During difficult periods in your dental practice, you likely notice how starkly your productivity plateaus.
You’re only human, and there’s no avoiding bad breaks – it’s part of running a practice. This notion extends across healthcare professions.
We’ll first state that you need to prioritize your wellness. Don’t push yourself past an impossible threshold. Still, with that said, when you’re feeling run down and like your day is nothing but obstacles and headaches, you must prioritize productivity.
Increasing your productivity one step at a time, focusing on the little things to bolster your practice, provides the extra oomph to knock down every hurdle in your path.
On the above note, we’re detailing 6 specific steps you can take to maximize your productivity to help your dental practice soar to new heights:
1. Set Goals For Yourself
When you don’t set daily production goals, it doesn’t give you anything to aim for.
However, setting a goal in and of itself is a skill that requires keen insights and considered planning.
For starters, don’t compare yourself to others. Instead, base your day-by-day numbers on your average production per day, then add 10%.
So, if you’re making $6,000 daily, try reaching $6,600 daily. Then, once you achieve that number consistently, add another 10%. Rinse, repeat.
The key here is that a 10% daily revenue increase is feasible. You’re not stretching too far, which would inevitably discourage you.
Of course, that 10% isn’t going to grow itself. You’ll need to adhere to the following tips to give that healthy boost to your daily average.
2. Diagnosing Patients
While we won’t say it’s easy, there’s a way to find the ideal balance when diagnosing problems and presenting treatment options without sounding like a sleazy salesperson.
Always let the patient know it’s up to them, and you won’t make them do anything they don’t want to do. You’re just being transparent and letting them know what’s going on with their oral health.
Approaching diagnoses with the above mentality proves you’re on your patient’s side and trying to optimize their oral health. They won’t feel pressured and will ask questions and share concerns.
Show that treatments are flexible, too. Discuss alternative options where treatments don’t need to be completed at once and can be done in planned segments, prioritizing what’s most urgent. Be sure to present both options – all the work completed at once or broken into smaller parts.
Once you’re consistently making diagnoses, you can move on to case acceptance.
3. Case Acceptance
Write down phrases, practice them in the mirror, roleplay with friends, and get feedback from your staff.
You need to delve deep into your treatment presentation to boost case acceptance.
Also, write down how patients often respond and object to your suggestions for added insights.
4. Prioritize Same-Day Treatment Plan
Even if it seems like your whole day is booked, a filling might take half the time you predicted, and another patient might cancel. Structuring your approach to adjust to these unforeseen gaps via same-day treatments will vastly improve your daily revenue numbers.
This way, even if someone does cancel, it won’t impact your practice negatively.
One suggestion is to offer same-day treatment to patients who’d otherwise need to reschedule.
If there’s already space, the above process is easy. However, if your schedule is packed, find a way to rejig it to fit in the same-day treatment. Other patients coming in for more minor treatments can get pushed back.
5. Provide Training To Your Team
Ask yourself which of your treatments and daily tasks can be performed by your dental assistant or hygienist. Then, assign your team those tasks and spend your days on more high-level tasks that allow you to grow your practice.
Provided you’re concerned about your team’s competency, give them on-the-job training to boost their skill levels.
6. Outsource Work To An Expert
Bringing in an expert to bolster your productivity can be a significant difference-maker.
By that, we mean consultants, coaches, and other experts who know how to educate and motivate dentists in growth and performance.
That extra help gives you a leg up compared to playing the guessing game when left to your own devices.
Bonus Tip #7: Follow In Other Healthcare Professionals’ Paths
Your peers throughout healthcare, extending beyond dentistry, can offer you crucial insights into improving your productivity.
For instance, many doctors are leaning into technology, like using specific smartphone apps to increase productivity. Other doctors use the Pomodoro Technique, which breaks work-intensive tasks into shorter 25-minute intervals.
Or, you can keep following in the footsteps of fellow dentists and improve your billing process to receive the money your dental practice is owed.
Remember, you don’t have to reinvent the productivity wheel. The successful methodology is out there, waiting to be used!
Talk to your industry peers and other healthcare professionals to learn how they stay focused and productive when times are tough. The answers might provide the inspiration and impetus you need to grow your practice exponentially.