I think the most overused word for 2020 was “pivot”.
And for as much as we thought that 2020 was behind us, 2021 has raised some serious concerns [at this point in time] regarding areas of complacency and predictability.
The latest Delta strain of the COVID 19 virus has forced some serious rethinking about future planning.
Just when Australia thought that we’d seen the worst of COVID 19, and the end of it, the Delta strain has impacted upon the whole country with some dramatic implications.
States and cities and towns and municipalities are being forced into lockdown situations.
“Stay at home” orders impacting severely on our way of life and our ways of doing business.
And these orders, which are for the good of our nation, for the good of our community, and for the good of the human race in general, are causing very serious issues not only for the financial well-being of our population but also for the mental well-being of our population.
Financially, not being able to do business in the manner that we have become accustomed to is causing great difficulty for many businesses.
Businesses such as wedding venues, cafes, restaurants and bars are severely affected by the social distancing and lockdown regulations.
Travel and holiday businesses are being hit hard.
In dentistry, dental practices are being asked to defer and delay non-urgent and unnecessary treatment.
What does that mean?
What does that mean?
Isn’t all dental treatment necessary?
Isn’t it better to remove the decay now rather than allow it to propagate and remove more of it in a month’s time?
And periodontal conditions?
Should we allow plaque and bacteria to accumulate and propagate more because some beaurocrat with very little [if any] understanding of the oro-systemic connection deems dental hygiene visits to be optional and “elective”?
Financially, what should a dental practice do?
Should the practice continue trading as best it can during these difficult times, or should the dental practice close its doors?
From what I’ve been seeing, the phones at dental practices are still ringing.
And although not every call is about making an immediate appointment, there is significant interest from the house-bound general public out there in calling to find out more information about certain dental procedures.
And this is simply because those members of the public are now in a position to be able to explore some dental work options.
Because they [the public] now have the time to do so [do the research].
And because they [the general public] are not travelling as much because of lockdown restrictions, they have the available funds to spend on “improving their smiles”.
What we are seeing is that for a dental practice to close up during lockdown is very naïve thinking.
Lockdown does not mean shut down.
In a similar vein, it is also very naïve for dental practices to believe that the post lockdown demand on dental services is a never ending sustainable event.
At some point in the post-COVID future, the population will begin travelling again, and dining out again, and socialising again, and going to the dentist won’t be as much of a priority as it is being allowed to be at this point in time.
Lastly, this wave of Delta related COVID 19 events has reminded us all that in times of financial difficulty, it is those who have been prepared for a downturn who have weathered these financial storms best, and have emerged out the other side with minimal collateral damage.
We must stockpile for the winters.
Because there will always be winters.
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LIVE Workshop: Dr David Moffet and Jayne Bandy:
“How To Easily Run, Maintain And Grow The Ultimate Dental Practice In 2022 and Beyond”
If you’re sick and tired of drilling all day long, and not having anything close to what you deserve, to show for it… or if you’ve ever wondered, “What can successful dentists POSSIBLY know, that I don’t?”… then register for this LIVE workshop Thursday November 25, 2021 in Sydney, NSW.
The Ultimate Patient Experience is a simple to build complete Customer Service system in itself that I developed that allowed me to create an extraordinary dental office in an ordinary Sydney suburb. If you’d like to know more, ask me about my free special report.
In these unprecedented times of COVID 19 and working from home, one of the industries [or pastimes] that has seen a resurgence is golf.
Because many people are working from home, there is a lot of people experiencing less travel time to and from work. As a result of this, since the pandemic began, we’ve seen golf clubs enjoying an increase in the number of members, as well as an increase in playing rates.
Which has created some challenges, but on the whole has seen a welcome resurgence for the sport.
In 2021, the latest lockdown regulations have created some new difficulties for golf. But out of these difficulties has arisen a wonderful opportunity of “sharing”.
In Sydney, exercise for the community is permitted so long as people do not travel more than 10 kilometres from their home to partake in that exercise.
And golf is considered a safe form of exercise.
However, if your golf club where you are a member is more than ten kilometres from your home, you are not permitted to travel to that club to play golf there.
So the golf clubs of Sydney came up with this plan:
If you live further than 10kms from your golf club but there is another golf club that is located within 10kms of your home, you may be allowed to play at that golf club under a “swap” arrangement during these times of travel restriction.
What we have seen is a network of golf clubs across Sydney opening their doors to members of other clubs who just happen to be geographically located nearby to those courses.
In a barter system of sorts.
All organised officially through each golfer’s home club in the first instance.
This “sharing” of members between golf clubs has allowed golf clubs to maintain financial viability during these difficult times. And of course, this in turn allows those clubs to maintain more staff in employment than they may have otherwise been able to.
And of course, the golfers are able to get their exercise and also get more use of their membership than they might otherwise have been able to.
It’s a feel-good story.
It’s a win-win-win story.
Because it’s not often that businesses that compete for customers come up with a win-win-win scenario.
How could something like this work in dentistry?
How could a win-win-win scenario like this be created in dentistry?
I know that in my practice, we used to have times we kept available every day for emergency appointments for people who would call wanting same day treatment.
And some of my neighbouring dentists would sometimes ask us if we could sometimes help them out and see their patients, if those dentists were jammed up themselves.
When this happened, we’d always oblige in getting our colleagues’ patients out of trouble, and would always send the patient back to their dentist, often with the instruction:
“Make sure you book back in to see Joe ASAP and get him to put a crown on that tooth to protect it.”
….or something along those lines.
We’d also offer our neighbouring colleagues the courtesy of referring their patients to our practice over their Christmas vacations [if they were closing], with the same proviso that we would be happy to help their patients with any immediate dental need, and would send the patient back to their original dentist for any follow-up required.
In your industry, does this happen?
In your industry, where are your opportunities to serve the customers of your competitors without the expectation of favour?
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LIVE Workshop: Dr David Moffet and Jayne Bandy:
“How To Easily Run, Maintain And Grow The Ultimate Dental Practice In 2022 and Beyond”
If you’re sick and tired of drilling all day long, and not having anything close to what you deserve, to show for it… or if you’ve ever wondered, “What can successful dentists POSSIBLY know, that I don’t?”… then register for this LIVE workshop Thursday November 25, 2021 in Sydney, NSW.
The Ultimate Patient Experience is a simple to build complete Customer Service system in itself that I developed that allowed me to create an extraordinary dental office in an ordinary Sydney suburb. If you’d like to know more, ask me about my free special report.
Back in the 1970s things in business were different.
Retail was crazy different.
Saturday trading ended at midday.
And there was no Sunday trading.
Once a week, on a Thursday night, retail outlets stayed open a whole extra three hours for “Late Night Shopping”.
And that was it.
In 1976, while I was still at high school, I secured a job working Saturday mornings at our local Newsagency, which was one of the busiest newsagent stores in the whole of Sydney.
[For those born after 2000, a newsagency was a store that sold newspapers (ask your parents or grandparents what a newspaper was) and magazines (exclusively) as well as gift cards and wrapping and general stationery items. They also sold cigarettes and confectionery. And lottery tickets.]
As I got older, I was employed also on Sunday mornings and Friday afternoons.
Closing up was crazy fun….
On Saturdays we closed the Newsagency doors at midday and on Sunday mornings we closed at 11:00am.
If someone wanted to buy a newspaper after we closed, they could buy one from the mixed business located next door to the newsagency. We used to supply the mixed business with our unsold newspapers [by arrangement]. It was a good relationship.
I can’t believe we used to do this….
When it was time to close, it was time to close.
We used to lock the door, and only allow shoppers already inside the shop to complete their shopping [under pressure] and leave.
If someone came to the door desperate to come in we would turn them away.
If they needed a newspaper, they could get one at the mixed business next door.
And if they needed a card or a magazine, well, it was bad luck.
After all, they’d had all morning to get there, and they could come back tomorrow, because every day we opened up for business at 6:30am, 363 days every year.
I can’t believe we turned people away…
We did.
Never mind the opportunity of offering great customer service, we did TURN PEOPLE AWAY.
There was never any:
“Come on in. Take your time.”
There was only:
“Sorry, we’re closed.”
“Sorry, we’re closed now.”
“Sorry. We’re closed.”
But times were different then.
I do believe there were strong penalties for retailers who traded outside of regulated allowable times.
Never mind the opportunity of being able to provide a convenient service to the public? That was it.
Close up on time, or be closed down.
Do businesses operate this way nowadays?
Times have certainly changed.
In 2021, there are extended trading hours.
In the USA, there are extended trading hours most days of the week.
And with online shopping these days, there’s even less demand to get to a store before closing time. [except maybe the post office?]
What about the business telephone line?
I know in dental practices, at the end of the day, it’s the end of the day.
What time does a dental practice close off it’s incoming phone lines?
As a consumer, or as a loyal long term patient, what time at the end of the day do you expect your phone call to your dental office not to be answered, and to go through to a machine or to a service?
What time would be acceptable to you?
Here’s what I think.
If a dental practice website says that the practice hours are from 9:00am to 5:00pm, as a loyal patient or as a new patient, I’d be expecting that those hours are hours for TREATMENT, and only relate to appointments.
And so, I’d be expecting that if I phoned that dental office at 5:03pm, there’d be someone there still completing end of day clerical duties who could happily help me with my call.
At 5:03pm I’d not expect to go through to a machine.
And at 4:30pm, I’d definitely not be happy if I phoned up and went through to a message.
If you’re in the service business…
If you’re in the service business, then there’s got to be some wiggle room in favour of the customer, when it comes to defining the end of the day.
In 2021, if you’re in any sort of business, there MUST be wiggle room in favour of the customer.
If you think in 2021 that you’re in the dental business, and not in the service business, then you’re respectfully mistaken.
In 2021, it doesn’t matter how good your restorative margins are, it matters more to your customers, clients, and patients how great your service is and how memorable your service is.
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LIVE Workshop: Dr David Moffet and Jayne Bandy:
“How To Easily Run, Maintain And Grow The Ultimate Dental Practice In 2022 and Beyond”
If you’re sick and tired of drilling all day long, and not having anything close to what you deserve, to show for it… or if you’ve ever wondered, “What can successful dentists POSSIBLY know, that I don’t?”… then register for this LIVE workshop Thursday November 25, 2021 in Sydney, NSW.
The Ultimate Patient Experience is a simple to build complete Customer Service system in itself that I developed that allowed me to create an extraordinary dental office in an ordinary Sydney suburb. If you’d like to know more, ask me about my free special report.
In 2021, across several countries, for whatever reason, we hear dental practice owners saying that they are having difficulty finding good staff.
“They need staff.”
“There isn’t enough staff.”
“There’s a staff shortage.”
These are expressions of distress that I am hearing regularly at the moment.
These are perceptions.
The world is more populous today than it was yesterday.
And a month ago.
And a year ago.
So where are all the staff?
Why can’t dental practices find good staff?
Is working in a dental office not “desirable” these days?
I just think the industry as a whole is too complacent and is allowing potential dental office employees to bypass dentistry as a career choice.
For whatever reason.
For whatever reason, a career in dentistry for a dental assistant is a gift that they can take with themselves anywhere in the world.
It’s a career that will never be replaced.
Because it’s a career that demands excellent communication skills.
And a machine, or a computer can never conduct that person-to-person empathetic conversation, really?
Can it?
There’s so much more to being a great dental employee than simply mixing stuff and evacuating.
There are essential people skills and communication skills that need to be developed.
A dental practice that fails to differentiate itself from its competitors because it fails to address and train its staff with the necessary Customer Experience Systems and Methodologies is only leaving itself to compete in the marketplace on one feature alone.
And that feature is the prices that the dental practice charges.
And trying to compete on price, and be the cheapest dentist in town, is a battle that no dentist can successfully win.
But when a dental practice decides to be the BEST CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE in town for all patients, that’s a subjective and palpable statement that that can easily be achieved, and maintained.
And easily achieved if the correct systems are taught and coached and learned….
I hear dentists offer up the limpest excuses about training their staff…
Or the lack thereof of training…
“I haven’t quite got the right crew yet”
“I’ll train all my staff once I know EXACTLY who is going to be working here”
If you want to build a great CULTURE in your dental practice you need to be choosy about who you employ.
It’s not just a matter of choosing anyone with a pulse.
It is a matter of having the team correctly trained.
In fact, it’s better to choose to forgo a sale because of lack of staff rather than to lose a sale because of loss of reputation.
Why not make sure that the staff that you do have at the moment are all exceptionally trained?
Why wait to train your staff because you are waiting to find the right people to add to your team?
Why not make sure that those you have on your team are all trained well?
And then train new employees as you bring them onboard?
It’s not just a matter of choosing anyone with a pulse to come and work for you.
Because if you compromise your choice of staff today, you can tarnish your reputation for a very long time.
And then the ever diminishing circle begins… your compromised service attracts customers who care less about service and sooner rather than later your great employees resign because they’re being beat up and getting worn out dealing with a “different” kind of customer…
Maintain total transparency with your customers.
If your business isn’t as efficient because you can’t get enough of the right people to work for you, then let your customers or patients know that you’re aware of the situation and its impact on your usually five star efficiencies, and that you’ve chosen to take a little more time with things and to get things right for them [the customers], rather than to compromise quality by cutting essential corners.
I think most, if not all of your clients will value your brutal honesty.
Because you have their best interests at heart.
Always.
And that’s the essence of World Class Customer Service.
Transparent honesty.
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LIVE Workshop: Dr David Moffet and Jayne Bandy:
“How To Easily Run, Maintain And Grow The Ultimate Dental Practice In 2022 and Beyond”
If you’re sick and tired of drilling all day long, and not having anything close to what you deserve, to show for it… or if you’ve ever wondered, “What can successful dentists POSSIBLY know, that I don’t?”… then register for this LIVE workshop Thursday November 25, 2021 in Sydney, NSW.
The Ultimate Patient Experience is a simple to build complete Customer Service system in itself that I developed that allowed me to create an extraordinary dental office in an ordinary Sydney suburb. If you’d like to know more, ask me about my free special report.
You can order your copy here: Click Link To Order
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