Did you get what you’d planned from 2018? If not, then now’s the best time to plan for getting what you didn’t out of ’18 out of ’19. Capiché?
Your plans ought to include:
– A significant monthly raise for yourself. Don’t you deserve a raise? Here’s a thought: Set your salary then work at maximizing the profit in your practice until it matches your salary all the while, living only on your salary. Then, when you hire a new associate or partner, the profits alone could support you phasing out and into a CEO-type role.
– Ridding your practice of any cancerous team members. Do not start another year with people who do not fit your mission and vision and who do not support you.
– Increasing your new pt flow. One of the easiest ways to increase collections is to see more new patients.
– Training. More for you and more for your team on every imaginable topic. Improving yours and your team’s case presentation skills puts more money in the bank. Period.
– Becoming more efficient in the clinic. E.g. I was interviewing a top-notch DA last week and during the interview, which was being conducted in Op 3, the parting DA retrieving a consent form interrupted me. My question to my office manager was, “Why don’t they have those in every operatory? It’s a huge time suck and inefficient to have to retrieve those every time one is needed.” While eventually, all consents forms will be electronic and the Guest will simply be handed the iPad to view and check the box, it’s not that way now, so consent forms should be in every op. There are little things like this in your practice that happen every day that are accepted forms of time wasting – but worst of all, I hadn’t spotted it before now! If that takes a full minute of time and it happens every day, 4 or 5 times, that’s 4-5 mins of wasted movement and energy every day, times 5 days = 20 to 25 minutes per week, and over an hour-and-a-half each month. Multiple that by $30/house and I could in one month, equip every operatory with their own set or original forms in a $25 binder!
– A definitive growth number with supporting plans to reach it. If you want to grow 5% next year, what steps will you take to get there? BTW, nothing wrong with thinking bigger. It costs the same. So, why not plan on 25% growth? What will you have to do to achieve it? Can you do it with your existing team? If none of these answers are known, get your tail to the next Dental Success Blueprint (info @ jerryjonesdirect.com/dental-success-blueprint). That’s where we train you to get you where you want to go.
– Plan your time off. It’s amazing to me how fast time goes. My wife and I plan our family stuff around work. The key is, it’s planned. We have a few trips already on the calendar for 2019. I have my business trips more or less all planned out with some even heading into 2020. Plan your CE and your leisure time. Make sure you’re re-charging regularly. And, if you feel like you’re too overwhelmed to even take a week off, know that stems from lack of order in your practice. No systems. No one responsible. No cohesive approach to business. That must change so when you are gone, your business actually runs far better.
– Invest time working ON your practice all year. The most profitable offices are owned by a dentist that understands the best times we invest in our business isn’t working as a technician in it, delivering our goods and services, but instead, working on it to create what it is we want that satisfies our mission and vision. Otherwise, what’s the point of being in business?
– Whatever you did wrong in 2018, don’t repeat it in ’19. Sounds simple, but you’d be amazed at how many of us continue to do the same things over and over thinking a new outcome will suddenly result.
– Hard decisions? If you have tough decisions to make, they don’t get easier with the passing of time. Instead, man up and run towards ‘em instead of ignoring or running away. This is how growth happens. Facing and fighting and owning your situation.
My team and I look forward to another great year with you. I can’t wait to meet you at an upcoming event. Put JJD to work for you and maximize your ROI. We’re here to help you achieve that!
Happy New Year to you and family. ~Jerry