There are many business philosophies that can help dentists be successful. However, there are a few key business philosophies that stand out among the rest. In this blog post, we will discuss seven of the most important business philosophies for dentistry. If you want to be successful in the dental industry, it is important to adopt these business philosophies!
Key business philosophies
While these are generally universal business philosophies, they are being written specifically for the dental niche. Here they are.
Marketing
One of the biggest keys to business and being successful in dentistry is getting your marketing right. This is a huge topic in and of itself. There are different types of marketing in the dental industry. They include internal and external types of marketing. Then you have various subcategories inside of those.
There isn’t one perfect marketing strategy. You have to find what works best for you and your business. You also have to be willing to change things up from time to time as the dental industry evolves.
However, it is important that you look for ways to do it well in your market. The dentists who are doing the best, put a huge emphasis on marketing through a variety of methods.
People
Another one of the key business philosophies for dentistry is to surround yourself with the best people. The people who you hire to work for your practice make a huge difference. These are all things that you should consider about the people you hire:
- The way they interact with patients: You will get good/bad reviews based on how your staff treat patients.
- The way they interact with other staff members and yourself: Bad staff members can create a toxic environment that leads to gossiping, jealousy, and fighting.
- Honesty and integrity: They are trusted with expensive equipment and money. Dishonest staff members can ruin your practice.
- Trainable: There are always new things to learn in the dental industry. You want staff members who are willing to learn and grow with your business.
When you hire someone, you are placing a huge amount of trust in them. It is also a big investment in time, training, and money. You want to make sure that you are hiring the right people from the start. Friendly, honest, and intelligent staff are so important to the success of your practice.
We are the sum of the people we surround ourselves with. So, don’t just be picky about staff. Decrease or eliminate the amount of time you spend with negative or toxic people.
Delegate and automate
You can’t do everything yourself. In order to be successful, you need to learn how to delegate tasks. This is especially important if you want to scale your dental practice. There are only so many hours in a day and there are only so many things that you can do.
You need to find ways to delegate tasks to other staff members or automate them altogether. This will free up your time so that you can focus on the most important tasks in your business.
One of the best ways to delegate is to find someone who is willing to learn and grow with your business. They can be trained to do the tasks that you need to delegate. This is a great way to build a team of people who are invested in your business.
Another thing you can do is create videos where you answer frequently asked questions or give helpful advice for patients.
Turn off the news – stay positive
Have you noticed? The news is almost always negative. It fills your mind with the bad things that are happening in the world. They seem to talk about worst case scenario, and there is a reason. Fear sells.
However, you don’t need that in your life. As head of the dental practice, you are going to set a tone in the office. If you are depressed because of the latest stock market reports or some terrible thing that happened somewhere in the country today, your attitude might reflect that to your patients and staff.
Additionally, when we start to think negatively about the economy, it can stop us from making otherwise shrewd and business-savvy decisions. Much of the time it can even be subconscious.
Make it a point to limit your news consumption or, better yet, stop watching/reading the news altogether. Even if you do that, you will surely hear about it through many other sources, so it’s not like you aren’t going to know what is happening in the world.
If you haven’t already, just try avoiding the news for a month and see if it makes any difference for you. The biggest issue is that you stay positive, and avoiding the news is usually just one way to achieve that.
Always look to add value
In business, it is always a good idea to look for ways to add value. This can be in the form of products, services, or even just advice.
When you are constantly looking for ways to add value, it sets you apart from your competition. It also makes it easier to attract and retain customers.
One way to add value is to develop a unique selling proposition. This is something that sets you apart from your competition and makes you the obvious choice for potential customers.
Another way would be to use the best and newest technology. An iTero scanner, laser, CBCT, and other technologies improve the patient experience, speed up healing, and/or allow you to do a better job as their dentist.
You could also add value by writing blog posts or articles about dentistry. This helps to position you as an expert in your field and attract new patients to your practice.
No matter what business you are in, always look for ways to add value. It is one of the surest ways to be successful.
Join a coaching program or mastermind group
One of the best things you can do for your business is to join a coaching program or mastermind group. This will give you access to other successful business owners who can help you to grow your business.
A coaching program or mastermind group will also hold you accountable and help you to stay on track. They will provide support and advice when you need it and push you to be your best.
If you are serious about taking your business to the next level, then joining a coaching program or mastermind group is a must. It will help you to grow in ways that you never thought possible.
Train your staff – Create systems
Quite often when working with dentists I find that they have staff that desperately need training. It is especially apparent in insurance/billing, marketing, and phones.
For instance, if you have staff that are bad on the phones, or don’t have a good script in place, you are losing patients. You’ll likely never know it either.
Handling phone calls properly is just one way you will help your dental practice grow. Failure to do so might be holding you back. It’s a difficult thing to get right. So, develop a system for handling all the phone calls, and train staff how to do it right every time.
If you want to be successful, then you need to have a well-trained staff. Many coaching programs help with this sort of thing.
Summary
Hopefully you learned some important business philosophies for dentistry in this article. Here’s a quick recap of what we covered:
- Invest in marketing dental practice
- Surround yourself with good people
- Delegate and automate as many processes as you can
- Turn off the news and keep a positive attitude in life and business
- Add value in any way you can for your patients
- Join a dental coaching program or mastermind group where you can ask questions and get helpful advice on business
- Invest in your staff and help them to become the best they can become by creating systems that are easy to implement and follow