This solo practitioner located in the south-central United States saw patients four days a week in the practice and was producing close to $50,000 a month.

He was barely able to pay his bills but had a strong desire to raise the standards of what he expected from himself and from his team.  He also wanted to raise his standard of living.

About a dozen action steps were outlined to implement over the next 90 days after the initial meeting between the team and the coach.  One of the biggest needs was additional new patients.  Since the doctor had never really advertised, the Dental Genius coach recommended a new patient offer and advertising venue and encouraged the doctor to move forward with the marketing initiative.

The doctor did the direct mail piece in July and in August had a record number of new patients and produced $100,000 (a 50% increase over his previous monthly production figures).

The senior doctor in this three-doctor practice is 50 years old. The office building is new and cost close to $1 million. The two other doctors, both employees, are paid on 35% commission. The office is open five days a week with rotating doctor staff. Production averaged $122,000 per month and collections were hovering at $100,000 per month.

The senior doctor was dipping into his dwindling savings to support the practice overhead. This was painful as he had already cut his salary due to inadequate funds. He owed 80K to the IRS and had stacks of bills to creditors lying on his desk. Neither of the other two doctors was making what they would like to make in salary. With a 20+ member team, payroll expenses were daunting. Staff costs were at 31%. The senior doctor was constantly requested to give away or discount fees to people he knew in his small town. Dental Genius was hired to help this practice get out of debt and maximize its production and collections.

We implemented the Dental Genius Management program, including maximizing the schedule, tightening collection controls, job-sharing, and cross-training employees. We spearheaded a new reactivation and hygiene recall plan to boost effectiveness in hygiene. We also began a local advertising campaign to draw patients in during evening hours, when the office is not only open, but adequately staffed. 

Within 30 days, the office produced/collected $170,000. Since the second month of coaching, they have moved from collecting $176,000 to their current collection rate of $200,000 +. Collections are now at 95% or better. The doctor has paid all of his outstanding bills, including the IRS, and the plans are in place for one associate to buy into the practice. The office had so much extra income that it was able to buy a Cerec3 to offset future lab costs. The work week for all providers is being reconfigured so that no doctor works over four days per week. Another full-time hygienist was added. The senior doctor plans to fund his retirement and repay himself for the savings he lost prior to hiring a coach.  He has the exact same team as before, but is making an additional $100,000 per month in profit which he graciously shares with his team in the form of bonuses. 

This multi-talented doctor performed general dentistry in a family practice, focusing on the restorative process. He considered dentistry to be quite fun and enjoyed ortho, oral surgery, endo work of all kinds and crown and bridge.  He had ended the prior year with $763,000 in production and $726,000 in collections. The office had four operatories, a long-standing hygienist, two clinical assistants and two front desk employees.

The doctor had hit a plateau and could not seem to produce over $800K.  His schedule was chaotic, as he frequently did difficult surgery. He was extremely fast but could not seem to manage his time; he was constantly pulled in every direction. The patient base was deeply driven by insurance – insurance payments accounted for 74% of all income. New patient numbers had fallen by 38% in the past two years. Overhead was at 72% and no provider was as productive as their time allowed.

Like many clients, this doctor was unsure of many suggestions and did a median amount of change – as was comfortable for him. He didn’t want to change who he was or how he practiced; he simply wanted a greater return for his considerable daily effort.

With this in mind, we implemented the Dental Genius Management Program, including a complete overhaul of the operative and hygiene schedule. We positioned a new protocol in hygiene to reactivate patients, preappoint existing patients, and effectively confirm appointments. We changed the new patient process to reflect certain marketing initiatives, and utilized internal marketing efforts to encourage referrals and turn cancellations into appointments.

Within 12 months, the practice saw a 28% increase in production ($972,500) and 21% in collections ($910,020). This reflected an increase of $184,000 in collections (over $15,000 per month). The next year was even better, with final production at $1,165,616 and collections registering at $1,172,492. This is a full increase of 29% over the previous year’s collections. The end result is that the doctor collected an additional $37,000 per month in profit that he had not realized prior to coaching. 

With the extra income, the client completely renovated the office, added a hygiene coordinator as well as an orthodontic assistant to support the ortho schedule, paid for additional cosmetic education and created a marketing message. He implemented a bonus strategy that encouraged the team to help him meet his goals. During Year Two, each team member made over $12,000 in bonus compensation.  He purchased 250 acres next to his home for a private retreat, where he and his wife house 40+ thoroughbred horses.

This is a solo periodontist in the southeastern United States whose average monthly production to this point was $70,000.  His collections were at 100%.

After 18 years of practice the doctor was experiencing a plateau in his practice, as well as the unexpected turnover of his entire team.  He needed to re-energize his practice, a potentially daunting task with an entirely new staff (the most tenured employee had been there 90 days when Dental Genius came onboard).

Behavioral assessments of all team members, as well as the doctor, were conducted; this enabled the doctor to understand his own leadership style as well as the work style of his new team.  Written goals were set and were shared with the team.  A referral program was put into place for the doctor and his referring dentists.

Within the first 12 months of coaching, the practice production had risen to $82,276 per month, an 18% increase.  All of this was done without increasing the number of staff members, workdays, or overhead and while maintaining their collection percentage of 100%.

This multi-doctor practice in the south has offices in four different cities. Of the four doctors in the practice, one is the owner and the other three are employees who earn 30% commission above their salary. When Dental Genius came onboard with the practice the total income was $1,747,000 for that year. 

Communication among the team members was difficult because of the multiple locations and the size of the team – over 40 members.  Open time in the practice was a problem, as was the lack of a daily goal.  The senior doctor was skeptical of the templated schedule model, and as a result, the doctors’ time wasn’t being booked to its maximum productivity potential. 

We instructed the offices on how to influence patients to accept treatment, using feedback gained from patient interviews.  We guided them on filling and streamlining the schedule properly, including retraining the patients about when emergencies could be seen.  Cross-training within the practice was taught, and communication was improved among team members through quarterly meetings, daily huddles, and talking about their goals for the practice. The patient-doctor-staff relationship was improved through information gained in brief pre-appointment interviews.  Marketing efforts were stepped up for the practice.

The practice saw over 100 new patients a month, practice-wide, and realized a $2,258,000 total income after 12 months of coaching. Case presentation effectiveness was increased, and collections were increased by $511,000 within six months.

This dentist is located in a medium-sized city in the Southern U.S.  He has been in practice for 30 years, has an extensive word-of-mouth following and has a warm, outgoing personality.  He is a savvy personal marketer whose strong verbal skills help him say the right things to close the sale.

In 2005 this client joined an internal marketing effort partnered by Smile-Vision and Dental Genius.  It involved a three-month commitment by participating offices during which the office would do a minimum of 35 imaging cases per month and attend several telephone coaching sessions hosted by Smile-Vision and Dental Genius.

The dental staff made definitive decisions about who they were going to image – for instance, all new patients?  all those over 35?  They went over a procedure to introduce the idea of cosmetic dentistry to patients through a series of conversational questions.  They also worked out other details, such as who would take the pictures, who would upload them to Smile-Vision, who would download them when they were complete, who would send the images to the patient, etc.  They had a huddle every day to consolidate and organize their efforts, making them more direct and streamlined. 

After a $6000 initial outlay for equipment, this dentist offered cosmetic simulations to 83 patients and realized a 36% case acceptance rate, which translated into $530,000 worth of cosmetic imagery.   Note:  This is cosmetic dentistry only; NOT his total practice numbers. 

His practice was successful in this endeavor because they had a definite plan and followed it, they used the equipment the office had invested in, and they were consistent and organized with their approach.