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Howard Speaks: You Need an Associate Now Howard Farran, DDS, MAGD, MBA, DICOI; Publisher, Dentaltown Magazine

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You Need an Associate Now
by Howard Farran, DDS, MAGD, MBA, DICOI, Publisher, Dentaltown Magazine
Every year around this time, 5,000 lesson-weary yet fresh-faced dental students emerge from dental school ready to take on the challenge of maintaining and improving the oral health of millions of Americans. When I look across the American landscape at the 125,000 general dentists currently in practice it blows my mind that those 5,000 grads haven't been snatched up by their junior year of dental school because of how valuable they are.

Don't think the same way? Indulge me a little while I prove that no matter what you currently think, there is, without a doubt, room for you to hire an associate immediately.

Phones

Your current phone system is just awful. You're probably using the same copper cable technology invented by Thomas Edison, you have someone manning the phones only during business hours and when you're closed all calls go to your little answering machine that still uses the little cassette tape. Hey, doc, wake up! The turn of the century happened 13 years ago already! You need to move to a digital phone system - a voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) - run it through the Internet and your network. My practice, Today's Dental, in Phoenix, Arizona, uses Avaya (formerly Nortel) and it is awesome! When my practice is closed and we get 12 phone calls from people who didn't leave a message, we can track the missed phone calls and someone on my team can call those numbers back first thing when they get in.

Humans are extremely complex. They've got a three-and-a-half pound brain powered by a trillion circuits. The brain is influenced by a person's nutrition, genetics, whether or not they're hopped up on caffeine, chocolate or sugar, etc. Humans are very imperfect decision-making machines. When a human brushes her teeth at 6 a.m. and feels something missing in the back of her mouth, she will pick up her iPhone and call her dental office. When an answering machine picks up instead of a live person, she shrugs her shoulders, says, "Eh, whatever," and just hangs up to either A. just live with it or B. call another dental practice later on that will pick up the phone so they can fix her up. If you can track when your calls are coming in, not only can you call those numbers back right away, but you can adjust your staff 's schedule to best cover when the majority of your phone calls are coming in. That way when patients call, you can assure they're being answered by an actual person.

What I find most ridiculous about your phone system isn't the technology itself - it's that you only have someone living and breathing answering the phone 8 a.m. - 5 p.m., Monday through Thursday, with an hour break for lunch each day. There are 168 hours in a week and the average dental practice is open for 32 of them. A practice's primary concern is, "How the heck can we get more new patients?" Easy answer, make sure a living, breathing person is answering your phones during high-call-volume hours.

Almost every dental practice I visit has two dental assistants and a dentist doing all of the dentistry, and there's only one person out front filling the schedule. I always say, "Here's what we're going to do. We're going to change your phone system to a digital VoIP, and instead of having two assistants helping do the dentistry, we're going to move one of those assistants up front. Also, instead of having one person answer the phone from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., one receptionist is going to come in at 6 a.m. with the owner doctor and she's going to take a lunch from 11 a.m. to Noon, and then she will leave at 3 p.m. The other receptionist is going to come in at 9 a.m. with the associate dentist and she's going to work from 9 a.m. until 6 p.m. That way the phones are going to be 100 percent answered when the majority of people are calling. We're going to stagger the staffing of your front desk because 50 percent of the incoming calls to your practice are made when you are closed early in the morning and later in the evening. Also, of the calls that do come in while you're open, 50 percent of those go to voicemail while your one-person front desk is taking care of other business. And if both front-desk staffers have their hands full, you need to make sure that any staff member in your practice is comfortable picking up the phone. This way you have much better coverage at the front desk and you'll be able to fill more holes in your schedule so you can do more dentistry!" If you answer twice the number of calls coming into your office with a live, highly trained receptionist, you will increase the number of appointments. When you increase the number of appointments, most dental offices today can actually absorb almost all of that capacity. Dentists don't have a problem if you double book them, triple book them, have to work them through lunch, or make them work past 5 p.m.

Don't want to be open more, or keep someone in the office longer to cover the phones and make appointments after hours? Fine, but I challenge you to track the phone calls you're missing and then tell me you're OK with the status quo.

If you have an antiquated phone system, your little answering machine isn't going to tell you about the missed call at 6 a.m., and unless your patient is fiercely loyal to your practice, you might not hear back from her at all. But if you use the digital VoIP system, your front desk comes in at 8 a.m., notices the list of missed calls and starts calling the numbers back immediately. When you call your 6 a.m. patient back, it clicks with her and she says, "Oh, yeah, I did call you this morning. Thank you so much for calling me back so soon. I have a problem. I think I'm missing part of my tooth."

Expand Your Hours

Your front-desk staffer is still on the phone with your 6 a.m. caller, and your staffer should know her job so well that no matter the patient's protests, she goes right for the close and says, "Let's get you in. Can you come in today? What's the best time for you to come in?" That's at least what she should say, but is your practice able to accommodate emergency patients? When it comes time to schedule a patient, almost 140 million Americans will tell you from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. they can't leave their business because they're working! Oh and you're open Monday through Thursday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. - the same block of time your patient can't come in. So what should you do? How about you hire an associate and expand your practice hours! You have the land, the building, and the equipment. Would you rather it just sit there costing you money, or would you rather use it and make money?! Bring in an associate and cover 50 hours a week instead of only 32.

Don't think you can land an associate in your neck of the woods? The largest employer of dentists on planet Earth is the United States military. It employs around 5,000 dentists, and it can get these kids to sit on an aircraft carrier in the middle of the Pacific Ocean for half a year at a time, leaving their spouses and children on shore. You think you can't land a quality associate because you live in Hays, Kansas? Are you kidding me? In Hays, Kansas, at least your associate can have breakfast and dinner with his family! Think about that!

Beef up your front desk so your practice can sell more dentistry, and stay open longer so you can accommodate your patients' schedules and you can perform more dentistry. Pretty soon you're going to have more dentistry to do than you have dentists to accommodate it. When that happens - hire an associate!

What are your thoughts? Once you've finished reading this, please log onto Dentaltown.com and post your comments under my column. See you online!

Howard Live
Howard Farran, DDS, MBA, is an international speaker who has written dozens of published articles. To schedule Howard to speak to your next national, state or local dental meeting, e-mail jenna@farranmedia.com
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