The secret to success in the dental industry is to find the right balance between the clinical and business management aspects of your practice. Many dentists fail to realize the full potential of their practice when they make the mistake of focusing on only one of these aspects while minimizing or completely ignoring the other.
While the clinical aspect of the practice is derived from one’s credentials as a skilled dentist, the formula to achieving success within the business aspect is less obvious. Building a great practice means building a great business, and a solid business strategy is a foundation for a well-run business.
The Vision
First and foremost, one must have a clear vision for where they would like to see their dental practice in the future. This means establishing short-term and long-term goals, as well as making sure your team cares about your practice as much as you do by having an in-depth conversation about the expectations in the workspace. Including the staff in your goals for the practice invites them to share your vision and reduces office stress by opening lines of communication. Additionally, when creating a vision for your dental business – or any other business for that matter – having an open mind leaves room for growth, learning, and development; not every practice has the same formula for success and being flexible increases developmental growth.
Your Unique Selling Point
Secondly, identify the qualities that set your practice apart from others in the area. What services can you provide to your patients that other dentists cannot? A convenient way to identify what is working for your business (as well as what isn’t) is to pay close attention to your cash flow; it tells you what your customers think is valuable and worth their investment. Once identified, protect these unique competitive advantages by emphasizing your specialty through dental advertising campaigns. When new customers are received, most of them cannot differentiate between a dentist who has taken 1000 hours of continuing education in the past year and a dentist who has taken only 20.[1]To make sure that they recognize the superior difference of your dental practice, customers should always be treated with the highest level of customer experience.
Be A Professional
Last but not least, professionalism is one of the key components to managing a successful business. This includes, but is not limited to, discretion among staff when resolving disputes, maintaining front-desk etiquette, and sending follow up and thank you letters for patient referrals. No matter how tough it may be when working with a difficult client, each client should be treated in a fair manner and a level of integrity that reflects the values that a practice upholds. This sort of behavior ensures that patients’ confidence in you and the dental profession are maintained at the highest level of professionalism. As a reminder, professionalism does not equate to perfectionism; practices can afford to make mistakes, just so as long as they recognize them and try to remedy them as quickly as possible.
Stronger, better-managed dental practices allow you to find the right balance between the clinical and business management aspects of your practice so that you could focus on delivering quality patient care. Utilizing these business strategies will help you make the leap from being a business owner to becoming a business leader.
