The Double Your Production Podcast

Dr. Eric Tobler began his career as a dentist in his family’s office, working alongside his dad and his brother. As his career progressed, he learned more about practice management and developed an interest in dentistry’s innovation and technology. Today, Dr. Tobler is the Clinical Director for Mortenson Dental Partners and helps integrate new technology into their practices. He has keen insight into what’s useful in dental practices and how to introduce new equipment to teams and get results quickly. In this episode, you’ll learn: The importance of early success with new technology How to get the team on board with new equipment What to do when a new piece of technology is rejected by the team How to evaluate new technology and decide what to purchase Recommendations on what technology to bring into your practice Dr. Tobler will be taking the stage at our upcoming practice growth conference, The Champions of Dentistry Summit, happening April 25-27 in New Orleans. He’ll be talking in depth about which emerging technologies are worth investing in and how to seamlessly implement new equipment into your practice.  In-person and virtual tickets to the conference are still available at http://www.championsofdentistry.com 

Dental practice success depends on getting patients into the chair for the care they need. Without effective phone calls and scheduling, practices miss opportunities to deliver treatment.  Today, Cory Pinegar is joining Dr. John Meis and Wendy Briggs on The Double Your Production Podcast to talk about the challenges of converting phone calls into appointments. Cory is the CEO of Reach and he’s sharing how to capture more incoming calls and boost the conversion rate. In this episode, you’ll learn: How missed calls impact practice performance (on average, about 30% of incoming calls are missed) Scripts and scheduling tips for reactivating overdue patients How dental practice call volume fluctuates throughout the day and how to staff for those peaks How to supplement call support in your practice to get better phone call results   To contact Cory or learn more about Reach, go to https://www.getreach.co/ 

Victoria Roos Olsson is an expert in leadership development and has coached leaders across the world for the past 20 years. She works closely with the FranklinCovey innovations team and is one of the authors of FranklinCovey’s bestselling book, “Everyone Deserves a Great Manager: The 6 Critical Practices for Leading a Team.” Today, she’s joining Dr. John Meis and Wendy Briggs on The Double Your Production podcast to talk about the leadership skills needed to create a strong, positive atmosphere in your dental practice. In this episode, you’ll learn: How to spark real employee engagement (and why reasons for engagement differ from person to person) Why intentionality is crucial in building and maintaining a great company culture How to keep a company culture strong and positive (and how to correct behavior that doesn’t align) How to maintain good energy throughout the day by managing 5 key things We’re excited to announce that Victoria will be joining us as a keynote speaker at our upcoming Champions of Dentistry Summit, April 25-27 in New Orleans, LA. To join us for the conference, register at http://www.championsofdentistry.com 

Dr. Paul Schempp is a behavioral scientist and professor at the University of Georgia where he studies decision making. Through his vigorous research, he’s uncovered how to make better decisions consistently and how to avoid bad decisions. Today, he’s sharing: How great decision makers use data to predict their future environment One skill that separates great decision makers from those who are mediocre How to make good decisions in the midst of uncertainty The neuroscience behind high-pressure decisions Why it’s important to think through contingency plans How the Dunning-Kruger Effect impacts decision making And more… Dr. Schempp will be joining us as a keynote speaker at this year’s Champions of Dentistry Summit in New Orleans. At the conference, he’ll be sharing the science behind the most impactful dental practice decisions.  We can’t wait for his session and we’re honored to share the stage with him this year. If you haven’t yet, you can get your tickets to the 2024 Summit here: http://championsofdentistry.com/

Money conversations can be awkward, and talking to dental patients about the cost of care can be daunting and uncomfortable for both the patient and the team. Today, Dr. John Meis and Wendy Briggs are sitting down with Jay Letwat from Sunbit to talk through ways to make these conversations easy and straightforward so patients get more options and more access to the care they need. In this episode, you’ll learn: Why outdated thinking around financing causes added stress for patients and the team How old financing models and tools prevent patients from taking advantage of payment options How to talk about financing in a way that feels easy and smooth for patients Why the fear of treatment cost can lead to missed appointments and how to get in front of it Verbal cues that indicate a patient is interested in financing options How production and case acceptance rise with third-party financing  To learn more about Sunbit’s payment technology, go to https://www.sunbit.com 

In today’s episode of The Double Your Production Podcast, Dr. John Meis and Wendy Briggs are answering a common question we hear from clients at The Team Training Institute, “Should owner-dentists and associates attend team training days?”  If you’ve ever booked an in-office training day with us, or are considering it in the future, it’s important to know who should be in the room in order to get the best results.  In this episode, you’ll hear Dr. John and Wendy’s thought process behind these decisions and their advice for getting the most out of a training investment.

In Part 3 of this series, Dr. John Meis and Wendy Briggs are sharing the best technology to use to raise case acceptance in your practice. One of the most important pieces of case acceptance is educating patients and making concerns visual for them. Because patients usually can’t see what’s happening with their teeth, they don’t understand the severity of the disease or decay. If dental offices can make these things visible to patients and improve their awareness of the problems, patients begin to understand the necessity and urgency of treatment and will more readily move forward with needed care. The tools discussed in this podcast help to make oral health more visual for patients and help dental teams run more smoothly and effectively.  Listen to hear Dr. John and Wendy’s top recommendations.

In Part Two of this series, Dr. John Meis and Wendy Briggs continue to discuss how to raise the case acceptance rate in a dental practice by creating smooth, effective patient handoffs (or trust-transfers). Patient handoffs are a little-known secret to great case acceptance because they’re an important opportunity to build trust, demonstrate excellence, and ensure understanding with patients. When handoffs are handled poorly, patients lose confidence in the recommended treatment and hesitate to move forward with their needed care. When handoffs are done right, patients are put at ease and more readily accept treatment. In this episode, you’ll learn: Why most handoffs should be done in front of the patient (and how to include them in the process) How to use smooth patient handoffs to build trust and connection with patients How to structure a handoff to make sure the team is communicating the right things quickly and efficiently How smooth team transfers can help doctors preserve more of their mental energy throughout the day

In this 3-part series, Dr. John Meis and Wendy Briggs are explaining ways to increase the case acceptance rate in a dental practice.  When a practice doesn’t have a well-defined and consistent case acceptance process in place, patients don’t get the information and reassurance they need to move forward with necessary dental care. When this happens, their health declines, the team gets frustrated, and practice performance declines. But what we’ve learned working with practices across the US is that with a few key systems in place, the case acceptance rate can rise very quickly, leading to healthier patients and a stronger practice. In part one of this series, you’ll learn: ·         How diagnostic inconsistencies hurt patient trust and lower the case acceptance rate ·         The importance of clear diagnostic criteria across the team ·         How to strengthen patient trust and connection ·         How the team can support and echo each other in patient conversations   Listen now here or at www.theteamtraininginstitute.com/podcast

When you talk with the team about your practice goals and share key performance indicators (KPIs), are they excited and motivated to reach those numbers or do their eyes glaze over? Today, we're sharing a segment from one of our recent practice growth retreats. In this session, Heather Driscoll is talking about what you can do to create more excitement and energy around your biggest goals. Very few dental professionals wake up in the morning excited to increase production by a certain percentage or improve accounts receivable. But, they do wake up excited to connect with patients and improve their health. So, it’s the job of the leadership to connect those dots. In this session, Heather is breaking down exactly how to design a system like this. You’ll learn how to share key metrics without boring the staff and create real momentum around the activities that not only make the biggest difference for the practice but also for patients. Learn more at https://www.theteamtraininginstitute.com 

Wendy Briggs comes from a big family of baseball fans, so when the book “Moneyball” was released, she was eager to read it. Since then, she’s worked to apply these lessons to dentistry to allow practices to build teams of superstar performers.  Today, she and Dr. John Meis are sitting down to talk through specific strategies practice owners can use to create a high-performing team and unmatched results in their practices. This unconventional Moneyball approach gives practice owners an edge in the marketplace, allowing them to attract top talent and develop those people into efficient, high-performing team members. Listen to today’s episode to learn how they do it. In today’s episode, Dr. John and Wendy mention strategies from their book, “The Insider’s Guide to Hiring a World-Class Team”. Click here to get your FREE copy (we just ask that you cover shipping) plus a suite of bonus training!

Kellie Black started her career as a dental hygienist helping patients chairside. She found she also enjoyed the business side of dentistry and quickly rose into a leadership position within that practice where she helped the team expand from two offices to an impressive seven.  Now Kellie is a business coach with The Team Training Institute and she’s joining Dr. John Meis and Wendy Briggs today on the podcast to share her perspective on practice growth. Kellie has helped practices around the country improve their performance, grow their teams, and expand to additional locations smoothly and easily. Catch this episode to learn how she helps practices grow and which key metrics she uses to make fast, long-lasting improvements.  In this episode, you’ll learn: What systems to put in place to ensure smooth practice expansion How to create consistent clinical protocols across the practice  How to better understand and manage hygiene capacity One of the easiest and most impactful metrics a practice can track

Understanding and monitoring practice data is crucial for a dental office to succeed. If you don’t watch key numbers, you can’t see what’s really happening in the practice and you can’t make improvements. Many practice owners resist involving the team in analytics and financials because they’re worried about difficult money conversations and the risks involved with transparency. But interestingly, we found that when the whole team has a general understanding of practice economics, there is less overall frustration and a wholehearted focus on improving results.  When everybody on the team knows how to monitor key numbers for their role and how to improve those numbers, the practice can reach its goals much more quickly. In this episode of The Double Your Production Podcast, Dr. John Meis and Wendy Briggs are sitting down to talk through how to involve the team with data and key metrics. You’ll learn the mindset shifts necessary to get everybody on board with better data in your practice.

In this episode of The Double Your Production Podcast, Dr. John Meis and Wendy Briggs sit down with Paul Lowry from Dental Menu to talk about how to use membership plans, discount plans, and rewards programs in your dental practice.  In-house benefit plans are a great way to serve patients who don’t have dental insurance. Offering your own plans and perks ensures these patients have the financial flexibility to keep up on their preventative care and move forward with needed restorative treatment. In this episode, you’ll learn: The difference between a dental membership plan and a discount plan How membership plans improve patient retention How discount plans help improve case acceptance and close treatment The best ways to incorporate rewards in your practice to incentivize retention and preventative care How to get the whole team on board with membership plans and better financial options for patients Within the episode, Paul mentions 5 free modules where you can learn all about the process of dental membership plans. Click here to access the free modules: http://www.dentalmenu.com/education  If you have any questions or would like to get in touch with Paul, you can reach him at paul@dentalmenu.com 

Paige Hood is a practicing hygienist and a Certified Hygiene Coach with The Team Training Institute. She’s got years of experience not only improving her own skills as a hygienist, but also helping others excel.  Today, Paige is joining Wendy Briggs on The Double Your Production Podcast for an in-depth conversation about how hygienists can raise the standard of care in a dental practice. In this episode, you’ll learn: Which qualities separate top-performing hygienists from the rest How the company culture of a practice impacts hygiene care (and how team members can improve the culture each day) Important mindset shifts hygienists need to make in order to better serve patients A breakdown of how to spend your time with each patient (30% is spent on personal things and getting to know the patient better) How to use a risk assessment conversation to help patients move forward with the care they need  

Kaizen is the Japanese business philosophy of continuous improvement. Rooted in post-World War II economic reform, Kaizen is about making steady changes for the better. Toyota famously used this concept to develop its lean manufacturing process and become a leader in quality in the automotive industry.   Kaizen can be used in a dental setting as well, allowing a team to revisit processes and make improvements for greater efficiency, effectiveness, and better patient care. In this episode of The Double Your Production Podcast, Dr. John Meis and Wendy Briggs are sitting down to explain exactly what Kaizen is, how it works in an organization, and how to apply it to a dental office.   The dental environment is filled with challenges: declining reimbursements, increasing costs, staffing shortages, and increased competition. With this shift in thinking, dental practices can be more adaptive to the changing dental industry and well-positioned for continued success.

Bert Triche is a practicing hygienist and a Certified Hygiene Coach with The Team Training Institute. She’s got 43 years of hygiene experience and has coached other hygienists for 12 years. She’s joining Wendy Briggs today on The Double Your Production Podcast for an important conversation about how hygienists, dentists, and office managers can navigate the current shortage of hygienists around the country.   In this episode, you’ll learn: The current market challenges in hygiene staffing How to calculate your actual earnings as a hygienist How to ask for a raise with an understanding of the practice’s economics How to protect a positive company culture amid staffing shortages How production-based compensation better serves the hygienist, the patient, and the practice The best way to handle burnout or stagnation in hygiene

Most dentists don’t have extensive experience in property negotiations and this puts them at a significant disadvantage when purchasing or leasing property for their dental office.  Today, Colin Carr is joining Dr. John Meis to talk about how to level the playing field in these negotiations and allow dentists to expand and grow more seamlessly. Colin’s company that provides commercial real estate services for healthcare providers. They represent dentists and other healthcare providers in commercial real estate purchase and lease transactions to make sure they get the very best deal possible. In this episode, you’ll learn: ·         Common mistakes dentists make when renewing a commercial lease or purchasing property ·         Why real estate experts can save you hundreds of thousands of dollars in lease rates ·         Why it’s important to approach any negotiation with a strategic position ·         Why it’s crucial to determine the total cost of a deal (rather than just looking at the lease rate) ·         How to avoid the trap of negotiating on just one property at a time To learn more about Colin’s company and how they help dentists, go to www.carr.us 

There are pervasive myths in all industries that, if left unchecked, can damage the morale of business owners. Dentistry is no different. Today, we’re debunking some of these myths so you can make decisions in your dental practice with confidence. In this episode of The Double Your Production Podcast, Dr. John Meis and Wendy Briggs are clearing up 3 myths that have been floating around in dentistry lately and sharing 3 ways to improve performance and profit during times of uncertainty. In this episode, you’ll learn: Why focusing on cost-cutting strategies can hurt business opportunity (you should be aware of your spending, but don’t make cost cutting your primary focus) How to use small changes in the practice to create big improvements in profitability A crucial shift the practice philosophy to make sure the team and the patients feel valued How to use the Toyota method to create greater efficiency in the practice Easy ways to expand the practice and the procedures offered   Don’t let yourself get swept up in the fears of economic uncertainty. As the industry shifts and changes, it’s important to keep yourself informed and equipped with great strategies. Listen to today’s episode for our latest recommendations.  

Did you know… on average, 40% of the incoming calls to a dental practice go unanswered? The loss involved with phone inefficiencies is much larger than most practice owners think. When patient calls don’t get answered, appointments don’t get scheduled, and the practice loses a tremendous amount of opportunity.  Amol Nirgudkar is the CEO of Patient Prism, a company that provides dental practices with the technology needed to optimize phone calls and improve patient flow. While AI is currently a trending topic, Patient Prism has been using artificial intelligence and machine learning for years to revolutionize how the front desk performs in practices across the country. In this episode of The Double Your Production Podcast, Dr. John Meis and Wendy Briggs sit down with Amol to talk about the advantages AI tools can provide practices to increase patient flow and improve performance. In this episode, you’ll learn: How dental AI tools actually help team members perform at a higher level (don’t worry, these bots won’t replace real members of the team) How Patient Prism tracks key metrics during phone calls and provides the practice with important data Why it’s important to track phone call patterns and how to identify potential problems within the practice How AI can help practice owners and leaders identify areas of growth and expansion How Patient Prism can help spot problems or gaps in service and allow more patients move forward with care To learn more about Patient Prism, go to https://www.patientprism.com/