It’s not unusual for me to get 80–90% of my daily profit goals completed before lunchtime. It’s just a matter of having the right systems, processes, planning, and accountability in place.
For example, one morning I jumped in my free Dental Marketing and Profits Facebook group and recorded a live video. It was right before lunchtime. I had just completed my fifth crown, had a patient getting a prescan for two crowns, and had a few more to perform that afternoon.
Many dentists spend a lot of time learning about how dental practice software can improve performance. You know how much I love using Facebook to market a dental practice. Technology can definitely make our lives easier and our businesses stronger. But it’s also important to hang on to the low-tech options that can move us forward.
The reality is it’s not that difficult to increase profits. Systems, processes, and planning are important. We spend a lot of time talking about those things, and I have a lot of training about those things in Delivering WOW U.
But you need accountability to keep you moving forward and get things done.
Using Whiteboards to Increase Profits
As I was sitting in the lunchroom, I reflected on how important our whiteboard was to our production for the month. On our whiteboard, we list key activities we want to track. Next to each activity, we list our monthly target and monthly total.
For example, we list Invisalign, crowns, new patients, and online appointments, with goals next to each. For Invisalign, we set a goal of twelve and performed six in the first three weeks. Obviously, we were trending short of twelve with only one week to go in the month. For crowns, we set a goal of seventy-five. We had only performed thirty-five in the first three weeks. Again, we were trending short of our goal.
Does this mean, our whiteboard accountability system wasn’t working? Of course not. In fact, it’s one of the best things we’ve done to increase our production. We set realistic but aggressive goals and want to hit them. Many times, we do.
Without those goals up on the board, I’m sure we wouldn’t have had six Invisalign cases and performed thirty-five crowns. Even when we don’t hit a goal, this low-tech accountability system improves performance.
Why Whiteboards Work
People often ask me why we use whiteboards. They see me online, using Facebook and dental marketing funnels, and wonder why I stick with such a low-tech accountability system.
The reason is simple. They work. They’re just tools to hold us accountable and keep our goals top of mind. They give us a “month at a glance” view of where we are in our practice. They tell us what’s important and where to focus for the rest of the month.
Before whiteboards, I waited for the end of the month, looked at the numbers and reflected on what happened. The problem with that is the time already passed. There was nothing I could do to improve that performance. In fact, by the time I reflected, I was already a couple days into the next month, again reacting to what happened instead of choosing where to focus.
When you’re tracking things proactively, you have much more control. You can think more strategically. If you realize you’re not hitting your goals, you can take action.
For example, you can send out a newsletter to your patients to highlight a procedure you need to increase. You could record a Facebook live talking about crowns, why you’re using them, and how they change lives. You can share a patient story about how you helped change their life and encourage patients to schedule a free consultation. You could increase Facebook ads into an Invisalign dental marketing funnel. Your options are endless.
The $20,000 Whiteboard
How much would you pay for something that could help you generate $15,000 or $20,000 in a single day? If you’re like me, you’d probably pay a lot! But you don’t have to. All you need to do is get a whiteboard. For example, my Inner Circle members share wins with each other so the group can celebrate with and learn from them.
One member shared that she had a really big win! She had just finished a $15,000 or $20,000 day. When we dug into how she did it, she said it all started when she realized they were way behind in their monthly goals.
With her month at a glance, she didn’t have to wait for the end of the month to realize they were falling short. Instead, they took action and started calling patients.
They didn’t call patients randomly by their name or date of their treatment plan, though. Instead, they called people based on what treatments they needed to focus on based on their monthly goals. In this case, they called people who had bridges in their treatment plan. That would allow them to do multiple units.
They quickly filled up her schedule, and her $15,000 or $20,000 day came to be.
Are you using a whiteboard to keep you accountable?
Facebook, funnels, systems, and dental practice software get a lot of attention for good reasons. They can help you plan, grow, and operate a Delivering WOW dental practice. But don’t forget about low-tech options like whiteboards to keep you and your team accountable. That can give you the focus and information you need to spring into action and turn a bad month into a $20,000 day.
If you want more help growing, running, and marketing your practice, sign up for your 14-day trial to Delivering WOW U. There, you will find my best training, systems, strategies, and dental software suggestions. You’ll also find exclusive deals and discounts from the best dental product and service providers.
You can also join my free Dental Marketing and Profits Facebook group, where thousands of dentists and I help each other build better practices.
Finally, if you want even more personalized help, sign up for my next business bootcamp session, where I work directly with you and a small group of other dentists to improve your dental practice.
This article originally appeared on DeliveringWow.com.