One of the key deficiencies I see in Dental Offices is insufficient resources.

And by that I mean primarily not enough staff.

And when we have insufficient staff, we end up stretching ourselves way too thin, and the results are catastrophic…

Here’s what happens.

Firstly, there are missed opportunities.

If you’re thin on the ground then you’re thin on the ground.

The ringing phone won’t be answered as often, because the short numbered staff are doing other things.

Your valued patients and guests visiting your office will not be greeted as warmly because chances are that your greeter will be off doing other things.

Your set-ups won’t be as thorough and you’ll be waiting on instruments and supplies that have been forgotten, because people had to rush at the wrong time…

It’s not so much that these things are being purposefully  *NOT* done, it’s simply that they’ll be selectively omitted just because the stretched team needs to be able to get themselves through the day….

Imagine a soccer team playing with ten men instead of eleven…. sure they can probably get through the game and possibly cover the whole field….

But with that eleventh player, and with adequate substitutes on the sideline, the effort to produce the desired result [of a win] is able to be much better concentrated upon…

Secondly, we send a subliminal message to our customers and patrons that we are mean and tight and they can just wait.

Our customers know when they’re being kept waiting.

And they know when they’re being made to wait unnecessarily.

So why do it?

How frustrating must it be to a patient to have to wait, with mouth open, while the dental assistant runs and gets the cords that she’s forgotten?

The patient’s thinking:

“After all, I’ve had this appointment scheduled for two weeks now… you would think they would know what is needed and have it out ready already?”

It’s the same when the patient is leaving the office…patients have to wait to check out after treatment.

What’s with that?

The patient has just received several hundreds of dollars worth of treatment, and we don’t have sufficient staff to be on deck to process their departure in a comfortable manner?

The patient would have to be thinking:

“I’m just about to hand over several hundred dollars here and yet why on earth are there insufficient team members available to take my payment and to schedule me an appointment?

And thirdly, we stretch our staff to breaking point and they end up despising us for overworking them…. 

In Australia we’d ask the question:

“How much can a koala bear?”

How hard can you stretch your team, and for how long?

Sure, there are days when we’re thrown into overload because someone on our team is unable to come to work.

And on these days, when it is unexpected, it’s remarkable how the team rises to the occasion.

But we can’t be making our team perform under those conditions day in and day out, just because they were able to do it well once….

Overstretching our team is like overstretching a rubber band.

It could snap, or it could become denatured and lose its efficacy when the pressure is relaxed.

Applying gentle pressure on occasions is tolerable.

Consistently applying continuous pressure will eventually result in trauma to your team and to your office.

The dollar cost of being well staffed is returned several times over in collections.

Dental office owners sometimes don’t see this.

Staff are not an expense.

They are an investment.

Investing in sufficient staff pays dividends.

Failing to invest in sufficient staff reduces collections and reduces profits.

Often the cost of having an additional staff member for the day is as little as the cost of one two surface resin restoration…

Not much cost at all?

And we get all those benefits of having the extra pair of hands all day….

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My upcoming in depth two day workshops will be held in London in August.

You can reserve your places here: Click Link To Order 

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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

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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

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