Mercedes. Apple. New York Yankees. Coca-Cola. Google. Disney.

What do all of these names have in common? They are among the strongest and most recognizable brands on the planet.

What can dentists learn from brands? A strong brand creates loyalty, and loyalty creates customer endorsements and word-of-mouth referrals.

Unfortunately, many dental practices don’t have a strong brand. These offices haven’t created strong enough relationships with patients, which makes both patient retention and patient referrals a challenge.

What do the leading brands all do differently from the typical dental practice? They create a unique experience. They realize that they are selling more than just a car or a baseball game or a soft drink—they are selling an experience and even a lifestyle at times.

This is something dental practices need to begin doing. Patients visits have to be more than just an appointment… they have to become an experience!

What about your practice? How would you describe your brand?

 

The Harvard Business Review just came out with its issue on failures. I love this type of education because we often learn more from our failures than our successes.

As dentists, we are taught to be perfect. I said jokingly in a recent seminar that I think some of us may be psychologically traumatized by dental school for the rest of our lives. We are held to a perfect standard and anything less is viewed as unacceptable by faculty.

As dentists, we want to offer perfect care. While we all realize that there is no such thing as perfection, we strive for it day-in day-out and are often disappointed with our results even though they may be excellent.

This type of thinking often prevents us from evaluating our failures. We tend to justify anything that has gone wrong in some way rather than ever simply realizing it was a failure and learning from it.

All dentists experience failure. We’re human after all. Not all cases work out perfectly. We have staff member problems, patient problems, technology issues, etc.

The real key is to learn from our failures and grow. People who reach the highest levels of success often also fail the most. But, in spite of it all, they keep trying. They use failure as an educational tool to reflect, analyze and grow. These are some of the most honest people I know.

What was the last thing that failed in your practice? And what have you learned from it?

Just finished reading The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right by Atul Gawande, a general surgeon. According to his thesis, if you perform an operation a thousand times and don’t use a checklist, you’ll kill somebody eventually.

He explained that he reduced the number of deaths due to infection dramatically by simply ensuring that surgeons carefully wash and scrub their hands before operations. Although the surgeons knew they were supposed to perform this simple step, it was often missed.

There’s a strategy to make up for our inevitable human inadequacies, says Gawande. “It will seem almost ridiculous in its simplicity, maybe even crazy to those of us who have spent years carefully developing ever more advanced skills and technologies. It is a checklist.”

I know how powerful checklists really are. For many years, Levin Group has created step-by-step expert systems to help clients achieve well run businesses. While these systems work extremely well, attaching checklists to the systems is what makes them consistently effective. Remember that over time, most staff members begin to miss steps. That is why checklists exist.

Systems are fantastic—but only as fantastic as the practice implementing them. When checklists are added, staff members achieve excellence that can be repeated day after day. That’s the value of checklists.

This year, I had a rewarding experience presenting five seminars at the Yankee Dental Congress. In speaking to five different audiences, one thing became very clear—these doctors were very focused on building the best possible practices they can. They were struggling with the number of new patients, dealing with dental insurance and, of course, increasing production.

I told them that they had to remember it’s all about production. Follow proven formulas for building an excellent business and practices will virtually guarantee their success.

Too many doctors I’ve met are simply waiting and hoping that economy will get better. Let me assure you that the economy has permanently changed dentistry!

Some practices that declined in the economic recession will have genuine difficulty recovering. Conversely, those who apply proper business systems and enhance skills are the ones that will be highly successful. Proven business formulas work for businesses in other fields and they work for dental practices as well.