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.
To help you plan and prepare to make the month of May a productive and happy one, I am sharing some office management, leadership, and team-building ideas and reminders with you. ENJOY!
Treatment Plans and Financial Presentations – Always present patients with a copy of their treatment plan and financial expectations at the time of diagnosis/scheduling. When was the last time you reviewed your treatment plan and financial presentation verbiage & systems?
Insurance Renewal – Some insurance companies renew their maximum on June 1st. Find out how many of your patients have benefits remaining that will expire at the end of May and how many will renew on June 1st. Starting now, make your Use It or Lose It telephone calls, mail reminders, and share on social media.
Leadership Tips and Reminders
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 / Lead by Example – Treat your employees how you would like them to treat your best patient. 😉
Job Expectations & Job Responsibilities – What are the performance expectations for your team? Does each employee clearly understand their role in the practice?
“A good objective of leadership is to help those who are doing poorly to do well and to help those who are doing well to do even better.” –Jim Rohn
Practice Owners, 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.
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/Appreciation Activities and Events!
Employee Appreciation/ Team Building Ideas
National BBQ Day: 16th – Bring in a BBQ lunch for the team. (It is also BBQ month so you can celebrate on a different day that works better for everyone!)
For your chocolate/peanut butter lovers – I Love Reese’s Day is May 18th!
As always, wishing you all a happy and productive month!
If you enjoy the complimentary ideas that I share or if they’ve been of help to you and your practice – I would truly appreciate it if you would please take a second and leave a review/recommendation for me on GOOGLE and/or FACEBOOK.Looking forward to hearing from you.Thank you!!
Yours for Greater Success,
~Betty (Dental Coach)
P.S.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 (bhaydenconsulting@gmail.com) and I will send you an invite to follow. This way, you won’t miss a single idea
April is Oral Cancer Awareness Month and Oral, Head, and Neck Cancer Awareness Week is the 3rd – 9th of April – This provides dental offices with an excellent opportunity to raise oral cancer awareness and the need for early detection in order to save lives.
According to the American Cancer Society, over 54,000 Americans will be diagnosed with oral cavity or oropharyngeal cancer this year. An estimated 9,750 people will die of these cancers, killing roughly 1 person per hour, 24 hours per day. The death rate associated with this cancer is particularly high not because it is hard to discover or diagnose, but due to the cancer being routinely discovered late in its development.
While smoking and tobacco use are still major risk factors, the fastest-growing segment of oral cancer patients is young, healthy, nonsmoking individuals due to the connection to the HPV virus. See more: https://oralcancerfoundation.org/facts/
Here are some Oral Cancer Awareness Tips and Ideas to get you started:
Hygiene Continuing Care Opportunity: Encourage your inactive patients to come in for their important free oral cancer screening.
Partner with a local business to do free oral cancer screenings at their location.
Donate a portion of service/product sales (ie: teeth whitening, fluoride, Invisalign) to Oral Cancer Research.
Give away Free T-shirts or Bracelets to every patient that makes a donation toward Oral Cancer Research or Just Because.
Create a video to share on your social media platforms demonstrating how oral cancer screenings are quick & painless.
Bring in your local dermatologist for a lunch n learn to demonstrate oral, head & neck cancer screenings.
Have a gift card or gift basket raffle that your patients can enter to win during the month of April.
Remember that when your patients are healthy – your practice is healthy. For your patients to smile healthy they need to schedule the treatment you’ve diagnosed and to come in regularly for their hygiene continuing care appointments and oral cancer screenings.
Doctors, if you’re struggling to reach your practice goals – feel free to contact me for a complimentary, no-obligation 30-minute telephone consultation at bhaydenconsulting@gmail.com to see if a coaching relationship is right for 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 each month? If not, please start following us today. If you prefer, send me your email address (to bhaydenconsulting@gmail.com) and I will send you an invitation to follow my blog.
Morning Huddles – How does that make you feel when you read that? Do you ever feel like your attempt to conduct a daily morning huddle is just a big hassle? That the meetings are a waste of time? Or maybe you’re already conducting morning meetings and want to make them more effective, Please keep reading!
Today, I want to share with you some tips and suggestions that will help you have effective morning huddles and answer some questions that many of you have asked about morning huddles.
Why should I have a morning huddle/meeting?
The morning meeting is essential for a successful day. If you tried in the past to have a morning huddle and it didn’t work out… try again! However, this time, please follow my tried and true suggestions & tips. Every dental office wants to produce more, collect more, stress less, have happy doctors and team members and consistently exceed patient expectations. Right? Well, effective morning huddles help to make those things a reality.
When should the morning huddle start? and How long should it last?
Twenty – twenty-five minutes before the first scheduled patient. It should last no more than 10-15 minutes. Taking 10-15 minutes first thing in the morning to ensure the day starts off happy and productive is well worth it.
Who should attend the morning meeting?
Everyone. If scheduling prevents everyone from attending…at the very least the doctor(s), hygienist(s ), assistants, and someone representing the administrative team. It is imperative for a team member to be assigned at every meeting to update the employee(s) not present of what was discussed/announced. No one should be left in the dark. This eliminates any “I didn’t know” or “no one told me!”
Who leads the huddle?
Rotate team members to conduct the meeting and make certain that everyone stays on point and that the meeting ends and starts on time (appoint a time-keeper)! Doctors (lead by example) be present at the start of the huddle and end each meeting on a positive note. Team members from each department can & should contribute what pertains to their particular department.
How do we prepare for the huddle?
Each employee should be assigned a task/responsibility for each huddle. For example, Hygienists should be checking their own charts/routing slips (checking for unscheduled treatment, are they due for: health history update, full perio charting, x-rays, etc. any family members due for appts, that the patient is due for today’s appt) at least the day prior and assistants check the charts for the doctors.
Your PMS may have a daily huddle report you can generate to show your production, collection, treatment plans, broken appts, etc. from the day prior and the appointment information you need to review for today. If you’re not sure if it does or not, it’s definitely worth looking into as it will be a huge time-saver!
Or Dental Intelligence has an awesome fully automated morning huddle feature! You can check it out AND get a complimentary data analysis here: get.dentalintel.net/betty-hayden-consulting
What do you talk about?
Focus on: Today, Tomorrow, and a little bit of yesterday 😉
START and END the meeting with something POSITIVE. Review your office intention/vision for the day.
Ata-boy/gal minute – What did we do “right” yesterday? How did we go the extra mile for a patient? Did you notice any team member that did something nice for a patient or another team member? Did anything happen yesterday that could be improved upon or avoided in the future? If yes, How?
Today’s Appointments – have all patients been confirmed?
Lab Cases – have we double checked that all lab cases have arrived and are correct?
Holes – Can a hygiene patient in need of restorative slide over into the doctor’s chair? Is there anyone coming in with the doctor that is due in hygiene? If not, how will we remain productive during this downtime?
Emergency time – Where can we put the “true emergencies”?
Potential trouble spots – Review schedule for any potential trouble/hiccups/hangups. Such as: doctor needed in multiple places at the same time, habitually late patient, copays that must be collected, difficult patient, etc. Do everything in your power to start, stay & end on time, exceed patient expectations and work together as a team for a smooth & happy day.
New Patients / Referral Sources – Who are our new patients today and how did they hear about our office? Everyone be ready to warmly greet all patients but be sure to introduce yourselves to all new patients. Thank them for coming in.
Pre-op calls – Any new patients coming in tomorrow or the next day that the provider can call and welcome?
Same day services – Identify any patients that would benefit from same day services (fluoride, X-rays, sealants, desensitizing agents, whitening, mouthguards, better home care tools/products, etc.)
Family Members – Do you have any patients coming in with unschedled family members due in hygiene? Who will appoint them?
Post-op calls – Did we call yesterday’s patients to check in on them? Preferably the doctor and hygienist should make their own calls. (Who do you call? All new patients and any patients that had anesthetic, extraction, or perio treatment. Also, any patients that may have been fearful.
Social Media – Who will help with that today? Ask patients to like the office (or check-in) on Facebook, follow on Twitter & Instagram. So many reasons throughout the day to post to your social media sites, such as: a patient brings in a treat, to welcome a new patient to the office, a child joined your kid’s club/team, celebrate a beautiful cosmetic restoration/teeth whitening, team members having fun or being silly, etc.
Testimonials/Reviews – Who is a candidate for providing a testimonial/review/recommendation? Be alert throughout the day to ask for testimonials/reviews. Especially when a patient compliments the office on something… ask for a written or online testimonial. Take their picture (with permission) to post on your social media sites/website. NOTE: If a patient that is coming in for today has previously filled out an online survey be sure to review it. If they had a problem make certain it’s not repeated and if it was praise be sure to thank the team and the patient!
Goals – Look at Production, Scheduling & Collection goals vs actual for yesterday, today and tomorrow. Reminder to collect all co-pays at the time of appointment!!
Open Chair Time – Total Open Chair Time Hours for Yesterday and Tomorrow
Broken Appointments – How many same-day cancellations and missed appointments were there for yesterday? How many were rescheduled?
Treatment plans and Unscheduled Treatment – Remember, offer the very best treatment options to your patients, let’s not “watch” or “wait until next visit” chances are it will only worsen. Give every patient the opportunity to say yes or no to your very best care. Were there any patients that came in yesterday that we treatment planned and they did not schedule an appointment? WHY? / Unscheduled Treatment – anyone coming in today with already diagnosed treatment that is unscheduled? Who & How will we reintroduce treatment to the patient(s)?
Conclusion – End the meeting on a positive note. Tell a funny joke, read a positive quote and/or thank your team. Watch a quick motivational, educational or funny video clip. This meeting sets the tone for the day… Make it a happy one! Let’s go change someone’s life or at the very least help them smile bigger and healthier!
Here are a few additional tips for a successful morning huddle:
Come prepared! Have ready copies of the schedule (today and tomorrow). Charts/treatment should be reviewed (by the provider/assistant) one to two days prior to the huddle. Be sure to have available your collection, scheduling, and production goals for today and tomorrow and yesterday’s results.
Stand for the meeting. This helps to keep the huddle on time and hold everyone’s attention.
Maintain a positive attitude regarding the importance of DAILY morning meetings.
Use a check-list! This will help you stay on time and cover all points.
FOOD! Every once in a while surprise the team with bagels, donuts, coffee, muffins, etc.
I strongly encourage you to implement daily morning huddles, simply because I know that they’re effective and I want all of you to have happier, more productive, and stress-free work days!
If you would like to schedule a no-obligation, complimentary consultation to learn how our coaching program works, please email me at bhaydenconsulting@gmail.com.
If you already conduct daily huddles, way to go! Feel free to share with me any of your tips for successful huddles.
Should you need any help implementing these ideas or have any other questions that I can help you answer…I’m ready to help.
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 each month? If not, please start following us today. If you prefer, send me your email address (to bhaydenconsulting@gmail.com) and I will send you an invitation to follow my blog.
I would love and truly appreciate it for you to please take a second to leave a review/recommendation for me here on GOOGLE and/or FACEBOOK – Thank you!!!
The month of May brings many wonderful opportunities to reach out to and build relationships with more people in the community. Here is why:
During the month of May you have:
Teacher Appreciation Week: 3rd – 7th
National Nurses Day and Week: 6th -12th
National Hospital Week: 9th -15th
National Nursing Home Week: 9th -15th
National Police Week: 9th – 15th
EMS (Emergency Medical Services) Week: 16th – 22nd
We don’t need a “reason” to celebrate and aknowledge our hard-working and awesome teachers, nurses, and police officers however the month of May gives us that extra boost to do so. Don’t let this great opportunity and privilege to reach out to the teachers, nurses, and police officers in your community pass you by.
How can you reach out to them? Here are a few ideas for you:
First, let’s start with any of your patients that are teachers, nurses, or police officers.
Pull a report with any patients that are school teachers, nurses, and police officers and send “We Appreciate You” cards to them. Unexpected and very much welcomed.
Put together some little thank you gifts to give your patients that are teachers/nurses/police officers when they come in for their dental appointment during the month of May.
Second, reach out to the teachers, nurses, and officers in the community that are not “yet” patients at your office.
Host a Favorite Teacher/Nurse/Police Officer Contest and promote it via your social media platforms. Invite the community to nominate their favorites. The winner receives FREE teeth whitening (or another special offer), a gift card to a local business, and a certificate stating they won (your office name) for the favorite teacher/nurse/police officer contest in your community.
You could easily ask for donations of prizes or gift cards from local businesses to add to the winning prize.
Deliver treats and/or toothbrush bags to your local schools, hospitals, doctors’ offices, fire station, and/or police stations.
Social Media Post Ideas to Improve Engagement during the month of May:
At the very least you can use your social media platforms to show your love and appreciation for these special and hard-working folks in the community. (If you need help in this area: Dental Office Social Media Help and Ideas
National High Blood Pressure Education Month (why does your dentist/hygienist take your blood pressure?)
May is Save Your Tooth Month and Root Canal Appreciation Week: 2nd – 8th and Root Canal Appreciation Day: 11th
National Teacher Day: 4th
Nurses Day or National RN Recognition Day: 6th
Receptionists Day: 12th
International Nurses Day: 12
EMSC (Emergency Medical Services) Day: 19th
National Employee Health & Fitness Day: 19th
National Senior Health & Fitness Day: 26
Eat More Fruits & Vegetables Day: 27th
World No-Tobacco Day: 31
There are so many ways to celebrate teacher appreciation, police officers, and nurses’ week in your dental office. If you’re looking for more marketing ideas for the month of May, please visit here: Dental Office Marketing Tips and Ideas for May
If you appreciated these complimentary ideas I would love for you to please leave me a review/recommendation here on GOOGLE and/or FACEBOOK.
Wishing you all a very happy and productive Spring!
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. This way, you won’t miss a single idea! Or, if you have an area(s) in the practice that you’re struggling with, feel free to comment here or email me at bhaydenconsulting@gmail.com
