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How to Find Out How Many Staff Members Your Dental Office Needs - (Dental Office Manager Tip)

How Many Staff Does Your Dental Office Need? (Dental Office Manager Tip)

This week, we're discussing a common question among dental office managers... That question is simply this; "How many dental office staff members do we need?" For the answer to this tricky question, we'll consult a management expert, Greg Winteregg, to let him explain exactly how to figure out how many staff members your office needs to hire to be productive and more profitable than ever. Check out the video below and read on to optimize your dental office's productivity...

(video source: How Many Staff Do you Need? Dental Practice Pro Tip)

Dental Office Manager Traps to Avoid

The Dental industry is notorious for getting caught up in expenses. Do any of these thoughts sound familiar?

"How much am I spending on cotton rolls or impression material"

"What's my lab fee to make a crown?"

What is my staff salary on a weekly and monthly basis?

Following this lethal trail of thought all the way ultimately leads to a dental office manager (or the dentist) thinking how they can be as thrifty as possible to save the most amount of money. However, this is the wrong way to go about managing your dental practice. Cutting costs are an important aspect to running any dental office... but it should not be the ultimate goal. The real goal for any dental office manager should be to EXPAND the business.

Most smaller minded dental practices tend to follow the same formula set up in the office:

They have no staff. (a few doctors doctors even run the entire practice by themselves!)

They are very thrifty.

They have an overhead of about 30%

 What a Struggling Dental Office Looks Like

A dentist who is not optimized to make the most money possible is typically making between 15,000 - 20,000 per month. The reason? Because he does not have the office set up properly. As an office manager, if your dental practice is only making this range per month... there is a lot of money that you and your dentist are leaving on the table. This is NOT very productive or profitable for the dentist who should only have to do one thing very well: DENTISTRY. Your dentist should NOT be helping you file insurance claims or managing the day to day operations. It's a waste of their time. They should be in the back making the office money by seeing more patients. Plus, as a dental office manager, we're sure you can agree that being micromanaged is unproductive and can even feel belittling.  

How to Fix a Disfunctional Office

We have to dial this question back and take a look at what your goals are for the dental practice.

Are your goals to just maintain and not lose anymore patients?

Are your goals to expand?

If you've said yes to these two goals, then the answer is simple: You are going to have to add staff.  

Example of Growth in Your Dental Practice

For a practical example, let's take a look at how many new patients you get in a month:

Let's say it's 25 new patients per month.

That's 300 new patients a year. Over the span of five years, that's 1500 patients! And, if you haven't added three or four or five days of hygiene over that period of time, do it now! This is free revenue for the dental practice that you're definitely leaving on the table. As a bonus tip, ALWAYS consider implementing a "pre-payment" system into your practice. We've explained how to do this in our article titled, "How Successful Dental Office Managers Collect Pre-Payment From Patients". Click the link to check it out! What's the benefit for you? Collecting pre-payments allows your dental office to have more working capital as your patients will be paying BEFORE dental services are performed.  

Cost Vs. Lost Production

There are two modes of thinking when growing your dental practice;

You can look at the cost side of staff

Focusing on lost production due to the lack of staff. (Also known as having a "capacity" problem.)

As dental office managers and dental owners, we should be focusing primarily on these areas of growth:

Service more patients

Provide more products

Help more people keep their teeth

When dental practices focus on these 3 modalities of revenue, the overall office production goes up. So, rather than focusing on staff cost, constantly remind yourself (and your staff) to focus on lost production.  

Who to Hire?

You also have to hire staff that are capable of moving fast and with precise accuracy.

They are willing to work and they're not happy when there are no patients in the office. A highly productive staff is very profitable for the office because you get a lot more production from each staff member. This enables your office to become a relaxed working environment. Plus, the cost of your highly productive staff members will result in huge dividends to your dental practice.  

Always Think "Expansion"

Your practice should be expanding every year. What does that mean? It means you should be adding at least one day of hygiene every year. Keeping this idea of "expansion" as the number one objective to your practice will pay for itself in the long run (if done properly). Eradicate the ideas of "shrinking" and "scarcity". Consider the abundance and potential your practice can achieve with every decision the office makes. If you're consistent, the dental office's expansion will come naturally. This article was originally published on the Pristine Business Cleaning Company blog at: https://pristinebusinessclean.com/productivity/how-many-staff-do-you-need-dental-office-manager-tip/

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How Successful Dental Office Managers Collect Pre-Payment From Patients

How to Collect Pre-Payment From Dental Patients

As a dental office manager, does the thought of having to collect pre-payment from dental patients while setting up the appointment scare you to death? This is usually the first reaction most office managers experience when a dental office decides to change their policy from "bill me later" to "collect pre-payment before appointment". This week, we're going to talk about pre-payment and how to collect money from patients before treatment is actually rendered. Check out the video below and read on to learn how to collect pre-payment from patients as a dental office manager...

(video source: How to Collect 100% of the Dental Fee From Your Patients Before Performing Services)

Don't Be Afraid to Ask

It's natural to feel scared aboutasking for payments up-front from your dental patients. Here's how you can get started; everyday, pick two patients to ask to pre-pay. The way you go about asking them during the conversation is not as important as making a firm commitment to just ASK. Start with two customers You can pick who they are. To make this easier, try choosing patients that have a good attitude and don't have the potential to chew your head off when you ask them for money.

Be Persistent in Asking

You MUST pick two customers Even if they are not pre-cognitively chosen, at the very least, you should keep score of yourself and make sure that by end of day you have asked at least two customers to pay up front. If you find yourself getting to the end of the day without asking at least two customers, consider trying to do your asking at the beginning of the day (before lunch) so you can make sure to catch yourself.

Accountability is Key

Make sure you are holding yourself (and your team) accountable for asking for dental pre-payments up front. You can keep your staff's morale highby asking each team member in the morning huddle, "Who are you going to ask today to pre-pay?" It's true that you won't always know who will come in that day, or who will be calling to make an appointment, but your receptionists can always make it a goal to ask the following patients:

The first person to walk in the door

The first person to call and make a new appointment

A specific customer on the calendar for the day

Approaching Patients

There are two types of patients you'll want to approach first when getting started with your new dental pre-payment policy.

New Patients

Rock-Star Patients

Let's explore each and see why these two make the most sense to try and covert first: 1 New Patients New patients are typically the easiest to approach when starting tocollect pre-payments. Since they are new to your practice, they may not be pre-conditioned with a "pay after services are rendered" or "bill me later" attitude. However, if their previous dentist took payments in the "bill me later" fashion, you'll get a chance to break that habit up front and avoid any hassle in the long run. And in the future, every time this new patient makes a new appointment, they will be expecting your new up-front payment policy. 2 Rock-Star Patients

Another best practice is to approach your all-star patients; the ones that love your dentist office and have been known to be easygoing, friendly, and genuinely happy when they visit your dental office. This might sound counter-intuitive, but if the patient is reasonable, they will come to understand that this is the new policy. And if they are truly good patients, they will adhere to your newpre-payment policy If not, they will find another dentist to go to. And that's fine. It's important to realize that you you cannot and will not convert everyone So do not get discouraged if they end up leaving your practice after asking them for pre-payment. For maximum profitability and productivity in the office, your practice will want customers that understand this "pre-pay" policy as part of the admission for your office's dental services. If the customer does not understand this new policy, they are not the right fit for your office.

Give Discounts for Pre-Payment

As the video above describes, Amy's practice was collecting pre-payment from dental patients and offering a discounts to incentivize them to pay up front. In the video, she tells the story of how she booked and received a pre-payment from a new referral patient. In Amy's own words, here's what happened next... "That afternoon, I got a call and it was from the new patient's sister who had referred her She was up in arms! She said, 'I have a bone to pick with you! I sent my sister over to see you and you gave her a discount! What's up with that? I just had some work done with your office a couple of months ago and you didn't give me a discount.' At that moment, it hit me over the head that okay, this is not something that we're inflicting upon our patients.This is an opportunity that we're giving our patients to save money." Amy goes on to describe that this was her paradigm shifting moment of clarity. The goal was NOT to rob her patients of money. In fact, quite the opposite. This new pre-payment priority was an opportunity for everyone involved in the transaction:

The patient gets an opportunity to save money by paying in advance

Because of the patient now having "skin in the game", they are less likely to cancel

Your office receives money that it would not have seen until weeks or months AFTER the procedure.

You and your dentist are happier because the practice now has working capital to cover office expenses, payroll, etc.

Expanding Your Beliefs About "Money"

We know it can be a little nerve wrecking to try and collect money in advance. The unfortunate truth is money is a very delicate topic for most people. This truth stems far into the psychology of your patients, their upbringings, and their past experiences with money. But it does not just extend to your patients... this truth also includes your own limiting beliefs about money. In fact, the more you fear talking about money... the more you will want to excavate this deeply rooted pre-supposition. You and your staff will do this with practice. (hence the reason for the "2 patients per day" commitment.) It takes a very real mental-shift to overcome the fear of money. We'll cover more about that in a future post.

For now, focus on the benefit to the patient. These benefits are not always self-evident. But if you explain them properly, your patients will soon realize you are doing them a favor. Try using the following lines to get them to understand why pre-payment is a good thing:

Pre-Payments Make Your Dentist Happier

If you're still having trouble convincing yourself or your staff why pre-payments are a good thing for the office, consider the following facts:

Defining "Dental Pre-Payments"

Remember, when you take a dental appointment pre-payment, you are collecting the FULL AMOUNT of the cost of the appointment or procedure. Not just a portion of the payment. This full amount is NOT in addition to outside funding of any sort. The pre-payment arrangement (and discount) is for cash, credit card, debit card, or check (if applicable) at the time of the treatment scheduled.

Overcoming the "Let Me Think About It" Objection

If a patient happens to say something like... "That sounds like a good deal, but let me check with my husband" or... "I don't have the right credit card with me". You can simply reply with... "No problem, I'll tell you what, I can hold this appointment until five o'clock today and if you want to give us a call back with your credit card number /electronic check over the phone, we can definitely do that. But please call before 5 o'clock TODAY, otherwise, we'll have to give this appointment away to another patient." Then, just as you promised, put a hold on the appointment with a note reminding you to delete the appointment if the payment has not been received. When the customer calls back, process the transaction over the phone, and keep the appointment on your system.

"You get to save money by paying up-front for your appointment".

"You don't have to come see me when you check out next week for your treatment."

"The money part will all be squared away for your visit."

Patient pre-payments = commitment to the appointment (less cancellations or no-shows)

Patient pre-payments = more money for office purchases, expenditures, payroll, etc.

More money = a HAPPIER DENTIST in the office!

Happier dentist = more successful procedures with no monetary distractions floating around in his head.

Happier dentist = a HAPPIER OFFICE STAFF!

Happier office staff = a happier dental office manager (i.e.- your life becomes much easier)

What NOT to Do

Be careful not to let yourself or your staff fall for a common loop-hole in your new pre-payment policy. The loophole looks something like this: You feel empathetic for the patient on the phone and say something like, "Oh, you can't pay today? Well, that's alright... as long as you come in 48 hours or 24 hours prior to your treatment and make the payment, we'll still keep you booked." This is unacceptable. There are no exceptions to the new pre-payment policy. The customer either makes the payment by 5pm, or they are taken off your office schedule.

Do Not Keep Old Habits Alive

Remember, this new policy + discount offered to your patientsexcludespaying for the treatment on the day of the appointment. For example- If the patient makes their appointment, you offer a discount and no money is collected beforehand... you have defeated the purpose of the discount. This discountfor pre-payment is used to ensure your patients are committed to their appointments. If you fail to take the payment beforehand, not only are you losing commitment from the patient, you're also losing up-front office money for no reason. You might save yourself a difficult conversation with a patient, but that difficult conversation will still happen with your dentist when he realizes you've been offering his services at a discount with no benefit to the office.

Your Turn

We hope this article has helped you start thinking about how to approach patients with a new "pre-payment" policy. What kinds of challenges or struggles have we left out? Please let us know in the comments below so we can address them.

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Productivity Tip- How to Prepare for Tomorrow

Prepare for Tomorrow with These Simple Hacks

One of the best kept secrets all successful people know is to always prepare themselves for the next day. The truth is, if you set yourself up the night before, you're bound to have a much more successful and productive next day.

In this post, we'll break down some productivity tips to make your "tomorrow" the most optimal day ahead. Once you're done learning the following tips, make sure to put them into practice immediately. If you're a visual learner, check the video below from Melissa of Clean My Space. Then, read on to start implementing these productivity hacks.

(video source: 5 Habits to try for a more productive tomorrow)

The Outfit Preparation

One of the first things most people do every morning is pick out what to wear that day. Often times, this is done when we're at our worst...

Half awake

Before we've had our coffee

Exhausted

And to add insult to injury, the lights are off as we're making this important decision that will stick with us throughout the day. Successful people set their outfits up the night before so they can get dressed and move on. BONUS TIP: Consider the "door hook" Buy a door hook for your closet door or bedroom door. Each night, pick out your outfit for the next day, and hang it on this hook.

In the morning, all you have to do is put the cloths on and move along with conquering the day ahead.

The Pre-bed Tidy Preparation

A fantastic ritual to build is a quick "pre-bed tidy" around the house. All you have to do is go around your house for a few minutes before bed. A few examples of this might be to...

Pick stuff up from the floor and put it where it belongs.

Take out any trash or recycling to their appropriate garbage cans

Remember to transfer any wet laundry from the washing machine into the dryer

Remember- this is NOT cleaning, it's just pre-bed tidying up. A good rule of thumb is; if the task will take more than 5 minutes, don't do it before bed. What this does, is take certain little micro tasks off your mind so you can relax easier into sleep. Plus, in the morning, you won't be waking up in chaos. Instead, you'll wake up to a much tidier space.

The Pre-Meal Preparation

Meal prep is another way that you can save time in the morning by doing it the night before. You'd be surprised how much time this saves you in the long run. For example, if you're a coffee drinker with any sort of coffee machine; look up how to set the built-in timer so the coffee will begin brewing automatically.

This is usually as simple as:

Setting up the timer one time.

Adding the coffee and water to the machine.

Done.

If you prefer freshly ground beans, grind them and put them into the machine before you go to bed. BONUS TIP: Set the timer to start brewing 5 minutes before your alarm goes off. The fresh aroma of caffeinated coffee goodness as you enter the kitchen will make you happy you woke up. Breakfast- You can also pick breakfast items that you can prep the night ahead. If you're a morning smoothie drinker, bag all of your fruits and veggies the night before, then stick the bag in your freezer.

When you wake up, dump the bag's content in the blender, add in some liquid, and enjoy the amount of time you just saved. Lunch- When it comes to lunch, it's a VERY smart idea to get this meal prepared the night before. Especially if you've got on nice clothes and don't want to compromise your outfit while making a sandwich. If you're at your job during lunch, it makes more economical sense to bring your lunch instead of eating out every day. This also allows you to control what you eat and not resort to whatever fast food chain is closest. Great tip if you're trying to watch your weight or eat healthier.

The "Tomorrow's Stuff" Preparation

Don't you just hate when you leave your house in the morning and forget that "important thing you said you wouldn't forget" at home? Here's an all-star PRO TIP to never let that happen again: Put everything you will need the next day as close to the front door as possible.

This should be "stuff" like:

The printouts for tomorrow's presentation

Those tickets to the concert tomorrow evening

Your family member's birthday gift

A package to be dropped off at the post office

Your car keys

I think you get the idea... For a super fail-proof way to never forget anything every again, try putting the stuff you need in a bag. Then, simply hang this bag on the door knob.

Now, you won't be able to leave the house without touching this bag with all your important "stuff".

The De-cluttering Preparation

This is also a great time to incorporate the concept of decluttering into your daily routine. Building on to the "Put your stuff in a bag and hang it on your doorknob", you can also include items you no longer want and are looking to give away as a donation or to someone else. Here's the general idea for this tip: If you have something that will probably just sit in your home collecting dust, get the ball rolling on getting rid of it by moving it to the door. As you leave the next day, you'll see the item, and consciously decide on what to do with it. After a good night's sleep, you might actually be in the right mind to simply throw the item away. Whatever you decide to do with this unwanted item... the point is you will be forced to make a decision about it. Now, that's one less thing to worry about.

In Conclusion...

Preparing on a successful tomorrow always starts the night before. Hopefully, these going-to-bed habits have shed some light on how you can make the most out of your tomorrow, and gain much better sleep because of your efforts. We know these aren't the only "night-prep tips" out there. If you have an evening ritual to make the next day 10 x easier, let us know in the comments below.

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Top 5Tips to Organize Your Office Space for Optimal Productivity

5 Productivity Tips to Organize Your Office Workspace

When you organize your office, you boost productivity and credibility for yourself, your company, and your workplace environment as a whole.

It's really that simple. For example; recent studies have shownyourboss actually favors a neat and organized personfor promotion over your peers. True story. "Favoritism" in the workplace is an unspoken truth never talked about. But as long as it still exists, there's no reason you can't leverage it. As a professional in a work environment, you intuitively know clutter is always accompanied by procrastination and a guilty subconscious mind. This is why it's so important to organize your office workspace. When you're surrounded by uncontrollable clutter like:

Papers piled on the desk

Folders stacked on the floor

And you can't find supplies when you need them...

You're wasting valuable time which could be spent on more productive tasks to help you achieve your goals.

Take Control of Your Office Environment

Watch the video below (and read on) for5 simple pro-tips to organize your office space for optimal efficiency.

(video source: How 2 Organize Your Office Space- by Mission2Organize)

1. Organize Your Office with the "Bullseye Method"

Organizing your office doesn't have to be hard. To start off, let's use a metaphor... Think of your office like a target. In this metaphorical bullseye, every ring has its own purpose...

Ring 1- (in the center)- You are the bullseye

Ring 2- The items used most frequently

Rings 3, 4, etc.- Items used less frequently (in order of immediate importance)

For example, if you use your printer all day, every day, you'll want to place the machine close to your desk. However, if you're not using sheet protectors very often, you can place those further away.

This next sub-tip is from the popular 2001 book, Getting Things Done, by David Allen. Have a paper inbox on your desk (or close to it). Then, instead of being surrounded by a mountain of papers, you'll have a neatly contained paper filing system. Using this "physical inbox", you can label each tier according to your needs.

We usually recommend a two or three tier inbox with the followinglabels:

"action" or "inbox"

"to file"

"to mail" (if you have 3 tiers)

The only papers which DO NOT go in this paper inbox are the ones you need RIGHT NOW. File away any completed projects immediately and you could even create folders for any upcoming projects. This helps you feel less overwhelmed and anxious. You'll also be able to focus better on the tasks at hand without any peripheral distractions.

2. Keep Your Desk Tidy with Minimal Clutter

Keep only minimal and necessary office supplies on the top of your desk.

Less frequently used supplies should always be kept in the drawers of your desk. Desk Drawer Storage When using desk drawers to store any paperwork, make sure to use drawer dividers to keep everything neat and organized.

Supply Room Storage Excess supplies can be kept either in a supply room or a supply closet.

3. Important Items in One Central Place

It's important to have all of your lists and notes in one place.

Some people prefer to keep their action lists or notes online (using Google Keep, Trello, or other free services), while others prefer a notebook.

Either way is fine, just make sure you choose one single place. This one simple action frees you from having to store Post-its and ad-hoc notes all over the place. Plus, when you need to use them for reference, you'll know exactly where to find those important notes or lists.

4. Leverage Office Airspace with Shelves

If you need to keep books, binders or physical products for your line of work, add a bookshelf or install shelves inside of your office.

This is a great way to take advantage of vertical space (also known as "airspace").

5. End Of Day Clean-up

Clear off your desk at the end of each work day. This may sound simple, but you'd be surprised how many people leave their workspaces cluttered with yesterday's "thought residue". From a psychological standpoint, this sort of clutter can cause instant anxiety the moment you come back to your workspace the next day. Cleaning up for the next day is incredibly easy. File away any papers and put your office supplies back where they belong.

A Place for Everything and Everything in Its Place

The cheeky old adage, "A place for everything and everything in its place" is great advise to follow. (And probably why it's been around for so long.) Following these 5 simple steps to organizing your office workspace will let you start every work day feeling:

Fresh

Less overwhelmed

And guaranteed to boost the productivity of your office

Now, Go Organize Your Office...

Have you found any other simple ways to organize your office workplace for optimal productivity? Let us know if these tips have helped you out or if you have any additional tips in the comments below. Credentials: This article originally posted on the Pristine Business Cleaning Company Resource Blog.