Dentaltown September 2022 - 60

by Jay Geier
Jay Geier is an advocate for independent
dentists and a world authority on growing
independent practices. He is the founder
and CEO of Scheduling Institute, a firm
that specializes in team training and
development, coaching doctors, and helping
those around him reach their full potential by
uncovering blind spots that are holding them
back. To hear more from Geier, subscribe to his Private Practice
Playbook podcast at podcastfordoctors.com/dtown.
W
hen's the last time a patient asked to see
your credentials or continuing education
certificates, or got excited about the
equipment you use? Probably never-
they just assume you're good. Yet most doctors go into
private practice with the notion that really good clinical
skills alone will bring success and the practice will
automatically attract patients, grow and be forever
profitable. Throughout their careers, they continuously
invest time, effort and money in CE credits well
beyond what's required and learn new techniques they
think will impress patients. They also habitually overspend
on new equipment and gadgets, believing the
sales pitch about it being a great investment that will
bring a profitable return.
If that's the game you want to play-one that's
more about you becoming a better clinician than
building a patient-centric practice-you really
should just work for someone else instead of
being a practice owner. Then you could focus
entirely on your skills and not worry about
business matters or growing the practice.
As a consequence, though, you'll
need to accept your income will max
out at a certain level no matter how
much you learn: You can see only
so many patients in a week and
drive average purchase up only
so far, which means your earnings have a definitive ceiling.
And don't forget to factor in your age. Dentistry
is hard on the body; the longer you've been practicing
and the older you get, the fewer hours you'll be able
to work.
The same scenario applies if, as an independent
practice owner, you refuse to have associates. Your business
and personal incomes will max out, then decrease
over the years as you find it necessary to cut back on
the hours you're willing and able to work.
Given these facts, why do so many practice owners
continue to play the game of insisting on being the
only provider and focusing heavily on clinical skills instead
of patient-focused, business-building strategies?
The two most admitted reasons:
" I CAN'T AFFORD ASSOCIATES. "
That's an oxymoron because the whole point of
hiring associates is to profitably raise the production
and net income of the practice through clinical duplication.
If your investment in an associate doesn't bring
a net positive return, you have a poorly structured
contract or your associate is underperforming against
the agreement and needs to either improve or be replaced.
Get coaching on how to correctly implement
the strategy, and learn why you can't afford not to have
associates if you expect to remain a profitable practice
in the long term.
dentaltown.com \\ SEPTEMBER 2022 61
http://www.podcastfordoctors.com/dtown http://www.dentaltown.com
Dentaltown September 2022

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