DMD Staff

Chicago Midwinter Meeting attendees begin to arrive on Thursday, Feb. 23. Image source: Joe Hannan

Dentist’s Money Digest sent teams of reporters to cover the Yankee Dental Congress, held Jan. 25-29, and the Chicago Midwinter Meeting, held Feb. 23-25. Each conference contained valuable information for business-minded dentists on managing and marketing dental practices. Here are the top five lessons that we learned.

 The biggest social media blunder that I see dentists making is they think of social media as Facebook,” said Larry Emmott, D.D.S. and president of Emmott On Technology. Emmott sat down with Dentist’s Money Digest at the Chicago Midwinter Meeting. “Facebook certainly matters—I am in awe of Facebook and the number of users&mdash;but the fact is people don’t go looking to Facebook to find a dentist. Very seldom if people look on the internet does your Facebook presence make any difference whatsoever.” What’s more important, according to Emmott? “Claiming your Google business site, claiming your Yelp site, that’s far more significant than whether you have a Facebook presence or not.”

Your website is the face of your practice

In her continuing education session at the Yankee Dental Congress, Alicia Owens, a Dentrix profitability coach, discussed how an updated website can help a patient discover your practice, but it should also let patients know what procedures you offer. A good place to start is by creating a patient resources section that gives your patients accurate information about the procedures they will be undergoing. This may save some WebMD-induced anxiety. A patient’s next step from the website will be calling your practice. You need to have all team members in your practice well-versed in phone procedure and etiquette — not just the front desk.

Are practice leaders born, or can they be trained?

 “Leadership being an ability that either a dentist or anybody else is born with is a bit of a misnomer,” said Amy Morgan, CEO and owner of the Pride Institute. Morgan sat down for an interview with Dentist’s Money Digest at the Chicago Midwinter meeting. “Certainly, there are personality characteristics that lend themselves to charismatic communication or better influencing,” she said. “The fact of the matter is, no matter what your personality style is, one can and should aspire to higher-level leadership, because all leadership means is getting in front of somebody. Being willing and courageous enough to get in front of a business, a team, an issue, and with authenticity and genuine and understanding.”

Taking the spoon from practice pot stirrers

 The dynamics of each practice may be unique, but employee problems often stem from a common root. “Usually the dentist hasn’t set clear standards as the practice grows, especially when problem employees have good technical skills or are good with patients,” Judy Kay Mausolf, a practice consultant, told 

 at the Chicago Midwinter Meeting. “Dentists may be reluctant to address problems or may not realize how damaging it is to allow employees to treat patients better than their coworkers.” What should a dentist do? “If toxic behavior is no longer allowed, it will stop,” she said.

According to Danielle Sheer, vice president and general counsel at Carbonite, an automated data storage company, the three most common HIPAA compliance errors doctors and dentists are making are 1. Using a flash driver or external hard drive to back up data. 2. Using public software, such as Google calendars or Google Docs. 3. Using a program that syncs data rather than backing it up.

Reporting by Sarah Anwar, Darcy Lewis and Joe Hannan

Articles

Dentist's Money Digest sent teams of reporters to cover the Yankee Dental Congress, held Jan. 25-29, and the Chicago Midwinter Meeting, held Feb. 23-25. Each conference contained valuable information for business-minded dentists on managing and marketing dental practices. Here are the top five lessons that we learned.


Meeting Minutes: 5 Takeaways from Chicago Midwinter Meeting, Yankee Dental Congress

, prioritizing the right procedures in a dental practice is key to being profitable. In order to do that, dentists need to ask themselves what they can competitively offer in their market — whether that’s Botox, Invisalign or sleep treatments. Then, dentists need to fill their schedules with those higher-profit-margin procedures or treatments.

Interview Transcript (slightly modified for readability)

“How should a dentist set up their calendar to drive profit? First of all, they need to have calendar density. I think part of it is understanding the best use of the dentist’s time.

 As a dentist, and depending on the type of the dental practice, someone comes in for a teeth cleaning, you’ve got to check their teeth. But in terms of attracting patients and then utilizing scheduling, if a dentist is trying to drive profit in other areas besides checking teeth after a cleaning or doing fillings — the blocking and tackling that needs to happen in a dental practice – the first thing they need to do is say, ‘What can we offer in our marketplace and be competitive in?’ Whether it’s Invisalign or cosmetic dentistry, whatever it is.

Getting Dental Patients to Leave Positive Online Reviews

Marketing Strategies That Make Dental Practices Thrive

You and I were talking off-camera about sleep treatments, and in some cases, you have dentists now very successfully offering treatments in the face, whether it’s Botox or other fillers. And so, the highest and best use of that dentist’s time is doing those treatments and procedures that offer highest revenue.

That starts first from a defining standpoint of saying, ‘What can we do that we can reasonably compete for in this marketplace?’ And then it’s putting a marketing strategy in place to attract that type of patient to the practice.

From the inside, a practice manager is typically very good at the logistics. In other words, moving people around. The key is, ‘Who do we want to see? What’s going to be the most profitable?’ And then go put processes in place to attract those people to the practice. And then fill that dentist’s calendar with the most profitable procedures. In other words, maximizing the highest and best use of his time.”

Videos

According to Tim Sawyer, president of Crystal Clear Digital Marketing, prioritizing the right procedures in a dental practice is key to being profitable. In order to do that, dentists need to ask themselves what they can competitively offer in their market, whether that's Botox, Invisalign or sleep treatments. Then, dentists need to fill their schedules with those higher-profit-margin procedures or treatments.

Getting the Most Profit out of a Dentist's Schedule

Fix Your Marketing Message to Keep Dental Patients Engaged

Maybe you’re having a difficult time keeping patients engaged with your dental practice. Maybe they’re coming in once for an emergency procedure, then you aren’t seeing them again years. It’s possible that the issue is their commitment to oral health. Or it could be that your marketing efforts aren’t effective. Blair Drenner, vice president of strategic business development at eRelevance Corporation, talks about refining your marketing message to keep your patients coming back.

Interview Transcript (slightly modified for readability) 

“I think the best way to re-engage patients that haven’t been in the practice for a long time, I think there’s a couple of main components. One is, have a message that is applicable for them. Often times, dental practices are simply sending newsletters or appointment reminders that are generic in nature when really they need to make sure they know who their client is and the types of clients, and reach out to those clients in a very personalized manner.

The second thing is the way that we reach them. Often times, dentist are sending messages. The easiest way is through email. Email is something that’s probably either 15 or 20 years old, in terms of its ability to reach people. Most open rates are only around 20 percent. My question is, how do you reach the other 80 percent?

It’s a very important to develop a multi-channel approach, which is reaching people in the way that people communicate these days, and different generations communicate, which is via social media, via web landing pages, via text messaging, conversational marketing, as well as email. It’s important to increase to reach them as well as have applicable and information and content for them.”

Maybe you're having a difficult time keeping patients engaged with your dental practice. Maybe they're coming in once for an emergency procedure, then you aren't seeing them again years. It's possible that the issue is their commitment to oral health. Or it could be that your marketing efforts aren't effective. Blair Drenner, vice president of strategic business development at eRelevance Corporation, talks about refining your marketing message to keep your patients coming back.

Sometimes a classic perceived as obsolete just needs some freshening up. This is true of the buy-and-hold strategy of stock investing. The idea is to assemble a diversified stock portfolio, and then leave it alone for years. You build wealth over time and minimize exposure to market volatility. As the classic strategy advocates, you buy a core group of companies and hold them for 10 to 15 years. What’s different is that today, you should have a group of satellite stocks that revolve around the core group and are changed more frequently.

When looking for fixed-income investments to fund your retirement, don’t forget about fixed-rate annuities. You get a set rate of interest for a set period of time, usually three to 10 years. Annuities, unlike bonds, are not subject to rate fluctuation. The insurance company bears all the underlying investment risk, protecting owners from market volatility.

The Right Time to Plan for Asset Protection

Truthfully, the right time to come up with your asset-protection strategy was yesterday. Most doctors don’t even think about asset protection until after a lawsuit has been filed. Don’t be like most doctors. Laws vary from state to state, so you’ll want to check with your CPA or CFP, but in general there are three basic asset-protection structures: 1) retirement accounts: the easiest and most tax-advantaged way to shield your assets from creditors; 2) domestic asset-protection trusts: in 16 states, anyone can set one up, even nonresidents; 3) annuities and life insurance: did we mention annuities? All of these aforementioned vehicles will allow you to shield assets from creditors, with the limit dependent on the rules of the state involved.

How You’re Messing Up Your Own Portfolio

Just because conditions in the market created a recent downturn or upswing doesn’t mean those conditions are here to stay. But the cognitive bias of recency makes us think that they will. We’re all prone to pay undue attention to recent news, either good or bad, and underemphasize long-term trends. Performance in the recent past is arguably the least useful information about an investment. But while recent performance data is easy to understand and dramatic, it’s not necessarily accurate.

-- Eric C. Jansen, ChFC; Ken Nuss; Trey Smith, CFP; and Benjamin Sullivan, CFP, contributed to this report.

Discover more Dentist's Money Digest Personal Finance coverage here

This month's topics include revisiting the tried-and-true investing strategy of buy-and-hold; fixed-income options for retirement; asset-protection strategies; and how cognitive bias can stock portfolios. Catch up on financial advice from Dentist's Money Digest's team of experts.

Fast Financial Facts: Brush Up on the Latest Quick Money Tips

Is It Better for a Dentist to Buy or Lease Practice Space?

Brandy Keck is a Brockerage Liaison at Carr Healthcare Realty. In this clip, Keck discusses one of the questions she most often gets from dentists: Is it better to buy or lease space? There is no stock answer, Keck says. The appropriate course of action depends on specific circumstances for each dentist. Here’s an overview of what those circumstances are.

“At our firm, we get the question a lot of, what would be better for a dentist, to lease or own their space? To be honest with you, we don’t have a set answer. There are scenarios when purchasing is the best and there are scenarios when leasing is the best. Conventional wisdom will tell you that it’s always better to own, and that’s just not true.

Part of it would be, where is the dentist at in their career? If they’re a younger dentist straight out of a residency program or a couple of years of associating, they may not qualify. They may take on $400-500 thousand on the practice side. They may not qualify for the real estate piece as well.

 The other side of it is, what’s their long-term plan? Are they intending to stay in the area? Do they want to relocate? Are they trying this out for a little bit then seeing where they want to go next? Part of it is the financial side of it. Are they in a position to be able to purchase at this time?

The other part of it is, there are markets throughout the country we’re seeing right now that are super hot where you’re buying at the peak. That may not be the best time to be purchasing a property. Dentists, a lot of them are working with demographic companies right now and figuring out what’s the best location for their practice. There may be a really good location for them to go into and the only option is to lease there or the only option is to purchase, so they really need to look at all of the numbers.

If they’re working with a commercial real estate firm that does something similar to us, we really break down the numbers. We do a comparative analysis of lease versus purchase, what those numbers look like, and then they can talk to their CPA about what makes the most sense. There are tax benefits on both sides of that and they just really need to figure out their options. One is not better than the other, they just need to know what’s best for their given scenario.”

Brandy Keck is a Brockerage Liaison at Carr Healthcare Realty. In this clip, Keck discusses one of the questions she most often gets from dentists: Is it better to buy or lease space? There is no stock answer, Keck says. The appropriate course of action depends on specific circumstances for each dentist. Here's an overview of what those circumstances are.

Leadership is an ability that some people believe dentists are naturally born with. According to Amy Morgan, CEO and owner of Pride Institute, this is a misnomer. She expressed that no matter what your personality style is, anyone can and should aspire to be a leader. 

“Leadership being an ability that a dentist or anybody else is born with is a bit of a misnomer. Because, certainly, there’s personality characteristics that lend itself to charismatic communication or better influencing, but the fact of the matter is no matter what your personality style is, one can and should aspire to higher level leadership. Because all leadership means is getting in front of somebody. Being willing and courageous enough to get in front of a business, a team, an issue. And with authenticity and genuine understanding, be willing to take that and run with it. That’s what it’s all about to be a leader.

Now, the truth of the matter is that the personality styles that are most attracted to dentistry, they’re not necessarily the best communicators, the best change agents, and certainly low level conflict or confrontational people. So that doesn’t make it easy, but it’s still worth it.”

Leadership is an ability that some people believe dentists are naturally born with. According to Amy Morgan, CEO and owner of Pride Institute, this is a misnomer. She expressed that no matter what your personality style is, anyone can and should aspire to be a leader.

Anyone Can Aspire to Be a Leader

Larry Emmott, DDS, explains that the biggest social media blunder dentists make is thinking the only thing to use is Facebook.

There's More to Social Media Than Facebook

Larry Emmott, D.D.S., president of Emmott On Technology, explains that the biggest social media blunder dentists make is thinking the only thing available to use is Facebook. 

“The biggest social media blunder that I see dentists making is they think of social media as Facebook. And Facebook certainly matters—I am in awe of Facebook and the number of users—but the fact is people don’t go looking to Facebook to find a dentist. Very seldom if people look on the internet does your Facebook presence make any difference whatsoever.

So, rather than thinking of social media as just Facebook, remember that there are other sites, mostly review sites where people review like Yelp—Yelp is really common—or even Google itself. When someone Googles you, your reviews are going to come up. Claiming those review sites, claiming your Google business site, claiming your Yelp site—I don’t mean paying them money—but claim them and then when people Google you by name, that’s far more significant than whether you have a Facebook presence or not, which by the way not very many people visit anyway.” 

, solving the problem of insufficient patient reviews is a matter of improving your leadership skills. It’s up to you as the leader of your dental practice to establish procedures that will channel patients toward sharing their positive experiences on their web. Creating these procedures is easily accomplished with the help of modern technology.

“How does a modern dental practice get more quality reviews on Google? That’s the holy grail from a search perspective and also from a consumer influence perspective. I would say, though, it starts with leadership in the practice, and we were talking about this off-camera before the interview, I think one of the big things that’s missing in educating the modern dentist is there should be some courses on leadership and there should be some business courses so that they can understand how to manage people. We believe that all things can be solved through the management of people, the installation and implementation of solid processes, and then giving them the tools to do it.

In reference to reviews, first, it’s a cultural shift. If somebody comes in and says, ‘I feel great today. My teeth are amazing. Thank you.’ We need to have a tablet in the office, in the waiting room, where someone can hand that tablet to the patient and say, ‘Hey, Susan, we really appreciate you saying that. By the way, would you mind clicking here and leaving us a review on our website?’ Through simple technology, they go in, it’s a five-star rating. It’s really easy to do. And then that populates to the web site.

So, phase one is getting tons of good, quality reviews on the website because you can control that conversation. And then, your SEO team can optimize that page so when someone types in, ‘Dr. Hewitt Reviews,’ we want that page to come up first.

The second piece to that is, how do we get those folks to leave a review on Google. If you plant the seed, and you have an appropriate talk track in the practice — because as you know, you can’t have multiple Google reviews from the same IP. So they can’t all go in the same room and leave a review because that’s going to be a flag and get you in trouble with them. But what you can do is if you use some simple technology, once that person fills out that in-office review for the website, it’s mentioned to them, ‘Hey, you know what would really help us, is we’re going to send you a simple link along with your Gmail address, and if you could just click and follow the link and just cut and paste, or leave that same review on Google.’ And you’ll get about 20 percent of those folks who are willing to leave an in-office review, because they understand the importance of that, whether it’s Yelp, or Google, or other mediums.

But again, it comes back to people, process and tools. What’s the process? Who’s going to do it? And then what tools can we give them to make it easy. Then, of course, it’s consistency and frequency, and rinse and repeat.”

According to Tim Sawyer, president of Crystal Clear Digital Marketing, solving the problem of insufficient patient reviews is a matter of improving your leadership skills. It's up to you as the leader of your dental practice to establish procedures that will channel patients toward sharing their positive experiences on their web. Creating these procedures is easily accomplished with the help of modern technology.


Blair Drenner, vice president of strategic business development at 

, explains how to make sure your dental patients receive your message and keep coming back for more.

“Keeping your patients coming back is crucial. We have a marketing rule of 7 in the business world that says that you have to touch someone on an average of 7 times for them to receive your message. So, a consistent and very frequent messaging to them around what new things you’re doing, reminding them of the benefits of consistent healthcare and preventative healthcare around the dentist offerings. Also, I believe strongly in promoting things as cross-promotional items that make sure that your customers are coming in and being exposed to new types of procedures.” 

Blair Drenner, vice president of strategic business development at eRelevance Corporation, explains how to make sure your dental patients receive your message and keep coming back for more.

Have Your Dental Patients Keep Coming Back

There are so many important nuances to the negotiation of any dental practice lease or purchase. According to Brandy Keck, a Brockerage Liaison at Carr Healthcare Realty, it is imperative that dentists do their due diligence. This puts them in a powerful position when dealing with a potential landlord or seller. It also helps to avoid creating the uncomfortable experience of undercutting a landlord or seller with a lowball offer.

“Market research is the absolute key to negotiations. It’s all about a posture and a specific level of education to landlords or sellers. If a dentist is going into a negotiation and they don’t understand what they market is, they don’t understand what they should be saying to the landlord or what concessions they should be given. It’s not just about the rent rate on the property, but other factors come into play such as free rent, and tenant improvement allowance is huge. For dentists, the build out of a dental office is far greater than most other small businesses. The dentist really needs to understand what is available to them and what other landlords are willing to do. The more that they understand the market, the better that they are to come in and have a posture with that landlord.

You’re Ready to Buy Dental Practice Real Estate. Now What?

Know Your Dental Market Before Buying Practice Real Estate

Market Factors for Buying a Dental Practice

The other piece of it is, if they understand the market, they aren’t undercutting landlords too much. If you ask for too many concessions or go too low on the rent rate, it’s almost insulting in the negotiation process, and they can hurt themselves in that negotiation. So they always need to make sure that they understand everything that’s available to them, lease and purchase options, and be able to go forward in any negotiation with the landlord or seller.”

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