Change for the Better by Jay Geier

Two of the dental industry’s most profitable discoveries

by Jay Geier

1. Remove the phones from the front desk.


2. Convert the doctor’s private office into a treatment room.

1. Patients aren’t complaining about any part of the end-to-end experience with which they were disappointed—they just aren’t coming back. They are also not recommending your practice and are probably telling others in person and online why they weren’t happy.


2. Patients are complaining to your staff, but you’re not hearing about it. It’s human nature not to want to ’fess up to the boss about a complaint, but this speaks to your leadership style. A good leader makes team members feel comfortable talking about complaints, trusting you will listen and work to help solve the root cause of the issue versus blaming them for whatever went wrong.


3. Patients are complaining and you are hearing about it, but you’re not “hearing” it. You take it personally, get defensive, rationalize and make excuses. Instead of accepting the complaint as a gift because it lets you know where you need to improve, you tell yourself the patient is wrong and change nothing.


4. Patients aren’t complaining because they’re genuinely satisfied with their total experience. You would know this because they’ve been coming to your practice for years, referred many others and perhaps have given stellar social media reviews. If your patients don’t have longevity with you, and you don’t have a steady stream of new patients from referrals, be honest with yourself about the first three scenarios.

• It looks more like an attic, cluttered with stacks of items begging to be purged. If these papers are important, they need to be organized and filed appropriately. Move it all to your office manager’s desk, and delegate the task of making it useful to the business. Or give another team member a special project opportunity.


• Office clutter is a stark reminder of everything you haven’t done; instead of providing inspiration or relaxation, being in there increases your stress level. This makes your office an unhealthy and unproductive place to be.


• Most team members think the doctor uses the office as a hiding place from patients and team members—hardly a desirable leadership behavior.


• Doctors use the computer throughout the day mainly for personal business (same with the phone, if there’s one in there), checking email and playing games. We coach clients to have an office at their home and to establish a daily routine of taking care of personal business before going into work. You can be more focused while at home and eliminate the distractions that keep you from being fully present for your patients and team when you get to work.

Jay Geier is the founder and CEO of Scheduling Institute, a private practice consultancy dedicated to helping doctors successfully grow their practices with guaranteed results, starting with the No. 1 area of growth and profitability in the practice—the front desk. To request a free front desk audit, go to auditmypractice.com/dtown.