Dental Drills Bits – Details, episodes & analysis

Are you struggling with patient no-shows that disrupt your dental practice’s schedule?

In this rerun episode of Dental Drill Bits, Sandy and Michael dive deep into practical strategies to minimize cancellations and improve patient attendance. The conversation kicks off with a focus on the art of clear communication, where they assert the power of personalized phone calls over cold automated messages. These personal touches not only confirm appointments but also strengthen the patient-practice bond, making each patient feel recognized and appreciated.

Moving beyond communication, Sandy and Michael explore the often-overlooked aspect of office efficiency, from managing personnel roles to implementing effective scheduling systems. They provide a candid critique of over-automation, pointing out how it can erode patient relations and lead to an uptick in unattended appointments. By sharing relatable anecdotes and actionable advice, Sandy illustrates the importance of addressing unconfirmed slots quickly and empathizing with patient concerns from the get-go. Wrapping up, the hosts offer a toolkit for handling broken appointments and stress the need for practices to take charge of their scheduling processes to foster efficiency and elevate patient care.

What You'll Learn in This Episode:

• The significance of personalized communication over automated messages.
• The role of clear communication in reducing no-shows and cancellations.
• How to balance automation with personal patient relations.
• Effective appointment confirmation techniques that engage patients.
• Strategies for efficient schedule management, including personnel roles.
• Tips for promptly addressing unconfirmed appointments.
• Handling patient objections to decrease cancellations.
• Insights into maintaining a patient-first approach throughout the scheduling process.

Tune in now to transform your practice's appointment strategies and strengthen patient connections!

(This episode originally aired on Sep 06, 2023)

Sponsors:

Do you need a new website or marketing agency? Check out what DocSites can do for you: DocSites.com/landing-pages/ddb

Communities/Groups:

Dental Gumbo Group

Front Desk Pro

In this episode of Dental Drill Bits, we're exploring the dynamics of a healthy vendor-client relationship as Sandy delves into an inspiring conversation with Megan Lohman from Plan Forward. Together, they unlock the powerful components of successful partnerships, from the nuances of clear communication to fostering mutual respect. The duo emphasizes the importance of setting realistic expectations and maintaining open lines of communication to ensure vendor relationships become long-term, growth-oriented collaborations. Sandy further highlights the benefits of her Front Desk Pro seminars, a series promising transformative engagement for entire dental teams across the U.S., offering practical tools to enhance their practice management skills.

The discussion takes a practical turn as Megan shares valuable tips, rooted in personal experience, on navigating the challenges of vendor implementation while optimizing business efficiency. Sandy rounds off the episode by stressing the importance of a teamwork-driven approach, where practice leaders must transparently relay goals and expectations to their teams, ensuring seamless adoption of new services.

What You'll Learn in This Episode:

• The key ingredients of a successful vendor-client relationship in dental practices.
• Tips for setting realistic expectations and maintaining fruitful communication with vendors.
• Strategies for viewing vendors as long-term business partners.
• Insights on the value of regular feedback and being open to change.
• Practical steps for improving vendor implementation and business efficiency.
• How effective team communication can enhance the adoption of new tools and services.

Listen in today to take your vendor relationships to new heights!

Sponsors:

Don’t just look ahead. Plan Forward. Discover the dental membership plan partner that empowers your entire office. Created by a team in your shoes. Find out more here, and be sure to mention Dental Drill Bits for a special offer! https://www.planforward.io/

Communities/Groups:

Dental Gumbo Group

Dentaltown

Events:

Businesses:

Burbank Dental Lab

Software:

Dentrix

Zoom

Terms:

KPIs - Key Performance Indicators

PMS - Practice Management Software

Imagine transforming the daily chaos in your practice into a streamlined and efficient operation. In this episode of Dental Drill Bits, Michael and Sandy tackle some of the most disruptive productivity killers facing dental practices today—late patients, broken appointments, no-shows, and cancellations. Sandy brings her expert perspective by emphasizing the necessity of a dedicated scheduler who can artfully manage appointments to minimize chaos and boost productivity. They delve into actionable strategies, such as enhancing patient education, solidifying financial arrangements, and enhancing verbal skills, all designed to ensure patients respect and honor their scheduled times.

As they unravel the complexities behind missed appointments, Sandy challenges common misconceptions, like the idea of penalizing patients, by shifting the focus towards proactive solutions and realistic production goals. Michael and Sandy create a warm and welcoming atmosphere, inviting you to reflect on your current practices and consider new approaches.

What You'll Learn in This Episode:

• Effective strategies to minimize late arrivals and cancellations.
• The importance of having a dedicated appointment scheduler.
• Techniques for enhancing patient communication and financial arrangements.
• Insights into setting realistic production goals for dentists.
• Common misconceptions about penalizing patients for missed appointments.

Tune in now to discover the secrets to maintaining a productive dental practice!

Sponsors:

Do you need a new website or marketing agency? Check out what DocSites can do for you: https://www.DocSites.com/landing-pages/ddb/

Communities/Groups:

Dental Gumbo Group

Events:

Front Desk Pro - November 15, 2024 New Orleans, Louisiana (Use Code "Secret Sauce" at Checkout!)

Sauces:

RAO's

Establishments/Brands:

Costco

The-Ritz-Carlton

Uber

You may have heard this or possibly, some of you listening, may even think this way:  “we don’t have a production goal because we are patient focused”.

Knowing your income and taking care of patients are two different things. In this episode Sandy gives us the exact formula you need to boost your production. She also lets us know how patient care is woven into this. There is a way to reach production goals without the patient feeling like you are upselling or pushing treatment on them and Sandy let us know how to do this.

A great way to look at it is: “Production goals” are the food.. The type of food is patient care.

In this episode we dive into our Facebook group: Dental Gumbo and answer questions you have asked Sandy in the recent weeks.

Sandy answers and discusses these 3 main questions:

• How early to confirm appointments? 
• How do you deal with assistants or hygienists not showing up for work (slightest cold)? 
• How to present 3rd party financing as an option and favorite company?

Lately in the last week or two people are thinking ahead and what they’ll do differently in 2023. And we love it!

In this episode Sandy gives us 10 key principles we MUST upgrade or improve within our practice!

They are:

1. Low retention rate.
2. Too many broken appointments.
3. Bonus systems that don’t work. 
4. Poor Recare systems.
5. High accounts receivable balance. 
6. Low treatment acceptance. 
7. No marketing or poor marketing. 
8. Phones!! 
9. Too many people are falling into the “practice management of the month club”.
10. Doctors not setting performance expectations for their team. 

Listen to the episode to discover more details and strategies on how to improve each key element.

A lot of your employees are planning their whole Christmas around their Christmas bonus. However, is a Christmas bonus really necessary? How can you make this “bonus” work for you and how can you stop it if you don’t have the funds but feel the “need” to do it because you’ve done it in the past?!

Sandy gives us the instructions, script, and formula on what we need to do to be consistent with rewarding our team. She let’s us know how she doesn’t always agree with the Christmas bonus but has created a system on how this type of bonus can work for you and the practice.

Most dentists and especially practice owners, watch their money, and the decisions they make to KEEP money is causing missed opportunities and keeping the income down. Now, saving money is not a bad thing, that’s not what we are discussing here. We are talking about how often we step over dollars to pick up pennies.

In this episode Sandy gives us about 7 main reasons on where we stumble and mess up. These 7 reasons/ mistakes are causing an illusion that we are saving money, when in reality we are missing too many opportunities and hurting our potential and profits.

If you ever wanted to be a fly on the wall in Sandy’s Scheduling Academy, this is it!

Should you add 3-4% on the dental bill if people are going to use credit cards? The quick answer is “NO”! This can easily make your patient lose trust in you. Remember people don’t carry cash or checks as much anymore. More and more people are using credit cards. When you add the 3-4% on the patients bill, this is working against your internal marketing!

In this episode Sandy breaks down for us what we should do if our terminal/ credit card charges come with a fee and how we should present it to the patient. We also discuss other great alternatives that you should adopt now to easily get the money from the patient without hassle.