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Bulletproof Dental Practice

Dentistry is evolving - Is your practice BULLETPROOF? Marketing. Systems. Leadership. Proven strategies to grow your practice with co-hosts Dr. Peter Boulden and Dr. Craig Spodak.
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Now displaying: 2017
Dec 21, 2017

Bulletproof Dental Practice Podcast Episode 48

Hosts: Dr. Peter Boulden & Dr. Craig Spodak

Guest: Chad Cooper, LEGENDARY LIFESTYLE™ Coach

Watch the full video of the interview by clicking here!

Key Takeaways:

  • People really want to move beyond happiness & material possession, and find FULFILLMENT. We don’t want work/life balance, we want work/life harmony.
  • The one great equalizer is we all get 168 hours in a week. We are all equal that way. How we use that time is what separates the amateurs from the professionals.
  • Creating space in your life and calendar is where your creativity comes alive. Creativity occurs within empty space.
  • Retirement should be doing what you want, on your own terms.
  • Learn and understand what your purpose is. It’s all about how you want to feel, not what you want to achieve or own.
    • To find your purpose sit down and write down 7-10 of your happiest memories. Write 1-2 paragraphs on each of those memories.
    • Add the emotions and feelings within each memory.
    • Go back and circle the emotion words within your writing. Those emotions are your purpose.
  • The greatest failure in the world is achieving everything you want and still being unfulfilled.
  • Once you’ve discovered your purpose, take those emotions and insert them into the activity you’re undertaking. That’s the way to find fulfillment in the things you do every day.
  • Burnout is prevalent with dentists. A lot of that is due to internal narratives.
  • We’ve all been trained to play small. We want to not be afraid of being human, of being normal.
  • If you’re doing something that’s draining your batteries,
  • 7 characteristics of yin and yang. When doing anything, consider these 7 questions. If what your doing answers most of these positively you’ll be much more fulfilled.
    • Is it serving a sense of mission?
    • Did you do it from a place of freedom?
    • Are you doing it with love?
    • Was there adventure involved?
    • When you do this, does it fill you up?
    • Does it create a sense of safety?
    • Does it allow you to speak your truth through love?
  • The two greatest factors for an extraordinary marriage are love and respect. Women desire love. Men want respect.
  • 4 quadrants of life – all four need to be address in order to be fulfilled.
    • Logical – brain
    • Emotional – heart
    • Physical – body
    • Spiritual – soul

References:

Date with Destiny

Charlie Rose interview with Bill Gates & Warren Buffet

Create Your Legendary Lifestyle

Leaders Eat Last by Simon Sinek

Time Isn’t the Problem, You Are by Chad E. Cooper

Tweetables:

The vehicle doesn’t change, the meaning that you give to it does. – Chad Cooper

You can’t feel love you get, you only feel the love you give. – Dr. Craig Spodak

You can’t give what you don’t already possess. – Chad Cooper

Dec 14, 2017

Bulletproof Dental Practice Podcast Episode 47

Hosts: Dr. Peter Boulden & Dr. Craig Spodak

Guest: Dr. Paul Etchison, founder of The Dental Practice Heroes Podcast

Key Takeaways:

  • Self-managed teams are a great way to allow your team members authority to create – and reach – goals that benefit your practice.
  • Learn more about Dr. Spodak’s practices that led Spodak Dental Group to be within the top 1% of Invisalign providers in the US.
  • Occlusion, malocclusion, and crowding are incipient diseases from which problems will arise over the long term.
  • High volume Invisalign production cannot be done by the doctor alone, it requires the support of the entire team.
  • Your mouth isn’t optimally healthy with just the absence of caries or periodontal disease.
  • Keep your focus on educating patients, not on trying to sell services.
  • Your team needs to understand why you do what you do, and make sure they’re on board with your overall vision. Otherwise they’ll never help you grow and meet your goals.
  • We’re in the Participation Age where employees want to come to work with their brain turned on and be part of a mission. Everyone wants to work in a culture where they can express themselves.
  • Craig’s top 3 pieces of advice for dentists:
    1. Create a vision for your life
    2. Work on your leadership skills
    3. Focus on exceptional clinical dentistry

References:

All Star Smiles

GOTT

iTero

Omnicam

Leaders Eat Last by Simon Sinek

Finding My Virginity by Richard Branson

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson

Date With Destiny with Tony Robbins 

Tweetables:

“People need to be led, only ‘stuff’ should be managed.” – Dr. Craig Spodak

“Where focus goes, energy flows.” – Tony Robbins

“Be the leader you wish you had.” – Simon Sinek

Nov 30, 2017

Bulletproof Dental Practice Podcast Episode 46

Hosts: Dr. Peter Boulden & Dr. Craig Spodak

Guest: Dr. David Phelps, founder of Freedom Founders and host of Dentist Freedom Blueprint Podcast

Watch the full video of the interview by clicking here!

Key Takeaways:

  • Building freedom into your business can take many forms.
  • Learn skill sets that are transferable.
  • Becoming the orchestrator of your business is key.
  • Be careful about picking another lane to diversify. First, pick the right people and form strategic alliances. It’s much easier to diversify and become an expert if you have the right support systems.
  • The best return on an investment will always come from optimizing a business.
  • Diversifying into real estate is a common avenue for dentists looking to expand their portfolio.
  • The most profitable seat at the closing table is the lender’s seat.

Tweetables

The “who” is more important than the “what.” – Dr. David Phelps

There’s a difference between investing and speculating – Dr. David Phelps

Nov 16, 2017

Bulletproof Dental Practice Podcast Episode 45

Hosts: Dr. Peter Boulden & Dr. Craig Spodak

Guest: Dr. Bill Williams, founder of Suwanee Dental Care and author of The $10,000 A Day Dentist

Watch the full video of the interview by clicking here!

 

Key Takeaways:

  • Bill William’s book “The $10,000 A Day Dentist” details 50 ways he has identified to create a highly successful dental practice.
  • Dentistry can be broken down into 5 areas: Mindset, Team, Facility, Marketing, and Capacity.
  • Mindset is the beliefs you have and paradigms you operate under. Significant growth can’t happen without the right mindset.
  • Team – it’s important to surround yourself with team members who support your goals and offset your strengths and weaknesses.
  • A lot of dental offices are understaffed. Not having enough staff can be a big impediment to growth.
  • The average revenue per employee across all industries is $200,000 per employee.
  • To get good associates you generally need to enlist a headhunter. To keep them you have to educate them, pay salary plus bonus, and offer benefits that have value for your team. You also need to be sure they’re tied to your practice’s vision. Everyone wants to be on a winning team.
  • Masterminds are a great way for dentists to connect with others sharing similar experiences and problems, and working through solutions.
  • It’s true – you’re a product of the 5 people you spend the most amount of time with!
  • You can only be excellent and really astute with age. Your abilities will triple after practicing for 10-15 years. Choosing your mentors wisely can accelerate your growth.

 

References

The $10,000 A Day Dentist by Dr. Bill Williams

Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill

The Obvious Secret by Earl Estep

Action Coach

The Seven Mountains of Marketing

Solstice Dental Advisors

Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell

Nov 2, 2017

Bulletproof Dental Practice Podcast Episode 44

Hosts: Dr. Peter Boulden & Dr. Craig Spodak

Reposted from: Thriving Dentist Podcast Show w/Gary Takacs

Key Takeaways:

There are many different models of success in dentistry. In this Thriving Dentist Show, Gary interviews Dr. Craig Spodak about his practice model. Craig’s model is a single location group practice that produces over $10M per year driven by a Noble Cause. In this episode they discuss:

  • Craig’s experience as a 3rd generation dentist
  • His vision of an ideal building which is LEED (Leadership in Energy Environmental Design) Gold Certified
  • The importance of creating a ‘Noble Cause’
  • Craig’s 14 Core Values in his practice
  • The power of intention, and the importance of learning from mistakes
  • Craig’s model of a single location vs. building a group of multiple locations
  • How Craig discovered that he was paying excessively high fees in his pension plan
  • The influence of Tony Robbins on Craig’s life
  • The meaning of ‘Geek Chic’

References

Receive a free copy of the book Unshakeable by Tony Robbins

Oct 26, 2017

Bulletproof Dental Practice Podcast Episode 43

Hosts: Dr. Peter Boulden & Dr. Craig Spodak

Reposted from: The Dentist Freedom Blueprint Podcast w/Dr. David Phelps

Key Takeaways:

  • 6:12 – Where Craig found the inspiration to do something different.
  • 13:29 – How to get serious about looking at your practice as a business.
  • 16:30 – What makes a good leader.
  • 20:15 – The difference between achievement and fulfillment (and why it’s important not to confuse the two).
  • 25:45 – Why ROI isn’t the best dictator of good choices.
  • 28:46 – Ways to make your practice thrive even if you’re not in an affluent area.
  • 30:30 – How to out-serve, out-perform, and out-deliver the competition.
  • 32:15 – What patients really want. 
  • 33:38 – Craig’s advice for young dentists to make those first few years really count.

 

References

GOTT Summit

All Star Smiles

 

Tweetables

 “There’s room in dentistry to express yourself no matter what you want to do.” – Dr. Craig Spodak

“We’re all just buying time, so live the life you want to live; don’t worry about the ROI.” – Dr. Craig Spodak

“People are willing to pay a premium if you’re willing to give them premium value.” – Dr. Craig Spodak

“Learning what NOT to do is just as valuable as learning what to do.” – Dr. Craig Spodak

Oct 19, 2017

Bulletproof Dental Practice Podcast Episode 42

Hosts: Dr. Peter Boulden & Dr. Craig Spodak

Watch the video here! 

Key Takeaways:

  • People want to have passion & purpose, and they want to feel secure & taken care of.
  • Taking care of your employees helps your business’s bottom line. It builds loyalty, let’s them know you care about them, and improves productivity.
  • Millennials don’t want a manager, they want a coach. Implement strategies that speaks to their desire for engagement and self-autonomy and they’ll reward you with loyalty and hard work.
  • Employees raving about their place of work on social media is a massively effective way to bring in new patients.
  • The gold standard is to have an engaged workforce; people who have their brain turned on while they’re at work.
  • 80% of the workforce is actively seeking another job.
  • Give people parameters to express their humanity.
  • The workplace has changed, and the marketplace is changing.
  • Be obsessed with adding value to your patients. Your team must feel valued in order for that to happen.

References

Leaders Eat Last by Simon Sinek

GOTT Summit

All Star Smiles

Tweetables

“What you appreciate appreciates.”

“Dentistry is service.” – Dr. Craig Spodak

“The person who adds the most value wins.” – Dr. Craig Spodak

Oct 12, 2017

Bulletproof Dental Practice Podcast Episode 41

Hosts: Dr. Peter Boulden & Dr. Craig Spodak

Guest: Harry Nelson, CEO of Dansereau Dental

Key Takeaways:

  • Dental buildouts can be out-of-control expensive.
  • Dansereau started in 1964, and offers quality, American-made dental equipment.
  • Look to simplify when purchasing dental chairs and delivery systems. The less that can break, the better. Also keep overhead costs in mind when choosing equipment.
  • Pay attention to space planning when doing a buildout. Cabinets especially tend to get overly complicated and cluttered.
  • Make sure your equipment vendors are involved in the process starting with blueprints. They may have valuable install suggestions that will help your office work smoother.
  • Many doctors use compressors that are larger than necessary. You may not need as much air, and a larger compressor will take up a lot more space.
  • Vacuums are often under-qualified and it’s very common to see mistakes made in vacuum system builds, they are often engineered wrong. Be very cautious about the engineering of the vacuum lines.
  • Make sure your contractor is licensed and qualified. Do your due diligence when choosing a construction partner. Make sure they have workers comp and liability.
  • Don’t take shortcuts, you’ll often regret them in the long run.
Oct 5, 2017

Bulletproof Dental Practice Podcast Episode 40

Hosts: Dr. Peter Boulden & Dr. Craig Spodak

Watch the full video of interview by clicking here!

Key Takeaways:

  • Marketing today can seem convoluted. You must be more strategic with marketing, rather than tactical.
  • Fifteen years ago, you could literally buy your way to the top. People now want credibility and a story.
  • You can either pay someone to craft a story for you, or become remarkable enough that you’re worth talking about.
  • Find out what the authentic expression of your brand is, and exploit that.
  • Read your reviews to see what the public is saying about you. That’s a great hack for finding your why.
  • Scared money don’t make none. Fear psychology can really mess with your business.
  • Take advantage of technology to create and post easy, not super polished videos and content that will help patients identify with your practice and feel as comfortable as possible making the decision to come see you.
  • Video shows your humanity.
  • Unfortunately, in our digital day and age it’s not good enough to just do awesome dentistry.
  • If you don’t have reviews online, create the narrative of what you want people to say and live that.
  • Figure out ways to give your marketing dollars back to your patient.
  • The most brilliant marketing strategy is to CARE. That’s the easy button.

References

Everything is Marketing by Fred Joyal

Get off the Treadmill Summit

Tweetables

“Things are simple, they’re just not easy.”

“People don’t get burned out because of what they do, they get burned out because they forget their why.” – Dr. Craig Spodak

“Success is 10% mechanics and 90% psychology.” – Dr. Craig Spodak

“People are rewarded in public for what they practice for years in private.” – Tony Robbins

“I’ve got the most brilliant marketing strategy ever… care.” – Gary Vaynerchuk

Sep 28, 2017

Bulletproof Dental Practice Podcast Episode 39

Hosts: Dr. Peter Boulden & Dr. Craig Spodak

Guest: David Harris, founder & CEO of Prosperident

Watch the full video of interview by clicking here!

Key Takeaways:

  • At least 60% of dentists will be embezzled from, but the actual percentage is probably higher.
  • Understanding WHY people steal will help in profiling an embezzler. People steal for 2 reasons: need & greed.
  • Thieves want to be alone when they steal. Keep an eye out for employees who are coming in early, leaving late, or otherwise coming and going at strange times.
  • Be familiar with your practice management software’s daily and monthly financial reports, and run / print those reports yourself. Don’t give anyone the option to report selectively.
  • The Office Manager generally has the most opportunity for financial theft, but anyone at the front desk can be capable as well.
  • Any form of wealth transfer to you can be intercepted; cash, check, ACH, sale of dental supplies, time, you name it.
  • Most embezzlement is not found through audits, but by watching employee behavior.
    • Look for staff members who have money issues, compulsive behavior, who never take vacation, staff members who always resist change, who are territorial, resistant to outside advisors, resistant to upgrades, etc.
  • Less than 1/3 of embezzlement is discovered through a financial anomaly.
  • The other 2/3 of embezzlement is discovered based on watching employee behavior.
  • Many dentists feel ashamed about finding they’ve been embezzled from, but in reality it is not the dentist that caused it, and there is no reason to feel ashamed.
  • There’s no way to totally safe-proof your business, but you can work to catch embezzlement early on. Shift your attention from prevention to detection.
  • Proper background checks during hiring are the BEST way to safeguard your business from embezzlement.
  • When hiring a new employee, talk to all previous employers for the last 5 years. Don’t call the phone number given to you by the potential new hire, instead google them and call the number found there.
    • Ask for exact start date and exact end date, compare those to the resume. You’re looking for discrepancies that may indicate hidden jobs.
    • Confirm job title.
    • The best question to ask is, “Would you rehire this person again if you had a job opening and they were available?”
  • 1 in 4 adults in the US has a criminal record.
  • Prosperident offers a range of products designed to help you put systems in place to aide in preventing embezzlement, and they also offer investigation products should you suspect an embezzler may be at work in your business.
Sep 21, 2017

Bulletproof Dental Practice Podcast Episode 38

Hosts: Dr. Peter Boulden & Dr. Craig Spodak

Guest: Dr. Jonathan Abenaim, founder of Smile Syllabus Training Institute, owner of Jonathan Dental Spa

Key Takeaways:

  • Use the 80/20 rule to determine which patients are best for your practice.
  • Make sure your house is in order first before you invite people in.
  • Make sure you have the right team and that the team believes your vision.
  • Your hygienists’ first objective should be creating relationships with your patients and how you empower them to have a healthy mouth.
  • The beauty of dentistry is that you don’t need that many patients to make a comfortable living.
  • A lot of dentists think they can skip the process of mastering analog dentistry and think a computer will fix everything for you. Dentists need to start taking responsibility for what they’re doing.
  • Digital dentistry isn’t about changing the analog concepts, it’s taking those concepts and streamlining them.
  • Nightguards are the hidden money-maker in 3D dentistry.
  • DSO’s are coming for the general dentist. If the general dentist doesn’t find ways to differentiate themselves they’re going to get gobbled up.
  • Changing the public’s perception of dentistry isn’t a paradigm shift, it’s a paradigm cliff. If you’re not ready for it, you’re going to fall right off and die.
  • Middle of the road solo practitioner is going to disappear. Medicaid practices will get more powerful. Service-oriented dental practices will thrive tremendously. Labs who embrace digital technology will be successful.
  • Digital dentistry will reinvigorate the whole profession.

References

The Trust Factor by Jonathan Abenaim, DMD

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey

Register here for Digital Dentistry to the Max, Jan 18-19

Tweetables

“If you focus on the money, the patients will see right through you.” Dr. Jonathan Abenaim

“Digital dentistry deletes the questions marks you have every day in your practice.” Dr. Jonathan Abenaim

“A loyal customer is worth 12 times their initial spend.” Dr. Jonathan Abenaim

Sep 18, 2017

Bulletproof Dental Practice Podcast Episode 37

Hosts: Dr. Peter Boulden & Dr. Craig Spodak

Key Takeaways:

  • Listen to part 1 before proceeding!
  • Operations manuals are created so you can focus on your highest and best use
  • Silo 1 – Clinical systems
    • Create manuals for the various positions within the clinical team; dental assistant, hygienist, doctor, etc.
    • The manual should contain all processes and procedures – documented.
    • Include pictures, diagrams
  • Running through a comprehensive checklist frees up the brain to focus on tasks at hand.
  • Silo 2 – Business Operations
    • Create manuals for the various positions: front desk
    • Include processes for everything these team members do within the course of their day
  • Silo 3 – Marketing
    • For mature practices, this silo is one of the most important silos in growing the business
    • Practice owners should know enough about marketing process to be able to have intelligent conversations with outsource vendors
    • You can have the most well-oiled systems-dependent practice in the world but if the growth is entirely predicated on word of mouth, be prepared for slow, linear growth
    • Topics within marketing you should be aware of:
      • Online reputation management
      • Website experience
      • Video production
      • Content creation
      • Paid ads on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, etc.
      • Press releases
      • Social media
      • Magazine & print
    • If marketing isn’t your passion or best focus, try to outsource to someone within your team
    • Jeff Bezos said, “The balance of power is shifting toward consumers and away from companies. The right way to respond to this if you are a company is to put the vast majority of your energy, attention and dollars into building a great product or service and put a smaller amount into shouting about it, marketing it.”
  • Silo 4 – Metrics & KPI’s
    • This silo is important primarily so you know how well all your efforts are working
    • Lag measure – measures ultimate goal of what you’re trying to accomplish, but is always in the past
    • Lead measure – is predictive, and influenceable
    • Look at 5 growth metrics:
      • True growth of your patient base
      • # of patient visits
      • Dollar amount per patient visit
      • Collections
      • Overhead (variable costs like supplies, equipment, marketing, etc.)
    • Review your google analytics

Tweetables:

“Everything is marketing.” Fred Joyal

 

Sep 14, 2017

Bulletproof Dental Practice Podcast Episode 36

Hosts: Dr. Peter Boulden & Dr. Craig Spodak

Key Takeaways:

  • What does it mean to work ON your business instead of IN your business?
  • A lot of dental practices aren’t really run like business at all. Ignorance is NOT bliss.
  • The e-myth (entrepreneurial myth) is that most people who start a business are entrepreneurs, when in reality, most people who start a business are technicians.
  • Because we have a high level of understanding of dentistry, we think that uniquely qualifies us to run a business that provides that dental work.
  • Most dental practices are set up as people-dependent practices, when the focus should be on a systems-dependent process. WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?
  • People-dependent practices are dependent on specific people in the office, whether it’s you or an employee. Should something happen to that person the office becomes very vulnerable.
  • Corporations are process-dependent business, which is why independently owned practices have something to fear. They are far less vulnerable.
  • Working on your business means one thing; creating a system for everything so you can get superior results consistently, predictably, and with a lot less stress and work.
  • Everything you do should be documented in a manual, a video, a checklist, etc. Create the system intentionally.
  • If you’re “too busy” to step back from the drill and devote real time to creating processes, then you can’t expect a different result.
  • Having a systems-dependent practice means you’re ready to scale and amplify effortlessly.
  • Thriving business have three roles in common; the entrepreneur, the manager, and the technician.
    • Entrepreneur is the visionary who thinks ahead, keeps planing for the future, and setting the GPS for the team
    • Managers establish order and create consistencies, and hold everyone accountable
    • Technicians (hygienists and dentists) do the technical work
    • Everyone at their core is better suited to one of these roles, but ideally you should be able to do all three in equal amounts, especially in the beginning
  • In order to run a successful dental practice, you have to give up doing all the dentistry yourself to allow yourself the time to grow the practice.
  • Three practice stages:
    • Stage 1 – Glorified Job
    • Stage 2 – The Eager Stage
    • Stage 3 – The Mature Stage
  • First, we must assess where we are in the process, and situational and personal awareness are way undervalued in our professions
  • Tips:
    • Take some time and truly look at the pain points in your operation
    • Create and optimize your practice operations manual
    • Act like a patient, or hire a secret shopper and have them document their entire interaction
  • Make a process for everything, assume you’re writing it for a 5th grader
    • Silo 1 – Clinical operations
    • Silo 2 – Business & admin operations
    • Silo 3 – Marketing, growth & online reputation operations
    • Silo 4 – Metrics & KPI’s

Part 2 coming soon!

Sep 7, 2017

Bulletproof Dental Practice Podcast Episode 35

Hosts: Dr. Peter Boulden & Dr. Craig Spodak

Guest: Brett Judd, Your Practice Therapist

Key Takeaways:

  • Key areas of dental burnout and stress:                                 
    • Staff issues
    • Cash flow issues
    • Stress in general
  • Burnout starts to set in at approximately 7-10 years
  • Divorce rate is systemic in dentistry, and averages about 46%
    • Divorce is going down in general population, dentists have a higher rate of divorce when you look at divorce rate by profession
  • Studies show when our core relationships are strong we’re better entrepreneurs, better at our craft, more creative and resilient. When they’re in distress those key skills diminish.
  • First step to turn around burnout is to realize you’re not alone, and to put together a self-care plan to help ease stress and reduce bad energy.
  • Four W strategy helps you normalize and immediately differentiate yourself from the chaos:
    • Why do I care?
    • Who says?
    • Whose issue?
    • What can I do about it?
  • When you feel tension rising, run through the four W’s to chip away at accumulated beliefs.
  • Work on building a true, autonomous, self-directed team, as compared to a well-managed staff. A truly self-directed team will have the ability to run without a manager. It frees you up to do an amazing amount of core work without the stress of managing.
  • Empower your people to excel in their scope.
  • The last thing you want to do is be a manager. Parts and pieces can be managed, but humans are not manageable. Build a true leadership based plan, give authority and expertise over to your team.
  • Purpose is the primary personal motivator for millennials.
  • Constructive coaching is great for high-stress patients or underperforming employees, it’s a very effective way to develop leadership:
    • Praise (The way that you… I love it when you...)
    • Ask (Can I show you…)
    • Teach
    • Enable and empower
    • Validate

References

Freedom Founders Mastermind

Marriages Worth Millions

Your Practice Therapist

High Production Teams For Dentists / Facebook Group

The 21 Irrefutable Laws Of Leadership by John Maxwell

Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill

The Self Journal

Tweetables

“Give your people the parameters in which they can excel, then step back and watch them succeed.” – Dr. Peter Boulden

“Dentistry is not a dictatorship.” – Dr. Peter Boulden

Aug 29, 2017

Bulletproof Dental Practice Podcast Episode 34

Hosts: Dr. Peter Boulden & Dr. Craig Spodak

Reposted from Dentistry Uncensored with Howard Farran

Key Takeaways:

  • There seems to be a lot more opportunity in the Atlanta area focusing a new practice in more rural areas.
  • Having great chair-side manner is key to success in dentistry. Some of that manner is inherent, but it can be developed with real-world training.
  • Solo dentists have great advantages in providing excellent customer experiences, quality, and value.
  • Dental corporations bring competition, which in turn makes the entire industry healthier.
  • Dental offices never stop needing new patients, nobody keeps their new patients for life.
  • Society is changing, but dentistry has been the same cottage industry that it’s been since inception.
  • Writing down your goals is a key step in making them happen in your life.
  • Partnerships in dentistry are hard. Be very careful when choosing partners for your business.
  • Org charts are important. Make sure roles are clear, especially with your partnerships.
  • Focus your attention on working “on” your business, instead of working “in” your business. Don’t wait to plan your business until the end of the week, do it first.

References

Dentistry Uncensored

Influence by Robert Cialdini

Persuasion by Robert Cialdini

Under Armour® Protect This House

Abundance by Peter Diamandis

Ask Gary Vee with Gary Vaynerchuk

Aug 21, 2017

Bulletproof Dental Practice Podcast Episode 33

Hosts: Dr. Peter Boulden & Dr. Craig Spodak

Guest: Dave Monahan, CEO of Kleer

Key Takeaways:

  • Kleer is a cloud-based dental care plan that helps dentists connect with patients who want more service.
  • 50% of consumers in the US don’t see the dentist on an annual basis.
  • Dental insurance is too complex, too many limitations, too expensive. Consumers and dentists both are frustrated with the system.
  • Consumers want more dental care, but they face issues with cost, fear of cost, and not having any coverage.
  • Customers want something that is simple, affordable, transparent, and something they can trust.
  • Kleer removes the middle man (insurance company) from the process, which removes complexity and cost.
  • Consumers overestimate dental procedure costs from 200-500%.
  • Dentists on the Kleer plan keep about 90% of all payments.
  • Patients who opt in to a membership plan will accept more treatment, creating a win-win for dentist and patient.
  • Kleer offers three plans; children, standard, & perio.
  • OFFER FOR BULLETPROOF DENTAL PRACTICE NATION: Kleer is free to implement, and for dentists who implement after listening to this podcast, Kleer will waive their fees for the first three months of use! Contact Dave at dave@kleer.com!

References

illumitrac

Quality Dental Plan

Aug 11, 2017

Bulletproof Dental Practice Podcast Episode 32

Hosts: Dr. Peter Boulden & Dr. Craig Spodak

Guest: Chuck Blakeman, entrepreneur and presenter at GOTT Summit

 Key Takeaways:

  • GOTT stands for Get Off The Treadmill, the annual summit is all about creating a dental practice that produces BOTH time and money.
  • 70% of business is similar/generic. Problems are the same across industries. Business has little to do with the craft itself, but everything to do with the way people work.
  • Dentists really need to get off the treadmill of working in business to work on business and be free to do the things they love.
  • Separation of work and private life is false.
  • Practice owner’s game is about how to make more money in less time.
  • Need to demand both time and money from your career.
  • Research shows there is a proportional link between happiness and money up to $70-80k, above that the level of happiness diminishes with each additional dollar.
  • Key questions: What do I want out of life? What kind of practice do I need to build to give me that kind of life? What kind of stuff do I need (or not) to support that lifestyle?
  • Chase your end, use time and money to get what you want.
  • Your dental career and/or practice should be an expression of your own vision.
  • 2/3 of all people who’ve lived to be 65 – in the history of the earth – are alive right now. The first person who is going to live to the age of 150 has already been born.
  • For thousands of years the #1 motivation was survival. We’re now entering the participation age, where the #1 motivation is significance.
  • 70% of people in your practice are phoning it in. Only 30% are engaged.
  • 51% of everyone at work in the US is actively looking for a job.
  • 86% of people at work in the US would take a job that dropped into their lap. Only 14% would not take another job and are happy with their current position.
  • If you believe people are stupid and lazy, you will end up with a practice where everyone is stupid and lazy. If you believe people are smart and motivated, 4 out of 5 people will respond as smart and motivated.
  • Cost of turnover is between 50-800% of annual salary. It’s a cost no business should plan to afford. Great hiring is KEY.
  • We want leaders, not managers. Managers tell, leaders ask.
  • 50% of businesses fail in 5 years, 80% fail in 10 years. 98% of the reason businesses fail is because somebody got tired, and it’s because they had the right motivation and the wrong process.
  • How do you get to the point where your practice continues to grow, while you are being strategic as a leader?
  • Most of us tend to make decisions based on the short term, and that’s the #1 issue in our lives.
  • Are you making decisions based on where you are, or on where you want to be?
  • So, what’s the magic formula? Step 1 is to change your mindset and intention.

 References

Making Money is Killing Your Business by Chuck Blakeman

Why Employees Are Always a Bad Idea by Chuck Blakeman

GOTT Summit

The Human Side of Enterprise by Douglas McGregor

Built to Sell by John Warrillow

Small Giants by Bo Burlingham

 Tweetables

“Use your practice to build your lifetime goals.” -Chuck Blakeman

“We are meant to live every day of our life fulfilled.” -Chuck Blakeman

“The most important person is not the leader, but the first follower.” -Dr. Craig Spodak

“We want leaders, not managers. Managers tell, leaders ask.” -Chuck Blakeman

“If you want to sell your business it’s probably because it doesn’t work for you.” -Dr. Craig Spodak

“The business that anybody would want to buy is the one you wouldn’t want to sell.” – Chuck Blakeman

“Being a leader is simple, but it’s not easy.” -Chuck Blakeman

“If anyone comes to you with a complex solution, it’s probably a bad solution.” -Chuck Blakeman

“You get what you intend, not what you hope for.” -Chuck Blakeman

Jul 13, 2017

Bulletproof Dental Practice Podcast Episode 31

Hosts: Dr. Peter Boulden & Dr. Craig Spodak

Guest: Ben Greenfield of Ben Greenfield Fitness

Key Takeaways:

  • What is biohacking? Used to mean someone who literally hacks their biology. Lately it’s become a catch-all term for figuring out ways to enhance biology by hacking or shortcutting for better biological health.
  • Benefits and drawbacks to reverse osmosis water
  • Best approach to detox from mercury and lead
  • 3-4 things the average person can pay attention to? Focus varies from person to person, but consistently cleaning & detoxing the body is key.
    • Sweat every day, great for detoxification
    • Doing something that moves the lymph fluid (Qigong shaking, mini trampolines)
    • Intensive, hard breathing (Kundalini yoga)
  • Morning routines, including heart rate monitors, breathwork, yoga, tissue work, drink water, bulletproof coffee, writing, biohacking methods, easy exercise, saunas, cold shower, smoothies
  • Gratitude is one of the most powerful physiological exercises
  • Nootropics
  • Everything is customizable based on what your body needs, every individual has the ability to readily get various testing to determine exactly what your body needs to function optimally
Jul 6, 2017

Bulletproof Dental Practice Podcast Episode 30

Hosts: Dr. Peter Boulden & Dr. Craig Spodak

Watch the full video of the lecture by clicking here!

 Start with Why

  • Born & raised ATL
  • Buckhead - flagship practice
  • “To use my God-given talents to provide for my family, friends, and team. To use dentistry & business of dentistry to create a legacy. To enjoy my finite life and to know I maximized it and I mattered.”

My Practice Evolution

  • Start, today, where I’m going?
    • 2002 - Graduated dental school
    • 2005 - Started FFS practice
    • 2009 - Opened 2nd location (Buckhead), added 2 associates (during recession)
    • 2016 - Acquired PPO practice (investor not clinical), multiple real estate acquisitions
    • 2017 - Building 3rd location, 2nd acquisition, 5th property acquisition, 2 more associates
    • 2020 - Consulting, Exit (roll-up) EBITDA
  • Struggles like anyone…
    • 2015 vs 2016
    • Failed partnership
    • $560k embezzlement
    • Extreme clinical burnout
    • Family demands
  • The lesson it taught me - KEEP GOING
    • The difference between success and failure can be just one more step
  • Re-engineered my life
    • Purpose of work is to provide for our life
    • Work to live, don’t live to work
    • Changed my work schedule and moved to 9 days clinical / month
    • Take off one week per month
  • Got balance and focus back
    • Balance circle
  • Exciting times in dentistry
    • Dentist listed as #1 of 100 Best Jobs by US News & World Report
    • Digital technology convergence
    • Technology is exploding with digital convergence
    • Digital impressions
    • Dentistry caught Wall Street attention too!
      • Valuations can be excellent if you get large enough
      • 10 - 20X EBITDA is not uncommon
    • Podcast launched late 2016
      • All about systems & marketing
      • Why start a podcast?

Habits of Highly Performing Offices

  • These are not just my habits, not claiming to have it all figured out
  • You are the average of the 5 people you spend time with
  • EXCEPTIONAL & contagious culture
    1. Realize you’re not the most important person
    2. Get an awesome team and then get out of the way
    3. Team will protect your environment
    4. Value of having a morning meeting, covering:
      1. REVIEW DENTAL INTEL
      2. Production / Collection / Goals
  • Same day opportunities
  1. Actual monthly growth (NP - attrition)
  2. Outstanding treatment?
  3. Outstanding balance?
  • Marketing opportunities?
  • PRIDE in physical space
    1. Team loves their offices
    2. Spend more time there with family
    3. Your practice has guests all day long - be proud & invest in it
    4. Focus on patient experience
    5. Rehab? Do it. Build? Do it.
  • Clinical excellence & patient education
    1. Lots of lip service but few execute on communicating excellence to the people who matter
      1. What good is clinical excellence if you can’t use it
      2. Become a marketing master
        • Storytelling
        • Video, video, and more video
  • Addicted to social media
    1. Not outsourced
    2. Not spewing dental, but creating entertainment
      1. Examples
    3. Marketing on social media
    4. Follow trends, look at the app store
  • Online reviews & process
    1. Why is Amazon the leader in consumer?
    2. Our process
    3. Time is precious so incentivize
    4. Google & Yelp are the leaders, Facebook is a far 3rd place
    5. Yelp hack
  • Number obsessed
    1. Monitor numbers daily (morning meeting)
      1. DENTAL INTEL
    2. What you track & focus on naturally increases
      1. Pearson’s law: That which is measured, improves. That which is measured and reported, improves exponentially.
    3. Focusing on WRONG metrics...
      1. Not just NP
      2. Not just collections
    4. Better metrics…
      1. # patient visit
      2. $ per patient visit
  • % overhead
  1. ACTUAL monthly growth
  • Value creation
    1. Video / education
    2. Patient experience
    3. Website / marketing
    4. Law of reciprocity
  • INVEST IN YOU
    1. CE, podcasts, meditate, enhanced food & nutrition, personal trainer, personal coach, executive assistant, complex physical w/physician, Bulletproof coffee
    2. You better be GOOD first, lots of peeps depend on you
    3. Set goals & review them daily
      1. Balance circle
      2. What’s going to move the needle forward TODAY
    4. BE EPIC as a goal, in all areas of your life
    5. We get one ticket on ride called planet Earth

Resources:

Dental Success Summit

Jun 29, 2017

Bulletproof Dental Practice Podcast Episode 29

Hosts: Dr. Peter Boulden & Dr. Craig Spodak

Guest: Dr. Chris Ramsey / Co-owner of Ritter & Ramsey

Watch the full video of interview by clicking here!

 Key Takeaways:

  • Take care of your team. Your team will take care of your patients, and your patients will take care of our profits.
  • Strive to be the best. You don’t have to be the best in the WHOLE world, but be the best in YOUR world.
  • Success isn’t the same for everyone. Define what success means for you.
  • Make sure you can answer the question “Why do people choose to come to your office?” Make sure you define your answer and clarify that vision with your team.
  • Achievement is not always related to fulfilment.
  • Chris Ramsey created a lecture program called M.A.S.T.E.R., dedicated to teaching people how to be great at what they do and do more of the dentistry they love.
  • Mindset – The conscious, unconscious, and subconscious parts of your brain.
    • Your brain is working like a hard drive, storing information randomly.
    • Typical dental experiences are usually TERRIBLE. It’s uncomfortable, can be painful, and is filled with bad news.
    • You have to make the dental experience positive – start with a positive, and end with a positive.
  • Addressing Choice – dentists have to stop overwhelming patients with too many options.
    • When it comes to choices, more is not better.
    • Influence people so they feel like the decisions they make are their own.
      • Use body language for subconscious influencing.
      • People remember most the last thing you told them.
      • The sequence you use in presenting options matters.
    • Storytelling – Approach as if you’re getting ready for a TED talk. There is an art to storytelling.
      • Craft a message map.
      • People make decisions based on emotions.
      • Use a voice recorder to really listen to what you say and how you say it.
      • Dentistry is not a commodity, it’s a service.
    • Training the Eye – Learn how to read body language.
      • Women are innately better at reading body language than men.
      • Strangers read each other at an accuracy of 20%. You can’t guess people’s reactions solely by first impression.
      • Scratching the neck indicates “I don’t really agree.”
      • Playing with hair is subconscious calming tactic.
      • Arms crossed could mean a million things, don’t assume it’s nervousness. Look at their hand position. If fists are clenched they are defensive.
      • See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil; touching their mouth/face, rubbing of eyes, rubbing/touching their nose, or touching of ears indicates anxiety or covering of truth.
      • Someone turning their torso towards you invites you into the conversation. If they turn away it’s a cue they might not want to talk to you at the moment.
      • Don’t rely on people’s faces to tell you the truth. Read their body cues instead.
      • Pay attention to the clues and craft your message accordingly.
      • Look for pacifying behaviors, assess what made them nervous, alter the conversation and move it back to neutral. Once there aren’t any more pacifying behaviors, stop talking.
    • Expectation – Why do things cost what they do? Is your product worth what you charge?
      • It’s all psychological, it’s all about the experience.
      • Trigger effect is something intangible that triggers you to say something is valuable.
      • Attention to detail is important.
    • Recognizing Persuasion – Social perception and influence is incredibly important to your business.
      • Search out the easy & right things to do for people. Those things go far to prove your value and create customers for life.
      • Reciprocation rule; do unexpected things for people and they will reciprocate.
      • Why spend money trying to get new patients who you don’t know rather than spend money on patients you already have? Invest in your patients.
    • Every person that comes through your door wants to feel a connection. You and your team should do everything you can to foster that connection. Make it about them.

 References

 Tweetables:

I don’t think anybody listening to this podcast ever wakes up, stretches, and says “I can’t wait to be mediocre today!” – Dr. Chris Ramsey

Success isn’t the same for everyone. Define what success means for you. – Dr. Chris Ramsey

Take care of your team, your team will take care of your patients, and your patients will take care of our profits. – Dr. Chris Ramsey

If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough. – Albert Einstein

It’s time to start trying new things, and start failing. – Dr. Chris Ramsey

Failure is just a seminar. A mistake is just a learning experience. – Dr. Craig Spodak

Your practice is not stagnant, that is a myth. You’re either growing, or you’re dying. – Dr. Chris Ramsey

Every person that comes through your door wants to feel a connection. – Dr. Chris Ramsey

Jun 22, 2017

Bulletproof Dental Practice Podcast Episode 28

Hosts: Dr. Peter Boulden & Dr. Craig Spodak

Guest: Dr. Chris Ramsey / Co-owner of Ritter & Ramsey

Watch the full video of interview by clicking here!

 Key Takeaways:

  • Take care of your team. Your team will take care of your patients, and your patients will take care of our profits.
  • Strive to be the best. You don’t have to be the best in the WHOLE world, but be the best in YOUR world.
  • Success isn’t the same for everyone. Define what success means for you.
  • Make sure you can answer the question “Why do people choose to come to your office?” Make sure you define your answer and clarify that vision with your team.
  • Achievement is not always related to fulfilment.
  • Chris Ramsey created a lecture program called M.A.S.T.E.R., dedicated to teaching people how to be great at what they do and do more of the dentistry they love.
  • Mindset – The conscious, unconscious, and subconscious parts of your brain.
    • Your brain is working like a hard drive, storing information randomly.
    • Typical dental experiences are usually TERRIBLE. It’s uncomfortable, can be painful, and is filled with bad news.
    • You have to make the dental experience positive – start with a positive, and end with a positive.
  • Addressing Choice – dentists have to stop overwhelming patients with too many options.
    • When it comes to choices, more is not better.
    • Influence people so they feel like the decisions they make are their own.
      • Use body language for subconscious influencing.
      • People remember most the last thing you told them.
      • The sequence you use in presenting options matters.
    • Storytelling – Approach as if you’re getting ready for a TED talk. There is an art to storytelling.
      • Craft a message map.
      • People make decisions based on emotions.
      • Use a voice recorder to really listen to what you say and how you say it.
      • Dentistry is not a commodity, it’s a service.
    • Training the Eye – Learn how to read body language.
      • Women are innately better at reading body language than men.
      • Strangers read each other at an accuracy of 20%. You can’t guess people’s reactions solely by first impression.
      • Scratching the neck indicates “I don’t really agree.”
      • Playing with hair is subconscious calming tactic.
      • Arms crossed could mean a million things, don’t assume it’s nervousness. Look at their hand position. If fists are clenched they are defensive.
      • See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil; touching their mouth/face, rubbing of eyes, rubbing/touching their nose, or touching of ears indicates anxiety or covering of truth.
      • Someone turning their torso towards you invites you into the conversation. If they turn away it’s a cue they might not want to talk to you at the moment.
      • Don’t rely on people’s faces to tell you the truth. Read their body cues instead.
      • Pay attention to the clues and craft your message accordingly.
      • Look for pacifying behaviors, assess what made them nervous, alter the conversation and move it back to neutral. Once there aren’t any more pacifying behaviors, stop talking.
    • Expectation – Why do things cost what they do? Is your product worth what you charge?
      • It’s all psychological, it’s all about the experience.
      • Trigger effect is something intangible that triggers you to say something is valuable.
      • Attention to detail is important.
    • Recognizing Persuasion – Social perception and influence is incredibly important to your business.
      • Search out the easy & right things to do for people. Those things go far to prove your value and create customers for life.
      • Reciprocation rule; do unexpected things for people and they will reciprocate.
      • Why spend money trying to get new patients who you don’t know rather than spend money on patients you already have? Invest in your patients.
    • Every person that comes through your door wants to feel a connection. You and your team should do everything you can to foster that connection. Make it about them.

 References

 Tweetables:

I don’t think anybody listening to this podcast ever wakes up, stretches, and says “I can’t wait to be mediocre today!” – Dr. Chris Ramsey

Success isn’t the same for everyone. Define what success means for you. – Dr. Chris Ramsey

Take care of your team, your team will take care of your patients, and your patients will take care of our profits. – Dr. Chris Ramsey

If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough. – Albert Einstein

It’s time to start trying new things, and start failing. – Dr. Chris Ramsey

Failure is just a seminar. A mistake is just a learning experience. – Dr. Craig Spodak

Your practice is not stagnant, that is a myth. You’re either growing, or you’re dying. – Dr. Chris Ramsey

Every person that comes through your door wants to feel a connection. – Dr. Chris Ramsey

Jun 15, 2017

Bulletproof Dental Practice Podcast Episode 27

Hosts: Dr. Peter Boulden & Dr. Craig Spodak

Guest: Fred Joyal / Founder of 1-800-DENTIST

 Key Takeaways:

  • Many dentists still struggle with basic ideas of effectively promoting and marketing their practices.
  • Patients judge you by their experience, and 90% of the patient experience is non-clinical.
  • Developing clinical skills is important, but success is determined by the office’s culture.
  • Building better relationships with your team and patients will make you wildly successful.
  • A good patient who you treat well will earn you five new patients.
  • The best marketing strategy is to CARE. The new economy is centered around caring and convenience.
  • Dentists obsessed with adding value for patients are those who are killing it. It’s not about you.
  • Everything the patient experiences (sees, touches, tastes, hears and smells) affects case acceptance.
    • Most of our decisions are not rational, they’re based on feeling.
    • If you don’t trust the doctor it doesn’t matter how much pain you’re in.
  • Patients should feel in control of their decisions based on your communication with them.
  • If you put people in a better mood they’re more amenable to accepting treatment.
  • You can’t always compete on a macro level, so deliver experience on a micro level.
  • If the dentist isn’t comfortable communicating benefits to patients find someone who is and have them present treatment options. The dentist only has to be good clinically, have remarkable personable people around who can’t resist upselling dentistry.
    • Assess the personalities around you and find people to complement your weaknesses.
  • If your business is making time AND money for you, that’s a business. If you work hard and it makes money because you put in more time that’s a job.
  • Create freedom for your team to make you aware of where you can do better.
  • Learn how to build rapport with your patients. Keep focused on your mission to help educate the patient and prevent future pain, not on closing a sale.
    • Learn public speaking skills, study neurolinguistics. These skills will catapult you to the next level.
    • The whole environment has to support your mission; whoever is presenting the case needs to listen, watch body language, empathize with their position. BUILD TRUST.
  • Express appreciation to your team members. That’s where real motivation comes from.
    • Exercise: for the next week, express appreciation to everyone you encounter, to an absurd level. At the end of the week, gauge how you did. You’ll see the reaction and see how it makes such a huge impact.
  • Work hard to make the people you encounter feel better about themselves.

References

Tweetables:

Don’t be obsessed with you, be obsessed with your patients and adding value for them. – Dr. Craig Spodak

People want to buy but they don’t want to be sold. – Dr. Craig Spodak

You’re not on an island, surround yourself with people who can fortify your weaknesses. – Dr. Peter Boulden

Nobody is great at everything. If you do everything, you’re probably average at everything. – Fred Joyal

Feeling gratitude without expressing it is like wrapping a present and not delivering it. – Fred Joyal

Trade your expectations for appreciations and your whole world changes in an instant. – Tony Robbins

The business doesn’t serve you, you serve your people. – Dr. Craig Spodak

Jun 1, 2017

Bulletproof Dental Practice Podcast Episode 26

Hosts: Dr. Peter Boulden & Dr. Craig Spodak

Guest: Stuart Faught / Founder of PatientSnap.com

Key Takeaways:

  • Online reviews are crucial to the success of your dental practice, they can also be very hard to obtain.
  • Make sure every patient receives a text message right after their appointment asking for review and giving links to post a review.
  • Key platforms are Yelp, Google, and on your website.
  • 88% of patients are currently checking online reviews before going into a practice.
  • There’s a democratization of small business; people have a much greater power to make or break your business.
  • Shoot for getting the most stars and the best reviews.
  • Cadence and consistency are important. Look at your review request process as an evergreen strategy and not a quick fix.
  • Respond to every negative review, and at least some of the positive reviews. Every review response is another marketing opportunity.
  • Even the best practices will eventually get a bad review. An occasional bad review actually authenticates all your positive reviews.
  • Use bad reviews as a way to get patient feedback and an opportunity to keep them as loyal customers.
  • Reviews translate your culture, can add value to the business’s sale price, and attract top-performing talent to your office.
  • Best practice:
    • Doctors have say-so on which patients should get request to review
    • Have one person accountable for actually sending
    • Use technology to send a text
    • Ask screening questions first; ask if experience was positive or negative
    • If they’re positive they’re sent links to review on Yelp, Google, or website
    • If negative they are sent to feedback comment box and assure them you’ll work to make things right
  • It has to be easy or they’re not going to do it.
  • Target conversion rates is at least 10% of requests.
  • Don’t spam, patients shouldn’t be asked to write a review more than once every six months.
  • Make reviews fun, get your team excited and reward your team and patients for their efforts.
  • Review add-ins are also key; work to get patients to check in, add a picture, and interact with the review platform as much as possible.
  • We’re just barely scratching the surface with “social proof.” Everything is moving toward video and authentication.
  • PatientSnap.com is offering a 30-day trial to listeners who try out the demo.

Tweetables:

Online reviews are the modern day word of mouth. – Stuart Faught

People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it. – Dr. Craig Spodak

May 25, 2017

Bulletproof Dental Practice Podcast Episode 25

Hosts: Dr. Peter Boulden & Dr. Craig Spodak

Guest: Erika Pusillo / Practice Optimizer @ Spodak Dental Group

Key Takeaways:

  • Running a 4-person office is quite different than running a 40-person team, the key is having the right leadership for your team.
  • Every new stage in your life requires a different version of you.
  • Seek areas that need improvement and try to optimize those areas.
  • Leadership is essential for practice growth, having one person running the whole show can lead to breakdowns.
  • Leadership is bringing other people around you up and into ownership.
  • Nothing will ever be perfect. Start and try, if it doesn’t work the first time then identify what that is and change it. If it does, then multiply those things that work great.
  • The goal is to allow team members to think for themselves, with leadership’s guidance on best practices to get results.
  • Writing down your vision and sharing it creates a snowball effect. Your whole team will be inspired and empowered.
  • Any relationship that is transactional is not a good relationship.
  • Raises should be based on contributions to the practice and producing results, not simply showing up and doing your job.
  • Any practice’s greatest asset is its human capital.
  • The first step in making sure everyone is aligned with the practice’s values is to define your vision and include the team in your goals. Have the team be a part of the decision-making process.
  • Set goals and attach a metric to them. Make sure your team is motivated and ahead of the game to achieve those metrics.
  • Drive your team to be hungry for knowledge and give them leeway to seek knowledge in many different forms.
  • Is there one person already in your business that thinks and acts like a stakeholder? Help them develop their leadership skills.
  • Mastermind with your team. Reward and recognize when the team is doing things right.
  • Great leadership isn’t when the leader has all the answers, it’s when they recognize they need other people and their experiences for the greater benefit of the team.

Resources Mentioned:

GOTT Summit

Bonnie Hickson – The Progressive Dentist

Chuck Blakeman – Why Employees Are Always A Bad Idea

Chuck Blakeman – Making Money is Killing Your Business

Dave Logan, John King, & Halee Fischer-Wright – Tribal Leadership

Napoleon Hill – Think and Grow Rich

Jim Collins – Good To Great

Liz Wiseman – Multipliers

Tweetables:

Management has to happen; it just has to come from inside. – Dr. Craig Spodak

Managers are focused on the process; leaders are focused on results – Dr. Craig Spodak

The leader’s job is to ask really good questions, if you’re not getting the answer you want, change the question. – Erika Pusillo

Work is not just for money, it’s for fulfillment. – Dr. Craig Spodak

We don’t get where we are as individuals by ourselves. – Dr. Peter Boulden

Everyone wants to work for a company that is not plateauing, but growing. – Dr. Peter Boulden

Employees are all stakeholders in your business. – Dr. Craig Spodak

The lives of a lot of people are attached to the decisions that you make. – Dr. Peter Boulden

You get more of what you praise. – Dr. Peter Boulden

A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves. – Lao Tzu

May 18, 2017

Bulletproof Dental Practice Podcast Episode 24

Hosts: Dr. Peter Boulden & Dr. Craig Spodak

Guest: Bruce Johnstone / Apex Design Build

Key Takeaways:

  • It is better to have one team handle everything rather than having separate contractors handle your renovation.
  • In a Design-Build Model, the liability and risk is lower because you talk to only one supplier committed to finishing the design.
  • Look at dentistry as a retail function than a health care function in order to learn how to utilize space in new ways.
  • Dental offices can become like retail stores by looking at ways to make patients comfortable while they wait.
  • No one goes to a dental office thinking they’ll have fun. Dental offices have to shift their space so it is more engaging for customers and makes them excited to visit.
  • A lot of things affect your patient’s perception like the lighting of your clinic, the color, the upholstery of your furniture, etc.
  • The best source of new customers is from internal referrals. You get more referrals if patients like your practice.
  • You can put some of your marketing budget into creating a better and patient-friendly clinic.

Tweetables:

“People don’t mind waiting as long as there is engagement.” - Bruce Johnstone

 “Dentistry can take a cue from retail.” - Bruce Johnstone

 “The easiest way to market is to make your practice marketable.” - Dr. Peter Boulden

 

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