#1,204: The Biggest Way to Make Your Practice Stand Out

0:00Hey everyone, welcome to the DennyLine team podcast. I'm your host, Kierden. And I have this crazy idea that maybe I could combine a doctor and a team members perspective because let's face it, dentistry can be a challenging profession with those two perspectives. I've been a dental assistant, treatment coordinator, scheduler, filler, office manager, regional manager, practice owner, and I have a team of traveling consultants where we have traveled over 165 different offices coaching teams. Yep, we don't just understand you, we are you. Our mission is to positively impact the world of dental and I believe that this podcast is the greatest way I can help elevate teams, grow VIP experiences, reduce stress, and create a team. Welcome to the DennyLine team podcast. Hello, DennyLine team, what's up? This is Kierden and today I wanted to just talk about a way for your practices stand out in a pretty easy, pretty easy way. Along with that,

1:00it's also a great way to boost your case acceptance. So I want to talk about how like outside of your visit, the post visit follow up is actually one of the biggest things that can differentiate a practice and I think it's something we haven't talked about a lot. It's just something we naturally do and I was excited to do a podcast about it because realistically, the patient experience doesn't end when they walk out the front door. But I think for a lot of offices, it does. A lot of times it's like, oh my gosh, they're back in six months and they don't have their treatment scheduled. I think so you can fill that. Sometimes it's like, well, do we do follow up on these patients and people are too busy to do that. And so making sure that we realize that follow up isn't just customer service. It's truly one of the most overlooked systems for being able to build trust, to being able to increase your case acceptance, to be able to really grow a raving fan patient base. And I think it's just something that's a very easy piece to add into your practice without a lot of lift. But it's going to give you a lot of lift. So I love the ones that are like, what's that 1% that I could do that would give me like 20%. That's one of these awesome tips that I wanted to give all of you today. So I want to just walk you through some of the

2:01post visit follow up things and how you can how you can really accelerate and accentuate that. Also some of the mistakes that practices make after a patient leaves. And then what are some of the things that we recommend you do to really help increase that patient care follow up? So these are things that we do all the time and not only in time, we work with hundreds and thousands of offices. We help. We see we see the patterns and our job is to really make your life so easy, so comfortable, so confident and for dentists to really like have fun doing dentistry again. So I want to just go through this with all of you today, give you some tactical practical tips. And remember, dental A team's mission is to possibly impact the world of dentistry in the greatest way possible. So I just want you to know that today you're going to learn how to follow some of these tips, put them into play and hopefully gain patient loyalty, increase those rating fans and really boost that case acceptance for you. So the goal is like people love to fill remembered and there's this whole thing where people remember the beginning and the end of an experience. And so your intro, you probably have that really dialed in. We say hello, we have the coffee

3:01bar, we make sure it says warm welcome. And if not, start there. Okay, if you don't have that dialed in, start there. But then the second thing is what people actually remember a lot is how they feel when you think leave. And so a lot of times when a patient leaves, we're like, check the box, they're done great, no communication from them. The next thing they're going to hear from us when it's time to schedule and do their six month appointment, but like it's fallups automated and it's very impersonal. And I know you're like, but here we have so many patients like how am I supposed to make this feel personal. So a couple of things and there's some resources out there. So it doesn't have to be a major uptick. But one great thing that makes patients stand out all the time and practices is to call after a major procedure. Also on a new patient who's coming in call before they even get there and call after the new patient visit. There are softwares that actually let you just leave a voicemail so you don't even actually have to call. You can just have as part of the dental assistance checklist. Here's the three patients call them tomorrow. You can send a personalized text when appropriate, making sure you stay hit the compliant. You check on the patient's comfort and recovery. And you can also thank patients for choosing your practice. Now, there's ways that it can be automated. And I had a dentist that I just

4:02went and saw and they're like, how is your appointment? It was one of the worst appointments. I have ever had that saying a lot because I work with hundreds of offices and I've seen some pretty ratchet experiences like that's okay. You're growing, you're learning, there's no judgment. When I'm coming in as a patient, I'm not here to consult you. I want it to be a great experience. Well, they texted me afterwards on an automated thing saying, how was your appointment? Leave us five stars. And I was like, I freaking hated you guys. Not the thing to do. But if they would have, and I was a new patient, if they would have sent me a text like, hey, we really loved you choosing our practice. We're so grateful for you. We're really excited to see you next time. Like fantastic. And then if I write back and say something awesome, but really just quick little things to be intentional rather than automated. I know we're just looking for the automation and you're welcome to automate. I'm just saying like, think about it. How many big procedures did you have yesterday? And also how many new patients did you have? Odds are we're probably looking like two to four. Two to four. And this isn't necessarily a dentist. This can be the front office team. This can be our clinical team. So does not need to just follow the dentist shoulders. How much

5:04time truly would it take to make four phone calls tomorrow after the appointments and just say like, hey, how is that going after that crowd? We want to make sure that you feel cared for any questions that you have. And also like if the experience was great, just tell your friends. But like I'm going to ask you make sure everything's good before I ask for referral. But just calling and saying like, hey, I just want to check in with you and make sure that you're good. People want to feel important. People want to feel great. And people will remember how you make them feel. So small little things of follow up will create that raving fan culture. Like I can't tell you have ever had a dentist call me after a procedure. The answer is probably not like zero for zero. So do you recognize how this is something so small, the uptick, like that's two minutes a day that we're going to be doing now. You're like, what cure? Like what if they're in pain? Great. It's a great way to get ahead of it instead of getting a Google review that tells you it's a great way. And we'd rather know if our dentistry is not doing well. So that way we can fix it long term. So just do a quick follow up on them. Check in. See how they're doing. This

6:04one thing like so if we just say like one procedure that should automatically trigger a follow up the next day, just add that in. Add that in as a simple thing. I would do new patients and I would do any big procedure. Call them that night. Call them the next day. Just make sure that they're good. Again, this can be some doctors do it on their drive home. Some delegate it to their front office team. Some delegate it to their assistance. I don't care what I'm saying is we're doing our job to make that patient fill scene. It's like think about restaurants that put fresh flowers on the table. That doesn't take a lot of effort, but it's something that's memorable. It's something that I like. Wow. They want a little bit above and beyond. And to me, that's a two minute uptick for you. That's really going to make patients feel seen valued and loved. The other piece is with treatment. This is going to be a second part of it. We also have treatment plans. And Michael is for you guys to get your treatment plan scheduled to make sure patients are saying yes in the chair, making sure that we have them. If they don't, you need to be following the two to follow up. So anytime a patient does not schedule with me, I tell them like fantastic. No problem, Marcia. I want to make sure that you have all your questions answered. I'll touch base with you in a couple of days. Just see if any questions popped up that we maybe didn't think about just to make sure that you feel like your rock solid confident

7:07moving forward. I'm going to call Marcia in due days that I'm going to call her in two weeks. And I'm going to call her in two months. And some people are like, oh, I feel like it's such a nuisance. Well, if you feel that way, they're going to feel that way. For me, I believe that like if a patient doesn't get treatment done, I failed them because we diagnosed it. Like this is something where I need to like make sure that treatment plans are revisited. Patients are definitely not the ones where it's in their court saying, I'll call you back to me. I've left them with something that they don't that they need clarity on that I need to resolve. There's no ownership of unscheduled treatment. And it just sits out there like, okay, well, moving on to the next day versus like, no, we have to follow up every time. We know we follow up in two days, two weeks, two months. And we know that there's a personalized conversation instead of it just being like, are you ready? It's like, hey, Marcia, I know we chatted about this. I wanted to make sure all your questions were answered. I've been thinking of a few things for you to give me a quick call. I want to chat them with you. Well, Marcia's like, well, what has Kiervin thinking about? She's been thinking about me over there. What are we thinking about? I've just made Marcia feel like the most incredible VIP girl out there in two weeks. Hey, Marcia,

8:11Dr. John and I were talking about you and Dr. John actually asked me to call and reach out to you. He wanted to make sure you were taking care of. Give me a quick call. I've got a couple of ideas for you that I wanted to work through with you. Fantastic. This is something of like, it's consistency. It's not pressure. It's going to boost your case acceptance. But more about that, like patients oftentimes just need a reminder, not a sales pitch. It's like, oh, yeah, I forgot to get that done. Sometimes it was money. Sometimes it was false. Sometimes it was timing. I don't know what it is. And I'm not going to project and assume that what I am going to do is I'm going to make sure I have consistent follow up. And I'm going to have more patients in there. And also me having to do follow up is a way for me to get really good at my case acceptance because I don't want to follow up with these people. So for me with patients, when like, ah, I need to check my schedule. I'm like, oh, my gosh, Marcia, I would I Kiervin would hate to forget about you and let you slip through the cracks. Let's just pop you on the schedule. It's a reminder for me not to let you slip through the cracks. And that way we both are able to connect. If anything comes up, I'm happy to move you. This way, I don't forget about you. I just want to ask you what if running a practice could be easy? What if profitability wasn't just

9:14possible, but easy? What if your team was fully engaged, bought in and motivated? What if developing leaders in your practice fell effortless? What if living life on your terms wasn't a dream, but was your actual reality? And definitely team, we make all this possible and easy, truly with expert consulting, proven strategies and real world support, we transform your practice and your life. And it's not just something that we think about. It's something that we've done and done successfully for hundreds of offices. And I'd love to invite you to be an office that can transform and change this year. Let's make this a reality. I want you to book your free practice assessment with the Denali team today at the Denali team.com. And let's see what's possible for you in your practice. What if all of this really could be easy? Let's stop wondering. Let's take action. I can't wait to welcome you as the newest member of Denali team's consulting. Head on over to the Denali team.com. And let's get you truly living your best life. Marsha's like, yeah, Garrett, don't you dare forget about me. Put me on the schedule right

10:17now. Marsha might still say no to me, but guess what? I've tried really hard to make sure that she does not fall through the cracks. Also, treatment coordinators should be reviewing their unscheduled treatment every single week and reporting back ownership of all of what's going on. Who did you reach out to? What was the two to two follow up? I have practices that see hundreds of patients a day and we have treatment trackers on them. Every treatment coordinator is tracking it. And guess what? Just by tracking this alone and having a set follow up, our case acceptance has already increased 15% in one month and implementing this. And this is across three different doctors in a very, very, very large practice. I have another practice, five million dollar practice. We've already added a hundred thousand of additional treatment every single month by following some of these processes. This is not something we're like, we're doing this in the rookie league. It is even the big leagues are benefiting from this. Just having consistent follow up. And also patients feel good. But again, you have to have the right mindset. I say closing treatment is 80% psychology, 20% skill. What am I thinking about when I call them? I'm like, oh gosh, I just have to call these patients for is it? Hey, I didn't solve their pain point when they were here.

11:19I need to find out what that was. My job is to make sure that they get their dental treatment taken care of. And I need them to feel like they are the most important person in the entire world. I care about you so much. So when I call a dentist who chose not to like sign up right then and there with dental any team, it's not because I care if you work with them, they're not. It's because I care about you as a human. And if dental any team can serve you amazing, I'm here to serve you. If dental any team can't serve you, amazing. I want to make sure that you're taking care of because I care about you as a human. That's the difference. Do care about these patients as humans, making sure that they're getting their best treatment. Or you just concerned about like, well, we just have to do the list because Kira said, no, remember, it's about the follow up, the intentionality, the love, the adoration because people then feel great about it. And the third piece I want to bring up is like creating lifetime patients, not one time visits. And retention is one of your greatest things. And a lot of people I think live in the, they've just been coming to me forever and insurance. I will tell you the buyer is different. The buyer is not as loyal as it used to be. People are inundated constantly with ads like we have a, like an ivy stream

12:21of information that comes to us every second of every day. It's wild. I deleted Instagram on my phone because I was like, I just feel like I'm on it a lot. Like let's see, I'm in back doing like 10 times in one day. And the app was deleted. Like I'm talking like we are getting that, like just of coursing through our veins. And so when I look at this, how can I make sure that we have retention where people not just out of ease, but out of loyalty continue to come back to dental practices? And things when it's broken, when you have broken systems, our patients disappear after treatment. Hygiene appointments aren't reappointed. Referrals are happening by chance instead of design. And you can look at this through attrition rates. Like we have software for all of our clients that we're able to watch their attrition rates. And what happens is like little simple things. So all hygienists are just reappointing their, their patients. You should be able to sit at 98%. Create that bond, create that love. And just like don't ask them if they want to come back. Like look, I'm here on a Thursday at 12 o'clock, schedule me in six months on a day on a Thursday at 12 o'clock. Ones aren't probably going to be free. People are people of creature. And

13:24you just made my life so easy. Creatures of habit. People are people of creature. People are people are people are creatures of habit. There you go. That's what I'm trying to say here. You're welcome. This is unedited unfiltered Kira. Hi. Nice to meet you. But they are their creatures of habit. So just reappoint them. Say, hey, Kira, I made your life easy. I've scheduled you on this date. Can't wait to see you in six months. Great. If I have an issue with that day, I'll tell you otherwise. I think that you are the nicest human because I don't have to think of that decision with you. Other times like celebrate the milestones and anniversaries, right notes about me when I come back in, say it. I don't care. They have a cheat sheet note behind the scenes. Like say, have a conversation. Remember me as a human. Ask for feedback and reviews. Like truly, if they had a great experience and you know you connected with them, just say, Kira, I adore you. Like I love seeing you every time. The greatest way to have more kira is on my schedule is to have you leave a review. So I would love it if you could leave a five star review for us. That way people know and people can come because realistically, you're not writing it for me. You're writing

14:25it for all the other kira's that are looking for a dentist out there. They are scared. And you sharing your experience will help more of them do it. Do you see? It's not about Kira. I'm not looking for the review for me. I'm looking for all those other patients that are just like you and you're helping all of them know that we're a great dentist so they can trust and choose. And like just making sure that these people feel like they are your family, that they are your friends. Dentistry is such a weird healthcare professional guy. I think it's one of the most intimate minus the gyna. Like that's the only other more intimate. I feel that there is a professional. Like the mouth, like we are our eyes are open. I'm looking you in the eyes. Like I know I can at least like look up at the scene and not see them. Mouth like it's eye to eye guys. There's nothing like we can't like I can shut my eyes. That much of most patients do. We are so close. We are so intimate. We want those patients to feel comfortable. We want them to feel confident. We want them to feel that we're going to check in with them. So this is a space of like where if a practice will consistently follow up,

15:27have a great experience, ask for those reviews, stay connected with the patients. It's going to give you this strong retention where people want to share about you as a dentist. I remember when I was asking people when I moved to a new sedation, who is the dentist you go to? All of them said the same dentist. And that dentist I looked at them. They have strong systems. They have strong systems for reviews. They have strong systems for how they schedule. They have strong systems for how they do referrals. Like they are very, very, very strong. And five people that I asked told me the exact same dentist. The dentist didn't get a chance to talk to me. I didn't see their Facebook ads. I didn't get a mailer. I asked because when people move to a new town, they're going to ask their colleagues and their friends. So how can you stand out? Call them after an appointment. You better believe the bug. Yeah, my dentist calls me after my procedures and make sure that I'm doing okay. My dentist called me like when I first joined their practice, they called me. When I got to their office, they gave me this like awesome swag thing. They were so nice to me. I was in and out on time. My dentist is no pain. Like I absolutely love going to them. My dentist, their front office is so easy to work with. They get me in. They accommodate my schedule.

16:27They're fantastic. Whatever it is, stand out. This is your chance. This is your time. And I feel like why not be the best of the best? Because I want you to remember that every patient interaction is either strengthening or weakening that relationship. So I have to think about like if we're on this scale, like am I putting more coins on the weakness or am I putting more coins on the strengthening? And every day we get to put votes on there. And this is something where it's again two minutes here. We add it to a checklist. We add it to an end of day. We talk about this. What can we do for those magic moments for our patients? Because we want to stay connected. We want to stay connected between appointments and do it in a way. There's a practice in Hawaii that I work with. Every patient knows them and they love every single patient. Every time we go to the store, those people know people. And that's because I feel like they're a family. They genuinely care. They care about their patients. They're not just a number. They care. They built these long, lasting relationships for generations. And I think for you to just think about why would generations for years want to keep coming back here? It's not because you're a dentist. Yes,

17:29your hand skills will get you so far. But what is it about you? What keeps you going back to your favorite restaurant? What keeps you going back to your favorite places? This is small little things that don't seem very big. And they probably don't take a lot of time. That actually make the biggest difference. So I would recommend that you guys go through our patient journey and ask like what's the last impression we leave our patients with after every visit? What can we do to improve that? What's our follow up on unscheduled treatment? And let's put a system in place that we never miss and everybody follows the same path. And let's make sure that in between visits, there's some type of communication where patients know we genuinely are thinking about them. Whatever it is, I think the book unreasonable hospitality is coming to mind of how can you make these magic moments for your patients? Stand out a little bit because making your patients feel remembered, making sure that they feel like it's consistent, making sure that there's a relationship in a bond. We'll keep people tethered to you. And like I said, I feel like this is a great opportunity where not a lot of offices are doing it. So it's a great way for you to have a cutting edge for you to be a cut above the rest by just being nice, like being a human, by going one step further than someone else, but it

18:31takes you two minutes longer. So great dentistry, Ernst Trust, great follow up, Ernst Loyalty. And I think if you guys remember that, it's follow up. They say like the devil is in the details. And I feel like the magic is also in the making. And so make sure that we're doing those follow up, make sure that we're checking in with our patients. And really, truly, it's a space where we want our patients to rape about us. We want them talking to their friends. You want to be the office that when someone moves to the neighborhood, five people not even related or working in the same area, voluntarily say you are the best practice. That's how you know that you want. And it's by making people feel genuinely cared for. So if you want ways and help on this, I know we help teens, we walk through this, we work with offices on this. We help you see what your exact pieces that makes you special. We work with a lot of offices and there's not a one size fits all. It's your practice, your style, your life. So let's work on it. Let's get the follow up in place. Let's add the production to your schedule. Let's add the loyalty to your fan base. And let's make you the best dentist there can be. Reach out if we can help you. Hello at thedennellyteam.com. And as always,

19:32thanks for listening. I'll catch you next time on the Dennellyteam podcast. And that wraps it up for another episode of the Dennellyteam podcast. Thank you so much for listening and we'll talk to you next time.