Accelerate My Practice Blog

Research correlates performance of American dental practices with U.S. recession and recovery

Posted by DentistryIQ Editors

In an effort to "keep our industries aware of economic behavior relevant to them," according to Vijay Sikka, CEO of Sikka Software, the company released its latest white paper, the Sikka National Dental Economic Report, this week. The research, which is written by Mr. Sikka, offers an in-depth, year-over-year analysis of the recession, transition, and recovery of the American economy from 2008 to 2014 through the lens of the U.S. dental industry.

"Knowledge is power, and is the basis for measurement and comparison," Mr. Sikka said. "We publish these statistics to serve the markets we're directly in, but we also publish this data for more broad range comparison of economic measurement, allowing any consumer of our data to map the behavior in our specific health-care space to other economic data segments."

What are some challenges in the hygiene department? One is how do we keep the patients scheduled for their hygiene appointments! Doing hygiene role-play in the office will help your team prepare new ways to keep patients on the books!

Scripting and role playing are powerful tools in overcoming cash flow issues in your dental practice, Often we shy away from scripting because it is so uncomfortable and can seem so forced when we read a script word for word. When in reality reading a script is not the correct way and certainly not the most effective way. Scripting in the dental office is about knowing what to say and when to say it and even when to pause. Effective scripting in the practice it should never be reading off written lines to the patient. What you say needs to be real and natural to you. Using scripts in your office should give you the tools to build a relationship and create a favorable outcome. The delivery has to come through your personality, it has to be authentic for you or it will sound fake and hollow and you won't get your message across. It's also important to remember that sometimes less is more. The natural pauses that happen in conversation are a good thing it allows the patent to think about what you are presenting. It's an important part of the script to become comfortable with, and learn not to try fill every silent moment.

In a practice that requires a down payment for the procedures or to have the patient pay in full before the time of their procedure. It's important to emphasize that payment is collected prior because their appointment time is reserved exclusively for them. Emphasize that the Dr is committed to proving highest quality of care, uses the highest quality material and so a down payment ensures that an appointment time can be reserved exclusively for them and the procedure they are having done.

Someday are you going to do things better? Someday are you going to lose weight, start something new, live a dream... someday? Monday and Tuesday are on our calendars four times a month but SOMEDAY is likely the most often day we experience. Someday I'll be successful, someday I'll change.... Someday. What is it that lights a fire in your heart? What are you willing to change to start a habit? Someday!!

Did you know that 50% of Americans have not seen a dentist in 2 years? Are we being the best dental health care providers when it comes to diagnosing oral cancer? The latest stats on oral cancer are women under 30! If you immediately thought it was older, smoking, drinking men you are- someday -thinking wrong!

Understanding “why” you do what you do is one of the most important aspects of your Leadership as a business owner who happens to be a dentist.  Being committed to the “good of all” provides amazing team momentum and therefore phenomenal results!

To illustrate this concept, let’s look at how and why geese fly in a “V” formation.  The primary purpose is to decrease the amount of effort to accomplish a task due to efficiency. Geese flying in the back of the formation are honking to give the lead support to keep going.  The sweetest piece of all is this, if one gets injured and flies to the ground, 2 fellow geese go with him or her to help protect and care for their injured. Everyone tries to go in one direction in this flock.