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Dr. Brian Harris of Smile Virtual gets real and raw with Kiera. The topic: burnout, and how Dr. Harris navigated it to boost himself toward success. He talks about what that meant personally, professionally, as well as tackling the reality of finances and production with a practice partner, and more. Episode resources: Learn about Smile Virtual Listen to episode 840: Easy Way to Get More Patients Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Join Dental A-Team Consulting Leave us a review Transcript: The Dental A Team (00:00.536) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera and I am super pumped to welcome back one of our top guests that's been on the podcast, Dr. Brian Harris. I hope you guys caught his last podcast where we went into all things for Smile Virtual, how we can increase your practice by doing virtual consults. And today he's back to chat, case acceptance, and I'm going to geek out and ask him my own personal selfish questions, but Brian's incredible. Welcome back, Brian. How are you today? Thank you. It is great to be back. I loved the conversation we had last time and I feel like we started to to get into some really cool topics and then we ran out of time. So this is great. I'm excited to be back for sure. I love someone who can geek dental with me for as long as we were to where we run out of time because we're just so in the thick of it. And so welcome back. I love it. Tell us though, for those who might have missed the last episode, kind of just give them a quick rundown of who you are, how you became the Brian Harris, how you're helping dentists across the nation. I love what you do. I think you do incredible work. And we even have actually had, this is random. I have friends that have worked for you in Arizona that I just put the connection together last night. I was like, wait, Trista worked for you. And so it's kind of a fun time, but kind of for our audience, if they don't know you, give them a quick intro about you and what you do and how we even got here to then tee up our stage for today. Yeah, that's always scary when you have friends that have worked for somebody or worked for me because then you're like, shoot, they know like, they know the real me. So, You know, I will I'll give you a background. You know, I feel like I've got, you know, a pretty common story in dentistry, but then also like a pretty interesting one, too. You know, I grew up around it. My dad was a dentist. I've got two brothers that are dentists. My father-in-law is a dentist. I mean, it's it's just kind of always been part of my life. Joined my dad's practice 2005. He was doing a ton of cosmetic dentistry at that time. And so you know, naturally was able to mentor me and allow me to do a lot myself. And we have a, you know, just a great family cosmetic practice. And we built that into five different locations throughout Arizona. And then probably like 2016 was like the real pivot point for me because I was, you know, we were cruising along, we had the five locations, but I was burning out and The Dental A Team (02:29.088) And I kind of was just like, man, I just want to do what I love to do. And I don't necessarily want to be going to all these offices. I don't want to be working the hours that I was working. And so I had an experience with my wife kind of urging me to push and post more on social media and kind of show the world the type of dentistry that I do. And everything just kind of took off from there and started to build a brand and started to to have patients flying in to see me. because of that, launched a software platform called Smile Virtual. talked about that last time and it's the top tele-industry platform now in our industry. And I still am seeing patients three long days a week and loving what I do with Smile Designs and probably about 70 % of all my patients fly in from out of state to see me in two visits. That's my story. It's been pretty remarkable and I've been able to take the things that I've learned and I'm just passionate about sharing that with other doctors and helping them do the same in their own practices. I love it. Thank you for sharing that. And it was interesting because my husband and were talking last night. I told him, said, hey, tomorrow's podcast day. I'm really excited. We were chatting about your podcast. And my husband actually asked me an interesting question. He's like, Kiera, I think this would actually be a really good podcast topic. And I said, I don't know the answer to it. So Brian, maybe you can actually help. Because as you were talking about your story and having the locations, I think there actually becomes this pivotal moment where we're on this path. And so my husband asked me, he said, what's the difference between settling, failing, and living in the moment? And I'm curious if you have any insights on that. I know I didn't prep you up for it, and I didn't even plan to talk about it with you. But I think you kind of hit that level, right? You could have kept growing, and you decided. Like I'm burnt out, but I think so many of us it's like, well then am I settling and like gonna just scale back? Am I failing because I'm tired or am I like living in the moment or then also pivoting to what I really want? So do you have any insights on that? Like I said, I wasn't planning on it, but I didn't have quite the answers and I think it could be a really interesting combo to kind of kick us off today. Yeah, I love that question. I really love that question and I've never been asked it before. And so that's why when you asked it, I was like, huh. The Dental A Team (04:50.446) That's actually really interesting. I think, I think what happens is for me, at least the way I experienced it, it kind of, I experienced all three of those things at the same time. Like I felt like to some degree I was like, well, yeah, we have the five locations. Like I should be happy, know, I need to be successful doing what I love. But then also I kind of felt like I was, you know, so I felt like I was like, well, am I settling because I don't get to do only the stuff I love? And then it kind of felt like failure because I felt like, you know, I should be happy, but I wasn't. So I kind of felt like I was failing at this game of happiness as a dentist. And then I think the third part of that is like recognizing that like, that's the sweet spot. Like that's where you want to be because I feel like that's where the magic happens when you get to this. this point of like internal conflict of like, what's really going on here? Like that's like, when you make a move there, you know, if you make the right move, it's always going to be like the move that made a difference. know? It's interesting. And I'm curious, like, how did you reconcile through that? And like, how long does it take? Because I know, like I'm going through a very similar experience and like this summer, I just hit rock bottom and I'm like, but on paper, my life is like popping. It's the most perfect and like people on the outside looking in are like, here, what are you talking about? My family is like, what are you talking about? But internally you have this guilt, you have this struggle. It's like, I'm so happy with the life I'm living, but I'm also like so stretched, so thin. And I'm also questioning like, am I really on the path that I want to be on? Or am I just on the path that kind of like fell into my lap? And maybe I'm, managing it rather than creating it. So like how long does, and I agree with you, it is the magic sweet spot, but it. feels like it's the failure sweet spot. feels like it's the rock bottom. feels like it's the the ultimate failure of your life. I'm like, I'm, my life is so good that I'm so miserable. It's such like this like paradox of life. So how did you navigate through it? How long did it take you? Because it doesn't happen overnight. And I think so many people have this like The Dental A Team (07:01.678) misbelief that it's like, Brian woke up and was like, I know what I want to do. Versus it's like it takes some time. And maybe you did. Maybe I'm the one who just takes a long time to figure out what I want to do in life. But how was that for you? How did you navigate it? Yeah, I think what happens is, when you've been there a couple times, like to me, I see it now is like, that's just part of the process is part of growth. The first couple times I found myself in situations like that with different companies that I started or things that I got involved in. It took me months, even years to make a decision. But now it happens all the time where, you know, I'll have this great idea and on paper, like it's like, this makes total sense. And then I start down that path and I'm like, ooh, this is a bad idea. And so now I've gotten really good at like, just, when I recognize that it's not a dead end, it's just a cul-de-sac. You just freaking turn around and go back the other way and, and do something different. And so I think, I mean, you're going to have listeners, viewers that are at this point where they're like, I don't get it. Like I'm just getting started. don't even, I can't even get patients in the chair. Like I don't have that problem yet, but they will get to that point at some time. And so I think if you're there, then it's like, listen to this conversation, cause it's going to happen sometime. And then you're going to have a lot of people that I feel are there. And, and I think that the important thing is stop making decisions, just decide. Just decide. If it's what you want to do and you're like, you know what, I'm ready for a change. A mentor of mine pushed me and as I was going back and forth with him of like, I want to do this, but I also only want to see small design cases. But I also don't want to make my dad and brother upset because they think I'm being selfish for not wanting to do hygiene exams anymore. I was going back and forth and he's like, dude, Brian. He's like, for two days we've been talking, he's like, stop making decisions, just decide, are you gonna do it or not? He's like, if you're gonna do it, then just do it and then go and create it. But if you're not, then stop worrying about it and just get back to what you were doing before. How did you figure out, Brian, that you, that's so lovely, and I love that you brought up family dynamics and guilt and like, I don't want my spouse to think this about me, but it's like, people don't actually think those things. I think a lot of times we project it. And even if they do think that, like, The Dental A Team (09:25.486) At the end of day, it's your life and you're creating it and you're living it. How did you decide though? Cause I think there's a piece of you of like, you've got this serial entrepreneur in you. mean, we're going to talk clean products. We're going to talk a lot of the different things you've done. You cosmetic dentist, smile, virtual, clean products. Like you've got this serial entrepreneur within you. So you've got this like massive growth. You're building all these practices, but then you also love cosmetic dentistry. How did you navigate and decide like, what I really have my passion for is this? Because I think some people get like sloshy there and they get gray there. And it's like, it's. under the surface of I think like layers and layers and layers of guilt or what I should be doing or maybe I don't know but I'm like I feel like people always have that core they do know how did you decide that that was your core and you wanted to do these these smile virtual designs and that's what you really wanted to do. Yeah, I think I think two things happen I think people they realize it's what they want to do but then they don't feel like you know they have these thoughts of doubt of like well I'm never gonna have enough of those type of patients come in. I think that's a separate conversation. I think the conversation of like the first part that you mentioned of like, do you do that without feeling selfish? Especially within like a family dynamic. I think you just have to be vulnerable and really open and honest and speak to your partners. Speak to those in your life that it's going to affect and come up with a way where it works for everybody. know, it was, and I mean, rightfully so. It does seem selfish to say like, hey, I am only going to do smile designs. I don't want to do hygiene exams anymore. You know, if I've got a dad and a brother who are my partners that are like, well, that's not fair. know, cool. We don't want to do them either. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And it depends. Every practice different sometimes like, that's, that's how you fill your schedule. But other times, like it is a burden. And so being able to go to them and say, okay, here's my thought. If I do this. I know it's going to increase my personal production, know, and we're partners, you know, all three of us are partners in this. And so in the end, what's going to happen is like, I'm willing to push hard. I'm willing to work hard. And at the time I think I was personally producing, I think my monthly average is about 450,000 a month, just myself, you know, doing smile design cases. And so I was able to show them like, if I do this, The Dental A Team (11:49.08) there's gonna be significant amount more money going into practice that we can all share. And the trade off is that I'm not gonna have to do the exams and I'm gonna be able to practice kind of over here separate from the practice, but it's gonna put more stress on you guys, but ultimately we'll all win financially because we're partners. And that's exactly what happened. So. Yeah, no, and I think that's incredible because I also think as society and as doctors and as partners and as people, I think we often think what's fair is equal. And that's actually not true. Like it doesn't have to be like just because you can produce more doesn't mean that we have to be seeing all the hygiene exams. And I think when we can all step back and say, what's in the betterment of the business, which is ultimately in the betterment of all of us. And then how can we do that? And I know for even like some partnerships, yeah, it does make sense financially for you to do it, but the stress of the hygiene exams is going to be a piece for us. Well, great, let's find a middle ground. Maybe I take pick up hygiene exams one day out of the week, but I do smile design cases for the rest of the week until we realize like this is really better or like let's bring on an associate that does hygiene exams. Where it's like there's so many different crayons in our crayon box. Like let's not forget that we don't just have black and white. We actually have all the myriad of colors and finding the solution. I think it's important. So thanks for like going down that rabbit hole with me a little bit. I was just so curious. I'm like, it seems like he's got it like pretty much figured out. And I also really loved and I hope people heard like I think the more we can practice this skill of, like, I remember I was at a conference this summer and the speaker was saying, he's like, why, why did you ever think that you have ju…
Full show notes at the publisherTiff and Dana discuss updating your operations manual in a way that doesn't completely stress you out. They dive into details about each of the following steps: Establish an ops manual point person Schedule regular updates Delegate sections Set due dates Just because it's a big deal doesn't mean the process can't be fun and effective. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Join Dental A-Team Consulting Leave us a review Transcript: The Dental A Team (00:01.615) Hello, Dental A Team listeners I am so excited to be here with you again on this beautiful day. I have Ms. Dana here in the house with me. That literally feels like she's in my house. I wish she were here, but we are houses apart. Dana, how are you today? Dana (00:18.36) Damn pretty good, how about you? The Dental A Team (00:20.703) Good, good. We are over here at the time of recording this just getting prepped for the holiday season. Like we're well into it at this point. I feel like holidays have began and parties and gosh, I feel like everything, so many things are going on and I only have one kid. I see this all the time. Dana's got a slew of children over there in her household and her husband and all of these things and Dana, you have just been running around like crazy. You went to a... a recent event where we were very excited for you. Tell us how that went and we did you did was it PBR the bull riding? How did the kids how much do the kids love that? Dana (01:00.131) Yeah. Well, they loved it. It's something about too, I think of bull riding, right? The goal is to say it on eight seconds, right? So my kids can all pay attention for eight seconds, even the littlest one. So it's something that they will like, we'll all enjoy it. They all pay attention the whole way through. Sometimes it requires snacks for the littlest one, but it was great. The Dental A Team (01:11.591) Yes! That's fair. The Dental A Team (01:22.959) I love that. That is a very good point. I feel like we all need to remember that because I don't know how much better our attention spans really get. I know they say like for anything that you post on social media or for for you guys for doing marketing engagement, things should be able to grab someone's attention and hold it within that first like three to five seconds of looking at something. And so I just don't know that our attention spans have gotten any better than that eight second, you know, time frame. So I think the PBR is for everyone. I think that is such a good point of view. I know when we went before my sister and I had gone and I was like, holy cow, they were only up there for like three, four or five seconds. I'm like, it felt though like a long time watching it. I'm like on the back of this crazy animal. Like this is this feels like a long time. So kind of plays into that too, where I know I have practices that I'll work with and I'm like, you know, you've got to be on time. You to your patients back on time. Like if they're here 20 minutes early and you're taking them back on time, if you haven't notified them they were here early or kept them engaged while they were here, they feel as though you're late. And so if they've been here even five minutes earlier on time and you're five minutes behind, it makes such a difference. And sometimes I'll have... practices where we're just so heavily focused on that patient interaction, that patient experience that I will make them do wall sits. They'll be like, yeah, whatever, Tim, you're crazy. And I'm like, cool, let's do this. We're going to do some wall sits. And I don't know if anybody's done a wall sit recently. They are painful. that really puts into perspective how long a minute is. think normally we get to like 25 seconds and people start dropping out. It's a difficult one. So I love that you said that, Dina. That was such a good perspective to add there. PBR is so much fun and it's just the time of the year where we're just like prepping for everything and having so much fun with our families and our friends. And we have our holiday party for Dental A Team coming up, our virtual party. And it's just such a time of year to really The Dental A Team (03:24.851) look back on all of the things that we've accomplished and we've done so far. I know for me, I've been looking at okay, what did what did I set out to accomplish? What did I actually accomplish? And what did I miss along the way? And a lot of those pieces, I think we miss those goals along the way, because we really didn't have a good plan. I know for me, I miss personal goals or work goals constantly, because I just didn't have enough plans set in motion. I didn't have enough trajectory and I didn't have enough laid out of responsibilities and like really how I was going to accomplish that thing. And today talking about Dana, I pulled you in always for operations manual, but really looking at how we can update the operations manual next year. And when we were prepping for this today, you mentioned really splitting it out and making sure that things are broken apart. And I think that is a huge space that we miss. on the operations manual build out. I have practices, I just talked about practice last week that was like, I don't know, Tip, how do we do this? And we go listen, anybody can do it. You can do it in three months, you can take a year to do it. Anybody can do it in any amount of time as long as there's a plan set in place to get it done. And that plan has to be set in place before the day that you're gonna go start it so that you can see that progress. So taking time out of your day now. to prep and plan for what it might look like to either create from scratch or template. We have our templates, your operations manual if you don't have one or getting it updated for next year. And Dana, you work with practices a lot. I you've actually done operations manual intensives and things like that. You work specifically with practices to build out their operations manual. whether again, we're building it out or we're updating it, what do you see as some of the key points that need to be hit on in order to be successful in the build out and to really feel like gosh this is done for now because it's a work in progress it's always in motion so it's done for now what do you think are some really great tips that they could take away to really get that going for next year? Dana (05:35.584) Yeah, and I like what you said, first of all, planning and preparing for it because it is a massive project. So one, if you haven't started it or you don't have one, it is a massive project. making sure that you have somebody, you'll utilize your full team to build it, but you're gonna want someone there that is kind of your accountability person or who is spearheading it. So they're setting due dates, they're checking in on team members, they're making sure that... Progress is staying on track or adjusting if we get off track. And they're making sure that time is set aside each week or each month, however you're dividing it. So I think first of all, have your person who's going to kind of spearheaded or they're going to be responsible for it. And then because it is such a big... The Dental A Team (06:03.065) Uh-huh. Dana (06:18.602) document or a big project, it is also like a living and breathing document. So we have to update it as things change in a practice because what works for us today may not always work for us and get us the results that we're getting from it today. So also when it comes to updating, planning your updating and who is ultimately responsible for making sure it happens. The Dental A Team (06:39.585) Yeah, I love that. And that's that space, you guys, that we talk about all the time of that responsibility and practices, owners and doctors and leaders are constantly saying like, gosh, Tiff, Dana, like, how do I hold my team accountable? I don't know how to hold accountability. And I think that's the key to the accountability. The reason we struggle holding people accountable is because we don't actually know what we're holding them accountable to. We're holding them accountable to like some phantom thing that we said was going to get done. But if there's not a person, tied to that thing. There's not a date, there's not a timeline, there's not actionable pieces. It's really hard to feel confident and comfortable in holding someone accountable to it. So if you want to get an operations manual done or updated or what have you, maybe your office manager is responsible for ensuring that it gets done. Now that does not mean that he or she has to do the manual. It means that they need to help parse it out. and they need to help find more responsibilities, delegate out what needs to be done within it, and then they're tracking it they're making sure that it's actually getting done and that those deadlines are being met. And when they're not met, we're revamping and we're saying, okay, fantastic, how do we get back on track? What needs to happen to get us back on track for this? So I think Dana, that's a huge piece of what we miss just in general with a lot of pieces. I know I was just in a practice not too long ago, a few weeks ago. And I was like, great, fantastic. Like, who's responsible for what? And then he said, No, my front office, they don't like that. They like to just like everybody does everything. And I was like, cool, I want everyone to know how to do everything hands down. If you work in the front office, I want you to know how to do it all. But when I don't have confirmations done, who do I go to? He's like, well, it's like whoever can get to it. So then what doesn't actually happen? Confirmations, right? So if we don't have someone, if I don't know that it's specifically my job, I don't know to prioritize that because I've got other things that are coming in. So when we have specific items, whether it's a daily to do, whether it's this operations manual, getting these updates done, if I'm not specifically responsible for something, when other things come into my day, it's really difficult for me to say what's more important. The Dental A Team (08:52.631) Where does my time need to go? What should I be doing first, second, third? It's difficult for me to prioritize my to-dos, let alone my time. And one of the biggest complaints I get from leaders and from doctors is... a waste of time. They don't know how to prioritize their day. They don't know how to time block in their own schedule. We're trying to learn time blocking in our schedule, but my manager can't time block their schedule. Well, they can't time block their schedule because they don't know what the priorities are. When nothing is a priority, right? When everything is a priority, nothing is a priority. So because everything has now become a priority, because we've got a million things to do, we're just like picking the things that are the easiest, the things we can see the path on. I know I talked last week with an office about procrastination, right? And procrastination is really just things you put off to the last minute because you don't actually feel confident in carrying it through. Studies have shown that it's either missing information or you just, you truly just don't feel confident. You're like, I think I have all the pieces, but I don't know how to do this. It's not easy. And so we push it off to the end, which I think Dana is a huge piece of that operations manual. The operations manual gets pushed off to the end because we don't actually have a clear picture of how to complete it. We don't know what done looks like. We don't know how to get there. And it's this huge undertaking that everybody's like, cool, go write your protocol. So it's like, what? I have like 30,000 things I do in a day. How am I supposed to write all that down? So I love that you said really someone responsible. And so when it comes to updates data, you're saying the same thing, like someone is responsible. And then how do you suggest that that person really delegates out those pieces that need to be done? Dana (10:37.004) Yeah, and I think first of all, I do usually recommend, go through the whole thing yearly and look for updates. So if you're looking for a cadence for this yearly, and I think this is a great time as we're planning and prepping for next year, if you haven't done it for this year, add it to your goals for next year, get it on the calendar. And then with that, The Dental A Team (10:42.765) Yeah. Dana (10:56.962) having that person utilize your team, right? You can assign one person to go through each section. You can divide and conquer and say, okay, you you're gonna review and make sure all setups are correct. You're gonna review and make sure, you know, all of our lab tracking and all of that is correct. And you can break it up that way. But basically assign team members to a section of the operations manual and kind of go through it in my checklist is. Do we still do that thing? Do we have, is there a protocol in there and is that thing updated? Do we still do it that way? And if it is updated, great. If it isn't, then if you're the one to review it, you're the one to being responsible to update it. So usually just kind of setting that standard, break it up amongst the team. A lot of times it'll be the team leads that do it or. The Dental A Team (11:40.568) Yeah. Dana (11:48.674) you know, just somebody who you know has the capacity to do it at that time. And then just setting the standard that if you review it and it needs updated, you're also the one to update it. And then again, you can set due dates for those things. So, you know, hand me three updates each week, every Friday, until all of our updates are done or all updates done by an assign a date there. And then two, besides just yearly, right? Because we've taken time to get everything in writing and we've written all of these protocols, oftentimes once you have that project done, setting the standard that when we update anything, we are also updating the written version of it as well so that when you get to this year mark and you're going to do your updates, it isn't so cumbersome because you have along the way when you've updated things or added things, made sure to get those pieces in writing throughout the year. The Dental A Team (12:30.639) Mm-hmm. The Dental A Team (12:45.121) Yeah, I love that idea. think that's brilliant. And one piece you talked about there was really saying like this number done by every Friday. I know in my in my work, when we're doing projects and content creation and things for Dental A Team, something that really helps me so this could be for doctors and team members like alike, something that really helps me is okay, I've got to have three updates, five updates done by Friday. So which ones am I going to update? So if I have a list, So you guys within the operations manual templates have. really that table of contents, right? So I would go through the table of contents myself if I knew that was my goal was to have X amount done by Friday. And I would say awesome this week, I'm doing these five. So I would piecemeal out the ones that I'm doing to make sure that it gets done because I feel like for me personally, going…
Full show notes at the publisherIn this powerful episode, Kiera is joined by John Jackson, executive director of Defy Ventures, Utah. John shares his history as a criminal, the time he spent incarcerated for his crimes, and how he found the power to change. Kiera and John met through a Tony Robbins' Business Mastery earlier this year, and Defy Ventures is one of the nonprofits the Dental A-Team is donating to through its Live to Give program this year. About John: Correctional officials once labeled John "the worst of the worst." As he served 18 years in prison, John rose through the ranks of his gang by honing his leadership skills. After four years in solitary confinement, John realized that building his criminal resume would only lead him to life—and death—in prison. He made the dangerous and unpopular decision to step away from criminal activity while incarcerated at Pelican Bay, a notorious supermax prison in California. Since his release from prison in 2019, John served as the director of sales and fundraising at Hustle 2.0, helping to scale the organization from two prisons in California to 700+ jails and prisons in 47 states, serving 13,000+ incarcerated men, women, and youth. He co-authored 11 books. The curriculum provides holistic rehabilitation and healing for people in America's most dangerous prisons, offering a pathway to college. John delivered a TEDx at Cornell University about ending the generation cycles of incarceration. Today, John serves as the executive director of Defy Ventures, Utah, leveraging entrepreneurship to help incarcerated people transform their lives. He uses his story of courage and transformation to create hope for those who have been written off and forgotten by society. Episode resources: Learn more about Defy Ventures Reach out to Kiera Tune Into DAT's Monthly Webinar Practice Momentum Group Consulting Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Become Dental A-Team Platinum! Review the podcast Transcript: The Dental A Team (00:00.234) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera. if you don't know, Dental A Team has a portion of our company called Live to Give. And every single year, our company goes and looks for organizations or places that I believe in that I feel can give a greater impact in this world. We've done a Make-A-Wish for a child who had stomach cancer one year. We have done Stuff for Santa within our communities. We have done scholarships for people. And every single year we did a coat drive with all of our clients and we were able to give so many coats to cold families. And this year I met an incredible man named John from Defy Ventures. And John was an incarcerated criminal for 17 years. He was at maximum security. He was in solitary confinement for four years and he was sent to Pelican Prison, which is the number one like federal prison in California where it literally is like a resume builder for prisoners, but that is like the top of the top. He was in gangs and he has actually come out of prison and his five years since his release date. And he has a company called the Five Ventures where literally they help incarcerated criminals turn their skills that they've learned in prison into something good and to build businesses. And it's such an incredible company. It's probably not the one that I ever imagined that I'd be recommending or talking to you about, but. I'm bringing John on the podcast. John is a dear friend. met him and I just was so inspired by him of who he is as a person. And then also if you want no affiliation with our company with them, but just a cause of Live To Give where we donated as well. But you are able to sponsor an incarcerated criminal if you want to be able to give them the entrepreneurship skills and you're able to give back to an organization that I believe is trying to stop generational crime. The US has actually more in cart. our 5 % of the world's population and yet we have 25 % of the world's crime. And just watching how our world is going, if there are people like John who were incarcerated themselves and have been able to turn and become a force for good and to be able to do incredible things for this world, it might be something incredible for you. I am literally so excited to bring you guys today's guest. This is someone that I met a couple of months ago at Tony Robbins Business Mastery. The Dental A Team (02:19.04) little plug we did freaking win john so we are the winners will show you our trophies. Yeah, bring the trophies up. But john was actually the reason that we won and we were helping support his company which is defy ventures. But john has such an interesting story. And literally I had the most life changing experience talking to john and so I'm so excited to welcome john I there's like so much more I want to say about your intro but I'm let you tell your story more than me enjoying you. But welcome to the show john how are you today? I'm doing awesome. I have a huge smile on my face because I'm really excited. First is good to see you and second to be on your podcast to get to share with you. Getting to share that win on stage at Tony Robbins was definitely a highlight of my life. So thank you for supporting us and all in pushing us to promote while we were there as well. And I think you're back to back. You're on the back to back winning team, I think, two years in a row now. We're technically three for three, John, but our win this time was the first one I got the trophy for. So thanks for making the trophy happen. Like I won them all the times, but, and it's funny because my friend that I had first, which some of the podcast listeners may have heard Pierce, Pierce had said trophy and we took a picture and he's like, here, I'm just going to take it home and then I'm going to ship it to you. And I was like, okay, Pierce, that's great. Cause Pierce is like freaking seven feet tall. So of course when Tony brought out the trophies, he like grabbed one. I'm not quite as tall. And so I was like, no problem, Piers. And then Piers did a freaking podcast with me a little while ago. And those of you who watched it, Piers has his trophy right behind us on the podcast. And I was like, I remember that trophy, Piers. John, like this was like, and this we're talking, that was 2019. So this was five years in the beginning. But John, okay, Defy Ventures, you guys, we're gonna go into prison talk. John, I need you to tell your story. I'm gonna let you tell it. I'm gonna ask you like a thousand questions. I literally felt like I interviewed you before the win. didn't know we were going to win at business mastery. For those of who don't know business master is an event that Tony Robbins puts on and you go to this event. This is actually in 2019. I went there literally skyrocketed Dental A Team to where we are today. but I learned so much about business and what you're doing is you're at this conference. It's running from like, gosh, 10 AM until 2 AM in the morning. Like it's insane. And while you're there learning content, you're also supposed to be building a business within. It is like the most exhausting thing that you've ever done. The Dental A Team (04:38.688) And John's business was the one that we did this year of DeFi Ventures. And it was so cool. But John, tell your story because I'm not going to do you justice other than the fact that like this man came from one of the craziest prisons and I'm just beyond blown away of who you are as a person and the background story that you have. So John, tell us all like your little history, not little. It's like nuts. And now we're sitting here. You're a free man today on a podcast with me. Like literally the irony and the magic of your life is just inspiring to me. Thank you. Thank you. I just reiterate, I really am so grateful that we got to share that experience and Business Mastery has been, it has been a force accelerator for me as well. And whether it's through fundraising or just growing the impact that I want to have. So I'm really grateful that I get to do that and get to be a part of that experience. But yes, I'd love to share a part of my story. And I just start from, you're to have some highs and some lows here, but I promise we'll get to the end of it and it's a happy ending. but it started, like the most striking memories for me, start when I was 11 and it's, you know, from my mom kissing me, tucking me in a bed, kissing me good night and her going to work. she was a waitress at Denny's. worked the graveyard shift. So I get up the next morning and I'm on my way to school and on my way to school, I see my mom's car parked on the side of the road and I go look in and it was her murder scene. So that was. I was 11 years old. I never knew who my father was. So after my mom was murdered, I went to live with my aunt. And my aunt was a drug dealer. She was an entrepreneur. And she was a really good entrepreneur. She just used her skills in the wrong way. But when I was 17 years old, I was in the car with her. And we both get pulled over. She's got drugs in the car. And I can remember the cop. walking up and my aunt leaning over and telling me, if the cops find the drugs, tell them they're yours. She was already on probation. So her getting caught with drugs again was going to send her to prison. So I already lost my mom, right? I didn't have a father. I didn't want to lose my aunt too on top of that. So when the cops found the drugs, I lied and I said they were mine. And my aunt watched as I was handcuffed and put in back of a cop car. Now's my first time being arrested. The Dental A Team (07:06.285) got to jail, 17 years old slap on the wrist, right? If my first time being arrested, I get released about two weeks later, but something that my aunt did was she praised me. She's like, good job. This is what you do for your family and you protect your family. And looking back now, I know like it's the opposite. She's supposed to protect me. First. not, I'm not, I'm not bashing her for selling drugs or doing anything like that, but having me take the drug charge. was, that was something very different. but I knew at that time, I'm all in like a criminal lifestyle. This is what I'm going to do. And before the end of that year, I'd committed four armed robberies and I've been convicted of seven families. at 17, I was sent to a maximum security prison in California. So that's, that's kind of like, that's another like pivotal moment in my life is going to prison at 17. Yeah. Okay. There's more that comes and John like sitting here, I remember, so I meet you. Yeah, I had some like biases. You were we're at Tony Robbins, our mutual friend told us about you. And you just told me some things that Tony Robbins you're like curious like K cradle the grave. Like that's the prison lifestyle. So at 17, had you graduated high school? Or were you still a senior in high school? Or school? I dropped out of school. Seventh grade is the last grade I completed. Stop for real. You see your mom. You're like I'm out your aunt probably different lifestyle. Okay, so 17, you're starting to do all these things. So how does this work? Tell me from 17 to basically like, how what happens next? You like you get involved? I'm guessing criminal lifestyle? Like, how did you decide to go from like, Johnny from the block? was like literally like going to school. Now you're like in full blown criminal, but I might you're gonna take care of your family have no father, have no mother like this is the family. So you're going to adapt to family life. What happens after you're sent to like, how long are you in prison? And by the way, you guys, I did ask John of anything that, cause I would, I'm so nosy. I'm so curious about this. And when we were talking at Tony Robbins before we ended up winning, I thought it was actually really awesome. Cause I got to hear your entire story even more so. And then we go on stage and we win. And it even more of a magical moment of like, I didn't feel like we won the conference. I feel like we won your life and like to see you have a very different life than like the path that you were on is why I wanted you on the podcast. Because I remember when we were talking, John, The Dental A Team (09:33.453) like I had actually had a really rough summer. and I had had like some really hard times. And I remember looking at you and I'm like, John loves himself so much. And you have told me some stories and I'm like, if this man can learn to love himself, like you're such an example for all of us of like, you don't have to be on the path that you were set on. No matter what we've done in life, like we can still have these happy lives. And I just wanted to bring you on for like hope for people, but also like to learn from your stamina and your grit. And then we are also talking about how the prison and the mob, you're like freaking brilliant at systems. Like the businesses they run are freaking genius, just a little bit on the wrong side. okay. 17. have a question real quick though. have a question. You said you had some biases. can you share, are you comfortable sharing what some of those were? Like what do you envision of a person who's formerly incarcerated or gang member or any of things? What pops up in your mind? I mean, it's a great question, John. And like, it's slightly embarrassing, but I think it's real. You're a male, I'm a female. I'm told that you're coming here and you just came out of maximum prison. How long has it been? Like what? Two years? Five years. Year two, five years. But there's a question of like, has this man really changed? Or is he going to, and like, especially as a female, like I'm very cautious of who I spend time with. And at certain conferences, full transparency, I have had men. approach me in ways that are just not appropriate. And I felt uncomfortable around men at even some of the conferences we go to, which I think is just a female's life. And I think a lot of female would probably feel that way. So when our mutual friend Casey told us that he's bringing you to this conference, John, I'm not gonna lie to you. I was like, I'm gonna have my like guard up of like, I'm sure he's a changed man. But at the same time, I also don't want to be dumb and naive, especially as a female and like you came from maximum prison security. And so I know we can have these honest conversations. And then I met you and who you are as a person. And I was like, this guy deserves everything in the entire world. And that's actually freaking what Defy Adventures is about is like helping incarcerated criminals have a life that's real. like, John, like it is scary because some people like the world is manipulative. The world. want to say about that. me say it's embarrassing. I don't think I hope you don't feel that way because I think what I what I see in that is or what I hear from that. That's The Dental A Team (11:51.501) That's much of what society paints with it. They just take a brush and they just paint it movies and TV and politics and anything else. They're really good at othering and saying, this is just who everybody is, right? Every single one of them are this terrifying, scary human being. And that's just not the case. But we've been so conditioned to believe that. And then you also just to like... just to affirm your experiences, that is true. As a female, you go to these conferen…
Full show notes at the publisherKiera lays out a ton of ideas on how practices should be looking ahead to 2025, including the right percentage growth to aim for, why you actually can take time off for vacation, and more. Episode resources: Reach out to Kiera Tune Into DAT's Monthly Webinar Practice Momentum Group Consulting Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Become Dental A-Team Platinum! Review the podcast Transcript: Kiera Dent (00:00.994) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera and welcome to the Dental A Team podcast. I hope today is such a magical day for you. I hope that you are having such a fun time and I hope that you are wrapping up 2024, getting ready for 2025. I am so excited for you guys as you're wrapping up the year. And I just wanted to take a minute of let's not forget how to maximize and optimize our schedules for 2025. I know it can sound funny, but really if we take the time now, to project out, prepare for our year. You are gonna have such a better year in 2025. So welcome to projections with the Dental A Team podcast. As always, if this podcast has changed your way, your life in any way, if it's shaped you, if it's molded you, if it's helped you, please leave us a review. Please share this podcast with someone because my goal is to have this podcast in the hands of every single dental practice to be able to positively impact and influence giving tactical practical skills and solutions for free. So that way we can rise and elevate the world of dentistry. And that's my mission and my goal. And I can only do it with your help and your support. So leave those reviews, share it with somebody and let's make the world of dentistry realize how incredible it is that we're a part of it and give you practical tactical skills to take your practice to the new, to the next level. All right. So as you guys are preparing for production, the big thing you guys need to be doing right now, and I'm hoping that you do this before end of year, that would be optimal. is let's start building out our schedule for next year. And that means we're looking at the number of providers we have, the number of providers we might be adding in, number of hygienists. And then also let's look at our vacation time we want off. So often I hear, Kiera, I just can't take time off of my practice. And I just say, that's actually not true. You totally can. We just need to plan and prepare for it. And then we need to set our goals accordingly. So you need to be looking at your practice now and it needs to be a minimum of a 10 % growth. So we did a million this year, we should be doing 1.1 next year. So once we know that, we then go through our schedule, we figure out, all right, how many providers, how many hygienists, how many days off, how many holidays, let's look at all of that. Also, I would strongly recommend that you are actually looking at trends. And doctors and office managers, this is a phenomenal exercise to do together. So what we wanna do is you wanna look at trends. Historically, is our February always low? Kiera Dent (02:19.648) And I usually look two or three years back, you can make spreadsheets about that. That's how we do it. So we can historically look, all right, how was our December? How was our September? Was it slam dunk timber or was it suck timber? What about our February? Was that low? Was it high? What about our December's? Historically, how are those doing? And once you can get the trends, we can also make our goals and our, like everything way more realistic for us. So then you're gonna wanna look through, and we actually have spreadsheets for this for our clients where you go through and it's going to be, all right, in January, how many? days do we have available? How many days are we going to be off? What is our doctor out hourly? How many hours are they working? How many columns do they have? What about for our hygienist? And then it actually spits out a monthly goal for you based on the number of providers you have, doctor and hygienist based on what their hourly trends have been, which you can look back three to six months to see what have their, what are they historically doing? Then we can increase that. So maybe if our doctors are producing 500 an hour, maybe we bump them to 525 or to 550. But really figuring this out so that way we can make sure all of them are hitting the levels that they need to be hitting that then projects you your monthly goal because based on the number of days providers that hourly we're able to do that. Hygienist as you know should be doing at least three times their hourly. Hygienist that's the standard across the board. I know insurances can be tricky and that's where we also look to see, okay, what do we need to add to our appointments? Are we doing our fluoride? Are we doing our laser? What about our FMXs? Are there things that we could be doing because guess what? So many practices are able to hit this. And so I know that you're able to do it as well. It also means we've got to work on keeping the schedule full so we're not having as many cancellations. So we look at that. And then we also figure out we're going to take vacations in September because historically that's a really junk month for us. So let's do it there. We're also going to take them in February. Let's maximize the time where it's already slow. And if we can do that, we're actually going to do a lot better. And once you get all this data, it's going to spit out a number for you. And it's going to tell you, OK. based on everything you put in, based on the hourly, based on the providers, based on the days off that we're having between holidays and vacations, you are gonna produce, let's say, one million. Well, we know we need to be at 1.1 because that's our growth. So then we look back and we say, okay, what could we do? Do we need to increase our hourly? Do we maybe need to bring in another provider? Do we need to look at how many days we're closed? Do we need to open up a few others? Do we need to increase our daily goal so that way we're hitting it? What does that equate to? Kiera Dent (04:43.554) Oftentimes I'll look in offices like we need to produce 20,000 more. Well, a lot of offices are actually working 16 days a month. So if we need 20,000 and we've got 16 days a month, that's 1250 per day that we would need to add in. And then I love to take it to teams and I like to ask, all right, what is 1250 worth of dentistry? That's like literally one crown. That's a couple of fluorides, it's quad of fillings. Like it's a few night guards, a few like whitening. And we start to get really creative. If we know that I love to break it down and then that becomes your new daily goal for your team. And this is how we're able to take vacations, we're able to hit our goals with ease and we're able to maximize and actually set effective goals for every single month rather than just arbitrary. Cause most people would say, Kiera, that's way too hard. And I used to be this person where I would take, if we need to do 10 % growth, I'll just take 1.1 divided by 12, bada bing, bada boom. We need to do 92,000 per month. Well, That's great, but what about our low months? What about the months we're taking vacations? Like, are we just expected to produce a lot more? What happens if we have a hygienist that goes out on maternity leave? What happens if we have a doctor that goes out on vacations? Like, that becomes very hard. So if in the month of December, we're only open two weeks, well, I don't think that that month should be equally weighted as maybe August, where we've got five weeks in that month. So what this does is it really helps you actually maximize, optimize, take vacations, and make sure that we're able to hit our goals with ease. I love this model. I geek out about it. I work with my clients on this. We work in our consulting with this because I think this is something that sometimes can feel daunting. And it's just stuff that we just don't want to do. I'm building out my projections. And then what I look at next is, okay, if that's what we're producing as a practice, what are our costs for next year? And are there costs that we're going to need to bring in of maybe hiring new people or doing different things? And do we actually like is 1.1 or that 10 % growth? actually going to support and sustain the practice like we need it to do? Or do we need to get more creative? Being more creative, like could we add in other services? Could we do ortho? Could we do sleep? Could we do implants? Like what do we need to do in our practice? What things do we already have that maybe we're not doing? Like I have offices right now that are doing a whitening competition. That's easy ways to add in production on our schedule that we're already doing that we're just not maximizing. What if we've got a 3D printer? Could we look for night guards and could we do that? Kiera Dent (07:06.332) What about sports teams in the area? Could we do those? Like this is where we start to get into our creative world to really truly grow our practices with ease. And so this is where I wanted to come and just kind of give you guys a quick snippet of how you can actually build these out. And the reason why we do this is like I said, so we're actually able to maximize and optimize and be able to hit our goals with ease. Now things that might come up as a tricky piece is like, well, should I be doing CE? And the answer is, Like I'm all for CE, I'm all for doctors doing CE, I'm all for all of that. But I also wanna make sure that we're not being CE overload to where we're actually not implementing. So what I say is if you're gonna go to CE, there needs to be a complete action plan for you when you do come back of we're gonna do X number of cases. So if we go to sleep within the next quarter, our team's gonna set some goals around it and we're gonna try and actually accomplish doing, I don't know, 20 cases, okay? So what do we need to do for 20 cases? How do we track this? How do we monitor this? So whenever we go to CE, the CE is actually being implemented into our practice and it becomes a habit as opposed to a fleeting thought. This is what happens with ortho doing, I heard an office and they do a sip and scan and they bring all their patients in and they have like a fun wine night and they just scan and then they present ortho cases. There's software out there that can show patients their smile transforming right before their eyes to be able to do it. So there's so many opportunities for you. to get creative when you know what the goals need to be to sustain the practice as a business. So we go through, we figure out our provider amounts, we figure out what our goals should be, we figure out what we should be estimated for our production based on years prior, and we set our goals accordingly. And then we make sure what we're going to spend actually is in align with what we're producing. And then if it's not, we get creative and we figure out, should we do CE? Should we not do CE? What things could we do? What can we do to boost our months? If we know September is always low, What could we be doing in June, July and August to make sure that it's higher? Like, could we go back and for implant cases, look at all of our patients that are denture patients and send them a special letter. Like, there's so many opportunities and this is why I love to consult practices is because we help you think outside the box. We help you figure out how are we gonna be able to get to the goals we want, but do it with maximum ease and efficiency. How do we look and use our numbers as levers and dial that in? Kiera Dent (09:29.058) rather than just assuming like, well, it is what it is. Let's hope and a wish. No goals and numbers and projections don't need to be a hope and a wish. They can actually be built upon mathematical things. Looking back at trends of where we should be and then increasing based on where it should be. Also your 5 % increase on fee schedule should be in place too. So like that's where it's very easy to be hitting this growth with minimal effort. We just need to make sure that we're all doing it. And so I just really would encourage you to be looking at this, to be looking ahead, to figure out where we can take our vacations, to be able to take our vacations with ease, to be able to maximize our doctor's schedules and our hygienist schedules, to be able to set realistic goals that are truly achievable, to make our bonuses based on that, knowing what we're spending on the practice of all the numbers, and then being able to roll that out to our team. If this feels daunting, high five. Welcome, welcome to the world of business ownership. where these things might feel daunting, but just know it doesn't have to be hard. I have a practice where we started working on this and they were so nervous because they were like, Kiera, we're doing an expansion. We don't know how we're going to be able to do this. And so what I did was I took it with them and we did a very conservative projections and we did a high-end projections. And what's crazy is they actually hit the high ends. But by knowing what we needed to produce, they were then able to go set the goals and the KPIs with their team. They were able to easily track their metrics all the way along. And you put it in the spreadsheet. Where were we at based on where we projected? Why was it this way? We looked back at the trends. What were the low months? And what's crazy about doing this is it gives you confidence. Confidence you can pay the bills. Confidence that you're going to be able to pay for your team. Confidence that you know what to set your goals at and they're not just arbitrary. Confident that you can take vacations and not let the practice plummet. So many doctors tell me, Kiera, I had a terrible December. And I'm like, well, that's because you didn't plan. You didn't plan out to take two weeks of vacation. And then we were trying to cram in $100,000, $200,000 worth of production into two weeks. Well, that can be tricky. Also, if you know this, we can strategically start planning in October, November, December, making block schedules where we know what production we're going to be bringing in when people's benefits are coming due and we're trying to get a bunch of treatment in. Like, let's not be chaotic. Let's be strategic of what we're doing and putting into our schedule so it's easy. Kiera Dent (11:45.442) We're able to help the most amount of patients and we're able to just get to our goals with ease. This is the type of stuff that lights me up. This is the type of stuff where I'm like, we can do this together. And that office this year, they're celebrating hitting their highest growth and they took off the most amount of time that they've ever taken off. And they were able to help more patients and bring on more team members. And all those decisions were very confident because they knew exactly what they needed to do. So I... think everyone needs to do this. And if you need help, reach out Hello@TheDentalATeam.com We have so many options available for you for consulting where it's online, where it's kind of like a systems and you go through all the 12 systems and you have a group that we every single week. And sometimes you're even getting one-on-one help to where you can add one-on-one calls and you…
Full show notes at the publisherTiff and Dana spell out how to avoid the crunch-time that always seems to crop up each December. They give advice on how to find the just-right daily metric for your practice, the power of adding procedure codes, how to get the whole team rallied for the cause, and more. Episode resources: Reach out to Tiff and Dana Tune Into DAT's Monthly Webinar Practice Momentum Group Consulting Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Become Dental A-Team Platinum! Review the podcast Transcript: The Dental A Team (00:01.174) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. Dana and I are back at it today. We are bringing you some fantastic information today, if I might say so myself. Dana, thank you so much for being here with me. I know we both had calls. You've had a million calls. a ton of clients and you had so many calls already this morning and you pop it on podcasts to just give away more information. So thank you for being here with me. Thank you for giving me this time this afternoon. What do you have going on this weekend? It's Friday for us right now. I don't know when this is dropping, if it'll be a Friday or not, but what do you have going on this weekend? Because I think the world needs to know. I was very excited and I'm going to need a picture of your outfit. Dana (00:41.026) Thanks, I'm super excited. We are going to PBR tonight. It's one of my kids' most favorite things and I will say in Tucson they do it up. They do get a lot of the top bull riders across the country. So my kids are pumped for that and indoor fireworks and country music. so we are pumped. I know, was like in my morning Friday five, like, yee-haw everybody, I'm super excited. The Dental A Team (00:56.384) Dang! The Dental A Team (01:03.222) Yeah, I'm excited. My sister and I went to PBR a couple years ago. It was up here in Phoenix and it was fun. We were honestly we went as like, I don't know, it's something to do. But we were like hyped by the end of the night. It was like two hours like 10, 11pm. And I was like, what else are we doing tonight? Like, where are we going? So I was like your kids so I get it. And my feet hurt because I wore her boots and that was the wrong idea. So it's fine. It's fine. Well, you have PBR. I have my Dana (01:22.946) Yeah, super fun. Dana (01:27.746) You The Dental A Team (01:31.946) tonight. You didn't get to hear that. I know. Mariah Carey's Christmas concert and I told the team this morning this is not meant to be political or offensive to anyone. This is just true from my heart. Mariah Carey is to me what Taylor Swift is to all the Swifties of the world. I am not. I I think Taylor's would just be fantastic. I do love her music. I think she's great but to me Mariah Carey is is that. So I'm excited. Dana (01:49.584) Yeah. Dana (01:57.614) I'll exchange pictures then. The Dental A Team (01:59.958) Yes, yes, we'll exchange pictures. You got PBR, I Mariah Carey, we've got it on lockdown. This is going to be fantastic night. I hope all of you are doing something fun, whatever day this might be, that you're listening to this. I hope that the weekend that we recorded this, you did one of those two things if you're here in Arizona. And really, we're looking at, I mean, we're looking at fun things towards the end of the year. This time of year, is wild. I feel like this weekend specifically I've had like 16 different things come up that people are like, can you do this, can you do that? I'm like, my gosh, plus I fly on Sunday and I'm like, I can't cram anything else into the amount of time that I have remaining for the year and this is the crunch time, the end of the year. where things just get really, really, really wild. And we really try to cram as much as we can into the time that we have. So personally and professionally, we start doing this, we start seeing practice, you know, schedules get a little wild. And I really want to talk about today, how to make the most of that. So end of year crunch, end of month crunch, but also Dana and I were talking and I want to not just talk about it for December, for the end of the year, I want to talk about it for forever, for every month. How can we make sure that it doesn't get to the end of the year, the last two months of the year, that we're like, holy cow, guys, we've got $60,000, we've got to make up, we're behind. And I don't want you guys to get there. I don't want you to feel that crunch. I want you to be looking at numbers more succinctly throughout the year so that you don't feel that stress, but. We do get there. We do get there sometimes during the year, during other months. And I want you to also be prepared for what that can look like. And Dana, you had just this really fantastic plan. The Dental A Team (03:45.908) that you've laid out that we use for a lot of our clients, all of our clients are doing it, where they should be. If they're not, slap on the wrist and talk to your consultant. Make sure you get it implemented. But I really want to hear, in your words, Dana, how you make sure that your teams and your doctors are constantly looking at those goals, that they don't have that weird crunch time, and they can accomplish what they're looking for. Dana (04:08.067) Yeah, and I think like you said, you start off by really looking at those numbers throughout the entire year. I think we set them oftentimes in November, December for the following year and then we're like, well, we set them, we know what they are, that's it. And that's great that you know what they are, but continuing to look at them throughout the year and really to continue to look at is there a gap in any of them? And then we are... The Dental A Team (04:19.774) Yeah. The Dental A Team (04:23.178) Yeah. Dana (04:33.858) pushing the needle or spreading the gap out for the rest of the year so that we are just doing our very best and we're staying on top of where we are in getting there. Oftentimes when we set them in the beginning of the year, those are big numbers, right? They're big numbers and for the team to digest this, we walked through with a practice on our group consulting the other day and our consultant, Christy, just did a fantastic job of saying like, those are huge numbers and to team members sometimes we have to break it down into bite-sized chunks and what can we focus on every single day to get us there? And if we can take, let's say you set a $60,000 gap, if we can take a $60,000 gap and we can The Dental A Team (04:49.62) Yeah. Dana (05:16.256) break it down and say, guys, that is one crown a day. Boy, does that feel so much more doable to a team member than we've got to find $60,000. Right. And I love that you said not just in December, because December, like you and I were talking about, Tiv, is like a baby month this year, like where the holiday is placed and with the time off that happens in December and all the activities like December is such a tiny month this year. And so if we wait and we save and we say, okay, well, let's look at it in December, man, we have missed some The Dental A Team (05:25.29) Yeah. Yeah. The Dental A Team (05:32.416) Yeah. Dana (05:46.16) opportunities throughout the year and all the other working days that happened before we got to the month of December. The Dental A Team (05:51.034) Mm-hmm. Totally. I think that's brilliant and it's something that should be talked about like you said every day Really we should be looking at it especially when it's crunch time and I know I've had so many teams really rally At the end of the month when it is crunch time and not that they waited till the end of the month But they're like, okay guys like we're still needing this 10k Like where are we finding it today and teams will gamify it and they'll really rally around it when they know what they need to gain, when they know how to win. So this kind of goes into that metrics conversation that we had on another podcast of really knowing how I can affect the metric on a daily basis. I love. the idea of doing it and breaking that and what Christy said, like breaking a big goal down to something smaller. breaking that yearly goal down to quarterly, down to monthly, down to daily is huge. And I even have practices, I talked to one today that they were like, gosh, most of the days this week were fantastic, yesterday kind of sucked. But overall for the week, we were above goal. Fantastic. So it's from a monthly to a weekly to a daily. Like, as long as you're on track over the big haul, that's what matters. I do have practices that almost focus too small and then I have practices that focus too big. The two big practices are like, okay guys, our goal is 250 this month and we're at 125, so let's keep going. It's like, okay, cool, but what else is left? And then I have practices that are like, we need $10,000 every day. So every day they're like, are we at $10,000, yes or no? What they're not doing is what Dana's talking about is really looking at what was our goal minus what we've done minus what's scheduled, right? Divided by the number of days you have remaining because even if I'm at 12,000 of a $10,000 goal today, if I was at 8,000 yesterday and I'm not thinking about that now $2,000 gap between the two days, I'm $2,000 short at the end of the month and I'm like, wait, where did the money go? The Dental A Team (07:47.338) well, there's a gap somewhere that was missed. So we've got to look at all of those metrics and figure out every single day, my daily goal might change. I have a practice that I was like, Just I Extended them that was hard to get out I extended them one year past what I they thought they could do I knew they could do it right But they had like a nine thousand dollar a day goal They had three hygienists and they had one and a half doctors had a nine thousand dollar a day goal and I was like No, you guys you guys can do 12 and they were like No freaking way. And I was like, we're doing it. We're freaking doing it. I'm going to tell show you how I'm going to tell you how to get there. I'm gonna hold you accountable. We're gonna do it. And they did. But then next week, I get a text from the front office gal, the treatment coordinator and she's like, I'm sad to say that was really easy. And I think I know because you just didn't know what you were capable of because we weren't looking at the numbers before you had no idea that you were surpassing $9,000 on the regular. Dana (08:24.813) me. The Dental A Team (08:48.694) You guys were already doing it, you just didn't know. So I put that $12,000 in, blew your minds, and now you guys are like, wait a second, this was really easy, actually, if we could do more. You totally can with the right scheduling, with the right pieces put into place, but if we're not looking at it, we have no idea where we can go. So taking those pieces throughout the month, on the fifth day, you might see, hey guys, we're actually not, we're a little bit behind, we need to add $2,000 each day. Great, our 9,000. $1,000 goal is now $11,000 until we get above that. But looking at it every day and making sure we do know what that gap is. Dana, you talked on another podcast about, like we said at the beginning of this one, how the little things that we do every single day can add up to a big thing. So even as far as you mentioned attaching all of the procedure codes, right? So what have you seen in practices that you've worked with or worked in where it's like, gosh, guys, we're only $500 short or something, like we're looking at it. But then it comes down to those simple things. What are some areas that you feel like practices miss that are easily made up when they've got a gap like that? Like just attaching simple codes. What codes are you looking at? Dana (10:00.524) Yeah, x-rays for sure. Anything as far as adjunct services. Sometimes we're like, well, I'm just going to irrigate just this quadrant. Well, you irrigated them, right? Or bundling perio things so that our perio patients that get the best results also have laser or ozone or stellalight or all of the other perio adjunct services. Making sure that we're adding fluoride. Even I've got lots of doctors now that because fluoride helps crowns last longer are adding fluoride to all of their crowns. they do the seat, they're administering varnish. Even coming up with, right, as we're seeing more of this fluoride pushback come out, you know what? There's a hydroxyapatite varnish. So let's have that in the practice so that even when we get pushback, there's still something we can do. So it really is just little, little things. And I use fluoride as an example because lots of patients can benefit from that or the hydroxyapatite alternative. If we look at, say one hygiene day, average floor, will say is $30 for the varnish. We see eight patients in each hygiene column. If every hygienist even got 80 % of their patients, that's close to a thousand extra dollars every single working day. And it's something so small. You use the example of PAs and write PAs 12, $16. But if we're doing that routinely for all of our patients, that maybe we see a little bit something or maybe, you know, they're having some sensitivity here and we add that PA. those things add up with the number of patients that we see each day. So little things like that really do have a huge impact. The Dental A Team (11:36.16) Yeah, I agree. I think the PAs are so easy. And I think even on like a limited exam, we'll have a limited come in and they'll do a limited and a PA. But then sometimes the doctor's like, can you get a bite wing of that? Then you did a bite wing too, right? So making sure all those are put in there. And then I thought how many times when I've done billing and gone back through and I've seen crowns, and I'm like, so many crowns and do we really not do build ups? Doc's like, we always do a build up. What are you talking about? I'm like, well, we've never charged for a buildup. These patients are just getting buildups all over the place. And those are like $185. I've seen it all the way up to almost $300 for a buildup. Dana (12:07.81) Yeah. The Dental A Team (12:17.174) Making sure that every code is attached is insanely important, not just to the billing representative because he or she desperately wants that information, you guys, but also to your bottom goal. And when you come in and it's like, guys, we're so close. Or when I get the calls from the teams and they're like, we missed it by 2000. I'm like, well, where was the 2000? Where did you lose it? Was it in buildups or PAs or was it, know, two more, can we have done two more occlusal guards? Like, where does that look like? really winning your month and knowing how you're going to get there is huge and then I think you guys talked you said on that group coaching call which I love because those doctors are just freaking fantastic and they have so many excellent questions and ideas that they're sharing but you guys brought it so granular as to like what is the thing that's going to get us there so we might be $1,200 short what is that so that's a crown That's two occlusal guards. That's a handful of fillings for certain patients. Really looking at, where can we make that up? Where do we have time in our schedule to make that up? Do I have assistive time that if I had two night guards come through, so two occlusal guards,…
Full show notes at the publisherHere's to the people who make your life incredible. Happy Thanksgiving! Episode resources: Reach out to Kiera Tune Into DAT's Monthly Webinar Practice Momentum Group Consulting Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Become Dental A-Team Platinum! Review the podcast Transcript: Kiera Dent (00:00.856) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera and happy Thanksgiving. You guys, if you are new to the podcast, welcome. I'm so happy you're here. If you've been with me for a while, you know this to be true. I love holidays. I love holidays so much. I am so appreciative of holidays because I feel like it's just the time that like takes our autopilot life and puts it actually on pause and. Thanksgiving is honestly my favorite podcast of the entire year. I have so many amazing things to be thankful for and it's always just special of what I'm able to celebrate with our team, celebrate with all of you and just give gratitude and thanks. And every year on Thanksgiving, my husband and I have it as a tradition. We listen to the podcast as soon as we wake up. And I really think it just centers me. It centers me of the gratitude that I have for each of you being a part of the Dental A Team family. Whether you're an active client with us, you've been a client with us, you're a podcast listener, soon to be client with us, my gratitude for you is immense. This was just a girl's dream to be able to help dentists across the nation and their teams. It was a dream for me to help the dentists from Midwestern to be able to live thriving lives and to have their teams flourishing and living thriving lives as well. for people who trusted me and took a risk when I didn't know what I was doing. even today, let me practice on them and make things up and bring things to them and to be open and humble and have fun and make me laugh and challenge me and encourage me is just truly a blessing. For you guys on the podcast to listen and to be raving fans and to share this with people, I don't take this for granted. I know how blessed I am. I dreamed of having a consulting company where it was spanned across the nation, where we were able to serve and help people on this higher level. And it's the reality of the life that I'm living right now. And I don't take that for granted. And I'm so grateful and appreciative of all of you. I also hope that you today take time to thank your team. I think so often we can just go by the wayside and we can not necessarily give out that gratitude and that thanks for what we have. I realized that Kiera Dent (02:04.902) You can either see teams one of two ways. You can either see them as an asset or a liability. And I choose to see my team as an asset. I choose to see that they're brilliant, that they're smarter than me, that they're the ones who make the magic happen. They're the ones who love our clients so much. They're the ones who come up with the brilliant ideas. They're the ones who make the marketing. They're the ones who do the customer service calls. They're the ones who talk to potential clients. They're the ones who are figuring out the partnerships. They're the ones who make all this dream become a reality. They say teamwork makes the dream work. And I say teamwork. and teens also make the dreams become reality. And so just having maybe a moment of pause and reflection today and maybe sending out some little love bombs to your team and to the people that make your life incredible. I believe that the secret to life and fulfillment is giving and gratitude. And if we can have that sense of gratitude, like today my bracelet, it's the grateful bracelet here. And to have that gratitude, to show gratitude in all that we have, I mean, We are just truly so blessed to be alive at this day and age. We're so blessed to be able to have the technology and the teams and the resources and the life that we get to live. mean, gosh, life is just so magical. And I hope that you see it as magic. And I hope that today of all days, like you take that pause and be grateful for your family, for your health, for your friends, for your team, for your patients, for your community. all these things that make you a person, all these things that make life magical, all those things that add fairy dust and sprinkles to your life. But just to maybe take a moment, maybe reflect, maybe write in your journal, I would encourage you and challenge you to write maybe 100 things that you're grateful for. If you guys want, if you're listening to this before Thanksgiving dinner, you can do it. I've done it in some teams and it's very fun where you put your name on the top of a paper. Shout out to our marketing gal, Eve. She gave me this brilliant idea and I've done it in teams and they absolutely love it. But what you do is you put the person's name at the top of the page and then you send it around the table and everyone writes something that they're so grateful for that person for or something that they love about that person. And then it comes back to you you're able to read this little love note. I've done it in leadership teams. I've done it in full teams. And it's interesting because every time I do it, this is the piece of paper that is stuck up on the walls. This is the thing that saved. This is the thing that's on people's phone savers because to be reminded of that we're loved. Kiera Dent (04:24.98) is one of the greatest gifts that we can give someone else. So maybe do that with your team, maybe do that with your families, but really truly just showing gratitude today. like I said, Thanksgiving podcast is always my favorite podcast of just giving you guys a tip of gratitude, but also to take this time publicly to thank my incredible team. And I always do a shout out to each of my team members. of a thank you to each of them. And so we just kind of will go through, I go through them from like when they were hired. And so that way it's just really fun. But shout out to the one and only Tiffanie Trader, the spiffy tiffy. has been with me for seven years and Tiff is someone that if you know her, you love her. Tiff just makes life fun. I feel like she's a beautiful yin to my yang. We believe that we were twins in another life. We just happened to get separated this year by a year or this round. Tiff and I actually share the same birthday. We're just one year apart from each other. But I'm so appreciative of Tiff and the grit and the love and the determination she's had to come into a company where there was just a girl with a dream and she bought into that dream and she's run it and she's done it and she's consulted all across the nation and she served so many offices and she's on the podcast with me and she writes the newsletter. She just she makes it fun and she's been with me since the beginning and to have somebody that's really gone through all of it with me. This is something I'm so grateful for. think when you're an owner, and a lot of owners will feel this way, when you have someone who's a ride or die with you that you know you can count on, is something that I think we might take for granted. And it's something that today especially, we don't take for granted. We don't take for granted those people that have made us who we are, that have helped us grow. Like, of course, we've had to bring ourselves to the table, but Tiff is someone who really has been there with me. She's been a rock through so many things. She's been there through all of it with me. And I'm just so appreciative of her and her love and her dedication and her determination to be the best consultant she can be. She's gone through so many growths throughout the company and to watch her just grow and evolve and morph into this incredible consultant is something I'm so appreciative of and just grateful for her going on this fun ride with me. We celebrated seven years together this year and just excited for the next seven and what we can create and make and serve more clients on another level. Kiera Dent (06:37.176) So that's our one and only spiffy tiffy. And then gosh, like I think my next one is actually no BS Britt. Actually, I think I lied. I think it's Shelbi. Sorry, Shelbi. My order is like, I shouldn't have gone in order. I should just do you guys like in whatever order, but Shelbi, we'll go to Shelbi next. Shelbi, if you don't know Shelbi, you are missing out on one of the most incredible humans. Shelbi has the deepest love for every single person that comes her way. She makes me want to be a better human. She loves our client so much. loves me so much. Shelbi has been my EA, our customer success, and literally the jack of all trades. Like that woman can fit into so many different areas. And to watch her blossom from when I first hired her by knocking on her door, she used to be my next door neighbor and she took care of my tomato plants when I was traveling so much to make sure they wouldn't die, to now taking care of me and our entire team. Shelbi is someone that I am so grateful for, for her love. for her ease every single month in our one-on-ones. We always ask our team who should we celebrate and who should we like give kudos to for going above and beyond and without fail, Shelbi is the number one named teammate of all of our team consistently. Everybody loves Shelbi. Every person that meets Shelbi loves Shelbi. Shelbi is just someone who has a heart of gold, who works hard, who is like this woman loves tasks. She is the person I know I can count on 150 million percent to always follow through. and deliver more than I ever expect. She keeps all the balls in the air. She never misses things. She truly just has so much passion and love and commitment to our company and to our clients. And I am so like eternally grateful that this girl took my awkward knock on her door and then the awkwardness of living as next door neighbors and working together and has just really blossomed into this amazing woman who I trust implicitly with every single thing. And I know she will always be the best example. She will always show up. She will always love, she'll always care, and she literally will make everything beautiful, seamless, and smooth for every single person, and I'm so appreciative of her. Next up is Brittany Stone, no BS, Britt. Brittany is someone that has just truly grown and blossomed, and I love that she is my yin to my yang in the business. She's a consultant, so those of you who get her love her as a consultant. Britt also is our operations within the company, and to have somebody that I can rally with who is not afraid to... Kiera Dent (08:55.64) give me her opinion and to make sure in the most respectful way that we are really working on what's most important in the company. She's the brakes on the company. She tells me not to do things. She tells me to do things, but to know that I can be on the road and that our team is being led and guided and directed by somebody that I trust and respect in like beyond the beyond is something that I think is such a magical gift that a lot of people I don't think get to experience. And I'm so grateful for Britt. love her, her sass. love her. her thoughtfulness, I love her directness, I love how she communicates to our team, I love how she thinks and processes, I love how Brittany is just someone who everybody loves, everybody wants to get to know Britt and she has such a quiet, gentle nature about her where she genuinely is just so loyal, she's so curious, she's so just wanting to be her best at all times, wanting to make our company just be the best that it can be and I'm just so. So grateful to have somebody like that on my leadership team, personally and professionally, to have her work so closely with me, hand in hand, day in and day out, to have the conversations. She has grown me so much and just helped me see how great she can be in this role. And I'm so appreciative of her and just where she will fill in the gap. She's an incredibly brilliant consultant. She's a brilliant business and just someone that I feel so lucky to know. We have Ms. Dana is, gosh, Dana. She just is incredible. She is that employee that you never have to worry about. never like they're always just doing more than you ever expected. Dana is such a steady Eddie for me. And she also has the freaking funniest stories of anybody like that girl does not travel as much as the rest of us do. And every time she travels, I don't know what it is. She comes back with the craziest travel stories of all of us and Dana with her consistency and her commitment to clients and her love and her true internal growth. Dana is a warrior. And I just love her. I love her so much. I love who she is. I love her drive. I love how she makes me want to be a better person. Dana loves so deeply and she will forever continue to grow herself. She's the person that's the easiest for me to have uncomfortable conversations with because she just takes it. She gets it and she executes and implements. She's also the person who is constantly behind the scenes making things happen. She always wants another project. She wants to grow. She encourages me to work out. She encourages me to love my clients better. Dana is just someone who has this heart of gold that I feel. Kiera Dent (11:20.15) so ridiculously blessed is on my team, is an example to me, is someone like, and I don't get to talk to Dana as much as others, but I'm always watching Dana and I'm observing her and I'm watching how incredibly talented and gifted this woman is. And I'm just so grateful for her. We can not go without talking about Miss Eve. Eve is a, gosh, I think Eve, if we would not have met through Dental A Team, we would have found each other in some way in this world. Eve is one of the most incredibly talented marketers. I've ever had. She's come into this company and she gets my vision and she delivers to me impeccable work every single time. I can tell Eve this is what my vision is and Eve makes it magic. She does it with so much grace and ease and she's so freaking funny. Like you should talk her about her hobby horse. This is a real thing. You should talk her about like all the fun things. She makes us laugh. She's like entertainment within our company and she's also somebody where I just love who she is. I love her outlook, her outlook on life. I love who she is as a person. I love what she stands for. I love her journey. I love the humor she brings. And honestly, we call it the Eve adds her pixie dust, but we've made it marketing where it's the pixel dust to everything. So when you see beautiful things everywhere, Eve just puts her heart and soul into it. She's an incredible artist, an incredible designer, incredible marketer, comes with great ideas and her passion and love for marketing, for her family, for our company, for our clients, for our team. is something that I am just awe inspired by and so grateful. She's in my life personally and professionally and that you guys all get to experience Eve through anything. She's at our monthly webinars. If you're not attending those or the Thirsty Thursdays, the third Thursday of the month, be sure to join us. Eve has taken that on. She grows herself, but gosh, this woman is just chef's kiss of beauty that she creates for our company and does it with so much grace and ease. We also have Jacintha who's part of our marketing team and Jacintha has come she's from the Netherlands and I love Jacintha…
Full show notes at the publisherThis one's for the doctors and hygienists. Tiff and Britt discuss why perio calibration matters, how accountability on top of that improves practice-wide success, the right percentages your hygiene department should be reaching, and more. Episode resources: Reach out to Tiff and Britt Tune Into DAT's Monthly Webinar Practice Momentum Group Consulting Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Become Dental A-Team Platinum! Review the podcast Transcript: The Dental A Team (00:01.302) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. I am excited to help with you today with me, with us. Britt Stone, Miss Britt is one of our hygiene queens. You know, we have a couple of them on our team and occasionally I like to bring them in for some hygiene flow and some hygiene spaces. Now, Britt, today we are gonna talk hygiene, but I wanna do hygiene from doctors. perspective and like doctors really getting a lot of value out of that space. So today's hygiene is a little bit different. Your hygienists can listen to this always as well. Obviously there's gonna be nuggets in there for them, but doctors, this is for you. Before we jump into my hygiene, I'm so excited for this one, my hygiene stuff, Britt, how are you? You just went on vacation and it was a little chilly, I agree, because we're from Arizona, anything under. 80 degrees is a little chilly. I get it. Tell me, where did you ladies go and how amazing was it? Britt (00:56.382) That was true. Britt (01:04.513) It was amazing. One, thanks for calling us Hygiene Queens. I think all the hygienists out there appreciate that. So we love it. But I went up to Washington, Seattle area. So out to Woodby Island. So a little island out there. Took the ferry over, enjoyed it. It was great. I mean, we're all Arizona girls that went. It was like a high school crew, all my high school friends that went for a vacation once a year. And so we went out of town, enjoyed some fall, enjoyed some cooler weather since we don't... The Dental A Team (01:17.913) Super cold. Britt (01:32.695) get as much of that here and had a great time. The Dental A Team (01:34.351) No, that's awesome. And you froze, because you were like, those islands, they get really cold no matter what time of year it is. They're chilly, because they're way up there. You're almost Canada in those suckers. Britt (01:46.497) Yeah, and it's windy and it was rainy because it's fall time, but I mean, yeah, it's, yeah, which makes it nice and green and it was gorgeous. We saw like a bald eagle. Amazing. So it was. The Dental A Team (01:52.333) in Seattle. The Dental A Team (01:58.028) to. that's really cool. Well, I am excited that you got to go and I think that's super cool. I know you guys do your once a year trip and it's always something really, really fun and you get to just disconnect for at least a weekend. So I was happy to see you're out there. Yeah, I love it. I love it. And I love, I do love my hygiene queens and I think hygiene is obviously an imperative space. for dentistry and today's topic, it's actually, it's serendipitous, know, things always happen and come up. But the other day, my partner was asking me, he said, because he's a financial advisor, so he's always thinking numbers and he advises a few dentists. And so he's like picking my brain for things. And he's like, how much do dentists actually make? off of a cleaning, because like he'll go in for his cleaning and then come out with like all of these financial questions for me and I'm like, I'm very smart, you like I'll walk you through it. Yeah, so I'm like, nothing. He's like, what do you mean? What do mean they make nothing? And I was like, they make nothing. Like you're not, you are not going to be profitable off of strictly re-care appointments. And so I literally like, that was my initial response was like nothing and like walk away, right? And he's like, no wait, tell me more. And I'm like, Britt (03:22.275) all the things and then eventually nothing. The Dental A Team (03:25.539) Yeah, and so I was like, okay, fine, I'll break it down for you. Let me tell you all the things that go into a hygiene appointment and that cost analysis per hour and why it's so important that a hygienist does 3.3 times his or her rate of pay and can produce 30 % of overall production for the practice because if they're not, that department is not profitable for the company. And the non-profitable space of the company is an issue, right? And it's not to say hygiene that, know, we're never gonna say do things you don't wanna do or squeeze your appointments or do more. And like, that's not who we are. It's really just about finding the spaces where we can create more value for our patients utilizing the tools at our fingertips and creating more profitability for the company because for Dental A Team we believe that the profitability leads to reinvestment back into. the patients and the practice. So we cannot reinvest back into our patients' experience and all of these, you digital workflows that everybody's trying to do, these new x-ray machines, the scanners, the cavitron tips, guys, like those pieces of things and, and cool lasers and all of these things that you want even for your hygiene space, those are reinvestments back into it. So that profitability creates the space to be able to do that. And doctors today, I really wanted to walk through that. His question the other day was just like, my gosh, like, this is something that as a consultant and as a dental professional, this is one of those spaces that to me is just like, I'm like, why would you even ask that? Like that was, that was a weird question. Like, obviously it makes nothing. And then I'm like, you want me to walk you through it? Okay, this is one of those spaces that I think people know that they don't. And really taking an analysis and a look doctors at your hygiene department and how you're influencing that. as well and making sure that you're staying on top of it. think hygienists are incredible. I think dental teams are incredible. I think doctors are incredible human beings. But I think a lot of dentists, a lot of doctors are like, well, they're hygienists. Like you've got this. You've got this. You do the periapart. You do that, which I totally agree with you guys, right? You are in that world. You are in the gums, right? You got the gums. I'm gonna give you that world, okay? My doctors. The Dental A Team (05:48.642) you diagnose the decay, the things that need to happen, like you are in that world way more than anybody else is. So for hygienists to be the lead on perio and periodontal pieces, whether it's a routine cleaning or sky's the limit, that makes sense to me. But my doctors who pull so far out that they don't actually know what's going on over there anymore, which... That doesn't happen for anybody out there legally who's listening. That doesn't happen. But when we're not calibrated, or my doctors, I've had so many times a doctor that's like, yeah, I think they'll be fine, maybe a debridement. And the patient gets over, and the hygienist is like, five millimeter pocket. I'm like, no, he said a debridement. I guess we've already treatment planned it, so now we have to do a debridement. My hygiene team is upset. Britt (06:15.165) Yeah. The Dental A Team (06:40.269) I really wanted to talk periocalibration today and Britt, I wanna speak to the doctors specifically, hygienists too, and if you're listening to this and your doctor doesn't listen, like share this one, but go back and do these things with your doctor too. But Britt, from a hygiene standpoint, like how does periocalibration with your doctor, how does it positively influence your experience as a hygienist to... obviously give your patients the best experience, but how does that influence your experience as a hygiene team member within a practice when you guys are more calibrated like that? Britt (07:13.537) Yeah, mean, is big, right? When it comes down to it, we need to have a standard when it comes to perio that we all agree on. It's doctor-led, right? And then someone's got to ensure that that standard is actually happening. And that's where doctors don't get so disconnected from it that you can't recognize when a hygienist is not following the standard that we've all agreed upon or that you have set forth and you want that level of care provided for your patients. That's where... You know, as a hygienist, I love a doctor who trusts me. And you know what? You trust me because we are calibrated and you trust my opinion and you double check it and that trust continues to be there because we continue to be calibrated on how we treat our patients. And if we are not, then great, have a conversation and let's address it and let's reset things. mean... We're all human beings. How many of us have a habit that slowly over time, gradually changes a little bit? It can happen. So we need to help each other, right? Keep that standard of care that we want to provide to our patients. And sometimes it goes both ways, right? I want that doctor double checking, spot checking things to ensure that that quality is there. If there is a question, great, let's have a conversation about it. If doctor comes to me and says, hey, like question something, then like, great, let's have a conversation about it and let's recalibrate and let's get back on track with each other and get in line so that we ensure that the quality of care that we're providing to our patients is what we want it to be. So I think for doctors, right, anything we do, and even when we work with people on front desk items, it's like, well, how do I make sure that that's happening? Someone's got to spot check. There's gotta be accountability somewhere. Clinical is where doctor needs to be strong accountability. Office manager is more strong accountability for front desk and doctors accountable for office manager to ensure things are getting done. So there has to be checks and balances. If you just let someone go, that's how one day you realize or you have a switch in hygienist and your new hygienist is like. Britt (09:17.347) What's been going on over here? I'm having to work real hard and I'm having to have a lot of conversations and hard conversations that are just tough for the practice all around to have to talk to a patient about, this is what the hygienist did for the last 10 years. Here's what I've seen today and we need to do something different. And those are just tough conversations to navigate. They can be done, but we don't want to get in a position where we need to do that. The Dental A Team (09:43.637) Totally agree. think that calibration piece you're talking about and the accountability on top of that is huge. And I think there's a couple of, know, step gaps that are put in there for that situation. And I want to implore upon all my doctors listening today that standards and metrics are set based on everyone. Like it's a pool of people that the information is taken from that says we should be three to 3.3 times your rate of pay. You should be about 30 % of your overall production. So these standards are set based on multiple people being looked at, right? Multiple practices. So don't forget that because I know a lot of the pushback I get from a lot of teams, a lot of doctors, when I go into consult them and I'm looking for these pieces is what you don't know my patient base. Okay, and there are, I do have a few practices. I've got, a practice out in Pennsylvania who was like right next to a university, right? So he's got a young patient base, like yeah, your period is gonna be a little bit lower, but it's still there. And he had a new hygienist come in and she's like, he's like, my gosh, my period percentage went up. I'm like, yeah, because it's still there. It just wasn't being diagnosed before. So he fell into that situation where we were like, well, know, okay, fine. And I'm like, fine, it's college kids. Hands in the air, I'm giving it to you. Fine, totally fine. switch up a hygiene and she's like, no, she's got perio blocks all over the place because it's still there somewhere. I've got an office in Utah who's similar. They're in a younger area. There's a couple of colleges in that area, right? But they've got younger families, they've got younger patients, and there isn't a lot of perio in that area, but he's still hitting like 18 to 22 % with a non... Perio involved area so that 30 % isn't super difficult to hit as long as the perio diagnosis is being done so Doctors when you're listening to this and you're like, okay, but like where does this standard come from? It comes from everywhere. It comes from everyone. This is across the country standards that 30 % I like it because it keeps everything in the threes I want 3.3 times your rate of pay and 30 % of my overall production should come from hygiene now The Dental A Team (11:57.565) If you're not seeing that or when you do the analysis, which is super easy, you guys, I want you to go in and do this. If you don't know how to do it, we're gonna tell you in a sec. If you're not doing it, I would do it every single month and watch your perio constantly or watch your hygiene department constantly. So realistically, all you do is you take your hygiene production. So what did all of your hygienists do for the month? and divide that by the overall practice production, and that's gonna give you your hygiene percentage for your practice. Most practices, when they're not looking at it, when they're not tracking things like this, and they're not truly calibrating on hygiene department items on Perio, most practices are anywhere from 14 to 20 % on average, from what I've seen from my practices. They're on the lower spectrum because they're just not looking at it. We're just doing that hygiene mill where best... know, backwards to the beginning of this where I was like, we don't make anything. Like that's where you're at, that 14 % rate and 18%, like doctors, you're working your tail off to make up that gap. So you should be covering 70 % of the goal, but typically doctors are closer to like 85 % of the goal and they're like, tch, Brett, why am I so tired? Like don't wanna do this anymore. I'm like, all right, let's look over here. So calibrating on those pieces is huge. because you want your hygiene team to all be diagnosing it as similarly as we possibly can. You will have hygienists who have been there for a long time, but aren't getting a lot of new patients. Their perio diagnosis is gonna be a little bit lower, because they don't have the opportunity. And that's okay, but overall across the board, your hygiene department should be diagnosing enough perio to be getting you to that 30%, because based on the statistics of the country, we have enough perio in you know, the people here in the general populace to account for that in every in every practice. So watch those numbers. then, but I think maybe speak to some more for me, from hygiene perspective, how the doctor and the hygiene department really truly calibrate on those. then, like, that's one space, right? The numbers is a space of accountability, office managers can do that. The Dental A Team (14:13.546) face real easily, let the doctors know…
Full show notes at the publisherKiera and Britt review Who Not How: The Formula to Achieve Bigger Goals Through Accelerating Teamwork by Dan Sullivan. The theory is to consider how much time you're spending on tasks that would be done better and cheaper, and give you more time for other tasks that only you can do. Kiera and Britt give examples of how this can work in a dental practice as well as your personal life. Find the full book club rundown here! Episode resources: Reach out to Kiera and Britt Tune Into DAT's Monthly Webinar Practice Momentum Group Consulting Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Become Dental A-Team Platinum! Review the podcast Transcript: Kiera Dent (00:00.92) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera and I am pumped. I have the one and only Brittany Stone on the podcast with me for our book club. Britt, how you doing today? Britt (00:10.986) I'm doing great. book club day is always fun. tell you, I know people like wish they could be part of our actual live book club with Dental A Team. I've heard it from clients before, but we've got a pretty good one. Kiera Dent (00:18.711) you Kiera Dent (00:23.638) We do. And Britt, we are thinking of shaking up our book club for 2025 of adding in a little more fiction. I'm not sure how you guys feel about that. So be sure to email in. Do you want us to solely stick with dental books? Do you want us to cut the book club? Or do you want to roll into our fiction? Britt has been banned from choosing the ones Britt and I book club on, which are very dicey topics. We will not even share the ones we book club on. They're not bad. They're just very very very charged of I don't know it's not even like politics Britt (00:55.114) They make you think that there's some of those like ethical or different things that you're like, hmm, what do I think about that? So it's more of like stretching the mind on things, not like bad books. Kiera Dent (01:03.241) Exactly. Kiera Dent (01:07.608) Exactly. No, no, I should clarify that it sounded like you were like reading these steamy books. No, we just like the ones that challenge our ethical minds and make us question. It's kind of like those like if you think about I remember there was a one like the dad, the train person and the tracks are there and he hears this little boy and it's like you could either save your child or you can save a train of 500 people. What are you going to do? Like I hope and pray I'm never in that position, but Britt loves to bring these juicy ones up like that. We're not even going talk about it because I would cry. Luckily, I don't have a child, so I wouldn't even have to make that decision. That is the one benefit of failed IVFs. We're fine. Britt (01:45.888) Hey, you know, you got nieces and nephews. It must be a family trait. I've got one niece that she was asking her mom at Sunday dinner when our family was together, would you save me or the dog? So, you know, she does love the dog. Kiera Dent (02:00.03) I mean, I would. Britt, would you save me or Bertie? Britt (02:06.128) So you want to know what I told my niece and here's why I just get like we'll get back to the book. Don't worry guys. It's a tangent. I Like I told my niece to give her a hard time and like well you couldn't walk and get yourself out of the house The dog might get lost you're you're smart enough to help yourself, but the dog may not so Kiera Dent (02:11.478) sorry. Kiera Dent (02:24.413) What if I'm like stuck in bed Britt like decrepit I can't move and birdie is birdie who are gonna save then? Britt (02:33.781) Both. Pick them up. One in each arm, let's go. Kiera Dent (02:40.701) Well, on that note, that's how our book clubs usually shake out. So maybe, maybe one day, Britt, we might actually host a live book club. If you guys want that, let me know. We could do like a live webinar style and have you guys come give the book. Let me know if you'd be interested in that. I don't know if I don't know, we might do it. might not let us know if you're interested. Britt (02:51.231) Yes. Britt (02:59.625) I don't know if that's fun or not. It's kind of a nerdy thing. We know you guys like your dental nerds out there You're listening to us and you're reading books with us. So maybe it's interesting Kiera Dent (03:07.916) Maybe, maybe you'd want to. So let us know, email Hello@TheDentalATeam.com Let me know. There's two things I'm dying to know. One, should we stick with business books for next year? Two, I lied, I want three things. This is how I roll. Britt knows it's going to turn to three. Two, should we keep the book club for 2025? And three, would you want to attend a book club live with us? Cause I could even do a live podcast. So let us know if you want to do that. One, should we change to fiction? Two, should we keep it going? And three, do you want to attend a live book club with us? Let us know. Email in Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. If I hear from none of you, we're eliminating the book club and Britt and I are just going to do our own ethical dilemma ones on our own that you'll never know about. But we're here for it if it's serving you, that's ultimately the podcast is for you. And just want to say thank you all for being our listeners and part of our Dental A Team podcast family. We're hoping several of you actually join our Dental A Team in-person family. Britt (03:48.032) I Kiera Dent (04:00.792) Speaking of meeting us in person, next year, 2025, we are releasing business and leadership events. They're happening. We're super freaking jazzed to meet a lot of you. It's part of our platinum consulting now. So be sure to reach out if you're interested, if you want to meet us, they're going to be incredible. call it like, basically these events are going to be fun because it's Dental A Team, of course. They're a day and a half on a Friday and a Saturday. And I call them like, we're stripping it down to the bones of your business. to literally get down to what's really going on. Let's figure out what the issues are and then let's make you a map of clarity when you leave and it's for doctors and OMS to come to. So that way doctors, you don't just come and get jazzed up and then have to go get your team on board, but you literally can come and be with us in person. So Britt, Tiff, Dana, myself, Kristy, all of our consultants, you're gonna meet a lot of the Dental A Team in person. So one, if you wanna meet us, come join us. But two, I really think it's an incredible opportunity to... basically like mastermind with other doctors, like mastermind so cliche and we're actually doing it a lot differently and it's built on your life. It's built on your business. We're having you really like, like I said, it's like a full autopsy of your practice in front of other offices to where we can give you the nuts and bolts of what you need to do to be successful and to have your dream life and your dream practice. so we're super excited. We're going to do this every quarter. But two in-persons next year. So reach out Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. and I are pumped about it. Tiff and I are giddy. We have been dreaming of doing this for a few years. So there is limited spacing. So before end of year, be sure to get in. I would love to have you be a part of it. And prices do go up in 2025. So be sure to get in in 2024, because I like to save you money. And it's also a great tax write-off. So if you've been thinking about it, you've been wondering if I should do consulting, the answer is stop thinking and start deciding and execute. Let's make 2025 thriving rather than surviving. So Britt on that, Who Not How? This is actually excellent. The book is Who Not How by Dan Sullivan. Dan Sullivan makes me like have a good time, because I actually met Dan Sullivan in real life. So that was really fun. It was awesome. And this book is really about, instead of thinking about how do I do this myself, who can I hire, who can I elevate out to be able to do this faster and more effectively? And honestly, Britt, as I... Britt (05:52.448) You Kiera Dent (06:16.684) I didn't even mean to tie these together, but think about a consultant. Like, why are you trying to run your practice on your own? Why are you trying to rally your team? Why are you trying to figure out how to run this practice successfully when literally there's the Dental A Team consultants, there's other consultants as well, they can do it better, faster, more efficiently than you can. Why are you spending your time? And so even for this, like Britt, goes back to the book club of buy back your time. If you know, you're hourly. like, let's do what's a general dollar per hour for. a usual Dr. Britt. Like let's not go high end, not let's not go at low end. What's usually a dollar per hour for a dentist. Britt (06:52.0) Well, and they say even go from yearly. So like, what's a yearly salary for a dentist? Let's say, you know, we know our dentists do a lot better than this. But let's start with an easy number just to make it simple. And let's say 100,000. We know you're doing more, but let's say 100,000 to make easy math. Kiera Dent (07:09.684) I hope you're doing more. If you're not doing more than that, you should definitely still call because, our doctors are usually doing two, three, 400,000 take home that that's like on the low end as well. have some doctors taking home in the millions, which is great. And I, I geek out about that. I don't care about your number. care about your life. And we ultimately build your, your take home pay based on what you want your life to be. So, okay. So if you are making a hundred thousand, if you are doing a task that's below that hundred thousand dollar a year mark, Britt (07:17.535) Yep. Britt (07:30.495) Mm-hmm. Kiera Dent (07:39.562) you should be delegating it out. And like that's the whole idea between buy back your time and who not how. And I think like a really easy analogy on this that I actually like I tested this Britt. I don't know if I told you this, I tested this this summer and my husband, he's been wanting to get some projects done. Like literally Britt, I wanted him to figure out there's a 457B plan there's, which was gonna save us a lot on taxes from his perspective. and there were some other things he wanted to do. There were different positions, like that. just had all these different projects he wanted to do. So this summer I decided to be a helpful wife and I thought about it I'm like, he is freaking mowing the lawn every single week. And he's always telling me like, here, I have to work on the yard. So I can't do all these projects. So I just hired a lawn care company. knew what Jason's hourly was. I knew what his salary was. And not to say that Jason can't do it because Jason loves doing the lawn. Like he really does. He says he enjoys it. But I didn't, I didn't even tell him. I just wanted to test this theory of buy back your time and who, not how, and like, does this really work? So we hired this lawn care crew because our lawn literally looked terrible. So I had a good edge that way because I don't know what happened. My family's a lawn business team and we could not get this grass to grow this year. I hired them, I kid you not, we had this lawn care crew for two and a half months. Okay. So I didn't have them for a long time in those two and a half months. Jason got his 457B plan set up. He got this whole retirement thing done. He got, like, there were so many projects on his list that Jason just checked off and he's like, man, like, yeah, I got this scheduled. I got this scheduled. And I told him at the end when he's like, we should get rid of the lawn care crew. I said, yes, like our grass is dead at this point. And it became fall. So I was like, it was an easy cancellation. But I said, is it crazy that I think they charged me, I think they were $35 to come and mow our like teeny tiny backyard. A week is what we were paying. but my husband was making more than that. And so I was like, let me just try this experiment. was like $200 a month is what we were paying for it. And yet that 457B plan is exponentially, that's a $23,000 piece for $250. And like, this is the whole principle of like, when we eliminate those projects that we can and delegate them out, you're able to buy back so much of your time, who not, how, like, how are we gonna figure out how to mow the lawn and do all these things? And I know that sounds like something so funny. Kiera Dent (09:57.144) But it's crazy because when you have the time available to do it and you're not trying to figure out how to do it all, you actually can grow exponentially. So thinking back to the doctor trying to figure all the pieces out, that's actually where I think a consultant is a great bang for your buck because one, we put production on your schedule. Two, we reduce your overhead. Three, we take care of your team for you. Four, we have all the secrets of how to get there and we'll just share every one of them with you. And we cost less than what it's going to cost you to bring a whole employee into your practice. So. I mean, it wasn't intentionally meant to be a consultant plug, but I think like even the math for our logical people, the math, math, the math's really well of how to do this. And it's really thinking of how can we stop thinking of how I can do this myself and who, but Britt, you're my financially savvy person. You're the person who's like, figure it out. I can do this. What's your take on this book club? Cause I did the, I ran the experiment. Jason's like a freaking penny pincher, which is fine. Like it's great to have that. I just was curious if we'd actually get things done if he didn't have to do it, and he did. So I ran the experiment and I saw it worked, but Britt, what's your take? Let's rally on our book club of back and forth. Britt (11:01.207) Yeah, and I like looking at what it costs right and what you're making and what you can outsource to someone else and like I pick a hundred thousand because it's easy to multiply I know in a 40-hour workweek it's 50 bucks So if you're making double that triple that quadruple that whatever it is It's easy math to do to see what you could be making right with your time versus what you're paying out to someone else So you said what it costs 35 bucks or something for them to come mow your lawn How long would it take Jason to do that job? Kiera Dent (11:31.65) So usually would take Jason about an hour to an hour and a half. Cause like he just piddled out there and like then he'd go pick the weeds and then he'd do this and then he'd do that. So he's usually out there for like an hour to two hours. But what was actually happening is I think it was more the mental real estate time, not just the actual time on it because he's like, I got to get the lawn done. I've got to get the lawn done. every night that was mental real estate in him too, outside of the actual time that it was taking him. So that's why he wasn't getting any of his other projects done because he was saying, Britt (11:46.228) Mm. Kiera Dent (12:00.16) I need to get this 457B plan done, but yet the higher real estate was the grass that doesn't stop growing that he knew he needed to get out there. So I'm like, yes, hourly, he was out the…
Full show notes at the publisherKiera and Britt outline how to go about assessing 2024 for your practice. They give three metric areas and discuss questions for evaluating each: Profitability and business Clinician and dentistry skill Personal and team fulfillment Included in all that is the recognition of accomplishments. Don't forget to celebrate! Episode resources: Reach out to Kiera and Britt Tune Into DAT's Monthly Webinar Practice Momentum Group Consulting Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Become Dental A-Team Platinum! Review the podcast Transcript: Kiera Dent (00:00.812) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera and today is a special day. I have the one and only Brittany Stone, no BS Britt. What else do you have? What other names Britt? think bad. Britt (00:11.616) mean, you got my full name today. So like that's always, Tiff did that the other day on a podcast too. And I'm like, I always get worried when it's my full name that comes up. Kiera Dent (00:15.127) You Kiera Dent (00:21.158) Brittany's still back on the podcast. Don't worry. No fear there. It's just a good name. I mean you go by Britt. I only usually call you Britt every so often it comes through as Brittany Britt (00:23.542) you Britt (00:31.786) My mom did a good job. I'm happy with it. Kiera Dent (00:34.22) Yeah, and then BS. What's crazy is there's an office that I consult and their office manager is killer. She's incredible. And her initials are BS. And I was like, you and my BS are two good BSs. Britt (00:47.03) huh, it's true. They are fun initials to sign on anything when it's like a legal thing that you initial and you sign BS. I'll just say it makes me Google anyways. Kiera Dent (00:56.458) I mean, someone that I know, I won't say who they are. They have an account called BS Investments. So it's like they're just like nonsense investments. And we were transferring some money and the bank stopped us and they were like, are you sure you want to send it to this? Yes. So agreed. The legal, all the things. There's some good initials. But I thought they were very clever to have BS investments. Like those are just the ones that are like shot in the dark. You don't know what's going to happen. So with that, Britt and I are back on the podcast. thought it'd be fun to podcast today about like, let's just go through kind of what we do internally. Britt and I work, believe it or not, we're not just consultants in Denali team. Britt does all operations within our company and her and I really do yin and yang. And so I thought it'd be a fun podcast for us today of kind of like, how do we assess how our 2024 was for you guys to really like, let's go through how was 2024 for you? What things should you be looking at? How do you assess if it was a good year? if it wasn't a great year, because honestly, I think it's fair to say that 2024 was actually our hardest year as Dental A Team, like all the way around. And I think a lot of practices had a hard year. I think there were some who had like best years ever. But I think it's important to note that like ebbs and flows in business are normal. And that's okay. It's just how do we assess was it a good year or not? But shoot, I mean, we hired consultants this year, we hired recruiters this year, like we went all in this year. because there were a lot of things we were struggling with as a company and I think like struggling and also on the high ends, we also hire coaches then too, but it's like making sure you're really getting the need and the support you have. And like those were pivotal decisions you and I made throughout this year, yin and yanging off of what we both had and our different perspectives. Britt (02:41.949) Yeah, for sure. I think when it comes to looking at years, like even your tough years, right? Everyone's going to have them. That's welcome to business. Welcome to life. That's what happens sometimes. And even just looking back and making sure that we always look at the things that went well. I think sometimes when we get to end of year, you're like, my gosh, what are all the things? What do we need to fix? What do we do? And making sure to take a look back at what went well and the things that went well. What do we need to keep doing and not lose track of as we start to focus on maybe some areas or some other areas? Kiera Dent (03:13.248) I agree and I'm glad you brought it up because I think sometimes you and I are actually cynical and like it's like yeah, yeah, yeah, that was something good. So my question is, I mean, this is a real question. haven't, you guys, we don't script any of this. This is just me and Britt rifting in real life here. How do you not just like get complacent and be like, yeah, that was great, but we need to fix all these things. Like how do you really celebrate the good things going on and not lose sight of those? I don't know. Like I said, this is a rift. You and I have never really talked about this in real life. Britt (03:20.721) huh. Britt (03:41.378) I think it takes effort. That's why I try to keep it top of mind because it's more a reminder for me than anyone and anyone else out there that's like me that we struggle to look for the things that did go well or the things that are going well. So it's making the conscious effort to find those things that went well and acknowledge them because yes, I agree. Kiera Dent (03:47.982) you Britt (04:01.802) very easily that I'm like, yeah, yeah, or like not take credit for like certain personality types, right? Like I'm like, yeah, it's like, sure, sure, And like move on to the next thing. But I think everyone can benefit, myself included, from practicing and becoming better at accepting the things that did go well and accepting the accomplishments. Kiera Dent (04:18.67) I actually love that perspective. makes me think back, like I started doing this little exercise where they say to do a celebration at the end of every week. So you literally look back on your week and you write an entire paragraph of the celebrations of the great things that happened for that week before you go in and start planning your next week. And I thought it was stupid. Like, I skipped it for quite some time. I was like, I know better than you. That's just a waste of time. And it's interesting because on the weeks when I will do the celebration box, Britt (04:41.174) you Kiera Dent (04:49.31) and you and I both attended this event so you know exactly what I'm talking about. That celebration piece literally flipped my brain into a more optimistic, positive, I could do more momentum than when I'm just like week to week, what did I not get? And I honestly wonder, and I have no backing and nothing other than just my own personal experience, I wonder if truly celebrating those wins and really building that momentum before we go into our build. can actually help us see the positives. it's almost like those are the sunglasses we're putting on. So then when we do go and tackle where things didn't go well, maybe we have a better proactive mindset on it versus like, we suck, we need to figure this out. It's almost like down and beaten versus vibrant and finding the solutions rather than just problems. Britt (05:27.914) Thank Britt (05:36.374) Yeah, and I think it's the perspective, right? That I think when you start with what you've accomplished, it makes going into planning to accomplish more things like, all right, like, yeah, we can do these things. So like, it's not like, well, we keep working on the same thing, right? Like, are we keep doing this? Are we keep doing that? Or like, there's always something wrong. Like, no, it takes a minute to set some perspective on it first, and then move into the next things. And I think for us, right, working with clients, I become more aware of it because I think like, care about them celebrating more than I care about me celebrating. So like when things happen, I'm like, no, no, no, can we stop for a second and just acknowledge like how far you come right now? Like I was on the phone with the client the other day. And I've been with them since like early on when they opened and they like expanded and added associates and I'm like, can we just acknowledge for a minute and just like, I've been with you for like four years almost now, but like how far you come and really a relatively short amount of time. Kiera Dent (06:07.32) same. Kiera Dent (06:23.182) you Kiera Dent (06:33.086) Which is ironic Britt because without us again scripting any of this I did the exact same thing for a client that I've had for almost the same amount of time I think I'm a year longer than you with that client and I said can we just celebrate the fact that you've built this practice You've had two babies you've cut down your hours You've expanded your practice like you've gone from these numbers to these numbers like that's a lot and I remember one of the doctors she's like Thank you for telling me that because I think I forget to to acknowledge where we've been and where we've come from And there's a quote that I heard where it says, we overestimate what we can accomplish in a year and we underestimate what we can accomplish in a decade. And I think it's just that like, we really do get a lot done. It's just the day in, day out grind. It's often hard to see progress when you're in it consistently. So agreed. I think that that's a good way to start of like reviewing your 2024 of like, let's celebrate the things that did go well and like make a whole laundry list and like have it as the brag sheet. Get your leadership team. And honestly, Britt, we should do this before we set our goals. We should probably have a nice brag sheet, because I think a lot more got accomplished. And it's also fun to look back and see, we did accomplish a lot. I think it helps you also set the stage for the next year of, we were able to do all this this year. Let's make sure that we're being realistic with what we can do next year as well. Britt (07:49.504) Yeah, and I think evaluating some of the benchmarks too, right? think everyone, most people can feel the strain of like staffing, right? And so it's like, all right, we still may not be like completely staffed, but how have we handled this scenario or got creative or taking care of things like, those also are wins even though it's maybe not our ideal scenario we'd like to be sitting in, but we've done a lot with the circumstances we've been in. Kiera Dent (08:12.347) For sure. And I also think like you and I just in our last meeting hiring consultants. If you know any consultants, I'm not doing a shameless plug. This is a legit plug. I'm just going to ask for it. If you know anyone who'd love to be a consultant, we do not poach from offices. So don't even think about it. But if you know anyone who wants to be a consultant, send them our way. But like you and I literally in our last meeting, that's my little commercial. Thank you for listening. But like we literally came down to it we're like, Hey, this has been a problem for us for so long. Britt (08:34.326) No. Kiera Dent (08:40.492) What can we actually do to get out of this pickle? And we forced us to innovate and think outside the box, which I thought was really beautiful that we did. And I think for offices, like you said, assess the metrics and like don't harp on it. It's not like Britt freaking hire somebody, even though I sometimes wanna say that to you. Sometimes I'm like, just go find somebody. But the reality is like, let's innovate, let's think about it. Let's come up with different solutions that we can all do together. So on that agreed, celebrate. look to see where we may be missed and why. I think us doing a deep dive of like, why, what things can we change? Instead of being like, well, we just tried to hire whomever we could. It's like, well, let's get creative. If we can't find hygienists, I know I just did this with an office, like, we can't find hygienists. So we literally talked about like, let's do a CE for hygienists, like once or twice a year. So all the hygienists come and if they're not happy, like amazing, it's a networking opportunity or when they're ready to move positions, they think about us. We're literally going and we're gonna schmooze. Like I kid you not, we're gonna be schmoozing at that hygiene college constantly. Then I thought like, why are we going through administrators? Dental colleges, like the best way to get to the students is through the students. So how can we get like the students to get together in the hygiene schools? Like we came up with so many ideas when it's like, we can't hire anybody. We started offering part-time hours. This office has not wanted to offer part-time hours and we decided. Let's actually look to see how could we hire part-time people. and I, did a similar thing. We're like, all right, this is tricky. Who's our ideal consultant? What did they do? Where are they at? Let's start figuring out a different solution for it. And I think that that's a fun thing of business, at least for me. That's the puzzle of how do we figure out these scenarios? Do we need to hire someone? Do we need to find somebody? Do we need to think outside the box? We need to get more creative. Or did we just set two lofty of goals that were unrealistic and we need to pare that down for next year? Britt (10:23.648) What's this? Kiera Dent (10:28.288) So on that, are you guys ready to review 2024? I think easy. think, and again, Britt and I have no script for this, so we're just going to riff for you. But as I'm assessing and what we do in Denali team when we're looking at 2024 is one, I think it's very easy. Did we hit our production numbers? Yes or no? Like, did we hit that? Two, how's our overhead? What's our profitability on the business? Did we hit that or did we not? Why or why not? After you do all this, after you've celebrated. So don't forget, celebrate first, then go into this. Britt (10:28.501) Thank you. Britt (10:36.778) Hehehe. Britt (10:53.984) which is Kiera Dent (10:57.166) I think I'm also looking at providers. Like how many providers do we need more providers? Do we not? Like how do we do well on that? We're looking at our goals that we set at the beginning of the year to the end of the year. How did we do on that? Why did we hit them? Why did we not? Were they the right goals to set? Were they not? And then what we start to do, and this is coming up for us, is we start to set the projections for the next year. Like what are all the raises? What are all the different pieces? How's our marketing? How's our bookkeeping? How's our legal? Like all those things we assess and what are we going to have coming in for next year to then set our new goals for next year? like Really, think, Britt, when we look at it, I don't think if you hit production or you hit all your goals that that was necessarily a win of a year. I think you and I might have also shifted our definition of winning, but I'll let you speak to that first before I share. Do you agree with that? Disagree with kind of your thoughts because I think it's very easy to like it's only production, but I don't think that necessarily equates to the win. Britt (11:45.236) No, mean, numbers for sure need to be reviewed, right? That's our objective. How did we…
Full show notes at the publisherKiera breaks down need-to-know pieces of leadership meetings—ones that are regularly scheduled, have focused agendas, and require personal ownership from each person present. Episode resources: Reach out to Kiera Tune Into DAT's Monthly Webinar Practice Momentum Group Consulting Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Become Dental A-Team Platinum! Review the podcast Transcript: Kiera Dent (00:00.798) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera and welcome to the Dental A Team podcast. I hope you guys are just having the best day of your life. I hope that you just remember we are truly so incredibly blessed to be able to be in dentistry. I say this often and I genuinely mean it. I think it's so incredible that we get to be a part of dentistry. We get to be part of all this evolution. We get to be a part of AI coming into our practices and being able to have all these fun things. We're able to help our patients with PRF and now there's laser that's helping with restorative treatments have less sensitivity and we're able to add it on and have literally patients healing like within three days after a full mouth extraction by using a lot of these procedures like it is truly mind-blowing that we get to be a part of this and giving people their smile. I was in an office this last weekend one of the the team members she's new to dental and she said you know a smile is the universal hello. And while, yes, I've heard that before, it just kind of hit me again of how beautiful of a work dentistry is where we get to help people with that universal hello of being able to smile and have the confidence and also be able to fuel and be able to eat the healthy foods that we need to eat. To my mother-in-law, she had an accident and she wasn't able to eat. Some things happened and just hearing like how hard it was for her to be able to eat and consume food and how hard it was for her body to heal. just thought... I think we sometimes forget how important our job and our role and what we're doing in dentistry is and the life impacts we're able to make for people. just wanted to remind you of what a great work you're doing and mass kudos and celebrate your team because we really are doing a work that changes lives. I understand we're not heart surgeons, but we are smile surgeons and we're able to give people the smile and the confidence of their dreams and make that a reality for them. So just wanted to remind you. Keep doing what you're doing because you're making an incredible impact in this world. So as always, thank you for being a part of our Dental A Team podcast family. If you've not left a review, please go leave those five star reviews. Be sure to share this podcast with someone. Just literally like send it to someone. I want you to think of one dentist or one office manager or one hygienist that you know. Just send this podcast to them because I really am here to inspire and positively impact this world of dentistry in the greatest way possible. And the only way I can do that is providing great content. Kiera Dent (02:21.984) that you naturally want to share. So please share this with someone. And today's topic is going to be really fun for you to share. It's all about how to run effective leadership meetings. I know. Don't worry. I know how to give a good pitch and hook. How to run great effective leadership meetings. I just came in off the road. did nine leadership meetings in one week. That was my latest record. It's definitely something that I have not done before. And to say I was very tired at the end of it and What my favorite phrase is, came from Tony Robbins and he said, bone tired, but victorious. And that's how I felt. I was literally physically exhausted. I slept in four different hotel rooms in five different days. It was just very, very like I was running. I was sleeping on all different time zones. But by the end of it, my cup was so full from being able to help so many offices achieve goals and dreams and amazing leadership teams that they never believed were possible. And for me as a consultant, think my greatest success is watching my offices. Yes, I love numbers. I love hitting up sexy numbers. I love seeing offices who when I first started with them, like I have one office that I'm thinking of, when I first started with them, they were doing about 2 million. Incredible practice. They were doing a great job. And just over the course of a few short years, they are now producing, we're hoping that they end in the 5 to 6 million range. And so to be able to give that ROI of sexy numbers, those are always fun for me to throw out to you of true real life examples, other offices that are producing 12 million, other practices that started out as scratch startups that are now producing 1 million, 2 million, 3 million, and having very successful profit margins on that too, because I don't care what your top line number is, I care what your profitability is, to see offices that bringing on partners are able to pull in 35 % profit. Those to me are really fun, sexy numbers, because I think in consulting, you're looking for ROIs. And so to be able to share those success stories, but then I also have other offices that don't have as great of numbers. And I really do look to see what's the difference between them. And I think there's a few differentiators and one is execution and commitment. Offices that flourish truly do execute and commit for at least the three to six months or whatever we've committed to as a team, they commit and they stay committed to that. They don't just like, yeah, we did this. And then they let it slip off. Kiera Dent (04:41.056) The owners are very, very strict with that. Something else is the doctor is very much, the owner is very much involved in not necessarily running the meetings or doing all the pieces, but they're there setting the vision. They are there being a part of it with the team and they very much love their teams. And then the other part is they expect their teams to rise up. They expect their teams to have the conversations. They invest in their teams. They pay for the consulting, but they have their teams come to the meetings. I have an office and like our meetings every single month. We have our leadership meetings and it is never missed and it is never let go. It is and it is in gold and it's so important and they expect the leadership team to go and tell the doctor what they learned at that meeting versus my other offices who are missing the meetings. They're not blocking the schedules. They're not taking the time. They're not following through. And then we're looking at the numbers. We're consistently looking at the numbers to see where we at, where the lovers and we fall in love with numbers. All of my offices that are very successful know their metrics forward and backward. If I called each of them up right now, they would know their overhead, they know their profit, they know their collection percentages, they know how much is in their AR, they would know how much their doctors are producing, every single one of them. Like literally I would call them, but that's been trained over years of this is what we need to look for and we need to make decisions off of that. And then I train leadership teams to do the same. Training leadership teams to think like owners, to look at this practice and take the ownership of like, yes, the doctor is here. but leadership teams are now setting the vision. They're setting the goals. They're setting the objectives. The doctor has a small portion of that as the owner, but the leadership teams are ultimately taking the ownership and having an ownership mindset on the practice. The doctors that don't do as well in consulting, or I would say in general, are the ones who are making excuses that are blaming, that aren't having the uncomfortable growth conversations with their team, that aren't expecting their team to show up to meetings. It's crazy. Some teams start right on time. Like the offices that do really well. They are always set up, prepared. Everyone has a notebook and a pen. They're there usually five to 10 minutes before the meeting starts. And that's the expectation that they have versus other offices. They're coming in. No one has notes. No one's taking notes. No one's following up on what's going on. You obviously have two different stages, two different standards, but both of them have the same opportunity if they desire. And so just giving you guys some tips on how you can run very successful leadership meetings is one. Kiera Dent (06:59.796) always have it like set in the schedule and everybody comes and I recommend you always start five minutes like they're there five minutes before and that's on time. We always have an agenda. So there's got to be an agenda. I follow the traction model by Gina Wickman. We call them L10 or level 10 meetings. And there's a very solid structure in there where we start with our personal professional wins of the week. And then we have our expectation of what we're hoping to get out of the meeting. I do this every single time our team does it. My offices that I coach do this. After that, we then go into reviewing last week. Did we get our action items done? Where are we at? We look at the numbers and the metrics. If anything is off track for that quarter, that goes to an issue that we're going to discuss. And then we move on to issues and issues we don't just go one by one by one. We categorize them, we put them together, and then we look at what's the one, two, and three most important things to get solved and resolved. And we come to meetings to resolve. We don't come to meetings to just talk. So we're coming there to make decisions. We're coming there with all the information people speak up. Then we commit, we have our action items, people follow through. And a lot of times it's like dependent upon the office manager to tell everyone, no, in very successful leadership teams, you are taking notes, you are writing down your action items of what you need to get done. So you take personal ownership of it. The office manager is just expected to know everything going on. And if something's off track, they go have a conversation with that team member. But if leaders can come to the table this way, if leaders show up this way, leaders are being very involved, the bulk of the time is spent on those issues. We're not here to debate it of a way of making people right or wrong. We're here to debate of what does the business ultimately need and why is this an issue without blaming? Sometimes it is like you got to call people out like, hey, Kiera, you're not showing up to these meetings on time. And I can either be annoyed, that's the ego, or I can say like, you know what, guys, you're right. And I need to set an alarm 10 minutes before so that way I'm here. I really have found that excuses destroy leadership teams. excuses of why things aren't happening are what destroy and make it to where we can't move forward. And these are the things that I would recommend and encourage that you actually remove out of your leadership and call each other out of like, Hey, is that an excuse or is that a fact? And encouraging your leadership teams, like I'll throw another plug for Patrick Lanziani's, five dysfunctions of teams book, making sure that we're actually all talking about it. And we're, we're working on winning. Kiera Dent (09:22.582) And we've got to have the healthy debate. We've got to be able to call each other out and not take the personal offense. We've got to put our egos at the door and it's okay to feel bad because you didn't meet the standards and you let your team down. But that doesn't mean we make excuses or we blame. We take personal ownership and then we commit and resolve and we don't have it happen again. And so that's how you run effective leadership meetings. And then we always rate them and we rate them honestly on a one to 10. So 10 was, was an incredible meeting. We got a lot done. There's a solid plan in place. Everybody's clear. One is this was a complete and utter waste of time. And the more honest and truthful we are with our meetings, like I've given my team a six before I'm like, it was a six today because we just got in a spin and we resolved nothing today. And it was an absolute waste of time for all of us. So next time we come in, this is what we need to do differently. I usually don't give that low of numbers, but when it's not a good meeting, leaders need to step up and say the honest truth. Now there's the flip side where people are like, I'm never giving tens or I'm never giving this like, but if it was. give the celebration and let's celebrate that we did an incredible job as a leadership team. and then the other piece that I always recommend. So we start on time. It's always consistent. We have an agenda. There's someone who's taking notes, but everybody should be taking their own notes of what they're expected to do. There's true follow up. No excuses. Let's have that. And then whatever we discuss in the leadership team needs to stay confidential within. and we all need to be committed. We're not having side conversations and that's literally being all brought up within that leadership team meeting. And you can also do this within your team meetings too if you don't have a leadership team today. But really making sure we're doing these pieces, we're building the trust, we're having the conversations, we're having the healthy debate, we're fully committed. And then I recommend ending that meeting about 10 minutes before time so that way we can make sure, okay, what did we discuss today? What's the action plan? who's doing what and what did we truly like solve today to make sure we're all on the same page. And it's almost like giving you a 10 minute time to recap it before we get to the next meeting. And I found that that really, really helped. So even on my calendar, we shrink it up by 10 minutes. That way we can recap it at the end and we can end and be done right on time. And I'm always very committed to we end on time. Now, if you're in the middle of something that's very important and if we could get this resolved, we can move it forward faster. Kiera Dent (11:37.938) move the next meeting if appropriate, but try really hard to end on time. I understand sometimes it takes a while to get things there. So I give our leadership team permission of like, let's move our next meeting by 10 or 15 minutes. That way we can get this resolved. Let's be respectful of time. But I think a lot of those things are very helpful for running it. And something I found is I'm obsessed working with leadership teams. I'm obsessed with helping leaders learn how to run a practice and think like an owner. So we look at the numbers to make the decisions. We have the... growth conversations with each other. fully committed when things aren't there, we figure out how to have the conversations with each other. This is the type of stuff that freaking lights my fire because if I can teach a team of leaders how to be leaders, that doctor is able to then have a practice that flourishes with a team that's bought in and committed to things that they would never imagine possible. This doctor that I was telling you that went from 2 million to about 6 million, we were chatting and he said, Ki…
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