Dentaltown February 2023 - 43

of the dental office. We gave him a lot
of freedom to make decisions and to
coach and mentor the team.
As far as associates buying in, we've
asked many times and none of them are
interested. So we started profit-sharing
with them. We wanted to reward them
for their hard work and for taking care
of the team and our patients.
It sounds like you're a big
proponent of staff training
and development.
We've worked with a handful of consultants
over the years. Our first was a
local retired dentist who helped with
the transition. He told us what not to
do as a new owner. We also worked
with Jameson and, most recently, with
Scheduling Institute. SI has been awesome
for our team! The trainers are
full of energy and so engaging.
Today, in addition to practice, you
travel as a speaker about your best
practices for hiring and managing
employees, particularly members
of Gen Z. What tips can you share
with readers?
I spoke at two conferences in 2022
about how I hire and train new graduate
dentists. We've tried different
behavioral assessment tools over the
years, including the DISC and the
Drake P3, but the Kolbe A Index has
been the biggest help. We can identify
key traits in our doctors-how they
deal with risk and uncertainty, how
they gather and share information and
how they follow systems. We look for
doctors who are most like me: They
don't try risky procedures, they don't
try to change the systems and they
follow directions. All our associates
have similar Kolbe index scores.
I've also created a culture video we
use on our hiring page on our website.
It's a short clip that shows who we are,
what we value and how we give back
to our community. It allows potential
new members to see us in action and
get a sense of who we are.
I've learned that the younger generation
needs more communication.
Our leadership team schedules regular
check-ins with each team member to
review the things they are doing well
and to offer praise for their accomplishments.
This is also a time to set
goals and to give them feedback on
how they can improve.
Your journey to buying a practice
in another state started through
one of your side gigs: commercial
real estate.
After we met Dr. Wynn and her husband,
Tony, they shared with us their
investing strategy of buying medical
and dental buildings in the Phoenix
metro area. We followed in their
footsteps and bought the real estate of
two general dental offices in the Valley
of the Sun.
In 2022, Matthew and I bought
a townhouse in Phoenix ourselves,
thinking we'd spend some of our free
time there. Shortly thereafter, our real
estate broker called and said, " I've got a
deal for you: a beautiful, free-standing
building on a busy street corner in the
Ahwatukee Foothills neighborhood
of Phoenix. " We drove down to see
it the next day and when our broker
mentioned that the practice was also
for sale, we decided to buy both.
After signing an NDA, we were able
to tour the practice and found out
that it was Dr. Howard Farran's famed
Today's Dental! We made an offer on
FEBRUARY 2023 | 43 | DENTALTOWN.COM
both building and practice, and they
were accepted.
Now you're balancing businesses
in two states. What's your typical
workweek like (if there is such
a thing)?
I've stepped away from chairside
dentistry. My typical day involves
meetings with consultants and our
marketing team. I've been focusing
on ongoing training with the doctors
at Today's Dental and our treatment
coordinators. California and Arizona
are polar opposites when it comes
to employment laws! On top of that,
our regional manager, Timmi, works
from home in Oregon. Thankfully, we
have an awesome human resources
company, Bent Eriksen & Associates,
that keeps us compliant with the ever-changing
rules in all three states.
You're not quite one year into this
new practice mix. What lessons
have you learned along the way,
and what's on the horizon for you?
It was a challenge expanding into
another state without having my core
team of people with me. This first year
has been focused on building that
team of people in Phoenix.
We're currently working to centralize
some of the processes to support
both offices. We recently hired a
revenue cycle manager to make sure
the entire accounts receivable process
keeps on track. Our next goal is to
continue to build out our training
platform with more online videos and
corresponding written workbooks and
to teach it in a way that our team can
easily learn. We want to build a strong
foundation so we will be ready when
the next practice comes along. DT
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