Do you often work over 50 hours a week? Go weeks at a time without taking a meaningful break? Know that you’re heading towards burnout but feel like there’s too much to be done?
If so, you’re in real danger of getting into a toxic cycle with your dental practice.
If those are the conditions under which your practice runs, then you’ll build yourself into your practice and find it hard to ever leave!
It’s time to re-evaluate and reprioritise so that you can be a happier and more successful practice owner.
First of all…
I want to start on a bit of a personal note and say that it’s okay to put yourself first.
In fact, it’s important that you do.
Your dental practice will never outgrow its leaders. That means that your practice will only ever be as successful, happy, and thriving as you are.
I don’t mean to add any unnecessary pressure – quite the opposite. Your practice needs you at your best, and you’re only at your best when you’re rested, healthy, focused, and your emotional needs are looked after.
So, I hereby officially give you permission to be a bit selfish. Rank your own personal needs right up there with the needs of your practice. Make time for your physical and mental health. And take breaks when you know you need to.
Your practice will thank you.
Schedule in admin and emergencies
This is the key to restoring order and structure in your life.
Don’t schedule your day down to the minute. Because then some last minute issue comes up or a whole bunch of paperwork comes your way – and then your whole calendar is out of whack and things are being moved around. Bit of a nightmare!
Expect the unexpected, and block an hour or so into your workday to deal with any difficult or time-sensitive issues that will inevitably come up.
It could be a complaint from a patient, a curveball from a team member, or seeing a sales rep who comes in. Or even just having an hour for focused, quiet thinking time!
This means that you’ll be able to focus on your other tasks with your full attention, knowing that you’ve already dealt with any issues that arose throughout the day.
Dividing and delegating tasks
I don’t doubt for a second that you’re good at what you do. But that being said, you can’t possibly be the best at everything and love every aspect of your dental practice.
I’m sure there are tasks and responsibilities that you either don’t enjoy, or perhaps aren’t the most effective use of your time.
For example; you might be an excellent clinician, but you’re always busy handling behind-the-scenes stuff like bookkeeping – which you don’t even enjoy and honestly aren’t super good at. Instead of overburdening yourself, just delegate and get a bookkeeper! It might cost a bit more, but that way you can see more patients which would bring in more revenue anyway.
Your time and energy are best spent where they will be useful, and given willingly.
There’s no shame in letting people who are better at certain things, takeover from you.
See less patients at better rates
Your first instinct might be that dropping some clients and increasing charges sounds absurd.
But trust me, it will work better for you. How? Try and understand the psyche of the people who come to you for their dental services.
Say you have three dentists on the same block. Who would a patient want to go to? The ones whose clinics are overcrowded or the ones that are more comfortable, slightly more expensive, yet more personal too? Of course, the latter.
People automatically assume that more expensive almost always means better treatment or higher quality services. And this is what you too can cash in on.
These are all some great quick and easy tips you can use to make your dental practice more efficient. But they’re more tactics than strategies.
Tactics are good, we love tactics – they give us a place to start and some quick wins to get the ball rolling.
But strategies are where the real magic happens.
I’ve been starting, building, and growing my own dental practices for over 20+ years. I went from being burnt out and overworked, to making my dental practices run on systems that worked like clockwork whether I was there or not.
So, I set about working with hundreds of dental practices across the country, and these same systems and strategies have worked for them too.
And you know what? There’s no reason they won’t work for you and your dental practice too.
So if you’re wanting to make your dental practice more efficient, then your best bet is to go ahead and book in a Savvy Strategy Call with me.
I’ll hop on a call with you where we take a look at what you’d like to tighten up about your practice, and I’ll help you get started on implementing some systems and strategies to make your practice more efficient.
It’d be my pleasure to help you out, so make sure you go ahead and book in NOW!
