Have an effective plan for 2020 and ensure your whole team is on board for growth.

The new year is a great time to start looking at what you have achieved over the last 12 months. Sometimes this can be in preparation for the next few months before the UDA calendar creeps upon us, and what has gone well, or maybe not so well. Involving your team every step of the way is vital to this process working as well as it can. Make sure that you:

• Hold a meeting or even better, book out the diaries to enable you to have a whole team focus day – a great start to the year.
• Discuss what has happened over the last year, your current position and what you would like to achieve in key areas and how to get there.
• Understand your appointment diaries and other Key Performance Indicators.

Although this should be on your monthly “to do” list, it’s great to look at the KPI’s you gather, including non-clinical as well as financial and admin.

Areas that I look at include:

• Missed appointments, patient conversions, profit and loss, plan sign-ups, feedback, complaints, wasted time in the diary and gaps, return on investment from marketing and chair time analysis.
• Granted, there may be some areas to restrict information to the whole team, but some facts and figures can be converted into a graph for demonstration purposes.

Your patient journeys

If you haven’t got a set patient journey, then this is one thing I would urge you to look at first.

• From a patient’s eye view, what happens when they contact the practice, how are we communicating and ensuring a high level of customer service. What are they seeing and hearing when they enter the practice and the most important factor…how are we making them feel?
• Do you have the right people doing the right jobs?
• Understanding what your patients want and need from you all is key to a great return on investment and ensuring that patients are taking up your treatment plans whilst understanding what all their options are.

Commit

I’ve worked with many dentists and practice managers who ask what is the secret to successful conversions and a great workflow for both their patients and teams. The common denominator is almost always the same. If you want to do something properly and for it to succeed, you can’t cut corners and “dabble” in some areas. If you only half commit you will only get half the results.

• Practices want a TCO available – but that TCO is on reception most days or providing cover in surgery
• They want to become a digital practice…but not all dentists and the team understand the benefits and it ends up being a new toy for the principal, who only occasionally uses it because the lab he’s used for 15 years isn’t able to receive scans, whilst the keen associate doesn’t get to utilise it.
• They want their practice manager to do more and take the pressure off the running of the practice – but they haven’t been provided training in HR, Marketing, Compliance, Accounting and the whole load of other management tasks…. Sometimes whilst also doing reception or surgery cover!

Remember, old ways do not open new doors….the most successful practices and happy teams are developed and are consistently looking at new and better ways to grow, make 2020 a great year for you!