After transforming my own practice several years ago, I began helping other dentists do the same, helping them develop six key areas of their practices in order to thrive.
I started out coaching dentists on a one-on-one basis, which I continue to do today, albeit on a very limited basis. To help more dentists than I could help on a one-on-one basis, I later wrote a book, started a podcast, created course content, and launched a membership mastermind community to be able to share best practices and strategies in group settings.
Collectively, I’ve helped dentists in over 80 countries build their practices. From solo practices to groups, urban practices to suburban and rural, I’ve had the privilege of looking behind the scenes to identify the real reasons some practices grow while others struggle.
Many times, the dentists who work with me are struggling to grow. They’re stressed, overworked, overwhelmed, and sometimes already burned out. I’ve talked with you about the real reason dental practices struggle before and for practices that are struggling, it’s easy for dentists to begin implementing my Delivering WOW system to start getting better results.
Other times, dentists who work with me operate highly successful practices and are motivated to get even more intentional and systematized to accelerate their growth. For these dentists, refining, organizing, and systematizing the Delivering WOW practice areas helps them experience even more success.
But what about the practices in the middle? What about dentists who’ve experienced some level of success and then hit a wall, seeing their practices stagnate for months or years?
A large number of practices fall into this category. They deliver great dental care, and they have systems for customer intake, billing, advertising, and operational matters, but they struggle to continuously grow.
Why do some practices experience continued growth while others hit a wall and stagnate for months or years?
For most dental practices that hit a wall, the real reason is they’re just like everyone else.
They’ve built an efficient practice that doesn’t stand out from the competition. Although that’s a great foundation upon which to build a thriving practice, it doesn’t give your patients a reason to go out of their way to make you their dentist.
They won’t leave with a WOW! experience. They won’t tell their friends and family about your practice. And they won’t become raving fans.
It doesn’t matter how efficient your dental practice is, what keeps customers coming in is a WOW! experience that nobody but you delivers.
When I hired a coach and implemented the Delivering WOW system into my practice, I tripled my revenue in the first year. We built a new office with three times the capacity out of those profits the next year. And the year after that, we added another dentist.
We kept growing and continue to grow because we didn’t just build a more efficient practice; we built an efficient practice that was unlike any other dental practice around. We gave patients reasons to be loyal to us and tell their friends and family.
Here are some of the ways we made sure we wouldn’t be like any other practice:
When I did my first start-up in Birmingham, we differentiated ourselves by identifying unique groups of people we wanted to serve. In our case, it was Spanish-speaking immigrants. We made sure we promoted to them and my hygienist, Mayra, who had trained as a dentist in Mexico, was on staff to help serve them well.
Whether it’s patient experience, demographic, insurance, or some other unique part of your practice that matters to your patients, you need to give patients reasons to choose your practice, stay loyal to your practice, and tell their friends and family about your practice in order to keep growing.
These are just some of the things that distinguish us from other practices, but they give our patients an experience they can’t help but rave about to their friends and family and help us connect with groups of patients who are underserved.
We continue to look for ways to distinguish our practice from others. The practices that experience continued growth do so as well.
If your practice is stagnant, kickstart your growth by looking for unique ways to differentiate yourself from others.
What are three ways your practice is different from the competition?
If you can’t answer that question, take some time to develop some in order to promote continued growth!