So you think you know your numbers?
What I find, when I speak with dentists, is that most dentists do not know their numbers.
Oh yeah sure they know the compressive strength of porcelain.
[The tensile strength, as determined by diametral compression, is approximately 29 MPa (4,200 psi) for opaque feldspathic porcelain and 40 MPa (5,800 psi) for gingival feldspathic porcelain. The compressive strength is reported to be 340 MPa (50,000 psi) for a feldspathic porcelain.]
And they know the marginal fit of crowns.
And they know the percentage shrinkage of composite….
But what about the serious numbers?
I ask dentists how many New Patients they see each month.
Some dentists can give me accurate numbers.
“In July we saw 53 New Patients. This was up from June where we saw 44 New Patients and May where we saw 41 New Patients.”
These are exact, accurate numbers.
More often than not I hear this:
“Around 40 to 50.”
Numbers like that mean that the dentist does not know.
Which one is it?
Is it 40?
Or is it 50?
That’s a 25% difference, which is a significant variable NOT to have a handle on.
And guess what, if they do not have a handle on New Patient Numbers per month, per week and per day, then it’s sure as eggs they don’t have a handle on new patient telephone enquiries and new patient conversions.
Per day. Per week. Per month.
And nor will they have any idea as to which ones of their team members are making the appointments for these new patients.
And what those team members’ ratios are.
Football teams know which players are better goal kickers.
And which players drop more balls when put under pressure from high kicks.
Pass completion percentages?
Running yards?
These are all accurately kept statistics.
*IN A SPORT!!*
IN A GAME!
Yet in the game of life, in real life business, in our businesses, I find dentists are more concerned about porcelain compressive strengths than they care whether Becky on their front desk is scheduling 55% more appointments per call in than Karen.
If you knew these numbers at your front desk then you’d be training Karen up quick smart, wouldn’t you?
Or you’d be asking her to let Becky take the calls?
And what about cancellation phone calls?
Wouldn’t it be wise to find out who in your Dental Office is taking and allowing patients to cancel appointments already made?
In one office I worked with we found that on percentage, the dental receptionist was accepting EIGHT TIMES MORE cancellations on the phone than the Office Manager was.
And so we had to do some job education there quick smart, and following that, we then did some career enhancement and some job reassignment.
So that when we ended up with the Office Manager now answering the phone the production and collections at this Dental Office just skyrocketed.
Without spending one penny more on marketing!
In fact this dentist reduced her marketing spend…
What gets measured gets improved upon.
If you do not know these numbers ACCURATELY in the first place then guessing them and acting on these guesses is pure supposition.
And I’m guessing then that NOTHING ever gets done in this field except HOPE.
And HOPE is a very poor business strategy.
Because if all you’ve got is HOPE then it really does mean that your dental practice is running you and you are not running your practice.
And the usual response to this feeling of HOPE is that Dentists cry out:
“I just need more new patients.”
But if Karen is burning off more New Patient enquiries than Becky, and Becky is not getting to the phone as much as Karen, then a simple task reassignment in their job descriptions will result in more new patients in the office without spending one extra cent on marketing.
Because you’ll have closed a massive leakage point there anyway.
A leakage point that existed on the New Patient supply that you had already been happily paying for.
A leakage that you simply hadn’t thought even existed.
Or known about?
Need more New Patients?
Let’s look at your numbers first….
Let’s dig deep into some performances.
Nineteen years ago a consultant said to me:
“We can come into a dental practice and find a staff member costing that practice $200,000.00 per year.”
What’s the accurate two year dollar value of a New Patient into your practice?
[Most dentists don’t know this number ACCURATELY either]
When you multiply the lack of conversion annually by the new patient dollar value, all of a sudden the colour just starts draining form the dentist’s face.
Failing to measure means the difference between schools for your children.
It means the difference in where you live, where you holiday, and ultimately how long you work and how well you retire…
Maybe those things aren’t so important to you?
How do you measure those numbers?
What do you do with those numbers?
How do you correct those behaviours?
Ask me. I can help.
Because the answers are NOT in the compressive strengths of feldspathic porcelain….
******
Stop GUESSING. Ask me and I can help you here. Email me david@theUPE.com
******
My upcoming in depth two day workshops will be held in London in August.
You can reserve your places here: Click Link To Order
*****
Have you read my book , How To Build The Dental Practice of Your Dreams [Without Killing Yourself!] In Less Than Sixty Days.
You can order your copy here: Click Link To Order
*****
The Ultimate Patient Experience is a simple to build complete Customer Service system in itself that I developed that allowed me to create an extraordinary dental office in an ordinary Sydney suburb. If you’d like to know more, ask me about my free special report.
Email me at david@theupe.com
Did you like this blog article? If you did then hit the share buttons below and share it with your friends and colleagues. Share it via email, Facebook and twitter!!