Text ‘bulletproof’ to 345345 to stay in the know about our upcoming book release and the Bulletproof Summit on October 12-13th 2018 in Atlanta!

Bulletproof Dental Practice Podcast Episode 68

Hosts: Dr. Peter Boulden & Dr. Craig Spodak

Guest: Dr. Kyle Stanley, DSD, Speaker, Lecturer, Dental Expert

Watch full video of the interview by clicking here!

Key Takeaways:

• The Lip Factor – Dr. Stanley’s concepts regarding moving lips if needed.
• The lower third of the face has to be involved with smile designing.
• Dentists have a great opportunity to partner with plastic surgeons to create exceptional results for patients looking for facial changes.
• Oral surgery programs should include two roads; hospital and private practice.
• Bone sets the tone, but tissue is the issue.
• DSO mania is helping super high-end practices by differentiating them from “normal” dental offices.
• Rogue dentists can get away with terrible treatment in a way that medical doctors cannot. Dentists have to get away from what was being taught in the 70’s.
• Always over-communicate with your patients so they can’t ever feel you haven’t shared all education with them.
• If you give your patient a proper education, you’ll never regret it.
• Dentist are 500x more likely to commit suicide than the general public.
• Stress is a real killer. A lot of dentist’s stress is related to dental school costs, practice acquisition, and the enormous pressure of debt.
• Dentistry doesn’t do enough to change patient behavior and manage expectations.
• If we can put less pressure on ourselves we can be more open with our patients, it creates less stress and is a better patient experience.

Text ‘bulletproof’ to 345345 to stay in the know about our upcoming book release and the Bulletproof Summit on October 12-13th 2018 in Atlanta!

Bulletproof Dental Practice Podcast Episode 67

Hosts: Dr. Peter Boulden & Dr. Craig Spodak

Guest: Dr. Gregg May, 10X Dental

Watch full video of the interview by clicking here!

Key Takeaways:

• The obstacles we overcome make us who we are.
• When times are tough it’s really easy to isolate. Seek out another dentist who you can talk with and commiserate with.
• The 10X Dental group is designed to fuse experience from old-school dentist with passion and new technology from younger, up-and-coming dentists.
• When dentists get challenged they tend to revert back to dental terminology. You’ve got to talk in plain English. Always use patient-friendly language.
• 10X Dental Group is also about sharing leadership skills.
• Accountability is key. You need people to hold you to the fire.
• Mastermind Groups are great for finding like-minded people to relate to and share best practices.
• Sometimes “more” can make you really unhappy.
• There’s more to running a dental office than ever before, not least of which is creating office culture.
• The bigger you get the larger the expectations of you are.

References:

The Power of NOW by Eckhart Tolle

Tweetables:

We all crave context. – Dr. Craig Spodak

Don’t resent the process. – Dr. Craig Spodak

Real happiness is in the solving of problems. – Dr. Craig Spodak

We must all suffer from one of two pains: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret. - Jim Rohn

It’s not the “what’s next,” it’s the “what’s now.” – Dr. Gregg May

Text ‘bulletproof’ to 345345 to stay in the know about our upcoming book release and the Bulletproof Summit on October 12-13th 2018 in Atlanta!

Bulletproof Dental Practice Podcast Episode 66

Hosts: Dr. Peter Boulden & Dr. Craig Spodak

Guest: Dr. Jesse Green, Dentist, Author, Founder of Savvy Dentist Podcast and Practice Max

Watch full video of the interview by clicking here!

Key Takeaways:

• Adding more new patients to your practice will highlight the problems in your office.
• Success is all about making sure there’s net growth. You can’t just work to get new patients without making sure you’re taking care of your existing ones.
• Make sure you have leadership in charge, not just in place.
• Following systems allows for consistency but you can’t overdo systems, there should be some amount of flexibility.
• Create frameworks for conversations with patients, instead of scripts.
• The best strategy for retention is relationships. “Don’t be a dickhead.”
• Having regular communication with your team and understanding what they want from you is the best way to retain your team members.
• Make sure all decisions have a triple win: your business wins, the patient wins, and the team member wins.
• If you can have alignment about the goal for the team then you’re moving in the right direction.
• Every time you have staff turnover you’ll have a dip in productivity.
• There’s a sweet spot for profitability. Bigger is not always better. Pay more attention to profitability than size.
• In Australia, 4-5 chairs in a practice is a sweet spot. It’s small enough to manage, you can make it very profitable, and you can replicate it more easily.
• You have to understand your positioning in the marketplace; whether you’re volume, boutique, etc.
• Convenience is critical.
• There are three ways to increase revenue:
  • See more patients (marketing, how do you get more out of your chair, etc.)
  • See those patients more frequently
  • Increase the average dollar spend per patient
• Small changes in those categories compound across your practice.
• Marketing Three R’s:
  • Recruit new patients
  • Retain existing patients
  • Reactivate people who might have fallen off the bandwagon
• The things that move the needle most are “critical drivers.” What activities are your team doing that produce the best results? Focus on those activities.
  • Ask for referrals
  • Ask for Google reviews
  • Multiply the booking
  • Focus on presenting x number of treatments per day, from there you’ll have the conversions you’re looking for
  • Morning huddles, productive staff meetings
• Proposed treatment vs. enrolled treatment (acceptance rate) – shoot for 80-85%.
  • Depending on your preferences, that acceptance rate can be closer to 66%.
• Net profit: including salary of principal, your net profit should be around 20%.
• Everything is about the cash flow.

References:

Retention: How to Plug the #1 Profit Leak in Your Dental Practice by Dr. Jesse Green

Text ‘bulletproof’ to 345345 to stay in the know about our upcoming book release and the Bulletproof Summit on October 12-13th 2018 in Atlanta!

Bulletproof Dental Practice Podcast Episode 65

Hosts: Dr. Peter Boulden & Dr. Craig Spodak

Guest: Dr. Scott Leune, Founder & CEO of Breakaway Practice & Dental Whale

Watch full video of the interview by clicking here!

Key Takeaways:

• Most DSO’s don’t allow for the dentist to work with them to continue growing their business.
• Breakaway Practice provides DSO infrastructure to provide partnership and value for practice owners.
• Breakaway Practice wants to take the best from corporate infrastructure has today and make it available to a private dentist through a partnership.
• Traditional DSO’s are a great benefit for new grads who want guaranteed salary with a lot of CE and ability to move around the country.
• Practice sale strategy all depends on the specific wants and needs of the selling dentist.
• Most Breakaway dentists are entrepreneurs who want multiple locations.
• 7 out of 8 practices should not be purchased by someone who wants to own multiple locations.
• Invest in training, coaching, and learning if you’re interested in owning multiple locations. It’s a lot of hard work and isn’t for most people.
• To get a really high EBITDA multiple you must own lots of locations with a ton of infrastructure and a solid path to continue rapid growth.
• Leune has found there’s a tipping point at 11 days being booked out, profits start going down and no-shows start going up.
• Once you’re at that tipping point you have a problem and must fix whatever is holding back the schedule.
• January-March are the best months of the year for acquiring new patients, cost-wise. August is also good. Worst times for marketing are December, April-May, and September.
• Dentists need to strive for both clinical AND business excellency.
• Specialists are in the hardest position right now, as GP’s are taking over more and more of their business.
• If you’re doing what you love and making a good amount of money, perhaps there’s no reason to change or do anything different. Not everyone has to be the CEO.
• If you do what’s right for the patient, create a really good value-based practice, and have a good following there’s plenty of room for you to be successful in the future.
• Figure out the “why” first so you don’t end up going down the wrong path. Once you’re clear in your decision making, decisions aren’t that hard.

Tweetables:

Innovation comes from pain, and not giving up. – Dr. Scott Leune

It’s so much easier to make a decision when there’s purpose behind it. – Dr. Scott Leune

Text ‘bulletproof’ to 345345 to stay in the know about our upcoming book release and the Bulletproof Summit on October 12-13th 2018 in Atlanta!

Bulletproof Dental Practice Podcast Episode 63

Hosts: Dr. Peter Boulden & Dr. Craig Spodak

Guest: Dr. Mark Costes, Founder of Dental Success Institute

Key Takeaways:

• There’s no one right model for setting up a dental practice, it must be tailored to the owner’s goals and the specific geographic area.
• Boulden predicts the rise of the “Super GP,” a dentist who has skills and training to do more services than they have traditionally. Less will be referred out.
• Technology is allowing a wider range of dentists to practice a wider range of skills.
• “The grass is greener” is always psychology.
• Most dentists don’t have a business. If you’re not making more than 30% as dentist owner then it’s a glorified job.

Text ‘bulletproof’ to 345345 to stay in the know about our upcoming book release and the Bulletproof Summit on October 12-13th 2018 in Atlanta!

Bulletproof Dental Practice Podcast Episode 62

Hosts: Dr. Peter Boulden & Dr. Craig Spodak

Guest: Uche Odiatu, keynote speaker, author, wellness expert

Watch full video of the interview by clicking here!

Key Takeaways:

• Uche integrates total health wellness within his busy dental practice.
• Probiotics are now acknowledged by mainstream medicine.
  • Probiotics are live organisms that supplement your diet. If you’re eating the right food you don’t need probiotics, but up to 90% of people are not eating the right food.
• Probiotics have been proven to prevent sickness in trails with extreme athletes, so their benefits for anyone with a stressed immune system can benefit.
• 85% of CEO’s of Fortune 500 companies exercise 3-4 times per week. 15% of the average North American population exercises.
• Fit people have an attenuated response to stress.
• Keeping up with regular exercise helps your body and mind slow down.
• The goal of exercise isn’t to get in shape, it’s to change your life and stay there.
• Find successful people to model yourself after.
• The lack of serotonin causes depression. 90% of serotonin is made in your gut, from food.
• The fundamental, #1 food for your body is fiber.
• Exercise is an independent factor that affects your gut flora. It balances and brings homeostasis to every one of your neurotransmitters.
• To get smarter, exercise and eat fiber.
• If you want to lead you need to do things to increase energy, have abundant thinking, and have good reaction to stress.
• You can’t buy great physical condition. Its an expression to the world of your standard for your body.
• Morning routines are key for setting a great tone for your day.
• Comparing yourself with others is not good, being grateful for what you have is important.
• One thing you can do to start improving your life is to act on one thing you heard that resonated with you. Celebrate, don’t analyze.

References:

Align Probiotic Supplement

The Mind-Gut Connection by Emeran Mayer

The Microbiome Solution by Robynne Chutkan MD

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

Exercise – When Less is More with HIIT!!! By Dr. Uche Odiatu

Tweetables:

Time flies for people who aren’t paying attention. – Dr. Uche Odiatu

The quality of your life depends on the quality of your communication. – Tony Robbins

No one is an overnight success. – Dr. Craig Spodak

Gratitude is the master emotion. – Dr. Craig Spodak

Comparison is the thief of joy. – Theodore Roosevelt

Text ‘bulletproof’ to 345345 to stay in the know about our upcoming book release and the Bulletproof Summit on October 12-13th 2018 in Atlanta!

Bulletproof Dental Practice Podcast Episode 61

Hosts: Dr. Peter Boulden & Dr. Craig Spodak

Guest: Garrett Gunderson, author & founder of Wealth Factory

Watch full video of the interview by clicking here!

Key Takeaways:

• Wealth Factory is a personal wealth management company with a specialized focus for entrepreneurs in dentistry.
• Garrett co-authored a new book, called “5 Day Weekend.” Look for it on shelves everywhere!
• “The 4 Hour Workweek” is more about outsourcing and frugality. “5 Day Weekend” focuses more on keeping more of the money you make, learning to make more money as an individual, growing your money, and investing back in yourself.
• Dentists got screwed with the new tax change because they’re service-based professionals. Dentists won’t get the pass-through deduction.
• Two major things when it comes to taxes:
  • You should have an accountant to get tax deductions. The biggest way to save tax is to reclassify your income which comes from attorneys. If your attorney isn’t a tax attorney, you will be spending too much money.
  • Every three years you should get a different set of eyes on your taxes. You have three years to amend.
    • If you’ve done any R&D or domestic production. This includes CEREC manufacturing, training, software research, etc. These deductions are additional money you could be leaving on the table.
    • Do a cost segregation on any property you own.
  • Saving tens of thousands of dollars on taxes is like ten years of investing.
  • The two main factors of income reclassification are:
    • How can you take your active income and classify it as passive income?
      • You’ve created unique processes and intellectual property. Set up a separate company as an intellectual property company. Then pay that company 15% to use that proprietary intellectual property.
    • How do you take ordinary income and classify it as capital gains income?
      • Create captive insurance agencies. If you do it right, you can put money in pre-tax and create various insurance protections to sell back to your practice. The money taken out is considered capital gains and has better tax benefits.
      • You can ensure actual business risks. If you can’t sock away $300,000 it’s not worth doing.
    • You can drop your tax rate to 4% if you choose to live in Puerto Rico for at least 4 months of the year and be outside the US for at least 6 months.
    • If you have a company event at your home or personal property you can pay yourself rent without claiming it as income.
    • LLC’s that hold real estate that is rented out to your practice count as reclassification of income and have valuable tax incentives.
    • There’s no reason to be overpaying on taxes when it’s legal and ethical to avoid paying certain things.
    • Wealth Factory acts as your personal financial quarterback, and 93% of their clients save significant amounts of money by working with them.
    • Two ideas about 401k’s:
      • Everyone should look at a charitable remainder trust. You can create tax deductions when you sell assets.
      • Even better, look at converting 401k’s to a Roth plan. You have to pay tax when you convert, but if you use a structured annuity where it’s valued at half of the actual 401k. You’ll get a guaranteed future income stream.
    • Make sure you build up enough liquidity. People overemphasize investing and underemphasize saving.
    • You’ll be ahead of 90% of other dentists by learning how to hire bad-ass people, building liquidity, and owning a building.

References:

5 Day Weekend by By Nik Halik & Garrett Gunderson

Killing Sacred Cows by Garrett Gunderson

Bard Press

The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss

America’s Best 401k

Tweetables:

Automatically save and deliberately invest. – Garrett Gunderson

Text ‘bulletproof’ to 345345 to stay in the know about our upcoming book release and the Bulletproof Summit on October 12-13th 2018 in Atlanta!

Bulletproof Dental Practice Podcast Episode 60

Hosts: Dr. Peter Boulden & Dr. Craig Spodak

Guest: Debra Englehardt-Nash

Watch full video of the interview by clicking here!

Key Takeaways:

• Private practice dentistry is NOT going to go away.
• We must learn how to stop commoditizing our patients. Instead we should learn to value appreciation of our patients.
• Passionate dentists make great leaders. They create the vision and enlist the help of a supportive team to put that vision in action.
• When a new patient calls start out asking “inspirational” questions, instead of asking about insurance first. Listen to what the patient wants.
• Help your team and patients understand how fees are based:
  • Skill required to do it right
  • Time it takes to do it well
  • Materials used so treatment endures
• Dentistry used to be all about efficiency, now it’s all about experience.
• Thoughtful approaches take longer, but you end up with a better result.
• Pre-collect for appointments. It takes the stress off collecting at the end of the appointment and eliminates no-shows.
• There’s room for all kinds of dentistry, you just have to decide where you want to be.
• Success is a meandering stream, it’s not a direct line. The business of dentistry is hard work.
• Consultants are facilitators to help the leader be the difference in the practice.
• Listening to webinars and podcasts is important, but they can’t replace in-person trainings and meetings.
• Toil is good for you.
• Successful people don’t act as victims, they address their own actions that led to where they are.
• Catastrophes give perspective and help you redirect.
• You don’t have a lot of time to establish trust, so you better do it quickly.
• Ask for your patient’s permission before you start offering treatment options.
• 70% of the reason why patients don’t follow through with treatment is because the treatment wasn’t explained well enough and they were released too soon to talk about money and they weren’t ready to commit.
• Dentists often settle for way too little when choosing members of their team.
• Olympics are won by 1/10th of a second. That extra 10th of a second could be that one thing that moves you forward faster.

References:

American Academy of Dental Practice

Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink

Tweetables:

It’s the head of the fish that always smells first. – Benjamin Franklin

People who get frozen in fear will never get a win. – Debra Englehardt-Nash

You have to believe to be believed. – Debra Englehardt-Nash

Whether you’ve spent $400 or $4000, if you’re not happy you’ve spent too much. – Debra Englehardt-Nash

Change your modalities and you might get a different result. – Debra Englehardt-Nash

The dentist’s fear is holding back dentistry. – Debra Englehardt-Nash

Life’s too short to be unhappy. – Debra Englehardt-Nash

Happiness is in the solving of problems, not in the absence of them. – Dr. Craig Spodak

If you’re going to ask your team to be a cheerleader, you better give them something to cheer about. – Debra Englehardt-Nash

The chokehold on any business is always the psychology and skill set of the owner. – Dr. Craig Spodak

The culmination of many small successes is a massive win. – Dr. Craig Spodak

Text ‘bulletproof’ to 345345 to stay in the know about our upcoming book release and the Bulletproof Summit in fall 2018!

Bulletproof Dental Practice Podcast Episode 59

Hosts: Dr. Peter Boulden & Dr. Craig Spodak

Guest: Darren Shaw, owner of Whitespark

Watch full video of the interview by clicking here!

Key Takeaways:

• Google has been ramping up their local SEO features so they can improve their local ad sales.
  • Google posts are new and allow you to push out more content. They expire weekly so you need to stay current with new content.
  • Google Q&A allows you to address some of the most frequent FAQ’s right in google search.
  • Google Insights show who has clicked through to your website, who has called you, etc.
  • Engagement metrics are real. The more engagement you get with your google content the better you will show up in search. Add videos, posts, attributes, etc.
• What makes up a good local search strategy?

1. Get your Google & Google My Business listings are correct.
   1. Make sure your primary category is accurately reflecting what you do.
2. Citations are your online business listings on Yelp, Yellow Pages, etc.
   1. Make sure these are all accurate.
   2. Make sure there are as many out there as possible. Shoot for 80+ listings.
3. Reviews are super important for ranking and conversion benefits.
   1. If you are doing a review ask, coax a little bit to mention the specific service they had. Those keywords really help you rank better for those terms in local SEO.
4. Website in local search comes down to how much content you have. Basic blurbs will not help you rank.
   1. Make sure you build out your content.
5. Links help with local search as well. This is often done through sponsorships, community outreach and support. These are easy ways to get other sites to link to you.
   1. Local sponsorships are one of the best ways to get local links.
   2. To find: search in google: “intitle:sponsors ‘YOUR CITY’”, will give you a whole list of local sponsors.
   3. Vendors are also usually high-authority links. Find vendors of yours who list their local customers and find a way to get a link listed on their site.

• Yelp continues to be a challenge for many small businesses.
  • You’re not allowed to ask for reviews. Yelp wants all reviews to come in naturally.
  • It’s also of no value to ask for Yelp reviews. Their filters are very strict, only active Yelp users will have reviews that are shown.
  • Yelp actively endorses a check-in offer, which is a GREAT way to bypass Yelp’s “don’t ask” policy. Any patient who checks in and takes you up on the offer will be encouraged to leave a review. Put the check-in offer on Google posts, send via email, put up a sign, promote as much as you can. CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO.
  • Another Yelp hack – make a new Gmail account, take your entire patient email list and put it into that Gmail contact list, then run through “find my friends” on Yelp, and it’ll tell you who is active.
• Facebook allows you to create custom segments by uploading your existing patient list.
  • Promote new services, show them what’s new, etc.
• Website is a great opportunity to keep adding detailed content.
• Video is important. Talk about your services and upload on your website, YouTube, social media, etc.
• Google local pack – these are the top results that show up at the right side of the page when you search for a local business.
  • It went from 10 businesses, to 7, now it’s 3.
  • It doesn’t exist within an entire city anymore. Google filters based on the proximity of the searcher. You’ll generally show up within 5-10 miles of your business.
  • The way to slightly break out of the proximity search is to buy local pack ads.
  • Google guarantees some home repair related industries.
    • The listings are paid for and business who participate must be screened.
  • Another opportunity to rank organically is to build out city/neighborhood pages on your website.
    • Build a page on your site that talks about local neighborhoods and how your office has helped with patients in that area. This helps draw in organic ranking results from outside your 10-mile radius. CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO.

References:

Steady Demand

Whitespark Local Citation Finder

Whitespark Reputation Builder

Text ‘bulletproof’ to 345345 to stay in the know about our upcoming book release and the Bulletproof Summit in fall 2018!

Bulletproof Dental Practice Podcast Episode 58

Hosts: Dr. Peter Boulden & Dr. Craig Spodak

Guest: Dr. Tarun Agarwal, owner/dentist Raleigh Dental Arts, owner T-Bone Speaks

Watch the full video of the interview by clicking here!

Key Takeaways:

• Make sure you’re not being oversold by predatory companies offering horrible insurance and investment planning.
• Review your estate plans every couple years.
• It’s not about how rich or poor you are, it’s about preventing your loved ones from inheriting a storm.
• The cost of maintaining a healthy office is significantly higher than it was 15 years ago.
• We should be shooting for profitability in the 10-20% ballpark.
• Profitability should be based on all your normal expenses, plus the following:
  • Each dentist (including yourself) should be paid as an associate
  • Build in an escrow dollar or percentage amount (2-3%) for future improvements, renovations, and technology gains
  • Interest amount (5%) on capital put into the practice
• “All things under one roof” – medical and dental – is the future of dentistry. Cottage industry offices as we know them will be displaced in certain environments.
• Approximately 80% of offices are solo dentists. The believe is within 10 years this number will drop to closer to 50%.
• If you’re going to stop practicing within the next 10 years you’ll probably be fine. If you’re planning to practice longer than that you will get hit by these changes.
• Put away money on an annual basis to cover renovations.
• Make sure you’re getting fulfillment in your professional life, as well as in personal.
• If you design your business around you and make yourself happy, others around you will be happy as well.
• Focus on outcomes, not goals.
• People aren’t doing enough live training. The magic is being around people and interacting with others.

References:

Creative Planning

Tools of Titans by Tim Ferriss

Tweetables:

“Life’s ultimate ROI is fulfillment and happiness.” – Dr. Craig Spodak

“What makes people happy is progress.” – Dr. Craig Spodak

“Focus on outcomes, not goals.” – Dr. Tarun Agarwal

Text ‘bulletproof’ to 345345 to stay in the know about our upcoming book release and the Bulletproof Summit in fall 2018!

Bulletproof Dental Practice Podcast Episode 57

Hosts: Dr. Peter Boulden & Dr. Craig Spodak

Guest: Dan DelMain, owner of DelMain Analytics

Watch full video of the interview by clicking here!

Key Takeaways:

• DelMain Analytics is a full-service digital marketing agency.
• It’s no longer possible to gamify your way to a great digital marketing strategy.
• Google is humanizing their search engine more and more to reward sites who are giving value to consumers.
• It’s all about creating the best user experience.
• The amount of advertising noise is staggering. Voice search is a much more targeted way to search out information.
• Voice search is evolving into longer conversations.
• Evolution of internet platforms has been: desktops – laptops – mobile phones – mobile phone voice search – home devices
• Evolution of SEO has been 7-pack to 3-pack to 1-pack
• Who are the players in voice search?
  • Siri – Apple
  • Google Assistant – Google
  • Cortana – Microsoft
  • Alexa – Amazon
• What are people searching for?

• • conversational - what is the cost of Invisalign?
  • proximity - dentist near me
  • hours of operation 
  • insurances accepted
• 1 in 5 queries on Google are voice searches
• Chrome is also pushing search traffic to security-rich sites
• How to optimize your site for voice search
  1. mobile friendly/responsive
  2. answer FAQ type questions on the website
  3. claiming Google My Business profile
  4. online reputation
  5. social signals/social media
  6. schema markup
• Contact DelMain Analytics and mention Bulletproof Dental Practice, Dan will have a 30-45 phone chat with you and share any tidbits he can recommend!

References:

Google Mobile Friendly Tool

Text ‘bulletproof’ to 345345 to stay in the know about our upcoming book release and the Bulletproof Summit in fall 2018!

Bulletproof Dental Practice Podcast Episode 56

Hosts: Dr. Peter Boulden & Dr. Craig Spodak

Guest: Elijah Desmond

Watch full video of the interview by clicking here!

Key Takeaways:

• There is a commonality in all successful people. It’s hunger for more.
• If you aren’t making mistakes or haven’t made one in the last year, you are playing it too safe.
• Elijah Desmond runs a Facebook page called Trapped in an Op for those professionals who want to venture from the traditional clinical setting in dentistry.
• The main issue dental teams are suffering from is drama. Either you have the wrong people or the wrong culture in the office.
• If you are lacking alignment how can you work well as a team?

1. Everyone is a consultant these days.
   1. Business owners are more self conscious than ever with social media outlets being readily available with information.
   2. Stop listening to everyone else. Focus on your goals and what you want out of your career.
2. There is currently a changing of hands. The older generation is passing the baton and a new generation of influencers is rising.
3. What is the reason why you entered in this profession?
   1. For most, the number one reason to be in this profession is to make people smile.
   2. Focusing on the big picture and changing lives
4. What is your hygienist supposed to do?
   1. Focus on complete oral health
   2. Don’t brush off hygiene checks this is where treatment is converted! You have already established a connection with these patients. They more likely to agree to recommended treatment with the help of your hygiene team.
   3. Dental Intel will track which Doctor/Hygienist work best together in converting over treatment.

• Mention Bulletproof Dental Practice and sign up for Dental Intel w/no activation fee.

Tweetables:

“Magic is hard work.” – Dr. Craig Spodak

“Motivation and determination without procrastination is the key to success.” – Elijah Desmond

“The way you get to the top is by helping other people get there too.” – Dr. Craig Spodak

Text ‘bulletproof’ to 345345 to stay in the know about our upcoming book release and the Bulletproof Summit in fall 2018!

Bulletproof Dental Practice Podcast Episode 55

Hosts: Dr. Peter Boulden & Dr. Craig Spodak

Key Takeaways:

• Four Pillars of a Bullet Proof Dental Practice

1. Vision and Leadership
   1. As a leader/owner of the practice you set the tone
   2. You must give your team a road map
   3. Be intentional in explaining your goals to your team
   4. Make a descriptive vision
   5. Self-managing teams
2. Team and Culture
   1. Culture is a foundation of a lot of our marketing
   2. When your team is happy they are more resourceful
   3. Happiness is good for business. Money is the lagging indicator of creating an exceptional experience and exceptional dentistry.
   4. Daylight is very important to incorporate in healthcare environments. It affects mood and purchasing decisions.
3. Marketing and Reputation
   1. The average person has 318 friends on social media
   2. Make sure you are getting mentions
   3. Use Hootsuite for tracking all social media channels
   4. Facebook is not a form of push advertising
   5. Keep your ratio healthy with your posts (funny vs before/after pictures)
   6. Seek out social influencers! Accounts that have more than 300,000 followers.
4. Systems and Metrics
   1. New patients that visit each month
   2. Average dollar amount per visit
   3. True practice growth- how much did we grow this month?

• Click HERE to sign up for Podium w/no activation fees!

References:

Delivering Happiness by Tony Hseih

The Happiness Advantage: The Seven Principles of Positive Psychology That Fuel Success and Performance at Work by Shawn Achor

Tweetables:

“Be the leader you wish you had.” Dr. Craig Spodak

“Success without fulfillment is the ultimate failure.” Dr. Craig Spodak

Text ‘bulletproof’ to 345345 to stay in the know about our upcoming book release and the Bulletproof Summit in fall 2018!

Bulletproof Dental Practice Podcast Episode 54

Hosts: Dr. Peter Boulden & Dr. Craig Spodak

Guests: Alan Mead, Dental Hacks Podcast / Brian Colao, Dykema Law Firm

Key Takeaways:

• Should you have a DSO?
• If you don’t have a DSO and you’re a doctor owned practice, who can you sell to? You can only sell to other licensed dentists in your state, and that’s a very narrow, deflated market that is getting smaller every day. If you have a DSO your market is the world.
• A DSO deal with established DSO might pay 5-7x EBITDA and is a low-risk deal.
• A private equity deal will require ongoing involvement, and is higher risk, so may pay very high single digits to double digits.
• Private equity deals are performance based.
• There’s an evolution and consolidation in the dental marketplace. The evolution is from doctor owned single practices to DSO’s. The market is being flooded with private equity funds as it allows non-dentists to make money in the marketplace.
• The market saturation of DSO’s is about 10%. There is a lot of runway, and the industry is very fragmented. This means that saturation is a ton of value left to harness in the dental market.
• Seek out education about how the market is changing so you can react and best position your organization.
• Ten years from now there will be very limited opportunity for solo practitioners. If you have eyes set on being a solo practitioner, you need to understand the transition and have a plan. Only the rock star practitioners will thrive on their own.
• Patients are becoming more and more demanding. Consumers don’t really care who owns their dental office.
• DSO’s are in the third generation of progression.
• The highest valuation in the DSO industry is Deca Dental. 18.2x!
• DSO’s are trying to implement one-stop shopping. There’s a lot of upside as a practitioner in working within a one-stop shop style practice.
• It’s not just corporate DSO’s looking to get into the dental marketplace, existing industry suppliers are finding ways to reach consumers directly.

References:

The Cleveland Clinic Way by Tony Cosgrove

Tweetables:

“Peer pressure makes dentists better.” Dr. Craig Spodak

Text ‘bulletproof’ to 345345 to stay in the know about our upcoming book release and the Bulletproof Summit in fall 2018!

Bulletproof Dental Practice Podcast Episode 53

Hosts: Dr. Peter Boulden & Dr. Craig Spodak

Guest: Dr. Steven Rasner

Watch the full interview video by clicking here!

Key Takeaways:

• Email Dr. Steven Rasner at drrasner@aol.com, with request to SEND ALL THE STUFF!
• There is hope and prosperity of ownership.
• Oral sedation has the capacity to expand your practice very quickly.
• You can easily market oral sedation.
• The triad for a successful office- oral sedation, extractions and implants.
• Why oral sedation is better? People automatically assume that can’t handle the cost associated with IV sedation.
• One key to a successful practice- Preforming a comprehensive exam on every patient!
• 6 things I would do if I started over on Monday:

1. Financial discipline straight out of dental school. Invest in yourself early on.
   1. Start by taking 1 CE course every quarter and 1 continuum every year.
   2. 95% of dentists cannot retire at age 65 and sustain themselves
2. Seek out successful mentors. This exposes you to other dentist as a resource.
3. Most important protocol for new patient’s is phone verbiage.
   1. It doesn’t cost to be nice. You want your patients to feel a “Cheers atmosphere” where everyone knows your name.
   2. When taking a new patient phone call, you want them to invest in:
      1. seeing an out of network provider
      2. getting their significant other to come to the appointment
      3. paying up front

4. Willingness to do morning meetings with team members to review old balances, new patients, any special needs and special events on your schedule.
5. Embrace your community.
6. Treatment plan your life. Remember to ask yourself: Am I happy living my life the way I'm doing it?
   1. Balance your life. Keep living like a dental student when you're out as a dentist.

• Next open course with Dr. Rasner May 4th-5th http://realizingthedream.com/courses

References:

Realizing the Dream

Tweetables:

“You do what you learn.” Dr. Steven Rasner

Bulletproof Dental Practice Podcast Episode 52

Hosts: Dr. Peter Boulden & Dr. Craig Spodak

Guest: Dr. Michael Apa, Partner Rosenthal Apa Group, Founder Apa Aesthetic in Dubai

Text ‘bulletproof’ to 345345 to stay in the know about our upcoming book release and the Bulletproof Summit in fall 2018!

Watch the full video of the interview by clicking here!

Key Takeaways:

• Apa travels back and forth from New York City to Dubai, focusing on creating amazing cosmetic cases.
• The small details in dentistry are best answered by people who are doing it in and out every day.
• Apa figured out how to take a lot of time in planning and prep, so the design and implementation of a case works PERFECTLY with no complications.
• After so many cases Dr. Apa’s team now works like a symphony.
• To have such high output you must have the driving passion and dedication.
• For Dr. Apa the work itself, and seeing patient’s reaction is very rewarding. When you do so much dentistry, you start amassing an audience of people who help to continue propelling you forward.
• Achievement is a drug that keeps high performers going strong, wanting to do more and more.
• In dentistry we draw a small box around what we think is the profession, but you can really do anything you want to do.
• Dentistry lately seems to be focused on the negative; insurance, corporations, debt, etc.
• Younger dentists are searching out more positive messages.
• You can’t listen to what is coming down the pipeline, you must find your own will and your own way.
• Take what everyone says to you, take it in, and exhale and stay true to what YOU want to accomplish.
• People in the US have a much higher knowledge about what is possible in dentistry. Other areas of the world have great opportunity to educate and train the population – and dentists – on what is possible.
• To feel the level of passion Dr. Apa has, you must be able to reach the general public. The best way to get patients of any quantity is to reach them where their attention is: social media.

References:

Apa Beauty

Tweetables:

“Achievement is a drug that keeps high performers going strong, wanting to do more and more.” Dr. Craig Spodak

“Dentistry is a snowflake, you can express your vision however you want.” Dr. Craig Spodak

“Don’t let anybody tell you what you can and can’t do.” Dr. Michael Apa

“Listening to your patients is the best education.” Dr. Michael Apa

Bulletproof Dental Practice Podcast Episode 51

Hosts: Dr. Peter Boulden & Dr. Craig Spodak

Guest: Blake McClellan, CEO and co-founder of Implant Compare

Watch the full video of the interview by clicking here!

Text ‘bulletproof’ to 345345 to stay in the know about upcoming book release and Bulletproof Summit in fall 2018!

Key Takeaways:

• Implant Compare live-streams dental education and surgeries.
• We’re just now discovering the great many capabilities of blockchain, and how it can be applied to everyday life.
• It’s the algorithm behind bitcoin that is the most powerful.
• This episode is not investment advice.
• Bitcoin is a byproduct of a blockchain. Blockchain is a distributed ledger that is decentralized. Every time a transaction happens it’s added to the block. Essentially, it’s an ecosystem of a network of computers that validate every transaction.
• Decentralizing this process creates a lot more complexity and provides protection against data attacks.
• Blockchains aren’t just currency, every different algorithm has different applications.
• The other benefit of using blockchain as currency is it keeps everybody honest.
• Blockchain is a very fast rapid way to move data in a highly encrypted way.
• One major benefit of blockchain in dentistry is potential to develop, fast, highly confidential ways to transfer patient files. Applications could also be built to allow practices to share servers & hardware.
• Phase 2 of blockchain will be around identity management and logistics.
• The technology is still emerging, and we’re seeing big companies entering the development space.

References:

Pro Med Sales

Vital Signs Technologies

Patientory

Dentacoin

Ethereum

Ripple

Bulletproof Dental Practice Podcast Episode 50

Hosts: Dr. Peter Boulden & Dr. Craig Spodak

Guest: Eric Rea, CEO of Podium

Watch the full video of the interview by clicking here! 

Key Takeaways:

• Podium is a reputation management platform, helping to significantly boost your practice’s online reviews, and Podium has funding invested from Google.
• Podium focused on creating a great experience for the patient. This helps boost conversion rates and gets you more & better reviews.
• Reviews are made simple, and are targeted to platforms that are most popular with the user and the practice.
• Podium has access to parts of Google’s API that other competitors don’t, which gives them unique access into how their review system works.
• Recentness of reviews is important to Google’s algorithm so it’s key to continue getting rave reviews from your patients.
• User generated content (reviews, social media postings from patients, etc) is a way better predictor of your SEO rank than how many links you have to your website.
• Google Local Guides carry more weight than other reviewers.
• To comply with Yelp’s policies of not asking for reviews on their platform, Podium does not solicit reviews for Yelp.
• The most important platforms for dentists to pay attention to are Instagram/Facebook, Snapchat, and Google. These are the platforms where people spend their time, and they’re all working to integrate other features to become unique ecosystems.
• Reviews have shifted the marketing equation, you can’t fake real people talking about you online.
• Video reviews are important for the future, but they’re really hard to sift through. Review platforms haven’t gotten to a place where they make video reviews possible or easy.
• Voice-activated devices are also key to future marketing. Imagine giving your review to Siri or Alexa!
• Podiums software will scale and change based on future development from Google.
• 90% of reputation management companies are NOT recommended by the review platform sites.
• Making experiences seamless is how companies thrive.
• Podium is working on a communication platform that allows offices to connect with patients and make communication seamless.
• Click HERE to sign up for Podium w/no activation fees!

References:

What yelp’s crackdown on review collection means for your business (and why we stopped collecting yelp reviews over a year ago)

Whitespark

Tweetables:

“Consumers are conditioned to always look at reviews.” Dr. Peter Boulden

“Focus on creating an experience for the patient that you would want to have yourself.” Eric Rea

“Dentists who take care of their craft and take care of the details are the ones who will succeed.” Eric Rea

“If you’re providing massive value, you deserve to be successful.” Dr. Craig

Bulletproof Dental Practice Podcast Episode 49

Hosts: Dr. Peter Boulden & Dr. Craig Spodak

Guest: Dr. Christian Coachman, founder of Digital Smile Design (DSD)

Watch the full video of the interview by clicking here!

Key Takeaways:

• The world is moving at a very rapid pace, and it’s each of our responsibility to roll with the change and grow to meet the expanding demands of our patients.
• Millennials aren’t looking for great products, they’re looking for great experiences.
• Marketing in dentistry has changed. People now expect a story of what they’re going to experience.
• You can no longer rely solely on being the best at doing dentistry, you’ve got to be able to connect with patients and show them what’s in it for them.
• Being good and doing decent dentistry is an obligation, but is not the only thing you need to do to be successful.
• The human brain has evolved to listen to stories.
• Make your patient the hero and the guide.
• The first step in telling your story is to open the communication channels and connect with the emotional side of people’s brains.
• There are 3 stages to presenting treatment plans with patients; gaining emotional permission, discussing problems, then explaining treatment plan.
• The DSD concept is about everything to be understood in regard to running a successful practice.
• DSD focuses on process within patient’s 1st and 2nd appointments; intake, analysis, smile design, treatment planning, treatment presentation, case acceptance, online marketing, and more.
• Dentists who want to own and operate their own practices are going to need to develop business and marketing skills, because your primary competitor will be a corporation.
• In order to change and grow with the business of dentistry, first we need awareness about what is coming.
• Then DSD educations about four moments; design, plan, sell, and perform.

References:

Digital Smile Design

Building A Story Brand by Donald Miller

Tweetables:

“The good guys in dentistry are focused on adding value for patients.” Dr. Craig Spodak

“Change is always a constant, growth is optional.” Dr. Craig Spodak

“This is a great moment for ambitious people.” Dr. Christian Coachman

“Millennials aren’t looking for great products, they’re looking for great experiences.” Dr. Christian Coachman

“Storytelling is the biggest skill for this new era.” Dr. Christian Coachman

“There’s a point of diminishing returns when it comes to just learning the clinical.” Dr. Peter Boulden

“If the patient doesn’t see what’s in it for them – you lose.” Dr. Peter Boulden

“When we do dentistry right, we’re helping people.” Dr. Craig Spodak

“Everything happens slowly until it’s sudden.” Dr. Craig Spodak