What consultants know about running practices
Dentist training has to encompass more than just being a clinician; dentists need to become business managers, accountants, psychologists, and educators in their field. But many times than not, dentists seem to lack many of these skills necessary to create and run a successful dental practice. While education focuses on the curvatures of dental impressions and posterior restoration techniques, even the most technically advanced dentists tend to fall short in their business and communication skills, such as marketing, leadership, capital expenditures, and profit statements. Even when delegating certain tasks to staff members, the vast improvements and changes in today’s dental technology make keeping up with the latest in the industry a tedious task.
Consultants aim to provide direction for practices, giving recommendations, and enacting business plans to increase revenue, change business structures, and reorganize practice duties to produce better services overall. Consultants, whether they operate under technology or business administration, work to integrate new technology and business practices, such as outsourcing finances and service calls to other companies and replacing outdated equipment. These people can be considered new members of your practice if you develop a good enough relationship with them, but many dentists these days tend to wonder how these consultants can help.
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To best determine if you need a consultant, look at your practice, and its business structure by seeing its current progress. Ask yourself questions, such as:
- Why do I struggle with cash flow some months, making it difficult to pay bills and payroll difficult?
- Even with a great team of staff members and patients, why does my education feel inadequate for what I’m facing right now?
- How present is my practice within the community? What are my current relationships with patients and staff members?
- Does my practice align with my core values and mission?
If your office culture looks like this, then a consultant can help relieve some of these responsibilities. Struggles with paying bills and keeping patients happy can deplete reserves both financially and emotionally, and the time spent overseeing every aspect of your practice could be better spent in the operatories, performing dentistry as a passion rather than just another task in a long list of duties. When these problems occur, most dentists don’t know how to solve them. Consultants provide an outsider’s perspective that’s detached from the interpersonal workings of the business itself and can suggest and implement ideas that are imperative to future success.
So, how do consultants do this? To ensure financial success, they instill practice-management systems, utilizing the operations of the facility to its full advantage. They expand your inner message outward through organizing payroll schedules, scheduling patient appointments, giving staff members goals to work for with the practice as a whole, and improving the overall look and feel of the practice through redesigning messages and office spaces. While consultants aren’t going to be able to magically fix these issues firsthand, taking the time to collaborate with someone who will listen to your aspirations and needs can prove to be more beneficial for your practice in the future.
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If you find yourself looking for a consultant for your practice, here are some top recommendations for consultants that you can contact any time for help:
1. The Digital Dentist
The Digital Dentist connects technology with expertise, providing dentists with an IT service that caters to the dental industry. Founded by Dr. Lorne Lavine, he has created a talented team of IT professionals that can solve many of the challenges faced in dentistry, including practice management software and digital imaging. The Digital Dentists solely specializes in consulting dentists with technology issues, and gives advice about making practice decisions tech purchases and aims to educate dental colleagues everywhere about the power of dental equipment and software technology.
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2. Levin Group, Inc.
Levin Group Inc is known as one of the leading dental consultant firms in the country, serving hundreds of practices with business solutions to keep production running and achieve practice success. The company’s consulting program, the Levin Group Dental Resource Center™, provides marketing management systems and executive coaching seminars to deliver educational and innovative solutions to basic practice problems. Levin Group serves general practices, corporate clients, and specialty practices by helping dentists create low-stress environments through solutions that work, and customize these solutions to every dentist they meet.
3. Blatchford Solutions
Blatchford Solutions has a global reach in dental consulting services, helping over 3000 dentists each year reach their business goals through assisting with marketing, sales, accounting, and practice management. Each of their consultants analyzes their client’s practice with meticulous detail, and focus solely on the passions and goals of their clients to keep their practices at their fullest potential. Blatchford Solutions offers coaching seminars along with podcasts, webinars, and practice management programs that aim at bringing balance to work settings to increase net returns and reduce days within the office.
4. Spear Education
Not only does spear provide CE courses and management software for dentists, but it offers up a completely original way to streamline consulting services through Spear Practice Solutions. Spear Practice Solutions gives dentists and their members an interactive online dashboard with education materials to guide practice growth and focuses on self-directed learning to engage with the concepts needed to learn about business management. Spear Education also offers dedicated consultants that give ongoing coaching and monthly calls to tackle challenges direct practices towards success. These consultants also give weekly team agendas for organizing seminars and team meetings for constant engagement.
5. Bryant Consultants
Bryant Consultants embodies their own unique take on dental consulting by catering to practices focused on specialties and niches, such as TMJ, orthodontics, holistic care, and cosmetics. Bryant Consultants gives personalized solutions to those who are self-employed to assist with the business process of creating success by enhancing communication skills, building team management systems, applying the latest technology, and even assisting in the aesthetics of the practice image. Bryant Consultants work towards success by developing a professional relationship that understands what makes you unique in the industry and builds off of the vision to create a sustainable place of work.
Other notable consultants not mentioned in this list that we’d also highly recommend include The American Association of Dental Consultants and the All-Star Dental Academy, who have significant experience and reliability within the dental consulting industry. Among this list of top consultants, you will be able to get the most out of your experience by taking the principles you know best and applying them with a consultant who has the systems in place to change your practice for the better.
