Boosting your practice after a tough year
When you run your own dental practice, instead of working for a salary, you are reliant on the overall profit of your practice to make a living.
Some years, this means you do exceedingly well. Other years, your practice might struggle from internal issues or outside influences beyond your control.
No matter what causes your down year, it’s important to learn from the experience and keep a positive attitude for the year to come. Here are three easy strategies to boost your dental practice after a tough year.
Revisit your goals
When your office is running in high gear and your schedule is perpetually full, it’s easy to lose sight of the importance of setting specific, measurable production goals.
Start your rebuilding process by setting a monthly revenue goal for every service you offer. Post these goals in the same place you run your morning huddle and update the numbers every day so your team can see how you’re doing.
At the end of the month, highlight the services that fell short and talk about ways you can do better next month. For the services that hit the mark, raise the bar for the coming month.
Improve your case acceptance tracking system
Not all dips in revenue are due to a shortage of patients in your chair. If your schedule looks full but your cash flow is still lacking, the problem may be due to a dropping case acceptance rate – especially when overall economic conditions in your practice’s targeted area are tight.
Sometimes it’s not enough to know your overall case acceptance percentage. Start tracking which types of treatments are accepted less often so that you can implement targeted strategies to improve your case presentation and follow-up procedure for these specific treatments.
Taking steps to improve your overall case acceptance is great, but fixing the most glaring holes first can help give your practice an immediate boost when you need it most.
Invest in staff training
It might seem counterintuitive at first to spend money when revenue is down, but one of the best ways to push the pendulum in the opposite direction is to ensure your patients are receiving the best care and experience possible.
What better time to pull staff away from their daily tasks for training than when there’s a lull in your schedule?
Investing in staff training doesn’t just improve the quality of your service, it can also boost morale and improve the mood around your practice.
Team members are able to see when the practice is struggling. It’s only natural that they may be concerned about their job or their future. It’s up to you to let them know that things are going to get better.
