I find making decisions can sometimes be very difficult, especially when it comes to spending money. I see so many dentists buy things they don’t need and overthink or overlooking things they should be investing in, such as online dental training. Why is deciding where to invest so difficult, and how can we make better decisions?
Criteria for Buying or Making an Investment in Dental Online Training
There are three questions you have to consider when making an investment. That’s right, only three.
- Will it make me money?
- Can it save me time?
- Will it reduce my stress?
Watch Heather and Alex discuss dental online training – decision making:
Will dental training make me money?
When I speak with dentists, my first objective is to coach them to be a better CEO of their dental practice. CEO stands for Chief EXECUTIVE Officer, which means they have to be good at making decisions — the right decisions. It’s also important to keep another acronym, ROI, in mind. ROI stands for “Return on Investment.”
What do CEOs do? They make GOOD decisions quickly and change their minds slowly. Dentists on the other hand, often do the opposite — make decisions super slow, and change their minds all the time. (I myself am guilty of this, but I’m working on it.)
When it comes to ROI, it is simple… Will I get back more than I put in? Will this make me money? How much?
Take a look at some reviews and case studies of dentists that use our program and see what real ROI looks like!
Dentists love to buy clinical training and new equipment (shiny objects). But does this kind of investment make you money?
The sales people say so.
But there’s no evidence that improving your clinical skills helps you make more money. The ability to do additional procedures helps. But those additional procedures do not make money in and of itself. That Hollywood adage, “Build it, and they will come,” doesn’t apply to dentistry.
New or upgraded equipment has the potential to make you money, but you need an important ingredient in both these questions…
PATIENTS!
Without patients, there is no use for clinical training and new equipment.
However, when you are training yourself and your team on HOW to run a business, HOW to answer the phone so you convert more patients into appointments, and HOW to schedule, and HOW to get patients to accept treatment, you are directly creating opportunities to make more money — guaranteed.
As a wise investor, evaluate these two statements: (1) clinical training and equipment has potential to make me money, or (2) dental online training GUARANTEES I will make money. As CEO of your business, which sounds like the better choice? Which provides a higher return on my investment?
Can dental training save me time?
I’m sure you have heard the expression, “Time is money!”
But do you know what your time is worth? According to Dental Economics, dentists produce on average $500 per hour.
The way I look at it, if what you doing is not worth $500 an hour, don’t do it!
Countless dentists tell me they are always, “Putting out fires.” They suffer from constant interruptions. They end up staying late doing paperwork.
Some dentists have an entire day dedicated to paperwork, administrative activities, or insurance issues. I highly doubt those activities are worth $500 per hour (or $4,000 for an eight hour day).
A Good Use of Time?
My dad, who many of you know is a dentist, will do landscaping that he does not enjoy — like moving heavy rocks. Again, I doubt that is worth $500 an hour. He can pay someone $10 per hour to do it. Plus, what if he injuries himself? Now what?
Similarly, dentists get stuck running their business like a mom-and-pop store. I like the mom-and-pop closeness, but I would not use this as a business model. You have to run your business like a business. There is simple math at work here.
Focus your energy on things that earn you $500 per hour. Delegate everything else!
What about dental online training? Is that worth $500 per hour?
Consider that the American Dental Association determined that the average new patient for a general dentist is worth $642 per year. If you fail to convert one phone call per working day, and assume 16 working days per month, you are looking at about $10,000 lost per month because you and your team could not build sufficient rapport with patients or were unable to overcome objections like price or insurance.
Training your team on customer service and phone skills is ABSOLUTELY worth your time.
What is not worth your time, as a dentist?
- Checking emails all day
- Putting out fires at work that don’t require your attention
- Doing administrative work
- Watching the news or sports (at work)
- Filing or dealing with insurance
- Ordering dental supplies
- You get the point!
I see so many dentists, “Step over dollars to pick up pennies,” meaning they are so focused on stuff that has LOW money and time value, that they are missing HIGH value activities.
Why?
I suspect it is because dentists gravitate to activities where they are comfortable, but that doesn’t mean those activities contribute to productivity. You may experience a short term benefit or feeling of accomplishment from easy low effort work, but losing focus leads to missed opportunities and long term failure.
Can dental office training reduce my stress?
Dentists are stressed out!
Dentists are stressed out about…
- Making enough money
- Having enough patients
- Hoping that patients show up
- Hoping they can cover payroll
- Dealing with competition and corporate dentistry
- Having enough for retirement
And with some dentists, they worry about whether or not they will get paid this week!
To top it off, according to our good friends at the ADA, “Dentists report staff related issues as their #1 stressor.”
Dental office training can help all of this!
John Wooden, the famous basketball coach, said, “If you don’t have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?”
In other words, if you invest time and money in the right things, you will ultimately reduce stress because training will prevent you from having to spend exponentially more wasteful time and money to fix issues. Do it right and train yourself and your team!
Speaking of mistakes, check out this post Heather, our VP of Training, wrote on The 5 Mistakes with Dental Team Training.
In conclusion, making good decisions requires you to think like a CEO and explore these questions: First, will it make me money? Second, can I save time? And third, will it reduce my stress?
These are fairly simple questions, but we often get derailed by thinking “small” or getting distracted with activities that have little or no real benefit. Stay focused and keep your eye on your outcome!
I’ve put together a webinar where we look at how to make better decisions and improve dental online training. We will explore ROI in much more detail, find was to gain more time, and reduce stress! Sign up here for the complimentary webinar.
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