Dentaltown June 2013 - (Page 14)

howard speaks column » You Need an Associate Now by Howard Farran, DDS, MBA, Publisher, Dentaltown Magazine Every year around this time, 5,000 lesson-weary yet fresh-faced dental students emerge from dental school ready to take on the challenge of maintaining and improving the oral health of millions of Americans. When I look across the American landscape at the 125,000 general dentists currently in practice it blows my mind that those 5,000 grads haven’t been snatched up by their junior year of dental school because of how valuable they are. Don’t think the same way? Indulge me a little while I prove that no matter what you currently think, there is, without a doubt, room for you to hire an associate immediately. Phones Your current phone system is just awful. You’re probably using the same copper cable technology invented by Thomas Edison, you have someone manning the phones only during business hours and when you’re closed all calls go to your little answering machine that still uses the little cassette tape. Hey, doc, wake up! The turn of the century happened 13 years ago already! You need to move to a digital phone system – a voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) – run it through the Internet and your network. My practice, Today’s Dental, in Phoenix, Arizona, uses Avaya (formerly Nortel) and it is awesome! When my practice is closed and we get 12 phone calls from people who didn’t leave a message, we can track the missed phone calls and someone on my team can call those numbers back first thing when they get in. Humans are extremely complex. They’ve got a three-and-a-half pound brain powered by a trillion circuits. The brain is influenced by a person’s nutrition, genetics, whether or not they’re hopped up on caffeine, chocolate or sugar, etc. Humans are very imperfect decision-making machines. When a human brushes her teeth at 6 a.m. and feels something missing in the back of her mouth, she will pick up her iPhone and call her dental office. When an answering machine picks up instead of a live person, she shrugs her shoulders, says, “Eh, whatever,” and just hangs up to either A. just live with it or B. call another dental practice later on that will pick up the phone so they can fix her up. If you can track when your calls are coming in, not only can you call those numbers back right away, but you can adjust your staff’s schedule to best cover when the majority of your phone calls are coming in. That way when patients call, you can assure they’re being answered by an actual person. What I find most ridiculous about your phone system isn’t the technology itself – it’s that you only have someone living and breathing answering the phone 8 a.m. - 5 p.m., Monday through Thursday, with an hour break for lunch each day. There are 168 hours in a week and the average dental practice is open for 32 of them. A practice’s primary concern is, “How the heck can we get more new patients?” Easy answer, make sure a living, breathing person is answering your phones during high-call-volume hours. Almost every dental practice I visit has two dental assistants and a dentist doing all of the dentistry, and there’s only one person out front filling the schedule. I always say, “Here’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to change your phone system to a digital VoIP, and instead of having two assistants helping do the dentistry, we’re going to move one of those assistants up front. Also, instead of having one person answer the phone from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., one receptionist is going to come in at 6 a.m. with the owner doctor and she’s going to take a lunch from 11 a.m. to Noon, and then she will leave at 3 p.m. The other receptionist is going to come in at 9 a.m. with the associate dentist and she’s going to work from 9 a.m. until 6 p.m. That way the phones are going to be 100 percent answered when the majority of people are calling. We’re going to stagger the staffing of your front desk because 50 percent of the incoming calls to your practice are made when you are closed early in the morning and later in the evening. Also, of the calls that do come in while you’re open, 50 percent of those go to voicemail while your one-person front desk is taking care of other business. And if both front-desk staffers have their hands full, you need to make sure that any staff member in your practice is comfortable picking up the continued on page 16 14 JUNE 2013 » dentaltown.com http://www.dentaltown.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Dentaltown June 2013

Dentaltown.com Highlights
Howard Speaks: You Need an Associate Now
Professional Courtesy: All of Your Patients Are Famous
Continuing Education Update
Virtually Unlimited Free Domestic Coach Tickets for Two People
CPR – Thank God My Staff Were Trained or I Wouldn’t Be Here to Post This
Townie Tips: Pedo Simplicity with Fenderprime
New to DT – Thought I’d Give This a Try
Industry News
New Products
Corporate Profile: Keating Dental Arts
Office Visit: “Twitter”pated by Teeth
Focus On: Dentures
Successful Practice Acquisitions
Product Profile: Dentrix Communication Manager
Do-it-Yourself Finance, Part VII: You Are Not Immortal
To Bonus or Not to Bonus?
You Should Know: Brightsquid
Handpiece Essentials: Knowledge to Help You Maximize Your Tools
A Dynamic Website and an Equally Dynamic Front Desk Team
Continuing Education: Technique for Use of Stainless-Steel Crowns in Primary Molars
Ad Index
In This Issue: Child’s First Dental Visit
Continuing Educatio:n Window of Opportunity for Prevention: Health Benefits of Early Xylitol Use
Dentally Incorrect

Dentaltown June 2013