Accelerate My Practice Blog

With a new year upon us, new beginnings seem to be the major thoughts of many in early January. What has your past year looked like? Did you reach the goals you created? Why or why not? Did you even make goals for last year? Was it daunting to think of all the things you wanted to change? Did you get overwhelmed, then didn't even do one of them? If you are like most, this is the path most often walked.

If you set the foundation for your goals for 2015 by writing them down, working on one or two of them daily in small doses, through time, those goals will be achieved. The key is consistency, making that foundation strong so what you build your goals and dreams upon won't waiver. This takes time and can have a latency effect – wanting everything to be done yesterday! Slow motion, accountability and consistency will change anything through time. Add patience to the recipe and you have your new beginning!

Reflecting on the year end in your practice, have you accomplished your goals? What changes have you made? What stumbling blocks did you encounter? Did you grow a ton, yet not enjoy the way you grew? Are you where you want to be or have you ended up in a place where you don't want to be? What are your goals for next year? What do you want to accomplish?

Outlining goals allows a game plan to take place. Create a way to measure what you want and where you want to be. Ask yourself, 1) Did I hit my goal? , 2) What were my results? We all have an innate desire to grow and prosper. Without a plan, there is no direction or achievement.
Look to 2015. Does that look similar to your goals and successes of 2014? What did you want? How did you get there? And, What did you give up to reach your goal? Success rarely comes without a trade off or a sacrifice. Did you actually sacrifice something in 2014 to reach the goals you had in place? If that answer is "no," what can you do differently in 2015 to see successful changes in growth of your practice?

How much does dental insurance impact your dental practice today? Specifically what impact are you allowing PPO"s to have on your practice? When you look back into the history of dental insurance 10 or 15 years ago PPO's didn't even exist. In todays dental market many practices feel they need to sign up for every PPO out there so they will have patients.

Unfortunately many dentists today have lost the mindset that if they are providing the very best care possible and providing the very best patient experience their practices will thrive. Ten to years or so ago in dentistry our mindset about how patients paid for care was very different. Before the economic crisis of 2008 dentist focused on their cash patient's and or that patients would pay for services that insurance did not cover.

Understanding Financial Success Within Your Dental Practice



When it comes to the financial side of your dental business, do the math and numbers side scare you? Do you hesitate to share with your dental team your financials, fearing your transparency will reveal to your team some not so good news? Does your team think you are a millionaire because of the top line dollars produced monthly? How can you share what it takes in the understanding of monies coming in verses monies going out.... And what is left..... if anything!!
Income Statements, Profit and Loss Statements, what do these things really mean? Does the team ever look at these important pieces of paper? And when they do, is the mindset that doc is making a killing? Do we ever share the costs within those statements? Costs, like student loans, building and practice loans are just a few of the big items that affect the bottom line dollar. Does your team know this? Do you or your team realize these examples rarely even exist on an Income Statement?

Before these reports are explained, there are some benchmark things we should look for first.

How badly do you want your dental practice to grow? Do you ever think "I can't do that" or "that won't work for me?" Do you desire to be successful but just don't know how to go about it? Why is the dental practice down the street growing and you are not? How do they do it? Does scarcity motivate you to stay stuck where you are?

I am sure all of you know the success of Tiger Woods. When Tiger thought his swing could improve, he fired his coach of 10 years and had to "start all over" with someone new. That's when he came back to the winning mode we all know him to be... and continues improving and winning to this day.