Dedicated to helping doctors and their team have an office that is not only highly productive and fun but one that allows them to consistently exceed patient expectations.
Whether you’re looking for a book(s) to improve your leadership skills, provide your dental patients with the very best experiences, or wanting to boost team morale, check out the following book recommendations.
Leadership, Management, Marketing, and Team Building BookSuggestions:
If you have some favorites that you think I should add to my list, feel free to shoot me a message at bhaydenconsulting@gmail.com – Thank you.
Consider purchasing team building/self-improvement books for your team. During a team meeting, discuss portions of the book. Or purchase electronic devices such as a Kindle Fire for each employee and download books that can be discussed during a “book club team meeting”.
Find Additional Team Building Activities, Ideas, and Incentives Here
Did you enjoy these tips and ideas? I would love and truly appreciate for you to please leave a review/recommendation for me on GOOGLE and/or FACEBOOK – Thank you!!!
Have you signed up to receive my complimentary dental marketing and practice management ideas that are sent right to your email inbox each month? If not, take a second and sign up. Or send me your email address and I will send you an invite to follow. This way, you won’t miss a single idea!
“There is no way that the quality of patient care and experiences will exceed the quality of the people who provide it.”
It’s true if you want your patients to consistently have great experiences, accept your treatment recommendations, and refer their friends, family, neighbors, and co-workers to you – it takes a quality, happy, and productive team. Of course, though, it starts with you!
Set the Example – Treat your employees how you would like them to treat your best patient!
If you want to see a positive change in your practice, you must consistently lead by example… be the change. It starts at the top. You set the tone for the day, make certain that it’s a happy & productive one. This includes any employee in a management position – if you have employees complaining about your office manager, take it seriously. A toxic office manager will destroy your practice over time, at the very least, cause a staff turnover nightmare. In fact, any employee that is toxic to your vision, to your team, and/or your patients…needs to go. It’s not easy to make the decision to terminate someone’s employment, yet absolutely necessary if you want to improve your practice. It’s been said that “what you allow you encourage.” Once you make the decision to no longer tolerate or allow the poor behavior and attitudes in your practice, you’ll breathe a huge sigh of relief.
Doctors, if you would like to grow and improve your dental practice and have wondered what it might be like to work with me and what coaching is all about… please feel free to reach out to me to schedule a complimentary, no-obligation coaching call at bhaydenconsulting@gmail.com.
Communication – “The art of communication is the language of leadership.”
Job Expectations & Job Responsibilities – What are the performance expectations for your team? Does each employee clearly understand their role in the practice?
Hello, Good Morning! – Make it a point to greet your fellow team members every morning. Let people know that you see them and acknowledge them with a hello.
Thank you – Express your appreciation. Saying thank you improves your office, your health, and the patient’s experience.
Commendation – Commend your employees when you catch them doing something “right”. Commendation boosts morale. Applaud & reward the behavior and actions that you want to see more of. Simply thanking your team at the end of the day goes a long way in making them feel appreciated.
Creativity – Host “Brainstorm Sessions” with prizes for creative marketing ideas, solutions to improve office efficiency, welcome more new patients, patient retention, and how to have more fun as a team.
Accountability – “Great teammates hold each other accountable to the high standards and excellence their culture expects and demands.” – Jon Gordon
Work Space / Office Appearance – “Clutter in your physical surroundings will clutter your mind and spirit.”
Clutter represents indecision. Decide to get rid of the office clutter!
Staff Lounge / Lunchroom – What does your breakroom/lounge look like? Is it a space that you can relax in and enjoy? Consider cleaning it up, organizing, re-decorating, and stocking with healthy snacks and beverages for the team.
Work Hard, Have Fun, Create Beautiful Smiles.
Have FUN! – You spend far too much time together at work to not have some fun too! Create a fun and stress-free environment with Team Building Activities and Events!
Here are some ideas to get you started…
In Office Fun: Potluck lunch, Send an Ice Cream or Coffee Truck to the office, Carry out lunch (team choice), Crafts, Games, & Puzzles. Turn the music up and dance. Make little appreciation gifts that you can give out to your patients at their appointments.
Healthier Teams – How about team exercise/yoga classes? Or Monday morning breakfast smoothies? Or walks outside during breaks.
Fun with Social Media – Utilize your social media pages and your Google My Business page to show your patients and potential patients what a fun office you have.
Videos – post fun team videos on your office social media pages.
Employee Work Anniversaries – Celebrate employee work anniversaries and post pictures to your social media pages.
Pictures – take fun/silly pictures with the team and your patients to share on social media, your website, and in newsletters.
Fun Dress Up/Theme Days –
What: Decorate the office, team dresses up, small prize giveaways and snacks.
Book Club – Purchase team building/self-improvement books for your team. During your monthly team meetings or at your daily huddle discuss portions of the book. Consider purchasing electronic devices such as a Kindle Fire for each employee and download books that can be discussed during a “book club team meeting”.
Check out Dental Office Leadership, Management, Marketing, and Team Building Book Recommendations here from Betty’s Bookshelf
If you have some favorites that you think I should add to my list, feel free to shoot me a message at bhaydenconsulting@gmail.com – Thank you.
Incentives/Rewards – Sometimes unexpected rewards work better than expected monthly bonuses for reaching goals. Every office is different, so if you have something that is working well for you and your team continue doing it. However, if you would like some reward/incentive ideas for reaching daily/weekly/monthly production, collection, new patient, service/product, social media, and other goals but want to keep the rewards unexpected or more spontaneous, here you go…
In addition to simple, yet appreciated, thank you cards; Spa Gift Card, Good Ol’ Cash, Lunch/Breakfast, Purse/Tote bag, Gift Baskets, Plants/Flowers, Jewelry, Movie/Theater Gift Cards, Tickets to Sporting Event/Concert, Amusement Park tickets, Restaurant gift card, Gas cards and Car Wash Gift Cards.
Outside the office Fun: (depending on your location and current pandemic restrictions/cautions)Bowling, Painting Party, Shopping, Dinner, Cooking Class, Wally Ball, Sporting Event, Spa, Escape Room, Field Day (Team up with other offices), Concert, Skating, Batting Cages, Mini Golf, Pottery Class, Theater, Pool party, Skiing, Nature hike/walk, Etc.
Continuing Education – Continuing education, not just for the providers but for the entire team is a wonderful way to ensure practice growth. Not to mention, it’s a great team-building experience, one that will give you a happier and motivated team. You can do this with in-office training, webinars, lunch and learns, and seminars/classes outside of the office.
Consider incorporating a dental continuing education class with a fun event, for example, CPR Course and Pool Party.
Regular Team Training – Don’t hold back in this area! Investin your team. Thoroughly train any new employees on your practice goals, systems, software, telephone skills, dental procedures, protocols, etc. However, training isn’t just for your new employees, everyone in the office needs regular training.
Is there a chance you might have some new dental equipment or training manuals just sitting on the shelf, collecting dust? It’s most likely because your team didn’t understand or appreciate the why and the how. Knowing why and how this new idea, technique, equipment, or procedure works, benefits the patient, the team, and the office is critical to enthused implementation.
Community Involvement – Visit the local farmers market, art/street fairs, Races/Run/Walk for-a-cause, Fundraisers, Parades, Etc. Be active in your community. Pass out freebies imprinted with your office information to the people attending these community events. Be sure to take pictures of you and your team out and about in the community and share to your social media pages and website.
“People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing.” ~ Dale Carnegie
It is my wish that these ideas and tips will help you and your team experience greater happiness at work. If you have any other ideas or things that have worked well in your office, I would love to hear about them. If you have any questions or concerns about what you’ve read today, please contact me at bhaydenconsulting@gmail.com.
Did you enjoy these tips and ideas? I would love and truly appreciate for you to please leave a review/recommendation for me on GOOGLE and/or FACEBOOK – Thank you!!!
Have you signed up to receive my complimentary dental marketing and practice management ideas that are sent right to your email inbox each month? If not, take a second and sign up. Or send me your email address and I will send you an invite to follow. This way, you won’t miss a single idea!
How do you encourage referrals and build relationships with your patients when the average dental patient comes in only 2 times per year for their continuing care hygiene appointment? Think about this, you get to spend 2-3 hours out of 8,760 hours per year with those patients. Are they even thinking about you in between appointments? 😉
Or perhaps you have some patients with unscheduled treatment plans that may not have said yes to schedule when the treatment was diagnosed and presented to them. Just because they didn’t say yes at that time doesn’t mean that they aren’t ready to say yes now. You reaching out to them might be the little reminder they need to get their mouth healthy again.
With all of life’s distractions and responsibilities, how can you ensure that they don’t forget about you?
Stay In Touch. Keep your name in front of them by planting little reminder “forget-me-not” seeds.
Today, I’m going to share with you 10 Easy & Effective Ways to Stay In Touch With Your Scheduled and Unscheduled, Active and Inactive Patients
Social Media – Active Social Media pages are a must. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, & Pinterest are excellent ways to engage and build lasting relationships with your patients. Remember to take advantage of your Google My Business listing too! If you struggle with what to post on your pages, visit here for social media content ideas.
Freebies – Give away free items imprinted with your office name, website, and phone number to each patient at their appointment. Such as; toothbrushes, magnets, calendars, pens, masks, hand sanitizer, and lip balm.
Cards – Send cards to your patients, Just Because, Thank you for your referral and/or Special Occasion cards. People appreciate getting an “old fashioned” handwritten greeting card via snail mail. Make it convenient by keeping a variety of greeting cards on hand.
Telephone – Pick up the telephone and call your patients. Here are a few reasons you may have to call: Continuing care appointment reminders, Thank you for your referral, Post-op (just checking in to see how well you’re doing), Refill reminders (due for a refill on whitening gel, toothpaste, electric toothbrush head replacement, etc), and Special Occasions. Right now, during this Pandemic a call to your unscheduled patients simply to check in and see how they are doing would be well-received.
Letters – Send out letters for incomplete treatment, congratulations on completed treatment, welcome to our practice, and thank you for your referral. Tip: providers and team members should personally sign their letters. Include a brief note or comment if appropriate.
Newsletter – Send newsletters out to your patients. Include sharable content, dental health tips, recipes, community news, office happenings, dental education, and special offers.
Emails – Dental Hygiene Tips, Office Happenings, Continuing Care Reminders, and Special Offers. Be sure to ask and record the email addresses of your patients. Periodic Email communication is inexpensive and easy. Just don’t spam your patients with too many emails.
Website – Keep your website fresh, easy to navigate, and attractive. Include videos, info & pictures about the doctor(s) and team, community events, special offers, ability to schedule appts online, FAQ, dental services and education, office hours, directions, social media pages, contact information, etc.
Local Businesses – Look for ways to reach out to and build relationships with the businesses in your community. Take advantage of the opportunities to engage with businesses on their social media pages, too. When you engage with the local businesses you’re not only getting your name in front of potential new patients you’re also keeping in touch with your patients at the places that they may work or do business with.
Community Involvement – Be involved in local health fairs, charity events, sponsor local sports teams, etc. Just a thought, when you and your team are out participating in community events, consider wearing t-shirts that clearly identify (advertise) your office and give away a lot of imprinted gifts. Or you can open your office as a drop-off location for donations of non-perishable food items, winter-gear, books, school supplies, etc. for those in need in the community.
Friends, do you know how many of your active patients have a future appointment and how many do not? Do you know how many new patients you are welcoming into the practice AND how many patients you’re losing each month? To help you get that data quickly, like within minutes – if your PMS is either Dentrix, Eaglesoft, or Open Dental you can request a complimentary, no-obligation practice data snapshot here: Game-Changing Awareness from Dental Intelligence – Within minutes we’ll identify your practice’s strengths and uncover hidden opportunities. I am happy to assist you with this at no charge and with absolutely no obligation to do anything further with me.
There you have it, 10 ways to stay in touch with your dental patients. Doing some or all of these things will help to build lasting relationships with your patients and encourage referrals.
Of course, the very best way to ensure your patients remember to come back and to refer their friends, family members, neighbors, and co-workers is to get them talking about their experience after they leave your office. How do you that? Be consistently great! Consistently exceed expectations! Plan to make sure that each and every appointment is great from the initial greeting at arrival, during their appointment, and when you say your thank you and goodbyes as they leave.
Doctors, if you would like to grow and improve your dental practice and have wondered what it might be like to work with me and what coaching is all about… please feel free to reach out to me to schedule a complimentary, no-obligation coaching call at bhaydenconsulting@gmail.com.
At your next team meeting, discuss what you are currently doing to stay in touch with your patients and how you can improve in planting more reminder seeds.
If you have an extra minute I would love and truly appreciate for you to please leave a review/recommendation for me here on GOOGLE and/or FACEBOOK.Thank you!!!
Don’t miss out on any of the ideas that I share each month! Are you receiving my complimentary Practice Management and Marketing Ideas in your email inbox each month? If not, please start following us today. If you prefer, send me your email address at bhaydenconsulting@gmail.com and I will send you an invitation to follow my blog.
February is National Children’s Dental Health Month, what do you have planned to help educate families in your community about the need for better dental health?
COVID-19 has brought about many changes to our world; forcing us to also make changes and edits to our daily systems and protocols within our dental practices and how we engage with potential patients in our communities.
Even with these changes, there are still wonderful opportunities to enjoy the privilege of safely helping the children in your respective communities to smile happier and healthier.
Be sure to see Pediatric Dental Marketing Ideas for how to Consistently Exceed Parent & Patient Expectations and Consistently Be Great! Visit here: Pediatric Dental Marketing Ideas
Here are a few tips and ideasfor February’s Children’s Dental Health Month
School Dental Health Presentations – Typically, during Dental Health Month visits are made to the schools by dental office teams or children visit the office for an in-office field trip. If the Pandemic prevents you from visiting the schools or from them visiting you what about offering them a Zoom field trip?
Dental Education Via Social Media – Take advantage of your office social media platforms and website to share a variety of fun and educational posts and videos related to children’s dental health. Content Ideas for Posts and Videos:
Healthy Lunch/Snack Ideas
How much sugar is in your drink or favorite snacks?
What to do in a Dental Emergency?
Ortho Care While at School
Dental Hygiene with Braces
Daily Toothbrushing Chart
Dental Health Tips (Importance of sealants, fluoride, mouthguards, regular dental visits.)
What kind of toothbrush, toothpaste, floss, and mouth rinse is best?
Baby Bottle Tooth Decay
Tongue-Tie – What is it and how is it treated?
Tooth bags – Make up little bags or boxes with a “congratulations on your lost tooth” message from your office with space to write the child’s name. Deliver these to local elementary schools for them to keep on hand for when a student loses a tooth during the school day. Both of my kids came home from school with their lost tooth wrapped in a napkin or in a plain Ziplock bag. Why not take advantage of this opportunity to advertise your office?
OR what about putting together little ortho emergency kits? that include wax, floss threader with floss, etc. The school can keep on hand for ortho emergencies. 🙂
If you’re looking for Dental Health Month activities, crafts, printables, etc. please see my Pinterest board: Children’s Dental Health Month Ideas
Give Kids a Smile Day –
Here are some ideas and tips to help you host a successful Give Kids A Smile day in your office.
The ADA website has an excellent Give Kids A Smile Toolbox https://www.ada.org/en/public-programs/give-kids-a-smile It’s loaded with information such as Planning, Promotion, Forms, etc. As well, they provide guidance for hosting GKAS during the Pandemic.
Advertising/Marketing your Event – Here are just a few ways to do this:
Social Media Pages ~ Make good use of all your social media platforms to share information about GKAS day with posts and videos.
TV News ~ Fax & Email a press release.
Fliers ~ Create fliers for in-office use and to give out to those in your community.
It’s a really fun day – exhausting yes, and a little heartbreaking but it feels good to volunteer your time and donate your services to help so many children in the community.
If you have any questions about hosting your own Give Kids A Smile Event please contact me at bhaydenconsulting@gmail.com – I am happy to help.
If you have an extra minute I would love and truly appreciate for you to please leave a review/recommendation for me here on GOOGLE and/or FACEBOOK.Thank you!!!
Don’t miss out on any of the ideas that I share each month! Are you receiving my complimentary Practice Management and Marketing Ideas in your email inbox each month? If not, please start following us today. If you prefer, send me your email address at bhaydenconsulting@gmail.com and I will send you an invitation to follow my blog.