3 questions to help make success part of your plan

You can see it now. One day, you'll finally have the practice you've always dreamed of owning. Patients will come to their appointments on time and happily accept treatment. Systems will run as they should, and you'll no longer struggle to meet daily production goals. You'll finally have the success you crave, along with the bank account that comes with it.

This all sounds great, and is attainable -- but only if you stop dreaming and start planning. Simply wishing for success won't do you much good. If you want to take your practice from struggling to thriving, you'll likely need to make some changes.

3 questions

Ready to get started? First, let's take a look at how you see yourself and your team members. This is a key indicator of success. If you have a negative attitude, you'll never be able to commit to positive change. Not only that, it's sure to bring down team morale, which certainly won't help you meet your goals. To assess where you fall, I suggest you ask yourself these three questions:

Sally McKenzie, CEO of McKenzie Management.

• Do you see your practice as one of the best in your community?
• Do you see yourself and your staff as a high-producing team committed to delivering exceptional patient care?
• How do you talk to your team members? Are you negative and condescending or encouraging and helpful?

If you mostly answered in the negative, now might be the time to change your attitude.

Remember what I said about team morale? When it's low, productivity suffers and there's less of a focus on the patient experience. That not only means revenues will take a hit, you might also lose patients and team members to the practice down the street. The truth is, your employees would much rather work for a positive doctor with a passion for treating patients than a cranky dentist who only wants to talk about what's wrong with the practice.

Another benefit of staying upbeat? Happy, successful people plan. Instead of reacting to what's going on around them -- which as you probably know leads to a lot of stress and frustration --they focus on creating their own reality. Successful people define clear goals and outline the steps they need to take to meet those goals. They don't spend much time wishing or dreaming for a successful practice. They take action.

The problem is that proper planning isn't going to happen on its own. You truly have to make it a priority. If you don't, it will be easy to go about your days, reacting to whatever happens, rather than taking control.

Planning a priority

So how can you make planning a priority? I recommend setting aside time to meet regularly with your team. I'm talking about both weekly and monthly meetings. During these meetings, talk to team members about the practice systems they're accountable for. Determine what they're doing right and where they can improve -- then make a plan to meet clearly defined goals and follow up on progress at the next meeting.

Daily meetings, or morning huddles, also offer a great opportunity for you and your team members to come up with a plan that moves you closer to your goals. They only take about 20 minutes, but if they're run right, they can set the practice up for success before the first patient even walks through the door.

To get the most out of these meetings, I suggest you designate a team member to lead them. Talk about the current day's schedule, go over highlights from the day before and then discus what's on tap for tomorrow. Have clinical staff review patient records each day before the meeting. This can give you a better idea of what discussions to have with patients chairside. Let's say Mr. Day is coming in for his professional cleaning, for example, but he has also showed interest in starting clear-aligner therapy. Bring this up during the appointment, and be sure to educate him again about the benefits of the treatment. With the right mix of education and marketing, Mr. Day might finally decide it's time to straighten his smile.

I also suggest you have the financial coordinator review account balances before each morning huddle. You don't want to recommend expensive cases to patients who already have a large balance. In addition, the coordinator should discuss the amount of scheduled production the practice actually has for the day as compared with the goal.

To help keep your day on track, use these meetings to identify places in the schedule you might fall behind, so you can prevent backups and the problems they cause. This is the time to make necessary adjustments to ensure a more streamlined day that allows everyone to focus on meeting personal and practice goals.

Dreaming about success won't get you very far. Taking action will. Start planning for success and you'll notice a huge difference. This change in attitude will go a long way in helping you meet your goals -- ultimately growing practice production and your bottom line.

Sally McKenzie is the CEO of McKenzie Management, a full-service, nationwide dental practice management company. Contact her directly at 877-777-6151 or at [email protected].

The comments and observations expressed herein do not necessarily reflect the opinions of DrBicuspid.com, nor should they be construed as an endorsement or admonishment of any particular idea, vendor, or organization.