Early in my practice, I noticed that several of my chairside assistants were sitting, staring off into space instead of talking with the patient when waiting for me to come to their chair.  Several times, I had asked them to spend this time engaging the patient in conversation instead. A few assista...

Everyone wants a successful practice.  Some will be able to achieve it, some will not.

We are told the best way to achieve something is to set a goal. But Successful and unsuccessful people share the same goals. So, the goal can’t be what differentiates the winners from the losers.

What differenti...

I was helping an orthodontist with his practice when he called one day worried about his insurance collections.

“I have a staffing problem,” he said. “My insurance is not getting submitted on time and I think I need to hire an insurance person.”

Knowing that the answer to my next question should b...

“I just can’t take it anymore!  I’ve been putting up with that difficult assistant for too long and it’s time for her to go!  But how can I do it without upsetting the others?  And how do I do it without having to pay unemployment?”

When you decide it’s time to terminate an employee, there are seve...

During our first year in practice, my business partner and I purchased a retiring orthodontist’s practice, inheriting a receptionist who worked in his satellite office.  When I say she “worked” in the satellite office, I’m being generous.  She frustrated both of us from day one.

 The problems were ...

“It’s our job every day to make every important aspect of the customer experience a little bit better.”  – Jeff Bezos

The customer experience is the New Marketing!

Being similar in terms of price and quality only gets you in the game; the patient experience wins the game.

So, to win when it come...

My patient had missed quite a number of appointments and I was ready to dismiss him from the practice.  I didn’t want the legal risk of decalcifications, trauma from loose appliances or frankly, the poor reputation that comes from someone saying that I took three years to complete their braces.

      I could see it in her eyes.  The young mother, listening to me drone on about her son’s treatment, was going to walk!  She was looking at me, nodding occasionally, asking a few questions, but I sensed that it wasn’t going to be enough and ultimately, she would leave without scheduling treatmen...

Many years ago, two chairside assistants, Linda and Melody, were both hired at the same time and at the same hourly rate. 

Five years later, though, Linda was being paid 50% more than Melody.  Same position, same seniority, same number of hours, but vastly different compensation.  How did it happen...