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You’ve got to be pretty smart to be a dentist.
You went to college, excelled in a difficult major like biochemistry, physics or molecular biology and made it through dental school.
But then you were thrown out into the real world, where it takes more than clinical mastery to run a successful practice.
And even the smartest doctors make dumb mistakes when it comes to managing their business.
Dr. Richard Madow is Cofounder of The Madow Center for Dental Practice Success, a consulting practice that helps dentists achieve success and happiness in their practice through truly personalized hands-on coaching.
Having been named a leader in dental consulting by Dentistry Today for many years running, Dr. Madow’s publications, articles and blogs are some of the most popular in the dental profession, reaching over 100,000 practices across the world.
On this episode of The Dental Boardroom, Dr. Madow joins host Wes Read to share five dumb mistakes smart dentists make, beginning with focusing too much on new patients—while ignoring existing ones.
Dr. Madow explains why it’s a mistake to depend on new equipment to bring in new patients and describes how dentists get distracted by other ventures and lose focus on what brings in revenue.
Listen in for insight on the value of properly training your front desk employees and learn Dr. Madow’s five tips for turning your staff into a cohesive team that truly cares for the patient.
[3:59] How Dr. Madow’s personal experience inspired his list of ‘dumb things smart dentists do’
[6:00] The problem with focusing too much on new patients while ignoring existing ones
[9:16] How existing patients can be just as clinically rich as new ones—and even more primed
[12:06] Why it’s a mistake to depend on new equipment to bring in new patients
[16:52] How dentists get distracted by other ventures and lose focus on what brings them revenue
[20:03] Why it’s crucial to provide proper training to team members at the front desk
[23:46] Dr. Madow’s 2 quick tips to dramatically improve your team’s phone skills and double your number of new patients
[30:26] The importance of dental practice operations vs. leadership and communication
[32:14] Dr. Madow’s 5 tips for building a true team rather than just having a staff
[40:01] The power of a leader who shows up with consistent optimism and energy (even when there’s conflict on the team)
The Madow Center for Dental Practice Success
The Dental Practice Fixers Podcast
Wes knows what's best for dental practices. He's been doing this for a long time and he sees lots of practices. He can tell me how our practice is doing, and what we can do to increase our productivity. With past CPA's, there were no ideas. It was all coming from me, saying "I think I can do better, but I don't know how." I come in to meet with Wes and he says "You CAN do better, and I know how."
PracticeCFO is in hundreds of dental offices around the country. They know what numbers should look like. They know what percentages of payroll, rent and supplies should be, and they will hold you accountable to those numbers, which will really help you stick to your plan and your path of growth and savings. That is invaluable
Whenever something comes up, whether it's building or practice related and we weren't sure where the numbers would go, PracticeCFO has been instrumental in helping us figure that out. I can't say enough of how important that is - that it goes beyond that initial partnership. They make sure this business marriage works.
When I go home from work, I don't spend a whole lot of time stressing about what my books look like, or how much I owe in taxes. By using PracticeCFO, the burden of keeping track of a lot of the big financial numbers and metrics are taken off my plate.
PracticeCFO helped me develop a plan for the future. I have colleagues that work with other accountants that don't have a plan - they just look at the numbers of the practice and that's it. There's no plan for 10, 20 years from now. But with PracticeCFO, you get that. PracticeCFO makes you feel like you're they're only client.
(In reference to his practice sale) What could've been super stressful, wasn't! When picking John and Wes, it was from word of mouth recommendations and other people's experiences from the past that really did it for me. And it turns out that those recommendations were right on the line.
Wes knows the business side of dentistry. His comprehensive plan will organize your personal and professional finances so you can focus on taking care of patients. Massive ROI.
I can’t say enough good things about everyone at PracticeCFO. Everyone on the team is professional, organized, knowledgeable, helpful and kind. They also respond to emails and phone calls immediately and are always happy to help. They have helped me navigate year-to-year as a business owner. PracticeCFO gives me peace of mind that my business is in good hands.
I love Practice CFO! They have helped me obtain a practice and maintain a practice. They are incredible people who are on top of everything and make owning and running the business portion of a practice easy. They couldn’t be better for my business and my sanity. They have every detail of the business and taxes taken care of where all I have to do is show up and follow their easy steps to success!
Practice CFO has the best tools I’ve seen for personal tax and financial planning in addition to top-tier corporate tax and accounting services. I have been very pleased with the level of quality service. They manage my monthly bookkeeping and accounts payable. It is a great system and saves me a ton of time, and it allows us to have monthly financial statements within a week of month end.
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