Strategic Hiring
When you need to fill a position on your team, do you hire people who share your personality? The common tendency is for a dentist and/or the team member in charge of… Continue On +
How to Handle a Clash of New Patient Expectations
One of the worst-case scenarios for a dentist is to find significant decay on a new patient who expects everything is fine. How do you break the bad news without making the… Continue On +
Have Your Eyes Open for Talent
When is a good time to start recruiting for the next opening in your practice? It might surprise you to learn that right now is the ideal time, even if your current… Continue On +
Whithout Trust You Do Not Have Teamwork
One of the main reasons for team conflict is the lack of trust. If you ask your team members if they trust each other, many will initially say “yes.” But when you… Continue On +
You Speak English and Body Language
When people work on improving communication skills, they naturally focus on what they are trying to say. What’s even more important, thought, is how you say it. The entertainer Mae West once… Continue On +
Win Your Patients Over With Prompt Follow-Up
We have all experienced situations where we expected a healthcare provider or a vendor to follow-up on our questions; however they never called. What kind of impression did that make? In many… Continue On +
How Open Are You to New Ideas?
How open-minded are you to new ideas? Charles Kettering, the American engineer who invented the electric starter, once said, “People are very open-minded about new things—as long as they are exactly like… Continue On +
Are Cancellation Fees Effective?
Many dental practices attempt to curb cancellations by charging a fee. But is this effective? Cancellation fees, coupled with appropriate phraseology, work well as a deterrent against patients who call to cancel… Continue On +
Curbing Last-Minute Cancellations
Few things are more irritating to a dentist and team than patients who cancel at the last-minute, leaving big gaps in the schedule. And it’s normal for dentists and teams to want… Continue On +
Growth Starts with Patient Comfort
Dentists understandably wonder how to grow their practice. Should they focus on direct mail or a better website or a new banner out front? How about starting with patient comfort. Ivan Misner,… Continue On +
Sharing Praise
Do you enjoy receiving praise? You’re not alone. Most of us appreciate sincere positive feedback, and when we receive it we immediately perk up. At a recent meeting with a dentist, I… Continue On +
Getting the Most Out of Feedback
Management guru Ken Blanchard once said, “Feedback is the breakfast of champions.” But what if the feedback is tough to swallow? The current issue of Inc. magazine has an excellent article about… Continue On +