In this episode of The Strategic Thinker, Heather Driscoll and Drew Schaefer present an important decision tree exercise that helps dental practices find where business improvements can be made. Asking these questions about your organization allows you to pinpoint problems and quickly course-correct leading to a more profitable office.

In this episode of The Strategic Thinker, Melissa Thomas and Dr. John Meis share simple processes for getting new team members started on the right foot. Onboarding is often overlooked and dental practices miss important opportunities to set up strong employee relationships and performance from day 1. Retaining top employees is vital for the success of the organization, and building strong retention starts on a team member’s very first day.

How many times have you seen a patient that has a full mouth of untreated dental needs say, "I know I should have come to the dentist a long time ago to get my teeth fixed."You probably hear this more times than you can count....each week. This is a great time to ask a few questions to patients:

It is rare to find someone in dentistry who is a self-professed “numbers person”. Dentistry is a relationship-based industry, focused on taking care of the needs of patients. However, that doesn’t mean that the numbers should be ignored. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. Many employee actions directly impact profitability.

As dental offices recover from the COVID shutdowns, there’s been a ramp-up of demand. Appointments that were originally scheduled for spring were pushed into summer. But, as we head into fall, most dental practices are noticing a drop-off of appointments. There’s a black hole in the schedules of most dental practices this October and it’s important to start tackling it now so it doesn’t heavily impact this year’s profitability.