Resources Every Practice Needs

20 minutes – that is all it is going to take to listen to this week’s essential episode. Listen as Bethany quickly unpacks eight foundational resources that every practice needs. She focuses on two different “buckets” of advice – first, she selects her top four (gasp, only four!?!?) favorite books for practice leaders and teams. Then, she tells listeners the MUST-HAVE professionals to ensure that you are fully supported in your practice and team. At the end of this short episode, you are going to be equipped with foundational resources that will positively impact you and your team, so listen up!

Previous Episodes Worth Revisiting: 

The Importance of Mental Health in the Workplace

July 4th Special – HR and Holiday Basics 

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Transcript

Are you looking for a podcast where you
0:04
can hear from real people regarding
0:06
their real dental drama? If so, then
0:09
you've come to the right place. Join
0:11
hosts Bethany Penny and Dr. Reena Kuba
0:14
as we dive into the solutions we've
0:17
created and the mistakes we've made
0:19
while managing dental drama.
0:22
Let's get started. Happy Monday
0:25
everybody. It is just me today and I am
0:28
about to spend the next 15 minutes
0:31
dropping so many resources on you. So
0:35
get ready. Y'all are all about to be on
0:38
hopefully a little break for July 4th.
0:40
So it's going to be the perfect time to
0:42
get going on some really important
0:45
things for your practice and for your
0:47
team. So this episode is all about
0:53
resources.
0:54
resources that I myself have used in my
0:59
consulting business,
1:01
things I've used in my communication
1:04
with others, um things I've used to get
1:07
my mind in the right place for work and
1:11
for what I do. but also this is an
1:15
episode with specific resources that you
1:19
need to put in place to really build out
1:22
a successful support system for you.
1:27
Being a part of practice, leading a
1:29
practice, owning a practice, in order to
1:32
be at your best, you've really got to
1:35
surround yourself with fantastic
1:37
resources. So I'm going to kind of focus
1:40
on two domains today. First of all, I'm
1:44
going to give you some simple first
1:46
steps. To me, these are books that have
1:49
been very influential in not only my
1:52
business, but also as I've consulted
1:55
with practices. I've really leaned on
1:58
the knowledge that I've gained from
2:00
these books. I think these books can be
2:02
impactful for any person on the team.
2:05
Whether you're an RDA, a an assistant,
2:10
an ortho assistant, or a hygienist or
2:13
business team member, it doesn't matter.
2:15
You you can benefit from these books.
2:17
You know, I think we are it's becoming a
2:20
dying art to read books. You know, we're
2:22
more apt to watch a video or kind of
2:27
scroll through Tik Tok and find some
2:28
little tidbits. So, we're becoming more
2:31
of a cliffnote society. And I just
2:34
really think we've got so much knowledge
2:37
in the books around us that we really
2:39
can't deny the helpfulness of these
2:42
books. Doesn't mean that you have to
2:44
actually purchase a physical copy. It
2:46
could mean that you're downloading this
2:48
on your Audible app or whatever you use
2:50
to listen to books. But I want to talk
2:53
through four very influential books that
2:57
I think everybody needs to read. And it
2:59
was so hard for me to narrow it down to
3:02
four, but these are the four that made
3:04
the top of my list. And if you were
3:07
sitting here looking at my bookshelves
3:09
full of books, you would realize that
3:10
four is miraculous that I was able to
3:12
just pick four. So, I want to go through
3:15
these with you. The first one, and these
3:18
are in no particular order, by the way,
3:21
because they're all phenomenal. This is
3:22
like my A+++ list, and then I've just
3:25
got an A++ list. But it these are really
3:29
really good. So one that I have
3:32
recommended to a lot of people and a lot
3:34
of people don't take me up on this. I
3:36
get it. I totally get it. But I talk
3:38
about this man all the time. Studied him
3:40
way back in the day in my bachelor's
3:43
degree and then more in my master's
3:45
programs. He is pivotal to persuasion
3:49
and influence. He's some people call him
3:52
the godfather of influence. And so the
3:55
book, his original book is called The
3:58
Psychology of Persuasion by Robert
4:02
Chaldini.
4:04
Within this book, I'm sitting here
4:05
holding my copy, which is ancient. Like
4:07
I've got the yellowed pages and I've got
4:10
my little notes all the way throughout.
4:12
Um, it is such a pivotal book for
4:17
understanding the human brain and how it
4:21
works and how it functions. So let's say
4:23
that you're a manager and you're like,
4:24
how do I get this team to follow my
4:27
lead? I am trying to motivate them. I'm
4:30
trying to ask them very clearly, you
4:33
know, what to do and how to do it, but
4:36
they just will not follow me. You need
4:39
this book. You need to understand what
4:41
it is that actually influences people to
4:44
move forward in the right direction. If
4:47
you are a practice owner, you've got to
4:50
have a team that follows your lead. And
4:53
while this isn't going to go into
4:55
particular styles of leadership, this is
4:58
going to give you foundational
4:59
information on what motivates people and
5:03
how people think without even it's not
5:06
conscious thought, it's subconscious
5:09
reactiveness. And so the psychology of
5:12
persuasion is exceedingly important from
5:16
a team standpoint. But but some of my
5:19
favorite applications of this book are
5:22
actually persuading patients to take
5:25
care of themsel, right? Treatment
5:27
acceptance, even scheduling their next
5:29
hygiene appointment. We want that so
5:31
badly for our patients because we know
5:33
that's what's best for them and we want
5:36
what's best for them. uh but we we are
5:39
using all the wrong techniques to
5:41
motivate them to schedule their next
5:42
treatment or to schedule their recall
5:44
appointment. So this book, The
5:48
Psychology of Persuasion, is
5:49
foundational in our patient care and our
5:52
communication with our patients.
5:55
I I just can't say enough about this. If
5:57
you only pick one of the four books,
5:59
what I would which I would be really
6:00
upset if you only picked one, but this
6:02
one is foundational and it is thick. It
6:05
is weighty. It is not a light and easy
6:08
read, but please trust me on this.
6:11
You're going to want to pick up this
6:12
book and read it. There's been lots of
6:15
spin-offs from this that you could just
6:18
spend the next two years in the
6:20
psychology of persuasion and learn so
6:24
much. So, that's the first book that I
6:26
would highly recommend.
6:28
The second book is called Unreasonable
6:32
Hospitality by Will Gada. It is one that
6:37
I read actually pretty recently. I
6:39
didn't I have the book right here in
6:41
front of me, but I do not have any notes
6:43
made in the margins of this book because
6:45
I actually listened to this one on
6:47
Audible. It was exceedingly enjoyable to
6:50
listen to on Audible. It it read more
6:52
like a story than it did an actual like
6:55
self-help book. So, it is completely out
6:59
of the dental field. There's nothing
7:01
related to dental, just like there's not
7:03
in the former book that I was just
7:05
talking about, but
7:08
it is fascinating. It is a fascinating
7:10
book on how one general manager
7:15
took this restaurant in New York and
7:18
just
7:20
really homeed in on the value of
7:23
hospitality and just broke the mold of
7:26
what hospitality looks like. to hear how
7:29
creative they got with creating these
7:32
experiences for their customers.
7:35
It was humbling because I thought this
7:38
is what a man who's in the restaurant
7:40
industry is doing. And while food is
7:43
important, food is nothing compared to
7:45
your dental care, your physical health.
7:49
And yet we don't put near as much
7:50
thought into our patient experiences as
7:54
this m man does for his
7:58
customers that um visit his restaurant.
8:01
So I would recommend this book. Again,
8:06
any team member could benefit from this.
8:08
Allow it to humble you. I I felt
8:10
exceedingly humbled by this book. And
8:13
then also allow it to inspire you. What
8:16
are creative little things that you
8:19
could try even in your practice? Or
8:22
maybe it's not exactly what they did in
8:25
their restaurant, but it spurs an idea
8:27
for how you can take hospitality to the
8:30
next level. Hospitality
8:33
in most cases is free. Is 100% free.
8:37
Now, you'll hear in this book that he it
8:40
is not free. They spent a lot of time
8:42
and money on hospitality. But in our
8:44
practices, in our dental practices,
8:46
hospitality can be free. And so I want
8:50
to challenge you and your team to just
8:52
break off the molds of what we've always
8:55
considered hospitality to be and to
8:58
really dig deep on this concept. So
9:01
unreasonable
9:02
hospitality by Will Gdara. Highly
9:05
recommend that book. The next one that I
9:08
have here is called, it's a historical
9:11
one. I've had it on my shelf for many,
9:14
many, many years. Um, I was just
9:16
flipping through to see if I could find
9:18
the copyright date. It has been around
9:20
for a while, but the concepts in it are
9:23
timeless. And it is called Word of Mouth
9:25
Marketing by Andy Siron Sironovitz, and
9:30
it is
9:32
just
9:34
so simple, so simple and yet so
9:37
impactful for a practice. So it looked
9:39
like this was originally published in
9:40
2006
9:42
and the concepts absolutely are still
9:45
relevant almost 20 years later. It talks
9:48
about the importance of identifying
9:50
people in your practice that are not
9:53
just good at talking about you but are
9:56
happy to talk about you. They become
9:59
pivotal patients for growing your
10:03
patient base, for letting the community
10:06
know about you. So he talks about how to
10:09
identify these VIPs, how to cater to
10:13
them, and how to really blow their socks
10:16
off in such a way that they are
10:19
outspreading the word about your
10:22
practice. So again, there's nothing
10:26
earthshattering in this book, but it is
10:29
something that should change us after
10:31
reading it because we think about that
10:34
those referrals and that word of mouth
10:36
marketing in a very different way. You
10:38
know, often times we can get discouraged
10:40
in the process of asking for referrals.
10:43
We're like, it's not working. Nobody's
10:45
talking about us. Nobody ever sends
10:47
their friends and their family. And my
10:50
question always is, how intentional are
10:53
we being with getting those people
10:56
talking about us? And so this book
10:58
unpacks lots of different ways that you
11:00
can really unpack that whole referral
11:04
chain. So Word of Mouth Marketing by
11:06
Andy Cernonovitz.
11:08
Then my last one is The One Minute
11:12
Manager by Kim Blanchard. The one minute
11:15
manager. I was scouring my bookshelves
11:18
trying to find my copy. My guess is that
11:21
I have loaned it out to somebody and I
11:24
as I was preparing for this episode, I
11:26
was like, "Oh no, I've got to get my one
11:28
minute manager back." Um because it is
11:32
the shortest little read. It's short and
11:34
easy. You could read it in probably 90
11:38
minutes. It's super short, but so
11:42
helpful. This is going to be a very
11:44
helpful book for, of course, practice
11:46
owners, managers, team leads, people
11:49
that are trying to grow into leadership.
11:52
The concepts represented in the one
11:54
minute manager book are foundational.
11:57
In fact, if you're a parent, you could
12:00
totally utilize the concepts in this
12:02
book. And so, it talks about how to
12:07
effectively manage people without it
12:09
consuming your world. And this is the
12:13
problem that I see with practice owners,
12:16
with managers, team leads, is that they
12:18
have so much on their plate that they're
12:21
drowning. And the management of it all,
12:23
the management of the people, the
12:25
management of the problems becomes
12:28
unbearable. And this book talks about
12:31
how to slowly change the tide of people
12:35
needing you to solve all of their
12:38
problems. It teaches you how to kind of
12:41
punt the responsibility back to your
12:43
team members so that they themselves
12:45
become self-managing in a way. So again,
12:49
it's a very quick read. It is absolutely
12:52
worth the 90 minutes that you would put
12:54
into reading it. And I think the
12:56
concepts are very easily translatable to
12:59
a dental office. So those are four
13:02
books. Oh, I'm sitting here looking at
13:04
my shelves just wishing that I could
13:06
tell you about so many more, but this is
13:08
a really great place to start. Maybe
13:10
you'll get through all four of them over
13:13
the Fourth of July weekend. Although,
13:16
uh, if that's the case, you probably
13:17
won't make it through the Psychology of
13:19
Persuasion. Uh, but maybe you're driving
13:22
somewhere, you can download Unreasonable
13:24
Hospitality. Definitely listen to it.
13:27
And then, um, the other two are
13:29
relatively easy reads. One minute
13:31
manager super short. Word of mouth
13:33
marketing is I'm pulling it open here.
13:36
It is
13:38
90 pages. So it's relatively short as
13:42
well. And I would just challenge you to
13:44
get going on these. So those are my book
13:47
resources. Now I want to kind of shift
13:49
buckets and I want to talk about the
13:51
team of people that you need to surround
13:53
yourself with to have a successful
13:56
practice. So, anytime I'm working with a
13:59
startup practice, I've been so lucky to
14:02
be able to help business owners,
14:06
dentists kick their their practice off.
14:09
And it's just such a fun process. So, to
14:11
me, these are pivotal people that I'm
14:14
telling my startups to get acclimated
14:17
with, but I'm also telling my regular
14:20
clients that have been in business to
14:22
get acclimated with these people. The
14:24
very first one is a dental CPA.
14:29
I cannot tell you how critical it is for
14:33
you to have not only a CPA, but I would
14:36
highly recommend a dental CPA. What I
14:39
see as the distinction between a CPA and
14:42
a dental CPA. Now, when I say dental
14:45
CPA, that may not mean that they only
14:47
work with dentists. There are plenty of
14:49
firms out there that only work with
14:50
dentists. They're they're easy to find.
14:52
Um, but I recommend somebody who has a
14:55
large pool of dentists because they
14:59
become an advisor to you. You are able
15:03
to get trends from them and what's going
15:06
on in the industry. They know specific
15:09
challenges that dentists face, not just
15:13
business owners. So, a CPA works fine,
15:17
but you're missing out on that advisory
15:20
piece. just your dental CPA knowing what
15:24
the um typical overhead is, what each of
15:28
the categories should be as far as how
15:31
much should my dental supplies be of my
15:33
total overhead, what about payroll, what
15:35
should that be? If they're looking
15:36
across multiple industries, they can't
15:39
really communicate with the confidence
15:40
that you need to give you the correct
15:43
information. So, a dental CPA has all
15:46
this data at his or her fingertips and
15:49
they can tell you very specifically what
15:51
those things should be for dental
15:54
practices. Not to mention, they
15:56
understand the concepts of having to
16:00
update technology, having to add new
16:02
equipment. They can figure out from tax
16:05
tax standpoint when and how to add those
16:08
things. So, they are absolutely
16:12
essential to starting a practice. I just
16:15
cannot advise that enough. So, you need
16:18
to have a dental CPA. If you're doing
16:21
your own bookkeeping, accounting, all of
16:25
that. I do understand that that's a
16:27
cost-saving things for you, and I I
16:30
understand if you have to do that for a
16:32
period of time, but as soon as you can,
16:35
you need to get a dental CPA. It's worth
16:37
the investment. So, that's professional
16:40
number one.
16:42
Professional number two is going to be a
16:46
lawyer. And I hate to even say that, but
16:49
you need to have access to somebody that
16:51
can be a resource for you when tricky
16:55
things come up. So, for example, a div,
16:59
let's say you've got a a child patient
17:01
in your practice. Let's say you're pedo.
17:03
You've got a child patient in your
17:04
practice and you've got a set of
17:05
divorced parents. each of them claiming
17:08
a certain
17:10
uh responsibility or a certain privilege
17:13
that they have with their child. And now
17:16
you're in the seat to navigate what your
17:20
role is as a medical dental provider
17:23
towards this child. You're getting
17:26
divorce papers and updated divorce
17:28
papers and you're trying to navigate
17:30
this. you it would benefit you greatly
17:34
to have a lawyer that you can reach out
17:36
to and yes it's going to cost something
17:38
but the advice that you can get from
17:40
that lawyer there are dental specific
17:43
lawyers which are even better so I would
17:45
highly recommend that you have one of
17:47
those on file it doesn't mean that
17:48
you're chronically paying this lawyer it
17:51
just means that you have an established
17:53
relationship with them and you know who
17:55
to contact when something icky comes up.
17:58
So that would be number two.
18:02
Number three is you need somebody, it
18:06
can be somebody on your team, but it can
18:09
also be a company that is supporting you
18:11
in marketing efforts.
18:14
If it is somebody on your team, then you
18:17
need you are responsible as the practice
18:19
owner or as the manager. You are
18:21
responsible for having monthly meetings
18:24
with this person. And y'all are checking
18:26
your online rankings. You're checking
18:28
your Google ads. You're checking your
18:30
social media interactions. You're
18:33
developing your marketing plans
18:35
together. So, you would need to be
18:37
handinhand if that person is on your
18:39
team. If you are outsourcing that to a
18:42
marketing firm, then they naturally are
18:46
keeping you accountable. So, they are
18:48
scheduling monthly phone calls,
18:50
sometimes every other month. They are
18:52
sending you reports on how your
18:54
website's doing. But you need to make
18:57
sure that you're constantly on top of
19:00
marketing. Even if you're in a mature
19:02
practice that is just trying to
19:05
maintain, that's always going to take a
19:07
level of marketing that I think requires
19:10
either somebody dedicated to that on
19:12
your team or a professional company. So
19:15
that would be the third one.
19:18
There's a lot more that I'm wish I could
19:20
say here, but I'm going to keep it to
19:22
four as well. That was my goal. four
19:23
books, four professional resources.
19:26
The fourth one is some type of
19:33
emotional mental support. Okay, so I any
19:37
client of mine knows that I highly
19:39
recommend a counselor or psychiatrist or
19:42
psychologist that you're seeing on a
19:45
regular basis.
19:47
Even if you feel perfectly healthy and
19:50
emotionally in control, I just think
19:52
it's helpful to be able to divulge a lot
19:55
of thoughts and feelings every so often.
19:58
So, it could be that you're only seeing
19:59
that person every other month um or
20:02
three times a year, but something is
20:04
better than nothing. If it's not an
20:08
counselor or psychologist or something
20:10
like that, then I would say make sure
20:13
that you have developed a support group,
20:17
so to speak. So maybe that's several of
20:20
your dental buddies that get together on
20:23
a regular basis and just talk shop.
20:27
You're talking about the business.
20:29
You're talking about trends that they're
20:30
seeing. You're talking about challenges
20:31
that they face, challenges that you're
20:33
facing. So, it's almost like your own
20:35
little support group. But
20:38
I do not think that social media is a
20:41
substitute for that. So, if you're on
20:44
multiple social media groups for dental
20:47
dentistry, I just don't think that
20:49
that's a good enough supplement. I think
20:51
you need inperson facetime with other
20:54
people. And I think it needs to be the
20:57
same people on a regular basis. So,
21:00
let's say you've got a local chapter of
21:02
a study club that you go to, you know,
21:04
every other month.
21:06
You may feel great being able to see
21:09
people learn something when you get
21:11
together, but if it's different people
21:13
every time, then you're not going to
21:15
feel the freedom to be vulnerable with
21:18
those people. So, to me, it's better if
21:20
you have a subset out of that study club
21:24
that meet together on a regular basis.
21:27
If you're going more of the support
21:29
group route, I would recommend monthly
21:32
because there's just a lot that can come
21:34
up in any given month that it's helpful
21:36
to dialogue with other people about
21:39
what's happening.
21:41
So support, mental, emotional support
21:45
either in the way of a counselor,
21:46
psychiatrist, or in the way of a support
21:49
group. I think all four of those are
21:52
nonnegotiable.
21:54
I just cannot express to you enough the
21:57
importance of having having all four of
22:00
those on your team, so to speak. I know
22:02
they're behind the scenes. They're not
22:04
in your office necessarily, but they're
22:06
on your team. You've got a group of
22:08
people that you can access and resource
22:11
at any time
22:13
that that it just brings a peace of mind
22:16
that you just need to do it for
22:19
yourself. So, dental CPA, lawyer,
22:23
ideally a dental lawyer, a marketing
22:26
firm or a dedicated person on your team
22:29
for marketing, and then emotional
22:31
support, either in the way of counseling
22:33
or a support group. So, you've got four
22:35
books, you've got four professionals
22:38
that you need to have as your backbone.
22:42
Use this upcoming holiday break.
22:45
Hopefully, you get a three-day weekend
22:47
with July 4th being on a Friday.
22:48
Hopefully everybody's getting a 3-day
22:50
weekend. Dig into these. Do yourself a
22:53
favor. Invest in yourself. Invest in
22:56
your practice. Invest in your team. And
22:58
check out these four book resources. And
23:01
if you don't have any of these four
23:03
professional resources in place, start
23:06
researching today and get these people
23:09
on your team as soon as possible. All
23:11
right. Happy 4th. Y'all be safe out
23:14
there. Thanks for joining the
23:16
conversation today. We hope that you are
23:18
comforted in knowing that you are not
23:20
alone, but we also hope that you're
23:22
walking away with some really great tips
23:25
and tricks to try in your practice.
23:28
We value your feedback, so please take a
23:31
few moments to rate and review the
23:33
podcast. Finally, we want to make sure
23:36
that we're covering the topics that
23:38
matter to you. So track us down on
23:41
Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, and
23:43
let us know what topics you want us to
23:45
cover. As always, please know that we
23:49
are rooting for you today as you manage
23:51
your dental drama.