News

What’s the Point then?

What’s the point indeed of being in the business of Dentistry?

And providing Dental Services?

This week I was drawn into an online chat forum about marketing and dentistry and the image of dentists and the public perception of dentists and dentistry…

You know the drill….

Dentists and making money?

You see what happened was a Dentist got upset when the *FREE* at no cost to her package of my information arrived in her mailbox in an envelope that carried outside description of what was inside.

Never mind the fact that she had double opted in to receive the information and also downloaded the report titled “How To Add At LEAST An Extra $100,000 In Billings To Your Dental Practice… Without Spending Even One Penny More On Marketing, Extra Staff, Fancy Lasers, Or New Equipment”

http://www.ultimatedentalreport.com

She genuinely had a gripe that the material, in hindsight for her, might have been better being sent to a PO Box rather than her office, because it “advertised” to her staff and her postman a connection between dentists and money.

And she felt awkward with that connection.

And a lot of dentists do.

And so the discussion then waxed and waned as to whether the postman read the packaging and took a dim view, and so on and so on.

You see unfortunately, because of lack of education at University, Dentists are graduating with very little business and marketing knowledge.

Four years ago I heard Omer Reed tell a group of Australian Dentists that at age 65, 95% of American Dentists will not be able to retire comfortably and support themselves….

And I’d politely suggest that that’s because 95% of Dentists choose not to gain any formal business advice or coaching.

And that’s the truth.

And that’s probably because of this unguided misconception and preconception that dentists graduate with that there *SHOULD NOT* be any relationship whatsoever between the performance of doing the dentistry and the financial benefits gained from performing that said dentistry.

And it’s sad.

Because the anthisesis of this is greatly untrue.

To think that somehow we will possibly arrive at the completion of our Dental career and magically all will be taken care of for our retirement without even *one single thought* about finance, money, income, bill paying and savings?

Well that’s just downright fanciness!

So where oh where do we then decide that some, yes some business planning is not only OK but also necessary, and how much, or what level of that planning is acceptable then?

And who decides then at what point is some level of planning too much, and unacceptable?

At what level of planning are we as dentists then “crossing the line”, or the imaginary line, from professionalism to commercialism?

And why is that line, to some dentists, so bad at all?

Why should there even exist a line or demarcation, in some people’s eyes?

And who decides whether there is a demarcation?

To put it bluntly, is this a self-imposed hurdle members of our profession are falsely erecting before us?

Do the public really care?

Again, to extrapolate to extremes, if dental offices were not run as commercial entities, at all, there’d be a *LOT MORE* foreclosures of more dental offices because of that lack of financial management.

And who’d be worse off?

Mr. and Mrs. Joe Public, for a start.

Because there’d be less dental offices around for them to attend.

And with the lower supply, there’d be opportunity for price rises…. and so on….

So I put to to you, Mr. Average and Worried Dentist, that you have an ethical and moral obligation to maintain a viable dental office just to make sure that the public has an available number of Dental Offices to choose from.

Because if they don’t, you’ll be working a lot harder!

So in a world without every Dental Office having a financial plan or a business plan, is it any wonder that such a large percentage of our noble profession reach the end of their careers with not much more than the shirt on their back….

And that’s the harsh reality?

What’s the point of any life, of working all your life and getting to your retirement age and having to continue on working or having to downsize and live a greatly compromised existence?

That’s just ludicrous!

Yet somehow, somewhere in our professional upbringing of Dentistry as a Career, we’ve been led to believe that there’s something wrong with creating wealth and acquiring wealth as a reward for the performance of dental duties.

And if that’s how you’re thinking, then I politely suggest you need a rethink…

Years ago, I was discussing with my coach, the question I get from patients from time to time about vacations and holidays.

Because some dentists also get embarrassed about talking about their vacations with their patients.

And they shouldn’t.

Nor should dentists get embarrassed about the type of car they own or the part of town where they live.

Anyway, my coach said to me, about the vacation question, he said to me:

“Ask your patients this.”

“Ask your patients, would they rather see a dentist who takes vacations, or *needs* a vacation?”

Providing Dental Services in your office in an environment where the income and profitability of that office are assured and taken care of is a much nicer environment for both the doctors and for the patients and for the dental team as well.

And that then has a flow on effect to attract more customers who prefer that sort of environment for their dentistry….

And that’s a wonderful thing…

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!!