Everyone is looking for a head start or a new strategy to improve their options for success. We look for that something that increases our speed, improves our results, and guarantees consistent growth. While this may come in the form of a class, something you have read, new equipment, or a new service you might provide, they all seem to be something someone else is doing and trying to get you to buy. We are inundated with the newest product, service, or strategy from some speaker who is going to change our lives. I mean, these commercials and marketing outreach by consultants, manufacturers, and “in the know” mega producing dentists are never ending. On the other side, I continue to monitor Facebook posts with questions that are so basic that I can’t help thinking that too many of our new graduates and the larger group of struggling doctors are easy targets for the next get rich strategy that anyone can use to make millions. The scary part is that it seems many of these outlandish claims and promoters are doing very well if we consider the number of doctors who purchase their wares. The truth is that most of these new things are old things with some lipstick and a new hair style. It’s only later, after signing a yearlong contract for thousands of dollars, that we see the complaints from the naïve dentist who finds that the service didn’t work, the product proved to be poor, the marketing or coaching wasn’t working, and they are now in the hole for $80,000 with no recourse but to finish out the year.
Everyone makes mistakes and I certainly include myself. Generally, I consider them to be an opportunity to learn something but mostly I feel like I was so foolish to just jump headfirst into some new, never tried strategy, product, or service without really understanding the ROI. Sometimes you win, sometimes you “learn”.
I wanted to take a moment and remind each of you about certain realities of successful practices and the services and products that are presented to us to purchase. Any product or strategy has a potential to work. But I have found that practices that have not actually mastered the basics tend to be more gullible in their purchases without really being at a level that would allow them to take full advantage of their purchase. It is as if we tend to think that there is a magic pill or script, product, or strategy that will magically reverse years of poor leadership, demographics, location, or attitude.
I remember as a kid, that there was an ad in all of the comic books by “Charles Atlas” on transforming your body. According to the marketing piece, Charles Atlas was just another scrawny kid that got pushed around by bullies. They even had a drawing of some big kid kicking sand in the face of our scrawny, soon to be hero. Then they showed a picture of him with ripped abs and a 44-inch chest and huge biceps. You can bet I was going to save up the $5 it takes to get his secret formula for transforming my puny 13-year-old body into a world class strong man. Needless to say, my $5 did not change my life, and his secret formula didn’t work for me. The worst thing about this foolish purchase is that I worked all summer and spent every penny I had on a myth that if I did this, everything in my life would change. I was broke, starting all over, and decided that I needed to take a hard look at where I was, where I wanted to go, and what I could actually do for myself, before spending money on some other strategy or product. It basically came down to me owning my challenges and assessing my actual options with and without spending money. I finally discovered that any expense should be considered an investment. If it truly is an investment, then it should have a return on the investment or ROI. If I spend one dollar, I should get multiples back. So great investments have a predictable yield. How long would you spend $1 to have someone give you $5 back. All day long. Now think back at all the times that you spent money with no real monetary expectation of a return on that investment. Good businesspeople do not think that way.
Most of you probably have some inkling of what a force multiplier is. If you have had anything to do with the military, I am certain you will understand the phrase. For those that are still scratching your head trying to figure out what “force multiplier” and dentistry have to do with one another, let me define the phrase for you. Force multipliers are tools, strategies, or actions that help you amplify your effort to produce more output. The term force multiplier should bring up thoughts of synergism, increased returns on your efforts, can’t lose strategies, getting more with the same effort, etc. If you are a carpenter, a nail gun is a force multiplier when compared to a hammer. These multipliers mean that you’ll get more done with the same amount of effort or even less. In leadership, force multipliers could be creating a strong emotional connection with those around you, the way in which you communicate with others, and being the best advocate for change possible by always thinking creatively. This creates a “remarkable” leader and team.
There are thousands more examples, but a “force multiplier” does not have to be a brand-new entity unto itself. It often cannot stand alone if there is one missing fact: Being the person or team that is self-motivated, ready to act, desperate for the force multiplier, and masters of the fundamentals. Rather, it is an adjunct to an already capable team, culture, or practice. It is that additional add-on that improves an already good strategy or result. Far too many times we skip becoming great at fundamentals and borrow money to spend on force multipliers that were never designed to be a fundamental anything. Often times you will find that if you have not mastered the basics, you won’t be able to take the force multiplier and use it properly. In fact, what is a force multiplier for some is just a distraction and failed strategy for most people. It is that next level “that” elevates you to another level of success. Force multipliers can never make up for your inability to master those building blocks that get you to fundamental mastery. I could never be Charles Atlas unless I had the genes, determination to eat, work out, strive, and sacrifice to learn the basics of nutrition and exercise. Even with that, I probably would not ever be Mister Universe. I might be stronger, perhaps leaner, but the idea that some magic formula without the fundamentals, consistent growth, and a sound practice would ever change my future.
I want to encourage each and every one of you to step back, stop thinking like a dentist, take a hard look at where you are (numbers, percentages, and results compared with the ideal outcome). Reflect on where you have been and where you would like to end up. Is there anything that you are currently doing that could be changed and result in multiple gains in your practice and life?
The neat thing about force multipliers in some areas, is that you don’t have to reinvent the wheel. There are areas of your practice where wise counsel can make dramatic positive changes in your results. I built my career and have based the help I have been able to give doctors on three fundamental axioms that each of us must embrace. They are common sense. They are undeniably true. Each one can drastically hold you back or open the door for you to rewrite your future. As you read them, try to embrace their truth. These are absolutely fundamental, but it is still very difficult to accept them as major barriers in your career success.
- There is no way to get better at giving patients what they don’t want. Not growing means you are not meeting your patient’s needs. Meeting their needs is an ever-changing target. The new dental economy is like climate change. You are constantly adapting and changing, or you are losing ground and backsliding into mediocrity. No one wants or needs another “average” dental practice. Patients are looking for a “remarkable” dentist that is caring, compassionate, competent, and confident, with consumer hours and the services they want and need for the entire family. One of the most foolish things you can do is to think that your patients want what you have to sell. Consumers want what they want. Often times, no, most times practices that struggle fail to accept that their low performance is caused by trying to sell something to patients that they don’t want. A perfect example is going to some weekend class and then you come back and try to sell it to everyone that walks in the door. With this goes the dentist that is always perceived as wanting the dentistry more than the patient wants it. Do this, and you have crossed a line that you will never be able to get back from. Patients will feel overwhelmed, pressured to buy, and they will always want to discuss the proposed treatment with their spouse of get a second opinion. Take a long hard look at the number of patients that come to you from direct referrals from existing patients. If you are not getting at least a 50% referral rate, you are not meeting your patient’s needs.
- Inspired leadership is primary. You must precede your practice to the next level of productivity. That next level demands another level of commitment. Every practice works at capacity. What you do gives you the results you get. You are exactly where you want to be, or you would change. Could it be possible that you are the main reason that you fall short in getting to where you want to go? Too many doctors have a poor self-image, limiting beliefs, and daily they self-sabotage their dreams. If you want more, you have to do more, and the important thing is the “more” means doing more things differently than you are currently doing them. Great leaders are self-aware of their shortcomings and consistently and constantly work to improve in those areas. The same great leaders know that when they hire a team member, that hire was made in part to compensate for the areas that the doctor is not great at. It is this partnership between the owner and the team that ensures consistent growth in the practice. Great leaders don’t make it on their own, and they know it. It is the corporate effort and synergistic affect of the team rather than any one individual that fuels success. It is the rare doctor that understands transformational leadership where each of the team commit completely to the vision and culture of the practice. Each team member is a leader and will not tolerate mediocrity in their ranks. I can’t emphasize enough the strategy of a Purpose Driven, Doctor Led, Staff Owned dental practice. This is what every one of you reading this article wants and needs.
- Your systems are precisely designed to give you the results you’re getting. The strength of your practice systems will ultimately determine the range of patients you can Inspire/attract. Average results are the result of average systems and herd mentality: Doing what the majority of struggling practices do. Average is the default score of a mediocre commitment to your profession and not doing the things it takes to adapt to ever-changing circumstances. Once you self-diagnose yourself, commit to change while partnering with your team to ensure that you no longer hire employees, but rather partners in you practice, there is no limit to your future growth. Hiring the right people, mixed with inspired leadership, and competent practice management, creates a culture of consistent growth and stellar profits.
Get your copy of exactly how to structure your culture, your systems, protocols, and practice to become a Super General Dental Practice. For your free copy go to www.supergeneralpractice.com and commit to looking at dentistry in a different way that will allow you to rewrite your future in Dentistry.
Michael Abernathy DDS
972.523.4660 cell
[email protected]