Podcast appearances and mentions of kiera dent

Re-releasing a Dental A-Team favorite… Ladies and gents, he's back. Dr. Dave Moghadam is again on the podcast, this time to talk with Kiera about quarterly team calibration. While there's no silver bullet A-to-Z cookbook for how to operate a practice, an outline certainly helps. Dr. Moghadam shares his outline for setting up the ideal quarterly calibration meeting: Start with the why (review practice's mission, vision, and values) Align over treatment, planning, and diagnosis Review what makes your practice stand out To keep things exciting each quarter, Kiera and Dr. Moghadam also chat about ways to shake up the meeting. 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 (00:32) and you guys, I am so jazzed to welcome back one of my favorite doctors, an office that we coach, and he just thinks outside the box.   This man is brilliant. He's grown a ton. I'm so proud of him. We've worked with him for quite a while. So welcome back to the show, Dr. Dave Moghadam. How are you?   speaker-1 (00:47) I'm doing wonderful Kiera. Thanks for having me. Super excited to be there.   speaker-0 (00:50) my gosh, absolutely. Well, when we were doing our last podcast, you were somebody that I just admire. One, you're a doctor. So you give a different perspective than I do. Two, you're brilliant. And three, you've got lots of cool topics that I'm excited to share. So I am Jazz. When we were on our last podcast, you came up with a few more. Today you just came up with another one. Guys, I will tease that one out. It's not today's podcast, but we will do it again. It's gonna be I T F U. So I hope you guys are excited for that.   I'm excited.   speaker-1 (01:17) That's the the closest I think I can get you to swearing.   speaker-0 (01:20) It   is the closest. but today we're gonna kind of dive into team quarterly calibration, which Dave, I will say, is probably one of my top doctors that thinks in systems, but not just thinks, actually executes. And you see massive growth and evolvement of your team. You were one of the offices who literally called me during COVID and said, Kiera, I'm gonna train my hygienist. What do you have on hygiene training? And I was like, Who are you? Fantastic. We have our hygiene training course. Like, here you go.   Try it out. We're beta testing right now anyway. But kind of let's take it away, Dave, on this team quarterly calibration because it's so needed. And I love that you've actually created a system around it that you've proven to be effective in your practices.   speaker-1 (01:59) Yeah, for sure. So I actually I I got the idea from another office that you work with that's in up upstate New York. Wonderful, amazing doctor. Really, I mean, really, really just drives home that aspect of really just thinking outside the box, having a crazy drive and really just executing. Really has a wonderful team in place there. Let's be real.   speaker-0 (02:20) He's   far away. Dave, you know he's far away. And I'm gonna say this like out loud because I know exactly who you're talking about. And I actually mentioned this to another doctor I was talking to today, and I said, let's be real. He's far away, and I visit him four times a year. Like we're talking opposite coast from me. And I said, and I truthfully do it because this man I think is such a brilliant leader, and I selfishly go to coach them to learn from him. So agreed, like just massive kudos want to bring this on. And you were mentioning he had a word document.   He's just brilliant and I'm so jazzed that you took some things that he did and spun it to your own. And I wanna point out, everybody listening, take what Dave's gonna share. He took it from somebody else. I don't think there's anything wrong in taking items, mimicking them, mirroring them, and recreating them for your practice. So please, please, please, like do exactly what Dave did. Take it and shout out to that office in New York. Thanks for paving the way for so many great ideas.   speaker-1 (03:14) Yeah, I mean, absolutely. I think that's the best thing. I think when we all go ahead and, you know, take take ideas and expand on them and share them back and forth, you know, things really kind of get going. I'm always happy to, you know, help help out others in in the same way. But at the end of the day, I've tried to explain to people that I've shared, you know, a lot of my systems, my processes, my my things with is just because it's it good for me doesn't mean that it's gonna be good for you. You have to do the work, not because I want you to not, you know.   reap the the rewards of this, but because it it has to fit for your office and it has there needs to be some some ownership, some authorship from from your team and how things work as well. So I mean taking the concepts and expanding on them and making your own is gonna be the key in, you know, anything that we're gonna talk about today or just in in general, really.   speaker-0 (04:00) Totally agree. And Dave, you just drove home a really, really good point because I don't think that there actually is a plug and play. I don't think you go to the store, buy a system, come back to your practice and say, Okay, let's put it in, put the batteries in, read the instructions. I genuinely think, like you said, it's a concept, it's an idea that then needs to be transformed into your own practice. And I think so many offices get frustrated that they don't see momentum because they literally try to say, like, well, this is what Dave did. So take it, move it into my practice and hope that it goes on autopilot.   But they don't realize the countless hours you put in to making this work for your practice. So I love, love, love. And I hope all you guys heard that because I'll give you guys systems all day long on this podcast. It's what we do. We come to your practices and do it. Bottom line is there's a reason we don't have an A to Z cookbook as a consulting company. I don't believe it works. I believe you have to customize it to your practice to get momentum.   speaker-1 (04:49) You   can have an you can have an outline because even even even with making this, I mean, spoiler alert, like I made this, but then you know, six months later, a year later, like, you know what? Like, we should probably do this like this. It's a never ending, it's a never ending thing. It's just the way that things go. And I don't mean that in a bad way. I mean it's it's one of those things as you you grow and you learn. And the other thing that we'll get to is as as your team becomes more comfortable and they start to go ahead and give   their input about things, that's when it really kind of, you know, starts to hit its straw.   speaker-0 (05:20) Right, right. I agree. So we've teased it up enough, guys. So we've got this awesome team quarterly calibration. So Dave, kinda take it away again, and like you said, this is this is as of today, but I promise you, give Dave six months to a year and it will look it will look different. It will be fine tuned again. so I'm excited. Take us away.   speaker-1 (05:40) Yeah, so I I think the first thing is like ever every office, you know, in starting to create, you know, why you're there, what you're doing, all that stuff. In in one way or another, you sit down and you and you figure out your mission, your vision, your core values, like all these key concepts in, you know, any business. And that was something that we did really early on, as I was actually five, five years ago, probably right about now when this podcast is gonna air. first thing I did is I sat down and we kind of all talked together about what   What are we going to do? Why are we going to do it? You know, why are we here? So kind of reviewing those key concepts. And we we kind of cycle through, you know, reviewing those things on a weekly basis, but it's a good time to kind of highlight that in the beginning. of like, well, why are we here? What are we actually trying to do? Why are we going to make the decisions that we make on a daily basis? So that's the first thing. The other thing is like, well, what are the practice philosophies? Like, how are we going to treat and plan? Why are we doing things in that way? You know, this kind of stems off of that. And then   you know, we move towards, you know, in discussing things with patients, what's the way we're going to do that? You know, so the key concepts I always kind of bring out is, you know, what do we see? You know, what's going to happen if it's if it's not treated? What are the best options that, you know, you we can give somebody? And, you know, why is that better than other options? You know, so these are always the key points that I I want in the back of, you know, our team's mind when we we're talking about situations and things that we see.   And then other than that, I mean, I think it's two other big, big topics here. You know, what conditions, you know, are we going to encounter? And you know, how are we going to discuss those things and what is treatment planning generally like? And then what makes our office special? You know, really highlighting those things, like talking about these concepts. So this is, even though it was only a few minutes that I just went through that, if we're going to really go through everything in detail here, I mean that's a it's it's a couple hours. and   I mean, the point I'll I'll I'll get to here is, you know, maybe the first, second, third time, great, but at the end of the day, sometimes it becomes a lot. So you have to kinda eventually figure out ways, well, how are we going to mix things up? Because if you're lucky enough to continue to have the same team there for a long time, you're all gonna be sitting there twiddling your thumbs, being like, Okay, like I get it, but you know what's going on.   speaker-0 (07:46) Yeah, no, you're exactly right. And I think that that's why a lot of people love us because we'll bring in and shake things up and add some excitement. Cause you're right, it can get monotonous and tedious. But that doesn't mean because it becomes monotonous and tedious that we shouldn't continue to do it. Just change how we're doing it, look for ways to innovate it, and make it even better. So if I broke that down, Dave, it sounds like we start with kind of the why. Why are we doing this? What are our core values? Let's assess that, make sure those are aligned because that's gonna be the   the launch pad, if you will, to the next level. Then it sounds like it was treatment, planning, how we're diagnosing things, making sure that's all aligned. And then the third piece would be on what makes us special, what makes us different, what's our wow factor, if you will. And those are kind of the three points. And please feel free to add in any gaps that I left out because I don't know your outline. So I'm I'm learning right along with the listeners, right?   speaker-1 (08:35) Yeah.   So I mean that that's the basics of it. The one thing that's kind of like a little bit misleading is like with the treatment plan and stuff like that. Like what I've done is kind of gone and I've gone off of that that doctor's kind of like general template and added more is like condition by condition. You know, so maybe like 10, 15, you know, things that you wanna list out. And you don't have to you're never gonna hit everything. You know, so you want to kind of get, you know, 80% of what we're you know, what are gonna encounter on a daily basis?   And I think the way to really think about this is the the concept that you guys really drive home very well is what would doctor do? Yep. That's kind of like this is like that on steroids. The problem is when you do that like this much, at a certain point it becomes kind of like hiring. So I think it's nice. We now we kind of quickly will go through some of this as a review, but I think a way that we could probably improve more is if let's say, you know, once a month or so I kind of just did a smattering of, you know, some examples like that to kind of just really freshen things up.   And a lot of times, you know, some of these things are like, yeah, these are the cool things that we're doing. But a lot of the pictures, a lot of the things that I share in this section is kind of like, hey, we thought it was going be like this, but guess what? It's like a bomb went off. Because I think it's very hard for somebody who's not, you know, in the the trenches in a sense, with a lot of these situations to really understand the extent which is actually helpful. Cause rather than, you know, let's say in in the the hygiene room, like   You know, when we're treatment planning, telling the patient, no problem, it's not going to be a big deal. We kind of say, you know, this is what it looks like in certain situations. We've seen things become like this, just you know, you know, so setting up that kind of worst case scenario, and that's like one of our and when we talk about like the philosophies that we talked about in the beginning, it's underpromise and over-delivered. Right. You know, we always want to talk about worst case scenario. We want to talk about the fact that, you know, in situations where we think that, you know,   further treatment like a root canal may be necessary. But that's that's a discussion even before an appointment is scheduled. Mm-hmm. That all has to be there. You know, it's nice to to to be positive and everything, but it's not nice when you you do that and then it's a it's a mess later.   speaker-0 (10:36) No, you're exactly right. And I, you know, my mind obviously went into system mode as you were talking. And I'm like, Dave, I got this great idea. take all your conditions and things that you look at, make them into twelve of them. Then every month on your quick check-in calibrations, you could have all twelve of those. So throughout the year you go through them and then each quarter you highlight maybe the three things you've gone over. That was my instant like, hey, this is how you could like keep it on a system on a regime.   or bring case studies every quarter that that you then would take because they've already learned for three months, then six months and n nine months and twelve months. but I I'm curious and I want to dive into the kind of nitty gritty of it. How do you set up these quarterly calibrations? Because I'm hearing like we want to talk about it, like you mentioned, like this treatment planning. It should be a discussion. but I also have watched and I know myself, I can sit and listen all day long.   But then when I'm asked to repeat or I'm asked to implement or I'm asked to talk about it, I go back to what I know. Even though I just heard it, I might catch one or two phrases. So do you role play it out? Is it more of a like C discussion and we all discuss how we're going to discuss like kind of walk me through what and do you do you block it out for a full day? Is this a one hour over lunch? Like, how does this kind of kind of look? I feel like I've got a general like outline of it, but then how do you actually execute on this?   speaker-1 (11:57) Yeah, so we'll so we'll we'll block out a a a couple hours, two or three hours, depending on you know the situation. Well, we and I've tried you know a bunch of different ways as far as like a lot of the things that you mentioned. I think the things that are that are most effective and most effective in general, which you know I used to do more so in the beginning, not so much right now, is really just kind of randomly like calling on people and kind of being like, Okay, like let's like this is the situation, like let's kind of talk it out. And it's a little uncomfortable at first, but it kind of, you know.   makes it really gets somebody involved in it. Now what I would do early on is kind of like pretend like you're you're the doctor. But what I've done to kind of mix it up a lot of times is kind of getting a couple of people involved where it's what it's fine. It's whatever their role is in the office, let's say in this situation, you know, sometimes we'll do that or we'll mix it up, but we try and go through the the different stages of let's say, you know, we found this as an emergency patient, let's say.   Yep. So you're gonna be the assistant, you're gonna be the doctor, and then you're gonna be the the front office person. You know what I'm saying? And kinda, you know, go through that step by step. So we can kind of work on the the workflow, like you know, the the basically the the timeline a patient would go would go through the office and everything in in that. So that is work well. Honestly, like as as I've done this longer and longer, sometimes it's just kinda like   It's like going through the motions and it's just kind of like, okay, you guys know this, let's go through this. And that really hasn't been so effective. So sometimes I'll kind of take a pause and I'll just even, you know, hop on you know, open dental and you know, think of like, okay, who have I seen like lately where this isn't just open up like the x-rays and kind of do examples like that. I think that's been a little bit more helpful. The hard thing is, I mean, it's you know, we're all busy. It takes a lot of time to try and go ahead and do all this stuff. But I think if I was able to get a little bit more   regimented in in mixing it up. But for the purposes of, you know, everybody listening, I think if you get a good, you know, outline together, you get things together, you know, this will afford you, you know, the ability to do this at least a couple of times and still be really effective. I blew the first handful of times I did it, even though it's like the same kind of thing, it's helpful and you you mix in some other stuff, but then it becomes kind of stale after a while. So you want to make sure you're bringing new examples or shaking things up or, you know, just kinda everybody kind of knows like, okay, yeah, we're gonna   calling you you randomly pay pay attention.   speaker-0 (14:14) Right. No, I love that. And it's funny that you said that because that's actually my trick in offices. People are always impressed that Kiera Dent can learn names very quickly in a practice. And I'm like, guys, the bottom line is the only reason, not the only, but one of the main driving reasons I learn names as soon as I go into a practice is one, people tend to like me a lot more if I remember their name. Two, I believe that if I'm gonna ask them to do something, I should at least know their name. And three is when I get to team meeting, you better believe I'm going to impress everyone and dazzle that I know your whole names.   But then I'm going to randomly call on every person and they're like, she now knows my name. So I think it's really wise. I was also thinking, Dave, it's fun to to hear your ideas and then also flip into consultant care mode too. And I'm like, gosh, like let's just take this and expand on it. some fun things for that excitement that making sure everyone's on their toes is you can actually like have them draw straws. So like here's the case study, everybody draws straws, and it's a doctor, it's a hygienist, it's a treatment coordinator and an assistant.   So they all have to draw straws and so it will if there's a natural excitement and terror and adrenaline rush real quick of here's the scenario, we're gonna role play this all the way through, draw straws of who's going to be who on this scenario. So then it's a constant shakeup. I also love the surprise and delight of asking people on the fly. But I really also love like and I was thinking like some way you could make this pretty simple for you quarterly is if you know that there's a a patient that that   you're working on that you're like, this would be a great example. Maybe have your assistant mark that appointment in red or something. So that way you are pulling those constantly, which I'm sure you're doing, but thinking of offices of like, how could you be building this up for the next month or two? Just highlight some appointments, bring those to the table, or I'll be honest, I just did a what would doctor do with a a practice the other day. ironically it's actually the same office we were talking about earlier. Funny, funny coincidence there.   But I just pulled up some FMXs on Google. Reason I did that was because sometimes if we know the patient, people get weird and they say, but that was Kiera and she's got a funny bite. And they have a thousand excuses versus just a FMX or just intraoral pictures maybe can help them see it. So Dave, it sounds like you guys I I love also hearing it's two to three hours, so that's helpful to know. Probably a couple case studies. Love the idea of different people role playing out different parts of that procedure.   And I will say   speaker-1 (16:34) Remember the so we didn't do straws when you kind of taught us this concept. Do you remember what we did?   speaker-0 (16:40) I I think I just like put like name tags on people. I don't I don't remember exactly   speaker-1 (16:45) So you got you ran out to what was it? Like I don't know, Michaels like some kind of Yeah. So we did that we did that one time too. I found them on Amazon and I got just to just to kind of mix things up. we basically got snowballs and you know, you people would kind of toss to the next person in the the line of the the patient experience. Yeah. Sometimes you just gotta do stuff like that to to to mix it up because otherwise, you know.   speaker-0 (16:51) Was it the snowballs? Yes.   Yeah, right.   speaker-1 (17:13) To sit there for more than like half an hour, yeah, everybody's either gonna fall asleep or you know, bang their heads against the wall.   speaker-0 (17:20) And I also think it's important, like another way I remember when I was in practice as an office manager, I got real sick of having to create all these because it like you said, it's a lot of time. But also if I'm always the teacher, how can I test my team's knowledge base? So also flipping the role and having some of them come of like, hey, here's here is the the piece of the treatment plan that we want to go through. So maybe it's root canals, maybe it's crowns, maybe it's implants, maybe it's on period.   And have somebody come with how they explain it to to also double check their knowledge base. So like set them up. Like you're gonna be presenting on this part, you're gonna be teaching this part. I think is also a really fun way to shake it up. But those snowballs, that was funny. It just happened to be what we found at the store. But guys, if you ever want a snowball that actually feels like a snowball, they're pretty it was actually pretty fun. I I do remember that actually.   speaker-1 (18:10) Pretty good. The ones that I found, not not so great.   speaker-0 (18:12) I think I actually found them, if you wanna know. Go scope in in Christmas time, holiday time. I think it was like Walgreens or like I think that that 'cause I had to just run to the store real fast and I was like, these look great. but I love that, Dave. I love that you're getting your team to I think the big piece that I'm hoping offices are taking away from this is there's consistency in calibration. And you have a set time. So every quarter   you know you're going to calibrate on some topic. We've got the why, why are we doing this? We've got the whole treatment plan and the procedures that we do in the practice, role-playing that out from start to finish. And then also you're doing the what makes us special. I really think that that cadence is brilliant. Even though it might feel routine and mundane, I might guess what working out is routine and mundane. But the long term effects of it when done consistently are health.   and wealth and growth and drive. And so yes, you've got to shake it up. Everybody gets into that workout like suck and it just becomes very boring and you don't want to go work out anymore. So you shake it up, you come up with new routines, you find different trainers, you find different ways to do it. But at the end of the day, you're still working out. Just like here at the end of the day, you're still calibrating. You're still training. So how does your team feel about this, Dave? Like do they, do they look forward to it? Do they say like, calibration? Like how does it tend to go?   That's my first question, then I've got a follow up to that one.   speaker-1 (19:32) Yeah, I don't know. I think I think it's hard to say. I think it's it's it's a mixed bag in a sense. You know, some people have been with me for a really   know a a lot at times with with stuff like that. I think it's nice to to kind of you know break up the schedule a little bit though because a lot of you know we do have our our weekly meetings, but still, you know, they're they're pretty short now. you know, given that we're not like we used to like eat while we were doing it. Now we kind of you know break that up, you know, based on our our protocols and everything like that. So it's like the shorter meetings. But it's nice to have a little bit more time in my mind then. but the other thing too that I that I wanted to to mention   is I think the way that I that look at things is is a is a little bit different now. So I think it makes it a little bit less in intimidating. I think when I kind of first started out with this, it was very much like, this is the script, like you gotta say it exactly like this. And I realized that that's insane, for lack of a better terms, because really at the at the end of the day, like the important thing in my mind is like the the the key concepts are there, that the points are coming across the right way, but it has to sound like Pira.   Right. You know what I'm saying? It has to sound like Dave. It has to sound like like an actual person. Like if it sounds like it just like a script, that like that defeats the purpose. The point of kind of us doing that is to have some uniformity in the concepts that are that are coming about. And so it builds trust with the patients. But if something sounds   phony, that's the opposite of it. So I've kind of gotten away from a little bit more of like you need to say this exact word like this to kind of like, you know, these these are like the concepts. And if somebody says things in like a way where it doesn't kind of, you know, do that, it's kind of like, hey, that that's great. Maybe, you know, this is like the point we're trying to get across, you know, next time try it like like this a little bit. but you know you you'd be surprised, just like with a lot of this stuff, you know, sometimes, you know, it really comes across super well the way somebody says something and it's completely   Unlike what we have written down, but it's the same idea. It just sounds like them.   speaker-0 (21:26) Totally. And I'm so glad you brought that up because again, I'm gonna tie back to why I don't believe in an A to Z cookbook. I believe in systems and processes, but I also believe in in change. Because yesterday I was interviewing a new consultant for Dental A Team and on our collection call protocol, she almost had the exact same style that we did. But she literally said, we we do a kind call. So we call the patient in a kind way. And I was like, my gosh, that's brilliant, because it just gave this whole new feel.   To a collections call versus like, I'm calling to collect money, and she called it a kind call. So to your point, you can actually find better verbiages, better ways when people do it their own way. But also don't be afraid to tell people if it comes across different because we don't hear ourselves. Dave, you're hearing me. I I can think and assume of how it's landing, but you're the one who's ultimately experiencing my words coming out. And so giving people feedback, some some some   I giggle because I've got some team members and like Kiera, I said it just like you, and I'm like, No. What I said was this. What you said is like that they're stupid and they're incompetent. Like that's how it came across. But they don't realize it. So I've even had certain team members record themselves. and then in a loving way, a very safe space where it's not judgmental, like playing it back. So sometimes even one on one, because that way they can actually hear themselves. So maybe even after calibration, you could spice it up this time, Dave, if you want.   have them role play these things and then have each person at least record themselves one time. you can have voice memos on your phone and have them actually listen back to see how it sounds because oftentimes like Dave, you and I actually chatted about how it sounded when you heard your podcast played back. You were like, I sound a lot different. I said, for my first like hundred and fifty, two hundred podcasts, I felt awkward. I still feel awkward, but it's becoming more normal. But we don't hear ourselves as much. So I think like that's also a piece to it of like   Giving people that autonomy, also some things of having them record themselves, I think can help because then it also helps show knowledge base. And selfishly, I'm also always thinking of systems that actually create a training bank for future employees because you've actually got great verbiage, great examples that you can plug in under those certain topics that future hires could actually hear. You could create a really awesome training bank that way as well.   speaker-1 (23:42) Yeah, I know for sure. That's one   speaker-0 (23:43) So fun. Dave, I love it. So guys, I would say try it out. Try Dave's model. but I I'm gonna ask real quick, give us like a quick synopsis of like going through the why. Like we dove a lot into the treatment, how to have the role play, all of that. How like what's that why part? Like, does that is it just like a quick quick synopsis of you kind of reinstating the vision, the core values, reminding people why we're here.   speaker-1 (24:05) Let me see. Hold on. Okay. So as far as as the why, I mean, we talked about mission, vision, core values, and we get to the philosophies of the practice. So the first thing is, you know, I we want to break down like what's what's our mission? So in our in our office, our mission is to exceed our patients' expectations. So, you know, what we've kind of talked about, well, what does that mean? You know, like how are we going to do that? We want to provide.   compassionate and practical dental care. That's the second part. So like what does that mean to everybody? We want to provide outstanding customer service. So once again, like, you know, what does that mean? How do we interact? Are we providing information up front? Are we staying on time and respecting people's time? What many amenities we're providing, you know, how are we doing follow-up? You know, all these things. And a lot of this is like, you know, we have it written out, but it's a little bit more of a discussion. And then the other thing too, our the last part of our our mission at our office is remaining at the forefront   Clinical advancement. So that's one of those things where when we first made this up, that was a big lie. I mean, everything was like analog paper, whatever. But you know, the then about, you know, a few months in, I got the itch and decided to to make some questionable financial decisions and just you know, go all in on everything because that's the way that I wanted to practice. So   speaker-0 (25:23) Yeah. I I   actually love that you broke that down. I love that you because sometimes as leaders when we build these visions, what we're envisioning is different than what our team actually does. So I love that you break it down like what does excellent customer service actually look like, feel like, what's the experience? Because then it becomes more tangible versus just words on a paper.   speaker-1 (25:42) Yeah. So that's that's the first chunk. The second chunk was what we talked about underpromise and overdeliver. You know, I think that's that's a big part of it. The third thing is what we kind of talked about of like, you know, how uniformity, you know, builds and maintains trust. And so there's that fine line of like, yeah, we want it to sound similar, but also not like it's cookie cutter and bake. Right. And then, you know, a couple other things. Like, I think pictures really helps or you know, pictures worth a thousand words. We want to take good pictures of what   we see so we can help explain something really well. And then the last chunk really is, you know, there are different types of of treatment. So there's stuff that's, you know, very important, more emergent, there's stuff that's preventative. And then, you know, the more elective, you know, cosmetic category of things. So we kind of talk about that. And that helps us, you know, figure out how do we want to, you know, prioritize everything. Sure. So that that's that's the the first big thing. And we dive into all that, you know, before we go into like the well how   speaker-0 (26:39) Yes. Which I actually think is really important. I'm I'm big on sequence matters and I love that you first go through who are we as a practice. Let's kind of give some tangibles on it because that actually can spur people to think differently of how they would explain treatment or explain how they're gonna talk to a patient on certain things, which I really, really love that you did that. So now looping all the way to the end, Dave, you said you also talk about what makes us special. So what does that look like on this calibration piece for you?   speaker-1 (27:05) So so basically this was another exercise we did at at some point. It was not one of the I didn't feel like if I just kind of sat there and I told people like, yeah, like this is why we're great, like that's that would be a big waste. Yeah. So I really we kind of we kind of sat down there and I said, like, let's just like get into it and you know, just call on everybody and say, Well, what do you think makes us stand out? You know, and we kind of just went through and and kind of really, you know.   speaker-0 (27:18) Sure.   speaker-1 (27:31) put together well, you know, what r what really sets us apart is as as an office. What are the things that we we try and do, you know? And as aside from that, even just some of the the basic stuff that a lot of offices have, even, but we want to make sure that we we're, you know, mentioning like, you know, like membership plan in in your office. Or if you do anything like, you know, like we do something that a lot of people do, like a whitening for life thing where it's basically they pay once and as long as they're coming regularly, you know, here you go. Right. You know, stuff like that. Just kind of like little things that, you know,   patients may may ask anybody in the office and be yeah, I don't know what that is. Like that that would be very like that would be not good.   speaker-0 (28:07) Yeah, absolutely. Well, because it's one of those things it's always funny. Offices, I I giggle a lot when offices tell me, Yeah, Kiera, I don't know what to do. Our patients, like, we do Invisalign in our practice, but they're still going to someone else. And I'm like, Because your patient doesn't know. Like, if they don't know all these things that you guys do, they will go somewhere else. They think you do their cleanings and you do their fillings. They don't realize that you do implants and ortho and sedation and Botox and all these other things. So I love that you   constantly remind your team of what makes your office special because in doing so, that's then what they're going to translate to the patients. It's like, I I heard a great quote that said, repetition is the mother of skill. And I love that because we can talk about it one time, but if we're constantly repeating it, like why do we get so good at our morning routines? Well, because we repeat it every single day, to where it's it's second nature for us. We don't even have to think about it. So I really love that you   You dive through the whole practice in a quick two to three hour thing. I love that it doesn't take all day. I love that it breaks out and shakes it up pre-scheduled out because this calibration is paramount. And I'm like, shoot, Dave, I'm like, I'm gonna go back and listen to this podcast. I'm gonna write these things down because I was thinking of consultant calibration. I have one once a month, but we don't go through the nitty-gritties of everything as consultant teams. And I've been watching as I've been doing client check-ins, that each consultant kind of has their own variance from office to office.   If we could start to bring those in, hear what the other people are saying, how they're saying it, similar to doctors, if doctors could hear how different doctors are diagnosing different ways that they're explaining treatment, it helps elevate your entire practice and patient experience. And I think at the end of the day, that's what this ultimately is all about. Because if your patient experience is awesome, coming from an awesome team experience, the whole practice is just going to elevate and everyone's going to feel much happier, less stressed and all around great. Cool.   speaker-1 (29:56) Yeah.   So I you know, all this stuff is is helpful. I mean the the the take home message is if it can't it can't get stale. So it always requires time and effort to to try and mix it up. And that's always hard to be able to do. But you know, you you you do what you can and and really at the end of the day, I mean, you know, the more you can do with this stuff, the better. The other thing that you were you were talking about, how our patients don't really know what we do and everything like that. I mean, I can't I can't preach that enough.   I mean, I think there are things that we can do way better to do that. simple thing that we did is we for a long time had like spear education videos looping in our waiting area. and it just really opened my eyes to the fact like sometimes like patient would come in and be like, I saw that video about that. Let's do that. my god, like this is like this is amazing, you know. So what we're what I'm working on right now is   We try and put together basically like a little little slideshow in the background that part of it will be kind of things as far as you know, some of the clinical things that we do. Part of it'll be like, you know, getting to know team members better. So like little fun facts, things like that, you know, other things that just like you know, somebody may see in the background and find interesting, you know, kind of like a little subliminal in a sense, but we want to try and find a balance where it's not like so in your face. But the important thing there is really.   People see this and they may not necessarily, you know, need the, you know, the the treatment or have the conditions that they see on the screen. But, you know, husband, wife, you know, mother, daughter, you know, who knows? And they may say, Hey, you know what? I saw this at at you know, my dentist, and the way that they do this looks pretty amazing. I've never like seen or heard of anything like that when they, you know, it seems like it was so much more involved. So that's that's a little project we have working on.   And it's a little project that I personally am not dealing with, which I'm very, very happy about. So we're slowly, slowly getting everybody to help.   speaker-0 (31:48) That's awesome. Well, and like you said, I think it's just an awareness piece. I think the more your patients can see it because the guys, I don't I don't need implants. Thankfully. my teeth are really straight. I hate my ding dang lateral number ten. If somebody wants to, you know, take me on as a patient, it just needs a quick rotation. That's all I need. but nobody ever asks me about it. But the   And Dave, I'm sure on Zoom right now is like looking in, like, here, let me see your tooth. but the bottom line is like it's an awareness piece, just because I don't need it as a patient. I am connected to a lot of friends and family. So if I hear it at work or I hear it with my family and they're like, I need somebody to do ortho. I'm like, my dentist does that. So again, it's just an awareness piece for your patients. So, Dave, so many pieces you pulled in here. I love going through the why, actually going through the pieces of your practice.   Then going into the tangibles of clinical, having case studies, examples, having people role play it out on different positions, and then going into what makes us special and reminding our practice of the things that we do offer. So it's a constant awareness and I love that you have this on a quarterly cadence. I think for all offices, I don't care how you do this, if it's once a year, if it's every four every three months, so four times a year, if you do it twice a year at retreats. I don't care, but I would strongly suggest each of you at least try to get this in. We're ending the year out. So I would say   At least w at a minimum one calibration. I would strongly suggest that four because again, repetition is the mother of skill that can really help out. So Dave, as always, brilliant podcast. Love learning from you. Love hearing the great things you're doing. It's been fun to watch you evolve as as a leader and as an owner and as a clinician over the years that I've known you. So thank you again for your time today. It was it was just awesome. I loved it.   Kiera Dent (33:24) Dental A Team listeners, I hope you loved revisiting this episode as much as I did. I hope that you found the nuggets, the pearls. You can see why we re-released this one because I truly want you to take away the best of the best of the best of the best. This episode truly hopefully sparked some new excitement, gave you some new ideas. I know sometimes when I go back and I look back on things that I've learned in the past, I'm able to re-implement because like that famous quote says, no man steps into the same river twice because neither he is the same man.   nor is the river the same. You are not the same as you were before, nor is your practice the same as it was before. Different things, different ideas, same principles. And I really want to highlight and hopefully you took today that sometimes all we need to do is simplify and put into place or to refine things that we've already been doing really, really well. If you love this episode, don't keep it to yourself, share it with a colleague or leave us a review and help more practices find the Dental A Team podcast. As always, thanks for listening and I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team podcast.

Does your front office feel overwhelmed? Kiera shares what the problem is 99% of the time, as well as how to clear up the confusion, and three tactics that bring about clarity and control very quickly. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Trasnscript: Kiera Dent- Dental A Team (00:00) Hello, Dental A Team listeners, this is Kiera. And today, I just wanted to talk about front office overwhelm. Like, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun. That's a real thing, it's a real deal. This happens all the time. And I just want you guys to be able to fix that quickly and easily. So today, we're here to wrap. We're here to have a good time. We're here to talk about the front desk overwhelm and how you can fix that and do it with a ton of ease. So.   If your front office feels overwhelmed, if you feel like they're overwhelmed, if you're ever scared to walk up there because you're like, my gosh, they're always stressed out. This is the episode for you and your front office team, because honestly, it's usually not that they have too much to do. It's that they're just, I call it front office soup. Then they're just all like, it's a bowl of spaghetti and we're all slurring and slopping and it's just a mess up there. But because we just have to figure out what matters and who does what.   And it usually, in front office team members, I hope you hear me loud and clear, I'm not being a jerk, I'm Kiera Dent from the block and I've sat in your shoes and I understand it and I've been in your shoes and I know this overwhelmed feeling. It's not usually a workload problem. Usually what it is, is it's a role clarity problem. 99.9 % of the time, if we clean that up and we like untangle the ball of spaghetti, everybody's super happy, everybody's clear and things start rocking and rolling. So.   Again, this is where we're at today. I wanted to just give a quick tactical podcast for you for that front desk overwhelm. And I want you to just know that like at Dental A Team , every single consultant on our team has been in your shoes. ⁓ I don't just say these words on the intro to the episode. We don't just understand you. We genuinely are you. We've been in your shoes. We've sat in your shoes. We've sat at the front office. We've taken the phone calls. We've had the schedule fall apart last minute. I've had the treatment plans not close. I've had doctor on my case saying, Kiera.   get the schedule full and I'm like, I don't really know what to do, okay? I've had that phone running a million miles a minute. We get it. It's chaotic up there, but it doesn't need to be chaos. And so when we have all that, how can we take the urgency away and help you focus on the important thing? And so this is gonna help us kind of figure out like, why do people get overwhelmed? How do get the confusion cleared up? And then what are three things that bring clarity and control very quickly? That's not gonna take months and months to get that stabilized, but to actually do it really quickly.   If you don't know us, hi, we're the Dental A Team. I'm Kiera Dent. Dent really is my last name. It took me three fiancees. You can ask me about that later. It's a real joke, but it's a real life. I love dentistry. I love helping people have their best lives. And I love the dentistry as the platform that brings us all together. I've been a dental assistant, a treatment coordinator, a scheduler, biller, an office manager, regional manager. have all my own practices. I took my first office from 500,000 to 2.4 million in nine months and opened a second location.   To say I've been around the block is not a lie. I have bought practices, I've sold practices, I've been parts of DSOs, I've been part of boutique practices, I've merged offices, you name it. I don't think that there's a single thing that I haven't done yet in dentistry, so try me. I'd love to meet somebody that I'm like, yep, never heard of that before. ⁓ And our job is to make dentistry fun again. Our job is to make you love your life again. Our job is to bring simple clarity. But as a business owner myself, I hated where I'd go to conferences and people would just talk.   to me and I have to go back and rally my team and I realized I'm gonna create a business that's gonna make your life easier. So we actually work with doctors and teams. We help doctors set the vision, where are we all going? And then we figure out your finances. Let's make sure you're profitable. And if you have tax aversion, like you're so scared of it. Not that you don't pay it, don't get me crazy on that, but that you're so scared because you feel like you're making money but you're always broke. We help offices actually like find the money, keep the money, make the money. Like let's have you be profitable.   And then the other part is how do we do system and team development together? I call that the yes model. You first vision, making sure you're taking care of E stands for earnings and profitability. S is systems and team development. Doing that yes, success model. So you can say yes to more in your life. Truly, truly. And teams freaking love us because guess what? We get this. We understand it. Doctors love us because we're magic magicians that can fix it with your team, but also help you be profitable. It's like.   Let's put a bow on all the beauty together. So let's talk about your front office because everything freaking feels like a priority. my gosh, I gotta answer the phone and check patients out. I gotta try and schedule all the doctors asking me questions. I gotta keep my doctor busy. I've got constant interruptions nonstop. As soon as feel like I get patients checked in, that hygiene team's bringing them right back out. It is nuts. And it's because we just don't have priorities hierarchied. And also we're not using time when we need to.   So when front office is jumping between five tasks and finishing none of them well, that's chaos. And so how can we actually make it to where things aren't as chaotic? Because yes, you're always gonna have interruptions. And I think for us to never feel like, I can never have interruptions, like that's not my perfect date. That's not real life. We signed up for an amazing job that's very busy up front. And I feel like my job in front office, I say like, I'm here for air traffic control. Like that's my job. And I'm gonna make sure every plane lands easily, AKA every patient has an appointment. I get them scheduled. We're gonna have calm.   Like I want to feel like JFK's airport. Like we're there. I just think about that airport and that air traffic control. I'm like, they have people flying in and out like mayhem or you can go to Atlanta or you can go to like any big city. Like think about that air traffic controller. And that's who like, I want to be at the front office. So front office team members, hopefully that's a good vision for you of, Hey, yes, we've got a million things going on, but we are laser focused on what's the most important thing. And so I love to give like, okay, number one, our scheduling person, what's their number one job? Their number one job is to make sure our schedule is filled to goal every single day.   That's your job. So hygiene and doctor like bada bing, bada boom, that's your role. You keep them on there and you do not leave the day until your schedule is full. Like I'm not having you go home like, well, I did my best. ⁓ Outcomes over activities. I am big on this. We own our role. We don't just do a job. We own that. So if I'm a scheduling guru, you better believe I'm going to have my hygiene schedule full, full. That doesn't mean perfect. It means full and productive. And I'm going to have my doctor schedule the goal.   treatment coordinators, your number one job is to have your doctor's hitting goal or exceeding goal every single day. Not a full schedule. I don't want all the white space filled in. But if my doctor needs to be hitting 5,500, you make it rain sister or gentlemen, you go figure out how to do it. You go look at your unscheduled treatment plans. I'm not gonna say you sit here and call 20 unscheduled treatment plans unless you're an office that's 7.5 million, then yes, maybe we'll put that as a job. But 99 % of the time, your job is to call as many as needed to get your schedule full, period.   So scheduling coordinators, it's to make sure we're running on time, hygiene's full. Sometimes I have doctor over there. Treatment coordinators, you're always responsible for getting doctors scheduled to go. Billers, 98 % collections, non-negotiable. We gotta have money in the bank, otherwise we're broke and we can't feed our team. And we've done the work, we need to collect the money. So from there, and then office managers, your job is to make sure profitability is there, KPIs are being hit, and the whole team is flourishing. So that's just like a very simple like.   Yeah, but Kiera who's first on phones first on phones is scheduler first person they're always on it unless you guys like no we want them to be concierge style we have a concierge then they're not first on phones but we have somebody who's first who's second who's third on phones so as that phone rings we've got it can you set up a phone tree so where if they've got billing questions it just goes to the billing line and the biller can help with that if you're like Kiera I only have two people in my front office fan freaking tastic we need to have dedicated power hour time so front office and scheduler usually does insurance verification too typically that's who's gonna do it   but sometimes my treatment coordinators, like they want to make sure that they get all their insurance verification done and they have maybe a bit more time than our schedulers do. So again, it's who's got the most amount of time and who's the best with bandwidth on that. That's how I'm gonna set it up. If you have a bill or a dedicated bill or they're gonna do insurance verification for you, insurance verification should take you two to four hours max. And I'm talking to max a day. If we're taking longer than that, we gotta figure out how to be a bit more efficient and I got great ways to do it, like lump them together. I got a ton of podcasts onto it.   but we've got to just make sure that each person, and I love end of day checklist where, and it's not we wait till the end of the day, it's we get this stuff done during the day, but by the end of the day, all this needs to be stamped, signed, delivered. So scheduler, you're responsible for hygiene, making sure it's full and up to par, possibly insurance verification, possibly doctor, depending upon your office. Treatment coordinator, non-negotiable doctor scheduled to go every single day. I'm talking if I'm working four days, three of my four have to be to go, period. And the first patient of the day,   Please, please, please, please, please do not leave me one that's unconfirmed. And you're like, well, it's full. If they're unconfirmed, they're not showing. Like I might get lucky, but don't do that. Make sure it's a guaranteed confirm. Move those patients off. I've got a ton of verbiage for getting patients off the schedule. So we're not sitting there with like, to me, those are like gap fillers. Like it makes us feel good, but it's not gonna actually, like that's not me owning. I know that patient's not gonna show up. I call and call and call until I get people.   So I start doing my confirmations at usually eight or nine in the morning. So I've got time and I do a 48 hour confirmation guarantee. So if they're not there, and then we started implementing with a lot of offices that if they don't call and confirm you, we are moving you off the schedule to open that space up because we do need confirmation you will be here. I have moved patients off the schedule. Yeah, I'm gonna have about five people mad at me, but guess what? It's gonna fix 95 % of my problems. I can handle those five upset patients with me. I can handle that. If someone comes in duplicative, I can handle that.   Ladies and gents in the front office, air traffic controllers, you're also word ninjas. And you gotta learn to word ninja your way through a lot of things. Words are free. You can handle those hard conversations, but what we can't handle is not having productive schedules to where doctors aren't making money, we're not making money, and we're gonna go under. We can't handle that, but I can handle one or two upset patients. But I can also set up expectations so they're not upset with me, because I don't want to get berated. That's no fun for anybody.   So clear ownership, who does what, what are the simple KPIs for each of them? Put that in place, have us track it. That just right there, hopefully cleaned up 90 % of your issues. Now everyone was like, yeah, but we all do it together. High five. I love that you have teamwork. Like genuinely love it. Teamwork though is that game where it's who's on first, what's on second, I don't know, is on third. it's like who, like what thought everybody was going to do it? Everybody thought nobody was going to do it. So then somebody picked it up, but then nobody respond like,   It's a mess. So I love that y'all help each other. We just have to know at the end of the day, who's the one who puts the button on it? Who's the one who puts the final bow on it? Yes, we can all help each other, but I need a clear owner of each specific thing. I need a clear owner of hygiene and getting them scheduled. I need a clear owner of insurance verification. I need a clear owner of doctor's production. I need a clear owner of collections. Like I need those clear buttoned, tidied, and I need a clear owner of who answers the phone first.   There are several others. I know that there's more and you're like, but what about this? What about this? Again, it's just playing this game and you guys can get sticky notes, write them all up, put them there. I have end of day checklist. I'm happy to share with people, but we've got to have roles are shared, but they've got to be owned. So like it's a clear owner. You can have help. I'm fine with that, but you have to own it and you've got to own those results. Again, it's outcomes over activity. I am so grateful you called 50 people, but if we don't have people on the books, you gotta call 51 or 52 or 53 or 54.   And when you own that and you know that, guess what? How do I become a killer treatment coordinator? Because I knew I had to put people on the schedule and I wasn't gonna call them all night long. I was like, I got a family, I wanna go home. But I knew that that was my responsibility and I owned that result. So when we have shared responsibility, it actually creates drop in responsibility. So clean it up, if everyone owns it, no one owns it. So we have clear owners. And then what we have from there is we just have set systems. So what is our system for doing scheduling?   What's our power hour? I put schedulers back there, I put insurance for everybody. Put them behind the door for two hours where they're not being disrupted. Unscheduled treatment plans. Give that treatment coordinator one hour of blocked time. Go make it rain, honey. Like call the patients, text the patients. We are focusing on highest level priority things. Look over your treatment tracker. Practice your verbiage. What are the things that aren't closing for you? Why? But we actually spend it. And so put the systems into place. What is it? Some people have like...   To me, these are slightly aggressive checklists, but if it works for you, it's not aggressive. It's like by 10 a.m., all confirmations need to be done. By 12, all insurance verification needs to be done. By two o'clock, all of the schedule is filled to capacity. And then we're scheduled two days out or whatever it is. You can have it where it's benchmarks like that so we don't get stuck and then it's like four o'clock. I'm like, where did our day go? Sometimes those mile markers really can help, but we have to have set systems, set processes that everybody's following and we all know it.   And that's going to help because this helps when we bring on new people. How do we schedule? How do we treatment plan? How do we follow up? Getting those protocols written so it's not just living in our head. If it's in our head, we're dead. We got to get it out. We got to have those systems and protocols written. so systems don't live in people. ⁓ Systems like we're not relying on people. We're relying on systems. So when I look at that, systems are on paper or in video form, not in memory. That then helps.   Like if there's just one person that's like, well, Sue's out. We had a Sue in one of my offices. I'm like, I don't know how to do the billing. I don't know how to collect the money. I don't know how to schedule patients. Sue did it all. But if Sue goes on vacation, the practice is donezo. Like you cannot be reliant on a Sue in your practice. We need to have systems. We need to have processes. Yes, I want clear owners. But if that owner's on vacation, which they should be like our marketer Eve, she just went, she's like, it was awesome. I disconnected for an entire week. Didn't check Slack.   I knew everything would be taken care of and I came back and she had like three Slack messages of things that were missed. That is truly a systematized organization. Yes, I'm having a little kudos moment. It just happened yesterday. So yes, it's a brag moment on our side. But I think about that. Like could your Sue, Alison, Kiera, Tiffanie, Jenny take off for two weeks and would you guys be okay? And if the answer is no, we gotta get those systems written and then we need to send them on vacation and test it and see how we survive.   because we've got to be able to have it. So the three things that will fix this very quickly is number one, we've got to get clear ownership and that's ownership, not just job descriptions. Ownership, who owns scheduling, who owns phones, who owns our collections, who owns our treatment plans, who owns our doctor schedule. Get those things and eliminate overlap. Everybody in the front office is going to feel 20 times better and then have it on KPIs where we're tracking it every single week so we can see the progress and make sure it's true ownership, not just checking boxes.   Number two is we have a priority framework for an office. So what is it? Because like I can have my checklist and I can know this. Number one is my KPI. But before my KPI, patient in front of me, always. Always, always the patient who's in front of me. Then it's my KPI, that's my number two. And then it's gonna be team needs. And then from there, always phone for me. Phone is pretty high up there. Like I say, it's patient in front of me, phone. And then it's gonna be my KPI.   So you can be like, well, that phone's ringing. Okay, great. So then I can throw it and be like patient in front of me, KPI phones. Phones are so valuable. And if we don't answer and take care of it, but let's get a phone tree because we don't need to answer every phone call. The phone calls I really need to answer are my new patients. That's what I need. Also stop letting cancellations happen on your voicemails. Save yourself some time. The dermatologist that I'm going to, no voicemail. Like literally it's not even there. I can't leave a voicemail. And I have to call during business hours, period.   Like that's just how it works. And if I want to get into them and you might be like, but I'm so nervous. I'm going to have patients that won't call. That's fine. But I leave a voicemail and I have it. And I say, don't accept any appointment changes via voicemail. Please call during business hours. I also do not accept them via text message. I make my patients, if they're going to break up with me or having a phone, a voice to voice conversation, you're not just able to text me. Like we don't break up via text here. You get to call me, have a conversation. And that's how I'm going to help save my time on that as well. Have a phone tree.   Make sure that it's really set. So you know it's patient, my KPI, phones, whatever your guys' thing is, but make that priority framework for you so everybody's following it, we all know. So that way we're not sitting here with this like built up resentment of like, duh, you should be fixing the schedule. When it's like, they're with a patient. Now, team members, I have that priority framework, but that doesn't mean I don't get to own my KPI. My number is my responsibility. And yes, I can sit here and chat all day long with my patient, because they're number one, but that doesn't mean that I don't get to own my number.   I'm responsible for owning, like own that thing, air traffic controllers. You can't just be like, well, my job is to like make sure the plans land, ⁓ treatment and schedules. And then be like, but like I got busy and we were chatting with the pilot. They're gonna crash. No, you can chat, but you need to still own your role, okay? And then number three is build simple, repeatable systems. So that way like Sue, Jenny, Sarah, Kiera, Tiff, anybody can go on vacation.   and we're not gonna drown and think, yes, we'll be tired and we'll be glad they're back. Like I missed Eve, I'm super happy she's back, but our company didn't go under without her. And that's how your team should be as well. So, front office overwhelm is usually not about the team, it's just about clarity and consistency. It's about roles and systems being clear and defined, so that way confidence can go up and stress can go down. And I know you might be like, this was such a like 20 minute podcast to clean up my whole front office. And I wanna say like, it really can be that easy.   I think that teams get in this, I think ego gets a little bit in the way of like, I've always been doing this. I think it's a little scary to shake up a role cause you're good at it. ⁓ But I think, not I think I know, if I have done this in 500 plus practices with our entire team, I know we can do it for you and your team too. And it's not a set, deadly team is not a set like, you have to do this. Like that's a cookie cutter. That was me like pressing my Christmas tree into the cookie. ⁓ You don't have to just be a Christmas tree or.   an ornament or a square or a triangle. It is what is best for your practice. We will share best practices, but ultimately this is your teen year practice. They live there, I don't live there. So let's make it a place that they're happy to live. Let's make it a place that you're clear. And then doctors is great for you. So if you need a scheduling issue, you go to Kiera. If you have a treatment plan issue and your day's not scheduled, the goal, you go to Sarah. If you have an issue with billing, you go to Monica. Like you just go to your correct people. So that will help you. So look at that, see it really does like.   clear front office creates a calm place. And ⁓ I just want to say that it's very doable. We do this all the time. think I'd say probably like 70 % of our consulting is on front office and just helping because it is a slush pond up there and it does get messy and we're all trying to help each other and we all have the same goals and desires, but it's on the execution of those goals and desires and how it's being done to create the simplicity or the chaos. So reach out. I'd love to help you out. Let's see if you're a great fit. Let's see if we can help you.   take the pieces, implement today, whether you reach out to Dental A Team to get help for your front office because they just don't know it. If your front office listens to this and you guys have a meeting and you divide it up and make your end of day checklist, whatever it is, but do something to go from that chaos to that calm. It is very doable. We do this all the time. I would say we are freaking experts at 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.  

Part one of Kiera's conversation with Howard Farran on the Dentaltown podcast. They discuss how many details a dentist should know about their business, what about the COVID-19 pandemic still haunts practices, the AI of dentistry and the human care of patients, hidden gaps draining profitability, 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 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   episodes and I truly hope you enjoy.   The Dental A Team (00:17) It's just a huge honor for me today to bring back Kiera Dent. How are you doing, Kiera? my gosh, Howard. It's so great to be back. I remember my very first podcast with you. I was actually at an office in Alabama and I went like hid in this room because I was starstruck podcasting with you. So to be able to be back on the show with you ⁓ several years later is just fun. I love what you guys are doing. I love Dentaltown. I love your posts. so it's really fun to be back. So thank you. ⁓ the honor is all mine. Just remember Kiera likes Shakira.   And Dent is just her nickname. The full name is Dental Queen Goddess. So thank you. And ⁓ she is the founder and CEO of the Dental A Team, committed to elevating dentists and their teams to their highest level through customized in-office and virtual consulting and training. Her vast experience ranges from the front office to assistant, regional manager, and dental practice owner, giving her a perspective few consultants can claim.   She and her team work with hundreds of dental practices nationwide and confidently say we don't just understand you, we are you. Among her many accomplishments, Ciara has grown a practice from 500,000 to 2.4 million in just nine months with a doctor straight out of dental school. She's coached hundreds of practices, authored numerous articles, and designed a customizable operations manual manual that serves as a roadmap for systems and team success.   Her Dental A Team podcast has amassed nearly 2 million downloads, making it one of the most impactful resources in all of dentistry. Kiera lives every day by her core values. Do the right thing, ownership, passion for excellence, ease, grit, innovator, die, and fun. Her motto says it all. There is always a solution. And my gosh, I just want to tell you the truth. And the reason I was so excited to bring you on. It seems like dentistry has turned into two groups of dentists.   There's all the old farts like me who, you know, we had, you know, we had great practices, great lives, great careers. And then you got these younger dentists that look at us and say, ⁓ man, you graduated in the good old days. You know, you didn't have five hundred thousand dollars of student loans, you didn't have DSOs, Delta hasn't given us a raise in four generations, and and and they're mad at the ADA. I think they're even mad at their mom. I I they're I think so and they're not happy. Do you have any good news?   For these dental graduates with $500,000 of student loans, or did they make the wrong decision and should have become a plumber? I mean, you know, plumbing is always a backup plan if dentistry doesn't work. So I think you're like at least in that realm. Like, you know, there's always options. But I love dentistry and I actually, ⁓ I think we're actually in the best time of dentistry. And I know that yes, there's the good old days. Then Howard, those were great days for you. But I think like, how many options do people have now? We have AI, we have these innovations, and I mean.   Your my example of a student straight out of dental school, we actually had one million. So I actually called her 2.5 because we had $2.5 million. So from student debt to practice loan debt to buying another location, all within a couple of months of us starting the practice. And so I called her 2.5 every time I walked past her. I was like, get that back straight, girl. Like we got 2.5 mil of debt on us. but to be able to grow our practice in nine months was   Absolutely incredible. And I think that that's where dentistry is amazing. There is no cap, there is no ceiling, and you have a way to truly impact and change people's lives. And I'm like, you have DSOs as options. Like there were not the times where you were getting the multiples that you get today. You also have like there are so many avenues that dentistry can afford you. but I think it's a it's a matter of what you choose to focus on, is what you're going to find more of. If you want to sit here and say, ⁓ my gosh, it's awful. We have 500,000 of debt. And I'm like, Yeah, but guess what? My husband had   Not quite the same, but we had several hundreds, thousands of dollars of debt. And he's a pharmacist. And so I understand what it's like to come out of school and have hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt on us. But guess what? He's making, you know, hundred, hundred and fifty. If we're lucky on a good day, we're capped out. It took us forever to pay back our student loans. But as dentistry, you have untapped and uncapped potential. And so for me, you get to change people's lives, you get to give them confidence, you get to help them have better health, and you're able to make people smile like.   I can't think of a better opportunity to be a part of. And I'm not just Pollyanna over here. I coach hundreds and thousands of offices. I've seen the good, the bad, the ugly, and the in between. But I'll tell you, depending upon how you choose to view this, you can either find the good or the bad. And I'd recommend like, let's find the great because it's a gold line of opportunity if you want to see it. What what do you say to dentists who say, Mm-mm, you know, I I really don't want to complain really a bit. I mean, on paper my   My practice looks perfect. I got two hygienists. I do a million dollars. I do all this, but just internally it just feels chaotic and stressful. So it looks like on paper he's doing everything right. But she says, I still feel like chaos and stress. What's what's that about? I think like welcome to being a business owner. I think that there's two sides of success. In the word success, there's literally the word suck. Like there are parts of success that are going to suck. Like that's just how it is, guys.   And so that chaos and internal turmoil, I think I there I have lots of offices where you don't have to be that way. And I think going from like operator doing all the pieces, being stressed out into like a CEO of a business. ⁓ I think sometimes dentists are such gunners doers, they're so hands-on that they have this internal chaos. But there there are paths again that don't have to be that way. But I also think this is part of the game of business that we signed up for. And I think when you get to the level like Howard.   You've seen, I've seen over our career, we've got the gunners and the doers and the like zero to two year business owners. Like it's freaking chaos. It's psycho. Like you're learning these things just like you're back in dental school. But as you mature, you start to realize that the chaos is just part of the game. And the more you're able to learn to weather it, to see it, and to not do all the pieces, elevate your team, get great people, do like hire it out. You can hire, I mean, a practice is doing a million and you got great profitability and overhead.   You can hire a lot of great people to take away a lot of your problems. And so like, let's get some of those things done. And then you actually become happier and you make more money. So that you don't have to sit in that chaos. I think that there's a part of it that will always suck. but there's also a part that can really be the successful part too, that's fulfillment and enjoyment. But you got to make the steps and take the steps to do it rather than just sit and complain about it.   Love it, love it, love it. ⁓ what do you what do you say about the ⁓ the dentist who got out of school, goes and works for a major DSO, say say he's working for Rick Workman, Heartland, and he works there two years, and you know, he you know, he's working for a guy that owns eighteen, nineteen hundred dental offices, but he can't tell you the code for a profit. Can't he'll say, like, you know, are they paying my pay right? Really? You can't check at you. I mean, it it's like   It's like they'll listen to a forty hour lecture on the difference between two different composites, but they did I mean th they worked through two years, they don't know insurance codes, they can't check out a patient, they don't know the software. I mean, I had one guy tell me, ⁓ the only thing you could tell me about the practice manager software is the brand name. He couldn't tell me and then he's asking me, you know, it what which one you know, but anyway, do you think do you think a dentist doesn't need to know all the business details?   Or do you think that's a blind spot and you can't delegate anything till you can do it and master it? I think that there's two types of owners. And I think that there's some that are really great at hiring people that they are great at hiring people, knowing it, listening to podcasts, hiring coaches, training the team, and like having somebody spot check for you. Then there's others that like they've got to know the ins and outs. But I think that like Howard, there's   To me, there's also a middle ground where I think that you can go sit with your biller for one day and just like say, like, walk me through your process. So you have a general idea and an understanding of what they do. Go watch to see how they schedule. ⁓ I think when it comes to billing, I do think the dentists have a very big blind spot. And to me, that is like as a business owner, not to know how your money comes to you. To me, that feels like a pretty big blind spot of like even just understanding that knowledge. And so   If I were to say, I don't think you need to know the ins and outs. I love like I recognize this. I was a business owner of it. I own practices. I worked with hundreds of dentists at Midwestern University's Dental College. Like, I hear what you guys are taught. Plus, I'm a team member on the other side. And so I created a billing course and an office manager course because I just want a dentist to know like, what should I be able to expect? And I think like if you want to just have a general overview so you don't get blindsided, you you can have it. I think you can quickly within like a week.   Know the bulk of like everything you need to know in a practice very simply, very easily. So that way you can delegate. That way you can have it. You're not gonna be perfect. but I think just having a general awareness. And then I love to give doctors just a quick checklist, like once a month, go spot check, go grab an EOB. Even if you don't know what the heck that EOB is, go ask your front office for it, check it. And just the more you learn that language, just like the language of business, I think it doesn't need to be an overnight sensation.   But I do think the more you're aware of it, I don't think you have to do every single role though to be a successful practice owner. And I mean, shoot, if Heartland can do it, I think it's a good example. But I think who are you? And are you a hands-on tactical person? Are you somebody who's really good at hiring people, t trusting other people, getting the checklist and spot checking? I think you can do it either way. But my recommendation is like just like one week, go like sit in every seat of your practice and get a general awareness and educate yourself on the things that you don't know. I'm really big on money, understanding at least how insurance works. And then also how do we like   present cases, what are kind of the flow that way those big zones that really impact your financials, you can you can be aware of. So those courses, those online CE courses, your website is The Dental A Team. The Dental A Team. Now I think the A Team, you need that guy with the Mohawk and all the bling. I mean that's who I am in my like spare time. This hair is just a facade. Like, you know, I hang out as Mr T. Mr T. Mr T, Mr T, yeah.   That's why I was thinking the A Team, but is that on your on your website, the th those courses? Yeah, they are. So we have an online library, it's all C E. We've got downloadable checklists, we've got operations manual. You got it. That's exactly right. And Howard, in real time, I'll have our marketing team actually put together a code. If you guys put in Dentaltown, since you're listening, we'll make sure that you guys get a coupon code for that as well. Well, since it's my compass podcast IRS that you just put Fabio.   you want Fabio? Okay. well in that case. So ⁓ so is I also see you have a ⁓ Summit twenty twenty six is live on Friday, April twenty fourth. Grab your ticket. Where's where's that show gonna be? Is it Reno where you are? You know, that's actually virtual, Howard, and it's one of our like favorite comebacks constantly. And the reason I do it virtual, people have been asking me for years, like, why don't you do it in person, Kiera? And what I found is   Because it's so like again as a team member, I really struggle to get my team ramped up, amped up, and have it be financially affordable. So what I found is if we can have it virtual in your practice with your full team, you guys are able to get this boost and surge of energy and have a good time. So it's for leadership teams, it's for doctors. ⁓ we've been doing it for six years strong and we tend to have hundreds of offices. You get your whole office there, you have a good time.   But yeah, it's virtual and it's C E and it's a great time. ⁓ I attend a lot of Tony Robbins, a lot of Brendan Bouchard, Rachel Hollis. So we've learned how to do people have told me the online experience is so fun. ⁓ we just get continual people coming back year after year after year. So yeah, come join us. It'd be a great time. I love Tony Robbins because ⁓ you know, my boys they wrestled year round from age five to fifteen.   Yeah. Made our garage. I got two real wrestling mats from the manufacturer in Pennsylvania delivered by an AJ Miller. So I never ever parked in my garage ever. And we would we were listening to that Tony Robbins 30 day, 30 day personal power. Yep. And then I and then I bought my first laptop when I went to MBA school. And so I took notes on it. And then when I was done, I I ⁓ closed down Saturday and I went to a studio Saturday, Sunday, and I ranted out my notes.   And I said, this has got to be 30 hours because I mean it's still Tony Robbins 30 day personal power. And that was the 30-day dental MBA. ⁓ and it worked out to be about thirty hours. But I'm telling you, the pandemic changed everything. That was when ⁓ online CE at Dentaltown just went through the roof and it hasn't come back and dental meetings haven't come back. Cause why do I need to fly to Chicago to listen to you if I got a Zoom call or   or streaming video or this event. I mean, I mean, just think of the plane ticket, the hotel, the sitting and attending. If you're in Phoenix, you know, just to get to New York is a five hour flight. I mean, why I I gotta fly five hours each way when I could see you on YouTube or a podcast or or whatever. But I wanna but I want to go back to that pandemic because that pandemic, I really think the reason you can really do this so successfully today is because of that pandemic. That's why we realize   I don't have to be in the flesh to learn knowledge. And and like I I I feel fine talking to you. I me too. The only thing I regret is teaching my mother how to do that. I got her FaceTime and all that kind of stuff. And because she calls to tell me about ever every one of her exciting things is junk mail she has. She's eighty seven and she believes every piece of junk mail. I love it. She's always free freaking out on her junk mail. But but I want to talk about the pan the dark side of the pandemic.   And that is a lot of people think about 20% of the hygienists left to practice. Before, you know, when I got out of school, your labor was supposed to be twenty percent, your overhead was supposed to be fifty percent. And by the time it was it didn't even take 10 or 20 years, and and due to insurance, I think not keeping up, ⁓ overhead went to basically two thirds. It went to about sixty-five percent and labor went to about twenty five, sometimes twenty-seven percent.   I'm hearing thirty percent labor all the time. And I mean I mean I'm talking about serious dudes who know the business of dentistry. And I don't I don't want to get my buddy Rick Kirstram out of me. He owns a hundred comfort dentals and he said he can't he said he's got the mean and lean where labor is twenty. He says he's got mean and leans with labor at twenty-eight, twenty-eight and a half. So so the the pandemic is ⁓ it that was five years ago. Why do you think it   seriously impacted labor cost of the pandemic. I do, Howard. And I think I think we kind of have this perfect storm, right? Like I think we've got multiple waves coming at us that have impacted. I think the pandemic pushed out those that were like, you know, I'm done. Like, like I'm good. I'm at the end of my career. I don't really want to do that. ⁓ a lot of hygienists are female and I think a lot of them realize they did not need two incomes anymore. And so it's like, you know, I want to be with my kids. I want to be home.   And then hygiene schools don't pump out a lot of hygienists and it's usually like a two year span. So yes, I have actually seen like hygiene is it really did, and then it clicked up. So the cost of hygienist has gone up astronomically. I mean, I think the highest I've seen of a hygienist being paid was 85 an hour. And to me, I was like, at that point, that was up in ⁓ it was up in Washington, up by Bellevue, Mount Vernon, that area. And I literally saw the the posting for 85 plus a a bonus, and I was like,   Screw that at that point. Like in all respect to hygienists, I'm gonna hire a dentist for that cost. Like I truly will. And that's not being disrespectful. It's just like a dentist is a more multifaceted. I understand they are not great hygienists, but if I have to and I'm gonna be putting this number up, like we've got to get to a space where it does work. So yes, I do. However, there are more hygienists coming onto the market. I still know that this is one of the hardest things, but ⁓ I have a practice that's out in Maui, rough life, huh, Howard? I get to fly to Maui to go do work, like.   You know, shout out to that office. ⁓ but what we found is we were able to find a way to get the hygienist to be paid exponentially higher by doing assisted hygiene. And so I think I'm seeing people innovate. I think I'm watching them create. I think I'm seeing people do some more outsourced costs in the front office. And so they're able to then offset the costs of the clinical team. ⁓ I think that people are just getting innovative and creative. And what I want to highlight is while this feels annoying, this is also business. And if we don't innovate and if we don't continue to evolve,   We actually decay and decline as an as an organization and as an industry. And so I know it's annoying and I absolutely empathize. And you're right. Like for me on our payroll, we're at 30%. Like I've had that as our metric for our clients for the last five years because payroll costs have gone up. But I'm like, but just because they've gone up, like let's look at several other industries. I mean, we're not here to like love on or hate on McDonald's, but I'm like, they have kiosks. They figured it out.   I checked in at a hotel in downtown San Francisco. There was no person there when I checked in. It was literally a person on Zoom just like this. I clicked in, they said hello to me. They took my information, but they didn't have to have a physical body in the office. And I think with AI and technology, dentistry is going to evolve, but I think the art and the care of patients does not need to evolve. And so, like, let's put our dollars where that matters and let's be able to look and innovate in other ways that keep our costs low. ⁓ I still think dentistry, I mean, why is there a one percent default rate on loans? Like,   Banks are still lending. We had the first down year of DSOs last year and the first uptick of private practice last year. And so when I look at these things, like it is still a great business to be in, even though labor costs, like, guys, again, it's just another flavor of business. So like let's figure out how to innovate. Let's figure out how to do it. And like, yes, I'm gonna pay for great people. I see team members as assets, not liabilities. And I'm gonna cut and chop on other areas that I can, but I'm also gonna be smart with my labor costs and make sure each person hitting their KPIs, they've got numbers that they're driving.   We are running this as an efficient business while like loving and taking care of our patients at the same time. I'm glad you mentioned bank loans because it's less than one percent default rate. Yes. All the defaults have the same thing in common. They all had their license taken away. Right. Always. And and if it's for drugs or alcohol, they now treat that as a medical disease. And the dentists still say, Screw you, I'm not gonna quit doing biking. And then they run south of the border. And that's why whenever you find a dentist down there that looks like me.   They're running for free Vicada. They they they said I'm not peeing any. So unless you, you know, do something just horrible. I mean, and you know, you have you have to get your it licensed in your way. But I w I wanna tell you about you know, there's just so many other things that you can focus on besides labor, like increasing their productivity. ⁓ I know dental offices. you can get a full if you pay a dentist in the Philippines five dollars an hour.   You get the best dentists in the Philippines. And I and there's dental offices that with Zoom and things like that are doing all their insurance and their claims and all that stuff. I mean, ⁓ so the with with with ⁓ with the internet, I mean you can literally have someone ⁓ be at the front desk ⁓ on a on a kiosk that's actually a dentist from the Philippines from five dollars an hour who when he's not busy can be calling your insurance companies all that. I I want to ask you another thing that's really hot on Dentaltown.   today. Everybody keeps talking about these dental insurance EFTs versus virtual credit cards. but basically everybody's reporting that major dental companies like even Delta are gonna stop sending paper checks and you gotta do it all electronic. And I guess that that electronic could be free, but it could be you know it could be another three and a half or three percent credit card fee on all your claims. Or what or what are your thoughts on all that? I'm hard on that   I have and I'm a hard no on the credit cards. Like, why? Why are you doing that? EFTs are so fast. Like there's absolutely no reason to be paying this. Explain to my home. A lot of them don't even know what a EFT. Mo I I bet 80% of the the dentists listen don't even know what we're talking about. Will you explain it? Will you explain it like I just graduated from dental school eight minutes ago? Of course. Well, I think that this is also where going back a little bit where you said, like, do dentists need to know the business? To me.   You don't even have to know that much, but I want to just challenge you that if you're getting a three, three and a half percent cut on your payments for quote unquote ease, that's a real big hit. And I would just challenge you to think about like for what and why. And so coming in, there's different ways the insurances are going to pay you. So they're gonna pay you via paper check, they're gonna pay you via EFT, which is a electronic fund transfer, or they've got this new thing where they're gonna pay you via credit card. And like honestly, to me, the credit card is so scammy.   And I've talked to so many people and like educate me, like, why would anybody do this? Like, I cannot comprehend. Like, I'm already taking a cut on insurance as is. Like, thank you for my marketing fee to be an insurance. Like, that's how I view that that write-off. Like, I know you hate it, but you're also gonna, you're either gonna have to do that, or you're gonna have to pay for marketing to bring in fee for service patients. So, like, again, let's just think about that. But I'm like, so I've already got a cut there, but I'm then gonna take another hit in addition to that for a credit card ease.   So as we're talking about that electronic fund transfers, they deposit straight into your bank account. The reason that some offices don't care for electronic fund transfers is because like trying to match it up is a like it kind of dumps and chunks into your bank account. So all you need to do is help your team members. Like there's ways that you can have it where it automatically emails your team when that comes through. So then they can go online and they can find out what the EFT was, so then they can balance and like enter it in.   I do think dentistry software is so dated because what happens is when we get paid from the insurance company, we get either like it's called an EOB, it's an explanation of benefits, and it's like batch checks. So when they dump this money to you, Delta's gonna give me like 20 grand. But like, who do I allocate that 20 grand to of all these patients? So that's I think where some people have like, well, electronic funds are so annoying and this and that. But I'm like, they're very quick, they're very fast, they're a lot safer than paper checks. Paper checks people do get embezzled on.   That I literally see no reason. Like, I don't care if you get it like one day sooner with a credit card, you are paying a huge hefty fee on that unnecessarily when electronic fund transfers are pretty much just as fast. Like maybe a like smidgey of a delay. But to me, that's a that's a very worthwhile smidgey of a delay. Because you're getting your payments so much faster. And as long as you're staying on top of it, you should still be able to maintain a 98% collections rate, even if you do checks or if you do electronic fund transfers. It just is so.   So dumb. I've yet to see a reason. But to me, I'm like insurances are so smart because it's just another way for them to take a chip out of what they're paying you and to have it come back to them. So again, think of the motive as to why they're offering. These people are not dumb. Those insurance companies, if you've ever gone to a business who's the biggest building in the entire city, it's your insurance companies. They're not dumb businesses. And I think we need to be smarter business owners that out think that. They always but Delta always says, we're   Yeah, so is Rolex Watch. Rolex Watch is a non profit. And and some of the CEOs of some of the anyway, we won't go there. But ⁓ yeah, ⁓ so what other ⁓ besides you know, when when someone tells me about their overhead, I tell them, look, I can't call the government and have my tax rate lowered. I can't call the nuclear power plant SRP or APS and tell them to lower my electric bill. I mean, something I i if the hygienists can   Wants a dollar an hour and if I say no, I'll give you 75 cents and she can go get a dollar across the street. I mean the market sets many, many prices. So the only way to fight that back is to ⁓ increase your productivity. You know, I mean if if if you have a dollar in labor and they do a dollar in dentistry, your overhead is a hundred percent. But if your dollar in overhead can do two dollars in dentistry, now it's down to fifty percent. So how so ⁓ are there other   ⁓ hidden gaps that are quietly draining profitability, or has it just come down to production? Or is it both I like I'm so glad you brought this up because I think like it's so easy to sit here and say, like, dentistry's not profitable. But I'm like, go find me another business that has a one percent fell rate that usually can run twenty to thirty percent profit margins if you run a business right. And this is not just Kiera sitting here fluff. This is like I got real clients running at these margins consistently. They've got large practices, small practices.   And so when I look at this and I'm like, okay, how do we make this more efficient? A lot of people want to go to the first thing of like, let's cut insurances. And I'm like, yay, pop the confetti, but be real smart. Because again, you're gonna then increase marketing fees, you're gonna lose a lot of your patient base. Like, let's just think through the ramifications. And so there's lots of different ways that we can increase productivity and not have to go for the cut. So I look at three levers that I found that can increase a practice. So one is we can increase our production. We're talking net production, not gross, like please feed your family, not your ego. So that's number one.   Number two is what's your collection percentage? Cause half the time doctors feel like they're broke and they don't have money, but your money's sitting in AR, which is your aging reports or your accounts receivable. We're not collecting the money and we don't have a good billing process. We got to get our collections up to 98%. And then the third thing is like we cut costs. And so looking at that, a lot of people want to go to just cut costs. I'm like, but in dentistry, let's break it down. If I want to add 10 grand more to my practice.   I love to help teams. Most offices are working four days a week. So if we're wanting to add 10 grand to a practice, working four days a week, let's do 10,000 and we're working 16 days a month. That's an extra six twenty-five a day. Well, how can we make six twenty-five in a dental practice? Let's think about our fluoride applications. Let's think about FMXs. Like I'm just talking, this is your lowest hanging fruit for you. Let's talk about could we add one or two fillings? Could we add like same-day dentistry, which is going to make more raving fans for our patients? There is so much ease in there.   Now, to increase our production, we can also look at our case acceptance. Doctors have so much case acceptance. And also, what are we diagnosing? I'm like, doctors, if you want to be producing 100 grand a month, the statistics are you need to be diagnosing three times that amount. And then we need to make sure our treatment coordinators are really good at diagnosing explaining treatment to them. They're not diagnosing, but they're explaining the treatment. They're presenting it in a way. We're not using insurance as our main driver. We're using it as like a coupon. And then we're really good at our follow through and our follow up.   Gotta have a right person, right seat in your treatment coordinator seat that's obsessive with hitting the right goals. And so there's like so many little ways. Like you can in I have added block scheduling, which I know is like a consultant's number one favorite thing to talk about, but like make it really make sense and easy for your team. I've added a million to a practice with no extra days, no extra work. We literally are just being more strategic with how we schedule. And so there's just so many little ways that I want dentists to realize like,   To me, I get really excited. This is where I geek out as a consultant. I geek out and I love to help that is because I'm like, how can I like squeeze more juice from the lemon you're already in? Like, let's just make more lemonade. Let's figure out ways to do it. And then let's make sure our costs are effective. So we teach your teams how to look at the business as a business. We teach each team member about their one KPI that's really going to drive it forward. We help them track. I just did this with an office manager this week and she's so lit up to look at her numbers, to look at her metrics, to see how she can do it.   And when they start to see how they can click it through, it's not you trying to push and drive more money. Like doctors, I tell everybody, every team member, you want your doctor to be so freaking profitable. Because if they're profitable and they're like they're secure, your life is so much better. So like I'm like dentists, we got to get you profitable, we to get the cash flow, we got to get you less stressed because you're gonna be a better dentist and a better business owner. But how are there's so many little easy ways where it's just low-hanging   Typically I'm able to add 10 to 30% of production in usually 90 days to an office, like very consistently with just small little reps, no real extra work. How are we doing our exams? Are we being directive in our treatment planning? Are we using like, okay, next visit I want to see you for this? And when do I want to see you back? And how much time is this going to take? Like, let's break down the barriers of treatment planning. There's so many little simple things that if you just implement, you can be very profitable very easily.   And then look at your P L. If you're not looking at your P and L every single week or month, like just being aware, getting into the language of business, that's also gonna help you too. So yes, cut. ⁓ but I found that it's always a lot easier to make sure our collections match, our production matches, and we use those little low hanging fruits. ⁓ and it's there. Like dentistry is such a magical, like, like it's a great lemon tree. You can make a lot of lemonade out of a dental practice. I want you to tell me if I'm right or wrong or or   I think I think there's two threes to double your price. Number one, if three people call your front desk, one is going to come in because they're smart and they need to they know they need to get their teeth clean. One isn't gonna come in for anything and you can hear them vaping and smoking and drinking beer and eating Cheetos on the call. But one out of three needs a little extra push. And if you train the person answering the phone, they can close that one out of three. And if they do, they doubled your practice. Then when they get in, you still got the now you got three people in chair.   One's gonna do what you say because you're a doctor and they've done their their author search and and you say they got a cavity, they're not gonna argue with you. One's not gonna do anything. In fact, in fact in fact I was like I had about a dozen patients that in the middle of my treatment plan, they asked me if they could just take a cigarette break ⁓ from my presentation and they went outside, had a cigarette, came back. They're gonna do it. But the other one in three needs some some closing skills. And so if you if you can close on the phone   You doubled your practice. You you got two butts in instead of instead of one. And if you fix your treatment plan presentation, you're gonna do two cases at one. And I think it's so funny now because the dentists have never let their hygienist or assistant, let alone receptionist, do any diagnosing treatment plan. But now AI, Pearl, and Overjet diagnosing all the cavities. So you wouldn't let your hygienist while she's in there for an hour.   Diagnose and treatment plan and sell the dentistry, the assistant while they're taking FMX, they they can't point out, yeah, see, that's a cavity, you don't need a filling and a root now. yeah, they couldn't do it because they were humans. But now Pearl and Overjeck can do it all day long and you're good with that. I mean, so so what how do you how do you double the close rate from one out of three to two out of three on the phone? How do you double the treatment plan acceptance rate from one to two out of three? Yeah. Do you do you agree those are possible goals?   Absolutely, Howard. I think again, this is the low hanging fruit that people are like, but that feels so hard. And I'm like, choose your hard. Like, is it harder to spend a little time with a front office and train them how to do this? Is it a little like, or is it harder to be cash flow negative? Like you choose what's your hard to me? Absolutely. Let's go after that. And I agree with you. Like teaching a team to preheat an oven, I call it what would doctor do. And so like, let's train our hygienist.   Like I tell all hygienists, doctor should be the second opinion, not the first opinion. And you got Pearl and you got Overjet. And so just spending a little bit of time with your team. So what we typically do for case acceptance, like let's go hit that one quick and then we'll talk about scheduling. Is I'm really big on let's get the whole team where we're talking the same language. So we recommend, like, what would doctor do? I recommend you run this over the course of six weeks, is typically how long it takes, anywhere from six weeks to maybe three months.   but we're gonna sit there and we're literally going to go through. We're gonna pull up an FMX. We're gonna do it one day over lunch. Hygienists, doctors, and if you want front office and dental assistance, rock on. But really, I want my like people that are seeing the bulk of my patients with doctor and hygiene. We're gonna look there and I want all of our hygienists to start like if we have an FMX up there and the interaurals, what is doctor going to recommend and how is doctor gonna talk about it? We're not just gonna sit here and have a nice little chit-chat. We're each gonna write it down because I wanna make sure every hygienist starts to get very, very comfortable. And the goal that I tell all hygienists is   Your goal should be at the end of this, what would doctor do training over six weeks? And if doctors are really consistent with it, I'm like six weeks of training to be able to double your practice and increase your case acceptance to me is a very good use of my time. So if I can do that, doctors and hygienists, you should be able to have 95% accuracy with your doctors at the end of this. And they do it. So hygienists get really lit up and they get very excited about it because now they're able to preheat the oven. They're able to talk to patients about it, use Pearl, use Overjet.   And then doctors, when they tee it up to you, and I say like hygienist, you've got to be the ones who first like introduce it, talk about it with the doctor as soon as they come in, but be real quick. So we introduce the patient, we compliment the patient on something, we recap the treatment that's discussed and we say something personal. Hygienist, you do that, your doctor exams will be much shorter for you and doctors will love it because it's very quick. If we can get that dialed in, and then doctors, you have a very like confirm the treatment.   then recommend exactly what needs to happen. And then we take that same baton up to the front office and front office, we schedule first. We then present the treatment. We use insurance secondary. I'm never leading with insurance. You do these little items which seem like, ⁓ no, that's like very quick, easy things. You're going to rapidly be able to help those ones. And then I do a two two two follow-up. So if they did not close for me and I'm going to go through it and I'm going to work through and I'm going to track all the people that didn't say yes to me and all the people that did say yes to me.   I'm gonna look for patterns. What are people saying yes? Like those are easy ones. Those are the gimme's. Those are the easy patients that Howard said. I'm looking for the people that say no and what's my pattern in there? And how do I change my verbiage? Because treatment planning is 80% psychology, 20% skill. So like what are you thinking? How are we presenting it? What are the words we're saying? One or two little changes usually will close that. What are the patterns and how can I get that number up higher? And I follow up with them in two days, two weeks, two months to make sure that they don't follow off.   People are like, Kiera, you really make your treatment coordinator do that? And like, yeah, I was your treatment coordinator that closed $50,000 same day. And this is exactly what I did. This is how I've trained co offices across the nation to do it. You just have these simple little things that help them out. And then you flip over to our scheduling. Like, I think scheduling's easy, Howard. I genuinely do. I'm like, half of it is just be nice. Like you got the COVID crank, and so many people are so grumpy and so like.   Annoyed when they pick up the phone, then I'm like, you can already leap your ahead by just being nice and being excited to welcome a patient. Then take like charge of that conversation. So let's take the ownership of that conversation. If someone's Do you take my insurance? I'm going to quickly redirect and say, my gosh, how did you hear about us? I'm going to answer that, but I want to find out how did they hear about us? If it's our Google reviews, if it's a referral, if it's somewhere else, I want to like say, my gosh, you're so lucky to be here.   We love our patients. We love our reviews. I can't wait for you to be a great raving fan too. let's talk about this. I can everything can be overcome. Please do not let being out of network stop people. It's a thousand dollar coupon and we're turning people away over that. No, no, no. We are better than that. And if we are the best dentist, they need to be coming to us. We need to win these patients over, make them feel so loved. Let's get them scheduled. Let's make this a great experience for them. Let's make them feel so excited. I did it with PT called like six offices.   And the office I chose, like so many people were annoyed I was calling. Can I put you on hold? Can I do this? And I was like, no one really wants my business. If you're just nice and you take control of that conversation, you can easily turn and transform your practice. So hopefully that was like not too much. I like I love these things. I love training treatment planning. I love training how to like take control of a phone call. I love helping teams overcome those little simple objections because it's very, very simple things.   that make massive leaps and bounds of change. And it's a great way to double your practice very easily, like you said.   The Dental A Team (36:13) 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.

Standing out as a dental practice is easier than you might think — and thank goodness for that! Kiera gives three steps to find what makes you and your practice unique even when you feel like you're as vanilla as can be. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: Kiera Dent- Dental A Team (00:00) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera and I hope you're having an amazing day. I am so excited to podcast with you. I get so giddy when I know it's podcasting day and I literally can't sleep at night. I get so excited for the next day and I just really want to make sure that what I'm delivering for you and all the different podcasts are exactly what you need because I do believe that my job in this world is to positively impact the world of dentistry and give you quick tactical tips that are going to change your life, change your practice and make you   Remember why you chose dentistry. Dentistry should be fun, you guys. Owning a practice should be fun. And I know that it's not always going to be fun. I've accepted as a business owner, there's highs and lows, and that's just the flavor of business ownership that we sign up for. And so today I wanted to just give some quick tactical tips because I feel like so many of us are trying to figure out how can we stand out as dental practices without it being just about cost. There's so much more because we talk about marketing and you guys know my Achilles heel is marketing. Dun, dun, dun, dun, dun.   ⁓ But it's really truly how can you be your own brand, your own fragrance, your own style, and yet still attract the patients that you want. And I think it's actually easier than you might think because we help practices all the time stand out for who you want. And what I found is the number one most important thing when you're looking at your practice is be true to who you are. I remember I was reading the book Traction.   by Gina Wickman, guys know, shout out. I'm a big proponent of that book. do a lot of Dental A Team's version of traction. We have traction within Dental A Team. And, I remember at end of the book, they were talking about how, like, know thyself and be free as a visionary. And, ⁓ if that's who you are or you're an integrator, like know thyself and be free. And I think when it comes to your own practice, know thyself and be free and make sure it's what people want. And then make sure you're talking to those people. I think about, have some friends that are.   are very into nature and them getting on the podcast, I'm probably not going to attract the same type of people that I attract. I want people that are driven, growth minded, entrepreneurs, people that are seeking that next level, people that want to have fun in life. That's who Kirita is and that's my style. That's my brand. And I remember when I started Dental A Team, I had some people tell me that, Kirita, there's absolutely no way you're going to be able to impact everybody across the nation and that's not going to work for you as a consultant. And I am so grateful and thankful that I stuck true to my gut.   I struck two to who Kiera Dent is. And while at the same time I can say true to Kiera, I need to also know what the market's asking for. If I'm just here to talk kumbaya with you, I'm probably going to attract a different crowd. But the people who want to be with Kiera, who want to be a part of Dental A Team, it's crazy. At the masterminds, I look at our doctors and our office managers and they are very similar to who I am and who I am on the podcast. So if that resonates with you, come be a part of our community.   you can reach out, Hello@TheDentalATeam.com or go to our website, book a call. I'd love to chat with you. And I do still vet a lot of the people coming into our company. And, ⁓ I want to make sure that you're a good match for us. And so I think when I'm looking at what can you do to stand out within your own practice and how can you compete? It's who are you and what makes you different. And if you don't know, go read your reviews, go read the Google reviews, go read to see. And if you read dental, interviews, they always talk about that. They're fun, that they're positive, that they changed my life, that they make dentistry so simple.   That is Kiera Dent to the core. wanted to be the Dr. Seuss of systems. I wanted to make doctors and teams have easy profitability without it being hard. And so when I look at the reviews, that is true core to Kiera. So I want you to say who's true core to you. ⁓ And a good way to do this is to go back to what your core actually is. So go back to what the core values are. Why did you even start the company? When I go back and I look at Kiera Dent, like what were my three core fundamentals? You can ask Tiff this was the beginning of day one. Like it was fun, do the right thing and ease.   from the beginning of time, it's always been what I've said. I said, if we're not having fun, I don't wanna do this. Like truly, it's a hobby for me, it's a good time. And now we've created into an incredible business. Do the right thing always. Like do the right thing for the customer, do the right thing for our team, do the right thing for our clients. Like that is what I want you to do. And I'm not gonna sit here and give you a rules of do the right thing. Like as a core individual, you need to have that to your core. To me, it's a, we over deliver. We always come to the table. Like I want you just to do the right thing. And that needs to be a moral compass for you.   And then ease, I don't need people who make it clunky hard, all the different pieces, I need you to make it easy. And that's been my model since the beginning of time, I wanted everything to be easy, do the right thing and fun. That's Kiera's core, that's who I am. And so for you to go back and it's core values versus aspirational values. And so I really want you to look at what are the core of your company? And is that fulfilling?   I remember there's dental office I opened, me and the doctor, her core was very edgy. would say edgy is probably one of our core values of that company. We were listening to Drake at six in the morning. Like that was our core and we wanted it to be this edgy vibe. were in downtown Denver. That's what we did and it attracted the right type of people. Now my parents, if they walked into that dental practice, there is absolutely no way in their right mind that they would want to stay there. But a lot of people in downtown Denver, we knew our avatar, we knew who we wanted. So we were going to attract that. So I really want you just to think of like,   How can you stand out? How can you make sure that this practice feels like home to you? So step one is go back to your core of why did you even start this business? And let's make sure that that's really incorporated in everything you do. Number two, I want you to really make sure that who you are fundamentally is what you're branding and what you're speaking to. ⁓ And then make sure the third thing is you look to see what do patients really want and what are they valuing? So.   I think so many practices, the reason you get lost in the mix is because you've just got standard marketing across the board. says like, we care about our patients. We have the exact same services listed. We've got generic online presence. There's nothing that identifies or differentiates you. There's a practice in California that I really love. And she said like, we love ⁓ changing the way people feel about going to the dentist. And I have another dentist who their tagline is to be the community, the, like the dentist that the community chooses.   ⁓ And I have another office that's like to change the way people feel about going to the dentist. And another one is to just be your foodie dentist. Those people, you guys, I didn't even pull up my notes. didn't look at it before I got on the podcast. Those are ones that I can just rift, repeat, remember because they stand out to me. They're not just generic marketing. And so for you, what is it that makes you stand out? I've got a doctor and he called it, ⁓ I think it's called Empower Dentistry.   ⁓ and I love that because his whole model is like empowering patients to be confident about their health, to be confident about their decision-making and really spend a lot of time educating his patients. So for you, like, what is that one thing for Kiera? You guys, I'm the Dr. Seuss of dentistry. I have a good time. have a lot of fun. I am not your standard consulting company. We do things very different at Dental A Team. I want people, we get the same type of results, if not better.   But we do it in Kiera Dent's way. We do it in a fun way. We do it in a way that makes team members happy. Our job is to light people up. Life's my passion, dentistry is my platform. That's Kiera Dent. And if that doesn't resonate you, then you're not gonna be listening to the podcast. But if it does resonate with you and you're like, yeah, I wanna have the best life and I wanna have team that's lit up and I wanna do it in an easy way, not a hard way. You guys, I'm not cookie cutter. If you want standard scripts on how we do X, Y, we have them, but that's not gonna be where I'm going to lead from. We're gonna lead from what's your vision and your practice to what did the numbers tell us? Then we're gonna implement systems based on that information.   That's how we operate. Most people are like, Hey, you want systems? Fantastic. Here are your systems. And I'm like, no, why am I coming in and giving teams more work? Like nobody wants that. What we want is what's the vision of the practice? What are the numbers tell us? Let's put systems into place that way. Again, it's all boiling it down to that ease, that simplicity that's going to guarantee results. So what is your clear differentiator? What's your clear identifier? And so when we have it, like, I don't want to be Chick-fil-A McDonald's.   like competing across the board. I want something that's going to make you resonate. I've got holistic dentists and it's like full comprehensive health for their patients is what they want them to have total wellness of health. And you might say like, but Kiera, I'm just like, like, I just do dentistry. I just want to do dentistry and I'm very vanilla. Like there is nothing that stands out about me. I do bread and butter dentistry. It's very simple. Well, I'll say vanilla is very great ice cream that a lot of people like.   How can we make your vanilla ice cream better than the next person's vanilla ice cream? So I just wanna highlight that no matter what you do, there is something that's your special sauce. There is something special and unique about you and your practice that's going to drive and resonate with other people. There's billions of people on the planet. You don't need all of them. You just need your core crew of people that want to come to you as a practice. So I would say, what is it of, how are you going to make sure people stand out to you?   and looking back at your core values, looking back to why, what makes you, you go look at the reviews and make sure does that speak? And if it does, amazing, keep doing more of that. And if it doesn't, let's change that and revamp it a little bit so that way you do feel like it's home. I have had so many offices try to be something they're not, they're like, well, Kiera, everyone says I need to be on social media and I don't like it. Then don't do it. Like you can be at home, you can be there, you can still like.   I am the silent dentist. Like don't like social media. Great. You're going to probably find people that don't like social media. So let's do flyers and mailers and other things that could attract people in. ⁓ Or find a team member that really is great at it so you don't have to do it. For me, you've got to show up a couple of times. That's part of being a business owner and I don't love it, but I'm going to be true to Kiera. You're going to be true to you. Be true to you because the thing is I want you to just feel like you're at home. When I get on the podcast, I get to just be Kiera.   This is Kiera unfiltered. It's funny when people get on our practice assessment calls or like wanting to work with us calls and we're assessing to see, are you a good fit for us and are we a good fit for you? I'm sitting in my studio. Like what you guys see is where I work every single day. The microphone, I don't usually talk to people on a microphone, but I will pull it on over so people can see it. Like I'm just Kiera. This is who you get. I'm real raw. Someone asked me a very personal question on a sales call the other day and I was like, you know what?   I am so grateful that you feel so comfortable to be able to ask me those questions. I'm Kiera. This is who I am. I always want people to feel like I'm just Kiera Dent from the block. Like I'm your next door neighbor. I'm the person who's not here to judge you. I'm here to give you a hand up. I'm not here to slap your hand, tell you you should have known that because you're a dentist. That's what I want people to feel. So I think it's a what's your core. And then also the second piece is what do you want people to feel when they come to your practice? Because that's going to help them laser in with you way more than anything else.   So looking at those core values, how do you want them to feel? For me, it is a no judgment zone in Dental A Team. Our whole team knows this. You like nobody should ever, like I will not hire people that are snooty tooty attitudey. Like I'm just not here for that. That's not our culture. That's not our brand. That's not who we are. Our brand and our style is very much a come as you are, we love you we're gonna take you to your goal, your vision. I'm not here for everybody to get to the DSO world. I want you to live your best life. Your practice should serve you your needs in your life, not the other way around. But I will tell you,   I did not have that refined on day one of opening this company. That has come over time of what do I want dentists to feel? What are people saying? What is it that sets me apart from other people? And I do believe that your practice and how you stand out is not a one and done check it off the box. My core, one and done. And as long as I don't deviate from that, I'm probably gonna be pretty solid. The second thing is who we are and our fundamentals, those have not changed. But how I talk to people, what I want people to feel when they come to our company.   That's morphed and evolved. It's always been a no judgment zone, but I think it's become more and more and I market that more and more and I want people to just feel safe. I want people to feel seen. I want people to feel heard. I realize as business owners, myself included, as I morphed and evolved, gosh, that's something I wanted. You could start to listen in to what your patients say. Why do they choose you? And you might even have people that you trust a lot. I have asked certain people like, why did you choose Dental A Team over somebody else? 95 % of the time it's because we don't judge. We aren't cookie cutter.   and we actually have been there, done that and do it successfully and we bring the team along. Those are typically the reasons people choose our company over someone else. And I always get energy, always. So I care, we love your energy. And I'm like, great. So they like a good time. They want somebody who's fun. That's my core value. So yeah, like we're getting it. But listen to why people are choosing you. Maybe it's the Google reviews. Maybe it's because you are the holistic dentist in your area. Maybe it's because all their friends and family trust you. Listen to that and brand with that.   People will tell you if you will listen why they choose you, why you're the best in their opinion. And if that's your favorite patient, do more of that. That's how you're going to stand out. Again, you're not going for the billing and you're going for your niche community of people that want to come to you. ⁓ I know I've got a pediatric dentist. He's so popular, like one of the top of the top of the top and he's just himself and he shares his real life. Some of you may be like, that's not me. Again.   You've got to do your differentiator based on who you are. If you're not loud and outlandish, don't be that online because they're going to come in and be like, it was a bait and switch. Like, wow, this person's dead in the water when I show up. Or if you're like dead in the water, but you're super outlandish in the practice, they might feel like, wow, that's very different. You need to have it where you guys are synced in. People feel like they can understand. People feel like they're on the same page with you. It feels the same. Like that's what branding is. This is how you differentiate is what our presence is online is who we are in person.   And so I would just say, take an exercise today. Go through and figure out what on earth do we need to do to stand out in our crowd? Number one, what's our core value? What do we stand for? Who's the core? What is the core of who we are? Number two, what do we people to feel? Read our reviews, how do we want them to feel? And then number three, how can I do more of that and has it evolved over time? Those would be like quick, simple three steps, but make sure online presence matches in-person presence. In-person presence matches online presence. Our online presence is fun.   There's dots, there's confetti, there's smiling, laughing people. That's not just pictures. When you're in an office, you're laughing your freaking head off. It's hilarious. We're having a good time because teams don't want to do hard. Teams don't want to have a non-fun. Why do I make the podcast? Yes, for a lot of value for you, but also for you to have your teams experience this before they even work with us. How can you test drive the car without test driving the car? Well, here's a great way to do it. How can people test drive your practice without doing it?   How can they say, my gosh, of all the dentists out there, I wanna work with you. And then I'm gonna say this, and I know this is annoying and I'm sorry, but this is another piece that you're gonna stand out and it's through your Google reviews. You've gotta be kicking it over there. If you need, talk to Swell. Swell.co, I think is their website. Tell them Dental A Team sent you, get the best deal. Zeke and I have known each other for eight years and he has never changed the pricing on the people I refer to him, which thank you, Zeke. Shout out to you. Swell is the best one I've ever met. I know there's a ton of them out there. I have like vetted all of them. Best of the best of the best.   So if you want a great one, like you've got to also be the best. And so I just did this with a team the other day ⁓ and I had all of them go leave reviews. I had all of them practice asking for reviews. And I taught them like, you can be the best dentist, but if you're not the best marketed dentist online, no one's gonna find you. And imagine me with my picket fence out there, like picketing, like save the teeth. If you're the best dentist in the best dental office, you have a moral obligation to save those teeth. People only have 28.   Some might have 32, but most of us only have 28. And we only have one shot at that. And I believe that people deserve the best of the best. So you also have an obligation to get those reviews up, to ask your patients to leave your reviews, but that's gonna tell you how you stand out. Please also make sure you have fun. Do things that light you up. Marketing is like, my gosh, it's my least favorite thing to do. But I realized, Kiera being Kiera and just showcasing that is marketing.   And I can have a truckload of fun with you guys on here. I can have a great time on the podcast. I can share all my wildest things. I can talk to you about whatever I want to talk to you about. And you can get to know Kiera, real Kiera. You can get to know Kiera Dent from the block. And that's where I realized like, this is fun for me. Now me going and making dumb social reels. Sorry, all you that love it. I'm not trying to diss on you at all. That's not a diss. I just absolutely loathe it. Like I would rather sit here and talk to you and give you like tactical tips than I would like making up a funny meme.   I'm a freaking hilarious human, but I don't like staged humor and I don't have a great marketer next to me and it just feels hard. That's not something that I'm like, yay, marketing day. Now if I had a marketer who lived next door to me and they're like, hey, I got seven ideas for you, let's roll. I would freaking love it. But make sure it's something that you jive and enjoy. And if you don't love it and then people are gonna feel it. Now, that doesn't mean it's uncomfortable. You gotta get out of your comfort zone. But if you absolutely loathe something, you guys like, I...   You have a marketer who did this and I felt like an idiot. I'm not good at remembering how to say things and being on script. Like I feel so dumb and so uncomfortable that I'd rather sit there and have you rift with me, like ask me questions like top, top dental softwares, top AI softwares, top practices, how they perform. What are the top five things that the most elite leaders do? I would rather do that. It's the same thing. I can still create reels, but they're conversations and topics that I know you guys want to hear. And I know you're going to have a good time hearing.   and I know I can give you amazing value without you ever working with me. That's Kiera Dent's MO. So what's your MO? What drives you? And if you need a minute, go take like two hours at a Starbucks, figure out what your core values are. What do you want people to feel when they come to your practice? And then look to see what is the core? What are the things that light you up? Again, maybe that you're not perfect at. I love to give tactical practical. And like I said, that morphed over time. What do I people to feel has morphed over time. So maybe do a revamp. See how can we stand out a little bit stronger?   and then ride it guys. Trust it, own it, embrace it, because the more confident you are in it, people are buying your confidence, they're not buying you. The reason people come to Dental A Team is because when I got on the podcast, you guys, I've been there, I've done it, I've seen it all, like you probably can't tell me something. I would love somebody to challenge me, bring me something I haven't ever heard before. But I have so much confidence that no matter which practice you are, where you're at, I know ways to turn your life around and your practice around and do it very quickly and easily.   I'm that confident. That's what you're buying. You're buying my 10 years of being on the freaking road going into 500 plus offices. That's why people sign up with Dental 18 plus they love our energy. Yeah, I'm a good time. So let's do it fun and let's share all that experience. Why are people signing up with you? What is the confidence you have? Are you the best at doing those fillings? Are you the best at doing those crowns? Highlight that, get excited about it. People are buying your confidence and the more confident you can be through your reviews, through your online presence, the more they're going to spy you. It's not their dentistry they're buying.   It's the confidence in you and your team. And if you can remember that, you will stand out of a crowd all day long. So I feel like I usually can do a quick wrap for you and like, here's the five things for you to take. Today, it's not, it's a rift. It's a, here are the ways that I see people stand out. Here are the ways that I've been able to stand out. Here's the ways that we've been able to change things for you. But I really feel like standing out is not about doing more. It's about doing the right thing that lights you up consistently. Getting on the podcast, do you know how many episodes I've recorded?   Do know how many times I pushed play over here and said, all right, let's go? Consistency can out deliver flash in the pan. I have been doing this for seven years now. Seven years we've been talking together. Seven years we've been hanging out. Almost 10 years I've been traveling to offices. That's consistency guys. And doing consistency, doing the right things consistently. It's not about doing more.   I didn't ratchet up our podcast amount, doing the same amount since the beginning of time, and that's still a lot. ⁓ But I think for you to stay consistent, speak your truth, people will come to you, I promise you. Don't think it's about doing more. Don't think it's about that. Just being aligned so where people can feel your true authenticity and your genuine love, people will buy that all day long. We're in a world inundated with noise and starving for wisdom.   Be that different voice, whatever yours is. And if we can help you in any way, if I can be your cheerleader, if our team can like help you see the goodness in you, because sometimes it's hard to see the goodness in you. We do this with offices, we help them out. I've got a doctor right now in California and we're helping her see like how she's fantastic to drive more patients to her practice. So reach out, Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. Be proud of yourself. There are people that need you specifically. Not everybody wants you, not everybody wants Dental A Team, but the people who really do that resonate.   They're going to find me and my voice. why I ask you guys to share because you're listening. Please share with other people just like you because odds are if you like me, your friends are going to like me and we're going to be able to help them change the world of dentistry. Same thing. If your patients like you, odds are they've got friends and family that are going to love you as well. Ask them. Don't be afraid to get the reviews from them. And for all of you, I'm asking you today, if you love the podcast, leave us a Google review. Go leave me a review share because I need more people like you listening to this podcast.   I am on a mission to impact every single dental practice out there and to positively impact them and to change the world of dentistry in the greatest way possible. And I can't do that alone. I need you to share. So share and ask your patients to do the same, but it's very hard for you to ask somebody when you haven't done it yourself. So if you've never left a Google review or it's been a while, go leave Dental A Team at Google review. We'll put it in the show notes. It's very easy for you. ⁓ and the second thing I would ask is share us with somebody, share the podcast with somebody today, share this episode with somebody shared in a Facebook group.   because you're gonna get more confidence and have your team do the same thing. You can have them listen to this episode, share with people, leave a review. I had an office, 10 people left me a review that day because they were having a hard time and feeling disingenuous asking for reviews. Get people comfortable, get people confident and they'll do it more often, same thing with you. And I'm a very easy person. Leave me a great review. You love the podcast, you're clearly giving your time to me. So leave a review, say how much you love it and then feel confident asking somebody and ask somebody today because more people need your dentistry.   More people need you to change their lives. It's your moral obligation to show up, do the right thing, have fun and do it with ease. Did you like those core values? That was a nice wrap for all of you. Thanks for listening. I adore you. I'm here to serve you on any level I can. Reach out, join us at an event, come to our mastermind, whatever it is, do something today. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. And as always, thanks for listening and I'll catch you next time on The Dental A Team podcast.  

Today's topic is something the Dental A-Team hears about a lot: Our practice is awesome, but we struggle to find new patients. Kiera talks about why this is such a common issue, and gives tips on what you can do to address it. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: Kiera Dent- Dental A Team (00:00) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera and I am so freaking pumped about today's podcast and I hope you are too. Today's gonna be a fun day. It's about something that I absolutely love and hate. For those of you that have been listening to the podcast for a while, welcome. I'm Kiera Dent. I'm so happy you're here. My job and our company's motto is to possibly impact the world of dentistry in the greatest way possible. And we do that through this podcast. We put it on for free for you. Tactical practical advice for you every single week for doctors and teams because honestly trying to get   both on the same page is really tricky. being a team member myself, being a business owner myself, working with hundreds of offices across the nation, our team works with hundreds of offices, our consulting team is like truly second to none. I do believe that we have the most experienced expert team that you could ever ask for. And they truly guide doctors and teams to fulfillment, to success, and they do it with ease. And of course we pop the confetti and have a ton of fun. So today I wanted to just dive in.   And talk about like, why are great practices still struggling to attract patients? I think that this comes up on many coaching calls in lots of different areas. And it's something of like, but the practice is amazing. Why are they not getting the patients? And I think something that I pulled from some business courses I've taken is it does not matter how great your business is. It matters how well your business is marketed. And so I think for us to just look at this and say, all right, how do we market better? And what are the things? So I have found that it is   not because like you are clinically sound or you're not clinically sound. It's really about like being easy to choose and how are we able to be easy to choose as a practice versus being hard. And there's some simple things today that I wanted to go through because like you can have great dentistry, a solid team, great intentions, but if growth is feeling harder than it should, or we're not attracting these patients, let's talk about some ways to do this. And yes, there are PPO, there's fee for service, there are different things that happen for both of those. But literally what I found is   we've got to like look through what a patient's experiencing before they even come into your practice. So I feel like the growth and systems conversation is like not just about marketing conversations. A lot of times we're like, here, I want the magic bullet. I want you to like give me these items and we can just get all these new patients. And I want to too. And I'm here to say that marketing has a place. ⁓ But I also want you to realize like what are your patients choosing you for? And so looking through your reviews, you can actually throw it into AI and say like,   What are the top like five things that come from these reviews that we're receiving as to why patients are choosing us? And there was a great quote from Top Tips for Effective Clinical Communication in the British Dental Journal, yes, PMC 2023. And they said, effective communication is central to every element of clinical practice from first contact with reception to the point the patient leaves the building. And when I read that quote, I loved that quote because I feel like so often we don't think about   all these mini touch points. And I know we've talked about it before, but it's like, let's work through, like maybe we don't need more new patients. Maybe we just need a better path from attention to appointment. Yes, I love that. From attention, like grabbing their attention to them setting the appointments. And so where can we look for like common misdiagnosis within the practice? What does this look like? And so usually people are like, we need more marketing, we need more patients. And that's not wrong. I was on a coaching call with a practice and we were talking about like,   A great ratio for everybody to have is we need the patient base to be 200 patients per hygienist per day in one week. So for example, if I've got 10 columns of available hygiene in a week, I need 200 patients. Yes, I did easy math for you. What is that answer? 200 patients times 10, bingo, 2000 patients would be an active patient base. Usually seen within the last 12 to 18 months is how many we need to see. So we were looking and this practice was running 14 columns of hygiene in a week. Well, that's 2,800 patients.   They only have 1900 active patients. So what would most practices say? We need more new patients. Let's run into marketing. But like, are there other things that we can do instead of just needing marketing? Like could we maybe, are there patients already sitting within our practice that we need to have? Maybe we do need to have more new patients. Yes, the ideal is 30 new patients per month per doctor. But is that always the case? Are they maybe hiding in the crevices of your practice that we could pull forward?   So me and this office manager had a call, talked about it. looked, we went back to their recall. She was like, here, I got six patients on there. And I was like, well, that's inconvenient. So what things could we do? And so what can we really look for of what about our, are we looking at our re care and our reactivation? Are we reappointing all of these patients? Like before we even go and jump into marketing, which I'm not here to say don't market, but what about all the patients sitting in our database right now? One, can we reactivate them? The answer is yes.   Two, with all the patients coming through, are we asking every single patient, who else can we schedule for you? We absolutely love you. How else can we like, who else can we schedule? Who else do you know that we could schedule for you? So when I look at this, like where is the true diagnosis and do we actually need more? Or is it that like, no, we just need to be better with this. The practice is also asking me like, Kiera, is it the economy? Like we're not getting all these new patients we used to. And I want to say that like generally speaking dentistry is pretty economy bulletproof. Like most patients come in,   Things have it. Now, fee for service, you're gonna struggle more because patients might only like to do one cleaning versus two cleanings, but your insurance driven practices, great news for you. You've already got your patients there. And I'm not here to say that insurance is bad. I actually think insurance is one of the best marketing pieces to drive patients to your practice. And then it's a thousand dollar coupon, like a thousand dollars to get a patient. I know you're like, but Carrie, we take all the cuts and the fees. I don't disagree with you, but how much does it cost to bring on a new patient? Look at that cost.   to benefit and if I can like go beyond their max and my team is really good with that, $1,000 for an insurance max. I understand that not always that's the case, but is that worth it? I say typically yes. So when we look at this, why like, do we really need more marketing? Do we really need more patients? I want you to look for like, let's make sure our systems are tight and taut before we go after and hit the marketing because that just means we got to make sure our bucket, like the walls aren't empty.   We don't have a hole in our bucket, but we actually are filling that bucket with these patients. So that step one is I want you to look there. Me and this office manager, did we find? We found over 800 patients in their database right now. That's how many patients they need. We don't need to go after new patients. We just need to use the patients we already have in our practice because then our practice is full. Now, if we want to grow, then maybe yes, but even that look to see who is in our database version. People don't want this. It's not sexy. It's not fun. It's like, no, but I just want marketing. I want them to be dropped into my lap. I hear you.   but let's make sure that we have that. Now, if we've elected that we do need to go for marketing and we've already tightened up and we have all these pieces, we've got our re-care, we've got our reactivation, we're calling patients, we're making sure that they're reappointed, we're looking and we're running this report consistently, we're asking every single time we schedule patients, who else can I schedule for you? We are actively asking for referrals and reviews. If that's already done, and that's a big if, then we go and look into marketing. So what I want you to look at for you is like,   Do we need to have different messaging on there? How is our, like when we do market, I want you to look at like, what's my website, what's Google, what's our phone experience and is that matching the first impression of us? What about our clarity? Like, are we really crystal clear on who we're trying to market to? Do we have that dialed in? Our dentistry should speak for itself and so tightening up our first impression, tightening up like what our practice is saying to patients and making sure that patients really truly feel like   this office is so different than any other practice, that's going to make sure like that impression online needs to match our patient experience and vice versa. Our patient experience needs to match our online presence. Sometimes offices are so good, but their online presence looks like they are like dated 50 years ago. So making sure that your practice matches, because if a patient's confused, they might not be converting for you. And so let's just look to make sure does our online presence   and our phone calls match our clinical excellence in the practice and does our clinical excellence in the practice match our phone calls and our outside experience? And I hope you guys can see like those two have to be the same. When you pop on Dental A Team, like you listen to me on the podcast, when you join our team, it's freaking fun. We have fun in person masterminds. We have fun in person visits. Teams love when we come. It's got to match what you hear on the podcast. And if it doesn't, people are like, Kiera, I love your energy. And I'm like, I know I have to hire consultants to have my same level of energy. They're not exactly clones of me.   But otherwise it feels like a mismatch and you're like, wow, that person's like really low and cure is really high. You join Dental A Team because you love our energy. You love our style. You love what we present and preach on the podcast. That's why you join. Now, if you didn't experience that, that that's going to be a mismatch. Same thing with you and your practice. Is that a mismatch? Can you tighten that up? So then when it's that we go back to the leaking, we already talked about leaking. So when I look at this, we want to make sure that like we are matching online. And then I talked about our acquisition, our retention, our reactivation, our   reappointment rates. But then in addition to that, there might be more that we could diagnose on there of our experience is amazing. Everything's matching. We might need to go into marketing, but like, let's talk about some other areas where you might have new patients just coming through, through this, which can tie to your marketing. So we've decided our online matches, we're going to go for marketing. We need to get more new patients and or it's already our new patients there. Let's look at how many missed calls we have. People think all the time, like we're just so busy. We're so busy.   missing those calls can actually be impacting your practice with those new patients. Then how do we follow up with them? So if we miss calls, like some people are like, it's fine. We just have a text. Well, that person's hunting right now for a practice. What's that patient experience? And remember, it's these great practices who are failing to attract new patients. Is it because we're missing calls? Is it because we're not doing well with that new patient? Do we not make them fall in love with us when we do get them on the phone? That patient should hang up and be like,   Gosh, Jason or whomever their spouse significant other best friend. I am so freaking pumped to go to that dental practice. If they are not saying that when they hang up with your office, there is something that could be lost there. What about what happens with all these patients that are not like coming through? Do we have a process in place to make sure they get back on the books? What about are we having like a set process in our practice where we're consistently asking for reviews and referrals all the time?   And then also like, do we have this poor handoff from like when a patient calls us and says, this is what I need. And then they take them to the back office and it's not even remotely what they have. Do we have that in there? And so when we look at this, I think it's part of we've got to be tracking and auditing. How many missed calls do we have? How long does it take us to get a missed call to schedule? What about for new patient scheduling? When do we get our new patients in? What about who's overall the followup of this?   And then also, how are we asking for reviews in our practice? If those things, in addition to re-care, reappointment, reactivation, I just listed off eight things. I've got them on my fingers if you're watching the video. Eight things, if we are not doing that, don't talk to me about trying to get new patients and like, ⁓ we can't attract them. You were attracting them, we're just not handling them correctly. We're not taking care of them because this practice is not converting what you're already paying for. And I think if we can't be good stewards over what we're already paying for,   Why are we asking for more? To me, I'm like, tighten the bows. Like that's way easier, but that's discipline and discipline does equal freedom. So for practices, it might be worthwhile before we even jump on the horn and say, we need more new patients. I'm just going to list it off for you. Missed call numbers. We're going to go through our like from missed to scheduling. What about who's over all the followups of all these? What about our review process? What about our re-care? What about our reactivation? What about our reappointment?   If those aren't tight, you have the patience in your practice, you're just not using them and handling them with care. And so make sure that you're not like, I hate wasting money and I think that this is one of the greatest opportunities to waste money. So when we think about it, like here's top funnel, right? We talked about, we gotta make sure our leak is not leaking, okay? Bucket has all the holes filled. Then we gotta make sure what are we saying online versus what they're experiencing and what they're experiencing is that showcased online. Tighten all that up.   And then when we look at this, I'm like, okay, we are solid on this. But what really, really is going to speak and help and what's going to create massive growth for your practice is when the patient journey feels clear, consistent, easy from the first click to the first visit. So when we think about this, we talked about this a little while ago, like what does this new customer want? What does this new patient want? We want to pay attention to like how quickly are we responding to people? What happens when they show up to our practice? Are we so like   excited. Is it genuinely? ⁓ Someone told me a quote for the Ritz-Carlton and it said, ladies and gentlemen, serving ladies and gentlemen. And I have not stopped thinking about their mission statement because I think about it if like, do you have high level professionals serving high level professionals? Or do we have high level professionals serving friends and family of the community? Or do we have like everyday community team members serving and loving everyday team, like community families?   Whatever it is, making sure that this patient feels like the journey is so consistent with what we're putting online, what we're saying we are. So how do we have this? And so really making sure that there is this whole process, like patients love you from the first day that they call you. Patients are excited to work with you. Patients are just giddy. Patients, when they leave the practice, are giddy to refer you, to leave a review for you, to leave a referral. And I think people forget...   that this could actually be a very easy process. So ways that teams can do this is like, let's actually run through a new patient calling, call the practice and like, let's hear how they answer. And don't be afraid to give honest feedback. This is what we're here for. We are here to give honest feedback. And so what was that experience like? Did I feel like you were so excited that you're my best friend that you can't wait to welcome me into the practice? Or if you're more of a holistic practice that it's a Zen, it's a calming, it's a we've got you and we're gonna take great care of you. How do people feel when they call your practice? That's number one.   Number two, let's go online. What do our reviews say? What does our website look like? And does that match when you come into the practice? And if it doesn't, what small little changes, notice they're small, not giant ones. What small changes need to happen? Do we need to update our Google presence? Do we need to update our website? What do we need to do from there? Okay, so we go through that. Then we walk through the practice as a new patient. So come in the door, act like a new patient or act like a regular patient. Let's do role play both of them. How is a new patient greeted? Are they just given an iPad and told to sit there?   Is it like, me have a concierge style with them. What about new patients? Are we saying, hey, it's so great to see you, Kiera. How's your family? Gosh, like let me make sure I get your next cleaning scheduled for you. I know that you absolutely love to like zip out the door you're busy. And who else can I schedule for you? Let me make your life simple while we're waiting. I'll grab you a cup of coffee while you wait. Are we doing that? Did you just hear how many little opportunities I asked? The new patients coming in, the patient there, like how to get more patients just by loving them and being a friend to them. Then what is it like when we take them to the back office?   How is our new patient experience? them in the hygiene chair. How do we explain our pieces? And then what's our wrap up at the end? How do doctors wrap up the exams? How do we take that patient to the front office? How do we hand them off to the front office team to make sure that they're having this amazing experience? Front office team, how are you wrapping up? Are we asking for reviews at that point in time? Do we maybe have a little postcard that we can give them of like, we're trying to help more patients like you. Best way to do it is to leave us a five star review. I love working with you, Kiera. You absolutely make my day. Every time you come into the practice,   I would love it if you'd leave me five star review. Just so you know, my hygienist at the office that I absolutely loved asked me that. I went right home, I had the little postcard, set it on my counter, did the review that night, because it was so simple. That review, also it sat there. My husband doesn't go to that practice. And I was like, I love my hygienist, Jayce. You should probably schedule, like we should get you scheduled for that. Little subtle things. And I'm already patient. I'm the cheapest, easiest marketing to go after. And my patient experience was amazing when I went in there.   Now, when I got annoyed with them, it was because I wouldn't get the same hygienist. I didn't have the same doctor. People didn't know my name. They were late. I left. I ended up leaving the practice. So those little things that we don't think matter are what are deterring. So not only do you role play through what's going great in your practice, but maybe that's also question mark, why would people leave our practice? Asking that question can also be a great audit of why, and are we following up on missed phone calls?   Are we calling people back? Are we scheduling them for unscheduled treatment plans? Are we running this report every single month? Like, do you see how there's an entire ecosystem around these patients? And so when I asked the question at the beginning of why great practices still struggle to attract patients, I think the better question on that is, are we actually doing the little pieces that drive us forward consistently? Are we hoping and praying for miracles of new patients to just rain from the sky?   It's like, I can have rain come every single day from the sky, but if I'm not collecting it in buckets, purifying that, making sure I have a system for that, as much rain that comes down is never going to be enough for you. And so when I look at this, I think it's a space of how can we make sure that our marketing dollars are being well taken care of? Every patient in our practice feels like they are a VIP and that they want to send more patients to us. Those simple, small things are actually how great practices can freaking thrive.   These are how my best of the best do it. When I look at my highest ones, the ones who have repeat customers constantly, they're tight. Their reappointments are there. Their missed calls, they track that, they monitor that. That's a KPI for them. They check to see how long before we get back to missed calls. They are reducing that missed call number. Their reappointment percentages are high from hygienists. They're running the reports. They do not have many patients sitting in their re-care and reactivation campaigns. They are running those on a regular basis, getting patients back into the practice. They also are making sure that they're auditing how's our patient experience.   What's our online presence saying versus what's our inside presence saying? How is our experience? Why would they be leaving us? Let's tighten this up. Let's tighten this up. Let's make sure every encounter is great. We are constantly asking for reviews and referrals. And if that feels daunting to you, then great news. You just heard an amazing opportunity to grow your practice with minimal effort. This is how you're able to do it. You don't need to be fancy, flashy, showy, none of that. All you need to do is have consistency and intentionality. And so I think it's one of those things of growth comes   from being clear, being consistent, and actually having a great experience every time they come, because patients stay for that. So when it's not easy, when you feel like this, a lot of times it's just like doctors are like, I'm busy in the back, Kiera. I'm doing dentistry. I'm drilling and filling. Like, how am supposed to have time for this? And office managers are like, you don't even talk to me. I'm trying to get all the billing out there. I don't disagree. And I feel like these are the cobwebs within the practice that make a practice great or have a practice crumble.   And I think so often people think they need more new patients or they need all these different things when actually all they need is to tighten up and refine and optimize what they already have and have somebody help them with that. So I would love to help you guys. I'd love to find out like where is this breakdown? Where can we tackle it and help hold you guys accountable to it so you actually see the fruits of your labors. So you're actually able to do that. So reach out Hello@TheDentalATeam.com if you want some help with this. And today I really want you each to go through an audit. Auditor missed calls.   audit our website, audit where we are like, how long does it take us to call missed calls back? How are we reappointing? How many patients are in our unscheduled lists? How are we following up on them? Do we have a process for that? What's our experience? Are we asking for reviews? And I want you to pick one thing from today's podcast, not all of it, because that can feel daunting, but one thing where we can tighten, sharpen, and refine and optimize to where we don't have these gaps in our practice. Yes, marketing has its place.   But like I said, all the rain can come to you, but if you're not collecting it, refining it and optimizing it, doesn't matter how much rain falls, you're always gonna want more. Just like you're always going to want more new patients. These are little, simple, easy ways to grow your practice. If you're struggling with it, reach out, Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. Sometimes you don't need a different strategy, you just need to be held accountable. Sometimes it's not going crazy. Like literally this could be a whole marketing podcast, but instead I'm telling you little simple things you can do in your practice today to grow.   You don't need to do it. So I want to remind you that patients don't choose practices that are best in theory. They choose practice that feels easiest to trust. And sometimes I get annoyed because I do watch practices and there are some practices that I don't think should be the highest top practice. And yet they are because they are the easiest to trust. are the easiest. They are the best marketed. They are the ones that just make the process simple. You can think about a competitor you might have.   And question mark, why would patients go there versus you when you might be a better clinician, a better overall experience? I'm not here to say that dentists are not great. I know we're all striving. I also know that some dentists are better than others. And so how can we make sure that the best dentists, those of you listening are winning? I want to make sure that you're winning. So reach out Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. And as always, this is your practice. This is your opportunity. This is your moral obligation to serve patients at the highest level possible. And I just implore you and invite you.   to take one step today, make your practice just a little bit better, a little bit brighter. And if we can help in any way, we're here for you. You have it, it's all yours. And I just remind you that we are so lucky to live in the time we do, to do what we get to do every single day. And if I can help you in any way, reach out. And as always, thanks for listening. I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team Podcast.

Is your practice going out of network to make more money? Fantastic, but make sure you listen to this episode first. Kiera talks about all the numbers you absolutely need to know before you make the decision, and other, smaller considerations you could make instead. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Kiera Dent- Dental A Team (00:00) Hello, Dental A Team listeners this is Kiera and today I am excited to chat with you about a pretty popular topic that people are always wanting to ask questions about they want to get to know like Kiera, I just want to go out of network. And I say, great, let's talk about it. Let's have a really good conversation about what going out of network actually means what it looks like for you and your practice and how we're able to support you on that.   So if you're new to the Dental A Team, welcome, I'm Kiera Dent. I love all things dentistry. My last name really is Dent and I believe that our job is to positively impact the world of dentistry in the greatest way possible. I think that we are so lucky and so blessed to be able to work in dentistry, to be able to serve and help so many patients. And so I hope that you just know that you're doing a great work out there, that you are changing lives, that you are benefiting so many people. And I am so glad that you've chosen to spend your time with Dental A Team.   If you love our podcast, please, like, please go leave us a review. Like, subscribe, share. It helps us out so much. You have no idea. Just like you want patients to leave you great reviews after you see them. Leaving us a great review for the podcast actually helps us reach more practices and that's our ultimate goal. And I do read them and I'm so grateful for your amazing reviews. So let's talk about going out of network. Going out of network, everybody wants to do it because they want to make money, right? Like I am getting these terrible reimbursement rates and so that's why I'm going to do it.   But what I want you to realize is when you go out of network, you actually become a marketing company. Okay, I hope you heard that. When you go out of network, you become a marketing company. And what that looks like is you now have to work to retain these patients. So when I help practices go out of network, like that's totally fine. You're allowed to do it, but let's make sure we look at the numbers. Let's make sure we do the math. How much is it going to cost for us to market to these new patients? How is it going to be for us to retain these new patients? How are we going to be able to actually get these patients to stay with us long-term?   Now we don't have the insurance clause that's keeping patients here. Also, if you don't know, insurance companies do often send letters to your patients telling them, hey, if you just go down to this other dentist, they're actually an in-network provider. I kid you not, you think that it's dirty, they're allowed to play dirty. So just so you know, when you do this, you start facing this huge uphill battle and I've had practices almost go belly up after going out of network. That's not to say that going out of network's wrong.   but I even have practices that are fee for service right now and they're like we just cannot drive new patients because trying to compete with people in network is so hard and I think about it like Let's just run the fees and I know you sit here and you dream about this grand day of like but Kiera if I was out of network I could get paid so much for a crown and I'm like, yes But then you're only doing like two crowns instead of 20 crowns So there is a volume game, which is not a wrong game to play But I just want you to like realize that you really have to drive your marketing. You have to be   top notch, you have to look to see how you're gonna drive patients to your practice. You have to beg, you will have an uptick in your spend on marketing when you go out of network as well. So it's not all flour, sunshine and gravy. And so sometimes I just look at like, what's the biggest pain point and could we maybe drop one or two insurance companies instead of dropping all of them. If you have more patients than you know what to do with and I'm talking you are booked out seven, eight, nine months to get your patients back in. It might be worth considering, could we drop one or two plans?   Or could we expand and add in more providers before we drop insurances? So look at our lowest paying reimbursables and see what if we just drop those and offer them our membership plan so they become these fee for service patients. But with the membership plan, they are more tethered to the practice, right? Because they're paying for this, they're going to be coming in two times a year. You have two opportunities to see them. I will tell you as a fee for service patient myself, I do not usually go in two times a year. And it's because I'm like, I gotta pay like 300 bucks. But when they have a membership plan,   They don't think like that. They're like, put my cleaning is free. Just like they think of with insurance. So when you're going out of network, really starting to think about all these possibilities of like, all right, what are we going to need to change to be able to drop? So when I have people looking at this, I think about number one, what is the cost to benefit ratio? And if we lost all these patients, let's pretend none of them come, let's go for our worst case scenario, would we be able to sustain? Do I have enough patients to be able to sustain that? And am I willing to do that? Some practices,   Totally, they're good to go. They're like, yes, Kiera, I'm just fine. I can absolutely 1000 % handle this. Other people are like, no, I can't. If I lost all those patients, we would not be able to sustain. So that's the first step before we go out of network. The second step is let's make sure we're prepared to go out of network and handle all those phone calls. And how are we going to save and maintain and retain these patients? Can we get them on membership plans? Third, what are you gonna do about the insurance companies that are calling your patients constantly?   When you out of network, you move into a marketing company. You are constantly striving to keep these patients with you, retain these patients, make sure that they're always there. They're no longer just coming to quote unquote automatically. And so I think about it like, let's run the opportunity cost for when we're going out of network to see, is this something I really want to do? do you want to do this? And I think so many people are like, okay, I'm going to just do this.   we're going to run, we're going to do, and then like, let's maybe do a little bit of prep work. And so there is out of network, like collection verbiage, there is an out of network plan. ⁓ There is all of this. And I just think like, when we go through it, you want to make sure that you are fully prepared financially, mentally, emotionally, as a team, we are locked and loaded and we are good to go. And so if you've looked at those numbers and you're set,   I really want you to think about how you're going to be a marketing company. And so when we look at this, thinking about how can I retain all these people? How can I make sure before I go and drop, like truly before you go and drop insurance, how can I make sure all these patients are going to continue to come back to us? Is it something that we can do of like, can I put into place and start reaching out membership plans? Can we work on our patient experience? Can we make sure like, what's gonna set us apart from the insurance company down the street?   I have a doctor and they are amazing and they are fee for service and they've been fee for service for years. I'm talking like they are so lucky. They've got the Taj Mahal of a practice. It's gorgeous. They've got state of the art technology. Their fees are really not that much higher, but they have like, could you not multiple practices? There's probably 10 around them that are all insurance driven and they're like, but our dentistry should speak for itself. And I'm like, I don't disagree with you, but when times get tighter, things get harder.   People are gonna look at this. guys, I have even, Kiera Dent, who knows dentistry, I have switched. I have a doctor who's fee for service. This is embarrassing. Me as a patient, I'm going to tell you. I have a dentist fee for service. I know they do great dentistry, but they're fee for service. My husband, he's got a great dentist who's got a great hygienist. They're in network with my husband's insurance. I was like, well, I'll just go to them for my cleanings. And if I ever have work that needs to get done, I'll go to the fee for service practice.   Even myself, because I'm just like, well, is it really worth the cost? Like, it's just a cleaning. Like I could just go to the other dentist and you might be like, no cure. But you got to think about the patient. I know you think your dentistry is amazing, but to that patient, a cleaning is a cleaning is a cleaning. Unless they love your hygienist or they love you, they love your front office. They love something about your practice so much that they're willing to pay almost like I pay $300 out of pocket versus insurance. pay $30 a month.   and I get to go have a great cleaning by this amazing hygienist. I also can look at my x-rays, but I think about it, this is where I say you've got to be a marketing company. What's going to make this person continually come to you and choose you every single year when the insurance companies are hitting them, the economy's hitting them, the price is hitting them, and they don't know if your filling is better than the dentist down the street that is closer to them, is in network with them, and they don't need to drive to you. How do you set yourself apart?   So ways that fee for service practice, like I'm telling you, I got the Taj Mahal. They're amazing. They're great. But even then they struggle. And so I think before we decide we wanna drop out of network, I really want you to just make sure, am I committed to being a marketing company? I'm doing the reels. I'm doing the social media. I'm putting like a freaking banner outside. I am asking for reviews and referrals. I'm making sure that we concier all of our patients. We're doing follows with them. Our doctors are giving them a call afterwards. Like I'm talking next level.   So I go to a fee for service chiropractor. She's amazing. She does a nerve and I have actually some like weird nerve things going on. And so I really love her. She's fee for service. But when I have like something that comes up in my life and I message her, it is an above and beyond over the top on her of like, absolutely care. I take care of yourself. I'm going to reappoint you. I'll reschedule you. It is a white glove service when I work with her. And so I'm willing to pay a premium. I also am able to get in on the weekends. If I need something from her, I message her and she's like, yep.   I, she can do house visits for me, but I think you have to realize like when people are paying out of pocket full price, just doing great dentistry is not enough for them. They are expecting great customer service, great experiences. Why should I be paying my money? And sometimes that's not even enough. And you can say, we've got say to the art this, we've got say to the art that. So what this practice we had to do for fever service, they get a tour every single time we walk them through, we have towels for them. We walk them to the front. They have a dedicated treatment coordinator.   There's somebody who's dedicated for phones. We have a dedicated concierge who sits in the front office who brings things for you. That's the welcoming and greeting who sits there and chit chats, who knows every single patient by name. That is the level of concierge service and marketing for these fee for service practices. If you've got competition around you. If you don't, podcast doesn't apply to you. But I think when most people are thinking about going out of network, they're just like, I'm going to go like screw it. Delta Dental, Aetna, I'm so sick of your freaking fees. I'm going to now be paid what I'm worth.   I don't disagree with you. You are worth that. But I also want to make sure that you're fully prepared to be that high level concierge doctor that has to do so much more to retain these patients. I have another doctor who went out of network, literally almost went bankrupt. ⁓ The practice is struggling. They don't have enough patients. They are constantly trying to recruit new patients. They're looking at it and they're looking to rejoin in network because everything is falling apart. Family's falling apart. Life has fallen apart. Profitability has fallen apart.   because they just did not realize how much effort it is to try to bring in new patients on your own. So one way you could look before you even go into it is look at your new patients and see how many new patients are we attracting just by reviews and referrals alone before I go out of network. And if I'm not bringing in a lot of people by reviews and referrals right now as the best dentist, they love me. I've got like this healthy cult following with them. If I don't have that, I might wanna work on that to see what are the patients who are fee for service   Why are they coming here? Ask them, ask people like, you can survey your patient base. Like what would you guys love? Like if you had to pay a little bit more for dentistry, what would it be? Are you more, because they don't know the difference of a great dentist and a not so great dentist. And I think that that's what people don't realize is our dentistry, as much as I wish that it was a differentiator for patients, it's not. They don't know if that filling in that crown is better than the dentist down the street who's in network. They have no idea.   What they're looking at is cost and even a great experience, they still might come down to cost. And I'm not here to say that it's all cost because I believe that people are willing to pay for great experiences. You look at why does Chick-fil-A do better than McDonald's? We look at why is Target oftentimes better than Walmart, but is it really? And who are you? And I don't think all patients come for cost. I think there is a lot of space in today's world to stand out of knowing their name, driving it, but we also have to be careful because   We are facing real people are like, how's the economy and is it impacting dentists? And I'm like, those who are doing regular dentistry, no, it's not. They're great. But those who are outside of that, so we're talking all on X cases, cosmetic cases, fee for service patients. If they don't have a loyal patient base right now, people are considering costs. They are considering what are we going to do? And I know that that's why you are also probably considering fee for service. What about fee for service? What about this? What about that?   those pieces I think are very much needing to be highlighted and addressed of, all right, if the economy is pushing dollars, what can we do to offset that? If I'm needing to increase our fees to offset dollars within our practice for profit margins, what else can we do for this? And I really think for you to look at when you're going out of network to say, is this something I'm willing to do? Is this something our practice is fully equipped with?   Are we getting enough reviews and referrals just by being a great practice today to go out of it? And am I willing to like up my ante, not just being a great dentist, because you dropped that network guys, they're going to like fly away to a practice that does accept them. And like I said, your insurance company is going to try to convince them because they get a lot more money when it goes through an in-network provider than an out-of-network provider. And they're going to, they hustle them. And so for you to just accept that you will be a marketer, you will be constantly looking for patients.   you'll be constantly trying to fill your books and is it something you want to do? And is that an additional piece you want to add to your already big to-do list or is it not? And you might be hearing like, Kiera's pro insurance. I'm not, we have a lot of offices that are out of network, but I will say my out of network ones, every single call, it is always a, do I get more new patients? How do we get patients? Unless you're in a really busy area, I have a few where like them cutting insurance was the best thing they could have done because they just were inundated with patients.   and it was like kind of pruning a tree and they needed to prune. So them dropping insurances strategically, they were okay if they lost every single patient, they would still be able to take care of their entire team. All the people, they even had like a dental office across the street moving. They're like, that's fine, take our patients. Like we are good with that. But I will say, if you are not prepared to do that, I might just add a pause for you before you go out of network. So thinking about going out of network, run your numbers to see, can we survive when we lost all the patients?   Number two, I want you to think about are we prepared to be a marketing company and what do we need to do to make sure people stay? Number three, look at our reviews and see how many of them and our referrals and our new patients, how many are coming from reviews and referrals of people referring us and would they continue to do so? Please like check your ego, pretend you are not this person. Will they continue to do so if you go out of network? Four, what can we proactively do to make patients want to stay here? Can we start adding some of these concierge pieces or is it like, hey, when we go out of network, we add these concierge pieces.   Can we get people more on membership plans? So when we go out of network, it doesn't hurt us as much because they're tethered to our practice already. I would be prepping and preparing you and this is what we do with our offices before they do it. Some offices still choose to go out of network and I say that's fine. But again, every choice has a consequence, whether positive or negative that you need to be aware of to make the best decisions. And I believe better insights, better knowledge result in better decisions. So if you need help going out of network, you're like, my gosh, these are things that I need help with.   please reach out before you do it. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. This is how we're able to help you. This is how we're able to just make sure that you've thought through all the pieces and then whatever path is best for you, we're able to guide you through it. And if you've already decided to go out and now we're kind like, shoot, I don't have all these things in place. Great. This is what we do. So reach out. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. This is what we specialize in. This is what we're experts in and you can choose. It's like, it's a choose your own adventure.   Just make sure you know what the ending looks like for either opportunity so you choose the best decision for you, your practice, and your patients. And as always, thanks for listening, and I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team

So many practice leaders and owners feel it, but so few say it — the weight of ownership can sometimes be too much. Kiera talks about how common stress among dentists is, what those stressors can look like, and how to start lessening that weight today. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: Kiera Dent- Dental A Team (00:00) Hello, Dental A Team listeners, this is Kiera and I hope you're having a great day. I hope that you are excited about life. I hope that you just remember like, we are so lucky. We get to be in dentistry. We get to hang out on the podcast together. I get to go with you on whatever road you're going on today, whatever life you're doing, whatever you're doing. I am so grateful that you're choosing to take me along with you. And today I just wanted to talk about something that I feel is really near and dear to me. It's near and dear to a lot of our dentists.   We ran a really fun webinar last year and I'm excited to do it again. And it was probably our best webinar we've ever run. I had probably the best turnout we've ever had. But I think it was because we hit the strongest topic and we're actually gonna be discussing this at summit this year, at our webinars this year. So if this hits home, I would invite you to join us ⁓ at any of them because you don't have to do this alone. And what it is is the hidden weight of ownership.   And I think it's like what every practice leader and owner feels, but they rarely say. And I just feel that people, I don't know, we have a mastermind and there's a girl in our mastermind, we're in person. And I remember I was asking for people like, hey, how was the mastermind for you? What were your takeaways? And every single time I asked that question, the mastermind, someone always raises their hand and they always say, it feels so good to be amongst peers and colleagues.   and to realize that I'm not alone. And I'm like, if we all know each other is going through this, but we don't say it, I think we live in our head a lot. And when you're in your head, you're dead. And so I think a lot of times like ownership is heavy. And for myself, it's heavy. And for all of you listening, it's heavy. And I think what we don't see is it's like, we carry payroll. We worry about cashflow. We feel like we're responsible for team culture and morale. We read the book. I mean, I've been on it. I've told you guys, read Extreme Ownership by Jacka Willings.   Everything in your practice is a direct reflection of you and you are responsible for it. So then you're like, great, patient complaints, like this is my fault. Can't tell you how many doctors I've had get bad reviews while I've been in office or we've been working with them or with our consultants and the doctor literally cannot let it go for weeks, months. Like it just eats at them. And I don't blame you. You feel like everyone else clocks out and you still have to carry this home. They all get to go home. They get to have their paycheck. I don't, I get to sit in this amazing space that I built for myself that I absolutely just want to like.   let go. And I think it's one of those things of like, you're a great dentist. It's just the weight of feeling like you're responsible for all of it. And I know I feel this too. And so today I just wanted to invite you of like, Hey, let's talk about some tactical places of how to make ownership feel a little bit lighter that could make it to where you're not alone. You don't have to be alone. And there's actually some tactical pieces for you and welcome to the Dental A Team, the space where you don't need to be alone, running a practice that's successful should be easy. And that's what we're on a mission to do and to positively influence you.   to help you realize that things are better than you think they are, but to give you a tangible path, not just theories and ideas, but a tangible path to go from where you are today to where you want to go. And I'm Kiera Dent and I'm obsessed with dentistry. I'm obsessed with helping people have their dream freaking lives. I realized after a long time, and this might sound so cheesy to you, but the purpose of my life is to truly like be a creator. And what it is, is it's to create and like help people's dreams come true. And I know that sounds so silly, but I look at all of my goals. They're always for other people like.   sending my mom on her dream trip, buying my dad his dream car, getting Jason his dream car, helping my team members get their dream lives, like helping this team member buy a house, helping this dentist get their like dream house in Florida. Like that freaking lights me up. And so the bigger the dream, the bigger the opportunity. And I think for you, if you're listening today, I hope you just feel like I'm giving you a giant hug of understanding, of knowing, of letting you know that you're not doing this alone. And so I just want you to know that this today is not a pep talk. This is like,   A lot of leaders like it's only them that feels this way. But guess what? It's super common. And I want you to know that you were trained to be a dentist, you aren't trained to be an owner. And so today, I wasn't trained to be an owner either. And guess what? We've all had to freaking learn it. And so I'm here to tell you, here to help you out of the way. ⁓ And I think that this is a great quote. Leaders increasingly need to serve a wide array of follower and organizational needs without depleting their own energy or risking burnout. And that came from a qualitative investigation of leader vitality in 2023 of PMC.   And I just think about this and like the ADA also said in their health policy in 2024, they said 82 % of dentists feel major stress in their career. And I just thought like, shoot, this is something we need to talk about. Like you're carrying like this array. Like I think about my shoulders and like almost like football player with shoulder pads and I'm like, my shoulders aren't big enough to carry all this. And yeah, I'm expected to carry payroll, expected to carry this, expected to carry that, that I think it almost like literally by default weighs this down. so,   Let's talk about what makes it feel heavier and how to actually lighten that load. So I think it's one of those spaces of like, we talked about you're responsible for everyone's paycheck. You feel like every team problem, it was a reflection of you. Like turnover when somebody turns over, I don't know about you guys. like used to stew on this for days on end. Like I felt like I was a problem. Like, hi, Taylor Swift. Like, hi, I'm the problem. It's me. My team hates me. ⁓ We feel like success feels like it's impossible. I feel like everybody else has it.   I feel like cashflow, feel like team stress, feel like decision fatigue. Like Jason sometimes at the end of a day, he's like, Kiera, what do want for dinner? And I'm like, one more decision. Like, I don't freaking care. I don't care. I don't care what I eat. Maybe some of you do, but it's just like, I am so sick of this. And when they stack, that's where it can just feel very, very heavy. And so I think what I've learned and what I've seen other people do is like, let's actually like name the weight rather than letting it sit there and separating the emotional stress from operational problems. So   A lot of times what I'll do is I grab my journal and I'm like, what feels heavy right now? Like, what is it? And just list it. And like, I'm allowed to do a huge laundry list. And I look to see like, is this current? mean, shoot, if you guys could see behind this camera, I've got six giant papers and it's like, here's all my stressors. This, this, this, this, like it's there. But when we're in our head, we're dead, remember that? So getting it out of our head, putting it on paper and actually naming it and saying like, okay, I just have a lot of categories. And sometimes I look like,   My name's in a lot of boxes on our org chart, even today, 10 years later. Why? That's a care thing. That's not a team thing. That's me. And so then I also look to say, what are the top one or two stressors today? And is it a current thing or is it a future thing? Like I look at my list here and it's like this, this, this, this. Some of those are problems that I'm like not focusing on that I'm waiting on right now. Like they're the weight on me, but they're four or five months down the line. Some of them are urgent and pressing. And so what is it?   And I think helping you rise like you're not weak, you might just be carrying too many categories of weight at the same time. So then what we do is getting it out of your head. Let's make sure that we, we actually name it. We figure out what it is. Is it current today or is it future? And then what on there? Like, I just have a whole list. Then after that, I want you to make sure that you're not accidentally making your weight heavier than is intentional because when it stays like very personal,   or vague or just in my head, this is where it can actually get heavier. So like trying to be everything to everybody. No one else is owning outcomes, unclear roles, lack of KPI visibility, like avoiding hard conversations that would honestly make your life a lot better. Assuming people will just figure it out, like if they just cared, they would figure it out. Like this isn't how it is. That's not what it is. And so when we have it in there and it's just there and it's vague and it's personal, looking at your list and saying, is this something that I'm taking personally? Is this really about me?   Is it vague and could I define it better? And if not, like, let me clear those up because then what we can do is we can look to see, is this a you? Is this a you problem in leadership? Is this something where we need to rise our team up? Or is this something that like we can honestly delegate and get it off of us? So when we look at that, accountability is going to reduce stress and we've got to have clarity and follow through so that we were not having like a ton of guesswork. So what it looks like is like, then I look at my list and I'm like, okay, is this personal and personal attack on me?   Do I need to fix that personally? Is it begging? Could I clear this up? And then from there, what really needs to happen today? And is it truly a Kiera slash owner issue or is this something I can delegate and give clear ownership and clarity on and move it off of my plate? So it feels very heavy when you don't know like who owns this, how is winning happening and is it reassured? Like I love a KPI scorecard. That's why we put KPI scorecards in place. This is why we have like who owns this metric. We have job descriptions. We have job duties for people.   Like helping you just see like, okay, if I have an issue with payroll, who's the person on my team that's responsible for that? All these things that are keeping you late at night. I've got to order, I've got to pick this out, I've got to do this. Okay, great, is that really a you thing or is this even be part of someone's job description or do you just need to let go of it? If I'm looking at stress on cashflow, okay, great. Like, is it a spending problem? Is it a production problem or is it a collections problem? What really is it and who owns that and can I give accountability to someone? And I think so often we just sit here. Like for me, I sit and swirl.   I'm like, okay, all these things are going on, all these things, and they call it the crazy eight. So then I like flip around and I'm like, my gosh, everything's falling. So getting it on paper, figuring out what really is the crux and then picking the top one or two items that are gonna move it for you, that starts to lighten the load. So it's what one or two things really need to happen today. And we move out of hero mode into leadership mode. We have our numbers tell us the truth. Like I can sit here and freak out all day. And sometimes I'm like, my gosh, we're behind on this, we're behind on this.   But when I look at the PNL and I have the numbers and I look at our cashflow report, is it really that or is it just my like psychoticness honestly, of ruminating on it when it's really not that bad. So what are the numbers tell us? Numbers are always gonna tell the truth. And then we've got to give ownership to our team and we don't take it back on. I feel like anytime I delegate, it never comes back to me. And then we have these check-ins rather than building resentment. I realize a lot of times,   I'm holding resentment because I don't talk to my team. I don't fill them in. I'm not telling them what's going on. Build like one-on-ones every single week if you need to. So you got more regular touch points when they aren't these heavy daunting. And then like, just recognize that sometimes it's freaking hard. Like right now, Dental A Team is going through a growth stretch phase right now. Like, I'm living this right now, which is why I can speak to this very authentically. And what I found is it's just sometimes hard. That doesn't mean it's failure, but I found.   When does my load get lighter? One, when I prioritize what really needs to happen today rather than what needs to happen in four months. Two, delegate out things that really are not my responsibility and I can pass other people, but have a check-in cadence. So can I check in on a KPI scorecard? Can I check it on these other areas so it doesn't get lost? And I'm not talking about everything. It could just be one thing. Like literally we weren't hiring very well. We made a KPI scorecard. I know how many resumes have been done. I know how many interviews have been done. I know how many people are on our bank. It's so great for me.   Now it doesn't sit in my head of like, where's high? Like literally, I wish you guys could see, I hope you can see it. Like, I hope this becomes a real like rubbing my head. All right. Where's your hiring app? What needs to get done for this? I just tell me is someone coming like for the love of everything holy? Where are we out on production? Where are we at on unscheduled treatment? Where are we at? Make it into a KPI. Have people report every single week. Then you can look at the numbers and see really where is the problem.   Is it a diagnosis? Is it a case closing problem? Is it a new patient problem? We then can figure it out. And what this does is it then is a, is it a people problem, a process problem or a priority problem? Like I love this. And so for you guys, like look at it. Is it a people problem, a process problem or a priority problem? And then figure out which one of those are you going to address. And this is great for me. Like this is truly, hey, Kiera, take this on. Is it people, process or priority problem? Half the time I will say it's a priority problem. We want all these nonsense things to be fixed today.   when really they're not truly the burning urgent piece. And if you fix the root problem, the bulk of your issues would go away. Now, who else can help me carry this load? I used to make laundry lists and now I make laundry lists and see how many of these can I delegate out and make sure they're reported back to me rather than me doing it. And then I look at my numbers and I really live by the numbers. And then the last piece is maybe what conversation have I been avoiding that would actually lighten this immediately.   I'm really gonna sit on that for a minute because I think this one actually is the hardest one for me. Maybe for you, it's the people, like it's the people problem, process problem or priority. Like I don't prioritize. Maybe it's that I refuse to delegate problem. Maybe it's I don't look at the numbers problem or maybe it's I avoid conversation. So who are you? Are you on the priority issue? Are you on the delegation issue? Are you on the numbers issue or are you on the avoiding conversation? Every single one of us has a, I say like,   aren't like sins, but I feel like it's like, what's my flavor of choice? Who am I? And I think even identifying who you are for me, it's the conversations I avoid. And I've had to accept like, someone said this the other day to me, they said, nothing's worth your piece, Kiera. And I thought about that. And I thought, all right, conversations need to be had. And they're not confrontation. They're just conversations. So when we look at this, and we can say like, do I not prioritize correctly? Do I not delegate?   Do I not look at my numbers and metrics to make these things less stressful? Or what conversations am I having? This is how you start to lighten your load because you stop caring everything. You start identifying it and you start leading your team. This isn't an overnight sensation, but I think so often the days feel long and the months are fast. We overestimate what we can get done in a day and underestimate what we can get done in a year. I hope you heard that. We overestimate what we can get done in a day and underestimate what we can get done in a year.   So half the time this feels heavy because you're carrying cash pressure, team pressure, decision pressure, priority pressure, emotional pressure, but we let it all sit there. And the goal is not to feel nothing. The goal is to stop carrying everything alone. And the goal is to stop doing this based on emotions, but rather live in facts. Like let's get the emotion out. Let's live in facts. Because I really want you to recognize that having this, again, a recap is...   We sit here and we have it like where it sits there quietly and everything is there and we feel responsible. Then we sit there and we make everything personal and about us and it's unclear and it's vague. And then what we do is we actually move out of that mode into leadership mode and we start to lead. We start to guide, we use our numbers. And I think for you when you're having this, this is real life. Every owner feels this. You're not special sitting over there licking your wounds. I do this all the time. I'm like, no one else. Like I am so, it's my ego. Zip it ego.   Let's get into leadership mode. My ego wants to sit there and be like, oh, woe is me. I have all these issues. Yeah, guess what? I freaking signed up for this when I decided to be a business owner. That doesn't mean it makes it easier. And it doesn't mean you need to go about it alone. And it doesn't mean that you are alone because every owner, every person feels this. It's just a matter of what are we going to do? So action items are number one, you've got to get it out of your head and you got to prioritize. Number two, I got to figure out who I'm going to delegate this to. Number three, I'm going to make sure I've got KPIs and scorecards to fix these metrics of all these problems.   Truly everything can be solved by a number and four, I'm gonna start to have the conversations that I need to have. You just take those four bullet points on and you put that on a sticky note and you live by that, your life will look different in 30 days, guaranteed. But how often do we go into denial? We go into doom scrolling. We go into like, whoa, well, their problems aren't as bad as mine, so I'm doing pretty good. We go into like, tomorrow's a great day. I had a great, huge case. Everything's good again. No.   It's just gonna hit you, it's gonna boomerang back to you. So let's stop the boomerang, let's stop the fatigue, let's stop the crazy eight and let's actually commit to doing one thing, one thing. And if you're so in it, I'm in it. I mean, today I actually had a great call. I called a mentor, I called a coach and I said like, hey, I need help. We set it all up and I was like, where are my blind spots? What can I do and what perspective do you see?   And I think that's the beauty of having a coach, having a mentor, having somebody who's not in it with you. So you don't have to solve it all alone. I actually realized that ownership is pretty easy. The mental stamina to get through it is why we need coaches and support groups around us. That's why we joined masterminds. That's why we have a peer group. That's why we have other people. This is why you've got a coach that's there for you at your beck and call in dental 18. You've got a CEO founder that can literally speak to your exact problems and help you out.   You have a peer group of brilliant people at the mastermind. They're like, it was amazing. Someone told me, said, Kiera, what I realized is amazing. They've been a client with me for gosh, six years. And he said, Kiera, I didn't realize how many incredible practices that you have around you that now we get access to. You guys, I attract and collect great people. And if you're listening to the podcast, I guarantee you, you're probably one of them and I'd love you to be a part of it. Don't do this alone. Why don't you grow your practice 10X this year? Why don't you your profitability at least five to 10 % this year? Do it with people.   that get it, that understand it, that are willing to drive you through it. You do not need to do this. can email today, hello at the Dental A Team. You can go and click on and book a call. But I think it's a matter of when pain hurts, execute. Because tomorrow it might get better, but that doesn't mean it got resolved. It was just a bandage. It was just a happy day. this, like the root is we gotta fix this and we gotta fix it forever. So I want you just to realize that sometimes when you feel this like hidden weight of ownership,   What it usually is signaling is that you need stronger leadership, you need stronger structure, and sometimes you don't know how to get there on your own, but I guarantee you that that's gonna get you out of it. So I want you to just realize this is for you. This is why we talk about it. This is people don't talk about it. And I want you to truly have the help, have the resources. So if we can help in any way, fantastic. Reach out, Hello@TheDentalATeam.com and just do yourself a favor. I think this is the greatest gift you can give yourself as an owner, as a leader.   ⁓ is to not sit here and stress constantly, to not sit here and carry under the heavy weight of ownership that is unnecessary. We can lighten the load today. It can be removed. And I think having a fairy godmother consultant is one of the greatest things that we could ever offer you. reach out, Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. And as always, thanks for listening. I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team podcast.  

In this episode, Howard Farran sits down with Kiera Dent, founder and CEO of The Dental A Team, whose nearly 2 million podcast downloads and hundreds of coached practices speak for themselves. Kiera cuts straight to the heart of why so many dental practices feel stuck — not because they lack patients or production, but because they lack systems. The conversation covers the hidden gaps that drain profitability even in high-producing practices, why dentists often become the ceiling of their own growth, and how to build a team that supports the doctor instead of depending on them. Kiera and Howard also dig into scheduling as a revenue lever, the real reasons patients say no to treatment, the KPIs that actually drive decisions, and the difference between a nice culture and an accountable one. Whether you're feeling chaotic, stalled, or simply ready to level up, this episode delivers both the clarity and the practical tools to move forward.   Episode #1700 : Dentistry Uncensored with Howard Farran, Howard sits down with Kiera Dent — founder and CEO of The Dental A Team — for a straight-talking conversation on why busy practices still struggle, and what it actually takes to build a profitable, system-driven dental business. From scheduling and case acceptance to culture, accountability, and breaking the "rockstar employee" dependency — Kiera brings the energy and the answers.

Re-releasing a DAT listener favorite! Spiffy Tiffy and Dynamite Dana wax poetic about a topic coming up quite a bit in offices these days: teamwork and morale, and how to make it the best possible. Together, they touch on the following:   Who's responsible How to own your morale Suggestions for jumpstarting positivity   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) and you guys, I'm so excited for Consultant Takeover. Guys, that was me attempting to sing into this microphone for you, and I hope you loved it. Today, Consultant Takeover, grab your pens, grab your notebooks, bringing in the heat today. And as always, thanks for listening, and I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team podcast.   Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Tiffanie and you are here on the Dental A team consultant takeover where the traveling Dental A Team consultants take over the mic and share tips and tricks from hundreds of offices nationwide. And today I have with me, Dynamite Dana.   Dana, you have been on a roll. have been podcasting for, ⁓ my gosh, almost an hour now, honestly. And your tips and tricks have just been mind blowing. Your verbiage was awesome on the last one. I freaking loved it. So now I set you up to like have to wing it to bring it here on this one. You're welcome. I just, as I was speaking, Thank you so much for podcasting with me today. ⁓ we all know Kiera does a million solos. I've done a few, I think we've all done a few solos, but it's just so much more fun when we have   at least two people on here to kind of chit chat with. I feel like we're on video, we're talking, we're like two pals just chatting and we're gonna just be two pals chatting about the normal everyday conversation of teamwork and morale. Because that's what brunch talk is, right? I was kidding, I'm just kidding. That is not brunch talk. But that is today, teamwork and morale. I think...   I think everything we talked about today has been super relevant, but I really, really think teamwork and morale has been coming up a ton for practices. think. I think employment is different today than it ever has been in our history. And I think teamwork and morale is at the center of that. Morale means more to team members today than it ever has before. We're in the day and age of if it doesn't feel good, we're not doing it. And I can't.   disagree with that on a lot of levels. And so I struggle with some of practices too. They're like, I don't understand. I'm like, I don't get it either, but I feel the same. If it doesn't feel good, do I really want to do it? And those are the choices that we're all making every single day. And so I think there's a lot to be said for teamwork and morale. And Dana, have you seen it in practices recently too? Yeah. I mean, I have very few practices where this hasn't come up. And I think,    One thing I always like to point out when it comes to this is this is something that takes a ton of work that takes a ton of constant focus. Oftentimes you think, okay, I'm just going to do this office event, or we're going to go out one time, and we're going to bond this one time, and we're going to put in a little bit of effort this month, and then it falls off, or we think that's enough, and teams cycle with this, right? We tend to see   Morale stay really high. And then, know, 90 days later we see it dip again. And so it is catching it before it dips. Right. And to do that, we have to just make it a constant focus. Yeah, I totally agree. I love that. Now question for you. I have my opinions, but I want to know your opinion as well. Teamwork and morale often lies on, ⁓ it ends up in the hands of your leadership or your doctors, your owners, but do you, who do you feel like is responsible for teamwork and morale in a, in a business or a practice?   I think everyone. think ⁓ team, right, is in teamwork and it takes all team members being willing to work together, being willing to face challenges, being willing to grow, being willing to step up and look for opportunities to push other team members to increase that morale, even if it is recognizing when somebody helps you out and saying thank you. I think it can come from anybody. I think team members look to leadership to set the tone.   But I think team members own a piece of it just as much as leadership does. Yeah, I totally agree with you. And that's what I was thinking too. As we're going on this topic, we start out as like, can we do to set the morale? But then I'm thinking, well, we talked about ownership just on a podcast we just recorded. And I think that that is huge here too, being able to own what we bring and what effects, positive or negative, we have on the teamwork and the morale of the practice.   I know I get into my cycles, everything in life is cyclical and we'll always end up back in the same places, right? Unless we make a change and that's the definition of insanity. And I think that's why people go crazy. They're like, well, I can't stay in the same place anymore. Like, well, there's like small changes you can make, don't have to make a whole life change, but there are small things. And so I know I go through these phases and I'll get to the point where I'm like, what the heck? Like with travel, right? I'll go wild and I'm like, shoot, I can't do this anymore. Like, no, that's.   probably not what it is. Like what is my ownership in this, right? I think, well, what is the LA team doing? How are we, how are they making it exciting? Or Kiera will say, let's add in like more fun events. Like Kiera, that's not always it. Sometimes it's just that like we have to take, I have to take a look at what I've been doing. How have I been contributing? How have I been helping the other consultants to feel amazing at what they're doing? How have I been investing and pouring myself into our company and what   We're putting out because that's ultimately how I'm going to feel best about my position and whatever I'm doing. And I know I feel better. I think everybody does. I feel better when I give somebody else compliments and I feel better when I say, thank you, Nicole, to the cash register lady at the store. And she's like, my gosh, thank you for knowing my name. Like you have a name tag. Like I talk about those things a lot, but it really does make it helps build me up so that I think I bring a different, I think I bring a different vibe and a different morale.   to the team when I can identify why I'm stuck in a space and make that change for myself compared to coming and showing up and expecting the rest of you guys to change me, right? If I come in a bad mood, I expect you guys to bring it up and you to put in the teamwork and the morale to make me feel better. It doesn't usually, doesn't usually work that way, right? But when I can show up and know I'm in a funk and how am I going to change that by being   better for you guys, it often will change it for me.   Yeah, I couldn't agree with you more. In 2021, my goal was   I would always, and I started it just with like my friends and then I expanded it to pretty much everyone. And my goal was if I thought something nice, if I looked at my friend's earrings and I thought, they're so pretty, I was to say it. So that was my goal for 2021 when I thought those things that I actually had to force myself to say them. And I went into it being like, I want people to hear these good things, right? I want them to hear the things that I think.   truly, truly what I got from it was far more immeasurable. Like giving that joy and giving that gave so much back tenfold probably than the person hearing it. And so ⁓ I think about that when it comes to morale, that if I can leave my, ⁓ you know, negative things outside and I can show up and I can be positive, or if I feel disconnected that I'm the one that reaches out or   It is truly, truly will make a difference and team members will really have a big impact on that. Yeah, I love that. That's brilliant. And you do give the best compliments. I know you always show up with that. You really truly do stick by that. If you think something, you'll say it about that thing, which I love. It makes everybody feel good. So I think that's brilliant.   We all have our piece to play in teamwork. love that you said that like team is literally you're part of the team and it's in the word teamwork. So I love that. And then morale is, think morale is a combination of the work that we all put in. And you said at the beginning leadership sets the tone. think number one person who sets the tone is your doctor owner. So who's the like big Kahuna who's everybody looking to. And then it goes down from there, um, down your leadership ladder. I know if.   An office manager is responsible for morale and our doctors like, man, I don't really feel like being here. I don't really, I don't love dentistry. I don't want to, I don't want to be here every day. I hate my hours. I wish I could do more surgery. Your office manager, pep rallying, running around, trying to make everybody happy is not going to fix the situation. Regardless, they're still looking towards you doctors. So just make sure that you guys and even associate doctors, think not.   Owners, think you have a huge piece to play in the morale as well. I know I've heard, ⁓ you know, his day is done. So he just gets up and leave. doesn't check with anybody. But then my owner doctor checks to see if dental assistants need anything like show up. That's the biggest piece teamwork and morale is just showing up. Be your best selves, ⁓ give more out than you expect to get back and understand the part and the piece that you play in setting the morale. If the morale is off your teamwork.   will fail, right? If your morale is off, people don't want to help each other. Your teamwork is like one, I'm out for myself one for one, right? If your morale is high and people understand how fun it can be to work for you, work out your practice or your business, then your teamwork is going to go up. They're more likely to say, Hey, how can I help? Hey, Dana, you seem down today. Like what can, what can I do? Do you just need to chat? Are you good? Whereas if morale is low.   I'm low too, so I might not even notice that Dana's down today. I might not even, I might not be in a space to pay attention because I'm just looking at myself. What do you think, Dana? Yeah, I love that so much because I feel like, again, they're going to look to leadership to set the tone. And so if leadership comes in with that positive, if leadership is looking in ways and oftentimes,   I hear when I hear offices say, I don't have team members that take initiative. We lack initiative. I always want to say, then let's take a look at your morale, your culture, because that's probably right where that's coming from. Yeah, I totally agree. I do hear that a lot. I don't have team members. I just need to find team members who are willing to take initiative and do what's hard. I had, I use myself as an example all the time because I really like to evaluate myself, number one, but I really like to look at like who I was and who I've become. And I think   My coworkers and my, doctor that I know sometimes listen to this, but I know I do have my office manager from years ago. She listens to our podcasts often. And I hope, I hope she listens at the right time is because she played just a huge piece in helping to mold the person that I am, regardless of how well or how well we did not get to get, get along. but I remember when I was in my early, in my early twenties, I.   I hated this. hate even saying it sometimes, but it's like so funny and so embarrassing at the same time. So we had like a refrigerator with water bottles in it. Right. But then we, my doctor loved these Otis Spunkmeyer cookies. Okay. He wanted the practice to smell like a bakery. And I'm like, I, we are a dental practice. We are not a bakery. So this is ridiculous. Number one in my mind. Right. I was just like, this is psycho. That's not off the sugar.   He's like, he's like, get the only sugar free ones. So I'm like all day telling people like, no, they're like, getting cavities drumming up business. I'm like, no, they're sugar free, but like they still will cause cavities. It was such a thing. It was a debacle. It's fine. But in my early twenties, I was like, I'm not that like, that's not part of my job to make the cookies and to do the water bottles. Like I have worked here.   long enough, I've worked here for five, six years, however long, and I was like, I'm not doing these stupid things anymore. This is no longer me. This is that person over there. And I remember my office manager at the time was like, if you're not willing to do the tedious tasks, then how do you expect someone else who's quote unquote underneath you to want to do it too? She would go in and clean the bathroom. She would go in and change the toilet paper. She would make sure that the   ⁓ front lobby was clean, she would go and like she'd have a magic erase marker on the walls because there's scuff marks and so much so that what it did was it made the rest of us like, ⁓ you're not, let me do that. Like we would jump up and go do it because she was that kind of a leader. So I think being the leader, one thing I've learned in my tenure within, you know, adult life, we'll say,   is that if you're not willing to be the leader that's willing to do the small tedious tasks that are quote unquote beneath you or that you don't want to do, you can't expect anyone else to do it either. So that sets the tone and the morale 100%. And if you're waiting for people to see the scuff and get up and do it, you already saw it. Why not just do it? Right? And I think that that's a huge piece in my personal life at least. ⁓   of morale that I learned was you're gonna get better results if you're willing to be the leader. That's the difference between a leader and a manager is really leading to the result that you want rather than sitting around and waiting for someone to take the initiative of something that you already saw wasn't being done. Yeah, and the time and the thought that you put into every time you walk by that Scalfmark, my team members haven't taken initiative and done that.   Nobody has noticed that or done that, right? The amount of time and energy that you've put into even thinking about that scuff is a fraction of what it would have taken you just to clean it up. Amen. I love that. And we all know that I am not about wasting time nor energy. So do the thing. Just do the thing. I know we talk about say the thing that's making it hard to say, do the thing that you don't want to do. Do the hard things so that other people will learn how to do it too.   I think teamwork and morale, I know you guys probably walked into this thinking we were going to have all of these tips and tricks of like, do this, do that, do this, buy this, do this event. And you can do all of those things, but I think at the bottom of it all, and the end of the day is just edifying one another, being good people, doing the things that you don't want to do so that other people learn how to do it and really owning your stuff. So gosh, Dana, tell me if there's other action items you see, but I think I'm taking your.   I'm stealing your own, stuff. use this on another podcast and I loved that. And I think it's so relevant. Own your stuff. If you're not in a space of good teamwork or morale, figure out why and change that. How can you break the mold of who you are? Show who you're showing up or how you're showing up today. How can you break that mold, break that chain of insanity, that cyclical phase? So own your stuff. How can you break the mold and then.   just do the hard things, do the things that make you a better leader and set that tone for your practice. Yeah, I love it. Sometimes I think it has to take these huge moving mountain things, right? And it truly is, truly, truly is placing the sands in that anthill or whatever analogy you want. It's those little things. It's the thank yous. It's the, that was fantastic. It's the, my gosh, our   you know, front office is the best at what they do. It's those little things that push teams to grow together, to work together. It's just the small things. Yeah, I love it. So make yourself a goal like what Dana had. I loved that 2021. If you saw something, you said it. I love that. Make it a goal for the practice. think that's brilliant. If you see somebody doing something well, make sure that you say it out loud. We tend to keep those things inside or I think we're too busy. Just do it. So.   I love it. Thanks, Dana. Thanks for being here with me today. That was a fun one to do with you. I loved it. Thanks. You're welcome. Alrighty guys. That wraps up the Dental A Team podcast consultant takeover. Let us know what you think. We love hearing from our listeners. Truly, truly love it. Drop us a five star review or email us over at Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. Thanks so much for listening. We'll catch you next time   Kiera Dent (16:48) Dental A Team listeners, I hope you loved revisiting this episode as much as I did. I hope that you found the nuggets, the pearls. You can see why we re-released this one because I truly want you to take away the best of the best of the best of the best. This episode truly hopefully sparked some new excitement, gave you some new ideas. I know sometimes when I go back and I look back on things that I've learned in the past, I'm able to re-implement because like that famous quote says, no man steps into the same river twice because neither he is the same man.   nor is the river the same. You are not the same as you were before, nor is your practice the same as it was before. Different things, different ideas, same principles. And I really want to highlight and hopefully you took today that sometimes all we need to do is simplify and put into place or to refine things that we've already been doing really, really well. If you love this episode, don't keep it to yourself, share it with a colleague or leave us a review and help more practices find the Dental A Team podcast. As always, thanks for listening and I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team podcast.  

Consulting across hundreds of offices means the Dental A-Team has seen a thing or two when it comes to scaling strategies, and in this episode, Kiera shares the secret to what type of quantity works best for you. Specifically, she connects why practice success should start with what you want as an individual. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: Kiera Dent- Dental A Team (00:00) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera and today's topic is a freaking fun topic. ⁓ I think it's something people ask all the time, should I have like one mega practice or like three littles? And so today the topic is going to be, should I run a $3 million office or three $1 million offices? So it's kind of this like different ways to scale and to grow and in Dental A Team, if you've been a listener, welcome. I'm so happy to hang out with you. If you're new, welcome. I'm Kiera Dent.   And our job is to positively impact the world of dentistry in the greatest way possible. And really it's to just talk about these things, about what you're dealing with. Cause a lot of times it's like, do I just expand my practice and have this mega Montropolis or do I have multiple littles? And I think just talking pros and cons of what we've seen as a consulting company, of working with hundreds of offices that have this. And I think there's, there isn't a better, it's more of what is your preference. And so I just wanted to go like,   what this is gonna look like, different ways to talk about it. And Dental A Team, we love to do this. We love to talk about scaling strategies that are going to match your leadership style, your lifestyle and your financial goals. And that's what we're about. And in consulting, we'd call it the yes model. So we focus on you as a person and what you individually want, earnings and profitability. Like what does this look like? How do we make sure that you're profitable and successful financially? And then implement systems and team development based on what we're finding in that. So you can say yes to more in your life. So I really wanna talk about like,   We're gonna just help you hopefully tickle your brain, tickle your fancy on what is the best way to do it. Do I do that one powerhouse or do I have multiple streamlined ones? So I think here what happens is when I see practices like this and I have consulted mega-montropolis, I have consulted multiple littles. And I think that there's different things. Like I found that like to the three million mark, it's usually sometimes easier under one umbrella if you've got the space.   Now when we're pushing the five to seven to 10, I've got one practice that's producing 14 million in one location. And what I find is like, these are just big offices. So you got a lot of team, you got a lot of patients, you got to have a tight culture, you got to have team depth, you got to have high leadership presence. And it just like, there's just more players involved, but at the same time, it's all under one roof. Whereas when I've got multiple little offices, we got to have systems, we got to have   decentralized leadership and you got to have trust in your people because you're not able to oversee everything. Like I can't have one manager sitting in the office overseeing everything. I've got to have a regional that's popping into all the offices people reporting up. again, there's like no one or right. It's more like what's your preference? Do you like depth or duplication? So I think people who like depth have a larger practice. Those who like to duplicate and think in systems and processes multi offices are usually for it.   I've got an office, are in, gosh, they're in Texas and he's freaking checklist manifest. So he's built an app, he's built these things. That man is built for duplication. I have another doctor who is very, ⁓ loves to be involved, wants to grow and develop a team. He is more for depth. So two different practices, two different styles. They're both producing about the same. I got five locations doing 5 million and I've got one location doing 5 million. So it's just more what is it? And I think for you, like, are you hands on?   or use strategic oversight. The one who's got five locations, they're strategic oversight all day long. Like they don't love to be a clinician. They like to go and like systematize. They love the operations. They think like that. The one who's got hands-on is the 5,000,001 location and very much hands-on, wants to mentor all the doctors, wants to mentor the team, wants to be a part of things, loves being a part of it. And I think their personality is once more like...   It's interesting, my meetings, my meetings with the one with five locations, it was very much like, Kiera, what are the systems? What are the processes? What do need to be doing? How do I fix this versus my one who's five million is like, Kiera, I want to build a leadership team. I want to develop these people. I want to help them get to their next levels. And there's no right or wrong. So I hope as you listen to this, you're just able to see yourself of, you more this depth or you more this duplication? Are you more systems processes? That's usually a multi-location versus depth build a monstrosity.   And the one that I've got that's producing 14 million, that doctor is more of a depth. And the reason why that they ended up building more practices is because they wanted their impact to reach further. But I would say if they could, they would actually build and they are building. This practice is basically building a mini dental hospital. So it's going to have, think right now they're at 20 ops in the $14 million practice. And I think they're looking to build a 50 op practice. So by default, this person was adept, but then out of necessity to serve more.   and to give back more, they made multiple. So I just think it's a space of what do you like to do? Do you want to mentor single large offices? Or do you wanna have like three doctors under one roof? Or do you wanna have three doctors that you gotta travel to and mentor them virtually? Neither one's right or wrong. I think it's know thyself and be true. And that's gonna help you just figure out where you wanna go. So that's gonna be like step one. Step two is systems. You've gotta have systems. And especially if you're going into the multi.   system, system, systems, because if you grow without systems, you're gonna have burnout. Ask me how I know, oh, because I did this. And it freaking is annihilating and it's hard and it's awful. So when you have one large office, you've got to have advanced scheduling, you've got to have clinical efficiency, and you've got to have strong communication loops. It is massive. And like the biggest thing we have in these large practices, our team members feeling like they're not in the loop, they don't know what's going on. I mean, we have so many assistants, we've got our lead assistant in the $5 million practice.   and we're working on having a second because they've got like 14 dental assistants in this practice. Whereas multi locations, you have to like build like centralized billing, centralized reporting, leadership infrastructure, everything's reporting up to it. You've got to have office managers that you can trust with minimal oversight. And so I think for you, it would be as you're listening to this, like, who am I? Do I enjoy like, like I kid you not these 5 million for like stressing, I'm like pushing my   my piece, my temples here, because I'm like, gosh, the 5 million and the 14 million, I do think that there's some easy when it's all under one roof because you can talk to people, you can see them, but you also have just a lot of bodies moving. So our scheduling, we've every person in these practices works four days a week. So you now have a scheduling nightmare of how do get everybody on the same page for meetings, for this, for that, for trainings. So we have to be very strategic in our scheduling and   You've got to think about how we do checkouts and how we do the flow because now we've got eight hygienists checking in. So I've got eight profies coming in. I've got three doctors working. So I've got 15 people possibly checking out at one time. That's a lot of people versus my 1 million. I usually have five operatories. I've got two hygienists. I've got three patients checking in, checking out usually at the same time. So there's just this like   There's ease because everybody's under one roof, but it's hard because there's so many and it's like just duplicated. So you've got to be really, really strong. Things can slip through the cracks. Our treatment planning has got to be strong. Like, and it happens in all of them, but I really think it's a what do you look at and how do I set up the systems and structure of and both of them require it. Both of them just have different types of systemization and what's required for both of them. So when I see like doctors expand before they have like billing that set up.   When you're in one location, I do think you can have more gaps because people can quickly fill in and you can catch them versus when you're in multi locations. I feel like those gaps hit so much harder and faster and it's harder to pick them up because like, shoot, we don't have billing. This practice is drowning. This one's not, and we're running amongst four locations. So I do think sometimes the multi locations tend to have a bit more exhaustion, but if you're built for the systemization, it's okay. But if you're not built for that and you don't live in that,   it is easier oftentimes to maintain under one roof. So I think like, look at you of like, what systems would I need to upgrade for either path? Whether I'm 15 checkout patients versus three checkout patients, but at four different or five different locations at one time. Same amount of people, right? I've got 15 in the 5 million and I got 15 technically checking out in the five practices, three of each location at a time, three times five is 15. So it's the same. It's just, I think the flow,   and also being able to oversee. I think in a large practice, having the patient experience is usually easier to maintain and sustain because you've got, it's all centralized there. In the smaller practices, sometimes that patient experience is harder to have, but I don't have to be perfect and like choreographed in the smaller practices. I think some things can slip and slide. So it really, again, is just, do I like a large operation or do I like smaller ones that I'm overseeing? Now, the step three would be what kind of a lifestyle do you wanna have?   So we are big in Dental A Team that your business should work for you and not the other way around. So business should serve your life. And so one office, single location, oftentimes deeper daily involvement, but I have seen these owners be able to scale back easier. Multi-practices, more flexibility, but I think there's a lot more team oversight and travel. So the offices that I work with that have eight locations, that owner doctor was like running.   full steam until about three years ago. Eight locations, they're going between all of them, they're mentoring all the doctors, like until they were able to build up the leadership infrastructure versus sitting at a $14 million, they were able to scale back to only working two or three days. And then they would pop in maybe for an admin. So I think for you, like if you want more time off, one location typically is able to provide that sooner, easier, faster. But with that said, if you lose a doctor and they're not partners,   you are jumping in and you're covering. That can be the exact same for multi locations as well. You lose a doctor, you gotta go freaking pinch it over there, cover for that, scale it back, whatever you've gotta do. So sometimes having them under one location, you're able to have these doctors cover for each other because they're all working in one location versus usually the five, $1 million practices or the three $1 million, usually I've only got one provider in each. If I lose a provider, someone's gotta go jump in and cover. So.   I see it work in all different ways. I see sometimes the multi-offices are great, but I will say the multi-offices, you are needing to go to them. Now, sometimes there's not options to expand, but I wanna just like caveat that because like I said, I got a practice who's got 20 ops and they have found a location, they're moving and they're gonna build 50. So I wanna challenge you before you say that there's not space for that, that you look like this, you like you look at it to see,   Is this just a limiting belief or is this a real limit? What is that? You've got to be able to figure that out. You've got to be able to see what that is for you because there are options. Like I've got doctors who expand in weird spaces. I've got doctors who will like they're in a strip mall and they have their one location. They're able to buy another location, but the middle spot isn't available today. So they buy two and I've got to like have patients go in two different doors. Like there's ways to do it and expand in quote unquote one location.   But then other people want to serve other neighborhoods in different parts and they don't want to just be this Montropolis. And so they're like, hey, we're going to build it out in multi locations. I have seen, and I think through this podcast, one location tends to have air quotes, headaches, just because it's more controllable under one roof. When you start to get the multiples, you got to drive between them. You've got to have it. But again, multi locations have space to expand, have other pieces. But I do think typically when I have multi offices, they tend to have them as partners.   where in a large office, you still might have to have partners, but oftentimes it's not as required because you're able to fill the gap sooner. So I think just like looking at that, I would look at my leadership style. I would look at my systems and I'd look at my lifestyle and say, what do I want? I have a doctor that had three locations. One of them was not profitable and we ended up selling them. They just have two locations and they're so freaking happy. I think sometimes as people grow in scale, feel like, like I have another office and he's got,   15 operatories and he's got space to expand out and add eight more in. ⁓ I think as you scale and you're under one roof, both of them like scaling back and scaling at the right time I think is one of the biggest things. Like I put my hands like up and down if you can't see the video because I think there's an expansion and a contraction that needs to happen in both. ⁓ Sometimes expanding and having a market not work out and you've got multiple locations, contracting back to be profitable is not wrong.   Same thing with a large practice sometimes expanding for operatories Let's make sure we've got the patient base before we expand it all the way out and then we might need to contract in and like let's just do like two chairs versus doing all eight chairs So there's ways I think that both can expand and contract I think it's just your lifestyle your leadership style what you want your life to look like and I just think that Really giving yourself the grace that there is no right answer. There's just a right answer for you. And so how can you do this? And so   I think like, I love consulting on this. Like my hands get all excited and I like, it's almost like getting the pixel dust and the pixie dust out and ⁓ granting little wishes and maybe talking through some of the complications and the problems and what we want. And I found them, people have multi-locations. They always feel the guilt of their primary location that they're not able to get to. That is something I see constantly in the multi, in the large ones. It's just like, I think the weight of such a big organization on them.   ⁓ I think I tend to see less struggles with practices that are under one roof if they have the space to expand it. I tend to see more struggles with multi offices than I do with one, but that does not mean that that's always permanent. ⁓ I think just in the multis, it's harder to staff to scale, but then I've got practices that are doing like 29 plus million and they've got five locations because they're able to serve bigger populations and have more people and they're not just dependent on one market, one area.   So I think for you, there are lots of fun things. And this is what I get excited about being a consultant for is like, let's talk through this. Let's have someone on your team that has done this, that has grown multiples, that have worked with multi locations, that have worked with one large practice, pros and cons of it. I mean, my $5 million practice, we're now having to expand their systems because their systems have outgrown based on the size of practice they were in. So I think with the biggest takeaway that I hope you're taking from today is they almost have the exact same.   problems, issues, pros and cons. They just are packaged differently. And so for you to recognize what package do I want to buy? Do I want the red or do I want the blue? Do I want the silver or do I want the gold? ⁓ Whichever one it is, it's more personal preference versus it being one's going to be better than not. Now, of course, there are other things like patient base factor and how many dentists are around that area and can we drive this many patients there? ⁓ So I really think it's just up to you. And this is something that I love to like, let's have   Let's talk about it. If you've got a friend thinking about this, like just reach out Hello@TheDentalATeam.com or book a call. I love to chat with new doctors that I haven't gotten to talk with personally about this. And we do a free assessment call. Like we, I will literally work through this with you on an assessment call, whether you work with us or don't like let's just chat shop and like let's, let's explore because there is no right answer. It's just what's the right answer for you. So whether this is you or a friend on this, send them on over, let's chat because this is what we like to do is to help you have   Customize growth strategies that fit you and your practice so you can make the best call for you in the future. So reach out, Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. And as always, I love this stuff. I love the impact we're able to do. I love the community outreach we're able to have. And I think for each of you recognizing that like this is your path, this is your opportunity, but growth does not mean success. Having a large practice or multi-offices is not necessary. It is what do you want your life to look like first? Who do you wanna be in this?   And that's ultimately what's going to determine all of these decisions. And if you can remember that, you'll be set up for success. Just know I'm giving you a huge hug. I'm rooting you on, and I can't wait to chat with you. So reach out. And as always, thanks for listening. I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team Podcast.

Did you know: Positive employees are 31% more productive and show higher sales and creativity? That's why Kiera is talking all about positivity! She shares tips for how to encourage those higher cortisol levels among team members and patients. 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 welcome. Welcome to the Dental A Team podcast. I hope you're having a great day. I hope that you realize that we are so lucky to live in the profession that we do that honestly dentistry is just this life-changing profession and I'm really grateful to be here. I'm grateful you're a part of our podcast family. As you guys know, the Dental A Team podcast was created to positively impact and inspire you in the greatest way possible. Our mission is to be in the hands of every single dental practice owner and office manager out there. So please do us a favor.   leave us a review, share this with somebody today. It really helps us stay at the top and to truly impact, inspire in the greatest way possible. If you're to the podcast, welcome, I'm Kiera Dent. I'm obsessed with all things dentistry. And you can always go to our website, TheDentalATeam.com and you can click our podcast and you can search if you need help with billing, associate scheduling, leadership mindset, you name it, it's all tagged there for you. So it can be a great resource for you of lots of inspiration, lots of motivation.   and it's something I'm very proud of that we've created. I'm proud and grateful for all of you being here. So today I think is very, very on cue for what we do and it's positive mindsets and how it really is, I think, ⁓ an advantage that most people underestimate. having that positive mindset really can set you apart from other people. It can help you ⁓ just really have a team that's positive.   And I think that it's a currency. Positivity and negativity are both available. And it's just which one are we going to have? Which one's gonna run our practice? And so ⁓ there really is research that talks about positivity and how high performing owners use it as a strategic advantage that we're gonna dig into today. So I just am excited to go into this. I really like have been giddy about this because I think it's just an advantage that most people don't realize. And I think it's something that is a trained habit, but also something that really is very doable. And I think...   Shoot, if I could eat a bowl of checks every morning and I would get this huge strategic advantage in my practice, would I do it? Probably yes. If I could just have a more positive outlook on life, literally I'm talking like a one or 2 % better and I can have a strategic impact on my practice, why not try it? So looking at this, positive employees, here's some research for you guys, positivity drives performance. So they say positive employees are 31 % more productive and show higher sales and creativity.   So if we look at this, and that's from Sean Anchor, it was a Harvard research on positive psychology performance. I was looking at this when I was prepping for this podcast and I thought like, okay, so if we know that positive team members are 31 % more productive, okay, great. And then next to it is teams operating in a positive environment have stronger engagement and lower burnout. So we don't want to have team turnover. So right there, and the brain literally performs better when it is not operating from stress.   Okay, well, fascinating. Like if I look at this and I think about, okay, a Harvard researcher did this, like, why not? So it's, it's a, it's a matter of it. And Sean Acker was like, ⁓ author of the, gosh, of the happiness advantage. And like, I mean, they say this, it's really truly something that's going to make your life that much better. And so.   I read a lot of books on positivity, a lot of books on how to be more positive, a lot of things of what can we do to enhance this? And I think it's like, it's crazy that when we look at this like 31 % more productive and the happiness and the joy felt while striving toward potential, which required training the brain to find opportunities. So when it talked about on happiness and success, it says when we are happy, when our mindset and mood are positive, we are smarter, more motivated and thus more successful.   happiness is the center and success revolves around it. Happiness is not the belief that we don't need to change, it's realization that we can. It's hard to find happiness after success if the goalposts of success keep changing. Note that. So if we're constantly moving it, it's very hard to find that happiness and the greatest competitive advantage in the modern economy is a positive and engaged brain. Fascinating. So I was thinking about this and I was like, all right, so if we know this,   What can we do to add that? So number one, we know it's going to drive it. So you think about this, like we can even change our morning huddles to what were wins from yesterday. We start to look and find the positivity, the wins, the happiness within our world. And we start to share that every day. My team, they've been pushing me. I've had a few people say, like, can we change it? Morning huddles. And I'm a hard no, because Monday's a motivation. We all get connected as a team. Tuesday's tip Tuesday, where we all share some of the best things.   We are not a together team, so we have no water cooler talk. We're not sitting in the break room like, my gosh, I love this lip gloss, or have you tried this recipe? We don't get that. So tip Tuesday is when we do that. Wednesday's core value shout out, and we shout out team members who are emulating a core value and doing really, really well at it. Thursday's thankful Thursday, we say what we're thankful for in our life, and Friday's fun Friday. And what I found is, and then after that, we go through that, we do it, and then we talk about client wins and wins as a company. Every single day, my team knows this.   I do this intentionally because I know that focusing on the good, we create more good. Focusing on the bad, we're gonna create more bad. So then what we go from there is emotional states are contagious, whether you realize it or not. So if you're always grumpy, you're always down in the dumps, it's contagious. If you're always positive, you're always looking for the glass half full, that's contagious too. And I think when we, I've seen a lot of teams that are one or the other and the positive teams,   help each other out, they work harder together, they hit goals easier. There is this rallying versus a dragging. And so when we look at it, ⁓ there's actually some emotional studies by a Yale professor where it was like, your mood is an operational infrastructure. And when we looked at that, thought about like calm leadership lowers cortisol levels across groups and improves collaboration. If we know this, how can we as leaders have an emotional state that's contagious? And I think some of the pieces that you have are   going to the gym, reading, like I have a calendar, it's actually being held under the mic. was like, where is it? It's right here. It says, today is the day and every day is a positive quote. And it sits here on my desk every single day because I want to infuse myself with good things. I was noticing that I was very negative and it's because I was always talking about what are the problems? Like as CEOs, we're always looking down the line as OMS is like, we've got an issue with this, we've got an issue with this. Like what's going well?   What are the good things in our company? What things can we really focus on and say like, this is great. Because the more we have that, the more we talk about wins. So honestly, our morning huddle is where I focus on the wins and the positivity of the company. We do it at the same thing in our company. have it Mondays, we start out with our personal wins and our professional wins every single Monday. Cause I want people thinking of how great their personal life is and how great their professional life is. So what else can we do?   ⁓ I read a lot of the positivity books. I listen to a lot of great podcasts. I do meditations that get my mind in the right space. So I can show up as a leader that has an emotional state that's very contagious. It's very fluid and it's very there for people. So I think when offices start to realize that you are the emotional currency in your practice, when you are contagious, if you've got team members, gosh, like it's so hard when I got...   I don't know, just an E or on the team. I'm like, all right, we gotta change this because it's dragging the whole ship down. And for me, I know we'll be higher performing. I know we're gonna get our goals with more ease if we have that positivity. So I think like, perfect. How can we look to see, how can we bring that energy up? And even for my lower energy people, I tell them like, people are like, Kiera, that's just not my natural state. And I'm like, great, well, we're on stage. So it becomes your natural state.   I don't care who you are at home. I do care how you are on stage and that's the stage of our dental office. When you're patient facing, when you're interacting with team members, we have a culture of positivity. We have a culture of teamwork. We have a culture of fun. And I expect that. And then the next piece is going to be something, ⁓ I got a really cool one that I'm excited about where gratitude is one of the highest ROI leaderships. ⁓ It's very scientifically backed.   where gratitude does improve your psychological well-being. It increases optimism, it strengthens relationships, and it reduces stress. And that was pulled from another Harvard Health and UC Davis study. And there was a great human that I got really excited about. I shared it with our mastermind team. And I'll share just a little bit about it. There's a guy named John O'Leary. And if you guys haven't watched his documentary, he's got a movie out.   burned his entire body and like lost his hands and just had some really incredible people that helped him out throughout his life. one of his quotes he said is, and I mean, this is a man who has whole body's burned. doesn't even have his hands anymore. Like I just, can't even imagine what that mental game would be. He said the number one joy indicator, the one thing that will predict whether someone feels joy in their life or not is the practice of gratitude. And   we did an exercise with our mastermind group and I just think about it of like, okay, so if gratitude is one of my highest ROI leadership habits, how can I start incorporating that more? Could it be that every day I list 10 things I'm grateful for and not just like health, time, like I am grateful for my incredible body that serves me every day. I am grateful for a loving spouse that makes like me truly feel like the luckiest girl in the entire world. I'm grateful for   by parents both being alive. I'm grateful for my team that shows up for me every single day. Doing that, writing 10 of those, three of those every day. Do you think that's gonna change your outlook? It truly is true. ⁓ What we focus on, we achieve. What we focus on, we create more of. And so this is where it's a space of if you start focusing on the gratitude, you're going to grow more of it. More positivity will show up in your world.   And ways that you can like infuse this into your team is like text a team member at the end of the day or tell them in the practice. had a doctor literally have an alarm on their phone and they had like eight little pebbles in their pocket and they like take one out and figure out the name of it. I'm not joking. And they would just tell that one team member every single day, something specific that they were grateful for them for. How do you that's going to change your perspective of your team? Office managers, doctors, it's going to make it like team morale is going to go up. They're going to feel seen and noticed. Loyalty is going to get deeper.   and efforts are going to get increased. Like the number one thing I wanted as a dental assistant was for my doctor to tell me I did a great job that day. That's it. I just want the gold star. Wouldn't be told that was awesome. I will also say as a leader, I write a Friday five every Friday. I've been doing this. I think since 2021, I haven't ran it every week. I've had a few helpers throughout a couple of time. Um, but I refer in the bulk of these and I will also say me focusing on team members, great strengths, rather than me focusing on the things that they're doing wrong.   also makes me appreciate my team a lot more. So it's also a gift for myself to highlight them. So I think for you to look at that. And then the last piece is honestly, when teams feel this positivity, they're going to feel safe speaking up. They're going to tell you problems earlier. They're going to have ownership of like, I messed up on that. like creativity, innovation, team morale is all going to rise. And Google's multi-year project Aristotle,   found psychological safety was the number one predictor of team success. I'm gonna say that again. So Google's multi-year project Aristotle found psychological safety was the number one predictor of team success. like positive is not about being like this endless cheerleader. It's about creating an environment where people can perform without fear. And I've thought about this a lot of like...   My husband works at the hospital and it's a no fault hospital. So that way people who make mistakes, like things are going to happen. They're going to make errors. But instead of them attacking the person, they hear what happened. So people speak up and they're not afraid of losing their jobs and they fix the problem and the protocol. And so it's not like who messes up. It's what broke in the system and let's fix that. Blame's no longer there. Solutions are increasing and leaders are going to emerge because people are not afraid. And that's going to truly like   enhance your practice. So when we look at this, research literally is telling us that positivity is actually going to make you 31 % more productive. So that's amazing. We also figured out that like, when we looked through this and the points that I brought up where we know it's gonna increase our performance, we also know that like our emotional state and where we're showing up is going to be contagious. Gratitude is the number, is one of the highest ROI leadership traits.   And psychological safety is the foundation of high performing teams. So what could we do? We can open up our meetings with wins or gratitude like we do in our team. We can recognize progress daily, like have a thermometer, tell people thank you. We can make sure that we as leaders are emotionally regulated. We can make sure that it's a psychologically safe place where people are not blamed. It's more the issue of the problem, not the person. And then we also like look for catching people doing right. Have a shout out jar in your practice where people literally highlight.   great teamwork or that's what we do with core value shout out, highlight people doing good things, you produce more of that. And I will say that this is something that is not built on just like fluff and puff. It's not built overnight. I told everybody when I was doing Friday five and I've got clients that do it now with me, it's a slow burn, but it's something that I think is so worth it. ⁓ So when we look at this, just a couple of like fun research that I had.   ⁓ Just to kind of wrap today's podcast, it says having a positive outlook doesn't mean you never feel negative emotions such as sadness or anger says Dr. Barbara L. Fredrickson, a psychologist and expert on emotional wellness at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. All emotions, whether positive or negative, are adaptive in the right circumstances. The key seems to be finding a balance between the two, she says. Positive emotions expand our awareness and open us up to new ideas so we can grow and add to our toolkit for survival.   People need negative emotions to move through difficult situations or respond to them appropriately in the short term. Negative emotions can get us into trouble though if they're based on too much rumination about the past or excessive worry about the future and they're not really related to what's happening in the here and now. People who are emotionally well experts say have fewer negative emotions and are able to bounce back from difficulties faster. The quality is called resilience. Another sign of emotional wellness is being able to hold onto positive emotions longer and appreciate the good times.   Developing a sense of meaning and purpose in life and focusing on what's important to you also contributes to emotional wellness. Research has found a link between an upbeat mental state and improved health, including lower blood pressure, reduced risk for heart disease, healthier weight, better blood sugar levels, and longer life. But many studies can't determine whether positive emotions lead to better health, if being healthy causes positive emotions, or if other factors are involved. So when I look at this, yes, Dental A Team's mission is to positively impact the world in the greatest way possible.   you have research and data to show that this makes it you're going to have a healthier life. Like they say, is it the chicken or the egg? Is it because I'm positive I go like workout and I have that or is like, no, this is actually creating better health for it. Who knows? But regardless, seeing the glass is half full, training myself to look for the good, living in the good moments more than worrying about the bad moments. That's trained behavior and it's something all of us are capable of doing. And so if you need help, I am obsessed with   Like I got a text the other day and they just said, Kiera, like you truly bring so much positivity to you when you coach us, you help us see the good at what we're doing. And my thought is if we can do that for your team, we can do that for doctors. Gosh, like your practice, your life, personally and professionally, your team are all going to flourish and benefit from that. Like do yourself the gift and the service of having a bit more positivity. And I believe that your, your net worth is due to your network. And so who are the people you surround yourself with?   Are they positive influences or are you guys like all going out after work and talking maybe not as positively? And again, you gotta have a negative emotions. there's a point. It's just which one am I feeding more and which one do I focus on more? And who am I surrounding myself with? And I will tell you our Dr. Mastermind group, I mentioned John O'Leary and we talked about him and our mastermind, ⁓ but being surrounded by like-minded people, people that want to be better, people that want to give back, people that have great teams, people that help share.   It's a give take community. You got to give and you got to take from this community. And it's not a one size fits all. I think for everybody to just realize that they're all here to contribute, they're all here to take, and they're all like-minded. Surrounding yourself with that really can be the fastest, easiest way to create more positivity. And then it influences in. And I hate being like, let me teach you doctors how to be this way. But then you have to like go and rally your team. That's why we work with doctors and teams. So if that's beneficial for you, if that's helpful for you.   Reach out, you guys, life's too short. You deserve to have a happy, positive life. You deserve to have a happy, positive team. And 31%, you guys, that is so great. So let us help you out. Reach out, Hello@TheDentalATeam.com or click on book a link or book a call on our website, TheDentalATeam.com And truly, thank you for sharing this. Thank you for being a part of our journey. Thank you for being a part of my life. I'm so insanely grateful. ⁓ Your success truly is the highlight of my life, the highlight of our team's life.   We love seeing you have the best life you can ever have. So let us help you on that journey. And as always, thanks for listening. I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team podcast.

Kiera Dent of Dental A-Team joins Lester De Alwis with one reframe that changes everything: insurance is just a coupon. Practical, honest, and packed with real systems, this episode covers the mindset shift, the 80% psychology rule for case acceptance, and the exact first steps to take before dropping a single plan. Book your free marketing strategy meeting with Ekwa at your convenience. Plus, at the end of the session, get a free analysis report to find out where your practice stands online. It's our gift to you! https://www.lessinsurancedependence.com/marketing-strategy-meeting/   If you're looking to boost your case acceptance rates and enhance patient communication, you can schedule a Coaching Strategy Meeting with Gary Takacs. With his experience in helping practices thrive, Gary will work with you on personalized coaching, ensuring you and your team are prepared to present treatment plans confidently, offer financing options, and communicate the value of essential dental services. https://thrivingdentist.com/csm

This one is for the billion-dollar assets of each practice: the doctor! Kiera is a pragmatic cheerleader, encouraging doctors to realize the asset they are. She touches on self evaluation, burnout, and building a practice that doesn't require constant sacrifice. 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. today I just want to give you a perspective shift that I hope you take, that I hope you run with. And I hope that you see the beauty in just thinking about it differently. I'm Kiera Dent. I'm the host of the Dental Dental A Team podcast. I love all things dentistry and I love positively influencing and infusing and impacting your life for the better. ⁓ We fly physically to your practices or we coach your team, you and your team virtually.   We also have in-person doctor masterminds where our entire community gets together. We share, we laugh, we have a good time and it's for doctor and leadership. I don't believe that running a successful practice should be hard. So come aboard, join us. You can always head on over to our website, TheDentalATeam.com, click on book a call. We do a free complimentary assessment of your whole practice, leave you with tactical, tangible tips and advice. So reach out, there's no reason to do this alone. And if you have an expert, that's your podcast buddy.   Let's do this together. There's no reason to make your life hard. I'd love to connect with you even just to say hello. So today I'm going to just give you guys this like really fun thing of dentists. are truly the greatest asset of your practice and you need to start protecting that. Woo. I said it. now be careful. There's a fine line of egotistical and humble, but I want you just to realize that doctors like you are the greatest asset. If we don't have you producing, we don't have your vision. We don't have a business. Let that sink in for just a second.   Like you're not a provider. You're not just a provider. You're our like entire ecosystem. And so taking care of you, I have on here, I'm not joking. It literally is right here on my computer. says I'm a Foxy Fit billionaire babe. And I also say my body is a billion dollar asset. Treat it like such. I have a thing that says I identify as a Ferrari. ⁓ Things to remind me that I really need to take care of me because I'm the greatest freaking asset. And again, it's not coming from a place of egotistical. It's just facts.   And so I want you to just realize that we've got to take care of you. And so I wanted to just give you three quick tactical tips today on how we can take care of the most valuable driver of the practice, which is you. So I want you to start thinking of yourself as that billion dollar babe or billion dollar boy, like whatever you want it to be. But like, if I really have a billion dollar asset, be as in boy or babe, I need to start treating myself like that. Like you're probably producing 500 million.   two million, four million, 20 million annually. Your diagnosis influences millions of people and lives over your career. And yet you run yourself like you're replaceable and you just run yourself into the ground and you just think that you're this machine. And I just want you to realize that like that's not sustainable. Like you need to start realizing I'm a billion dollar asset. And when like this means we don't skip lunches, we don't skip workouts, we don't like overwork ourselves, we don't.   squeeze emergencies in on every single day. Like you did that when you were growing the practice and I get it. But like, you guys production on the top might not be great for the body on the bottom. We might have decision fatigue. We might have case acceptance failing. Like everything's spinning around breaking because you yourself is breaking down. We've got to start treating ourselves like a high value asset. Going to the gym, eating food regularly, taking care of our relationships, being, showing up for other people, having a quiet mental time. This is a spot of like,   Okay, does my schedule protect my performance or does it drain it? If you can't even go to the bathroom in the middle of day, you might need to change some things up. And I know a lot of dentists do this. I did this as a dental assistant. We just run crazy because we're like, we need to serve all these patients, which is great. But the next piece is like burnout is not part of your job. So exhaustion impacts your leadership. Tired doctors avoid hard conversations. Diagnosis gets more conservative the more tired you are and more burnout.   team feels tension grows starts to plateau. And so when we look at this, like not only is it a personal issue, it's also a business liability. And I have seen plenty of doctors go through to where they actually stopped diagnosing as strongly. And it's not that they're doing anything wrong. They just were running themselves ragged. were draining themselves. Like burnout should not be part of the job. You didn't sign up for this, go into all this debt, go to school for all these different things just to have it be where you're not, like you're not able to take care of you. And then   Like we got to look at this and say, like, your business should work for you and not the other way around. So how can I build a practice that does not require constant sacrifice? So my growth should create freedom, not heavier days. If everything depends on you, the practice is not scalable yet. We need to scale it down and get pieces, people and processes in place before we do that. And taking care of ourselves. I'm not kidding. Like going to the doctor regularly.   having date nights with our spouse, working out at least three times a week, ⁓ making sure that we're standing up and moving our bodies, making sure that we have mental health time for ourselves, going to meeting with a therapist if we need to, having meditation time in the mornings, going for walks, getting outside, having, like I said, date nights where you're not exhausted, making dinner. That's life. It should not be, I mean, I do this too, so I'm equally guilty and I'm not here to preach, I'm not here to...   be above, I'm here to be with you and to say that like, okay, I want you to map out your perfect life. I want you to say like, hey, what did I imagine my life looking like by building this practice? And it can change and it can morph. So it doesn't need to be like at the beginning. For me right now, I want it to be like Mondays are meeting days. I work out three to four times a week. I'm off work every single day at four o'clock. I go for a run or a hike or a walk with my husband every single day outside.   I do yoga every single day for at least 10 minutes. try to have like Fridays are my CEO time where I just have like white noise time. But this has been an evolution of Kiera. This is Kiera was running herself so ragged that there was nothing left. I didn't want to be with my husband. had no time. Like literally I'd walk up from work because you know, I'm downstairs, just walk up the stairs, don't have a long commute. And I'd be like, I'm just so exhausted. I have nothing in me to make dinner. I have nothing in me to like talk to you.   I wanna just sit on the couch and veg and have TV time. That's not living. That's not why I built this business. Like here I am making all these dentists have their fulfilled lives and teams. And yet I'm drowning and feeling like I have no time for vacations. I have no time to be with my family. I have nothing that makes me feel like me. And what I found is you switched that. I meditate every morning. I do yoga 10 minutes before. I used to be like, okay, let me hurry and like work on the business beforehand. Like I felt like I was getting so much done. And now it's like, no.   I don't start until 730, eight o'clock. I don't look at Slack. Slack's no longer on my phone. Emails are no longer on my phone. ⁓ If clients text me, that's great. I'm going to respond to you at eight o'clock when I'm in the office. Of course, if it's an emergency, we will absolutely take care of it. But generally speaking, I need to take care of Kiera. I need to take care of my life. I want to show up for my husband. I want to show up for my family. I want to show up for me. And when I started realizing like, if my body was a Ferrari, I'd put the best fuel in it. So let me fuel myself in the best way.   I would wax and shine. So let me go work out and like, I go sit in the hot tub sometimes in the middle of the day. Why not? You can take mental breaks at the practice too. You don't always have to be working. Have good food. You can hire people that can help you with this. Personal assistants are great. Like everything does not need to sit on your shoulders. I have a gym trainer. I have a personal assistant. I have an executive assistant. I am about to hire a house manager. I do have a house cleaner. I have a lot of people that support me and help me.   And I realized because I need to take care of me. So for you, I want you to look to see how can you treat yourself more like a billion dollar asset? Everything I listed off to you is 10 years in the making. It did not happen overnight. What's one thing today that you could do to treat your body and your mental psyche as the billion dollar asset that it is for your practice? How can we implement just a little bit? Because you're not just working in a multi-million dollar practice. You're a leading one and you're producing it.   and I need you to operate accordingly. NBA like players, they're not on the court every single day. Football players, they've got seasons. All of us have seasons. In dentistry, we don't get seasons. We've got patients that come every six months, which is great. So we got to make those seasons throughout the week, throughout the day, throughout the month to make sure we're taking care of you. So I want you to just think about like, how can I look at my practice? How can I make sure my practice is working for me and not me working for my practice? It's really crazy. I actually...   This is going to be a little TMI guys. Welcome to Kiera's life. I hope you're ready for it. I actually put like chalkboard in my husband and my bathroom and I have markers in there and hand sanitizer. Don't worry. I want to make sure it's always clean. ⁓ but it's first like write little love notes to each other. And on there I said, I said, we work to live. We don't live to work. ⁓ our, and like, that's what it should be.   We work is such a vehicle for us. It creates so much identity for us, but also it can create a lot of stress for us. And so I really hope today is one where you can think about it. I am the greatest asset of my practice ⁓ and I need to start protecting it. So what's one small shift? Can I go to the gym? If I'm already doing a lot of things, how can I up it for myself even more? For me, my latest is like, I shut the door at four o'clock and I'm done and I go for a walk right after work. That's more self care for myself.   ⁓ At night I go to bed listening to a really like calming meditation that makes me think on such a higher level and I love it. I absolutely love it What what can you do as a billion dollar asset for yourself? Because the more you take care of yourself the more you put the oxygen mask on yourself first the more you realize that like I said at the beginning it's a We start operating like a high-value asset. We stop treating burnout like it's part of the job   And we build a practice that does not require constant sacrifice. You start to thrive. You start to blossom. You start to grow. You start to realize that you are important. And like you are a member on the team. A great litmus test that I often ask myself is, if I worked for someone like I do today, would I keep working here? And if the answer is no, I ask myself why? And then I commit to within 30 days, I make a change to make that better. So for you, I just want you to   protect you as an asset, stabilize your business and realize you're playing for the long game, not the short game. Because the best practices are not built on sacrifice, they're built on sustainability. Truly, I'm so excited for you. If we can help you, think sometimes having a coach give you permission to take care of yourself, to take the vacation, to help you see it's not gonna break down and we've got the infrastructure built around you, can be so freeing. So reach out because you were not meant to be a machine, you were meant to be a human being.   and I hope that that resonates with you. Reach out Hello@TheDentalATeam.com, click on our website, TheDentalATeam.com click on the link, book a call. I'd love to help you, I'd love to give you any tips because life is made for you and not to you. It's all happening for you and not to you. So this is your chance, this is your one life, and I hope that you're living the absolute best version of it. And if we can help in any way, we're here for you. You are the greatest billion dollar asset of your practice. Treat yourself as such.   And as always, thanks for listening and I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team

Re-releasing a DAT listener favorite! Kiera is joined by Brad from Kleer to talk about the perks of membership plans over dental insurance, why a membership plan can create consistent revenue for your practice during uncertain times, and how to even start putting together such a plan. Kleer, by the way, helps roll out membership plans effectively and successfully to uninsured patients Kiera and Brad also touch on why patients may be hesitant to sign up for a membership plan and dental practice resistance, and how to overcome each. 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 (00:32) And you guys, I am so excited to welcome back one of my dear friends, someone that I just respect. I respect their company a ton. And right now, I think it's super relevant for everybody out there because we all know dental insurance is not the greatest. It's shifting. It's changing. It's unpredictable times. So I'm so jazzed to be bringing on Brad. He's with Kleer. Brad, how are you today? How are you, Kiera? I'm doing really well, thanks. So. ⁓   speaker-1 (00:53) Good night, how are   speaker-0 (00:57) Brad, I said real quickly, Kleer. didn't give any thing behind it. People who have listened to the podcast have definitely heard me talk before about Kleer for membership programs. So just for those who don't know, let's just have you kind of share what Kleer is, how they can connect with you. And then we're going to dive into it. always like, I hate at the end where it was like, and by the way, if you want to hang out with Brad, so I'm just going to give you guys Brad's info, what Kleer is about, and we're going to dive into how to like really make a predictable income.   in unpredictable times. get ready, but Brad, how can people connect with you? What is Kleer all about? Let's just give our listeners a little bit of background on you guys.   speaker-1 (01:33) Yeah, so Kleer got started in 2018. And so this is now our fourth year in dentistry and having our software available. And basically what we do is we work with dentists and office managers to help implement and stand up and easily manage their own membership plans, something that's scalable that ⁓ can be successful for their practices.   Like, should I go for membership plans as well? ⁓ Or do you feel like most of the airplanes kind of knows that?   speaker-0 (02:05) Like let's just at least I mean if you haven't heard of membership plans guys now is the time to get on board with membership plans because I just did a podcast the other day where we were talking about how tis the season for dropping insurance plans like it is becoming rampant people are realizing with inflation what insurance plans are reimbursing that it's really not sustainable and so a lot of people are shifting dropping insurance plans and I think membership plans are the number one way to go which is why I wanted Kleer to get on the podcast today to talk to you guys about it   as a great solution to a problem that if you're not experiencing it, you will be experiencing it. I don't think it's a matter of if, it's a matter of when your practice will experience it. So yeah, dive into membership plans just so people understand if you haven't heard of a membership plan yet.   speaker-1 (02:50) Yeah, so membership plans are basically like an alternate coverage options for your primarily uninsured patients. Because like real quick background research is a lot of our data shows us that uninsured patients, they come in less frequently, and they accept a lot less treatment compared to their insured counterparts. So what can we do to provide some type of coverage option that doesn't have the red tape and restrictions that insurance traditional insurance has?   And this is where with membership plans, these practices can create their own care plans and offer them directly to the patients at a monthly or annual subscription. So like what's included with the membership plan, we see that pricing is anywhere typically between like say $260 a year all the way up to like $380 a year. It can go higher or lower, but what the patient's paying for when they're paying for that 260 to 380,   they are getting access to their hygiene and preventative care. And in addition to that, they'll get say a 10, 20 % discount off other procedures. So like I said, the practices have full autonomy. There's no more third party that's really meddling with that relationship and dictating the fees and the treatment protocol. Practices are in full control. They offer a dressing to the patient. So it's a really good patient retention tool.   Patients appreciate the benefits that they're now receiving directly from the practice. And we actually see that the membership plan patients are more profitable than the other patients that still remain without coverage. And like over the past two years, like Carrie, you know that a lot of practices have been implementing membership plans, but the pandemic has really acted as like a catalyst during that time because   a lot of practices and practice owners who are very cognizant of their patients want some type of coverage option, some type of alternate that they can offer to their patients, whether they're going through financial hardships, they refer load, whatever it is. ⁓ But yeah, that's essentially what membership plans 101, if you will. That's what they are. We help practices automate processes with our platform.   and make sure that it's easy to manage and implement and be successful.   speaker-0 (05:14) Which I love and Brad, it's funny because for those of you who heard my and Brad's podcast, gosh, it's probably been over a year now. Um, but we talked about me as a fee for service patient and we literally did, like, I was a case study because I wasn't going to sign up for my six month cleaning. Um, because like I work with hundreds of dentists for me to get a cleaning. It's pretty simple to do. I'm on the road often. I really do. Like offices are super nice to me. I can get a cleaning at any practice I go to.   But Brad, we like it was a case study where I signed up for the membership program at my dental practice and I literally scheduled my six month cleaning because it was quote unquote free. And so I am a literally a walking in testament that membership plans do work even for somebody who's been in the dental field. And I think I'm pretty savvy when it comes to what people are doing. But just, mean, they got me and it made sense. And something I feel people don't realize is one, a lot of offices right now   I've been seeing and Brad, I'm curious from your guys's research, which is why I love Kleer. guys research things so much. So you're very data driven from the research rather than just feelings. And I've been seeing from a lot of our practices that the topics are, how can we drop insurance plans? And I'm always like, the first question I ask is, okay, perfect. Do you have a membership plan in place? Because as soon as you drop this insurance, I don't think practices realize that patient becomes a free agent. They are no longer tied to you.   They're going to go somewhere with insurance or if you can get them on a membership plan, they're no longer a free agent patient. They're now tied to you in some way. But guys, like if I'm a fee for service patient, I am literally a free agent walking around and I can go to whatever practice I want to go to. I'm going to choose an office based on location, their responsiveness to me, their cleanliness, if I like their dentist or not, how their billing is, but I'm not tied to that practice. And so without these membership plans, I think a lot of practices don't realize   that you can drop insurance plans and get patients to stay and retain and even become higher paying patients than they were before by implementing a membership plan. So that's what I've seen. I'm sure you guys have data on it. Anything that you guys have found Brad in conjunction with that or things you guys have seen on your side.   speaker-1 (07:28) Yeah, it's pretty funny. And I touched on how the pandemic has acted as this catalyst. But now the dust has kind of settled after two years. People are understanding how to adapt and how to behave when it comes to COVID-19. But what's really interesting is there's all different types of reasons why practices are implementing these membership plans. Because every practice is different and their priorities are different. So one that you mentioned that's a huge one right now is that they want   membership plans in place when they're planning on dropping one, a couple, or several PPO's because they want to leverage the membership plan as a patient retention tool. But we're seeing other reasons too. It's like, I mean, you said so yourself, you were a case study. We're seeing that more and more. Like you heard it throughout the past like six months, the great resignation. It's been, they've been talking about it since like September, October of 2021, but   We're seeing that there are more people that are starting small businesses. There are more people that are retiring from their jobs earlier than anticipated. And there's more gig economy workers out there now that we're seeing these larger tech companies like Uber, ⁓ Lyft, whatnot, all these gig economy jobs are in place. And we're slowly seeing that the amount of uninsured when it comes to dental benefits in the marketplace or in the United States.   it's growing more and more, what almost feels like day after day. ⁓ So you definitely want to make sure that like when it comes to your retirees, a lot of them have primarily had some type of dental coverage their whole lives and they'll be looking for it as soon as they retire and lose it. So you want something in place for them, for yourself, someone that's a younger business owner, perhaps a millennial, ⁓ those are the types of people that are used to monthly subscriptions.   So you want something in place for them, like who doesn't want coverage? So millennials fit the bill. And then lastly, like you said, a lot of practices are starting to really overcome that fear of dropping insurances because we know it's kind of been this necessary evil, if you will, but a lot of practices, they've wanted to do it. They've been a bit hesitant, but now you're seeing a lot of them are.   starting to do that and they're being pretty methodical with their approach. I guess long story short with dropping the PPOs, you definitely just want to make sure no matter what you're going to lose patients, but what can we do to mitigate that number? And that's where a lot of practices have them in place.   speaker-0 (10:09) Right, I think it's something that is not hard to set up. You guys make it very easy to do it. You manage it. Because I think so many practices get scared of that, like, ugh, how am going to manage this? And that's honestly why I love you guys as a company. I think you guys have amazing values. guys, I've helped with your team so they know dental. They're super innovative. You guys are very, cognitive of learning the dental lingo, understanding the ledgers and how to make it make sense and set it up in a simple, easy way.   But Brad, there's something else that membership plans are starting to get a lot of accolades for, and that is creating consistent revenue in inconsistent times, which honestly I've watched a lot of my offices, like they go up and down and they're riding these waves of, ⁓ like in January, was cancellation after cancellation after cancellation because of the Omnicron variant. I was guilty of that. got it too. Like it was just, it was crazy. so people had like,   January's it just tanked when in traditional times that wasn't the case. I know September historically is called suck timber It's not a great month. It tends to just be harder But yeah, I know membership plans are really getting like I said these accolades for creating more consistent revenue And that's something I know you guys have been working on So can you kind of touch and explain how a membership plan can create this consistent revenue? When to me I'm like Brad, it's like 200 bucks a month like not even a month like a year   How can I create some consistent revenue when I'm used to producing five, 12, $20,000 a day? How can this actually create some consistent revenue for me?   speaker-1 (11:41) Yeah, well, there's all types of businesses, whether it is health care or not, deal with ebbs and flows, or they deal with some type of seasonality. So if you just think of ourselves as consumers, I have about probably six different subscriptions, maybe more. And a lot of those business executives know exactly what they're doing. They understand that.   You know what? It's better to just have this recurring revenue, whether they're charging me month over month or year over year. They know that I am a loyal consumer to their brand and we'll just use like Netflix as an example. That's why so many different businesses, if you go out there and you're on the Internet or you're just walking from store to store as a shopper, like everywhere now is offering some type of membership loyalty program, rewards program, you name it. It's almost harder to find a business that's not doing it.   And basically like why not dentistry? And right now that's what the membership plans are doing. You're getting all of these patients to subscribe to practice where month over month, year over year, you know that you have this predictable revenue stream coming into your practices doors and into your bank account. So no matter what, like God forbid there's another ⁓ variant that shuts things down, I doubt it happens, but.   I think the real thing right now is you're starting to see, it's very topical, it's inflation. A lot of people are dealing with financial hardships. You're seeing that all these borrowing rates and interest rates are going to increase. So like, what can the practices do to offer something that seems very empathetic to your patients? You know they don't have coverage. Let's create these care plans and offer it to them. And at the same time,   If you see that some of your patients are starting to scale back or push out patient visits because they might be having a tough month financially, this is where no matter what, with having a bunch, whether it's dozens, whether it's hundreds, thousands, whatever, of patients on your membership plan is a better business model for your practice.   speaker-0 (13:52) Mm-hmm. think it's a something that I didn't realize until I created a membership if you will I used to do when we first started the consulting company. I was a one Visit and I would bill you after I traveled to your practice and I would send you to the penny the travel and I was almost going broke like complete transparency because it was such like I was always delayed on my revenue coming through and   I had a lot of smarter people than myself say, Kiera, you really should switch out to where they just pay monthly, like figure out what your costs are, have them pay monthly. It's easier for the client. They're not getting hit with these huge costs right away. And it's going to be much easier for them. And I will say as a business, it became so much easier for me, like good months, bad months, high months, low months. It's a more consistent revenue stream. And so I think for practices, I had an office and they're a really like adorable office. It's a husband and wife.   duo there, Volt Dentist, and the husband was all pro a membership fee. He was like, this is gonna be great. We're gonna be able to, it's going to be awesome for our patients. It's gonna create consistent revenue for us. And the wife was adamant. This is so much work, probably because she knew she was going to have to set it up. Husband's like, this will be great. Wife's like, I don't wanna do this. They ended up setting it up. And it was crazy because last year she told me, she's like, Kiera, it's crazy how much money is actually coming off of these membership plans month over month over month.   and we're able to have more retention of our patients. So that's ⁓ a testimonial of a practice that saw the benefits of it. A lot of practices will set these up in separate bank accounts. So it also can become, if you're not needing that cash, a lot of offices were using it to rebuild their stashes of ⁓ emergency funds and rainy day funds and practice growth funds because the membership fees were doing that. So again, I mean,   What? How much is Netflix, Brad? You've got that subscription. Do you even know how much your subscription is?   speaker-1 (15:49) I think like $12.99 or something.   speaker-0 (15:51) Right, I don't even know and that's what I think so cool is because it's 200 to 350 375 They're very low monthly fees that people forget about them It's really not that much and they're still coming to the dentist So I think that that's a very smart logical plan and truth be told like for me as a small business owner for Millennials, I know my sisters my brothers. They don't want to go spend two three hundred dollars to go to the dentist But if it was only fifteen dollars a month   they get their two quote unquote free cleanings, which are actually free on a membership plan. It's not dependent on a insurance plan. Why would they not do it? So it's really, I think, taking the, like there's no reason not to do it. It's just, it makes logical sense. And I think you guys are eliminating a lot of the objections through this that's going to retain patients coming to your practice every six months on a much more consistent basis. So I'm all for, I think offices should do it.   ⁓ But Brad, I know people are always hesitant. So what are some of the objections you guys get as to why, like, patients don't want to sign up for it or why offices might not want to implement this? Because I hear like, it's just too much work. But honestly, you guys make it very easy. So like, that's eliminated. But what are some of the objections you guys hear so we can help the listeners realize like, this is a true awesome, like, it's not a necessary evil. It's a necessary goodness.   Like there's no evil to it. feels so good. What are some of the objections you hear the concerns offices have that we can mitigate for them?   speaker-1 (17:18) really good question. on the patient, I'll answer the patient question first, just because it was the first one that you brought up. But believe it or not, the biggest pushback that we see from patients has nothing to do with like their actual experience once they sign up for the membership plan. A lot of it are patients giving the office feedback that they're looking for the catch because they think that the offer is too good to be true. So that is like always, not always.   but we hear it consistently from some of our practices. They're like, our patients see it as such a good deal that they feel like that they're gonna get the short end of the sticks somehow. But I think like everything that we're looking at in our economy, it's just like, it's all value driven and it's all consumer experience. So like best user experience possible. And if we're just like comparing a membership plan to traditional insurance or a traditional discount plan,   whatever it may be, there are restrictions, there's maximums, there's waiting periods, a lot of red tape for these patients. And that is what the membership plans are essentially removing. mean, who knows what their patients need more than the actual practitioners and the actual front office teams within these dental practices? No one. mean, they know what's best for their patients. And that's the beauty about the membership plan.   the patient, they need four crowns, whatever it may be, they can say, hey, is this possible? The doctor can say, of course, like there's no waiting periods. We can get this as soon as you are ready to get this done. So that's really where that seamless process for the patient and that better experience for the patient comes into play. And they perceive more value in your practice as well. So that is the patient question is it's too good to be true.   But we do, our success team and support team do help practices overcome that objection. But on the dentist side or on the office manager side, there's some resistance with maybe some high-end or fee-for-service practices that look at the membership plan and say, like, I don't want to cannibalize my cash-paying patients. Like, they're supposed to be paying me 100 % out of pocket. They're supposed to be my most profitable patients.   et cetera, et cetera, why would I want to give them a discount through the membership plan? And there's several reasons why. I mean, the biggest glaring ⁓ solution for that is that we see that the membership plan patients are generating twice as much revenue. So that's hygiene revenue, treatment acceptance revenue, and then overall production. They're generating twice as much, and that's extremely consistent across all of our customers. So that is first and foremost,   ⁓ Another reason why is because you definitely want to build the patient loyalty like what you mentioned earlier that you were a free agent, you definitely want to make sure that you're retaining those patients. And like if you go and check out, say like, I hate to mention names, like names here, but if you go to Delta Dental's website, and you see their homepage, they're actually proactively marketing to individuals, small business owners, retirees. So the last thing you want   are those fee for service patients to go and look for individual insurance plans where you're probably getting the worst reimbursement possible.   speaker-0 (20:49) That was a politically nice way to say that.   speaker-1 (20:56) And then the last thing is a lot of the practices, like I get it. Like you think that the members that these uninsured patients are coming in consistently, but honestly our data and what we've seen from our prospects, like it just is very consistent where the average uninsured patient really does come in once every two years and they accept 50 to 75 % less treatment than insured counterparts. And on top of that,   a lot of practices, they'll just give out like these arbitrary discounts to cash paying patients, 5%, 10%, 15%, we've seen up to 20%. So based upon the data we've been collecting, the fee that they collect ultimately from the average uninsured patient is lower than the membership plan patients. you know, I understand it seems very counterintuitive of, you know, this patient might pay me a hundred percent out of pocket.   And if I give them the membership plan, I'm giving them a 10 % discount, I'm losing that money. But you kind of just have to trust the process and a lot of the data that we've been putting out there is it's extremely consistent and it shows that you will ultimately double your revenue and your patients will have the best experience possible and see more value in your practice with the membership.   speaker-0 (22:15) Well, and I love Brad one of reasons I love our podcast is one. just like you I like your company but the second one is I feel like I really get to be a walking testimonial for membership plans like in my practice that I ran that we were doing 365 a month like it was insanity in a five-up practice Guys, I like close the bulk of my cases with membership plans because there was no waiting period There was no deductible there was there was nothing I really could just give these patients an amazing discount and like you said Brad   A lot of patients or practices are terrified to give these discounts, but myself, I'm literally a walking advertisement of what it's like to be in a practice and offer a membership plan. But then on the patient side, remember, so the practice that I was going to, I didn't love their membership model. was like, you could join like silver gold or platinum or whatever. And I thought I'm not going to have much work done. Honestly, if I need work done, I work with hundreds of dentists. Well, it turns out I had a filling chip and it was driving me nuts and it was   Just bothering me and I wasn't going on the road for a week. So I thought, well, I'll just like go to the practice. So they were upgrading me to a higher membership fee, but I literally didn't pay out of pocket for the filling. I upgraded my membership to get a discount on my treatment. like just that mindset, I'm a fee for service patient. I'm a, and again, I hope offices are really gathering fee for service. Patients are not loyal to you. Yes, they like you, but just think of them as free agents. They can go anywhere at any time.   If you are too far away or they don't like your front desk or the way it was scheduled, they didn't like there's nothing that tethers them to you at all. So with this membership plan, they're going to come in for two cleanings. So two opportunities for exams, better patient care, most likely you'll probably diagnose something on them. You give them a discount for me seeing that filling at what 350 I think was the filling. Maybe it was 500. I just was like,   shocked. been a long time since I paid for dentistry. Thank you to everyone who's given me free dentistry my whole life. Like, whoa! ⁓ But the fact that I got a 10 % discount on my filling, even though that's $35 on 350, I did the filling same day. Whereas if there's no decay, just smooth it, I don't really need this filling fixed, I could probably get by. But because I had a discount, because I had a loyalty program, if you will, I did the treatment. So   Kiera Dent, who I think is one of the strongest dental advocates out there, knows their ploy, knows what they're doing, knows the membership plans, knows all these things. I talked to Brad, I know Claire, I've worked with you guys for so long, and even myself, with that small discount, I did more treatment, I didn't go on the road, it was convenient, and I was tethered to my practice. So I really feel that offices, again, like I said earlier, this isn't an if, it's a when, and I think for us in our consulting company,   We have a checkbox of making sure our practices have membership programs in their practices. That like, I don't care if you're fee for service. I don't care if you're a DSO. I don't care if you are corporate. I don't care if you are a solo practice because membership fees, I am such a believer in them. I'm a believer that it's better for the patient. I don't believe that dental insurance serves the patient. I think it serves somebody else. Whereas membership fees, really do believe in membership plans serve the patient. There's no deductible. There's no waiting period. Like,   It's so cheap to get those fillings or those cleanings done. We had unlimited x-rays. thought that that just sounded better. And honestly, nobody ever took advantage of us. And then we did like, you could do 10 or 20 % off of treatment. So it really, to me, I like, I people to dump their insurance plans on their own, like canceling when it was open enrollment in November, because the membership plan just makes sense if you explain it to patients. So Brad, I just love that you guys do.   this. I love that Kleer is such an easy path for getting a membership plan because I think sometimes it can feel daunting of how do I do this? How do I track it? How do I make sure I'm compliant for my state? You guys also have like brochures and flyers and so much information for the patients that I feel you guys are a plug and play solution for membership plans that for practices who want to get started, which all of you like to me, if you're a Dental A Team listener, it's not an option. Like just do it. Just sign up for a membership.   Plan program. So Brad, how does it work? So let's say I'm in office, I've listened to the podcast and I've said, okay, you've convinced me, I'm gonna take my fee for service practice and I'm gonna turn it into a membership. I feel like you're stabbing me in the heart, but I don't want my patients being free agents. I heard Kiera, I'm gonna try this. How do people even start? What is the process to start a membership program?   speaker-1 (26:50) Yeah, so I mean, the first thing that they can do is they can visit our website that just Kleer it's Kleer.com ⁓ or they can shoot me an email. It's just Brad@Kleer.com And the first step is just sitting through a demo that typically takes about like 30 minutes. And that's just where someone walks you through all the intricacies of the software, our success team, all the processes that we have in place to make sure they're successful.   And then as soon as they've seen the demonstration and they want to move forward, there's really just two calls. The first is our onboarding, what we call the fee consultation. That's where we help design the plan. So we configure the plans. We set the pricing, ⁓ set the fee schedule, all that good stuff. And then the next call is really the training call. And then they're ready to launch. So it's funny. We talked to a lot of prospects and they think that it's going to be a burden.   to get this going, I mean, that's essentially why you're outsourcing it. A lot of teams, we understand they might be struggling with turnover, but at least with Kleer, this is providing some type of consistency, some type of rock, regardless of new employees or losing employees. ⁓ But as soon as they're up and running, ⁓ it's honestly just, it depends on the team's availability. ⁓ And then we can get them going, we'll launch your plans.   We have some move within a week ⁓ of after the demo. And then once they're launched, patients can sign up and they're ready to go. It's that easy.   speaker-0 (28:27) That's awesome because I will just put it out there. I was an office manager. I was a front office. I listened to a lot of content and I heard a lot of great ideas and there is a difference between like knowledge and execution and execution will trump knowledge every single day of the week. So you can sit here and hear this, but getting it executed, implemented and utilized I think is the biggest piece. So I'll just pose a question. Like we've talked about this quite a bit on the podcast and I'm going to say choose your heart.   or choose your own adventure here, but I think choose your heart is a smarter one. Is it harder for you to constantly call insurances and get an insurance breakdown? Like just tell me how much time that actually takes versus calling Kleer and having a 30 minute demo and having it signed up and getting your patients to transfer away from insurance plans. To me, like if I could give up and never have to call another insurance verification program ever again in my life, I would switch to a membership plan immediately because on membership plans,   You don't have breakdowns. You don't have to go and figure out what the insurance is estimated to pay. You don't have to fight claims. You literally sign them up. They pay you monthly or in full and you give them a discount. And it is that simple. So I would just say, I love Kleer. think you guys, there are cheaper membership programs out there. However, I think you guys have the best customer success and the best patient experience as far as the portal goes and making it easy.   that I like, yeah, you guys can go find a cheaper membership program. I'm not going to beat around the bush. I hear it from a lot of clients like, but Claire was so expensive. And I'm like, you're right. But the patient experience is top notch. And that's what your patients are going to complain about. If it's not top notch and it's not easy for them, they're going to drop the membership program because it's not easy. Like think of the apps that you just give up because they're just dumb and junky and you can't handle it. Like I'm ready to dump TD Ameritrade as my investing company. I'm so sick of their freaking app.   Like if you ask me one more time to transfer and have to give you all my information, like I'm quitting Vanguard is like leaps and bounds better. So just thinking of the two differences. So Brad, I am just grateful for you guys. And I truly am like petitioning you guys, like get your dang memberships in play. Insurance droppings happening. Inflation is going up. You've got to find a way to retain these patients. And I think membership plans are the solution plus residual income in uncertain times. So Brad, super jazz guys reach out Brad again. How do they get in touch if they want to talk to you?   speaker-1 (30:46) If they want to reach out to me, just shoot me an email. It's Brad@Kleer.com and I will get back to you ASAP.   Kiera Dent (30:55) 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.

Dear listener, it is possible to scale your practice and keep your sanity! Kiera discusses three overall pieces of advice for those who have expanded/want to expand to multi-practice ownership, including centralizing atmosphere and tactics, establishing leadership infrastructure, and keeping your communication fluid. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: Kiera Dent- Dental A Team (00:00) Hello, Dental A Team listeners, this is Kiera. And today I wanted to dig into multi-practice management and how this can be something so fun. I know several of you have multiple practices. I had multiple offices and I just think that this is a space of like, all right, here we go. How can we make this amazing? And how can we lead, scale and stay sane? I think is a big spot because I think that when we go from one practice to two practices, I know I went.   insane and it was not fun. And so for you, I just wanted to break this down because I really think this is a popular thing. And also if you're sitting on the fence of should I grow, should I not grow, I think it's going to be a fun discussion for us today. And I just wanted to say, welcome to the Dental A Team podcast. I'm Kiera Dent and I'm so happy you're here. I love all things dentistry. I love everything that we're about. I love helping you have the best day. I love positively infusing you and your practice with goodness. I love reminding you that you are in the absolute best profession.   And this podcast is made free because you guys share, review, like, and you're able to bring in more and more listeners for us. So I just want to say thank you. And if you haven't done that today, please share this, like this, review this. That's how we're able to stay at the top of the list for more offices to be positively impacted, to grow their practices with ease, and to realize dentistry should be fun again. So with that, I want to talk about like, when we go into multi-practice ownership, it can get really freaking thrilling. So.   I want you to look at like, okay, things that we need to do are as we grow and evolve. Number one, I want you just to ask why are you doing this for ego? Are you doing it for impact? Are you doing it for fun? Are you doing it to be acquired by a DSO? Knowing your why and then putting that up on the mirror so you never miss it is going to help you tremendously. Like genuinely a hundred percent just have that why because then it gets really, really thrilling. And so for you then it's going to be, okay, great. Once we have that,   I look at like, what can we centralize? So when we brought our second practice, it was make everything very, very simple and very easy for us. Meaning I want it to be all of our software is going to be the exact same. So we have the same software, the same colors. So from practice to look like the different locations when doctors go multi offices, it actually is very easy. Also, we had billing. So we had one person who was over the billing of all the practices. What about our reporting? Can we have the same reporting? So different scorecards that are reporting the same thing.   over the location that we have at centralized so we can quickly look and see how is each location doing. And then also making sure like our handbook, our SOPs, our operations manual is the same. So we set up the operatories the same. We do the same thing for hygiene. Everything is the same. So again, think about McDonald's. Could you imagine McDonald's or Chick-fil-A or any fast food restaurant opening multi-locations if the experience isn't the same that actually gets hard. Now there can be some nuances but the core infrastructure should be very, very similar.   Then after that, you also want to make sure that you have the same culture, team culture and patient experience. So again, go back to Chick-fil-A, the employees all have about the same, the culture is the same, we have the same experience every time we go in, no matter where I'm going across the nation or the globe, it's the same experience. And so for you, how can we make sure that we've got same team culture, same patient experience? You want to make sure your leadership team is really, really solid. And then you've got to have like shared tools. So the KPI dashboards, we've got to have low   specific views. So if you're having things that are on a ⁓ software, so like if Open Dental, you've got to have it to where I can access every single practice easily or if it's in the cloud and there are pros and cons between cloud software versus none. I have found that a lot of cloud softwares are awesome for ease of access at home. I will say Dentrix Ascend is my least favorite even though know they're coming back and they're popular. What happens is like I have a practice that switched to curve and they love it.   but there's nothing that can really integrate oftentimes. So you can't get analytic reports. You can't get other things. They're not as open source for you. And so if you ever want something outside of that software, that's usually cheaper, more affordable, helps you. That tends to be an issue with the cloud-based softwares. But when we got multi-practices, it becomes much easier because then we can sink in. We can look at it. We can have centralized billing, centralized, re-care, centralized phone systems, but you can also do this with a server. So when we look at this,   I think it's really great because we have practices and when we standardize how we schedule, we standardize our software, we standardize our billing procedures, the practices actually grow 10X. So I have a location, there's five practices and when we standardize these items, I kid you not, we add about a million per practice per year. So when you go across this, five million growth and you get 10 million growth and you get 15 million growth and you get 20 million and consistently every single year we're typically adding, but it's because things are standardized, things are centralized. We're able to say, right,   All offices, this is how we're now gonna block schedule. All offices, here are your goals. All offices, the billing is processing. All offices, this is how we do new patients. And it really is able to help you. So you've got to centralize what you can across the board and then have it localized at certain levels. But then it means like each office manager does the same thing, but they're making sure team spirit and team culture is the same. Patient experience is the same of what we do as an overarching multi-location area. So that's step one.   Step two is we wanna build a leadership infrastructure. So what this is, is we've gotta make sure that we've got regional managers, office managers, department leads. Sometimes multi-office locations are gonna have a hygienist that's over all hygienists of all practices. Other times it's at the practice level. But regardless across the board, there are set standards and set processes that are going to be there for you. So I really wanna make sure that you have that. And then we also need to clarify like who has ownership of this, who's entering scorecards, who's entering KPIs.   I like it to be that each office manager is responsible for their practice. So that way their office needs to be profitable, hitting the KPIs, the metrics, all the different pieces in the organization total org. Now I understand some practices, like I've got two locations. One's a very expensive location, one's a less expensive location. But across the board, you need to have leaders at both locations, because we're really struggling with these two locations. We have a regional that's bouncing back and forth between the two, but no one owns the accountability of these practices. And as it gets larger and larger and larger,   Guess what? Capacity struggling. So now we're having to put into place office leads in both location, office scorecards in both location, office hygiene departments. So looking at this and you've got to train the leaders how to lead, not just do. So I can't just be like, okay, you do this X, Y, Z. It's gotta be, how do I grow the practice? How do I make sure everybody's engaged? How do I really get people very talented, very excited about this? Like making sure they know how to hire and fire and have the one-on-one conversations. And what do the scorecard numbers mean?   And what are we looking at? And what is a healthy practice? What isn't a healthy practice? Usually my regional is meeting with my office managers weekly to make sure that they're successful. And what I found is when we track and measure all the locations, the practices increase. So typically as we're tracking and measuring, we're then able to grow them, elevate them and make them so much stronger because we're truly leading. So you've got to make sure you've got a strong leadership infrastructure. And if you don't have that, you don't have the pieces, multi-ownership gets really hard. If you're in multi-ownership right now.   You need to start appointing these people, having KPIs that they're reporting on, helping them see like how we run leadership meetings, how we run these meetings that are very successful, what your ownership piece is, what are you responsible for, how are you winning? And I think if you think about it, imagine a DSO, they're going to come in and they're going to take over your practice. Well, you better believe that they're gonna have KPIs scorecards for every location. They're going to have leaders at every location. They're going to have regionals. They're going to train.   So if that's what a DSO is going to do, why not do that yourself of multi-locations and learn from them because they're smart. They have these systems in place. You can do this as well. And then the third step on here just to help you guys is we've got to make sure that we've got like communication that's fluid rather than it just sitting there. weekly leadership calls are non-negotiable. We're talking run them on traction style, whatever your style is.   but we review where we're at, like where are headed as an organization? What are the numbers tell us? And then what needs to get accomplished? What are the blockers? What are the issues? What are the problems? And having that. Now, some offices, depending upon how large they are, some have a regional. So like we're gonna have a board that talks about the whole organization as a whole. Other times I have it where we're talking about each practice and we run individual ones for the practice, or there's maybe a hybrid of both. I recommend the hybrid of both. I think as an organization, we need to make sure we're healthy.   And then each practice is individual time where they're having these weekly meetings. They're also having ⁓ our KPIs by location. And we also are making sure that everybody's aligned. Then in addition to that, I'm very big on quarterly calibration and quarterly meetings of where are we going for the quarter? What are the rocks, if you will, with air quotes? What are the big objectives that we're accomplishing for this department, for this practice at this time? And what needs to get done?   So it can be different. Each location might run a little bit differently. And that's where it's really great because across the board, all of us quarterly know, and then we roll that down to the full teams. So as an org wide, where are headed quarterly? As practices, where are we headed quarterly? And then also making sure quarterly we're doing some type of team bonding or engagement, because as you get larger and larger and larger, the team culture really can drift. And I know we talked about that at the beginning of like centralizing that and localizing. the OMS are responsible for patient experience and team culture.   But at the same time, you've got to make sure that quarterly, like it's an all team alignment. We send out updated handbooks or protocols across the board, but we also get them like excited. So I'm really big on your communication and your metrics need to be solid. So I'm talking weekly L10s. They usually run for an hour, hour and a half at each office. You also should probably be having department meetings every single week as well to make sure the departments are growing. And then quarterly for sure having amazing like   incredible quarterly meetings that are going to really, really help people drive to those quarterly results, the quarterly pieces and make it to where it's just fun and then do something fun. You don't need to run this as a leadership team, but it is a way for you guys to all start leveling up, have fun together. Remember why we all went into this and it's not just like the drudge of quarterlies. It is truly something fun and exciting. And I have a practice in New York. I've got eight locations over there.   And I'm not joking every three to six months, we are meeting with every single practice, setting up goals, setting up pieces, having the full teams bought in and engaged. think I meet like 250 people in about four days. And the goal is to get team alignment, to get buy-in, but we know as an organization what each of the practices need to do, but we're getting team buy-in from them. And I think when you do that, what happens is the KPIs, when we start tracking them, when we get the quarterly buy-in,   the whole organization rises up because a big pitfall that people don't realize is multi offices. You've got so many team members. You've got so many offices. You got so many places that you can actually let KPI slip profitability slip. And what happens usually in multi offices is one practice is actually draining. It's not as profitable and all the other practices are doing well, but yet all the other practices are having to take care of our draining practice. And it's how do get all the offices leveled up?   Do all offices need hygiene? Do all offices need block scheduling? Do offices need to be reporting on what we're doing for the doctors? And I think when you're able to have that and establish that, you're able to have much, much, much easier multi-practice management, how to lead it, scale it, and grow it. So when we look at it, just a quick recap is we've got to centralize across the board. So our softwares are centralized, our billing is centralized, how we do our patient experience, centralized.   Then we need to make sure we've got leaders in place. So regional managers, office managers, having that go through to where we've got that whole infrastructure, they've got their KPIs, they've got their ownership, they know. And then we also are going to make sure that we are going to have tight communication. So we're running those weekly meetings, we're running those quarterly meetings. Everything is running and driving really, really well. And this is just one of those things of like, we're not doing more. As you see, we've got directed people in their seats, having ownership. So we're able to mass scale across the board.   and make sure all the practices are humming in the right direction. Yes, sometimes personable pieces aren't as common, but you don't have to lose that because you can set that as this is part of our culture and we put in every single practice. The OMS do it, the departments do it, we have fun. I have multi-offices that compete with each other, that have fun with each other, but this is something and I really feel like if you were trying to scale, your sanity is going to be number one. When we scaled, I started working   double time and I was already working about 14 hours a day. So I know there's not 28 hours in a day. It's close. And I was literally sleeping about four hours a night and I was trying to manage all the practices, but it was because I didn't do these things. I did not put into place centralized across the board. Like didn't have it. We then hired a biller that did all the billing for it. We then had our office managers and we set up the software that were the same. We then had it to where here are the like protocols of how we set up the rooms.   but it took me so long and I was already in it rather than having this built before I did it. I did not have leaders of both. I was trying to be the leader to both locations and I was running myself ragged and it was exhausting. Like literally burnout to the nth degree, but you're just in it. And so you're like, there's no way to get out of it versus realizing like, no, we can have a regional, we can have managers, we can have scorecards, we can have KPIs. And if you have this really dialed in at location one before you open up,   Great. If you're already in the location for let's get these things into place and make sure that they're all profitable and then make sure we're weekly, monthly, quarterly team meetings, calibrating them and driving for those results using the numbers, using the culture, using the team. But this is where we're headed over the next quarter. And then we track and measure for that. I promise you, if you do this, you will be able to have multi-practices grow with ease. You will keep your sanity.   And then you're tracking and keeping tabs without having to be the doer of all of it. This is what we do. We build scalable systems for practices. We grow leadership for practices. We train you. We coach your multi practices. We train your office managers how to do it. Our consultants have managed hundreds of employees at one time. They've done this. They've done it successfully. So this is the time for you to truly jump in, call, make your life easier. So reach out. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. This is something and if you guys want more tips on this,   send this to your regional or send this to a COO or send this to your leadership team. If you're thinking about growing a practice and you want to scale, like let's talk about it. Let's help you and your office manager know what's going to happen or get you and your regional managers or help out. do multiple, multiple, multiple multi-office locations that we consult on. So reach Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. And as always, your sanity is your gift. This is something that you owe yourself, your practice, your patients. And these are three quick, easy ways to be able to scale, sustain and grow.   and keep your sanity. 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.

It's time to perform a special audit in your practice! This one is called the Invisible Friction Audit. Kiera guides listeners through how to catch problems that might not be very obvious, but are total gamechangers in terms of practice operations. 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 going to be a great topic. I hope you guys are excited about it because it's going to be an audit of your practice. I think that there's oftentimes invisible friction that's happening inside practices and offices oftentimes don't catch it. They don't understand what's going on and they're like, something's happening and it's just this invisible friction. And so how can we actually catch this sooner in your practice? If you guys are new to our podcast, welcome. I'm Kiera Dent, host and founder of the Dental A Team and the Dental A Team Podcast.   I'm obsessed with all things dentistry, including my last name being Dent. Our mission is to possibly impact the world of dentistry in the greatest way possible and to influence, inspire, and to motivate you to have the best practice, the best life, and the best team that you could ever imagine. I genuinely know and believe that running a successful practice does not need to be hard. I've had hundreds of thousands of clients tell us that, Carrie, you've changed our perspective. You've made this to where...   I feel happy about going to work. You've inspired my team. We've got team members that text us telling us how much they love working with Dental A Team. And that's our mission. That's our passion. That's what we are truly experts in the field for. And today, this is one of those things of like, when you have friction that's invisible, how do you actually fix that? How do you actually make this thing better? How do you make it to where, my gosh, like, like we don't know and how can we catch this? So I wanted to just help you see like, here's the quiet, invisible, almost like.   cobwebs in the back corner that if you are able to figure this out, fix it so it's not there, you're not just walking past it, hopefully your practice will be able to thrive. ⁓ So number one is just like, how long does it take to make decisions to move your practice forward? And delayed decisions, I remember one of my favorite quotes is, a wrong decision is better than like indecision. ⁓ Indecision actually impacts far greater than making a wrong decision and...   I remember I was at this really big financial conference and they were talking about how one of the presidents of the United States, I don't remember which one it was, came in and there was this big thing of who we're going and what different things they were going to do. And it had serious impact. And the president came in and made a decision. like, well, how do you know that's the right decision? He said, I don't. But what I know is us sitting in indecisions costing us more than making a wrong decision. And I've thought about that a lot of, I don't even think half of the decisions we make in a day and day out of a practice.   would impact millions of lives and different pieces. And yet I think we sit on them acting as if they are these big audacious decisions rather than just making a decision. And I think it also builds the decision-making bone in our body where it's like, okay, we just make decisions and we move forward. And I think empowering your team to be able to make those decisions without needing to come through you to make every decision. So for example, like delayed decisions on.   treatment sitting in unscheduled. like, are we calling on those people who's taking responsibility for that? Like, let's just get unscheduled treatment called in on a consistent basis. What about like billing and insurance errors and issues? What about lab cases not being tracked? What about our Invisalign and Ortho cases? What about team members where it's like, let's circle back later, let's circle back later. Like, just make the decision in the meeting and move forward and make sure we count about it.   What about like patients who need multiple touch points to commit and to say yes to treatment? Like, why did CareDent get so good at closing cases? Because I hated the follow-up. So it was always, and like, it's a two, two, two follow-up. But these like delayed decisions or who are we going to hire or what things do we need to have for this or what budget do we have? And I understand that being a business owner is like death by a thousand cuts. Like you just get pummeled with question day in and day out. So it's like.   Let's have set days where we make decisions and like, let's make the decision and move forward. All of us execute on it. Attraction by Gina Wickman is very big on, we come to the table to solve and make decisions and we move forward and we solve them forever. So I think when you have like practices, like this is just invisible friction that you don't realize is there, but it's all these things sit there like looming storm clouds because we're not moving forward. We're not getting them done. We're not actually executing on things. And then we have to,   follow back up and team members need to remember. And I'm just big on interaction they teach a lot about. We have our weekly leadership meetings and we solve the issues. Now, if there's something that's gonna take longer and doesn't need immediate care today, it can actually go on what's called a parking lot or long-term issues. And I think having this in your practice, having this as part of your cadence, if it doesn't need to have your decision today, get it moving, but stop the friction. And what we've seen is like,   When I have practices that start working on this and people have clear owners and we stop the decision fatigue and we stop having a lag in this treatment goes up, schedules get more full, tasks start to get resolved, team members feel like they get answers, doctors don't feel like there's so much sitting on their shoulders. And that's honestly just you moving things forward and having owners of it. So I also think of like when a treatment coordinator owns all of the unscheduled treatment and they own our   monthly goal and they own how many people are supposed to be in there, we increase our scheduling. Like I was your treatment coordinator. So we start getting more people on the books sooner. We start hitting our daily goals sooner. And I've got a cadence of if you don't schedule today, I call you in two days, two weeks, two months. And then I send you a letter. There's no question marks of how I follow up with these people. There's no like, well, call people, Kiera. No, like it's just a set process that we follow. And then we make sure that people are being accountable to that. I think it's just great. Like it's not changing anything. We're not having to bring in more patients. We're not having to change up.   Our marketing, like we just move things along without having the delay. So I think when you guys are sitting in meetings or you're looking at it, like look to see how can we make decisions sooner and solve things forever rather than sitting here and being like, well, we'll get back to that. We'll solve that later. We'll solve that later. Make the decisions, give the clear owners and move things forward. The other one is going to be ⁓ an invisible friction of I think energy and practices have this is crazy. When we walk into offices, we're able to quickly feel   Is this practice thriving or is this practice like truly just like hanging on by a thread or do people not like each other? And I think that emotional piece ⁓ definitely plays. so looking at like, how's our team culture and what things are causing a rift in the culture. So are we making our one-on-ones every single month to find out how team members are truly doing? Are we looking at like, is our schedule consistent to where people know they can get out on time? Or if that's not ⁓ a culture piece, like people just know we're here for two hours afterwards and that's just our culture.   but at least that expectation can be met. What about like where we can add emergency patients? So front office knows, clinical team knows we're not having this like front office, back office divide. What about when we come into a room, is it clear on how we have our procedures set up so that way every person's there we're not having popcorn? What about like doctors like staying on time and if you're not on time, like let's adjust the schedule and then start scheduling more appropriately so that way we're not constantly running into lunch, running behind in the day.   Making sure our patients have all their new patient paperwork Thinking about are we doing Friday five shout outs? Are we doing team? Shout outs where people are looking at each other and like really finding happiness. We're working with each other I think it's just like that energy usually the drains start to happen on energy and culture and it's just that invisible friction when We can't count on our schedule. We can't count on getting lunch. We can't count on getting out on time I remember I worked in a practice and we were quote-unquote off on Fridays   And I was the one who, we had a patient that was scheduled on Fridays, I would be the one who was the assistant to cover. And without fail, every Wednesday or Thursday, the doctor would be like, we'll just add you on Friday. And it used to drive me absolutely crazy. So much so that I went and I interviewed at another office, I got another job, and then Jason got accepted to pharmacy school. And I think about like, why, Kiera why did you get to that space where you were like so dissatisfied? And it was because I could never bank on   when I had time off, I wish that they would have just hired me for four and a half days every Friday I knew. And if like patients didn't schedule, I'd get a Friday off. That would have been better for me to schedule rather than the like hope wish hoping that I have Fridays off. Cause I'm told like, we don't work Fridays unless we schedule a patient. Well, I'm angry with you every single time. Now that you schedule a patient, I don't want to help that patient. Like I do, but I wanted that Friday off. Cause I thought, so how can we give that, ⁓ consistency, the clear expectations clear is kind in these instances.   How do we make sure like, where do we add those ER patients? Where do we have like correct pieces for setting up? What about our hygiene exams? Making sure those are clear. Make sure our patients show up so hygiene's not running behind. Like all these little micro stressors really just eat at your team to where people like myself want to go look for another job. And it's not because they don't enjoy their job. It's just because all these things eat at team members too. And so I think predictability oftentimes like helps people feel safe. I think about   me with Jason, Jason has a great job and it allows me the freedom to go and be a bit more creative and unpredictable in the company. But my team does not need to feel unpredictable. ⁓ I need to create a safe, secure environment. Otherwise team members feel that like, like I said, it's an invisible friction that just causes them to create risks. And so when you have offices that ⁓ really truly keep their numbers strong, like we have strong numbers, we're constant on our cashflow, we're hitting our metrics.   you actually reduce team turnover. And the reason why is because it's not compensation, it's this predictability, like we're solid. And also the business owner is more solid. I remember I did a podcast a long time ago with Dennis Advisors and they said, team members, the best thing you can want for your boss and your dentist is to be a very profitable, like productive practice because the doctor's not concerned about cashflow and there's more stability and continuity within the practice.   ⁓ And so, and also what it does is it helps us prepare our days. We're not like chasing, trying to hit our production goals and always doing add-ins. Like it's more solid. Now we still need to maintain that level of flexibility and adaptability because dentistry is not perfect. I think it's, can we get 80 % where we can bank on, I get lunches, I get out on time. Those are big things that are micro stressors for teams. so creates a calm team and stronger execution. So I think we could even ask our teams through anonymous surveys of what are the things that just cause like   rifts or tension or frustration. And then what are the things that bring you like great joy and satisfaction? I'm really big on when I ask these surveys, I want to hear about pain points, but I also want to hear about good. So that way we don't get rid of the good while trying to fix the pieces. Also, you can ask about it in one-on-ones like, hey, what causes the most amount of stress? What causes the most amount of joy? These things are going to help you then be able to fix those little pieces. And then I think like one of the last things of this invisible friction that I see in practices is   like when standards start to slip without noticing. So like our morning huddles start to get shortened, case presentation is like not as consistent or as thorough. We don't have as strong of financial conversations. We're so busy that we're not answering calls. We don't have training. We're hiring a bunch of new people. We're tolerating like a good enough practice rather than excellent standards. I have found that   I think to me that that's just like a car that's like breaking down. Like we're not fixing, we're not taking in for regular oil maintenance. We're not filling it up with the best gas. We're not fixing when things break to where it didn't happen overnight, but it was a slow shift to where I had this great car that I loved and I enjoyed being to where I look at this car and I don't even know where it is. And so I think it's a, let's not, let's not lose the clinical excellence. Let's not lose our standard of excellence because teams want to be part of excellence. And especially in healthcare, these things really matter. Like we,   We follow our morning huddles. We follow our leadership meetings. We have department trainings and meetings. We make sure that we are solid on our case presentation. We're solid on our phone call answering. We're solid on our scheduling. don't lose the maintenance on our clinical and our practice excellence because that's going to really, really, really create friction where you're going to lose great team members because they want to go work for the best. They want to be at the best practice. You want to be the thriving practice. That's great for culture, great for our clinical excellence and great for our   our leadership within the practice. Like that's what we want to be known for. That's what teams strive to be a part of. And so how can you make more of that? And I think like when we let these little things slip, we're also letting other things slip. And I think about like my new year's resolutions and how often do I just let that slip a little bit or how often do I let some of my like, you know, we'll get to it later. I think keep yourself to a high level of standards of excellence because otherwise you do start to decay as a practice.   ⁓ And I think patients feel that teams feel that and you accidentally start to erode your practice. So when we look at it, we can actually like once a quarter, could SWAT or maybe once a year we SWAT analysis. So our strengths, our weaknesses, our opportunities and our threats. And maybe on our weaknesses, like where have we gotten a little too comfortable in our practice? Where have we maybe let that standard of excellence drop and it's hurting our culture and it's creating this friction. Those would be a few things. And so when we look at this and we think back on where the invisible friction piece is happening,   How are our decisions and are we taking too long on making them? What is draining our team energy and how can we fix that? And then where have our standards slightly started to slip and we wanna catch those. So those would be some great questions to ask at a quarterly meeting. You can ask them at a team meeting. But looking at this to see like, this is going to be that invisible friction. And if we get those things moving and evolving, there could be other pieces, but I find these really hit hard in practices often. And so I think it's where...   like a car, we don't wait for it to be broken and screaming and we can't get to work. We fix it on when the service light turns on or we make sure we get our oil change on a regular basis or we get our tires rotated on a regular basis. We don't wait for the tire to explode or the car to run out of gas or oil. Instead, we do that proactively. And I think when you look at proactive practices and our advanced and elite practices,   They are constantly SWOT analyzing. are constantly looking down the line. We're constantly checking to see where are we slipping and we're keeping it simple. So we're not expanding, but we're keeping it very simple and we're cleaning out where is this friction happening? So we don't lose team members. We don't have a practice that was like once great and now has deteriorated. We're literally looking to like, how can we boost through this and have it? So I think like a lot of times it's not about like pushing harder for growth and that's how we're going to hit the next level.   A lot of times it's more about how can we make success easier to maintain and sustain. And when we look at it that way, we can avoid like get rid of this invisible friction. We can make sure the undertones of the practice are really lively. And I hope that, I hope you feel the vibe and the energy when you walk into your practice. Feel, it like everybody's a unit, everybody's together. Sometimes it's not, sometimes it's hard and every practice goes through this. So just want you to know, like it's not you, it's not paramount to you, but every single practice goes through hard times. Every single practice goes through   changes. I think when we look at these pieces, I just want you to remember it goes through that. I did talk to my team a little while and I said, I just want to take a moment to acknowledge something important. We're in a season of real growth. And I think acknowledging that and calling it out sometimes is very important. And I listed off a lot of pieces of like, hey, I know this might feel chaotic, but this is meaningful expansion and growth like this requires focus, flexibility, and teamwork.   Growth seasons can feel full and sometimes uncomfortable, not because something is wrong, but because we're stretching into the next level of who we're becoming. The direction we're heading is strong, intentional, and incredibly exciting. This phase is part of building something exceptional and magical, something that truly positively impacts the world in the greatest way possible. Thank you for adapting, staying flexible, supporting one another, and continuing to deliver incredible results for our client. I'm deeply confident where we're going, and I'm grateful to be building it with each of you.   And I bring that up because there was some invisible friction in our company. You could feel the energy was off. You could feel people were feeling like question marks. And I think as leaders, sometimes you might not even need to fix it. You just might need to give a clear direction of this is where we're going. This is the season we're in and things are in a good space. Other times it's because we do have decision lag. We do have draining energy. We do have standards that are slipping. So figure out what it is and then commit to, I'm gonna fix this before.   It breaks. I'm gonna pay attention to these warning signals like I do in my car and I'm gonna listen to them in my practice. And if you need help, maybe you aren't even aware that the warning signs are buzzing off and that's what we as consultants are able to do. We either help fix them as they're blowing off or catch them before they even become an issue. So reach out, let's take a look, let's listen to your practice because truly running a successful practice does not need to be hard. It does not need to be something where you're hoping and wishing that you're gonna have greatness. You actually know when it's more predictable. I believe that success   Should not be something where you're like is it gonna happen or not? Like your success is inevitable. Let's make it happen together So reach out Hello@TheDentalATeam.com or go to our website TheDentalATeam.com book a call I'd love to chat with you me too in person and as always commit to getting rid of that invisible friction commit to having the best practice It's gonna be great for you and your team and as always. Thanks for listening. I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team podcast

Re-releasing a DAT listener favorite! Morgan Hamon, president of HDA Accounting Group, is on the pod! HDA is a dental-specific accounting group, and knows dentistry inside and out. Kiera and Morgan discuss profit margins, benchmarks, and AR aging, plus why having good financials will help you make smarter decisions. A profitable practice is more helpful for patients, more secure for team members, and less stressed out in times of uncertainty. Don't run your practice blind; get a good CPA. About Morgan:  Morgan is a graduate of the University of Arizona school of business. Following graduation, he was commissioned as an officer in the United States Navy and served for over ten years as a Naval Aviator flying carrier-based F/A-18 Hornets. During that time, he deployed to Persian Gulf and flew combat missions over Iraq in support of Operation Southern Watch. He also served as a flight instructor and landing signal officer for newly winged Naval Aviators transitioning to the Hornet, training pilots in air-to-air combat and landing on aircraft carriers. After leaving the Navy, Morgan obtained a master's degree in accounting with a concentration in taxation from Metropolitan State University of Denver.  He is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and is the co-founder and President of HDA Accounting Group leading a large staff of professional accountants delivering a variety of financial accounting and tax services.   Morgan regularly conducts practice profitability advising for over 500 dentists nationally, helping them analyze their financial data and identifying strategies for profit improvement. 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 (00:33) Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera and you guys, I am so excited. It's always fun when I'm getting ready to start a podcast and the person on the other side of it is somebody that I have just idolized. I refer to their company all the time and then I'm like, oh my gosh, it's you. And that was what just happened with this guest. Today I'm bringing you guys Morgan Hamon He is the president of the HDA accounting group. So you guys know we have a lot of accounting groups that we work with at the Dental A Team. I'm really pro vetting them.   and finding out one of things I love about HDA is they literally have incredible forms for profitability of a practice. Also, watching all your different overhead and you guys know we're super, super pro. But something really fun about Morgan before we bring him on is that he is a graduate of the University of Arizona School of Business. So after that, he actually was commissioned as an officer in the United States Navy and served for over 10 years as a naval aviator flying carrier-based F-18 Hornets. So I'm dying to find out about that.   because he was deployed to the Persian Gulf and flew combat mission over Iraq in support of Operation Southern Watch. Insanely cool stuff. So not only are you a CPA and sometimes CPAs can be boring people. So the fact that you did this and I say that with love to all my CPAs, I was almost fired from a CPA firm once upon a time because I talk too much. So I'm super jazzed. So Morgan, welcome to the show today. How are you?   speaker-1 (01:51) Thanks, I'm doing well. Appreciate being here.   speaker-0 (01:53) Ha   ha, awesome, okay, so I brought you in. You are with HDA CPA, which is amazing. We have a client in Hawaii right now looking to work with you guys. Several of our clients work with you. you guys, I, Bailey, those are my top two CPAs, Profi, top three that I usually refer. So I'm super jazzed to have you on the podcast. But before we dive into like CPA stuff, which I'm always excited about because I feel as a business owner, that was where I was the most weak. And so I'm excited for you to share some tips and ideas. But tell us about flying.   being, you know, flying hornets, like just kind of give us a quick like one or two stories because I'm dying to hear about that.   speaker-1 (02:30) Sure. Yeah. So I like my family is all CPAs. My dad's a CPA brother, cousins. And I, that wasn't what I wanted to do growing up. You know, I wanted to be a fighter pilot. So I went off to college, Navy paid for it, which is a super deal. And then I, then I owed them some time after that, of course. off the flight school, um, did an operational tour.   and F-18s as a West Coast guy. And that's where we went over to Persian Gulf, over Iraq and all that. And ⁓ after that, I was an instructor pilot on the F-18. So that was definitely my favorite part of my service was teaching the young pilots how to actually use the F-18 as a weapon system and landed on the carrier, which was ⁓ probably obviously my favorite part of naval aviation.   pretty exhilarating. Could be incredibly stressful too, especially at nighttime. And I think there's definitely a few stories where I was just absolutely terrified because the weather was terrible. ⁓ There's nowhere else to land. The ship's rocking around and you literally have to figure it out or you're not gonna see the next day. And it's all gonna be happening in seven minutes. It's very...   So it really, grows you up really fast. And I think, you know, after close to 11 years, my wife and I were ready for, you know, a little more normalcy in our life. moved off to private industry. My wife's ⁓ a nurse. She's been in healthcare for 25 years. ⁓ But in terms like the, like what the Navy did for me and how I apply that to business is you,   learn to assimilate a lot of data, complex data, and hash out what you really need to know so you can execute in a very timely manner. there's a lot of noise. You learn how to disregard that and boil it down to some key action items that'll get you through the mission. And that's how I approach business ownership myself.   And I am definitely not the typical CPA. My value is not that I can no account, like I'm the best accountant in the world, not far from it. But I do know how to run a business and systemize. being a business leader is a completely separate skillset from being a clinician. And I see that, I get it. And the reports...   that you mentioned is those full color dashboard style reports that practice profitability analysis. That is straight from my Navy background. It just serve up what you need to know. Here it is. Here's the checklist, so to speak, so that you can make it happen. that's a bit of my background and where I came from. I co-founded HDA accounting group with my dad, in 2009. So we were the two owners for a long time. And then   for your listeners out there that perhaps use us, they'll know Courtney for sure. She's our tax partner. We made her a partner just over three years ago, which was probably one of the best decisions we ever made. She's wonderful. The clients love her. So there's three owners on one of them. And I spend the bulk of my time meeting new doctors, doing like what we're doing right now, and then spending time with our clients, trying to help them make money, make more money.   speaker-0 (06:10) For sure. That's fun. love that you shared. mean, thinking about trying to fly and land a plane, one that would be hard and then try to put it on a moving target and wish you luck. And if you don't make it, you're dead. And so just the, was like, wow, that's kind of like tax deadline, right? Like you're like so stressed and advanced to get there.   speaker-1 (06:29) It puts stress in perspective. Your hardest day in accounting, death is not on the table.   speaker-0 (06:31) I bet it does.   So   this might not be something you want to talk about so we can always cut this part of the podcast if need be Like were you ever really in combat or did you get a primarily be away from that? So thank you for your service. I'm just always curious. Like how was that?   speaker-1 (06:48) It was limited exposure. So back then when I was there, it was still operation Southern watch. So it was not full blown conflict. However, ⁓ they did not want us there. They would shoot at you. ⁓ they were scared to turn on their radars. So they would not typically engage with missiles, the more deadly type of anti-aircraft threat that we would face. They're too scared to turn them on because we would have ⁓   countermeasures to do with that. they would just, they would shoot like artillery at us. And so you would just, you could like barely see, you knew it was there and it was sort of concerning because you're a couple hundred miles in Tyrak. Like if anything happens, you're not going to receive a warm welcome, know, eject or something. So it was definitely had your attention. I remember that my first mission was at night. I was, you know, I had butterflies.   just because we're like all the almost all the way to Baghdad at night. You're on night vision goggles. It's a big strike package. Like the biggest thing I'd ever done before your aerial refueling over Kuwait, both inbound and outbound a lot going on. And, you know, while we're on this topic before these types of missions, you're in a brief for two to three hours ahead of time. There's a lot of moving parts, a lot of things you really need to know. But when you get in the jet,   you have a knee board card where you write stuff down, you have a strike packet, but you've got a very finite amount of time to put some notes. And that's where you get really good at cutting through the noise and putting down like this, no matter what, I need to know this. And that is how I approach the business. You know, with that report we prepare monthly, but also like when the COVID crisis went down last,   March. I think we all remember it very well. It was very scary and we didn't know what was going to happen. We're getting shut down. We got sent home. The dentist got completely shut down. So I, know, when, when you're stressed, one thing I learned in the Navy was you need to, to, they had a term for it, compartmentalization. You need to put that in a compartment and then   speaker-0 (08:53) Right.   speaker-1 (09:12) get out your compartment that is your training and what you know how to do. And you just got to focus on doing what needs to be done when it needs to be done. And so I started putting out content, I use constant contact to reach out to all our doctors and just giving them updates on the crisis saying, is all noise, concentrate on this, do this. Like PPP is coming on, this rapidly changing massive government program.   At the height of the crisis, I was putting those out maybe every third day. There were times when I was getting 40 to 50 emails an hour from clients. Yeah, everyone's like, what do I do? So I would hear from people, like my friends, they're like, oh, know, the COVID, you're getting like lots of house projects done. I said, no. I'm working 12 hours a   speaker-0 (09:55) I'm sure, because it was terrifying.   speaker-1 (10:11) I never worked harder. but that was, that was how I generated those newsletters was cut, through the noise, do these action items and then standby. so that was, I have a lot of very positive feedback on that. And I owe a lot of that just to my Navy experience, cause that's how we did things.   speaker-0 (10:31) That's such an interesting way Morgan of just kind of how you're combining your worlds. I mean, my undergrad was marriage and family therapy.   And then I now coach a bunch of dentists and I'm like, feel like half the time I'm talking to you about your personal life to help with your business.   speaker-1 (10:45) I'm sure that comes up.   speaker-0 (10:47) So I am curious though you talk about I love that you brought up the the examples and the conversation of That you had to just cut through and see the things that are the most important you have a two or three hour debriefing and you've really got to know your most important things because honestly Truly at that point in my opinion it is life and death and so I would imagine not that we're gonna have the same Comparison with a practice of life and death. Sometimes it can get that way. What do you feel are the most? important metrics or numbers or data   that a practice should be knowing you have all this accounting information, you work with hundreds of dentists. ⁓ Obviously I've got my opinions, but like this is where you're the expert on this. So tell me kind of what are the main key factors that if I could only watch so many items on my practice, what should I really be watching to make sure that I'm a successful practice?   speaker-1 (11:33) So first and foremost, the number that I think not every just practice owner, any business owner, what they need to know, I think at all times is what is their profit margin? And I hear stories from clients, you they're at Starbucks or whatever with their colleagues and they'll use someone else as an account firm and they'll ask their friend, what's your overhead on your practice? And they'll say, I don't know.   And they're horrifying. Like how could you not know what your overhead is? Totally. First and foremost, and just to clarify as a CPA, I think in terms of margin, sometimes dentists think in terms of overhead, we're kind of about the same number, you know, a 40 % margin, 60 % overhead. So you have to know your profit margin. And that's not just being greedy or just trying to count the dollars. If you think about a business, owning a business is difficult.   It's stressful. It's risky. All of our doctors signed a personal guarantee on probably a half million dollar note or thereabouts. If they bought the real estate, it could be a seven figure note. That's very stressful. if you're, and then you have employees, which is if we're going to talk current events and some frustrations, we could definitely talk about some staffing, but you have all these responsibilities and challenges and risks.   If the profit is not there, like why are you doing this? Why own a business if you do not receive the corresponding financial reward that should accompany taking that risk and taking on that workload? like profit margin hands down, you have to know that. Then you also, I think, need to know what's influencing profit margin. And that is the equation for profit margin, okay?   is total revenue, less expenses divided by total revenue. ⁓ So there's two sides of that, like revenue and expenses. So what impacts profit? Well, we can definitely look at the expense side. How much are we spending? Do we have any categories that are maybe, maybe we're overspending. So that's one thing to consider. other thing to consider is the revenue.   Are we collecting enough money? Totally. That can be influenced by your fee schedule. Inflation is real this year. to consider. But I think the bigger challenge specific to our industry, the private dental practices, is collections. If you do the production and that doesn't ultimately result in some timely collection, that is going to erode a profit margin very quickly.   So if profit is low, I I think people are predisposed to ask where my overspending totally what's preventing me from having that. And in my opinion, more often than not, it's because they're not collecting money. And we see that because like most CPA firms are pretty tax oriented. They want to do a tax return, maybe do some tax planning. The bookkeeping is sort of, as long as somebody does it and gives us a P and L we can, we can do, but that's not how we do. ⁓   certainly do tax planning and tax returns, but we have to have up-to-date data all year. And the intent of that is to, you if we have to have this data for taxes, why not use it along the way and make as much money as we can? So where I'm going with this is if you have a CPA who's fairly tax oriented, all of our clients and your clients, they have pass-through entities, whether that's an S-corp or partnership or sole proprietor. So they pay tax on their individual or joint personal tax return. That's done on a cash basis.   because of that, most CPAs, don't care about AR. Right. whatever's in dentrics or open dental, forget it. Like they don't care because it doesn't impact their world. Every month we ask for the total production collection. And I want to see what the AR aging looks like. Not that it has anything to do with, it'll never hit their books. It'll never hit their taxes, but it is on page one of our practice profit analysis because   If we're trying to diagnose a low profit margin, we have to know if the practices collected money and the AR aging is what's going to tell us. So that is it's profit margin. You got to know some expense benchmarks and you have to watch the AR aging. Those are the top three. ⁓   speaker-0 (16:03) Yep.   Mm-hmm. I totally agree and I love that you said that because ironically I just came back from a practice and they had multiple partners in there and I didn't feel like I was super savvy on business at all when I started I think most people who start businesses I didn't know what a KPI was I didn't know what overhead meant I didn't know and then I always was puzzled how I could be making quote-unquote so much money But I would never see any of this money and I think a lot of us get puzzled with that we say like well I'm running this much revenue   But why do I feel like I'm always broke or I don't have any money? I hear it constantly. And so I was just in a practice the other day because my first two years of business, I literally made less than a Starbucks barista and I was flying all the time. I would travel over 300 days a year. And I'm like, I'm fine to be a Starbucks barista. If I'm working half days, I'm home every day. I'm going to yoga every single day. Like I'm totally fine with that salary, but I'm working like 90 to a hundred hours a week. Plus I'm traveling. I'm destroying my body.   Like where is this money going? It doesn't make any sense. And so that's where I really got fascinated with overhead and really learning more about the business. But I was just at a practice, they have five partners and I asked all of them, said, what's your overhead? And none of them could tell me. And then they told me they're only checking their margins and their profitability about once a year. And I said, what? Like that is where I feel. And so was interesting because we were hired to come help their team and to help all these different pieces. And I thought, you know,   That's really interesting because they're having a hard time making decisions and agreeing because they don't have the dashboard of information that they need to have. And that's what I feel your KPIs, your overhead, having really, really good financials of a practice help you make smarter decisions. And that's what I'm about of we can make decisions all day long, but why fly blind? Like for you, like, let's go back to flying planes. You can fly a plane blind. You absolutely could. You're probably not going to get great results with it, but you could do it.   speaker-1 (18:09) be   a short, short duration.   speaker-0 (18:11) Right, which I also think is very equivalent to running a practice blind is it can be a very short duration and so watching those numbers I also think it gives you less stress as an owner It helps you be a better boss because you know, can I give this person a raise? Can we hire another person? Also, are we collecting the money doctors? Like if you're producing you should be collecting money for what you're doing I would hate to go do a job Morgan I'm sure you're the same way go do a job where I do the work, but I don't get paid to do the work that just feels   Insanity to me and so I love that you guys as a CPA firm Make sure that your practices know these numbers It's right in the line with what we do all of our clients have to know their numbers and if they don't know their numbers They're going to learn them very quickly because me as a consultant me as a coach I'm flying blind if I don't know what dials to turn you're constantly turning levers hoping to fix the problem But not ever addressing the problem at core   speaker-1 (19:02) I totally agree. And every time I have a visit with one of our doctors and I don't hold myself out there as a coach. But anytime we go over the practice profitability analysis, sometimes they'll sort of head that direction a little bit. ⁓ And because the answer, sometimes they can see the numbers, but they don't necessarily know how to tie it together. And so I try to have...   break it down into one or two action items. Because it is a dental practice owner, they really have finite time to work on their practice. They have their time as a clinician, time as the business leader, time as, should carve out some time to be the CEO. But there's finite time. So if we're gonna dedicate some of that valuable time to improve profit, I think they need to be given.   one or two key action items, use that valuable time on this, because it'll make a difference. sure. So that's, again, another added benefit of having some data is you can, I think, be more effective in your limited time.   speaker-0 (20:12) Agreed. And I will say that I love this because, I was like two years into being an owner before I even knew I should be looking at these things. Also, as an office manager, I did not know I should be looking at these items and that I could directly impact them as a team member. I didn't realize as a team member, I could be impacting overhead and that I could help with profitability of the practice because I will promise you, team members, a profitable practice does more things for their teams. They're able to help more patients and they're able to be more secure with their employees.   Those offices who are highly profitable were not stressing as much through COVID. Their teams were more secure. The offices who were not profitable, they were in hot water, they were scared, they were closing down doors, they were making very rash decisions. And so I think it just helps you keep, like you said, a more level head. So I think it's a big important step of number one, making sure you have a really good CPA and you can outgrow your CPAs. I talked to a lot of clients and sometimes they outgrow their CPA, maybe their friend, their neighbor.   Like guys, that's who I had. had a neighbor friend who was helping me at the beginning and I outgrew that CPA. They didn't know how to run a multi-level business with lots of different factors that I was bringing in. They'd never had a consulting client. And so making sure you work with a CPA who knows your world ⁓ is one of the biggest things that I would suggest. And it's hard because sometimes we go to church with them or we see them at the little league game. But I'm really big on if my CPA is going to give me my guide for my business.   I think it is my moral responsibility to make sure I have a CPA that I can trust, that gives me the correct information in a timely manner, and that way I can actually steer my business in the correct way versus just guessing all the time. So I don't think it's ever too late to get a really good CPA and to use that. And that's something I love about HDA. You guys have some of the most gorgeous reports. The reason I found out about you guys as a company is because one of my offices came to me with all the reports when I was asking these.   the items of how's your AR, how's your overhead? And they're like, actually, this is what my CPA gives me. And I was like, who is this company? And I literally like, I ripped your name off the top of their report and stuck it in my planner, like my little notebook that I had from the office. And I'm like, I need to look into this company. So that's how I actually found out about you guys. So I will say your reports are stunning. So Morgan, if people want to just even talk to you guys to see if you're a good fit for them, they're wanting to know more about their business, making sure they know how profitable they are.   How's the best way for them to connect with you? What do you guys do for Dennis?   speaker-1 (22:33) So I visit with all the dentists, you know, if they're looking to make a change, I'll do those personally. And they could either email me or on our website, there's like multiple places where they can set an initial consultation. I am a firm believer. So myself, my leadership team, all our calendars are public on our website. So there is no gatekeeper. If somebody has a question and wants to run it by me, for example, you know, once they're a client, they can email me.   very serious about email response, like same day. ⁓ Sometimes you need to talk those. Sometimes an email doesn't do it. So we have these 10 minute, 10, 20 minute appointment blocks that anybody can set anytime something's on their mind. So you can also do that with the initial consultation. Those come to me and I do those. So my email, it's just, it's easy. It's Morgan at Morgan@HDAGroupDental.com   speaker-0 (23:29) I'm   sure you guys got that that's H is in house D is in dental A is in Academy HDA So that way it's really clear of this company's name   speaker-1 (23:37) HDAGroupDental.com. That's also our website. So yeah, they could email me, jump on there, make an appointment. I can visit with them. What we specialize in, and this goes along with the discussion you just had on knowing your business, we're very disciplined in staying in a very narrow niche. Because I get asked all the time, why don't you, are you going to do a veterinarian and these other verticals? And the answer is absolutely not.   We know dental practices inside and out. And when you're looking through the soda straw, so to speak, in a very particular niche, we have deep knowledge just in this one industry. it puts us in a position to really be able to help our clients very quickly and very meaningfully. I can't imagine.   being a CPA in public practice where you just sort of have one of everything. I just can't think of a worse existence. So we're very disciplined and staying in our lane. It is private dental practice owners, those owner operator practices that that's who we support. And we have clients just about every state, know, and so we're real adept at working remote. Cool. And staying in touch and making sure that the clients know we're responsive to what's on their mind.   they need.   speaker-0 (24:57) That's amazing.   really love that. And just to clarify, guys, I did not know accounting world. I still don't feel like I do. So Morgan, correct me if I'm wrong, but there's bookkeeping, which kind of reconciles your books. Then there's your CPA who does like tax filing for you. They also make sure that you're within like you guys have it in the correct categories. And then you have your tax planning, which is a completely different world. And then you can also have a financial advisor as far as investments.   your 401ks, your trusts, your funds, all of that. Is that correct? Like, have I gotten?   speaker-1 (25:27) Yeah,   no, you've got it just right. it's actually a really good thing to discuss. And I talk about it on every time I meet a doctor, the first time I try to explain this very carefully. Because one question I'll get is, all right, it's whether it's our firm or anyone else. The question I will get is, so if HDA, if I decide that's a good fit and I come with you guys, who's my person? Yep.   And the answer is there is not one person you actually get three because one person can't do it all. So it starts just like you said, the bookkeeping, sometimes that gets called accounting too. It's really referring to the same thing. It is tracking all the dollars, doing all the reconciliations, preparing financial statements. But that is done. Every one of our clients gets assigned a staff account.   and we like to have a lot of permanence there as much as we can. So they just get to know the practice inside and out. We know where they're buying everything. ⁓ And so the coding's all very accurate and the clients get to know the staff account, but that's all gonna be transactional related. They're gonna do the reconciliations, prepare the work papers, assemble the practice profit analysis and deliver it. When the client has questions, like you mentioned earlier, why do I feel like I'm working myself to death and the bank balance is flat?   That is not going to be a question for the staff account. That's with me or Lauren Dunn, also a CPA, former auditor, really excellent account, better account than me. She's a fabulous account. So she and I do the practice profitability analysis calls and talk about the financials. Then as you pointed out, when it comes to tax, totally separate skillset. And at our firm, that's led by Courtney, our tax partner, our team of senior tax advisors.   And that they do both the tax returns and the tax planning. So those two are very separate, but they're done by the same folks because it requires that skillset. So the tax planning is absolutely the most challenging thing we do because as you know, revenue and expenses change every month. ⁓ It's a very equipment heavy industry. So somebody finally pulls the trigger on that Sarek machine they've been thinking about in November.   speaker-0 (27:35) Yep.   speaker-1 (27:45) That can change things overnight in a hurry. So we look at everybody's tax situation quarterly. And in quarter one, we don't really know what's going to happen during the year. If I could pick accurately choose every peak and valley. A lot of money. a client's revenue curve, I wouldn't be a CPA. I would day trade.   speaker-0 (28:03) On a-   I would too.   speaker-1 (28:11) But what we can do is just take a look, a reasonable look, how's the practice doing at this point? And what is a reasonable estimate that we could make to keep people on track, avoid those under deposit penalties. So that's quarter one and quarter two. Quarter three, which we're just wrapping up now, and then quarter four, that is where we have much more hard data, where we can do some more accurate forecasting.   to see where we are and then just make sure we're checking the box on all those tax strategies. We don't want to leave any money on the table unnecessarily, but we want to make sure everybody's prepared. So we're having those discussions now. We're letting people know now what we think the 2021 tax liability is going to be like seven months in advance. So there's lots of time to plan. It's never awesome news. Every successful practice.   you're going to have some type of effective tax rate no matter who you are. And if you're making big money, know, those can be big numbers. ⁓ We do what we can to mitigate that as an avoid as much tax as possible. But at end of the day, we still got to do some planning ahead. that's tax planning. And then when it gets into the business coaching and consulting that is outside of our   area of expertise and into yours. If it is financial planning, we don't do the financial planning that goes into a separate ⁓ level of expertise. That's very helpful. Yeah, we're all part of the team of advisors, but the monthly accounting, the profitability advising, and the tax and tax planning, that's our world.   speaker-0 (29:48) Fantastic because I wanted and I'm so grateful you broke this down because I will be honest when I thought I hired a CPA I thought they did everything and I think that's a very common misconception I didn't realize there were four people to this just like I learned with marketing. There's not just a marketer There is a brand or there is this there's this there's like SEO and I thought wow, I just didn't understand So I think it's really important for people to differentiate because I was getting frustrated with my CPA not giving me tax advice But at the end of the day, that's not what they specialize in   So as soon as I figured that out, because I'm like, why am I always feeling like I'm being hit with these huge tax bills? Because my CPA can tell me what my taxes are, and they're really good at preparing that. But as far as tax strategy and planning and figuring it all out, that's not necessarily their world. And so once I finally differentiated that, they all work hand in hand, things got a lot clearer for me as a business owner. So guys, make sure you're looking at that. Do you have somebody who's a really fantastic bookkeeper keeping all your books super clear?   Do have somebody who you can talk to about like, I don't feel like I'm making any money. Are you getting consistent reports every single month? I am a big believer in Morgan. sounds like you're the same way. Every month I feel like you should be getting your financials. Then do you have somebody who's doing your tax strategy? I used to somebody call me in November and tell me what my tax bill was or beginning of December. Like November was generous. It usually was the first week of December and I'd cry my eyes out every single year. Just because I'm like, how did we not prepare for this? We've had, you know, 11 months and now we're on month 12.   speaker-1 (30:57) Absolutely.   speaker-0 (31:15) It was very stressful for me as an entrepreneur and a business owner. So I love that you said you guys do tax planning earlier. I'm a big believer, like you're right, it's gonna fluctuate, but at least kind of having a plan starting mid-year, then touching base right before Q4, because there's a lot of things that can be done and I can make smarter decisions with more time and then moving into financial planning. So that was insanely helpful. I love the reports you guys do. I'm a huge advocate of the reports you guys do. I think they're gorgeous and they're so helpful.   So guys, would definitely recommend, if you like your CPA, rock on, keep them. Like I said, I have about three that we recommend and HDA is one of them. So if you're considering it, I think it's a great time. We're not into Q4 yet. And so it's a great time. Now is a time that you can change, get those things kind of squared away. That way you have really great, great just direction and guidance. So Morgan, it was such a fun conversation with you today. Thank you for podcasting with me. Thanks for your knowledge. love it.   speaker-1 (32:09) I really enjoyed it. We covered a lot of good stuff.   speaker-0 (32:12) We did. So guys, go check them out. And if nothing else, make sure you know your practice profitability. I'd say if you don't know that set that as a 2021 or 2022 goal, because the sooner you have that information, even if it's bad, that's okay. cause then you can start making correct changes. If it's great, fantastic. You can make ⁓ even smarter decisions. So I would just challenge everyone listening. If you're an office manager and you don't know your practice profitability, find out.   That way you can help. really suggest team members should also know office overhead. That way they know how they can help guide it and it's not just one person trying to do it. So Morgan, it was a pleasure guys. Go check him out. HDA accounting group. Check him out. They specialize in dentists. They work in all the states. So Morgan, thank you for your time today. I super appreciate it.   speaker-1 (32:53) It was my pleasure. I really enjoyed being here. Thank you.   Kiera Dent (32:55) 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.

Kiera is a guest on The Zero Balance Podcast with John Stamper! She and John discuss the advancement of software over the past few years, and why the current culmination — artificial intelligence — isn't something to be skittish around in 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 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.   John (00:19) What's going on everybody. Welcome to another episode here on The ZeroBalance podcast brought to you by the team at Quanta Suite. Very excited to keep this thing going. Uh, our last conversations and episodes crazy to think it's 2026 already were at the Dykma conference. And I had the privilege of spending time, not only with the Quanta Suite team, but also a lot of great individuals that came on the podcast and talked about what they were seeing in that case, it was in the DSO space. Uh, I'm very excited today to   be with Kiera Dent from the Dental A team. I've known Kiera for many years. We were actually just talking before we came on here live. ⁓ she is doing a lot along with her team to help dental practices, take things to the next level. she's been in dental for many, many years. And so we're going to have a conversation today, ⁓ kind of around all things AI and automation and love to have her, you know, kind of share with all of you what she's seeing, you know, her and her team are working with dental practices on a daily basis. And obviously, you know, the Qantas suite team is, is creating.   their software in an effort to be able to support practices in the RCM world. But Kiera, it's such great to have you here. How you doing?   Kiera (01:26) Oh my gosh, John, it's great to see you again. And I love chatting about all things dentistry. I love having the last name dent. I love dental. love AI. love, um, it's crazy. Dental A Team hits 10 years old this year, which is like absolutely wild. Uh, 2026, I was getting ready to, know, writing my goals out and I was like, Oh my gosh, I turned 40. My husband turns 40. We've been married for 15 years and Dental A Team hits 10 years this year. So   ⁓ and I bring that up only because like, it's like a trifecta of a cool year for me. ⁓ but I think as you were discussing, like being in dental consulting for 10 years, having worked in front office teams, having worked at a dental college, having owned dental practices, having bought and sold, having consulted like 300 plus offices physically, ⁓ watching the DSO emerge, watching AI come in. I just think it's really like such a fun time for us to be in dentistry and so many great advancements and, yeah.   In Dental A Team, we are obsessed with doctors and teams, like getting them aligned, getting them streamlined, helping dentists be like CEOs and owners of their practices. We love ⁓ Josh, we love what he's building in DCS and now in Qantas. We think that they're doing some really fun, incredible things. And Dental A Team, we're just really big on, I think, streamlining dental practices, helping them say yes to more things. So getting them in their vision, getting financially free and profitable.   and then getting systems and team development to support that. And AI is definitely being a big player. And I think dentistry is, it's so fun because it's been such a, like, I think slow roll on evolution in certain ways. Sometimes I think we are very archaic. My husband's in healthcare and medicine and he's like, wait, that's your guys' software. I'm like, don't judge. I know it's a little dated. He's like, they didn't even have that when I started my career 15 years ago. ⁓ But I think,   to watch dentistry evolve into AI and automations and different things. I think we are in such a special time. So yeah, we work with solo practices. We work with multi practices. We work with emerging DSOs. We work with DSOs. We've got consulting for kind of a broad spectrum and kind of our sweet side, like two to five to $10 million practice. ⁓ We definitely have built a lot of things that can help multi offices, but yeah, we really love those offices that are obsessed about team, about culture and about.   just positively impacting the world of dentistry in the greatest way possible. So John, super excited to talk about it. I feel like we just have like so much knowledge to bring to the table and just rift and discuss and give your listeners hopefully a fresh, fun, positive perspective on the world of AI dentistry and of course bringing team and doctor perspectives to the table for you today.   John (04:03) Well, thanks for sharing that. you can see, everybody, Kiera comes with a ton of energy, but it is rooted, as she mentioned, in years of experience in this industry. And here's where I wanted to start, Kiera. So I want to go back maybe like five or six years in dentistry when there was a lot of new software platforms that were coming to dentistry, patient engagement, right? It was like this big giant party and a lot of practices were excited. You may remember though, as someone that works directly with the dental practices with as much   excitement as there was there also was a little bit of overwhelm right because it's like where do we start like how do we build these in and it's funny that you talk about your husband because yes in dentistry these are all somewhat kind of new to the industry and so practices are figuring how to use them and I do feel like okay maybe a couple years ago with like firms like yourself that have really helped these practices figure out how to utilize them they got that under their belt and then   here comes AI, right? And here comes this whole new way for these practices to be able to communicate, you know, task orient and all that stuff. So that's kind of the first place I'd like to start is that when you look at the work that you do now with the dental practices and I say the word AI, where is everybody's heads?   Kiera (05:13) Yeah. and agreed. I think, I think that this is just evolution of business. Like if I were to like even simplify it down, I think dentistry has been so much like we drill teeth, we fill teeth, but I'm like, guys, we have evolved. We don't do wooden teeth anymore. we've evolved and now there's laser and there's PRF and there's more advancements to dentistry that we do. Like I have a practice, I call them my PRF powerhouse and they've added PRF to their practices and we've added multi-millions to their office.   But like, yes, financially, that's been amazing, but their patient care has gone up so much, like the amount of results we're seeing. so when people are like, software's AIs, I'm like, hold on. You have evolved in your dentistry and you've seen how much it's evolved and how much better it is. I mean, the way we used to do crowns compared to how we do crowns, we can do same day crowns. We look at how we do ortho. We look at the different like skill sets that we've been able to add in. I feel like AI is the same thing. And I think when we get a little skittish, that's actually where I feel like we're   at more danger of a society. as I don't want to use the word old John, but I'm like, Hey, if you're not going to innovate and like you're going to die. there's innovate or die. We've got to grow and evolve or we're going to be left behind. And I mean, I think we see that with certain practices who elected no, no, John, I'm not going to have online and online. No, they're going to see my sign. They're going to drive by. This is how I'm going to be. Well, if you don't have an online presence today,   you're pretty much not visible anywhere in the world. No, no, no, John, I'm not going to do Google reviews. I don't need to do Google reviews. Well, Google reviews are how people find you. And now it's becoming AEO where AI is actually now searching for offices. I mean, we just did a trip to Iceland and where did I go? Chat GPT. And where's my next place I go? I go to Instagram, TikTok. What are the best places to go? No, John, I don't need to be on social media. We don't need to have that presence. We have our marketing. We send postcards.   Well, if you're not on Instagram, people are going there now. They go check your Google reviews and then go check your online profile. So I think for dentists to maybe recognize that high five, like you actually have evolved over the last several years. You've evolved. You are morphing and as businesses, it is an innovation or it is a die. And so when we talk about AI, AI is going to be awesome. You guys, AI was created. Like I think so much of the reason it took off is because we had 2020, we shut down.   Then we went through 2021 of the great resignation. We could not find people. You want to talk about hygiene shortages? Well, great. Now we're able to bring in people and you're like, but AI is not going to replace hygiene. Correct. But AI is actually helping with perio charting and different pieces that we're able to utilize. It's cutting down our costs that we're able to have on some of the billing and the revenue cycle management that we actually have alleviated funds to be able to pay the higher costs of hygiene that's offsetting. So our businesses can still be profitable. So when I look at it from a business,   I think guys, welcome to 2026, welcome to AI and get excited about it. And rather than being afraid of it, let's start to embrace and you don't have to be the earliest adopter, but I will say similar to like, I'm not going to join the internet. I'm not going to have Google reviews. I'm not going to do Instagram. We have watched that those who wait too long, I'm not going to do online payments. John, that's my favorite. Like we still expect checks. I don't even know how to write a check guys. Like truly I'm like, who accepts checks? ⁓   But things like that are so dated and so cumbersome compared to how the world's evolving that you are niching yourself more and more, more to less and less and less of a patient base. And if that's your exit strategy, rock on, it's a great one. But if you're not on the exit strategy, you definitely need to get on board with AI. And I think like we have a practice in Maryland, she's a pediatric practice and she's like, we call it AI Amy. And well, yes, our team gets annoyed with ⁓ AI Amy. They've trained an AI bot to be able to schedule for these   DC parents that want to make appointments at all hours of the day and they want to talk to someone. AI Amy schedules and guess what? AI Amy schedules about 75 % correctly and the team's annoyed and the doctor's like, you never get to be mad at AI Amy because that was 75 % of patients that we didn't even have to schedule. 25 % were a miss. Perfect. But that was 25 % out of 75, like a hundred percent. We, that's a quarter. We've literally cut down our space. And so I think when it's looking at   scheduling tools, revenue cycle management, ⁓ looking at how we use it for hygiene. Doctors like using Pearl or ⁓ Overjet to help with diagnosis. Case acceptance is going up. And while it's not perfect today, I think getting in the language, getting in the familiarity so you don't accidentally get too dated, AI is going to take off faster than anything else. If you're not on chat GPT, if you're not utilizing it for things, it cuts down man hours and people are like, but I don't want people to lose jobs. And I'm like,   You're not, we're elevating, we're lifting up our practice and we're morphing into where the world and society is going and your practice and your patients will thrive because of it. So that's my take. And I know I kind of went on a soapbox for you, John, but I think doctors need to realize it's not as scary as I think maybe some of them are looking. ⁓ It's something we've always done. It just looks different today.   John (10:22) Well, I'm glad you shared all that because I've been talking with people a lot lately and I feel like in unknown times or times where many of us don't know kind of where things are going to be, it really calls for leadership. And I think that's what's important. I think that's what you shared. think that practices are looking for people like yourself and others that are living this. They've dove into it. They're embracing it. They're learning how to get the maximum out of it. And so I glad you shared that. All right. So that's the first piece, right? That's kind of like the overwhelming the tech.   you mentioned a little bit about revenue cycle management and I wanted to get your thoughts as well on this other thing that dental practices are facing which is patients now come in and are having the same type of expectation of the experience on the business side of the practice, their billing and their payments and all of that, that we have with other businesses that we work with.   And so now a dental practice is getting questions as you know so well, like, okay, like am I gonna be able to pay easy? Are we gonna be able to track all this easy? Because that's how we do it with other businesses. And now all of sudden the dental practices have had to wake up and they have to make sure that that part of their practice is also, you know, automated and where it needs to be. So love to have your thoughts on that part as well.   Kiera (11:37) Yeah, and John, just to piggyback of where you were talking about dentists getting on board, I will just plug, and this is why we built an in-person mastermind, is because I recognize dentists feel like they're on isolated islands. And when you can get around really smart, you are the equivalent, proximity is power. And so getting around dentists that are not afraid of this, being in groups, listening to podcasts like this, if we can serve on that, rock on, I'm happy to do that. I would just encourage you to...   surround yourself with smart people that are getting involved in this and people that push you out of your comfort zone. People that have voices that are maybe not the same of what you normally listen to. Like if you're always listening to Fox News, maybe listen to CNN or if you're listening to CNN, then go to Fox. Like you need to hear opposing opinions on this. And I would just really encourage people to be a part of innovation rather than being destroyed by innovation would be my recommendation. And then going into this patient payment.   John, it makes me laugh because dentistry and I did a podcast, I should go find it. was several years ago and I'm like, why is dentistry on payments? Like we're in the 1800s, like put it on my tab. I'm like, what is going on in dentistry? Like nowhere else do you go and you're like, got my groceries, but could you put that on my tab, John? Yeah. Yeah. But yet in dentistry, we're like, yeah, we'll bill insurance and then we'll charge you for that. What are we doing? And I just think like,   Our revenue cycle management in dentistry is so dated and archaic that I'm like, ladies and gents, it's an amazing way for you to make a lot more money with a lot less effort if you just update a little bit on your revenue cycle management. Like we are so archaic ⁓ and dental insurances are using AI. Like why do you think Pearl and Overjet exist? Well, you better believe that the insurance companies are ripping that too. They're using AI to see their claims.   ⁓ so with payments and patients, do think like patients are expecting us to have online scheduling. They're expecting us to have easy ways to pay. mean, I've even seen some dental offices that take payments in Bitcoin and I'm not here to say you need to go clear to Bitcoin or like some extremes, but I do think that there's this evolution of, I don't want to wait a long time. I don't want to have weird payment things. want to people like John, I think it used to be the society where we worked eight to five.   We left our work at home. didn't have computer or at work. We didn't have computers. Our phone was a landline. It would shut off and we were home. That does not exist anymore. So most of the time I feel like our eight to five is our quiet time at work. And then after hours we're like, ⁓ I need to pay for this and I need to take care of this appointment and I need to schedule the kids for this. And we do that while we're sitting in bed scrolling through Instagram and like, shoot, I need to make that payment.   I feel dental practices, they have such an amazing opportunity if they will update and use more modern, I would say, like it's not even AI guys. We're just talking about getting onto the playing field. If you would do that, I have watched practices that implement these processes, their AR, their collections, their profitability are exponentially more, I would say consistent and constant as much as...   as opposed to being like inconsistent and fluctuating like they were in the past, because patients can pay all the time. Patients can send things forward. And I do think like, yes, dentistry people want that good old home, like girl and dentists that like takes care of them. But I think a lot of times the way you've evolved with technology also helps people see how have you evolved in your dentistry as well. I do not want to go to somebody who's still paper charts. I get concerned about   Are we up to speed on our current things? That's so foreign to me. No one else does that anymore that I think we to be careful that we don't accidentally date our dentistry by not being up to speed on our payments as well.   John (15:27) So you just built the bridge to the next thing I was going to ask you, right? So we talked a little bit about technology and embracing it, the patient experience and what they expect. And then this final thing is the perception of the patient in looking at the practice and the technology that the practice invests in. And again, 10, 15 years ago, when maybe dentistry was not as proactive and patients were just going to the practice. Now practices are, it's more competitive. There's more practices in every city, many across the country.   And so with that becomes this image that you portray to the patient and your business that you are making those investments to stay up to speed to be able to provide those types of services. And so talk about that a little bit. And I think that   for many dental practices, like for many of us that are entrepreneurs, like we've lived in this ROI world, right? If you ever were someone that had to raise cash or capital, you get those questions. And from a dental practice perspective, right? It's like, okay, we're going to make this investment in technology and rightfully so. What's the ROI on this? And I do think, and I loved your thoughts on this, that companies are doing such a better job of being able to paint that picture of, okay, you're going to make this investment. You're going to put this technology in the practice. It's going to make your patient experience better. But here is going to be   the return on investment, you are going to unlock a lot of your AR that's out there, make things easier for your patients. So talk about that a little bit.   Kiera (16:50) Yeah. I'll just get like paint a story of a practice. So there's a practice in Texas and this practice is amazing. Like they truly have a castle of an office. am blown away at how stunning this practice is. They are up to par on all the latest technology. They do a lot of these items in their practice, but what they were doing was the patient came in. So the waiting room was beautiful and they would just walk the patient straight back to the back.   Now this is a practice who's been around multi-generations of dentistry. They do service in other places. They have a state of the art lab they do in-house. Like it is a practice that should be showcased and they were struggling and their revenue was down and we went in person with this office and we consulted their team and we taught them like, we're going to have you guys take them on a patient tour. like, this is a pretty large team. think there's about 35, 40 people and we like made them role play walking through this practice and showcasing.   this ROI items that they've put into it. I you guys are using this, but do your patients actually know that you're doing it? So we do this, we implement it, we track a few things with them. Fast forward two, three months post visit, their reviews exponentially went up, their new patient counts went up, their revenue, they had their highest revenue number they had ever had and their culture of their team was happier. And I was like, I don't think I can sit here and say it's a coincidence. So like the patients love the tour.   Like they love seeing this practice. They love seeing what's going on. And what is as is it just gives confidence. And I say, John, if you and I were to go to ⁓ a surgeon, right? I'm going to want to know that that surgeon is the best freaking surgeon and that I'm going to put my confidence in them because I only have one arm, one hand, one leg, one neck. We'll have one set of teeth too. And so helping patients get the perception of who you are as a dentist and showcasing, I have seen like I've worked in hundreds of practices.   And some of my best offices do not showcase like they're the best and perception is a lot. Now there's some practices who actually are not great dentists and they showcase like they're amazing. And so you've got to make sure that who you are is what you're doing. But the ROI, and I wanted to showcase that practice, they have invested in a lot of this technology. They have invested in advancing their practice and it shows and they're able to show their patients. And we had direct correlation of higher reviews, higher new patients and higher production. And so I think.   Just that example, and this was done just a couple of months ago. We were out there in September and in December they had their highest month. So it wasn't a long-term ROI churn. It was very quick. so I think in general, medicine has evolved. think across the board, we're talking healthcare as a whole has leveled up. They uptick higher. Patients are expecting more. I mean, we go anywhere and technology is higher. You go to the movie theater, you go to the restaurants.   everything has upleveled. And if you and your practice are not up leveling, and I don't think it's hard for dentistry, I'm like, you guys already have a 3d printer or you already have a scanner or you already are taking digital x-rays. Just tell your patients, you do this showcase it around because I think the, the fallacy that you might fall into is like, but patients are just loyal to me. I think I to be careful because there's so much online noise that while a patient might love you,   they're seeing other offices that might accidentally take away your patients and they're doing it. Like it annoys me, John. I have a patient sitting in my chair and like, yeah, I just went to Dr. Thompson down the street from my ortho. I'm like, so we do ortho here, but they didn't know we did it. And so don't accidentally not showcase your work and showcase how great you are and how up to par you are that you're accidentally losing patients that are silent levers of your practice. ⁓ because you didn't showcase how great you were and let your patients know what you actually do.   I think that's the trap and the opportunity if you take it to be able to keep your patients with you and keep them happier with you when there's still noise and chatter because they know they're at the best practice that's investing and elevating and giving them the best patient care they possibly can have.   John (20:52) Yeah, I've been thinking about that a lot lately, just this kind of invisible credibility that comes with what you just talked about, which is when a business, in this case, a dental practice is making the investment in these newer technologies. A lot of times as patients, we don't say it, but we know, like you said, you walk into a practice and you see there's in your own life, you know what it took to remodel your house or to get a new car or whatever the case may be of the things that are important to you. And so I think more and more patients know   and understand what a dental practice or a business has to go through when they up their game. I believe that you get a lot of credibility out of that, right? Versus maybe the one that doesn't do that. Maybe the thought becomes whether it's real or not. Hey, why aren't they doing that? Like are things not good here? Like, do I have something to be concerned about? And in many cases, perception is reality. And again,   It's going to run through to patient care. We all know that. think the last thing I wanted to get your thoughts on, and you talked a little bit about earlier was AI in the sense of case acceptance because you know, you and I both have been in this industry for many years and have watched all the courses that dentists and hygienists and dental assistants have had to take on how to present good treatment and get case acceptance.   and we've watched them struggle for many years, Kiera, and then all of a sudden we have these newer technologies where you can show the patient where the work needs to be done in their mouth. And it's crazy, right? All of a sudden, I'm like, wow, that's me? That's where I have to get work done? the dentist is like, I've been telling you this for like, why didn't you just believe me? And in front of our eyes, this technology is now instilling confidence in the patients. And ultimately, it's a win for everybody.   Kiera (22:36) Yeah, think it's such a beautiful time for dentistry right now because we've been living in shades of gray for so many years. We advanced from like little tiny thumbnail ⁓ x-rays to on the screen x-rays that are still in gray to now having AI that can show patients exactly what's going on. And it's colored and it's showing them and it's giving measurements. And I think like what an amazing opportunity for you.   to use tools at your fingertips where you're not having to try to convince a patient of like, can you kind of see this like little gray box within this like other gray box that they truly cannot see? To now, this is what we're seeing. This is how it is. And to still give the doctors the liberty to be diagnosing. I know some have said that like AI is so aggressive on it. And I'm like, you don't have to diagnose that, but you now have a tool that's going to at least highlight. And I think dentists, you're so busy. You're running from exam to exam to exam. You have something.   that can look for all these things, prep it. You can train your eye. You can tee up all your associates that come in. Your hygiene team can learn collectively and your patient now has visible proof. It's like the, and I know dentists hate being compared to mechanics and I'm very sorry. I think it's just such a good like analogy. I go, you know, right? Like I go to the mechanic and like, here, you need new breaks. And I'm like, but do I really? Cause I've been scammed so many times patients like, do I really need a crown? John? Like, are you sure?   John (23:50) analogy I say because   Kiera (24:02) And we have taken that guesswork of, you sure? To being able to show them with black and white proof to where they're bought into it. They know they're not being scammed by you. They can see it with their own eyes and they're much more likely to accept treatment. I say, like confidence is what people are buying when they're saying yes to dentistry. Confidence is what increases your case acceptance. And this is a layer of confidence for you as the dentist, for your patients to see, for your team to all speak the same language.   care if AI is over diagnosing, don't over diagnose. You are still the doctor. Like this is just a tool in your tool belt. But I think it's something that hands down, I am so pro using it. I'm like, doctors also be so vigilant because insurances are denying claims based on the same software. Like they're using AI as well. So you might as well be in the game with them to see what they're seeing, to learn, to educate AI. So you're a part of it.   They use AI in medicine all the time. They use AI overlays on their x-rays that I'm like, yes, I get that it's not perfect. Yes, I get that it's clunky, but gosh, it's a freaking good tool that I would strongly advise you trying out, getting to know, using and learning. Even if it just helps you. I think about it. If I'm able to get 1 % more on case acceptance, go look at everything you're diagnosing. Usually that's a pretty good uptick, but not even just on your bottom line, but on the amount of patients you're able to help and serve. ⁓ why not?   Like what, what are you holding back on? I would just say, don't be afraid. Like just get in the game because you'll learn it's a lot better for you than it is scary. And there's a lot more good than there is harm.   John (25:39) Yeah, no question. Well, here's how I want to bring us home. You work with a lot of dental companies and I believe that this gap that I've seen for years between like the companies that are bringing the technologies to the dental practices and the practices themselves, it's exciting to kind of watch that gap close, right? Like I'm seeing more and more companies kind of listen and say, hey, what problems are you having? How can we utilize our resources to help you solve these problems? And you know,   We talked a little bit about at the onset, you know, the relationship that you have with Josh and DCS or whatever. And what's exciting is that you have companies that are starting, ⁓ and doing and solving one problem and then taking a lot of that feedback and then creating, you know, in this case, another technology platform and an effort to kind of elevate that problem. I mean, to be able to solve that problem with their solutions. What's that been like, right? Like talk a little bit about when you watch these companies evolve and continue to listen to the dental practice and bring these technologies to help these practices.   practices up their games.   Kiera (26:41) Oh, I think it's amazing. Actually. I am such a pro. Like I'm on a couple of different boards as well. And I think it's something where when I look at it, I'm like, why are these people doing it? And it's because we love dentistry. Like I look at Dental A Team team and what I used to consult versus what we consult now, like there's DSO, there's different needs than what a solo practitioner has. And so Dental A Team evolved and we became something of what are we going to do to serve the DSO thing and still be able to give back.   What is Josh with DCS? Like we heard this, we saw the need and we built something to help on that other avenue. To me, I think like, how awesome is it that you have people that are in the weeds, in the trenches have been here? I mean, I've got a decade of consulting, not to mention my like five years prior to that of assisting and all the other things prior to before that, like five more years. Like there's so much, like you have people that are so embedded in dentistry and they've seen the evolutions.   that they're willing to come forward. They're willing to execute. They're willing to stamp. They're willing to work hard to evolve these products and softwares to give back to you. And I think like people who are deeply rooted in dentistry, building these products, they're the best ones. Like I watched Modento, which I'll just give them. Like they were built by a hygienist and a dentist, and they were able to be one of the best softwares when they first started that I've ever seen. I'm like, I could tell this was built by people that got it. And so watching DCS like,   They get it. They're in the trenches. They've been watching this. They know what they're doing and they're moving it forward. We've been watching offices. We've been working with DSOs. We see what the nuances are and we build and create stuff to serve the dentist. Gosh, I just think it's magic and I think it's beautiful. And I think like, how lucky are we to be in these spaces to have people that have had enough time in the industry to know what the next layer is that you need before you even know. It feels like Henry Ford to me in a little bit like,   They said, if I give the people what they want, they'll want a faster horse. But if I give them what they need, it will be a car. And they don't even know that they need that yet. And I think that that's where we're evolving is being able to anticipate the needs of what offices need prior to them even realizing it's a need. And that to me is like just epic and incredible of a society and a community that really wants to give back and serve and make dentistry the best it can be.   John (28:55) Well, and who would have ever thought that a dental company would take the time to create a podcast like this, the zero bounce podcast, right? As a way to continue to add value and of course, invite amazing guests like yourself. I can tell everybody. I remember, I don't know how many podcast episodes Kiera has done, you know, in the past over many years. I remember the actual weekend that she was building and putting up those black panels behind her. ⁓ and so it's like, you know, you're, you're, you're definitely   listen to someone, you know, when you talk about someone that has rolled up their sleeves and dug in an effort to move dentistry forward, Kiera, you certainly have done that. And, ⁓ I know the DCS and Quanta Team really, really appreciate you taking the time out of your busy schedule to show your passion. And I think more importantly, help dental practices bridging a lot of these technologies and how to implement them. So any final thoughts as we wrap.   Kiera (29:47) Yeah, well, huge appreciation, John. And thank you for helping me with the background, because I definitely asked for you and your help and your insights. So appreciate that. I love it. Thank you. But I think, again, it's an evolution. And I would just say AI is going to be awesome. And there's going to be glitches, and there's going to be problems with anything. But I think the more we can embrace and we can innovate, we're either going to innovate or we're going to die. And we're going to be either on the path forward or we're going to be left behind.   John (29:55) So good.   Kiera (30:14) I think, Denissure, we have such a beautiful gift to give people confidence and clarity and smiles and health that no other profession is able to do. So I think it's just a moral charge for each of you to look to see where is maybe one area of AI or advancement that I'm willing to step into this year. So I commit to not getting dated. ⁓ And I think DCS and the Qantas team are a great place to start. think on our side, if there's anything we can do with team, with consulting, with...   like shoot, hate doing this. I don't want to go rally my team. Great. We love to do that. We do the part that no one likes to do just like DCS. They do the part of billing that no one likes to do. ⁓ I think we like do the dirty work of dentistry, but we love it we have a passion for it. So if we can help them serve in any way, TheDentalATeam.com Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. ⁓ huge partners of DCS and have referred many people to them over the years and just excited for what they're doing. So be excited guys. We live in the best times. We live in the most innovative times. And I think it's just.   a really amazing miracle that we get to be a part of dentistry and the changes. And I think everybody needs to realize what you do or don't do is going to have an impact on our future of dentistry. And I think that that's a moral charge each of us should take to be able to preserve the sanctity of our dentistry. That doesn't mean we stop it. That just means that we're able to positively impact. We're able to keep the integrity of our profession. And each of us, think, have a moral charge to do that. And so get on board, be a part of it, be a part of the noise, be a part of having your voice heard.   and I'm truly just excited and honored and happy to help in any way we can.   John (31:45) great way to wrap. And if you're watching this on YouTube, love to have you subscribe to The ZeroBalance podcast. If you are an audio podcast listener and you're listening to on Spotify or Apple as well, subscribe. And each time the Quanta team adds a new episode like this great one with Kiera, it'll come through on your listening device of choice. So Kiera, thanks so much. Best of luck as you continue to do great things. It's a big year for you, like you mentioned, 2026. So I'm excited to stay connected and watch all the great things that you and the Dental A Team are doing. So until next time, we'll see you everybody.   The Dental A Team (32:13) 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.

Kiera is a guest on The Extraction, a podcast by TeamCare, to talk about accountability without the drama. She, along with co-hosts Kyle Bergman and Dr. Sharon Bleiler, discuss the sometimes difficult realities of what it takes to be a good leader versus a great leader.  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   episodes and I truly hope you enjoy.   The Dental A Team (00:18) everyone and welcome back to The Extraction podcast. Your cohost Kyle here today with my cohost and the co-founder of TeamCare, Dr. Sharon Bleiler. And today we are joined by Kiera Dent, who is the CEO and founder of Dental A Team, a consulting and training company focused on profitability, systems, accountability.   culture and leadership in dental practices. Kiera has worked nearly every role inside of a practice, which is a big part of why her content lands with both owners and teams. So in this episode, we are going to be riffing a little bit about everything and anything that goes into making a practice smarter, scaling from a leadership, bonding. We're going to talk a little bit about AI and efficiency. And so stick around. This is a good one. Kiera.   Welcome to The Extraction. How are you? Amazing guys. Thank you so much for having me. I've been super pumped to get on the podcast. Definitely a big fan over here. Excited to just rift on all things dental. I mean, my last name is Dent. So it's definitely my cup of tea here and excited to be with you guys today. So thanks for the warm welcome. Absolutely. And thank you again for taking the time to join us. I know you're super busy and congrats on all the success you've had building dental.   A team. One of the first questions I love to ask is what brought you to the dental industry? Not necessarily something that people grow up aspiring to be back when we want to be firefighters, astronauts or Olympians, but what brought you into it? Curious. mean, great question. It's funny. I remember in first grade, my teacher, Mrs. Larson had us like right out where we wanted to be. You guys, I have gone all over the map. I went from being like, I wanted to be a hotel cleaner. That was a big dream of mine. I was like, I want to be a hotel.   cleaner mom, like it's gonna be amazing to wanting to be a vet. I don't even really like animals. Like you can judge me harshly right now. And I was like, vet all the way up to I wanted to have, I wanted to break the world record and have 99 kids because I was like, listen, and then I'll just have like, I had already thought in processes at that point in my life. Like if I just like meet with them like one day a year, I could see each of them three times a year to then being like, listen, I just want to like wear scrubs for my life. And so was either like be a nurse and learn the whole body or be a dental assistant and just learn the mouth.   So that's actually what got me into dentistry was the desire to wear scrubs. Also, I became varsity tennis player, not because I love varsity, I just wanted to wear the cute skirt. Like that was really my motive in life. So I clearly am like a mixed bag over here of why I got here. But I actually then got into dental assisting. It was very fun, loved it. And then I went to college and I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do. I settled on wanting to be a marriage and family therapist. And I remember   I was sitting in my interview, I was in Oklahoma and I was interviewing to get my degree and master's get accepted to school. They asked me questions and I was thinking about my patients back at the dental office. And it was a, I call these like the pivotal moments where I sat there and was like, Keara, do you really want to be a marriage and family therapist? The fact that you're sitting in this interview, you've worked hard. mean, passing the GRE is freaking hard. So like even to get there, I was like, do you actually want to be this marriage and family therapist? And it was a moment where I was like,   I think I actually absolutely love dentistry and that's where I'm meant to be and what I love to do. And then you fast forward a little bit further and now we're in consulting and I feel like I've been able to blend my love of the marriage and family therapy, of the love of people and wanting to solve problems, but I get to do it in a space of dentistry that I feel is just magical to change lives. So that's kind of my like roundabout random story of going from hotel cleaner to veterinarian to becoming a dental consultant. And I feel like I really did that like sweet landing of a space that I'm obsessed with of helping people.   And I say, dentistry is my platform, life is my passion, and to be able to bring that to the table is very fun. Kiera, that makes so much sense that you married those two because I watched your video on your website, and I've been a dentist for a while, and you you hit it out of the park. As soon as I watched it, I'm like, yes, it's really hard. Yes, you love it, but yes, you're trying, you always have, I always say like you have one wheel off the wagon and you're always trying to get it back together. that you were in counseling and yeah, you got it.   Thank you. In our research of looking at what you've done, Kiera, I see a lot of similarities in your leadership style along with Dr. Sharon's here. One of my favorite all time quotes from any human is when Dr. Sharon said, you know why I'm a good dentist and a good manager and a good owner, Kyle? It's because I raised four kids. It's because I was a mother.   Because I was a mom first. You talk a lot about accountability without drama. Noble Dentistry, our in-house brand underneath TeamCare, is run equal parts Iron Fist and a lot of empathy. Everyone there, it's an excellent practice. 14 operatories, seven associate doctors, millions of dollars a year. It got there under the leadership of Dr. Sharon and the incredible technology that builds Power's TeamCare.   But Dr. Sharon lives and breathes set every day, accountability without drama, being direct with people, having meaningful conversations. What in your experience does that actually look like in a real office? Yeah, well, mean, Dr. Sharon, I love your story and I love what you've built. I think like powerhouse and that is not an easy feat. with physically my body's been, think, in over 300 dental practices in the course of my career. Our team, think, has physically been in over a thousand. So like...   To say that I've seen a few dental practices in my time is not a lie. And to see people that are able to grow to the magnitude that you've been able to is something that I think there are, there are traits, there are characteristics, there are pieces. And it was interesting because I think like one, you're an insane example and everybody listening, like kudos because you've got a great example. Dr. Sharon, I'm freaking proud of you and I love what you've built and I love what you've created and.   Everybody listening is really lucky to be able to hear your successes and to learn from you. The second thing I want to say is we had an in-person mastermind with our doctors and we bring them all together and it was something I did not want to do. Like literally I was like, I'm not doing masterminds guys, like everybody does masterminds and our doctors like, Kiera, please bring us together. And I'm like, listen, this is not my cup of tea. Like I'm a girl who loves to be on stage, but then I definitely love to just like shut it off and not be on stage anymore.   Events, feel like they just linger longer forever. So I am the girl who puts on an event and then you don't see me at all. Like it's like a goodbye, wave goodbye to the children, send them on their way. And like, I don't want to see you until the next morning. And, but I noticed in there that when you ask about the questions of accountability and iron fist and different things, there was a moment that I hadn't realized until just two weeks ago. And I've even watched myself, we're 10 years into the company now. And I think that there's an evolution of leadership. And I think Dr. Sharon, you'd probably agree to this that.   I think there's the firefighter stage when you first start and you're like bros and gals with your team. And you're really in this like, I want to be best friends. And I actually think it blurs the lines of accountability really hard for these new owners, but they want to keep the team and they want to have good vibes. Like I was talking to a tennis the other day and she's like, I just love my practice. She's three months in Dr. Sharon. So we know she's still in like the honeymoon phase. And she's like, I just love my team and they're so great. And we just like all have the best thing and we hang out all the time. And it's just great vibes.   And I thought, honey, I'm so freaking pumped for you to experience. It's Sharon's laughing. She's like, you get it, you have it, you understand. I think that as you evolve, you start to recognize, and I said this quote the other day to a dentist, said, there will be points in your career that you are loved, there will be points in your career that you are hated, but I hope where you actually land is respected. And I think when you can have the filter of, how can I be a respected team leader? How can I be a respected CEO?   You start to make decisions of accountability that are firm, that are fair, that are consistent. And that is what teams ultimately are looking for. They're not looking for you to be best friends. Surprise, like spoiler, bosses aren't their best friends. Like that's not what we're here to do. Our job is to be that leader, to be that coach, to be that mentor, to be the person who sets the standards, to set the stage. And standards are what we tolerate, not what we say. And so when I look at accountability and I look at teams, I think that there is a progression.   And I think for leaders to realize like you don't just show up out of the box as a great leader. It is a progression and it's an overview of that. But I do think the consistency piece and also making decisions that are in the best interest of the business, not in the best interest for you or for your team, I think becomes a North Star that helps you have stronger accountability. And I will say like, you can't have accountability without consistency. So if you're not solid on the consistency, get someone paired with you.   that consistently drive those results forward for you, because those are gonna be some of the most key critical pieces that I've seen that really separate the successful easy practices versus those that are just scrapping by and trying to get to the next level, but feeling like they can't get out of their rut. And I'm like, you can't because we're not consistent, we're not accountable, and we're not holding the true North Star of what the practice ultimately needs, not what you want to do to be liked.   And I hope that landed with love, not sharpness. No, no. Like that's damn, that's like spot on. That's what Kyle's kind of saying. Kyle has three children. He is an entrepreneur. has multiple businesses and he's a big part of a TeamCare. But we talk all the time. He has three children under two. Three, three, three under three you recommend that Kyle? We're an IVF right now and we have three embryos. And people, I've been asking people like, so do I just go for like the shop approach? Like you just like.   three like one after another like I could have three surrogates at the same time like we have to realize I have like different atmosphere over here or would you like space it out so hearing like 303 would you recommend it? Just curious asking for a friend here. Okay so I have twin boys that are about two and a half years old and a nine month old baby girl and I think it's good to do it all at once because I have a friend who has a seven year old and a four year old and his wife's pregnant and the look on his face that's   It's devastating. I'm praying for David out there. Yeah, just go for it. Go for it, Kiera. Do triplets. Let's go. My first thing was, I was like, listen, guys, I'm a business person over here. Can I do like a three for one deal? Circuits are not cheap, nor should they be like they're donating their body for me. And I'm so grateful. But I was like, can I do a three for one deal? And they were like, well, your rates go down.   like your success rates. And I was like, all right, we'll do like three, but just get, okay, anyway, back to you're an entrepreneur, you're three. I do think Kyle's right, because like I always look at it like my kids, I had four in six years, you want to go to Disney World once. You don't want to go every three years. And you're to go once. But that aside, honestly, I feel exactly as you do. And that's why I kind of said to Kyle about treating everyone there. Absolutely the business is first, very open, very honest. Tell someone immediately when something's not going right, correct it and it's over.   And that's it. it's much, you know, what do they say raising kids? Seven words of praise for everyone. Negative. ⁓ Truth. It's truth in any part of your life. And, you know, I do love your name too. And I want to talk about that a little, like that you wrote Dental A Team, because one of the big things on all my ads say players want to play with A players. And once you drop that level, your whole team goes down. Once there's one person sitting at the front desk or in the back or anywhere who's not pulling their weight, everyone knows it.   So how, when you go into a practice, are you addressing that to the doctor, to the team? Like, where do you go when you're finding these? You're seeing it straight out where sometimes, docs sometimes live in fear of their staff. Yeah. No, ⁓ you're right, Sharon. And I say the best gift I think I can give an owner is to be unshackled from feeling like they have to keep team if they don't want to. I'm not here to, consultants get a bad rep because we go and we're like.   fire everybody and that's not my world. I don't believe in that being a team member myself, being a business owner, the greatest cost to a business is actually turnover. Like it's a huge, like the human capital expense is very large and for good reason. But when I look at that, you're not wrong. Someone was talking to me, they talked about like the NFL, like pick whatever sport analogy you enjoy, but they're like, they don't go pick when they're going through draft season, they're not picking the like BCDs for good costs. They're like, we're going for A because we want to win.   and every person on there is the top 1%. And if they even drop and they're not doing it their best, they get cut. And it's just cutthroat there. But that's how you get winning championship teams. And I think a lot of times in dental practices or in business, that's not as cutthroat, it's not as viewed in the world, like on the spotlight of the TV. I think we do sometimes settle because we're so afraid. And to me, I'm like, gosh, it goes back to marriage and family therapy. Let's go back there. I had a professor and they said in dating, and gosh, you guys are gonna love me or hate me.   I have found that this is true, so I hope it's a love. ⁓ Thanks, Kyle. He said, in dating, there's always someone just as good, if not better out there. And you might hate that because it could be a tender swinder. You could just keep swiping for the rest of your life, always thinking there's someone better out there. So use that with caution. But I do think that it's real. There is always someone better. At some point, you just accept, like, my husband, I freaking love him. I got a great last name from it, so that was a win for me.   I look at this and I just think there are always going to be better people out there. And I think sometimes you do need to elevate a team and you need to upgrade a team. And that is not wrong. And so when I go in and I work with teams, first and foremost, doctors, let's make sure that we got a clear vision. It is wild. If you do not have a clear vision that every single person is going towards. And people think that this is rah rah puff and I'm such a tactical girl, but if they don't know where they're even going, like we don't even know the lighthouse on the thing.   We've all got different rowing and you're just gonna feel like mayhem. People are like, my team is not bought in. And I'm like, cool, what's your vision? If I walked in, could every person tell me today, where are we headed in one year, three years, 10 years? If it is not so crystal clear that every person can do it, that's step one. Because that might even be half of the issue to get our A players up to A players. Like, they don't even know what the scoreboard is. Are we playing basketball, golf, football? Like there's different rules, depending upon where we're headed. And so getting your whole team aligned on that is number one.   Then number two, I love this litmus test and mine is if I had a chance to rehire all these people today, would I rehire them? And that is sometimes the zone that I don't want to go in and face, but I think that that's the core heart where we know and we often don't want to do that. Now, if you're like not into that and you're like going to sit here and justify that I've got another one for you to get even more tactical. Grab your core values and go through it and rank that person. Do not lie to me. Keep this paper hidden. You can burn it afterwards, but be honest with it.   put your core values out there and rate each person. And if they are not striking you at tens across the board, it's time to move on or it's time to elevate up. I think when people recognize, like I got a doctor, she's in Virginia Beach, she can't find a hygienist, but they had a hygienist who was just tearing them all down. They let them go and we're in like hygiene, like starvation right now. Like I understand that is a hard position to want to quit and like get rid of. They cut this person, it's been six months and the team is so much happier. And I think   When you live that and you see it, you stop tolerating. It's like, do not lower your standards for excellence to meet people's need for mediocrity. And I think if you can hold that line and realize that's what you are, you're here to win championships, you're not here to win friends, but by winning championships and being respected, you win friends along the way. It's this crazy piece. A players, you like to play with A players and the worst thing you can do to your A players is tolerate the behavior of your lower people. So I think when I am making a decision as a CEO,   I have to remember my A players are watching me to see what I'm doing. And that's the motivation for me to make the decisions that ultimately are best for the business, not the ones that are easy. Awesome. And you're right. And that's where the respect comes in. You know, if the leader is working from fear, know, no one's good. I think that a lot of times docs ⁓ are, you know, falling over dollars to pick up pennies. Like you pay a little more, you're getting that better person. We pay very well and I don't have a problem hiring at any position.   You know, but I got great people, they're rock stars. They put me to shame, the stuff that they can do from hygiene to anywhere, front desk, they're smart people. But Kiera, what you said actually, really, I'm going to do a screen share right now. You haven't done a screen share in a couple of episodes and I'm going to show, I'm going to show a dashboard on TeamCare that you are to love. And I think this will also be a nice segue into hearing how you're using.   technologies, specifically AI in managing, because it can be certainly a balance. But what I'm going to show you from an A-Team stamp is the leaderboards that we ⁓ intelligently produce these update in real time every day. We're looking at a practice here. I've anonymized the data, but we're looking at the high hygienist productivity so far for March. And we can see how many patients, and by the way, the beautiful thing about this,   is that not only can the practice owners and managers see this, but every single one of these team members, these hygienists can see what their patient per average day is, what their pre-appointment rate is, how much they're presenting for treatment, how many reactivation calls. We can see this for doctors. So Dr. Sharon is so good at going in and saying, hey, this guy, know, lot of production, but his production per exam is actually not as good as some of these other folks. So is there an opportunity to coach him   on his bedside manner or are these, you know, and this is actually noble dentistry. So this is our in-house and part of the reason they're so good is because everyone there, this is a depth chart. Everyone wants to be a starter. Everyone wants to make the pro goal. And so when you're able to show this type of visibility, some practices don't like this because, I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings. This is not youth soccer, not everyone getting a participation trophy. And so you can see where you stand. ⁓ So this is a   a part of TeamCare that it feels like really aligns with your values and how you lead. 1000 % Kyle. And I love that you brought this up because I am pro EOS traction, Gina Wickman, which this is very much in a line with that. ⁓ coach generally teams version of that. And the bottom line is numbers don't lie and numbers make these conversations easy. And when you look at this, as a team, we can't hide. There is zero hiding in there to see like.   All right, well, ⁓ you know, I just was busy. Everybody's busy. Like, where do we hide in this scenario? And it's either I'm gonna rise up or rise out and both are great options. And I think when you recognize that, because you're right, like even watching Dr. Sharon, if you look at her, if you guys didn't see the video, she's sitting back and there's a calm collected confidence about her that she knows that what she's put into place, these people want to be there. And the leaderboard shows that. And I think when you...   When you obsess about data and numbers, you can sit back like Dr. Sharon and have the confidence because you know that people can't hide. mean, guys, Kiera Dent is a human. Like I love people. I love to make people feel good. But at the end of the day, feelings only go so far and results will sustain. And I think when I look at it, I'm like, am I feeding my family or am I just fishing for a day? Like I've got to take care of.   Like it's one or the other. mean, they're going to make people happy, make my life miserable, or we're going to like look at the numbers and we're all going to win and we're all going to be happy. Like what is it going to be? And I think, I think when again, this is an evolution of maturity of CEOs and owners of businesses, you hit this, I feel like there's a threshold that you hit and it comes and everybody gets it at a different time, but you hit a level where it's like, data is a numbers matter more than people's feelings and us being on a winning team and me recognizing or like, shoot, you can take, I've had people take.   Second, mortgages out on their homes to keep paying people that don't want to be accountable. And I'm like, that is a choice that you're willing to make. There are multiple choices in life to make, but Dr. Sharon Sugarhead and for me, I don't lose money and that's my standard. I also don't tolerate people that don't want to be on my winning team, but I used to not be that way. 2020, I felt like I was Johnny Depp in the middle of the ocean. I was on a freaking burning boat, hoping and praying something else was coming. Like my team was rash. Like we were really struggling. And I think you have to go through that to...   to realize, or you listen to podcasts like this and you don't have to learn through it, use the numbers. You're exactly right. There is no hiding. Use the numbers, use the metrics. Numbers are your best friend. They're the vitals to your practice. And if you want to know if you're sick, you get your vitals. If you want to know if you're practice sick, look at the vitals of the practice and then make decisions accordingly. And it's like every once in a while, it's not often, but if things are going really bad with a group, with FDs or assistants or hygiene or whatever, sometimes you got to say to them, right? Get them all together and be like, you know, everyone's replaceable, even me. And you know, sometimes you just,   It really reminds everyone that you don't have this job forever. You're not working for the government. know, like this is nothing's going to keep you here. I'll tell you what I really, really want to hear about your systems about, think like that's the number one thing. And I think docs are horrible at it. We were just dentists and systems is what makes a real business run. And it's, I think it's the hardest thing to put in place. And Dr. Jaren, thank you for that. And shout out to you guys, the software. I just want to go back to that. didn't like.   if you don't have that, it. It will be game changing in your practice. I feel like it's like AI, right? Like you guys put Pearl overlay or whatever you want over Jet and it helps like diagnose. To me, your guys' software is how you diagnose the problems in your practice without having the emotional baggage that comes along with it. So just like wanted to do a plug there for you guys, because I really am impressed with what you've created. As far as systems, Dr. Sharon, I actually feel systems are easy and I know that that's like going to be contrary.   The reason I think number like systems are easy is because if you have the vision, I call it the yes model in our company. So we focus on you as a dentist. Your business should serve your life and not the other way around. And I'm very pro all of us on here are business owners and we know that I can either work my booty off for my business or I can get my business to work for myself and both are available. It just depends on which route you want to go. And so I'm very pro let's have the business work for you. So that stands for why for you you're number one. And if we don't take care of you first, the whole business will crumble. So like we've got to take care of you.   Second is E, it stands for earnings. So exactly like you talked about the leaderboard, the numbers, the metrics, and then S stands for systems and team development. And I put this together purposely in this order so you can say yes to more in your life, but I use systems third because I think so many people, Dr. Sharon, your point, they wanna go attack the systems, but they're missing the top two. And when I put the top two in place, the systems actually come after. Like what my numbers are telling me, tell me where my systems need to be implemented. No team wants to go through a whole systems overhaul. Like I've done this a lot.   No team's super thrilled. like, hey guys, I heard this great podcast. Let's implement these systems. Why are we implementing the systems and what result am I ultimately trying to get? I am big on outcomes over activity. What's the outcome we're looking for? And then let's put activity into place. And I don't disagree with you. Systems feel so daunting because there's a system upon a system upon a system upon a system. Like it never ends. It's like the Winchester mansion. Like they just go forever and you cannot escape it. And so when I think about it, I think that that's where it feels daunting. But I will say,   that there are core foundational systems that I put into place. And you're exactly right. Like we can't just be like, I've got a great vision and my numbers look good. Well, like the systems have got to be there. And so I don't disagree with you that systems are daunting. And so we actually created like 12 systems because I like cadences. I like it to be easy for people to memorize. Like what do need to focus on in January and February and March? So my practice can always be refining because systems are a refinement and an optimization, not a set like one and done. So I'm big on like operations, right? Like let's look to see where we're broken. Like what are easy core systems we can put into place?   Hygiene, hygiene needs to be producing. 30 % of our practice is a great baseline and they should be producing three times their pay. Everyone's like, what? They're so expensive right now. I get that. It's like, let's get innovative, let's get creative. We maybe can't quite get there, but let's at least set a good baseline and see what we're producing and how we can get there. So then we need to put our hygiene protocols into place. We need to make sure our hygienists are good to go. We need to make sure our hygiene exams are solid. Easy systems that are going to impact numbers. Then I'm gonna move to my front office. How do we schedule? Like doctors, if you're not getting out on time.   That's a fantastic system for us to go attack. If we're not producing enough, like let's go after block schedules, but I don't want you to just block schedule for the sake of block scheduling because you heard it on a podcast. Like what do you need to make? What did the numbers tell you? And then let's make sure we can actually build a productive schedule that will get you to that number. And I think when you put systems into place, that makes sense. Like when I go to Chick-fil-A, they've got like the salad thing up there. Like you put three things in and two things a lot of like, whatever it is, that makes sense because I'm going to make a whole salad at the end. But if they're just like,   Do some lettuce and some, teams need to understand why we're doing systems. And so I'm very core on what are the core systems that a practice needs to have. It usually falls under my hygiene department, making sure my doctors and our procedures are there, front office scheduling, our billing, please for the love of everything, holy collect the money. Like just collect the money. We are not back in the 1800s. You do not need to put it on a tab, collect the money. Like it is here. We need to collect money. Like what are the things that are gonna burn you? And then like our ordering needs a system.   things that are going to help and protect cashflow, things that are gonna help and protect patient experience. But like, I don't disagree with you, Dr. Sharon. I know I said like, I think systems are easy, but I think it just feels like there's so many things that we could do. But I feel like in systemization, less is more, more simple, one page documents rather than 20 page documents. And then we just realized we're refining based on what the numbers tell us, what our main pain point stressors are in the business that ultimately get us to the W on the scoreboard. That's how I'd implement systems. Amen. And if you...   are listening to this right now and you're saying, man, I need all of Kiera's systems. That sounds incredible. Well, lucky for you on April 24th, Kiera and the Dental A Team are holding a virtual summit. And even luckier for you is that you can use code Extraction50 for 50 % off your ticket. It's going to be about four and a half hours, three hours of which will be continuing ed where you can learn about these systems. It's an incredible value. And we will have a link in the show notes where you can join.   So Kiera, thank you so much for that generous code. If you're listening and look what I love about Kiera is Kiera you're spicy. There's people that are like, I don't want to, I don't like the way she talks and I don't believe in her, but there's going to be other people that are like, yes, I need a tiger mom like this in my life to help me move the needle. So I like it. I don't know. Dr. Sharon does it. See you guys are sisters from other misters.   Kyle, thank you for that. And I did realize, was like, golly, Kiera, you're coming in like, you're hot, you're on it. I've already been podcasting this morning, like I'm in the rhythm. Like was so pumped for this podcast. But I think it comes from a space of, I don't know, the analogy I give is I'm sitting on one side of the river and you're on the other side and you're trying to get across this river. And I'm sitting there as a guide knowing that your pain points and the frustrations that are keeping you up at night, that are causing you to cry, that are telling you that you, that are keeping you from your family. Sometimes I believe like,   Yes, I'm a consultant. That's what our title is. But I feel like I really sit in a realm of a coach. And I think about coaches of the best teams. They don't like I go to my gym and my gym trainer. She's not like yesterday. She freaking rocked me. I can't even walk like that's why I'm not standing. My calves hurt so bad. And I'm like, she was like, Kiera run harder. And I was like, I'm trying it's so hard right now. Like, but yet sometimes in practice and in business, and this is where I love what we do. Dental A Team is about fun. It's about ease. And it's about   giving you a hug of wherever you are with no judgment. And at the same time telling you what no one else will tell you because I don't, I'm not big on consultants that are series and fluff. I'm big on like, what's the tactical, what's the practical because I've hired plenty of coaches in my career that give me a lot of great ideas, but I'm like, yeah, but that idea is not getting me through this incredible moment and opportunity I'm living through that's like making me want to lose my hair. so   When you say and like the summit is fun, come and enjoy it. It's a really great time. It's for teens. I don't care. One person in the room, 20 people in room. I don't care. Our job is to positively impact the world of dentistry. And we are actually giving away our entire virtual academy. So all the systems, we've got operations manuals, we've got onboarding things, we've got CE, we've got every single course you could imagine, team training videos, like you name it. like, they told me someone, I was the Dr. Seuss of systems. So like it's there and it's free. Like just come and like say hello and you can win it. But it's.   I really hope that it comes from a space of not a lot of people tell you what needs to happen. A lot of people tell you what you want to hear. And I think as a business owner, I've just gotten tired of that mantra in the industry. And I'm not like, this isn't about any consultant. This is just truly who I am, what I believe. And I'm about results. And I want people to get results. If they're going to spend money, if they're going to spend their time, I want to make sure teams and doctors are getting the results they want. But at the same time, you talk to any team that works with us and they absolutely love us. We get texts every single time, like, we love you guys. We have so much fun when you come in.   because I think we get the seat. We understand the doctor's perspective and we understand the team's perspective. I'm going to talk to a team. I'm not going to be like spicing up. It's like, perfect. Let's talk about block scheduling. Had an office manager the other day. She did not want to be doing any like, my gosh, the doctors are out of town. They're not hitting goals. We were negative 20 last month. They were positive. So we talked to the office manager and I'm like, Hey, it's like, let's talk about this. And she's like, my team's doing so good. And I was like, that's amazing. I'm so proud of that.   let's talk about like what numbers we need to have. Like, did you know that like last month we were negative 20? And she's like, I had no idea. And I was like, okay, great. Like as an office manager, would this help you to be like in your role and to do really well in your role? And she was like, oh my gosh, it helped me so much. So we went through and it's a very gentle, like let's walk you through and how many patients do we have? Like they have 1900 patients that are active and we need 2,800 active patients. And I was like, all right. Well, like, and she's like, Kiera, what do I do?   And so that's when you open the door and it's not coming in with a harsh judgment, just like it's no harsh judgment on any office. It's more a, here's the problem. Like we have 1900 and we need 2800. If you don't want to ask me and you want to go figure that out, phenomenal, go do that. I have no problem. There is zero ego, but typically people want to know how do I get across this river? And you've been there, you've done it you've done it successfully many times over. What are the tips? And what was amazing is we've   She ran some reports, she found some reactivation, she found 800 patients and so she's freaking lit up. She's taken it to the team. They've got simple little steps that are not going to be hard. And she's driving that. We make her look like the million dollar rock star for her doctors, but she was able to reach out and have the help. So Kyle, yes, thank you for calling me on the spice. There's some directness, but I think it comes from a space of you hire a consultant for a reason, you expect results, and I believe that you should get those results. Kiera, as our episode comes to a close, I want to,   serve you some rapid fire questions. The challenge is to answer them in a sentence or less, even one word if you want. Okay. We're going to do four. first one, one He's like, listen, I actually have 10, but Kiera, you talk way too much. So we're dropping it to four. I got you, Kyle. I see you. I actually had 29. was just saying. Okay. So first one, one metric every owner should watch weekly. Oh gosh. Weekly, I would say.   My first one that comes to mind is I think you need to be watching your overhead. And I understand it's not weekly, so that's why I'm like, but I think if you are not in the habit of watching your money and your profit every single week, you get into hot water very quickly. So if you are tracking that, then I would say my next one is I would say your diagnosis. One system every office should fix this quarter. I would say, I think if you your hygiene perio protocols in place, I think that that's going to grow you in your hygiene department. That's going to grow you faster than any other system can.   One piece of technology that you can't live without now that you didn't even know existed a year ago. you talking about me or a dental practice? Either one. All right. Well, dental office, think, well, it's like shameless plug for you guys. Yours for sure. I think that that's an amazing one. The other one I do think like AI for like Pearl or Overjet for your x-rays and diagnosis. I think dental practices need that. For me or like revenue billing. I think those are great ones. For us and our company.   a year ago. mean, you're going to judge me. So I'm a little scared to say it, but like Slack has game changed me on so many different levels. And I think, yeah, so that'd be the one that I'd say. I knew it existed though, but it's a game changer. Okay, cool. But you didn't implement it. So that's awesome. All right. And last one, one mindset shift that instantly makes a leader more effective. I would say spicy Kiera.   I'm juicing my words cautiously, Kyle. ⁓ I think the mindset shift that people need to have is no one's coming to save you and it's time for you to take accountability and get the results you ultimately want rather than blaming, not taking ownership or accountability. And the second you do that, your life will change. Yeah. Thank you so much for joining us. Check out Kiera and her rockstar team at TheDentalATeam.com. We'll drop the special link.   for the virtual summit in the show notes. And I think we will be seeing Kiera back on the podcast at some point. It was a pleasure and an honor and we look forward to staying in touch. Kiera, thank you so much. Thank you guys. I appreciate it a ton. Thank you. Nice meeting you.   The Dental A Team (32:47) 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.

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.  

You know clinical inside out, but the front desk? It's a black box — and probably where you're losing the most money.In this episode, Dr. Paul Etchison speaks with Kiera Dent, founder of The Dental A Team, about how you can get your front office under control without becoming an insurance and billing expert. You'll learn the core KPIs you should always be tracking, how to balance competing priorities, and how to spot the red flags that your front office is silently costing you money.Topics discussed:Why the front desk is so chaotic in most practicesHow much you actually need to know about billing and insuranceSigns that your front office is costing you moneyThe 3 KPIs your front desk should hit daily and monthlyHow to build a visible scoreboard and accountability cultureWhy most teams aren't bought in (and how to change it)This episode was produced by Podcast Boutique https://www.podcastboutique.comCome Join us at the DPH Live Retreat in Tennessee April 24th-26th.   Click Here for More Info and to Register Don't be a silly goose....Download the Dental Practice Heroes App today and access all the free resources available to you. (Awesome Android ppl Click Here) Take Control of Your Practice and Your Life We help dentists take more time off while making more money through systematization, team empowerment, and creating leadership teams. Ready to build a practice that works for you? Visit www.DentalPracticeHeroes.com to learn more.

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.

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.  

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.  

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.  

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 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.

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.  

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.  

Running on empty doesn't drive you forward; it brings you to a halt.In this first episode of the Fail Forward series, Kiera Dent, founder of Dental A Team consulting company, exposes the burnout that almost left her life and career in ruins. Working relentlessly from 2 AM to 11 PM, she ground herself to the point of collapse and was forced to reevaluate her work until she found a healthy, sustainable formula for success. Now, discover how her failure-fueled turnaround can help prevent overload, motivate you to prioritize your mental and physical health, and propel you towards growth as you master the art of "failing forward" in your dental practice. Don't put off learning these valuable insights that Kiera had to learn the hard way: tune in now for lessons that could shape your career, your practice, and your life!‍‍Listen to Kiera's Other Episodes Here:213: KIERA DENT | THE DENTAL A-TEAM – THE DENTAL MARKETER PODCAST426: KIERA DENT | THE UNTOLD STORY BEHIND 500K TO 2.4 MILLION IN 9 MONTHS! – THE DENTAL MARKETER PODCASTKEY LESSONS FROM 2024: BUILDING STABILITY AND GROWTH IN DENTISTRY | MME – THE DENTAL MARKETER PODCASTMME: STOP HATING YOUR PROBLEMS AND LEARN TO LOVE THEM FOR A PROFITABLE PRACTICE | KIERA DENT – THE DENTAL MARKETER PODCAST‍Host: Michael AriasJoin my newsletter: https://thedentalmarketer.lpages.co/newsletter/‍Join this podcast's Facebook Group: The Dental Marketer Society‍Love the Podcast? Let Us Know How We're Doing on Apple Podcasts!‍

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.  

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.  

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.  

The Dental A-Team often hears from team members who feel like they're not good enough. In this episode, Kiera shares with listeners how to switch from harmful self sabotage and comparison to a healthy awareness of growth and positivity. 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 want to dive into something that I think is really important. I feel, hear this from a lot of people. I've coached a lot of dentists. I've worked with a lot of team members. And so I feel like I've got a pretty good background on how to talk about this. And I think just as human nature, and I'm not saying that all of us are there, but   Every dentist, every office manager, every team member I talk to, no matter how successful or how terrible they're doing, they say, I'm not doing well. I'm not doing enough. Like I'm not doing good enough. And I just wanna like dig into this a little bit today because I think it's a lie that we all believe to some level. We feel this imposter syndrome. We feel this... ⁓   I don't know. It's just this weirdness that I want to help you rewire that story and to maybe give a different perspective on that, because the reality is you're doing better than you think you are. And I want to reset and reframe that internal dialogue because I believe being your own best cheerleader or your own worst critic, both of them have pros and cons. And I think like there's so much icky in the world that why don't we start to become your best cheerleader? I truly do believe the quote that ⁓ Tony Robbins says like where   where focus goes energy flow. So if we're focused on not being good enough or why am I not good enough or I don't know how to do this. Well, yes, there's a line of humility that I appreciate. There's also a line of self sabotage that I think we need to start to cut that script and become even stronger. really, Dental A Team's mission is to positively impact the world of dentistry in the greatest way possible and to help you build thriving practices, thriving leaders, not just surviving, not just hoping and like skirting along. Dentists always want to know how they're doing compared to other dentists.   And so really just giving you kind of that baseline to help you out. ⁓ This is the emotional side of leadership. This is the self-worth, the confidence that rewiring the not enough trap that I wanna just like dig into. And it's just more of a conversation and hopefully bringing some insights and some highlights to help you stop that narrative to really highlight the growth that you can have and just to give you some better. I don't know, just a hug. You're doing so good out there. And I think like as a proud mom of you.   ⁓ Just reminding you of how good you are doing, not better than you are, not worse than you are, but realistically where you are. And I think so many of us accidentally self-sabotage the goodness that we have rather than celebrating how great we're doing. ⁓ And again, momentum builds. So let's build momentum of positivity rather than momentum of negativity. So ⁓ I think the first thing that I like to look at is like, what is the root belief that causes you to have it? So like these thoughts are coming from somewhere. So is it past experiences? Is it comparisonism? Is it perfectionism?   ⁓ I went to a Tony Robbins conference. I do love Tony so much. I have a great time there. I don't think everything's perfect, but I think a lot of great things are, are good in it. And I went to, my favorite thing is date with destiny. And I went to it last year and, ⁓ Tony always has this talk about our towards values and our way values. And, he says, why is it that we try it? We do so good in life, making it hard to feel good and easy to feel bad. And I think about this a lot. And so last year, my word was comparison and.   He actually has you go on this whole rant. So if you can imagine, I feel I present in such a different way than how I was at that conference. ⁓ The beast was unleashed, we'll put it that way. One of my dear friends was with me and they said that they've never seen Kiera like 4.0 version come out. And what Tony has you do is you actually go through, cause comparison was actually one of the biggest things that was holding me back in life. I was comparing to all these other women about my body, about my looks, about my business, about everything.   I realized that my self-sabotaging was from a deep-rooted piece and like prior to that, ⁓ was fear that I let go of. was fear of all these things. And what Tony has you do is you go on this monologue, this rant to basically just see how much of life you've lost by having this. So I went into comparison and I said like, Kiera Dent, see, hear, feel, and know that I will never, ever succumb.   to the limiting and self-sabotaging and ludicrous lie of comparison. And then you go on a rant. And luckily Eminem, I do have a side nickname of DJ Skittlez. Yep, I wanted to be a rapper with Eminem. So I figured Skittlez with a Z was gonna be my rapper DJ name. So if you ever come voting with me, DJ Skittlez does come out voting to make your perfect playlist.   But Eminem was on and it was such a good thing for me. And I remember just unleashing the beast of this comparison and you yell and you scream and you just like, you know, like, and the goal is that you, you look at your life from this lens of how much has this self sabotaging piece taken from you. And when I looked at it, like I wasn't participating fully with my family. wasn't working out at the gym because I didn't want to be compared to other women. I wasn't, ⁓   being as bold in business because I was comparing myself to what other people did and just how much of life was being sucked away from me. And so with that, if that's something like for you to just look to see where is it and what's maybe the one or two ⁓ values that you're holding onto that make you feel bad, that I would encourage to be a way value, not something we want to go towards. So for me, I have on comparison and like comparison only shows up for me when I forget that I am like just, ⁓   For me, like what I will say, I do believe in God, that I am God's greatest creation. when I, so now what I've done is I've taken comparison and I flipped it. So like, if I ever start comparison, it's only due to me forgetting that I'm God's greatest creation. And that quickly for me eliminates that. And so, and it's like fear only if I forget that I have like magic and brilliance that spews from me.   So what the goal is, is you take that root belief and you flip it and you figure out what it is. And then what is something like, it's only if I were to forget that I am like brilliant and have like unlimited potential within me. So like for fear or comparison or perfectionism or whatever it is. And so what is that? Where did that story begin? And maybe you don't know. ⁓ And maybe go through a rant if you want, or maybe just write a new definition and make it harder to feel that. So for me,   It's actually pretty hard for me now to feel comparison. Like I can go back to that, like Kiera 4.0, if you were to call my friend Pierce, he's been on the podcast, he will tell you Kiera 4.0 came out on that comparison rant to where I feel like I literally was able to obliterate it to where it's not there. And for you looking at why am I not good enough, maybe if we can find one or two of your route towards values and away values, what are those away values? And could we...   Could we acknowledge it? Could we see why it's there? And could we maybe decide to put that to rest for a little while? ⁓ And I think when I do this exercise and I write out what success means, it's crazy how many weird rules I have to put in to be successful. And maybe even for yourself, writing out like today what you feel you have to do to be successful. Oftentimes this is why we feel like we're not enough is because we've made this laundry list where it's impossible for any person.   ourselves or someone else to ever hit that level. ⁓ I talked to a friend once and she was like, yeah, for me to be successful, I have to have, I think she told me like 10 million in her bank account, which she was not even close to that. She had to have her body size be X. She had to drive a certain car. She had to live in this. And it was like, wow, well, no wonder we feel this. That's the root belief. It's so hard for us to even feel successful versus I feel successful anytime I make a patient happy.   What you do on that is we're not changing the rules of the game, but we are making it easier to feel good and harder to feel bad. So the only time I'm ever going to feel comparison is when I forget that I'm God's greatest creation. Well, yeah, like I'm not going to forget that. Like I really do think that. And not to say that I'm better than anybody else. I just truly do believe that all of us in our own way are truly God or the universe or whatever's greatest creation. I, gosh, like I feel emotional about that. I really do just believe that that's who you are.   I believe that human souls are that way. I believe that. and so it's one of those things like as a proud mom for you, if you want to take that on for a hot minute, go for it if you want to write it. But when doctors can rewrite, when you feel behind or you feel like you're not enough, maybe what enough feels like you could look at it, like list it off, but then maybe make it a bit easier for you to feel enough today. maybe being enough is reminding myself that like just being alive is enough.   Like think about how the magic of being a living soul is. Well, shoot, that is enough. And like, what does enough even mean? What does success even mean? And what's wild about that is this, there's maybe a few pieces to it. So call to action on it. Cause I like to make this tactical, even though it's such a soft skill is one, let's think of where these thoughts came from. So like, what are the top two things that are holding you back?   from feeling like you're enough. Like what are those? Is it comparison? Is it experiences? Is it like maybe someone told you that? I don't know what it is, but like, can you identify what that is? Then can you find an area where you don't feel like you're doing enough or you're not good enough and ask where that belief started and then rewrite how you're going to feel that. So what does enough mean or what does being perfect mean or what does success mean? And can we change the rules of making it harder to feel bad?   and easier to feel good. Now I know this won't be perfect and I know you're gonna like be clunky with me doing this, but really try it, take it on because if we can even change it just a smidge, I feel like that's a win. That's number one. Let's identify the root. Let's change our identity. Let's let it go. Let those pieces go and make it harder to feel bad and easier to feel good. Okay? Then we wanna measure what like honestly matters because sometimes we might be measuring against the wrong measuring stick.   So many people are like, well, I'm not enough or I'm not far enough along. And I'm like, but why? And like, because I have to be like so and so. And I'm like, but do you want their life? I'm not here to say like compare, like, I just want to know what's your life, what's your version of success. And that's where in Dental A Teaem people are like, well, Kiera, what do all your clients have to hit? And I'm like, there is no standard of what you have to hit. You have to be profitable. Yes. And you have to be growing for your own self. I don't care what that looks like, but those are like pretty much the only measurements that we have. There's no set standard. There's none of that because I want you to   truly be measuring against your own yardstick. So ⁓ for this next piece is going to be like, let's measure what success really is for you. ⁓ Maybe it's on value, values, maybe it's on lifestyle, but not on volume. And then I want you to like reflect on your life of what have you done to get closer to that, that goal or that success or being enough. ⁓   where you're focused more on that outcome and the life you're living rather than measuring up against someone else's yardstick. So, and sometimes it's like pilots, right? Like if you were a pilot and you're on a course and you're like, well, shoot, I'm going to end up over in Sweden, but I was really trying to get over to Bora Bora. Well, great. We just were on the wrong path. We're, focusing on the wrong target. And so for you measure what really matters and go for the right target, go for where you ultimately want to end up in life, go for those pieces rather than just like,   I don't know, being on the success metrics that doesn't actually matter for you. When I wrote out success last year, it was like, I have to be making XML, I have to be working this amount. And I was like, Kiera, you know better than this, why do you do this? And I think it's like, I don't know, I don't know where this stems from. I don't know why as a society we're obsessive with not being good enough, no matter how great we do, not.   Not being proud of ourselves, not being our biggest fans. ⁓ And so for that, I really think like step one is find the root. Step two is going to be figure out what success is and rewrite it to where it's easier to achieve it rather than harder to achieve it. And again, I'm not trying to move the goalpost on you. I'm just trying to build the momentum and fuel because the happier people do better in life, the more depressed and the ones who feel worthless and that they're not doing well enough, they don't do as good. So I'm trying to make it easier for you to hit success today and to realize you are successful rather than   having a harder to ever achieve it and making it so impossible you'll never achieve it. And then number three is, rewire this. So kinda like what I did, we're gonna rewire. So ⁓ confidence, certainty, being proud of yourself is a muscle and you have to train it. So every single day I literally write in my journal, things I love about myself or things where I've been successful or things that like whatever it is,   where like I've been proud of myself or whatever it is, but you start to train in an actual way. So like we can replace our negative thoughts with affirmations. We can surround ourselves with people who are great. We can celebrate the the wins. Like every day I have to write down three great things that I did from the day before. Sometimes saying it out loud, sometimes writing it down. But when you start to do this and you start to even shift that into your team where we start to focus on the wins that we've had every single day.   Like we always heard our offices out of like, are the wins you've been having? And it's purposely because I want to build a snowball of momentum rather than a snowball of negativity. It's very easy when we've trained ourselves, like a pencil groove in like old school desks when we used to be in school and we'd have those pencils and we just keep digging deeper and digging deeper. We are now rewiring you to start focusing on how you've been successful. Like for me, like comparison, like it used to be like, my gosh, like every day, like I literally, you guys used to be consumed by comparison.   I would sit here day in and day out and be like, I'm just not that great. I will tell you, and it's been seven months since I did that exercise. I'm not exaggerating. I can count probably on one hand, the number of times I've compared and I catch myself pretty quickly. I'll tell my husband like, gosh, like there was one time and I'm like, business are doing X, Y, Z and like, like, why am I not doing that? And I'm like, because I'm living my own freaking life over here. Like, yeah, I can be doing different things, but   I am so intentional with the life I'm building and I'm so proud of what I've done. And then I just like flip into this, like, Carrie, you're freaking killing it. And like, these are the great things that you've done. I'm like, let's start celebrating the wins. while yes, like comparison serving me nothing, you playing small is serving you nothing. You thinking that you're not good enough is serving you nothing, but you having the confidence in yourself, you reminding yourself of the good things you freaking took a risk to be a business owner. You go in day in, day out, you have led a team. became a dentist.   Those are some pretty big milestones and to be proud of yourself and then to figure out how we can start to do this every single day and to train that muscle. ⁓ I know this sounds fluffy and I know this sounds woo woo and I know this sounds like I'm not doing that. I would just encourage you to try to figure out one, where's the root and what are the one or two things that are really keeping you back. Then two, what's your success ladder and how can we make success more achievable rather than further away?   And then three, can we rewire that and make it to where we are continually writing who we want to become? ⁓ Another great quote by Tony Robbins, I tell you, it just comes to me constantly. He says, are you the creator of your life or the manager of your circumstances? And I think by all these things I've talked about today on the podcast, this is helping you be the creator of your life, not the manager of your circumstances. You're creating the success you want. You're creating the identity that you want. You're creating the person you want to be.   And if it's tricky for you, reach out like I have literally there's a client, Corey. I'll actually say his real name. I know he listens to the podcast periodically. Uh, and I know he's an amazing human and Corey will tell you that I have done these exercises with him and we joke about it, but he and I have such a close relationship. And I'm like, it's because we saw the real raw versions of each other. We created these new pieces. We celebrate the wins together. We don't allow each other to get into these darker holes. We remind each other like   It's accountability buddies on living our best life. And so for you, get the identity right, redefine your success metric, measuring thing, and then retrain your brain and the words you say to where hopefully in six months from now, when we come back to this, you can say, just like I can say, I'm not perfect. And I literally was able to let go of so much of the comparison that used to suffocate me from the joy of life that used to rob me from that.   and to not have it be obsessive. Now there's other obsessive things that will come up, but at least that one I feel is tempered, is tamed, is not there as much and being able to bring that on. So for you, you already are enough. gosh, like if you could look back at who you were when you were 10 and then tell them who you'd be today, I you'd be shocked and so proud of that. If you could think of like a little child, think of yourself that way and like, you're not going to tell that kid like, hey, freaking walk already, like stop crawling.   You'd be so proud of them, of the little milestones. And we celebrate children. And I feel like let's celebrate ourselves as adults. Let's change that if we can. Let's create a different path. Let's create a different model. That way you can thrive. And really, truly leading from the truth that you are enough, not the insecurity of that. I believe that this, like doing this is just as important as systems and strategy. I believe that doing the inner work makes you the   The boss, the leader that your practice, your team and your patients need you to be. And it's not fluff and it's not that. So don't skip this inner work. ⁓ And I'm happy to help you share this with someone that you know, needs to hear that they are enough ⁓ that you're doing better than you think you are. That your success is so freaking amazing. It doesn't matter what other people are doing. We look at other people for examples, if it's what we choose to do, but we're so committed to living our best lives and the best version of ourselves.   ⁓ I only use other people as an example of what's possible, not of a comparison of what I'm not doing. And for you, whatever it is for you, truly, let's help you achieve that. And if I can be a cheerleader in your back corner, if I can be like a little Jiminy cricket on your shoulder, if our team can help you, this really truly is a zone for you to look to see where is it coming from? What can I change? How can I make it easier to feel successful today and that I am enough today? And then reinforcing that with daily habits.   It sounds so silly, but I promise you the fastest, the strongest force in the human nature is the need to stay consistent with who you believe you are, not who you actually are. So let's change that belief. Let's change that identity and help you get the happiness that you deserve. This is something I'm very passionate about, something that I love so much. And I'm so grateful to be able to chat with you guys on the podcast. So reach out if I can help in any way. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. And as always, thanks for listening. I'll catch you next time on The Dental A Team podcast.  

When it comes to assessing practice success, understanding various returns on investment is critical. Kiera and Kristy explain what the Dental A-Team is looking for when it comes to understanding the success (or lack thereof) of various investments. They specifically touch on the power of five different KPIs that'll keep your practice in line. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: K iera Dent (00:00) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera and today it's the KK podcast. Kiera and Kristy hanging out today. Kristy, how you doing today?   DAT Kristy (00:10) Good, it's a good day.   Kiera Dent (00:12) It's a great day. you like, I feel like I want to like KK. I mean, it's not, it's only two K's everybody listening, but I feel like it's like the Kit Kat. I don't know. It feels kind of like that between you and me. don't know why, but yeah, double the, or we could be like double mint, like double the flavor, double the fun. It's Kieran Kristy on the pod. Like there's just the two of us cause there's no other K names in the consultant world. It's just Kieran Kristy. So I mean, we got   DAT Kristy (00:36) That's right.   Kari and Kristy, you got it.   Kiera Dent (00:40) Kiera and Dana, so that could be my initials, cute. Then there's Kiera and Trish, but there's Trish and Tiffanie. Then there's Kiera and Brittany, no BS, Britt, she's on her own realm. And then we've got Monica. So, see, it's the two Ks, it's the double the, like, we're just gonna have fun here. Like, you get two of us, two brilliant brains. And believe it or not, Kristy and I actually might just be rivaling for like some of the biggest gains this quarter, so.   DAT Kristy (00:55) Yes, it does.   Kiera Dent (01:07) ⁓ not that we're here just for gains on clients, but Kristy does give me a run for my money, which all the consultants do. And Kristy's just like, she's, she's coming on hot this, this quarter. So I thought it'd be really fun, Kristy, for us to kind of dig into. Like either quarterly or twice a year annual reviews that we kind of do with clients and how you assess it. And we show the ROI that clients are getting, just cause I think it's important for clients to see like, what should you be assessing in your practice quarterly or two times a year?   How's the practice going? And Kristy, I think you're really, really strong in this. And I think you're really talented at looking at the practice and about their numbers and about, like, you love that. You and I will geek about numbers all day long, which is why it's the KK club, the KitKat club. Like we're here for the numbers. We're here for the fun. ⁓ But yeah, Kristy, kind of take it away of how do you set this up? What do you look at with clients when you're assessing their practices? Because always client style is like, I want ROI on consulting. And you do like,   amazing job at showing that ROI. So kind of take it away of what do we look at? How do we determine ROI? And I know this is your jam. This is what you love to do.   DAT Kristy (02:15) I love it. You're right. I do. You know, we all.   Kiera Dent (02:18) Do hear that little   giggle? I hope everybody heard that. Like that's Kristy's like. Kristy lives for this stuff and it makes me so happy because I do too. Like it's fun. It's fun to get the gains.   DAT Kristy (02:28) Yeah,   absolutely. Well, you and I have talked about this before. So many doctors just look   their bank account to see if they're on track or off track. And it's such a false sense of security looking at or lack of security, one of the two. with that being said, ⁓ there truly is like five   Kiera Dent (02:36) you   Mm-hmm.   DAT Kristy (02:48) KPIs that we're going to look at. And a couple of them are lag measures. A couple of them are lead measures.   ⁓ first view would be production net production collections. Yeah.   Kiera Dent (03:01) Yeah, don't even get into that gross. We don't want gains that are fake all y'all, okay? Like get   out. ⁓ Jason and I were talking the other day about guys, there's this, okay, Kristy, I'm gonna go on Tanger for a second. There's this really attractive actor on this show we're watching and I'm like, truly I was so disappointed when they kind of cut him from a couple episodes. I was like, no, she's gotta get back together with this guy because he's so good looking. And my husband and I, we look, because he looks pretty short.   DAT Kristy (03:13) you   Kiera Dent (03:28) So I like scoped him and I was like, how tall is this guy? And he says he's six foot and Jason's like, there's no way he's six foot. He's like, but do you ever hear some guy come in and they're like, yeah, I'm like 5'11". He's like, no, they all push them to the six foot. And I feel like that's what gross production is. It's like all of us are like, yeah, like I'm basically six foot. Yeah, I'm basically like a millionaire. Yeah, I'm basically there. Like, so we're talking, no, get out. We're here for like actual gains that you're actually getting net production.   my little side tangent, it's okay. It's okay if you're 5'10". It's okay if you're 5'9". It's okay if you're 5'11". We in production want to know the real number that we can actually collect, not the artificial one that makes you feel good when you're chatting with friends. You can fluff your height, but don't fluff your production.   DAT Kristy (04:15) love that 100%. So we got the net production and then the collections,   Kiera Dent (04:16) you   DAT Kristy (04:22) dollar for dollar percentage. Obviously we want them to be 98 % or higher. And then on the flip side, where are we diagnosing? What's our case acceptance? And so many people just look at the percent of case acceptance, but I also want to look at the dollars of what you're diagnosing because is it enough to reach your goal?   you know, where's your profit point at and what do we need to hit? Because we can celebrate 100 % case acceptance, which I don't think anybody ever has 100%, but you know, if you're getting 50 % case acceptance, which is still a very good percentage, 50 % of what? If we need to hit 150 every month and we're only hitting 100, it's not enough to get us there. So those would be the main five KPIs that   ⁓ tell us the health of your practice, right? And go ahead, care.   Kiera Dent (05:18) I   was gonna say, and Kristy, as you said that, diagnosing, don't think people realize is as important as it is. For whatever goal you wanna hit, there's a industry standard that you need to diagnose three times what you wanna produce. So if you wanna produce 100 grand, you need to be diagnosing 300,000 minimum to be able to get there, and you better hope you've got a great treatment coordinator who can close. And this is actually like...   I'm gonna like give a little secret away that we'll see if people are smart enough to pick up on in future years. This is the number one thing I actually look for in a consultant. I look to see, do an interview, we give them some stats and if a consultant cannot pick up this practice like without fail, they come in and they wanna talk block scheduling, they wanna talk other things. But I need a consultant to be able to see that a lot of times the reason a practice is not hitting their goals is due to a lack of diagnosis. And another reason we do that is because   Kristy and I are not dentists and we're not here to tell you how to diagnose. We're just here to help you see that based on industry standards and what you should be diagnosing of a healthy practice. If you're not getting enough diagnosis and doctors, you've got to hear this. If you are not diagnosing enough, this is a doctor issue and we're not saying to overdiagnose, but you have to diagnose enough. If you're not diagnosing enough and there's not enough treatment coming through, your practice will not grow. And that's not your team's fault. That's a you problem.   And so making sure that you, your hygienist, you use AI, but Kristy, I'm so glad you brought that up because production collections are always easy. But what impacts that, like you said, is the diagnosis, then the case acceptance, the new patients. And that's where it says lead and lag. Like everybody's looking at the lag of production collection, but it's like, what did we do to get there? And Kristy, I love that you bring these five things up every single quarter, every single, like twice a year with your clients, because people don't realize your bank account is a lag measure.   of what you've been doing in the practice. And then like another one is your overhead and what are you spending? Because if those things are in check, but we're spending everything we're making, we're not saving for taxes. Well, yeah, that's a real fun moment. Your bank account's really gonna look bleak, even if everything's working in the practice. So I really hope people take note because it's such a good thing for people to be aware of.   DAT Kristy (07:09) .   Absolutely. to that point, Kiera, like so many people think if that number isn't where they want it, let's go get more new patients. And then they want to spend more money on more new patients. And nine times out of 10, this is exciting time of the year because we're halfway through the year. Take a look at what you did treatment plan. I mean, I see a lot of practices, you know, let's for easy math, they're diagnosing a million dollars and we've closed 500,000. Holy cow. Even if you captured, you know,   percent of that difference like what would that mean to your bottom line and this is a perfect time to take a step back and go my gosh we have five months left in the year what would that look like break it down chunk it down to simple   pieces that your team can digest and you guys have fun with it. It's all about getting patients healthier. Let's face it, you're not diagnosing things patients don't need. So let's go get it. Let's get our patients healthy and gamify it. See one more crown a day or one more implant a month. What is it? Right?   Kiera Dent (08:35) Yeah. And Kristy, I think something you do so well that I hope people heard is you're not going for the big gains. You're going for the little like squeeze the juice, like get the last bit of toothpaste out of the tube of toothpaste. And I don't think people like that's not sexy. It's like, hey, I heard this podcast that I'm supposed to like go look at these small things versus we're getting all these new patients and we signed up for marketing. Well, but like this is where the elite practices shine. This is where the like really superior   Practices go people are like here. How do you do it? How do you guys like add? 20,000 40 that I Kristy I was looking at some of your stats girl. You're like, like I said, I love a good hustle and some of your practices you're adding like 50,000 a month to their practices and that's Incredible and people like how you do it Kristy's literally telling you it's through squeezing the tube of toothpaste in these small little moves that actually are not that hard going and getting new patients and signing up for marketing and all that that to me is actually hard fixing your diagnosis   getting your whole team on board, looking to see at what our production collections are, making sure our collections are tight. Those things are way easier. They're not as fun, they're not as sexy, but way easier than having to go like hunt and fish for new patients, even though it's way more fun to tell people you signed up for marketing. It's not fun to be like, yeah, we got a new billing thing in place. Like we got our AR fixed. That's not fun to admit, but it's way fun on the bank account and the profitability side too.   DAT Kristy (09:58) Yeah,   100%. And again, ⁓ so going back to the new patients, they want to spend more money to get it. But then have you looked at like, how are we answering the phone? How are we capturing the patients that are calling? Maybe you really don't need to spend any more money to cap, you know, they're coming in, we're just not capturing them, you know, and I'm always a fan of, you know, there's the internal marketing and external.   everything Fred Joyle said it best right everything is marketing we are marketing so get real intentional and get in relationship with your patients figure out what they want and tie their care back to it you know   Kiera Dent (10:39) Mm-hmm.   Yeah, I think it's brilliant. And I think it's like you said, everything we do is marketing. And so if we realize that and so many people want external marketing, and I think to me, the reason people want external marketing, and I'm not here to say not to do external marketing, I think it's a, it is a piece and a part of it. But I think it feels like a diet pill sometimes, like, let's just let's just throw money over there. And let's hope it fixes our problems. Let's out produce our problems rather than fixing our problems. And I really want people to realize like,   elite business ownership and being part of the elites, and we're not talking big practices, there's no right size to it. That all comes actually from doing these small little things and internal marketing, once again, is so good. These patients already love you. You already have a base of people that love you. And if you treat those people really well, rather than constantly going to try and swoop and get more people in, those people then refer, they refer better people to you.   It's easier. I have a practice and it was wild. They're like, Kiera, we signed up with marketing and we're trying to get it. And again, this is not a bash on any marketing companies. It is definitely necessary. ⁓ but they're like, but we're just not getting more, more new patients. Talk to another client. They're like, we, we just signed up with a marketing company and it's actually gone down. And I'm like, well, tell me what were you doing before to get patients? And they're like, we were at the church, we were in this magazine. And I'm like, well, get back in that because it was, it was showcasing the good things you're doing. It was being this like,   more B2B, it was being more connected rather than just trying to go for the masses and it's wild because internal marketing can be so much more effective if done right. And like you said, be in a relationship with your patients and know what they want. And great Google reviews, great Google reviews are your fastest, easiest marketing. So pay with Swell, like let's throw another plugin for Swell. It's been a few months since I put them in.   Go to Swell, SwellCX.com. Tell them Dental A Team sent you. Literally Zeke and I met when he founded the company. So you still get like founding prices, because that was the promise he and I made that you guys would get that. But honestly, just get your Google reviews up. Save the money. I don't know. Kristy, you and I are such birds of the same feather. That's why we're KitKat over here. We just think very similarly. And I think that's why we get very similar results as well.   DAT Kristy (12:55) Yeah, I think that the other big thing here is to recognize so many people are afraid of numbers. The members just start to tell a story and what we fail to realize is there's a system behind every one of those numbers. And if the number isn't where we want it, we need to pull up that system and figure out the system's a recipe, right? It's our cookbook. If it's not where we want it, then let's go back and figure out, did we mess up the recipe? You know, or   is the recipe, we're following it to a T and we just need to change up and find a new recipe because it's not getting the result. So ⁓ I love digging into those numbers because that tells us where we need to focus on this quarter to get the results we want.   Kiera Dent (13:40) And I really love that you said numbers just tell a story and there's a system behind the number and this makes it so much easier like going back There's a podcast I did a little while ago where I talked about the yes model and Dental A Team to help you say yes to more It's focusing on you as a person your vision which Kristy alludes to like are we on track or not for that vision and then E stands for earnings and profitability and S stands for systems and if you put them in that order So you've got your vision then we look at the numbers just like Kristy said   then you put into place the systems based on what those numbers tell you, it becomes a much more manageable and easier to digest process rather than being like, I need all the systems. And it's like, no, no, no, you just need the systems based on what the numbers tell you because I'm sure you're doing a lot more right than you think you are.   DAT Kristy (14:25) Absolutely. And I also think, you know, it's a good time to take a step back and evaluate where you are on the culture scale too, right? Happy team creates happy patients and happy patients pay and refer. So it all goes hand in hand.   Kiera Dent (14:39) Good   thoughts on there. Okay, so what else do you go? You go through the production collections, diagnosis, case acceptance, new patients, lead lag measures. Then you move into, we on track, off track for our goals of where we're at this year? What are the things that we could do now to get there by end of year? Are they still relevant? Are we still on track? What else do you look at with your clients when you're doing these assessments, Kristy?   DAT Kristy (15:02) Yeah, well, I always like to start the year off with projecting where we're going. And so also calculating back to that. And you and I talked about overhead. If we take what our average overhead is for the year, are we on track for meeting that or not?   Right? Because we can project all day long. I can want to make $3 million, but this $3 million cover overhead expenses and our savings for the year. So always measuring back to that. And if we're off track figuring out how can we get on track, right? Did doctor take off more time or do we need to add in a Friday to get to goal? You know, those types of things. Or are you, ⁓   okay with where we're projected to land and you feel confident about that. You know, once in a blue moon, well, I shouldn't say once in a blue moon because you and I do get them up there, but you know, it also relieves them and they can maybe even take an extra week off or a few days off because they're ahead of goal. Yeah.   Kiera Dent (16:06) Totally.   And those are the fun ones. That's what we want. We want to be ahead. We don't want to always be behind. And I agree with you, Kristy. The offices that are ⁓ diligent and consistent at looking at these, we look at these monthly, we look at these quarterly, we look at these annually, we assess, we redirect. It's like, I don't know. I feel like what you do is there's a plane. I just flew back from Greece, which was a very long flight. And it was very fun. This is where I watched.   DAT Kristy (16:13) Mm-hmm.   Kiera Dent (16:35) so many of these shows of this very good looking actor. I thought I was like, how tall is this man? While my husband's sitting next to me, it's okay, it's all right. We're allowed to have a few celebrity crushes. ⁓ But on our flight back, it was like a 12, 13 hour flight home. And I think about if that pilot would not have checked to see if we were a few degrees off, I could have easily ended up somewhere else. And that's just by a few degrees. And so what I feel you're doing, Kristy, on these quarterly, these monthly, these annual check-ins is making sure   that we're still navigating towards Greece or towards wherever we're trying to get. And are we on track or like you said, do we need to do a small navigation at a Friday, change this, look at our spending to be able to end up there at the end of the year or like, are we so far off course? So we need to like correct a little bit and then get back on track for next year. But the hope is that we catch that soon enough because we're never gonna go in a straight line. It will never be perfectly across. There will always be hiccups, there will be turbulence, there will be.   things that you gotta go around, you gotta redirect places. But if we're constantly looking at it, we stay much more on course and charter to where we want to go rather than like hoping and wishing we end up where we actually set out to go.   DAT Kristy (17:43) Yeah, 100%. And sometimes it's also looking, where are we spending? Right? Is there something that crept in there? We talked about this before too, with, you know, the subscriptions or, I mean, it's funny because the very first doctor that   I remember him telling a story about an airline and I was just sharing this recently with a client. I think it was like American, you guys could probably Google it and find it, but it's back in the day when they would serve meals to everybody and this airline decided that they could cut one olive.   Kiera Dent (18:17) Hmm?   DAT Kristy (18:17) and it cut their bottom line by a ton. Like what is the cost of one olive? So where can we tighten the ship a little bit? Those things are kind of, again, have fun with it, gamify it. Get your team involved. Let them be part of the solution.   Kiera Dent (18:37) Yeah,   and Kristy, I love that because we talk about this olive, the FedEx trucks and then chicken nuggets. And going back to it, the black olive airline cut, it was one olive, saved them $40,000 annually. I just pulled it up to sea and it was on American Airlines. And Tiff and I talk about the chicken nugget, like they used to serve five chicken nuggets, which was the right amount. Well, they dropped it to four. Four is not enough, so now you...   Upsell to 10 and I'm like that's one chicken nugget. This is one olive and I agree with you Kristy for me This is the fun of business like how can I go find that one olive or that one chicken nugget Tim and I get really excited when we find a whole chicken farm. Like that's a good one I'm like, wow, that was that was like a really good idea or a whole salad But again, it's to cut costs but improve patient care. Like what are they? mean even today Kristy, Shelbi, Britt and I were going through our expenses in dental a team   DAT Kristy (19:25) Mm-hmm.   Kiera Dent (19:30) and we looked and we have Adobe and we still use Adobe for contracts. But Shelbi looked at it, we're paying 65 and we use Canva and our marketing team doesn't need all the entire suite of Adobe anymore. But that was something we put into place like five years ago. We've been paying 65 bucks every single month when we only need to be paying 19. Not that that matters. And so many people are just like, well, here it's 40 bucks. And I'm like, okay, you want to play a game with me? I'll play a game. It's 65 minus 20.   DAT Kristy (19:57) me.   Kiera Dent (20:00) Okay, so 45 times that by 12 times that by five years is 2,700 bucks that I've been overpaying just on a subscription that's doing nothing for our company that I could have cut. And I'm like, I know you might not get out of bed for 2,700 bucks, but I'm like, you find that subscription, you find this subscription, you find that one, all those little, do you think someone really was excited on American Airlines to save $40,000 when it's a multi-billion dollar business? But 40,000 here, 20,000 there.   DAT Kristy (20:26) Right.   Kiera Dent (20:29) 50 bucks here. also think Kristy, to me, it's the discipline of auditing, of looking. It's more than I think the olive or the Adobe subscription or the chicken nugget. It is the constant innovation to look, to be the most savvy business that we can possibly be. And then we flip to the other side and give the best service that we can as well.   DAT Kristy (20:51) 100 % I agree with you, Kiera. Yeah, it's just those small incremental things. And it's about being intentional versus doing it by default, right? Let's do it intentionally so that when we get to the end, there's no surprises.   Kiera Dent (20:52) you   love that because I hate surprises in December as a business owner. Oh, I used to dread December's like and it's a great time to travel. It's a great time to hang out with family. But I used to cry like beginning of December, it was tears every single year. And then by the end of the year, I was exhausted. had nothing left for family and it's supposed to be such a fun time that I agree with you, Kristy. It's like no tears. The projections are there we were prepared. I don't know there really is a saying like if you are prepared, you will not fear and I'm like, it really is that case and also   Like CPAs, I'm gonna rag for a second. They rag on consultants. This is a love relationship we have with CPAs and consultants. I get so annoyed that like CPAs don't tell you till December. And I'm like, no, have the meeting in July. Have the meeting in October. Figure it out because you still have time to pivot. And that's what Kristy and I wanted to come on today is there's still time to pivot if you look at these items, you look at the things we're discussing, you look to see what can we do. There's still time. It's like, we're not at the 11th hour.   hoping to try to make up time in such a short amount of time. call your CPAs, find out where you're at on your tax liabilities. Are you on track for saving that? There's so many times that we have our meeting with the CPA and he's like, Kiera, I need to up and increase and start cutting. And I'm just annoyed every time, but I'd rather do that over the course of six months rather than one month, because I still have time to make that correction with it, not hurting as much as it could.   DAT Kristy (22:30) It's so true, so true. And the efforts to get there are a lot smaller when we can dilute it over five months versus two weeks, because we didn't look till the end of the year.   Kiera Dent (22:42) especially the two weeks in December where we're not producing so we're not even collecting and we have to pay more. It's just a really like nasty path. So I'm like, no, no, no, just don't plan for December. Have that be your gravy slush time. Get it all done in 11 months. But like even that kind of thinking, Kristy, I don't think is common. I think it's very abnormal to think, well, if my December is only going to be two weeks, why am I banking on that as a full month? Why don't I bank on? And this is back to mine and Kristy, like we love the projections. We love to think of like   DAT Kristy (22:59) No.   Kiera Dent (23:12) How could I get this done in 11 months? How can we give you vacations? How can it be done in this many weeks? And that's something, Kristy, I really do feel like it's the Kit Kat Club over here. Like we really do think in such a similar way, but I want you to realize like this is how Kristy and I are able to throw gains. We're able to help practices get to where they want to be, but also with it being easy, happy teams, happy culture, not a lot of stress, ⁓ and just kind of doing the small minutiae things that actually make insane gains.   for a practice. We help find the olives, Kristy. Every so often we might get a tomato, but it's the small olives that actually make the huge impact for a practice.   DAT Kristy (23:42) Right? Yeah, let's get the olives. Yeah.   100%, 100%. And hopefully we can show it's easy. It's not hard. It truly isn't hard. It's one patient at a time and just capturing a little bit more.   Kiera Dent (24:03) Yeah. And then Kristy, I think it's really fun what you do for your clients too, is you show them the ROI that you brought to them through AR, through production, through overhead savings. So that way a client, regardless of their bank account saying, can literally see that in the course of working together, this is what we've been able to accomplish together. Because I think as a business owner, it is so easy to forget like what it felt like when I couldn't lift 20 pounds, now that I'm lifting 50 pounds.   Like it's so easy because 50 pounds becomes your new normal, but you're like, no, no, no, no. Remember how we started and you couldn't even lift like five pounds. Then you got up to 20, then you got up to 50. I think it's very easy for clients to forget where they started because their new norm is where we've grown them to.   DAT Kristy (24:48) Yeah, it's so true. mean, you know me, I love analogies and it's almost like your periopatient that's been coming in every three months and now they're healthy and so they want to push it back out and it's like you forgot it's this effort coming every three months that's gotten you healthy and the minute we change it, things start to slide, you know, so. ⁓   Yeah, mean, hopefully, hopefully we can always show that value in it. They still have to do the boots on the ground hard work, but you know.   even Tiger Woods has a coach, right? And that coach can see around corners to see things a little bit faster maybe when things aren't moving the same. You your swing's off, what's happening, what's going on, you know, and to keep you back on track. it's fun, it's fun partnering with clients and being able to see that and course correct and help them achieve their goals.   Kiera Dent (25:43) ⁓ I love it. Kristy, I agree with you. And I think that that's why we have the passion for consulting. We have the passion for practices. We have the passion for wanting you to strike. It's crazy because like, I don't know, we have a tagline, which marketing told me I need to get rid of because it's more about me than it is about you. And it does not make sense to me. ⁓ where it says like your success as a practice is truly Dental A Team's passion. Like this is what gets me and Kristy up out of bed. This is what makes us want to get on a podcast and share with you is   you being successful, you getting your dreams, you hitting these goals is what we are obsessed and so passionate about. So I think it's so fun. So I'd say, Kristy, if practice is listening right now, what would be kind of like your bow on our podcast today that you'd say like, okay, from everything we've talked about, what do they take away? What can they go implement? ⁓ Because sometimes it can feel like, well, what's my first step to be able to get on this path of slight course corrections to get to my final destination with ease.   DAT Kristy (26:42) Yeah, well first off, if you haven't figured out your goal, maybe look at what you finished at last year and at least strive for 10 % above that because we know that that's at least keeping up with inflation. Again, I don't know if that's meeting your overhead needs, but at least it's a good point. And then reverse engineer it. See how far you're off track from that for the year.   and ⁓ what's one more day or one more thing every day. Hopefully you're doing some sort of morning huddle and ⁓ inside of the morning huddle, everybody has a part to play, right? So admin, look, is there any balances that need to be collected?   ⁓ patient wise in doctor's schedule, is there anybody that could come back in through hygiene? Hygiene, if we have undiagnosed treatment and we know there is, because we see those numbers every day in morning huddle and it's almost like crazy alarming the amount. Usually it's more than what you're even producing for the day. So, gamify it and try to turn those patients into healthy patients by converting their treatment. ⁓   know just those simple things right there is going to make a big difference to your year end.   Kiera Dent (27:55) I that. I love it, Kristy, so much. And I love that you have the passion and the love. I love that you will also sit down with your clients. And I think that that's the discipline and maybe like the fast track of using a consultant is, Kristy, you prepare these for your clients. You think about it. You're looking down the line of things they're maybe not even considering doing. They're not thinking about midway. How are we doing? What are our projections? Are we on track? Are we off track? Where are we at? And I think having a consultant, like you said, with even Tiger Woods,   looking around the corner, looking down the line. Kristy and I are both like, we're watching the clock. We know we only have so many more months in the year. Where are you at? How can we make sure that we're constantly keeping you on track to get to your goals? Where maybe you're just having a fun summer vacation or you're just coming back. Like we know that that's our job is to be looking down the line for you, watching out for you, projecting for you, course correcting with you. ⁓ Even when you're in the day to day problems. And I think Kristy, that's just a   a shout out to you and a shout out to consultants because this is why we do what we do. So if you, if you are like most business owners, including myself, when I first started and you hate numbers, that's why there are people like Kristy and myself that exist because we love to get into the nitty gritty. We love to look for those olives. We love to help you go do the dentistry and we're going to sit here and help make sure your business and your team and your practice is flourishing. So that way the hard work you put into being a dentist pays off for you in the end. So Kristy love this, love what you do for our clients.   Love being the, the KK Kit Kat, whatever we want to be over here. mean, it might stick. We might be Kit Kats for Halloween. You never know, but Kristy just super appreciate you and all that you do for our clients and for our company and you as a human being, you're just a gem. And I'm so freaking lucky to work with you.   DAT Kristy (29:28) Yeah.   Thank you. It's my honor and you know what? We're stronger as a team, I have to say. So no matter what consultant you have in our company, you get all of us. So we collaborate, we cheer each other on, just like hopefully you're cheering your team on. So happy to help.   Kiera Dent (29:49) Bye.   Kristy,   you said that so well and it is true. I see you and all the consultants like have little meetings on your calendars of connecting and chatting and I do agree. We all help each other out. We want all of our clients to succeed no matter who you're working with. So for all of you, if you're struggling or you're like, gosh, I really would love that help or just having someone, I'll just put our arm around you and like, we're here to help you. We're here to support you. We're here to guide you. We're here to look around that corner. Reach out, Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. And as always, Kristy, thanks for being with me. Thank all of you for listening.   and we'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team Podcast.  

Office autopsy time! Kiera and Dana review a "practice" that went from broke to success in a handful of months, and how tracking their numbers saved them. Every single office will go through a cash flow crunch at least once, so it's important to understand the right flotation devices to utilize. This could mean pulling overhead apart, identifying production and collections percentages, analyzing fixed costs, and more. 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 a special day. I have the one and only Dana Morsell on the podcast today. And prior to this, asked her, she's gone through a few nicknames and Dana, believe it or not, I was actually thinking about this last night. No joke. I was thinking like, there's Spiffy Tiffy and there's no BS Britt. And I was like, Dana, you've been with me for a long time. Like, why have I not gotten like a good nickname for you? And like, Britty Gritty. And I was like, okay, I just like throw wise on the end of these names like Tiffy, that is their TT DM does not sound quite right. Like that's like DMing on Instagram. And so I thought like, it's just Dainey. And now you told me I to do it with a Southern draw. So it's going to be like Dainey on the far. So well. Dana (00:44) Yep, it has to have it. I feel like it reminds me so much of my dad and like it just has to have that. Kiera Dent (00:51) Well, it's my dad. grew up on a dairy farm for all the listeners. Don't worry. We have like a really good podcast today. It's an office autopsy that Dana has taken these three incredible practices, like one owner, like they went from just stress and chaos and burnout to complete an absolute just like freedom, which and Dana has done it so quickly. So we're going to get there. I'm just going to tell you about this dairy farm real fast. ⁓ my dad grew up on a dairy farm and he used to say his mom would always like, Ricky, like that's how he would call him. imagine myself on this like beautiful estate and like sweeping my porch and having this like big white porch out there. And I'm like, Dainey! So that's how I envisioned this so, you know, that's that's the vision over here So whether you like it or not, otherwise we can go back to donuts with Dana. What do you prefer? Dana (01:38) ⁓ I actually love you standing on your white porch shouting that, so we'll take it. Kiera Dent (01:41) I think it just fits and if you haven't heard other podcasts, if you haven't been with us as long, Dana has the most random stories like running her bicycle into a deer. She has so many animals. She's got kids like Dana will always come to the table with the most random stories and she whoops everybody on trivia. We play games in our company and it's always like team trivia. Dana will whoop them. So, you know, here we go Dana. Welcome to the podcast. How are you over there Dana? Special Dana? Dana (02:09) doing pretty good. Yeah, doing pretty good. think all of my wild stories and my trivia comes from like, I don't know, I just have this like weird memory thing where I can like memorize things very quickly. Even like applying for a car loan, they're always shocked that I know all of my account numbers, all of my balances down to the penny, like just off the top of my head. And so I think that that's kind of where some of that comes from. Kiera Dent (02:28) No. I didn't even know that about you. So that's also a really interesting thing to note. All right, so Dana will remember, mean, is this okay? Is it something where you can remember numbers like past past? Or is it like your banking out is just current right now, but you couldn't remember like a month ago. Dana (02:47) No, so it is past-past, but it's because I don't know, my brain does this weird, like I make a riddle out of everything and I'm constantly like, okay, well, if I run and remember something, like if it's, you know, two, three, six, I'm like, well, two times three is six. And like, I just, I don't know, create like weird connections, especially with numbers in my brain and like riddle it so that I remember it. Kiera Dent (03:07) Fascinating. Fascinating. Okay. Well, there's another random fact about Dana. So Dana is one of my absolute fave humans in the entire world. Dana, truly, I say that on the podcast and I genuinely mean it. And we have talked about it on show, off show. Dana is just a super incredible human and offices who get to work with her are so lucky. So we thought it'd be fun. Office autopsy time. If you're new to the podcast, this is where we kind of go behind the scenes. ⁓ We mash up a few practices. just so you know, you'll never really fully know exactly who it is just to keep a client patient confidentiality. But we want to highlight of things that we do in real life, because I think consulting can be kind of hard. Like what do you actually do and what are the results you actually get? And so Dana just had some really solid wins with some practices. And I thought, Dana, let's get on the podcast and do our office autopsy, where we lift up the hood and we look behind the scenes. And what were some of the things you as a consultant did for this practice? What are some of the wins and gains that they've had? ⁓ that I think will just be fun. So Dana, let's take it away. ⁓ kind of like, where did this practice start? What have we implemented and where are they now? Maybe even tell them like where they started, where they got to. And then we'll talk about the how, because that's really fun. I don't like to wait for the like end result. I want to know quickly like, okay, they were like dying, drowning, broke, and then they got like hundreds of dollars and they got it in like a month. How did they do it? So take us away. Where were they? Where did they get to? And then let's go into the house. Dana (04:30) Yeah, and I think that this practice is just a really cool example of like the importance of knowing your numbers, especially when you have multiple practices and knowing what each practice is bringing to the table and having really clear separated numbers for those things. And so it was just really fun and I think a cool way to highlight how when you know those things, then you can fix systems that are broken or aren't working to see massive progress. So when this office came, they were at a negative profit. ⁓ each month and Kiera Dent (05:03) We're talking like they're losing money, losing sleep, stressed out of their minds. Dana (05:04) Yeah, yes. So stressed, they're pulling personal, you know, they're pulling boatloads of personal cash every month to cover expenses to keep these practices open. ⁓ You know, doctor is going from office to office. And it's truly, truly really stressful time and they don't really know where the leaks are coming from. And they can't put their finger on what's going on that's causing it. And yeah, stressed out to the max and just really, really wanting help and wanting to kind of pinpoint and give them a clear picture of why they are so stressed and why these practices that feel as if they're booming or are starting to get busy aren't profitable at that point. Kiera Dent (05:35) This And I think this is so common for so many practices, which is why we were talking morning huddle. We share all of our client wins every single day. You guys, we have a morning huddle. It's very fun. We talk about team wins, client wins. And when Dana talked about this, I'm like, Dana, we're podcasting. Like, can you get on the podcast with me? I think this is such a big win because it, yes, it's, it's quote unquote one practice that we've kind of mashed a few of them, but this is like every single office. And so many of them don't realize what's going on with my profit numbers. They feel like it's booming. but they have no money left over and then they're stressed to the max and they're countless hours. And this isn't just a brand new practice. Like this is a business owner who'd been in business for a long time. Like it's almost that I should with air quotes know what I'm doing, but I just don't know where it is. And Dana, I'm so proud of you for saying like they need to know their numbers. We harp on this like crazy because when you actually can dig in, which I'm excited for you to kind of do like the grand reveal and then the how, but I mean, how many practices, Dana, this is, I hope people realize one, practices all go through this. So this is not just a siloed to one or two practices. This is every office at some point is going to go through cashflow crunches, stressed out, working all hours and not being able to pinpoint. And just because you're profitable today does not mean you're forever going to be profitable. It is something you have to constantly work at, constantly be vigilant on. And it's not just like, set it, forget it, we're on our way. And so I think for that, but also I think so many people because they don't know what to do. they spin their wills that creates this cycle of death in my opinion. Like you truly are spinning, you're burning the candle at all ends. I remember when I met, cause I'm, I talked to this office when they were joining our company and I'm like, my gosh, like I can't want this more than they want it. Like they have to make the decision to join us, but my gosh, I see your problem. see your pain and we have got to fix that like an ASAP and get CPR because the owner was just running frantic and it was impacting family life and financials. And to me, you worked so hard that you should not be living that life this far into business ownership, whatever stage you're in. So I'm ready for the grand reveal. I hope people just realize this is not siloed and it's not something that's permanent. And it's also once you become profitable, that's also not permanent too. No season is permanent, but we want profitability to be more permanent because you're vigilant on it. Dana (08:07) Yeah, yeah. And you know, after looking at things, developing systems really honing in on their numbers and kind of what they were telling us, we were able to get them to be on track to hit 16 % profit in August. So going from negative profit to actually having a decent amount of profit sitting there, and they're producing in one less office now too. So. Kiera Dent (08:30) Okay. So breaking this down, how many months are we talking? Is this like five months, 10 months, 12 months? How long of a timeline did we go for? Five months. Okay. Again, why I wanted Dana to come on because consulting is not an overnight diet pill. It's not something that we can just inject and say, here you go. Like you're on your way. It is something. And also I want you to realize that any person listening, getting to negative profit also did not usually happen overnight. Now buying a practice, you might be a little bit negative. So there is a space where that can be negative. but this was someone who was running multiple offices and Dana kudos in five months, you got them from negative cash. We're talking like broke. There's no money to a 16 % profit. So there is, and we're talking, we're in the multimillions. So you can just do some math that even on 1,000,000 10 % profit is a hundred grand. Okay. You add 16 % that's 160,000 of profit. Now you can do the math for your own practice of a 16 % profit. and that was done in five months. So can you just imagine this practice going from like, my gosh, I'm broke to having this much slush on the other hand, and you got one less practice. There was multiple practices. You got rid of a practice, which there's strategy behind. Do we keep it not? What do we do there? And this doctor I guarantee you is having way more time, less stress as well. So the numbers, the money is always what people want to hear. Every time I talk to people on like... sales calls, wondering about working with us. Like what's your ROI, Kiera? How are we going to like make sure we pay for this? And I'm like, well, the numbers will be there. But what I actually care more about is the life you're living. Yes, I'm going to always cover numbers. Like that's the result. People need to have that. But I think the piece that people don't realize and why you're usually reaching out is you're looking for life of no stress. You're looking for your problems to actually get resolved. And Dana, that gift in five months, like, and that's fast. That's a fast turn. Not all practices are this quick. so I'm really curious, what did you guys do? How did you get that turn? I'm really proud of you. That's why I wanted you on the podcast to highlight dynamite Dana. mean, this one feels a little bit more like Dainey on the white porch. get, but dynamite Dana, being able to get those results in five months. That's impressive. Like that is dynamite to be able to do. So walk us through what were some of the pieces of how did we do this? What did we do? Five months is not, it might feel long to people, but when in the grand scheme of things, that's not even half a year to go from net negative. to positive 16%. Dana (10:48) Yeah. And I think sometimes too, it just helps to translate. Like what that looks like is we really cut expenses, right? Some of the expenses and they on average are collecting about 35,000 more per month too. Kiera Dent (11:01) Nice. Dana (11:02) ⁓ So it really came down to first step was getting them to understand which of the offices were profitable if any of them and you know what each individual office looked like. So we basically did an office autopsy. We pulled apart overhead. We pulled apart fixed costs for every office. We pulled apart their percentages of production and collections over the last year and really created a very clear picture of how each practice was doing as well as then moving forward what numbers do we need to hit in each practice to hit various profit points. Kiera Dent (11:40) Awesome. So breaking this down, I think when people have multi-practices, this is a huge problem that offices do is they bundle it all together and they have no idea where the true cashflow week is. And what I found is in multi-practice ownership, usually it's one practice that is the bleeding child and all the rest of them are doing well, but you don't know that. And so I did this, I had multiple businesses, I had all lumped into one and I didn't know, you have no idea where to fix things, where to move levers. what needs to happen. And so what we do is we do this like buckshot approach where we try to do everything for all of them, but don't actually know when we can pinpoint. So we're working hard or not smarter on that. So I love that you broke it apart. So basically you got to have separate tax IDs for each practice. I know that seems annoying. It's also annoying to break it down for your insurance companies, but choose your heart. Would you rather know where you are profitable or where you're not? The answer is hard pass. Yes. Like we absolutely want that. And so from there, then you looked at how much it's costing each practice. And this is so fascinating to me and people are like, but Kiera, Dana, like people travel with me to all the offices and I'm like, fantastic. You have to actually put that salary, that amount for that practice. So we know, and what's wild is that team member technically is working for three different companies. Technically they are, when you break it down this way. So technically they could work 40 hours at each location. That's technically okay. Talk with your, like, we are not CPAs. We're not financial advisors, but you have to look at this. They're separate tax IDs. used to do this at multi practices. So pending upon how it structured. not to say to work your employees 120 hours a week. That's not what I'm saying. What I am saying though is if you've got a regional, you've got dental assistants that are going with you, they need to be clocking in at one location, clocking out, clocking in the next location, clocking out. And if you're paying them like gas or whatever in between, they need to actually be allocated to each practice individually so you can see actual costs per practice per business. This is how you run multi-businesses. You like think about it. If I have a dental practice and I have a coaching business and I have my real estate, they're like, all the money technically comes to you as a person, but you have to have those separated to see which business is doing well. And when you can look at all three of your practices as separate businesses under one roof of your own, this then helps you. Like you said, Dana, you laser focus and you pinpointed. So I'm very curious when you did this and you broke it apart, what did you find on expenses? Like how, like was one like just so expensive? I imagine it probably was just like cashflow negative. Like it was just gobbling all the money and the other ones were probably doing fine. Dana (14:05) Mm-hmm. Yeah, that's it. Pretty much exactly what we found ⁓ and in breaking down all of those things then secondary to that just like you were saying with with team members We had team members doing various roles depending on which practice they were in and so there was just a lot to really clean up clarify and streamline per practice ⁓ outside of even just expenses and knowing financially where the practice stood. So that was our second journey kind of after we figured out the finances and you know once they had a reality of each practice then it was really easy I think to hone in on what systems we had to work on and make some tough decisions too. Kiera Dent (14:48) And when you said that, I was just thinking it also creates clarity for team members too. I know you've also been helping like with the regional manager and like what system should be in place. So mind you, yes, we're working on profit, but then we're also putting all these systems into play looking at all of them. But I will tell you when I had team members traveling to multi offices, that's hard on teams too. They have no clue. They don't have clarity. So they're just kind of like running with you. So everybody's running at full steam, but actually not making progress. I want you just to imagine like you are literally spinning your wheels. So it sounds like you're making progress. but the distance you're going is so minimal versus we want less sound, AKA less chaos and way more forward momentum. And so really love that you were able to do that and dial it in, figure it out. Now, how did the conversation go to sell a practice? Cause I mean, five months and selling a practice, like what did that even look like? How do you even have that conversation? How did this practice execute that quickly? Cause I'm actually really proud of them on that too. Dana (15:42) Yeah. So honestly and truly when we review the numbers, I think the conversation just naturally happened because you could clearly see, you know, that they're ultimately either we need to pump in a fair amount in team expenses, marketing and things like that to get the practice to where it needed to be or ultimately make the other decision. so I think just reviewing the numbers, the conversation naturally came up because it was a glaring, you know, kind of red light. ⁓ and honestly and truly it just was kind of a luck of knew someone in the area that was looking for a multi-practice venture and like just having a network and connections that it worked out so quickly and honestly it finalized within 60 days so it was a very very quick but it just you know happened to be that it was a very strong network ⁓ and made a local connection Kiera Dent (16:13) Mm-hmm. incredible. Yeah, which is also incredible to like have good connections and people often say, think it's, think kudos to this office that you worked with of they were willing to execute and take action quickly and not sit here and give excuses and say, my gosh, there's no one that will ever be there. It was great. see the bleed. And what I love when you talk about numbers, and this is why I think we're so passionate in Dental A Team like numbers, numbers, numbers. Like I harp on this day to know that I am like, ladies, what are the numbers telling us? Look at the numbers that's going to tell you. where you need to go and what you need to get. And like it's literally the treasure map to what needs to happen. But sometimes we're so in the weeds. I do it too. This is why I have coaches for Dental A Team. I'm so in the weeds and I need to get somebody outside of that. But looking at this, there are decisions now to be made. And I think numbers create clarity. So this practice could have like another scenario if we want to choose our own adventure, there are offices that see this practice is bleeding money. So then what do we do? How can we stop the bleed? Let's look at our costs. Let's look to see where we're producing. And sometimes it's a slow grow. So we're only gonna open up one day, but we're gonna open up on Monday, be closed Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. The next week we're gonna be open Tuesday. The next week we're gonna be open Wednesday, next week Thursday, next week Friday. So we can say we're open five days a week, but we're not putting the cost in five days a week. So we're strategic on doing this. We can also have it to where we don't have to staff it as high. So if we know we've got doctors in there that can produce. bring them in for hygiene, if there's dentistry to be done, do the dentistry, move hygiene over to a Friday where a lot of hygienists are off. You can get a part-time hygienist that can come in as that Friday hygienist. You can stack a whole hygiene schedule so we're not paying a hygienist to be on staff every day. ⁓ There are ways that they can do it. They could bring on an associate. They could look at, like you said, the marketing costs, but when you look at the numbers, numbers give so much clarity and then you can make decisions. And then the decision's pretty simple of, Do we need money right now? This practice was needing money. They needed to have the bleed stop. They needed to become profitable. And for them time and profit was more important, it sounds like, than growing and expanding. For other people, like, no, we need to grow and expand. So we're to pump money over here. We're going to grow this, but we now know a more strategic path. So I just want you to know, like, you don't have to sell. But I think being realistic, I remember listening in ⁓ early on in my career and it said, like, sometimes knowing when to close a business. is actually one of the smartest things that a CEO can do. And I remember I listened to that. were doing Dental A Team, tip or no, a Spiffy Tiffy back to dental placement pros days when we used to do recruiting. I should have stayed in that business Dana, like man recruit. I was starting at, I think I charged, I think a thousand, maybe 3000 max to hire and place an associate doctors. should have like hired me. Like I was a hot cake. Like I was so, I mean, now it's like 15 to 50,000 bucks. Like man, but Dana (19:19) Yeah. Kiera Dent (19:26) I remember listening to that podcast and dental place and pros was taking so much time and was so unprofitable. like we had higher and then people would wait the like 90 days and on day 89 they'd like we're terminating them. I was like, my gosh, I gotta go higher again. That business was consuming so much time, energy and effort when it wasn't the one that was going to, it wasn't my passion. It just was out of necessity. Dental A team was my passion by far. And I remember like it, as a business owner is actually really hard to admit that a business is failing. I'm not going to lie. Like I remember driving. I remember exactly where it was. It was like a snowy day. It was very overcast. And I just like had to have that hard, honest conversation with myself of you need to close dental placement pros and you need to put all your focus on Dental A Team. That's actually the, like the practice, if you will, the business that makes me excited. Um, and I think swallowing ego, I think looking and learning what I did wrong in that business. Today, I do that way differently. I'd run it so much differently. It'd be completely separate. I wouldn't be pulling my employees. There were just so many things I did wrong. But I think having the humility and knowing when it's time to close something down versus open something up, I think sometimes it can feel really sexy and exciting to grow. But if we're just growing for the sake of growth, but we're not getting the time and profit that's truly our driver, I think those are great questions to ponder when we're looking at this. So those are kind of my thoughts. Any other thoughts you have? It's such an amazing. Dana (20:45) And then. Kiera Dent (20:48) like transformation story. Dana (20:49) Yeah, and it's been really fun. you know, you're absolutely right. And we spent a lot of time on our calls kind of choosing our own adventure. What would it look like if you know, what's been our average marketing budget? And and and if we spent more and we had this book, what would that timeline look like to get it to what is the active number of patients we need to make it profitable? We did say, okay, if we pull and we add days, what does that pull from the profitable practice if we move the doctor, you know, to the other practice, we talked about expenses for an associate and what we felt like they could produce as we added a certain amount of new patients each month. And so it's been also fun for me as a consultant to kind of do that choose your own adventure with them and honestly and truly just give them the numbers and give them the timelines that then they can really, really make a decision that I feel like they were super confident in because they had all of that information and kind of made the decision I feel like eyes wide open. Kiera Dent (21:48) Yeah, and I think as consultants, this is what drives us. This is our passion to help practices and owners be empowered to make decisions that they want, not ones that they have to make. And so it's a, you're not forced into a decision. You made it with eyes wide open. You had all the numbers. You had all the facts you knew. You knew the pros and cons. And like you said, it is a choose your own adventure. And I think when we can take the, I don't know, it's almost like the stress, the heaviness of business. and turn it into a light, fun game. like, yeah, pretend we're reading a book and your book is your business. And it's like, I could do this way and end up at this chapter. I could go this way and end up at this chapter. Both endings are great. Both endings are your story. Both are filled with highs and lows and all the way around. But I agree with you, Dana. I think it's a beautiful thing to be able to empower our clients, to help them see, to get them out of the death spike, like, sirel downward and help them actually come to like a space of I don't know. It's almost like what you, took this. I feel like the way this office probably felt is they were walking in a heavy, dark cloud, like head down, hunkered down, staring at the ground and just trying to figure out how to get there. And you took them into this like beautiful new neighborhood. It's bright. It's cheery. The birds are singing. They're skipping along there with their family. Like they are living their best life. And that was done in five months. And so just really an incredible thing for us to look at. And so I think for you listening, like, where are you at? Maybe you're on cashflow row. Maybe you're on growth row. Maybe you are on trying to figure out your next adventure. But I don't think this practice even knew that this is their choose your own adventure. think Dana, you are able to be that guiding light shining for them, helping them see, peel apart under all the pieces. And I think really giving them the guidance that they need. So any last thoughts you've got on the choose your own adventure, going from negative to 16 % profit in five months, dang, that's a title and something you should be proud of. Dana (23:41) Yeah, this is definitely an office that I'm super proud of. ⁓ And you're right. These are the things that I think we live for. We love, we hope we see, you know, and we want to see for every client that comes our way. ⁓ And I think it just shows possibilities. And when you really hone in and you are able to make decisions with ease and clarity, it just massively, massively changes your stress level and just your entire life. Kiera Dent (24:11) Yeah, we say is life and business on purpose. so Dana, just love, love, I mean, Dynamite Dana, might stick girl. That is a dynamite story and really freaking proud of you and proud of the client too. Proud of them showing up. It takes grit, it takes humility, it takes courage. And I think just if you're sitting in that boat, if you're wondering, reach out. ⁓ This office five months ago did not know how to see forward. And now they're able to live a much different life very quickly. And I think if that's you. if you can relate to this office autopsy. That's why we do office autopsy sharing it. So hopefully you can see yourself painted in the fabric of someone else's story, knowing what's possible, what's real for you. You don't have to have multi-practices. You don't have to have any of that, but it might be you're on cashflow row. You're negative. You don't know how to see out. You're at a spin or you want to optimize you like this. came to us literally. They came in wanting to have help with systems and training a regional manager and look at what was uncovered. So what you might think is your pain point might actually not be the true pain point. there might be something deeper below. So Dana, real proud of you, real proud of this client. For all of you questioning, wondering, reach out. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. This is what we live for. Truly seeing you succeed is what makes us so lit up. Like it's, it is the highlight of our year, our week, our month. So for all of you, take the call, let's, let's chat and let's get you these same success stories. So Dana, proud of you. Love having you on the podcast. Thanks for being here. And for all of you, of course. And for all of you listening, thanks for listening. And I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team Podcast. Dana (25:34) Thanks for having me.

Kiera joins the Raving Patients Podcast to talk about obtaining that CEO mindset to systematize your practice. This mindset does not mean doing it all yourself, but leaning on others to maximize their skillsets. Kiera also discusses with Dr. Len Tau how to separate yourself from having your entire identity associated with dentistry. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: Speaker 1 (00:00) Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of the Raving Patients Podcast. As you know, I'm your host, Dr. Len Tau, and I am super excited today for multiple reasons. Well, first, before I get there, I want to first thank my sponsors, both Dental Intelligence, CallRail, and a new one, Net32. You'll be hearing their commercials as well, so check out those companies. And again, the only reason I'm able to do this every single week is because of their support. I also want to remind everybody about   my event, is only one week away. One week from now we'll be gathered in Fort Lauderdale for Supercharge with Dental Practice 2025. If you wanna be a come out last minute registrant, you can reach out to me. I will be glad to add you as a guest of me. So please reach out to me. You can check out the content at SuperchargeYourDentalPractice.com So I said I was super excited and I'm super excited because of our guest today. And she's been a guest before and I just recorded an episode with her on her podcast. ⁓   We're talking about Kiera Dent, who is from the Dental A Team, and we're gonna be talking the CEO mindset systematizing your practice for freedom and growth today. So before I let ⁓ Kiera take it off, I'm gonna go ahead and introduce her. So she is the founder and CEO of the Dental A Team, an entrepreneur, consultant, speaker, and podcast host dedicated to helping dental professionals reach their highest potential. Through customized in-office and virtual consulting,   She empowers dentists and their teams to cultivate an ownership mindset and achieving lasting growth. With experience spanning every role in the dental practice, front office, dental assistant, regional manager, and even practice owner, here brings unique first-hand perspective to her coaching. Alongside her team of expert consultants, she has partnered with hundreds of practices nationwide, leading them to greater efficiency, profitability, and fulfillment. As she often says, we don't just understand you, we are you.   So please welcome to the Raving Patients podcast, Kiara Dent. Kiara, thank you so much for being a guest on my podcast today.   Speaker 2 (02:03) Oh, Len, thank you so much. so excited to be here. I loved our podcast we did together. I love the podcast we did in the past together. I'm super excited about Supercharge. Everybody should go. We're going to like sneak peek, be there in 2026. Like Len, huge fan of you guys. Just excited to be here with you. So thank you. Thanks for having me. And yeah, it's always a little weird and fun to hear your bio read right before you get on. So just grateful to be here and just like have a good time with you. It's always a great time when we podcast together.   Speaker 1 (02:30) Well, I'm excited to spend the next 30 minutes or so with content from you. So I always like to ⁓ start off for people that don't know who you are. I obviously read your bio. Can you just tell dentists and other people reading or listening and watching this episode how you help dental practices?   Speaker 2 (02:50) Yeah, absolutely. So with the bio you heard, I started out as a dental assistant and then went throughout and I've owned practices. My first practice I took from 500,000 to 2.4 million in nine months and opened our second location. And that was with a Midwestern grad. I worked at the dental college there. And so helping practices, what I learned was   I've been a team member, I've been in so many of the team roles. And then in addition to that, I've owned dental practices and I understand the business and I've run multimillion dollar practices and businesses. so bringing that perspective, I feel like there's the dentist perspective, there's the owner, the CEO of the practice, and then there's the team perspective. And both are necessary for practices. And so Dental A Team, say like, it stands for dentist and team. So what we really do for practices is whether it's virtual or in person, it's...   I call it the yes model line is what I like to say is number one, you as a person, we're going to focus on your vision, where you want to go as a doctor. Like what is your vision? The practice should serve your life. ⁓ because I believe that when you're supported, you're actually a better owner, a better boss, a better dentist. And then we go to E stands for earnings and profitability. We've got to make sure it's a profitable practice. And then we use those things, the vision and the numbers to then tell us what systems and team development we need to put into place. I'm really much a custom.   Let's see kind of like dentists do with patients. Like let's do a comp exam. Let's see where we're at. And then let's go for what's going to make the biggest impact with the least amount of effort. And being team members ourselves, I really think that we're able to like, Hey dentists, we want to hear your vision. We need to know where you're going and then go do your like favorite thing. It's dentistry. And then let's help your team be empowered to learn how to run the practice. So it truly is like a self-managing team, utilizing every single player in the team to their highest potential, but doing it with a ton of fun and ease. Like as a team member, I didn't want more hard work.   As an owner, do not want you to give me more homework. I'm already busy. So I feel like we really come in and bridge that gap of like where we are to where we want to go and do it in the easiest, most efficient and most fun way possible to help like team and patient experience be the top that it can be.   Speaker 1 (04:48) So I guess someone's listening to this podcast and they say, you know, want to, I want to change the culture in my practice, but I'm very much a micromanager.   So which means they're not focused on their dentistry, they're focused on managing the team. Do you help with that? Because there are so many micromanagers out there. I always wanted them for a very long time. And honestly, wasn't until I gave up that micromanaging and I just did the things I was going to do that my practice excelled. So ⁓ that's something, if someone's a micromanager, do you get them off doing that? Or how do you deal with that?   Speaker 2 (05:19) Yes, and I'm so glad you said that because I think most   Founder owners are micromanagers. think leadership we believe I I think so many there's this belief out there that we just come into this world as great leaders and we should just know it like you went to dental school you should just know how to be a leader and leadership is a journey and so for those micromanagers I think it's really fun to have the doctor and the team perspective and to be able to help both of them say like no doctor like these are the things but what I found is doctors micromanage because there's a lack of communication feedback loops so it's a lot so it's either a lack of communication and feedback   loop, a lack of knowledge, or they just like genuinely want to be a manager and they don't want to be an owner. And I'm like, great, let's just figure out what the the reasoning is. And then let's find the solution to that. So if team members have doctors that are micromanaging, first question I'm looking at is like, where's the feedback loop and what are we missing? Next is like, hey, doctor, I understand that this is where we're at. This is where I need you to be for the growth of the practice. What do you need to feel confident to be the dentist, to be the like not micromanaging like   there's a lack. And when I realize there's a lack and when teams can realize that there's a lack, like there's just something missing, we fix that, dentist is now able to be happy, team's able to flourish, everything starts to move in in a good motion. absolutely. I think being team members ourselves, we're not doctors, we're not dentists. Like, Len, I'm gonna lean on you for clinical. Like, that's not my world. I'm not here to even discuss it for one minute. But what I am here to do is to bridge that gap between doctors and teams.   Because ultimately it's same team, like everybody wants the best experience for the patient. We want the practice to flourish. So if we're all same team, let's help get people right seat, right person, help them understand what they should and could be doing. But also like office managers, there's this whole weird world for them too, where they've never been taught to be managers. They've never been taught what they should or shouldn't be doing. They've never been taught like what the difference between an office manager is and a biller and a scheduler and a treatment coordinator and how all those roles are different. And so helping people understand even what their job entails.   I think really can cut that micromanagement passion project. It's just a lack of knowledge and so teaching teams and teaching people, but we're very hands on. I really don't like fluff. That's why think when you and I get along well, I want it to be tactical. I want it to be practical and I want it to be something that's sustainable as well.   Speaker 1 (07:34) And that makes a lot of sense. And that was a great answer, by the way.   We're talking about, obviously you're very systematized. You put systems in place, the team follows, everybody knows what they're doing, runs like a well-oiled machine. Okay. And that's how my practice was when I left, when I was traveling. ⁓ I knew things, I didn't worry. I knew that things were going to be done like this. They knew the roles, team members didn't need to be scolded. They just knew what their role was in the practice. So, ⁓ I know there are things, I like a term here you use the chaos creators. So there are chaos creators in the, in the office. So what are some of these, these common chaos creators?   ⁓ that actually can be helped by putting systems in place.   Speaker 2 (08:13) Yes, and I love that you brought that up because that's the ultimate goal. That's why I wanted this to be called like the CEO mindset. Like doctors, like you should be a dentist and you should own your business. You should not be the one managing. And when you recognize that this actually can be one of the biggest chaos creators in the practice of doctors trying to be the doctor, the dentist, the CEO visionary, plus the manager, plus all the other parts of the practice. Like that is a chaos creator, not knowing right person, right? See is a massive chaos creator. Number one thing I hear every time I go into an office or I work with someone,   is it's communication. And communication is again just a system that needs to be put into place. So how do team members know? Like what is our true morning huddle? It's not a time for us just to hang out. Like why do football players huddle? Why do basketball players huddle? They huddle to win the game. So what does winning on our practice even look like? Making that very clear for our team. Other things like handoffs. That's another communication drop that's a chaos creator. What doctor says to the patient, to the hygienist, to the front office,   It's such fun. I feel like we play a game of telephone. So putting in a little simple system there where we've got a great communication handoff and a process. I know Len, you and I are very big on this case acceptance process of just really having a great clean experience for the patient. These are chaos creators. Also, team members even knowing what their job should be, understanding how they go from where they were hired to how they can get raises. Those are chaos creators. The scheduling. How do we schedule? Let's have block schedules in there. Let's have   a way that we do this in our practice. I remember when I was a scheduling coordinator, my office manager said, Kiera, do not even think about scheduling outside of the blocks until you learn why we schedule the blocks the way we do. And you're right, like when team members know the rules of the game, so much chaos gets eliminated from the practice. like quick things are have great meetings and truly great meetings. If you don't know how to run a great meeting, Traction by Gina Wickman.   It's a little bit of a dull book. However, there are so many paramount pieces in that book and great meetings could be in there. Doctors and OMS have a same page meeting where we're looking at it. Get our KPIs in place where we know where is the practice even going? What is each person's number that they can like impact and improve in the practice? Have like set job descriptions, have protocols of how we treat a patient. What's our hygiene period protocol? Let's just have like really simple systems and I'm big on I don't like to remember things.   Like I love holidays, holidays are on a cadence. So how can we actually get cadences within your practice to where things really can run on more of an autopilot rather than trying to constantly like catch all the balls and remember things? That's the chaos. The chaos comes from the like not knowing and trying to scramble and being in reactive rather than proactive modes.   Speaker 1 (10:53) But that's really good, that's really great. So another question I have for you, there are dentists who are just dentists, and I don't mean that negatively, but they go in with the expectation that they're either gonna be an associate forever, or they're just going to practice and let everybody run the practice and they're just gonna come and do the dentistry, okay? Versus having the mindset of and acting like the CEO, okay? And there's a big difference. One, I believe, has a lot more stress.   I like to talk about it because I was the CEO of the practice. I handled everything. I handled the marketing. I handled the HR. I handled all of the things that makes it different than just being a dentist and putting your hands in the mouth and treating a patient. So if someone wants to act and think like a CEO, what does it really mean to do that versus just practicing dentistry and doing the dental work?   Speaker 2 (11:51) Yes, I'm so glad you brought this up. I've been like crushing on this idea. We actually just ran a three day CEO dentist workshop. like.   obsessing on this right now because there is nothing wrong. And I think that there's a few hats that people wear. I wear a consultant hat. I also wear a CEO hat. And they're actually and I think about big companies like let's look at Google. I know that CEO is not coding. They're not. They're not building it. They're truly in a CEO realm. And so when we look at like what does a CEO do, they are the chief executive officer. Like their job is to execute. Their job is vision. Their job is culture.   and their job is to like really steer and guide the ship and to come up with great ideas. And so when I look at that, I think that there's two hats for CEO dentists to wear. There's the true clinical dentistry, if that's what you want to do and continue to do. And then we really do need somebody who's guiding and leading this business. And I think when dentists, I know this can be a little like not favored, ⁓ dental practices are multimillion dollar businesses and they are. when we realize that they're   They are businesses and like you said, the HR and the marketing. But when you look at large businesses outside of dentistry, they have other players in the realm and in the rink with them to make it actually run as a very successful business. And so I believe that when we understand the business portion of dentistry and we have great clinical care, that's when we're able to serve and help more patients and more team members. And so helping these dentists realize what does a CEO do? And I actually pulled from Dan Martel.   the author of Buy Back Your Time, like obsessed with his book, met him in person, like raving fangirl. It was like slightly embarrassing, like how big of a fan I was of him. ⁓ But he has his delegation ladder in there for businesses and actually created a delegation ladder for dental practices of when CEO dentists go from like your right line, a lot of them do it all. And that's, think, where the burnout is and the chaos is to where when can we start to delegate? Like, do you have a personal assistant who answers all of your emails for you? And if not,   Administrative tasks are one of the best things to delegate. Then we move into like our scheduling and then into our customer service and the patient experience. And then we move into treatment planning. A lot of doctors do that on their own. And I'm not here to say you have to give up anything, but I am here to say that when you truly take on the role of CEO, trying to do it all actually creates chaos. And you actually, you're the bottleneck of the business. And so then we start to delegate out the case acceptance if you want to. You're allowed to keep whatever you want, whatever you're great at.   Then we delegate out the marketing, then we delegate out the, actually, me and my operations manager were talking that I believe that there's two spaces within leadership. There's the executive side, that's these big picture visionary pieces. And then there's the management side, which is the HR, the protocols, the accountability of the team. And when we had that like, and I believe that there's, it's like a black and a white, yin and yang, perfect whole, you need both sides of this leadership within that CEO realm.   But when you're trying to do all the pieces as a CEO, you need to know every aspect going on in the business. But that does not mean you need to do every aspect of the business. And so I think it's like figuring out which colors you like to paint with, which ones really are your zone of genius and then starting to then delegate in strategic manners, delegate and elevate, not abdicate ⁓ really are how you can make this where you become truly the CEO of your business and your practice. And you're able to have great players around you that are able to then.   Make sure every other part of your business is thriving and flourishing too.   Speaker 1 (15:19) Got it.   Speaker 2 (15:20) So   much line, I hope it wasn't lying.   Speaker 1 (15:22) No, that was great. That was great. I mean, they should replay that because I think there was some really good nuggets and pearls that they can take back. So, you know, I want to talk about delegation. ⁓ you know, Invisalign is a great product ⁓ to bring into the practice or aligners in general. doesn't have to be Invisalign, just aligners. And aligners are really good, but they become really profitable ⁓ when a dentist is willing and able to delegate the tasks to other team members.   And personally myself, I used to do it all. And then I took a class by somebody, can't remember who it was, but it was all about giving the empower your team to do things and delegate the services to them where you're literally kind of just doing the initial consultation and whatever is required by your license in the realm of the things. But the team is able to do mostly everything else. And once you do that, ⁓ Invisalign becomes a very, profitable procedure.   So what advice do you have about delegation to somebody, to a dentist who really feels like they need to do it all and does not want to give up control of anything?   Speaker 2 (16:28) Len, I'm so happy you asked me this question and I'm so happy that I'm a team member and I'm gonna put on a team member hat, not a CEO hat on this one. ⁓ Number one, I really, really hope, and dentists, if you need to pause, replay, record this and listen to it every single day, I really hope you do. ⁓ As a team member, my number one job, genuinely speaking, and doctors have told me so many times when they've heard me say this, it...   hopefully will strike you to your heart as well. As a team member, my number one, like genuine number one objective was to make my doctor happy and to make their life easier. And that was honestly what I did every single day. As a dental assistant, I'm looking ahead. I want to be seven steps ahead of you and I want to make sure that you're truly like set up for success. I want to make sure that patient's back on time. I want to make sure that hygiene exams are on time. And I think that while yes, you might have some team members that make you question this statement.   I think 95 % of the population is genuinely good and they want you to thrive and they want the patient experience to be great. So when you hear that and you truly honor that and you respect that and you trust that, you then will realize that one of the best things you can do is, I don't believe in delegating. So like I can empower, but if I empower and don't hold accountable, then I've created entitlement within my practice. So I want to empower through delegating of this like.   As a dental assistant, do know how happy I'd be if you gave me, can fit a line. I understand I'm going to make a few mistakes, but oh my gosh, the growth, growth equals happiness. So for your team to be happy, give them opportunities to progress. Like that's what creates the happiness and the sparkle and the zest in life. And so really when you empower your team and hold accountable, you don't get this entitlement. When you empower and don't hold accountable, that's when we get these entitled teams that genuinely then it just becomes mayhem in your practice.   So like you said, delegate these tasks that one, either you're not good at, or I do think about everybody should be working at the top of their license. What are you able to produce per hour? If there's a task that I can hire somebody for less than you can produce an hour, it's probably something that we shouldn't be using your time for. And I know as a CEO, as an owner, this is actually hard for me because you strip me of things that I'm actually really good at, but reality is there's better uses of my time. And when you can recognize   giving everybody the best use of their time. Me as a dental assistant being able to do Invisalign, you've now just lifted and elevated me to the highest level of my license as well. And so I really do believe like doctors, one, believe that your team is truly here to support you. And if they're not here to support you, they're not your right team players. they like, great, let them graduate to somebody else and you bring somebody else in. Two, empower them and hold accountable to ensure that it's like how you want it done. And team members like,   You can share this with your team. I'm happy to share this one reason I like to do this. Team members, give the feedback to your doctor. They are going to trust you so much more when you come back to them and you show them the things you listen to what they say, you create the protocols, you do it exactly how they want you to do it. That will build trust and confidence so quickly. Team members lose doctor's trust so quickly when they like lacked to follow through and like truly do what the doctors have given them like stewardship and ownership over. So for those doctors and like you said, Len.   You won't understand until you try. And when you do try, you will make mistakes. But I believe, this is my philosophy, anything that I've delegated never gets to come back to me. And I think when you have that notion and that idea, well, I know it could never come back to me. You actually make it really, really great. You train your team. You help them have this. ⁓ And I then believe everybody's able to flourish so much higher. So hopefully that answered of like, one, you need to delegate and you should delegate.   Two, what are the tasks that you can be doing that are like helping you work to the highest level of your license? Everybody working at that is going to make a better team experience, a better patient experience, and all around a better practice for you as well.   Speaker 1 (20:20) I think you, I mean, the content you're providing, the listening and viewing audience is spectacular. you know, one of the, I guess, negatives about being a dentist is a feeling of being overwhelmed. A lot of stress. You know, that's part of the reason why I think you've got, you know, dentists with the highest, one of the highest suicide rates out there is that, you know, it's a very stressful job. I mean, you've got a lot of debt, you've got a lot of, you know, people relying on you for income as well. So what mindset   do you think exist ⁓ that or traps do you mindset traps do dentists fall into that that keep them feeling overwhelmed and and what do do about that?   Speaker 2 (21:00) Yeah, this is something so real to me. My first practice, I mentioned it briefly at the very beginning of we took our practice from 500,000 to 2.4 million in nine months. And when I present and I speak, I often will bring up like the success story and I list off my stats of our practice. I asked the audience, said, who wants this practice? And like hands go up and people are like shouting like, yes, I want this.   And then I say the other side of success is that this person, is me, like, spoiler alert, I was 98 pounds and I'm 5'8". I ⁓ had divorce papers on the line. I remember like I walked out of my practice that like one day and I remember just like standing on the sidewalk and being like one step and all this could be over. Like it was, and I'm not a dentist. I didn't even have the pressure of having to be in the exam rooms, but I do understand the pressure of business. And that's actually what's like fueled my passion in consulting is.   Because I thought like if this is how so many of us feel to get to success, Tony Robbins has a quote that success without fulfillment is the ultimate failure. And that was curidant in a nutshell. We had success on paper, but fulfillment was lacking and my entire life was falling apart. And so when you ask like, what are some of these zones that keep people in this mindset is one, I think that we believe that to get to success, we have to grind it out. We have to hustle. We have to do it all. Like it's this hustle mentality that I believe is so false.   Yes, I do believe that hard work is required, but I don't believe you have to do all of the work. Just like we talked about before, also think delegations paramount. I think so many of the doctors that I see there in this burnout are just, it's like grippy. Like they want to hold on to everything and they're not willing to let go and they're not like, also you're telling your team that you don't trust them and you don't believe in them when you do that as well. So you're actually causing like this double-edged sword on it. And then third, I think ⁓ we just don't take time to stop and pause and realize like what really is necessary.   I think so much like when I sold out of the practices, my whole identity was associated with that. if we have our identities associated with these practices and with the success, well, I can imagine that that feels like chopping off your arm and your leg if you were to fail. therefore, if it's literally my physical body and I feel like it's my whole identity, I literally remember the day that I sold out of the practices. I felt who is cura dent, who is she? Like I have no purpose in this world anymore. Nothing is important. Like I don't even have a family. I have no practice.   I felt nothing and I think when people's identities are associated with this rather than having something else. So I talk about like what makes all of you up and I remember like like looks like this weird little doll. Like it's such a weird outline that I make people do but I'm like draw to me like how your life is and when I do this usually it's like from your neck to like your ankles that's work and if that much of your identity is associated with work in your practice.   What could we shift this to more so your whole identity is not associated with that? So that's like we go work out, we have time with family, we book the vacations and when you start to realize that there's more life outside of the chair, more life outside of it and you being a well-rounded human that truly and I don't like the word balance, I just love the word well-rounded and fulfilled. When we start to add some of those pieces in which again feels contradictory, it feels like if I give this up that I'm not making money. I used to say I don't want to sit on the couch and watch TV with my husband because I'm literally not making money.   That's one of the the grossest statements I've ever said, but Len, it's truth. I really truly felt this way. Like the only purpose is to be producing and to be productive. But I didn't realize that. Like you look at that athletes have to take a break and they have to reset. They have to recharge. They have to like the best time is actually the recovery off season. ⁓ no, no person can continue operating at 110%. And when they are operating, they're actually not their best self. So there's just as much beauty in the recharge off time.   as there is on the productive on time. So when we can delegate, when we have more purpose beyond just our practice, and it's okay, work to me is very fulfilling. It's such a big part of my life. I love it. ⁓ But it's not all of Kiera's identity. So if I were to lose work, Kiera and hopefully you can still exist outside of that. ⁓ And then truly having shut off time. A lot of clients when they come on board, I tell them, I'm like, I'm giving you the greatest gift. You're out of work today at 4.30 and I don't want you to talk about work. Close the laptop, walk out and literally leave it at work.   And what's crazy is people don't realize that you can actually get a lot done within your four or five hour, like four or five day a week work week. And to be home with your kids, to be home with your family, to go to the gym, to replenish your bucket that gives out so much every single day ⁓ really is what you actually need to be doing rather than trying to produce more. And it sounds contradictory, but it's true. You will actually produce more and be a better producer and happier business owner if you will do that.   I know that was a long-winded answer, Len, but I really hope that people can see there are two sides of success. The word itself of success has a portion of suck. Like there is a side of business that is really hard that does require that grind and that hard work, but there's also a beautiful side. And I think when people can dance in that, can see that their whole identity is not the practice. It's not all dependent on that and they fill themselves and fuel themselves. Literally, I feel like the burnout can be dissipated very quickly.   If you've been going on it for a long time, it will probably take a little bit longer, but these small, simple steps will make you so much more fulfilled. And honestly, I hope nobody listening to this podcast hit success without fulfillment. I hope all of us commit that while we're giving the great patient care, we're giving back to all these people, we equally get to deserve and we should deserve to have a beautiful life of our own as well.   Speaker 1 (26:39) So nicely said, very eloquent in way you said that as well. last thing I want to cover is, we talked about being overwhelmed. stress is also part of being overwhelmed. very stressed. What are some ways that you think a dentist can reduce the stress on a day-to-day part of his practice? If someone said, hey, I'm so stressed, I don't know what I'm going to do. And you hear it a lot. I I talk to dentists all the time. And one of the common denominators is that they're   You know, when I sold my practice, I was never truly, truly stressed out. The stuff that stressed me out, honestly, was stupid stuff. But since I sold my practice and retired, I don't really have much stress in my life anymore. It's very interesting. But what are some things that dentists could do to reduce those stress they see on a day-to-day basis?   Speaker 2 (27:29) Yes. Okay. And I said, yes, because I'm to go back to the S model. The S model is literally like my stress booster buster for you. Number one, where do you want to go and why? Like figure out you that truly if you don't have a North star, you don't know what you're going for and reassess to make sure that's really where you want to go. So many people put this like, I want to have four practices and I want to have this. And I'm like, why? You got to be able to tell me why I'm making sure it's your dream, not the dream you think you should be living.   That's like number one to get rid of stress, like truly living your dream. And I will tell you, you're allowed to like, it's in pencil, it's not in permanent ink. You can erase it, you can recraft it, you can recreate it. That's going to cut stress. I was chasing after a mountain, I didn't want to climb anymore. And when I realized that, that was a pivot shift. So number one is like, make sure you're actually truly going where you want to go. And that's the you. Earnings like profit, like Len, so much stress comes from not knowing the numbers.   And I know people sometimes want to avoid it. They don't want to look at it. Like I'm just going to go do production. I want to do ethical dentistry and I will tell you both exist. It's not an or like you will you as a human are going to naturally do ethical dentistry. Like you can't go against that. That's who you are at your core. And by knowing the numbers, you're not going to go and overdiagnose like I promise you it will not happen. But knowing the numbers and actually like looking at your cash, what are you spending money on? What do you need to produce to be able to afford the business?   Doctors learn the numbers and they actually use the numbers to make their decisions. Stress dissipates. I have so many doctors that reach out to me because they're cash flow poor and I'm like, you're producing 200,000 a month, how are we broke? ⁓ So actually understanding how to use numbers and not to be used by numbers and knowing how you actually can get money and like what can you live on and understanding tax brackets and savings like that discipline might seem constrictive, but I will tell you it is the most freeing stress free piece that you can have.   And then third, our systems and team. Like I'm going to like just really keep like painting this picture for you. Delegate to your team, use your team, put the systems into place. And we don't go for the whole elephant. We don't do the entire thing in one night shift. What we do is we look at the numbers. Where are numbers low on the KPIs? Let's go fix a system over there. So we fix that part of the leaking bucket. Just that alone, like even myself, I felt it like the hoosh of reducing that stress for you. ⁓ Start with your vision.   know your numbers and then put systems into place and team delegation and elevation ⁓ that will immediately reduce stress. And then like just quick, what is the one or two hot pain points right now causing the bulk of your stress? Let's figure out how we can eliminate those right now. And I want to, everybody always says, Kiera, there's no way like I can't do this. The answer is yes, you can. Yes, you can. And when we get out of this, I can't get that, I can't do this. We actually find the true core of what we can solve. Usually the answer is pretty simple and it's pretty immediate.   if we're willing to just let go and take action. So those would be kind of my like four little steps to reduce stress quickly and easily. And if you can't see it, sometimes having an outside voice and outside perspective, sometimes you're too far in the weeds, that can be very beneficial for you as well to like take you by the hand and say, here's step one, two, three, four, and they're there to guide you as well, rather than you trying to figure it out yourself.   Speaker 1 (30:35) amazing. This is great. ⁓ I want to shift for the final few minutes that we have together. I want to shift to my lightning round Q and a that I like to do with guests. We're going to get through eight to 10 of these. Okay, ready? The rule of thumb for this one, you like long winded answers, which is great. But for this one, it's very, fast. No long, no long winded. We'll never get through this.   Speaker 2 (30:47) So   You got it, Len.   Speaker 1 (30:58) So I opened my app up. First question, what book do you want to go back and reread as it's made a great impact on you the first time you read it?   Speaker 2 (31:07) I would go back and reread Bye, Your Time by Dan Martell. I feel like there's a lot that I could relearn from that where I'm at today.   Speaker 1 (31:14) repeat that one more time.   Speaker 2 (31:17) Yep, buy back your time by Daniel.   Speaker 1 (31:19) Buy back your time. I'm just writing it down. All right. Who has been your greatest inspiration?   Speaker 2 (31:25) Gosh Tony Robbins hands down. I love Tony so much. I look up to him a lot. I've been in his Lions group ⁓ the reason I look up to him is because He said one time the Tony you see in front of you is the Tony I created it's not from my parents It's not from business. It's not from anybody else It's who I want to be and who I esteem to be and he said life is always happening for you and not to you and those two pieces have Resonated with me so much in my life ⁓ truly one of the like   biggest, greatest mentors and I've been really blessed and lucky to have him directly mentor me, which have truly changed the trajectory of my course, of my life as well.   Speaker 1 (32:04) Awesome, amazing. ⁓ If you could take a class to learn anything, what would it be on?   Speaker 2 (32:10) marketing. Len, hate marketing. Call my Achilles heel. I learned so much and I think I know more. But man, if I could like understand it on a really high level easily all day every day and I take a lot of them. But man, one like magic one that would teach me everything. Yeah, it'd be amazing.   Speaker 1 (32:26) Amazing. Do you believe there is some sort of pattern or formula to becoming successful?   Speaker 2 (32:33) Yes, I do. It sounds like cliche. I didn't like, I think the yes model came from what I believe success is like you having a vision, looking at your numbers and then putting systems into play and using your team ⁓ and surrounding your yourself with people that are living and doing the life you want. I really do believe we become like the people we surround ourselves what we listen to. So that's what I would say is the path to success.   Speaker 1 (33:01) Amazing too. Has anyone in your network other than Tony Robbins, has anyone in your network been important in your journey or to your journey?   Speaker 2 (33:09) Absolutely. There's a lot of people. think my husband, that's a huge support for me. He believes in me, even though maybe he shouldn't believe in me, but having that rock. And then also my team, truly, I look at all the variations of Dental A Team and where I've gone as me as a person, they've evolved me as a human and they've also evolved our company and the good and the bad that have gone through.   They have truly shaped me, every single one of them, and I'm very, very grateful for the trust they put in me to create what we've built.   Speaker 1 (33:42) amazing. How do you develop how have you developed key partnerships?   Speaker 2 (33:47) Ah, that's fun. You go to events, you talk to people, you look to see how can you add value to their world, to their life. And I think partnerships, partnerships to me, I don't try to figure out like how to do something. I look to see like, who do I know that knows how to do this? That's how I use partnerships in life and vice versa. Like bring more to the table than you take from people. But I look at people have just like, what's their secret sauce? How can I like, like connect them to other people? To me, it's a fun connect the dots of just getting great people together. That's how I believe that like.   To me, that's how all boats rise is through partnerships like hands down. One of the best things was networking and meeting people. You will learn more from the minds of men than you will be able to like mine out of this world. Like there is more gold there than anywhere else in this world.   Speaker 1 (34:32) Got it. What has been your most satisfying moment in business?   Speaker 2 (34:39) Most satisfying moment? There have been a lot. I think recently my most satisfying moment was when I wanted to give up and I really was so burnt out and I was exhausted and I was tired and I hit that breaking point again in my life. And for the first time in my entire career, I took an entire month off and I reset and it was the most scaring. There was a lot of really bad backlash that came from it.   But me as a human, re-centered, refocused, re-prioritized. And I think that that was one of the most satisfying moments to realize, at the end of the day, CEOs and business owners have to show up for themselves first to be able to give to their entire team. And I'd never, ever, ever, ever done that. So like me personally, that was one of them. But man, like the hundreds and thousands of clients lives, Glenn, you and I both know, I think as consultants, when you hear people's lives changing,   like clients who are broke and literally had no money and now they're buying their kids their dream lives, that to me will always be the clincher of everything but like beautiful and why I show up every single day to do it. So there's a personal and a professional win that was like just super satisfying.   Speaker 1 (35:47) That's really great. All right, three questions left. Let's get through these quickly. What deserves all your attention but seldom gets it?   Speaker 2 (35:57) I would say probably my body like working out.   Speaker 1 (36:00) Okay, what three adjectives describe your strengths?   Speaker 2 (36:06) Adjectives. ⁓ I would say grit. would say fun. And I would say passion.   Speaker 1 (36:16) Great answers. Last question I ask is to everybody. So it is one subscription, either business or personal, so something you pay for either monthly or annually, that you simply cannot live without.   Speaker 2 (36:33) ⁓ Len.   I would say I can't live without, honestly, boomerang. That sounds so ridiculous. I would not be able to follow up with all the millions of things that I do day in and day out without boomerang as a person, like professional. Like I would pay for that all day every day. ⁓   Speaker 1 (36:53) I haven't heard that one before, that's a good one. you go. ⁓ So Kiera, how can people learn more about how you can help them if they want to learn more about your consulting agency? What's the best way for them to reach out and find out more?   Speaker 2 (37:03) Yeah, thank you so much Len. Best way is listen to the podcast, the Dental A Team podcast. Reach out on our website, TheDentalATeam.com. You can book a call with us or you can always reach out. You can text us directly, 775-243-5100. Like we will get back to you. I'm happy to share any tips, any insights. Find us on Instagram, Dental A Team. Truly, we try to be just like you are Len, available in all aspects and just really, really grateful for this opportunity today.   Speaker 1 (37:30) Well, this was great. Thank you so much for ⁓ spending 30 plus minutes with me, really educating the audience on things you're passionate about. And just like I did on yours, you can see the passion when you talk, you can see the passion in how you answer the questions. So I truly appreciate you kind of giving it all to us. So thank you again for being part of the Raving Patients podcast. ⁓ Guys, if you like the episode, please like us, please review us. If you think you or yourself or one of your colleagues can use what the Dental A Team can do for your practice, please reach out.   let them know you heard about them through the podcast that I just did with Kiera. ⁓ And as I end ⁓ every single one of my episodes, remember your reputation matters until the next episode. Thank you so much for joining me and we'll talk to everyone soon.  

When it comes to the goals you're setting as a practice, it's important to establish a strategy to reach them. In this episode, Kiera walks listeners from wishful thinking to goal-driven execution. Email hello@thedentalateam.com for your goal-projection calculator today! 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 like to get out of the hopes, the wish, the like, my gosh, are we gonna be able to hit our goals or not? ⁓ To actually set you and your team up to hit goals. this is just a true like, is your team set up to hit what you guys have set up? Or are we hoping, wishing, wishing on stars, doing all the like magic dance? ⁓ Let's truly, truly, truly help on this. We even have...   a goal projections calculator. So you guys can use that. And something email is Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. I'm gonna go through a bunch of these pieces today, but truly this is something that I think is gonna be so helpful for you guys. Let's not hope, wish, pray, like do that, but let's have it be a bit more predictable. ⁓ We've got to get it to where it's real. Somebody asked me like, I just wanna hit this amount. And I'm like, cool, why? And do you have a plan to get there? Every single piece. I don't care if you wanna hit.   2 million, 5 million, 20 million, all of it's doable. Let's just figure out the strategy. Let's figure out the plan. Let's create it. And then let's execute. Let's not just talk in hopes. Let's actually execute. ⁓ But it has to actually be founded actually. It has to be foundational. Otherwise, no matter how hard they try, they will not hit it. So we're gonna go from like wishful thinking to goal-driven execution. That way you guys can execute consistently.   Dental A Team's obsessed with this. Our mission is to positively impact the world of dentistry in the greatest way possible and to help you have every possible amazing life opportunity that you possibly have ever dreamed of. ⁓ We want you to lead with numbers, not just motivation. We want you to be confident in your decision-making. I want you to be able to say yes to more things in your life and that's focused on you as a person, earnings and profitability and systems and team development. The yes model, making sure that you are truly set up for success.   We're gonna teach you guys how to actually reach goals that you've set, how to be more consistent. It ties into quarterly. We talk about that on podcasts. Like really it's tracking, it's measuring, but it's like foundational. We've got to make sure that we've got step one is clear, measurable, visible and realistic. So, often offices I'm like, what are we even working towards? Like, I don't know. It does not have to be number centric either. It can be patient centric. It can be whatever it is. And I help offices see that like,   the numbers equate to the number of patients. And so when we look at this back and forth, it's really gonna help us like drive these things forward. And so whatever it is, you just have to make a goal clear, measurable, visible and realistic. So I'm talking like have a thermometer in your back room and we like fill it in every single month to see how close we are.   I do not want you just to be talking about it just as noise. It's got to be visible. It's got to be specific and it's got to be realistic. And then it's broken down into daily, weekly, monthly goals that are going to help us with benchmarks on it. So, so many times you're like, it's so hard care to add an extra 20 grand. And I'm like, but is it? If we're working 20 days a week, a month, that's an extra thousand dollars. Let's talk about how easy is it to add a thousand dollars a day? Like just rattle off, what could we do?   We could do fluoride. We can make sure our X-rays are there. We could add one extra, a couple extra fillings. Like that's all it is to add an extra 20 grand to a practice, but that's broken down into a daily realistic goal. This is going to help people also know what's their number that they actually can influence to drive the goal forward. So I'm very specific. If our goal is X, Y, or Z, we're going to then make sure every single department has something that they're driving this goal forward with that they can influence. And then we have a scoreboard.   Like truly teams do not win games by hoping, wishing that they got enough baskets in the hoop. They have the scoreboard there. They see, are they behind or they on track? Are they above goal? Are they behind goal? The entire game. It's not like, well, we're going to just like look at it once a month and hope like one time during the game, we're going to just throw that score up there real fast. Hope nobody really looks at it. Cause you know, we just want them to play ball.   No, we're here to win. We're here to make sure your practice is thriving. We're here to make sure that your systems are in place to make sure that you give the best patient and team experience. We need that scoreboard visible. Otherwise, how does the team know if we're winning, losing, or if we're on track? So break it down, monitor it. And I will tell you when practices implement this, they instantly grow 10 to 25 % consistently. Like it's a no brainer because we're like what you focus on, you achieve what's in your mind's eye. It's like when you want to go buy a car,   Well, instantly you start seeing that car everywhere and like, my gosh, there's that car again. Well, Toyota don't just like pump out a bunch more cars. You were focused on it. So you started to see it more. And what this is doing is it's focusing all of us on the goal and it's going to make it visible. So step one is you need to have your goal clear, measurable, visible, and realistic. And you need to post it this week. That's step one. Get it in there, physically post it and start measuring on it. Now every goal needs to have   the role tied to the goal. So this is going to what we talking about, like you have to train each role, what metric they can control. So hygiene reappointments, that's a big portion, hygiene fluoride, hygiene production per day, having it visible, having them have their own metrics so they can see what should my daily goal be. You just give a hygienist this information, your hygiene production will go up naturally. If they start looking at it, you have them turn in their end of day production reports, they check it off compared to where they're supposed to be.   Even if you have nothing tied to it, no pain, no gain, no nothing other than telling them what it is, you will increase because now they know for an office, your billing, it's our AR needs to be X amount. This is our goal. This is our standard scheduling. We need to have our schedule filled 80 % or 90%, whatever it is. That's less than one opening per day. We track it. We measure how many days do we not have? It's like how many accident free days did we have? Doctors hitting their dollar production per hour goal.   And checking out like literally I've helped associates increase their associate production goal just by giving them a little calendar where they check on how many days they hit their goal. That's it. That's it. People love like I used to work at the dental college at Midwestern. If you don't know that, well, welcome. Hi, I'm Kiera Dent. I used to work in Arizona's dental college and it was crazy. Our endo buckets were a hot mess. I had made these pictures. I had protocols. had it. The number one thing that worked for me to get those endo buckets back clean.   was giving out gold stars to students. I kid you not, these are dental students. I had 140 of them in two different classes. So 280 and I had to get these buckets in. You can only imagine the amount of work I had to do and that we're talking gut a purchase, like the whole nonsense of these things. And the piece was if I gave them a gold star and then what people started doing was putting those gold stars on their name tags. And believe it or not, people were obsessed with getting those gold stars and tracking and measuring just with a simple gold star.   And if their bucket wasn't perfect, they got a red or green. They did not get the gold or they had to go back and fix it to get the gold star. And it's crazy. Cause when you do this, what it does is it connects the dots for team members. And then we're reinforcing good behavior of what we want more up. So when you start to have like every single role having their goals. So hygienists know what their metrics are. Dental assistants know their metrics. Front office knows their metrics. Doctors know their metrics. And we're tracking it.   They're closing, like we are hitting our goals with so much more ease and continuity. This is how I take practices from producing 150 to 500,000. Like it's not sexy, it's not crazy, it's not hard, it's just consistent and being focused on the right things. So in your next meeting, like we've got the goal posted, it's visible. In the next meeting, ask each department like.   I break this down quarterly usually with departments and I say like, all right, build your quarterly goal. What are we gonna focus on? What are gonna be the metrics that are going to help us get to this mountain over here, this big goal that we're focused on? What does your department need to do? Where are we lacking? Where are the gaps and where can we improve? And then we start tracking it every single week. We review it every single month and we start to help them exponentially grow. This is how we do it and you can have that as a piece. And then third is we need to...   track the progress and adjust it weekly. we're literally like I said, you've got the goals, we're tracking it weekly. It's on there. And when a goal is read, we talk about it that week and we say, all right, this was off. What do we need to do? If hygiene teams are behind, the hygiene team gets together and we calibrate on how we do perio. If the doctors are not hitting their hourly goal, well, let's look, what are they diagnosing? What's our case acceptance close? What are our block schedules? When high gents aren't able to hit enough perio, let's go look to see, do we have enough perio spaces within our schedule? ⁓   but we start to identify these gaps early on, of course, correct quickly so that we were able to hit the goals consistently. And then like we celebrate those wins. So when you look at these things and you have your departments, this is where you have your department meetings every single week. People are like, what am I supposed to talk about? You talk about this. You talk about like, how can we win? We've got our scoreboard there. We're looking, are we behind, are we ahead? And if we're ahead,   Great, how can we calibrate the whole department? How can we look for other things that would drive it forward? And it's not driving the practice forward so much as it is great team experience, great patient experience, great practice experience. It's not one is better than the other. All three of those are interconnected. And so start doing this, start tracking every single week, start having each team member tied to a goal, start having it because when you do this, you're not just hoping and wishing.   You literally know the score every single week. Owners, you will be so obsessed about this because now you know like, are we going to win the game or are we going to lose the game? You're not hoping and wishing. You literally know at any given moment so you can fix it out like at halftime. Can you imagine, like my family, we all played basketball. So can you imagine for one second a basketball team that's like, well, it's halftime. We don't know if we're winning. We don't know if we're losing, but we're just going to go in there and we're going to pep talk.   No, they're like, all right, we're behind. need to go strategize. We need to go figure it out. Like, how are we changing this? Let's look back at our plays. What have we done? Well, what do we need to change? And they fix it to win the game. That doesn't mean we win everything, but it does mean that we're more consistent. It does mean that we're more focused on it. It does mean that we're more aligned because honestly, what you focus on, you achieve. So go post your goals, make sure they're realistic. We do have a whole projection calculator, which is really awesome. And it helps you figure out   who's gonna be off, how many providers you have, what their dollar per hour is, you can figure out what it is now, you can project out what next year's goals should be. At a minimum, every single office, if you're not in massive growth mode, should be growing at a minimum of 10 % every single year. That's just healthy business. So you have that. If you want to look at this to help you set up your realistic goals, by all means, reach out, Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. I'm happy to share it with you. This is a great time of year also to be doing it. So you can get our free goal projections calculator. It's something that you guys can do.   You guys can easily, easily set this up to now have every role have their role tied to the goal that they need to do. And we start to measure it. And then we're able to check it every single week in course correct quickly of what do we need to do? Are we tracking the right things? Are we not? Are we set up to win the game? And I think about like, let's again, go back to basketball. If you don't watch basketball, we'll change it to football. In all of them where they're going to win, when they're looking at the score, if they're behind, it's not like   keep doing defense guys. No, what they do is they change it. They change the strategy. They say, we're going to do X, Y, or Z. We're going to switch out these players. We're going to course correct faster and see if we get a different result. So for you and your team, have this as a rhythm, have it to where people own their roles, have it to where it's realistic. And I will say when we're setting up goals, don't go so hard that people feel they can achieve it. Make sure it's realistic and achievable and attainable for people. I'm not going to go from   I give you your hit 75 % overhead. I'm not gonna be like, let's get you to 50%. Ultimately, yes, I want you to get to 50%. But I'm gonna go, okay, we're at 75. Let's get to 70 this quarter. You're like, here, that's 5%. Like, of course I can do that. Great, because what I'm trying to do is build massive momentum for you to where you hit these things with ease and you build the momentum rather than it being so hard that you give up before you even start. So with your team.   commit to this, reach out for that projections calculator so you can set up a realistic goal for your practice of number of providers, when you're gonna hire new ones, all the pieces. It's really awesome. I'd love to help you out with that. Or if you're like, gosh, like I cannot figure this out. I cannot get my team bond in. I feel like I'm so scattered. Reach out. We're here to help you. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. This is what we do. You guys, this is where we wanna help you lead with confidence and not chaos. And honestly, if you know a practice struggling with this, you're not struggling, send this podcast to them, help them out.   because I believe that the success platform, I think all of us are climbing the mountain to success, it's huge. Everybody's welcome and we want everybody there because we want to ultimately help more patients get great dentistry and help more dentists and more practices thrive. So share this, give it to somebody, help them lead with confidence, not chaos. And as always, this is what we do. So reach out and as always, thanks for listening and I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team podcast. ⁓  

In part two of this powerful conversation, Dr. Lauryn and Kiera Dent go beyond burnout to talk about what comes after fixing your business finances—how to build true wealth, create freedom, and stop trading every hour for income. Picking up where last week left off, they dive deep into the realities of money, marriage, and mindset in healthcare ownership.Together, they discuss the “spender vs. saver” dynamic in relationships, how to align your financial goals with your partner, and why discipline and simplicity are the keys to long-term security. Lauryn shares how she diversified her income through real estate, crypto, and personal branding, while Kiera outlines her step-by-step system for mapping financial freedom levels—from survival to abundance. If you've ever wondered how to actually buy back your time as a healthcare entrepreneur, this is your roadmap.Key Takeaways:Make the money, keep the money. Profit margins are just the start—wealth comes from disciplined saving, investing, and resisting lifestyle creep.Balance spender vs. saver energy. Success in business and marriage requires clear financial communication and shared vision, not control or guilt.Diversify your income streams. Lauryn shares how adding digital products, real estate, and crypto created freedom beyond her clinic.Buy back your time. Hiring leadership like a Director of Operations and learning to delegate are key to scaling and reclaiming your energy.Reinvent yourself every 7–12 years. Growth requires embracing change instead of fighting it—career reinvention is part of a healthy, evolving life.About the Guest:Kiera Dent is the CEO and founder of The Dental A Team, where she and her team consult with hundreds of dental practices nationwide. Drawing on her experience in nearly every role within a dental office, Kiera helps teams streamline systems, elevate accountability, and boost profitability while still living their best lives. Her mission is to positively transform the structure and culture of dental practices, empowering providers and teams to achieve greater success with less stress.Listen to The Dental A Team: Spotify | AppleFollow Kiera: Instagram Check out all things The Dental A TeamResources:Join Callan Faulkner's Automate to Accelerate: The Only Proven System to Transform Hire-First Founders into AI Architects and Build Lean, Profitable Businesses That Scale Without BloatGrow Your Following: A 3-Day Bootcamp for Healthcare Providers Who Want More Reach, More Followers, and More Impact (October 28th, 29th, 30th)Join The Uncharted CEO: An 8-week immersive experience for clinic owners designed to increase revenue, maximize profits, and build cash flow systems that create freedom NOW, not at 65. Not sure if The Uncharted CEO is right for you? Take the quiz and find out!Join

Part 2 of podcast guest Dr. Lauryn Brunclik (of She Slays the Day podcast fame) and her conversation with Kiera. In this follow-up to Becoming Business Savvy with a Clinician-First Mindset, the pair discusses seeking other revenue streams to obtain financial freedom. The chat includes fixing your pricing structure, living below your means, understanding the spender and saver mindsets, time management, 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 welcome back to part two of my chat. If you liked part one, you are going to absolutely love this. I am so excited and I can't wait to dive right in.   Kiera Dent (00:10) Lauryn, I'm very curious. Like you've talked about it at length. Like what do people do? Like what's the how, how do we get into this?   How do we have multiple streams because agreed all eggs in one basket? gosh. It's, ⁓ to me, that's like just a ticking time bomb. Like one bad day, one bad patient, one bad procedure. Like it's just going to explode because you're sitting like you're sitting on the edge of fear all the time to where you are in like cortisol adrenaline, like you are pumping. And then what you do is you go into complete shutdown because you can't handle it anymore. So your body and your system literally like just shuts down on you. You become apathetic to life.   Dr. Lauryn B (00:23) Mm-hmm.   Kiera Dent (00:44) things aren't exciting for you anymore. You become very numb to walking through the world. And it's like, I feel like the world of color goes into very like gray. It's very subtle. It's like, it's, there's no, there's no life left. It's just, are living life, but you're not actually being and living day in, out. So what are some tacticals? Like I'm so curious. I love to hear that.   Dr. Lauryn B (01:04) Well, so,   I mean, ultimately what you have to, I'm no cashflow expert. My husband would like laugh, not, he wouldn't laugh. He'd just be like, what's she gonna say right now? So like cashflow will multiply the more you start putting your money to work, okay? So it's very, very, step one is simple. It's exactly what you said. You have to have cashflow coming from your clinic.   Kiera Dent (01:14) okay.   Dr. Lauryn B (01:33) You have to. Like, you need to spend less money than you are bringing in. Okay?   Kiera Dent (01:42) Ooh, love that. Ding, ding. All right, great. Got it, team. Got it all.   Dr. Lauryn B (01:45) Like, so it's   it's simple. what did you say? Like you said, there's only three ways to make it happen. Like lower your overhead. Yep. Yep. See more people. Yep.   Kiera Dent (01:50) There are, either cut your costs, increase what you're producing. like for how many patients you're seeing and   or collections, because a lot of times you're producing enough, but we're not collecting the money that we're actually producing. that then costs, people are have no money. And I'm like, you have 500,000 sitting in your AR that's not collected. So you actually have money. You just have a broken system of how to collect it. And to your point, my husband said this very early on when I started that company, he said,   I care, don't lose money. He was like, yeah, I'm not going to give you any rules, any parameters. He's like, just don't lose money because that's going to cause a lot of strain on us. And I thought about that a lot. It's like, ⁓ I guess that's a great, a great plan. Like it's really been a good thought for me. But it's like, if you are going to lose money on having a business, go be an associate for someone else. Like it's a hobby at that point. It's not a business. So I'm like, if you're not going to have your business make money for you, like truly no judgment.   Dr. Lauryn B (02:24) Thanks, husband.   Yes.   Kiera Dent (02:44) go honestly be an associate, go work for someone else so you're taking home a paycheck. When owners are working for themselves and making less than they are as an associate, I'm like, we have a big problem here. And now you're mad because you got way more problems. You can't just clock in, clock out and leave for the day. And I'm like, that's actually not a business. That's a hobby. And it's a bad hobby. You have no freedom. No, it's delusional. No.   Dr. Lauryn B (02:57) Mm-hmm.   And they're like, but I have the freedom when I'm the owner. You don't have freedom? can't afford a vacation. what? You have   no freedom.   Kiera Dent (03:11) Stop lying to yourself just because you own a business. People are like, I wanted this texture, have more time. And I'm like, yeah, tell me how that's going for you. Probably not great. All right, so we gotta have a business that actually cash flows. Simple stuff.   Dr. Lauryn B (03:16) How's that working for you? Yeah.   Yes, so step   one is very simple, but not is you have to fix the pricing structure, the collections, your payroll blow. You need to look at the profit margins of your clinic. Very easy, very difficult, but very easy.   Kiera Dent (03:37) And they're   industry specific too. I don't know how it is in chiropractic, but I know in like dentistry, we say right now, even with all the things like I want 30%, we're talking all things, fringe benefits, 401k. Like 30 % for payroll, 25 to 30 is about average. And we aim for, I don't know how it is in chiropractic, but I aim for a 50%, not including doctor pay, 50 % overhead in dental practices, 30 % of doctor pay, because I'm like, that's what you're gonna get paid as an associate. It's like, let's at least pay you that.   Dr. Lauryn B (03:45) No, that's pretty yeah, that's pretty healthy. ⁓   Kiera Dent (04:04) And then hopefully we've got a 20 % profit, but that profit debt services click in and that's a real fun zone and taxes. Like I love it. No, you're not getting your W two people are not taking taxes out. You own this business. All that money comes to you. So do not get trapped in that like tax trap. but like, like that's a very simple formula and you look, what is my supplies? What are my rent? Like, what are all those things? And if you figure out the benchmarks, then you know, which one am I bleeding money on quickly fix that hole. So we stopped bleeding it again.   It seems so hard. And you and I are on the other side of that equation saying, no, actually it's like real simple. You just look at it real quick, figure out what it is. You can build your practice to support whatever numbers you need, or we cut. Usually it's easier to increase production and collections than it is to cut. But a lot of people are just overspending in ridiculous ways that I'm like, no, no, no, no, no. Like I have a practice, I looked at their numbers. They shouldn't giggle. I did giggle, because I was shocked. They're like, here, we have no money.   And I was like, all right, send me your P &L. Let's take a look at it. So I did. Year to date, they produced 528,000. So they're doing about 85,000 per month is what I calculated when I ran the numbers. But when I looked at their take-home pay, they're taking home, so it's 528. I'm super happy for them. Like don't, there's no judgment on that. They're taking home 250,000 of that 528 is going to the doctor, which again, I'm happy that they're taking home the money. But what's happening is the practice is not producing enough for that.   They're running all their kids through it. They're running their cars through it. They're running everything through it, which again is not a bad thing. But if you don't have cash in your business to hire people, I was like, we're a little off on the percentages.   Dr. Lauryn B (05:37) Yeah. One of my favorite things to teach people   is because people are like, I just want to learn tax strategy. I want to learn tax strategy, tax strategy. And you're like, okay, here's the thing about tax strategy is you can only do tax strategy. Can't see I'm doing air quotes here. If you have money that you don't want to give the government, if you are spending   Kiera Dent (05:47) you   Mm-hmm. Air quotes, I see them.   it.   Dr. Lauryn B (06:06) much as you make and the government's like, yeah, you're good. You don't know anything. Like there's no strategy to be had. Strategy can only apply to profits. you know, like to money you've made. So, so that's where it's like, okay, I get that you really want tax strategy, but like you're, you don't need strategy yet. You just need to create more.   Kiera Dent (06:09) There is no tech strategy. ⁓ That is a tech strategy. No.   Yes.   You   just need money to then pay taxes on. Then we can talk about what it's gonna be. Yes.   Dr. Lauryn B (06:37) Yes, then we can talk strategy.   But yeah, so like that's where it starts. The next hard part, and this is where I kind of touched on like, we went into this career because we believed this career was gonna take care of us while we took care of other people. And so everybody's got a little different version of what that means. ⁓ What car they think they should be driving.   Kiera Dent (06:42) That's a point.   Ready.   Dr. Lauryn B (07:06) once they have made it, what ⁓ their house situation should look like, how many vacations, their spouse, if they're buying their spouse, designer bags and things like that. Like we have in our head once we make it, what life will look like. And so after you fix your cashflow thing, the next thing is like,   you gotta kind of continue to live below your means for a while. Because if all of a sudden you've fixed your profit margins and you have an extra $30,000 flowing into bank accounts a month that does not have a job, like, you're just like, we're gonna move into a bigger clinic, we're gonna hire another doctor, we're gonna do this. And all of a sudden that...   Kiera Dent (07:58) Let's go!   Dr. Lauryn B (08:04) that potential, but like you have to have money in excess to build wealth upon. If you fix the first problem, which is we don't have enough money, okay great, now you have enough money, and then instead of building wealth, you buy a Birkin, which I still keep sending my husband all of the memes and reels that like Birkins are apparently, you know, they are also   appreciating, they're beating the S &P. So I'm just saying maybe a Birkin was a bad example because that would be an investment. ⁓   Kiera Dent (08:36) See?   I why not? think there's a   lot we could probably justify in the investment realm. Like it's fine. I'm here for it.   Dr. Lauryn B (08:46) Right, right. But   no, you know, if it's like one of those things where if you just lifestyle inflate after you fixed your cashflow issue, what's going to happen is, is you're going to still be, you're going to have like golden handcuffs where you're like, well, yeah, the clinic is bringing in 1.2 and like, yeah, I do keep 350 of that, but I still.   like I'm paying off my student, because your student loan payment now is increasing and like this and like your mortgage and all of this stuff. And you're gonna, you have the potential if you're not careful to feel just as squeezed financially, even though you've gone to the next level of salary and income, but you can still feel that exact same financial scare. And so like that's another thing where it's like, okay, you have to figure out,   the balance for you and your spouse because like my husband, ⁓ my husband is definitely, so this is from Garrett Gunderson. He's a really great financial wealth advisor. don't know if he's in your guys's world. Yes. Okay. Yes. So he was on my podcast and he was talking about how basically within all the   Kiera Dent (09:53) I love him.   Definitely. We love him.   Dr. Lauryn B (10:04) that he's coached people through, there's basically, he used a different word, but right now I'll just call it the the saver and the spender. Okay.   Now the spender tends to be the visionary, the CEO. It tends to be the person that's like taking the risks to build the things. They're like, we had a record year, we're   reward ourselves, we're gonna do this, we're gonna do this, life is fun, this is great, this is like a... And then they often marry a ⁓ saver that is just like...   I don't need all of that. I don't need another vacation. I don't need a fancier car. I don't need this. ⁓ And it can actually make them very uncomfortable that, you know, so my husband is, we'll call it   saver. ⁓ And we go, I mean, our travel budget a year is insane.   we should definitely be putting that towards crypto and like buying a duplex and like building more. But   Kiera Dent (10:57) you.   But why? But why?   Dr. Lauryn B (11:04) If someone told me like, no, no,   no, here's the plan. You get one trip a year and then we're gonna just like   all of this money and then you can start around 45, like, know, and then at 50, it'll open up a little bit more. Like, I'd like, well, that's no fun. I don't want that. And so you have to figure out, because there's a ditch on both sides of the road, right? And so you have to figure out like, when do you want to retire?   Kiera Dent (11:28) Mm-hmm.   Dr. Lauryn B (11:33) Like what is that number? What is that freedom number? How much money do you need coming in in like passive investments? Like how much do you need your crypto portfolio to be doing? Like your real estate portfolio. What's that number of monthly income or annual income? And when do you want to get there by? And this is going to be so dependent on whoever you're talking to.   if you're 50 and you're like, I want to get there by 55.   and you're starting,   not great. Like, yeah, okay, you know what? Your travel budget, you just need to not worry about that for five years. Like, you got some work to do. But like, if you're sitting here at 35 and you're like, I'd like to retire by 50, and like, I still wanna take our kids on some vacations, but I do think we should be, you know, then you just gotta pick where are you pinching pennies? Like, because you gotta pinch them somewhere. So like, maybe it's...   not designer handbag season. Maybe it's not getting the newest vehicle. Maybe you'd rather live in a bigger house, but drive a more reasonable car. Whatever it is, maybe you have no problem giving up vacations, but you need that pool in your backyard. Again, there's a ditch on both sides. think that as this couple, you need to come together and figure out.   that equation where even after you're getting some of these doctor luxuries that you've worked hard for, there's still money left over that is being invested wisely.   Kiera Dent (13:13) love Lauryn that you talked about Garrett Gunderson and I love that there's the saver and the spender in every relationship because this happens like it's a real thing. ⁓ And I love that you talk about like, okay, one step one is like, you got to make money and you got to keep the money. So it's like, make the money and keep the money. I have like, okay, if we could just follow that. Jocko Willings, he's got a quote. This is like discipline equals freedom. And it sits in my kitchen, which I think is a very smart place to stick this sign. I see it all the time. And I'm like, that really is step one is like discipline on this.   Dr. Lauryn B (13:28) Make the money, keep the money.   Kiera Dent (13:43) And I think that there's like, one of our consultants, says, choose your hard. And I think about this, like both sides have a hard, like spending all the money has a hard of like being broke. Saving the money has the hard of you've got to actually put like parameters in place. So both have it. But for me, I'd rather sleep at night knowing I've got money in the bank rather than like sitting there wondering how I'm going to make payroll. Like to me, that's the hard I would rather choose. I would not rather not choose the other side. So I'm going to be disciplined there. And then,   I really started working on and I heard at a conference about like just an easy way. Cause my husband, I'm the spender. He's the saver. And it's really thrilling for me because I felt annoyed. I felt like I was dragging him like an anchor. Like we were going on vacation. We're buying the cars and like, don't like cut my wind out of my sails. Like I was so angry about it. So we actually had to make a vision board of both of us. Like what are his dreams and what are my dreams? And we like co put it up on the wall. It literally sits in our bedroom. And it was one of the best things I ever did because he wasn't able to see what inspires me and what I'm excited about what   what's important to me. And I was able to see what's important to him. We also figured out like what's our BAM, our bare ACE minimum as a couple and where we want that. And then when you're talking about like the savings, I really found this awesome principle where it's kind of like, ultimately, what does it actually cost you to get to financial freedom? And when I did this exercise and I do it with a lot of clients, you can actually break it down. like, what does that like, bougie, whatever life you want that to look like, what does that look like? What's your mortgage? What's your HOA? What's the internet? What's the utilities like?   What's our groceries? What's our food bill? What's our children bill? Like how many cars do we have on this? And like literally build that out to what's like my highest end. And then you actually scale it back down to basically like, what's my security bucket? Like for me to just survive, like you said, like the monks, like what is it for me? Like scrap it all down. Let's go back to dental school. Let's go back to chiropractic school. Like when I was at my like most broke, but I could scrap like you guys, can top around and like a boss, like I know I could get through. So like, what is my like minimum amount?   Then what I do, so basically taking that all the way up to my financial freedom, like where I've got money making money, it's a money making machine for me. And then how do I actually break that down? So I've got security, then I've got like growth, then I've got independence, and then I've got freedom. And then beyond that are like your prosperity and your legacy buckets. And so when I look at this, it's like, you basically just chunk it down. And what I mean, I'm such a nerd, I really am. I've like learned to fall in love. I like took that amount of like total dollars.   Then I looked at like, how much money do I actually need to make? What tax bracket am I in? How much do I need like pre and post tax? Like again, total nerd side on my side. But then I was able to look and I'm like, okay, for this practice, I know that for them to be like, just baseline, they need to be making about a hundred grand a year. Like that's pre-tax. So we know like we're to take tax out. We can survive. That's like our security. Then our growth goes up to 202 post-tax. Then our independence is at like 553. Well, now I know my mile markers of what I need to do. And I also have those parameters. you said, where am I going to penny pinch?   This does not mean that I don't have certain luxuries, but it means that I'm like, it's like a gradient and I'm able to see what I'm working towards. And I remember my CPA, he told me once he said, Kiera, it actually becomes a lot easier to make money. And like once you, like in a few years, once you've bought a few of the things that you really are looking for, and I was like, you're full of it. Like, I don't believe you for a second, but it's true. Like as you evolve.   You buy the things you want, you get the house that you want, you get the car that you think you want, you get the designer bags, like it's not all overnight. And then you're like, wow, I have a decent amount because I've learned to make the money, save the money, not spend everything that I've got. I'm able to then plan for these purchases that I want. I love Profit First, Mike McAllags. He's like my fangirl central every time he's on the podcast. I like just love him so much, but I'm like, okay, then I have buckets. have my travel bucket. And you're right, Mike, my travel.   Dr. Lauryn B (17:18) yeah. Sweep account. Sweep! ⁓   Kiera Dent (17:28) amount, that's something that fuels me. So we pump money into a travel fund, but we have those to where I now have budgets and our clients have budgets and you can have budgets. And it's not for me, clients have even told me that's more freeing than it is otherwise, because they actually know I can spend this money guilt free and go on the trip. can go and buy this car guilt free because I have the money.   Dr. Lauryn B (17:46) Mm-hmm.   And that's probably really   helpful for your spouse too. A lot of times the saver spouse, like it's hard for them until there's like an act, like that's the permission they need of like, no, we ran the numbers and we like this amount of money was proportionally taken and it's there. It's only to be spent on this. And they're like, okay.   Kiera Dent (17:52) Thanks.   Yes.   Yes.   Okay. And then the spender feels good because they're not just blowing all the money. So it's on this like, it's a good balance, but I love it. Like it's very simple. And now I'm very curious, Lauryn, because you've talked about like not having your business as your only asset, like that's cash flowing for you. Once we've got a simple, we like make the money and we keep the money like check that off. Then we go into these like, I love the idea. There's a ditch on both sides of the road. So which one are we going to do? We figure out like, what do need today? What are my future like?   Dr. Lauryn B (18:28) Mm-hmm.   Kiera Dent (18:41) kind of nice purchases that I want to, how do I build up to these other ones that I can save for? What's my total number? Like I know my number for financial freedom is psychotic. When I look at that, it really is. I actually have it.   Dr. Lauryn B (18:51) Is it really? Because I'm   interested that you said that because most people when they do that exercise are kind of like, ⁓ it's surprising to them that it's actually not higher. like, so.   Kiera Dent (19:12) Well, let me just clarify.   Let me ask this for you, Lauryn. What I found is for me to hit like my security, my vitality, my independence. Like we're talking like pretty much up to freedom. I'm actually it's good. Like we're there, but my absolute freedom, like where I never have to work another day in my life for me, that number, that number is a little more extreme. That one, but like even looking at it now, cause when I told you, I'm like, it's psychotic. I just pulled the spreadsheet up. What's fun though is I built this.   Dr. Lauryn B (19:30) ⁓ okay.   Yeah. Okay, the like I quit number, the like.   Kiera Dent (19:42) gosh, I like I should honestly look, I think I built this spreadsheet, I'm going to we're gonna hold everybody I know you're like on pins and needles, I'm just gonna scroll back to when I actually made this. It's on Google Sheets, you can go back to like when it was built. So I built this and I think this is really just telling for people I built this in 2022. So May 13 2022 at 1026 am is when I built it. We're now recording this in 2025. So we're only talking just over three years since I originally built it.   I told you Lauryn that my number for absolute freedom, we're talking like I put it all because I have a jet in there. I have a charter jet. I have a private like I put all these things like it was just I have like I want to   Dr. Lauryn B (20:17) You have a jet in there? Okay, well most people when   they do the exercise the way I have them do it aren't putting jets in there. I love you, Kiera. Okay, we're gonna stay friends because I want on that jet. Kiera error.   Kiera Dent (20:25) Like I'm telling you this is my absolute freedom. This is the absolute absolute like here is living this life I mean girl you can come cuz I just like   I wanted to see like what does this look like and I want to have like I don't want to retire in a retirement home I want to live in a villa like I've got some pretty lofty things in this like we're talking I went for like   Dr. Lauryn B (20:41) Right. Did you put the pilot   costs in there too or does that just come with a jet?   Kiera Dent (20:45) So my husband actually wants to be a pilot. So that's already like built in. So I've got like that. I also have friends that are pilots like, you know, yellow, we're gonna have that. Thank you, thank you. So on that, and I actually went through this, like I built it the first time, but we're talking three years. And I look at that to have that absolute freedom. The annual income pre-tax would be 4.6 million, which that can sound like an outlandish number. However, based on where the business is now, it's not that outlandish. And that was just a short.   Dr. Lauryn B (20:49) Okay. Okay. Okay. The jet makes a little more sense now, but yeah, got it.   No, it's doable.   Kiera Dent (21:15) three year period where I'm like, I mean, we got a jet, I got play money. mean, guys in-house chef, live in nanny, we've got all the cars, I've got my Lambo, I've got chartered flights in there, like you name it. And I look at this and I often assess because Kiera three years ago wanted some of these things and Kiera today might look at that and be like, know, I actually don't want these things, but this is what I'd rather. I'd rather like buy a house for my parents or I'd rather do this, but you will shift and change.   Dr. Lauryn B (21:16) And that's got a freaking jet in it.   Kiera Dent (21:45) But it's so crazy because when I look at that, I'm like, all right. So I know if things get tight in the business, I know, all right, rock on. Like pre-tax, we need to make a hundred grand. Like easy. We can handle that. We can create that. We can figure that out. That's it. Again, just a math equation. But then when you look up and you scale up, it becomes so much more doable and realistic. And then for me, I don't know how you feel, Lauryn. It's like, now the number doesn't feel like, got it. I know actually like what I'm working towards. I know how I can now do the math equation. It's not like I have to make   500 million to be free. It's like, no, I need this money because it will now go into investments. It will go into other places. I know how much that's going to generate for me. I know how much it's going to estimate grow. And I don't know. It just is pretty magical. So I'm very curious. Like, what are your other revenue streams that you recommend when we're looking at this and we're building that financial freedom? We're looking at like, okay, I kind of am. I'm hoping that people listening to this podcast are putting like dots together. Like, okay, got it. Like make the money, keep the money.   Dr. Lauryn B (22:17) Mm-hmm.   Hmm.   Kiera Dent (22:38) figure out how I'm gonna spend it, but not overspend it and still keep the money so I don't pinch on that side. Then I'm gonna look to see where I ultimately wanna get in my life. Now, like what are some other things like if we're there, how did you get it to where you weren't just reliant on your business anymore?   Dr. Lauryn B (22:52) So first I will say that none of this is any tax or legal advice and you must talk to your CPA or whatever. Yeah, here's my little disclaimer. I am not an accountant or anything, a lawyer or anything like that. So right now, so I just interviewed someone on crypto. So I am really, really lucky that my husband, he's a very early adopter. And so   Kiera Dent (22:58) This is true our little disclaimer there guys go talk to people that are not   Dr. Lauryn B (23:21) We have been pretty involved in crypto for   Kiera Dent (23:26) Which is why you said   do crypto like all the things like I should be putting this in crypto not going on trips. I now get it. All right, go on.   Dr. Lauryn B (23:33) So I just interviewed someone on my podcast who's like a crypto investor and like some of the predictions that the crypto people, the crypto people are saying about   going to happen with crypto, what could happen with crypto in the next five years,   4.6 million would be easy. So like if our current crypto ⁓   Kiera Dent (23:55) Chump change, like truly, truly.   Dr. Lauryn B (24:01) account like amount that we have invested   did even a fraction of like what like we'd be we'd be pretty   pretty pretty good even if that doesn't happen in five years if it like takes 10 so crypto for us   Kiera Dent (24:08) Mm-hmm.   Dr. Lauryn B (24:14) and like i said i just i knew that like that was the thing that for him but like i just really got i got off this interview and i was like how much did you invest last month we need   double it we need to like and he's like yeah   This is so exciting. Like I have been priceless. I've been really obsessed with a Cartier watch lately. Like a real like, and so I have was, I'm already   Kiera Dent (24:28) That's where he'll spend there, Lauryn.   Dr. Lauryn B (24:37) about my 2026 vision board because I'm in Enneagram three and we do weird   like that. And so I I was like, I want to go to Switzerland and   Kiera Dent (24:41) I love it.   Dr. Lauryn B (24:46) want to   to Switzerland and buy a Cartier watch. Cause that's where they're made. And like, and now I'm like, you know, maybe we should   Kiera Dent (24:52) Yeah.   Dr. Lauryn B (24:56) delay, that would be better put into crypto. And he's just like, this is the saver husband is just like, this is the greatest thing in the world. So anyway, so that's one bucket. ⁓ And you know, he spends a good amount of time each week, each day monitoring. So I won't even call that passive. I think that crypto can be a lot more passive depending on how you do it. I'm not going to get any deeper into the waters here because we are at my like limit of understanding of crypto.   Kiera Dent (25:02) He's loving it. Okay, so crypto. Okay.   Okay, perfect.   Dr. Lauryn B (25:24) I know   that you can   very active in investing and there are ways that can be much more passive. ⁓ So real estate, obviously   think that real estate is the secret of the wealthy for decades and decades and decades and it's not such a secret anymore. It comes with its own things. We both experienced 2007. I luckily had just gone into school, but there are people who lost their asses in 2007 with real estate. So not foolproof. Also,   Kiera Dent (25:50) only.   Dr. Lauryn B (25:54) not incredibly passive. We throw the word passive around way too much in this, but I will say where the majority currently and where we're like next year, how I'm getting to 3 million and this and that, a good percentage of it is very, very active in the personal brand coaching side of things.   Kiera Dent (25:56) I would agree on that. You gotta have a lot of doors, lots of doors, lots of time.   I agree.   Dr. Lauryn B (26:22) I have built and have continued building. ⁓ so, you know, podcast, sure, that makes some money, but like where very actively, where I spend more time on than in my clinic is in the online space of coaching courses, programs, webinars, membership. And that's when you find, and here's the thing.   is like every dentist listening, every chiropractor listening is like, okay, so I need to coach other dentists. I need to coach other chiropractors. And it's like, no, what I'm saying is, is online, there is a lot of money that can be made. It's not easier, but it's also not harder. It's its own hard. I just solved a different problem for someone. So I had the business that we solve this problem. And then I figured out a way. So we talked about the financial.   Kiera Dent (27:05) Right.   Dr. Lauryn B (27:18) freedom, but then I figured out the time freedom that I wasn't needed there all the time. So I could sit and go, what's another problem that I can sell a solution to?   Kiera Dent (27:33) Okay, let's like pause there. I'm very curious. How did you get, how did you solve the time solution? Like guilt free, like walk me through. I know it's like a pile whole nother episodes. Like do it in like a chunk or probably close to time.   Dr. Lauryn B (27:38) God, that's.   Yeah, well, I mean,   you ultimately, you pay for your time. So like, I am not collecting as much money from my clinic as I could if I was there doing the service. Like, that's just kind of obvious. ⁓ So I am paying for doctors that I wouldn't need a doctor. I could get rid of an entire doctor's salary if I just worked full time.   Kiera Dent (27:59) Right.   Dr. Lauryn B (28:10) I could also get rid of my amazing and well-paid director of ops. So this was a big game changer for us is so like, you may have a doctor on staff that's like your clinic director. You know, they're really in charge of like patient care, whatever, things like that. I recommend having a not office manager, a director of operations.   Kiera Dent (28:25) Thank   Dr. Lauryn B (28:39) Okay, like this is not an office manager. A lot of time your office manager is like by default, the person who's been with you the longest. Like we hired in a specific skillset that was going to be my eyes, ears, hands, feet, pretty much everything except my visionary brain.   Kiera Dent (28:40) Nothing.   and   Dr. Lauryn B (29:03) She does HR meetings, she does hiring, she does firing, she monitors stats. I meet with her once a week and I get reports. I pay her pretty well. And like honestly, she needs another raise and so does my other doctor. Like, so this is what's hard.   Kiera Dent (29:17) Yeah.   So let's just break it down. I   don't wanna know exactly what your Director of Operations gets paid, but let's give a range so people understand, because I think people don't realize what we're paying for that. So are we talking? Okay, perfect. And for some of you, might hear like, yes. And I would say that that, I would say it's probably 60 to 150 penny upon, for dentists, the size and practice, like I have seen that come through. So again, looking to see where it is.   Dr. Lauryn B (29:27) Probably 60 to 90 grand.   depending on your city and things like that.   can.   and   especially like if you're running multiple clinics. Yeah.   Kiera Dent (29:44) Yes. So   when you said that though, when we were talking about the audacious number and we're like, Hey, 4.6, like it seems so, but you're like, it's really big. But I think if people were to hear that and think K 60 to 90, if I were to pay somebody 90, but not have to do all the meetings, not all the hiring, not all the firing, what is your time worth? Go to Dan Martell, buy back your time. He's one of my favorites. Like what is your dollar per hour when you're doing dentistry or when you're doing chiropractic?   And could you hire that out? Like how many hours could you do or use your visionary brain to grow the business, grow other things? Well, yes, that's a great salary. It also, think when we put it with your time, I think a lot of people could see that on a balance sheet of a very good investment because I think time is one of your greatest assets. So again, I just want to highlight because a lot of people may think it's like 200.   Dr. Lauryn B (30:26) Mm-hmm.   Well, and I'm in a circle back.   So, cause I said, there's like the two different reasons you're burning out. Although I've listed like 17 at this point. You you've got the person who just wants to care for people and they have to run a business. And then you've got the person who's like, I've solved this. So like, I don't remember who said it, but they basically said there's like two types of people. And this is a really great question to ask when you're hiring. It's one of my favorite questions. ⁓ Are you the type of person?   Kiera Dent (30:39) Yeah   Dr. Lauryn B (30:57) who wants to solve the same problem every day and get more efficient and faster and better at solving that puzzle, or are you a person who would rather have a brand new puzzle every day and figure out   to solve that puzzle? There is no wrong answer here. You are not a less than person because people hear that and they go, oh.   I wanna be the exciting person. And this is why so many people end up in entrepreneurship that shouldn't is because they hear the air quotes, right answer there. the exciting answer is I want a new puzzle. Most people are not psycho like   if you   that you're that person, when you're really, this is totally cool to be like a more efficient problem solving, like same puzzle. But that's what a business is.   Kiera Dent (31:49) Yes.   Dr. Lauryn B (31:50) after a   certain point, you are solving the same problem. And so I literally couldn't. I couldn't, so like, yes, I could say like, well, I had the option of not spending that money on salary and just like stepping into my practice even more and being that director of ops and being that, I couldn't. I was done. At this point, this had been like 12 years.   Like, this is really more more recent. I've been in practice 15 years. So it was really more like three years ago that I was like, I can't, I want to. And I feel like a bad person that I'm like, I can still be the visionary. I can still check in and I still love hands-on patience. Like, ⁓ but like we need to hand this baton to somebody better because I will die if I have to keep hiring and doing some of this stuff.   Kiera Dent (32:47) You   How did your team and doctors take that? Because I think people are so scared of like, well, why does Lauryn get to go have one or two days in the office and we're here five days? Like, did you have any of that backlash? Like, how did that go?   Dr. Lauryn B (32:50) And so.   they're continue, you know, like, yeah, your people are people are people. And we can't, we can't, as if I don't get, my husband has to talk me off a ledge, you know, once a month about like, can you believe, like, we, they're just humans who are also living their experience and wanting more money and like seeing you live abundantly and feeling feelings of jealousy. Like you can't cure anybody who says like they've cured jealousy.   from their team culture, they are lying. So like feelings of jealousy and greed, these are natural human emotions that your staff is going to go through. And so, you know, I would say that more recently as we, because like we're talking about like, hey, the clinic numbers are not good enough for...   Kiera Dent (33:36) Yeah   Dr. Lauryn B (34:00) abundance and bonuses and raises. We've told you what we need the clinic numbers to be at in order for raises to happen.   Kiera Dent (34:06) I hope everybody listening   just heard how she was a CEO and she told them, these are what the numbers are. This is what we have to do. It's not, me give you bonuses and pay you more in hopes to get that number up there. Like rewind that, listen to that over and over and over again, because you have to have this team needs to see that. Otherwise, this is how you don't make the money and keep the money. You make the money and you pay more money and you're broke. Go on.   Dr. Lauryn B (34:27) Yeah, and for the first, that's   how I got to the worst, the best worst year of my life, you biggest revenue, but worst income was because we had been giving raises based on like effort and like they're working really hard. They deserve a raise. So an employee can deserve a raise, but there's not money to give them. So like we're simultaneously this year dealing with like, hey,   I wanna give raises, but like it's gotta be here and we're close, but we're not there. They simultaneously see me just fucking killing it in the online space and spending, because also like in the personal brand, like I coach healthcare providers how to launch a personal brand. And so like I talk about like, hey, I got a $2,000 affiliate check. We invested $13,000 from crypto. If you go find me on Instagram @DrLaurynB, you will see like,   My posts are about abundance and what a personal brand can do for you and how like the behind the scenes of like, yeah, we are, we're talking about diversifying income. Like this is how much our real   portfolio made last month. People want to know that, but my staff sees that. And so they're like, well, she rich. Why is she trying to tell us   she can't give us, why is it? And so, so like even literally this month.   Kiera Dent (35:45) that we don't have money. because the business, the business.   Dr. Lauryn B (35:52) We're in like calm, kind, one-to-one conversations having to be like, you know, but I will say my husband and I, like, this is like real life. These are conversations that literally happened like a week and a half ago where I came to my husband because prior the clinic was all the money. It was all the money. It was the biggest thing. It was really in the last two years that things switched.   where it was like, now my clinic is like, when do we call my clinic my side gig? Because I'm literally making four times as much on this personal brand in digital space. ⁓ And so we realized that,   Kiera Dent (36:20) Yeah.   Mm-hmm.   Dr. Lauryn B (36:32) there isn't money for raises that they want. There isn't money for bonuses. But can I,   Lauryn Brunclik.   who loves my employees, can I give them, can I shower them with birthday presents and anniversary presents and Christmas presents? Can I buy them lunch because they saved my ass because I came in late from a podcast recording or this or that? Yeah, because Lauryn can, like the personal, like we are fine. We are rich, great, this is great.   But like my head was so like the only money from a business mind that we can spend is the money that's allowed. And it's like, no, no, no, no. Now we're entering a whole new ball field where it's like, you know what? I can, but it's not gonna come from bonuses and raises. Those come from clinic performance. And so we are kind of going like, okay, FYI, this isn't coming from chiropractic. This is coming from me.   Kiera Dent (37:30) Right.   Dr. Lauryn B (37:41) loving and appreciating all that you do in this clinic so that I can. So what does this look like? You take a week off and you go golf the greatest like golf whatever courses and like you just like have this bucket list thing. This looks like you showing acts of appreciation, bringing gifts, buying them dinner, like whatever it is like.   showing appreciation for your staff that they are there so you can live your best life. They were there so you could leave early and go watch your kids dance recital. So like, although our natural instinct is to only show them that we appreciate them through raises and bonuses, and that's what they want. So like anytime you can do it. ⁓   Kiera Dent (38:38) I agree.   I agree. I feel like both.   Dr. Lauryn B (38:40) Sometimes   you have to figure out more creative ways to show your appreciation to them that they are doing that so you can't.   Kiera Dent (38:49) I love that. Wow. Lauryn, this is such a fun podcast. think like to put a pretty bow on this. What would you say if a doctor, your listeners, my listeners, if they're listening to this, what would you say would be like, wrap up takeaways from I mean, we have gone the gown. I love this. I felt like we were on the most random road trip of like we were going to this stop going to this one.   Dr. Lauryn B (39:08) I'm not sure if we took this entire transcript   and uploaded it to AI. It would be like, no, you guys are amazing. Here's your silver thread.   Kiera Dent (39:17) That would be amazing. So what would you say would be kind of like key takeaways or things that maybe we didn't get to that you just feel like listeners, business owners, those running the day to day clinic, whether you want to be on whichever side of this burnout coin, if you want to be there and serve the patients but are sick of doing the business, if you're on the side of like, gosh, I like just want to run the business and do other things outside of this, like looking at the burnout, looking at the generations that we're going through. I mean, we went the gamut of   from investments and passive income to appreciating your team as you as a person rather than the business. Like so many fun, different like ideas and aha moments. Any last thoughts you wanna add to put a pretty bow on today's podcast?   Dr. Lauryn B (39:57) All well, that's a really hard question, but you're lucky I actually do have something to say. was like, oh God, okay. All right, so was listening to a podcast this morning. Simon Sinek had Arthur Brooks on, and Arthur Brooks is, I don't know, political science, behavioral science, I think behavioral science. And he just very briefly in the interview said that like,   Kiera Dent (39:59) I know. Hey, good, good.   Dr. Lauryn B (40:21) It's human nature that we go through a reinvention of our career and have to reinvent ourselves every seven to 12 years. And that's just, that's gonna happen. So from the time that you graduate high school until the time that you retire, you're going to need to reinvent yourself multiple times. And the more that you fight that, the more that you, you you're at that seven year itch or whatever,   and instead of embracing reinvention, whatever that looks like for you, maybe you're bringing on new services into your clinic. like, it doesn't need to mean you need to lean out at that point, but you might just need a little, like, re-ignition, a reinvention of your brand. ⁓ The more that you fight that and go, I shouldn't feel this way, what's wrong with me? Like, like if you're sitting there broke and you're just stuck,   in a place of instead of reinventing yourself into this wealthy, healthy doctor that you know you can be, but instead you're like, God, I'm 39. I don't have my shit together. I should be making more money. I should, like, the more you just sit in this, what's wrong with me? It's just gonna torture yourself. I truly believe that people, you know, let's say they get 12 years into their career.   I believe that there are ⁓ too high of a percentage of people that literally just plan on embracing the suck the rest of their career instead of reinventing themselves for something joyful and abundant. And that just makes me so sad. So that's what I would say is my final thing is if you feel wherever you're at in your career, if you're feeling this, like this is your permission. It's not from me, it's from Arthur Brooks. He's some smart.   Kiera Dent (42:17) Yeah.   Dr. Lauryn B (42:18) Like you were smart enough to be on Simon Sinek, all right? He's giving you permission. This is not just a unique thing. This is human nature. And so figure it out. What does reinvention look like for you? ⁓ And just start doing the work.   Kiera Dent (42:35) Lauryn, that was absolutely beautiful and I hope people listen. I hope they take action. They take advice. ⁓ Because I think what you just said is so freeing and so beautiful. So I really hope people don't just listen, but actually take action. So Lauryn, I love this today. It was so fun. How can people get in? It's a great time. I'm like when we in person, I guarantee you'll be someone we will be fast friends in real life. Like just loved having you on here today. How can people get connected with you? How can they see your   Dr. Lauryn B (42:51) We should meet up in real life.   Kiera Dent (43:03) life again, I believe like when we watch other people we become like them. So it's like, I want people like you. I want people that are abundant. I want people like this is what the podcast is for. This is why we bring people together. How can people get connected with you if they want to know more about you see what you're doing? How can they   Dr. Lauryn B (43:07) Mm-hmm.   yeah, and if you   related to this, you'll love my Instagram, because this is everything that I talk about. So it's @DrLaurynB and Lauryn is with a Y. So ⁓ Instagram is definitely the place I hang out the most. Send me a DM if you listen to this. Like I am in my DMs all the time. And I would just, yeah, that's the best place.   Kiera Dent (43:34) I love it. We are millennials. Instagram's our jam. We're not on Snapchat, all right? It's Instagram, okay? It's gonna be that way forever. But Lauryn, I loved it today. Thank you for joining me. Everyone here, I hope you picked up nuggets. I hope you take action. I hope you truly commit to living your best life. And as always, thanks for listening and I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team   Dr. Lauryn B (43:37) This jam. Yeah.  

Why are so many healthcare providers burned out, overworked, and underpaid—despite dedicating their lives to helping others? In part one of this powerful two-part conversation, Dr. Lauryn sits down with Kiera Dent, CEO and founder of The Dental A Team, to uncover the root causes of financial and emotional burnout across chiropractic, dentistry, and other healthcare professions. Together, they dig into why so many doctors feel “broke,” overwhelmed, and disconnected from their purpose, and what needs to change in how we approach business and balance in the healthcare world.Lauryn and Kiera dive deep into the shared challenges facing modern clinicians: massive student debt, a lack of business training, and the generational shift in what work-life balance really means. They discuss how to identify where burnout truly comes from, why profit margins matter more than ever, and how to reclaim your sense of purpose without sacrificing success. Whether you're a chiropractor, dentist, or any healthcare entrepreneur—this conversation will remind you that you're not alone and help you start rewriting your professional story.Key Takeaways:Burnout isn't just emotional—it's financial. Many healthcare professionals are struggling because their businesses lack healthy profit margins and sustainable structures.Generational shifts are reshaping success. Millennials and Gen Z are rejecting outdated scripts of overwork and redefining what true balance and fulfillment look like in healthcare.Business is business—even in healthcare. Doctors need to learn core entrepreneurial and leadership skills to thrive, not just survive, in private practice.You're not alone. Whether you're a dentist, chiropractor, or vet, the struggles of burnout, money stress, and purpose fatigue are universal—and solvable.About the Guest:Kiera Dent is the CEO and founder of The Dental A Team, where she and her team consult with hundreds of dental practices nationwide. Drawing on her experience in nearly every role within a dental office, Kiera helps teams streamline systems, elevate accountability, and boost profitability while still living their best lives. Her mission is to positively transform the structure and culture of dental practices, empowering providers and teams to achieve greater success with less stress.Listen to The Dental A Team: Spotify | AppleFollow Kiera: Instagram Check out all things The Dental A TeamResources:Grow Your Following: A 3-Day Bootcamp for Healthcare Providers Who Want More Reach, More Followers, and More Impact (October 28th, 29th, 30th)Join The Uncharted CEO: An 8-week immersive experience for clinic owners designed to increase revenue, maximize profits, and build cash flow systems that create freedom NOW, not at 65. Not sure if The Uncharted CEO is right for you? Take the quiz and find out!Join The Uncharted Collective: A Membership for Healthcare Professionals to Build a Profitable Personal Brand in Just 2...

Kiera is joined by Dr. Lauryn Brunclik (of She Slays the Day podcast fame) to take a good hard look at clinician burnout, different sides of the working mindset coin, generational styles of work, and so much more. 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 about our guest that's going to be on the podcast with me today. She is incredible. We're going to be talking about all things burnout, how to avoid it, how to just like live your best life. And so I have Dr. Lauryn Brunclik. She's an entrepreneur, chiropractor, business coach, podcast host, wife, mother, and sought-after speaker known for her high energy. You guys know that this is why I like her. mean, we're birds of the same feather, straightforward attitude and ability to make people laugh while discovering their truth.   In 2010, she founded Blue Hills Chiropractic building into a thriving seven figure practice. But after years of relentless hustle, she found herself overworked, tied to her clinic and craving more freedom. Dentist, can you relate? Now you see why I brought her on here. Now you can see why I want her here. ⁓ she truly is very similar to all of you out there. She was determined to create a business that worked for her, not the other way around. Lauryn built multiple revenue streams, streamlined her operations and reclaimed her time without sacrificing income.   She took that passion and launched She Slays the Day, a podcast helping professionals and clinic owners break free from burnout by creating multiple revenue streams, recleaning time and building financial and lifestyle freedom. So welcome to the show, Lauryn. How are you today?   Dr. Lauryn B (01:07) Thank you. As you   were reading that is so funny because like in this world of virtual assistants and AI, I'm always like, what bio is she reading? And I'm like kind of holding my breath like, ⁓ and I'm like, okay, yep, that's true. That's true. this is good. I did really get sad and burnt up. It's like, I just went on a journey with you while you're reading my bio.   Kiera Dent (01:25) Usually both.   You and me both. was on a podcast the other day and I had the exact same feeling because they were reading my bio and I was like, huh, I'm super curious. Like which bio did you get? And wow, yeah, like I did just get to go down memory lane. but   Dr. Lauryn B (01:40) You're   like, that's a good bio. Good job, AI. Good job. Which is like always waiting for like the wrong thing where it's like, no, I didn't do a stint as a clown or anything. No, that's not true. That's not true. So.   Kiera Dent (01:49) Exactly.   I, Shelbi got us connected and I was super excited and you know, I was looking up on it and she's like, here, I think you and Lauryn are going to have the best time on the podcast. She's like, you two are birds of the same feather, the high energy, the tactical, the like we talk about it's like life on purpose and business on purpose and not having it to where it's the other way around. I say all the time, like your business should be working for you, not the other way around. It should be supporting your life. So I'm just super jazzed. So Lauryn.   Dr. Lauryn B (02:04) Mm.   Kiera Dent (02:17) I mean, that was a great bio. agree like kudos to AI, virtual assistant, whomever wrote it for you. Kudos to you for living that actual bio and being the human on the other side of that. So anything else you want to add? I mean, we're here today to chat shop. We're here to ⁓ share with your audience, our audience, and just really collaborate together and talk about some things that you're super passionate about and that I am too.   Dr. Lauryn B (02:22) Right.   Yeah, so I think that one of the things is that, you you kind of address of like, I think you probably typically have more dentists on   of thing and your audience is like, wait, what's happening? So I started as a coach for chiropractors, you   Kiera Dent (02:51) you   Dr. Lauryn B (02:56) this is, I see this a lot of what we do ⁓ as especially high achieving people, you know, we spend a lot of money and time getting this degree. And then we kind of, when we start to get   bored, burnt out, ADHD, whatever it is in our career where there's this kind of a couple years in and you're like, wait, is this on repeat? What we tend to do is we repurpose our current knowledge set. And so it's like, I have this degree in this, so I'm gonna start a podcast for those people, right? And so that was kind of my experience too. She Slays the Day started as a podcast for chiropractors.   But then I started to realize like as we were having these conversations and you you're just networking, you're meeting. And I started to talk to dentists and veterinarians and you know, realizing like, ⁓ you guys deal with the same shit we do? I had an ENT on a private practice, ENT ⁓ on the podcast, on my podcast because I was following him on Instagram because he was hilarious, but I was like.   Kiera Dent (03:51) Yeah.   Dr. Lauryn B (04:02) you're dealing with the same stuff we do. And ultimately, that's kind of where I expanded in 2023 to be more for healthcare providers outside the traditional hospital system, because it's like, none of us learned business. Like, we, while we were doing anatomy and infectious disease and all of this stuff, there were people outside in the college getting like MBAs and entire business degrees.   Kiera Dent (04:18) Exactly.   Dr. Lauryn B (04:31) And we didn't take a single class. we just, there's such this atmosphere of shameful entrepreneurship. What I mean by that is like, especially within chiropractic, and I've talked to vets and dentists as well, that's like, well, if you're not gonna own your own clinic, are you even like really that good? And so there's this forced entrepreneurship in a society where only 10 % of   Kiera Dent (04:54) Mm-hmm.   Dr. Lauryn B (05:01) people truly have the grit and resilience for the shit show that is ⁓ entrepreneurship. But you have like 80 to 90 % of a profession going into it. And so it's just so natural that it's like, we didn't learn this stuff. It's so natural that burnout is such a common thing. So that's where really it's like, I've realized that like, yeah, I promise you that the same stuff we're dealing with, you're dealing with too because I've had these conversations.   Kiera Dent (05:13) Right.   Amen. And it's actually funny, and I didn't mention this prior, but we actually consulted a chiropractic office and we've consulted eye clinics and ⁓ optometrists and we've gone into CPA clinic firms. And I realized business is business is business and healthcare business is very similar. I think we do ⁓ outside of mainstream medicine, which is our chiropractic, our vets, our dentists.   We're not in the hospital setting. We have more of that autonomy to have our own practices and our own businesses and I agree with you. It is a I think I think the memes out there with business ownership are so accurate the ones where you're on a roller coaster and they're like it's the highs and the lows the ones we're like holding on for dear life and you're like giggling and then crying all within a matter of seconds and I'm like that is the role that is the realm and so that's why I really wanted us to collaborate together Lauryn to talk about because   What you see in chiropractic, what I see in dentistry, what we see across the board of these incredible clinicians. like you, go to school, you learn, you, you have all this experience in this knowledge. And like you said, It does not train you to be a business owner. yet also, like you said, it's well, why not? Like, and I think that that is kind of the, it's like for team members, like you want to graduate to be the office manager. You want to be the regional manager. You want to get to that level. Like that's where you like it. There's a ladder ascension. And I think in business ownership and with   Like you wanted to be a chiropractor because you wanted to help people. You wanted to be a dentist because you want to help people. You want to be a vet because you want to help people. You want to be an ENT because you want to help people. But it's, think that there's this unsaid natural ladder that people feel there's a push to go for a business ownership when it's like, but I just want to be a clinician. I just wanted to, to do my craft, but I also wanted to do it my way. And that's where I think the business ownership vibe comes in. But you're right. It's, it's stressful, not having profits, not having   understanding cashflow, not understanding how to run teams. Like awful.   Dr. Lauryn B (07:20) The number of people,   doc, clinic owners that have been in practice for 10 plus years that I am teaching what profit margins are and what is healthy and how to calculate it is astounding. It's like, So, you know, I think that ultimately when you, you know, the different personality types, you know, when they find themselves in practice,   Kiera Dent (07:31) Yes. Yes.   Yes.   Dr. Lauryn B (07:46) I feel like they almost burn out for two completely different reasons. So let's say that you have, know, so 80 % of humans are just more meant to be more like caregivers, supporter roles. I would guess that that's even higher in someone who's called into healthcare, right? That like, they went into this, believe me, if you are about to decide what you should do with your life and you are like, I'm an entrepreneur and I wanna be.   Kiera Dent (08:05) Mm-hmm.   Dr. Lauryn B (08:15) rich. Do not go into chiropractic. Do not go into dentistry. There is so much easier ways to make money. like 99 point whatever percent of people are called to this profession in healthcare because they want to serve. So let's say you start your clinic. There's a good chance you're going to burn out from one of two reasons. One, you don't want to run a clinic. You truly   And that's what's burning you out, is that you're just like, I am here for the patients. I want to pour into the patients and I want to serve and I want to do that. But like, I have to hire another front desk person? Didn't we just do that last year? I don't know what the ad should say. I don't know what we should pay them. Or like there's office drama and you're like, I have to create a SOP on that, what? And so that will burn you out because so much of being the CEO and the clinic owner is like,   pulling you away from patient care. So you either have to divide your patient care down or in half so you have time and now you're spending half of your time not doing what you wanna do or you just pile on the admin stuff on top of it so you're working 60 hours a week. So that person, obviously they burn out. Now the other one is I think a much more, like is much more my personal story and I'm so curious as to like why you started the podcast, why you started doing what you're doing but like.   Kiera Dent (09:30) Mm-hmm. Right.   Dr. Lauryn B (09:43) So this is, I was not someone that like was a natural entrepreneur. Like I never would have, you there's certain people you hear these stories where they're like, I'm kindergarten. was like, you know, I'm like, no, that wasn't me. Like I had no idea until really after I, you know, I started my practice, but that was out of convenience. Cause there was no job. Like I had kids and like somewhere along the line, the entrepreneurship bug just got me.   Kiera Dent (09:56) Hahaha!   Dr. Lauryn B (10:13) And then all of a sudden, that's what I wanted to be doing. Like I wanted to be scaling, looking at marketing strategy, looking at like growth projections, creating higher, like I wanted to do that. But then like Barb needs me in a room too. And I'm like, like I love, okay, I like serving. Yes, yes, yes. But like I really.   Kiera Dent (10:36) Yeah.   Dr. Lauryn B (10:41) This is what was exciting to me. And so then, and this is where I'll kind of like be vulnerable and share my story, because I know from stage that this helps people, people see this, but it's embarrassing to admit, but the patient care became boring. The patient care became repetitive. Like in the beginning, you're like, ⁓ how do I fix this? And like, you're not getting results, how do I do that? And it was this problem, like new problems to solve.   But once you've been doing it, five, seven years, I mean, for everybody it's different, you're kind of like, I can do that on autopilot. And it wasn't challenging a part of my brain that wanted to solve new problems. And so there was a lot of shame and guilt that came with, because at this point, I've been in practice seven years. I'm in my early 30s. Okay, well, you're doing this for the next 30 years. And I was like, I can't.   Kiera Dent (11:38) Right.   Dr. Lauryn B (11:39) can't do this for the next 30 years. And so that's just like, whichever side a clinic owner sees themself in, like, you you're not safe on either. You have to figure out burnout on either side, but ⁓ they're completely different reasonings. And I think understanding what, why are you feeling that burnout is really important.   Kiera Dent (12:04) Yeah, I love that you talked about both sides of the coin because I think there's guilt at least from what I see working with dentists working at myself. They actually got like I've heard I don't know like where this is coined but it's like the seven year itch or stitch like there's like you just kind of get into this and some people get it at five years some people get it at 10 years but there is ⁓ I also love Tony Robbins when he says like progress equals happiness.   Dr. Lauryn B (12:20) Mm-hmm.   Kiera Dent (12:29) And so if we're not progressing and some people love it, they love the autopilot of patient care is easy for me. But like when you first get out of school, all of that is hard. It's a puzzle. You're progressing. You've got to figure out how do you navigate and get patients to say yes to treatment? How do I run my books? Like how, like there's so much how, how, how to, how do I like serve my patients better? How do I make this for dentists? It's like, do I make that perfect crown margin? Like, how do get that perfect? I imagine in chiropractor, I'm actually a chiropractor.   all the time. I love her. She's incredible. We do talk business often. She's a fee for service. And I'm like, let's talk shop on like going fee for service versus in network, like, just like dentists, right, the fee for service versus in network. And it's how can I make this body like looking at people that have weird symptoms and trying to figure out how can I fix that? Like, I know there's a way to fix this long term. ⁓ But also the like annoyance of running a business and also be like,   need for growth. I really love and I never thought about those two sides of the coin until you mentioned that of that really is what causes people to stress. And I think that there is guilt on both sides. I think there's guilt of I want to be with patient care and I don't want to run the business, but I know I have to like, this is kind of the, the card I signed up for. And then the other side of I want to leave the chair. I had a dentist the other day and one of our masterminds say to me, I only want to work two or three days, but I feel guilty because my team's working five days. And I was like,   Dr. Lauryn B (13:52) That's   a really common one.   Kiera Dent (13:54) so good. And the great news is you built the business, like you provided them the job, like you've created that. That does not mean you need to stay in the day to day, five days a week, like whatever is best for you as the business owner and creator. And that can shift and morph. But there is a lot of guilt. I think that that creates, like you said, a lot of shaming and thanks for being vulnerable on that because I think so many people can relate to that. I think when people are listening, they're like, yes, yes. Like, I feel either side of that and   I think people don't know how to get out of it. So instead it's just this like, let me keep doing the same. ⁓ let me listen to other podcasts. Let me see if other people are like me. And I'm sure it's the same in chiropractic dentistry. say that it's like this isolated Island and I'm so grateful for podcasts. I'm grateful for communities, but I still think people feel that way because you're day in day out in your own clinic, in your own practice by yourself, even though you maybe know there's a few other islands out there that are maybe similar to you. ⁓ but I think it's such a, I think that's also business too.   Dr. Lauryn B (14:36) Mm-hmm.   Kiera Dent (14:52) I don't think it's just being ⁓ a provider in your own practice. I business entrepreneurs feel this way as well, like, how can everybody else figure this out? And I don't feel like I can. ⁓   Dr. Lauryn B (15:00) And you have no idea that they haven't figured it out. I was at   a seven figure female mastermind a month ago. so it's all seven figure females all over the board, as far as like industry striving to get to eight figures. And like, there were so many moments at this retreat that every single person just felt like their business was duct taped together. And it's just like, everybody's just doing their   Kiera Dent (15:07) you   Dr. Lauryn B (15:29) absolute damn best. And so it is really, ⁓ but you know, I wonder how much of how much of this burnout conversation has to do with like generational differences. You know, like, I'm assuming that you are a millennial. Yeah. And yeah, I know, we really are the best. really are. Don't tell everybody else, but we are the best generation. ⁓   Kiera Dent (15:46) Mm-hmm. Yep. I like the emojis. I'm here for all the millennial vibes. Like, I'm here for all of them. I feel like I really fit it.   Dr. Lauryn B (15:59) And so I will point this out on stage a lot because when you're talking, giving continuing ed, you'll have a lot of, Gen X is still in the workforce. Like they are still here. from the time I was in school up until like the last couple of years, they really were a lot of the stage presence at conferences.   Kiera Dent (16:12) Mm-hmm.   Yes.   Dr. Lauryn B (16:28) And so you being a millennial would sit and really just get advice, business success, career advice through the lens of Gen X. And why that's something that we just have to be aware of is like each generation has a very different script that they have downloaded, like they've just absorbed kind of.   automatically without putting too much thought into, know, it's just like the culture of their generation. And Gen X was like, shut up, don't complain about it. There is work life balance. Like your career is the most important thing. Like raising your kids, like you have a spouse for that and you will enjoy your life once you have accumulated enough money.   And if you've done it right, that'll happen by your like 60, between 60 and 65. But the goal is to hustle, hustle, hustle, accumulate, accumulate, accumulate at all costs. You can enjoy your life if you need a second, if you need to get a divorce and you just get a new spouse in your sixties, that's what like, and so like not trying to give them shit or anything. Their work ethic is phenomenal. My favorite employees are Gen X. Yeah. Yeah.   Kiera Dent (17:41) I always love to hire them. I was like, perfect, come on in, you're gonna work forever. Like, it's great, amazing.   Dr. Lauryn B (17:47) So they're great. But then like we come in and you know, I know that in chiropractic now 50 % of graduates are females. Do you know what that is in dentistry?   Kiera Dent (17:58) Dentistry   actually tipped over. There's more females that are graduating than there are men. It just recently tipped this scale, which I was quite impressed by, which is awesome. So it's exciting.   Dr. Lauryn B (18:09) It's so cool,   but we're kind of screwed because we as millennials, we're not going to not have children. We're not going to delegate that completely to somebody else. I mean, my husband, I'm definitely the primary breadwinner in my husband's profession or career has like molded to what our family needs are, but like.   Kiera Dent (18:13) Mm-hmm.   Dr. Lauryn B (18:35) So we're not gonna do that, we're not gonna do that, like we're not gonna give up our career. And so it's not like we're complaining about work-life balance, it's just a necessity. We're like, no, no, no, it's not like I'm like, like I, it's like, no, this isn't I want to raise my child, it's I have a child, I have to raise them also and the business. And so like we're trying to figure out, like, well, I can't follow that script.   Kiera Dent (18:47) Right.   Dr. Lauryn B (19:05) that script that we saw from stage for so long is just like, that's not gonna work for me. we're trying, that's why everything feels duct taped together is because we actively reject it. We were given a script to follow, like work six days a week, just do it. And we're like, nah, I don't want that. And it's like, okay, well then we're literally creating a new path. And so to any millennial, I would say like, if it just feels   Kiera Dent (19:15) Mm-hmm.   Dr. Lauryn B (19:34) messy, this probably isn't a youth thing. This is like, are truly carving a brand new way to do things, which we're kind of wasting our time because Gen Z is coming in like, no, I'm not doing that either. And we're like, we're fixing this for you. And they're like two months into their, yeah, they're like two months into their profession and like, ooh, 30 hours a week? That's not gonna work for me.   Kiera Dent (19:44) was going to say, they're coming right behind. Exactly.   They're like, no, no, no, no. We see that. We're not doing that either.   Yeah, not happening.   No, they're like, I could be a YouTube, like I could I could do all these different things. I can be an influencer for like five hours a week and make way more than you are not here for that.   Dr. Lauryn B (20:10) And you're like, well,   I don't know how to solve this for you.   Kiera Dent (20:13) they're like AI,   why are guys like still doing stuff yourselves? Like, no, we're gonna have robots to do all this stuff for us. Like, absolutely not. It's incredible. Like, good. But I don't disagree with you. I think it's ⁓ and as you said that I thought about how agreed and I think every generation actually makes it better from the last and I do agree that ⁓ I don't know, I started thinking about it. This struck me about probably, I don't know, eight years ago. And I'm like,   Dr. Lauryn B (20:20) He probably will. Like, damn it.   Kiera Dent (20:42) my gosh, like people used to get married because they needed to be married. Like you used to have to have like a husband and a wife to be able to have kids. And I'm like, you don't need that anymore. There's IVF, there's ⁓ different things that you can do. You do not need anybody anymore to live the life you want to live. It's very much becoming this like self ability. But I'm like, our parents couldn't do that. I mean, women even coming to the forefront to be able to have businesses.   to own land in our name. Like that has not been a long change and shift for women to be here. And then I also think that there's a whole dynamic for women as well coming into this scene. Like you said, they are coming in there. We're, having stronger professions. are being stronger business owners. We're like the kid having children is being delayed much longer in life. And so I do think it's a, a walking through and not understanding like where are we even supposed to go? Because what we've seen as the model isn't the model for us anymore.   like that doesn't work. Our lives look different. I mean, my mom, didn't work a lot of my friends moms didn't work or if they did, they worked at the schools or they didn't work like high level powered careers, a lot of them and I'm so excited that women are coming into the workforce and because there's so much talent and beauty. But I do think that there's a whole dynamic and for men too. think that the whole shifting like you said, a lot of women are becoming breadwinners. They do.   Dr. Lauryn B (21:41) Mm-hmm.   yeah, they want to be dads. Like that's the   thing too is like, they're like, hey, I just cause I'm a dude doesn't mean like I'm okay with missing my kid's childhood. It truly is a generational shift.   Kiera Dent (22:11) Exactly   Exactly. And so I think I just through all of it, I think you're highlighting what makes me excited. And the reason I'm just like jazzed about this today is it's normal. It's okay. And there's solutions around it. And also, I think just aha moments of, my gosh, like maybe this is why. And I do agree. Generations behind the millennials, you're probably giggling at our conversation right here. Like, yeah, yeah, yeah, you guys don't even know what you're talking about. But I think like we're in it. Exactly.   Dr. Lauryn B (22:41) Hey, we say you don't know what you're talking about.   Kiera Dent (22:44) I'm like, but we're in it and there has to be a solution here.   Dr. Lauryn B (22:44) Hey! I have the microphone.   Kiera Dent (22:48) Who's on this podcast and who's listening? All right. I think when I look at that, I'm like, but for millennials, think that they're, and most generations probably feel this. think we're a taffy stretch between one way of thinking and a new way of thinking. And we're kind of that like middle child syndrome right now where we really are trying to carve that new path that's making it easier for other generations behind us to see easier modalities.   But I do think that that kind of tug of war, I mean, I feel it, you felt it. We've had our personal experiences through it. We see people, we coach people through this, we work with people. But I also think in a way life has become easier to learn. I don't know how you feel. And like easier with air quotes, meaning there's so many things that do things for us. Like washer and dryers were so great for our parents' generations. But I'm like, for us, we now have, like you said at the beginning, we have AI that's writing bios for us. We've got virtual assistants that are doing it.   There's ways, like you said, there's easier ways to make money outside of just doing your day in, day out, eight to five job now. There's different ways that we can build retirement. There's ways like the Airbnb market and having real estate investments. Like there's so many different ways that I feel like wealth is oftentimes easier to achieve. But I think with that, because there's so many things and not to say that it's perfectly easy, but I think as we conquer in life, just like the washer and dryer, the cell phone, like those things were conquering big problems.   Google coming in and the internet taking over, those conquered a lot of challenges. I think so much of today's challenge, and I don't know how you feel, Lauryn. This is like Kiera going off on her own soapbox. I feel like you said so much of it now is our mind and that space of centeredness, of balance, ⁓ not having to work all the time. I think a lot of jobs have shifted from labor jobs to mental labor jobs. So we're not having as much physical.   Dr. Lauryn B (24:32) Hmm.   Kiera Dent (24:35) Like you said, patient care can be a lot of just like mindless. I miss the days sometimes of being a dental assistant, sitting there and having like hours of time to dream of all these ideas to where now I feel like I wish and crave for that quietness that my mind never gets anymore. And so I feel like even with some of those shifts and how we work and how our family needs are in the necessities of family dynamics in, we don't need to work clear up to 65, but people are able to retire now at 35, 40. And then it's like, now what, what am I supposed to do? So also then finding your purpose in life.   I think you combine all that into a cluster storm and voila, welcome to millennial dilemma. Like, you know, we can coin that of what do people do? How do they, how do they exist? And I think the future generations coming will have even more of this at more grand scale. So it's like, let's have conversations of how do we prevent that burnout? How do we have the conversations about not working in like having nothing left to give to our families of having that balance? Like you said, if I want to run the business and I want to progress, but I also want to be a human at the same time.   So Lauryn, think you're more the expert at this than I am. I'm just here for the like great conversations and talking it through because I think it's such a necessary conversation that now is starting to really bubble to the surface out of necessity and also out of curiosity and also out of like desire to fix this and not have it be our day in day out norm anymore.   Dr. Lauryn B (25:54) Yeah, well, so I'm gonna say another kind of controversial thing then. ⁓ So you touched on it and like with any time, we don't love, as care providers, we don't wanna come across as greedy, right? And so what we end up doing is like, we'll just be like, it would be great to be wealthy, but like not too much, like I don't need to be rich, and you didn't do this or anything like this, but like.   Kiera Dent (25:57) Ready, I love this.   Dr. Lauryn B (26:22) other people is just like, yeah, I would like to make a little more money. ⁓ so part of my story, ⁓ I'll give you the very short version, was ⁓ we had our most successful revenue year ever. And it was with like the least amount of money I had taken home in like seven years. Yeah, yeah, we call this payroll bloat. You need to fix your pricing structure so we could talk about pricing increases.   Kiera Dent (26:42) Happens all the time, all the time.   Dr. Lauryn B (26:50) And so like I'm a cash clinic. So like this was my own fault. This was, I set my prices and I just did a bad job at it. And so part of like, if when people are like, well, how did you like, were you burnt out? And I was like, yeah, I was burnt out at like 32. And you're like, are you burnt out? I'm like, no, I freaking love what I do now. I still serve patients 10 hours a week. actually.   as of last week went down to like seven. We got a chef, yay. So I still serve patients like seven hours a week. I still spend probably like three hours a week ⁓ running meetings and like running the clinic. ⁓ But now we have other investments. ⁓ Whereas that clinic portion that used to be all of our eggs were in that basket.   Kiera Dent (27:22) I'm not.   Dr. Lauryn B (27:46) Right? So like, as we had kids, my husband left corporate consulting to help our family and clinic grow. So all of our eggs were in this one basket of whether the clinic does well that quarter or not. we want to remodel the kitchen? Better go get some more new patients. Like, want to go to Disney? It's not in the budget, but like, ugh, like all of these things. And we're not even talking about time freedom. Like we're just talking about like the key to burnout is having time freedom and   financial freedom. When I'm working with docs, the ones that are like the hardest to fix are not the ones that are like, I am working 60 hours a week. I have like oodles of money that I know should be like, I should be doing something with in, but it's just like $50,000 in this bank account. And like, I wish I had time to go to Disney, but I don't, I don't want to belittle that. That is a different kind of burnout.   Kiera Dent (28:32) Mm-hmm.   Right,   it is.   Dr. Lauryn B (28:45) and   everybody right now is playing a little sad song for you, but I relate to you, we can fix this. But the harder ones are the ones that are broke. Like being broke, and this has to do with like just core psychological, like I reference Maslow's hierarchy of needs a lot in my talks because like.   Kiera Dent (28:49) Mm-hmm.   I agree.   Mm-hmm.   Dr. Lauryn B (29:07) You cannot get to the tip, the Maslow's for those of us that took Psych 101 10 years ago is the triangle where at the top is enlightenment and at the bottom is like your base survival, food, water, shelter. And if you are broke, now granted, monks, I'm sure they can figure out how to have enlightenment without having food, water, shelter. Most of us cannot, okay? We are doctors and there is a certain amount of debt.   Kiera Dent (29:12) Mm-hmm.   I agree.   Dr. Lauryn B (29:34) and a certain amount of expectation is maybe the right, I don't know if that's the right word, with like, I'm gonna serve people and this career is gonna take care of me. I'm gonna go into debt and it's a lot of debt, but this career is gonna take care of me. I'm gonna care for people, as long as I focus on serving, the career will take care of me. And we have too many people that it's just not. And they're like, I...   did not realize that I was going to struggle this much financially. These are not people that are like, can't afford a yacht. These are people like truly who are like my margins for financial investing and building wealth are a lot more narrow than I thought they were going to be. And that's a harder thing to fix, but that...   Kiera Dent (30:22) Hmm.   Dr. Lauryn B (30:27) is a deeper kind of burnout that we just need to be more comfortable. Again, following generational stuff, Gen X, like we don't talk about money, right? That was the script that we got from them of like, you just focus on the patients and the patients will take care of you. And you're like, ⁓ okay, so we don't talk about money. And then millennials are like, I think we need to start talking about money. I think we need to start talking about money because if you were being paid,   Kiera Dent (30:38) Bye.   Hahaha!   Dr. Lauryn B (30:56) whatever you feel is appropriate. If you were feeling wealthy. And again, I'm not talking about that. I'm not putting on you that like you feel like you need to be making $3 million a year. Like, although that is my goal for next year is 3 million. just, but like, you know, just so we're clear, that is my literal goal for next year. So you can want that. You have permission to want that if you want, but we're talking about like, I don't know. Maybe if you made $500,000 a year, life would be a little easier and you could breathe.   Kiera Dent (31:10) Yeah, exactly.   Dr. Lauryn B (31:26) And if you can literally financially breathe, you have more bandwidth   make calm decisions for your business. Where you don't feel like if you have a bad quarter, you're gonna have to lay someone off. And like that's one of the first steps to helping most people   burnout or recover from burnout.   is like, we gotta talk about money and we gotta fix your personal financial situation because if you're constantly in a place of fight or flight   you can give yourself an extra 10 hours a week and time to be the CEO if all you're doing is worrying about how you're gonna make payroll. Like, it's not, you're not gonna   from burnout.   Kiera Dent (32:22) think that that was such a good ⁓ way that you highlighted it. And I'm just very curious now, like, how's the how, because agree, like people, what you're saying, Lauryn, I can tell you've lived the like the life. This is something that you've done, you've been there, you can speak to it so authentically. I've been there many times. And I'm always like, I want our doctors to get paid so well. I see how much you go into school for debt.   I see the, and I think that that's a different piece too, if we're to talk generational, people who are not walking out like half a million debt.   Dr. Lauryn B (32:55) And y'all are way worse than us,   right? Like what's the average dentist, like 350?   Kiera Dent (33:01) Average dentists right now are coming out at almost half a mil of debt when they walk in. It's bonkers.   Dr. Lauryn B (33:05) That is bonkers, you guys. Like when I heard that, because I posted a reel that went   so viral and it was just about like healthcare debt and reimbursement rates. And that's when I learned they were like, 250? Talk to a dentist. And I was like, wait, why? How long? And they were like, yeah, 350 minimum. And I was like,   Kiera Dent (33:25) Yeah.   Dr. Lauryn B (33:30) That's insane. That's insane.   Kiera Dent (33:32) That's insane.   And then you go buy a practice. So the practice that I helped start with a dentist straight out of school, we were, I called her 2.5. I got to walk by and I'm like, get that spine up like you're 2.5. We were 2.5 mil in debt. So that was coming with student loans. So schooling was 500,000. Living expenses during that time were about another, you know, two to 500. So like they're walking out with this.   $500, $600, $700,000 worth of debt, not just including your schooling, but all of life expenses, because you're probably not working while you're going to school. And then we went and bought a practice that's about a $2 million practice. So we were like 2.5, not like we were 2.5 in debt. I was like, keep that spine up, like put your hands up when you walk across the street, like you've got to keep those hands in motion because otherwise how are we going to get out of debt? And I think for me, when I look at that much debt,   when I look at that much risk and I look at the benefits that healthcare providers are giving, I'm like, no. And I tell teams all the time, I'm you want your doctor to be ridiculously wealthy. Like I do, and I preach this hard and I say, no, you should and you deserve it. And we want you that way because you're a better boss, you're a better clinician, you are better at doing your services because you're not stressed about making money. So we're not like you said, like, I want to go to Disney, let me go find more patients. I get.   No, I have confident, predictable payroll or cash flow. I'm very successful in what I do and you can make the margins there. Like I was the girl who did business that did not understand numbers. And now I say like, I love numbers and numbers definitely love me. And I'm like, it's now just a fun math equation. If I want to make X amount, you just back it down. You figure out what your costs are and you figure out the three levers you can use. We either drop our overhead, increase our production and or our collections. Like it's very simple when I'm like, okay, got it.   Dr. Lauryn B (35:05) and   Kiera Dent (35:17) Like got it when it's just those three levers, people make it so much more complex. And I think it does feel complex. Like reading a PNL is ridiculous. If you don't know what that is, that's okay. We're here where there's no judgment. It's a profit and loss statement. And I love educating people on this. Like this is where the fire in the belly comes. This is where it does. We get lit up because when I have someone who's cashflow positive, like you said, they can make calm decisions. They're not sitting here stressing all the time, but Lauryn, I'm very curious. Like you've talked about it at length. Like what do people do? Like what's the how, how do we get into this?   How do we have multiple streams because agreed all eggs in one basket? gosh. It's, ⁓ to me, that's like just a ticking time bomb. Like one bad day, one bad patient, one bad procedure. Like it's just going to explode because you're sitting like you're sitting on the edge of fear all the time to where you are in like cortisol adrenaline, like you are pumping. And then what you do is you go into complete shutdown because you can't handle it anymore. So your body and your system literally like just shuts down on you. You become apathetic to life.   Dr. Lauryn B (35:54) Mm-hmm.   Kiera Dent (36:15) things aren't exciting for you anymore. You become very numb to walking through the world. And it's like, I feel like the world of color goes into very like gray. It's very subtle. It's like, it's, there's no, there's no life left. It's just, are living life, but you're not actually being and living day in, out.   The Dental A Team (36:33) that wraps part one of our part two series. Be sure to tune back in for part two of this podcast. And as always, thanks for listening and I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team Podcast.  

Is running a dental practice the most stressful part of your life? Does hiring and retaining the right people seem impossible? Do you question whether dentistry was the right choice for you? Kiera reflects on DAT's recent CEO Dentist Webinar, including what dental leadership ideally looks like — from an individual and team perspective. 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 giddy to be recording this podcast. If you missed it, you missed out. We did our CEO dentist webinar workshop and it was so rad. We did it in August and just kudos to all the doctors that were there. If you missed it, you're in luck. I'm going to give you the highlight reel. But I really hope that you plan to join us. It was a three day, ⁓ full playful out workshop that I just thoroughly loved. had doctors.   joining us every single night and really just having that mindset shift of how do I go from being this day in day out operator to a CEO owner of my business? Like what are the things that I really should be doing as a CEO versus what should I be doing as a founder? Like how do we shift that mindset? And we did it based on our proven model, the yes model. You guys have heard me chat about that. The focusing on you and your vision, earnings and profitability, and then systems and team development. So it was just really, really fun. This really was something to help.   Honestly, like afterwards, had so many calls with so many people that were there. And it was just joyful because they said, Kiera, I really want to learn how to be the CEO. Like as you talked about it, I finally understood like what my role should look like and how I should be evolving. And so just really fun. So just want to say thanks for our entire team. Thanks to everybody who joined. And for all of you, if you didn't ⁓ get to be there, you missed out. It was like full blown. And I did a little surprise. I wasn't expecting it, but I actually ended up ⁓   like doing an after party and it was really fun to just have real conversations. So ⁓ really, truly just a highlight. And today I'm going to kind of like break this down into what we did. I'll give a couple of highlights from each day of just for you to kind of get the highlight reel of it. And then, Hey, if you ever want to chat about how to become the CEO dentist of your practice, this is what we're doing for a lot of offices. I've kind of been shifting our model to help dentists and teams really elevate to have practices that run with team.   leadership to have dentists to truly run in their realm of being that healthcare provider that you love and or exiting and going out of the chair. No, there's no set path. It's your path and really helping dentists ⁓ just elevate to that level of like, do I own this business and not have it own me? So just super jazz. That's what we're working on. Just really, really, really fun and exciting things and getting your team bought into this as well. So with that, I'm just excited. Welcome. If you're new to the podcast, I'm Kiera. It's super nice to meet you.   ⁓ I love all things dentistry, including my last name is Dent. ⁓ I came from self-made, ⁓ being able to help practices grow to the level, the growth, the fulfillment, the joy that they want, helping doctors and teams align. And this is coming from real life, all of my experiences, all of our collective experience of our consulting team, bringing you tactical practical tips to make your life and your business work for you and not against you. So with that,   ⁓ was just a jazz. Like it was so fun. So the first day we really talked about, ⁓ just some topics of like who can relate. So if you can relate to this great, this podcast is for you. number one is running a dental practice is the most stressful part of your life. hiring and retaining the right people seems almost impossible. Some months so great. Others feel like you're drowning. Your patients are canceling last minute, leaving your team and you helpless. know how to be a dentist, but you have no clue how to run a business. You're alone with your problems.   You question if dentistry was the right choice for you. You feel like everyone has it together, but you don't. ⁓ and I hope if you answered yes to any of those questions, you realize that truly, truly, truly, you're not alone. And every single dentist feels this at some point and some survive and others thrive. And so the whole goal of the CEO Dennis workshop was to help you thrive. And so on the first day we really went through like, what exactly is a CEO? I remember there was this aha moment in my career where I'm like,   what does a CEO actually do? I'm not joking, I Googled this and I was like, what is a CEO? Like, what do they do? And it was a good, I would say a good, ⁓ probably identity shift for me. To realize like a CEO is your chief executive officer. So like, this is the person who executes. So you oversee the execution of day to day, but you don't do it all. So your job is to lead the vision, plan for the future.   Create and protect the culture and do big opportunities, but stay out of the weeds. Like that's genuinely what you're supposed to do. And a lot of dentists, we'll add one more Asherick. A lot of times you do the dentistry. Sometimes you do it full time and other times you hire associate dentists to do it with you. So like, that's what it means. It means you oversee. You think about a CEO of Amazon, they are not packing the boxes and shipping it out. They are not calling on all the customer service things. They are not creating the bots and the software.   Their job is to look over the vision. Their job is to keep people accountable. Their job is to plan for the future, look for the big opportunities, ⁓ really truly protect the culture and stay out of the weeds. So I think when I looked at that, I'm like, how many dentists actually live like this? Probably not a lot. So what we did is we like went through an audit and then we worked on like the key foundation and this might feel a little fluffy and I'm sure some participants might have thought this, but if we don't get the you portion of the yes model correct, we can't say yes to things.   The number one, and I purposely built the yes model in the pillars in the exact formula of you first earning second systems third. And if you will follow this model, you really truly can get there. And so what we talked about is how like how you show up as a leader directly impacts the success, the relationships, your financial and personal freedom and the overall happiness and fulfillment you have in your practice. So when I look at this, like, okay, great. You have to take care of you and   We talked about like actually how to shift your identity. And so a lot of times people identify themselves today. But if you knew like Tony Robbins said, the strongest force in the human personality is the need to stay consistent with how we define ourselves, not who we actually are, but how we define ourselves. So what we actually had ⁓ everybody doing the workshop on day one was to create this new identity of being the CEO dentist. Like what would the CEO dentist do or not do? ⁓ you're still checking charts at night. What a CEO handle end of day task like that.   Yes or no. No one's held accountable. What does CEO allow chaos to become culture? Your team's just clocking in. How would a CEO reignite motivation? You're bleeding cancellations. How would a CEO oversee the systems to prevent that? Your schedule's full, but your profits don't show it. How would a CEO fix that? Cashflow is unpredictable. How would a CEO create stability? You're doing busy work and have no time to look at the big picture. How would a CEO solve it?   So just again, it's like when we shift our identity, not from who you are, but to a CEO. So I now am, I'm not Kiera, I'm not dentist Kiera. I am now, you guys, I was never dentist Kiera. I was dental assistant Kiera, I'm consulting Kiera. But for you, like you're dentist John, you go in, you do the fillings, you are this practice owner. But what would CEO John or CEO Kiera or CEO Sarah or CEO Marsha or CEO Tom or CEO Tony or CEO Kevin, what would they do or not do?   And when you can shift this identity, you can actually start to see, and you can look at the delegation ladder. And we talked about the delegation ladder of what tasks, because when you're a small business versus when you expand and become a larger business, you actually have different, like it's literally in a tier of what you're going to delegate and when, because as a founder is a new startup, as a CEO, you're doing a lot of the work. You don't have the cashflow. You can't afford it. You're going to do all the work. So at that point, that CEO is doing that.   But as the practice builds and evolves, a lot of CEOs stay there and they don't actually evolve into delegating the tasks that they should be. And so when we go through the entire delegation ladder from like administrative tasks, a patient experience, treatment coordinator, and selling cases to marketing, to leadership, these are all the zones of where is your name out on that delegation ladder and where should it be based on the current size of your practice. And then what, even if you're small, what's your next hire? Well, first hires administrative tasks. So it's either a front office team member, it's a personal assistant, or it's an office manager.   that's going to immediately delegate all of those front office tasks for you, but they're going to do all of that. And then you move into, you're doing the patient experience, you're doing the closing of the cases, you're doing the marketing, you're doing the leadership, like, but you, you offload that first and then you offload the next and the next and the next. And so really looking at this of like, we, it was really cute. We had this fairy godmother and it's like, you are now the CEO. It's time to be the CEO. And I think for us on day one of people just being highlighted of   you now have this new identity. And so looking at it of when I look at this, what's standing in my way of being the CEO? What does my dream business look like? What does that vision timeline look like for me? And what must change now to become the CEO? So as you go through that, that was a quick recap of day one. And then we rolled right into day two, which day two is a lot more tactical. Day one's a bit more of you, you becoming and taking on this new identity. And I will tell you,   when I got on calls afterwards, because it was actually real fun. We had a lot of calls, really excited to welcome the new offices to our company and to our group. And they're already shifting and changing. had some people text me after that of saying, I'm now committing to being the CEO dentist. And when you take and embody a new identity, like, because I thought through this and we were brainstorming as we were prepping this webinar or this workshop. And I thought, how am going to get people to recognize that the you portion is the most pivotal pillar of this whole success model?   And how do get them to do it quickly? And I realized change identity is the fastest way to change. But like changing identity can feel hard. But if I tell you like, it's like putting on a t-shirt and I say, all right, today you're wearing CEO t-shirt. How are you going to act? Just like I can be Kiera, the executor. I can be Kiera, the consultant. I can be Kiera, the sales. I can be Kiera, the customer service. Those are just t-shirts and hats. But if I'm going to put on my main t-shirt, my main hat, I change my identity and I walk into that office every day. And I'm now the CEO dentist.   you will start to act quicker and faster. It's just like the person who wants to get healthy read Atomic Habits. say what they do is they don't ask them to like become healthy. They say, what would a healthy person do? Well, they would walk to their car instead of driving and get the closest parking spot. They would eat snacks like celery sticks for snacks rather than other things. They would have their tennis shoes by the side of their bed. They would go walking every day. you don't, and that's how you'd be able to like, what would a CEO dentist do? What would a CEO dentist not do?   That's how you can start to shift this identity and become that. So that was just a quick, like I said, quick recap of day one and then day two is just fun. It's about numbers. ⁓ Numbers are one of my favorite things because you've got to really understand numbers because numbers are your superpower. Not knowing your numbers, believe it or not, causes more stress than knowing them. Even if they're bad, even if they're good, not knowing because you're getting this constant fear of like, are they good? Do we have money? I don't know. It's also helping you make confident decisions.   develops the steps of where you need to go. And it also helps you track progress to take action before it's too late. So really numbers to me are the proactive approach in a business rather than the reactive. And it's okay, it does not matter where we start. It always helps us then become more proactive as we're going through. So we went through KPI. So a key performance indicator, which one should you be looking at? What are some common ones? We went through stats and KPI spreadsheets, how we look at these, like what we need to do on the daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly. So like daily we're looking at month.   Today production collections, we only have that 98%. We also want to look at our end of day sheet, making sure we've got all of those procedures built out weekly. We're looking at our KPIs to review during doctor and OM weekly meetings. So looking at trends, creating action items before things get too late, like literally our entire team and our clients, they track stats every single week. Cause we're looking for trends. The offices that do this are always my profitable offices. The offices that don't are the not profitable. Like it is science though, like what you track and measure improves. So track.   Monthly, you do your month and number review, like all the KPIs, what were the trends and what are we going to do better next month? Where are we at? I just talked to an office the other day. We realized we're a hundred thousand behind where we want to be for end of year. We have four months left or two months left or one mother, wherever you are. But if you plan and you look ahead. Four months, trying to make up a hundred grand is way easier to do than two months, trying to make up a hundred grand. So when we look at that and you just change the game, you change how we schedule, we change how we're going to do our block schedules. All of it is really easy, but if you don't look at this and you don't measure it.   Huh, you're in stress. This is stress. ⁓ We look at our overhead, we look at our PNL, and then quarterly we look at our year to date, where are we at? What are the gaps? We're gonna set reach goals or quarterly goals, and then we track weekly and make sure we're on track for that. So we went through a monthly cost spreadsheet too. This is honestly my most favorite spreadsheet of all time. So legit, I love it, and it's here, and it's something that I have of what is our monthly BAM, our bare ACE minimum? What does it cost us to run the practice?   on a high end, low end and where we currently are. So if I've got to scale and add more people, if I need to reduce in times of chaos or hard times, I at least know those numbers and that will give you so much confidence because now you've got a piece of the puzzle to then know what do we need to produce? What do we need to collect? We went through an overhead calculator and what are the benchmarks? What should my payroll be? What should my supplies be? Labs, advertising, all of that. What's my overhead? What's my doctor salary and where can I cut? Because the way to fix your numbers are three things. One, decrease what we're spending.   That's one, two, increase production and three, increase collections. If our collections, cause you can be producing and if you're not collecting, guess what your overhead sky high strip, like that's a stressful zone. Just go collect the money. You've already done it. Collect the money. If we're not producing enough to cover our bills, well, we need to increase our production and build block schedules and different pieces like that to make sure what we need to produce for our practice is actually there. And then like looking at our costs, what can we cut? What things could be more efficient in? do we maybe need to delay a hire or do we need to make the hire?   whatever it is, but knowing those areas, like that's where math becomes very fun. Numbers become fun. It's just a simple math equation. It's not hard. We're not going into algebra and geometry and calculus and all of that trig. No, it's literally simple, basic math where we can say, okay, this is what I'm making. This is what I'm spending. And this is what we're collecting. Which of those levers do I need to turn? And so showing offices how like collections matter and different pieces like   going through an overhead calculator, had actual spreadsheets for KPIs, for a monthly cost spreadsheet, for our overhead calculator. All of that was actually really, really lovely. And then showing offices like we're aiming for you to be 20 % profitable after doctors paid, after all expenses are paid, 20 % profit is what we aim for with our practices. And so when you look at your profit, and if right now you're like, I don't even know profit, hey, let's chat. Let's talk about it because you gotta make the money and keep the money. We're gonna make sure we're not spending more money than we're making. And then we're prepping and preparing and we're working towards that profit margin.   having cash flow, having profit at the end of the month will lower your stress radically. So we went through all that. We also had like a whole KPI checklist to have, and it was really fun because when we look at these numbers, this is where the stress stops. And we actually went through like a real life example with the people that were participating with us and they could quickly see, you don't even know this practice. Look at this KPI scorecard. What do you see and what should this practice take immediate action on? Again, a CEO hat, a CEO shirt.   That person's going to look at the trends. They're not going to go dig into the weeds. Most of the time, they're going to look at this and say, okay, well, if my production's 160 and my collections are a hundred right now, even you listening on the podcast, you can tell that's my gap. We're producing 160, but we're collecting a hundred now that one succeed because we're putting in our numbers in gross, not net production. That's a problem. Fix that. Maybe our collections are good, but if we're producing that in net and we're only collecting a hundred thousand, that's a huge gap. What do we need to do to fix our collections?   Our year to date collection presented 62%. You know right there. And when this office had an overhead of 85%, well, to me looking at that without even knowing this practice, they have a collections problem right there. They increase the collections, their overhead goes down, money instantly becomes available. So many offers like, here, we don't have the money. And I look and I'm like, you got 500,000 in AR, you've got the money. We just need to collect the money. You're producing well, your expenses are in line. Or other times like our expenses are high. Let's reduce that. Let's figure out how we can get it.   So giving some parameters in that and really knowing like, when you look at as a quick review for you, do you actually use your numbers as super power? So one, do you have KPIs? Two, do you review them weekly? Three, does every team member have their own number and do they track them? So meaning like a number that's going to move the business forward that they know that they can impact that they own as ownership. Does your team know how they can impact the numbers? Do you know your overhead? Do you know what's in your AR right now? How much money is sitting out?   And do you have a plan to get to ideal profit? So answering those questions really will help you kind of have an overview of, all right, got it. These are the things. And I will say for anybody, you want, we actually gave away a lot of these worksheets. So to anybody who scheduled the call. So if you're like, Hey, I'm just curious, like, how can you help me with like maybe my you portion, maybe my earning portion or the last person of systems and team development. Hey, schedule a call with us. I'm happy to share a lot of these spreadsheets with you in a lot of the pieces, because why not? I know you weren't there and I know you didn't get all of it.   But I would love to help you out and I'd love to give you a lot of these resources. So book a call. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com or go to our website, TheDentalATeam.com click book a call. I think it's really something lovely to be able to help. And honestly, Hey, why not? You're going to get all the resources and we're to be able to give you a true roadmap for your practice. actually do. ⁓ it's about an hour long complimentary call where we actually go through your practice. give you a highlight, ⁓ of where to go. What are kind of the big pieces in your practice and then also give you resources. So really it's a no risk for you.   ⁓ It's no pressure, just truly clarity and momentum. So, ⁓ and like I said, the KPI scorecard, the monthly spending, the overhead calculator, those types of things I think are just so powerful to be able to access those and to even see what you should or could be doing. So then as a wrap, day three of the workshop was so fun. It was one of my favorite days. Shout out to Eve, our marketer. She said, Kiera.   I want you to really try something for me. And I'm all here for innovation creation. Like let's try something new. And she said on systems, I want us to do like a rapid fire. And so what we did, because what I found is one, you have the vision, you take on this, this, this new hat, new identity of I'm the CEO dentist. You now know that numbers are your superpower and you're going to use your numbers to not be used by your numbers. So you're to look at the numbers and we're going to see where are the gaps.   whatever your numbers are. So the numbers need to lead to the vision and whatever numbers tell us, the numbers tell us a story. Just like that example I gave you, there was a collections problem. Well, great. If there's a collections problem, that's the system that we now go implement into a practice. So it's really, really great to see like, my gosh, I don't have to like eat this whole elephant. It's very simple based on the vision and the numbers to tell you which systems are broken, which systems are lacking and what things we need to implement, improve or optimize. So the last part was systems and Dental A Team, I   I like cadences. like to see like a map. So I put 12 systems for the 12 months of the year. And some of you have heard these things in the past. You can look these up on our website. We've got lots of them, but basically just like, okay, what's my kind of outlook for every single month? So January's office management mastery and leadership, February's doctor optimization. So making sure like endo, CE, Botox, like whatever it is, we're just optimizing our doctor procedures in-house, looking to see what could we do to optimize that more.   March is billing with ease, April's five-star patient experience, May is smooth sailing scheduling, June is maximized case acceptance, July is dynamite dental assistance, August is elevated hygiene, September is confident marketing, October is complete operations manual, so get that thing done, November is practice profitability, what we just discussed, and December, yes, pun intended, A-Team hiring and onboarding. So like a little calendar for you to, as you're going through as a CEO,   Now you don't have to think of like, I've got to do all the systems. You've got a checklist of, all right, let me go look at this system. Let me go look at this system. Let me look at this category and see what could I optimize? What could we improve? What could we enhance? So what we did is we actually did a speed round and it was a yes or no. You weren't allowed to have anything gray and we had three questions under every system. So they went through 36 different areas of their practice and it was either yes or no to then say, how are your systems in those areas?   So for example, and people were giving a zero out of three, a one out of three, a two out of three or a three out of three. So let's go to management mastery. This would be your office manager. I review weekly KPIs to ensure we're on track to hit goals. It's either a yes or no. There's no in between. My leadership team runs effective meetings and follows up on action items. Yes or no. know each team members receiving regular one-on-one coachings for growth monthly. Yes or no. And I'll give you a trickier one. Cause why not? Let's like, people were like, I was doing so good. And then I got into.   Some of these other ones, so let me grab, let's do maximize case acceptance. This one would be our practice maintains at least a 75 % patient case acceptance and tracks it daily. Yes or no? You might be having that. And if you don't know, then it's a no. We have a solid follow-up system for unscheduled treatment and offer easy financing options. Yes or no? Next, visits are scheduled in the back office to help increase case acceptance. Yes or no? So what we did is there's so many things within every single system, but tried to break it down so people could quickly see.   of the 12 systems, where am I maybe lacking to then maybe take execution and action and also as CEO. then no great. have a focus for every single month that I can really look at. I can have a checklist. I can look at this and then we actually take action to improve our practice consistently. So we worked through that. And then we said that the piece is we can talk about you as a leader. We can talk about money and profitability and systemization, but for excellent systems to stick.   You have to have extraordinary leadership. And this is where it was like, but wait, what about the CEO dentist? Do I have to do all of this? And the answer is again, as a CEO, your job is to lead the vision, plan for the future, create and protect the culture, big opportunities and stay out of the weeds. That's your job. That's what you're supposed to do. And maybe we can add in their clinical dentistry if you want to, but like that is what you do. So for that, Britt and I actually then went into their, their two dimensions of leadership because we started thinking about this and in that delegation ladder,   There is this zone of leadership and one side is going to be the executive and that's the future planning, the vision, the culture. Like that is truly the CEO dentist, but there's a split side to it. And the other side is the management side. So Britt and I actually make the yin and yang of the leadership team. I've got the executive side. Britt's got the management side. And management side is operations and systems, people, and then nitty gritty details. Britt is amazing at this. I'm amazing at vision and you need both of those pieces to work in harmony together.   to have it and it's usually not the same person. And so helping people go through that and to see where am I strong? And as the CEO of your practice, you might actually flourish in the management side and that's a okay. You need to hire somebody who's a visionary next to you. Or you might be freaking awesome at the visionary side. You need a strong manager that does all the pieces that you are actually not naturally good at, nor should you be spending your time on to pair gently with you and perfectly with you.   This way your practice can flourish and you can actually be the owner of your business rather than being owned by your business. So looking at this, was really like, where do you actually fall as a CEO dentist, executive leader? Where are you doing? What needs to change in your practice? And as we go through this for you to even kind of do an assessment of how am doing on my vision and owning and being the CEO dentist and that identity and truly sitting in that seat. Then what about my numbers and how's the profitability of my business, the future progress and growth?   And then looking at my systems, how are we on those 12 systems? What needs to happen? And then on my executive leadership, am I on the visionary side or on the management side? And who do I need to have? And do I have a strong person? Is that the right person in the right seat there? Or does that need to be evolved? And so it's one of those pieces of like, we have all the pieces, like we, we know, but how do we actually make this go from like knowledge to action? And I think that was the piece of really helping people.   ⁓ recognize that time is so fluid and so fast. And when I look back, I shared a story of where I truly was sitting in a room of a bunch of really smart business owners and I'm like, I don't even know what they're talking about. And I think so many times when we hear a podcast like this or we listen, we know we should be doing it, but we don't actually know how and we feel inferior. It's what we do is we just keep doing the same thing. And rather than that, I would maybe suggest you take a pause and you say, are you really the best person as a CEO to do this? Or...   Is it maybe worth it to hire somebody who knows how to do it and has been there, done that and done it successfully to help you and your team. I really, really dislike coaching for myself. So that's why I built that only team the way I did. I don't like to be coached as the CEO and then have to try and take that back to my team. That's exhausting. There's things that I need to know. And there's things that my team needs to know. And that's actually why we built Dental A Team the way we did. We coach doctors and teams. We teach doctors how to be the executive.   We teach you how to be the CEO, how to get out of the weeds, how to empower your team. And then we teach teams how to follow up so dentists can actually let go. We can build the leadership. We build the tracking. We build the numbers so you can sit there and confidently run your business rather than being ran by your business. And to think about like when I took the leap of faith to hire a coach, when I didn't know and was so scared to do it, I look, and that was six years ago that I hired her. And in those six years, things that happened like Dental A Team,   has definitely grown. Like we have hundreds of clients that we're able to serve on a very personal intimate level. I was very adamant as we built this company that I would never go to a spot where people just felt like a number and not a person. And so being able to scale it to grow, because my mission is to positively impact the world of dentistry and to do it in the greatest way possible. Like truly, how do I do this, but make people still feel like a person and to be seen. So Dental A Team, you want to be here? If I would have not like taken the leap and.   gotten the help that I needed and truly owned that I'm a CEO. I'm not expected to know everything. And I need to hire people that are smarter than me, better than me, and help me grow and optimize in areas that I don't even know. ⁓ My confidence wouldn't be here. My passion, the certainty of myself, my growth, my purpose, my freedom of life, like the life that I get to live now versus the life I was living, the ability to say yes to everything I need, want, and deserve. And that's why I built the yes model, because to help other doctors, other team members be able to say yes.   to everything you need, want and deserve is life changing. That's why we've got the Yes model. And so for that, it was just a really fun, like it was such a beautiful thing to walk people through a complete workshop to help them see where am I at? And I hope today you took kind of the notes and you look to see like, am I at? And just know that being the CEO and owning your business is not a destination, but it's a journey.   It's a space and you'll get more and more into that, but it's a forever evolution. You're never fully systematized. You're never always profitable. You're never always going to sit perfectly in the CEO seat. You're going to ebb and flow and it's just like a mountain and climbing the mountain. There's peaks and valleys and there's highs and there's lows and that's the game of business that we signed up for, but not doing it alone, not trying to figure it all out on your own, not trying to solve all the problems. I think is one of the most beautiful things. So if that resonates with you, we really talked about like joining consulting.   is only for offices that want to thrive and not just survive. It's you want strong systems in your practice that work with or without you there. You want to improve your leadership skills and actually learn how to be the CEO dentist. You want to be the CEO dentist that you were meant to be. You want to have a team that enjoys their work and owns their work. You want to be with peers like other dentists, other office managers, other leadership teams that make you better. Not that of like comparison and competition, but out of true genuine lifting each other up.   bringing part of a bigger community that's more that gives you hope, gives you help, gives you ⁓ benchmarks to look forward to, gives you ideas of how to do it differently and better. And you know that there must be a better, easier way because you know that there truly is. And so if that's something that you're interested in, like I'd love for you to reach out. Like I know you weren't able to attend the workshop. I hope you tend next year. Cause it was like so much more than I could even give on this podcast. But if that resonates with you.   Schedule the practice growth call. Like truly we're going to go through it. It's complimentary. We're going to dig through all the pieces of your practice. Look at a lot of things we just discussed and the added bonus is you will get all of the resources. So KPI scorecard, KPI checklist, fixed cost spreadsheet, ⁓ our monthly cost spreadsheet, the overhead calculator, the cashflow guide, some really, really incredible things that I think are just so valuable and powerful for you. But more than that, you're going to get clarity and momentum. And I think right now that's one of the greatest gifts you could give yourself. So book the call.   take action. You don't have to do it all yourself. And I think that that's like get out of the weeds because we need your vision. We need you to be the leader of the business. We need you to actually be looking at the numbers, having a team, driving that forward because no one else is doing that. You're the leader at the helm and it's either you or it's got to be someone else. But generally speaking, it's you, the dentist, the owner. And so let's help you out. Let's give you that freedom. Let's give you that confidence. Let's give you that roadmap.   and do it in a way that's for you and your practice. So reach out, head to the website, TheDentalATeam.com, book a call, email us, Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. And truly let's help you out. Let's do a complimentary call and just see where are you at? How can we help you? And like I said, as an ad bonus, let them know you listened to the CEO Dennis Workshop ⁓ podcast and we will happily give you those downloads. ⁓ They are tactical, they're practical, they're able to be put into place right away because you all know I love tactical, practical, and you know that my biggest passion is you.   It's you being successful. It's you having the life that you want. It's being able to have life on your terms, to be able to say yes to everything that you want, need and deserve. That's why you did this. That's why you went to dentistry. And so let's give you the life that you had always envisioned. And let's take that from a dream and a wish to a reality. And with that, thanks so much for listening. I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team Podcast. ⁓  

Re-releasing a DAT listener favorite! Kiera is all about key performance indicators in this episode, and why they're important. When framing KPIs as the vitals of your practice, it makes a lot more sense! Some of Kiera's favorite KPIs are … Production (net, not gross) Collection (at least 98%) How many new patients you're getting Average diagnosis Acceptance rate Overhead There are a lot more indicators she talks about in this episode, so whether you're a beginner with KPIs or elite status, there's something you can learn. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: Kiera Dent (00:05) Hey everyone, welcome to the Dental A Team podcast. I'm your host, Kiera Dent, and I had 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, pillar, 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, how's your day today? You guys loving it? Are you crushing it? I hope you are, wherever you are. I am actually sitting in my bedroom. I ⁓ rarely ever podcast here, because usually my husband's home. But tonight, I have some friends over there in the front room, and I definitely needed to get some podcasts done. Sissy was asking me, I just love having team members that are great at what they do. And I hope you guys take time to acknowledge the team members that make you great. The team members that are   just awesome at what they do. guys, Sissy keeps me so on the ball and I love her for it. Shelby does, Tiffany does, Brittany, Dana, Kylie, they are just an incredible bunch of people. And guys, if you ever get the opportunity to meet any of them, you are one lucky person. So I hope you're having a great day. I hope you're loving it. So podcasting today from the bedroom. I hope the audio is great. I hope you're loving it. Sun's just going down and today I just wanted to dive into a topic that I think is really awesome and it's KPIs.   So what the heck is a KPI? A KPI is Key Performance Indicator. I'll be completely honest. You guys, know I'm like authentic Kiera Dent. People when they call me and they chat with us, like interested in working with us, the number one thing I get told is, Kiera, you sound just like you do on the podcast. And I'm like, this is really great because it is me.   I don't shake it up, I don't change it. The only thing I do differently is I talk in a microphone so my voice sounds a little bit like smoother, if you will, on the podcast than in real life. But beyond that, same cadence, same tones. This is Kiera real life. So you guys know I am always, I try really hard to just be authentic Kiera. So if you ever come meet me in person, you peel back the Wizard of Oz current, I would be the exact same person as I am on the podcast as I am in real life. So when I first started as an office manager,   I did not know what a KPI was. I did not know why they were important. I didn't know that I should be tracking these things. I literally had no idea. So guys, if you're in my boat, hey, welcome, welcome to the CureDent No KPI Boat. If you know what they are, welcome, welcome to the Elite Boat. And if you are using them, welcome to the Rockstar Amazing Boat. Let's make you even better. So KPIs, I call them, the way I describe a KPI is they are the vitals of your practice.   So just like when you go to the doctor and they take your blood pressure, your temperature, they listen to your heart rate, all those things, those are the vitals. They take your weight. ⁓ I just went to the doctor the other day and it's super cool, like, right? You sit on the chair and they say they'll take your weight. And it was funny, the gal asked me, she said, do you wanna know your weight today? I was like, wow, thank you. Like, thank you for not making me have a bad day if I don't want to or thank you for giving me the opportunity. It just made me giggle.   But bottom line is the vitals, we go to the doctor and they take those vitals first because if any of those are out of alignment, that's the first sign that we have trouble. So that's what I think of with KPIs in a practice. These are the core pieces that are going to show you, is your practice healthy or is it not healthy? So yes, it's tracking and there's lots of different KPIs you can track. That's why it's called a key performance indicator. I am a firm believer that you should be able to change these up.   I think there are certain things that you should be tracking consistently. But I also think as human beings, we get stagnant and bored. So give yourself a decent amount of time to track and then shake it up. That way you're growing constantly and we don't get bored with KPIs. So for me, some of my favorite KPIs, this is a question every consultant who comes to Dental A team to work with us, we ask them, what is your favorite KPI to measure? One, I'm checking to see if they know what a KPI is. Guys, I probably would have flunked the consulting test if I would have come on.   We're a more elite company, guys. I have to keep these consultants on their top notch. They can't be lower than us now. So I ask what your favorite KPI is to track and why. Most of the time I get production and collection. Production is a great KPI to track. It's something, and again, be careful on production. Make sure you're tracking it on net, not gross. A lot of people wanna tell me that they have.   These huge successful practices, but guess what guys, if you can't collect it, don't even tell me that number. I don't care. It does not impress me because guess what? That high gross number feeds your ego. Your net number feeds your family. So I don't care about it. So report that number in net. Next up is your collection percentage. I want to know how you're collecting. So if you're a $1 million practice and you're only collecting 700,000, that's stressful. That means you're at a 70 % collection rate. I am aiming for a 98 % collection rate. Now,   There are lots of other KPIs and I will say there are some great softwares out there. Practice by numbers, dental intel, divergent. Those are my top three favorites. I'd probably put them in the order of dental intel, divergent, practice by numbers. I think all three of them are great. I love them all for different reasons. The reason I'm pro-ing for dental intel is because they just merged with Medento and guess what? They are kicking it. So I love that. I love what they do and I love Medento as a company. So any company with Medento, that's going to be my favorite company right now. But bottom line is a lot of these track KPIs.   What I found that gets tricky and what a lot of offices do is we often track too many things that we don't actually move the needle on anything. I'm guilty of this. So in our company, was having Cissy track how many Instagram followers we were getting every single week. At first, I thought it was a great marketing metric. I thought it was great to see how our marketing was doing. Guess what? It was actually just feeding my ego. So guys, if you want to feed my ego, please just go follow us on Instagram. I would love it. Get your friends, get your family, get your siblings, get your kids. I don't care who.   You can boost that number just to feed my ego. At the end of the day, do the Instagram followers actually matter? No, they don't. They don't move our company forward. What matters, just like you guys, how many new patients we're getting. So don't actually care about social media followers. Yes, it's a fun number to track, but what I care is how many new patients are we getting? Then after that, I actually care about if I'm going to the elite boat or to our rock star boat on how many new patients you're getting. Do you know how much each patient's value is?   Do you also know what our average diagnosis is on each patient? And do we know what our acceptance rate is on each patient? If you don't know that and you're already tracking some of these numbers, that might be a fun zone for you to go to, to be 2.0 or 3.0 of KPI tracking. If you're just starting out, don't go there. Let's just get you tracking new patients and where they're coming from. Bottom line is these are the vitals. So first steps first, I want you with your KPIs to make sure that you have the vitals of your practice. Production, collection, new patients.   case acceptance, reappointment percentages. Those are like your main shebangs that are really gonna tell you where you're going. If you wanna add in your overhead, I also love that because that's gonna pull in the business side of it to make sure that we're actually profitable as a business and we're not just running around trying to serve, but not even being profitable as a practice. We need our practice to be profitable. Otherwise we can't serve more in our community. Those are my main things I love to focus on. So if you're just starting out, start tracking those.   I prefer you track them at a minimum every week at best. I actually like these ones to be tracked on your morning huddle. It's great. Everybody has it, have it on a whiteboard. Everybody can see it. That is the vital heartbeat of your practice. I would love you to do it. Just like on my Apple watch, I'm watching the rings on my Apple watch. That's honestly the only thing on my watch face guys, because it'd be really fun. But I decided I don't want to get distracted by other things. I need to master these items before I move on.   So that's why I love it to be front and center. Get these KPIs front and center. Get a whiteboard, guys, they're real cheap. Put it up, track these items. Production, we talked about it. Net, not gross. Collections, we wanna make sure we're collecting at least 98 % if not higher. And then I want you to know how many new patients you're getting out of goal, what your case acceptance is. A healthy practice, if we're talking dollar for dollar, I'd like you to be anywhere from 35 to 65%. Now there's a wide range on that because I actually, if you don't...   diagnose a lot of ortho and you're not diagnosing a lot of implants in larger cases, your dollar for dollar should be way up higher. If you're diagnosing these huge treatment plans constantly, you actually should be hanging out lower because we're presenting so much treatment that I'm okay with a lower case acceptance. If we're one for one, meaning one thing accepted off of our treatment plan, no matter how large it is, I want you actually to be sitting at at least a 90 % case acceptance. If you're not, we got to talk.   That's right, you and me, we're going to have a date, we're going to chat. We need to get that case acceptance up because what we're doing is we're dis-serving our patients. We're not helping them find a way to get this treatment done. You as a treatment coordinator, your job is to be a solution creator with the patient. So do your job, find the solution, get those patients accepted. That way we can help them have healthy mouths and a better life, right? That's what it's all about. Hey, Dental A Team listeners, how was your 2021? Have you reflected back? Where did you really win?   Where did you really not win? If 2021 was a year of years, congratulations. I am celebrating with you and I would love to invite you to take it to the next level. If 2021 wasn't quite your year, hey, it's all right. I'm there for you. And I would love to invite you to make 2022 the year for you. That's right, guys. If you're ready to take massive action, if you're ready to take your practice and your team to the next level, increase your profitability. Yeah, guys, through an easy way.   Get your entire team aligned and you're ready to just have your life be different. That's right. Team development, top to bottom system development, top to bottom, changing and shifting your culture, improving your team morale. If that sounds like what you're interested in guys, I'd love to invite you to join us in our Dental A Team platinum group. It's the exclusive group where we physically fly to your practice. We give you insider tips. We share with you. have a quarterly newsletter that goes to that shares all the updates we're coming up with and we share it with our platinum group.   We'd love to have you and I would like to invite you because guys remember you're always one decision away from a completely different life. So reach out guys. I'd love to chat with you. I'd love to see if you're a great platinum client or what works best for you. Email me Hello@TheDentalATeam.com and I can't wait to welcome you as our newest platinum client. Take massive action. This is your year. Let's make sure 2022 is your year. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. Can't wait to welcome you. So those are my main KPIs that I love to track.   Once you get those dialed in and you're consistent on those and you know, then we're going to start diving into even more data. I want to know how well our hygiene department's doing. They should be producing at least three times their pay. So if I'm a hygienist making $10 an hour, wouldn't that be a dream guys? Welcome to 2022. Hygienist $10 an hour. Yeah, right. You guys are like a hundred and a billion dollars an hour. Like it's crazy how much hygienists are at right now, but let's say for the sake of this podcast, it's $10 an hour. Okay. I should be producing at least   $30 per hour as a healthy hygienist. That's on a PPO. If I'm fee for service, I like you producing at least four times your pay. So if I'm in a fee for service practice, I'm producing $40 an hour, okay? So that would be another great KPI to track. You can also break it down per department. So we might have our doctors. Great KPI to track on our doctors is what are they producing per hour? Most doctors should be producing at least $500 per hour at a minimum, okay?   So if we're working in an eight hour day, that's a $4,000 day per doctor, again on net, not gross. So that's a great metric to put in there. What are our doctors producing per hour? What's our doctor case acceptance? What's our doctor diagnosis? Great KPIs for you to start tracking. If we move on to our hygiene department, you can track fluoride, you can track perio. Perio is a great set to track. We can track ⁓ how many night guards they're doing. We can track how many orthostarts they're doing.   Great KPIs to track, again, if you're in the elite rockstar status. ⁓ Dental assistants, I like to track how many same day conversions you get. Also, how many times you leave the room is a great KPI to track. Also, how many Google reviews do dental assistants get? Those are all really, really great ones that you can do. For front office, scheduling. How often are we scheduling our hygiene and doctors to goal?   So I usually like between 80 and 90 % that they're scheduled to go. Schedulers can be how many openings they have in hygiene. It can also be how many new patients you're scheduling. For our treatment coordinators, case acceptance, right? We want to make sure that we're getting those cases up there. For office managers, what's our collection percentage that can also go to our billers? Billers, I love you to be tracking your AR. Also outstanding claims. ⁓ How long it's taking us to get our claims paid. It's a fan-freaking-tastic KPI to be tracking.   because we want to be paid quicker. Guess what? If I'm tracking that, I can see, are we not sending our claims clean and are we having errors? Could we fix that? Could we enter data better so we don't have these issues happening? Could also track how long our patients are waiting in the waiting room. If we're working on VIP new patient experience. As I just listed, there are a myriad of KPIs you could do. What happens is we often try to track too many things that were actually focused on nothing. So I suggest you usually have at least one primary KPI per   person in the practice. It's their primary. That's the one that no matter what, they're going to hit that. And we make sure it moves our needle forward. So what's going to move our doctors forward? What's going to move our hygienist forward? It's going to move our dental assistants, our scheduler, our biller, our office manager. What is the one thing if we could only focus on one thing, what's going to move each of those people forward the most and move our practice forward the most? Focus on that. Master that. Set a goal of what you should be hitting and report either weekly or daily.   on those. I'll be honest, if you report it daily, just like working out daily, you will probably see greater results than if you do it weekly or just monthly. So I also have with KPIs that you should really, really, really, really be ramping those up and making sure you're reporting consistently and that people know the goals. If we miss it, let's find out why. What's going on? Let's diagnose the problem. Let's find out what can we do to improve that. Again, I want you to think of these as vitals. KPIs are vitals of a practice.   If you don't track these, if you don't check them, you will die. Okay? If you think about it that way, well, instantly I'm like, maybe I don't need to track that. Maybe I don't need to focus on that. If you're already tracking it and you're breathing imperfect, guess what? What happened to the doctor? They start checking other things. They run blood tests on us and they check a thousand different things in that. Okay? So there are lots of KPIs you can do, but I would say keep it simple. Do the kiss method. Keep your KPIs simple. Then add to it. Maybe each quarter we add something.   Maybe each month we add something. It's also fun if you have your team help create these KPIs with you. What do they think is going to the practice board? What did they get excited about? Maybe they want to make social media posts. Maybe they care about how many followers we actually have. Maybe you guys want to do that. Maybe they do it on how many new patients they can get. I just had an office, super fun. The team decided that they were going to try and get more family members scheduled. So on average, this practice was averaging about 35 new patients. Guess what?   Guess what? Just by focusing on asking for referrals from patients and getting more family members scheduled, they use the phrase, what other family members can we get scheduled for you today? They have increased their new patients with no marketing to 50 new patients a month. Is that not rad? That's because they focus on a vital that the practice needed to do. They focus on where they were weak and they're able to move their practice forward. So guys, I would encourage each of you.   Look at these KPIs, get them set. If you don't have a regular KPI tracking, let's start there. If you do, I want to bump it up. Are those KPIs being reported weekly by all team members? And does the doctor and office manager review this? I will tell you at our company, Shelby, she's a rock star. Our whole team reports on a Google drive. We call our leadership scorecard. Those are where our KPIs hang out. Every person has a number that they're tracking. We review these, we make sure that they're the vitals of our company and they're moving us forward.   Every person reports on this every single Friday. We have a reminder that goes out, so everybody fills it in. Shelby then makes sure it comes over to me. I then with Shelby review this leadership scorecard. Then on our leadership team, we look at this every single month and make sure that those are vitals. And then we look to see where are we weak? What do we need to move forward? This is how you start to track. Also, if you want to stamp out and do more practices and you want to have more growth, having a leadership scorecard where you track these KPIs consistently.   allows you to then be able to manage and oversee multiple locations because everybody's tracking. And at a second, you can glance at this and you'll be able to know where your practice is weak and where it's strong and where you need to dive in and give it massive help. So guys, I strongly encourage you, if you're not doing it, do it. If you're doing it already, where can you ramp it up? If you're already ramping it up, get your team members involved and ask them where they want to take it to the next level. KPIs are magic. They're vitals. Also, if you're in that top, top tier,   Maybe I challenge you and say, where could you simplify? Are you overtracking? Sometimes when I look at dental intel, I'm like, holy guac. That's a lot of items you're tracking. How do they know where to focus? I think about the book, Essentialism. If you haven't read it, I would strongly encourage you to do it. If we're focused on too many things, we actually don't make a lot of progress anywhere. We make minimal progress. If we're focused on one thing, we kill it. We knock it out of the park. We dominate it. So I challenge each of you, look at those KPIs. Could you simplify them if you're already doing them?   What are the main drivers of the practice? Keep it to three per department is my recommendation. Make sure that what we're truly focused on is actually going to move you guys forward. If you need help getting those KPIs set up, if that's something you want to start doing, we make sure our practices are all tracking. Our offices have vitals. We look at them. We actually call it their vital scorecard. Truth. That's really what we call it. So if you guys want to help with this, if you'd love somebody to help hold you accountable, email me. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. I'd love to help you out.   nothing else guys, go get these KPIs in place and know that you guys are in control of this. You can see your practice at a glance. You can know if you're healthy or not just at a glance, just like the doctor does when we go in for our medical doctors. So guys, try it out. I'd love to hear it. I'd love to hear your successes. Post your KPI scorecards and tag us. We'd love to see it. Share. If you guys want to, you can start to get on our Facebook group, Donuts with Dana. She's literally going around and she's pulling these ideas and she's sharing and she's answering questions.   So join her, she's on Facebook Live every Friday, Donuts with Dana. So hop on over there if you have questions getting this set up, she's there, she'll help answer questions. And as always guys, just take action, do it. Don't be afraid of KPIs, they're very easy. And if we can help you, email us, Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. I'd love to share it with you guys. If you need a sample, email us, Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. And as always, thanks for listening. I'll catch you next time on The Dental A Team Podcast. And 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.  

Dr. Len Tau, aka the Reviews Doctor, is on the podcast. With Kiera, he goes into the most critical nuts and bolts of making sure your practice stands out (or at least keeps pace with) online reviews amid AI. He explains jargon terms like ranking power and factors and velocity of reviews, whether or not you should actually be responding to reviews of your practice, and a ton more. Visit SuperchargeYourDentalPractice.com and enter the code RAVING to save $100 on registration for Dr. Tau's annual conference. About Dr. Tau Dr. Len Tau thrives on helping practices maximize their online reputation, marketing, and social media strategies. As a speaker, Len is known for his lively and engaging presentations packed with ready-to-use strategies. He regularly travels the country sharing his marketing brilliance and passion for practice growth with audiences. As a consultant, he offers practice leaders with real-world solutions tailored to fit their specific challenges and opportunities. Len loves to help doctors and their teams understand and implement successful online systems to build their practice. He currently serves as general manager of the Dental for Birdeye Reputation Marketing Software. Selected as one of Philadelphia's Top Dentists by Philadelphia Magazine, he continues to experience growth year after year in his fee-for-service practice focusing on general, cosmetic, reconstructive and implant dentistry. Following his father into the dental profession, Len graduated from Tufts University School of Dental Medicine and continues to pursue ongoing continuing education opportunities. He has had the privilege of serving patients for two decades. He is an active member of numerous professional organizations including the American Dental Association, the Pennsylvania Dental Association, the Academy of General Dentistry, the Eastern Dental Society, the Northeast Philadelphia Dental Implant Study Club, and the American Academy of Clear Aligners. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Kiera Dent (00:00) Hello, Dental Team listeners. This is Kiera and today I am so excited. This is one of my dear friends. We've known each other for several years in the industry. I'm super freaking pumped. I'm going actually be at his event next year in September. Little teaser. Stay tuned. He's got an amazing event he does every year in September. I have Dr. Len Tau. He is one of my faves. He is better known ⁓ as an authority in the dental consulting world, reputation marketing, and a practice growth. He's recognized by dentistry today as a top dental consultant for eight straight years.   He is the author of Raving Patients and 100 plus tips to 105 star reviews in a hundred days. Like this man knows how to do it. He's one of my faves. We really do collaborate on so many fun things. After 20 plus years in clinical practice, he now helps dentists nationwide, increase revenue, case acceptance and visibility. He leads the dental vision at BirdEye, hosts the Raving Patients podcast and runs the Supercharger Dental Practice Conference, which is the one I was alluding to that we're gonna be at next year in September, empowering practices to thrive in today's competitive landscape.   He's truly one of my faves. And today we're gonna dig into like, how do you get online reviews? But Len, welcome. I'm so happy to have you on the podcast. How are you today?   Dr. Len Tau (01:06) I'm good, thanks for having me, I'm excited to be here.   Kiera Dent (01:08) Of course. And this just came about because Len like, let's just do a little teaser. You're prepping full like steam ahead right now for your event that's coming up in September in Florida. ⁓ I love like the last time you and I were on the podcast, we talked about you in clinical dentistry. And then we reconnected after some time and you've left the chair, you're living your best life and you full blown gone into the event space. So just like, I know we're gonna get into like online reviews and how AI is changing that it's going to be just a really, really fun episode today. But tell us a little bit like   How is it going from like full blown dentist in the chair to now full blown events, like running these awesome events that we're super excited to be a part. Just kind of give me a little insight to that.   Dr. Len Tau (01:46) Well, it's been, it's been a lot of, a lot of fun. It's been very different, obviously, you know, for 23 years, I practiced dentistry, um, for about 12 of those, 13 of those who was full time. And then I went part time in 2017 until I sold and retired in 2022. Um, but one of the things I've grew up on in dentistry was going to dental events and, the big, the ones, the small ones, you know, all over the country and as a dentist first, and then as a vendor.   Kiera Dent (02:08) Mm-hmm.   Dr. Len Tau (02:15) Um, since 2013 or 14, so a long time in the space. know, one of the things that really hit me was that the events are not really put on very well. They're not, um, you know, whether you, if you're a dentist, there's issues when you're a vendor, there's issues. And I said, you know what? I want to change the game. And, um, one of my goals when I retired from dentistry was to start putting on events. So in 2023, um, in, in September, we did an event in Delray had 208.   Kiera Dent (02:25) Right.   Dr. Len Tau (02:44) Dennis there, 33 sponsors. was, first day was business, second day was marketing. Excuse me. First day was marketing. Second day was business. Had a 13, 14 speakers. It went off better than I could ever imagined. I then moved to the last year in 2024 to Scottsdale. And we were at the Scott Resort and Spa, which is a beautiful hotel and the event was good. It wasn't great. Definitely moving to different coasts.   I felt there was not as much, know, engagement, excitement about the event. So I, my family and my wife and I decided, Hey, we're going to do this. Let's have people come down to me. I live in beautiful, you know, part of Florida. we're having this year's event and the next three of them at super at, ⁓ at pure 66, a brand new hotel, ⁓ in Fort Lauderdale. It's literally half hour from my house, five miles from the airport, easy to get to. So this year event is September 26th and 27th.   Kiera Dent (03:32) Bye.   you   No.   Mm-hmm.   Dr. Len Tau (03:45) We've got 14 speakers, ⁓ mixture of business and marketing. So we've got people talking about social media, about content. We have people talking about saving money on taxes. We're talking about how to become a fee-for-service practice. ⁓ So a lot of different great content and top speakers, Steve Rasner, Paul Goodman, ⁓ Jeff Buski, ⁓ Richard, Rich Maddow. So some real, real heavy hitters. And then some people who people haven't really heard of, Melanie Diesel, who's new in the dental industry.   So, but I like to do it differently and my events are very high end. You come, you're going to see things you probably have never seen before. I give a ton of time to the vendors so the vendors love me because they make sure that they get integration or interaction with the attendees. So you're going to be speaking in 2026, same weekend at September 25th and 26th in 2026, same hotel, pure 66.   Kiera Dent (04:28) Sure.   Yeah.   Dr. Len Tau (04:40) We're ramping things up right now. We're literally a month out from the events. still have people signing up. I still have people wanting to reach out as sponsors. And it's, it's, it's, is the fun time for me. Cause when I'm done, I'm, you know, I get a couple of months of break and then I start promoting 2027 again. So ⁓ it's been a good time. I really enjoy it. And I find that I've kind of ⁓ created something that's very different and the attendees really enjoy it and the vendors really enjoy it. So if I can make everybody happy,   Kiera Dent (04:45) No.   Dr. Len Tau (05:09) That's all I'm looking to do here.   Kiera Dent (05:11) ⁓ and Len, I hope the audience, if they can't see it, they can hear it. I think it's so fun because I mean, I've seen you in different spaces in your career, in your life. And there is just this like giddy, like younger version of Len that I feel is emerging of like, it's like giddy boyhood, like excitement of I'm excited to put these on. I'm excited to do these events. And it just makes me so happy for you. And what I think I'm hearing is yes, attendees are happy. Vendors are happy. But I also hear that Len is very happy and to do something   in dentistry is just very, very fun. It's very exciting. And so we're jazzed. I'm really excited. I love good events. I love great time. I love to help. love business marketing. Everybody can take that. That's not Kiera's jam. Like I, that's why I wanted to bring you on. You guys are very good at marketing. You're very good at that space. but to talk about how to help people have their best lives to grow the practices that they want to grow. I think you and I are so synergistic in that. So we're super excited and I love, I mean, I'm not going to highlight the fact that there were   a couple of sixes in that is September 26 at Pier 66. You guys hopefully like, I like the alliteration. Don't put anything weird on it guys, but I do appreciate that you made it easier. September six and nines flipped upside down are a six. Like hopefully everybody can remember September 26, Pier 66. It'll be a good time in 2026. I mean, we got four lines, so we're okay. We've at least got four sixes, not we didn't end on three, but I really hope an exciting step. We'll make sure we put some info for people.   For this year and for next year, I think it'll be a fun time. Dental A Team will be there, so come hang out with us. ⁓ Len, I'm super excited. I will not spoil secrets, but a lot of the things he told me for the events, I will say he does put his heart and soul into it. So Len, excited about that. Thank you for sharing. Good luck for this year. We're gonna be rooting you on this year and next year. And now let's pivot. Let's go into like your jam. You're in BirdEye, you're in marketing, you're on online reviews. AI has come into the scene. Practices are changing.   I also will say, I hope everybody listens to you of their like succession story. You hung up the hand piece, but you are still full steam ahead in dentistry. And so I hope people see that like there is no path to dentistry. Like you just, it's a, it's a beautiful world that you're in. So let's talk though, online reviews, AI, how is this working? How do we make sure that practices are still being visible? Chat GPT is on, on the prowl.   There are clients signing up with us now that have found us on chat. GPT, which is so random. It's changing how people have been doing things. Walk me through. What are you seeing with these online reviews? The importance, how to bring AI in? Like, let's just kind of go in a rift on how practices can still be visible with AIs. Like just showing up to the scene.   Dr. Len Tau (07:43) So I wanna talk about chat CPT for a second. ⁓ I refer to it as my best friend. ⁓ It helps me edit. No, I haven't named it yet. No, I haven't named it. ⁓ you have?   Kiera Dent (07:50) Have you named it? I've got to just ask Len. Have you named? I have! Me and Chet,   I had a name and now her name is Wanda. I don't know why, I don't even know where Wanda came, but people are like, here, are you hanging out with Wanda again? Cause I agree. Like they're our best friends. So go on Len. I can't wait to hear what you name your Chet GPT cause mine is currently Wanda.   Dr. Len Tau (08:06) I'll have to, I   have to name it now that I have to think of something. ⁓ but no, I started using it. I'm like, this is really helpful and it's only gotten better. And, just to give you an idea is, ⁓ my wife and I, and my son, my son just graduated high school. He's literally just started his freshman year at, university of Florida on a free ride. ⁓ smart, smart ass kid. I'm very proud of him. But, you know, and I travel a ton, but I travel a ton for business and I made a commitment. I think I told you that,   Kiera Dent (08:25) Boo? Yeah.   Dr. Len Tau (08:35) during the summer when he was going away for school, I was not going to travel. So from March to literally next week, beginning of September, I haven't traveled at all for business. we did plan some really great travel for our personal lives. And one of the things we did was we had a cruise, a 17 day cruise to Europe. ⁓ And when I decided I did not want to do the excursions to the cruise, cause they're really expensive and you're with all these people. I prefer to kind of just go and tour myself.   Kiera Dent (08:44) It's awesome.   Dr. Len Tau (09:05) So I use ChatGPT in every city. And I said, I'm going to the city. This is what I'm going to get in. This is the cruise I'm going on. It got the cruise itinerary. And I said, I want to set up private tours in every city with different people. And it helped me pick the best tour guides. They referred me to a website called Tours by Local, which is an amazing website that you can meet people who are local that will take you around.   show you the city and it was amazing. It was amazing. So I thank Chachi PT for doing that because I wouldn't have known about half these things if I didn't do it. And in fact, one of the women, and actually the very first place you went to, which was in Split, Croatia, which was beautiful. I told her that literally that's kind of how I went down this road was I asked Chachi PT, what should I do in Split? And they said, you need to use this tour guide. She's the highest rated tour guide and has the best reviews on tours by local. like,   What's towards by local? And that started this whole thing. So she was, she was amazed to hear that. So, ⁓ I have been using Chad GPT for a long time, like I said, and even now it is people I know type in, know, get me to the best dentists in the area. And it's very much based on reviews. So you have to be a highly rated practice. you may not believe in reviews and if you do, think you're not smart, but you know, if, if you want to be at the forefront of where people are looking,   Kiera Dent (09:58) Yeah.   Yes.   Dr. Len Tau (10:25) You have to generate reviews in a significant amount. Velocity now, which is how often you're getting them, is one of the biggest ranking factors on Google, whether you want to believe chat GPT or not. ⁓ But you have to get reviews. You can't, you know, rest on your laurels and say, well, I have enough because you never have enough. Okay. And, ⁓ and you've got to let Google rank you high. And there's been a big discrepancy in the industry, a big, I don't want to say a misunderstanding.   Kiera Dent (10:43) read.   Dr. Len Tau (10:52) But I've been in the review space now since 2013, so 12 years. And in the past, dentists thought that if they get reviews, they're going to rank. And that's not the way it is anymore. If you have reviews, but don't pay attention to the other ranking factors, you actually don't rank well. And that's a problem. So, chat GPT AI is so important, but you still got to dominate Google. You still got to get to the top of the pages.   And that's really where the direction is going. and if you aren't there now and you are ignoring it, you're never going to get there. So I would love to talk to you about our list in instruct or educate the listeners and viewers of these ranking factors that they need, need to pay attention to, or they're going to be left behind when it comes to ranking on Google.   Kiera Dent (11:27) Yeah.   absolutely. And I'm excited for this too, because, I did notice that you've got to like, AI is just crawling the web. That's where it's getting, it's being taught. It's crawls it. It looks through all of it. And so agreed with you. have a lot of clients and like, we want the secret pill of marketing. And I might get your reviews up. Like it is constant and consistent that if you get those reviews up and you bring pieces to the table, that people literally like that's what's going to rank you higher. So I'm excited, Len to, to dig in deeper because it is like how   getting more reviews, but to hear that there's more beyond just the reviews really can help these offices like get the best bang for their buck, help more practices. And I'm like, it used to be when I first started consulting when I used to tell offices get to like 100 Google reviews. It is now I'm pushing people like five, six, 700 reviews that you need to be getting ranked into. And I don't know if you're seeing like a cutoff line or if it matters on that. So I'm really excited to dive into like, what are the rankings? What are the pieces? Is there a difference? But I'm like now   100 reviews, when I look at somebody I'm like, hmm, like if there's another dental practice that has maybe 400, 500 new clients come on, the first thing I do is I go look them up to see how many reviews do you have? And I'm shocked at how many dental practices actually are not showing up when I Google their names and they're like, no, no, care, we're here. And I'm like, but if I'm a prospective new client that doesn't work in your practice and I don't see you all the time and I just tried to find you and I'm looking for you.   How many patients who are not looking for you are not finding you as well. So yeah, take us away, and I'm super curious, very intrigued by this. It's fascinating. And I'll also say, because AI is new, feel like people got like a reset slate. Like, hey, you can actually get back into the game if you haven't been into the game, if you just start playing now. If you don't, I agree with you. I do think that you will unfortunately get obliterated without trying if you don't get into the game now.   Dr. Len Tau (13:28) 100 % so and I couldn't agree with you more. So the best thing to do here is if you're listening to this, I want you to go to a Google search and I want you to type your practice name in. Okay, so that's the first thing to do. Right.   Kiera Dent (13:39) and not in your office. Don't do it in   your office. Go somewhere else. Like try it somewhere else.   Dr. Len Tau (13:44) Right, well, and 100%, that's another thing is that if you're gonna look up your ranking specifically, you do not wanna do that from your office location, okay? Because you're not gonna get real results. You also wanna go into incognito mode or private browsing mode on your phone or your computer if you're doing that to check ranking. But this is not specifically about ranking. This is more about how you appear online. So go to Google and type in your practice name. Not your name unless it's the name of the practice, but your business name, okay?   Kiera Dent (13:52) Yes.   Mm-hmm.   Dr. Len Tau (14:13) and it doesn't have to be what's registered with the state board. It's how you, when you answer the phone, what you say, okay? Pennsylvania Center for Dental Excellence was my practice name, okay? So you wanna look yourself up. So these are some of the ranking factors that Google looks at. Obviously one of them is your total number of reviews you have. Definitely a ranking factor, but the total number has not been as important as some other factors as well. So.   Kiera Dent (14:20) Mm-hmm.   Dr. Len Tau (14:40) Average number of reviews in the industry right now is about 350. It used to be like 100 was the golden number. Now 350 is the average in the industry. So are you average? Are you below average or are above average? Okay, that's something to look at. The second ranking factor, which is even more important is the velocity of reviews. So how many reviews, how often you're getting them. Okay, so if you're getting once every two weeks, not enough. If you're getting them once every week,   Kiera Dent (14:46) Yes.   Dr. Len Tau (15:10) Not enough. You don't need them every single day, but two or three every single week is ideal. Okay, because you think two or three every week gives you eight to 15 a month times 12 months is 100 reviews a year, which is a nice number. Okay, so you have to have that velocity. All right. Third ranking factor is the total score, your average number of stars. So   I would like you to be anywhere from 4.6 to five stars. Okay. I don't think you have to be only five stars. think there's a negativity related to that. If you're only five star reviews, but I also don't want you to below 4.5. Okay. ⁓ And if you're at 4.3, 4.2, or even 4.1, another better review or two, and you're to be in the threes. And that's really where you don't want to go. Cause you lose a huge percentage of patients who may come in if you're less than four stars. Okay. Another ranking factor.   is the primary category. So how do you know your primary category? If you look under your Google, your name, will say right where the stars is, will say, hopefully dentist in your town or dentist in your county or dentist in your city. Okay. So your primary category should be dentist because we're a dental practice. Okay. If you're an oral surgeon, you may want it to be oral and actual facial surgeon. If you're an endodontist, want it to say endodontist. You don't want it to say dentist if you're a specialist. Okay.   ⁓ That's a big ranking factor and I'll give you an example. I, ⁓ my wife had some plastic surgery over the last couple of years and we were referred to that doctor. So we didn't need to search for him. We were referred to him. went in, we liked him, we used his services. ⁓ And of course, being a plastic surgeon, I talked to him about reviews. He now uses BirdEye, but he had me speak in an event that he holds down here in Boca Raton.   And I talked about this exactly. And I asked everybody, cause it was a small group. What is your primary category? And he goes, he said to me, literally, he says, I'm listed as a nurse practitioner. He wasn't listed as a plastic surgeon. He was listed as a nurse practitioner. So his categories were all messed up. So when you actually typed in plastic surgeon near me, he never showed up because his category was wrong. So primary category is a very important ranking factor as well. Now you also have to make sure your secondary categories are also. ⁓   Kiera Dent (17:15) No.   Dr. Len Tau (17:35) ⁓ under ⁓ are there as well as under the proper categories. So secondary categories, if you're a dentist, dental clinic, teeth whitening services, denture care center, orthodontist, if you're doing aligners, if you're endo, you're doing root canals, you can have endodontist. If you do periodontist, can do periodontist. You want to make sure you have nine secondary categories. Okay, if you don't have them, you want to add them.   Now, how do you add them? It's very easy. You go to Google using ChatGPT or anything and say, how do I add secondary categories to my Google business listing? Okay. It will tell you exactly like a recipe how to do it. You need to add those secondary categories. All right. And if you want help doing it, you can always reach out to me. The last ranking factor, which is really important is making sure that the practices name, address, and phone number is consistent. Okay. So just to be clear, most   website companies do not do local SEO. They do website SEO, which is making sure the website is SEOed so the website ranks higher on the organic rankings. We're talking about getting the Google business page ranking higher, which the website companies are not focused on. So when it comes to the name, address and phone number, is it consistent? You have to be consistent. And this is a Google requirement.   It is not a patient thing. It's not a me thing or you thing. It's a Google requirement that this data is consistent. So the name is obviously important. So if you have the and or the ampersand, you may find things inconsistent. When it comes to the address, if you have, you know, South State Streets, Unit 510, you can have South or S, you can have Street or ST, and then you can have Suite, Unit, Number, or STE.   All these variations need to be consistent. So one of them has to be done and one and stuck with. And then if you are using a tracking number for whatever reason on your Google business listing, you may find your inconsistent there as well. So when you make everything consistent and you get a higher velocity of reviews, guess what happens over time? You rank higher on the maps. And when you rank higher on the maps, you get more visible for patients to find you. So that's where the secret sauce is. And   Not that this is a sales pitch about BirdEye, but that's exactly what BirdEye does. BirdEye does those. We check all those boxes for you. And then what ends up happening is a practices get more reviews. But more importantly, when they ask patients how they find them, they're going to see that they found them because of their ranking online and the reviews drove them to the practice. So that's how this whole thing plays a role in getting a practice more visible and credible.   Kiera Dent (20:06) Thank   Wow. So I was over here like taking a lot of notes, which I really loved. I love the number, the 350 at the average, the velocity, like three to five per week you were saying. It doesn't need to be an everyday, but I do agree like them consistently coming through the total score, the 4.6 to five primary category, secondary category, making sure we have nine. And then you were talking about like the practice name, phone number, all of that has to be consistent. So the addresses have to be the same. And that's going to help you rank higher.   Did I miss anything? Those are my notes, Len. And I'm just curious, like, did I catch them all? Because there was a lot of pieces to consider. And then I have some follow ups as well. So like, did I miss anything in that list?   Dr. Len Tau (21:02) No, I   think you got it all there.   Kiera Dent (21:06) Okay, so hopefully that was a good recap for everybody. If you were listening, I tried to like summarize everything he said, because I really feel that those are super valuable pieces to know. Now, Len, there's a couple of things that happen and I'm very curious of what you've seen. Maybe you know, maybe you don't know. It's just a riff for me genuinely curious over here. Does it impact for the business to respond to the reviews? Because I know there was like a big misnomer out there like for a while, like you have to respond to every single review that helps you rank higher. What's the   What's kind of the lay of the land right now responding to the reviews that come in?   Dr. Len Tau (21:39) So there's been a big push over the years to respond to reviews. And there's also been those naysayers who don't want you to respond to reviews. So I want to make this very clear. When you respond to a review and you acknowledge them as a patient, you are technically violating HIPAA. Okay. Now by the letter of the law, if you do that, you violated HIPAA and can be in trouble. Now in all the years I've been doing this, I've only seen one   Kiera Dent (21:49) Mm-hmm.   Dr. Len Tau (22:08) example of a positive review being responded to and the dentist got in trouble. Okay. So if someone writes a review for you and it's five stars and you say, thank you so much for your feedback. We were glad you had a great experience in our practice. Okay. You technically violated HIPAA there because you acknowledged that they came into the practice. I don't think you'll ever run into any problems with that. I don't, I've never seen any instance when a, when a practice has got into trouble. But again, by the letter of the law, it's a violation.   Here's where the person ran into a problem. Okay. So the review in question, the patient wrote, I'm so happy with my appearance after I went to so-and-so's dental office. I think they were in Texas. The dentist responded, we're so happy that you, thank you so much for your review. We're so happy that you loved our magic needles. Okay. So it, from what I understand is the patient had Botox or   dermal fillers placed and that's what they call their magic needles. So the patient wrote, wrote a letter to the practice saying, I didn't appreciate you letting the world know that I had Botox done and asked for the review response to be taken down, which the dentist immediately did. Took it down and apologized, but it really pissed the patient off and the patient sued the dentist and won. Okay. Because the dentist went out of their way to   Kiera Dent (23:08) Mm-hmm.   Right.   Dr. Len Tau (23:33) you know, release private information that wasn't supposed to be done. So in that case, you shouldn't be doing that. Okay. Now on the same note, I would be very careful responding.   Kiera Dent (23:37) Mm-hmm.   Dr. Len Tau (23:45) to a review that's left by a negative, a negative review that's written by a patient. I would be very careful responding publicly to that because it's very hard to respond without violating HIPAA. So a simple response like, we're sorry to hear about your experience. Please contact the office to discuss the concerns as we're unfortunately unable to comment due to HIPAA release privacy stuff. That's fine. But.   Again, I just not sure it's the best thing to do. So you have to be careful with negative reviews. What it doesn't do is we really haven't found any relationship between responding and ranking. Okay, so you have to, I always leave it up to the people to respond. I like using AI to respond as well, because I think it comes up with HIPAA compliant and really good responses. ⁓ But you have to decide what you want to do for your own practice.   Kiera Dent (24:16) Mm-hmm.   Interesting.   That's actually really helpful to know. ⁓ Okay, good feedback for people to ponder and decide what they want to do on. The second piece is   some people lose their Google My Business and they're not able to be found. ⁓ And I don't know if you have reasons why. I don't know if it's from like a name change or it's inconsistent. So like a lot of offices have a lot of reviews, but when you go to search them, they're hidden on Google My Business. Like it will show up on the person's side, but nobody externally can find it. Do you have any ideas of like what causes that or what offices can do if they're struggling with that?   Dr. Len Tau (25:11) So I want to clarify that what question you asked there. I'm sorry to ask a question when you asked the question was when you say that you're saying that when they search for their Google business listing, they can't find it or when someone is searching for the office, they're not visible on the maps.   Kiera Dent (25:15) Hey, that's okay.   So when they're searching, so if I just go into Google and I type in like my perfect smile, the website might link, but the Google My Business with all, and they might have like 150 Google reviews, like it might be, like they've got them all and the office can see it when they like log in as like, this is, you own this, but they've lost it and it's no longer visible publicly. Do you know what causes that or how they can get that back? It's okay if you don't, I'm just genuinely curious. Cause I know some offices struggle with this, especially with like name changes of practices.   going through different ownerships. ⁓ Some of them have told me it's like when I changed the name of my practice, it no longer showed up. Like we have all these reviews, but we're not showing up. Do you know what causes that or how practices can get back being visible?   Dr. Len Tau (26:02) Yep. Now that you   asked it that way, so that usually means that your Google business listing has been suspended. And if you can't find it on search, but you see it, means it's suspended in most cases. Name changes, address changes, other things you do can cause it to be suspended. There are, if you look up on use chat GPT, ⁓   and say, why is, why can your Google business page be suspended? There is a list of different reasons why it can get suspended. ⁓ if you're getting reviews the wrong way is a big one. So, like you should not be incentivizing for reviews. And I'm talking about incentivizing the patients. You shouldn't be getting reviews in your physical office space because there's IP address conflicts and location services on the patient's phone. So if you're doing that, not only will you can potentially lose reviews, but you can't get it suspended, but you can look on.   Kiera Dent (26:37) Mm-hmm.   Dr. Len Tau (26:55) on chat GPT or Google and just say, what are the reasons that your business page can be suspended? And they're there. So usually you have to ⁓ re-approve it or re-verify that page. And there's certain things you do. You'll have to take a video of yourself in front of the practice, showing the address, showing the name of the business on the door. So there's things you will have to do to get it over to Google. So they'll re-verify you. And then once it happens, there's a good chance they'll unsuspend the listing. But that happens for that reason.   Kiera Dent (27:24) Gotcha. Okay. That's super helpful because I know a few offices have struggled with that. So was just curious for that. All right. This has been so helpful to figure out rankings. It's been helpful to understand. ⁓ My last question as we wrap up today on reviews has been so helpful, Len, is how do offices go about like, what are your recommendations? Yes, bird eye, swell, podium. Like there's a lot of review in Weave. I do, I usually recommend using an external one outside of things. think that they like, if they're just, if that's what they do, they're going to be experts at it.   But how can offices ethically and appropriately, like obviously great patient experience, but how do they increase these Google reviews? What are some of the best tactics you've seen to help these offices out?   Dr. Len Tau (28:04) So being biased, I mean, I'm a true believer in BirdEye because we help with the reviews and the ranking part. ⁓ Swell, which is a great product. know the guys who swell really well. A lot of their doctors don't rank well because they don't focus on the listings part of it or the ranking part of it. ⁓ I'm not a fan of Wee from a review perspective because they swell BirdEye and Podium, make it very easy. Weave doesn't. It's just the way we do it with our three other products. ⁓   I always say this, you can get reviews any way you want. The most effective is gonna be use some software, simple as that. But it all starts with the practice and it all starts with, I like to create a reputation culture in the practice, which means you know that every time a patient comes in the practice, that they're going to be evaluating you and reviewing you potentially. And you've gotta be on your best behavior, you've gotta put a happy smile on your face, you gotta treat them like they're the...   Kiera Dent (28:40) Mm-hmm.   Dr. Len Tau (29:00) king of the world, okay? You gotta roll out the red carpet. And if you don't do that, they may write a bad review, okay? But if you don't create that reputation culture, I think it's gonna be hard to get the practice to really accelerate the reviews. So creating that reputation culture using great verbiage skills. I love calling it feedback, not a review. If you call it a review, it sounds like you're begging for it. ⁓ The feedback conversation is much more comfortable to have. So, you know, it's an interesting situation, but if you don't ask, you don't get.   So you've got to ask. I think if you ask and you combine it with a really good software, you'll get a really good number of reviews. If you don't ask, you don't get. It's that simple.   Kiera Dent (29:30) Mm-hmm.   Yeah.   ⁓ well, that was so great. I appreciate this so much. And it's fun to hear about how AI is helping. It's fun to hear about how you still have to be great on Google. So ⁓ I just appreciate you. I appreciate you being here. I appreciate the knowledge you shared. appreciate for offices. I hope they take action and Len any last thoughts, how people can connect with you if they want more help on this. know ⁓ like truly in my opinion, this is the simplest marketing. Everybody wants to like sexy magic pill of marketing. And I'm like, no, it's like really great experience. Ask for the reviews, ask for the feedback.   like rank so that way people can find you I've had offices that had like three four or five new patients and they're like I need this marketing I need all these things which I'm not here to say not to do it but I will say great reviews will boost you very quickly so Len any last thoughts you've got how people can connect with you because it's been truly just an incredible episode today   Dr. Len Tau (30:26) So ⁓ I'm around the country a lot. So you can always connect with me in person if I'm at some of these events. If you wanna come to Supercharge, you can connect me there. SuperchargeYourDentalPractice.com You can use the code RAVING to save $100 on registration. ⁓ We also have some scholarships available. So if you do wanna come, you can reach out to me personally. So ⁓ my cell phone's all over the internet. The easiest way, if you have any questions, you want advice, you want help, I'm the guy to reach out to. My phone number is 215.   Kiera Dent (30:40) Awesome.   Dr. Len Tau (30:55) 292-2100. And my best email is Len, L-E-N, at drlentau.com, which is D-R-L-E-N-T-A-U.com. And you can email me, you can text me, you can call me, tell me you heard about me here and you need some advice. I'm more than happy to offer it to you. I do it all the time. ⁓ I love when people reach out to me because they know I'm an expert. So I do it kind of as a favor to people. ⁓ But no, you reach out to me, I'm happy to give advice.   Kiera Dent (31:23) amazing. Len, thank you so much for being on the podcast. I'm super excited for Supercharge 2025 and especially 2026. So everybody snag that. And truly, I hope you take action from today's podcast. This is easy ways for you to boost your marketing, be found and seen online. And Len, thank you for joining me today. I truly, truly appreciate you.   Dr. Len Tau (31:41) Thank you for having me, Kiera, I appreciate it.   Kiera Dent (31:43) Of course. And for all of you listening, thank you for listening and I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team Podcast.  

Kiera shares some motivation everyone could use a bit of right now, especially if you're facing significant challenges. Her episode reading recommendation: Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod 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 just want to give you a quick tactical, amazing, miracle morning recap. I have a friend in my life right now who is just struggling and I struggled last year and like I realized, my gosh, like maybe it's time for me to give you guys a quick boost on how we can create a little bit more momentum, a little bit more magnetism in our lives with a lot of ease. So if that's what you're here for, I'm here. Today's more about a life rather than a tactical tip.   but I believe that this tactical tip is going to set your DNA up to be the successful practice, the successful office manager, the successful hygienist, successful team member, giving you the DNA and the blueprint for it. So my name is Kiera. We love helping dental offices, their teams and their doctors and their patients truly live life at a higher level to be happier, to be more fulfilled, to be more profitable, to say yes to more things in your life. We call the yes model. You as a person being fulfilled, happy, vibrant.   E stands for earnings and profitability and S stands for systems and team development. Like let's put the systems in place. Let's teach you the tacticals, but let's make sure we get the DNA right. ⁓ Miracle Morning was a book that came into my life by Hal Elrod at such a vibrant time. I was at my lowest of my lows and I just needed almost like ⁓ a roadmap out. And I feel like this book was so magical and so powerful for me. And I just really, really, really appreciate it. So ⁓ I'm going to give you guys like kind of a rift on it.   But like helping you just get this into your life. Because like I said, my friend is just struggling, high anxiety, burnout, feeling like, can't I be, like, why can't I do this? A new mom, feeling just truly burdened and down. And I remember I was talking to them and they said, Kiera, I just don't understand. Like, I feel like I should be able to do this and I feel like I can't and I don't understand why. And I thought, gosh, how many people feel this day in and day out? Like all of us.   And that's the lie is we all think that everyone else can figure this out and I'm just the schmuck and I just don't know how to do it when it's all just a stupid lie. And I'm so irritated about it because the life experiences that we're having right now are truly gifts to us to help us evolve into the person we ultimately want to become. if you could realize that the challenges we're facing right now are truly the gift of your soul to propel you into the version of yourself that you need to be.   is something so hard to comprehend when you're going through it, but so easy when you're on the other side, like, wow, that was the greatest gift life ever gave me. And remember life is always happening for you and not to you. So how Elrod, like it just helped me have like a routine, like a routine of pieces. So like I said, I'm just going to break it down for you. He goes through what he calls are the lifesavers. And the lifesavers on there are S stands for silence, A stands for affirmations, V stands for visualization, E stands for exercise, R stands for reading.   and S stands for scribing. So on the silence, the way he describes it, it's like, be quiet in your mind and block out the chatter through meditation, prayer, or focused breathing. Okay, so I do it, I do meditation in the morning. I love Joe Dispenza, that's the one who's come in for me for a long time, I didn't. I've done calm, I've done lots of different things, prayer, whatever it is, but the goal is to quiet our mind. And I believe that our mind is like a muscle and we need to strengthen it. And so this is a great way to almost do like bodybuilding for the mind is to every day.   just have a moment and like a time of silence. And I usually do this before I start my day. So it's kind of like setting myself up, building that foundation, creating this affirmations, tell yourself encouraging words to achieve goals, overcome fears and feel happy. And what they've proven is like one thing that I love about Joe dispense is he talks about like the future causes anxiety and the past causes depression. And how can we be in this future moment in this present moment? And then how can we create our future and actually break the pattern and the habit of things that are known and create an unknown?   of what we actually want to become. So when we do these affirmations of like X, Y, Z, and then we go followed up with the visualization, a visualization, imagine yourself doing things you need to for the day in your future life and imagine what it feels like to succeed. So for me, it's like, what is that? Like, don't have to say that he's always like, what is that future life? Like I hear him in my head because I listen to him every single day, but it's like visualizing, like, what do you want to be? How do you want your life to be? Who do you want to be? And I was like, what things? you're   You're basically creating this future that's pulling you, that's compelling, that's something you don't know. And you're able to like literally bring this into your world. Now, I'm not gonna lie to you, this is not an overnight sensation. It's something that you build up over time. But it's really beautiful when we're giving ourselves affirmations, which I have like a ton of I am statements. And then we go into E stands for exercise. So doing something of movement. It can be a one minute movement, but like just go for a walk or a jog. Getting moving allows the blood and oxygen to flow to your brain.   like my morning walk, like the shower for my brain, clear out all those cobwebs before I take off, doing something to honor my body which is this beautiful billion dollar asset that I have that I promise and committed to treating her with so much respect and love. R stands for reading. Fill your brain with positive thoughts and ideas to improve yourself. So any type of reading, anything, even if it's like two minutes like you could grab, but it's not scrolling, it's something of positive. Like you'd be shocked at how many books you get through if you'll just read like a page of morning. ⁓   to just fill your mind with something positive. And then S stands for scribing, write a journal to process thoughts and reflect on what you've achieved. So they have the short and condensed version of the savers, because I was like, wow, that feels like a lot. But again, it gave me a roadmap. So like, cool, I do meditation. Then I visualize within my meditation. Then I have affirmations. My husband says his affirmations in the shower. Like, truly, that's not a joke. Or he says that on his drive to work. And then we have our exercise. We have our reading. And we have our scribing.   I have cut a few of these things down. That's like the quick down dirty formula for it. And so for me, what I try to do in my journal is every morning I do what I'm grateful for, accomplishments I had from the day before, because I want to build that momentum. I do my improvements. And sometimes I just do one. I don't give myself any more than three. So my improvement was live in gratitude more. That was my improvement. I just want to see where life is more abundant and beautiful for me. That was my improvement. So it's nothing hard. It's nothing berating. It's truly just that.   I always do a portion of joy, like what was my greatest joy from yesterday? What's my self love? That one was really hard for me. I put that in and I had to write three things that I loved about myself, whether it was physically, mentally. So the one I wrote in here is that I love my brilliant mind. What's wild is like, why are we not our best friend? Like, why do I not look in the mirror every day and be like, gosh, girl, I just love you I'm so grateful for you. Like, why not be the biggest cheerleader for ourselves? So that was a big thing for me. I write down my goals of what I want to achieve.   And then what are my results for that day that I want to accomplish? So that's my scribing. Journaling for some reason makes me feel weird. It's been a few years block for me that I haven't been able to journal. So that's kind of my quick formula. And then just so you guys know, I have my like just a couple IM statements of like four year affirmations. I say, I am creative. I have growth and expansion. I am love. I have divine connection and collaboration. I have self love and compassion. I am honest. I have an abundant mindset. I'm fun and playful.   I have trust and flow, I have queen strength. So those are just a few. And then some of my affirmations are like, my success is inevitable. This is one that I always have like, hold on, I'll read you my favorite one. I'm 100 % committed to being so dang good people can't ignore me. Kierda is a name that is known across the world for good and for changing those she touches through word, deed and presence. And that's who I wanna be. That's how I wanna show up in this world. I also love this one. I am committed. Let me read this one to you.   ⁓ I think this one's just funny. ⁓ I am committed and choose to be happy each day by laughing so hard, doing super fun things weekly. So just some like really fun things for you. I have another one. This was at a time in my life where I did not have great relationships in my life. So it's been on here for almost nine years. It says I am 100 % committed to only having healthy, positive relationships in my life. I immediately cut out toxicity from my life. ⁓   I am 100 % committed to being grateful for the amazing life that is already mine and continue to watch success, joy, money, grace, friendships, employees. Yes, I added employees. Don't worry, that was for surely added. And happiness flowed to me with ease, acceleration, and continuity. So for you, I hope whatever it is, whatever your version of Savers is, whatever your version of Miracle Morning is, that you remember that you are the greatest asset, that you're choosing you, that you are showing up for other people.   This is the dumb analogy that I hate, but it's true. Put the oxygen mask on you first to give to other people. This is your breath of oxygen. This is your, whoosh, is the way to have a simple foundation for you every morning to prime your mind. For me, I feel like, why don't I prime my mind for what I want to see rather than priming my mind for whatever comes in my way? I truly believe that I am a creator of my life, not a manager of my circumstances. And I want to be creating this beautiful, abundant, radiant version of me.   And I hope that you want that for you too. I will tell you when I first started this, 90 % of what I just read to you, I didn't believe and I didn't feel and I didn't think was mine. And over time, after doing it day in and day out, and it's not lying to myself, it's just again, like Jodis Benz says, it's not looking forward and causing anxiety and it's not looking in the past and causing depression, but being present and then co-creating my future life of what I want, what I believe, what I can create, and then allowing that to come to me.   with ease, grace, continuity. So if you need help with this, not only do we coach on dentistry, but we also help people become the best versions of themselves. And I hope that you just take this because life's too short. We are going to have bumps, we're going to have bruises, we're going to have pieces come through. But what I hope is that you're able to find hopefully something in this miracle morning to give yourself the foundation, the ritual, the routine, the system for your life to give you the extraordinary life that you deserve. If we can help you reach out, Hello@TheDentalATeam.com.   I hope you choose you. I hope you choose to love you the most. I hope you realize that giving yourself 10 minutes, 15 minutes a day is the greatest gift you can give yourself for everything that your body and soul does for you day in and day out. Commit, love yourself, and if we can help, like I said, reach out. I'm betting on you and I hope you are too. And as always, thanks for listening, and I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team Podcast.  

Kiera and Kristy talk listeners through the patience of the hiring process, with specific attention to understanding training capacity, establishing onboarding expectations, utilizing available resources — and what to do when you do all this already, and it still doesn't seem to work. 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's an awesome day. I'm so excited. We have the one and only Trouble Hunting Kristy on the podcast today. I call her the truffle hunter because she finds all the money in the practices. Like Kristy, I don't know if you've looked at the stats, but you are rivaling me on the amount of production you're bringing into practices, which I think is a huge shout out to you. Kristy's one of our incredible consultants. So Kristy, with that intro, how are you today?   Kristy (00:27) doing wonderful. Thank you.   Kiera Dent (00:29) Good.   Yeah, of course. I feel like I need to get like a good nickname for you. So I've been like, clicking Kristy, but it's like, that's not what I'm going for. I'm going for like hunting Kristy, but I need like something. So if anybody out there can think of it, like in my mind, Kristy sits there. I don't know. It's a really funny image I have of you, Kristy. I see you like with your little shovel. You're like digging for the gold and the practices. You're like, I'm going to find it. It's like sleuth status Kristy.   So if anybody has a great nickname, send it on over. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. I'm always here for good nicknames. So, Kristy will find one for you. You know, here we go. But Kristy, we've been working on some practices together and ⁓ just like in general consulting, I think there's some fun things. And right now I think it's like, what do you do when you can't hire team members? I think hiring like hygienists for an office, the hiring climate is really tricky. And I think we've been coming up with some good ideas.   Kristy (01:01) Yeah.   Kiera Dent (01:23) that might be really fun to dig into if you're down with that today.   Kristy (01:26) Love it, absolutely.   Kiera Dent (01:29) Awesome. All right, Kristy. So with practices, I were pretend I'm your office and I'm like, hey, Kristy, I need to hire, but I can't hire. Like what's step one, two, three? Where do we even start to find these people? Because I think this happens in almost every single practice. I've said it before in our company. Like how do we break beyond that to help offices really find some people? Because you had an office that like could not find anybody. And now they're onboarding three people in one moment. Like it's pretty incredible how we went like   the swing and the shift. So how do we get to that other than just having patience through the process?   Kristy (02:03) Yeah, well, I think there's multi steps to it. But first, I think we have to take a look at ourselves and figure out, are we the type of person that likes to train people or not? Right? Because if I truly am not a person that likes even training people, our avenue may look a little bit different than ⁓ if I really enjoy developing and coaching them up, if you will.   So first there's that step, if you will. And then I think the next step Kiera is, I get my doctors and teams brainstorming. What attributes are you trying to find within this person? What do they need to possess as a person, personality wise? And what skills are you looking for them to possess?   Kiera Dent (02:31) Okay.   Mm-hmm. Yeah, because I love that you actually brought up do I want to train and develop somebody and then who are we looking for because I think Sometimes people like know thyself and be free I think is the best way to phrase that I am someone who we used to try and hire consultants and train them up and honestly we did a dang good job, but I got to a level as the company grew where I'm like   We just need people who are already expert consultants that can come in at the level that we need. And so even though I might love to develop people, I think also looking at the size of your practice to see, is this a position that we have the space to grow them? Like if I'm a brand new practice owner, trying to grow and develop an office manager, probably not a great idea. Like that's hard. And that person also, you have to look at too, the ROI of this position that, well, I might not feel like I can afford it.   they're actually going to bring money like a very experienced office manager who knows how to bill and knows how to close cases. Even though they're very expensive with air quotes around it because you're brand new will pay undue dividends. Just like when I hire, I remember hiring my first treatment coordinator. I looked at her in the interview and I was like, listen, her name was Kristen. I still remember this. And I'm like, Kristen, I begged our doctor to like stamp off and let me hire you, but you have three months to prove yourself. Otherwise I have to fire you. Like   literally can't afford you for three months beyond this. So, but you should. I mean a treatment coordinator should be putting money on our books. Kristen was amazing. She paid for herself ten times over but it's that like risk too. So, when you look at this of do we have the time to train them? Do I have the skill set to train them? And is our business like for us? Training consultants right now does not make sense. I can't teach a consultant.   how to run a $6 million business that sells to a DSO and get them trained up to that level of expertise. That's something we've outgrown the training space. So now we need to bring in expert consultants that have been there, done that, done that successfully rather than trying to convince them. So I think it was a really solid point you had on that. But Kristy, what happens when you as a consultant know that this doctor could train someone? So for example, like a dental assistant, like we could train them.   but the doctor maybe just doesn't want to, but they don't really have the funds to pay for the higher level. especially like a dental assistant. I'm like, dental assistant is not necessarily gonna put money on my books. They might make me move faster if I have a highly trained one. Like that is, it's nice to have, but what do you do on that type of a practice that like you as a consultant are looking at the numbers and like, maybe we should try to train this person up. What are your thoughts on that?   Kristy (05:34) Yeah, well, to back up, think speaking to what you were talking about is what's the end result we're looking for and within what timeframe, right? Because again, realistically, if we need, if we're a startup and we need butts in the chair, we've got to be producing. We don't have time to train someone up, right? And if a doctor isn't really that great at it,   we've got to find different solutions for acquiring that person. And I think reaching out to your team members to find ⁓ their resources, who do they know? Who can we tap in that maybe they know and worked with and has been successful, right? And bring them on. But also I do believe we have to have a good onboarding process with expectations. You know, what by when and set them out.   not just for the person coming on, but for team members to enroll them in helping them too.   Kiera Dent (06:38) Mm-hmm.   Yeah. Kristy, brilliant point on that of like onboarding expectations. What results do we want by when? And I think that also is probably like the pivotal piece when we're looking at this of what is our result? When do we need it by? That way we can see like who should I really hire of all my candidates? And then I loved how you said like, let's figure it out. You and I were in a practice together and we were like, okay, what sets us apart? Why should people want to work with us? And then who do we want to hire?   and this office, they like run on roller skates. So I'm like, put that in the ad, say like, we run fast and hard. We don't want people that like, if you don't love spinning around like 50 plates going in the air, this is not the place for you. And it's been crazy, because like, that really does speak to, now the person who wants that is going to come rather than just hoping and praying. ⁓ But Kristy, what do you do like this office?   The one I'm thinking of this doctor, it would, it just like the cards were falling left and right. Like every time we'd get on a call, was another team member was gone. And just so you know, this is not just isolated to this doctor. Kristy and I have seen this over our careers. Like this happens. It just comes in waves. And then we're like, we sit here and giggle empathetically. It's like, gosh, like this is just so frustrating. And it's like a giggle of like, I don't know what else to do. I'm either going to cry or I'm going to laugh with you. So like, let's choose the laugh and figure it out. What do you say to those offices? Like when it feels like,   Okay, I'm putting the ads out. I know who I want. I've got my onboarding expectations. Like I literally can't find anybody. What do you do in that spot? Or like where should they even go? So first of all, I guess question A is where should we be posting these ads? What can we be doing to hire? So all of our fishing rods are out there. And then part B will be like, what do we do when all fishing rods are out there, but we're just not getting bites? So where do you recommend fishing rods should go to find people?   Kristy (08:08) Yeah.   Yeah, well first off with your team, who do they know? Who can they reach out to? What are the resources they have? Also schools in your area, know, they may have contacts, not necessarily new grads, because this doctor didn't need a new grad for sure, but they might have relationships still with part of their ⁓ alumni, if you will.   and or lists of their names that they could reach out, you could solicit, you just never know. And I don't mean solicit in a bad way, because there could be people that are out there working, but aren't happy where they're at and are looking for something a little bit different. Or they're happy but want growth opportunities, you know? So again, pull your resources, look at your teammates, and don't think just my assistants. It could be an admin team member, it could be a hygienist that worked   great people before. ⁓ The other areas, obviously, if I wasn't looking for somebody that was hugely experienced and I had the ability to train, I like looking at restaurant servers or you find people that have great customer service and are willing to go the extra mile. I love dangling a carrot out there and   not only dangling the carrot, like promoting them as well. Like, hey, you are a fantastic server. If you know any friends that are just like you, have those qualities and are looking for a career, I would love, you know, to have you give them my card. And sometimes you'll do that and they'll look at you and go, well, why not me? You know, and you just found someone. So.   Kiera Dent (10:17) Exactly.   Kristy (10:20) Those are a couple avenues. know you have some as well. ⁓   Kiera Dent (10:24) Yeah, Kristy, I love that you talk about that. And I love that you're   scrappy like this. And if you're hearing Kristy's voice, Kristy loves where she's at. She loves, like, I just feel the love and compassion and just like helping team members feel that. And I think when you can convey that, it really is an easier path to get people to want to work with you. ⁓ dentistry is so small and I feel like we're a nice patchwork quilt where we're all somehow connected. Like we have the oddest family tree where every single person, I mean, Kristy and I,   Kristy's like, hey, I met you a few years ago. And I was like, this is really funny. I literally have an email from you in my inbox, but yet our worlds came back around a few years later. So just remembering like we all, and once you start brainstorming with your team, people are usually like, my gosh, I know this person or hey, I live next door to a hygienist. Let me ask them or hey, what about this person? And so I agree, Kristy, like the power of networking. And like, I remember we went to, I was in a drive-through and there was this girl who was like,   amazing at customer service. It was at a fast food restaurant drive through and I just handed my business card to her and was like, girl, you're incredible. Like if you're ever looking for something or know someone who's just like you, have them call us. And this girl did call me like it's wild Shelby, who if you've met her in our company, literally my next door neighbor, she wanted my plants and knocked on our door. So look and hunt for good people all the time and always, always, always be on the hunt. I think let's not get ourselves into these pickles where we meet people.   but let's always be recruiting, always be looking for great people. And then of course I'm here for like writing really awesome ads. So we love using a company called Ava HR. We have a promotional code through Dental A Team. I've negotiated down to get you the best pricing, but you can post one ad and it will like, you can post how many ads you want and it's just one monthly fee. So I'm really big also though of like, this is where I put my fishing bait. I'm out there putting like a bunch of different titles to see who's applying to my different ads.   based on the title because just like podcast episodes, it's interesting. Shelby and I went and pulled like the most downloaded ones and it does not matter the content, it matters the title. And so same thing with your ads, like yes, that's going to attract somebody. So put really awesome titles and see like we have tried different ones to pull in consultants and the one that works best is usually like a regional manager or a consultant, like looking for something different. That one tends to pull me my best candidates, but I've tried office manager. I've tried treatment coordinator. I've tried like.   but until you know a bait works in your area, you've got to try them out. So that's why I really love that. Talk to your reps. Reps are connected. Doctors talk to people on the golf course. Like it's shocking how many dentists have come from golf course conversations that I've seen looking in your area. And just like you said, service industry, some of my absolute best office managers are bankers. So they're coming from banking and some of our best schedulers actually came from like tanning salons or hair salons that were super busy. Lots of high-end customer service moving really quickly. ⁓   but those are some of the best places. So I think like, get your fishing poles out there, start looking and then like, don't stop. Don't just like throw the fishing pole out there and hope and pray that the bait stays. Watch it, constantly update it, stay top of mind with people because just because you had a conversation with your team today doesn't mean they remember in a week from now. So making sure it's like top of mind, this is who we're looking for. If you know anybody, you see anybody and it's crazy because all of a sudden.   like little bubbles just show up in your world and people show up. So I think brilliant ideas on that, Kristy. So then part two of that question was what happens? Like, I honestly think it's just patience. So it's okay to just say patience. Like people want immediate results. And so what do we do in that interim when it feels like we're getting no bites, we're doing everything, we're talking to people. Well, A, it's cause your pipeline wasn't built. So.   Just once you hire people, they'll stop doing all these things you were doing to find people. So like, we'll just put that plug in there. But what do you do? What do you tell clients when they just feel like they cannot find anybody? So they're getting desperate. They're getting snootier. Like, sorry, doctors, you do get grumpy when you don't have team members. I do too. So it's not just you. I do too. What do you do to keep their mindset or what can they do to bridge that gap that you've seen work really well for your practices?   Kristy (14:36) Yeah, two things and I had a tie in to the last thing we were talking about one other Avenue that has worked really well for us. Doctors also kind of dig their heels in and resist but make a video. Doctor make a video, right? And if you guys have local Facebook groups that are for dental, post the videos on there. Have the doctor speaking with you know, hey, if you like this, come work with me.   Kiera Dent (14:44) yeah.   my god, yes.   Kristy (15:05) My team, we want you, you know? We've seen it work.   Kiera Dent (15:08) Hmm.   We have seen her and Kristy, great job on that. And doctors like, but I'm not like out there. Like, I don't like to myself out there. I'm like, good, post just that. Like who you are is going to attract the person that you want. And notice this, even Kristy and I on this roof, like we podcasting right now. We work together with the offices. Even right here, we're spurring different ideas, talking to each other. And this is what happens in your team. It's like popcorn. So it's like, what idea could we have here? my gosh, that's going to lead to this idea. wait, what about this?   my gosh, what if we did this like hygienist? I have an office and they literally do CE for hygienist in their area. You could do CE for doctors in your area. And then at the end, you just say like, Hey, we're always looking for hygienist. If you know anyone that like would love to be a part of what we're doing, we'd love to meet them. That office literally gets like three or four hygienist resumes at the end of every one of their CE conferences because people want to be with them. So it's again, like where are these people? How can we attract them? But right here, Kristy and I were like, cool, we got that.   And they're like, wait, this is another idea. wait, what about this? I just realized like once you start brainstorming, more ideas come from you. And I think let's not look like, let's ask better questions. Questions of like, where do these people hang out? Where does my avatar hang out? Where's like another cabbage patch I could go find that maybe we haven't thought of that might be like out of the box thinking. Where is this profile, like personality type, not profiling, but personality type. Where does this person hang out? Where do they like to be?   where can we go for this? That's what I'm gonna start to like think about. That's where the brainstorming happens. And this is where I feel like you are able to win when other people are just posting an Indeed ad and walking away. You're literally got like 10 fishing lines out there. Other ways you can do it that way too. So kudos on the brainstorm session, Kristy. I love it.   Kristy (16:52) Yeah.   Sounds good. And to your point, if they're not finding who they want, I like to redirect them and focus on what can we do right now while we're looking for this person. And like you say, continuously looking. think about the tools you have within your practice. Like, could we use Mr. Thirsty and maybe not have to have the extra set of hands right now or, you know.   I mean, there's just so many different solutions. Is there a hygienist maybe that would be willing to come work as an assistant or, you know, we've got to be creative.   Kiera Dent (17:25) And I think,   yeah, and Kristy, when you said that, like, I think it's important not to say no, right? It's very easy to give that pushback, like, no, I don't want to do this. I understand, and Kristy understands that you want the most perfect person to land in your lap. Well, guess what? You still have to do dentistry, and we still have to get through this until that perfect person shows up. And also, I think, Kristy, like, we can use a Mr. Thirsty. We could use a hygienist. We could have someone flex up front.   Like whatever it is, what that also does is it buys you time so you don't make a desperate hire. And I think that's one of the biggest pieces we're trying to help you see is then you buy yourself some time. I know you and I were talking to an office and you brought up the great idea of virtual assistants. Like virtual assistants, they're not long-term. They can be long-term. They can bridge gaps. They could answer phones. They could do billing for you. Things that you could outsource that maybe then would like alleviate the load. We had an office hand turn. You and I were like, all right, well, why don't we have a virtual assistant do?   all these pieces for you while we're waiting for your front office team member. I thought it was one of the most brilliant, think kudos to us. Like let's just like brush our shoulders off here. But that's like where I think a consultant and a guide can help you see. But I think you also have to realize like you're in a pickle right now. So let's get out of that pickle and make it to where we can be more creative. Any other thoughts you have on that, Kristy?   Kristy (18:47) No, I agree with you. think because even when we're talking virtual assistant, one of one of our teammates had a virtual assistant. Literally, they had no admin team member and that person was sitting on a screen greeting people when they walk in. And when we mentioned that the team's eyes were like, what? I'm not gonna lie. I kind of like mind blown to but think about it. That is still better.   than having to put a sign up and say, hold, because there's nobody here to greet you. At least they have a live person. It might be on a screen, not in flesh, but they're there and acknowledging them and greeting them. So truly getting resourceful, if we will, and like you said, thinking outside the box. And it doesn't have to be a long-term solution. It's an intel solution.   Kiera Dent (19:39) And I love that you said   it's an until solution because when we have that, like it's so brilliant because now I, what I love is this then opens up your, I'd say like treasure box of options that you have for the future. Like, great, I know I could do a VA. Great, I know I could do a billing outsource. Great, I know I could do a Mr. Thirsty. Like it's not optimal, but then also what this does is you're no longer handcuffed and shackled to team members being there because team members will come and go forever. That is the reality of owning a business.   We hope and pray they'll stay with us forever, but guess what? Like that's just not the reality of life. And that's also not the flavor of business either. And so with that, I think it teaches you resourcefulness. It teaches you what things you can do. It's kind of like, I always say, man, if I have to, I know I can scrap down to top ramen and like I can live so cheap because I did it before. And I think this just allows you to have that flexibility and creativity. And I think what I would like people to know, and I know Kristy's on the exact same pages,   Kristy (20:25) you   Kiera Dent (20:35) making sure we use these resourcefulness so we don't accidentally desperate hire. Like truly, it can be so tempting to just hire someone to make the pain go away, but it's choose your heart. Is it harder to like deal with this resourcefulness? like agreed when I heard about that person on the screen, I was like, you know what? But hey, it's 2025, everybody's on virtual. Like it's not that weird for people to have like maybe a little off, but I mean, Kristy and I hang out on virtual all day long. I don't see a single team member 90 % of the days that I work.   Kristy (20:55) Thank you.   Kiera Dent (21:04) that it's not as weird as we might think it is, but I think what it does is it forces the discipline so that way you can truly wait for your ideal hire rather than being desperate, hiring somebody, having to terminate them or they're not the right fit. I think it just allows you almost like a longer rope before you're like at the end of your rope as well. So I think it was brilliant, Kristy, great ideas on that.   Kristy (21:25) ⁓ thank you. ⁓   Kiera Dent (21:27) Of course. So with   that, think that's our that's kind of our wrap for you guys of what do I do? How can we get this? If we can't hire maybe helping you think of outside the box, how can we bring these people in? What do we need to do as far as looking at our practice, looking at what we want to bring into our practice, getting resourceful on where we put our fishing rods. And then how can we like do this, like beginning and ending to make sure that we're really in the right spot for this practice. So, Kristy.   love consulting with you. I love what you do for our clients. I love that you bring so much positive energy. I love that you think outside the box. And I think that that's why you can like, this is why I think you find money in practices because you're like, all right, it's not on this avenue. It's going to be over on this avenue. If it's not on this avenue, it'll be over here. But I think that same resourcefulness goes into how you consult. And I just want to say kudos to you and appreciation for being on the podcast and also serving so many of our clients as well.   Kristy (22:21) It's an honor. Thank you.   Kiera Dent (22:23) Of course. All right. For all of you listening, if you're struggling with hiring or you're struggling with motivation or you're struggling with all the things that business owners deal with, reach out, Hello@TheDentalATeam.com or go click on schedule a call. The call is so fun. We literally show you gaps in your practice, things that you're doing really well and make it to where you can truly sleep better at night. And if we can help you, amazing. We'd love to help you. Otherwise just come like figure out where your blind spots are, but reach out. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. And as always, thanks for listening. We'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team Podcast.