Tuesday, December 22, 2015

New Dental Patient On-Boarding

By Jay Cutlerino


There are a number of viable approaches to take here. You could, for example, focus on branding and story. Branding is a powerful tool, and if you don't currently have a clearly defined brand identity, you need one, but it is not the only way to attract new customers, and is only part of the equation in any case.

The 80/20 Principle If you're not familiar with the 80/20 Principle, it's based on the idea that 80% of your productivity is going to come from 20% of your efforts. Focusing that 20% on the things that will see you make the most progress in your day-to-day tasks will take you quite some distance toward getting a better handle on your day and the office in general.

To uncover which dental office management activities should get the lion's share of your attention, you need to break what you do on any given day down into discrete activities, and make some hard, honest evaluations about how each of those activities contribute to your goals. In other words, you've got to start by coming to some understanding about which tasks you're doing that see you essentially spinning your wheels, or that by accomplishing them, you actually only achieve minimal progress, and which tasks have a larger payoff on completion. Focus first on the tasks that give you the highest amount of leverage and payoff, and schedule your day around those things in particular. Also keep in mind that people tend to be at their most productive during the early part of the day, so by moving your highest leverage/payoff tasks to the early morning, you can work on them, get them done, and create momentum that will carry you through the rest of the day.

Know When (and How) to Delegate

Another thing many managers struggle with is delegation. There are two primary reasons for this. Some managers micromanage their employees, and obsess over even the tiniest detail. These people tend to redo the work, even if they manage to delegate some task to someone else, which is a spectacular waste of your time. At the other end of the spectrum, some managers try to delegate everything, and simply hand tasks off without forethought or follow up. Both are recipes for dental office management disasters. You need to get comfortable with the fine art of delegation, and you need to do it sooner, rather than later. Part of that is knowing what tasks to delegate (generally time intensive tasks with lower leverage and payout) and how to delegate (issuing clear instructions, proper training before the fact, proper follow up after, etc.). The sooner you master this skill, the sooner you'll get your office running smoothly and efficiently.

There are many other facets of dental office management, but these two will at least get you off to a solid start. If you're interested in learning more, check out our time and organization course, here: http://schustercenter.com/courses/time-system/




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