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4 Steps to a New Normal in Your Practice by Jen Butler

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Get in a room with more than two dentists and they will quickly share about their perceived
normalities of dentistry:

  • It's normal to work with patients you want to punch in the face.
  • It's normal to have team drama.
  • It's normal to have to deal with people who complain about cost.
  • It's normal to lose sleep, lose weight, lose hair and lose relationships.
  • It's normal to be so burned out you'd rather quit dentistry and join a circus than put up with one more day!
Wait! Why give up everything you've worked so hard for just because you believe there are certain inherent truths about dentistry? What if it's all a lie? What if these are other people's truths and they don't have to be yours? What if there is a new normal waiting—one where you love what you do and are energized and passionate about who you do it for?

There are four steps to creating this new normal. The first step is all about you, which takes some self-reflection and a lot of honesty. A strong business is built around the strongest product, and that is you, the doctor. The second step is taking a hard look at your practice. How you critically look at your practice, its environment and your team determines its growth. Step three is all about the law of attraction. This law basically states, "What you know, understand and focus on, you attract." Attracting your ideal patient means you want to get into the lives, heart and head of your ideal patient so you can successfully connect with them on their level. Step four is all about asking yourself specific questions that will help you pinpoint exactly where your ideal patient is and how you plan on attracting them.

Step 1: It's About You

"Why" is the Key
Author Simon Sinek says it best: It's not what you do but why you do it.

There is one thing patients have that you want—their loyalty. Think about it. You get money from patients all the time, no biggie. You get patients to say yes every day, but there is no significant move in your financial numbers. You get new patients every month, maybe every day, but you are still looking to take your practice to the next level. What is missing? Loyalty.

People become loyal not because of what you do but why you do it. Consumers return because of what a brand, business or product stands for or means to them, and how it aligns with their internal beliefs. So, why do you do what you do? (Watch Sinek talk more about this concept at www.startwithwhy.com.)

Know What You Like and What You Don't
It's time for you to have an honest conversation with yourself. Ask yourself, "What do I like about what I do?" Make a list of everything that comes to mind. There's no right or wrong answers. What's important is that you answer it very specifically. The more clear you are about who you do your best work with, the faster you can attract them and build a schedule and business around your ideal patient.

Now, ask yourself an even more important question. "What don't I like about what I do?" If you're having difficulty answering these two questions, think back to that one patient who stands out—the one you couldn't wait to see again and the one you couldn't wait to say goodbye to. What about them, the situation or the circumstances made it so memorable?

Don't Settle for Good, Be Great
Here's where you let the ego go and acknowledge your professional skills and competencies. No successful businessperson ever started a business claiming they did it all and they were great at it all the time. Building a practice is no different. Most successful businesses start out because they did one thing great, consistently and gained the trust of their clients. As trust was built, they added more services, branched out to address additional needs of their client base, and continued to solve their client's next big problem.

Expecting dentistry to be any different will keep you frustrated and missing opportunities to build yourself, your team and your practice. The procedures you are great at and enjoy doing—there's your money. Do something great and people talk about it with others. Do something great and people want more. Do something great and people will pay the value of greatness.

Step Two: It's About Business

What Sets You Apart?
If you were to get a pair of special glasses that allowed you to see your business from your patients' perspective, what would stand out? What would make your space, processes, systems, team and services so different from the dentist around the corner? Don't just look through rose-colored lenses either—see the good, the bad and the ugly. The bad and the ugly are easily discovered by patients and often overlooked by practice owners. To have more, get more, produce more and make more, you have to want to be more than your current self. When you are different, in both positive and negative ways, patients will talk and share their experiences with others. You're not here to please and work with everyone. You are here to attract your like-minded, ideal patients so you can do your best work.

Who is on Your Team?
Remember the last time you went to a CE class and you were away from the office for the day? How did it run? Was business conducted? Patients called? AR completed? Of course. Now imagine your entire team leaves for the day and it's just you in the office with patients. How would you fare? The point here is that your team is crucial to your business success. Ensuring they are the right team for you and what you believe, your vision and mission becomes the difference between a successful dental practice and just another brick and mortar.

Dentists often find it difficult to complete this step with the rigor and tenacity it requires. When you feel attached to people, fear the threat of change or recognize you might not know what you are looking for, it makes sense that evaluating your team becomes daunting. This might be the time you want to use a tool or resource, phone a friend or hire a consultant. Figuring out and asking the right questions will help you determine who is really on your team and who is merely collecting a paycheck.

Step Three: It's About Them

Tell Their Story
With information you gleaned from previous steps and their components, tell the story of your ideal patient. Write it out in detail and be sure to include gender, demographics, internal pains, external struggles, goals, etc. If you don't know who your ideal patient is, you can't find them, attract them, connect with them and build loyalty from them. It's that simple.

What's the Biggest Problem?
In business we are all out to fill a need, solve a problem or offer a solution. Consumers start with filling their biggest and basic needs first (classic Maslow's theory). It's important for you to know what your ideal patient's biggest problem is so you can be the one to solve it. The more you delve into the pains of your ideal patient, the more you can understand how it impacts their livelihood and create a number of solutions and choices for them.

A patient's biggest problem is often different than yours. It might not have anything to do with their smile but rather is centered around time management and committing to regular appointments. Or, it could be the fear of being made fun of or giving up their favorite food for treatment. Build a place for your ideal patient and they'll be happy to be your client. Connect with your ideal patient around their pains and struggles and they will feel as if you get them—loyalty at its best.

Sherlock to the Rescue!
You know their biggest problem, now solve it. What do you need to change, modify, delete, add, move or retire to make sure you solve that one problem? Solve the biggest problem and your ideal patient will trust you to solve the smaller ones too. Change is going to be necessary through this process. If you or anything about your practice didn't need changing, you would then already be working with your ideal patients. The faster you can adapt to change, the quicker you will be able to create a practice that meets the clinical, practical, emotional and analytical needs of your ideal patient.

Step Four: It's About Location, Location, Location

Where's Waldo?
With typical marketing efforts, dentists run radio ads, place billboards, sponsor a school sports program, or even rely on mailers to random communities in the hopes that it catches someone's eye. This is a passive way to build a practice, and with so many choices within the industry there is no time to be passive. Stop playing the adult version of Where's Waldo and start attracting your ideal patients with intention and purpose.

If you've gone through each step and component of this process, you can use the information to leverage your marketing efforts and ensure you never feel as if you throw money at marketing again. Here are some additional questions to answer before going to the final component:
  • Where does my ideal patient look for me? Example: online, Yellow Pages, social media, school bulletin board, ADA directory, insurance listings.
  • Where does my ideal patient hang out? Example: online, social media platforms, school, community centers, sporting events, golf course, hair salon.
Ready, Set, Attract
It's time to go meet your ideal patients! You know who they are, what they want, when they want it, where they hang out, and how and when they search for you. The vital information you need to leverage your marketing efforts and ensure you never feel as if you throw money at marketing again is at your fingertips. Develop a proactive mindset in your practice by getting out of your office. Go introduce yourself to some ideal patients and create a practice that inspires and energizes you. Get out there and create your new normal.

Jen Butler, M.Ed., CPC, BCC, has been working in the area of stress management and resiliency coaching for over 20 years. She is available as a coach, consultant, speaker and trainer.
To learn more about her services and sign up for her monthly stressLESS newsletter to go: www.jenbutlercoaching.com. Take the dental stress self-assessment at: www.jenbutlercoaching.com/quiz/ to find out your stress levels.
Contact Jen Butler directly at 623-776-6715 or jen@jenbutlercoaching.com for more information.

Dentaltown Magazine
September 2025
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