Are You Actively Pursuing Your Patients?

During a recent podcast interview, Will Guidara, renowned author of the national bestseller “Unreasonable Hospitality,” shared valuable insights on maintaining strong relationships, both in personal and business contexts. Will stressed

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HOPE

It was such a treat last week to watch Shawshank Redemption on free-to-air TV. I have watched this movie a number of times, and my enjoyment never wanes. The driving

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Success leaves clues

One of the biggest obstacles dental practices have when considering team training is time. There is simply no time to do anything else other than to see patients. Dental practices

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Stop trying to book your patients in!

…It is my suggestion that in these situations, dentists are seeking success in the wrong result. They are attributing success to the patient booking an appointment for their advised treatment.

I suggest this is wrong…

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You catch more flies with honey than vinegar.

Like people, every dental practice is unique. They deliver a range of the same services to the community, but the manner in which it is delivered is what sets practices apart.

The manner in which practices deal with unhelpful patient behaviours is one such area where different approaches abound such as:

turning up to scheduled appointments late,
failing to attend at all, and
not paying invoices on time.
I have witnessed a wide range of responses to these kinds of scenarios by practices.

At one end, there is the haphazard approach…(click below to continue reading)

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Are you happy?

If I were to ask you how happy your team members are, what would your response be? “No-one has come to me with a problem, so they must be happy.”

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I love being right!

I don’t think I am alone in this.  Humans seem to have a primal need to be right, even when there can be a substantial cost. As you read this,

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Does your team care?

In these recent blog articles, I have been considering the values that I believe are important for dental practice success. Values are an important factor in the development of your

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Why leave the graffiti?

There is a dental practice that I drive past every now and then. It has a wonderful back-story. After realising that the current location could not accommodate their growth, the

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The Need To Create Cash!

In a recent blog, I wrote that COVID-19 had seen many of us dropping down Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Abraham Maslow was an American psychologist who developed a now well-accepted

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How will you be judged?

The impact of the COVID-19 restrictions on businesses has had the opportunity to be an employee relations crisis. Both employees and employers have been confused, distressed and rudderless in terms

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What are your needs?

COVID-19 has many people in the dental industry reeling. Just like the broader community, within our industry there are a range of responses to this challenging time, from low-level to

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Control Your Controllables

Turia Pitt is an Australian survivor. She is the ultra-marathon runner who was horribly burned by an out-of-control grass fire during a ‘Racing The Planet’ event. Turia endured months of

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A Better Way to Reward Your Team

Staff bonuses are becoming more common in dental practices. Bonuses are either a pre-established amount of one to several hundred dollars paid monthly, quarterly or yearly or a percentage of profits.

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De-stress While You Etch

I have been listening to a couple of great dental podcasts this past week, both of which had the same interesting guest speaking about, among other things, stress and burnout

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The Effective Use of Your But

Using the word ‘but’ in your communication is normally warned against.  You see, a ‘but’ negates or cancels out everything that is said before it. For example, “You look great

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Can I?

I remember when I was about 13 years of age. I was being a difficult child, and my mother, out of exasperation, gave me a book and said, “You need

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This is THE BOMB!

If you have attended any of my webinars or online coaching programs, you will be aware that it is crucial to select the right mode of communication for the task

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What reputation have you built?

Reputation is important to dental practice success. Your practice’s reputation is both what your patients say about you (if positive, then more new patients visit you) and also what keeps

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Where is job satisfaction?

A colleague recently asked me online how to gauge job satisfaction. Given my years in the dental industry working in various roles and speaking to others through my practice coaching

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Employee, contractor or what?

There is much talk nowadays about the legal bases on which dentists are employed in Australia. In my early days of working in dental practices, and when I employed dentists

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A dental practice mantra for EVERYONE!

To be the best leader, you need: ·         to establish a COMPELLING vision; ·         to be supportive and act as a mentor; ·         to help find the answers to the important questions; and ·         to inspire

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The Key to Happiness

Life coach and self-help author, Tony Robbins, states, “Progress equals happiness. Even if you’re not where you want to be yet. If you’re on the road, if you’re improving, if

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What’s in a name?

Many dental practices have adopted the method of SMS messaging to confirm their patients’ appointments. But how many of you include your patient’s first name in that message? I am

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Mary has a dilemma.

I was speaking with a dental team member – we’ll call her Mary – who posed an interesting dilemma. “During a social dinner, a friend complained of a dental problem

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5…4…3…2…1!

Go to bed earlier. Eat healthier foods. Make that phone-call. Tackle that important task. We have lists of things that we know we SHOULD be doing. And we often berate ourselves

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Opening Yourself Up To MORE

JPPS co-founder Charles Kovess and I recently attended an inspiring event that was conducted by A MOST interesting man.  Dr Bruce Copley is a holistic educator, multi-instrumentalist, storyteller and presenter. He has

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What is an employee worth?

How often do you give pay increases to your employees? Is it an automatic increase every year? Or does an employee prompt you into action? I am often asked what

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Can you look at yourself?

Being a Victorian who is interested in sports, this past weekend has been a happy one. The Richmond and Melbourne Storm wins have raised the energy of the locals, with

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Promises promises…

Finding the right employee for your practice is not always easy. When you do find that special candidate, it is tempting to tell them everything they want to hear to

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Are you out of feedback balance?

The best and most successful dental practice owners are relentlessly on the lookout for areas that need improvement. They know the value of a key business principle that ‘everything counts!’

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Are you WEARY?

I recently worked with a client who was looking to hire a new receptionist. This practice had had difficulty in finding the person who was the ‘right fit’. Despite the

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Get the Questions Right!

The search for a new team member can be daunting. You not only seek to find someone who possesses the necessary skills, but also someone who will fit in seamlessly

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Walk your talk!

“The greatest way to live with honour in this world is to be what we pretend to be.” Socrates When asked in a professional setting what your values around team

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Shred that To Do list!

I attended a function last night and the topic of time management was raised. During my ten years of dental practice ownership, I read any business book I could get

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Done is better than perfect

How many great opportunities do you miss out on because you are waiting for perfection? “Done is better than perfect” is one of my many mantras. I can feel it

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Many Heads Lead to Magic!

I’m excited. Today I get to have a workshop with a colleague and….COLLABORATE! After working in a team environment for so many years in dental practices, the aspect I miss

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3 Tips to Encourage Recalls

Recalls are the life blood of your dental practice. Implementing an effective recalling system takes thought, research and tracking results to ensure it is the right system for your patient

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What you focus on, grows.

What are your competitors doing? How can you find out? Who can tell you? Meanwhile, what are YOU doing? At times, we fall in to the trap of becoming distracted

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Get the most out of each coffee!

Promoting your business can be challenging. Success requires an understanding of your target market’s behaviour, human psychology and buying responses, and the ability to design an effective campaign to suit your

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Your coffee is on us!

Arnie, a colleague and friend, mentioned this winning idea of attracting your local community in to your practice! I’ve tweaked it slightly to be used for promoting dental practices. It’s

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This is what I call FUN!

Being involved with a dental team whose members are experienced and effective brainstormers is my idea of a good time! Such teams can solve anything. It actually is easy for

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Asking for change is not enough.

One of the frustrations when working in a team is getting everyone to work in the directed manner. AFL football coaches frequently suffer such frustrations! Staff meetings become a place

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Welcome the reps!

It is an accepted rule in many dental practices to eject dental reps without as much as a “how are you?”. I was a dental rep for a short time

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Don’t Dumb Me Down! Part #3

In my recent two blogs, I spoke about my experience with my colleague, Rachel. She and I worked together twice. The first time, I was controlling and wanted everything done

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Don’t Dumb Me Down!..PART #2

In my previous blog, I wrote about becoming a better manager thanks to my experience with Rachel, a lovely lady with whom I had previously worked.  I had been controlling

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Don’t Dumb Me Down!

The lesson I am going to tell you about was a big one for me. It has stayed with me, and I tell the story to anyone who will listen.

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What if …?

  Throughout my years as a dental practice owner, I remember times when different fears crept in and sat with me a while: “What if my practice is losing patients

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Is it time to get excited?

I was always excited when I owned my dental practice. But I got SUPER excited in December. What excited me? New goals! Despite spending my whole year tackling the existing

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Are you brave enough to ask?

I loved my years of dental practice ownership. I grew enormously as a person, and it is where I developed my skills as a leader. Someone asked me recently: “What

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Who is watching you?

Have you ever been employed by a boss who inspired you to work harder? I can say that I have had such bosses! Contemplating what made these bosses special and

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Three Techniques to Regain your Peace

In my last blog I wrote about ‘stuck thoughts’. These are the lingering feelings and thoughts that remain despite a challenging situation being resolved. The reason these thoughts and feelings

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Share it around

When I owned my dental practice, I had the roles of receptionist and practice manager. Not being confined to the surgery as most owner-dentists are, I relished the opportunity of

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Why you MUST master your EI!

I have always loved working with teams. Identifying and overcoming the barriers of achieving top performance has been a consistent source of enjoyment and satisfaction for me. I have found

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Are you feeling resentful?

Many tasks of everyday life in a dental practice can become tedious. Often the same person finds they always seem to be the one either taking the A-frame sign in

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How to get the right fit.

Getting the right person for the job can be a challenge. Each role within a dental practice requires a different set of skills. The nursing role requires a comprehensive knowledge

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Boost Your New Patient Flow

I was at an event with Charles last night and was speaking with a woman who has been running her independent travel agency for 24 years. I asked the question

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Are you easy?

  An important element of the patient experience is the initial telephone interaction. During my years in dental practices (since 1987) I have attended many industry seminars and workshops, read

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Let’s Get Physical…again!

A couple of blogs ago I wrote about the importance of not sacrificing effective patient communication when deciding to automate your systems.  Recalls is one of the processes that I have

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The Currency of Employment

  Over the years of being both an employee and employer, there here have been particular instances of employee unhappiness that have caused me to deliberate.  They have been times when

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Crushed By Criticism?

Giving and receiving negative feedback is fraught with anxiety for all involved. For the deliverer it requires a thoughtful approach. But even when a lot of care is taken, the

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Expectations = Disappointment?

When I bought my practice in 2003 I quickly learned that things were no longer straightforward. Whether I was organising finance for an equipment purchase, arranging a staff dinner or

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Choose Your Battles

When I became a business owner, one of my intentions was to become an excellent leader. I had experienced many great bosses during my years as a dental nurse and

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Respect Your Stakeholders

When you own a business, you are placing yourself in a position where you will have an affect on many people. The way you treat your ‘stakeholders’, or the people

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Do Bonuses REALLY Work?

I was recently speaking with someone and the topic of paid incentives to staff came up. I have worked in a practice many years ago who tried out a bonus

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How I Got Clear with Staff

Have you ever been surprised by a staff-member tending their resignation? You shouldn’t be. I say they should have felt safe enough, and seen you open enough, to share their

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The Power of Being Heard

During my 10 years of practice ownership, there were many opportunities to challenge my leadership abilities. On one such occasion, it turned out that I was more powerful keeping my

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The 5 Pillars of Trust

The existence of TRUST is vital to the success of any relationship, whether it be a friendship, a loving partner or the relationship you have with your children. It is

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The #1 Way to Ensure Patient Happiness

Everyone wants happy patients…including the patient! Practices implement many and varied routines to aid in the happy patient, such as fresh coffee, aromatherapy and strong customer service. And I encourage all

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Keep Attracting Referrals!

We live in this information age, where you don’t need degrees in marketing and business in order to learn how to run highly successful dental practices. We can research online

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The Engaged Receptionist

  It has always been obvious that a great receptionist improves the environment of any business and a bad one will be highly likely to have a damaging affect. However

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6 Qualities of a Charismatic Leader

I recently discovered this list of 6 qualities that make a charismatic leader, which was compiled by success.com. Over my many years of researching this topic of leadership, including reading

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