize one coming back home to why we're doing this to building a template, three, figuring out like the business is serving our life, not the other way around. And then doing that for the team. ⁓ I think that there was not, think I know.   We're not going to sugarcoat. I was really tricky for a minute. If like it was, I remember you being like, I'm not working all the time. I was like, work already. And we realized we were going from this hourly checkmark to a results focus. And that was such a mindset shift. was a culture shift as a company. It did feel like we were taking off like an old costume and putting on the new current. Um, but that's, think what human beings were here. We are human beings. We're not human doers.   The Dental A Team (26:19) Yeah.   The Dental A Team (26:37) And I think, like you said, it's got to be serving that. And I think for me as a business owner, as a CEO, as a friend, as a human, to realize that the business can do both, it doesn't have to be one or the other, I think is like probably the magic space right now. So when I'm like, what am I working for? I'm working to like change Dennis lives, of course, to make this huge positive impact. I'm also working to make sure that team that works for me has these incredible lives as well. Tiff, also said to me, like, Kiera, we want your life. And I was like, wow.   That's such like a comment that I'm so grateful for. And I was like, great, how can we create that? Like, how can we build? Like, what are the things that I have that you want that we can then build? Like those now are just conversations and creative playgrounds. And that's, think the magic of business is business is able to fulfill wise, fulfill magic, fulfill dreams and make them realities. And to me, that is the magic of being a business owner. So I think again, what is that? Why? And like you said, Tiff, like   I hope people can even hear like I get giddy and excited. I'm like, all right, let's go make some dreams come true. Like for dentists, for team members, for myself, like for all of us, how can we do that? That's what lights me up. And your why will be your own. But like you said, Tiff, if you don't have that solid, that sled pole is going to hurt. That sled push is going to kill. And you're going to just give up because you don't have that fire inside that truly is meant to drive you forward.   The Dental A Team (27:56) Yeah, I agree. I have to give kudos and a statement to a doctor that I, he is so near and dear to my heart. I worked for him for a really long time and I watched him, one, I watched him work himself to death. Like I watched him work himself to where I'm like, are you even here today? Like you are so, you're not here. You are so dead.   right now, but I also watched him reinvent himself. I watched him reinvent us, reinvent our company. I watched him lose himself. I lost myself, but at the core of everything, I know, Kiera, you ask me often how I'm so forward in my communication or that I make you have these conversations and...   I learned so much from him. He was willing to be vulnerable with me ⁓ and have those conversations with me. He treated me as if I was a human on his team that he wanted there for a really long time. And he would pull me in for those hard conversations when he had to have them with me. I'm gonna get emotional. And it changed my perspective of people, communication, and business.   The Dental A Team (29:01) you   The Dental A Team (29:11) And he's still going, he's still got his business and I'm sure he's still turbulent as ever. We'll use that word. But kudos to him for taking, I was 19 when I started working for him and he just, took this girl and he just poured into her so that I could get to where I am. And so I think my point of that is doctors, owners, business owners,   Be open to that. Don't be so shut down and scared to be seen as vulnerable or small or weak that your team can't reach you. He was always reachable. Even when he was angry, he'd be like, give me a second. I'm gonna shut my door. I'd hear him yell sometimes and I'm like, bro, get it together. But he was that.   The Dental A Team (29:56) you   You   The Dental A Team (30:05) vulnerable with us, that it allowed us to have the clarity and it allowed me then, Kiera, to be able to have those conversations with you, to not be afraid just because you're my boss and the company owner. Like if I see something that could potentially damage the company, damage you as a human or damage us or damage my goals, I'm going to speak up and say something because it's for the good of everyone and he taught me that. So massive kudos to him and   The Dental A Team (30:26) Right.   you   The Dental A Team (30:33) It was a wild ride. will never,   never not admit that, but I, there's a lot of good that came out of it. And I truly believe that my communication with business owners comes from him being vulnerable. So doctors just don't forget that. Like you're not weak. You're actually stronger by allowing your team to help support you.   The Dental A Team (30:54) And I am grateful for your doctor too. ⁓ I'm grateful for the person that he helped you develop into. And I definitely believe that people are here on both sides. I think as business owners, we have to feel like we're here to provide all these things. But I think the flip is also true that if we allow ourselves to see that our team is also here to provide for us too.   I think it's like parents with children and they say they learn so much from their children when it's feels oftentimes the reverse that you're here to support them, but they're here truly building and supporting you. So tip, I love that. And I really hope doctors heard that. And I also hope team members heard that of speak up. like you said, Tiff, our team helps me clear the fog. Like when they call me out, they tell me all the time, like, Hey, when you like shift your hair like that, we know you're stressed out when care, Tiff, even say, you're like, here's got those eyes up. She's got to move and she does not have time for this.   Those are good pieces. They're like silly, but they helped me clear the fog. They helped me see more clearly. ⁓ and I think that there's very few people that are willing to have those conversations. So when you're willing to have, and you have team members like that, cherish them, love them, pour into them. And if you don't have people that are quite there yet, pour into them too, because you never know. Like, again, it's a, it's a give take relationship. And I think when we see it, when you stop being the hero of your business as a business owner and you allow the entire team to be the hero, you're a guide.   it's a give take. It's a, it's we're equal ground. We're here to serve. We're here to be that I think is where magic is. And that to me, like just saying that that's a big part of the why of like what I'm freaking working for. ⁓ for myself and for our other people, it's free. It's here for life. So I hope, don't know, Tiff, that was just a beautiful podcast and this is going to be one I hope people listen to over and over again. And just remember like, you can get lost. You need team members. ⁓ but   Like you said, Tiffanie kept pointing to our hearts. Like I think let's go back to our little like summit, like drawing our human beings over here. Like I think the why comes from your soul. I think it comes from your heart. I think it's there. It's innate within you. And sometimes you just need to come back home to you to find it again and to have people around you and to support you on that journey. I mean, my team saw me go through some hard times and it feels so like, I don't know. It's like.   The Dental A Team (32:49) you   The Dental A Team (33:09) I'm not even a mask and it feels like de-masculating and I'm not even a man. Like I feel like I just lost like everything that was like, like the almost like the armor, the, the false like safety net. I think it's also like failing and admitting that you don't know everything. You feel like a failure. I think those are all the things. ⁓ but like you said, Tiff, I think that there is actually so much strength because we don't make it worse than it is and we don't make it better than it is. We make it what it actually is. So we can actually build from there and create what's meant to be.   The Dental A Team (33:37) Yep, I totally agree.   The Dental A Team (33:39) Okay, with that, I hope you guys just take something from here. I don't think I've got a strong action item. think we usually hear for tactical. think it's more than anything. Like I guess the tactical is check your why, check to see why you're doing all this. What are you working for? What is that? Be open with your team, be vulnerable, set the vision, have the template, ⁓ do it with your team, get people around you that are bought into your vision that are with you, that are rowing with you. Team members don't forget the power that you play in this. And if we can help you, this is what I think.   This to me is the core of Dental A Team. This conversation is what Tiff and I wanted this company to be. It's helping humans be humans. It's helping you realize that you don't have to be a robot. It's helping you have freedom to live life. ⁓ We say it's like life is our passion. Dentistry is our platform. And so I think it's pretty special to be able to share that with you in a space of dentistry that brings us all together. So Tiff, thanks for being in my life. Thanks for being on the podcast. Thanks for the thoughts today. This one really was just ⁓ a super special podcast that I'm grateful we were able to do together.   The Dental A Team (34:37) Me too, thanks for messaging and it was perfect timing.   The Dental A Team (34:40) Of course and for all of you listening reach out if we can help you in any way Hello@TheDentalATeam.com and remember you're worth it your why is worth it your your purpose in this life has meaning and we need you you're super special exactly how you are and Do not lose that because people depend on you people need you to have that vision So reach out if we can help you and as always thanks for listening. We'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team podcast  

Kiera joins Jill Simonds, founder of Savvy Strategic Partners, to talk about all things leadership mindset, including what to do when you feel trapped by your business (Kiera gets personal on this one!), the ebb and flow of motivation, psychology of ownership, and a ton, ton more. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript:   The Dental A Team (00:01) Hello, Dental A Team listeners, this is Kiera And today it's a special podcast. I was so lucky to be featured on a podcast with Savvy. They are actually a fractional company and we have hired them to get different team members on our team and their founder, Jill Simonds and I got on the podcast and talked about all things from founder mindset to guilt of being an owner to how we stay trapped in businesses. And I just felt that this is such a   poignant and pertinent podcast for all of you. So I hope you all enjoy this episode. I hope you learn a lot. And as always, thanks for listening and I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team Podcast.   The Dental A Team (00:37) Welcome everyone to vision untethered conversations with inspirational leaders. My name is Jill Simonds, founder of Savvy Strategic Partners. We are a dedicated leadership team of fractional executives. I am so thrilled to introduce my special guest today, Kiera Dent, the dynamic founder of the Dental A Team, a consulting firm dedicated to helping dental practices simplify operations, strengthen leadership and elevate patient care.   With her unique background as both a dental clinician and business owner, brings a powerful blend of insight and business strategy to every practice she partners with. Her and her team have worked with hundreds of practices nationwide to build systems that reduce stress, increase efficiency, and foster long-term success. Kiera, I'm so excited to have you here. Thank you, Jill. Thank you. I'm so excited and honored to be here.   It's fun. love what you're doing out there. I love these kinds of conversations and wow, it's always fun to sit back and hear your own bio. So thanks. It feels, feels a good way to kick off the podcast. Let's hope I deliver up to that, but truly just honored to be here. Super excited and just love what you're doing for all the founders out there like myself. Just helping us get to that executive level that we need when we maybe aren't quite large enough to bring on all these amazing players full time into our company. So just super jazz and excited to be here with you today.   Yeah, me too. I'm excited to get into it. I don't actually think I know your full story and inspiration behind Dental A Team and your purpose and passion. So let's start there. What inspired your journey and how does your purpose align with the unique challenges that you face in scaling a business today? Yeah, well,   Dentistry was never meant to be in my blood. I just happened to be in high school and saw a really fast path to wearing scrubs. thought I can be a dental assistant or I can be a nurse. I don't want to learn the whole body. That's disgusting. Mouth, I could probably handle. So that's honestly what kicked this off. So was in high school. It was a random career. And then everybody kind of teases me because my last name is Dent. It's not a stage name. And I make the joke that's real life. I just had to get three fiancees to get that last name.   That was really what got me into it. I love dentistry. It turned out to be a perfect career for me. And so I did it in high school and then I went to college and college. I actually did an undergrad in marriage and family therapy. I was planning to be a therapist and I remember being, I was interviewing in Oklahoma for grad school and I remember sitting in the interview and I was thinking like, I wonder how that like filling's going. I wonder how that crown prep's going.   And I thought, gosh, this is going to be such a weird world. Like I am trying to like pitch myself to this future college. but I'm thinking about how much fun I had back in the office and how my patients were doing. And so I got a full ride scholarship and I decided to put it on pause. went to, pharmacy school with my husband. and we went out there and we decided we'll put this on pause. We'll see if we can both get into the same school.   But I just realized my heart, my soul, my passion is in dentistry. I'd been a dental assistant, a treatment coordinator, a scheduler, a biller, an office manager, all the pieces. And so when we went to pharmacy school, decided, you know what, I'm going to call around to all of his schools and I'm going to see if we can get a spouse discount if I work at the college. Because some schools, and man, pharmacy school was not for the faint of heart. So I called around and luckily Arizona, they did and Jason got accepted to it. So I was like, all right, sights are on.   I've always been a little hustler. I'm like, sites are on, I'm to get a job at this college. And I just felt truly, truly blessed. So many people tried to get jobs there. All my friends were trying to get jobs there. And I randomly was talking to this lady in the pool at our complex and she says she has nothing to do with me getting the job there. But I fully believe that Laura had a lot of, a lot of strings behind the scenes to get me the job at Midwestern in Arizona. So I a discount on the tuition, which was great.   Um, but I was able to then work at the dental college and that truly is what kicked off this Dental A Team consulting company because I worked at the college for three years, got the, got the discount. And then while my husband was doing his residency, one of the students actually asked me to come and start a practice with her in Colorado. And I thought, Oh my gosh, like good thing I said no to the marriage and family therapy. Like let's go from dental assistant to practice owner three years. Like, let's do this. So   actually helped start a practice in Colorado. ⁓ took our first office from 500,000 to 2.4 million in nine months, opened a second location and I was like hooked on this adrenaline junkie of business ownership. But at the same time, just like we were drinking from a fire hose. My marriage was almost in shambles. I was in shambles. Like I'm 5'8". I was 98 pounds. I was not sleeping. I was up at 2 a.m. staying like up till 10 p.m. Like just it was an exhausting road.   drain, everything was falling apart. And so when I split from that partnership, ⁓ I sat there and I remember just sitting, I didn't know what to do. Like I'd lost my marriage practically. I'd lost my identity. I was like on death row in lots of different facets. And I remember just thinking like, I don't even know who Kiera Dent is anymore. And so I sat there and I was like, well,   I'm going to start a consulting company. Like I love dentistry. If I could help her, I could probably help more people. And I think that this is the fuel of founders where when we're at rock bottom, we've got to have something that builds us into our next version. And that's what Dental A Team was for me. So Dental A Team, say, was built from like the ashes of my life. Like it feels like the Phoenix rising for me. And so I started a company. Like I just, I didn't even know what I was doing. Had no background in it.   And I went and consulted my friend and I was like, I just need to practice on you. I don't even know what I'm doing. And we took his practice and we grew it tremendously. He then introduced me to a consultant overnight. had 50 clients. I started like just making things up as I went. And it was really like an overnight success, but I went from like rookie don't know what I'm doing to this. I know that I can help practices and I want to serve. And I've got all these dentists that are just like these little babies that are going to get.   ripped apart in the industry, there's gotta be a way. And so it's always said, like I always said, I wanted to positively impact the wealth of dentistry in the greatest way possible. And that's what I've said since day one, that's how it is. And now I realize that life is my passion, dentistry is my platform, but changing people's lives, helping them live their best lives. And it's wild that we're even talking Jill, because what you do for me and my business is what I do for dentists. And so it's this weird annoyance to me that I'm like, I can be a miracle grow.   and I can grow dental practices and it can be so fun. But yeah, I have no idea how to do that in a corporate world. And so learning it and evolving, and that's actually how you and I even got together was I needed someone but not a consultant. I was like, listen, I know what consultants do. I am a consultant. Like I need, I need someone with me. So that's how we got here and that's how my passion's been. I don't get to wear scrubs. That's the only bummer. Like the whole story started with scrubs and now you like wear clothes.   ⁓ You can make some really stylish scrubs as part of the entire. I would love to, but I do joke. like, took my marriage and found my therapy background, tethered it with my passion of dentistry and created a company from like just true passion and love. man, it's just been a, I think it's good. We don't know the end from the beginning. So many people want to know that. I don't think knowing what I know now I would have ever started, but I think I needed that as a person.   to build, execute. And I think that that's how founders are. We're just meant to build, we're meant to create, we're to be these creators. And so to build something that's just been magical and changed so many lives, like, gosh, the joy it's brought me has been like a hundredfold beyond anything I could have imagined. ⁓ beautiful story. And yeah, quite funny too, the path ⁓ and steps that you took to get here, but wait a listen. mean, just listen to your intuition.   And it sounds like you have some of those key core memories along the way of like your thought process sitting in scenarios where you're like, wait, is this me? Is this even what I want? And acting on it and taking that initiative and to where it's got you. That's a beautiful story. Thank you. Yeah. Can you share a specific experience from this where you have felt trapped by your business? Every day,   What strategies have you implemented or are you to create space for true growth and scalability? Yes. This is such a good and I hope like listeners, they're probably like, I don't know. I just hope that what I share is making you not feel alone. I think is probably the biggest piece because I hear this from dentists. I'm like, I know I'm not alone and I joined a bunch of groups for it. But ⁓ I say that Dental A Team is a dragon that never sleeps. Like this thing just is a crying baby of   breathing dragon that just never ever stops. And I think that there have been times, so especially last year, last year was like my rock bottom. So technically we're eight years into the company, but like I was partnered with that other guy for five, for four years. So I feel like I'm like five years in on my own trying to do this, even though I know it's like just had a funny path. But last year I hit rock bottom.   Like I went cold turkey. I checked out of work. I remember just being like, I am sick. Like not physically sick, but mentally, emotionally, spiritually, like I'm apathetic to life. Like things just need to shut down. and I'm sure a lot of founders get to this level where you just, you're doing everything. Like the whole company is riding on you and you are so rad that you built this company, but it's outgrown you and you don't know how to shed that and to build and to create and to evolve. And so my, ⁓   And I think it was, I feel like I tell myself lies all the times, which I'm sure most people can relate to of, okay, care, just push through like three more months and we're going to be better. Like three more months, we got to hire three. So you're always in this like, okay, it's going to get better at three months. And then you're like, well, shoot, like this person didn't work out. So I got to keep doing sales or, this didn't work out. So I've got to keep doing this aspect of the business. that could be a me that could be not me, but last year my strategy was like completely checked out of life. I,   came back from a conference, I was so exhausted, so burnout that I just called my executive team and said, all right, you guys have it. Like, I don't want to hear from anybody. Like I put all the things like, here's a lawyer, here's the CPA here. Of course, I'm not just going to let this thing fail, but I needed a complete shut off reset and I slept for 17 hours a day for an entire month. Like it was every day just exhausted. felt numb. felt like I lost like,   The way to best describe it is I felt like I was watching a movie in color that went black and white and that was my life. Like there was no color, there was no emotion. There was no, I feel like I lost feeling to life. And I think that was just coping mechanism to get through. We did a lot of therapy, like lots of different pieces. And I realized like, okay, we got to take care of Kiera first and then we have to get to these spaces. So when you say like, do you ever feel trapped by your business? Yes. Cause it's like, what do you do?   This is a company that's a consulting company built on Kiera. That's Kiera Dent. That's her face. Like, how do you even sell this type of a B2B business to somebody? So I did meet with people. did find two potential buyers. I was like, I need a way out. I need to figure out how do I get rid of this crying baby? Like it's got to just stop, like make the crying stop. ⁓ And then that's where we actually pulled in a traction coach. So Rick, we hired Rick. I was like,   I need someone who's outside of this company who can see it that can also be the motivating voice for my team and help them see like, Kiera can't keep carrying all this. So I will say like Rick was a huge blessing. He came from a great network of people and then the leadership team. was like, we had to have a complete reset of everything's not on Kiera's plate, but I don't think it was all leadership team. think that there's a lot of pieces of Kiera perfection that my ego.   needed to feel important and to be able to let that go. Things aren't going to be perfect, Jill. I still stress like my, I have a little bracelet on that says trust and flow. And that's this year's theme of like, here, you got to trust people and you've got to go with the flow more than trying to curate and force because that's always going to be the hardest path. So, and then we obviously hired you. We hired Jenna who's been a phenomenal fractional. we brought on a CRO.   who's helping in the sales and marketing department. But I also think that businesses when they hit a certain level, they finally have the cash to be able to hire the expertise that you need to bring on. But before that, I was so cash flow scared that I think I maybe held on to profitability too hard rather than hiring help sooner that could have probably prevented it getting that low. So now it's like mandatory, I go to the gym.   three times a week, non-negotiable. have sets time, like we shut off from work every single day at five o'clock. My husband has alarm that goes off and like, we don't talk work. We hot tub every night. Like, I don't think I realized the mental bandwidth that being a founder, operator, doer requires to recharge. And now I'm just like really pro like, no, no, no guys, I don't care what goes on. Like if these things don't happen, I'll fall apart. And that's just, I don't show up the best for anybody on the team. So.   Yes, I still feel trapped. I still wish that some days I could quit my own job. But I think the fact that you can't quit is also a really beautiful blessing because it forces innovation and creation. ⁓ So well said. the help and the support and leaning on others in your circle, finding your people who you can trust.   That's the first step for sure. You're not alone. And the second we realized that, I mean, this it's lonely. It's lonely at the top. And even with a dynamic team, nobody else wears the pressure, the weight, the risk involved like you have to, you know, but knowing that you're not alone and you have a team that you can lean on, the more you can lean into that, grow that, expand that.   It's a give and take and an ebb and flow for sure. It's not linear, but. Yeah. You made me think about my brother-in-law has a very, very, very successful high end builds these beautiful custom homes in Utah. Like one of the top builders he's been on Netflix. Like he just has this very, very incredible company. And I remember when my husband, got married where ⁓ my husband's eight years younger than him. I was like, he's always so grumpy. Like this man is so angry all the time.   And then I realized he's a business owner and he's at the spot that I'm at right now. And I'm like, I am always just like in this space of anger and frustration. And he's actually been this really randomly. He was the one I didn't like. I like, had like clashes when we first got married. I feel like I understand him on an entirely different level now. And I'm like, I get it. Like, I see, I see why you were the way you were. Like it makes so much more sense to me, but he told me, he said, Kiera, the day you become free is the day that you stopped caring so much about.   Like in the day you realize that nobody can take anything from you. Like that is such a freeing moment. So if you do get sued or if you have a teammate that like writes, like last year it was like, we got reviews galore and it's crazy. You can't take those down because if you are a CEO executive, you are no longer a human and that doesn't matter. And I think just like the bullets, we had like a pending lawsuit. We had people writing awful things about me. Like it just felt like it was just this tumultuous tumbleweed.   But I think you go through that and you do build that. I don't want to say it's a calloused soul because for me, feel like becoming angry or bitter is never going to serve. think it's an internal knowing that you have the confidence and the certainty in yourself that no matter what bullets come your way, you are capable of solving anything and everything that comes. I think when you can... Yeah.   navigate enough storms to have that confidence. I think there is so much more freedom in there. And I just think about him, he's so much happier, but he's like, I'm not reliant on anybody for my happiness. No one can take anything away from me. And I'm not dependent on anybody for like this success. And I think that's a, it's a certainty. It's not an air of ego. And I think it could be possibly taken that way. It's an air of confidence and certainty within you that I think then the highs and lows are not as turbulent. And I think that that was   similar to what we were saying, it just becomes a, I think, an evolution of you as a person. And I think that that's ultimately why we all become business owners is for that evolution of soul that we are seeking, that maybe we don't want to go through the process to get there. But on the other side, it's a beautiful version of yourself that's far grander, far more beautiful, far stronger, far more confident than you ever could have imagined yourself being. Yeah. Well said.   That freedom point too is it's almost like a stance of serenity too, because, and if you know, you know, the serenity prayer, it's, is the, the acknowledgement of what we can or cannot control what is outside of us. And when we finally let go of people's perception, what they're going to, what they even think, right? We cannot.   even control as good as of work as we can put forward and as best as we can show up. We can't control others perceptions of us, what they're going to say, what they're going to do with that. And so that level of understanding and acceptance and wisdom to know this is mine, this isn't mine and let go of everything that we carry that, you know, we think we have some control over.   letting that go is ultimate freedom, I think, when we can see, be in that confidence and in a state of serenity. Yeah, the more you let go of that and just lean into what's within our realm and our controllables is the best you can do. And we show up better. Absolutely. That's the trust and flow mindset mantra for this year of   Yeah, there is no pain in change. There's pain in the like resistance to it. And so like you said, it's a surrendering. It's a surrendering of   I think just acknowledging that this is life, this is who you are, this is what you can control. And I never thought that you could really come back from being so low. But you hear it, like you see people, like you hear media talk about it. But I think business owners, someone said once, business is such a spiritual journey. And I was like, how? I don't get it, ⁓ but I do get it.   It's such a spiritual journey. It's such an evolution of soul. It's a surrendering. It's a give. It's a take. It's a beautiful blessing. It's a call. There's so much beauty in it. then I think like, turn it into a puzzle, turn it into a game, turn it into like, how can we make this into more fun? So I started just adding more fun too. was like, why do I need to always be the gladiator? Why don't we just have like a good time and like giggle about all these things?   But I think that that's truly an evolution of you as a person too. I don't think that that is not an overnight sensation. Anyone who tells you it is like, good luck. think that that is, that's a crafted, it's an evolution and it's a beautiful surrender like you said, and grace for yourself and for others. But I feel like the person you become through it is there's so much empathy, there's so much love, there's so much compassion for others that I don't think you get there any other way.   Yeah, that's so true. Having it for ourselves first is so much harder than having that for others. So the compassion and care and giving love of ourselves and acceptance, that's the only way to give it outside of ourselves. So good. What are what are some common psychological barriers either for you or that you see show up? You work with a ton of business owners in very specific industry, too. So   What are some of those barriers you see that prevent owners from stepping back and not being so tethered, you know, to their business? What contributes to that? What are some of the psychological factors, beliefs maybe that we carry that keep us stuck? Yes. And you're right. Like I've coached hundreds and thousands of offices. That's where it's so like.   so aggravating to me to be like, Jill, need help. Like I know how to do this for someone else, but I don't want to do it for my own. I think that there's beliefs of because you're a business owner, you have to know it all. I know that that's like a big one of there's humility, but at the same time you're like, well, I'm in this, I have to figure it out. I think one of my psychological ones that I know dentists have as well is in B2B when you are the service provider, it's,   It's a psychological belief of if you are the product and you step back, how does your business continue? And it's odd because as random as it is, I was able to give up consulting much faster and delegate that, which is shocking to me. think about it often, like you give that up, but you don't give up sales and marketing and reputation. Like it's fascinating to me that I'm like the biggest portion of it and like dentists, they'll hire an associate dentist. But to me, I think those are possibly easier skillsets because I   I have that skillset that I know I can look for it and I can train that and can evolve it versus like sales and marketing in different places. Like, I don't know if I'm trying to figure it out. How am I supposed to coach this up? So I think those keep us stuck. I think there's a, I think there's a, I don't know. I don't know what it is. I feel like it's societal. But I think I'm with this like asking for help or I don't know. Is this weird? Like for me,   I feel like I'm a very highly high capable human. Like we were talking the other day and it was, on client escalations, like it's either the CEO, the salesperson or the consultant, whoever knows them best. I was like, cool. I'm a trifecta. Like no wonder I'm good at this. Like I'm the CEO, I am the salesperson and I am a consultant that I think that there's sometimes this like this weird, because I'm so high functioning and so capable that I should be able to do this and I should be able to continue carrying all these pieces.   Why am I tired? Like get it together girl. And just like, keep moving on. I think that keeps you so bound in. And then truly when I even say that out loud, I'm like, it's just your ego screaming at you, wanting you to feel important. And if you step back at all, I know what I think about stepping back. A lot of my team is the same age as me too. And I sometimes feel very awkward about like, so I'm going to have a CEO lifestyle and not be eight to five with you guys because the business never stops crying.   But it's as weird. Like sometimes I also think I'm tethered and a lot of my doctors are because like same age, same demographic, same, like you feel so similar and so close that it's almost like, why are you better than them? It's so awkward. hate it. Like you can even see I'm like playing with my hair more than I should be like, that's the stress of like, I know what I need to be doing, but I feel like I need to be sitting at the table with them every day and in the trenches with them, but they're not sitting up on the, on the hill looking down the line.   but you feel like you've got to do both. it's this weird, like I said, I don't know if it's societal, I don't know if it's female, I don't know if it's ego. I think it's probably a combination of all, but those are psychological traps. And when I see it in a client, I'm like, all right, great, you need to delegate and we need to like take these things off your plate. But I think when you're a founder living through it or the business owner, I think sometimes it's very hard to even see that ego showing up around you or see where you should let go of things.   And then I think it's a lack of trust. Like I've delegated some of these things out. We've hired, like we have paid, last year was a $300,000 oops. And I hired really great people, but like it just didn't pan. So I think that there's also that like, well, how much do you want to throw at this problem to make it go away versus just continuing to carry the torch? So it's like this ball and chain you get out of it and you get back in it. It's like this weird, awkward relationship with yourself and your business that I think is slightly toxic.   but also very addicting, which is probably why it's so toxic on certain levels. So those are mine. I know that was like a very jumbled thought, but those I think are some of the psychological ones that I've seen personally and professionally that keep people very tethered. But I will say, I like boil it down, it's always ego. Always that keeps us tied in because who are we if we don't have all this busyness badge? think that that feels like a deep hollow dark hole for me anytime I think about it.   So I know that I haven't quite grown enough to see that there's a path out. But I think is also maturity and letting go of the ego. Absolutely. Well, and it's so common. It's really what would I kind of boil down oftentimes to founders guilt, owners guilt, right? You're the hero in a lot of situations or can come in and swoop in and help and   There's an identity crisis piece of it to that ego that's like, well, if I'm not doing all these, if I'm not still holding this, who am I for one? And maybe, maybe internally we have this perception of, and you know, we've, we've grown or we've healed in ways that we know, no, I like, I know I am worthy and valued and valuable outside of what I contribute here. But like, what about what everyone else thinks? Then it's this perception of.   Well, if I'm not doing all these things, what does my team think of me? And are they going to think I'm just off on an island somewhere slacking off when I don't deserve that? Or right, like all these, these guilt trips that founders often carry because we can do all these things. So there's, there's no excuse why we shouldn't or couldn't if we can, therefore we should do them. Right. So we just continue to hold and carry that.   but yeah, guilt, ego, those are definitely some, some key pointers that we see a lot. So, as you said, Jill, it just made me think about like, but why, like, where does this stem from? Because we all feel it like I do. And then I'm like, what, does it matter? So then you justify and you rationalize and you hang out in this other Island. And then it's like, I'm going on vacation because I worked like 50,000 hours. And it's like, there comes a line where I think that that   that serenity, that like, I remember there was a day I had to Google, what does a CEO do? Like, I didn't even know. I was like, what do you, like, what do you, if I'm not doing all the things, like, what am I even supposed to do? But I think when you can, when you realize that your company needs a captain, the company needs somebody looking down the line, you start to shift and change and realize that you've got to start shedding off a lot of these things.   and I think you, you feel the guilt and do it anyway, I think has been my mantra to, don't think it will ever be easy. I think you feel the guilt and do it anyway. For sure. Because that guilt is typically self-inflicted for the most part. If you have the right team around you and in the business that care about and are aligned with the division that you've crafted, that you've put forth, they need that from you.   just as much, right? You stepping away, you coming and showing up refreshed, aware, whole, right? Those fragmented pieces of us when we're scrambling to try to just uphold and keep all the plates up in the air is not the best version of ourselves. And so when we realize that too, and the more the team can even vocalize like, yes, like we need this of you and look at   look at all the places that a visionary needs to show up looking down the line, what's ahead, looking outward and not down and in is that pulls the rest of the energy and the rest of that, you know, that perspective for the rest of the team to see that more and more clearly if that's where your focus is. So you're doing them a favor, you're doing a service. ⁓   Cause every, yeah, every successful business needs someone charting that vision. And that is where your eyes are focused. That is where your pull is going toward that. That is what grows the I think that because it feels like it's just this like vision that's not tangible, I think for me at least, and for other people that often can keep us tethered into the company because it doesn't, there's no way to put on a KPI scorecard that I did my visioning.   for the day. It's like, do I even know that I'm showing up and having that as a checklist? But I think when you really are solid in it and you watch a team who has a vision versus a team who doesn't have a vision, you see the intangible, like it's a subconscious push. It's the wind behind the sails. You can see a sail, can't see the wind, but the wind is ultimately what makes it go. And I think when visionaries realize that you are an invisible, very tangible, intangible part,   I think it becomes much more clear of like, no, I need the white noise space. Like I need these things because ultimately it's my job. And I've got to be able to show up as that wind to push this boat in the direction it needs to truly go. I love that. I'm going to use that analogy. That's so well put. That's a good one. Well, to finalize the conversation today, what steps would you suggest to founders struggling to   let go, delegate, while also maintaining alignment with their vision.   That's a great question, Jill. I feel like such an Oreo. I've got a white side of me and it's a black and white in me. Because I'm like, what would I tell my clients? I would tell clients, the way you are able to step back is we set these pieces and we do all this. And then I'm like, well, let's speak from Kiera's perspective of, I've done this. This is where I'm at.   to step back and what I also watched. So I think they do actually go like, I'm like, okay, I'm not an Oreo. Like I've got both parts of the cookie on. Like I brought it together for everybody here. I think both sides, my side and client side would be, I think having a vision for yourself. When I got crystal clear of where I really wanted to go personally and professionally in the next one, three, 10 years, like I grabbed a big sticky pad. It was written out and I stick it in front of me every single day. So I'm looking at that.   that became a lot more clear. My decisions became much cleaner. So I think it would even tie to the book. Like 10 X is easier than two X when you have this big audacious vision, the path becomes so much cleaner and easier than when you're trying to just do a two X move. So I would say for visionaries who feel stuck, that is ultimately where you're at. If I get your 10 X vision, where is that going? Clean up the paths and stay laser focused on that. And then get your team rally behind it.   They get excited. They get the joy behind it. And I think like, even when I say that, I'm like, the 10X path is just so much easier. It's so much cleaner. It's so much more freeing. And then I think like, again, it's hard, but do it anyway. Right now it's a stripping down of letting go of clients for me. And I feel like such an awkward identity. I'm like, if I'm not a consultant, am I going to lose my edge? And it's like, but I'm so clear on the 10X, the 10 year vision.   that that part has to sheath off in order for me to progress and to grow. And I think when you are aligned, also be really careful not to lose that vision. I lost my leg last year. Like it was still there, but I buried it. think keeping that radiant, keeping that vibrant, keeping that like for me, it's a post-it note on the wall, like a giant one. Like this is where I'm headed. This is where the boat's going. This is where the wind needs to push me and the company. I think that that can help you stay true to you.   It can say true and it makes all the other decisions so much easier because then it's a yes or a no. And if you can get that black and white crystal clear and then truly trust and empower your team, that to me is like, I recognize it's a let go of control. It's a surrender like we discussed earlier and belief in your team that they're going to crush it. And if these aren't the right people, right seat, you're going to find them, you're going to grow, you're going to evolve. But the 10X vision is a non-negotiable.   But it's a 10X vision that makes you happy, fulfilled and not like exhausted, out at the end of the finish line. I think I used to feel it was a muscle through rather than a joyous journey. That 10X vision needs to be joyous journey. And who am I at the vibrant self at the end of it? I'm not going to muscle through anymore. I'm going to gracefully navigate. So I've got energy for me, energy for team, energy for family. because I think if we're not thriving in our businesses, we might as well just go get a job from someone else.   You don't want to have a worse job with you as the boss than you would somewhere else. So hopefully that, but I think it's just crystal clear on where you're enjoy that. ⁓ Kiera, thank you so much for your insights, your wisdom and sharing your heart. just truly and authentically it's beautiful. Thank you, Jill. Appreciate being here. Really, really appreciate what you're doing too. Well, thank you so much.   If anyone wants to learn more about you, Dental A Team and expertise of your team, where's the best place to find you and information or get connected? Yeah. We have a podcast, the Dental A Team podcast. So come on over. We'd love to have you there. Tips for teams and for owners. And then also Hello@TheDentalATeam.com or online, like social, we're on Instagram. Dental A Team would be great. But yeah, love to just share, inspire, help.   because I believe like all of us succeeding together is what this journey is about, but succeeding and being fulfilled. It's not, life should be fun. Owning a business should be fun. It does not need to be hard. So let's make it easy and fun together. ⁓ I love that. Well, thank you everyone for listening. Kiera, thank you again for being here and we'll see everyone next time.

Key performance indicators (KPIs) are a powerful tool. They provide concrete numbers for your practice, showing what's working well, but also clear-cut areas for improvement. Tiff and Kristy break down how and where to use KPIs, plus interpretation, growth factors, and more. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: The Dental A Team (00:00) Hello Dental A Team listeners. I am back here with one of your favorites I know she's one of your favorites because we get some massive kudos and massive reviews and feedback on Miss Kristy and I've got her here today to pick her brain on a couple of different Topics and this one we are diving right in you guys I'm super excited for this topic and for what's to come Kristy you work really really really hard with your clients on   finding the metrics that are actually going to push their needle. And something that I think you key in very easily on is that missing, I said earlier, like a puzzle piece. And you're able to see the picture, the big picture, and then narrow it down into pieces that are going to move ⁓ incrementally, right? We always look for the things that are gonna, a small change that can make a massive difference. And you're really good at keying into those pieces. Now,   Earlier we were recording a podcast and we talking about this massive growth that a platinum client of yours had experienced this year. We're recording this in 2025. It'll release in 2026. So this year they had experienced this incredible growth. And we talked about some of the systems that they had used, handoffs and block scheduling and financial menus, all of the different things that you guys were able to implement lasers, kind of all the things.   DAT Kristy (01:02) Thank   The Dental A Team (01:16) But when it comes to, we can implement things and this I think is what happens when practices come to us. The practices come to us, Kristy, and they say, teach me systems, right? I need systems. We're like, gosh, you have systems. You just don't know if the systems are working or not, right? You wouldn't have gotten this far. You wouldn't be calling down on a team if there were no systems. So we just have to key in on the systems that you have and figure out why, if they are working or not and if they're not, why they're not working. Now, Kristy.   DAT Kristy (01:30) Thank   The Dental A Team (01:45) The word KPI or the acronym KPI, key performance indicators, I think can be daunting and confusing, very confusing. So help us to simplify today. How do you go about choosing the right KPIs? And what are some of your favorite overarching KPIs for practices to use?   DAT Kristy (02:06) Yeah. I love that you say that Tiff, because KPIs, you know me, I do love the numbers because the numbers don't lie, right? And they start to tell a story. They don't tell this whole story, but it lets us see what's working well and be able to celebrate with our teams, you know, what is going good. And it also lets us ⁓ dive into maybe areas where there's opportunity for sure.   And I always like to say there's lead and lag measures. And so I like to look at both, you know, to your point, probably my top ones, obviously everybody knows production, collection. ⁓ And I also like to say, don't get hung up just on percentages. Also look at the numbers too, right? It's both. And then also case acceptance.   dollars diagnosed, dollars accepted, and your percentage accepted. ⁓ And to that point, your re-care and even new patient numbers too.   The Dental A Team (03:14) I totally agree with you. I'd   love that you said don't pay attention just to the percentage. I think both are equally as important. And I think what you mean by that, I can surmise, is we'll take diagnosis for an example, something we talked about in the other podcast we recorded for your Platinum client was that they were able to increase their case acceptance, but you started tracking and looking at what their diagnosis amount was. So if we strictly look at, and I love this one because   I love when practices come in and they make it really easy for us and they're like, gosh, I have a really high case acceptance. have 87 % case acceptance, but my schedule isn't full. I'm not hitting production goals. And we're like, heck yeah, slam dunk, this one's easy. We're not diagnosing enough. So I think that's the differentiating space that you're talking about, the percentage versus the dollar amount, because we can have really high case acceptance of a small dollar amount. So if we're not looking at both of those simultaneously and seeing   are we diagnosing enough dollars to get to the production and collections that we want and then also getting the case acceptance? Is that what you're meaning there by that KPI? And how would you separate those KPIs for someone tracking them that's trying to maybe get to that next level of production?   DAT Kristy (04:29) Yeah, absolutely. That is exactly what I'm talking about because again, that percentage we can celebrate all day long. But if my goal is $100,000 a month and I'm getting 80 % case acceptance of $50,000 a month, obviously that's not enough to reach our goal. definitely looking at dollars diagnosed being at least three times what we want our goal to be. ⁓   we know we're more likely gonna hit our goal. Then we can start working on the percentage and capturing more of the percentage. But it's funny that you say that Tiff, because just the other day I was pointing out to a doctor, I'm like, look at this month, you had 46 % case acceptance, but this month you had 21%. But look at the dollar amount. I'd rather take that dollar amount all day long in the 21 % month than the 46 % month. So again,   The Dental A Team (05:24) Yeah.   DAT Kristy (05:25) then we can start focusing in on how do we capture more of it as long as we're diagnosing enough to get there.   The Dental A Team (05:33) Totally. And what do you use as your marker for the amount of ⁓ diagnosis that they need? So how much production should a practice be diagnosing per doctor in order to hit their goals?   DAT Kristy (05:44) Yeah, depending on what their goal is per month based on their overhead of the practice and you know other factors for growth, we want them to be diagnosing three times at least what that monthly dollar amount is that we want to hit.   The Dental A Team (06:01) Yeah, I totally agree. And that gives you the flexibility of case acceptance, right? So if we're diagnosing three times, because when we look at case acceptance also, there's two different, there's multiple KPIs within KPIs. And you guys, this is why it gets so daunting. And it can be overwhelming to try to find quote unquote, the right KPIs. Like just find KPIs, just start tracking KPIs, just start tracking key performance indicators, and then get more granular as you see, okay, great, this leads to the next one, because you're gonna try to capture too much.   and you're gonna get overwhelmed with the choices. I say that because case acceptance, just case acceptance alone has two variations of KPI. There's a one-to-one, did they schedule or not, right? So if they scheduled a filling but they had a crown diagnosed as well and they only scheduled the filling, that's 100 % because they scheduled something. Or our preferred method, a dollar for dollar.   If they were treatment planned $1,000 and they only scheduled $500, that's a 50 % case acceptance. So thank goodness I picked easy numbers this time. I'm usually really hard on myself there. But that's how the KPIs within that KPI work. So if you're at a 35 % case acceptance, but you're diagnosing three times the amount of your goal or four times and maybe you're a cosmetically driven practice, so your case acceptance is lower than a general.   DAT Kristy (07:02) You   The Dental A Team (07:22) bread and butter, then your case acceptance against your diagnosed is going to work to help fill that schedule. So I think that's a beautiful place to start, that diagnosis plus case acceptance, those go hand in hand. And then Kristy, I always go down, I kind of see it going, so you see the diagnosis, like how much are we diagnosing? Are we diagnosing enough? What percentage of that diagnosis are we getting accepted?   and do we have enough new patients to continue to support that diagnosis? You might see one month you have great stellar diagnosis because you had a massive amount of new patients, but that new patient number isn't consistent. So then next month your new patients drop, well so does your diagnosis, and your case acceptance probably does, because you're not feeling so hot either. You're like, what the heck is going on? You're spiraling, so is your case acceptance. So they all follow each other. So I kind of see that like.   diagnosis, case acceptance, then new patients. And on average, Kristy, what would you say a good KPI number for new patients is per full-time doctor?   DAT Kristy (08:28) Yeah, I say anywhere between 25 and 35 per full-time doctor for sure is a healthy metric.   The Dental A Team (08:35) Yeah, I totally agree, totally agree. And what other KPIs would you say, so think diagnosis, case acceptance, new patients, those are really, really easy to track numbers and those are definitely indicators of everything else. What are some other key performance indicators that you typically have offices start out with?   DAT Kristy (08:38) Thank   Yeah. The other one is your reappointment rate and even taking a look at how many patients are going inactive because surprise, surprise docs, a lot of times we're really happy about that new patient number, but then we see, there's equally that amount going out the back door because we haven't worked re-care. And so again, we can be very strategic and focus on the re-care. We can look at the patients that have outstanding treatment because like you said, Tiff,   it definitely directly affects the doctor's schedule when we're not getting those patients back in that have outstanding treatment. So that is one that I definitely would recommend looking at.   The Dental A Team (09:32) Absolutely.   Yeah, and that one, Kristy, I love your appointment, right? Because it gets the team involved too. It's very easy for the doctor, the owner, the office manager to think that all of these KPIs need to land on you and that you need to be the one tracking them. But those kind of smaller variable KPIs really get the team involved. And to that point as well, do think, I think doctors knowing their diagnosis is massive, but I treatment coordinators should be the ones that are tracking and reporting on that metric. And this is where   DAT Kristy (09:41) Mm-hmm.   The Dental A Team (10:06) know, practices come in and they're like, I need to track these KPIs. And they're like, Kristy, can't fill out the scorecard. We're like, cool, you shouldn't be, that's okay. So taking that, you know, to back up, we use a scorecard with all of our clients that tracks a ton of metrics that are indicators of making your goal or not. And so what we like to do, Kristy, I know you do this really well too. ⁓ Also, I like to split it between what makes sense. So I like the person who is being held accountable to the result.   to be the one that's tracking that measurable and filling it in. And then we're all coming together and talking about the results, but we're really looking at, if I'm a treatment coordinator, I'm tracking the treatment case acceptance, which simultaneously tracks our diagnosed amount. So I'm tracking the diagnosis and the case acceptance. If I'm a scheduling coordinator, I'm tracking open hours and new patients, right? And probably attrition.   which is the patients going out. And Kristy, to your point, I actually had a practice the other day that was like, Tiff, we're doing really great on new patients, but my active patient count isn't changing enough to show those new patients. And I was like, that's your attrition. That's where they're going out the other side. And Kristy, that's where that reappointment rate comes in to play, right? And that reappointment rate then can go to a scheduling coordinator as well, but also can go to hygiene. And I know a lot of people,   DAT Kristy (11:29) Thank you.   The Dental A Team (11:31) struggle getting KPIs that are for the team. I think those are those areas. So I love that. What else do you dive into kind of on like a more granular space that can get that team involved that can help doctors and office managers see that it's not all on them?   DAT Kristy (11:42) Yeah.   ⁓ 100%. ⁓ Another area of metric. Well, let me go back to the reappointment rate. I think sometimes again, just like I was telling you on numbers and percentage, again, even in that, sometimes talking, hey, we saw 100 patients last week and eight didn't get reappointed. That's eight hours of hygiene in six months from now. And I don't know about you, but if I'm working full time, I don't want to cut a day out of my schedule. So sometimes   The Dental A Team (12:07) Yeah.   DAT Kristy (12:16) putting it in that perspective can make a huge difference. And ⁓ Tiff, another area that I love looking at is the AR. AR for patient AR and also insurance metrics and formulating ⁓ goals around that, know, what's healthy. And ideally we don't have more than one, one and a half times our monthly production sitting out there in AR.   The Dental A Team (12:25) Yeah.   Yeah, I love that point. That is a massive, massive space. so, Kristy, to take all of these things together, really, we're looking at are your KPIs actually driving your growth? So how would you kind of decipher within some of these KPIs we've talked about how the practices could see, are they actually driving my growth?   DAT Kristy (13:04) Yeah, looking over the year to year ⁓ metrics and tracking it for where they want to be. And one of the things that I think we're really good at, Tif, is doing the projections for the year and reverse engineering it. So then we have a guideline, if you will, to work toward not just the big year goal, but quarterly and monthly. And so same thing with my teams. I'm always looking at   You know, the month view, the week view and the day view. Chunk it down, make it easier. And again, if there's a gap, usually when you're looking at it in a week view, there's not much of ⁓ a change. It's usually doing one more thing, right? Adding one more thing to our schedule can make a huge difference.   The Dental A Team (13:53) Yeah, I totally agree. And Kristy, if a practice is going from, let's talk about the practice we spoke of already today. They're going from 2.8 ish to over 3 million. What were some good KPIs that you chose for that practice specifically to increase that production goal that year?   DAT Kristy (14:11) Yeah, capturing more case acceptance, for sure. Dollars. How can we capture more at one time? And again, I think the biggest thing TIFF to recognize is behind every one of those metrics is a system. And really, I look at it twofold. If the metric isn't where we want it, let's pull out the systems that we know can directly contribute to it. And I look at it like a recipe.   Probably a lot of people this time of year are baking, but I'll use the analogy and I do it with my clients. If we have a chocolate chip recipe, let's pull out the recipe. Are we still following it to a T? ⁓ And if not, why not? Maybe it's we substituted a cup of sugar for a cup of salt and we just need to get back to the real recipe. Or if we followed it to a T, maybe we need to find a new recipe and we'll develop it together to get the results we want.   The Dental A Team (15:11) Yeah, I love that. love that. in essence, we're tracking the question, are your KPIs actually driving your growth? We don't know until we start tracking them and then looking at this isn't changing or this isn't exactly where I wanted it to be. So let's look at what got us there. And I think we do fail to do that. Sometimes we just say, you know, this is how we've always done it. Well, my AR is out of control.   This is how I've always done it. Eventually it will find its way back down is not the case. So we've got to look at what we're doing. What's that recipe and do we need to add a little brown sugar, you know, sprinkles onto our chocolate chip cookies? Like what does that need to look like in order to make the change to get the result that we want to get the better cookies? Yeah. Yeah. I love that. I love that. Well,   DAT Kristy (15:44) you   You got it. You nailed it.   The Dental A Team (15:57) Honestly, you guys, we can talk about KPIs for 16 hours because there's so many different KPIs that can be brought up within a dental practice and really truly you've got to look at what's going to work best for you and for your team. What is the result that you're looking for? Like Kristy said, what's that end goal? And then reverse engineer it. So if you're looking for production, looking for collections, like what is it that gets you the production and the collection? What are those systems underneath it? That's how you're gonna figure out the right KPIs.   I'm a firm believer that there's really not a wrong KPI. There's just more KPIs. so if you're halfway through the year, a quarter through the year, and you're like, gosh, actually, I need to add this. Cool, add it, change it. It doesn't matter just because whatever you choose here in January does not mean that that's for the whole year. It just means this is what's getting us there right now, and it's going to turn into more. ⁓ Kristy, you are phenomenal. Thank you so much for today.   Thank you for the work that you put in with your clients on these types of things and everything else that you do. And I love these nuggets. Thank you. Just thank you so much, Kristy. I know that the listeners are really appreciating this today.   DAT Kristy (17:05) Absolutely, my pleasure.   The Dental A Team (17:08) Amazing. And guys, go listen again. Reach out. If you are a client of ours, ask your consultant if you guys aren't talking about KPIs, if we're not using that word specifically, and you're like, hey, what are we tracking here? We're tracking and we're probably just not using that word specifically. So ask your consultant. Ask where you're at. Ask if you need to shift anything. And if you're not a client yet, then reach out. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. We are happy to give you some ideas to take a look at what you've got going on and really   let you know what we could do for you or what you can do even without us to increase from where you're at now to where you want to go. So reach out, Hello@TheDentalATeam.com and we will catch you guys next time. Thank you.

Re-releasing a DAT listener favorite! The Dental A-Team is joined by Dr. Nate Tilman! Fascinating history aside (read his bio below), Dr. Tilman talks with Kiera about his unique dental practice situation, how he's managed to merge five different practices into his own, and a strategy for doing so. He also speaks to the shifting of culture in his practice, what it took for him to recognize, and the success it's brought. More on Dr. Tilman: Originally from Salisbury, Maryland, Dr. Tilman attended Wake Forest University for his undergraduate degree. He was awarded his Doctor of Dental Surgery from the University of Maryland where he graduated Summa Cum Laude in 2001. Dr. Tilman served in the U.S. Navy Dental Corps for four years, including two years forward deployed aboard USS Ashland (LSD 48). Following his military service, Dr. Tilman moved to Newport, Rhode Island, in 2007 and opened Newport Family and Cosmetic Dentistry. He has had the pleasure to work with an amazing team and amazing patients in creating a state-of-the art, caring, and comfortable dental practice. His commitment to incorporating advanced technologies and techniques allows Dr. Tilman and his team to provide dental treatment in fewer visits and more comfortably than with traditional techniques. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: speaker-0 (00:05) Hey everyone, welcome to the Dental A Team podcast. I'm your host, Kiera Dent, and I have this crazy idea that maybe I could combine a doctor and a team member's perspective, because let's face it, dentistry can be a challenging profession with those two perspectives. I've been a dental assistant, treatment coordinator, scheduler, filler, office manager, regional manager, practice owner, and I have a team of traveling consultants where we have traveled to over 165 different offices coaching teams. Yep, we don't just understand you, we are you.   Our mission is to positively impact the world of dental. And I believe that this podcast is the greatest way I can help elevate teams, grow VIP experiences, reduce stress, and create A-Teams. Welcome to the Dental A Team Podcast.   Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera and you guys. I love podcasts where I get to bring on offices that I just think are fantastic. So this is an office that we have worked with in the Dental A Team. Also fun fact, he is in the smallest state in the entire United States. So you all know me and my state traveling. His state is one of my hardest states to get to every year, because it's so tiny and it's so far away from me. But he's just one of the best people I've ever met. He's an incredible leader, incredible dentist, incredible just   good human. So I'm so glad and so excited to welcome Dr. Nate Tilman to the show. How are you today, Nate?   speaker-1 (01:27) I am great. Thank you. Thank you. I'm super excited to be here. ⁓ as you know, I've been a fan of the podcast for, know, pretty much since you started. And it's kind of like, it's kind of surreal being, you know, being on, being on the podcast. So I appreciate, appreciate the offer.   speaker-0 (01:44) Well, I love it. love to one it's fun. Thank you for being a podcast fan I mean it's almost coming up on three years of the podcast since we created it and I never would have thought that the podcast could connect me with such cool people so one thank you for being a podcast listener and two things are just being a rad person I I liked the podcast has become a fun passion project for me to meet people to hear their stories   So I kind of alluded to it. You're also doing something similar to Dr. Dave Mogadon, who was on the podcast about those chart ⁓ mergers and buyouts that's kind of helped with your growth, but kind of just tell the listeners like how you even got into dentistry and kind of what your growth trajectory has been, just so they kind of know as a background to today's podcast.   speaker-1 (02:28) Yeah, I'll try not to ramble too much about it. yeah, I went to always wanted to do something in healthcare. My grandfather was a public health physician is a big inspiration for me. So kind of I think it's midway through college decided dentistry is gonna be a really good fit, you know, for a number of reasons. Went to University of Maryland for dental school, loved it decided to stay in general dentistry for   you know, all the variety of what we do. was on a Navy scholarship, so I was able to spend the first four years as a practicing dentist in the Navy. ⁓ Two years I was on a ship as the only dentist. So it was a really good, didn't realize like how helpful an experience that was for like running us an organization, even though it was an organization of three.   speaker-0 (03:14) Yeah, but I also feel like let's just talk about the Navy real fast because I didn't know this about you and my husband and I were literally talking probably two days ago and he said I don't think I ever could do the Navy like put me on a ship with these people for so long and dump me in the middle of the ocean like nowhere to go no hiking like what do you even do? How how was that? feel like more than anything it would teach you mental stamina is what I think I would learn from being on the Navy. But how was it for you? Maybe maybe you guys go swimming every day. I don't know like what do you do all day?   speaker-1 (03:43) Definitely not at all. it was, the two years on the ship was very, it's a super unique experience. And we were a small ship, 400 sailors. We transported Marines. So I was responsible for pretty much 400 patients. had, it was me, I had an administrative assistant and I had two dental technicians that could do some basic hygiene, not a hygienist, but it was me. ⁓   So having to learn like managing supplies and, know, managing appointments and all of that stuff. But the unique thing as a, as a dentist, and mean, this is one year out of a, you know, my GPR. still I was safe, but didn't really know necessarily all what I was doing, but I love to get myself out of jams because middle of the ocean, like. Mid procedure. I'm not going to be the guy calling a helicopter, you know, you got to work through it. So.   speaker-0 (04:40) They're like awesome because it's gonna push your limits and you've got to just figure it out Which I think so many dentists when they do own they don't learn that stamina that stress like hey, it's you figure it out But you're like the odds are even stacked more you're in the middle of the ocean and I mean it would been a pretty cool story for me maybe not for you to hear like a helicopter to come get a patient because you botched a root canal or something like you'd have to figure that out, but that that doesn't definitely up your odds of intensity   for sure being out there and nobody else is there to help you. You're the man. You got to figure it all out.   speaker-1 (05:13) Yeah. And I think it's, while it would have been nice to, you know, if I'd had a situation like, know, where I had a mentor, another dentist I was working with, you know, to be able to bail out, like it have been helpful, but it really, it did, it gave me a lot of, a lot of confidence, um, you know, early on for like, can work my way through this. And then also like what things I don't want to do. Cause I don't want to get stuck in that position again. Yeah. And it was, and yeah, while I didn't have to helicopter anybody out, one of the things I did do, and I don't think at the time, nobody had ever really.   speaker-0 (05:34) True.   speaker-1 (05:42) done it from a small ship or the even smaller ships around us that there were two times where people had some dental emergencies that I was able to fly out to their ship and take care of them.   speaker-0 (05:52) No way. Well, you do have like built in planes. You travel anywhere. So it's like quick, like fly you in, but that's crazy. Cause you ma I can't even imagine the stress that those poor other dentists were feeling of like we're in the middle of here. Like what am I supposed to do? ⁓ I guess call someone else. So, I mean, we talk about dentistry and I've said this so many times, like, feel like dental practices are like these solo islands out there. All y'all just kind of hang in your own area. You literally were in the middle of the ocean flying solo.   speaker-1 (06:22) Yeah. That's crazy. It was fun. There wasn't a ton of dentistry to do. I, know, cool thing with the Navy, they give you other jobs. So I became an air traffic controller. So I was in charge of, you know, all of the flight operations on the ship. so between that and dentistry, it me pretty busy. And then I played a of video games, you know,   speaker-0 (06:41) I'm like, I would be pulling pranks. mean, just throughout COVID, my husband, he makes fun of me. I feel like a roaming tiger in these four walls of our house. Like sometimes I'm like, just let me out of here. Like I can't even handle it. I'm like, I gotta go for a run. I gotta go for a hike that I can't even imagine being on a ship. would be like, I know I'd be pulling pranks on every single person on that ship and just like running for my life. Cause I probably would torment everybody, but air traffic control that like you really went for all the things, Nate, dentistry and air traffic controller.   What don't they say those are the top two suicide jobs? Like you really went for the whole extreme there. Nice job.   speaker-1 (07:15) Well, that's that's like when they selected me to go to the school for our traffic control. What are you guys trying to tell me? You already know I'm a dentist.   speaker-0 (07:23) Gosh, that's crazy. So you were in the Navy and then you went, got out of the Navy. Did you go straight to private practice? Did you go in and be an associate?   speaker-1 (07:32) So I was an associate for a year, still in the Virginia Beach area and then moved to Rhode Island. My wife is, we met in college, I'm two years older, so she was awesome for following me around. then, ⁓ so when she was done with her residency, she's from New England, so we kinda, that's where we looked up here. And I'll tell you, Virginia Beach area, super easy to get a job as an associate, tons of positions around, I figured it'd be the same thing coming up here and there was nothing.   speaker-0 (08:00) mean,   Rhode Island is like the size of a dot on a map. I mean, it's itty bitty, which I makes you a celebrity just because you live there. Like, not many people even live there, so.   speaker-1 (08:11) Yeah, it's in and it's there's there's a number of dentists, but it's it's all solo guys and it's tough like restricted covenants. You know you get a two mile radius. That's the whole state.   speaker-0 (08:21) Exactly   exactly that is you definitely have to look at your associate ships of their contracts really closely Otherwise, you might be booting out of that state just because like you said two mile radius is not far in Rhode Island   speaker-1 (08:34) Not at all. So I ended up having an opportunity to a it's like a four operatory practice, like three, I think two and a half, three days a week. The guy was definitely like on the decline of practice. So jumped into that, had no idea what I was doing. And then six months later, was approached by another dentist who was moving from the area. I think it was a family thing too. And he was having trouble getting somebody to buy   his practice Rhode Island. It's not many dentists moved to the state for a number of reasons. So again, I was still trying to figure out how I was paying my initial loan and how I was running this practice or whatever. the opportunity to buy, to merge this, the patient base. So I did that and it was definitely the best thing I did because it brought in a whole new group of patients. I was able to go from like two and a half days a week to four days a week.   I was able to add another hygienist at the time. so it wasn't super intentional, but the growth was happening. just kind of fell in my lap. I'm like, I'll do this. And looking back, it is where I realized what a good thing it was.   speaker-0 (09:48) For sure. And I hope people listening, ⁓ I am a firm believer that opportunity doesn't always knock on the door and say, I'm opportunity. Sometimes it looks like pure chaos. Sometimes it's stretching you beyond. Sometimes it's really just showing up. I remember the day that I was asked to work with DSI as a consultant. Guys, I had one consulting client before Mark asked me to be a consultant. And overnight, I had 45 clients in my lab. I didn't know what the heck I was doing. But I people listening realize like,   For you, you're struggling. just bought your practice. Don't know what you're doing. Yes, you've had quite a bit of experience, but at the same time, running a practice is very different than being an associate or I'm sure even in the Navy. And so now, and then, hey, by the way, there's all this other patient base wanting to come in. And I love that you just, jumped, you took that opportunity. And I think again, so many times in life, opportunities show up. It's just a matter of, we willing to take them and figure it out or are we too scared and just let them pass by? ⁓   You brought those patients in and you were mentioning pre record that adding in patients from other practices has really been a great way for you to get new patients. ⁓ which people are constantly looking for new patients. was just talking to, there's a guy out here. He's a pathiatrist guys. I'm like, I don't know. I just can't help myself, but help business owners. Like I love it. Podiatry is not that much different than dentistry. Y'all see patients like dentistry, we work on the mouth, but I treat work on the foot. Like   Basically, it's kind of like pediatric. You go to your surgery centers, they come in, you see these patients for their adjustments. But I was talking to him and he's a solo podiatrist and there are two podiatry offices around him that have just shut down doors. So he's like, yeah, it's just great. Like people are finding us and I'm like, did you call those people and ask them for their charts, buy those charts? that is two practices worth of patients that you're just hoping maybe one day will Google you when they're seriously sitting right in front of you. So   I'm super curious. I love this topic. know Dave's talked about it as well, but Nate, how do you buy charts successfully? How do you make that transition? Like Dave was talking about buying so many charts, but kind of from your experience, how do you buy these charts? How do you merge these patients in successfully? And other than just good luck and being in the right place at the right time, finding more of these opportunities. I'm super curious.   speaker-1 (12:04) Yeah, yeah. So for this one, know, having no idea what I was doing, I did have some, think, good advice from a transition attorney that I worked with. initially, the guy that was selling his charts, wanted X number of dollars for his, I think he said, 1,000 active records.   speaker-0 (12:26) And what's like X number of dollars like just give me a ballpark you don't have to say the exact amount but I'm like is it five dollars a chart ten dollars a chart thirty dollars a chart like what   speaker-1 (12:35) If I remember, this was probably 10 years ago, so I believe it was 60 a chart is what he wanted. So I think he wanted 60 million, right? And, you know, I, again, not knowing too much, I definitely knew that those 1,000 people were not gonna come over, right? So I was worried about like, what's the risk? Like, are 10 people gonna come or are 800 gonna come? I have no idea.   Yeah. So the attorney I was talking to, he said, he'd never done it this way. said, but maybe what you want to do is offer a little bit more per record, but only for like a small percentage at first. And then keep track of it over time. And that's what I think I did. It was either a hundred or 120 a chart. And I prepaid for like 300. But then for the next year, I kept track of all the, like once I got above that 300, I kept track of it.   So the nice thing is it limited my, it limited my risk. It put more, I guess, importance or motivation on the seller to really like push his patients to come. Cause the more you make more, the more people that came to see me. So it was a win-win that way. And it also, it let me kind of control that the influx too, because I think if all of sudden I was getting, you know, 800 patients calling all at once, it'd be a little bit trickier to merge this all in.   So that worked out really well.   speaker-0 (14:00) And I'm just curious on that, because this is something else I've been really wondering. After talking to Dave, now meeting this podiatrist, guys, I just love this type of stuff. This is cool business stuff that I feel a lot of people don't talk about. I'm curious, how long was the arrangement? Was it for a year that you would pay him? Was it for five years you'd pay the selling doctor? Because I'm curious, how is the motivation? for me as a business owner, I wouldn't want this to go on forever. I'd want an end date of when I don't have to pay you $120 per patient.   So how is that kind of arrangement set up?   speaker-1 (14:32) It actually, was nine months is what we had set. And I think it could work either, but I certainly wouldn't go more than a year, because it is, it becomes a major pain. And then, honestly for me, as I got close to that nine months, we sort of started slowing down. We strategically scheduled those last few patients in the nine months, but I still had all the records.   speaker-0 (14:54) That's what curious. So did you get all the records? So like you paid this, all the charts come to you, and then the other dentist has good faith that you're going to be honest? Or do they get access to it? Was that what it was?   speaker-1 (15:04) He could have like, had it written. If you wanted to send somebody to audit it, like absolutely. He had access to do that. He just never did. and yeah, we had an initial wave of a lot of people and then it slowed down a bit. And you know, it's, um, I think, I think it ended up, maybe we got 450 out of that thousand. Um, and it and it was close and it was close to that nine months. You know, we were getting close to like 400 and again, I just.   We slowed down a little bit, ⁓ just whatever. But as soon as that nine months hit, then we started re-marketing to the people we hadn't seen.   speaker-0 (15:43) 100   % because then it's like you've got basically 400 patients on recall that haven't been in and so did you guys win it happened and of course you might say things you'd do differently or whatnot but did you have that selling doctor send a letter to all of his patients like hey I'm no longer seeing it come see Nate like he's fantastic or did you guys just pick up the phone and start calling these people what was kind of the strategy of the how-to for you?   speaker-1 (16:07) So he, so he wrote, we both wrote a joint letter, which was good. And then I was able, I actually brought on his, he didn't have an office manager, but it was like his lead front desk and scheduler. So we brought her on. She wasn't a, she wasn't a great, perfect culture fit, but she knew the patients. So that worked. I think she was with us for probably about the nine months.   speaker-0 (16:26) Exactly.   Cause in my mind I was thinking like, that's genius. Maybe you can do like a little like sweetheart deal where it's like, Hey, I'm buying your charts and also your scheduler upfront. Can I just have them like help me call these patients? I'll pay them for a couple of months or whatnot. I don't know. Like there's a piece of me that's like, I could see the pros and the cons of that, but you're right. It's me calling that person who's known these patients for years calling to get them scheduled and help out with that. That's probably again, even if it wasn't a great culture fit, it probably did get more patients in your door.   speaker-1 (16:59) For that initial, yeah, absolutely for the initial. Because they already had the patients pre-scheduled, so they were able, and they know them, it was really helpful having that familiar voice.   speaker-0 (17:09) Totally. Yeah. Clever. Okay. So you went higher than what they're doing, ⁓ which I tell everybody, I'm like these people who are shutting their doors, pretty much any offer you give them is, mean, don't be like a low ball and completely have it feel ridiculous, but they, have no option to sell. There are no options for them to sell. They're not going to make any money. Like that's gotta be a hard reality for that selling doctor to realize like, Hey, I built this business up, but it's not even a sellable product.   So I have no asset anymore. So I'm like, honestly, any money that they can get for these charts, I do think is a good deal and something great for the selling doctor as well. So I don't think it's a ⁓ vicious, like you're taking advantage. I just think again, opportunity shows up in different ways. And I think for the selling doctor, it also was an opportunity that they got probably way more than they were expecting to get when they closed the doors of their practice.   speaker-1 (18:02) Yeah. Cause honestly, it hadn't been for new, he'd been trying actively to sell it somewhere. And I was like, I think I was like the last person, you know, had I not been able to step up and, and, work something out, it would have just been all those patients out into the ether. And, know, probably who knows how many of those, you know, 450 would have shown up with us anyway. But it's, it's, know, again, being younger, not knowing what I was doing, like it was intimidating for me. But as I look back, like he'd never done that either.   speaker-0 (18:22) Yeah   speaker-1 (18:30) You know, so was all, it was new for both of   speaker-0 (18:33) Well, and also thinking about, I'm sure some listeners might think like, Nate, that's a bad deal, though, spending $120 per patient chart. And if you are a wise business owner and you know the cost of acquisition of a new patient, yes, I would say that that probably is on the higher end of a patient. However, I think the perk of this is these are most likely patients who have been active patients in a dental practice that are going to be good patients that are coming. And odds are they also might be, I call them sleeping.   patients in the fact that this dentist was on the retiring side, odds are that dentist was just slowing down with dentistry. Every dentist will have this happen to where odds are these patients actually have a lot more treatment available since their selling doctor was slowing down in their career. while it might be more expensive, you're probably also paying for it with the dentistry available with an older doctor selling. So got it. Okay.   speaker-1 (19:22) Yeah. Yeah.   And then yeah, like, and then fast forward, you know, another five years or so from then, it's not five, about five years ago. I had a dentist moonlighting with me who was in the Navy. It was getting out, wanted to stay in the area. Awesome, awesome dentist, really good friend of mine now. And he wanted to stay, but again, at that point I wasn't busy enough to really support another.   an associate and I'd never really never had an associate either. And again, opportunity I had, was having, it was like a county dental society meeting. I was talking to a friend of mine as well, who was a little bit older dentist and she was like, I'm thinking about slowing down. maybe this guy could work for you for a couple of days a week and me a couple of days a week. And kind of light bulb went off my head. I was like, or I could buy your practice if you're open to it. And then you can slow down whatever you want. ⁓   be an associate with me and he could work at the two. I kind of saw the writing, like the potential if he did that, what happens if now he wants to buy that practice and then it's, you know, so that actually.   speaker-0 (20:29) You would be training up your competition. So good job on seeing that and not letting that happen.   speaker-1 (20:35) Yeah. And, uh, and it worked and that worked out great around the, again, just weird timing around the same as I was closing on that deal. One town over those, dentist who unfortunately had a terminal, uh, terminal cancer and was looking for somebody to help take over his practice. So I was able to take over his patient base, which another bonus of being able to help, you know, get this new associate, you know, even busier.   speaker-0 (21:01) So really your practice is a makeup of four practices. Did I count my?   speaker-1 (21:06) And then I had one more a little bit later. There's like five, five, nine into two locations now. So yeah. Yeah. And with that one, was the, um, I was able to bring one of the hygienists on board. Um, which again, that familiar, familiar face, familiar voice, um, was a big, was big and she's still with us and she's awesome. So, um, so that's been, that's been really good.   speaker-0 (21:07) Okay, so   Clever. love it.   awesome.   Have you guys heard? But like really have you heard? And are you the type of person that loves to take massive action? Well, if you are, I would love to invite you to Dental A Team's Virtual Summit, April 22nd through 23rd. And yes, right now guys, it's early bird. That means it's $200 off the normal ticket price. You guys are going to learn how to optimize your practice this year. We know it's been a rough year. People have quit. We've had COVID, we've had changes. So we want to teach you guys how to optimize within your practice now and execute.   Friday is full team, Saturday is all things leadership. So bring your team, get some CE, take massive action, head on over to TheDentalATeam.com. Coupon code is summit early bird, and it's valid until March 31st. That's summit early bird, all one word, and it's valid until March 31st. So guys, head on over. I can't wait to have you take massive action, optimize your practice, and execute. Let's make 2022 your best year. I love it.   I love how much you have, ⁓ I think if anything I'm taking is don't be afraid to take those risks, don't be afraid to look at opportunities and also I think you just kind of have also positioned yourself to be well known within your community and I feel like so many dentists, like yes even within big cities like New York, Denver, guess what? People are always retiring. I just had a student from Midwestern reach out to me and was mentioning how like.   Hey, care, do you know of anybody to buy a practice? And I'm like, what is going on? I don't know all the details, but I'm like, this is somebody who's been graduating for maybe a couple of years looking to sell a practice. so I think it's just important to get to know the doctors around you to build those friendships. Because when I think it's often like you're putting yourself in a position to be ready for that opportunity, it's kind of like right now they say have a lot of cash on hand. We know something's going to be shifting in the economy.   So just be ready for when opportunities there. And I think getting to know your neighbors, getting to know those dentists, hey, great, you also as a dentist might need them as a resource in the future as well. So I think it can go both ways, but I love that you've done that. So now I'm curious, Nate, because I selfishly want to talk to you about this. You've got these two practices, you've got these dentists.   Who knows, you're gonna like probably add on like four more practices of charts in the next five years. I mean, based on your record, like let's just start piling them all on. You'll be the only dentist in Rhode Island. You're just gonna last. But I know culture is something you and I off air. Nate is one of my favorite clients. I don't even come to your practice, Nate, and you and I will just chat business, talk shop. You are somebody that I will say publicly is someone who's just been.   a really great influence in my life. Periodically, you will just send me a random text of like, just tell me that we're doing a good thing. And I will say, and you know, as an owner, those kudos and those like good vibes, they don't happen as often because you're the one who's giving all that out to your team and to your clients and to your patients. And so Nate, I will say publicly, like how much you've just been an influence in my life as well. Something I just have appreciated with you as a client, as a friend, as a mentor. So I'm excited to chat. You've got all these things going.   I know culture has been a piece that you and I both have been talking about of developing this culture. So kind of what spurred you into realizing you wanted to shift your culture of your practice. And then let's talk about the nitty gritty, but like how did you as a business owner know you needed to do a shift within your culture? Because I think that that's humility. And I'm just curious, like what tipped you off? How are you able as a dentist to own that, that you wanted to shift that?   speaker-1 (25:03) Yeah, I mean, I think for me it was noticing, you know, sort of the patterns over the years of the just the ups and downs of culture, you know, and it's, you know, whether you call it the vibe or how everybody's getting along. ⁓ And there, I mean, it's over the years, like we've had some pretty painful, painful times and times where it's like, nobody likes being here. That's way better, you know, in the last few years and it had been in the past, but.   It's, I was realizing I didn't really know how to, I didn't realize I had, that I could have influence on, on how to change that. It's, you know, some of it, I'm not a confrontational person. I'm pretty laid back and I want every, you know, I want to be the one that's liked. I want to be everybody's friend. And it's hard. It's, mean, whatever 13 years into practice ownership. And I still, you know, struggle with that.   kind of not being able to be everybody's best friend. Like I actually own the boss and like I have to own that. So it's, know, again, I finally got like just really got so exhausting of the ups and downs of like, is this going to be a good month or is this going to be a good week or who's going to be upset and all that. that it's like, you know, it's not just on me, but it's like, creating that environment that people, you know, that people want to be here. You know, people are happy people.   playing well together and trying to manage all that. it's, you know, it's certainly I haven't figured it out completely, but it's, you know, just trying to work on little things.   speaker-0 (26:41) Yeah, well and I love that you said that because incidentally I'm like, ⁓ Nate, why didn't I even think about this? I know why you and I are good friends. We're eyes on the disc profile. We both love to be liked. We're both very outgoing. We're like, you know life at the party have a good time. We're also okay to like let other people be the life of the party, but just really that and I do think a lot of dentists have that personality. ⁓ I was thinking about dentists last night actually while I was falling asleep and I'm like gosh you guys have to charm and dazzle and wow all day long.   Like you walk in and you have to make friends quickly and it's in an uncomfortable like, hey, let me like get real up and close and personal, like look in your mouth. And I got to like win you over and make you like me. I want to say yes to treat Mike. That's a lot of output of energy all day long for you guys. And so for you to realize that you also have to be a boss, I think one takes humility and two, also is ownership. And I would agree. I think it's like you get to a spot where I'm like, all right, being friends is fun.   But we got to have this like even kill because this up and down is just causing me to feel like I'm in whiplash all day long. So what were some of the things that you started to shift again? You and I chatted in December and I know we both like I've taken this from our conversation of culture is a slow burn. It is not something that happens overnight. It is not something that is instantaneous and I am an instantaneous person. Like I will figure it out. I will come up with it like we will find the solution and culture is like, all right.   Cool, I'm here for the journey. So what were some of the things you started to shift that you've been able to see? know Tiffanie's been helping you guys in your practice quite a bit as well, but I think ultimately at the end of the day, consultants can only help as far as the leaders are willing to go. And so for you to be willing to shift and change is why your team's been shifting and changing too. So what were some of those specifics?   speaker-1 (28:26) One of the, I would say the hardest thing for me and I still like, it still gives me anxiety and trouble is having difficult conversations. And while, you know, it's   you wouldn't think it would necessarily play toward helping with culture, having difficult conversations. I think it really does because I think it resets some of that, ⁓ like where the expectations are, what kind of the clarity on what needs to be done. But I think that's part of, on my ups and downs, I, again, wanting to be agreeable and being pretty laid back, if there was some...   trouble happening or there's some conflict between the team. Like a lot of my default for years was, it'll just blow over. Like, let's it work itself out. And it would work itself out by exploding after a drink or two. And then everybody would hug it out after a drink or two, and then we're fine for a while. But like, was no way to operate, right? So for me, getting over my fear and my anxiety of having those hard conversations, you know, and that's actually, that's one of the things that Tiffanie has been super helpful.   with on helping me through some of those. And I think one of the biggest skills that I've gotten with working with the Dental A Team is that, to have those conversations. They're not fun. People don't like them. I don't like them. But I think it makes a big difference and means a lot once people, like once you get through that.   speaker-0 (30:02) For sure. And you're lucky to have Tiff. think Tiff is one of the best at it. Tiffanie is very masterful on being able to, I say word ninja it. She's also just very direct, which is odd because she's so lovable and so nice. But something her and I have chatted a lot. And to your exact point, when team members have those uncomfortable conversations and they know their employer is willing to do it, everybody actually feels safe.   and that safety can create stability, which also creates like easiness. So my husband and I felt like I used to be a people pleaser with him. And just this week, he and I had a really big decision, a really awesome opportunity, and we ended up turning it down. And I was so frustrated. Like, I'm such a like driver and doer and like, this is an opportunity. We've been working for five years for this and we're just gonna like walk away from it. And I was not my most polished Kiera. ⁓   Thankfully, I would never do this with my team, but my husband, was just like full on expressive on like, and not anger at him, just the frustration of the situation. Like we've worked for this for five years and we're still not going to go through with it. And he made a comment to me, said, Kiera, I love that we've worked on our relationship so much to where you can feel comfortable and confident to have this conversation, to express your true feelings and we can work through it and find a solution. And I use that example because I feel like it's very similar with teams with   bosses that are willing to have these uncomfortable conversations because there's a there's a trust and a confidence that I can come to you. I know we can go toe to toe. I know we can work through this even though it's not fun in the moment per se. There's so much beauty and ease and flow that happens because we're not just always like holding it inside trying to like charm everybody else around us.   speaker-1 (31:47) Yeah. And what I have sort of seen ⁓ as I'm doing that more often and as I'm getting more comfortable with it, I'm seeing my team do the same thing with each other, in a, you know, in a respectful way. And they're confronting things before they become like these underlying deep seated issues. So yeah. So that's been good. ⁓ Working on gratitude is another, is another big one. Yeah. It's funny. It's, it's, ⁓   That's been, that's taken me a little bit to get used to and kind of coming up with a pattern of how to do it because it doesn't necessarily come naturally to me. You know, I think it all the time in my head, you know, how appreciative I am, but it's expressing it is what's hard and finding the way that resonates because everybody's different. What, you know, what lights everybody up is different. So it's trying to, I'm still trying to figure that out for everybody individually.   speaker-0 (32:42) But I think it's awesome that you're taking that on and like you said and I will say kudos to male doctors that are willing to share their appreciation because I'm not a male, but I have heard from several male colleagues that it's very uncomfortable. They're like, I'm just not somebody like you said, I think it, but I don't necessarily say it I don't know how to say it and sometimes it's an awkward thing. But I will say as a team member, I worked only with male doctors, except for one time I had a female doctor. But most of the time males were the doctors I would work with.   And as a team member, especially a female team member, it meant the world to me when they would share that appreciation. it just would, most women are very much ⁓ people who love those words of affirmation that are genuine and sincere. And so I think that that's a great thing that you've taken on. And I know that that's shifting because you shifting that way is shifting your entire team as well. Very cool. Okay. I just want like a quick highlight list as we wrap up, Nate, I appreciate you so much. What are some of the things working with Tiffanie that you've   that you guys have implemented in your practice or some things that you've seen, like we've talked about chart mergers, which gosh, it's just so fun. And we talked about culture shifts, but what are some of the things over the last year? I think you guys are just wrapping up your heading into year two. What are some of the things you guys have implemented with her this last year that were really just impactful for you?   speaker-1 (33:59) Yeah, it's, it's, it's, it's a, we've done a bunch of like small things, you know, and, and, that's what I think has been great is like they, they're easy concepts, but communicating ⁓ better handoffs from front to back and committing to that. ⁓ It's, one of the first things that she introduced with us. And, you know, it seemed like such a simple thing, but it's made a huge difference in. ⁓   and just having consistency of communication and then also it helps the teamwork. ⁓ That's been really good. She's helped a lot with trying to ⁓ have us have a better of sense and strategy around our revenue cycle. Just little things that we didn't necessarily know that we weren't doing, you know, as efficiently as we could. But what I love the most is the process and the accountability part that's put in. ⁓   there, you know, I, in previous years, you know, I've worked with other coaches and consultants and things. Um, and it's always been like a kind of a cookie cutter type thing. And it's, you know, it has been helpful, but what I really love about Dental A Team is how. Yeah. She's able to look and see exactly what it is that we do and how we do it and tailor those systems to us. Um, uh, but also that holding us like holding us accountable to do it. Like we had a, we had a call.   this week, I think it was. we've been looking at outsourcing things for, and I think we've probably been talking about it for a month, two months or so. And it was kind of funny because she has, she's like the sweetest person in world, but she was like, all right guys, I'm tired of talking about this. You're going to buy the end of it. And we're going to, we're going to make a decision on this in my head. This is on Tuesday. I was like, all right, by the end of Thursday, we'll have this done. She's like today, like today that you've done this and tell me who you're going with. And I was like, all right.   But sometimes that's what we need, know, cause we were stuck in this little cycle. So she, you she's good with that. And then sort of same thing with, you know, those are one of the difficult kinds of conversations I needed to have, but was Tuesday was funny. She was, she like really lit a fire under us. Cause like three or four things are like, you're getting this stuff done today and it's happening. that's the push we need, but there's other, know, there's, it's not always that intense. You know, there's also, ⁓ you know, if we need a little help with, you know, with things and,   It's process. She's there each step of the way.   speaker-0 (36:25) awesome. I love it. Well, I think that other no, go ahead.   speaker-1 (36:28) Sorry, it's   been really, it's been really good that I haven't seen with anybody else I've worked with before is she's totally accessible to my team. And I have a couple of the people on my team who are like very growth mindset, growth oriented with us. And, know, they, I think they talked to her more than I realized. And it's, it's one of like, felt initially like when she, you know, gave everybody her contact information, she like, I don't know, I hope that doesn't get abused. And she's like, I love it. That's what I'm here for.   and not knowing the specifics of what she's helping some people with. Like I've had a couple of people on my team, they're like, is so great to be able to reach out to Tiffanie and get this advice on this. And she's helping them just as much as she's helping me. That's awesome.   speaker-0 (37:09) That's huge and I appreciate that Nate because one it's fun to hear how our consultants are doing and I love like a few pieces you said which makes me happy because like as an owner and I'm sure as dentists we have this great vision of what we want our company to be what we want our practice to be and then to hear a patient experience to hear a client experience I'm like we will never be cookie cutter I refuse like forever because no practice is cookie cutter so to hear that it's systems that are customized to you guys where it's what's gonna work with you and also like you said   that accountability. Tiff and I, will say kudos to Tiff because at first, you know, we were like, how do you consult offices? And most of time we'll just kind of go through with you holding you accountable. But there are times when we will need to like laser in, lay it down and be like, guys, here's the reality. Just like a coach at the gym. I'm like, I don't want you like high five. I mean, that was a great workout when my squats look terrible. Like tell me to get my booty down, get my back out. Like   make sure I'm actually doing the work if I'm going to put in the work. And so I love that she did that. And like you said, that is something that we are so pro having those team members elevate rising them around you. That's something like we have kind of, I have a three prong approach and it's making sure you are profitable as a business. Cause if we're not profitable, fantastic. And to hear that TIF is helping you guys with that revenue cycle, making sure that's there at the handoffs, but then also growing people themselves.   You with those hard conversations, you making sure, I mean, we were just talking, you're having time off and your whole team is like killing it and you're not even there, which is awesome. ⁓ Also elevating team members. So it's not just the dentists themselves, but the team and then putting in those systems and team development top to bottom. So to hear it from a client experience, and we didn't even rehearse this prior to it, but to really hear the, and I didn't even prep you Nate. I didn't tell you to like, Hey, think of the last year and the highlights before we get on it. And I purposely did that because I wanted to hear.   what really stood out to you over this last year? What were the things that, because sure, you could go back and reread the emails and prep for it, but I'm like, that doesn't actually matter. What matters is what sticks in the moment. And so I just appreciate that. I love you as a client. know Tiff loves you as a client. You're just a, you're a great example of execution, of humility, of seeing opportunities and executing on them. And I hope people realize that success in my opinion doesn't just happen by chance. It is methodical. is...   Executed on sometimes you get sprinkled with that good luck charm But I also think that good luck charm is only good luck if you actually execute on it So Nate, you're just a dream. I love it. I love what you've done. I appreciate you being on the podcast you're just such a happy human and You're you're a great person who's doing great things in this world and your team's super lucky to get to work with you and learn from you as well   speaker-1 (39:48) Oh, thank you so much. And I feel so, you know, so lucky to have come to come across the Dental A Team, you know, three years ago and, and, and gotten to know you, gotten to know your team and all of you thought, you know, to me, my team and my life, it's awesome.   speaker-0 (40:00) Totally.   Well, it's, you know, we said yes, because you're in Rhode Island first. That was the first like initial yes. then you know, so but no, I appreciate it, Nate. So guys, if you if you have questions on mergers, or how to buy these charts, like please reach out, we'll connect you in with Nate. And if his story and the successes he's had resonate with you, email us, we'd love to chat with you. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. And Nate, thanks for being here today. Thanks for just being a good human in this world that we need more people like you. So thanks for being here today.   Thank you. Awesome, guys. All right. As always, thank you all for listening, and I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team Podcast.   wraps it up for another episode of the Dental A Team Podcast. Thank you so much for listening and we'll talk to you next time.  

Tiff and Monica break down what it takes to operate your practice like a CEO in 2026, including mindset (especially if you don't exactly feel like a CEO), leadership team delegation, dialing in goals, and more. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript:   The Dental A Team (00:00) Hello, Dental A Team I am so excited to be here. You guys know I love podcasting. It's one of my favorite things that we do throughout the month. I usually get at least two podcasting sessions in with my ladies. And today I have Monica back here with us again. Monica, how are you? I'm so excited you're here. How was this? This is a Monday. So like, how was your weekend? Did you get to rest, relax your grandbaby? What did you do? What was your, what was your weekend like?   Monica (00:25) Yeah, hi Tiff, happy Monday. Happy Monday, everyone. I'm so excited to start off my week with podcasting. ⁓ I think I just have like this new found joy and like interest and passion around podcasting and just showing up authentically and having this conversation. So thank you for inviting me. ⁓ My weekend, I had such a magical weekend. First of all, guys, December is such a magical time for me.   The Dental A Team (00:28) Thank you.   Of course.   Monica (00:56) You know, it's just tapping into all the unseen, right? The hope, the faith, the love that is never ending is all expansive. And December goes by really fast. So I made it a point to be super present in all the little things that I do and the mundane things. And I had such a magical weekend with my grandson. ⁓   The Dental A Team (01:09) It does.   Monica (01:21) I've got two grandkids, ⁓ Elijah who's 12 years old and my granddaughter Sophia who is three months old and I'm just enamored obviously with both of them but Sophia takes the stage right now. ⁓ But my grandson, know, he came over and he, you know, he's earning money to buy an electrical bike and I said, hey, you gotta earn it buddy so.   You know, ⁓ Mimi, I'm Mimi for him. I gave him a little weekend project to come and redo, re-sand, refinish my patio furniture. And we did that. We did that over the weekend and he did an amazing job. And then it turned into like this, Mimi, can I sleep over? Let's have a sleepover. You know, let's sleep right in front of the fireplace. When's the last time you did something fun like that? So.   The Dental A Team (02:03) Yeah.   my   gosh.   Monica (02:11) ⁓   it was, it was amazing. The Christmas tree lights were on, the fireplace was on and Charlie and I and Elijah were having sleepover on the couch. So that was fun. And, ⁓ we got to make breakfast the next morning and we had, you know, the magical dance in the kitchen. Yeah, that happened too. So it was just so special. And, ⁓ those are just memories that I want to hold on to forever. Those are those forever memories, you know? Yeah.   The Dental A Team (02:29) Mm-hmm.   They are, they   are. Those are the memories, those are the things that make life, life and make life enjoyable. So I'm really glad you got that time and ⁓ thank you for sharing. Thank you. You always, share your family with us. You share Charlie, who is her adorable dog. You share just all of them with us. So thank you. Thank you. On that note though, I think Monica, that's like the perfect lead in, into what we're talking about today because   Monica (02:44) Yes. Yes. Thank you.   Monica (02:57) Yeah, yeah, thank you.   The Dental A Team (03:06) what I really wanted to chat about and just get some information out for our listeners and for those of you who are here with us today, make sure that you either go back and listen to some of these pieces. We're gonna have some really good nuggets for you or you're taking notes now if you're in a place that can take notes. I always caveat that if you are driving, I drive and listen to podcasts a lot and I have to go back and listen to them. So please don't take notes while you're driving. But on that note of December and ⁓ we're recording this in December, it'll...   populate in January, which is kind of perfect because this time of year is great because we're winding down and we are enjoying the magic, like you said, and enjoying all of the love and the faith and all of those pieces. But then it turns into January, which is like a fresh new beginning and a magic of its own. And moving into January and being in January, something that I really want CEOs to start thinking about is how to think like a CEO.   Dental practice owners, doctors, don't often think of themselves, I think, as a CEO. Monica, often just, they're a practice owner, they're a business owner. But I think that CEO mindset is something that's very different. And really just looking at 2026, how can 2026 be your CEO year? And how can you start thinking like a CEO? What does it take to move and operate like a CEO? And this is something that we work on with our dental practice owners a lot. So our clients,   We're constantly bringing them back into that CEO mindset. We're really, really lucky in the fact that we have Kiera here on our team that we get to watch ⁓ move through the CEO mindset. And I've had the privilege of side by side walking with her and watching her build the business and building it with her and seeing those trials and tribulations. So being able to impact the world of dentistry with those pieces is something that's huge for us.   We're in January, it's beautiful. I feel like when I think of January, I think of like white and it's just clean and it's this beautiful, sparkly, clean slate that we can just create anything with. So as we're creating this, question that I have is really as we're building like a scalable vision, right? So we're looking forward, what's something that you like to encourage your CEO mindset doctors to really start with? Like where do you, how do we say this is where   Monica (05:24) Yeah.   The Dental A Team (05:24) This   is where I want to go. know, we've got especially a visionary mindset who just is in the clouds a lot. But how do you help them narrow that down into really thinking like a CEO and kind of time-lining that out, measurable? Like, what are all the pieces that you're looking for?   Monica (05:38) Yeah, that's a great question, Tiff. Thanks for asking. Well, first, before we dive into that, I want to say, doctors, it's you. You are the leader, right? You are the CEO and you've got to think like one. And I think ⁓ most of the time we're looking outward for the answers, but the answers are already in you. You've got to take some time to have some introspection time and say, okay,   What does the CEO do? Like, let me put my CEO hat on and bring that mindset in. what is my philosophy as a CEO? You've got to start with your philosophy, right? What does that mean to you? How am I going to achieve that, that one vision? And you got to make sure that your vision and your philosophy is inspiring enough to fire you up, to want to create a change.   right, because ⁓ it starts with you. We've got to be, we've got to be and show up as a person that we expect our leaders, our leadership team to show up as, right? So if you want your leadership team to come in and prepared and be on topic and be on the KPIs and know your numbers, guess what? You got to know the numbers. You've got to show up with that strong leadership, that inspiring, that motivating.   you know, knowing which KPIs you're going to look at, which in my mind, I think there's like the really high value KPIs and then the lower value KPIs, right? Everything is important, but we can't focus on all things at once. So what are the top KPIs that you as a CEO are going to focus on that drive, that philosophy that gave you that drive and that passion to wake up every single day fired up to, you know, tackle the day.   So if you don't have a philosophy, get one, right? Just start writing it down. I think we all have it here in our mind. You gotta put it on paper. Because if it's not on paper, you can't create it. Part of the creation process is thinking it, materializing it, and then sharing it. sharing it with your team, your leadership team. ⁓ And then seeing it, right? Like what is the process of creating that philosophy and executing that philosophy?   Doctors, it starts with you. Be the leader that you expect your leadership team to show up as. That's what a CEO does, right? Like what, who's, who's carrying the torch? The difficult part about being a CEO is that you've got the visionary and then you also have an operational piece, right? And we often say there's, there's two great leaders in any successful business, the visionary and the operational one, right? The one that carries a torch every single day. But you have to be both.   before you can delegate it. You've got to know what that feels like. You've got to know how to drive that. You've got to know how to become it before we expect our team to become it. So it starts with you doctors. Start with your philosophy. I would love to know for, you know, anyone that wants to just comment or just share, what is your philosophy? What do you wake up, you know, every single morning, what do you wake up with? What are you going to take to the office?   I think that's where we start, right? And then there's three things that I think are crucial for any CEO. You've got to be obsessed with this. Your clinical excellence, your patient experience, your culture, your team, and growth and profitability. Those are three things you've got to be obsessed about. Those are three things that you've got to be curious about every single day. Every time that you meet with your team,   We recommend that you have a weekly meeting with your leadership team. Make sure that you're touching on those three things. Those, I think, are the driver to everything. Your clinical experience and your patient experience is everything that builds trust, that builds efficiency, ⁓ that builds retention, patient retention, team retention. Yeah. What are your thoughts, Tiff?   The Dental A Team (10:00) Yeah, I love that. Thank you, thank you. And I know you have some really fantastic nuggets. So I hope you guys, if you are driving, you go back and listen and write them down. And I agree. think the philosophy, right, or translated, you can call it your mission, your vision. Like, why are you here? What is it that you believe in? We talk a lot about your, ⁓ like your patient philosophy or your clinical philosophy. So it's really just, what do you believe in? What are you trying to accomplish with what you're doing? And I love that because   If you can see what you're trying to accomplish, if you can, like she said, get it out on paper and Monica, I think that's brilliant. I do so much better when I'm like handwriting. I even got one of those journals, you know, the little, the notepads that are erasable because I think you just, you can take a picture and it uploads because I just do better with handwriting it. And when you can get it out and you can say, this is where I'm trying to get to, you can start to like build that house. It's like when you're, when you're going to, you're looking at model homes, the model home is already done.   And so it gives you a vision of what you could create if you were to build a home within that development. And so you need that model home. need something that models. you might not be, you might build your home and you might not do the same kitchen. You might have a different tile. You might have different countertops than what was shown in the model, but you're able to at least get a vision for something to start. And then you work backwards from that. And Monica, think that's...   the key there and what you said with the KPIs and the metrics and knowing your numbers and knowing your stats, watching those KPIs and really seeing if this is where I'm going, what are the top three goals that I can get to? And then scaling those backwards. And that's how a CEO works, right? We've got big goals that we scale backwards and say, okay, what are the steps? What is the plan? What's it actually going to take to get to this goal? And how can I recruit then my team to help support   Monica (11:36) Yep.   The Dental A Team (11:55) that and I think Monica, that's a huge word for me and my coaching is the support team. Like how can the team support these goals and I don't know Monica. This might be a side tangent, but something that I've experienced for sure is doctors or leaders or practice owners getting in the mindset of like worker bees like I've got worker bees under me and they are they are the ones that are going to get this instead of that mindset of really   like they're here to support me to get to these goals. How can I support them to get there? And I have to then think a clear vision. If I'm not clear on where we're going, how are they gonna support me to get there? And Monica, do you think in that transition? Because I do think that's a big switch from practice owner to CEO mindset is that really that supportive reaching the goals together, that support rather than.   I gave them tasks and they're gonna get me there. We're really kind of building this house together.   Monica (12:58) Yeah, no, that's a great point. think there's two parts to a successful practice. You've got to be able to work on the business and in the business. And you've got to really protect that time. When you're working on the business, be about that. Show up and be present. ⁓ I think, you   We're so used to multitasking and that that's our culture, right? That's the culture of dentistry is like, you've got to be able to like do a million things at once and your brain is going a million miles an hour. ⁓ you're seeing multiple patients, you're, know, you're constantly shifting and wearing various hats during the day. But to work on your business, you've got to, you've got to be present. No interruptions. Like don't.   get to the office before you get to the office, right? When you're in the office, don't get home, don't work on your personal stuff when you're in the office, work on the things that really matter. And it's difficult to kind of change gears and focus, but I think it's crucial. Working on the business really means, what's my philosophy, right? And reverse engineering that.   Here's where I want to be. Where am I now? What are the steps that I need to do next before I get there? I think having presence of mind is super important because we can't focus on all things, right? If we do, nothing gets done. And so write them down, write all the steps that you need to get there, then prioritize them. What do I need to do first before I move on to the next? And so I like to think about it as layered.   The Dental A Team (14:34) Yeah. Yeah.   Monica (14:48) Right? When you layer it, when it's written down, like create a visual for yourself. And then when it's written down, you can, it's easier to digest and you can journey that, that map per se in a much easier way. you're visual and you can go in and, and, know, add steps to it along the way. But if it's all up here, this is, this is where chaos happens. Right? This is where you get stressed out. This is where, ⁓ unease.   comes in, right, because it's all here and you can't see it. And I think most of us are visual when it comes to, you know, our practice and success and our teams. I mean, we've got to be able to see it, right, to believe it. ⁓ So I think working on the business and then working in the business, guys, that's really important. We can't expect our team to give, you know, above and beyond.   The Dental A Team (15:32) Mm-hmm.   Monica (15:44) and expect them to stay and work after hours on their own time when we're working two days a week in in tearside, right? And leading the team. No one's going to care more than you, right? Your team is there to support you, right? And your vision. So they're not the they may be the drivers, but they're not the principal. You are right. And I think we we tend to forget.   We tend to forget that we are the ultimate authority and we are the leaders. We're the go-to people, right? And ⁓ becoming a dentist and opening your practice, you automatically become a CEO whether you like it or not, right? And we're business owners, we're leaders. The team is looking to us to establish our philosophy, our vision, ⁓ the map. Where are we going, right? You've got to be the captain of your ship.   The Dental A Team (16:12) Okay.   Mm-hmm.   Monica (16:40) And if you don't take on that role, people are just waiting. They're doing the best that they can, but it's, you know, they're in uncharted waters.   I think that's when we lose, you know, the, ⁓ the passion and that fire, because we don't know where we're headed. Right. And everyone's just trying to work in their own little Island and they're, they're working in silos. And then, you know, instead of locking arms and saying, Hey, here's our vision. We're all rowing in this direction and let's go after it. Right. And we've got to be able to row in the same direction.   The Dental A Team (17:21) Mm-hmm.   Yeah, and I think that's where, to your point, the KPIs come into play, right? So you had mentioned earlier, like those measurables and those KPIs, because those are our oars. That's how we're getting there. So it's very easy, I think, for a visionary to have the vision. They know it. They're like, I can see the house. But then you've got to put that, you said, put that implementer hat on for a second, that worker hat on for a second, and say, cool, that's the vision. Now what goes in first?   Monica (17:29) Totally.   The Dental A Team (17:53) Like do we put the countertops in before we put the cupboards in? No, like how do we get there? So those are, I think Monica, to your point, those are the KPIs that are there so that the team can support that vision. So if you want increased new patients, what is the team gonna do to help support that? We've got a marketing company probably, but what can the team do asking for reviews, asking for referrals, like counting those pieces? And Monica, do you feel like that's where, I think personally,   That's where the CEO mindset really takes hold from that visionary kind of practice owner, I just wanna have a business mindset. That's that CEO tactical piece. And I think for practices I've worked with, structures I've worked with, that's the space that's like, we've gotta get over that hurdle and is sometimes the more difficult space for them to be able to see the applicable KPIs that will get us to those goals.   Monica (18:32) Yeah.   Yeah, I agree with you. think inaction equals no action, right? And so most of the time we know what needs to be done, but again, it's up here, right? And we choose for whatever the reason is, we're choosing not to get behind it. ⁓ And so, you know,   Also, sometimes we have to unpack what our limiting beliefs are. What is the story I'm telling myself about myself? That self-talk. Self-talk is super impactful, whether it's positive or negative. So what is your self-talk? What is your little voice saying? Right? Can I do this? Let's do this. Or, ⁓ nobody cares. Nobody cares as much as I do. You know, ⁓   I think self-talk is powerful.   The Dental A Team (19:50) I think   a lot of times it comes down to as well if I can see the vision but I'm not willing to share the vision, ⁓ what is keeping me from sharing that vision? Like why am I afraid to vocalize or put it on paper? What about this scares me? And that's what we're running away from, And we just replace it with the tactical do-do-dos, the checklist of like easy do's throughout the day and it holds us back from really reaching those.   personal and professional goals.   Monica (20:22) Yeah, and also, you know, to add to that, that's really valuable what you just spoke. ⁓ To add to that, think self-accountability and owning your part of it, right? ⁓ It's difficult, like the responsibility of knowing you've got this amazing practice that you've built, a place where patients can   come and seek wellness and that you are contributing to the livelihoods of your team. I mean, that's a big, and your own livelihood, right? Like this is it. That's a big responsibility. And it's a beautiful one. It's one that impacts many, many lives. ⁓ And that can be scary sometimes. What if I make a mistake? What if this is not the right choice? But what if it is?   Take the chance. You can always pivot. If you don't like the result, change it. That's the beauty of being a CEO in your own practices. You can change it. So what's stopping you from creating the change to propel you to the next level?   The Dental A Team (21:21) would have bit worked.   Yeah, I love that. Thank you, Monica. I think some takeaways I have, I always try to think of, you know, three tactical pieces, are the three action items? And I think from listening to everything that you've got today, thank you, Monica, it was beautiful. I really pulled out three, I feel tactical, I wrote down philosophy, make sure you know your philosophy, your CEO, your practice philosophy. And then like three,   Audacious goals for your one year your three year your tenure and really work backwards again ten years Where do I want to be? What will it take to get to that ten-year mark in three years from now? And then this year what do I have to accomplish? So those really those big three goals and then really breaking those down into applicable key performance indicators KPIs applicable pieces that we can work on this year to get us towards those goals and really enlisting the team to help with those things so if you're trying to switch to that CEO mindset   Like Monica said, you gotta get it on paper. Write that philosophy down first. Where is it that you're trying to get to? What are three things that you could work on right now that will help get you there? And what are the small things we can do every single day, those KPIs, that we can do every single day that will help us get to those three goals? Monica, those are my three action items I pulled from everything that you had beautifully stated. think there's also action items they can pull out on the personal side, like journal, you guys. I love your idea.   you know, what's holding me back from doing this? What are my limiting beliefs right now? And if that's scary to get it out on paper, probably back up a little bit and start there. And re-listen to everything Monica said, because she's spot on you guys. you're having trouble localizing it, you're having trouble getting it on paper, or you're scared to share it with your team, there's something internal there. And if you're scared that your team's gonna react a certain way, is that you? Or is that them and you need to go back to the right person, right seat?   that we recorded a few weeks ago. That's a good question there. So Monica, is there anything else that you would leave as a parting statement, something that can really wrap up the CEO mindset for them?   Monica (23:41) Yeah.   Yeah, thank you. actually do. And I was thinking about ⁓ what's the first thing I would do after listening to a podcast like this. And I would go back and ask great questions. Great leaders ask great questions and start with you. Go ask yourself three great questions that are going to start to unpack the CEO that's already within you.   The Dental A Team (24:11) I love that. I love that. Thank you, Monica. I love podcasting with you. You have just, your brain, I love picking pieces out of your brain, because you and I think similarly in a lot of ways in that introspective kind of world, and I think you and I could live there for hours and be so happy. So thank you. Thank you for always sharing everything with us, and...   Monica (24:20) Thank you.   I know.   The Dental A Team (24:35) bringing such amazing tools. The CEO mindset is really important and I know you work on this really, really hard with a lot of your practices. So handpicked for you. Thank you Monica for your time today and everyone here shares that sentiment I'm sure. Of course. Of course. All right listeners, you heard her earlier. She said, pop it in, pop it in your review, pop it in an email to us. Let us know what's your philosophy. Let us know what you love today.   Monica (24:49) Yeah, thanks, Tiff. This was great. Thank you. Thanks so much.   The Dental A Team (25:03) what you want more of, you can drop us a five star review below or Hello@TheDentalATeam.com or both you guys, we love hearing from you. We do get a lot of you that email in different ideas and things that you'd like to hear about. We love that. So please reach out Hello@TheDentalATeam.com and you guys, can't wait to catch you next time. Thank you.  

If you want high-dollar procedures done more often in your practice, this is the episode for you. Kiera specifies what needs to be in place, including skillset, morale, and language. This kind of case acceptance goes beyond the everyday appointments, and Kiera explains the difference. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: Kiera Dent (00:00) Hello, Dental A Team listeners, this is Kiera. And today I feel like this is my bread and butter. I feel like this is what Kiera Dent was made to do. And I cannot wait to teach you guys the secret to getting patients to say yes to those high dollar, high ticket cases. We're talking the 20, the 30, the $40,000 cases. But the great news is these principles can be applied to your smaller cases too, because I just think that like how to do this and this is what Kiera's really good at. And I have a practice that ⁓ implementing incorporating these tactics.   has been able to grow every one of their locations, multi-millions every single year. And people look at these practices, they see their stats and they say, how did you get these numbers? And they said, it all started the day we brought Dental A Team into our company. And that's just a huge testament to me, to the work that we do, to what our consultants do. And for anything, it comes from a passion of being able to help more patients get the dentistry that they need and deserve. So I just feel like there's so much fun to case acceptance and ⁓   It's not about selling, it's about words are free. And so let's use our words to the best of our ability. Let's use our words to the best experience for our patient. And let's help all of them have the trust, the clarity and the confidence to be able to say yes to those. You guys, Dental A Team is obsessed with helping you and your teams have more profitable practices, happier practices, happier teams, happier patients. We are obsessed with that. And our mission is to positively impact the world of dentistry in the greatest way possible.   and doing it in a tactical, practical, let's do this. So I really want you guys to hopefully take this on, take the system, take the tactics and help more patients say yes. And to just be proud of the dentistry you're able to do. Now, step one is you've got to be really, really good at dentistry. I can sell any dentistry. Like I feel like I'm a miracle girl for practices. I feel like there's easy ways to do this. But step one is we've got to have great dentistry. Otherwise our treatment coordinators and   our team and our patients that makes it very, very hard actually for us to want to sell dentistry. So step one of this is going to be you've got to actually do great dentistry. Okay, that's step one. So if you're not good at something, please don't sell it, go get good at it. But also please don't make it worse than it is. You might actually be a great clinician, but you don't give yourself the credit for that. So I'm on a mission to help the best dentists thrive, the best dentists do great dentistry and to help more patients.   So that's step one is I got to make sure that you guys are doing really, really, really good. Step two is getting patients to say yes, especially for these higher dollar ticket ⁓ items. We've got to make sure that we've got dialed in systems. ⁓ I use the example from Disneyland that people can feel perfection. And so does our team feel well oiled? And this means that our hygiene team is teeing up treatment. We're all looking for it. If our associate doctors are not doing this treatment and they're referring to our general doc, our, our owner doctor,   We've got to make sure all the associates and the hygiene team are trained on what to look for, how to present this, how to tee it up. Do we bring them back for consult? Can we diagnose it? What's the process for that? And if you want these high dollar procedures to be done more often in your practice, training your hygienist and your associates is one of the best investments of your time. So everybody's looking for it. We basically become a referring practice to our doctors that do these procedures. ⁓ I really do believe that   everybody. So hygienist looking for it. Hygienist should be the first person and this goes for all treatment planning, but we're going to dive it into these higher dollar ones because there is a little bit different on how we actually present the treatment plan. But all these first steps should be all parts of high case acceptance. Now just also give a little credibility. ⁓ Implementing these processes usually take for just general dentistry, it usually gets you up to a 75-ish percent acceptance rate up to 90.   Now, if we're higher than that, I know we might not be diagnosing as much as we need to, but in general dentistry, we should be cracking pretty high case acceptance. Now for my like 20, 30, 40, $50,000 cases, right around a 35 to a 45 % acceptance rate is going to be the targets we're looking for. And that is dollar for dollar, not one for one acceptance rate. So if that helps you guys, that's what we're going for. ⁓ But step one is do great dentistry.   Step two is believe in the dentistry. And then step three is going to be where everybody is speaking the same language. hygienists should be the first person to tee up all dentistry. They should be the one showing the x-rays, showing the intraoral photos, showing all of that so the patient can absolutely 100 % see what we see. We want that patient to be bought in. We don't want to just try and help them like, okay, like you might have this. We actually speak in the same terms as the rest of our patients.   ⁓ In one practice what we did is we actually had the doctors tell us exactly how they diagnose treatment We as consultants recorded it on our phones and we had the whole team hear it and then we gave them all these recordings and the whole team has to listen to it and this was our fastest easiest way to get everybody up to par like driving into the office driving home from the office like listen to it in the office like you've got Christmas music playing but instead it's it's all the ways that we diagnose and describe this that way everybody says it the same way so the patients hearing it   multiple times in the exact same way. Now when the doctor comes in, there should be a handoff from hygienist to doctor. We call it the I creep. So introduce, compliment the patient, recap the treatment and say something personal. Hygienist, you want a fast exam? This is how you get it done. Doctors, you don't want to do that awkward dance of like, how do I get to know you without getting to know you, but I need to get to know you? This is how you do it. Introduce, compliment, that puts the patient more at ease, recap treatment already discussed, and then something personal about them.   Then doctors, we get them into a yes frame of mind. We're going to say, can I lean you back? Can I do a full exam on you? Yes, yes. You want to actually get them in the frame of mind of saying, yes. It's true psychology. Again, words are free. It's not manipulation. It is genuinely setting the stage to get a patient open-minded. They don't want to be at the dental office already. So how can I help them get into this higher frame of mind? Then after that, doctor's going to comprehensively diagnose. And then they're going to recap with what we call the NDTR handoff.   So next visit, date to return, time needed for appointment, re-care scheduled. This is going to be more for your general procedure. Then we take that, hygiene, then takes ordinal assistant, takes them up to the front office, say the exact handoff. Amalia's amazing up front. Dr. Smith wants to see Kiera back for that crown on the upper right. She wants to see her back for, you know. ⁓   an hour and a half and wants to see her in two weeks and she already has her cleaning scheduled. And then from there, the front office team picks it up. Let's get you scheduled in two weeks. I've got Monday or Wednesday, which works best for you. We need an hour and a half and then we go over financing. That patient has now heard this multiple times of the exact same thing. And that same process, just with a small fine tuning is going to be for these larger cases. Typically larger cases, yes, they are found in hygiene, but oftentimes it's going to be a little bit longer of a   consult if you will, ⁓ because we want to make sure that we have the before and after photos. We want to make sure we build trust with them. This is where having the hygiene team tee it up. This is where we have the perfect handoffs between doctor and hygienist. And then the doctor has to have confidence and clarity. So you've got to work this like pre-treatment build to make sure that the patient feels like they already know kind of what we're looking at. If it's all built up like this, it's very warm, it's very consistent.   everybody's on the same page. Your team feels like your patient feels like your team has their stuff together. And that's what we want. So I would look at this, like how are we doing on pre-treatment? Not even if just large cases, but how are we doing with those handoffs? How is the handoff from hygiene to doctor? How is hygiene teeing up treatment? How is everybody talking about treatment? Are we all on the same page or are we all on different pages? What does that look like? And then from that,   We wanna make sure that we're really, really, really good on visuals. So are we doing scans? Are we doing mockups? Do we have photos of before and afters of the cases? Do we have clear and simple explanations? Do we have ⁓ more like this is information. So if we're doing an all on X case, do we have information about what this happens and what are the steps? And do we have it broken down into really easy steps for them? I actually changed up treatment plans on these larger cases to step one is extraction in place.   Step two is impressions and step three is delivery. Those are very patient friendly. If our case is 45,000, I break it down to step one is, you know, 19 ish thousand and then step two is going to be like 11,000 and then step three is whatever the remainder of that is. This way it's very simple. They can pay in full for some practices or we pay per appointment. Now with these larger cases on AR and also on production and collections to make sure we're not having these huge spikes.   Sometimes it does make sense to have the patient pay as they go. Other practices want a pay in full. Both are totally fine. But what we've got to do and what we also have to realize is when we go into the finances. So typically when I'm presenting like a one to $7,000, I'm gonna schedule them first, I'm gonna present the dollars, I'm gonna talk the insurance as a coupon. ⁓ Here's total treatment, here's your insurance estimate, and then this is the total when I see you on Wednesday. Or if you would...   require a deposit, take the deposit then, and then ask what questions they have. Then we go into financing options, but it's just a very clear, very confident space that we're gonna walk into. Now, if I'm presenting a 20 or 30 or $40,000 case, it's psychology. It's a smooth flow from front to back. It is the confidence that we are gonna do the best for you. Here's what's going on. Let's talk about it. What questions do you have? I wanna make sure that you're very confident moving forward. Dr. Smith is the absolute best dentist.   to create this and to do this treatment for you, like you were in good hands. Notice in there, I edified my doctor. I made sure that I asked them what questions, not do you have questions? The last thing I ever wanna do is have my patient tell me no. I wanna keep them always in a yes frame of mind. Now, we're gonna look at this of cost. I'm not going to plant weeds in my flower garden on purpose. I don't wanna say like, is a big investment for you. Why am I saying that? It's not a big investment. This is an investment.   This is you taking care of yourself. This is you deserving this. Like how exciting is it to be able to eat food that you haven't been able to eat for the last however many years? How exciting is it to smile with confidence? I am going to radically focus on the positives for this. And then I'm going to go after and ask them what questions they have. I don't want to pre-assume question marks that they have. When people come in for these 20, 30, 40, $50,000, they're not going to be sticker shocked to see that it's that amount. Some of them might.   But the general population knows just like I use the example of when we were doing IVF, IVF is $50,000 per procedure. It's not ⁓ a cheap procedure. And the buyer is very educated when they walk into that. So it's not like what 50 grand? You didn't tell me that. It is more a great, this is what it is. What questions do you have? I want to be here as a support. Now for some offices, they do offer financial avenues that some people might not have thought about. For example, polling from a 401k.   For example, a home equity line of credit, going to a bank, you might work with a local bank and having some of those options just so people can see. And I will tell you an IVF, they did actually offer this with us and they put that in our sample, like our folder that we took home with us, just because they wanna make it to where it's easier for us not to have a barrier or a concern. I will say that a lot of times these larger cases are a two-part close, not a same day close. That does not mean that people don't just hand over their credit card and pay you.   80,000 or 150,000 right there on the spot. I've seen it done many times. So I'm not going to assume that people need that, but this will be a tool in my tool belt. Lending Club, Cherry, some of these are going to be better at financing higher amounts. ⁓ And so we're gonna look for that. Sometimes applying for financing in the office through Care Credit, or like I said, Cherry or Sunbit, or some of these others. Lending Club, look to see who you can use. It's going to really help. do know Cherry is a very big fan favorite. ⁓   that does help fund some of these higher ones. A local bank is a great thing and have a direct line to your person that's a loan processor there that can actually help these people get loans. It's a $50,000 procedure. That's like buying a car. There are loans for this and it's not uncommon to do that. And so helping the patient of whatever questions they have. They might have questions about the recovery time. They might have questions of the payment options. They might have questions all the way around. So,   Be really crystal clear in your practice of do we collect in full before we start initial records? If so, it might be a two part close where they've got to go find out their financial options, but you set the followup because again, you're a concierge of these, we're a high end, this is a high end surgery, we are completely changing their world. For my IVF, I had a financial coordinator who talked to me, I had a treatment coordinator who talked to me, I had a nurse who talked to me, there were steps through this whole process to make me feel confident.   Confidence is going to buy these and close these cases for you. Your treatment coordinator being exceptionally confident. They don't have to know all of the dentistry, but they do need to be confident talking dollars, looking for solutions and being confident in the dentistry you do. I will say all the time, people will hear me. No matter what size treatment plan, people are buying the doctor's confidence and they're buying the treatment coordinator's confidence. If you're confident that this is the best dentistry that people are ever going to get, you will close radically more cases.   Also your psychology, what am I thinking? Am I thinking like, that's a big number. If I am, people are going to feel that versus like it's a number, it's a treatment plan. This patient deserves great dentistry. So we really have to make sure and also with payment options, not being over the top on these financial avenues. You offer them 70 different options, they're going to be very confused. I prefer two to three that I'm very confident in. I know the ins and outs of them, things that most people use. I might have a few of these that are just a little bit more.   like unconventional, for example, the 401k or the home equity line. A lot of people don't even think about those as options, but they are viable options. ⁓ And then from there, we wanna just make sure that we are dialed in and we have a very, very solid followup on these if we don't close same day. But practice it, track your stats, look to see how you're doing on it, review your stats with your treatment coordinator and doctor every single week.   record yourself and listen to yourself back. And I know that sounds wild, but this office that we've added multi-millions to five locations, the treatment coordinators literally record themselves and send it to me and we listen to it. I role play with them for years. Every other week we are role playing. We are talking about it. What's going well, what's not going well. What's the psychology, what's the breakdown. I had a treatment coordinator the other day get on with me and she said, you know, Kiera, like 45 grand is like my large case for me.   But what I'm struggling with are these like perio ones where we're charging like 900 for gingivitis and I just don't know how to get through it. And so sometimes also presenting the other side of the coin. What happens if they do nothing? What happens if they start now? A lot of these things, but what I've learned is closing these cases is a finesse. There is clarity on schedule first. There is clarity on being direct in our treatment plans.   There is clarity on having a very simple process of step one, step two, step three. There's a very clear, like very strong correlation of higher acceptance when it's that clear, that direct, that confident. Because if I'm going in for surgery, the last thing I want is somebody who's like wishy washy or we can do it this way or what do you think or what do you want or you know, if you need it or if you want it. No, I need somebody who knows what they're doing. This is a $50,000 case. This is a $20,000 case.   We need to have our ducks in a row. We need to be very thorough. We need to be very confident in it. And we need to present this plan and help more patients. So when we look at all this, number one, we got to do great dentistry. And number two, everyone needs to be speaking the same language. And we need to have the psychology that everybody wants our dentistry. And we're great here. We need great handoffs, that warm handoff of teeing it up from hygienist to doctor. Everybody's speaking the same language. We need to be showing them.   testimonials, this is what it's gonna look like, transformations, this is how your life is going to change, this is how this one patient said. And then from there, we're going to make sure that we also are really, really strong on our how we schedule, how we do our handoffs, how we present the dollars and the financial clarity and the very, very clear next step for them. And then very, very strong follow-up. If a patient doesn't schedule in the office with me, it's two days, two weeks, two months of follow-up. I am going to be very rigid with my follow-up. I'm going to have a follow-up.   And then I'm going to review every single week my progress. I'm going to look at what I closed, what I didn't close, what was said. I'm going to listen to my calls. I'm going to listen to the doctor exams because usually, and I hope every one of you hears this, usually cases are won or lost by one or two words. It's not usually all the rest of it. We've got to have all the other pieces in place. But usually when I listen, I hear one or two words that tips a patient in one direction or the other, like,   It's very small, it's very much psychology, it's very much what you're hearing that's not being said is usually what's winning or losing this. I tell everybody sequence matters on how you present treatment plans. We can have a combination lock that the combinations one, two, three, and we can put three, two, one. I had all the right numbers, but in the wrong order and I don't open it. Same thing with presenting these larger cases. I can have all of the dots, but in the wrong order and I won't close. So this is something of.   realizing that when patients say yes, they trust you, they understand, they feel safe, they feel seen, they feel heard, they feel your confidence, and they feel very confident in their decision that this is the best absolute option for them. So I really hope that you realize that high value, high dollar dentistry is partnering with patients. It's transforming their life. It's giving them the confidence and they didn't have, it's giving them life experiences that they didn't have. And so this is a dialed in of how do we get more patients to say yes?   How do we get more patients to optimal health? How do we make sure that patients are getting the best dentistry with you? Now, if they come to you and they give the objections, time, money, spouse, la-di-la-di-la, those are just to me, top line levers that are telling me of an underlying root problem. And I need to listen for that. I need to answer that. And I need to listen to what's not being said and respond to what they actually need. So this is what I love to do. This is how we help a lot of offices.   ⁓ I'm obsessed, like we said, we role play with people, we help them, we transform them. And if we were able to boost your case acceptance one or 2%, what would that do for your practice, let alone 10, 15, 20 %? This is something we're obsessed with and I hope that you guys just heard some great tips, some great tools that you will go implement in your practice. Case acceptance to me is one of the greatest gifts you can give your patients. Doing great dentistry is what this is all about and helping patients see that and say yes to you is the greatest gift you can give them. So if we can help in any way, reach out.   Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. Go change lives, go change smiles, go be confident in yourselves and just know I'm rooting for you. I'm here in any way we can help you. And as always, thanks for listening. I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team Podcast.  

Is your practice patient- or production-driven? The answer should be purpose-driven. Kiera talks about how shifting your core values in a certain way can actually grow everything else. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: The Dental A Team (00:00) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera and I am excited. This is a podcast built just for you by you. If you ever want me to make a podcast for you, just email in Hello@TheDentalATeam.com or go to our website, TheDentalATeam.com and click on the podcast tab. You can submit topics for me to record for you. And today is a great one and I'm super excited about it. Someone asked production focus versus patient focus striking the right balance.   Does it have to be both? So is your practice driven by numbers or by people? And does it have to be a choice? I'm super jazzed. I'm super excited because this is the type of juicy stuff I like to get into because this is what offices talk about all the time. Oh my gosh, we're production focused. Well, that means you're not patient focused. Oh my gosh, you're patient focused. That means you're not production focused. Does it have to be? There's tension. It's tension. It's like, are you on the right side or the left side? Are you blue or are you Which side are you on?   Like there's tension here, production focus versus patient focus. Does it really have to be this debate? So I love this. Email me. You guys are love a good pen pal. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. I like pen pals. You guys remember that? If you want to write me a letter, you can send me a letter. It's in Verdi, Nevada on the website, P.O. Box. I think it's 635 Verdi, Nevada. No clue what it is, but I will get it and I'll send you a postcard back. So pen pal for real, email us.   You guys, really do love a good pen pal. I will seriously send you a letter back. So ⁓ write me. I would love to hear from you. But I'm curious, does it have to be production focus or patient focus or can it be both? Is it the chicken or the egg? I definitely think that there has to be a way because the most successful practices integrate production and patience. So the answer is yes, it can be both. And I don't care what side of the coin you're on. I'm gonna teach you that you can actually be on both sides of the coin and still maintain your ethics.   like your ethical integrity, all of that. You guys, this is the Dental A Team. I'm obsessed with dentists. I'm obsessed with dental teams. I'm obsessed with making you happy. I'm obsessed with positively impacting this world in the greatest way possible. And that's why we built this podcast free for you to give you all the tips and tricks. And all I ask in return is that you leave us a review and share this with somebody that can change their life. My goal is to have this podcast into the hands of every single dental office out there. And guys, you are crushing it. We are in the millions of downloads and I can't do that without you. So please today.   share, download, or leave us a five star review. That means the world to me and I do read those reviews. So thank you. Thank you for everybody who reads those reviews. I appreciate each of you. So today I want to talk about patient focused version of production focused because you know, I got a pen pal out there. production focused means that we're focused on high volume, goal driven, and we're going to probably have burnout. Like that's the drive. It is a lot of times ego. That's okay. So when I'm talking to you.   You can test yourself right now. Are you ready? I'm gonna say, hey, what is your production? Now, to answer that, what's your production? If you just told me your number in gross, you're a little ego driven and I love you for it. And I'm gonna tell you that that is one of the worst things to do because there's no way for us you to ever collect it. I was talking to a practice the other day and they're like, yes, Kiera, we are a $7 million practice and we had a million dollars worth of write-offs. And I was like, well, shoot. So.   You're actually, think they actually have two million. So you're not a seven million, you're a five million. That's a bit of a minute. So you're actually a five million dollar practice and I'd rather talk about real numbers because then I can actually truly get you to seven million rather than feeding your ego at this. So that tends to be the case where you're, if you, you might be a bit production. If you're presenting those in gross, ⁓ present them in, it's okay to your buddies. You can present in gross. To me, to here, to this conversation in real life.   please, please, please present them in net, what you can actually collect. Now, if we're too patient focused, we tend to run at a slower pace, high trust, but we risk a lot of inefficiency and you actually risk the, like, you really do run a risk of you're not looking at the numbers and you actually can create a really, really, really scary spot where you actually are in like profit row where you have no money. ⁓ And so you gotta have both.   We've got to have production where we're able to serve our patients and we've got to care about our patients. We've got to make sure that both of those come together because that's a true business. This is what we're looking for. So I just want you to look at yourself right now and I want you to audit you and your practice. Where do you lean more? Okay. So do you lean a little more left? Do you lean a little more right? Do you lean a little more production focused or do you lean a little more patient focused? It's okay. There's no right or wrong. I just want you to like really look at yourself and assess what route do you fall?   because it's gonna help you, okay? So where are you? We're not like all patient or all production, but which way do you lean? I want you to answer that. You can pen pal me. Remember, I got pen pals out there. So be another pen pal for me. And then step two is I want you to marry metrics with meaning, which isn't that cute? Yes, chat GPT helped me on that one. Marry metrics with meaning, I love that. I was like, that is such a good way to bring this to the table. So we want you guys to be like in the middle, we're not production, we're not patient, we're purpose.   Did you love that? Another P, we're not patient, we're not production, we're purpose driven. So what this is going to be is you can actually like increase case acceptance to outcomes, not quotas. So it's not like we need 20 crowns, we need to help this many patients. help team members see, like I love Tiff, she said this, she was like, production is the measuring stick to see how many patients we're serving. That feels so much better than like we got to hit 150,000.   No, 150,000 shows is how many patients were able to serve. Let's quantify that up to how many patients and now let's put that up to 200,000 and serve that many patients. So we'll help you guys see that like this is a reflection of care. It's not like just, I don't know, like a number on a scorecard. It's people. You guys, all that production was people that we were able to change their lives. That's what we do in Dental A Team. I literally like, when we talk about our numbers, for a while I put up numbers and it was just a number.   So you can tell it's a little bit more production focused rather than patient focused. And it didn't matter to me. And then when I was like, okay, we're going to go out and I want to serve, like I want Dental A Team to serve 500 dental practices. Like in one year, I want us to have that many that to me, like think of how many lives we're going to change. Cause my ultimate goal is impact to possibly impact this world in the greatest way possible. So I was like, all right, let's put an audacious goal out there. I want to serve 500 offices. Yeah, you can join us. Yes, of course.   And like now it became funds. Like the number is tied to people. Cause I ultimately care about people. care about impact. Money can have impact, but it doesn't drive me. What drives me is changing people's lives. Life is my passion, dentistry is my platform. So how can you help your team see that? So we have to help them see like for me with teams, case acceptance, I'm just saying like that's how many smiles you were able to like truly benefit. There's so many lives you're able to change. I believe the case acceptance is life changing. I was the patient on the other side of that coin.   who literally had my life changed by identities. So when we shifted like KPIs are metrics, yes, but metrics have meaning and their purpose. So what does this case acceptance actually reflect? What does this production actually reflect? What did these new patients numbers actually reflect? And when we look at it as this like patient centric, it becomes so much more fun. I did this in a team meeting the other day where, gosh, we were sitting there and I was like, all right, rattle off to me like why you guys go to Chick-fil-A? And they're like talking about it. Not one of them said price.   Not one of them. Not one of them when I talked about McDonald's said price. So when I looked at this, I thought, okay, people go to Chick-fil-A for the experience. And I thought, how can we become a more patient centric practice that uses metrics to see how we're doing of serving those patients? That's what it is. That's how you marry metrics with meaning. These numbers on a KPI scorecard are telling me the vitals of how good we're serving our patients.   So when I look at our hygiene, I wanna know, are we diagnosing perio or are we doing bloody profies? When I look at Florida, you guys, I'm a huge proponent of Florida. If you're not, that's okay, we can still be friends. I'm here to also teach you holistic. I love Florida. Florida changed my life. It prevented so many cavities for me, like truly was life-changing. So I'm like, absolutely, give it to patients. So when I look at your hygiene numbers, I'm not looking at like, did you get your eight out of eight today? I'm looking at like, did you help proactively prevent decay on all of your patients today?   Of course, if they don't want it, that's fine. But like, let's use our words, words are free. Let's set it up in a way to help more patients say yes. I am patient centric with production numbers and using words to get the results I'm looking for. I'm looking for outcomes, not effort. One of my favorite, favorite, favorite lines, and it's probably gonna become like a core value. My team doesn't know this, you guys, is we measure our, we measure by outcomes, not activity. ⁓ we measure it by outcomes.   not activity because I can sit here and say, I served this many patients, but if I didn't close any cases, I did not get the outcome of helping truly get them the smiles and the health that they deserve. Bottom line. So then step three is you got to change your culture. You got to have a culture that supports both. It's got to be efficiency and empathy. It's got to be production and patient. It's got to be like truly driven. And I've got so many offices like Kiera, I don't want to my team about the numbers. That's fine. You don't have to.   But can't we also help them see that the numbers are helping more patients? Every team I've ever gone into has told me the reason they're in tennis tree is to help change patients' lives. That's why they're here. So when I look at this, I'm like, okay, if that's why we're all here, how do we know that we're actually helping the number of patients that we could? Like genuinely somebody tell me, how do we actually know in a tangible, non-emotional way? How do I know? So we've got to help people see that like, okay, fantastic. We have a culture where when we hit our numbers,   We know we serve the patients that we're set here to serve. Period. You're not gonna go away from that and helping people see that numbers equate the outcomes we're looking for. Numbers help us serve patients. And on the flip side, when we, like you guys, there's a book called Unreasonable Hospitality. Have your team do fun things like that where we celebrate the birthdays, the weddings, the anniversaries, the celebrations. We have like a little gift basket on the side where we can quickly go and have some fun with those people to make this magic moment for our patients.   have magic moments that produce results. Team training, we gotta do patient and production language. We've gotta be empathetic. So for me to say like, my gosh, I'm so excited that you don't work with Dr. Jones. Dr. Jones is incredible. They're gonna take great care of you. Let's get you scheduled for this appointment. I know Dr. Jones definitely wants to get you back. I've got Monday or Wednesday, which works best for you. That was patient and production centric, both in the same exact equation.   when I talk to them about case acceptance, it's like, perfect. So here's the treatment that Dr. Jones diagnosed for you. This is your total out of pocket. This is your insurance estimate. This will be your total when I see you on Wednesday. What questions do you have for me? I want you to be rock solid moving forward. Again, production and patient focus. I want them to be so solid. I'm genuinely so concerned about them. I really want them to be solid. If they tell me they got to talk to their spouse, absolutely, 100%. I want you to talk to your spouse.   Help me what questions they're going to ask. That way I can make sure you're fully prepped when you chat with them. That's production and patient focused. A cancellation calls in. my gosh, what's going on? Tell me, like, ⁓ I've been so worried about you. Like help me understand where you at, what's going on. Like, are you okay? Tell me like, you're sick. Like, my gosh, what's going on? I know there's been a bug going around. Someone says I can't make it from work. my gosh. Like, I'm so sorry to hear that. Tell me what's going on. Let's find a solution. I know Dr. wanted to see you.   I can't wait to see you and I know there's gonna be a solution for us. Production and patient focus. And I think when teams see that you don't have to be one or the other, production focus can come across aggressive, patient focus can come across non-aggressive and very like twiddling my thumb sometimes. And so I'm like the true win is the middle ground. The true win is where we see that patients need to feel loved.   and important and that they're humans. And they also need to see that we love them so much. And we're going to make sure that they get the treatment that they need to get done. And we're going to help use our words to make sure it's easy for them to say yes. Both are doable. Both are right. Both are necessary. This is how you guys are able to have it. And so I think you guys can have conversations with the team. How can we be patient and production focused? How can we marry the two because we know the best practices are both.   They are, there's not one lever that's stronger than the other. Both are married together as a perfect whole, two perfect complete whole. How can we be more, if you know from, remember we did an audit, if you know you're a little more production focused, how can you be a bit more patient focused? Have that come up in the team. If you know you're a bit more patient focused, how can we be a bit more production focused? And I know you might be bristling on both sides. Production focused people might think that, my gosh, it's a complete waste of time to be patient focused.   Patient focused people, they're like, my gosh, you'll maybe be aggressive and like force these people into treatment. The answer is no to both of those. Us treating people like human beings, production focused teams will actually make those patients want to be here more. Our teams that are more patient focused, turning more production focused, it's gonna help us make sure that we're not missing things on the patients, that we're not doing inadequate care. And that actually that patient's not leaving confused and that they truly know what they need to do. And it's very clear of next steps for them.   Clear is kind. Being direct is kind. Loving people as people is kind. So I'd really encourage you to adopt this into your practice. And if you struggle with this, if your doctor is like, ⁓ I am not having that team meeting, I'm not having that conversation, great. That's why we have a job. That's what we love to do. Our job is to align doctors and team members to help team members see that production is patient focused and to see that patient focus is production focused. Both sides are necessary.   You need both of them. And so to be able to help you and your team get there, I think is a beautiful thing. So I would really, really, really encourage you to be patient and production focused, both of them. Look to see where you could be a little bit more on whichever side you don't naturally lean to. I know you can already do more on the side that you naturally lean to. Go the other side. I want you to think about it. I want you to bring that into your culture. And I'd really encourage you. And if you struggle with this or you're like, I don't really know how to do this, reach out. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com.   It's not just about this. It's about other goals. It's about other spaces. It's about other awkward conversations that you just don't know how to navigate. It's about getting your team and you doctors rowing in the exact same direction. And that's what we're here to do. So reach out. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. And as always remember, patient and production is purpose driven dentistry. And that's what you're here to do. And I know that you're here for that. I know that you care so much about your patients and that's why I wanted to really bring this up. So thanks for the pen pal. Thanks for writing. I'd love to hear from more of you. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com.   Go to our website, give me some more topics and reach out. I'd love for you to be one of our 500 practices. We get to help love serve and have that be the purpose to positively impact and change your life for the better. Not just your practice, but you as a person. Because at the end of the day, I care about you as a human being. I care about you thriving. I care about you having the practice of your dreams and having the team of your dreams because I care about you as a human. So reach out and as always know that I'm rooting for you. Know that I care about you.   Know that I adore you as always. Thanks for listening. I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team Podcast.  

Kiera and Tiff are together on the pod to talk about their favorite team bonding activities that keep everyone feeling seen, heard, valued, and respected. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: The Dental A Team (00:00) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera and it is a special day. I have the one and only Spiffy Tiffy, TTKD on the pod. We normally don't get a podcast together and I feel Tiff, these used to happen a lot more. We like fix things and now we're gonna hang out a bit more. So welcome. I feel like it's such a treat when you and I get a podcast together. How are you today?   The Dental A Team (00:18) Thank you, I agree. We don't get enough time together and we are two ships in the night. So I'm good. I wanted to tell you though, ⁓ Spiffy Tiffy sparked this for me. Kiera, as everyone knows, is a fantastic gift giver. You really are, because you put so much thought into every gift that you give and it's sent with love. So I hope all of our clients who get gifts know that like that same spirit is sent in everything that you get. But my point of it is, years and years have gone by now.   The Dental A Team (00:28) Thank you.   Thank you.   The Dental A Team (00:45) that I get little Spiffy Tiffy gifts. So it either just says Spiffy Tiffy or it has my caricature who will make a comeback one day. But I used my, it's coming, I know, I know. I used my luggage, like my bag that you had given me. And I was just randomly just like walking along like I always do. This happens to me a lot, like Spiffy Tiffy. And I'm like, what? Like, who are you? Like, how do you know that? You listening to a podcast? That's weird.   The Dental A Team (00:50) One day, we're coming.   Mm-hmm.   Thank   you   The Dental A Team (01:12) And then I realized that I had   The Dental A Team (01:13) Weird.   The Dental A Team (01:13) my, they were like, what is that? What does that mean? And I was like, well, that's me, obviously. My caricature is on there. So anyways, it was just a funny story that I was just like, what? Like it always catches me off guard when somebody calls me Spiffy Tiffy, or when I get on a client call and somebody's like, ⁓ Spiffy Tiffy. And I'm like, this is so weird.   The Dental A Team (01:28) you   It is weird and so it makes me so happy that people like get into like who Tiff is the spiffy Tiffy like they're calling you they're like that's like a very very inner circle name and so for people in the airport to be like hey spiffy Tiffy.   The Dental A Team (01:38) They love it.   I know, literally, literally. And I had   a client the other day that was like texting me. ⁓ We text all the time, me and this client, he knows who he is and he listens to all of them and I know this because he was texting me and he's like, it's so weird. Well, he was voice texting in his Tessie, but he's like, this is so weird to be like listening to the podcast in my car, you're talking, but like I'm voice texting to you. So then Tessie is like saying it back. And I was like, wow, that is like an alternate universe.   The Dental A Team (01:55) Yeah.   you ⁓   you   That's a that's a full Spiffy Tiffy moment all the way around and I do love because Spiffy Tiffy actually came from the podcast So like we really want to throw this all the way back. I just I love a good a good nickname I love a good like and honestly tiff it's just stuck like it used to be like TT tiff tiff Spiffy Tiffy though I think is like the clutch like it is the best of the best so and I mean it's got to you We've been doing this for a long time together and that's I think why it's a special treat   The Dental A Team (02:19) Yeah.   I said it.   The Dental A Team (02:41) I don't know how you guys feel in your practices, but if you've got your core person that's been with you since the get-go, I think as the business evolves, you kind of lose that time together because you have to like, Tiff's over with consultant, she's podcasting, I'm running different pieces. We've got like our two different worlds, but I think like, I'm just gonna say a shout out to the founders and their like core person. Have fun time together. Like remember why you got into business together, which is why Tiff and I like enjoy a good podcast time. It's a good hangout. So on that note,   Tiff and I are gonna talk about one of our favorite things, team bonding. And this came up because Tiff has so many fun games that she does in offices when we go in and consult. And I just thought about like, offices don't think like we do. And I didn't realize this, Tiff and I used to think everybody, I mean, Tiff and I can be across a room, even today when we're coming onto the podcast, I'm going into Slack to message Tiff our link to podcasts, right as she's sending me a thing of do you want me to join? Like Tiff and I are, it is a weird.   I do feel like we were twins. Like, I think we just got separated by one year, but like we were meant to come into this world at the same time. It is a weird synergy that we have together. So sometimes we think that everybody thinks like us for better or for worse. And I was realizing that teams don't think about team bonding like you and I do Tiff. You are such a talented person at getting teams to engage, to have fun, to like get lightheartedness and then really dig into deep topics. And so that's where I thought, Hey, it's Kieran Tiff. Like, let's just do a throwback. Let's have a fun time today on the podcast and give our listeners.   Like, hey, here's some great ideas for team bonding that you can do that's fun, enjoyable, energetic, and honestly will bring a little curative magic to your practice. And if you hate doing this, a reason you should reach out to Dental A Team, because we love to do this. I feel like we're just going to put on a party when we're in an office and have a good time doing it. So Tiff, let's talk some of our favorite team bonding things that we do in offices.   The Dental A Team (04:26) Yeah, think number one, thank you, Kiera, for all of what you said. There's so much there to be thankful for and grateful for. So this journey has been incredible. And I'm just excited that we're still here together. It's been some moments, you know? I'm kidding, not kidding, but dirty laundry.   The Dental A Team (04:38) Me too. Yeah. I mean, I'm just going to slight tangent. was recording earlier and   I was talking about like 12 systems and I'm like, Oh my gosh, Tiff and I did a labor of love on the podcast. Do you remember that? We did all 12 systems and we talked about how like you and I have hard conversations together and some client texted you and they're like, how did you and Kiera get there? And you're like, Oh, if you see the conversations behind the scenes that we've had for the years. And I say like, man,   The Dental A Team (04:53) huh.   The Dental A Team (05:07) appreciation to you. This was not my forte until I met you and you have pulled it out of me, but I do agree. I think that will also tie into team bonding. it's not really a total side tangent. ⁓ I think having conversations and relationships, we were even talking about, we're coming together for a company ⁓ annual planning of leadership and we were debating like, we all stay in separate hotels or do we get a VRBO and we're all together? And Tiff, you said it so well this morning. You're like, it's like family.   The Dental A Team (05:17) So I was gonna say, yeah.   The Dental A Team (05:33) When you're in leadership, when you're in teams, you've got to learn to work through those problems and not just run to your room, slam the door and be siloed. But I think that that's what team building and bonding is supposed to be about. It's not just supposed to be the surface level. Like if you really want a team that can jive and energize and be solid, you've got to have these team building. And I think a lot of team buildings, the communication and tip, that's honestly something shout out to you and appreciation. Cause the woman I am today, you have had a huge influence on me being the communicator.   the hard conversations, the directness. You even tell me like, Kiera, just be freaking direct. Just tell me what you want. I'm like, okay, this is what I want. Like, thank you. That's great. Let's move on. And just the, which I appreciate. So I think like not planned. I think that that's a core route to the team bonding and the pieces is that's what you're ultimately trying to get to is that that connection, that confidence, that trust, that vulnerability that you can say what needs to be said. And the person on the other side is not just going to walk away.   The Dental A Team (06:07) Yeah, that's my efficiency.   The Dental A Team (06:28) even if it doesn't land right. There have been times you and I have had eyes with each other of like, so I'm going to say like what I think you were trying to say and you let me know if that's what you meant. Cause what I heard was definitely not that.   The Dental A Team (06:38) Yeah, yeah, thank you for that. I appreciate that. And I think that to my core, it's why, to my core, it's why waste time on stuff that doesn't, like why waste time, period. Just why waste time? Time is like so precious in all of our lives and we spend so much time trying to figure out what someone meant by something they said or what they're actually thinking or.   they said this, like actually they I know that they meant this. I'm like, well, you don't because that's not what they said. So like you can ask them or we can sit here and like keep talking about it. My friends probably love and hate that about me and Kiera, you probably do too, because sometimes I'm just like, how many times are we going to talk about this like boy, right? Like, like I can't talk about this boy anymore because you it's either yes or no. like, so we move on, right. So time and I do think like   The Dental A Team (07:13) love.   The Dental A Team (07:24) I appreciate that, Kiera. Everything you said, again, thank you. And I agree, like we've come so far and with team bonding and even just like having fun team meetings, the key is that everyone in life just wants to enjoy what we're doing. We just want to enjoy every day. We just want to enjoy the life that we're living. So coming in and having a stuffy meeting or having a like forced to bond with people situation, like sometimes I don't want to bond with that person and that's okay too. We can still be on a team together and work.   really freaking well. So don't force people to bond together and don't force things that just just don't force things you guys it should be a very natural situation but the point of all of that is my core is efficiency so like don't waste time just what can we do to like just and and I'm not saying don't work through things I'm saying tell me what needs to be said so that we can work through it because I will spend as much time as possible.   as needed, as necessary to work through something. But I don't like the like him and ha back and forth because it makes me uncomfortable because I can't figure out what to do. And so it's a space of just like, as long as it's clear, I can work through anything with anyone. I can be anyone's friend for the rest of our eternity because I can work through anything as long as on the other side it's reciprocated. And for team bonding, and I think   me working with teams, I think that's something that I carry and that I bring to make it fun. It's like, cool, we're gonna have fun. And who I am as I show up today is who I am as I show up in offices too. And so I think it breaks down a lot of barriers. So when you come in and you're like, I am the leader and I am the boss and we're gonna do these things, it's like, no, just be with them. So we can just be with each other and be together. like Kiera.   Kiera not staying, she doesn't have to stay at the VRBO while we go do our leadership retreat, right? Like we could have put the rest of us together because we're not the owner of the company and maybe she needs a breather, maybe she needs, like she could have done that, but it would have broken that bond between Kiera and the rest of the team. So her being like on the same level as us does not mean that we don't respect her as the owner of the company and as the lead to us that she is.   it means that we feel seen, heard, valued, and respected ourselves. So that team bonding really becomes about the team and not just the rest of the team. Kiera's a part of that team. ⁓ But I think, Kiera, I think that was massive information and it was a good spin on it. But I think the fun piece that we bring, think we should, we talk about that. And a lot of that comes from Kiera, you,   The Dental A Team (09:58) Mm-hmm.   The Dental A Team (10:12) giving the permission to be that way. When we first started, I think anyone who's like, there's a lot there, but I think anyone who's like, I'm going to be a consultant, right? It's like, I'm going to wear the heels and I'm going to wear the pencil skirt. I was listening to a podcast yesterday, it was like that CEO mindset. And it's like every little girl is taught like you're going to be a mom and a CEO. And we all have that mindset. And that CEO is like, stern. She's like, Yep, GSD.   The Dental A Team (10:17) you   The Dental A Team (10:41) We don't laugh, don't talk, we get stuff done and I go home to my kids. And it's just like this like stern, stuffy human. And coming into consulting, it feels like that's how I'm supposed to be. And I know a lot of companies are that way and that's totally fine. And I know it works for people, works for people. What we came into was know we're here to have fun and we're gonna bring out the child-like enthusiasm.   Because it helps get things done and people can love their jobs like I don't want to come in and be like man I do this Stern Stern I want to come in and be like let's play games like let's rally let's shake things up let's make this fun again and watch what you can do to your profitability just by Living a fun life and care I think that's a piece that people miss when we when we decide we're adults now, so we decide we're adults and we're like   The Dental A Team (11:15) Mm-hmm.   The Dental A Team (11:36) not supposed to have fun anymore. We're not supposed to laugh at work. We're supposed to be serious. And that was just the movies we watched, right? That was the Devil Wears Prada. Nobody's actually running around like the Devil Wears Prada and loving their life. Like, no, we're here to have fun. And Kiera, think that's something that you give all of us permission to do, because I think that's the spirit that you carry in life. I think it's like a balance for you, and you're constantly on the teeter totter of that. But I, as just   The Dental A Team (11:46) Right. ⁓   The Dental A Team (12:05) lead consultant in the company, not owners, CEO, whatever titles you carry, I get to live that up constantly and not have that teeter quite as much. So I think when it comes to team bonding and you asking me that it's because I do have that permission to like shake things up and just be fun and have fun. And if I'm, I tell my, every practice I walk into, every team meeting that we do, I tell them if we're not having fun here.   The Dental A Team (12:06) you   The Dental A Team (12:32) I am peace and out. I do not want to live a life that's not fun. So this meeting is like, yeah, exactly. And I tell them that I'm efficient, I'm not wasting my time, I'm not wasting your time. Promise you, I will never waste your time. So if we're not having fun in this meeting, we are not enjoying the heck out of our lives and getting actionable, clear, pushing forward pieces that we can implement right away, why did we even come here today?   The Dental A Team (12:35) There's your efficiency.   I love it. And thank you for the things you said and the agreed fun I think is such a key element in the spirit of fun. I was thinking about it. It's not quite my best alliteration for you, but I think it's going to be just an added on for you that you're going to appreciate. I was thinking, okay, TIFFs efficiency. We've got Spiffy Tiffy. So it's not perfect because I think it can be taken a smidgey wrong, but I think it's freaking funny. I think we call you iffy Spiffy Tiffy because I can't quite get efficiency, but the iffy kind of just edges for you.   The Dental A Team (13:26) So it's like, yeah,   yeah, yeah, I like it, I like it.   The Dental A Team (13:27) We got the iffy   Spiffy Tiffy over there. I'll work on it a little bit more. But to that point, the efficiency, the fun, the team bonding and agreed for me, I don't want to be in a company and this is your space. This is what you do for us on Dental A Team. Fun is one of our core values. It's who I am at my core. ⁓ like yesterday I walked into a meeting, ⁓ and walked in virtually and Eve, our marketer, I she doesn't get embarrassed by this. Like it was freaking funny. I laughed so hard. We were like changing our names. were giving me a hard time because my name came in as the wrong name.   And she was like, Kiera, no, you can just change your name like this. So she put in big boss in all caps and we're on this marketing meeting and I freaking laughed. I thought it was hilarious. The fact that she could say that in front of her boss to me. Well, I also know that Eve has the utmost respect for me of what we would do and would never in her wild streams ever disrespect me. So then of course I pop onto the me. I had to like switch and join in a different way. So I throw in bigger boss with a smiley face.   and Eve like dies laughing on it. And then our marketing consultant was like, and the ultimate boss. But I think in those realms, being human as the CEO and as the boss of it is more fun. And Tiff, to your point about team meetings and team bonding, I think living life on purpose and having fun in what you're doing is the key to getting success of your team. We can talk and we can give you all the tactics. Like Tiff and I do balloon towers and we help you with that. We do a lemonade stand. That's a ton of fun. We do.   Two truths and a lie. do, ⁓ gosh, there's like riddles that we do. There's so many different things that we do that we can tell you that we can spin. We do paper airplanes, we do peanut butter and jelly. Like we can give you the tactical, but Tiff, think it was unintentionally perfect today that the core of how you get team bonding to really resonate is one, be who you are and be true to who you are. I did not want a stuffy consulting company. That was not what I was here for. I did not want the pencil skirts. I want us to deliver the pencil skirt standard while being an approachable human for you.   And that to us is our core. That's who we bring in for consultants. If you are too stuffy, if you can't have fun, if you can't laugh at yourself, probably not the place to be because we want clients to be able to do that. So one, be true to who you are. Two, have fun and make sure that your team and your like you're experiencing this and then do bonding on purpose. Like you said, Tiff, I think it's like, what's the purpose when we do all those games, there is a purpose that we tie to it of helping people like peanut butter and jelly is communication of handoffs.   Like you tell me to put peanut butter on, I'm gonna wipe it all the way up my arm. We had a whole commercial for this, like let's do some real big throwbacks. It was one of the funniest things we ever did because like that was real and that's real life for handoffs. But when you do team bonding, make sure it's intentional, make sure you're human, make sure you're real and make sure you're having fun. I think would kind of be the pretty bow to put on this team bonding. Tiff, any last bows you wanna add to our team bonding funds? Iffy, smiffy, tiffy over there.   The Dental A Team (15:46) So great.   Yeah. I... Whatever it is. Come on, guys.   You guys can help with this. Everyone knows me now. ⁓ No, I think...   The Dental A Team (16:10) I'm gonna get you a bag.   They're gonna really like iffy Spiffy Tiffy. I just love okay I'll work on it   The Dental A Team (16:15) Are you or aren't you? Which one is it? I   think a pretty bow. I think you hit so many pieces on the head. I think one of the pieces you said was, yes, make sure that the games are intentional. Whatever it is that it's tying back to something. So something I think we do really well is tie back to the thing that we want. train teams to do this all the time. It's like treatment planning. I want you to schedule. So it's like, no, I don't have that. But what I can do is put you here. I'm tying it back always to what I want.   So whatever game it is, whatever bonding experience it is, like how can we relate this to what we're doing? Kiera took us all, and this is not to tell you what to do with your bonding. Kiera took us all one year to Disney. And we were like, fantastic. But then right before Disney, she's like, and our goal is to figure out how Disney does what they do, right? And I was like, for the love, we can't just have a day, you know? But then it was like, immediately I was like, gosh, give it up, woman, right?   The Dental A Team (16:53) Thank   The Dental A Team (17:14) But then I was like, actually, that's really brilliant because how does Disney do what they do? Like, how do they clean up the trash without anybody knowing? Like, how do we go above and beyond for our clients in a way that mimics how Disney goes above and beyond? And so it actually turned into like this really great thing, right? But anyways, be intentional, be true to yourself, be yourself, and let people see you.   The Dental A Team (17:38) Tiff, yes, I have softened up a little bit. We don't always have as many meetings or as many photo shoots, but I appreciate that you said that because I also do believe as a CEO, I want people to bond and to be together and to, but again, it's an intentional bonding. And when we did go to Disney and it was a ton of fun, like we had a blast. think our second round, you and I looked at each other, because sometimes Tiff and I, we have a good, good friendship, you guys. We've been like dear friends, like.   The Dental A Team (17:42) ⁓   Thank you.   The Dental A Team (18:04) I'd put it in like BFF. Like I think if we were in elementary school, we'd have those separate heart brace like necklaces. ⁓ Tiff and I are truly like dear friends in and outside of work. And I sometimes make Tiff not be my friend in public settings because I'm like, no, I'm here as a boss. And the last time we loosened up a lot and I'm like, everybody should know that Spiffy, Tiffy and Katie go way far back in the, like you should be grateful that Tiff and I are as close as we are for the things we've gone through. But to that point when we did Disney,   The Dental A Team (18:30) Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.   The Dental A Team (18:33) I think that there's always, ⁓ as leaders, your job is to make sure teams can tie back to that because you might help them highlight and see, Tiff now thinks about Disney very differently, then it's fun, but how can we now make our company this way? And to develop and develop leaders, I think is one of the paramount pieces of team development. So I know Tiff and I were a little like spirally, we had a good time. guys, Tiff and I don't get to chat all the time, so I hope you enjoyed a little chit chat personal on this, also a lot of fun, but I hope if nothing else, you take the core of exactly what Tiff said.   Be intentional, be true to yourself, bond for the sake of bonding, not forced bonding, and really truly have a lot of fun. Teams will resonate so much faster in that childhood fun. How do we as consultants flip the results we do? It's by getting you to basic ease, fun core that helps them see the purpose, the why behind it, but did it in such a playful, fun way. So if you need more tips or you want help with that, be sure to reach out. Tiff and I have a bajillion ideas. I feel like we're like Mary Poppins with our bag full of tricks, but it's truly with intentional purpose.   to help your teams just rise to the level that they want to go, not necessarily where the CEO wants them to go. It's conjoined, it's conjunct, like they really do come together. So enjoy that. Tiff, thanks for being on the podcast. I know we've got to both run to our next meetings, but thank you. Swiftie Tiffy, thanks for being in my life. Thanks for being on the podcast. Thanks for giving all this goodness to everybody. And truly you just change teams lives when you go in there. So I think any practice who gets to work with you or our team that you train truly is super blessed to have that. So thank you. Yeah.   The Dental A Team (19:44) Thank you.   Thank you. Thank you.   The Dental A Team (20:02) And for all of you listening, reach out, go to the website, click on, book a call. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com is our email reach out. We're here to help you and your team have more fun. Enjoy. And as always, thanks for listening. We'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team podcast.  

Tiff and Monica talk about the fundamental elements to include when onboarding a new team member, and some of them might surprise you. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: The Dental A Team (00:01) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. Welcome back. I am just so happy to have all of you. know there are so many people out there that support the Dental A Team in so many amazing ways. And you guys being here downloading these podcasts and having that little, I know Apple allows the like auto download. I always love that. Cause when I'm on flights, I can just, you know, podcast. But you guys being here.   pushing those through for us, being here to just support who we are, what we do is so truly incredible, whether you're a client, a future client, or someone who's just here to listen and you're like, ⁓ you know, never gonna sign up, we don't really have a preference of how you get to us. We just love that you're here. We wanna deliver all of the most amazing information that we possibly can. You might notice we share a lot of information, a lot of tips and tricks, a lot of like, I don't know, feel like, Monica, I feel like they're like.   secrets, trade secrets, right? And people are like, gosh, I'll just listen to your podcast. I'm like, fantastic, do that, do that. When you're ready for someone like Monica, who I have here with us today, you guys, to be like, I'm gonna push you a little bit further. She's here, we're here, and we're ready to help you get to that next level. And as I said, you guys, this is a truly, truly exciting day for us. I have Monica back on the podcast with me today. I am so excited to have you here, Monica. I know.   Monica Gomez (00:57) ⁓ yeah.   The Dental A Team (01:20) Previously, I've kind of given a good spiel of who you are and how we found you. And we got to record a podcast, if you haven't listened to it yet, about this really hiring tips and strategies. But there's so much to learn about Monica, her coaching style and who she is in that episode. So if you haven't listened to it yet, go do that. And as an introduction today, Monica, welcome. I'm so excited to have you here. And I just I'm excited to pick your brain. love I love watching.   I feel like I get to watch the flow of how thoughts come to you and it's just really fun and I love our time together. Thank you for blocking out your morning and being here with me this morning and Monica, how are you? How was your weekend? How's life? How's Monica?   Monica Gomez (02:04) is great and I'm starting off my week with podcasting with you ⁓ and this is so fun. This is my second podcast and I'm so excited to be here. Our first one was really, there was a flow to it, right? It was a ⁓ great little conversation, valuable. We dropped lots of gems, you guys, so go listen to that podcast and I'm excited to be sharing this space again with you, Tish. Thank you for having me.   The Dental A Team (02:19) Yeah.   Thank you, thank you. I do love this and it actually makes me think this is like a little off topic here, but just for a smidgen of time. love the podcast space with you consultant ladies ⁓ on our team because I love that this is a space where I get to, I think I get to share how much I love you guys. Like how much admiration I have, how much I look up to you guys and get to like extract so much.   knowledge and input from you. And I think this is our space of like, truly having some connection time. And we have our one on ones, I mentioned that before, but those are so goal driven and work driven. It makes me think I love relationship and community. And I think that's something that humans are learning again, we're relearning that we need that. I think we lost that for a moment of time here recently and   in the years and we're coming back to that. You kind of don't know what you have until you lose it sometimes and we lost that space. And I think this is our space of true community. We do have our weekly meetings, we have our one-on-ones, we have our data-driven, work-driven time together, but the podcasting space is actually really special to me because I do get to, I get to get to like, want, we get to put you guys out there and I get to just spend this time with you.   And it makes me think you mentioned something on the last podcast that we had recorded together. You mentioned that intentional team time together and that like just clicked. As you're talking, like it clicked for me. This is our intentional time together and instilling that into, infusing that into the workplace. It's really special. And I want doctors and owners and leaders and anyone who's here, dental assistants, treatment coordinators, I don't care who you are. I want you to...   know from the bottom of my heart, this is a really special place and you don't need to go start a podcast unless you want to. But having that intentional time, like coffee time, like go in the break room and have coffee together and talk about your weekend. Like me getting to hear about Monica's family life and Charlie, her puppy, getting to know those pieces of you personally, it changes and it shifts our dynamic. So I wanted to highlight that because as you were speaking, I was like, my gosh, this is   Monica Gomez (04:42) Yeah.   The Dental A Team (04:55) something we haven't had yet because this is only our second podcast together, but that I know I do have with the other consultants and it just totally clicked for me because we just, think, mentioned that in the last one. So Monica, thank you for being here. Thank you for letting me say all that and for giving me this intentional time today.   Monica Gomez (05:12) Yeah, thanks, Tiff. Yeah, I think ⁓ this time together, we get to peek, a little peek behind the veil, right? And yeah, we do have a lot of connection time. It's structured time, right? But the value of unstructured time is just gold. is, ⁓ it builds trust, it builds ⁓ camaraderie, it builds affinity, it builds ⁓ an endearing, right? An endearing kind of sense of   The Dental A Team (05:20) Yeah.   Yeah.   Monica Gomez (05:42) of viewing the other person in a different light. So yeah, I think this is a powerful, like meaningful time. I agree with you. I agree with everything that you said. This is definitely a special magical space. Yeah.   The Dental A Team (05:51) Yeah.   Yeah, thank you.   Awesome. Well, thank you for being here. And again, if you didn't listen to the last podcast, I know this is the third or fourth time we're saying it. You should. This is kind of I think Monica actually helped me choose today's topics that she wanted to speak on. I think they actually naturally flow together. So I would maybe even listen to this one after the last one ⁓ or listen to this one. And then I don't care which order you do it in, but listen to both of them is my is my point here, because today we really we're going to talk about onboarding.   Monica Gomez (06:05) You   The Dental A Team (06:26) And you can onboard anyone, but I think maybe when we add in onboarding the right team member, because the last podcast we recorded was really how to hire the right team member and hiring with intentionality and meaning behind it. And the onboarding, Monica, I think has to flow off of that. If we're not continuously showing up as the person we wanted to hire, like we talked about in the last one.   If we show up in the interview space and we're like, this is who I want you to be, but then we're onboarding and we're like, meh, meh. We're like, this is boring person and we want somebody who's dynamic and fun and engaging and speaking to the patients, but we're like, not that person. I think it makes a huge difference. So Monica, as you've trained people, as you've onboarded, you've trained practices to do this, what are some key highlights that you like to infuse into the onboarding process?   Monica Gomez (07:15) Yeah, great topic. And I agree, this one goes hand in hand with our previous podcast. know, onboarding traditionally has been very much transactional, right? Here's your cubby, here's what you do, here's where you sit, here's how you answer the phones, right? We've got to move. Well, there's a part of it that has to be transactional because you have to learn, you know, what your job is and, you know, the daily to do's.   But I think if we lead with that, it's a mistake. ⁓ As I mentioned before, and we talked about how the workforce has changed, ⁓ and we're leading with connection and engagement and authenticity and all those components that make us unique, I think we, I really feel that we need to move.   from a transactional place to a transformational or transcendental. ⁓ It's gotta be more about behaviors, right? And how we wrap our arms around like this new person that's joining our little family, right? How would you like to be welcomed into a team that would make you feel welcome and received with open arms and warmth? That's how we have to welcome our new people.   The Dental A Team (08:17) Yeah.   Monica Gomez (08:36) You know, we've invested so much time and energy in interviewing our job post, our, you know, filtering our candidates, interviewing, that whole hiring process, offer letter, the whole nine yards. And then we just throw them in, sink or swim. We've got to add, we've got to be intentional and we've got to add more value to the onboarding piece because, you know, people sometimes are left thinking like, gosh,   The Dental A Team (08:54) Yeah.   Monica Gomez (09:05) this is not the place that I thought it was gonna be, right? Like make it the place that you post it on your job ad, right? Like create, you get to be the creator. You're the co-creator, right? This is your platform. Like what do you wanna create for your new people, right? And I think transaction.   It's always part of our industry and in the workforce, right? There is a transactional piece to working. ⁓ But again, that humanist, right? And so one great tip, I'll start with one tip and I'll turn it over to you, Tiff. ⁓ One great tip is have a welcome packet for your team, right? A t-shirt, their name tag, little, you know, if you picked up little sprinkles of who they are and what they like in the interview, like,   The Dental A Team (09:51) Mm.   Monica Gomez (10:02) put together a nice little welcome basket for them, a pen post-it, a nice little saying. I think that's, wow, I mean, that's super impactful on their first day, right? Like, welcome to the team and have everybody go around at Morning Huddle and just give a little shout out as, you know,   The Dental A Team (10:11) Yeah.   I love that. Yeah.   Monica Gomez (10:29) how valuable it is to have a new team member. I think that's super simple and important.   The Dental A Team (10:36) Yeah, I love that. think you hit on something really important there. It's really that feeling of being welcomed, coming into a new space is, I mean, we don't even like going to a party unless we know, a dinner party, unless we know everybody who's gonna be there, right? We're like, I only know two people. Like, is that enough? Right? I got a text from a friend the other day that was, know, or not the other day, it's been a bit, but for, you know, Halloween. And then she's like, I gotta go to this thing with my husband. And like, I don't know anybody. And I was like, okay, like this is, we're all coming into this dinner party not knowing.   anybody else, even if you've done working interviews, you still don't know them. So I love that really just toning in on the personal piece and the relationship, because if you can have a relationship with them, you can, you know, build that camaraderie just from the get go. I think they actually retain information and onboard quicker as well. So I love that. Yeah.   Monica Gomez (11:25) It's hard being an adult, you know? It's hard being an adult. And I think   in the practice, you know, just circling back to our topic on our previous podcast, fun is really important. We forget to have fun as adults, you know? And gosh, you know, think of it like you're in the sandbox again. See through young eyes, see through young eyes. Put those lenses on and just remember what it is to just play in the sandbox.   with your friends, right? And have like that pureness of intention and that pureness of heart and spirit. I think it's just easier when you can kind of connect to that space to welcome others in. And they'll say, I love that you're here. Welcome to the team. How can I make your week and your integration easier? I think that's a gem right there. That's...   The Dental A Team (11:54) Yeah. Yeah.   Mm-hmm.   Monica Gomez (12:21) super valuable for the person receiving and also for the person that's delivering.   The Dental A Team (12:26) I agree. I was thinking,   as you said, you said it's hard being an adult And I thought, yeah, I remember just being like, do you want to swing? Like, there's two, like, do you want to swing with me? Like, that's, we don't do that anymore. Yeah. It was easy. Now it's like, we go to, we're in the same Pilates class 10 times and I'm still like, do I talk to you? Do I not talk to you? And it's like, goodness gracious. So yeah, like just, do you want to swing? Like just, let's just have fun with it. I love that. ⁓   Monica Gomez (12:33) Yeah.   It's easier to fix ones.   The Dental A Team (12:51) And so Welcome Packet is beautiful. if you guys like put it together, it could even be like ⁓ a welcome note card. Like, hey, excited to have you. Like everybody, we write thank you cards to our patients or we write condolence cards or happy birthday or happy anniversary. Like, congrats on your wedding. We write these cards and I've seen them in multiple practices. So I know a lot of people do them. You pass them around to all the team members or the happy birthday for the team members, right? Everybody writes on the card and it's like this little message.   You could do it as simply as that. Like, hey, Monica's starting on Monday, guys. Like, it's Thursday. Let's wrap this up. Let's get this like welcome card together and a candy bar or a little ⁓ bouquet of flowers, like four carnations. Like, it doesn't have to be difficult. It doesn't have to be robust or like over the top. Just speak to who you are and who they are. I love that. And Monica, something you said was we were kind of prepping for this was you don't have to have it all together. And I loved that because we've saw many podcasts on   Monica Gomez (13:32) Yeah.   The Dental A Team (13:48) operations manual and it's fantastic. And I agree with an operations manual and practices come to us and they're like, Monica, we need an operations manual, help us build it. It's like, okay, yes. And it's super cool. Also, it's not a requirement. You can onboard, you can train, you can have them help you build the operations manual while you're training. Don't hold yourself back from onboarding someone successfully.   Monica Gomez (13:59) Yeah.   The Dental A Team (14:15) because you feel like things are missing and I love that you said that. Now, on that same aspect, a job description, super simple, to put together a job description of who they are, how they show up and what their targets are per position and then build off of that to say like, hey, in the first week, two weeks, 30 days and then kind of go from there. Now, implementally, how do you build the action out for...   for teams like that, because I'm an aggriance. I love an operations manual. I think it's great, but it's not end all be all. And just because we get through an operations manual and your consulting journey does not mean you're done. You're set for success and nothing's ever going to happen. I think there's a lot of, we could go on a tangent about operations manuals. We won't today. But how do you do that with your practices you're working with?   Monica Gomez (15:05) Yeah, I mean, I think people ⁓ absorb information and they learn differently. And I think it's really important that we hit on all three things. It's auditory, visual, and kinesthetic. The operations manual or the training manual is valuable, Because it's a resource that you can go to to reference and get a refresher. ⁓ But that shouldn't be your onboarding technique, right? That's like, OK, here you go. Here's the written. ⁓   The Dental A Team (15:30) Yeah.   Monica Gomez (15:34) proof or reference book of what you already learned, right? It is the outcome of your training. ⁓ I think, you know, onboarding can be simple and we make it complicated because everything has to be in writing nowadays and there's value to that. ⁓ But really your team, the biggest piece of ⁓ an employee staying within those 90 days is how we onboarded them.   The Dental A Team (15:48) Yeah.   Monica Gomez (16:03) Did we just give them manual or written instructions and say, okay, here it is, go do it? Or did we say, okay, this week, part of your onboarding is that you're gonna spend time with every single person in this practice in the various roles, including the doctor. You're gonna sit in and listen to the exams and the x-ray take and the hygienist. And you're really gonna understand all the makings of this practice.   it's important that we understand everyone's role and how we contribute to the entire team. So I always recommend that you hire someone and the first three days, break it up. Three, by the way, is a magical number for me. I love everything in series of threes. So three is easy to remember, three things versus five or even four, right? So three days in each role.   And have that person that's learning write down the most impact. What did you learn in these three days sitting with a hygienist? Or what do you want to know more about? This will spark their curiosity. Don't give them a script. Allow them to of grasp the topics and let their curiosity ⁓ be the lead. Take the lead on.   Here's what I want to know more about, or I don't really understand this, or gosh, I didn't know that, right? ⁓ And that goes for experienced employees or people that are new to the industry, right? That's my recommendation. Allow them to spend three days in every single role, like the journey of onboarding, right? Like, I think it's super valuable. And then... ⁓   The Dental A Team (17:32) Yeah.   Fisher.   Monica Gomez (17:51) Again, they could be kind of co-creating your manual with you because what they bring back, the knowledge that they bring back, chances are somebody else is going to have that same curiosity or those same questions, right? Yeah, I think that's a really simple tip. And those also that feedback could be part of your 30, 60, 90 day growth plans. And here's what you're really great at, right? I always like to look at   The Dental A Team (18:04) Yeah.   Monica Gomez (18:22) Think about the growth plan like a sandwich, right? Like there's the beginning, the middle, and the end. And so here's where you are, right? ⁓ Here's where, ⁓ actually, here's your role. Here's where you currently are, and here's where we would like for you to be. And like, what are the steps to get there, right? That should be part of your growth plan, your 30, 60, 90 day growth plan, along with the job description. Yeah, I think, you know,   using the job description like you mentioned as a tool, right, to guide people and also for us to understand like, what are they really great at? What are they really proud of, you know, in this job role? And what do they want to know more about? I think ⁓ I ⁓ one great way to kind of get familiar with someone's knowledge, experience and their desire to grow or learn more about is take the   The Dental A Team (19:03) Thank   Monica Gomez (19:20) the skills and ability portion of the job role and say, tell me three things that you're really great at, that you're really proud of, that you just are an expert in. And then three things that ⁓ you wanna know more about, not weak, right? Things that you don't, let's take that, negative verb out of it, just say three things that you're curious about or three things that you wanna sharpen your skills at. That tells you a lot about their qualifications. ⁓ And I'm really an advocate of ⁓   The Dental A Team (19:22) Mm-hmm.   Yeah. Yes.   Monica Gomez (19:49) eliminating the over-educating and over-matching. This exercise is a great way to kind of level set who your person is, like what's in their brain, right? Like, are you curious about? So I think that's part of like the co-creation of the onboarding and the collaboration, right? This is a partnership, we're in this together. What can I do to help you help me?   The Dental A Team (20:01) Yeah.   Yeah.   Monica Gomez (20:15) and stay. think it's intentional and it is ⁓ structured in a way that's unstructured.   The Dental A Team (20:28) Yeah, for sure. And I think that what you're saying there that co-creation also makes me think of ⁓ like collaborating and co-creating with the people who are going to be doing the training. So if you're not the one who's going to be, if you're an office manager and you're not training this person hands on 100 % of the time, then enlist the team members too. So if this person's job is   I don't know, front desk check-in and she or he has this laundry list of 20 different things that they've got to learn in the series of these 90 days or 30 days or however long you parcel that out for who's helping with those things and allow them to co-create too. And I think what you're saying, the three days, it's like, great, you're learning to answer the phones and confirm appointments. That's what you're doing for three days. You're answering the phone. So you're answering the phones and you're delivering that   patient to whomever, right? You're transferring that patient to whomever they need and you're doing confirmation calls for three days. And then stack on top of that, anything, something you said there, the co-collaborating and the kind of doing it together, but also then enlisting outside perspectives to see what flows together. Because a lot of times our job doesn't necessarily start to end flow in this perfect, beautiful space. Sometimes it's like,   well, I'm doing phones, but I'm doing emails, and I'm doing phones, but I'm checking patients out. And those are very like stark contrasting pieces. And so if we're like jumping them around or trying to do it in what a day might look like, that's very confusing. And it's overwhelming because your brain doesn't operate in that way. You can and you will and you will multitask and they will get it. But when you're learning, you've got to learn succinctly in a flow that makes sense. So you can't start with   Monica Gomez (22:02) and overwhelming.   The Dental A Team (22:17) checking a patient out if you also want them to be doing confirmation calls. Like you've got to find, like you said, your start, your middle and your end and making sure that those pieces flow together and having that outside perspective I think can definitely help. Something you mentioned was those like check-ins. So you're having those conversations with them. So that in itself right there, you guys, if you're not, I want you to pull these action items out too because that in itself, that's an action item. So make sure you've got job descriptions.   make sure you've got some semblance of flow on the pieces that they're responsible for, and then you're checking in with them. And I think frequent check-ins are really smart. We do them in our company with onboarding and we continue them kind of as long as we possibly can forevermore. We do these check-ins because I wanna know where they're at. don't, not necessarily like, did you do this thing? I wanna know like Monica, where are you at today? ⁓   Personally, who are you and where are you at today? Like are we still in alignment because that's the space I think Especially being new to a team. I'm not gonna say I'm not always gonna say hey, I Didn't get this or hey, I need help or hey I'm falling behind or I feel overwhelmed or this is a lot because I don't want to look like I can't do it But if my manager or my lead is like, hey check in how are things going? And I'm like, I think I'm getting it. I think I need more time on this   That's way better than being like, I'm overwhelmed. Like that feels better to me to be like, cool, there's space to have a conversation about this. I'm not complaining or feeling weak or looking as though I can't accomplish something. You are giving the space as a check-in to just be like, hey, tell me where you're at. Okay, great, take the space, take the time, go learn it. Or if I need to show you again, I can.   Monica Gomez (24:06) Yeah, I love that. I love everything that you said. think, ⁓ you know, words create our story, right? And so if we're asking, like, how's it going? ⁓ Are you struggling with anything? ⁓ Our minds automatically go to that negative place, right? So you get to be the creator of the script.   Right. And so if we're saying, Hey, by the way, I heard you answering the phone start, like, listen for the good stuff, right? The good behaviors. Gosh, you were amazing. Greeting that patient. my gosh. I am so proud of you. You are totally getting this and you know, how's everything else going? Right. If you start with that excitement and something positive, that person's already in that positive mindset and it's all about mindset. Right. And if we're concerned that they're not getting it, they're not going to get it.   assume that they are, assume that they are getting it. So gosh, you are, I know you're doing amazing. Tell me all the good stuff. Start.   The Dental A Team (25:08) Yeah, assume good intent, right? Always. We see that constantly. Assume   good intent. I think, Monica, you saying this right here makes me think.   Relationships are relationships, I say that all the time. They just look a little bit different. Like my relationship with Erin is a little bit different than my relationship with you, but my communication skills are gonna be super, they're gonna be the same with the right words, right? So I'm not gonna, communication is communication. And so what we do is we say, okay, this is how you sell a treatment plan. This is how you project to your patients to get them to schedule. And you always start with a positive. You don't ask for a review by saying,   how did everything go today? You say like, oh my gosh, that seemed, you how amazing was your appointment today? Like you're infusing these words in there to get the mindset, but then we don't copy and paste that always into everything that we do. And I think how you show up for anything is how you show up for everything. So show up for your team the same as you're expecting your team to show up for your patients because that's going to translate. And if you're like, oh, it seemed like a,   Gosh, today was a chaotic day, how did you do? It's always chaos, we're in dentistry. Dentistry is chaotic, your days are gonna be crazy. Life is chaotic, you're right, it's always going to be crazy. So saying that, gosh, was, woo, that was a rough day. How are you feeling? Well, I'm feeling really overwhelmed and I'm feeling like I made a really bad decision coming here. I think you're spot on is my point there. So that was beautiful, thank you.   Monica Gomez (26:21) Yeah. And life is chaotic. Period, right? Life is chaotic.   Yeah. And, you know, I when employees share difficult, like a difficult day, you know, like, ⁓ I had a ⁓ client last week share that their new hire said, ⁓ gosh, maybe we shouldn't, you know, ⁓ schedule two crowns back to back because that was really hard. And, you know, my back was hurting. And so, ⁓ you know, the doctor was like, she's already complaining. I'm like, well, okay. Well, how did you respond? Right. Because   The Dental A Team (27:11) Yeah, yeah.   Monica Gomez (27:12) Because, I mean, she's delivering something that's important. She's sharing and she feels comfortable enough to say, hey, that was really hard. That's really what she's saying. That was really hard, right? And so, you know, again, one of my favorite sayings is, you know, get curious, not furious, right? Don't look at it with the negative lens. It's a great way for you to validate, like, how important it is to be seen, and valued, right?   The Dental A Team (27:41) I agree.   Monica Gomez (27:42) And she was opening up because she wanted to be seen, heard, and valued. Like she wanted to be seen. Gosh, I like did those two crowns back to back. My back is hurting me. Are you even valuing that I sat there in fact, right? Even though they could have swapped off with another assistant, but she, you know, she followed him. And so, you know, and my advice was like, you should number one acknowledge that she's sharing, right?   The Dental A Team (27:54) Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.   Monica Gomez (28:11) Thank you so much for sharing that. You're right, that was kind of hard. Let's talk about it as a team tomorrow. Let's find ways to alleviate that when this does happen, right? I mean, the patients wanted to start, like they're ready. Let's do it, right? But where were your other team members? Like, let's talk about this. And so seen, and valued. If you can make anyone new, ⁓ a new employee, an existing employee,   your legacy employees, if you can make them feel and create a space where everyone feels seen, heard, and valued, that's huge. That's like you, you will, your team will love you, your patients will love you because again, it's that invisible kind of energy that's flowing through your practice, right? That creates that great space for employees to wanna stay.   The Dental A Team (29:02) I agree. I totally agree. Thank you, Monica. I think this was ⁓ a really, this is just full of so many gems and ⁓ I love the actual pieces of job description, kind of the, I love your three days, spend three days on it and really just making sure you go through that job description. Look at the to-dos of that position.   Enlist the team to help you. Whoever's gonna be helping to train. I had people specific on my team that were like, these are the things you just, you're stellar at and it's gonna be easy for you to train these things. They trained those. So it doesn't have to be one person. It can be whatever you want it to look like. Just make sure it's built out. You have a plan. Preschedule check-ins. I always make sure we preschedule check-ins and you guys check in with yourself too. think Monica, you gave some really wonderful tips on really making sure that we're showing up the way that we should be.   or the way we want people to show up and really just gut checking and making sure that those things are there. And I loved this. Thank you, Monica. Thank you for your words of wisdom. Thank you for flowing off of it. This was perfect. This was divine. Thank you for helping set up this flow of podcasting today and for just bringing your insight and your wisdom and your years of experience of things that you've seen work and ideas. So thank you, Monica.   Monica Gomez (30:16) Thanks, thanks, Tiff. This is definitely a gem for me. I have so much to share and so much, I love sharing, I love brainstorming, I love sharing what works ⁓ and all the knowledge that we, all of us have, right? This is a beautiful space for us to, you know, share that. And this was so fun. Thanks for inviting me and everyone.   The Dental A Team (30:22) Yeah.   Monica Gomez (30:42) Go out and be fabulous and don't forget to have fun. Have fun.   The Dental A Team (30:47) Yes, I love that.   Thank you. Yes. Go be fabulous. That is like Trish's famous words. I love that she says that. always, I know it always makes it just like, yep, I will. Okay. No, questions. So I love it. Go be fabulous. I agree. Drop us a five star review. Let us know what you thought about this. Let us know what onboarding tips you guys have. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com is an easy place to find us and.   Monica Gomez (30:53) So these are the things.   The Dental A Team (31:10) get recommendations or share your tips and tricks. We really do love that. And also we're on Instagram and Facebook, all of those places. So watch us there. Watch out for us there. Thursdays, once a third Thursday, we have webinars. You guys, we're everywhere. So if you're only following the podcast, check us out. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com, TheDentalATeam.com. We've got all of it listed there as well. Go find us, follow us and listen for more amazing tips from Monica and the rest of the consulting team. Thank you guys and go be fabulous.   Monica Gomez (31:39) you  

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from the Dental A-Team! Kiera encourages listeners to acknowledge and celebrate the people in their lives in real time. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript:   The Dental A Team (00:01) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera and Merry Christmas. I hope that you guys are so happy and I don't know, I feel so honored that you're sharing Christmas Day with me. I hope that you unwrapped your packages. I hope that you were able to give amazing gifts. I hope that you were not naughty this year and you were nice. I hope that like, my gosh, like I just wish that I was with you like walking down the stairs to your Christmas morning. I hope that you were with your friends, your family. And if you don't celebrate Christmas, I hope that you woke up today just feeling the special magic.   of this time of year of anticipating our next year. And I just hope that you're surrounded by friends and family and that you just feel love. I hope you feel love for yourself and just Merry Christmas. I am so, I love this time of year. I love this holiday and I did not used to love this holiday. It was my favorite growing up. And then there was a short stint of time where I hated it. Like no Christmas music, no things. I don't even know how that was possible because I was Mrs. Claus.   I worked for United Way of Utah County and I was Mrs. Claus for the year and we did Sub for Santa. And that was a year I realized that there is truly magic in our communities and in us serving each other. And gosh, I just like, I remember growing up like, yes, I loved presents and I love those things, but a lot of times it was just like my family being together and little things. And like in my family, had, when I was really, really little, we had these like dollars. don't know, they were called like.   I to say scholar dollars, but that wasn't right. They were these like little dollars that my mom gave us. And it was like little things that we did that were kind gestures to our siblings, like helping each other out. My family was lawn mowing business. And so we'd help each other with that. And growing up and getting older, I think, well, yes, it's so fun to have gifts for my siblings. The real gift that I look forward to, and I'm sure a lot of you can relate to this is   being with these people, being able to be present with them, being able to share special moments, to be able to share magic with them, that's what makes holidays magical. ⁓ And when I think about like this time of year, giving's not just about gifts, it's about like our presence. So not present, but presence, our impact, and how we're able to like show up for our families and for our teams and our practices. And so when I look at this, I just really think about like,   in the spirit of Christmas, the spirit of giving, in the spirit of that, like leadership and team culture are so important of gifts that you can give your team. And this is what can help you guys thrive. So of course, it's the holidays. I'll make this short and sweet for you ⁓ because I really want you to think about like when we're looking at our families and we're looking at today, being present with our family.   is one of the greatest gifts that we can give them. think of how many times are we scrolling on social media? How many times are we not present? I even think about me and Jason, like we're hanging out together and we are both knee deep in our phones. And I look up and like 45 minutes have passed by and I've been sitting by the person that I absolutely love. And the world is so obnoxiously annoying on asking for our time, asking for our attention. And I think that that's why we get so excited about holidays is we actually have this like   Dedicated shutoff time where we can be with our families and holidays sometimes actually bring out the worst in us I know two Christmases ago It was absolutely one of the worst days and I felt so annoyed because I had to slow down and I couldn't go anywhere and I couldn't call anybody because people with their families and I felt stuck and I felt trapped and I was like this is not a good thing Kiera you clearly are operating at such a high velocity all the time that you slowing down was actually one of your worst days and so I think when I look at like being present in life   I think being present for my team. How many times is my team talking to me and I'm slacking or I'm sending an email off or I'm not fully listening or I'm responding to a text message. I think the world today is craving people being present, of being intentional, of listening, of caring. And I think that that's like when my family gets together, yes, a gift is nice, but the gift of their time and attention is becoming more and more valuable because I think it's so hard to capture that from people. And also I think being present for yourself.   showing up for yourself every single day, having meditation time, having journal time. Like the world can be so loud. Things can be like, we have dinging things, reminders constantly that it's like being present, listening, showing up, engaged, engage with your team. I think about Britt, there's certain times that her and I would just like shoot the breeze and we're just hanging out with each other. And I'm like, those are more meaningful than our meetings. And we're just like trying to rattle things off and get things done.   And so I just think like, if we're giving a gift of presence, not present, how can you as a leader do that? And I think one of the biggest things that doctors can do is to actually be fully attentive in team meetings. ⁓ And for team members to be fully attentive in team meetings, I can't tell you how many times I watched teams and the doctors on their phone, they're not engaged. And I just think like, if you're asking your team to be here and you're asking them to solve problems, but we're not willing to be present,   Gosh, like that's just such a hard ask. And I think as leaders, that is your job to silence them, to be present, to be with the people in front of you and not to be distracted elsewhere. And I say team members to do the same. We've got to also have our minds be there. I could be completely checked out of my phone and Slack, but my mind could be elsewhere. And so how can I be fully attentive in my team meetings when I'm having conversations with people? And I will say like, doctors, this is like, Merry Christmas. Be present for your team.   ⁓ I watch often and I see doctors just scrolling on social media, even when I'm there having conversations with them. And I just think if you're willing to do that with me, that you're paying me to be here. ⁓ and that feels icky to me. How do think your team feels when they're coming to you as a leader, as someone that they're looking for, for support. And I just think for your family, the gift of like, even if it's like five seconds, even if you put the phone down, ⁓ even if you just like really commit to be there.   be there. ⁓ Another thing is like to pause during the day like a short connection. ⁓ It doesn't take a lot to be connected to people. It doesn't take a lot for you to just say hello to ask them like genuinely with no agenda, no time construction, not having your phone, not having your watch go off. Like even people is like, my watch like, hmm. Yep. huh. I'm listening. I'm like, you're not listening to me. I literally have my watch to where it will not have text messages come through at all. I use it specifically for a watch. If I need to later, I can have things pop in but   I shut off the notifications because it drives me nuts when I'm in a conversation and I'm having a conversation and they pull up their watch, they pull up their phone like, uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh. No, it's not uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh. You're not listening to me. You're not present with me. So I think like today, practice being present with those around you. You might be Kiera who had like one of her worst Christmases a few years ago and it was awful, but I realized this is, I'm out of touch. I'm out of practice. I don't do this often.   And if we can train that muscle, gosh, what a gift it's for yourself, a gift for your team, a gift for your family to truly be present. ⁓ I also think another way for you to do it is to celebrate people in real time. So the reason why this is a gift of presence is because you have to be intentional. You have to be paying attention to them to celebrate them in real time. like look for it, look for when your assistant does like perfect handoffs to you, like.   They're handing the instruments and they're just crushing it. Celebrate that with them. Celebrate when someone closes the case for you. Celebrate when we fill this schedule hole. Celebrate when we like got that claim collected. Celebrate when like doctors, got that perfect endo, like you got all the way to the bottom of that root tip. Celebrate when you did a perfect crown prep. Celebrate and be present in that moment. Celebrate when patients tell you great things. Celebrate when we get an SRP diagnosis and we went from a bloody profie to an SRP and we told them what they really needed. Celebrate when our team   is like giving a great patient experience, celebrate when our team does a tour of the office and highlights how great of a place it is, celebrate when people edify each other, celebrate those little pieces in your life. This is such a fun, easy way, because I really do believe that we're just becoming a society that's not present. We're giving presence, but we're not present. ⁓ We're so distracted trying to be connected that   we're missing the people right in front of us. And I think about that. We have no social media Sundays in our house. And Jason and I are shocked at how many times we like go to the app on that day. And it's just a habit. It's like these habits that have been formed. And so I think like, can you be attentive in team meetings? Can you be just connected at little points, like busy times throughout the day and just pause and connect? Can you connect with your spouse or your kids? Text them, send out little magic moments to them every day. Like,   Tell them how much you love them. I will tell you like, shout out to Jace, he's such an incredible man. He's like my greatest gift in this world. Every day he texts me three reasons he loves me. And ⁓ sometimes I don't read those with intentionality. I just think, Kiera, he sat there and thought about you. The least you can do is just be like so present and say thank you. ⁓ To give that gift to me every single day is beyond magical. To send a little love bomb, you could even do it in the morning. It can be part of your morning routine of like,   I meditate and then I send out magic to somebody and just tell them how much you love them to be present, to be connected to somebody truly connected, to pick up the phone. My brother calls me and I think about how often am I distracted while I'm on the phone with my siblings rather than being present and intentional with them. Jason tells me he'll take five minutes of me being intentional rather than 30 minutes of me being distracted. And I just think like, a gift we can give each other to not just give presents this year.   but give our presence. And on our team meeting, say that like passion, present, results, solutions are four things we say in our company. We want to show up with passion. We want to be present. And that means we show up with the people in front of us, email, Slack, text, phones are closed. And I'm not here to say that we have to be perfect at it, but I am here to say that today of all days, I hope you take time to go be present with your family, present with the people in front of you, and to maybe give a little bit more of that gift of presence to your team this year.   Be attentive in team meetings, be connected during busy times, celebrate the small wins with your team. And I will tell you that, and this means like being at morning huddle, being connected and doctors who do this have higher morale, have stronger retention of teams because they feel cared about. They feel seen, they feel heard, they feel like they're a human. So I'm telling you that's five minutes of your time that you are giving up to get this huge outcome. You're gonna have stronger relationships. You're gonna have better relationships with your kids, better relationships with your spouse, parents, siblings.   aunts, uncles, neighbors, and I think it's a gift to give. And I think it's something for all of us to do. So I would just say like today, give someone your full attention, no phone, no distractions for five minutes. See if you can do it. And then maybe work up to 10 minutes and just try it and just see. And also for yourself, sit there in silence for five minutes. See if you can do it. Sit there for 10 minutes. See if you can start to train yourself that your, your preferred operating system, unlike mine a few years ago,   is to be present rather than to be distracted feeling like I am present. And I would just say that's I think a gift for all of you. And so today is Christmas. I hope that you're celebrating with family. I hope that you love yourself. I hope that you give yourself the gift of presence to be present for yourself, to shut off, to disconnect, connect to yourself, to connect to ⁓ the universe, to God, to your higher self, to the space around you, whatever you believe today that you really truly do.   Give that great gift to yourself and to those that you love, including your team. You guys, we are so blessed to be alive today. We're so blessed to have experiences. I'm so blessed to have all of you in my life, my Dental A Team family. Gosh, I just like want to celebrate you. I want to be there with you. I want to drink, you know, non-alcoholic eggnog with you. I want to be like, cheersing you on the great things you're doing. I want to be present with you. I want to listen to your struggles. I want to listen to your wins.   I want you to be a part of our community. I want to see you the first Tuesday of every single month. I want to meet you in person. I want to be that cheering cheerleader for you. I want you to see what it feels like to have somebody see you, to know you, to recognize you, to love you, to encourage you, to give you a good like push when you need a push to hold you accountable. That's our gift to you. So if that feels good to you, reach out. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. I am not working today, but I will be working tomorrow and our team will be there for you.   So reach out. know this is a time where you guys settle down. You are more present. You're not busy with patients. You have time to connect to yourself, to connect to your family. And I think, hey, maybe giving yourself the gift of time to get a team that's trained a little bit better, to get a patient experience that's a little bit better, to help you be a CEO instead of an operator all day long, every single day. It might be the time. You might be able to settle into that and to be present, to give yourself even more time back. be a gift to give yourself. So if that feels right to you, reach out. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com.   I'd love to chat more with you about it. And I hope you just go celebrate with your family. No, I'm like sitting there with you, drinking the eggnog, sitting there, chestnuts roasting on an open fire, hanging out with you at the beach, wherever you are. Just know that I'm giving you a giant hug. You're doing better than you think you are. I adore you. I love you. I'm here with you. You don't have to do this alone. And I'm happy to be the person to guide you. I'm also happy to be your friend on the podcast that walks with you every single day. But just know you're not alone. You're doing better than you think you are.   and I'm willing to give you the presence that you deserve. And I hope that you give that to those that you love as well. And as always, thanks for listening. Go have a magical, merry day, and I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team Podcast.  

As the holiday cheer permeates our day-to-day, know that that same kind of energy and excitement can be found in your practice year-round! Kiera talks traditions, countdowns, and culture from a dentistry perspective. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: The Dental A Team (00:00) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera and it's Christmas Eve. You guys know that I'm obsessed with holidays. I'm obsessed with this time of year. I'm obsessed with just so many fun things. And I hope you guys are like, yes, listen to the podcast. Sure. But I hope that more than that, you're hanging out with your families. And if you don't celebrate the holidays, I hope you're taking this time to celebrate you and to just be there with you. guys, I just love the holidays. think that Christmas is more than just about   present and like those traditions and all of that. I think it's just like the anticipation of what's coming next. And I think one of the greatest gifts we can give ourselves is like the excitement that we feel leading up to it. My husband and I were on a really fun trip this year, but we had to plan the trip in like two weeks and I actually missed the anticipation leading up to it. So with the holidays, I feel like every single year we get this anticipation, we get this gift, we get this same excitement that   I really do hope that you guys are feeling that same excitement that hopefully you're feeling for Christmas Eve tonight, going into the excitement into your dental offices for 2026. Like just think about it, you guys, we are about to wrap a bow on 2025, roll into 2026. And I think that energy, that excitement, that fun, that zest, this is really what brings the magic of the season. This is why the holidays are so special. It's time for us to sit back. It's time for us to reflect. It's time to get out of our routines. And I really just hope that you guys are giving yourself the greatest gift of anticipation.   but I hope that it's anticipation with a thought out plan. I know there can be anticipation for Christmas when I have not thought about family and it is a frantic scramble. And if you are that office for 2026, I would encourage you to not be that office. There are better ways where I actually like to have our entire year gets wrapped up by December 15th so I can go into the holidays, have a good time. ⁓ I like to have my Christmas gifts all bought usually around.   Halloween. I like to just have it done and out of the way. And I would hope that the anticipation of how great the year is going to be how great the holidays will be how excited you are for people to get this rather than in the frantic scramble because both can be anticipation both can be great gifts. But I hope that you're giving yourself the gift of like true joy and anticipation of the excitement of the year to come rather than the frantic frazzles. So guys, if you don't know me, I'm Kiera Dent. ⁓   founder and CEO of Dental A Team. love all things dentistry. I love helping dentists and their teams find happiness. Life is my passion, dentistry is my platform, and truly to positively impact the world of dentistry in the greatest way possible. Like this is something where I just hope that teams and doctors have excitement for what's ahead and that your team and you feel energized and not exhausted. And if you feel exhausted, that's okay. We've got solutions for you and I'm here to help you with that ⁓ because   I really do believe that you and your team can crush it. And as we're on Christmas Eve, you guys, my family is so fun. Jason said when he joined our family that Christmas and the holidays were just a good time. Like it has always been so magical. ⁓ Christmas Eve, we're going to be hanging out with family. And it's been fun because we shifted it up. I was selfish. And for the first several years of our marriage, I was with my siblings because my little sister is 15 years younger than me. And so   I really want to be a part of my siblings' lives. I wanted to be there and be close to them. And Jason was so accommodating. He was the youngest of his family. And so all of his siblings were grown, that we went to my family for so many years. So Christmas Eve with his family is very different. And the anticipation and the excitement, I was a little disappointed last year when we were with his family versus my family, but it was so fun. And we were able to make new traditions and...   we were able to create fun things and his dad, I made his parents who are much older, they Jason has a complete accident, ⁓ do family Christmas pajamas and matching with us and to be able to create new memories and new holidays. And I really do think that the energy and excitement and the love that we feel at this time of year can be something that you can also do with your own practices. So ⁓ I think that like,   getting anticipation with clear goals is going to be super, super beneficial for you guys. just like when we were kids and counting down the Christmas, teams also can get excited with this countdown to goals and to what's coming up and what the vision for 2026 is. And so I just really would encourage you right now, if you haven't done it or it's in the process, create goals and topics and conversations that your team can get super jazzed and excited about. Having a vision, having a fun year.   Every year I theme my year and you guys it's not too late. Like we're only on December 24th. You still have like a week before this year is over. So take the time, give yourself a theme, something to look forward to, something that you and your team can anticipate with excitement and counting down ⁓ of clear annual goals, clear quarterly goals, and then like celebrate those milestones as they come up. Like when we hit them, what are we doing to celebrate?   and have countdowns and visual trackers just like we have advent calendars. In my family, my mom was awesome. There were seven kids in my family and each of us had an advent calendar where we'd count down the days to Christmas. And I think, why don't we bring that fun, that zest, that excitement into our teams? Why are we sitting here like, hey, we hit production. No, like let's add the spice, let's add the fun. I think teams get really excited. People are like, what is different about Dental A Team over other consulting companies? And I'm like, what's different is we bring fun and excitement and get results.   That's what's different. Like why not make your practice a little more fun? So I think that you guys could build like a gold tree in December where every like scheduled case you get is an ornament and it can be super, super fun. Like you guys don't want to bear Christmas tree. So maybe consider that. Maybe we have something that kicks off in January where we have snowflakes and or we donate and we give back. Like we talked about at Thanksgiving time. Could you create visual countdowns for Thanksgiving where it's like   for all the number of cases we do, we're gonna donate to a family in need. I don't know. There's so many ways you can do it. And I don't think doctors, is for you. This is why it's a Dental A Team and dentist and team podcast. Team members, like let's get your ideas. Let's get you on the podcast. Listen to this episode, share this with your team. But like, how can we build visual countdowns and have a fun time? Because again, the anticipation with clear goals is what's gonna help you guys this season. So number two, I think something that you guys can do is like,   just like on Christmas Eve, like build traditions that fuel culture. I was talking to an office and they were dressing up as wicked. And I said, my gosh, are you guys gonna go to the wicked opening? And they hadn't thought about that, like wicked part two. And like, that's the fun stuff that fuels culture. So like, what can we do just like at the holidays? Like we all get excited for the charcuterie boards or for the matching pajamas or for stockings or in my family, we did baby stockings on the tree in addition to regular stockings.   We had countdown chains, had advent calendars. The holidays are so special because of the traditions. And so what traditions can you guys put into place in your practice? So could we have our tradition at like end of quarters when we crush it, we do X, Y, Z that people can look forward to it. We can get excited for it, that our goals are leading us to these like fun ideas. Could we do annual CE trips or retreats that everybody looks forward to? Our company cut them and then they got sad about it. And then we like, I get it.   There can be pieces, but like this is culture. Our team all gets excited for fun Friday on morning huddle. We all get excited for ⁓ Wednesday is core value shout out days. Like all these little things drive and thrive with culture. And so what can you guys do that can make it fun? Can we have a shout out jar that everybody gets gifts? Can we do like, I don't know, once a quarter, we do a, our favorite things, gift swap. So many little things that are going to just building traditions that are going to fuel your culture because   We have the countdown of anticipation of goals, but goals are not met with crummy cultures. A lot of times when I look at offices, I'm like, how is the culture? How was the leader? Those things are going to impact you far more than anything else. And so what is the tradition of culture that you guys can do? And I have a practice and they started celebrating their team. So every single month they had shout out jars and we shifted a whole culture who used to be like mean girls status. They were actually just women. There were men too, but like the movie mean girls.   to being this team of loyalty, of camaraderie, my team was even that way. I remember saying like, I felt like I used to be on Johnny Depp's ship. I was in the middle of the ocean, my boat was burning. My team was not a great culture. And when you start to do these little culture burns, so for us it's Friday five, it's the shout outs every single Wednesday, it's annual retreats, it's two events in person, it's our holiday party, everybody gets excited for it. Live to give is a part of our company.   First Friday of the month in our team is half day Fridays. Those of you who work on Fridays, you know that's a big deal. Those of you who don't work Fridays, pretend it's a half day Thursday. But just things that your team can really just get excited about. And so I'd say like, pick maybe one team tradition that you can start in January and carry all year long. And this does not mean doctors, have to do it. Luckily in every quarter, there are three months and there are usually three departments in a practice. We've got our front office team. We've got our dental assistants and our hygienists. If we wanna do...   front office, clinical team, dental assistants and hygienists and doctors. You can do that too, but you can rotate. So that way there's traditions, there's things that we look forward to. There's an office who does Dip Tuesday and they bring all sorts of dips, ⁓ vegetable dip, chip dip, you name it. And they just have a ton of fun. And I think that's what makes work not feel like work. That's what makes us, ⁓ holidays to me are the sprinkles on a cupcake. The cupcakes nice, but when I get sprinkles added, it's more fun.   And so traditions and anticipation and countdown, just like the holidays, that's what's more fun. Those are the sprinkles. Those are the sparkles. Those are the excitement. ⁓ And then I think step three on this of like, how can we build this anticipation within our practices is for you to truly like giving a gift of growth. And that is oftentimes like we talked about the anticipation, the excitement. And so growth is going to be what helps your team thrive.   I remember Tony Robbins, you guys know I love Tony. He said that progress equals happiness. And so in your team, what is the progress for each team member? What are the things that they can grow towards? How are we growing as a team? So are we doing new systems? Are we doing new processes? Are we going to expand the roles? Are we going to have consulting or CE that's gonna open doors and help us see things differently? My team was so excited. Like they weren't thrilled when I hired ⁓ a consultant.   But I will tell you, it's been one of the greatest things that we have ever done for our team. Like, of course, they're excited, they're consultants, but they also thought they knew everything. They knew what we needed to do. ⁓ to have somebody come in with new perspectives, new ideas, how are you gonna be able to help grow your team? And I would also say, in addition to this, not just growing them professionally, but personally. So every year I do meet with my team, I wanna find out what are their personal goals, what are their professional goals, and how can I look for little ways   to help them achieve those goals. So when I know someone wants to pay off student debt, or I know somebody wants to buy a house, or I know they want to learn about something, Dave Ramsey's got a class. ⁓ This person wants to buy a house. I help connect them with realtors. Like whatever you can do to make dreams and wishes come true for your team. I think as business owners, as leaders, this is honestly one of the greatest gifts that we're able to give our team. And so just recognizing the gift and the responsibility, just to be able to help your team.   to grow them, to elevate them and to help them. So I really do believe that when you invest in your team, you give them growth opportunities, you're able to establish them into these incredible humans, not just employees. This is when we get excited. looking at this, like, you can even talk to your team, like, what's a skill you wanna learn this year? What's your personal goals you wanna learn? And then invest in them. ⁓ Brittany Stone, no BS, Britt has said it to me many times, to me and to our clients.   do you look at your team as an asset or a liability? And I think about that often, and if you see them as an asset, you treat them differently than you do if they're a liability. And so when we look at this and we get excited about it, like there's so much anticipation today of all the days of the year. think Christmas Eve is probably one of the most anticipated days of the whole year. There's such a beautiful space. And so for this, how can we get anticipation, tradition and growth?   and bring this magic into your practice. I think that's a beautiful gift that you guys can give. so really it's like, bonuses are nice, growth is nice, but it's anticipation that I think is a secret sauce of it. Like I said, and there's the anticipation of knowing where we're going, where we're headed and having those direct goals versus the anticipation and the terror. Both are anticipation, but anticipation that's exciting, anticipation that's fun, anticipation that's predictable, anticipation that creates spice and magic for your team.   And I think this is how you build a team of flourishing people. This is how you build a team that wants to flourish. This is how you build a team that's bought in. This is how you build a culture that's raving team member fans. This is how you build a culture that people want to be a part of. And then you start to post about these things. You share, you talk about it. This is what we do. This is who we are. Your team thrives. You thrive. And so today, tonight, as you're dreaming about what you're going to get tomorrow morning, I also hope you dream about what your practice is going to get next year.   ⁓ What are the little fun traditions that you can put into place? What are the different little pieces that you can do for your team? What is the anticipation that we can put in place? I love the ideas of like having countdowns to things like how do get these fun countdowns? How do we build traditions that will be so fun? How do we give the gift of growth to our entire team? How can you truly flourish and grow your team? I think is something that you deserve to have. And so your practice can be as exciting.   as Christmas Eve, Christmas morning. And I'm not here to say that it's every single day, but it doesn't have to be draining. It can be fun. And I think this is how we add spice, energy, and fuel to our businesses and to our lives is by doing the unexpected, by doing the things that bring joy and happiness to all of us. So I hope that you guys take this on. I hope that you know that at Dental A Team, we help you guys build goals and traditions and systems that really do create magic all year long.   that help create aha moments to give support and strength to your teams. So doctors, you don't have to do this alone. You don't have to carry the whole sleigh by yourself. You can actually have other people help you with this and to inspire and to change your team, I think is one of the greatest gifts I gave my team. And if you're thinking about it, I'd encourage you to give that gift to your team as well. So if you guys want that, if you want to feel energized and not burn out next year, if you want to unwrap the gift of growth and excitement for 2026, reach out. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com   I want to help you. want to make sure that you guys are flourishing and thriving and not just surviving. And I hope you guys have the happiest Christmas, the happiest holidays that you think about this, that you get excited to create little traditions. Pass this along. If you're not creative, pass this on to a team member. Have them listen to it. Share this with a colleague. Have it where it's a competition between you and another person. We've got to make things fun in life. And I hope that you guys just know that I'm cheering for you. I'm rooting for you. And I'm here to serve you. I'm here to support with you. And I'm here to grow with you.   because I do believe that you deserve magic and you deserve ease in your practice. You're worth it. You deserve it. So reach out. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com And as always, thanks for listening. I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team podcast.  

Tiff and Trish discuss the need-to-know info for the buyer of a practice, including team member transparency, new patient inflow, software use, and more. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: The Dental A Team (00:01) Hello Dental A Team listeners. We are back again I have Trish with me because I freaking adore her and I the we just recorded a podcast We record a few at a time. You guys know that I batch them It's called efficiency and that will be on my tombstone per Kiera. She tells me that every day It will it will if it's any vision. I'm like, oh my gosh, this is like grating cheese by hand like come on anyways   We are here today and we just recorded a podcast. So these are kind of serendipitous that they're back to back and it ended up this way in a weird way. So I don't have to go down that rabbit hole, but we just recorded a podcast on this seller's perspective of how to ensure that you're always ready and prepped to sell no matter where you're at in your journey, making sure that 10, 20, 30, five, two years down the road, you can sell your practice and that it's not as...   as stressful an event as it would be if you were unprepared. So I can't say we can remove all the stress. I can say that we can remove some stress that is just unnecessary. So today, now, I really wanted to look at the buyer's perspective. And we kind of hit on both a little bit on the last one, but this one's gonna be a little bit different. So make sure that you listen to both. Doesn't matter which order, I don't think. We'll find out by the end and I'll tell you if you should have listened to the other one first.   I know, I know, inefficient, but it's okay. So Trish and I are here today. You guys know I adore Trish. If you just listened to the Sellers one, which you should, ⁓ you heard me just rave about Trish. And Trish, love, I realized when I was recording with Monica a couple of weeks ago, which those were fantastic, you guys, if you need information and ⁓ ideas on training your team and operations manual, et cetera, all those pieces, Monica has some stellar ideas over there. But I realized Trish, while I was   Recording with Monica, I love podcasting. I love this aspect. I'm just a weirdo like that. But I love podcasting with you guys. And I realized in the beginning ⁓ with Monica, it was our first time podcasting together. And it was the first time that I got to rave about Monica and just really say all of the things that I love about her and I think is just so incredible about her with her consulting and just who she is as a human.   And I get to do that with you guys here in this platform. And Trish, you're one of my favorite people to rave about. love all of our consultants. You guys hear me rave about them, but Trish is such an incredible human being. It is impossible to describe you. You're just multifaceted. And I realized this is my brag session time. And I'm like this, I love it. It makes me so happy inside.   DAT Trish Ackerman (02:37) Thank   I that.   The Dental A Team (02:49) to just watch you guys thrive and to get to just tell the dental community how amazing you guys are and how special it is for them to get to hear from you and to get you guys in person with them and working with their teams and the leadership that changes the profitability that I've seen come out of everyone's work is so cool. And I realized with Monica, I'm like,   this is why I love podcasting with them because I love getting to love on you guys. It's just so cool. So thank you for, I hope so. Dana's over there. just always like ask her about workout stuff, you know, and I'm like, she's, I love on her too, but I'm always like, what's your hair product? What's your, what's your workout? It's fine. It's fine. ⁓ so thank you for letting me have this space Trish and for, ⁓ always being open to all of the things that I need. ⁓ your,   DAT Trish Ackerman (03:19) We'll take it.   Thank   The Dental A Team (03:43) one of those people that I know I can trust to just be myself. So thank you for that. Thank you for being here today. Of course, of course. I love my job. So with that said, number one piece of suggestion that I have before we get into this buyer side, Kiera and I, have been at this for a little while with the Dental A Team and   DAT Trish Ackerman (03:46) You're welcome to attend, thank you.   The Dental A Team (04:06) Carers Dental Consulting and Dental Masters and whatever name we decide it's been the Dental A Team for a long time and it's going to stick the Dental A Team, it's not changing. But we have had a couple of renditions and one piece that I know we have gotten really, really good at, but that we've really had to work hard at. And from a buyer's perspective, a seller's perspective, I think this is insanely relative, the people. We have worked really, really hard at the people aspect and   pouring ourselves into the people and figuring out that that's actually what we love to do. We love to consult. We love to be with the teams and the doctors and we love to see all of those pieces. I love being on stage. I do. But pouring into our team and creating a business that's not solely dependent on Kiera and I and a company that could thrive if we're on the road, if we're on vacation, that has been a massive transition in our company.   And once we realized that and we got really good at it, we started attracting some really, really cool people. And Trish, you're one of those people and you do not shy away from letting us know that it's working ⁓ or letting me know when I'm not on my best A game of that. And I love that about you. And I love that about our team. think I can count on any one of you ladies to be that person for me. thank you.   And doctors and business owners out there, think this is a huge piece of selling or buying a practice. And Trish, you mentioned that towards the end of our sellers one is the team and really making sure that the team is there for the longterm, but they're really supportive. know if, you know, we built this company to be a sellable company. That's a known fact. It would be wild for us not to do that. It does not mean that Kiera is selling the company tomorrow, but she could.   if she needed or wanted to. And Trish, from a team perspective, just real quick to hit on that, as a team perspective, how does that make you feel ⁓ for the doctors and practice owners out there to kind of hear?   DAT Trish Ackerman (06:13) You know, this is a hot topic. I won't go down bunny holes, but I have seen many, I've been with a lot of doctors that have purchased a practice and they have acquired that team. And I've seen the bright side of it and I've seen the dark side. The bright side is what I'd like to share today because we'll put the light on that. And I also do want to, I want to add something to what you just said, Tiff, about how you and Kira are also feeling like   The Dental A Team (06:26) Yeah.   DAT Trish Ackerman (06:42) you're in a different space now in the company because of the people. But I also want to remind you that that is something that you and Kira, you built that. You built, it didn't just happen. You guys built that. you do have to, like for Kira, there is a level of trust that has to take place. And I'm sure it's really difficult. I mean, this is a livelihood. And this is the same for these dental practices. So when a buyer is coming in,   Typically they do acquire a team and it is the responsibility of the selling doctor to be very transparent. We can't leave team members out when they get shocked and just told I sold and there's a buyer coming in there. could we I've seen I've seen entire teams walk out like, okay, we're out. We're not we're not dealing with it. But when there is a lot of transparency introduction to the incoming potential buyer, sometimes they haven't even bought yet.   The Dental A Team (07:30) Yeah, thumbs up.   Yeah.   Yeah.   DAT Trish Ackerman (07:41) ⁓   and just letting the team, ensuring that the team knows that they're going to be safe. They're to be safe. There's change coming, but they are going to be okay. And if they value and adore their doctor, which many of these team members do obviously, and if they've been there for a long time, then they also want to be part of that support. So being a part of this whole process is, I always say number one, like start there.   The Dental A Team (08:07) Yeah, I totally agree. I love that. So taking that to the next layer, right, as a buyer, I think that would be a a great inquiry when looking at practices, right of what is the team's knowledge on this situation? Do they know that you're selling? How far into those conversations argue how prepared is the team? And really like, what am I walking into? I think is massive. think if you were dating,   and you are on whatever dating platform, because that's where you're finding people these days, right? And it's like, yeah, I have three kids. It's like, cool, what am I walking into? You would not just walk blindly into a family and expect everything to be just fine. It would be, you know, there's a, yeah, yeah. Like there's a courting period for both, for the parents, right? For the...   DAT Trish Ackerman (08:53) no family.   The Dental A Team (09:03) boyfriend, girlfriend, whatever it is, right? And the kids, there's a courting period for all of it. And they think that we devalue that in the buying and selling situation. I think, that was great perspective. If I'm a buyer, that's definitely a great question and inquiry to ask. And I think when you're adding additional practices, we have a lot of dentists, a lot of doctors who want to, they have their flagship and they want to expand and they want to reach more communities. And so they're adding,   another family and now we're the Brady Bunch and we're meshing these two families together, but not having that knowledge of who am I meshing into the family I already have. There hasn't been a courting period. Could be really, really dangerous.   DAT Trish Ackerman (09:44) Yeah, I can. And like, where is this new practice going to be? Like, there's so many things to look at here, but we can cover that today. And I'm so happy that we started with the team piece though, because I just want to have that all over. If you're wanting to buy a practice, where's the team, team, team? Who are you adopting?   The Dental A Team (09:45) Yeah.   Yeah,   yeah, yeah, who are you adopting? love that. And who are you expecting your current team to befriend? They've got to, you know, even if your practices are, they're never, they're never going to quote unquote work together. Not how, if you've got multiple practices that don't communicate, that don't have anything to do with each other, that's a lot of, in my opinion, that's a lot of stress. I think that's like, if we're gonna continue the dating theory, right? That's like having your family.   And then you start a second family. And you have a wife, kids, a dog, and you have a wife, kids, and a dog, and you're trying to keep these two lives separate from knowing each other. That's a lot of stress. That's a lot of work, and it's just completely unnecessary. You can adopt this practice as team and welcome them into the family that you have, as long as you already have worked on that culture. And I think if you're expanding...   Practices you're buying additional practices that culture piece has to be intact your systems have to be intact So I think buying additional practices is a fantastic idea if that's your journey That's the the road the path that you want to take and you've been called for it do it But look at those pieces so from we talked the seller's perspective earlier And I think sellers and buyers perspective is super similar just like we we had said it's like buying a house so if you're buying a house or you're selling a house you're kind of   Selling a house, you're thinking what's the buyer looking at? And as the buyer, you're looking at these pieces and how is it valuable to you? And Trish, some things that you had mentioned before was the patient base, making sure it's a healthy patient base. I think from a buyer's perspective, it's active patient base, but also then new patients coming in. Are they still getting new patients? Because that's where a lot of your diagnosis is going to come from. And then healthy profit and collections.   are huge. We've already talked about the courting of the team. What does the team know? How are they going to support the cell? I think is a great question. How is your team prepared to support the cell and making sure they're on board? But Trish, when it comes to the, I think the profit in the AR is probably for most buyers, a massive question mark. And when it comes to that as a   a doctor coming in, even if they're going to partner maybe, but buying that additional practice to come on board with yours, what are some pieces that you really look for within the profit or the collections and maybe even down to like software if you're adding an additional practice, what are some pieces you would advise your teams and your doctors to look up?   DAT Trish Ackerman (12:36) Before I even would go there, would first need to know what, like, what is the philosophy of this dentist? What kind of dentistry is he wanting to do? And there's, you know, we could, anybody can find a profitable practice somewhere close to them even. But if you're a, if you're a doctor that like wants to do heavy surgeries and you're all on fours and the big time stuff, but you find a practice that has a great patient base, good profit and all that stuff by a college.   then that might not be the right demographics for you. So like that is something that you even have to look at first. What type of patient base are you trying to attract? And what type of patient base, if you find the one that is Purcell, okay, good profit, team's healthy, accounts receivable is on point, but it's a patient base that is not going to be super open to your philosophy of dentistry, then that could be painful.   So that is also something, it might be a great deal, but that we'd be very careful about what's actually inside that patient base and if it's gonna align with the type of dentistry that we're looking to do.   The Dental A Team (13:36) Agreed.   Yeah.   I think that's like buying, you've found your perfect house. You're like, my gosh, this is the elevation that I want. It is white with black trim. It's got an acre of land, which is impossible to find and all the upgrades inside, right? This literally happened yesterday. I'm like, this is the house, but exactly, right? Like it's like backing a busy street and it's.   DAT Trish Ackerman (14:06) They a train track above it.   The Dental A Team (14:13) almost 20 minutes away from where we need to be. Right. So it's like, it's like finding your perfect home and you're like, this is the one, but it's completely outside of our school district or our, know, it's adding 20 minutes of Camille. I've done that. I have literally done that. And you guys, it was hard and it was unnecessary stress because there are more out there. So I love that you mentioned that because it's shiny objects syndrome, right?   Like that shiny object comes and it looks perfect. It's packaged beautifully, but underneath that shiny exterior is hiding something underneath that is gonna cause a lot of pain in the end. And I think that is the perfect statement there. Like watch for what it is that you want to do. Know what your philosophy is. What is it that you want to do with your dentistry?   DAT Trish Ackerman (15:08) Yep. And you can get there. It's not that they can't, but in order to get there, it's going to take some remolding of yourself temporarily. again, I'm going to use the high surgical doctor that wants to do lots of surgeries, lots of implants, but these patients have only seen one tooth dentistry and they've been patients for 20 years. We can introduce that after a couple of re-care cycles.   We need to kind of mesh with the selling doctor and the dentistry that he did and build the relationship first. So as long as the buyer can be patient, can accept that, then it can work. It can work. And it's not that difficult to do. I do think that that's when we come in very handy because that requires a lot of coaching. That does require accountability on their philosophy, behavior change.   And that's again, I mean, I don't want to totally toot our horn, but I will when it comes to that piece, because I think we do an excellent job coaching the doctors through situations like that.   The Dental A Team (16:14) Yeah, I totally agree. I've worked with a practice similar to this that came on board after purchasing the practice and ⁓ high aspirations and wants so much CE and wants to do all of these things within his dental philosophy that I am totally on board with. Although the purchase of the practice was a practice that just isn't, it wasn't ready yet. And there were a massive amount of patients, honestly, thriving.   on patient base 3000 patients within their database and very healthy active patient base. So the reactivation, the re care, like it was, it was easy to get that thing turning, but it took two to three re care cycles before he gets really start diagnosing the things that he wanted to diagnose. And just purchasing, this was a brand new practice first, you know, first time he's owned a practice. And I was like, you, you want to go in.   and you want to ramp up marketing and you want to replace the patients with the patients that you want. I hear you. I hear you. But financially and profit wise, that's not the way. And that's where, like you said, Trish, the coaching really came in handy because it was an easy space to gently add in the things that.   that he wanted and that he needed with the patient base, weeding out the patients that weren't gonna be okay with it, keeping the patients that were and now being ready to implement some marketing in a few months. know, it's still about a year and a half out from original ownership of this practice. Now we're ready to start marketing, but we had to get there because the finances had to make sense. And so I love that you say that, because I think a lot of people think it's totally fine. Like I can fix him.   Yeah, those things bother me, but we'll train it out of them. it's not really the patient base that I want, but I can replace it with new ones. Can you? Because if you're next to a college, like Trish said, you might not be able to do it as quickly as you need to. And honestly and truly, you may not be able to do it. So I love that analogy.   When it comes to profit in the AR, I think that's an easy space for doctors to look at that they kind of freak out about. But again, Trish, like you said, when you've got somebody behind you, you've got a coach. I know we've helped a lot of practices purchase their, not helped them purchase their practice, but really helped look at the pieces of it. It is an easy space for us to see healthy, not healthy when it comes to finances.   pulling the reports and kind of like going in and getting all the pieces, not our jam. That's not the type of consultants that we are, but we are the type of consultants that will walk you through step by step on what to look for. We will help look at P &Ls. We will help look at the overhead costs and the ⁓ health of the AR and credits like Trish mentioned, and really help to advise and give opinions. ⁓ But outside of that, for a buyer who's adding that practice,   I think you nailed it saying, what's your philosophy? Cause we're adding this practice. this going to be, is your philosophy that you want one of them to be GP and like bread and butter and you want the next one to be, you know, cosmetics. And is that the philosophy that we're going for? Like, what is that going to look like as a buyer? You've got to make that decision first, not while you're looking at practices. I think that would be really dangerous to not really know what you want and then go into it be like, well, this could be.   Well, is that what you want? So I love that. Something I think Trish that's kind of like simple that is often missed is software. What software are they using? Is this a software we know? Is it, is it one we're using? Is it one that we want to use? You know, Eagle soft compared to Dendrix or open dental compared to curve, like very, very different systems. Um, and this is wild. It's 2025, but there are still   Practices out there. I love them dearly. I love you guys. I love you so much all of you that are using paper They're not chartless and in this day and age the practices the doctors who own practices that are growing They're purchasing additional practices. You guys are like you're with it. The technology is there you've got CBT CT scans. You've got scanners. You've got Mobile everything you you're pulling up x-rays on your phone from your dental software and these   practices that you're purchasing, these practices that are out there are typically not gonna be super in alignment with that. So what is that reinvestment going to look like? And again, I think, Trish, back to the team aspect, can the team support it? Are they going to support it? Are they prepared to support it? ⁓ What do you think, Trish? What's your opinion on that?   DAT Trish Ackerman (21:07) Well,   I'm actually going through something similar right now. And here is my coaching around that. they're not paper, they're not paper, but they are dentrics and they have been dentrics for forever. I mean, honestly, think one of the team members has been there 20 years and this is all she knows. And that's okay. Okay, dentures is great. However, the new doctor who's been there 60 days   The Dental A Team (21:28) That's what you think. Yeah.   DAT Trish Ackerman (21:37) is ready to transition to either fuse or curve, one of the two. And we had a long discussion about this yesterday and I begged him, please pump the brakes on that. Because if you're buying a practice and you're acquiring the team and they're going through so much change as it is, and if you throw too much onto them and we go through a massive software shift like that, that could actually drive team members   to leave. I mean, I could. That's a huge shift or just a huge change. It's difficult. It doesn't mean that they don't get through it, but that's just another, that's just something else to really look at. Now, if it's paper, I kind of, would almost, I mean, that's a toughie, but I would almost say hold off for at least 90 days. Like just get in there, build the relationship with the team. I know that the Biden doctor would be chomping at the bit. We've got to some.   The Dental A Team (22:08) Absolutely.   DAT Trish Ackerman (22:36) some new technology in there when it comes to software. But when we're buying, those are still things that we do. Either we need to be super slow with and or have such a bond with the team and spoil them right out of the gate that they become our partners quickly. And that is also possible. It truly is possible. But again, building the relationship with the team. If you're going to throw a software change in there like that, then we need to be strategic on how and when.   The Dental A Team (22:39) Yeah.   Yeah. And I think that I agree and what is massive. agree. And going from Dentrix, you guys, like people who use Dentrix, I'm a Dentrix girl. ⁓ I used Dentrix for almost 20 years in practice and it is, yeah, Dentrix is like iPhones. I, in my opinion, Dentrix is like Apple. Once you're in it, you're just, you're sold. You're like, Dentrix is life. Apple is life. Right? Like I know my phone, the capabilities of my phone is so much more than what I have.   DAT Trish Ackerman (23:07) and what.   Good stuff.   The Dental A Team (23:35) but I am so infused and integrated into the Apple web. I can't imagine being out of it and not having an iPhone. Dentrix is very similar. So if you can relate, relate. ⁓ But I think Tresh what you mentioned that I agree. I totally agree. Waiting timeline, you guys. And we're really good at timelines. We are really great.   at taking all of the ideas that you want and being like, fantastic, let's build you a timeline. Let's get this charted for you. And then you know the path that you're going down. So reach out to us. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. If you are a client, like talk to your consultant, that's what we are really, really good at that. But what you made me think of again is that courting process. Because if you're courting the team and the selling doctor and you're building a relationship with the selling doctor and the team ahead of the purchase,   you're already ahead of the game when it comes to that because they are ready to welcome you and support you. And if you've done it right, right, like I know that my boyfriend's kids will know that a dish goes in the dishwasher, right? It drives them nuts. A dish goes in the dishwasher, right? But that's already gonna be a known fact because there's a courting process, right? So what are the quirks? What are the things that   A team really needs to get to know about you. So it's not a complete shock when you come in. So anyways, I loved this. I, I loved the seller's perspective, but I love the buyer's perspective too. And really being able to see that. Yeah. Thank you Trish for all of that. If you were to pick say three action items for ⁓ someone who's thinking about adding a practice or buying a practice, what would the top three action items be for them?   DAT Trish Ackerman (25:04) I did so.   Really know your demographics. How far away is it from your other practice? If you're adding an additional practice, how far away is it? And what is the team going to do when you come in? How can you establish that team prior? And how can you get the trust and the buy-in from that team first? Because what you don't want is to buy a practice and then the team leave.   The Dental A Team (25:40) Yeah, yep, I love that. Demographics, location, team. Those are fantastic places. Yeah.   DAT Trish Ackerman (25:45) And then we look at everything else. But those   are the time I would start there and make sure that the demographics are good, the team is good, and then everything else we can work out and coach through.   The Dental A Team (25:49) Yeah.   okay.   Yeah, I totally agree with you. It makes me think of, of interviewing. always say, get the demographics out of the way first, because if your practice is too far for someone to drive, they're not willing to drive there. All of those other questions that you asked before you got there are null and void. They mean nothing. So save yourself some time, check the demographics, the locations you want patient base demographics, location base, and then you want team. So I love that. Thanks Trish.   DAT Trish Ackerman (26:23) Yep.   The Dental A Team (26:24) Okay, that's a wrap   guys. I hope you enjoyed this. You do not need to necessarily listen to the sellers first. So you're welcome. We wait until the end. I told you I would tell you. You can listen to them in whatever order you want to. But listen to them both. So that was your buyer's perspective. Trish, I love ⁓ bantering with you. Thank you so much for your perspectives and your wit. you guys, drop us five star review. Let us know what you loved. Let us know any other ideas you have or if you have purchase practice.   practices put them in the notes you guys because people again they really do read those if you have tips and tricks we want to hear them too we Learn these things from you guys as well. It's not just knowledge. We were born with this is from experience So go do the things Hello@TheDentalATeam.com You can head over to our website TheDentalATeam.com and you can actually schedule a free consultation with our team and we will be happy to help you in whatever ways we can and As Trish loves to say go be amazing   DAT Trish Ackerman (27:21) Thanks, Tiff.

It's office autopsy time! Kiera shares the story of a practice that recently discovered $2.5 million going unnoticed. She talks about the doctors and their (very) busy schedules, the need for an additional hygienist, and what the cold, hard numbers told this practice about next steps. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: Kiera Dent (00:01) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera. And today I am excited. I was just in a practice and we were going through a lot of really fun things. And whenever I come from an office, I get so excited to come back and chat with our podcast family of things that you and your practice should and could be doing. I was told when I was in this office, this is the Dental A Team magic where we physically fly to your practice. We work with your teams. We work with you as a doctor. We uncover hidden pieces that maybe you didn't even know to bring to a call.   I think it's so magical to be able to do this for practices. And so today is a little office autopsy of finding $2.5 million left behind on the table in ways that you would never expect. Sound interesting? Well, I hope you're ready because I wanna take you through and uncover hidden little cashflow pits that you might not even be looking at. So number one, we decided to go through...   because this doctor is so busy. So many of you tell me I'm so busy, Kiera, my schedule is jam-packed, and I say congratulations, but what is the cost of that? So for example, if you have your hygiene department, you should be looking at your active patient base. So an active patient base for a general dentist should be 1,500 patients as an active patient for one doctor. High end, like where you can kind of get by is 1,900, but beyond that, that's very high. And we're talking 12 months and 18 months. So take a look at both of those numbers.   and just look to see where are you at. So this practice, they have about 4,500 active patients with two full-time doctors. They're at capacity. So what's happening is we have options. We can add more hygiene, but then that's going to have our doctor to hygiene, AKA our exams at the wrong amount. What's happening is they're dropping periopatients because they don't have space for their...   Regular prophy patients, then they're diagnosing SRPs, but they have nowhere to put them for six months. They're pushing new patients out for four to five months. So we did a little bit of fun math and we didn't even, this is just gonna be some hypotheticals, but I think for you just to hear like, what are some of the things that actually can hurt your practice and how much are you leaving on the table when we do things like this? So for this practice, when we went through and we looked at it, we thought, all right, let's take an average prophy and whatever it is for you.   Maybe it's 150 up to 200 for an average prophy. We're talking prophy, x-rays, cleanings, or just even prophy and an exam. How much is that for you and your practice? Now, look to see how many active patients you have. If we've got 4,500, well guess what? You get a double that because those patients are coming in two times a year. So have fun with those numbers. We divide that by 12. We look at how many patients we're seeing per day. Now that doesn't necessarily mean how many you are, but that's how many you're going to need to see.   Then we look to see how much hygiene we have right now today to see, we actually have enough hygiene spaces for it? But let's not forget that we also have to add new patients because in addition to our active base, we are constantly adding more patients. Yes, we are losing some patients, but my hope is that you at least are adding more than we're losing. So we've got to look at those two together and see how much time we actually have in a week, in a month that we need to be seeing patients. This is gonna then show you your gap. So for this practice, they had over 200 appointments   that they were short every single month. That's at a minimum. So clearly they're ready to bring on another hygienist. This was great numbers to see, do I bring on a hygienist? Do I not bring on a hygienist? But the problem is they're already at five hygienists with two doctors. You can start to do the math. So it's like, well, great. Well, we're not diagnosing perio either. So options are we could bring on a sixth hygienist and that hygienist would just do SRP. That doesn't mean just that person, but we'd have eight hours of SRP in a given day.   spread across all the hygienists. That means we don't increase our exam numbers, but we do increase our number of perio. We do increase our number of hygiene spots. That's going to help in some instances. But even if we fix that problem, remember we still have all these patients that we're not seeing. So this practice right now, they told me, hey, Kiera, we're pushing our patients out about eight months is where we've got to put them. We can't see them on the six month mark. We've got to push them to the eight month. So I did the math and I was like, okay, average pro fee is going to be about $150 per patient.   but you gotta take all those patients that would be seen in one month and we times that by 150. Now, I understand this is very loose math, but it gives a good idea because think about it, those patients, if we saw them every six months, that's money from insurance and also from seeing them on a regular schedule, plus not just that, but patient care. We see them on the six month interval, but these ones we're not seeing every six months, we're seeing them every eight months. So that means there's two months that we're missing out on opportunities to see them.   So when we did the math, it averaged out to about $450,000 with this patient base annually, just of miss hygiene. And that was only on one month. If you want to do it on two months, which is realistically what it would be, that's almost a million dollars worth of revenue, just in hygiene miss opportunity. That's fascinating to me. This is why I think a consultant is so powerful because we come in and we do crazy numbers like this and we look at your numbers and we look at where you're at. And it really gives you the confidence to know, can I bring on an associate? Can I bring on more hygiene?   I feel like this, what does the number and the data suggest? So just looking at that, I was like, a simple fix is bring a hygienist in, let's have our perio go up. And then also we need to bring a doctor in for whether it's full time or not. So we ran scenarios of if we brought a doctor in, if we added more hygiene, if we had our doctors do this, what do we need to do? How do we keep our doctor to hygiene ratio running all these scenarios to then say, my gosh, this really would help our practice out.   And when I think about this and I think about practices for us, are you looking at numbers and metrics like this? Are you calculating the cost of missed appointments or not scheduling our hygiene patients back? Not to mention that we're certainly not doing 30 % of our patient base as perio. What these hygienists are doing is they're seeing that they need perio, but they don't have space to put them. So they don't want to have the conversation. This is no knock to a hygiene team. Several hygienists do it because I'm going to tell you, you've got this awful disease.   but then I'm not actually going to be able to get you in for X number of days, weeks, months. That feels really, really, really hard to try and convince a patient of this. So what do we do? We clean it out and we say, you know what, we're just gonna get it next time. But next time then fumbles and then we gotta have these conversations. Then we don't wanna have these conversations. We're constantly looking at like, we're just punting the ball down the line. So what do we need to do on this? What are the scenarios in this option? How much money is being left behind, but also how much patient? And this is great.   Other options that we considered are, we cut insurances? Because, hey, if we've got this many patients, what if we cut out our lowest producing insurance that pays us? And the doctor said, no, my mission and vision for this practice is that we care for the average patient, that we are here to take care of them and support them. And that's what this doctor wants to do. So it's like, great. They have an incredible building. They've got more space to build out. Fantastic. Let's bring in the other doctors. Let's bring in more hygiene. Let's serve these patients because instantly if we brought on one or two more hygienists,   Guess what? We could backfill very quickly with all those patients. Plus we need to hold space for new patients and perio that would be ideal based on the number of perio. So then you look at your patient base, you figure out 30 % of that. That's going to tell you how much SRP spaces you need to hold every single month in the practice. Don't forget, once you have SRP, you also need to have perio maintenance is in there. So this you can see is like this amazing web of data, of knowledge, of fun.   to figure out how much is your practice actually leaving on the table unintentionally. And when I looked at that, the doctor, he was like, well, Kiera, number one, you're always worth your weight in gold. You come in and you find little things. You guys, that is one small change that's worth 450 to $900,000 just in the amount of pro fees. That's nothing else, nothing. Like that's all we did. And to be able to uncover little opportunities like this and so,   for you to look at your practice, this is why I wanted to give you this scenario of this practice. There were several others that we looked at that we found that we were able to just quickly identify. But I think so often people are looking for big moves. They're looking for these all on X cases. They're looking for what could I do here? How could I do this? What could we change this for? And what I wanna highlight to you is I promise you there are little gold nuggets in your practice of true solid gold that's serving patients at a higher level.   or you have to do nothing else in this practice. And all you need to do is just shift one or two things and instantly your practice is going to grow 10, 20, 30, 40, 50%. Small little tweaks and changes, small little gaps, small little pieces. So it's let's look to see our hygiene patients coming in on time, like on the six month interval. Do we have the correct active patient base for the number of doctors that we have? Do we have enough hygiene to doctor ratio? What's our perio percentage?   How many perio maintenance are we doing? Are we solid on those pieces with our patient base? And then if we are on those, let's look at our x-rays. Are we doing our FMXs and our comp exams on regular frequencies? Are we doing perio, excuse me, are we doing fluoride therapy on all of our patients if you believe in that? These little tiny opportunities just in hygiene I've highlighted for you, not to mention all the other spaces that we could go after, but just hygiene alone. Are we collecting before patients walk out the door?   Are we using our block schedules and getting enough block time in our schedules for our new patients, for our perio? Do we have those blocked in there? Because if we don't, guess what? Like I don't even do the math for you on how much SRP patients are, but you wanna tack that on with the number of patients that we're missing out on. That's for sure a $1.2 million mistake with no extra effort. So I just want you today, it's a quick fast episode. It's a down and dirty of one, I think this is a huge.   A-ha of what a consultant can do for your practice. Number two, I think it's a quick a-ha for you to look at your practice and say, hey, during my CEO time, let me go walk through my practice and let me see these little gaps and cashflow gaps in my practice and let's see how we can close those up. And number three, I really hope you realize so many people think they need to expand, go get another practice, all these different things to grow their business. And I will tell you that 99, maybe I'll say 90 % of the time, we can find growth, we can find opportunities.   right underneath your roof with no extra effort, no extra energy, just to do a small change. Perfect block scheduling. Usually can add $1 million plus to a practice if we do it correctly. No extra hours, no extra time, no extra team members, just being more strategic with it. Increasing your case acceptance, small little change, small little tweak, way more revenue to your practice. So my question to you is, what's it worth? What's your hour, two hours, three hours of admin time worth to you if it could show that you could create this?   What's it worth not to call a consultant to just come check your practice and see what are maybe the hidden gaps? You guys, this practice is doing amazing. Their overhead's great, their team's great, all of that. You would think on paper that this person doesn't need a consultant. They're not stressed, they're not cashflow poor, they're none of those things. What they are is they are looking for the hidden opportunities that a consultant who's been in practices hundreds of times can come and find for them. They're looking for, what am I not thinking about that you're gonna think about? I want you to come in and find that.   And I love it. I feel like I get to go in as a sleuth. I'm not looking for systems or operations. This practice, like I said, on paper, this practice looks like they would never need to call a consultant. But what I want to highlight for you is we found in a less than day and a half, over a million, and I just told you one part of this story, over a million dollars worth of opportunity for this practice. Would that be worth your time? Something to consider.   Something to think about. And I hope today you take this and you don't just think about it, but you go do action because I promise you there is just this same, if not bigger cashflow leak in your practice or hit an opportunity that you're not thinking about that would radically change your practice, your patients, your team, your life. So go find it. And if you don't know how to do it, reach out, or if you're like, Hey, I'd love you just to come see like come sleuth. Let's do this together. Reach out. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com your practice, your team, your life is worth it.   and you deserve all the happiness in the world. And I'm happy that you chose to listen today. I'm happy to hear you hung out. And if you thought this was a fascinating podcast, share it with a friend because I think all of us could think a little bit differently, find these little opportunities. Again, no extra diagnosis, no extra work, just changing it up a little bit, doing things a little differently and their practice is going to exponentially grow. Yes, they need to bring a doctor. Yes, they need to find a hygienist. Yes, they're strategic, but we talked about all the different scenarios, ran all the different numbers and hey, here's all the options. Now pick which one you want to do.   There's so many ways to do it, but look at the awesome opportunities that they could do. And I hope that you do the same. And as always, thanks for listening. I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team Podcast.  

Kiera compares the stages of a business to the stages of the human life cycle, from the infancy of a startup, to the chaos of money flow without systems, to the growing profitability of early adulthood, and so on. The goal is, of course, to reach maturity, where the business can run on its own, there's work-life balance, money flow, and more. Kiera gives listeners the common factors for each "age group," and what needs to be done for practices to reach their prime. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: Kiera Dent (00:00) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera and I hope you are having an amazing day. I hope it's an epic day. I hope you're loving your life. I hope you're having just so much fun. ⁓ I love dentistry. I love podcasting. I love connecting with so many of you. I just met people this week that are Dental A Team fanatics and it's always fun. And it's funny on calls when I get to chat with you in real life, people are like, Kiera, you sound just like you do on the podcast. And I'm like, that's great because guess what? It is me.   So I am so excited to podcast with you guys today. Welcome. If you're new to Dental A Team podcast. Hello, I'm Kiera Dent. Dent really is my last name. And it's because I love all things dental. ⁓ I love my husband, even though he's not a dentist. ⁓ I love, I just love life. I love helping people. We had a, in our consulting, we have what we call our doctor mastermind. It's a doctor only mastermind and it's on ⁓ Tuesday, the first Tuesday of the month. And we call it Think Tank Tuesday for our doctor mastermind.   We had all of our doctors there this week and we had several doctors come. It was just a really, really fun time. And as I was sitting there, I tell everybody that this think tank is supposed to feel like you're sitting in my living room, hanging out with me. We're all just here having like a good time. I love to see there's one doctor pushing her daughter on a swing. There was another doctor making dinner. There's another doctor sitting at the office, another doctor driving home.   It truly is a like, let your hair down, come be, let's come hang out, let's all be together, let's all work together. Cause honestly, dentistry can be super hard and challenging. And ⁓ as I walked away from that, we were talking about the life cycle of a business and people were just talking about where they were and here's where I am and how do I get to the next phase of my business? What are some easy moves? And it was crazy because it's actually not that hard to move from one part of the business to the next part. ⁓ A lot of times it's just having somebody pointed out to you.   ⁓ giving you the confidence that you can do that. ⁓ And then having a group of people around you that are just like you. And as I walked out of that meeting and that just fun hangout time, there's always Kiera's after party, which is not recorded. It is Kiera unfiltered. I just thought, I'm so blessed to get to know these human beings, these people that we get to work alongside with, that we get to collaborate with. I get to see them go through all the phases of business from where they were to where they are.   working with us, get to see their production increase, I get to see their ROI ⁓ tenfold, I get to see how happy they are in life, I get to see when they were once stressed to where now they're exuberant and happy and fulfilled and that is why Dental A Team exists. That is why the podcast exists is because I want all of you to feel like you have ⁓ someone in your corner, someone who is rooting for you, someone who has answers where you feel like there are none, someone who sees the path more clearly than you can.   someone who's created a community of like-minded doctors that are either where you are or have been where you are and can help you get to the next step. We have doctors who mentor each other. have ⁓ masterminds in person. have where we come to your practice. So if you're listening to this podcast and you're feeling like, gosh, I just don't even know what to do. The answer is there's actually always the what's next to do. There's always somebody who can help you. It's just you having the courage to book the call to   ⁓ invest in your practice in yourself and decide that you're worth having the life and the practice that you know, you're capable of having. And so if that resonates with you, reach out, come join our doctor mastermind, come meet us in person, come hang out with me in real life. I would love to have you be a part of it. ⁓ my mission truly is to change people's lives. and that's luckily I get this amazing platform of dentistry. So, reach out, Hello@TheDentalATeam.com because honestly, I believe that it is so fun and so powerful. ⁓   to go from that. And so I teased out a little bit of a life cycle of a business. This came from Tony Robbins. I really love Tony. I love a lot of things that he teaches and ⁓ there's a lot of wisdom. so just to kind of to take this on for the podcast today, I feel like, hey, we talked about this in our Dr. Mastermind, but I think it'd be very beneficial for all of you to hear. And this is my adaptation of it to take it to dental offices and kind of then giving you some of the things that I see in a practice so you can kind of understand.   But basically we have kind of like think about the life cycle of human beings. It's where we start out as infancy. We're born into this world and then we're infants and then we're toddlers. And then we go into this like middle life, like middle school. And then we go into high school and then we go into young adults. So college or young adult. Then we go into maturity or our prime of our life. Then we go into this kind of midlife evaluation. That's right before we retire. Then we go into aging. Then we go into institutionalization and then we go to death.   So we think about how people go around and it's interesting because there could be say a 25 year old, 30 year old, 40 year old who actually could be on the aging path even though their age is not where you would think that they would be. And so the idea of this is to kind of look to see based on like a life cycle of us where your business is and what maybe is like the pain point. So when we look at a business and we look at like children, so an infant,   They're screaming, right? They're screaming all the time. Yes, they're alive. Yes, they're there, but they're screaming and they're hungry and they don't know how to make money and they always have all these problems and it just feels like it's problem after problem after problem. That's like when you first start a business and it is chaos and it is exuberant and it is blissful and it is terrifying. Like Tiff and I were actually joking about it when we were on our doctor mastermind and we were talking about how like Dental A Team when it was in its infancy stage.   I literally was paying Tiffanie via Venmo. I did not have any payroll set up. I don't know why Tiff stayed with me. So Spiffy Tiffy shout out to her today. ⁓ But I really truly was such a naive business owner. I did not have protocols. I did not have a lawyer. I didn't have HR. I just said, I want to be here in this world and put something together, but no processes, no systems. It was screaming mayhem all the time. And then you go from that infancy stage to toddler, right? Toddlers, they can sleep through the night.   They're more independent. They can reason on certain things, but they're not this middle schooler, right? ⁓ And so when we look at that toddler that like they're going to elementary school, they're kind of in that middle stage. This is now where a business has elevated. It's not like paying people via Venmo, ⁓ but you still don't have the cash flow to be able to hire great people. It's still this like very new. You probably have one or two people. Practices that are in this realm are more the   the startup phase. So startup is like your very infancy, whether you're buying it or if it's a scratch start or you already have it. But it's kind of that screaming and then you move into toddler where like we can afford like one or two people on our team. but maybe we're moonlighting at another practice. cash flow is not consistent. ⁓ Systems and processes are not in place. And it's really just in this like delicate, but more stable, like we're like, okay, we're not we're not gonna go broke.   We know we can kind of handle, but at the same time, cashflow is not there. Then you move into middle school and you think about a middle schooler. This is where like we're starting to hit production. We can kind of have a few team members in there. We kind of maybe have a little bit of money, but not quite. ⁓ And we're starting to get a little more established, but we're like very gangly. We're very awkward. ⁓ We're doing the dentistry, but we're still, we're still not quite making it. And so from there, when we move from there,   You didn't go into a teenager and you think about a teenager, they think they know what they're doing. They've got the keys to the car. And this is where you've got money, but you're blowing through it because you have no systems, no processes. Like you are mayhem. Like you're making the money, but you're not keeping the money. And you're running on all four cylinders. But it's just chaos. It's wild. There's a frenzy. There's an excitement. And I think when Dental A Team was in that phase,   We had a little bit of money and so we were hiring people, but we didn't have quite enough money so we're not hiring experts quite yet. And you can just feel there's like this teenage energy and ⁓ then you move into like young adult and young adults were like perfect. The company is making money. We're able to hire more experienced people. So like we can bring on an office manager. We can bring on a better hygienist. We can have more things in place. And then we go into this like maturity and maturity and prime are where we're.   Profitable, we've got the production, we've got the systems in place. have a leadership team that's running the practice. It's not all dependent upon the dentist or one or two people. We've got the systems in place, we've got the profit in place, we've got the production in place. And a lot of times that happens when people are in this maturity or this prime, they're hanging out right there. What they often do is this is when they wanna buy another practice. Sometimes they even wanna buy a practice when they're in toddler, teenager, or like that college mid-year. But they're really just...   this is when they do it. And what happens is when you buy a practice or you expand your practice or you any of the phases, then you actually like usually kick yourself down and you go back to either toddler or maybe middle schooler or high schooler and your business like re re fumbles. There was a practice that I was working with and they're like, Kiera, we have this great opportunity. I worked with them for a year and we got everything set. The doctor was like, I'm tired of having to run it all. So they were like kind of in that   probably more at that mid year, they were probably college age. So the practice was great. They were profitable, but the doctor was still doing everything. And the doctor was just like, I don't want to do this anymore. I need you to train my team. I need you to train all the people so that way I can just come be a dentist and truly own my business, which kicks you into that maturity and prime. So we worked together. We were able to train the team. We were able to train the doctor. We did leadership training. We trained the whole team. We put systems into place that they didn't realize. And the doctor like literally we got them into prime like   It was incredible. It took us about a year to get them there. And they're like, Kiera, it's great. Cause I was thinking like, we're wrapped up. put a bow on this. I'm super excited for you guys. And the doctor was like, Kiera, guess what? There's this awesome opportunity for another practice. Do you think we should buy it? And I tell you, when people get into this like prime, like they're in it, they've, they've, they reached the mountain. They're like, we should buy another practice. And I was like, well, so here's the deal.   your kids have gone off to college. That's where your practice is right now. Like you're sitting here, you're very happy, you're very comfortable. Life is very easy for you. And buying another practice is going to be literally bringing on a screaming brand new, like brand brand new infant baby. Do you want to do that? And the doctor was like, that's a good point. ⁓ Let me think about that. And they're like, here, the deal is just too good of a deal. And honestly, if I was in their shoes, I would have done the same thing. The practice was truly a, you should take it and do it.   And then what happened, we flew all the way back down into toddler. Like we didn't go quite back to infancy, but oh my gosh, like the practices started screaming and both practices started struggling. And all these little pieces came up because we went from having this mature, we're in prime, our life is really easy to bringing on this screaming baby. And all of a sudden everything started jostling, the leadership team got jostly. We were bringing in different partners and lo and behold, two, three years later, we finally now gotten the practices.   they're right around teenager, maybe young adult for both locations and guess what they want to do? You guess it, they want to buy another practice. And this tends to be the cycle of dentistry. ⁓ Or what actually can happen is we go from prime and then we actually can go into midlife evaluation. And what happens here is when doctors are considering like, do I want to sell? Do I want to keep sitting in the chair? Maybe we're ⁓ not, not purposely, but maybe we are not diagnosing as much as we used to. Maybe we don't want to go to the CEs. Maybe we don't want to do all these other pieces. And you start to get into this midlife. And if you're not careful and you don't   get the CE or get a younger associate or whatever it is to kick you back over or bring in different team members, you can actually then fall into aging and become this aging practice that ⁓ if you're not careful, will actually die off. ⁓ And that's what we call sleeping practices. New grads love to buy aging practices, but then what can also happen is your team members might also be at a different space on the life cycle than you are. So sometimes when you inherit this sleeping practice as a new owner, well, you might.   inherit a team that also is maybe a little bit sleepy too where they're like I'm on my way to retirement, I don't want to be putting in all this new technology, I don't want to do all this software, I don't want to do all these changes or that team might be like sweet and they got kicked back just like someone in their 50s can be like you know I'm gonna go run a marathon and they kick them back into that maturity, that prime or they're in their 60s or they're 65 like my mom she went back to college, my mom was on her path to aging and she went back to college later on in life, she became   She got her master's degree and she started working a job. You better believe that pushed her all the way back over into like teenager. Like she had no clue what she was doing, but she flipped herself back over and, and added more of that energy back into her life. And so all of us, what I was trying to explain through all this is just because you're at one space in the life cycle does not mean that you're forever on the trajectory up and over the curve. It's like a bell curve. ⁓ what we're trying to aim for on whichever side of the bell curve, whether we're on the young toddler or we're on the more aging headed towards institutional.   is our goal is to keep our businesses keep pivoting towards that prime, that maturity, that middle spot where the business is running without us, it's profitable, we're able to have all the time, the work-life balance that we wanna have. And so when you're looking at this, the questions are one, where are you personally on the life cycle of the business and yourself? Are you a new owner? Are you a seasoned owner? Where do you fall on that? Where is your practice through all this?   And then where is your team through all of this? And then assessing based on all those factors, what needs to happen to get you closer to that like middle section where we were striving for that's the prime and where is it? And what do you need to do to get back there? So a couple of scenarios were like a doctor is struggling, they're exhausted, they're burnt out, they're doing all the work and like, what should they be doing? They're producing well, they've got hygienists there, but they're exhausted. They're working like five days a week, just exhausted.   Like what can this person do? And so the questions are, where is this person on the life cycle? This person could be in teenager where they're just exhausted because they're doing it all. They also could be over on midlife evaluation where they're doing it all. Both can actually be true, depending upon the practice and where they're at. And there is no science to this. like, okay, if you have XYZ, then you fall here. Like this is more for you to assess. ⁓ And when I look at this and I think about it, ⁓ options for this practice are hiring an associate would be amazing. That would kick them into prime.   It will also kick them down into the screaming if they don't have the systems in place. But what it will do is it will add some energy. You could also add in team members and no more than you do because you've got the money, you've got the flow. You could bring on a consultant that can help you get to the next level. You could actually add on extra days. You don't have to necessarily work it, but it's what can I do to get myself to this prime where I'm profitable? I'm producing what I want. I'm working the hours that I want. I'm innovating the practice. My team is aligned. My team is running the practice. I'm not staying here.   till super, super late every single night. I have my family life that's ideal for me. That's what we're aiming for. That's what we're striving for in consulting and working with our clients. This is what I obsessed about is how can we get more clients to their sweet spot? That's when I say like living their dream life when I walk it and I see people that have gotten there. That's what I mean by this, like maturity, this prime. Like I remember my CPA told me ⁓ once he said, Kiera, it actually gets a lot easier later on in life. He's like, because   then like you bought the house, you bought the cars, like whatever it is that you were striving for, and then money becomes easier. And I was like, you are a liar. There's no way this is gonna happen. And then you meet people and they really are there and they're comfortable and they walk with ease. And there's just this like, I don't know this calm about them, but they're still very energetic. They still have a lot of things that they wanted to, but I think the frantic energy of the young or the exhausted energy of the aging doesn't exist.   It's more this centered calm, knowing, doing things on purpose and intentional rather than reactionary. It's a very, very different space. And so like that's our obsession is getting offices to that space. And so for you to assess and to diagnose, where are you? And what's fascinating to me that I often find is sometimes the dentist is actually the problem. There was a dentist that I was chatting with and this doctor refuses to delegate. And I'm like, so great. You've actually accidentally pushed your practice into almost aging.   because you're not willing to delegate. And then also you're not willing to hire people that are smarter and more equipped. You're sitting here having very inexperienced team members that don't know what they're doing, making lots of mistakes. So therefore you don't trust anybody because you haven't spent the money to hire the people that you need to hire to bring in that energy and that structure and that leadership. Instead, you're trying to do it all yourself plus be the dentist. Like you have actually not like kept yourself younger. You've actually   aged your practice accidentally to where if you're not careful, it will actually age and deteriorate into death. And so I think also being self-aware of where you are, ⁓ I think being cognitive and what's really awesome is once you know where you are, once you know where your team is, once you know where your business is, then instantly the diagnosis becomes very easy of what you need to do and what the next step is. But I think oftentimes easy and doing are not the same thing.   I think oftentimes we say, my gosh, this is so easy, but that doesn't mean that I want to do it or that I'm going to do it or that I'm going to follow through on it. I think so many times people get stuck and they're just like, either A, I'm not willing to accept what I need to do or B, I don't know what I need to do or C, I'm not willing to acknowledge what I know I need to do and actually do it. And so if I look at all of this, I think this is a fun assessment for you to look to see like what, where am I on the life cycle of the business? What do I need to do to progress to the next level?   And am I willing to do that? Or do I need somebody to push me along? I will say sitting in a business myself, I have hired different people. I have realized when the business has outgrown me, we just had a meeting with our team and I said, guys, like the great news is we have grown, we've evolved and our mission is to positively impact the world of dentistry in the greatest way possible and to serve more offices. And I can't do that with the knowledge that I have today. I need someone smarter than me that knows how to run systems on a different level.   I can do it for dental offices all day long, but a corporate business that's evolving, I don't know how to do that. Do I know how to like program HubSpot? The answer is a hard pass. No, I do not even know what that thing should do. I've never worked in an industry that's done that. I need someone smarter than me. And so we bring those people in and what's beautiful is it's scary and it's daunting, but it is magical because I know that this is the next phase to get us to where we actually want to go and to be in those optimal spaces.   Again, you're not always on the upward path we're always working towards and certain decisions will actually push us back down. Sometimes personal decisions, sometimes business decisions, sometimes things outside of our control, like we lose key team members or we have unexpected life events. Those can move us in this space a lot differently. So really it's a matter of where are we today and where do we want to be and how can we get closer to that destination today? And that's something I love. And hopefully today you took an assessment on yourself. Hopefully you diagnosed where you were.   And hopefully you realize that the answer is not too far away from where you want it to be. Or maybe you're like, Kiera, I absolutely don't know. Well, great. Reach out. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com or go to our website, TheDentalATeam.com. Click on the book of call. And I will definitely happily chat with you and help you see where are you at and what's your next step and how we, or you can do it on your own can help you. But the answer is you're worth it. You deserve it. You deserve to be in that maturity prime optimized space of your life where there's calm, not chaos, where there's fun and joy rather than.   ⁓ the worry all the time. And again, no stage is permanent. None of them are. Everything is temporary. Everything only lasts for so long, but it's how can we make it last longer in the space we want to be rather than it deteriorating or not accelerating or crushing us before it even has a chance to begin. And that's something that I really love doing. So if we can help you at all, reach out Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. ⁓   Definitely so obsessed with making sure that you as a human being are taken care of, that you feel like there's someone championing for you and helping you out and making sure that you are taken care of. So reach out. ⁓ And if not, make sure you assess where you are and be committed to taking the next step. Great things truly never come from comfort zones. So get off that comfort zone, push yourself to the next level and know that ⁓ patience, teams, your life, your family, all of that's worth it. And you.   especially are worth it. And as always guys, I just adore you. I hope you have an amazing day today. And as always, thanks for listening and I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team Podcast.  

Tiff and Trish discuss the often ignored practice transition — are you looking ahead for your practice? Ten years out? Thirty years? The two consultants discuss what to keep in line now so that any changes on the horizon are received with minimal panic and damage. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: The Dental A Team (00:01) Hello Dental A Team listeners. We are here today with some really, really just fantastic information. We're rounding out the year, if you can believe that. It's almost 2026, so whatever year you're listening to this in, hopefully it's also still super relevant, but we are heading into 2026 here soon. And we thought that it would be really fun to just wrap the year with a couple of different practice strategy kind of.   don't know, just like how to progress where you're at, from where you're at to where you wanna go. Strategy podcast. So I'm just super excited. I have one of my favorite human beings in the world here with me today. I have Ms. Trish Ackerman. She is a prized possession on the Dental A Team team here. She is a traveling dental consultant with our team, which means that she does virtual consulting. So we do.   coaching calls, video calls, we team training calls, all those pieces, you guys know that, but she also travels to practices and sees different practices in person, kind of helping them strategize and train the team and get things working again, kind of oiling that machine. And something I like to say is, I always tell my practices, Trish, and I think you probably feel the same way, I always tell my practices that we have the most incredible practices that join the Dental A Team. We really attract the most incredible people, but   more than anything, I always know that I'm coming into a practice that's running really well. And my job is to find the areas where they just kind of feel a little bit stuck. Maybe something's a little bit inefficient. Maybe there's just something that's like, gosh, if we tweak this a centimeter to the left or a millimeter to the right, kind of I think of like implants, like, you know, you gotta just get them just right. And if we can make that little tweak ⁓ with them in office and find those areas, then their lives become.   less stressful. like to remove the stress. So I always tell practices, gosh, like I just don't get invited to practices that aren't doing well. I'm always, I'm always just so shocked at how well practices are doing. And Trish, I know you've consulted for a while. You've been here with our team for a little while, but you have just so much, there's like a wealth of knowledge behind you and all of the aspects of everything that you've done. And I'm so excited for you to be on this team. I know your practices are thriving because you're here.   We are thriving because you're here and we're all better people because of it. So Trish, thank you so much for being here today. I'm excited to pick your brain on these practice strategies. How are you? Your hair, we already talked about your hair is stellar. I had a weird hair dream. So hair is on the mind. It's like, it's a thing today. So welcome with your beautiful glasses and your beautiful hair. And it's 8 a.m. in the morning. What were we thinking? But this is a great way to start our day. Trish, how are you today?   DAT Trish Ackerman (02:44) I'm doing great. Thanks, Tim. I always like doing this with you.   The Dental A Team (02:47) Okay, thank you. Thank you. That makes it much easier ⁓ when I schedule it that you enjoy doing it. So thank you. I appreciate that. ⁓ I do enjoy life with you. You shed a lot of perspective for me. So thank you. ⁓ Yeah, definitely team listeners. I had this, okay, start over. Marketing, our marketing department, they help us come up with a lot of topics. And then the consulting team, we kind of look at them more like, hey, is this relevant? Is this something that   DAT Trish Ackerman (02:55) Welcome.   Thank you.   The Dental A Team (03:17) we're seeing pop up in our worlds of consulting with our clients and our listeners is this something that's going to be super beneficial. And this topic came up and I was like, gosh, actually, it's kind of super cool to end the year with this because now we get to look into what next year is going to be. And this could be a lot of strategy that helps build, I think, Trish long term visions. It might not be something that someone's thinking about today. Just like I know we have.   you know, lot of new graduates who listen and, a lot of doctors who've been in practice for 20, 30 years, or even three years, five years, wherever they're at on their journey, I feel like this is information that we like to shed light on for all of our practices. That's like, always be prepared. Just like, I don't feel like, I don't feel like we buy houses. We don't have a home and not know the value always. Like we're always making sure we know the value. We're making sure we know, you know, our prices right.   our interest rates are the best that we can get. Do we need to refinance? We're always looking at those aspects, but I think that we forget to duplicate that and look at it in our business as well and make sure that we always know the health of our business. And Trish, when we're building out goals, I know you and I both do this. We like to look as far ahead as we can, like 10 years ahead to say, what could that look like? And when do you want to retire?   Right, when do you think that you want to repair? How long do you want to work? And even if that's 30 years down the road, making sure that at any point we could be ready for that. And so today is really talking about practice transition strategies, what that might look like. And Trish, I want to know from your perspective, you've done quite a few practice transitions, I would imagine, in the history of dentistry that you've got behind you there. What are some of the...   What are some common to start, like let's start just broad. What are common practice transitions that you have seen that you've worked through? Like what does that even mean when a doctor says I want to transition or we say transition in there to understand that? What does it mean to transition? What have you seen?   DAT Trish Ackerman (05:24) What I've seen is doctors that have been with the practice for many, many years, they built their legacy and they are ready to pass the baton to a new dentist. And it's a big decision. And sometimes they're sometimes they have sellers remorse because then they realize that, shoot, maybe I wasn't quite ready. But I have, I have seen it where, I mean, most of the time the sellers are very ready and, the new buyers coming in are very ready. So   you know, it's a transition. We make sure that the doctor, both doctors are aligned, the seller and the buyer, and that it's a good fit for both.   The Dental A Team (06:03) Yeah, I love that. love that. So transition could mean a sell and a buy, right? A transition is a change, right? Transition is we're making a change. We're looking different in the future than we do today. And I agree, I think a couple of pieces that on both sides are super important, I think is that alignment word that you used, right? And making sure that we know where we want to go. I think a seller needs to know where they want to go. Why do they want this practice?   the or why do they want to sell this practice and the buyer needs to know why do I want this practice and being in alignment with that is absolutely key. Now, when we're prepping for selling ⁓ and transitioning, we'll call it transitioning, what are some of the things that you have advised or you've worked on yourself while helping practices to sell? How do you prepare for selling? Like what do you need to make sure is in place if they're not?   We'll take it two ways. Maybe someone's not selling today. They're like, well, one day I might sell. And then maybe someone's like, gosh, I need to sell. want to sell. I'm ready to get out. So what would you advise someone who says maybe one day I might want to sell? How do they keep their business prepared for that?   DAT Trish Ackerman (07:16) Well, that's always the best way, like start a plan. There are times when it's like an emergency and need to sell, when they have the, when they've got the time to plan, you really want to ensure like the, like you were talking about, tip that the selling of the house, you don't sell your house if the flooring is just a hot mess or if, or if the roof is caving in, you get those things fixed first. And in a dental practice, you really need to protect the patient base because the new buyer   or even somebody transitioning in to purchases, what does the patient base look like? And if we're adding a partner, do we have a patient base for them? If we don't, this is the time that we, the doctors need to be hyper-focused on growing that patient base. That also requires like, what does the accounts receivable look like? What is the collection ratio? Is this practice producing but not collecting? And though you do like kind of a full analysis on the top.   five KPIs typically, and then ensure that they are in really good condition. You want your practice to look appealing and you want your practice to be healthy. And when you're selling anything or transitioning in, the patient base is always number one. So if you have the syndrome where the front door is open, but the back door is open as well, we need the time to strategize to get that back door closed to ensure that when we go to sell this new buyer,   The Dental A Team (08:35) Yeah   DAT Trish Ackerman (08:43) or new partner knows that there's a solid patient base in place. And then again, the counts receivable, that's another really big one. That's got to be cleaned up pretty well. Again, to look appealing and to be worth something.   The Dental A Team (08:55) Yeah, I love that. I am in transition. Like we're looking at purchasing a home and we have a home that we're either going to rent or we're going to sell. And what you're making me think of now is that our realtor, I love her dearly. She is one of my best friends in life. And she is like, cool, we can totally do this, but she needs some really nice pendant lights. Like Tiff, got to open that. She's like, I know you've got some storage closet somewhere that's got a ton of, you know,   a ton of decor, like she's like, you gotta spruce this place up. Like, yeah, she got brushing up, this is perfect. And I was like, ⁓ wow, yeah, you're right. And as I'm looking at Zillow and looking at all of these homes, I'm like, ooh, I love those pen and lights and ooh, I love that has black trim. And I'm like, my gosh, actually it's those pieces ⁓ that just sparkle that make you want that thing.   If you want to get a good price, if you want something great for your patients, you want a great person to purchase your practice and you want a great person to carry on the legacy of what you have built and a great person to take care of the patient base that you have worked so hard to get, I think you have to make it attractive and appealing. And I think you're absolutely spot on. The patient base is huge. A doctor buying a practice, a DSO purchasing a practice, like anybody purchasing his practice.   purchasing a practice wants to see that it is valuable. And the value is in the people, right? The patients and the dollars. And I think what you said is exactly true. The flip side of a patient base, you can have all the patients in the world and you can have that back door closed, but if you're not collecting the money, that back door is open. The money's just going out the door with the patients instead of staying in the practice.   That's also an issue as well. So you've got to, you've got to hang those pendant lights and get those systems in place and really, really evaluate if you were, if you remove yourself emotionally from the practice that you've built and you look at it objectively, would this be appealing to you? If you looked at your home on Zillow, you took pictures and you scrolled through those pictures and you looked at your home, would you be attracted to purchase that home? If you weren't emotionally tied to the place. So.   DAT Trish Ackerman (11:15) Yeah.   The Dental A Team (11:15) I love that.   DAT Trish Ackerman (11:16) And piggybacking on that, when you're buying a home, you're buying a practice, what's your profit look like? I mean, if you're buying something that isn't going to have any value because there's a lot of debt tied to this or like a home, if you're going to purchase a home, but you're paying too much for it because it's really only worth, mean, those are also the things that the buyer has to look at. Is this practice, is it like heavy, heavy overhead? And if so,   The Dental A Team (11:19) Mm-hmm.   Mm-hmm.   DAT Trish Ackerman (11:43) that needs to be trimmed down along with ensuring that the patient base is strong. If you're gonna sell something, it needs to be profitable to the buyer.   The Dental A Team (11:52) Absolutely,   absolutely. I think that's spot on because you're gonna look at a home and you're gonna say, okay, well, this is the dollar amount that they have it listed for based on these photos or based on what I see in person. This is what I'm gonna have to put into it to make it what I want it to be. So I'm gonna take that into consideration. So if you've got a house priced at 525 and I know it's gonna take 60, $70,000 to...   make it valuable to me, make it the home that I want. Now my brain is saying, this worth 600,000? Because that's what I'm actually putting into it. And then my offer to you is gonna take into consideration the upgrades that I feel I need in that home in order to compensate for the price that you've listed it for. Yeah, I love that. when you're talking strategies for, we always, think, let me start over.   DAT Trish Ackerman (12:35) Absolutely.   The Dental A Team (12:44) Prepping for selling, I said this in both versions, right? Because I want a doctor to purchase a practice and think that way, right? I want you to think if I were to sell this down the road.   Like how can I invest, reinvest back into this practice to make it the best that it possibly can be? I want this practice for a long time, but we're not gonna be here forever, right? We're not, we may be in our home forever, but the likelihood of that in this day and age in 2025 is unrealistic. We're not gonna, we're likely not going to serve the term of our loan agreement in our home. Like we're going to move on, we're gonna find something new and the same is true for your business. So making sure, we don't know.   We don't know when that's going to happen. We might say, want to practice for 30 years. Great. But if you wait for 25 years to get ready to sell, you're going to be in an emergent sell situation. So day one today, making sure that you think like a seller doesn't mean that you're selling your practice. It doesn't mean that you're not there for your team. It doesn't mean that we're not here for the culture and that we're not here for the growth and the patience. It means we're preparing for everything.   That will set you up for success because you're constantly thinking about the value and about the return on investment that you're making. think that thinking like a seller, thinking, what would I do if I were selling this practice right now, helps you objectively make decisions in the practice, in my opinion. ⁓ Emotions are really, really hard. Emotions are fleeting. Emotions will drive us and we have to be able to step outside of that.   to make really great business decisions most of the time. Now, Trish, me, I always tell my practices, know the worth. So get valuations, like every so often. How do you feel about that? How do you suggest people do that?   DAT Trish Ackerman (14:35) totally agree. think at least every five, five to seven years get a valuation of the practice because that'll also help you guide. If let's say it comes in pretty low, that will give you the valuation company can give you all the tools and the map that you need to get the value up. And if you just sit stagnant, which unfortunately a lot of doctors do, and then they're super shocked because the practice isn't worth anything.   And that is what we don't want to happen, especially to our clients, know, if this is something that they're talking about. So if the valuations, sure, they might cost something, but get it done anyways, because you can continue. It's almost like when you remodel the home. I love using the house as the analogy and get the valuation consistently through the years, because they don't know what they don't know. And when you're only in those four walls all the time,   You don't see what you can be actually doing. the valuation, that totally helps, because it gives all the current owners new perspective, new ideas.   The Dental A Team (15:45) beautiful. love that new new perspective, new ideas. I love that. And I think I'm addicted to it's like a it's a problem. I am addicted to model homes, just going and walking model homes. I love it. I love walking model homes because I love new perspectives and new ideas. And walking into a model home for me is like, ⁓ my gosh, I wouldn't have even thought to do that with that kind of a space. Right. So I'm getting to see   DAT Trish Ackerman (15:56) I don't know how to tell you.   The Dental A Team (16:14) all of these interior designers work their magic in brand new homes, fresh and new, and I can go, my gosh, I can do that. And we we toured a spec home, meaning it was already built, ⁓ but nothing's in it. it's new, but not all the upgrades. But I thought there was the spec home that I'm like, what do you even do with that space? Like that is the most random space I've ever seen in a house. It's just this little cubby in the back of a kitchen.   So I was like, we need to go look at the model home. So we went and looked at the model home and I was like, oh, that's brilliant. I never would have thought to do that. But what you made me think of was that, like touring model homes, right? If we're not getting the valuation, we don't know the value of our home, but we're also not looking at what other people are doing and touring models. We're not going to...   It makes me think of the ADA, the CE courses and the Arizona Dental Convention and the California Dental Convention and going and seeing the floor models of new chairs, new, like getting all of these new ideas and doctors, caveat, it does not mean that we need to implement everything. I do not buy everything I see at the model homes. I just get ideas and then I watch for really good deals, right? But that's where I think we can get those pieces, those missing pieces in something   that I think we have really exciting here at Dental A Team is we have such an amazing community of doctors who are like-minded, but doing things in a different way in every practice. Every practice has their own flair. And when the doctors come together, when they get together at our masterminds and they're in person and they're at our doctor-only masterminds on the first Tuesday of every month and they're sharing these ideas, it's like touring a model home with your best friends. Like, ⁓ my gosh, I didn't even see that.   I didn't even hear it when Trish said that to my team. I didn't hear it that way. I'm to take this back and communicating with each other and getting that fresh perspective, like prepping for selling valuation and have some really good people surrounding you to constantly keep your brain fresh. Yeah, I love that.   DAT Trish Ackerman (18:21) For sure. For sure. The team   is also another, they are also a big factor of this. If this is a legacy practice and there's a hygienist that's been in this practice for 20 years, that is also something that needs to be considered. it can be a little scary when you've got a legacy team, a new buyer comes in and then the seller is out and team goes with.   The Dental A Team (18:26) Yeah.   Yeah.   DAT Trish Ackerman (18:46) And if we can also like your locking in your patient base, you're ensuring that your profit margins are good, that your accounts receivable is healthy, what's the team going to be doing? Because we also need to strategize for that too.   The Dental A Team (18:55) Yeah.   I love that you said that because I think one of the scariest things to a practice owner or business owner in general is the loss of a team. And I think people shy away from talking about the inevitable because they're afraid that the team's going to be scared and run away. And I firmly believe that the people that are meant to be in my life will stick around no matter what my life looks like. And if I'm prepping for   for selling, like I want my team to know too, hey, I'm here for the long haul, but we've got to make sure that we're super healthy because if we're not super healthy and not a buyable practice, if we can't sell, we're not doing right by our patients and I'm not doing right by you. I should be able to ensure that this business is healthy enough that it would want to be swooped up by someone because that means it's healthy enough that I can pay you. And that's how we do it. Yeah, that was beautiful.   Trish, some things that I picked up from you in the systems and I heard, re-care. You are a genius when it comes to re-care strategy. I have never seen someone pull out a re-care strategy like you do and it's beautiful. So if you all need some re-care strategy, like pick Trish's brain. If she is your consultant, you are in fantastic hands. Your re-care, your reactivation is amazing. So.   I know you tackle those, right? So patient-based, re-care, reactivation, and new patients, which also turns into some marketing, making sure that marketing is working. But then you also said ⁓ AR and that our collections are healthy. So patient-based, AR, and then team. So culture, right? So those are, and profit, profit, yes, yes. And if your AR ⁓ is in line, your collections is in line, your patient-based is healthy.   DAT Trish Ackerman (20:37) prop. ⁓   The Dental A Team (20:47) you watch your spending, your overhead should follow those things. Your overhead, typically like to, we love 50%. I love a 50 % overhead margin. Typically what we're gonna see if I'm truthful and honest is 55 to 65%. I really like that 50 to 60 % is really healthy and safe. And I see doctors feel really good and like they can save for what they need to save for and not be stretched too thin, but that 55 to 65 % is pretty common.   ⁓ So, re-care strategy, these are the pieces guys, these are your action items from Trish. Make sure you are ready to sell so that you're not in an emergent situation. If you're in an emergent situation, meaning you're trying to sell within the next one to five years, bust a move. You can still do this. Re-care strategy is in place. We're not losing patients out the back door, meaning they're getting reappointed. They're coming in, your new patients are staying. Re-activation.   So what patients have gone out the back door, who has not been seen in the last 18 months or so, AR, make sure that your collections is super clean. That is a space that doctors get a little scared. Reach out, Hello@TheDentalATeam.com, reach out, we will help you with this. And then your profit and your culture. Okay, so watch your culture. Go ahead, Trish, show us what can see. yeah.   DAT Trish Ackerman (22:02) I do want to add something to the accounts receivable that just popped in my   mind. I can't believe I left this out. Not only is it the accounts receivable, but also the credits. When you see some practices that have like $100,000 worth of credits, that is also something that it's got to be cleaned up. It's got to be cleaned up before sell.   The Dental A Team (22:11) Yes, yeah.   Mm-hmm.   I completely agree. That was a massive, massive space. Good job. Yes. I agree. We focus really heavily on, by we, I mean the dental community, on the outstanding money, what is owed to you, but what do you owe to the people? What needs to go out?   DAT Trish Ackerman (22:38) Yep. That is a big   one when we go to sell.   The Dental A Team (22:42) Yes,   and I've seen it, you guys, I've seen it upside down. I have seen our AR, our accounts receivable that's due to us is lower than our credits. That's a scary place to be, okay? So watch for those, that was huge stress, yes. So get your re-care, reactivation in line, okay? Get your patients in line, your new patients as well. Make sure that your collections is healthy, so your AR is healthy.   DAT Trish Ackerman (22:53) Yes.   The Dental A Team (23:09) Your credits are healthy, that your profit is healthy and that your culture is healthy. Those are the spaces to ensure. then every once in a while, Trish, I love the five to seven years, go get that valuation. Make sure that you know the value of your practice and go walk some floor models. You guys, it's super fun. So if you're bored on the weekend too, like they're open all the time. So there you go. That's where you'll find me. Um, I know I do love them so much. I'm like, oh my gosh, I take pictures. I have pictures of tables and like.   DAT Trish Ackerman (23:28) Perspective and ideas.   The Dental A Team (23:39) lights on my phone that I'm probably never going to use, but I've got them because I saw them and I was like, that's a beautiful table. I'm going to find that. You never know. They're there. All right, guys, go do the things. Trish, thank you so much. I knew you would have just a ton of information for us. And you guys, again, if you have re-care strategy questions, Trish's   DAT Trish Ackerman (23:46) Yeah, you never know when you might get it.   That's cool.   The Dental A Team (24:01) Trish is our go-to gal. We've all got our stuff, but I have literally been in an office standing next to her watching her do it, and I was like, I don't even know how you're doing these numbers. So she's got a lot to teach all of us, and she's your gal. So Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. You guys, go do the things. You know where to find us. Drop us a five-star review. Let us know what you loved. Let us know what you want to hear, like I said at the beginning.   We come up with these on our own, you guys. We just kind of dig through our brains and think what could be healthy for practice, what could somebody want. So if you have ideas, if you have things that are burning desires, please reach out. We would love any suggestions on topics that we're maybe missing. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. And thanks guys, we'll catch you next time.   DAT Trish Ackerman (24:43) Thanks, Tiff.  

Dr. Pia Lieb returns for a second part on the podcast. In this episode, she talks about being obsessed with your craft, and why that extra 10% for patients will take you miles. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: Kiera Dent (00:10) I love that you, ⁓ I think this is probably what's made you really great. I don't know. I've heard a lot about you. But I think what you do is you make sure that the patients are obsessed with the results and not that Dr. Pia is obsessed. Like you're obsessed with the craftsmanship of what you've done.   You're really talented at that. But like hearing that you let people walk out and go try these on and what is it going to be like before you do it? That to me says that you are so obsessed about the outcome and the result for the patient. And then your job is to make sure you have the most excellent craftsmanship, the best product, the best techniques, the best method to get them the outcome they want. And I think hearing that, I'm just so proud of you. And I'm so grateful to hear that there are clinicians in our industry that   are obsessed about that rather than the reverse. Because I think some people are obsessed about maybe the dollar, maybe about doing these types of cases, but they're not the best at it, or this is what I think that they should look like. You really want to make sure that that patient is like a walking raving fan of you before you even do the work on them. And that I think is very special about you.   Dr Pia (01:17) Thanks, but you know, I like to say that, you know, like, the thing that people don't understand is I'm technically the Hermes of dentistry because I, it takes a long time to make a Birkin, right? It's all made by hand. So are the veneers, hence why it's so hard to get one. But look, I   Kiera Dent (01:39) Mm-hmm.   Dr Pia (01:42) 22 years old and it still looks brand new because it's the quality of the craftsmanship you know and I tell all my patients you should get anywhere between 20 and 25 years out of the mirror okay this whole nonsense of five years and ten years that's because they want to redo the case and for you to pay them again if you're doing good quality work the only reason they should be replaced is because you have recession due to old age   Kiera Dent (01:55) Wow.   Mm-hmm.   Wow. And you don't have any issues with these super, super thin ones popping off.   Dr Pia (02:17) No, because okay, let me let me explain to you. Let me explain to you physics. Okay. Okay, do you know why they pop off?   Kiera Dent (02:19) Let's talk about this. I'm so, cause a lot of people haven't popped off and it's so scary. So I'm like, let's talk about this.   You know, this is why I'm asking you. Cause I don't like, feel my guess is that they were not bonded on correctly. And that's my guess. Okay. I'm ready.   Dr Pia (02:28) Okay.   No, it's, two things. There's two things. That's   one, but that's the second one. Right. But let me explain to you. Do you remember when you were in high school and we went to, ⁓   Kiera Dent (02:37) Okay.   Dr Pia (02:43) ⁓ chemistry and we had the microscope with the two glass slabs and we were looking for amoebas and all that stuff. Okay, remember how we were all a painting that you know what and we all tried to pry those two glass slabs apart and it never worked? Well that's the same principle with veneers. The thinner they are the stronger they are.   Kiera Dent (02:51) Yep.   Yeah   Fascinating.   Dr Pia (03:06) Okay   and I'll tell you why because teeth you know because you're in the business so teeth we all have ligaments right the teeth are hard it's a hard structure the bone is a hard structure so we have the dental ligaments right they're horizontal they're transversal so those are like the shock absorbers that hold the tooth inside the bone socket. Now   Kiera Dent (03:12) Mm-hmm. Right.   Mm-hmm.   Mm-hmm.   Dr Pia (03:30) when you're speaking and when you're eating those teeth move microns not visible to the eye but your teeth have mobility just like trees have mobility in the wind right we don't see the trees move unless it's a hundred mile an hour winds but if you have a five mile an hour wind you don't see that tree moving right but it does move   Kiera Dent (03:44) Mm-hmm.   Right.   Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.   Dr Pia (03:56) So   when you're doing these 3D print and you're filing like the turkey teeth where you have the little pegs left and the ratio of tooth to porcelain is 50-50 or you're having 60-40 or 70-30 that 3D printed porcelain does not flex.   Kiera Dent (04:05) Yep.   Makes sense.   Mm-hmm.   Dr Pia (04:23) but your tooth does. So that's the number one issue why they pop off. The thicker they are, the easier they'll pop off. And the number two reason is the dentist has no idea about occlusion. Because if you have a premature contact or you have lateral excursions or a protrusive, you're going to pop those off like there's no tomorrow.   Kiera Dent (04:23) True.   Interesting.   Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yes.   Totally. Yeah.   Dr Pia (04:51) So these are   the basic principles. If you don't know occlusion, you shouldn't be doing dentistry. I'm talking about GPs or it's the holy grail of this profession. Occlusion, occlusion, occlusion.   Kiera Dent (05:03) And I will tell you as a patient who has the most obnoxious bite, ⁓ there are dentists who do no occlusion and there are dentists who don't because my bite you adjust one teeny tiny little micron and the whole bite gets thrown off and they're like, no care, it should be fine. And I'm like, I can always tell if you're just doing blue paper and you're having me bite chew all around, I know you don't understand occlusion because I'm like, you're never going to get it. I'm going to be, you're dancing all the way around. Like from the patient who has sat there,   four hours upon hours and had to find other dentists because the dentist who thought they could do it truly can't do it. And this isn't me being a jerk. This is me being the patient who has to suffer through a dentist who doesn't understand occlusion. Like what you just said as a patient, ⁓ and like there's some, know, you can have it like completely off and like, yeah, it feels great. And then you have patients like myself that teeny, teeny, teeny tiny. I can feel it. You can't even find it. And I'm like, no, it's off. My bite is not, my teeth are not coming together.   Dr Pia (05:59) You always know, the patient always knows. They're always right.   Kiera Dent (06:02) always. And please don't have me laying back.   Please don't have me lay back. Let me sit up. Let me lay back. Let me tell you on both of them, because it's always different. And they're like, no, it's good. And I'm like, it's not. You're not sitting in my mouth.   Dr Pia (06:09) Yeah!   Because   you most probably have long centric, right? So you have one occlusion when your head is back and you have a different occlusion when your head is forward. Now, if that's the case, you need to check both.   Kiera Dent (06:18) Mm-hmm.   Absolutely.   Correct. Thank you. Preach, please, for the patients like myself. These are the pieces. And I don't disagree because when I have seen dentists and they're not checking that and the patients are constantly popping off, I'm like, just maybe check to see how those teeth are hitting in all directions because they will pop.   Dr Pia (06:43) ⁓ but let   me interrupt you for one thing. The other thing that's an issue, okay, if they do it and you're anesthetized, you're not going to get a good read. You always have to call the patient back the next day and check the occlusion again in all the positions when they're not anesthetized because I will guarantee you on my career that it will be off.   Kiera Dent (06:53) ⁓ no, never.   Yep. Yep.   Always. And they're like, no, you can bite when you're numb. And I'm like, I don't even know how I'm biting. I have no clue. I know I'm biting differently. Preach. These are the things and the conversations that I've said. And having somebody like yourself who's so good at this. I mean, you guys, has a referral-based practice. Like people are flying in to see her. I can see why, because how you speak about this is so different. And I think today, one, I hope people are inspired of things to do, things to not do.   different ways to do this. I also love the risk that you took. I love the growth. I love the determination of self of I will be the best. You have the passion. You've got the grit. You've got the tenacity. I have doctors who are great surgeons that are truly incredible at this. I've got doctors that are amazing at occlusion. I've got doctors that are amazing at fillings. There's a doctor and one of his patients said like, have the smoothest fillings in all the land. And he's like, that's really weird. I had him fix a filling that chipped.   And I'm not going to lie, he has the smoothest fillings in all the land. Like I've never felt a feeling as smooth as this man did for me.   Dr Pia (08:12) That's because he polished it afterwards.   99% don't polish them. You know, I had a colleague, checked, he did a, we put a crown in and I'm like, Joe, can we polish it? He goes, no, you're good to go. I'm like, no, I'm not. He's like, but I polished it. I'm like, okay, there is a porcelain polishing kit that you've got to go red, blue, white.   Kiera Dent (08:18) I was shocked.   Hahaha   Dr Pia (08:40) and the white has to be on low rpms and you have to make sure that it's shiny and polished and he's like i don't have the patience for that go do it yourself in the office and i did   Kiera Dent (08:52) But I think like that even I feel like dentistry you It to me what I'm hearing is a lot of dentists. It sounds like go 90 % of the way But it's like that extra 10 % is what really in my opinion makes a lot of difference for patients It's doing the polishing. It's doing the small finesse like you you're working in such a small space anyway Why not make it absolutely perfect and dr. P? think you really inspired me to even look at myself in my life of where's that extra 10 % that I could really just make a dazzle Where could I really make it shine?   It's not, it doesn't take a lot of time, but it does take intentionality. So as we wrap today, this has been such a fascinating podcast and I've absolutely loved it. And I just appreciate your time. I want you to wrap with, you can do do's, don'ts or a mix of the in between. What should people who are doing cosmetic dentistry from your perspective as truly one of the most expert people I've ever met do in cosmetic dentistry or don't or you're welcome to do a mixture as just a quick wrap rattle of things that you've seen in your career.   Dr Pia (09:48) Before   we do that, want to talk to you, I think that we should do this again because I want to talk to you about DSOs and private practice.   Kiera Dent (09:56) Mm, yeah.   That is very fascinating. This is heavy on my mind of all different topics currently in the landscape, which I don't disagree with you.   Dr Pia (10:08) Yeah, that's things are things are changing and not for the better.   Kiera Dent (10:12) They are.   Yeah, absolutely. That will be it.   Dr Pia (10:17) Because I'm a dinosaur   now. I mean, there's very few of us that do handmade work anymore. So getting back to your question. Look, I   Kiera Dent (10:22) I don't disagree.   Dr Pia (10:30) cosmetic dentistry you have to be very very very passionate about it and and the key is to leave your ego at the door and try to be the best version of yourself and that means take every course if you're a young dentist or still in dental school take every course that you can take you know look on Instagram and find the people that do the handmade work like myself and you know there's a handful of   that do it and ceramist as well and find the good beautiful work and reach out to everyone like you know everybody can reach out to me you know and ask me like hi how do I do this or how you know how should I go about doing that the thing is you have to be passionate if you're do and what I've told every student of mine in 18 years you're not doing this for the money the money will come you have to do this because you love doing it   Kiera Dent (11:31) I don't disagree. think, on that note, Dr. Pia, what is the best way for people to follow you? Because I love that you said this and I tell people all the time, the world has shifted. We are in 2025. I'm going to choose a plastic surgeon, a cosmetic dentist, a surgeon based on their Instagram. I'm gonna go look at their photos. I'm gonna go look at their work. We don't live in a world where we are isolated just to our own state anymore. Like people fly across the country to go get the best work done. So.   Dr Pia (11:56) yeah, mean Instagram,   I get internationals from Instagram. I've gotten Kazakhstan, I've gotten the UK, I've gotten the French, I've gotten so many and they're all Instagram. And I'm like, okay. I'm just Dr. P, I spelled out the D-O-C-T-O-R. P-I-A, my first name.   Kiera Dent (12:06) How cool is that? So what is your Instagram handle? So people can follow and kind of see what you do.   Dr. Pia,   and I think if you want to see someone, I know you said you're a dinosaur in this, but as we've been chatting, I'm like, this is the doctor that I would fly across the country to go to. This is the one that I would go see. She knows what she's talking about. She's got the finesse, she's got the passion. She's willing to do one veneer. She's the person I'm going to trust to do work on my mouth. And it's how does she get seen? How does she get known? How does she do this? Guys, these are the legends. These are the people. These are people that have just like done what you're wanting to do.   Follow her and also, I don't know if you have heard at the beginning of the podcast, it sounds like Dr. Pia, you're passionate about helping any person who this is their dream become the best in the industry. And that to me is why she...   Dr Pia (12:51) for sure. For sure. Just DM me if you have any questions.   That's the whole like Instagram is the new portal of learning.   Kiera Dent (13:01) Mm-hmm.   Dr Pia (13:04) Just ask questions. mean, it's none of us were born knowing how to do veneers. We all had to learn it at some point. And as long as your ego is at the door and you're willing to learn and be the best version of yourself, then you're great. You're great. But if you think you know it all, I'm still learning. And I've been doing this for decades. I'm still learning. I want to be up to date and things are changing. Materials are changing. There's so many things.   Kiera Dent (13:13) Right.   Dr Pia (13:34) Styles are changing. Thank God the Hollywood smile is dying. Finally. This took about 16 years, but thank God it's dying now. It's going back to natural   Kiera Dent (13:34) Yeah.   No. Right.   which Dr. Pia, people didn't get to hear this. I heard this pre-show. You came on, we were just chatting and you said, I love my career. I love what I do. And to hear that you've been doing it this long and can still say that you love that. That's what my hope and wishes for so many doctors out there is that, and like, yes, we will get you back on the podcast to talk about DSO private practice because I think so many people are like get in, get out real quick. And I think that you are just such a great example of loving your craft, loving what you do.   committing to be the expert and look, you've had this long of a career and you're still obsessed with what you do. And I just want to honor you and say thank you and thank you for inspiring dentists today on the podcast.   Dr Pia (14:24) Well, thanks for having me. And look, the young generation, the new graduates that are out there, I think we need to tell them the do's and don'ts of DSO.   Kiera Dent (14:36) Absolutely. So that's a wrap for today with Dr. Pia. We'll have her back on talking about DSOs and new grads and the, I think the perspectives, because right now it's a world of a lot of noise and to find wisdom through that noise is paramount. So Dr. Pia, thanks for being on. Thanks for sharing your cosmetic knowledge. Yeah, I did too. And for all of you listening, I hope you commit to being the best at your craft, to getting hungry. There's a great quote. I'm a BYU football fan ⁓ and their coach says, be hungry.   Dr Pia (14:51) It was a pleasure, I loved it!   Kiera Dent (15:05) Stay hungry, stay humble. And I think that that's what Dr. Pia has done. And I hope all of you commit to that. And as always, thanks for listening and I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team podcast.  

Kiera is joined by renowned cosmetic dentist Dr. Pia Lieb to talk about Dr. Lieb's journey in her field, as well as her insights into what the rich and famous ask for (and pay for) when it comes to their teeth. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: Kiera Dent (00:00) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera. And today I am so excited. I have an incredible doctor on our podcast. Dr. Pia is coming to   from New York, Manhattan. And this woman is incredible. She has been able to build and sustain a high-end cosmetic practice. She's figured out how to be, you guys are gonna love this, a referral only destination for patients seeking discretion, innovation, and ultra-personalized care.   This woman has been named the Michelangelo of dentistry and I am so excited to welcome her on the podcast. Welcome Dr. Pia, how are you today?   Dr Pia (00:32) Thanks for having me, Kiera.   Kiera Dent (00:34) Of course. Well, I have been so excited about this podcast. I don't often get to bring clinical guests onto the podcast. And so to just kind of hear of how you do your cosmetic dentistry, how did you become this practice of being so sought after? ⁓ How did you become the Michelangelo of dentistry? So kind of just walk the listeners through how did Dr. Pia go from where she was to where she is today? Kind of just give us a background on, on who you are and what your story has been.   Dr Pia (01:04) Well, I'm gonna start with, it all started in dental school. There was a lecturer by the name of Dr. Gallup Evans who has passed away since. And he was giving a PG, which is obviously post-doctoral course on cosmetic dentistry. And his reputation was he was the one who did.   the supermodel Polina Povaskova's veneers back in the early 90s. And I went up to him after the lecture and I basically said, I'm a sponge, teach me, tell me what to do so I can do the same thing that you're doing. I've completely fell in love and cut out a class to go to that course. And after the course, he turned around to me and said, well,   sweetheart. You're either born with it or you're not. So I went home and I cried for five days.   and he completely tore me to shreds and that really got me upset and ⁓ I was a great student. was the youngest in NYU as a student. I graduated high school at 16. I was the nerd, right? And basically what I did is I was asked to start teaching after residency and that was my...   Kiera Dent (02:03) Absolutely.   Dr Pia (02:26) way to make sure that I would never allow anyone to speak to a student like that. And my whole point was, I want to empower the dental students. I don't want anyone to feel the way I did by this particular person. And basically I had nowhere to start. So I started taking all of these courses, these PG program courses, and I met up.   Kiera Dent (02:37) Mm-hmm.   Dr Pia (02:53) When I was actually in dental school, I went and I met the holy grail ceramist who invented veneers in America. And I went up to him and I said the same thing, I'm a sponge, please teach me. And he was like, great. Okay. You have a car. And I'm like, yes, I do. He goes, all right, come to the lab every Friday after school and every Saturday, let me teach you how to prep and how to do veneers. And this man who also passed away has taught me everything.   Kiera Dent (03:12) I'm   Dr Pia (03:23) that I know because the doctors were not doing it and there was only two guys in New York that were doing veneers in the 80s and in the 90s and those were older men in their 40s and they were not going to take a young 20 year old female and teach her what to do because they were you know insecure that we were going to take over the business from them.   So that's how it all started. And obviously, I taught for 18 years and I did do that what I set my mind to do. I wanted to give every one of my students the best experience that they can have with dentistry and with cosmetic dentistry. And we're still friends after all these years. So I must have done something right, that they still love me to invite me for dinners into their houses.   Kiera Dent (04:10) Thank   ⁓ I think that you're speaking to my own heart. mean, having that love   being in the dental colleges, of   to give back, like that's the whole reason Dental A Team exists was because of those students that you just fall in love with. And kudos to you because I got really lucky and I worked at Midwestern University's Dental College in Arizona. And I have been told that the culture there and the experience there is not like most dental schools. It was a very empowering, very enriching. There was no smashing of models. There was no...   ⁓ destroying people's dreams, but I know that that's not everywhere. so kudos to you for ⁓ making a stance and also not giving up on your dream. And I think something I took from that is how often are we maybe told something that's not true and we believe it. We take that on as an identity and yes, crying for five days. I don't blame you, I would have done the same thing, but ⁓ it is.   Dr Pia (05:03) No, it's demoralizing, you know, like it's   just here you are, you're this young bright-eyed and bushy-tailed eager beaver who wants to be the best at her profession and then you get some 50 year old man telling you, ⁓ honey, you can't do this, you gotta be born with it. I'm like, really?   Kiera Dent (05:20) Hmm.   Maybe I am born with it and have you seen it. ⁓   Dr Pia (05:25) And you know what I was and that's that's the   thing and it's just but it's the way he said it but we'll get back to karma because 18 years go by and he was lecturing again and karma if it's a small I don't want to say the b word on a podcast but   Kiera Dent (05:42) Mmm.   Hahaha   Dr Pia (05:51) it is. So he's got the lecture, same thing, same before and afters. And this time I'm wearing a white lab coat and scrubs underneath and I had you know, and at this point, I was clinical assistant professor and there were like 350 doctors in the audience. And he's like, Does anyone have anything to say? And I'm at the back wall, I wasn't sitting down, I was standing up and I raised my hand and I was like,   He goes, and he goes, I know that name. You're in press and you're my competition. And he was like, and you know, what is it that I said? said, you know what? Thanks to you, I am who I am today. I want to say thank you. If you didn't say this to me and make me go home and cry for five days, I wouldn't have.   done everything humanly possible to be your competition and here I am I didn't know if he was gonna slap me or kick me out or just whatever it was but it was not what I and he said you know come on down and just tell us more about it he goes you've got so much pressure all over the place and it was funny because at that point   Kiera Dent (06:52) Ha!   Dr Pia (07:08) That was like maybe 10 months after I did 10 episodes on TLC of 10 years younger. And I was all over the place. Like everybody knew me from TV and from press and ⁓ the New York Times wrote that I'm the Michelangelo in Smile Boutique. And it just got to that point. I got the recognition that I worked so hard for. he was like, all right, give me a hug. I was like, thank God.   to   get a slap. But I was ready to get like thrown out or to. So that's kind of what I wanted to do is I just want to empower every single person out there. And you have to understand, when I went to school, we there were no women, it was 97 % men, we had   Kiera Dent (07:43) You   Dr Pia (08:02) maybe seven girls in the graduating class. I mean, not that we had a lot. We have much smaller classes back then and we were 97, but seven out of 97 is a low percentage.   Kiera Dent (08:14) That is,   yeah. Wow, that's such a fun, ⁓ I think kudos to you. And one of my favorite lines through life has been, life is not happening to us, it's happening for us. And I'm sure in that moment, you felt like life was happening to you. Like, who is this jerk? And they destroyed my dreams. And yet, ⁓ again, not to say that that's ever the right route to go. But I just want to highlight and compliment of you took something that people could have said would be sour grapes and you actually turned it into beautiful wine.   and you turned it into something beautiful and it was fuel to your fire to make you into this incredible woman that the world needed. And so I'm very curious, how did you then go from, okay, here we are, how'd you become this renowned cosmetic dentist, getting on TLC, getting all the press, like what was kind of the way to get into that? Because I'm sure there's a lot of dentists who want to live your dream. How did you do it?   Dr Pia (09:04) I think the   way in was truly like in 1998 or 99, I don't remember what year it was, but it was the first gen art fashion show for Fashion Week in New York where they took up and coming young designers and they had a private fashion show with about 10 of small up and coming, which we don't have anymore. mean, New York Fashion Week is no longer what   used to be. But I go there and I had a patient from Belgium who had a really good friend who was an up and coming crazy French designer and he was showing the runway and I just basically went with her and I remember that we were after the fashion show there was a VIP with champagne and we got these wristbands and so forth and my   my patient was, you know, late 30s, single and ready to mingle. And there was this really cute male model that did the runway for ⁓ another designer that wasn't as big. And she was like, my God, he's so cute. And here I was, I had no makeup on, right?   Kiera Dent (10:07) Yeah.   Dr Pia (10:23) this long Margiela dress and I have like Doc Marten boots, my hair up in a ponytail, just like mascara and red lips on. And I went up to this guy and I said, hi, I'm Dr. Pia. You know, my friend Jacqueline wants to meet you. And he had this woman who was next to him and she was like, you gotta talk to me. I'm his booker. I didn't know what a booker was. So I'm like, what's a booker? I thought it was like the, you know, betting on horses, know, like booking, you know, that's what I thought.   Kiera Dent (10:47) Yeah.   Yeah.   Dr Pia (10:53) And basically, ⁓ I was like, No, no, no, I'm just, you know, we're going behind if you guys want to come and join us at the after party behind and he was like, great, she goes, No, no, no, we can't go anywhere. You got to go through me. And I'm like, Okay, I said, Look, I'm a cosmetic dentist. And back then we had cards, right? So I was like, Here's my card. She goes, I want one, too. And I and   Yeah, that was it. had some drinks afterwards. And she was like, Yeah, I want to come in as a patient. I have to come in first before he comes in. Because he said he needed his teeth done. I was like, okay, so the next morning, I'm like, live it at like nine o'clock. I call Wilhelmina who was like back then the number one modeling agency for men. And I call and I'm like, Can I speak to Jennifer and   Kiera Dent (11:32) Yeah.   Dr Pia (11:47) She picks up the phone. I'm like, hi, it's dr. P again. I'm like, I just want to make it really clear I'm married. I do not I am NOT picking up on on your male model It was my friend who was interested just making putting it out there and being totally transparent. So she's like fine I Want an appointment so I booked her and the moment that I booked her She introduced me to the modeling industry. So then I started getting all the models   Kiera Dent (11:57) Mm-hmm.   Dr Pia (12:13) the supermodels, I got everybody in and I think that's how it all started with the press and everything because they've seen my work with the modeling industry and that's how kind of it all started and the thing with me it's always been privacy it's I've never named names I will never name names because it's like plastic surgery if you're going to go in and get a facelift do want it to be plastered all over the press I don't think so so it's the same thing with veneers I mean I do very   natural handmade porcelain and the whole secret that I think to my success is I've never gone into that chicklity white Hollywood smile the toilet bowl teeth or the turkey teeth as now they all go to Turkey to have them done well I've never done that so for me I've always followed what I believe in and did the best that I can and I think that that is as long as you love what you do   Kiera Dent (12:55) Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.   Yeah.   Dr Pia (13:12) and try to be the best that you can be. think the universe, no matter what God you believe in, you know, I think the universe gives it back to you.   Kiera Dent (13:23) I think, well, and also what I heard from that is kudos to you for just going and meeting people and for being out there. Like, I don't think people realize the power of connections, the power of human interaction, the power of who you know. I think we're in such a society where it's all online and we just think, which you can still connect online, but like, don't be afraid to say hi to people. Don't be afraid to introduce yourselves and...   Like I said at the beginning, Dr. Pia, it's very rare that I bring on clinical guests to the podcast. So I'm curious, you work on supermodels, you work on really incredible people. I have a doctor, which we will not name names either, who works on movie stars in LA. so I have a couple of questions and if you don't want to answer by all, you probably do. We will chat post show and see, exactly off call. ⁓ But.   Dr Pia (14:07) I probably know him. If it's it, we'll do it all off, off.   Kiera Dent (14:15) I'm curious, Dr. Pia, just for listeners to know, what is like, I'm gonna ask a few questions and like I said, privacy and respect are my number one. So if there's something that you're like, I'm not gonna answer by all means, audience just know Dr. Pia is so kind to come onto the podcast for us and I did not prep her because I never know what I'm gonna ask. It's just a genuine curious host over here wanting to know, what are the average cases like dollar wise, our low end to our high end of cases that you're doing?   I just want people to know, because I think people do not believe that this is real life dentistry and it can be.   Dr Pia (14:51) You're talking about veneers or you're talking about all the procedures. Veneers. Veneers are from three to 45, 100 or two. It depends. mean, if someone is a massive grinder and I've got issues with them.   Kiera Dent (14:54) I would say let's do veneers and then let's do other procedures.   Dr Pia (15:12) having, you know, doing the grinding at night, felspathic, I'm a little bit weary of doing that and I'll do the 3D printed. ⁓ As much as I'm not the greatest fan of doing that, I would rather keep them in a night guard and let them have the beautiful teeth. But it basically is... ⁓   Kiera Dent (15:19) Totally.   Mm-hmm.   Dr Pia (15:35) You know, for the handmade porcelain, I mean, there are some people out there that are charging over five. And I think that's just a little bit exaggerated because I know how much it costs me to make. think, you know, 4500 is a fair price. You don't have to go above five. I think that's just the ingredient.   Kiera Dent (15:42) Totally.   Sure.   Mm-hmm. Which I appreciate that you say that, especially with the press and with the people that you worked on. You have an opportunity to charge more, but you're also being ethical and fair, which I think ties to the passion, the love, the reason people can trust you. So how many veneers, this is like, now I'm gonna just be like a nerdy patient. How many, because I feel like a lot of people just want like the four veneers and then the six and then.   Dr Pia (16:15) Alright, come on, bring it on!   Kiera Dent (16:20) Do you just do all of them? there a space where clinically you recommend like we stop here for smile lines? What's kind of your, what's your, what's your clinical excellence on this? What do you recommend?   Dr Pia (16:25) No!   I think you should have either one or as many as you need. think the biggest problem and the... Okay, now you got me. So my competition in New York will only do 10. And he's my former student.   Kiera Dent (16:37) I'm ready. She got fired up everybody. Juicy like sits up.   Mm-hmm.   Dr Pia (16:51) which is even more infuriating to me. Like I so disagree because I think if you have a beautiful smile and let's say you fell and you've had a root canal and the tooth is starting to change color. I think if you're a good clinician and a good clinician is a cosmetic dentist, I don't believe a GP could do this. Okay. And men, we have the issue with 40 % are colorblind. So that's another issue altogether.   Kiera Dent (16:52) That's   I do remember there was a girl in dental school who couldn't like really see and I was like, how do you like she couldn't see colors and I'm like, how do you, how do you, how do you get over that as a dentist? I'm just curious. I can't check the color, right? Okay, so making sure you think that you can do one if you're a good clinician, which is, love this. Cause people tell me all the time, you can't do one.   Dr Pia (17:29) Well, they get the dental assistant to choose the color.   I do one. do one. So I do one.   I do one. I'll do two. If you're if you ground I do four.   I'll do six, I'll do 10, I'll do 12. If the person has a really big smile and it's a color correction like a tetracycline case, then I have to do 12, you know, like, because it depends if you're someone that has this uber large mouth, then and you when you smile, you go back to the second molars, you have to do it. But I feel that this whole entire ⁓   doing 10 or nothing. think that is so unfair to the patients. And I think it's such bad karma as well, because it's going to come back and bite you later on, because I don't feel that everyone has to have that many done. And the other thing that I'm actually known for is the fact that I don't believe that   you have to necessarily file the tooth down. If the teeth are in the correct position, okay let's back it up. If the teeth are not in the correct position do Invisalign first and then do the handcrafted veneers because the way I do them they're as thin as a contact lens so there is no drilling needed. Anytime why I wouldn't want anyone to drill my teeth to put veneers on why are you taking away to add on it's an   Kiera Dent (18:42) Love.   Mm-hmm.   Dr Pia (19:08) moron right so if you are a true cosmetic dentist and know how to do this and have the right support of the right ceramist they should be see-through   Kiera Dent (19:09) Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.   Yeah.   Dr Pia (19:24) So if that's the case, there's no drilling involved. And if you need only one, just do one. There's no reason to spend that money on doing more if you don't need them.   Kiera Dent (19:32) It's incredible.   which I'm so grateful to hear this. This is why I was so excited. I'm like, I have so many questions about this and I'm just curious of how you do it and to hear that being really talented at this, you don't need to do more than that because I hear all the time like, well, if you only do four, then you're gonna see it, but I don't disagree with you. think if you're good at what you, and this isn't just dentists. I also think dentists, well, I'm gonna go out on a limb. Now I'm fired up to be, like, here we go.   Dr Pia (20:02) No, no, they   want the money. It's clear as day. They're doing it for the money.   Kiera Dent (20:06) Right.   Well, and also I'm like, if you're not good enough to be able to do one without it looking like a chicklet, I might question, you good enough to be doing this in general? And that I know is a very bold statement, but I might get really good at this. I don't disagree.   Dr Pia (20:18) No, they should not be doing them. I'm sorry, they should   not be doing it. And with felspathic, with the handmade porcelain, it... I can't say it enough. One is not a problem.   Kiera Dent (20:35) Okay, let's talk about different labs and how do you choose a good lab for ceramic, for cosmetic cases? Like what's the difference? I mean, I've heard some people that are printing ⁓ Emax crowns for the front and I wanna like cringe and I'm like, ⁓ that feels really bad. So let's talk about like, how do you pick a good lab? What's the difference of a good lab? How is it handmade versus not? Like what are some of those nuances within the cosmetic world that really make a difference on being able to do one versus having to do eight to 10?   Dr Pia (20:48) No, no, no, no, I didn't write.   Kiera Dent (21:03) because you're gonna see lines and it's gonna look different.   Dr Pia (21:06) Okay, so I'm a nerd. I'm going to give you the whole entire background. Okay. ⁓ So basically the handmade porcelain is felspathic and it can be as thin as 0.16 of a millimeter, which is technically a contact lens. Okay. It's thinner than your natural fingernail, not with gel on it or powder, you know, polish. I'm talking about a natural fingernail. So having said that,   Kiera Dent (21:08) I love it. I want this.   Mm-hmm.   Dr Pia (21:33) Now in the way that those are made they're done on platinum foil so you take the model of the teeth they put platinum foil which is also like super super thin microns it's you know anywhere between 10 microns 20 microns okay and then on that porcelain on that platinum foil the porcelain multiple colors multiple translucencies get added on and that's   the veneer is made. Okay so that's how we're able to have them super thin. The 3D printing, different story altogether. So 3D printing needs to have minimum   Kiera Dent (22:05) Mm-hmm.   Yeah.   Dr Pia (22:17) between 1.5 to 2 millimeters of thickness. So those right there are thick. Okay, so that's why you need to file. Otherwise, everything is gonna be out. That's why they need to do 10 because they can't match the flatness of a natural tooth. So those are done by a computer. So what you do is you scan with the feldspathic. You still have to take good old fashioned impressions because the model has to be poured in   Kiera Dent (22:22) Right.   Mm-hmm.   Mm-hmm.   Dr Pia (22:47) it cannot be on plastic to do the platinum foil. With the 3D printing, with 3D printing veneers and crowns, you basically just scan the tooth, send it via, you know, the cloud. It gets to the lab, they print out the model, and then they start designing the shape and the size of what they want the veneer or the crown to look like.   Kiera Dent (22:51) Interesting.   Dr Pia (23:14) and then they have this block which is like about this big and it's like a disc it's like an oversized hockey puck okay and out of those they usually get out of those hockey pucks usually they get 25 crowns and veneers like either or okay ⁓   Kiera Dent (23:22) Mm-hmm. Okay.   Sure, okay.   Dr Pia (23:35) Now those blocks you have to understand they come in one solid color and very opaque hence why they look like toilet bowls like you can see like ⁓ Simon from What is it the the show with America's Got Talent right now his teeth walk in before him   Kiera Dent (23:55) Mm-hmm.   Dr Pia (23:58) They're so white and chalky. He had them done and they're too big, personal. I mean, I think they're too, he's too horsey. He should have stayed with the veneers he had before because they looked more natural and.   Kiera Dent (23:58) It's true.   Dr Pia (24:12) But that's the problem. If you have them very, if you have the 3D printed, the opacity is one solid, you know, base that the computer then drills that hockey puck to form the crowns and the veneers. So you're never going to get the aesthetics of having incisal translucency or having a halo or having them nice and flat. You're not, because the computer is going to make them the thickness that   Kiera Dent (24:33) right?   Dr Pia (24:41) They cannot drill those any thinner than that because they're going to break.   Kiera Dent (24:46) So this is fascinating and I love this because now I have more quite like being an assistant, also having worked in this, also having gone to labs, also having like things done for family and friends that I know. Are you a fan of custom shading where you send your patients to the lab or how, okay, so how do you get it to where it's like a perfect shade match, like consistently, any tips that you have to make it to where it is really that absolutely perfect, making your smiles.   Dr Pia (25:04) Hell no.   Kiera Dent (25:15) beyond perfect without sending them to a lab. Because I think a lot of people hold back and they're like, I've got to send it. But I've seen a lot of dentists where they'll try to put the shading in, they try to put the translucency in. This is no knock on dentists. This is like, hey, we've got an expert here. Let's ask how she does it so we can all rise up.   Dr Pia (25:30) Okay, honestly, I take the patient to the window. My whole main thing is every single office that I've built, I need to have windows that are five feet tall.   and sunlight. So I'm able just to move the patient to the window. And that's where the talent comes in. I'm able to take shade without a shade guide. I mean, I'm at that point, but I've been doing this for decades now. So it's like at the beginning, I wasn't so I would do the shade guide and I would write it on a piece of paper and just be like, okay, the neck is an A two and then we have an A one body and then we have translucency of two millimeters and a halo and I just draw it.   Kiera Dent (25:41) Fascinating.   Dr Pia (26:10) and then they would make every single veneer with the same recipe. It's almost like cooking. But the window and natural sunlight is the key. Because all these computers that you put up against your tooth, all due respect.   Kiera Dent (26:15) I see. Mm-hmm. Yep. Mm-hmm.   That's great.   they shade it differently.   Dr Pia (26:29) it's not only   that you have to understand everybody's tooth is a different length okay like your centrals are fairly long for the average person right that particular shade guide is not going to read color on your tooth that you probably have 12 millimeter long centrals and i'm diagnosing you over the video right so that particular   Kiera Dent (26:35) Mm-hmm.   Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.   Yeah.   Mm-hmm. Hey, thank you. Yeah.    Dr Pia (26:58) light source is not going to be able to read 12 millimeters perfectly from the gum line to the incisal. It's just not going to happen. You're going to need and if you're not good at taking shade, go do endo or oral surgery or ortho.   Kiera Dent (27:07) Right.   It's true cosmetic is about I feel it's about the precision. It's about the aesthetics and like there I mean I hire designer to do my house. I'm not going to do it. I know that that is not my forte. I'm really good at other things, but I'm not good at color matching and what goes well together and how to put this together. It's just not my strength and skill set and I really do believe like this is what I think going back to your original professor speaker lecturer who   completely dash your dreams. I think maybe possibly what he meant was, I think there's some people who have a natural eye for cosmetic and aesthetics and there's other people who maybe don't. And I think you can adapt it and evolve it and become, and you have clearly proven that. But my guess is, I mean, hearing that you're even on fashion week, my hunch is you already by default had a very strong fashion aesthetic. Maybe you didn't, but I would guess that that kind of has been a part of you.   Dr Pia (28:07) No, I did. did.   And you know, I do like my own makeup and I know my colors and things like that. And so that helped. I have to say that really did help me quite a bit.   Kiera Dent (28:11) Mm-hmm.   which is why you were drawn   to this. You had the passion, fire, because you already knew that.   Dr Pia (28:21) And I loved it and I was like, how can I? And then what the other thing is like, you may not know you have it. So the other thing what I say is buy some art books. That's what I did. Buy some art books. Get to learn the difference between the chroma and the hue and just take a couple of art classes and see if you have it.   And if not, what can you pick up and learn from those art classes if you really want to do it? And I'm not trying to be sexist by any means, but I do think that women are better at it because of color. And I think we're a lot more patient because the way I do it is I do diagnostic wax ups on every case, whether it's one tooth, unless it's even with the prepless veneers where I don't touch the tooth.   Kiera Dent (28:52) Yeah.   Dr Pia (29:16) I still do the wax ups to see I've had all let me backtrack a little bit but I've had every single 2d program   in the last what 16 years that they've been out more than 16 years okay and it's not the same when you see yourself in a photo with the size and shape and color that you might want okay it's like using it's like using the apps to change your hair color i'm   Kiera Dent (29:32) Wow.   I agree.   Mm-hmm.   Mm-hmm.   Dr Pia (29:50) the strongest belief that if you do want to change your hair color, I think you should try on a wig and wear it for a couple of days. So that that whole entire ⁓   Kiera Dent (29:58) Yeah, I don't disagree.   Dr Pia (30:03) philosophy that I have what I do is I do the diagnostic wax-ups I do the indexes and without drilling the teeth the patients come in and I pop it over their teeth, you know with the Luxe attempt, know the temporary material that sets over it and I tell them to walk out with it and You know, it's not bonded on or anything. They can just take their fingernail and just pop it all off But go out let your family see it. Let your partner see it. See how you feel. Is it too long?   Kiera Dent (30:22) Mm-hmm.   Dr Pia (30:33) Is it too square? Is it too round? I'm allowed to have my opinion, but you're paying me and if your opinion is different than mine You have you should have the right as a patient to get what you want. Not what I want We have to come somewhere in between sometimes like I'll put my foot down and I'll be like you really don't want them that way   Kiera Dent (30:49) Mm-hmm. And I'm glad...   You're right. We don't want them to make a statement before you walk in the room. That's what we're going to just highlight here. But hey, if you want white white, like at the end of the day, that's what they're going to have. I love that you, ⁓ I think this is probably what's made you really great. I don't know. I've heard a lot about you. But I think what you do is you make sure that the patients are obsessed with the results and not that Dr. Pia is obsessed. Like you're obsessed with the craftsmanship of what you've done.   You're really talented at that. But like hearing that you let people walk out and go try these on and what is it going to be like before you do it? That to me says that you are so obsessed about the outcome and the result for the patient. And then your job is to make sure you have the most excellent craftsmanship, the best product, the best techniques, the best method to get them the outcome they want. And I think hearing that, I'm just so proud of you. And I'm so grateful to hear that there are clinicians in our industry that   are obsessed about that rather than the reverse. Because I think some people are obsessed about maybe the dollar, maybe about doing these types of cases, but they're not the best at it, or this is what I think that they should look like. You really want to make sure that that patient is like a walking raving fan of you before you even do the work on them. And that I think is very special about you.  

Trish shares with Tiff and listeners her experience with a practice that started with a whole lot of uncertainty under a new doctor, and the steps undertaken that lead to a thriving workplace within a year. Specifically, she touches on how trust, flexibility, and numbers each played a role in this success story. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript:   The Dental A Team (00:01) Hello Dental A Team listeners. I am so excited to be here today. We are, I have Trish here with me. So we are here just hanging out today and we, I'm so excited actually that we did this at 8 a.m. It's way more fun. At first I was like, ⁓ that is early to be ready. But then, know, we're like, spray our hair's great. Our makeup is fresh. Like it's actually super fun. So thank you for spending your morning with me Trish. How are you today? We are hot to try.   DAT Trish Ackerman (00:27) Thank you. We are hot to trot.   The Dental A Team (00:31) Trish, I got to love on you already twice, so go listen to the buyers and the sellers version of practice ownership, you guys, because you'll get to hear how amazing Trish is. But I want to pull a random on you, Trish. And I have not asked in a while, and I think that the Dental A Team listeners in the world out there needs to hear, how are the piggies? And yes, I said pigs, like oink oink, how are the piggies?   DAT Trish Ackerman (00:56) The piggies are great. So I do have two pigs and ⁓ they are very well known with my friends and my colleagues. I have, it's Miss Daisy and Joey and that is spelled J-O-Y-E. And well, they're doing great. However, winter's here is coming. It's winter in Arizona. we think they don't like the cold. They don't like the cold at all. So we have been having some loud piggies that like to come indoors and they do. So we have in and out pigs to go in and out with dogs.   The Dental A Team (01:07) course.   Yeah.   Ugh.   Yeah.   DAT Trish Ackerman (01:26) We have a total podcast just about that. anybody's thinking about getting a pig, please call me first.   The Dental A Team (01:30) Yeah, yeah, and that's true.   I, Trish, I think actually, like, save the pigs. I think that's a really good point because I and we can, you can take any theory and apply it to anything, right? Anything, everything looks great. ⁓ And when you're in it, you realize maybe I didn't do enough research, right? So this sounds like a great idea, but maybe I didn't do enough research. And I've known people, aside from you who have had   pigs as pets. And I know one family that just thrived loved their pig and ⁓ they live a long time. You guys, there's a lot to know about pigs. are incredibly smart. ⁓ but I do believe they're very smart to the point of like stubbornness, right? But there's like so much to learn and Trish, something that everyone should know is a passion of yours is these, the pig projects.   Right? And that stems from that right there, in my opinion, of people not understanding what they're getting into. When I was young, I wanted nothing more than a little pig. I wanted a little piggy. Right? And so many people in the early 2000s, in the 90s, they got a little piggy. And what happens to a little piggy, Trish? This little cute little oinker does what?   DAT Trish Ackerman (02:49) it gets real big real quick and then it roots everything and people are not prepared very and loud we prepare yes life's not   The Dental A Team (02:50) They're so big!   They're so big, they're so destructive.   loud. My mom was like, you're not getting a pig. Yeah. Thank God.   So, so everyone knows Trish does, she volunteers ⁓ for, there's a whole, the whole place here, the volunteer that takes piggies and cares for them and loves them. And it's just something that she's really, really passionate about that I didn't even know existed until meeting Trish. So thank you for bringing that to my life. But   I love the analogy that can be taken from that, right? Because we do that with everything. We're like, okay, that was so cute. my gosh, sparkly, do it, yes. This is an instant yes. I want it, I need it, I want a goat, right? I want a highland cow, a mini highland cow, because why? Instagram shows me pictures of them next to a fireplace. I wanna cuddle with a mini highland cow. That sounds dangerous, right? Like I also want a coyote.   DAT Trish Ackerman (03:40) Yes, yes.   Yeah, it's great.   The Dental A Team (03:57) Like there's so many things that we want in life because they're cute and they're sparkly and they feel like they're gonna feel amazing. And then we get there and we're like, ⁓ shoot, I did not do the research. I did not realize this pig was gonna get so giant, right? So I love that. Thank you for letting me take that journey with you. And so if you do have piggy questions, Trish@TheDentalATeam.com. It's her direct line. You can make sure.   DAT Trish Ackerman (04:03) ⁓   Mm-hmm.   Thank you.   I'm your girl.   The Dental A Team (04:25) And it's going to be just fantastic. It's going to be so much fun. okay, on that note, practice owners, doctors, know, teams even, we all get into that space, right, of shiny object syndrome, or it just sounds like it's going to be amazing, or it looks so pretty. And we sometimes tend to miss some of the underlying pieces that we've got to know. And I think that's where consulting is super beneficial.   for practice owners. There are so many things that you don't know until you know. And a lot of those pieces are healthy patient base, right? What is a healthy patient base? How do I keep, maintain, create a healthy patient base? What the heck is billing? How do I even do that? What is insurance? Why do they tell me what I can and cannot do? These are literally real questions that we get from doctors and, or team.   Why does my team hate me? How do I make my team like me? Well, my team likes me, but they don't respect me. Culture is massive. And all these things are things that we don't always think about when we purchase a practice and we get into this like beautiful building or the, ugly building that we're going to make beautiful or whatever it is. And just like the piggies, it was so cute and such a good idea. And then all of a sudden it's this massive.   Mass, like how much do they weigh Trish? Like a full grown pig weighs what?   DAT Trish Ackerman (05:56) I mean, I don't have the hogs, but Miss Daisy, I mean, she's close to 90 pounds and Joey, he's about 110 pounds and they start out little.   The Dental A Team (06:01) 110.   Yeah, yeah, and people think like a St. Bernard is wild. Like no, these are pigs, right? Like it was so cute. They are really cute still. I'm not saying they're not still cute. I'm just saying they come with some baggage, you guys. So when we're looking at these practices and we're helping these practice owners, these are pieces that we have to dig for. We've got to be like, hey, like that's a truffle finder. Like that pig is going to tear up your backyard.   but we can safeguard it. There are things that can be put into place to make sure that your backyard is safe, right, or as safe as possible. Same thing with your practice and your consulting. And that's what we do. We are good. Trish is great at pigs. She is great at many things. Recare, reactivation, AR, billing, team, culture, leadership. I could literally list the millions of things that Trish is really, really fantastic at.   And I think sometimes she's like an octopus that can just like all these arms are just going in different directions and she's just so fantastic at it. And Trish, we've talked about a specific client before and this client is just super cool, super amazing, super fun and a go-getter, like quietly a go-getter, which I love. I love that it's like a sneaky go-getter because he's so quiet. ⁓   So we talked about them before, but something I wanted to kind of highlight and focus on today during our podcast is yes, they've done these amazing things and with your leadership and your guidance, they have implemented some really incredible tools that we have talked about in the past, ⁓ you know, for handoffs and exams, mentorship, like all these pieces and it's worked wonderfully and the doctor is doing fantastic, but something I don't think we highlighted in the last podcast on this.   on this topic and conversation is the work that you've done with the manager and the team and like how that has flowed and how the doctor's leadership in the last less than a year has really molded the culture in the practice that that practice has now become, it's thriving. Like it's a practice that is safeguarded. It's a practice that has the systems in place that the team is really excited to be there still.   and has the like and the respect. I want to hear those tools, because those are sometimes the tools that we miss in moments of get our operations manual done and do all these checklists. And I want to hear how you helped them do that. I know he did it, they did it. And that is something that we can truthfully say. They showed up. They did the work. But what were the...   They did, and how did they do that? Take me through all of those pieces. How did you help them do that? How did they do the work? How are they showing up that's different than practices we're not working with right now?   DAT Trish Ackerman (09:00) This practice, it's so special to me because of the legacy behind it. just to reiterate this, we've got our current doctor in there now. It was his dad's practice and it was also his grandpa's practice. so he had something that we knew, he had something that we knew we had to preserve and grow and just blossom more than anything that practice had ever seen before.   And this doctor, he's kind of like your, he's just like your perfect implementer. And I never, and that doesn't happen all the time. And it did with him. And he, this is a doctor that has a stellar OM, like a real OM. And she, they are great partners. And when we, you know, we kind of walked through all the KPIs initially, like let's look at everything.   The Dental A Team (09:35) Yeah.   DAT Trish Ackerman (09:55) And then we started breaking it down, like where could we improve or where could we increase things or where can we be more efficient? And we'll start with just say the patient base, because this was a bottlenecked practice, which is it's got his pros and cons for sure. I mean, it's great because you're bottlenecked. The cons are you could possibly lose a lot of patients very quickly. But what we did is we would strategize together and I would map out the steps for him in like an ABC fashion.   The Dental A Team (10:06) Yeah.   DAT Trish Ackerman (10:25) Here's A, go do that. Here's B, go do that and C. He would do just that with the support of the OM and team. The OM and the doctor together would roll out at team meetings and even sometimes just morning huddles like this is something we're implementing today and they would do it. And that is, you know, it's like to have, if you bring us on to help you, there has to be a trust there. I mean, we're, certainly not here to make   make you do something that is not gonna work. Sometimes something doesn't work, but we pivot quickly. But for the most part, we're here to help. And this doctor walked in with nothing but trust. And I admire everybody that comes on to us, because this is a big decision to get a coach and have somebody consult for your practice. But that is really how they made these things move, They did everything, everything, and almost exactly how I would roll it out to them.   The Dental A Team (11:17) Yeah.   Yeah, I agree. I watched it. I watched it. I, as you were speaking, picked up that trust word as well. And I think the, the trust that he has for himself to make good decisions flows into all of the other pieces. And, and I don't mean that he knows every decision is a good decision. He trusts that no matter what the decision that he makes, he's going to pour into   and it's going to work or it's not. And if it doesn't work, then he moves on to something different. He trusts that no matter what, at the end of the day, it's going to be okay. So that means that he trusts the people that he surrounds himself with. If he has chosen you, he trusts you. And I think that trust flows into, I think it makes us better consultants, right? Because we feel that trust, we know, and we're going to push you. We know the extent to which we can push you. And if that trust is not there, you're not going to get as much push. And I know there's a lot of   There's a lot of times that I hear I'm not seeing movement or I need more. Well, it's both ways. We're gonna gauge it by how you're showing up. We're gonna show up too. And this is someone who shows up and that trust then, it doesn't just flow into the type of consulting that he gets. It also flows into how his team shows up. And you said that his office manager I've met, wonderful human and is just,   wants the best for the why, the purpose of the practice, the why that they're there serves it. That then allows them the trust that they have in each other, in the decisions, in the practice, in their why, in their purpose flows to the team so that they can show up and say, hey, we're doing morning huddle today. It doesn't have to be this like, hey, in a couple of weeks, like we're prepping for this, hey guys, we're prepping, because now I'm coddling and the team is like, is it good? it, like why is this?   Why can't we just do it, right? When it's not like a, hey, this is what we're gonna do. We're gonna try this out. It's gonna be amazing and let's do this. It's a like, ooh, like a gas and a break at the same time. It's like, ⁓ well, maybe though the team feels that. And they're like, I don't think I wanna do this then. I don't trust that you've put a lot of thought into this. I don't trust that this is a good idea. So I'm gonna rebel. And then, know, teams and practices and practice owners are like, why isn't this working?   I think you nailed it there with the trust. He trusts himself, he trusts you, he trusts his team, and he trusts his spouse. The trust is ever flowing. He trusted his father to gift him, maybe not gift him, but to build this legacy practice for him to take over one day. And I think that is massive. So then that trust flows into everything that he does. And I think you get to see that. And Trish, what are your...   What are some of the ways that you've seen the team really rally behind him?   DAT Trish Ackerman (14:24) They, okay, behind every number is a story and watching his numbers change. The story is that the team changed with him and they are, they're very transparent with their team. They're very, they're, very direct, but in a lead, but they, they both have very strong leadership. They're a firm and principal, flexible and procedure is what I love to use.   The Dental A Team (14:27) Yeah.   DAT Trish Ackerman (14:50) So they would be firm in principle, like this is a new implementation that we're going to roll out today. They would be flexible in procedure with certain team members because, you know, change is always kind of wild. It can be. The flexible and procedure would be, okay, if you're not ready to implement today, let me set you up with some coaching, but immediately so that we can ensure that we get this implementation rolled out by next Monday.   So it wouldn't be something that could just never get implemented, they could, if they needed to take some heavy lifts a little slower, they would, but there was always a timeline behind it. Nothing ever just sat ever. And team meetings, they're really, really good about their team meetings. They have solid agendas. They go in there with an action plan and they leave with action items. And they're just, they're marching. They continuously march together and forward and upward, always.   They did, the doctor also did kind of early on, he did a really, really good analysis, a sincere analysis on right people, right seats. And there was some discoveries made there. And knowing what those discoveries are, that gave me something to also help coach him with. you have to have, the doctors cannot do this alone. They can't. Team meetings are imperative. They have them. And again,   The numbers tell a story. And how did I know right away that this team was behind him was the numbers. But how did he do it? Consistency, implementation, follow through. He didn't just say he was going to do something. He did it. He did it.   The Dental A Team (16:34) Yeah,   yeah, and he delegated, right? He delegated to his team the pieces where they could support too. think something that I noticed right off the bat was that he trusted you, he listened to you, and something you guided him on was the pieces that only he could do versus the pieces that other people could help him do. And so mentorship, mentoring an associate dentist to take some of the load off of him, to build the schedule, to make room for the new patients, to get the block scheduling in place.   DAT Trish Ackerman (16:52) Right, yeah.   The Dental A Team (17:02) that mentorship could only come from him. But the other pieces, the implementing the block schedule, creating the block schedule, training the team on the block schedule, he didn't have to do that. And he trusted and allowed the delegation process and he trusted his team to carry it through. And I think something Trish that you did well with him and that he did well with you was allowed for the results. Everything was results driven. So if you implement this, you should see this.   DAT Trish Ackerman (17:30) Yes.   The Dental A Team (17:31) Now we see and make   sure we see that. If we don't see that, like you said, the numbers don't lie, right? The numbers tell a story. If we're not seeing the result, the expected results, we look at why are we not seeing the expected results? So he trusted that that implementation by his team was going to get the results. And if it didn't, he trusted that you would guide on why that result didn't happen. Yeah. Yeah.   DAT Trish Ackerman (17:54) Yep, and how to approach the team maybe a different way to   get the implementation active.   The Dental A Team (18:00) Yeah, yep, totally, totally. so massive kudos Trish on keying into, massive kudos to this doctor and massive kudos to you to really keying in on the areas of growth rather than just saying this is what we do, right? We're not that kind of consulting company but I watch you really mold your consulting per client to what   they need and where they're at, like you meet them where they are at and you are able to really see things that they thrive in, things that they love, things they're really good at, and then areas where it's like, you're not super great at that and you probably don't like it, so like, do you need to keep doing it? Is this something you need to keep doing or is this something that maybe we can pass off to somebody else?   DAT Trish Ackerman (18:53) think we're all really good at that here. mean, it's, think we get, we do get to know our clients quickly, really quickly, as far as just how are they going to tick with us? And, and when, know, with, with this doctor, one of the funnest things that I did discover with him is, is I found out that he was competitive and that was something else that really moved the needle. And I was like, ⁓ okay. And I ran with that. And   knowing that he was competitive and then started having them bring their presented treatment. How much dentistry did they present yesterday? And I mean, that just took off. So between him and his associate every day, they were in there and their huddle showing what did you present yesterday and what was accepted. And it just started kind of creeping up slowly but surely because the because the owner doctor, he's like he wanted to win. He wanted to have more to show. And that was that was actually a lot of fun.   The Dental A Team (19:44) Yeah.   Yeah, I do. I do love that. I remember you doing that with them and it was fun and you could see just like a spark. Like I wanted it. Like it was awesome. And I think to highlight that one of the reasons that you keyed in on that and that you made that a priority was that there was a sense of fear of diagnosing, of being an overdiagnoser. And so they knew there was stuff left on the table. There was a fear and there was a holding back and you challenged them.   to diagnose just one more, to diagnose one more thing and overcome that fear. And oftentimes we have to step into what that fear is and just do just a smidgen, like just a little bit, just a little bit and get over that fear. And that was something that you keyed in on. it wasn't, a lot of team members tend to listen to these too. And they tend to think the wrong of consulting, that we're looking to.   make things up or find things that aren't there and that was not the case with them. It was really just that fear of being an overdiagnoser, but really stepping into who they were as providers, as dentists, and their why to make people healthy again. So it's just super cool to watch. So, Josh, if you had to pick two things, two things, actionable items that the listeners today could attempt to implement themselves based on your work with this doctor, what would those two things be?   DAT Trish Ackerman (21:14) Those two things, let's see, the first one would be, what is your case acceptance and how are you presenting? And I say that because I watch and hear doctors talk patients out of treatment all day every day. So that's first thing, what's your case acceptance and how are you presenting? That's number one. And then number two, what is your, you know, I love this, what does your re-care department look like? What does your re-care schedule look like for the next two weeks?   The Dental A Team (21:26) Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Agreed.   DAT Trish Ackerman (21:41) and what did it look like the last two weeks and evaluate that. And if you find that there is more than 10 % of lost time in that two weeks, you might as well plan for that to possibly happen coming up two weeks. And so what are the systems in place? What are the protocols in place? Because you really want to lock down that Recare Department to ensure that you have your patient base and that you've got your exam opportunities.   The Dental A Team (22:05) I love it. Thank you.   DAT Trish Ackerman (22:06) And   that your overhead is not crazy because it can get really wild if we don't have if we've got a hygiene provider and she does not have a 90 scheduled or to capacity. We're going to start seeing some numbers look weird.   The Dental A Team (22:19) totally agree, love that. Awesome, thank you Trish, I appreciate it. think watching you consult is super fun, watching all of you ladies consult is super fun. My job is really, really cool and I just, I love it. thought, it's kinda like when you're in the office, you're like, can't imagine anything else and then now I'm like, I can't imagine sitting in an office, you know, and I was like, I'm never gonna be off the road and then I was like, actually I really like this, I really love this space so thank you for letting me be a part of it, thank you for letting me jump in on.   on calls with you sometimes and really just get to see you thrive. Thank you, thank you. Awesome, you guys, if you are a Dental A Team client, we love you, we value, we appreciate you. If you have any questions on this specific situation, you guys, we all communicate a ton. So ask your consultant if you want some advice, you're like, Trish's Recare sounds amazing, like communicate with your consultant. If you're not a Dental A Team client yet,   DAT Trish Ackerman (22:49) love that one.   The Dental A Team (23:14) We love you, we appreciate you, we value you. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. If you have questions, we are here for you. And if you want to know more about Piggies, Trish is here for you. And we love talking our hobbies and that is a massive hobby for her. So get to know us like we get to know you. We love and adore all of you. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. Drop us a five star review. We cannot wait to hear from you. And if you guys are in a space where you just, you're not sure.   what to do. You're like, I don't know what my A, B, and C is Trish. I don't know what my next step is. I know I can see this thing that I want. I don't know how to get there. We are really good at that. We are really, really good at building those steps and the path to get to your ultimate dreams. You guys, TheDentalATeam.com sign up for a free consultation and it doesn't, it's no obligation you guys. doesn't mean anything. It just means,   Help me, I see this piece, what am I missing? We are here to provide that piece even if you're saying I'm not ready for consulting, we will still give you those tools. So please reach out, we are here for you. We want to do the most that we possibly can for the dental world and our community that we serve. So Hello@TheDentalATeam.com and we cannot wait to meet you.  

Kiera provides very specific tips for how a visionary CEO can keep their practice(s) flourishing on multiple levels without sticking their fingers in all the pies. She gets to the quick with a single question a leader should ask anytime a new task comes across their desk: Just because you can do something, does it mean you should? Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: The Dental A Team (00:00) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera and I'm excited about today's topic and I hope you are too. Delegation, I feel like it's such a, ⁓ feels so hard. It feels like what should I do? What should I delegate? What should I not delegate? And this is for like helping you get to multi-level success. So whatever your success level is, whatever you want it to be, delegation is a huge portion of leadership. And I feel like,   especially in multi-practices, if you want to get to multi-practices, that's kind how I'm going to highlight this today. You have to ⁓ really get good at delegation. It's not about doing more. It's about doing more of the right things ⁓ and doing less of everything. And so really, really, really getting into that zone of genius, helping you out with that. So I'm excited about this. ⁓ I'll kind of work it through in a couple of different parts to make this easier for you. It's helping you know, what should I delegate? What should I keep?   and how to lead across all the locations with clarity. Because as you scale, a lot of people forget that they have to delegate, that they have to get different pieces. And so what happens is things just start to fall off the wagon. And that can get really, really scary. And then you're trying to like catch it all. And so many people, when they get into multi-practice ownership, they tell me like, I wish I would have just stayed at one. And I think, well, yes, there are benefits to staying at one. You had a call inside, you're so wanting to grow. It's just hard right now because we didn't set it up as   successful as we could have. Now, I am not one to judge. I did the exact same thing. And so I know the the taffy pole stretch of trying to do every single piece when you're a multi-practice ownership. And so this is coming from real life tactical, curious life experience of what we see with clients to give you the tips of the trade, to give you the secrets to success and doing it here on the podcast in such an open, friendly, welcoming, no judgment zone. More to just give you a hug to tell you, hey, you're doing better than you think you are. And let's give you some tactical practical tips to help you out.   So, A Team, we're obsessed with single practices, so multi-practices. We love to help owners build thriving practices at all levels. We love to work with practices anywhere from the startup zone all the way to the multi-location zone. Whether your plan is to build it into a legacy practice or to sell to a DSO or to whatever it is, there is no right answer with Dental A Team. It is your right answer. It is what is best for you, your life, your practice, and also allowing you the freedom to change that. So.   working with doctors and their teams to get to that high level success. ⁓ We are ultimately here to help you have the most profitable practice, the happiest team, the thriving practice of your dreams, and to do it on the easiest way possible. So that's what we're about. This is for ⁓ true, true, helping doctors become true CEOs, not ⁓ operators of their businesses to own their businesses to act in that seat rather than being the managers that oftentimes they are. So step one, when you're moving into this multi-practice ownership,   you are shifting and I want you just to know your identity is going to be stripped away. You're going to become the same thing that you feel very uncomfortable in because you've never done this, but this is what your organization needs and I think so often owners fail to rise to the need of the organization of what it needs and they like to stay where it's comfortable. And I remember as an office manager, I like when I truly stepped into the office manager role, I'm like,   Well, this is weird. I don't even know what I'm supposed to do. And you've got to just settle in and you'll figure it out very quickly. so helping you just know as the owner CEO of the company, what you have to own, like your true role is to own the vision strategy and culture. These are things that do not get delegated out. They're the core of the leadership. They're you setting the example. And when I realized, like, I remember one day I Googled like, what does a CEO do? Like I truly did not know.   ⁓ because I'd been a manager for most of my life. I'd been a doer most of it. I did not realize that my job was to own the vision, the strategy, and the culture. Now, not all CEOs, not owners of businesses actually enjoy the vision. You might not be a visionary and that's okay. You might just need to have somebody paired with you who's a really strong visionary. There's usually a visionary integrator according to Traction by Gina Wickman that I choose to, I subscribe to the strongest. So I'd be like a CEO and a COO. ⁓   The CEO is the visionary, the CEO always operations the day to day making the dreams happen. So it's like Walt and Roy Disney ⁓ are some good examples of that too. So when I'm looking at as a portion that you cannot delegate away, you've really got to own this vision strategy culture. That's you, you're the culture master, you're the strategy, you're the vision. So where are we headed? What does that look like?   ⁓ What's our 12 month? What's our three year? What's our 10 year target? That can still be, you set the like framework, the team builds it into a full complete picture. And then what's the culture that we want replicated across all the teams. So ⁓ when we start to get that vision strategy and culture aligned and ⁓ owners don't delegate that, you then can bring in hires faster. You can have core values. You can have KPIs like, because we know it's very clear. How do we act?   What are we going towards? And then what are the things that we need to measure? So this is truly something that when I realized like that was my job and it was the bigger picture piece, there's other people that do the day to day. It felt awkward. I'm not gonna lie. Like I was like, ⁓ I feel like I'm putting on a different t-shirt today. And like, I don't even feel comfortable. Like I don't look good in yellow. Well, you might not look good in it, but this is what the organization needs and nobody else is doing this besides you. So ⁓ the question is, if you're a multi-practice ownership and you're in this ownership role, question one is,   have I clearly communicated our vision? It's like, if Kiera or the Dental A team were to walk into my practice today and ask any team member, would they know the vision of our company? That should be a resounding yes. And if not, you have not communicated it enough and it has not been clear enough. Does your entire company know the core values and do they live them? And does every single practice know what their targets are for that practice and the KPIs they're tracking?   It's very simple way to ask yourself this. And I love to ask this and I love to come to offices. If you were to ask any member of our team member, they would be able to tell you, yes, we know exactly what our core values are. We know what the mission is of our company. We also know where we're headed. Now, I think I could be a bit more clear of where I'm headed in the three and tenure. My leadership team knows that a lot better. My core team knows where we're headed this year, what our core values are, and what the core values are of a company. We have this on a...   So some of them could rattle it off, our new team members, this is part of their onboarding. So helping you really figure that out is going to be paramount because now all your practices, all the locations are operating the same way and there's strong clarity. Step two is you're going to delegate operations for leaders. So this is kind of like the CEO versus the COO. So like realistically owners of like CEOs of DSOs and multi-practice ownership, you don't have to be a DSO for this. It can be multi, it can be private still.   I have a lot of private practices that are three, five, 10 locations. That's totally fine. You can do that, but you can't scale if you're still solving the supply issues and front desk drama and putting them. So you have to have a regional manager and a lead at each location. That's paramount. You need to have it. They need to have their KPIs and what they're tracking. They also need to know how to make decisions. Like what's the decision framework and how, what do I have decision making autonomy over at the office manager or regional monitor level versus what needs to get approval?   And then also we've got to have like training, not just tasks. So that way everybody has training of what do we need to do when we have that set up consistently. So you teach your team and you have a set protocol and process of how to run huddles. Like a system to me is something that no matter who you are, where you come from, whether you've been with us for one day or 10 years, you should be able to do the same thing and get the same results. So a huddle should have a form that everybody follows. You can have it broken down for me. I even have minutes next to it. Like this part's two minutes, part's five minutes. So it's a true 15 minute huddle.   for every single practice. Our one-on-ones have a set protocol of how do we do them, when are they run, and how often are they done, where are these things stored? We have a process of how we set up our rooms. We have a process of how we schedule. All these things that you start working on, and doctors who are owners and visionaries might not be good at these processes. So you need a really good regional or really good office manager or really good operations next to you to help build all these things so you do have confident leaders that are leading next to you. But this is everything that gets delegated out.   And there's a doctor that I worked with who's actually really, really great at checklists and operations and building. And I said, that's fine. Rock on. You got to pick which seat you want to be in. Do want to be in the CEO visionary seat or do you to be in the operations seat? Both are fine. Both are on the table. Both are doable. And you could honestly do both super, super, super well. You just have to decide which one you want to do. And this doctor, two years later sent me a message and they said, Kiera, I'm so glad you pushed me into that because as much as I was trying to do both, wasn't excelling in either.   So they moved into the CEO visionary role. They hired an amazing assistant to them. They hired an amazing regional manager and the practices are flourishing on multi-levels and they have seven locations now in their organization. But this way, there's not the bottlenecks. The CEO, the owner often creates these bottlenecks because they're not delegating those pieces. And then next up is going to be like, how do we actually systematize across the board all the locations? And... ⁓   So this is again, like we've talked about it so many times, it's KPIs, having a dashboard and a scoreboard so you know how every practice is doing, having leadership meetings with agendas and having communication that's very open amongst all practices. And then I do like a centralized training at least once a quarter, if not like once or twice a year. So that way all the teams and all the organization, I know this is a pain for people, but the more you get them all together, the more they realize that they're all on the same team, they're all there.   But like, this is not you owner, you're delegating these pieces. So you're delegating the reporting and the communication. So if you look at this really, you're not delegating the culture, you're not delegating the vision, and you're not delegating ⁓ the other piece to that is like the strategy of how we're going to get there. That's your world, that's what you're supposed to be doing. And then your job is to really rise up your leaders. But you are delegating operations, you are delegating systems, you are delegating meetings.   Like there's so much to your job that you've been used to doing that you're delegating. And me going from an office manager to a business owner, sometimes it's easy for me to get stuck in management because that's where I feel comfortable. That's where I feel good. ⁓ Vision and strategy, that's actually really hard to put on a scorecard and to account for my time to say like, yep, I put in 40 hours. Well, vision and strategy are not tasks. are, it's like fluffy clouds.   and they take quiet, they take ⁓ out of the office, they take ⁓ white noise time is what I like to call it. And it's actually very hard. And I think sometimes this is why CEOs don't like to go into this because it feels fluffy. feels, ⁓ I don't know, like so hard to track, if you will, which it is. But at the same time, if you do that job and you do it well, everything else falls into place and then you just check in on all the other pieces.   that are truly delegated. really, it feels so, sometimes I feel like it's unfair. I'm like, what? Like this is all I'm doing and this is everything else that they're doing? Tasks and vision do not get put in same buckets. They're not on a scale of equilibrium. It's not like, well, I spent three hours on vision so I should spend three hours on tasks. No, sometimes vision takes longer. Sometimes it's harder to build. Sometimes strategy's harder to build. The number of nights and times where I'm like working it through in my brain and I'm building it on paper and I'm working through like,   What does the company need and what is the culture and how am I going to show up and present and like, what are the meetings I'm going to put it in place? Just because that comes natural for visionaries does not mean that it should be shortchanged for operation that's task built and task focused. But all of this is literally delegated. So all you do is you own the vision and you delegate the operations and you delegate the systemization. Now you oversee it, you are a part of it, you can help create it. So that way it's there.   But this is how you have to start to operate in multi locations. A lot of times you are also over the hiring of new doctors ⁓ and then like the partnership portions within the company. If that's a piece of it, that's really what the owner CEO visionary C is responsible for. Yes, you might still do some clinical dentistry, but typically the more practices you build in, the more you're going to need to be overseeing the entire organization and doing less and less and less dentistry because it's something you can delegate out. No one else can do the vision, the strategy and the culture. They can't.   everything else can be delegated. And I know this feels weird. It feels awkward. And it's not always right away, but it will start to be something you phase out and phase out and phase out. And it actually becomes really fun and it becomes hard and it's a challenge, but that's what it is. Scaling is not doing all of it. It's about doing the right things as a leader. And this is something where so often we have a phrase in our company where we say, just because you can do it, does that mean you should do it?   So leaders, really want to ask the question, just because you can do it, and this is for regional managers, this is for office managers, this is for all leaders, just because you can do it, does that mean you are the best that should do it? We have some team members on our team that love to help out, and I am so grateful for that. Also though, creates that murky and muddy to where I actually don't know who I need to hire, because I've got five people doing something when two people should be able to do it, but I don't know, are they overworked or underworked, because we're all quote unquote helping. So having that.   clarity around is really going to help you. So this is a zone where when you're trying to scale multiple practices and you've got that taffy pole, it's the cue that you've got to step into the CEO level leadership and your practice might not need you fully a CEO yet. The business might not need you solely there yet. And so you've got to work on it in phases. And I think the phases are the hard part because you are taffy pulled. So you start to set up days and you start to set up blocks where this is my deep work time for CEO time. And then this is my clinical time. Then this is my...   CEO time, and then this is my culture time. This is my strategy time. And I hate the word strategy, it's the swear word in our company, but you do have to build strategy. You do have to talk to other people. have to work on those big relationships. Like that's part of what you do and not undermining it and getting you fully into the right person in the right seat for your organization is going to be paramount for you. And it does take a lot of time. And if you're someone like me, I talk to think, I don't think to talk.   So you might need somebody on the other side that works it through with you, whether that's a coach, whether that's a mentor, whether that's your manager, but being able to work through it so that way you're truly in that CEO seat. And so for this, this is strategic leadership. This is next level leadership. This isn't what you've been doing day in, day out, and it's for the next level. And so as you might even be a solo practitioner listening to the podcast today, helping you see what do I need to become and how do I evolve into this? Who do I need on the team? What players do I need to have with me?   are all going to be paramount for you to get to this great success that you have. So for this, if you're scaling, you're stuck, you feel like you're doing it all, reach out. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. This is what we do. Our job is to make it to be simple, to be easier for you, to be more fun for you, and all around to create the freedom and the growth that you need to be successful. You have to have the space to do this. That's paramount for you to be able to do it. And we're here to help you along the way. And as always, don't do this alone. You don't have to. And just because you're learning a new role,   just like a lot of office managers are learning a new role. There's nothing wrong with that. We're here to help you. We're here to support you. You're not expected to know at all. So stop pretending like you need to and start to grow into the zones that you are truly great at. And as always, let us know how we can help you reach out. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. Go to our website, TheDentalATeam.com book a call. Let's talk about it. Let's find your gaps. Let's give you some resources, no judgment, just massive momentum, massive clarity. And as always, thanks for listening. I'll catch you next time on The Dental A Team podcast.  

Onboarding a new team member has turned into a very transactional process. In this episode, Tiff and Monica discuss how to add authenticity, connection, and engagement to the mix. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: The Dental A Team (00:01) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. Welcome back. I am just so happy to have all of you. know there are so many people out there that support the Dental A Team in so many amazing ways. And you guys being here downloading these podcasts and having that little, I know Apple allows the like auto download. I always love that. Cause when I'm on flights, I can just, you know, podcast. But you guys being here.   pushing those through for us, being here to just support who we are, what we do is so truly incredible, whether you're a client, a future client, or someone who's just here to listen and you're like, ⁓ you know, never gonna sign up, we don't really have a preference of how you get to us. We just love that you're here. We wanna deliver all of the most amazing information that we possibly can. You might notice we share a lot of information, a lot of tips and tricks, a lot of like, I don't know, feel like, Monica, I feel like they're like.   secrets, trade secrets, right? And people are like, gosh, I'll just listen to your podcast. I'm like, fantastic, do that, do that. When you're ready for someone like Monica, who I have here with us today, you guys, to be like, I'm gonna push you a little bit further. She's here, we're here, and we're ready to help you get to that next level. And as I said, you guys, this is a truly, truly exciting day for us. I have Monica back on the podcast with me today. I am so excited to have you here, Monica. I know.   Monica Gomez (00:57) ⁓ yeah.   The Dental A Team (01:20) Previously, I've kind of given a good spiel of who you are and how we found you. And we got to record a podcast, if you haven't listened to it yet, about this really hiring tips and strategies. But there's so much to learn about Monica, her coaching style and who she is in that episode. So if you haven't listened to it yet, go do that. And as an introduction today, Monica, welcome. I'm so excited to have you here. And I just I'm excited to pick your brain. love I love watching.   I feel like I get to watch the flow of how thoughts come to you and it's just really fun and I love our time together. Thank you for blocking out your morning and being here with me this morning and Monica, how are you? How was your weekend? How's life? How's Monica?   Monica Gomez (02:05) ⁓ Life is great and I'm starting off my week with podcasting with you ⁓ and this is so fun. This is my second podcast and I'm so excited to be here. Our first one was really, there was a flow to it, right? It was a ⁓ great little conversation, valuable. We dropped lots of gems, you guys, so go listen to that podcast and I'm excited to be sharing this space again with you, Tish. Thank you for having me.   The Dental A Team (02:21) Yeah.   Thank you, thank you. I do love this and it actually makes me think this is like a little off topic here, but just for a smidgen of time. love the podcast space with you consultant ladies ⁓ on our team because I love that this is a space where I get to, I think I get to share how much I love you guys. Like how much admiration I have, how much I look up to you guys and get to like extract so much.   knowledge and input from you. And I think this is our space of like, truly having some connection time. And we have our one on ones, I mentioned that before, but those are so goal driven and work driven. It makes me think I love relationship and community. And I think that's something that humans are learning again, we're relearning that we need that. I think we lost that for a moment of time here recently and   in the years and we're coming back to that. You kind of don't know what you have until you lose it sometimes and we lost that space. And I think this is our space of true community. We do have our weekly meetings, we have our one-on-ones, we have our data-driven, work-driven time together, but the podcasting space is actually really special to me because I do get to, I get to get to like, want, we get to put you guys out there and I get to just spend this time with you.   And it makes me think you mentioned something on the last podcast that we had recorded together. You mentioned that intentional team time together and that like just clicked. As you're talking, like it clicked for me. This is our intentional time together and instilling that into, infusing that into the workplace. It's really special. And I want doctors and owners and leaders and anyone who's here, dental assistants, treatment coordinators, I don't care who you are. I want you to...   know from the bottom of my heart, this is a really special place and you don't need to go start a podcast unless you want to. But having that intentional time, like coffee time, like go in the break room and have coffee together and talk about your weekend. Like me getting to hear about Monica's family life and Charlie, her puppy, getting to know those pieces of you personally, it changes and it shifts our dynamic. So I wanted to highlight that because as you were speaking, I was like, my gosh, this is   Monica Gomez (04:44) Yeah.   The Dental A Team (04:57) something we haven't had yet because this is only our second podcast together, but that I know I do have with the other consultants and it just totally clicked for me because we just, think, mentioned that in the last one. So Monica, thank you for being here. Thank you for letting me say all that and for giving me this intentional time today.   Monica Gomez (05:15) Yeah, thanks, Tiff. Yeah, I think ⁓ this time together, we get to peek, a little peek behind the veil, right? And yeah, we do have a lot of connection time. It's structured time, right? But the value of unstructured time is just gold. is, ⁓ it builds trust, it builds ⁓ camaraderie, it builds affinity, it builds ⁓ an endearing, right? An endearing kind of sense of   The Dental A Team (05:23) Yeah.   Yeah.   Monica Gomez (05:44) of viewing the other person in a different light. So yeah, I think this is a powerful, like meaningful time. I agree with you. I agree with everything that you said. This is definitely a special magical space. Yeah.   The Dental A Team (05:53) Yeah.   Yeah, thank you.   Awesome. Well, thank you for being here. And again, if you didn't listen to the last podcast, I know this is the third or fourth time we're saying it. You should. This is kind of I think Monica actually helped me choose today's topics that she wanted to speak on. I think they actually naturally flow together. So I would maybe even listen to this one after the last one or listen to this one. And then I don't care which order you do it in, but listen to both of them is my is my point here, because today we really we're going to talk about onboarding.   Monica Gomez (06:07) You   The Dental A Team (06:28) And you can onboard anyone, but I think maybe when we add in onboarding the right team member, because the last podcast we recorded was really how to hire the right team member and hiring with intentionality and meaning behind it. And the onboarding, Monica, I think has to flow off of that. If we're not continuously showing up as the person we wanted to hire, like we talked about in the last one.   If we show up in the interview space and we're like, this is who I want you to be, but then we're onboarding and we're like, meh, meh. We're like, this is boring person and we want somebody who's dynamic and fun and engaging and speaking to the patients, but we're like, not that person. I think it makes a huge difference. So Monica, as you've trained people, as you've onboarded, you've trained practices to do this, what are some key highlights that you like to infuse into the onboarding process?   Monica Gomez (07:16) Yeah, great topic. And I agree, this one goes hand in hand with our previous podcast. know, onboarding traditionally has been very much transactional, right? Here's your cubby, here's what you do, here's where you sit, here's how you answer the phones, right? We've got to move. Well, there's a part of it that has to be transactional because you have to learn, you know, what your job is and, you know, the daily to do's.   But I think if we lead with that, it's a mistake. ⁓ As I mentioned before, and we talked about how the workforce has changed, ⁓ and we're leading with connection and engagement and authenticity and all those components that make us unique, I think we, I really feel that we need to move.   from a transactional place to a transformational or transcendental. ⁓ It's gotta be more about behaviors, right? And how we wrap our arms around like this new person that's joining our little family, right? How would you like to be welcomed into a team that would make you feel welcome and received with open arms and warmth? That's how we have to welcome our new people.   The Dental A Team (08:19) Yeah.   Monica Gomez (08:37) You know, we've invested so much time and energy in interviewing our job post, our, you know, filtering our candidates, interviewing, that whole hiring process, offer letter, the whole nine yards. And then we just throw them in, sink or swim. We've got to add, we've got to be intentional and we've got to add more value to the onboarding piece because, you know, people sometimes are left thinking like, gosh,   The Dental A Team (08:55) Yeah.   Monica Gomez (09:06) this is not the place that I thought it was gonna be, right? Like make it the place that you post it on your job ad, right? Like create, you get to be the creator. You're the co-creator, right? This is your platform. Like what do you wanna create for your new people, right? And I think transaction.   It's always part of our industry and in the workforce, right? There is a transactional piece to working. ⁓ But again, that humanist, right? And so one great tip, I'll start with one tip and I'll turn it over to you, Tiff. ⁓ One great tip is have a welcome packet for your team, right? A t-shirt, their name tag, little, you know, if you picked up little sprinkles of who they are and what they like in the interview, like,   The Dental A Team (09:53) Mm.   Monica Gomez (10:04) put together a nice little welcome basket for them, a pen post-it, a nice little saying. I think that's, wow, I mean, that's super impactful on their first day, right? Like, welcome to the team and have everybody go around at Morning Huddle and just give a little shout out as, you know,   The Dental A Team (10:12) Yeah.   I love that. Yeah.   Monica Gomez (10:31) how valuable it is to have a new team member. I think that's super simple and important.   The Dental A Team (10:37) Yeah, I love that. think you hit on something really important there. It's really that feeling of being welcomed, coming into a new space is, I mean, we don't even like going to a party unless we know, a dinner party, unless we know everybody who's gonna be there, right? We're like, I only know two people. Like, is that enough? Right? I got a text from a friend the other day that was, know, or not the other day, it's been a bit, but for, you know, Halloween. And then she's like, I gotta go to this thing with my husband. And like, I don't know anybody. And I was like, okay, like this is, we're all coming into this dinner party not knowing.   anybody else, even if you've done working interviews, you still don't know them. So I love that really just toning in on the personal piece and the relationship, because if you can have a relationship with them, you can, you know, build that camaraderie just from the get go. I think they actually retain information and onboard quicker as well. So I love that. Yeah.   Monica Gomez (11:26) It's hard being an adult, you know? It's hard being an adult. And I think   in the practice, you know, just circling back to our topic on our previous podcast, fun is really important. We forget to have fun as adults, you know? And gosh, you know, think of it like you're in the sandbox again. See through young eyes, see through young eyes. Put those lenses on and just remember what it is to just play in the sandbox.   with your friends, right? And have like that pureness of intention and that pureness of heart and spirit. I think it's just easier when you can kind of connect to that space to welcome others in. And they'll say, I love that you're here. Welcome to the team. How can I make your week and your integration easier? I think that's a gem right there. That's...   The Dental A Team (11:56) Yeah. Yeah.   Mm-hmm.   Monica Gomez (12:23) super valuable for the person receiving and also for the person that's delivering.   The Dental A Team (12:28) I agree. I was thinking,   as you said, you said it's hard being an adult And I thought, yeah, I remember just being like, do you want to swing? Like, there's two, like, do you want to swing with me? Like, that's, we don't do that anymore. Yeah. It was easy. Now it's like, we go to, we're in the same Pilates class 10 times and I'm still like, do I talk to you? Do I not talk to you? And it's like, goodness gracious. So yeah, like just, do you want to swing? Like just, let's just have fun with it. I love that. ⁓   Monica Gomez (12:34) Yeah.   It's easier to fix ones.   The Dental A Team (12:53) And so Welcome Packet is beautiful. if you guys like put it together, it could even be like ⁓ a welcome note card. Like, hey, excited to have you. Like everybody, we write thank you cards to our patients or we write condolence cards or happy birthday or happy anniversary. Like, congrats on your wedding. We write these cards and I've seen them in multiple practices. So I know a lot of people do them. You pass them around to all the team members or the happy birthday for the team members, right? Everybody writes on the card and it's like this little message.   You could do it as simply as that. Like, hey, Monica's starting on Monday, guys. Like, it's Thursday. Let's wrap this up. Let's get this like welcome card together and a candy bar or a little ⁓ bouquet of flowers, like four carnations. Like, it doesn't have to be difficult. It doesn't have to be robust or like over the top. Just speak to who you are and who they are. I love that. And Monica, something you said was we were kind of prepping for this was you don't have to have it all together. And I loved that because we've saw many podcasts on   Monica Gomez (13:33) Yeah.   The Dental A Team (13:49) operations manual and it's fantastic. And I agree with an operations manual and practices come to us and they're like, Monica, we need an operations manual, help us build it. It's like, okay, yes. And it's super cool. Also, it's not a requirement. You can onboard, you can train, you can have them help you build the operations manual while you're training. Don't hold yourself back from onboarding someone successfully.   Monica Gomez (14:01) Yeah.   The Dental A Team (14:17) because you feel like things are missing and I love that you said that. Now, on that same aspect, a job description, super simple, to put together a job description of who they are, how they show up and what their targets are per position and then build off of that to say like, hey, in the first week, two weeks, 30 days and then kind of go from there. Now, implementally, how do you build the action out for...   for teams like that, because I'm an aggriance. I love an operations manual. I think it's great, but it's not end all be all. And just because we get through an operations manual and your consulting journey does not mean you're done. You're set for success and nothing's ever going to happen. I think there's a lot of, we could go on a tangent about operations manuals. We won't today. But how do you do that with your practices you're working with?   Monica Gomez (15:06) Yeah, I mean, I think people ⁓ absorb information and they learn differently. And I think it's really important that we hit on all three things. It's auditory, visual, and kinesthetic. The operations manual or the training manual is valuable, Because it's a resource that you can go to to reference and get a refresher. ⁓ But that shouldn't be your onboarding technique, right? That's like, OK, here you go. Here's the written. ⁓   The Dental A Team (15:31) Yeah.   Monica Gomez (15:35) proof or reference book of what you already learned, right? It is the outcome of your training. ⁓ I think, you know, onboarding can be simple and we make it complicated because everything has to be in writing nowadays and there's value to that. ⁓ But really your team, the biggest piece of ⁓ an employee staying within those 90 days is how we onboarded them.   The Dental A Team (15:49) Yeah.   Monica Gomez (16:04) Did we just give them manual or written instructions and say, okay, here it is, go do it? Or did we say, okay, this week, part of your onboarding is that you're gonna spend time with every single person in this practice in the various roles, including the doctor. You're gonna sit in and listen to the exams and the x-ray take and the hygienist. And you're really gonna understand all the makings of this practice.   it's important that we understand everyone's role and how we contribute to the entire team. So I always recommend that you hire someone and the first three days, break it up. Three, by the way, is a magical number for me. I love everything in series of threes. So three is easy to remember, three things versus five or even four, right? So three days in each role.   And have that person that's learning write down the most impact. What did you learn in these three days sitting with a hygienist? Or what do you want to know more about? This will spark their curiosity. Don't give them a script. Allow them to of grasp the topics and let their curiosity ⁓ be the lead. Take the lead on.   Here's what I want to know more about, or I don't really understand this, or gosh, I didn't know that, right? ⁓ And that goes for experienced employees or people that are new to the industry, right? That's my recommendation. Allow them to spend three days in every single role, like the journey of onboarding, right? Like, I think it's super valuable. And then... ⁓   The Dental A Team (17:33) Yeah.   Fisher.   Monica Gomez (17:53) Again, they could be kind of co-creating your manual with you because what they bring back, the knowledge that they bring back, chances are somebody else is going to have that same curiosity or those same questions, right? Yeah, I think that's a really simple tip. And those also that feedback could be part of your 30, 60, 90 day growth plans. And here's what you're really great at, right? I always like to look at   The Dental A Team (18:05) Yeah.   Monica Gomez (18:23) Think about the growth plan like a sandwich, right? Like there's the beginning, the middle, and the end. And so here's where you are, right? ⁓ Here's where, ⁓ actually, here's your role. Here's where you currently are, and here's where we would like for you to be. And like, what are the steps to get there, right? That should be part of your growth plan, your 30, 60, 90 day growth plan, along with the job description. Yeah, I think, you know,   using the job description like you mentioned as a tool, right, to guide people and also for us to understand like, what are they really great at? What are they really proud of, you know, in this job role? And what do they want to know more about? I think ⁓ I ⁓ one great way to kind of get familiar with someone's knowledge, experience and their desire to grow or learn more about is take the   The Dental A Team (19:04) Thank   Monica Gomez (19:21) the skills and ability portion of the job role and say, tell me three things that you're really great at, that you're really proud of, that you just are an expert in. And then three things that ⁓ you wanna know more about, not weak, right? Things that you don't, let's take that, negative verb out of it, just say three things that you're curious about or three things that you wanna sharpen your skills at. That tells you a lot about their qualifications. ⁓ And I'm really an advocate of ⁓   The Dental A Team (19:24) Mm-hmm.   Yeah. Yes.   Monica Gomez (19:51) eliminating the over-educating and over-matching. This exercise is a great way to kind of level set who your person is, like what's in their brain, right? Like, are you curious about? So I think that's part of like the co-creation of the onboarding and the collaboration, right? This is a partnership, we're in this together. What can I do to help you help me?   The Dental A Team (20:02) Yeah.   Yeah.   Monica Gomez (20:16) and stay. think it's intentional and it is ⁓ structured in a way that's unstructured.   The Dental A Team (20:29) Yeah, for sure. And I think that what you're saying there that co-creation also makes me think of ⁓ like collaborating and co-creating with the people who are going to be doing the training. So if you're not the one who's going to be, if you're an office manager and you're not training this person hands on 100 % of the time, then enlist the team members too. So if this person's job is   I don't know, front desk check-in and she or he has this laundry list of 20 different things that they've got to learn in the series of these 90 days or 30 days or however long you parcel that out for who's helping with those things and allow them to co-create too. And I think what you're saying, the three days, it's like, great, you're learning to answer the phones and confirm appointments. That's what you're doing for three days. You're answering the phone. So you're answering the phones and you're delivering that   patient to whomever, right? You're transferring that patient to whomever they need and you're doing confirmation calls for three days. And then stack on top of that, anything, something you said there, the co-collaborating and the kind of doing it together, but also then enlisting outside perspectives to see what flows together. Because a lot of times our job doesn't necessarily start to end flow in this perfect, beautiful space. Sometimes it's like,   well, I'm doing phones, but I'm doing emails, and I'm doing phones, but I'm checking patients out. And those are very like stark contrasting pieces. And so if we're like jumping them around or trying to do it in what a day might look like, that's very confusing. And it's overwhelming because your brain doesn't operate in that way. You can and you will and you will multitask and they will get it. But when you're learning, you've got to learn succinctly in a flow that makes sense. So you can't start with   Monica Gomez (22:03) and overwhelming.   The Dental A Team (22:18) checking a patient out if you also want them to be doing confirmation calls. Like you've got to find, like you said, your start, your middle and your end and making sure that those pieces flow together and having that outside perspective I think can definitely help. Something you mentioned was those like check-ins. So you're having those conversations with them. So that in itself right there, you guys, if you're not, I want you to pull these action items out too because that in itself, that's an action item. So make sure you've got job descriptions.   make sure you've got some semblance of flow on the pieces that they're responsible for, and then you're checking in with them. And I think frequent check-ins are really smart. We do them in our company with onboarding and we continue them kind of as long as we possibly can forevermore. We do these check-ins because I wanna know where they're at. don't, not necessarily like, did you do this thing? I wanna know like Monica, where are you at today? ⁓   Personally, who are you and where are you at today? Like are we still in alignment because that's the space I think Especially being new to a team. I'm not gonna say I'm not always gonna say hey, I Didn't get this or hey, I need help or hey I'm falling behind or I feel overwhelmed or this is a lot because I don't want to look like I can't do it But if my manager or my lead is like, hey check in how are things going? And I'm like, I think I'm getting it. I think I need more time on this   That's way better than being like, I'm overwhelmed. Like that feels better to me to be like, cool, there's space to have a conversation about this. I'm not complaining or feeling weak or looking as though I can't accomplish something. You are giving the space as a check-in to just be like, hey, tell me where you're at. Okay, great, take the space, take the time, go learn it. Or if I need to show you again, I can.   Monica Gomez (24:08) Yeah, I love that. I love everything that you said. think, ⁓ you know, words create our story, right? And so if we're asking, like, how's it going? ⁓ Are you struggling with anything? ⁓ Our minds automatically go to that negative place, right? So you get to be the creator of the script.   Right. And so if we're saying, Hey, by the way, I heard you answering the phone start, like, listen for the good stuff, right? The good behaviors. Gosh, you were amazing. Greeting that patient. my gosh. I am so proud of you. You are totally getting this and you know, how's everything else going? Right. If you start with that excitement and something positive, that person's already in that positive mindset and it's all about mindset. Right. And if we're concerned that they're not getting it, they're not going to get it.   assume that they are, assume that they are getting it. So gosh, you are, I know you're doing amazing. Tell me all the good stuff. Start.   The Dental A Team (25:10) Yeah, assume good intent, right? Always. We see that constantly. Assume   good intent. I think, Monica, you saying this right here makes me think.   Relationships are relationships, I say that all the time. They just look a little bit different. Like my relationship with Erin is a little bit different than my relationship with you, but my communication skills are gonna be super, they're gonna be the same with the right words, right? So I'm not gonna, communication is communication. And so what we do is we say, okay, this is how you sell a treatment plan. This is how you project to your patients to get them to schedule. And you always start with a positive. You don't ask for a review by saying,   how did everything go today? You say like, oh my gosh, that seemed, you how amazing was your appointment today? Like you're infusing these words in there to get the mindset, but then we don't copy and paste that always into everything that we do. And I think how you show up for anything is how you show up for everything. So show up for your team the same as you're expecting your team to show up for your patients because that's going to translate. And if you're like, oh, it seemed like a,   Gosh, today was a chaotic day, how did you do? It's always chaos, we're in dentistry. Dentistry is chaotic, your days are gonna be crazy. Life is chaotic, you're right, it's always going to be crazy. So saying that, gosh, was, woo, that was a rough day. How are you feeling? Well, I'm feeling really overwhelmed and I'm feeling like I made a really bad decision coming here. I think you're spot on is my point there. So that was beautiful, thank you.   Monica Gomez (26:22) Yeah. And life is chaotic. Period, right? Life is chaotic.   Yeah. And, you know, I when employees share difficult, like a difficult day, you know, like, ⁓ I had a ⁓ client last week share that their new hire said, ⁓ gosh, maybe we shouldn't, you know, ⁓ schedule two crowns back to back because that was really hard. And, you know, my back was hurting. And so, ⁓ you know, the doctor was like, she's already complaining. I'm like, well, okay. Well, how did you respond? Right. Because   The Dental A Team (27:13) Yeah, yeah.   Monica Gomez (27:14) Because, I mean, she's delivering something that's important. She's sharing and she feels comfortable enough to say, hey, that was really hard. That's really what she's saying. That was really hard, right? And so, you know, again, one of my favorite sayings is, you know, get curious, not furious, right? Don't look at it with the negative lens. It's a great way for you to validate, like, how important it is to be seen, and valued, right?   The Dental A Team (27:43) I agree.   Monica Gomez (27:43) And she was opening up because she wanted to be seen, heard, and valued. Like she wanted to be seen. Gosh, I like did those two crowns back to back. My back is hurting me. Are you even valuing that I sat there in fact, right? Even though they could have swapped off with another assistant, but she, you know, she followed him. And so, you know, and my advice was like, you should number one acknowledge that she's sharing, right?   The Dental A Team (27:55) Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.   Monica Gomez (28:12) Thank you so much for sharing that. You're right, that was kind of hard. Let's talk about it as a team tomorrow. Let's find ways to alleviate that when this does happen, right? I mean, the patients wanted to start, like they're ready. Let's do it, right? But where were your other team members? Like, let's talk about this. And so seen, and valued. If you can make anyone new, ⁓ a new employee, an existing employee,   your legacy employees, if you can make them feel and create a space where everyone feels seen, heard, and valued, that's huge. That's like you, you will, your team will love you, your patients will love you because again, it's that invisible kind of energy that's flowing through your practice, right? That creates that great space for employees to wanna stay.   The Dental A Team (29:03) I agree. I totally agree. Thank you, Monica. I think this was ⁓ a really, this is just full of so many gems and ⁓ I love the actual pieces of job description, kind of the, I love your three days, spend three days on it and really just making sure you go through that job description. Look at the to-dos of that position.   Enlist the team to help you. Whoever's gonna be helping to train. I had people specific on my team that were like, these are the things you just, you're stellar at and it's gonna be easy for you to train these things. They trained those. So it doesn't have to be one person. It can be whatever you want it to look like. Just make sure it's built out. You have a plan. Preschedule check-ins. I always make sure we preschedule check-ins and you guys check in with yourself too. think Monica, you gave some really wonderful tips on really making sure that we're showing up the way that we should be.   or the way we want people to show up and really just gut checking and making sure that those things are there. And I loved this. Thank you, Monica. Thank you for your words of wisdom. Thank you for flowing off of it. This was perfect. This was divine. Thank you for helping set up this flow of podcasting today and for just bringing your insight and your wisdom and your years of experience of things that you've seen work and ideas. So thank you, Monica.   Monica Gomez (30:17) Thanks, thanks, Tiff. This is definitely a gem for me. I have so much to share and so much, I love sharing, I love brainstorming, I love sharing what works ⁓ and all the knowledge that we, all of us have, right? This is a beautiful space for us to, you know, share that. And this was so fun. Thanks for inviting me and everyone.   The Dental A Team (30:24) Yeah.   Monica Gomez (30:44) Go out and be fabulous and don't forget to have fun. Have fun.   The Dental A Team (30:48) Yes, I love that.   Thank you. Yes. Go be fabulous. That is like Trish's famous words. I love that she says that. always, I know it always makes it just like, yep, I will. Okay. No, questions. So I love it. Go be fabulous. I agree. Drop us a five star review. Let us know what you thought about this. Let us know what onboarding tips you guys have. is an easy place to find us and.   Monica Gomez (30:55) So these are the things.   The Dental A Team (31:12) get recommendations or share your tips and tricks. We really do love that. And also we're on Instagram and Facebook, all of those places. So watch us there. Watch out for us there. Thursdays, once a third Thursday, we have webinars. You guys, we're everywhere. So if you're only following the podcast, check us out. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com, TheDentalATeam.com. We've got all of it listed there as well. Go find us, follow us and listen for more amazing tips from Monica and the rest of the consulting team. Thank you guys and go be fabulous.   Monica Gomez (31:40) you  

Kiera goes into the key pieces for a worry-free practice, including systematizing your stress points, providing boundaries around time and energy, and leading proactively. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: Kiera Dent (00:00) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera and I hope you're having an amazing day. I hope that you are excited for today's podcast. I am, because like, why don't we create a stress-free practice? That sounds like, sign me up. Yes, please. Thank you. Happy to take you guys through that and how to create a stress-free practice, at least at a base level, at least certain tactical tips that you can put into place today to start exploring that, experiencing that. And honestly, I just love, I love the game of business. I love the art of business. I love.   ⁓ I love the impact and the change we're able to make. And I truly just love human beings. I love helping people just experience their best life, whether it's my sister or my friend or my neighbor or our community or our podcast family, whomever you are, wherever you are, I'm just so grateful and honored that you're here with us today. So if you love our podcast, if it's changed your way in any way, shape or form, do me a favor today and just share it with somebody that you think this could make their day better. Whether it's today's podcast or another podcast.   Go to our website, TheDentalATeam.com, click on our podcast tab, search any topic that you ever could want, make sure that you're able to access all the free resources that are available to you. And if I can help you personally or professionally in any way, you guys, truly like, I built this company to be a friend in the industry, to be somebody who has vetted all the different people out there to help you out. And it's so fun because I used to work at Midwestern University's dental college before I started consulting. And it was so fun. The other day I was on a call.   and my phone, like I was on a video call and my phone lit up and I looked at it and it was literally a dental student. we're talking throwback to the past, shout out to my Midwestern family. And I was like, oh my gosh, I've not seen that name on my phone and we're talking eight plus years. And so as soon as they finished the call, I called them back and I was like, dude, it's been so long, how are you? And it just like, my cheeks hurt from smiling so much right now.   It made me so happy to be able to have been in the industry long enough to have worked with so many different clients and have so many different resources that no matter what has been thrown my way with different clients, this student that I haven't talked to in eight years who's at a pretty awesome crossroad of their practice and their life and what they're doing, to be able to truly give them ⁓ advice, to give them resources, to help them out. And I realized once again,   that that is why this company exists. It is to truly be that friend in the industry. And he's like, Kiera, like, your time is valuable. And I was like, are you kidding? Like, this is what my time has meant for my time is meant to help and to serve and to be that resource and advocate. Whether you work with us as an active client or whether you're an massive advocate of the podcast, ⁓ or if we're just someone who have we met in passing, just know that you have somebody out there who is truly committed to making you the most successful, the happiest.   all the best resources I can possibly bring to you. That's what this podcast is about. So share this with somebody who needs this. Make sure that you get this into the hands of all these dentists that need the help, that need the resources, because this is a free resource. There's no strings attached other than just asking you to truly give back to those around you, in your community, in your study clubs. Make sure everybody is a raving fan listening to the podcast, because my job is to help you become the best that you can possibly be.   So with that today, like I said, I teased it out a little bit. We're gonna help you figure out how to create this, you know, stress-free practice. And it's honestly going to be through nothing sexy, nothing hard. I hate hard things. I like it to be easy. One of our core values is ease. So everything I bring to the podcast, everything we do in consulting should make your life easier and not harder. like honestly, stress-free practices come from systems and leadership. That's the bottom line. It's systems and leadership all day long.   And it's the discipline to follow through on both of those. That's what it is. So this is something where it's like, we're going to reduce the chaos. We're going to protect your energy and help you truly feel so much better in the practice because this is what we're about. Like this is how we're able to get you guys there. And so the systems and the leadership done with consistency will help you have stress-free practices. Now, a lot of times it's, know what you should do, but you don't do it or you don't consistently do it. It's like parents, it's like, I know I shouldn't give my kid candy, but I do it because they're screaming and I just want the screaming to stop.   Well, is that a temporary fix or is it a long-term solution? And so for this, making sure that we're systematizing. Now systems for point number one are going to be exhaustive. You will never be fully systematized. You will never be fully done and perfect in all the pieces. There will always be an evolution. And I just want to like get rid of the hope and the wish that, my gosh, like maybe I could do this or maybe it would change or I will one day reach this mountain. You won't. So when I work with offices, like how do you get them systematized? How do you do it? What's your magic diet pill? And I'm like,   Well, I systematize the stress points. I systematize what's causing the most pain that's going to give me the most gain. And I do that immediately because then the screaming stops, but it stops forever. Did you hear the difference? The screaming stops, but it stops forever rather than just feeding my baby candy. So they stop screaming temporarily. Well, then they're going to start screaming because they get a tummy ache and then they're going to throw up on me. And then that's a whole nonsense rather than just giving them the food that they actually need and want and doing that consistently to help my baby out.   So for your practices, we're gonna systematize those stress points. So what happens from this is, I usually when I go into a practice or our consultants go into your office or we're working with you virtually, we're going to look for the top three pain points that you tell us are the pain points. Then we're gonna use the data to actually tell us additional pain points. And then we're gonna look at those two things combined and we're gonna pick out the top three things that are going to move the practice forward. Like literally this is what we do.   So sometimes it's a scheduling and efficiency. It's a communication like that happens all the time. It's a billing, it's a profitability, it's a lack of production. It's a, don't know what my next step is. It's whatever your pain point is, like, my gosh, like I was talking to an office the other day and like, I'm so sick of the like time off requests and people calling out sick coming to me as a doctor. And I said, that's funny. Who's your office manager? Like what's your office manager doing? Because that should never be coming to the doctor. Should definitely be going to the office manager. That right there.   is a simple, easy fix. We put up a system, we put up a process, we just tell the team, here's the new organization chart, here's who goes to who, boom, pain point gone and resolved as long as you stick with it. So what we wanna do is we wanna look at what our top three recurring pain points are. Again, we talk to the team and then we look at your data. What do your numbers tell us are truly the issues that you're having? And then what we do is we create systems, SOPs or protocols, and then we have accountability with it. So like when I go into a team and,   there's an issue of our scheduling. Well, great, let's put a scheduling template in. Let's roll it out to the entire team. Let's let everybody know what the rules of the game are. That way everybody can play the game. And then we put it into place for six weeks and we reassess and we refine and we change it up as need be. And when you start to do this and you start to systematize, and for me, I don't like systems that you have to remember. I like systems to just be in place. So a scheduling template just goes in place and everybody can follow it. We tell them the rules of the game, but it's very easy. Like don't make it where it's like,   This green block is for just treatment, big treatment. Well, what the heck is big treatment? Let's do this green block is for a $2,000 and you can have X, Y, or Z that can go in there. Fantastic. Well, now I know when I'm looking for green blocks, any person who's a crown or quads of fills or endo or implant, like anything 2000 or above can go here and I can stick it in. Now, now that's easy. I know it's $2,000 instead of big production. That's so much easier. Then what happens if I can't fill that?   Well, great, 24 or 48 hours, whatever we decide as a team that feels good to us, we hold that block for that long and then we can go and change it. Now what happens is somebody is like, but Mrs. Jones just wanted to go in that spot. I know I'm not supposed to. What happens then? Well, great, the person who's scheduled gets to call Mrs. Jones and move her. We don't play the game. We don't get to do this. Like unless it's 24 or 48 hours, that block is held for that exact procedure. And I checked to see whose name did it and they get to call that patient with me.   awkwardly sitting there with them, supporting them, so we don't do this again. I want to make it so uncomfortable that you would rather follow the blocks rather than have to deal with the consequence. But it's fine, you know the rules of the game before we start the game. So that way no frustration occurs because expectations have been laid out. Fantastic, we follow the blocks. People are like, Kiera, we're hitting higher production. We're getting out on time. We're getting our lunches. Patients are happier. Isn't that funny? That was something that was such a big pain point for you.   And with simple little steps that we put into place that all of us like agreed to follow, the whole team's on board, we all know that. We instantly fix the problem. This is what I'm talking about, systematizing your stress points and making it to where everybody can follow it. We hold it accountable. But like once you put it in there, now there's really not a lot of like remembering what we have to do, because it's all in there spelled out. Like NDT or handoffs, if you're struggling to get your case acceptance up, put that in place.   phenomenal, it's on every single route slip, it's in every single note template, then all you really have to remember is to fill in the boxes. And we have a tee up to where the team members prompt the doctor if the doctor forgot to say it. That's great. And now you're like, Kiera, you just added $25,000 to my practice. You're welcome because you did the work. You followed the system. You systematized the pain point and we looked at the numbers to tell us based on what you're telling us, based on what the numbers are telling us, let's put this into play. So if we can solve three of those issues for you,   That would be amazing. So looking at your practice, look to see what those pain points are and commit to systematizing those, those hot points, those stress points that are going to move the needle forward the quickest for you. Then the next piece to make the stress fee is you've got to make sure that there are boundaries around time and energy. So with offices, a lot of times like burnout doesn't come from working. Burnout comes from having poor boundaries and overworking and committing to everything to where you feel like you can never catch up. So what this is is like, I love to build with doctors your ideal week.   And we're going to, guys have heard me talk about this constantly. I cluster likes with likes. So we have our admin time. We have our doctor time. We have like when I'm building out a block schedule, we have it to where you want your crowns and we have what you have at the end of the day and right before lunch. So that way we can actually batch all of this along. You can get a lot more done when it's batched and it's clustered and it's connected. And then we protect that. Like doctors, I tell them, like, here, I can never get out of here on time. And I'm like, great. So here's the deal. You get out by like, what's reasonable.   Let's say you end patients at five, you're out the door by 530. For every day you're not out at 530, I'm gonna let you out of a four day work week, if you have three days, you gotta get out one day, that way you don't have to be perfect. Three days you gotta be out by 530, and if you're not out by 530, you owe me a thousand bucks at the end of that week. my goodness, guess what? They instantly get out at 530, how? Because we made it a priority, we had a strong boundary on it, and we said this is what we're doing, and there was something on the other side of it.   Or it can be like, okay, you follow this for the next two weeks and you get to have a pedicure or a massage or whatever you want to do. We attach something fun to it. But what's wild is just changing how we're working. It's changing how we're setting this up, but we're making it a, like it's a, it's a no go zone. We don't go past this and we say no to what doesn't align in those blocks. So for me, I know I've got podcasting days. Tiffanie was like, Kiera, can you wait? And I said, no, Tiff, I've got podcasting. Like I gotta get there. And she's like, that's okay. I can take care of it in another time.   Or I could have been like, absolutely, Tiff, no worry. Like I'll push the podcast. Like not a big deal. Well, when I do that, yeah, then I'm to be working on podcasts later. Everything goes down. Nothing works well because I didn't set boundaries around my time. And I didn't make a commitment that I was worth it because saying yes to something is saying no to something else. And I say yes to Kiera because I know at the end of the day, my greatest asset in life is my body. It's my time. Like that's my greatest assets. And so I've got to be so, so, so strict on it.   Everybody will try to take it. It's my responsibility to be consistent with that. So we protect that. We say no. And what's wild is when doctors will do this and they set up their ideal weeks, when they set up their admin time or their CEO time, their deep work time, and they actually commit to it and they stick with it, they literally start to grow the practice exponentially. They start to feel so much happier. They start to get out on time. They start to have more time with their families. I had one doctor and she was just burnt to a crisp.   Hated her life. I will tell you this woman now is since working with us has added over $450,000 to her practice She's got a 24 to 1 ROI of her consulting to her amount that she's paid in consulting to what we've brought to her practice Pretty good ROI that's better than the stock market if you ask me so a great great odds to bet on if you're looking for something And I remember she was just burnt out and she's like here. I have to like keep working every single night I'm exhausted and I said great. Here's your   Here's your task, every night I want you out the door by let's commit to a time, 5.30. And I said, and you're gonna go home and you're gonna give yourself and your family a gift and there's no work, it doesn't come with you. It doesn't like, you don't get to take home that backpack. Like I think schools have mistaught us that we go to work all day long, AKA school, and then we come home and we work all night long. And I'm so anti this model. Like, whoo, get me on a soap box.   because then we do that at work and we're working 40 hours and then we're taking it home and then we're not showing up for our families and we're not showing up for ourselves and then we wonder why we're chronically tired and we're not working out and on and on and on on and And I'm just so sick of it that I'm like, awesome to this doctor. said, great. So tonight's a gift. I want you to leave everything at work. It's gonna be here for you tomorrow. Like you go home and work on it for two more hours. Are we really gonna move the needle? And she's like, no, probably not. I was like, I want you to go home tonight and I want you to go have fun with your kids.   I want you to go be with your husband and I want you to like, let me know how you feel tomorrow. And I got a text and she's like, Kiera, like I played a game with my kids and it felt so good to be a mom and to show up. And we consistently started giving her her life back. And we started to have helping her see like at five 30, you're out the door. We don't take anything home with it because when we have those parameters and those boundaries, what happens is you naturally find ways to actually accomplish the work because you know, it's a hard no. And I used to take work with me all the time and it used to be this   And then I was like, absolutely not. So for me, my boundaries are, I do not work at all, like ever, non-negotiable on Sundays, period, nothing. And I don't work on Saturdays. Like there might be an emergency here or there, which that's fine. And it is a true absolute emergency. Like we're talking, someone's quitting and we've got to figure out what we're gonna do. Like Sarah is something that we, there was no planning for it. Like those types of things, absolutely. But 99.9 % of things do not need to be resolved on a Saturday.   clients text me on a Saturday and I love them and hey, I'm here for it. I'm not here for it on Saturdays. So great. And I tell clients text me all the time. And if I'm busy with family or I'm not available, I will not respond to you, but you get it out of your head. You get it over to me. I will take care of it when I'm back in the office. So fine. I don't care if clients text me on Saturday. That's fine. It does not bother me. It does not disrupt me because I know that Saturdays I don't work. That's my free day. I also have a CEO day that literally I block. And I know because if I have white, white noise time, deep work time,   So much more happens in the business. I also have workout time for myself. I work out three to four times a week. That's a non-negotiable. I have my morning routine every single morning, non-negotiables for me. That did not start as a day one. It became a process. But I started realizing if I don't take care of me and I don't have this future vision of 90 year old Kiera who's still super, super, super sharp. She's got time. She has energy. Her body's strong. She took care of herself. If I don't prioritize that version of me.   Today, she's not gonna be here at 90. So this is for you to predict your boundaries, to set it out. And I promise you, I promise you, the stress in your practice will actually decrease because you will be better balanced, you will be better focused, you will be better, like just cognitively, you will feel like you're not exhausted all the time and you can make better decisions. So your leadership will actually rise if you start to set those boundaries around your time and energy. And then number three is leading proactively and not reactively.   So for that, like once again, this comes to you as a calm leader and you taking care of you. So it's tying to the top of yes, we've got these boundaries, we know where we're going to be, but also at the same time, like you have these pieces where we actually have structure in there. So like we use morning huddles and we have one-on-ones. So we prevent problems from stemming in the future. ⁓ We have set meetings where we make decisions instead of it being on the fly decisions.   We have set time that we get all those ortho checks back to our team. We have set times that we actually review pieces in the company. ⁓ We have debriefs. We have a same page meeting with our office manager. ⁓ We have set date nights with our spouse. We have set workout times with ourselves. But all these little set points, they feel like, as I say it, I'm like, gosh, that might feel like a lot. It's like, hey, block your whole life. So you've got all these color blocks.   But the reality is when you've got this structure, you're very proactive, not reactive, and you actually have a lot more time in your world. People are like, Kiera, how do you get so much done? How do you podcast three times a week, guys? You're welcome. And it's been going on for almost six years, thousands of episodes. People are like, how do you do it? And how do you have clients? And how are you a CEO? And how do you have time for your husband? How do you work out? And I'm like, honestly, it's because you're very proactive and not reactive. I used to be very, very reactive when I first started the company. And then we moved it into a space where it was a phenomenal.   we can take care of this. We don't have to have answers right away. I grew up as a CEO. I grew up as a leader, but it was leading proactively and not reactively. So looking to see where are quick areas that you might be a little reactive and how could you be a bit more proactive on that? ⁓ Like I said, what things can we put into place beforehand to make sure they're not there? So when we look at this, this is how you're able to build a stress-free practice of you systematize the top   priorities, like we systematize those stress points and we get those dialed in. Then we protect our time. have boundaries around it. And then we lead proactively and we put things into place. So that way in our team, bubbles and issues are arising constantly. We teach our team how to have effective meetings, how to have issues lists, how to solve things like, Oh, I have a team like on this leading proactively. They have so many issues all the time. I'm like, I have never in my almost decade of coaching how to practice have this many fires all the time.   And I'm like, all right, you guys are like a spinning top. So you need to build an issue. Listen, we need to stop having like, stop answering and solving problems every single day, all day long. Cause what you're teaching your team is they can just like vomit on you and you're going to like fix it constantly. Like it's like a child throwing a temper tantrum. Like, let's like, no, sometimes timeouts are necessary. Sometimes a calm and a shutdown time is good. ⁓ I've read a lot of books and they're like, people will say, Hey, when can I get that decision? Like,   At nine o'clock on Friday is when my thinking time is and I'll have a decision made by then. Like how incredible and people are okay with that. So it's this proactive rather than reactive. And we've got this team to where they now have their issues board. They only make decisions on their leadership days. They're not having to go through the fly constantly. They have set times. I had to do that too. And this is how I know that if you do this, this is how you can create stress-free practices because it's not perfect, but it is prepared.   has a lot of pieces in there I will tell you that's how you're able to literally like shut the phone off at night, able to disconnect, able to know that everything's being taken care of. I still feel like there is always this like hum of nervousness, ⁓ but it does, the noise of that nervousness goes down to where you're able to not feel like it's constantly there. So if this is something that you feel like you're constantly putting out fires, this is literally what we do all the time. ⁓   And so this is where I'd love for you guys just to subscribe, ⁓ to share, to like, to follow along, to help you guys and to share this with somebody who deserves more peace of mind. And that might be you. And if that's the case, then like, let's help you build your practice this way. Let's help train your team this way. Let's help train you as a leader because leaders aren't made, they're created. And I feel like so many of us just think that we're born out of the womb, a great leader. And it's like, no, a great leader is created. It's formed, it's evolved.   And so for you to realize like that is part of it, this is where it's going to be for you. So take the challenge, let's help you get that stress free practice. does like go for this systematize, set boundaries around your time and lead proactively and reach out Hello@TheDentalATeam.com at all, if we can help you in any way, or form, because I want you to be living your best life. I want you to not be stressed. I want you to know that success doesn't have to be a hope and a wish, but it can be predictable for you.   And this is how I love to help practices. This is what our consultants are obsessed about. They're brilliant women ⁓ who just know how to lead teams that have done this successfully many times over. So reach out, do yourself the favor and commit to like, I'm not gonna be stressed anymore. And there's a better way to do it. And I'm going to commit to doing that and reach out. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. And as always, thanks for listening. I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team podcast.  

Happy Thanksgiving! Kiera gives ideas of service opportunities, from a personal to a practice-wide scale.  Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: The Dental A Team (00:00) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera and happy, happy Thanksgiving. I am so honored to share today with you. You guys, I love Thanksgiving. It used to not be one of my favorite holidays, but gosh, you know, the secret to living is giving and to have a day dedicated to gratitude, a day dedicated to love, a day dedicated to families and friends and to just come together and to remember how good our lives truly are.   I think is beyond special. And I just want to say, for me, it would feel crazy for me not to jump on here and to say thank you to all of you. You guys are my favorite humans. You're the people that I love, that I get to talk to so many times a week, that I get to hang out with, that I get to see your stories, that I get to know personally and professionally, that I get to see your wins. I get to see you tag us on social media. I get to see the emails that come in. I get to see your reviews that you leave. I get to see you positively impacting the world of dentistry. And just to truly know,   that you guys are doing so good out there. And I just want to say thank you. Thank you for being here. You guys, this podcast was a hope, a wish, a dream when I was hiking up, I'm not joking, Half Dome in Yosemite. And I thought there is nothing out there that's serving dentists and teens. And it's a niche and it's a space. And I'm going to come in and I'm going to positively impact. And I'm going to get both sides of the coin to come together to really, truly influence and impact dentistry in the greatest way possible. And that is such a huge testament to all of you for being here.   for being a part of the Dental A Team family. So I just wanna say thank you for being here. And to this, I just wanna say like, if you've been an OG, thank you for being here from the beginning. And if you're a newbie, welcome. I hope that you feel loved. I hope you feel appreciated. I hope you just feel great. And I hope you remember how amazing life truly is. So I want you guys to just know that watching this podcast evolve, to seeing millions of downloads, to seeing us in so many countries, my like...   It's mind boggling to me. It's crazy because when I built this, didn't know how many people would listen and to see the fans, to see the love, to see the raving fans, to see the clients come through, to laugh with you, to celebrate with you, to cry with you. I just want to say like, gosh, like this is a journey. It's a joy and it's an honor and it's a privilege because I know your time is your greatest asset. And so I just want to say thank you. And today with it being Thanksgiving, you know, I really just want you to know   that I believe that the secret to living is giving. And we have a portion of our company called Live To Give. And I've talked about it on a few other podcasts. I've talked about how like, you know, it was back in 2019, I went to a Tony Robbins event. And a lot of you know how much I love Tony Robbins. That was because I caught one of my lightning moments in life where I was in a space so focused on myself and it was random because I was building a company called Live To Give.   and that was where we were non-believable and we were like getting donations to help these nuns who didn't even have a house. Like it was crazy and we raised so much money so quickly and I've done it a few other times. Like another one idea was the Vibe prison ventures where inmates were actually like I went I actually went to the prison and it was crazy and I was scared out of my mind ⁓ but I saw these inmates take their skills that got them into prison which were not the best.   and turn them into good and they pitched us their business ideas and to be able to sit there with them. That was another business that I got that was part of the Live To Give to be a part of that and to give back. And I found that so many of the times in my life that are my happiest moments are those where we like went above and beyond. And a few years ago, I talked about like probably my favorite Live To Give moment that we've ever had was when we were able to, one of my friends in Arizona, her son was struggling with stomach cancer and   I really wanted to do a make a wish and make a wish is like really, really hard to get in touch with. And I had committed that year. I was going to do a make a wish. I didn't know what it was going to look like. I didn't know how we were going to do it. I told my team, this is what we wanted to do. And we found this boy and his goal, his dream was to go to Italy. And I was like, this is it. Like guys, this is it. We have a team member who's a stomach cancer ⁓ survivor as well. And I was like, this is it. This is our live to give. And our whole team was able to participate in it. We're able to give this, this   child who's 12 years old, him and his family, a complete all expense paid trip to Italy when he got done with cancer and to give him the hope and the wish. And you guys like that moment in my life, I think about the ones that really impact us the most, the ones that changes, the ones that are like those lightning bolt moments. And I, the bulk of them are ones that we've been able to give to serve, to love. ⁓ We were able to last year as a team go and like help so many kids at the children's hospital.   our team has done angel tree where we go and like shop for these families. And Shelbi and I, I remember we went shopping for a family of nine and that was the exact of my family. I think back to when I was at, ⁓ United Way and I was able to bring holiday magic to hundreds of families from the donations of others. And I remember there was a time where I just was feeling grumpy about life. I realized like, I haven't checked my, giving like vitals.   in me in a while. I think about businesses and I think about all of you and we are constantly looking at our KPIs of our business. We're looking at the KPIs that drive us to success, but I'm like, what are the KPIs of our life that drive us to success? And maybe those are some of the pieces that are there. And I've just realized that giving and serving and loving should be an area that maybe we want to check those vitals, especially today.   of where is my giving my love, my service, KPI? Is it high? Is it low? Is it on track? Is it off track? And I will say that if it's off track, today's a great day to get it on track. And maybe a couple of ways for us to give back is just to love a little bit more, to text someone today that you might love. A few years ago, my brother-in-law and I have a kind of a unique relationship. When I met...   He was a business owner and I always thought he was so grumpy. I didn't really like him that much. was like, Jason, your brother is so just rude. I did not care for him. And as I become a business owner further into my career, I understand this brother-in-law so much. And he's kind of like, I don't know, I would say like a little crusty on the edges. He's not soft, I'll put it that way. And I was actually really, really scared to text him.   But just cared about him so much and I appreciated so much of what he's done and he's been a mentor to me. And I just said, take a risk, a gamble. I remember I was sitting on the beach in Maui and I texted him and I just said, hey, I just want you to know how much I appreciate you. I value you. And how much of a mentor you've been to me and you've given me hope when I didn't know that there was hope. And I'm just so grateful for you. And he wrote back, he's like, Kiera, I don't usually cry. And that text meant so much to me. And I just think that's our giving.   KPI. So what little love bombs could you send out? What service could you and your team do together? Our team, every year in December, we do a Live to Give. Could you guys adopt that in your company and together collectively as a podcast family? Think of all the lives that we could give back to. I think about my husband was talking about another brother that he has and this brother literally is in such a hard place in his life right now and   does not have a lot of money, has a lot of family dynamics, I won't get into it. And when I say like, pretty much homeless, that's literally what's going on with him. And I only highlight that because his situation is so hard. we were, Jason was talking about struggling with something and he was like, ⁓ I could help you with that. And Jason and I talked about it and we thought about who are the people that give to those that are struggling? A of times it's those that are like, not hardly better off than they are. And I think like,   Could today or this next month, could we maybe boost that live to give side of us where we look for people in need, we look for opportunities that can be in our patient base, that can be in our team base, it can be in our community, it can be in our families. Can I give out little love bombs? It might be cold in your area. A few years ago, we did a coat drive and this came from one of my friends in Utah who...   would ask all his friends to donate coats that they're no longer wearing and would drive around and hand out coats to people on the side of the road that could really use it. I'm not here to say you've got to go do that, but I just think like, what a blessing to those people. What a space for us to be able to share and to love and to give back. Like you guys, are so insanely blessed. I promise every single person listening to this podcast today, we all collectively could say that we have been unruly blessed.   in our lives. And so where is that? Could I text a team member and tell them like, Hey, you're doing such a great job. I'm not joking. I have a little list over here to write thank you cards to my team members sporadically and unexpectedly for great things that they do. Could I text my spouse if it's been a while and tell them how much I love them? Could I maybe call my parents? I think about like, if you have your parents alive right now, I hope that you just love them.   I hope that you call them, I hope that you tell them, I hope you forgive them. Even offering forgiveness to somebody that maybe doesn't deserve it, it's not a gift to them, it's a gift to you. ⁓ Patching up and cleaning up when it maybe doesn't seem like it's necessary. ⁓ All these are little gifts of gratitude, of giving, of serving, of loving people. And what's crazy is the more you give that, the more you feel alive, the more your bucket's filled like,   Every year we go and do something and I leave those events just on like cloud nine. We have a team member who last year she was so inspired by it. She like found a girl in Africa and basically like adopted her and has been like helping her get through college and like she sends her letters and her dad did it and they were just so inspired that they've like changed these lives of people. And like, but that team member changed as well. And so I just think today,   Let's look at our KPI of our giving metric and how can we add maybe a little bit more service and give back? Because I promise you guys, the secret to living is giving. That's why I have Dental A Team's Live to Give. And if you know somebody that could benefit from Dental A Teams Live to Give, it's completely like on us. It's not even that I might make it the 1031 or excuse me, our nonprofit in the future. Like that just is a great idea on the podcast that came to me.   because I want to build a nonprofit. But if you know a family that's deserving, you know of somebody that could have a make a wish experience, you know someone in your community, I would love to partner up with you. I'd love to help make magic happen. I'd love to use the podcast. I'd love to connect with a lot of you. But like, there are so many people, including ourselves, including our team, that a little more love, a little more kindness, a little more gratitude could go a long ways.   And I just want to encourage you today as you're in this space for you to think of how can you do just a little bit more? How can you make a little bit more impact and change in people's lives? How can you just truly like not be as lonely as an owner and to give heartfelt thanks and gratitude to any person around you.   And I was like, team members to your doctors, to your owners, it is lonely at the top. It is hard. And to give a genuine heartfelt thank you of gratitude, could truly go so far. And so I think just go out of your way, text your team members, tell them how much you love them, tell them how much you appreciate them, how much you value them. Team members, tell your doctor, tell your family. Like these things don't have to be monetary. It's us just loving of being kind and to give.   to just give back a little bit more. And then I'd also encourage you to also give a little gratitude to yourself for the things that you've overcome, for the things that you've been able to do, for the challenges, for the person you've been able to become. Think back to who you were when you started your business, to who you are today and give grace and gratitude. Because the reality is like, I think about this, like if you were...   to look back and to be able to talk to your younger self, what would you say to that person? You'd probably be like so freaking proud of that person. Like you're gonna do it. I'm so proud of you and I'm so grateful for you. And then I think like, let's go even further. What if you only had one week left to live? What would you be doing right now with your life? I promise you, you'd be living on your highest cloud nine. You'd be telling everybody thank you. You'd be telling everybody you love them. You'd be giving hugs.   ⁓ one of my friends from high school just posted recently that his mom passed away unexpectedly. And he wrote, he said, hug your parents, hug your family, tell them that you love them, love your cousins, love your aunts, all of your uncles, like tidy up because your life can change so quickly. And what I hope for all of you is that your life does not change so quickly, but it does change so quickly, not in a negative way of losing somebody and wishing we could love on them more.   but that your life could change so quickly that you start to live your day every single day of having gratitude and love and telling your family and calling them and sharing with your team and not holding back. It's like, I'm hoping that you just feel this like confetti explosion of love being able to be finally released and unshackled from you to give it to yourself, to give it to your team, to give it to your family, to give it to those around you. I hope you know that I love you.   and that I care about you. And I think that you're doing way better than you ever imagined you could be. That I'm so proud that you're living the dreams that you once thought were impossible and you made them into the possible. That you push yourself, that you evolve, that you want to be this good human, that you're positively impacting your community and your team. You're doing so much good. And I just hope that you feel the love. I hope that you feel strengthened and I hope that you just know that I adore you. And with that, I would also be   completely ridiculous because I cannot let today pass without doing one of my favorite traditions. And that is publicly thanking my entire team, the team that stands behind Dental A Team that makes Dental A Team incredible. And this year our team has drastically and radically grown. And I'm so proud of the company that we've built. I'm proud of the team that we built. I'm proud of the deliveries that we're able to give, the consulting, the changing of lives.   Um, one of our consultants said at best, said, I love what we get to do because every single day we get to change someone's life. And that's the magic of Dental A Team That's the people we have. So I'll go kind of an order of where it's at. Um, and I'll just kind of go by like people, uh, I'll put them in like no exact order because that feels really weird to me. And so just going to like, go through the list of all of our team. So kicking it off is the one and only Spiffy Tiffy. I am so grateful for Tiff.   You guys, she jumped into this company from day one, pretty much. I asked her to put an ice cream cone on her head and that girl has never looked back. Not an ice cream cone with ice cream in it, but just the cone. We get asked that question a lot. And Tiff is just my ride or die. She's someone that I adore. She's someone who pushes me. She's a safe space for me to ⁓ be messy, to be vulnerable. She pushes me to be my best self. She encourages me.   She'll co-present with me. If you guys, mastermind this year with Tiff was pure and utter euphoria. And if you were not a part of it, I hope you choose to come and join us because this was something that Tiff pushed me on. was part of Tiff's vision. We talked about it multiple years sitting in a hotel room. We were on a trip and she said, you know, Kiera, I really have this idea of doing these events. And here they are. Tiff has been my ride or die. And she's someone that has really this year grown in her leadership and is running this incredible consulting team.   And I'm just so thankful for Tiff being someone that I love and adore. Someone who makes me laugh so hard. Someone who I've watched just really show up for herself and to challenge herself to grow, to not put blame, to look at herself as a leader and to rise and to go to the next level and to drive a consulting team far better than I ever could have imagined. And you guys, if you know her, you love her, Spiffy Tiffy, she's on the podcast.   She does the podcast, she writes newsletters, she does consulting, she drives her consulting team and she makes all of us laugh and she's literally the walking like Dental A Team mascot for our company. And I just hope that Tiff knows publicly and privately how grateful I am that she took a chance, that she's been my ride or die, that she's something that I just freaking love and adore so much and I'm so grateful for Spiffy Tiffy. Coming up next, No BS Britt. You guys, if you've heard her, you love her. ⁓ Brittany Stone is just this magical human who   is a yin to my yang. I have so much respect for Britt and the way that she leads. Britt is like our HR guru. She's the one who creates policies. She helps hire. ⁓ Britt is someone that I see. She hates this nickname. So don't call her it. Gritty Britty. And the reason I like Britt has so much grit. She is someone that will just keep showing up day in day out. She's very stable for me. She's very consistent.   When you think about a boat rocking in the ocean and they have stabilizers, that's Britt for our company. She is just this amazing stabilizer who I am so grateful for. And not only that, she consults incredibly well. Teams love her. Our team loves her. She gets the MVP word often. And Britt is someone that I am grateful who has pushed me as a leader, who's pushed our team, who stabilized, but also has shown me like how strong somebody with humility is.   And also someone who has a quieter personality can be an incredibly, incredibly talented leader. I'm just so grateful for her. I'm also grateful for you guys know her, you love her. Shelbi Poppins, Shelbi has been my personal and executive assistant for several years. She's customer success. Literally this girl is like the grease between all the wheels. You guys probably all know her. She helps with the podcast. She helps with the company. She puts on events.   Shelbi Poppins is practically perfect in every single way. And our whole team would agree to that. So I'm not showing favoritism. She just genuinely is someone that we all love. And I am so thankful for Shelbi being my right hand. I know Shelbi would take a bullet for me. And you guys, if you don't have someone like that, gosh, it's an honor to have someone that just like, you know, will jump in front of a train to make sure you're taken care of. Wow. Greatest gift you can give. And those of you that are the personal assistants, the executive assistants behind the scenes, just know that you're, ⁓   The person that you're helping values you more than I think words could ever put into play. Shelbi just is magic. She is ease. She knows how to have everything done. And I'm so thankful for this girl taking a risk, you guys. We shared a wall, like she's my next door neighbor and I knocked on her door, offered her a job, had her send the job, convinced her to come back. Like Shelbi is someone that I am so thankful and I will say great talent is often sitting next door to you.   So don't be afraid to like knock on the door and like mad kudos and appreciation to Shelbi for just showing up constantly every single day. Shelbi is in my opinion, our definition of passion for excellence and results focused. That girl does not miss a beat and she's constantly showing up. She's constantly figuring things out. She makes sure that the boats run on time, that everything is done perfect and that the experience for all of you is absolutely magic. And I just, our company truly is so blessed to have Shelbi Poppins on our team.   Coming up next is a new player on our team, Jenna. Jenna is our COO, and I will say she has been one of the greatest additions to our company. And I think kudos to our leadership team who saw the need for us to bring on this COO to take us to the next level, to drive us in ways that we didn't know. And I will say that Jenna has come in with this like ray of sunshine when I think a lot of us were covered in clouds. And Jenna has this amazing ability to cut through the noise to see what really needs to happen.   She's a freaking wizard with numbers. You guys, I love numbers and Jenna loves numbers too. Like she is just magical. And I will say for owner doctors out there that are struggling needing that implementer integrator, Jenna has taught me that the right person seated next to you really can drive a company and you it's okay. You can hire a fractional. You can hire somebody that you don't know. ⁓ But bringing someone in with insane experience who has passion and love, Jenna is one of the most driven. ⁓   giving people you guys like I hope there's an opportunity for a lot more of you to get to know Jenna because her stories and her passion inspire me to want to be a better person professionally and personally she's one of the most giving like the story she has of the impact and the companies this woman is a miracle girl for companies and she does it because she believes in their passion their cause and I will say her clarity her accountability her continuity her   ways that she is constantly doing the right thing day in and day out and just showing up for our team, showing up for me, but driving us. Like when I talk about someone who holds a team accountable, that is Jenna. And I have seen her just rise and drive our company in ways that I never imagined. And I am beyond grateful until like I got the freaking jackpot bringing Jenna to our company. And I know our whole team feels that way. She's been an amazing addition and someone we could not live without. So, so grateful for Jenna. Next up, you guys know, ⁓   Our consulting team, Dana. Dana has been with us so long. Dainey, ⁓ her and I, Dana is just someone who is, if you haven't gotten the opportunity to work with Dana, you're missing out. Dana is grit, tenacity, and that girl, there is no challenge, no problem bigger than her. Like she will, she just takes it. She's like a beast when it comes to life problems that are thrown at her. And she does it with fun and grit and grace. And Dana is someone that I can count on to be consistent.   to be thorough, to show up day in and day out. That girl does not miss for me. And I'm so grateful for her. And I have also watched Dana have insane passion for excellence and drive to become the next version of herself. Like before my eyes, have watched Dana be, Dana, when I hired her to Dana, like 4.0, this girl has just grown through the ranks and she takes it on and she takes every challenge and she takes the feedback and she...   just grows and to see the results she drives for her clients. You guys, this woman blows me away constantly, but she does it in a way of ease, Grace. She's got all the kids, she's got the soccer practice or the baseball practice. Like she's always busy and yet she's able to maintain and serve clients galore. Help Our Team Makes Me Laugh All The Time has the funniest stories. And I'm just so grateful for Daney taking a chance on Dental A Team for being an incredible hygienist who brings value, who speaks for us, who presents for us.   Dana is just like Dynamite Dana. That might have to be her new nickname because she's so, and maybe it's not Dynamite, but Dynamic Dana. Like she is truly someone that I am honestly in awe and impressed by her so much and so grateful to learn from her, to watch her, to grow with her because Dana is someone who is so special and someone I'm so thankful for in my life and in our company. Our company is beyond lucky and blessed to have Dana. ⁓   and she just shows up constantly. She's taught me more about life and gratitude for life than I think any other person I've ever met in my entire life. And I'm just grateful for that. We also have Kristy. is such a, her name is Kristy Treasure and she is a treasure on our team. Kristy came onto our team as this dynamic consultant who just, I call her like our truffle hunting. Like she looks for profitability in every practice she goes to and she drives offices to success.   She rivals me on my numbers, which is so fun. And what I love about Kristy is she has this calm, tenacious personality that just goes after it, figures it out. And I know that I can count on Kristy to deliver insane results every single time. And she never, ever, ever misses. This is a woman who has so much knowledge of dentistry, but she has so much passion for your success. She is obsessed with driving offices to their ultimate dreams, their ultimate goals.   She just has like mad following of people that love her, adore her, honor her, and I'm one of them. Kristy is such a beautiful blessing. We were looking for our next consultant. We were wanting somebody and Kristy just, I feel like popped out of the air like Glenda in her little bubble and showed up in the most perfect way, in the most perfect space. She is someone who sees people. She's someone who loves people and she's someone who's got a heart of gold. And I just truly am so lucky and so blessed to have Kristy on our team.   Dental A Team would not be the same without her. And following Kristy is Trish. Trish is such a, my gosh, we call her Tada, which stands for Trish Ackerman, Dental A Team ambassador. Like Trish is such, I mean, she's rivaling Tiffany on how much she loves Dental A team. And Trish just comes in with this, like she is a walking magnetic dynamic human.   You can like, she is so fun and she's so hilarious and teams love her. And she comes in this way where she gets you to like navigate to your goals and results, but you were laughing and joking and having the most hilarious time. Trish knows everybody. Everybody who knows Trish loves Trish. And Trish is just this beautiful, incredible woman who does consulting in such a fun, positive and impactful way. I learned so much from her. Trish has the best one-liners that we all snag from her. She's constantly making us laugh.   But what I love about Trish is her positivity in her outlook where every day is a golden ray of sunshine for Trish. She shows up every day with positivity. She shows up of how every day is the best day. She's the one who said like, are so blessed to consult because we get to change lives, we get to create magic and we get to truly inspire and bless people. And honestly, I don't know what I did for all these years without Trish in my life because Trish is just magic. Trish is fire and spice and fun and beauty and just...   Reminds me that life is so freaking fun and I need to laugh and have so much more fun and I'm so grateful for her I'm grateful for her knowledge. This girl has gosh Like coached teams of 150 people and so I learned from her and I'm inspired by her and you guys Offices who are working with any of our consultants are just beyond blessed Following Trish's Monica Monica is so special. She just has this whimsical fairy ease about her   that just is so poised, collected, brilliant, that is so magical for me to watch her consult, to have me watch her like with her email recaps. I see beautiful emails come from this woman. Like this woman can write. ask her, like Britt is so brilliant. We ask her all the time like, hey Monica, we need help writing this. And Monica comes with it. Like a lot of the things about our company have been written by Monica. She just got this like ease and grace and loves her.   creativity space and I'm just so grateful to have that ⁓ I think flow example in our company of someone who just can navigate the storms of life, who can go with the flow, who has poise and polish and professionalism and just like truly makes people sparkle in jazz. She's a very fun dynamic human that I'm so grateful is on our team. I'm so happy she's joined our team. And like I said, our consulting team is top notch. I do not hire.   anybody on our team unless they come with massive experience, massive years of experience, coming with consulting experience. Like these women truly know how to drive practices to their greatest fulfillment and profitability and do it in ease and fun. And we were just so lucky. Like our consulting team is absolutely incredible. So moving on from our consulting team, ⁓ we have just this amazing marketing team and Eve, she's like my little pixel fairy over there. We call her her pixel best.   If you have ever attended an event, if you have ever gotten anything from Dental A Team a newsletter, a flyer, anything, it is Eve's magic. And Eve just makes my life so easy. She told me, she Kara marketers are so easy to find. And I said, actually they're not because to find a marketer, Eve is not just a marketer. She's freaking funny. Like honestly, this girl makes me laugh so hard. She is so brilliant. She's stunning. She makes gorgeous design for me all the time. And she's just as magical human that I   I don't know what my life was like without Eve. Eve is someone that has just elevated our company. She's constantly here for brilliant designs. But something that I have loved that I've watched Eve just explore this year is this like new found, like vibrancy blossoming coming out of her where she is taking ownership. She's watching these metrics. She's seeing different things. And Eve can pretty much consult people now. Like this girl does not just build me a slide deck.   a typical marketer would. She thinks through how to make the experience for all of you the absolute best it can be, how to make the experience the best for me. And then she's the funniest person in our chats. So if you ever get a chance to meet Eve, you heard her on the podcast, Eve is this dynamic human that all of us, and she's freaking funny. Eve is like the comedy central of our company who makes all of us giggle. Her and Trish, we just, mean, Tiff is in that rally with them, but Eve is someone who is just.   beyond magical and someone that I'm so grateful came into our life personally and professionally. Her stories, her example, her like zuberance for life just inspires me. And I'm so grateful for her and grateful for her on our team. Following her is Jacintha. Jacintha has been with us and she's just really helped grow our team and evolve our team. And she helps make sure the podcast is taken care of and trains people and does social media. And she's really great at just making sure a lot of the pieces get done in our company.   ⁓ Her just joyous laughter and vivaciousness of life is so infectious and I'm so grateful to learn from her. She's one of the people that has just taken live to give and giving a next level that I think is just beyond magical and something that I've learned so much from her. She just lives life at a high level and she enjoys life and she lives life fully and that's something I'm so thankful for her for. Following her.   ⁓ Joash Joash is new to our team. And I think all of us would be lost without Joash. Joash is behind the scenes, but if you guys are in our company and you're part of our analytics or different platforms, Joash is your guy. Joash makes so many things. He's like our second Shelbi in the company. He builds spreadsheets. He's a data analyst. He figures out different things. He builds beautiful pieces for us. He just is constantly looking for ways to serve.   But Joash reminds me of the beauty of life. Joash is just such a special human He really is taking things to the absolute next level and I'm so grateful for him I love seeing his little messages come in He is someone who reminds me to be so grateful every single day for living this life every day in his slack messages He's like, thank you team. It was a beautiful day. Have a wonderful day tomorrow. We're so lucky to be alive build the best quotes for our company Joash ish is just this like   dynamic, special human that I feel we are so blessed to have helping fill in so many different gaps in our company. And we're so grateful for Joash. ⁓ Robi Robi's on our team and he's in the marketing department. And I love that Robi is just here to help to support, help our marketing team just flourish and thrive. And I love that he thinks of different ideas. He's a great designer. He's a great creator. And I'm so grateful to have Robi take on tasks, fill in the gaps wherever we need him to be. And he's just fun. He's got a lot of   He's got a lot of just energy and drive and like reminds me of how good life is. And I'm so thankful that Robi also is on our team. Following Robi is Paul. Paul is our new CRO. Again, I title, didn't even know existed nor did I know I needed. And what I love about Paul is Paul has been able to come into our company similar to Jenna and just brings this element of poise, of guidance, of knowledge.   I love meeting really smart people and Paul is so smart. He sometimes intimidates me in the best way possible. I love someone who can rival me, someone who can challenge me, somebody who inspires me. And I'm so excited for Paul to come in with so many years of knowledge and so much experience and to see our marketing and our customer success department and bring them together to just make it better for our entire team and for all of you coming to our company. And I'm just so grateful for Paul for taking a chance on us. I think...   I think when I look at consulting, often think like, gosh, those clients, like I feel so bad. I want to take care of them. I just want to help them out. And I think Paul felt that way about Dental A Team. Like, okay, Dental A Team needs some help and I can see how I can really drive. And I'm just so grateful for him coming in, jumping in the passion for excellence that he has, the drive, the tenacity. I'm so truly grateful for him.   The Dental A Team (33:32) And we have our incredible consultant Pam. Pam is just a joy. She is someone who just loves deep. She is so freaking brilliant at all things dental. She comes with this incredible experience of DSOs and of running huge teams and of consulting to tons of offices. And she just is a joy. She's someone who is thorough and on top of her A game. And I am just truly so grateful for her on our team, on our consultant team, being able to just deliver incredible value to our clients.   and also bringing insane value to our company as well. And then we also have Tyler. Tyler is on our customer success team and Tyler just brings this extensive background of dentistry with him. He is someone who really just jumps in, who has a very soft demeanor, but is a go-getter, has grit, has determination, who loves our clients. Our clients feel so safe and seen and heard by him. And for him to be one of the first impressions of Dental A Team, I think is just such a compliment to him.   to his skillset, to who he is as a person, and we are so lucky to have him on our team as well.   The Dental A Team (34:38) And I think like, as I look at my whole team, as I look at all these people that yes, I just said them in front of you. I told you.   and I'd be remiss if I didn't talk about Alex and Sissy who are podcast gurus behind the scenes that have been doing this with me for years. Alex writes the most beautiful show notes of any person that I've ever met. That woman is so magical with words. She's a published author this year. Just so freaking proud of her and so grateful to know her and to have her put together the podcast for you guys every single day, every single week. Sissy for editing it up for us, for making the commercials, for making sure that all the pieces are always put together for you guys.   Like these people just love, they're so incredible. They're just magical. I'm so, so grateful that we get to have all of these people to serve you, to love you. I'd be remiss if I didn't say thanks to Jason. Jason is my ride or die, my love. He's such an amazing human. He just loves me so purely guys. Like to have someone in your corner that loves you and loves you fully and completely.   and just wants the best for you. He's my biggest cheerleader. He's the one who brings me food when I'm on meetings all day. He's the one who's like pumping me up behind the scenes. He's the one who makes every single one of my dreams not seem crazy, audacious and just loves me for them and encourages me to pursue them. Constantly boosts me up, tells me to join you guys, tells me to take the risk, tells me that people need to hear these messages. And I'm so thankful for him. You guys, I'm so grateful. As I say this and like, I'm not gonna lie to you, all of you,   should go tell your team how much you love them because me just doing this podcast helps me see how lucky I am to be surrounded by brilliant people. You guys had so many be like, I look at last year to this year. My team has almost doubled in size. If you've listened to this for the years, you've heard me just go through this every single year. And I will continue to do this forever because my team deserves public recognition and private recognition. These men and women are here as amazing people that make me better.   that push me, that challenge me, that make me laugh. And this is a team of virtual people. So I want you just to love on your teams, to love on yourselves, and to really, truly, truly know that like, we are so blessed to live this world, to be able to be a part of this. I'm so thankful for my team. And if you didn't know, that's just our team. That's all of us. And I'm so grateful for them because I really would encourage each of you to do what I just did to your team.   in some way. And as you guys wrap today, I just hope that you have the most magical day, that you have a ton of fun doing whatever it is, and that you really do check your vital of how is my giving KPI? Am I giving? Am I feeling fulfilled? And if not, I would encourage you guys to choose one thing, one area of your life to make it just a little bit more bright, a little bit more giving, because honestly, the secret to living is giving.   And I hope that you know that I adore you, that I cherish you, that I'm so excited for you and me to be hanging out on the podcast. And I want you to know how much I value you, how much I appreciate you. And I hope you know that and I hope you feel loved. I hope that you feel appreciated. I hope that you remember that you are so blessed to be doing what you're doing, to be living the life that you're living, no matter how great or hard it is today, you are so blessed to be able to do this.   One day you dreamed about this life and now it's yours. And I'm so, so, so grateful to have you guys here. I'm so grateful for all the blessings that we get to be. I'm so excited for this next year around us. I'm so excited to work with you. I'm so excited to see you in person. I'm so, so, so excited for this beautiful life. And I'm honored and blessed to be able to serve you, to love you, to encourage you, to inspire you, and to be in this journey and this part of your life with you.   And if I can serve you in any way, reach out, Hello@TheDentalATeam.com Go have a magical Thanksgiving. Love people, give them hugs. Remember, we get one life to live and I hope that you make it the most magical you possibly can. And with that, thanks for listening and I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team podcast.