28 Jul, 2008
Dental Management and the Gourmet Burger Joint
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Apogee Dental Network Marketing, Management, and Leadership Blog My youngest daughter is waitressing this summer for a national gourmet hamburger restaurant chain. She has a very entrepreneurial spirit and I knew the job would be an eye opening experience for her. I did not realize what an eye opening experience it would be for me.
Some people have the ability to make the apparently complex simple, the confusing clear, and the difficult easy. My daughter is one of those people. Her experience taught me a valuable practice management lesson. She developed a "Waitress Success Formula", here is the story of how she did it.
The training my daughter received was quite thorough. Two weeks of classes, homework, and proficiency tests before she could work the floor with a trainer. The trainer ran her through her paces and helped her gain the basic skills necessary.
Once my daughter was working on her own she was able to keep her own tips. On her first solo day she realized that her tip total was not as high as some of the other waitresses. Having been a competitive athlete through high school, her competitive nature began to show. Being the entrepreneurial type, she immediately began figuring out how to earn more tips.
The first lesson was from a fellow waitress. At this restaurant, patrons are seated by the hostesses. The hostesses decide where patrons are seated, and therefore, which waitresses get which customers. One of the waitresses, we'll call her "Cherry Picker", was convinced that the hostesses were seating "poor" people in her section. They weren't tipping her well and it was not fair. She implored the hostesses to give her only "good" customers. To avoid the wrath of Cherry Picker, the hostesses screened who got seated at her tables. Cherry Picker got the best dressed customers but far fewer customers than she had before. Surprise...surprise, her tip totals went down, way down. My daughter figured the first part of her formula = Number of Patrons served.
The second lesson she learned while delivering desserts. The waitresses are also servers at this high end burger joint. If you have a spare moment, you deliver food to other waitresses' tables. While delivering, she noticed that one waitress always had the majority of dessert orders. My daughter asked her about it. The waitress explained that most people give a tip that is some percentage of the ticket total. To maximize her tips, she did everything she could to up the ticket size, including one simple statement. "The desserts here are outstanding you'll want to save room, and if you don't have enough room, get one to share or take home". One simple statement increased her ticket size, and therefore her tip size. The second part of my daughter's formula = Ticket Total per Patron.
The last piece of her formula came indirectly from a manager. A manager let it slip that one particular waitress was better than all the rest when it came to "Tip Percentage", the percentage of the Ticket Total that was given as tip. My daughter observed and noticed that she was particularly attentive to what her patrons wanted. She was friendly without being overbearing. She made the dining experience quick, friendly, and fun. She was all about the patron and what they wanted. The patrons rewarded her with an average of over 25% tips.
The Success Formula:
Total Tip $ =
Number Patrons x
Average Ticket Total per Patron x
Average Tip/ Average Ticket Total.
The 'Waitress Success Formula' simple, clean, and easy. Of course once the formula is determined, the work has just begun. Performance of each part of the formula can be improved upon. Progress, not perfection.
Is there a Dental Success Formula? Absolutely!! It's Apogee's "Productive Practice Mindset". The Mindset is the disciplines, the thought processes, and attitudes that I found commonly held by the most successful dentists in the nation. The Peak Producers group focuses on implementing the Mindset.
24 Jun, 2008
Practice Management, Prosperity and Generosity
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Apogee Dental Network Marketing, Management, and Leadership Blog One of the principles of The Productive Practice Mindset is having the proper thinking when it comes to success and wealth. I often see something in the media that exemplifies thinking that is clearly wrong.
Read this article from the Des Moines Register and I'll dissect it.
Let's cut it open. The article describes a presentation given by Dr. David Nash, professor and former Dean at the U of Kentucky dental school, whom I will refer to from here on out as "Dr. Stupid Head". ( In an attempt at humor).
Dr. Stupid Head's main points according to the Register:
1. Create a new class of "Dental Therapists" to take care of poor children because rich dentists are preoccupied chasing after cosmetic dental patients.
2. It is unfair and unjust for dentists to focus on profitable treatment.
3. Dentists are responsible for caring for the dental needs of the poor.
4. Dental Associations have blocked the "Dental Therapists" because they cut into dentists profits.
Caution: Here Comes the Reality Check
Point One: Dental Therapists will not solve the problem. Manpower is not the problem. Money is the problem. Society is not properly providing the money necessary to care for poor people. Having another class of dental provider does not change that fact. There will be no Dental Therapists if there is no money to pay them. Who on earth would be interested in getting years of training for a job that will not pay? There is no free lunch, never has been, never will be. If we concentrate the resources available only on those unable, not those unwilling, to care for themselves society's resources will go much farther, still probably not enough.
Point 2: Unfair and unjust for dentists to focus on profits? It sounds like Dr. Stupid Head has been employed in the public sector for a long time. He doesn't understand that it is absolutely necessary that dentists focus on profits. If a practice has no profit, it will cease to exist. One of my early mentors had a saying "No margin, no mission", translated "If a community's dental practices do not make a profit, there will be no practices available for the community's dental needs". Dental practice failure, once a rare event, is becoming more common as dentists are pinched in difficult economic conditions. Practice failure throws all employees into the unemployment nightmare that if not resolved will lead to more people falling into poverty. The first and best way to help the poor is not to become one of them and lift those around you while you are at it.
Point 3: Dentists are responsible for caring for the dental needs of the poor? Interesting logic isn't it. Is Wal-Mart responsible for clothing the poor? Are grocers responsible for feeding the poor? Are dental school professors responsible for the tuition, books, and fees of poor students. (Weren't we all poor in those days?). I was lucky enough to go to the best dental school in the nation (where Dr. Gordon Christiansen sent his sons). I am sure some of the faculty went above and beyond the call of duty to help students. I am equally sure that the professors were not held responsible for poor student's tuition, nor should they be. The logic is obviously faulty.
Point 4: Dental Associations have blocked the 'Dental Therapists' because they cut into dentists profits. Dr. Stupid Head you are sorely mistaken on this one too. One doctor in the Elite Group is potentially facing a 'dental therapist' law is his state. Is he shaking in his boots? Heck no! He's planning an expansion of his clinic. Why? He understands that he can hire these dental therapists. The therapists can do the simpler dentistry freeing up his time for more complex procedures. With the new structure, his practice would serve more patients. The therapists would be more economically feasible than an associate doctor. The community wins because the clinic can serve more patients, the therapists win because they have a job that pays well, and the dentist wins because he can spend more time doing complex and productive procedures. I predict that by allowing dentists to focus on these procedures, Dental Therapists will improve dental practice profitability just as Dental Hygienists have done.
My
- I believe your personal generosity should expand faster than your income. Too whom much has been given, much will be expected. Whatever your charities are, generously support them. If, like me, dental care for the poor is a charity that you would like to be involved with, go for it. I have been a participating practice in Elite member Dr. Vince Monticciolo's "Dentistry From the Heart" Program. Check into it, it's a wonderful program. My "Little Hearts, Little Smiles" program partners with The Ronald McDonald House to care for local underprivileged children. Consider participating in your state's Medicaid program, as I do. on full or limited basis. Donate to dental charities and missions. Be generous, then be generous again.
- It is NOT unjust or unfair to focus on profitability, it is a necessity. Focusing on Dental Practice Management is your job!! Limiting your productivity does not help the poor. Ignoring the cosmetic needs of your patients will not help the poor. By becoming more profitable you are able to be more generous which helps everyone.
- Society, both the public and private sector, is responsible for care of the poor. Dentists should do at least their part as taxpayers, philanthropists, and as providers. I have chosen to do more than my part, I hope you do too.
- Dental Therapists may have a place in dentistry. Time will tell. The issue that Dental Therapists will solve is manpower, not poverty.
- Name calling, like calling someone Dr. Stupid Head, is juvenile and should be avoided.
2 Jun, 2008
New Dentalnomics Podcast:
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Apogee Dental Network Marketing, Management, and Leadership Blog The latest podcast is now available for listening or download. Seven "Inside the Box" Strategies to grow your practice.
Choose one:
16 May, 2008
What the Sold Out $300,000 Watch Doesn't Teach Us About Dental Practice
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Apogee Dental Network Marketing, Management, and Leadership Blog I couldn't make this up if I tried. A "Luxury. A $300,000 watch that doesn't tell time - and that sells out? Pure genius." said the Wall Street Journal. Swiss watchmaker Romain Jerome just launched the "Day&Night" watch. The watch won't tell you what time it is, that's what your cell phone and computer screen clocks are for. But it does tell you whether it's day or night - helpful, I guess, for billionaire types who are too dang busy to look outside. The company's chief executive, Yvan Arpa, cited statistical studies to explain how the watch better reflects the time-philosophy of today's wealthy. "When you ask people what is the ultimate luxury, 80 percent answer 'time'. Then when you look at other studies, 67 percent don't look at their watch to tell what time it is," he told Reuters. This is no ordinary watch. It is made in part from steel salvaged from the doomed ocean liner Titanic. It has incredibly sophisticated "works" that overcome the effect of gravity on a watch's performance. All of this done so it can tell night from day.
You may think you can apply this lesson to dentistry. A $411,768 crown that does not chew. A $76,987 dollar cleaning that leaves calculus and stain behind. I have heard so many dental "experts" advise an entire audience to "raise your prices - then raise them again". The prevailing theory is you will do less work and make more money. That is the dream isn't it. Work less, make more...dental alchemy. This alchemy formula does exclude one party from the equation. Oh yeah, what about the patient. How do they benefit from this work less, make more scenario? They don't benefit because it's an anti-consumer strategy. One thing I have observed in the mega successful Elite practices is that they are extremely pro-consumer. The biggest of the practices don't have high fees (not too low either, most are in the 70-80% rank for their area). The biggest have convenient hours. The biggest have convenient locations. They have honed in on what the consumer wants-and they are working hard to give it to them.
The $300,000 watch does teach us some important things.
- Price is enormously elastic. I can buy a watch at WalMart that actually tells time for $10. As the company's Web site boasts: Or for $300k I can get a watch that "With no display for the hours, minutes or seconds, the Day&Night offers a new way of measuring time, splitting the universe of time into two fundamentally opposing sections: day versus night".
- Some people are willing, even eager to spend enormous sums. The Day&Night reportedly "sold out".
- Although the PR does not include how many sold, I would venture a guess that I can count on one hand the number sold. The question for your practices is not "can you get patients to accept outrageously high fees", the answer to that is YES! Some people will pay anything. But how many? That is a better question.
Do you have the resources and the marketing sophistication to attract enough of these "pay anything" patients to keep your practice afloat? Most practices mistakenly believe they do, when in fact aren't even close. It is what world's richest man Warren Buffett refers to as a six foot high jump bar. Buffett prefers one foot bars, they are just easier to get over. The Elite practices prefer one foot bars too. They market to, and attract the whole population of their communities. They get the greatest number of referrals because of their pro consumer focus. These practices serve their communities well and are rewarded with tremendous profitability. This attitude is part of The Productive Practice Mindset. For more information on the mindset go to www.apogeedental.com.
2 May, 2008
New Dentalnomics Podcast
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Apogee Dental Network Marketing, Management, and Leadership Blog This month's Dentalnomics Podcast is now available on the Apogee Dental Network website.
Dentalnomics is a monthly podcast on dental practice management, dental practice marketing, and leadership in the dental practice. The podcast discusses lessons learned from the Elite practices. It focuses on the counter intuitive strategies of these highly successful practices. The podcast will not tell you what you want to hear, as has become so common among practice management experts. The podcast will tell you what is actually working despite tough markets and bad economies. The harsh reality may offend you, may disappoint you, but will always get you thinking. The podcast will pull back the curtains to see what is actually producing results in some of the most successful practices in the nation.
To your success,
Dr. John Meis, Creator of "The Productive Practice Mindset" and "The One Thing"
14 Apr, 2008
It must be true, I read it on the internet
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Apogee Dental Network Marketing, Management, and Leadership Blog It Must Be True, I Read it on the Internet
I have always been a serious learner. I now read 2 to 3 newspapers a day. I read at least 10 journals and four books each month. I enjoy learning, it is something I find relaxing. With my position here at Apogee Dental Network it is vitally important that I keep a pulse on our profession, on national affairs, and what other businesses and industries are up to.
I also search the internet for relevant information on websites, newsgroups, blogs, and ezines. I have learned two important things about the internet. First, the internet has some tremendously good information. Second the internet has an even greater amount of bad information and worse advice.
The big lesson is that to trust the information you must trust the source. How do you know which source to trust? You can weed out the majority of expert wanna-bees with this simple question. Are you successful in the field in which you are giving advice? This question does not set a very high bar, but I promise you it will weed out the vast majority of self proclaimed experts.
An example of this principle is an experience I had on a sedation newsgroup. On this newsgroup, there was a very, very active poster. He was writing multiple posts everyday and he was giving lots of advice. I thought, at first, he worked for the newsgroup sponsor in some way. I soon realized that he was just a private guy posting. His posts were giving advice about sedation, medical conditions, sedation complications, and things like that. He was a very bright person. Fortunately his advice was reasonable. I followed this newsgroup and this persons posts for several months. Then he made a post that asked a very, very amateurish question about sedation technique. As I read the question I really thought it was odd. As I read further in this post, he said that he was doing his third sedation and was having difficulty. Not his third sedation that day, his third sedation ever! Aaaah!!!!! This person who had held himself out as such an expert was actually quite a novice. (Bad advice in this discipline could be deadly!)
Remember, just because somebody posts something does not mean they know anything or that they have any experience, or that they are in any position to be giving you advice. If I had asked this sedation expert if he was successfully sedating a lot of patients in his practice, he would have had to sheepishly admit he was not.
Now the smart doctors know that one way grow a practice is learn by slow plodding trial and error. They want nothing to do with that plan. The smart ones want to leap frog over their competition and be exceptionally successful as quickly as is possible. One way to leap frog is to learn from these that have already built mega practices.
By studying some of the nations largest practices, I was able to determine what made them tick. From this information I developed The Productive Practice Mindset. Using this mindset I have grown my practice exponentially.
The Apogee Dental Network is dedicated to teaching what is in the Elite practices everyday. The Peak Producers coaching group is the place to learn the principles of the Productive Practice Mindset. If you would like more information about the Peak Producers coaching group, click here.
Dr.
8 Apr, 2008
Latest Podcast
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Apogee Dental Network Marketing, Management, and Leadership Blog Listen to the podcast from February by Dr. John Meis.