Your team is essential to growing your business
Team members are important to the growth of any business and I really noticed this when I was looking for a hose for my car this past weekend. I visited a dealership and a parts store, and the experiences were very different. The man in the car dealership was rude and didn’t appear to care if he got my business or not. His attitude indicated that his interest was in selling me an entire system for the “hose” for $150 rather than helping me with a small part. Because of his demeanor, the fact that he didn’t give me options within my budget, and didn’t explain why the “entire system” was necessary, I left without purchasing and went to a parts store instead.
Most of the employees at the parts stores were eager to give me great service and even though they didn’t have the hose I was requesting, they offered me other hoses that they thought I could try. Finally, with the help of an excellent salesman, I found the proper hose and it only ended up costing me $24. If I ever hear of anyone needing help with car parts, I would recommend that parts store first! The experience shaped both my recommendation process and my feeling about the entire dealership and parts store. Small parts can make a big difference in your dental practice as well.
Does your team value the dentistry you provide and believe in your fees? Are they able to explain the services you offer to your patients and answer their questions? Is the attitude one of only selling “big cases” or one of customer service? Do they understand how the pieces of your treatment plan work together in the best interest of the patient? Can they deliver that message with belief?
To help build your team’s understanding of treatment planning, it is a great idea to frequently review a large treatment plan with your team to create the understanding of the diagnosis, treatment plan and why it was diagnosed in the patient’s best interests. It is essential for the front desk to understand the value of your dentistry – including the value of the “little things.” This will prevent having a patient appear to understand the plan in the operatory, but then demonstrate at the front desk that they really did not understand. If they ask the front desk if they really need to have the dentistry done and the front says, no it can wait, the patient most likely will wait until it is re-diagnosed. If the delivery is about the practice and not the patient, you will more than likely lose the patient and the future referrals.
Team meetings are an important part of growing your practice. An aligned team can communicate much more effectively. Having a team that understands and believes in your philosophy of care is a large key to success and an even larger part of their attitude when having conversations with patients.
OnTrack offers resources that will help support this strategy and track your results. Go to www.myontrack.com for more information or speak to your Patterson representative about how to sign up to use OnTrack in your practice.