Kiera is a guest on The Extraction, a podcast by TeamCare, to talk about accountability without the drama. She, along with co-hosts Kyle Bergman and Dr. Sharon Blyler, discuss the sometimes difficult realities of what it takes to be a good leader versus a great leader.
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Transcript:
The Dental A Team (00:00)
Hello, Dental A Team listeners, this is Kiera. And today we are sharing a guest interview I did on another podcast. And it was too valuable not to bring you guys here.
this episode, you're gonna hear this host lead the conversation and then I'll wrap us up at the end. I cannot wait. It was truly one of my
episodes and I truly hope you enjoy.
The Dental A Team (00:18)
everyone and welcome back to The Extraction podcast. Your cohost Kyle here today with my cohost and the co-founder of TeamCare, Dr. Sharon Blyler. And today we are joined by Kiera Dent, who is the CEO and founder of Dental A Team, a consulting and training company focused on profitability, systems, accountability.
culture and leadership in dental practices. Kiera has worked nearly every role inside of a practice, which is a big part of why her content lands with both owners and teams. So in this episode, we are going to be riffing a little bit about everything and anything that goes into making a practice smarter, scaling from a leadership, bonding. We're going to talk a little bit about AI and efficiency. And so stick around. This is a good one. Kiera.
Welcome to The Extraction. How are you? Amazing guys. Thank you so much for having me. I've been super pumped to get on the podcast. Definitely a big fan over here. Excited to just rift on all things dental. I mean, my last name is Dent. So it's definitely my cup of tea here and excited to be with you guys today. So thanks for the warm welcome. Absolutely. And thank you again for taking the time to join us. I know you're super busy and congrats on all the success you've had building dental.
A team. One of the first questions I love to ask is what brought you to the dental industry? Not necessarily something that people grow up aspiring to be back when we want to be firefighters, astronauts or Olympians, but what brought you into it? Curious. mean, great question. It's funny. I remember in first grade, my teacher, Mrs. Larson had us like right out where we wanted to be. You guys, I have gone all over the map. I went from being like, I wanted to be a hotel cleaner. That was a big dream of mine. I was like, I want to be a hotel.
cleaner mom, like it's gonna be amazing to wanting to be a vet. I don't even really like animals. Like you can judge me harshly right now. And I was like, vet all the way up to I wanted to have, I wanted to break the world record and have 99 kids because I was like, listen, and then I'll just have like, I had already thought in processes at that point in my life. Like if I just like meet with them like one day a year, I could see each of them three times a year to then being like, listen, I just want to like wear scrubs for my life. And so was either like be a nurse and learn the whole body or be a dental assistant and just learn the mouth.
So that's actually what got me into dentistry was the desire to wear scrubs. Also, I became varsity tennis player, not because I love varsity, I just wanted to wear the cute skirt. Like that was really my motive in life. So I clearly am like a mixed bag over here of why I got here. But I actually then got into dental assisting. It was very fun, loved it. And then I went to college and I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do. I settled on wanting to be a marriage and family therapist. And I remember
I was sitting in my interview, I was in Oklahoma and I was interviewing to get my degree and master's get accepted to school. They asked me questions and I was thinking about my patients back at the dental office. And it was a, I call these like the pivotal moments where I sat there and was like, Keara, do you really want to be a marriage and family therapist? The fact that you're sitting in this interview, you've worked hard. mean, passing the GRE is freaking hard. So like even to get there, I was like, do you actually want to be this marriage and family therapist? And it was a moment where I was like,
I think I actually absolutely love dentistry and that's where I'm meant to be and what I love to do. And then you fast forward a little bit further and now we're in consulting and I feel like I've been able to blend my love of the marriage and family therapy, of the love of people and wanting to solve problems, but I get to do it in a space of dentistry that I feel is just magical to change lives. So that's kind of my like roundabout random story of going from hotel cleaner to veterinarian to becoming a dental consultant. And I feel like I really did that like sweet landing of a space that I'm obsessed with of helping people.
And I say, dentistry is my platform, life is my passion, and to be able to bring that to the table is very fun. Kiera, that makes so much sense that you married those two because I watched your video on your website, and I've been a dentist for a while, and you you hit it out of the park. As soon as I watched it, I'm like, yes, it's really hard. Yes, you love it, but yes, you're trying, you always have, I always say like you have one wheel off the wagon and you're always trying to get it back together. that you were in counseling and yeah, you got it.
Thank you. In our research of looking at what you've done, Kiera, I see a lot of similarities in your leadership style along with Dr. Sharon's here. One of my favorite all time quotes from any human is when Dr. Sharon said, you know why I'm a good dentist and a good manager and a good owner, Kyle? It's because I raised four kids. It's because I was a mother.
Because I was a mom first. You talk a lot about accountability without drama. Noble Dentistry, our in-house brand underneath TeamCare, is run equal parts Iron Fist and a lot of empathy. Everyone there, it's an excellent practice. 14 operatories, seven associate doctors, millions of dollars a year. It got there under the leadership of Dr. Sharon and the incredible technology that builds Power's TeamCare.
But Dr. Sharon lives and breathes set every day, accountability without drama, being direct with people, having meaningful conversations. What in your experience does that actually look like in a real office? Yeah, well, mean, Dr. Sharon, I love your story and I love what you've built. I think like powerhouse and that is not an easy feat. with physically my body's been, think, in over 300 dental practices in the course of my career. Our team, think, has physically been in over a thousand. So like...
To say that I've seen a few dental practices in my time is not a lie. And to see people that are able to grow to the magnitude that you've been able to is something that I think there are, there are traits, there are characteristics, there are pieces. And it was interesting because I think like one, you're an insane example and everybody listening, like kudos because you've got a great example. Dr. Sharon, I'm freaking proud of you and I love what you've built and I love what you've created and.
Everybody listening is really lucky to be able to hear your successes and to learn from you. The second thing I want to say is we had an in-person mastermind with our doctors and we bring them all together and it was something I did not want to do. Like literally I was like, I'm not doing masterminds guys, like everybody does masterminds and our doctors like, Kiera, please bring us together. And I'm like, listen, this is not my cup of tea. Like I'm a girl who loves to be on stage, but then I definitely love to just like shut it off and not be on stage anymore.
Events, feel like they just linger longer forever. So I am the girl who puts on an event and then you don't see me at all. Like it's like a goodbye, wave goodbye to the children, send them on their way. And like, I don't want to see you until the next morning. And, but I noticed in there that when you ask about the questions of accountability and iron fist and different things, there was a moment that I hadn't realized until just two weeks ago. And I've even watched myself, we're 10 years into the company now. And I think that there's an evolution of leadership. And I think Dr. Sharon, you'd probably agree to this that.
I think there's the firefighter stage when you first start and you're like bros and gals with your team. And you're really in this like, I want to be best friends. And I actually think it blurs the lines of accountability really hard for these new owners, but they want to keep the team and they want to have good vibes. Like I was talking to a tennis the other day and she's like, I just love my practice. She's three months in Dr. Sharon. So we know she's still in like the honeymoon phase. And she's like, I just love my team and they're so great. And we just like all have the best thing and we hang out all the time. And it's just great vibes.
And I thought, honey, I'm so freaking pumped for you to experience. It's Sharon's laughing. She's like, you get it, you have it, you understand. I think that as you evolve, you start to recognize, and I said this quote the other day to a dentist, said, there will be points in your career that you are loved, there will be points in your career that you are hated, but I hope where you actually land is respected. And I think when you can have the filter of, how can I be a respected team leader? How can I be a respected CEO?
You start to make decisions of accountability that are firm, that are fair, that are consistent. And that is what teams ultimately are looking for. They're not looking for you to be best friends. Surprise, like spoiler, bosses aren't their best friends. Like that's not what we're here to do. Our job is to be that leader, to be that coach, to be that mentor, to be the person who sets the standards, to set the stage. And standards are what we tolerate, not what we say. And so when I look at accountability and I look at teams, I think that there is a progression.
And I think for leaders to realize like you don't just show up out of the box as a great leader. It is a progression and it's an overview of that. But I do think the consistency piece and also making decisions that are in the best interest of the business, not in the best interest for you or for your team, I think becomes a North Star that helps you have stronger accountability. And I will say like, you can't have accountability without consistency. So if you're not solid on the consistency, get someone paired with you.
that consistently drive those results forward for you, because those are gonna be some of the most key critical pieces that I've seen that really separate the successful easy practices versus those that are just scrapping by and trying to get to the next level, but feeling like they can't get out of their rut. And I'm like, you can't because we're not consistent, we're not accountable, and we're not holding the true North Star of what the practice ultimately needs, not what you want to do to be liked.
And I hope that landed with love, not sharpness. No, no. Like that's damn, that's like spot on. That's what Kyle's kind of saying. Kyle has three children. He is an entrepreneur. has multiple businesses and he's a big part of a TeamCare. But we talk all the time. He has three children under two. Three, three, three under three you recommend that Kyle? We're an IVF right now and we have three embryos. And people, I've been asking people like, so do I just go for like the shop approach? Like you just like.
three like one after another like I could have three surrogates at the same time like we have to realize I have like different atmosphere over here or would you like space it out so hearing like 303 would you recommend it? Just curious asking for a friend here. Okay so I have twin boys that are about two and a half years old and a nine month old baby girl and I think it's good to do it all at once because I have a friend who has a seven year old and a four year old and his wife's pregnant and the look on his face that's
It's devastating. I'm praying for David out there. Yeah, just go for it. Go for it, Kiera. Do triplets. Let's go. My first thing was, I was like, listen, guys, I'm a business person over here. Can I do like a three for one deal? Circuits are not cheap, nor should they be like they're donating their body for me. And I'm so grateful. But I was like, can I do a three for one deal? And they were like, well, your rates go down.
like your success rates. And I was like, all right, we'll do like three, but just get, okay, anyway, back to you're an entrepreneur, you're three. I do think Kyle's right, because like I always look at it like my kids, I had four in six years, you want to go to Disney World once. You don't want to go every three years. And you're to go once. But that aside, honestly, I feel exactly as you do. And that's why I kind of said to Kyle about treating everyone there. Absolutely the business is first, very open, very honest. Tell someone immediately when something's not going right, correct it and it's over.
And that's it. it's much, you know, what do they say raising kids? Seven words of praise for everyone. Negative. ? Truth. It's truth in any part of your life. And, you know, I do love your name too. And I want to talk about that a little, like that you wrote Dental A Team, because one of the big things on all my ads say players want to play with A players. And once you drop that level, your whole team goes down. Once there's one person sitting at the front desk or in the back or anywhere who's not pulling their weight, everyone knows it.
So how, when you go into a practice, are you addressing that to the doctor, to the team? Like, where do you go when you're finding these? You're seeing it straight out where sometimes, docs sometimes live in fear of their staff. Yeah. No, ? you're right, Sharon. And I say the best gift I think I can give an owner is to be unshackled from feeling like they have to keep team if they don't want to. I'm not here to, consultants get a bad rep because we go and we're like.
fire everybody and that's not my world. I don't believe in that being a team member myself, being a business owner, the greatest cost to a business is actually turnover. Like it's a huge, like the human capital expense is very large and for good reason. But when I look at that, you're not wrong. Someone was talking to me, they talked about like the NFL, like pick whatever sport analogy you enjoy, but they're like, they don't go pick when they're going through draft season, they're not picking the like BCDs for good costs. They're like, we're going for A because we want to win.
and every person on there is the top 1%. And if they even drop and they're not doing it their best, they get cut. And it's just cutthroat there. But that's how you get winning championship teams. And I think a lot of times in dental practices or in business, that's not as cutthroat, it's not as viewed in the world, like on the spotlight of the TV. I think we do sometimes settle because we're so afraid. And to me, I'm like, gosh, it goes back to marriage and family therapy. Let's go back there. I had a professor and they said in dating, and gosh, you guys are gonna love me or hate me.
I have found that this is true, so I hope it's a love. ? Thanks, Kyle. He said, in dating, there's always someone just as good, if not better out there. And you might hate that because it could be a tender swinder. You could just keep swiping for the rest of your life, always thinking there's someone better out there. So use that with caution. But I do think that it's real. There is always someone better. At some point, you just accept, like, my husband, I freaking love him. I got a great last name from it, so that was a win for me.
I look at this and I just think there are always going to be better people out there. And I think sometimes you do need to elevate a team and you need to upgrade a team. And that is not wrong. And so when I go in and I work with teams, first and foremost, doctors, let's make sure that we got a clear vision. It is wild. If you do not have a clear vision that every single person is going towards. And people think that this is rah rah puff and I'm such a tactical girl, but if they don't know where they're even going, like we don't even know the lighthouse on the thing.
We've all got different rowing and you're just gonna feel like mayhem. People are like, my team is not bought in. And I'm like, cool, what's your vision? If I walked in, could every person tell me today, where are we headed in one year, three years, 10 years? If it is not so crystal clear that every person can do it, that's step one. Because that might even be half of the issue to get our A players up to A players. Like, they don't even know what the scoreboard is. Are we playing basketball, golf, football? Like there's different rules, depending upon where we're headed. And so getting your whole team aligned on that is number one.
Then number two, I love this litmus test and mine is if I had a chance to rehire all these people today, would I rehire them? And that is sometimes the zone that I don't want to go in and face, but I think that that's the core heart where we know and we often don't want to do that. Now, if you're like not into that and you're like going to sit here and justify that I've got another one for you to get even more tactical. Grab your core values and go through it and rank that person. Do not lie to me. Keep this paper hidden. You can burn it afterwards, but be honest with it.
put your core values out there and rate each person. And if they are not striking you at tens across the board, it's time to move on or it's time to elevate up. I think when people recognize, like I got a doctor, she's in Virginia Beach, she can't find a hygienist, but they had a hygienist who was just tearing them all down. They let them go and we're in like hygiene, like starvation right now. Like I understand that is a hard position to want to quit and like get rid of. They cut this person, it's been six months and the team is so much happier. And I think
When you live that and you see it, you stop tolerating. It's like, do not lower your standards for excellence to meet people's need for mediocrity. And I think if you can hold that line and realize that's what you are, you're here to win championships, you're not here to win friends, but by winning championships and being respected, you win friends along the way. It's this crazy piece. A players, you like to play with A players and the worst thing you can do to your A players is tolerate the behavior of your lower people. So I think when I am making a decision as a CEO,
I have to remember my A players are watching me to see what I'm doing. And that's the motivation for me to make the decisions that ultimately are best for the business, not the ones that are easy. Awesome. And you're right. And that's where the respect comes in. You know, if the leader is working from fear, know, no one's good. I think that a lot of times docs ? are, you know, falling over dollars to pick up pennies. Like you pay a little more, you're getting that better person. We pay very well and I don't have a problem hiring at any position.
You know, but I got great people, they're rock stars. They put me to shame, the stuff that they can do from hygiene to anywhere, front desk, they're smart people. But Kiera, what you said actually, really, I'm going to do a screen share right now. You haven't done a screen share in a couple of episodes and I'm going to show, I'm going to show a dashboard on TeamCare that you are to love. And I think this will also be a nice segue into hearing how you're using.
technologies, specifically AI in managing, because it can be certainly a balance. But what I'm going to show you from an A-Team stamp is the leaderboards that we ? intelligently produce these update in real time every day. We're looking at a practice here. I've anonymized the data, but we're looking at the high hygienist productivity so far for March. And we can see how many patients, and by the way, the beautiful thing about this,
is that not only can the practice owners and managers see this, but every single one of these team members, these hygienists can see what their patient per average day is, what their pre-appointment rate is, how much they're presenting for treatment, how many reactivation calls. We can see this for doctors. So Dr. Sharon is so good at going in and saying, hey, this guy, know, lot of production, but his production per exam is actually not as good as some of these other folks. So is there an opportunity to coach him
on his bedside manner or are these, you know, and this is actually noble dentistry. So this is our in-house and part of the reason they're so good is because everyone there, this is a depth chart. Everyone wants to be a starter. Everyone wants to make the pro goal. And so when you're able to show this type of visibility, some practices don't like this because, I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings. This is not youth soccer, not everyone getting a participation trophy. And so you can see where you stand. ? So this is a
a part of TeamCare that it feels like really aligns with your values and how you lead. 1000 % Kyle. And I love that you brought this up because I am pro EOS traction, Gina Wickman, which this is very much in a line with that. ? coach generally teams version of that. And the bottom line is numbers don't lie and numbers make these conversations easy. And when you look at this, as a team, we can't hide. There is zero hiding in there to see like.
All right, well, ? you know, I just was busy. Everybody's busy. Like, where do we hide in this scenario? And it's either I'm gonna rise up or rise out and both are great options. And I think when you recognize that, because you're right, like even watching Dr. Sharon, if you look at her, if you guys didn't see the video, she's sitting back and there's a calm collected confidence about her that she knows that what she's put into place, these people want to be there. And the leaderboard shows that. And I think when you...
When you obsess about data and numbers, you can sit back like Dr. Sharon and have the confidence because you know that people can't hide. mean, guys, Kiera Dent is a human. Like I love people. I love to make people feel good. But at the end of the day, feelings only go so far and results will sustain. And I think when I look at it, I'm like, am I feeding my family or am I just fishing for a day? Like I've got to take care of.
Like it's one or the other. mean, they're going to make people happy, make my life miserable, or we're going to like look at the numbers and we're all going to win and we're all going to be happy. Like what is it going to be? And I think, I think when again, this is an evolution of maturity of CEOs and owners of businesses, you hit this, I feel like there's a threshold that you hit and it comes and everybody gets it at a different time, but you hit a level where it's like, data is a numbers matter more than people's feelings and us being on a winning team and me recognizing or like, shoot, you can take, I've had people take.
Second, mortgages out on their homes to keep paying people that don't want to be accountable. And I'm like, that is a choice that you're willing to make. There are multiple choices in life to make, but Dr. Sharon Sugarhead and for me, I don't lose money and that's my standard. I also don't tolerate people that don't want to be on my winning team, but I used to not be that way. 2020, I felt like I was Johnny Depp in the middle of the ocean. I was on a freaking burning boat, hoping and praying something else was coming. Like my team was rash. Like we were really struggling. And I think you have to go through that to...
to realize, or you listen to podcasts like this and you don't have to learn through it, use the numbers. You're exactly right. There is no hiding. Use the numbers, use the metrics. Numbers are your best friend. They're the vitals to your practice. And if you want to know if you're sick, you get your vitals. If you want to know if you're practice sick, look at the vitals of the practice and then make decisions accordingly. And it's like every once in a while, it's not often, but if things are going really bad with a group, with FDs or assistants or hygiene or whatever, sometimes you got to say to them, right? Get them all together and be like, you know, everyone's replaceable, even me. And you know, sometimes you just,
It really reminds everyone that you don't have this job forever. You're not working for the government. know, like this is nothing's going to keep you here. I'll tell you what I really, really want to hear about your systems about, think like that's the number one thing. And I think docs are horrible at it. We were just dentists and systems is what makes a real business run. And it's, I think it's the hardest thing to put in place. And Dr. Jaren, thank you for that. And shout out to you guys, the software. I just want to go back to that. didn't like.
if you don't have that, it. It will be game changing in your practice. I feel like it's like AI, right? Like you guys put Pearl overlay or whatever you want over Jet and it helps like diagnose. To me, your guys' software is how you diagnose the problems in your practice without having the emotional baggage that comes along with it. So just like wanted to do a plug there for you guys, because I really am impressed with what you've created. As far as systems, Dr. Sharon, I actually feel systems are easy and I know that that's like going to be contrary.
The reason I think number like systems are easy is because if you have the vision, I call it the yes model in our company. So we focus on you as a dentist. Your business should serve your life and not the other way around. And I'm very pro all of us on here are business owners and we know that I can either work my booty off for my business or I can get my business to work for myself and both are available. It just depends on which route you want to go. And so I'm very pro let's have the business work for you. So that stands for why for you you're number one. And if we don't take care of you first, the whole business will crumble. So like we've got to take care of you.
Second is E, it stands for earnings. So exactly like you talked about the leaderboard, the numbers, the metrics, and then S stands for systems and team development. And I put this together purposely in this order so you can say yes to more in your life, but I use systems third because I think so many people, Dr. Sharon, your point, they wanna go attack the systems, but they're missing the top two. And when I put the top two in place, the systems actually come after. Like what my numbers are telling me, tell me where my systems need to be implemented. No team wants to go through a whole systems overhaul. Like I've done this a lot.
No team's super thrilled. like, hey guys, I heard this great podcast. Let's implement these systems. Why are we implementing the systems and what result am I ultimately trying to get? I am big on outcomes over activity. What's the outcome we're looking for? And then let's put activity into place. And I don't disagree with you. Systems feel so daunting because there's a system upon a system upon a system upon a system. Like it never ends. It's like the Winchester mansion. Like they just go forever and you cannot escape it. And so when I think about it, I think that that's where it feels daunting. But I will say,
that there are core foundational systems that I put into place. And you're exactly right. Like we can't just be like, I've got a great vision and my numbers look good. Well, like the systems have got to be there. And so I don't disagree with you that systems are daunting. And so we actually created like 12 systems because I like cadences. I like it to be easy for people to memorize. Like what do need to focus on in January and February and March? So my practice can always be refining because systems are a refinement and an optimization, not a set like one and done. So I'm big on like operations, right? Like let's look to see where we're broken. Like what are easy core systems we can put into place?
Hygiene, hygiene needs to be producing. 30 % of our practice is a great baseline and they should be producing three times their pay. Everyone's like, what? They're so expensive right now. I get that. It's like, let's get innovative, let's get creative. We maybe can't quite get there, but let's at least set a good baseline and see what we're producing and how we can get there. So then we need to put our hygiene protocols into place. We need to make sure our hygienists are good to go. We need to make sure our hygiene exams are solid. Easy systems that are going to impact numbers. Then I'm gonna move to my front office. How do we schedule? Like doctors, if you're not getting out on time.
That's a fantastic system for us to go attack. If we're not producing enough, like let's go after block schedules, but I don't want you to just block schedule for the sake of block scheduling because you heard it on a podcast. Like what do you need to make? What did the numbers tell you? And then let's make sure we can actually build a productive schedule that will get you to that number. And I think when you put systems into place, that makes sense. Like when I go to Chick-fil-A, they've got like the salad thing up there. Like you put three things in and two things a lot of like, whatever it is, that makes sense because I'm going to make a whole salad at the end. But if they're just like,
Do some lettuce and some, teams need to understand why we're doing systems. And so I'm very core on what are the core systems that a practice needs to have. It usually falls under my hygiene department, making sure my doctors and our procedures are there, front office scheduling, our billing, please for the love of everything, holy collect the money. Like just collect the money. We are not back in the 1800s. You do not need to put it on a tab, collect the money. Like it is here. We need to collect money. Like what are the things that are gonna burn you? And then like our ordering needs a system.
things that are going to help and protect cashflow, things that are gonna help and protect patient experience. But like, I don't disagree with you, Dr. Sharon. I know I said like, I think systems are easy, but I think it just feels like there's so many things that we could do. But I feel like in systemization, less is more, more simple, one page documents rather than 20 page documents. And then we just realized we're refining based on what the numbers tell us, what our main pain point stressors are in the business that ultimately get us to the W on the scoreboard. That's how I'd implement systems. Amen. And if you...
are listening to this right now and you're saying, man, I need all of Kiera's systems. That sounds incredible. Well, lucky for you on April 24th, Kiera and the Dental A Team are holding a virtual summit. And even luckier for you is that you can use code Extraction50 for 50 % off your ticket. It's going to be about four and a half hours, three hours of which will be continuing ed where you can learn about these systems. It's an incredible value. And we will have a link in the show notes where you can join.
So Kiera, thank you so much for that generous code. If you're listening and look what I love about Kiera is Kiera you're spicy. There's people that are like, I don't want to, I don't like the way she talks and I don't believe in her, but there's going to be other people that are like, yes, I need a tiger mom like this in my life to help me move the needle. So I like it. I don't know. Dr. Sharon does it. See you guys are sisters from other misters.
Kyle, thank you for that. And I did realize, was like, golly, Kiera, you're coming in like, you're hot, you're on it. I've already been podcasting this morning, like I'm in the rhythm. Like was so pumped for this podcast. But I think it comes from a space of, I don't know, the analogy I give is I'm sitting on one side of the river and you're on the other side and you're trying to get across this river. And I'm sitting there as a guide knowing that your pain points and the frustrations that are keeping you up at night, that are causing you to cry, that are telling you that you, that are keeping you from your family. Sometimes I believe like,
Yes, I'm a consultant. That's what our title is. But I feel like I really sit in a realm of a coach. And I think about coaches of the best teams. They don't like I go to my gym and my gym trainer. She's not like yesterday. She freaking rocked me. I can't even walk like that's why I'm not standing. My calves hurt so bad. And I'm like, she was like, Kiera run harder. And I was like, I'm trying it's so hard right now. Like, but yet sometimes in practice and in business, and this is where I love what we do. Dental A Team is about fun. It's about ease. And it's about
giving you a hug of wherever you are with no judgment. And at the same time telling you what no one else will tell you because I don't, I'm not big on consultants that are series and fluff. I'm big on like, what's the tactical, what's the practical because I've hired plenty of coaches in my career that give me a lot of great ideas, but I'm like, yeah, but that idea is not getting me through this incredible moment and opportunity I'm living through that's like making me want to lose my hair. so
When you say and like the summit is fun, come and enjoy it. It's a really great time. It's for teens. I don't care. One person in the room, 20 people in room. I don't care. Our job is to positively impact the world of dentistry. And we are actually giving away our entire virtual academy. So all the systems, we've got operations manuals, we've got onboarding things, we've got CE, we've got every single course you could imagine, team training videos, like you name it. like, they told me someone, I was the Dr. Seuss of systems. So like it's there and it's free. Like just come and like say hello and you can win it. But it's.
I really hope that it comes from a space of not a lot of people tell you what needs to happen. A lot of people tell you what you want to hear. And I think as a business owner, I've just gotten tired of that mantra in the industry. And I'm not like, this isn't about any consultant. This is just truly who I am, what I believe. And I'm about results. And I want people to get results. If they're going to spend money, if they're going to spend their time, I want to make sure teams and doctors are getting the results they want. But at the same time, you talk to any team that works with us and they absolutely love us. We get texts every single time, like, we love you guys. We have so much fun when you come in.
because I think we get the seat. We understand the doctor's perspective and we understand the team's perspective. I'm going to talk to a team. I'm not going to be like spicing up. It's like, perfect. Let's talk about block scheduling. Had an office manager the other day. She did not want to be doing any like, my gosh, the doctors are out of town. They're not hitting goals. We were negative 20 last month. They were positive. So we talked to the office manager and I'm like, Hey, it's like, let's talk about this. And she's like, my team's doing so good. And I was like, that's amazing. I'm so proud of that.
let's talk about like what numbers we need to have. Like, did you know that like last month we were negative 20? And she's like, I had no idea. And I was like, okay, great. Like as an office manager, would this help you to be like in your role and to do really well in your role? And she was like, oh my gosh, it helped me so much. So we went through and it's a very gentle, like let's walk you through and how many patients do we have? Like they have 1900 patients that are active and we need 2,800 active patients. And I was like, all right. Well, like, and she's like, Kiera, what do I do?
And so that's when you open the door and it's not coming in with a harsh judgment, just like it's no harsh judgment on any office. It's more a, here's the problem. Like we have 1900 and we need 2800. If you don't want to ask me and you want to go figure that out, phenomenal, go do that. I have no problem. There is zero ego, but typically people want to know how do I get across this river? And you've been there, you've done it you've done it successfully many times over. What are the tips? And what was amazing is we've
She ran some reports, she found some reactivation, she found 800 patients and so she's freaking lit up. She's taken it to the team. They've got simple little steps that are not going to be hard. And she's driving that. We make her look like the million dollar rock star for her doctors, but she was able to reach out and have the help. So Kyle, yes, thank you for calling me on the spice. There's some directness, but I think it comes from a space of you hire a consultant for a reason, you expect results, and I believe that you should get those results. Kiera, as our episode comes to a close, I want to,
serve you some rapid fire questions. The challenge is to answer them in a sentence or less, even one word if you want. Okay. We're going to do four. first one, one He's like, listen, I actually have 10, but Kiera, you talk way too much. So we're dropping it to four. I got you, Kyle. I see you. I actually had 29. was just saying. Okay. So first one, one metric every owner should watch weekly. Oh gosh. Weekly, I would say.
My first one that comes to mind is I think you need to be watching your overhead. And I understand it's not weekly, so that's why I'm like, but I think if you are not in the habit of watching your money and your profit every single week, you get into hot water very quickly. So if you are tracking that, then I would say my next one is I would say your diagnosis. One system every office should fix this quarter. I would say, I think if you your hygiene perio protocols in place, I think that that's going to grow you in your hygiene department. That's going to grow you faster than any other system can.
One piece of technology that you can't live without now that you didn't even know existed a year ago. you talking about me or a dental practice? Either one. All right. Well, dental office, think, well, it's like shameless plug for you guys. Yours for sure. I think that that's an amazing one. The other one I do think like AI for like Pearl or Overjet for your x-rays and diagnosis. I think dental practices need that. For me or like revenue billing. I think those are great ones. For us and our company.
a year ago. mean, you're going to judge me. So I'm a little scared to say it, but like Slack has game changed me on so many different levels. And I think, yeah, so that'd be the one that I'd say. I knew it existed though, but it's a game changer. Okay, cool. But you didn't implement it. So that's awesome. All right. And last one, one mindset shift that instantly makes a leader more effective. I would say spicy Kiera.
I'm juicing my words cautiously, Kyle. ? I think the mindset shift that people need to have is no one's coming to save you and it's time for you to take accountability and get the results you ultimately want rather than blaming, not taking ownership or accountability. And the second you do that, your life will change. Yeah. Thank you so much for joining us. Check out Kiera and her rockstar team at TheDentalATeam.com. We'll drop the special link.
for the virtual summit in the show notes. And I think we will be seeing Kiera back on the podcast at some point. It was a pleasure and an honor and we look forward to staying in touch. Kiera, thank you so much. Thank you guys. I appreciate it a ton. Thank you. Nice meeting you.
The Dental A Team (32:47)
All right, Dental A Team listeners, that was the guest interview that I absolutely loved. And I hope that if there was one idea that stood out to you, don't just agree with it, but actually go implement it this week. And if you need help setting this up in your practice or you need help just navigating or need a friend, head on over to TheDentalATeam.com and I'll be able to help you guys out. Click on the book of call or any way that we can support and serve you. That's what we're here for. That's what we're obsessed with. And as always, thanks for listening and I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team podcast.