Dentistry Uncensored With Howard Farran

Who’s answering your phone? Funnel-y how most dentists don’t track their new patient journey from landing on your website to calling your dental office. On average 100 people have to land on your website for three to call. Three people have to call for your front desk to convert one into a scheduled patient. Three patients have to come in with a cavity for you to convert one into getting treatment. Combine every one of these underperforming aspects of your new patient dental marketing journey and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics still shows an impressive 2020 median annual wage for dentists of $164,010 with the lowest 10% earning less than $79,000 and the highest 10% earning more than $208,000, showing the top 10% netting 2.5 times more than the lowest 10%. This clearly shows hope in the range of possibilities for any individual dentist wondering what’s possible. We’ve talked before how owner dentist net $100K more than non-owners. We know every successful business needs to get really good at one thing exp

When you increase your treatment plan acceptance rate you prevent a small problem cavity today, from turning into a bigger problem root canal or extraction in the future. When you offer same day dentistry patients are very motivated to do it today so they don’t have to come back. If the patient fails to schedule and come back your treatment plan acceptance rate goes down and the disease continues on which is not optimum for oral health. The only secret to lower prices is lower cost so to maximize profit make every operatory the same so you can do any procedure, in any room, anytime. When 35% of cost is the dentist, 25% staff, 7-10% lab, 4-6% supplies, you can’t afford for your business to slow down or stop because of a constraint from the lower cost rent and facilities of 5-8%. When you have to move a patient from a hygiene room to a treatment room it cost time and money often times causing you to reschedule. Not to mention the front desk can’t schedule emergency patients or walk-ins. Extra operatories are no

Welcome to Our Practice! We realize that when it comes to picking a dentist that you have many choices to choose from. We want to sincerely thank you for coming in today and choosing us to keep you smiling for many years to come. Please feel free to share the enclosed referral cards with your family and friends to bring in on their first visit. Share the care $10.00 gift card. Tell your friends and family about the great care you experienced at Today's Dental and give them this card. When they become patients, you will receive a $10.00 gift card and your referral will receive a new patient gift! The highest compliment comes from our patients when you refer a friend or family member to our office. Please let us know you passed along our card by writing your name below. Two $10.00 gift card limit per family. We look forward to seeing you soon! Today's Dental staff serving Ahwatukee since 1987.

Kudos and praise to all the Dental Public Health (PDH) specialists who were recognized as a speciality in 1950, focusing on improving dental health at the community level rather than the individual level with programs like Community Water Fluoridation, children’s dental health programs in schools, setting up coronavirus and HPV vaccination programs, and public health clinics, the PDH work is never completed. With unlimited demand and limited supply, finding ways to increase efficiency is key. A common problem in any healthcare delivery facility is patient cancellations and no shows. If you miss two appointments in a row you should have to pay a non refundable deposit to make another appointment which you lose if you don’t show. Vinegar that is free, is sweeter than honey. The proverb not to look a gift horse in the mouth is because the horse’s teeth are an indication of the horse’s health, but if the horse was a free gift it doesn’t matter since it cost you nothing. People always value something more if they

When hygienist pre-appoint their own patients to future continuing care they will instantly find out which patients are onboard who isn’t . If the patient bought in to do the right oral healthcare thing and schedule their next appointment in advance, you can monitor this vital sign of patient buy in or give a warning sign your back door is open and the patients are going down stream so you can decide if you want to fix the dam or spend the damn marketing dollars to replace them. The hygienist is most responsible for creating this value which is why they have to ask the patient to schedule to come back because when a patient says no they can see exactly when and with who, their hourlong appointment message did not work on in time to adjust w response to this tasks, hence the meaning of the word responseability. The hygienist needs to own it, be measured, and held accountable. How could you expect the front office to be responsible for preappointing the hygienist patients when you obviously can’t be responsible

Perception equals reality despite the world not being flat because trust has more value than logic. The time needed to make a knowledgeable decision reality means that most of us can only master one thing unless you’re Torakusu Yamaha who mastered both motorcycles and pianos. Trust is an investment when your infection control builds patient confidence and is being explained by long term staff the patient already knows and trusts providing an economic barrier in the marketing efforts from someone else they don’t know. Trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent has been the Scout Law since 1908 and will help you become more talon-ted and breaking it is ill-eagle.

Do you reward your new patients with a gift?

Profitability begins with the Financial Arrangement and ends with increasing account receivables, sending statements, then resending again with scary ‘Past Due” messages stamped on it with red ink made from a single drop of blood from your CPA, collection agencies, bad debt, negative cash flow, and high overhead. The Financial Arrangement at McDonald’s begins with clear prices so you can decide exactly what you want to order, and then you pay in full or you will not get your Happy Meal with McVodka. If Doc Ronald McDonald did give it to you first, and you never did pay for it, assuming they had average dental overhead of two-thirds, then they would have had to buy the all natural ingredients, which I assume was the human hair, from the profit dollars of two previous sales. This is why financial arrangement impacts profitability more than price. If you want to boost profitability i'm lovin' McDonald’s order, pay, food. If you prefer lovin' the Profit Hamburgler use Dentistry’s order, food, and pray.

If you want to keep your promise you should Underpromise and Overdeliver. The First Law of Customer Service is Satisfaction = Perceptions – Expectations. The Second Law of Customer Service is it’s hard to catch up once you are behind! When you over promise and underdeliver you are raising your patient’s expectations which is setting up a trap that you could eventually step in. If you under promise to lower their expectations and then over deliver with a fantastic experience you will satisfy your patients by successfully managing their expectations. You should always keep your promise but if in doubt, under promise and over deliver. When a patient breaks their front tooth off and asks you if you can match it, why would you say absolutely! I tell them God made the tooth next to it and you want me to match it?!? I will try my very best, but no one can perfectly match your natural human tooth. Their expectations have been lowered and then they are delighted when they see the final result because I exceeded their

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I’m sorry, we can’t see you today. Please wait in line and give us your money another day. Having your customers wait in line to give you money is an idea that given enough time will make your business obsolete and dead as a doornail from some competitor dentist who doesn’t have lines. If I can’t come in today and give you money then hit your gas pedal to add capacity, operatories, associates, hours, or buy the technology that allows you to work faster. Or, you can hit the brakes and raise your prices. This will shorten the line by making the people who value you less and are unwilling to pay you more to see you today, to get out of line, so the people willing to pay more are allowed the freedom to pay you more money for the extra value of being seen today. Same day dentistry is the fastest way to increase your case acceptance. If you sell a bottle of water for $1 and your profit margin is 10 cents (represented by the bottled water cap) then your profit margin is 10%. If you raise your price one dime (which w

Is your house in order? Are you poised forward growth? The first Dollar General store opened in Springfield, Kentucky in 1955 and today has 16,368 stores in the U.S. which is 3.5 times as many as the 4,743 Walmarts. They locate their 7,500 square foot stores and plan their merchandise selection to best serve their target customers of the low and fixed income households who are underserved by other retailers, with 75% of their stores in towns with less that 20,000 people. Going where your completion ain’t is the antonym of being just another me too product and service. In the past Dollar General had trouble with mergers and acquisitions and found starting their own de nova stores worked better, measuring their success with the final metric being same store sales growth. If your only dental office, or all of your offices are shrinking in same store sales the. you need to stop, adjust and get back to growth before you start expanding. Dick and Mac McDonald, now you know why they call it McDonalds, spent six year

Dr. Doug Depew has been practicing in the Northwest suburbs of Atlanta Georgia since 1990. He graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Georgia, received his dental degree from the Medical College of Georgia, and received his certificate in orthodontics and master's degree from Baylor College of Dentistry at Baylor University. Dr. Depew is the founder and Academic Director of Trapezio, which provides formal training for orthodontic staff members and is endorsed by the American Association of Orthodontists. As the program creator, Dr. Depew is frequently invited to speak at professional meetings around the country and overseas. Dr. Depew is also proud to have served as a member and chairman of the AAO Council on Technology. Join the community on Dentaltown at https://www.dentaltown.com

Female-friendly Lowe's started in 1946 and has 2,197 locations. Home Depot started in 1978 and has 2,296 locations. Home Depot focused on men because 90% of the 11.4 million U.S. construction industry workers were males while Lowe’s focused on females because they knew home improvement decisions are made by women, who also make 75% of all dental appointments. OB-GYN became a specialty in 1880 and was founded by the horrible unethical man James Marion Sims who is credited as the “father of modern gynecology”. The word hysterical comes from Latin hystericus "of the womb" thought to be exclusive to women sending them into uncontrollable and neurotically insane owing to a dysfunction of the uterus, the removal of which is still called a hysterectomy to this day. Today women comprise 58% of practicing OB-GYNs and 84% of residents, with males down to 16%. Today 52% of pediatric dentists are female up from 14% in 1998. Today dental school graduation classes are now 51% female vs 46% in 2009, 35% in 1999, 27% in 1989

Hire on attitude and train for skills is what made Atlanta based Chick-fil-A started in 1967 by S. Truett Cathy. They do $11 billion a year with only 2605 locations, averaging $4.8 million per store, compared to McDonald's $2.7 million. The franchise fee is only $10K, the average franchisee earns $200K a year, you can only own one store, all because they want long term happy employees that stay twice as long as the average fast food employee. They say “My pleasure” instead of “Thank you” which is probably why S. Truett lived to the ripe old age of 93, when he died September 8, 2014.

What can dentists learn from the UFC - Ultimate Fighting Championship? You think dentistry is tough? How would you like to go to work and get punched in the face, literally? When Dana White and the Fertitta brothers, Frank and Lorenzo purchased the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) in 2001 for $2 million, it was banned from Pay Per View and every major television network. Even right here in Arizona the late Arizona Senator John McCain did everything he could to block the UFC referring to their brand of violence as human cockfighting which is laughable coming from a man who never met a war he didn’t want to the USA to fight in, and today it’s worth $7 billion, and you can't pull the trigger on buying your own dental office. Avoid the naysayers and focus on your true core customer patient fans that want to only see you just like they want to see Nate Diaz fight tonight despite his 12 losses. You know why he has 12 losses? Because he never turned down a fight and you turn down, quit, and give up on every roo

The secret sauce at Blockbuster was the experience, what is your everyday patient experience like? Blockbuster started in 1985 renting VHS movies for 70% of sales and 30% for merchandise, popcorn, candy, and late fees. They peaked in 2005 and went bankrupt in 2010 after steadily declining to subscription services like Netflix that comes to you, instead of you going to them which is a much better experience, paying per movie at Blockbuster, or going to one of the 40,000 Red Box locations which was started by Mitch Lowe, SVP of McDonalds in 2003. (In 2000 Blockbuster declined a deal to purchase Netflix for $50 million) were both killed by a better experience at home, streaming video technology like Netflix, and getting too expensive unlike Arizona ice tea which kept their price at 99 cents by printing it on the can.

Santosh Patel, President and Co-Founder of Complete Specialty Solutions, is committed to driving collaboration between general dentists and specialists by providing a turnkey in-house specialty solution. With over 15 years of large-scale operations experience in both the medical and dental industry, Santosh and his team are helping DSOs/Groups/Solo offices thrive by addressing the needs expressed by patients for comprehensive in-house dental care. Join the community on Dentaltown at https://www.dentaltown.com

Do you have ED? Come on doc, it's really not that hard. The hospital Emergency Department (ED) patients are admitted for treatment 15% percent of the time, resulting in profits of 8% on low paying government insurance Medicaid and Medicare and 40% on high paying privately insured patients. This is why oral surgeons earn $448K and endodontists earn $307K because they all have ED - Emergency Department that know they have to see every emergency from their Too 10 referrals which is why they always have an extra one or two emergence department operatories that no one is ever scheduled in unlike my general dentist homies who only earn $197K while telling the patient they don’t have an opening today and then telling me and their denral supply rep that they can’t afford an extra operatory. Please tell your friendly oral surgeon and endodontist that I told you he had ED and please, no hard feelings. Check out this topic on Dentaltown

I’m lovin it if you own your dental office, land and building. McDonalds does via the Harry J. Sonneborn (1916-1992) Model because McDonalds is really a real state company that owns all of their McBuildings, charging 8-15% of store sales as rent, with more earnings from McRent than selling McBurgers and McFries. This is what Dr. Rick Kushner DDS does with his Comfort Dental franchise with over 150 independently owned offices in 13 states across the U.S. and why he could donate $1 million to Marquette Dental School for the Comfort Dental clinic.