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Transforming Your Practice into A Well-Oiled Machine

10/28/2014

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Dental practice’s, like all other businesses, need systems in place to run efficiently and keep the team on track.  Implementing a project management tool is one of those systems that can mean the difference between a practice that fosters team communication and efficiency…and not.

While it might initially seem like a daunting undertaking, there are fortunately many easily accessible project management tools available online.  Just a few examples are
Redbooth, Teamwork and Basecamp.  They range from tools that will just help you manage your to-do lists, to tools that will enable collaboration between employees.  So with all of these options how do you even get started?

1. ESTABLISH YOUR DENTAL PRACTICE’S NEEDS
First, determine what your top priorities are in a project management system.  What are the chronic issues in your practice that a project management tool could help solve?
    • Lack of communication between team members that is leading to things falling through the cracks
    • Losing files/disorganization of files
    • Lack of ownership among team members
2.  DO YOUR HOMEWORK
It is important to research all of the options out there and start weeding out the ones that don’t fit your needs.  Create a list of the top two or three that look like they might work for you.  Many of these tools will let you do a free trial period so you can test it out without any upfront costs.

3.  ASSIGN A POWER USER
Once you determine which system to use appoint a “power user”, someone in the office or an outside consultant that can set it up and work with management on how it will be used.  This will be the person who knows the system inside and out, and the go-to in the practice when questions arise.

4. TRAIN & IMPLEMENT
Lastly, utilize the power user to train the entire dental team on the system and explicitly explain how everyone should use it.  It is essential to have total buy-in and consistency for this type of tool to be successful.  

The right project management system can transform your dental practice into a more productive and enjoyable work environment.  There is some upfront work that has to happen, but once established it has the power to transform your practice into a well-oiled machine.


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Don't Let An Opportunity Get Away

10/16/2014

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Believe it or not 2014 is quickly coming to an end. This is a perfect opportunity for dental practices to proactively reach out to their patients to schedule their hygiene appointments. The majority of patients cycle through a practice twice a year, so now is the time to contact those who haven't scheduled their 6-month hygiene appointment and get them back in the chair.

Many patients may have dental insurance benefits or a flex spending account that they often forget they will lose at the end of the year.  Their hygiene appointment is a great way to put those funds to good use.  Reminding them is a value added service for patients who might not otherwise take the initiative.

In addition, your practice will benefit from the restorative treatments diagnosed as well.  This can help fill the schedule this year and into early next year.

Don't miss out on this opportunity to get more patients in your practice in 2014. Virtual Dental Office can help by making the continuing care calls and scheduling patients right in your software.  

END OF YEAR OFFER
Your dental practice can take advantage of our end of the year new client special, sign up for 40 hours of Virtual Dental Office services* by October 31, 2014 and receive an additional five complimentary hours.  Contact us at 563-582-4762 or jennifer@virtualdentaloffice.net.

*New clients only. These hours can be used for any of our services.

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A Plan For Success

10/14/2014

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We are all busy.  As a dentist, between the time spent with patients, team members and your administrative work you likely have a full workday, and then some.  But are the things you are doing on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis all helping you to achieve your long-term goals? Are you being as productive as you can be or is much of your time being spent on busy work that isn’t moving you forward?  

For many of us, even though we have a full workload, at the end of the day we still feel overwhelmed with everything we didn’t get done and many times don’t do what we originally set out to. Whether your long-term goals are to grow your dental practice, have more work/life balance, or just to get back to enjoying dentistry, it is important to focus your daily workload towards reaching those goals.

What I have found from personal experience and studying experts’ solutions is that implementing a few key steps can make you more productive and put you on the path to success.

Look at the big picture
The first thing to do is look at the big picture and understand what your long-term goals are, and then WRITE THEM DOWN.

There was a study conducted on the 1979 Harvard MBA program where graduate students were asked “have you set clear, written goals for your future and made plans to accomplish them?”  Only 3% had written goals and plans, 13% had goals but they weren’t in writing and 84% had no goals at all. Ten years later, the same group was interviewed again and they found:
  • The 13% of the class who had goals, but did not write them down was earning twice the amount of the 84% who had no goals. 
  • The 3% who had written goals were earning, on average, ten times as much as the other 97% of the class combined.
The results attest to how creating clear and measurable goals and writing them down is key to success.

Plan to achieve your goals
Once you have your goals down it’s time to put together a plan to help break them down into obtainable, actionable tasks. 
  • Empty everything out of your head and get ALL of your to-dos onto paper (or your computer, tablet, phone).  This is essential so that your brain can focus on other things instead of trying to remember each of these individual tasks.
  • Once all of your tasks are out, prioritize them according to your written goals.  Determine what daily tasks are really going to help you achieve your big picture objectives.
  • You don’t have to do it all yourself.  Once you have them prioritized, determine what you can delegate to team members or outside vendors/consultants.
  • Schedule the rest of the tasks on your calendar. This will help you stay on task and be realistic about what you can accomplish.
  • Come back to your list on a weekly basis to review and go through the process of prioritizing, delegating and scheduling again. While this might feel redundant it will help you refocus and make sure you are staying on track.

Following these steps can help you focus your time and end the day feeling accomplished and less overwhelmed.  
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If you’re trying to do it all yourself, you are missing your potential!   
Contact us to learn how we can help reach your full practice potential.

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