“Leader in Dental Consulting” -Dentistry Today Magazine

7of Dental
MYTHS Practice Success

Dentistry is changing fast.

Practices are declining.
It doesn’t have to be this way.
Create a systems-based
dental practice that grows
year after year.
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DR. ROGER P.
LEVIN Third-Generation Dentist • Practice Management Expert
Chairman and CEO of Levin Group, Inc.
 7 Myths of
Dental Practice Success
Roger P. Levin, DDS

Copyright Levin Group, Inc. 2017

 7 Myths of Dental Practice Success

Introduction

Dentistry is changing… and changing fast. Most dentists lack the

business background to fully evaluate the dynamic shifts taking
place in dentistry and then make the necessary adjustments. Too
many practices are either plateauing or declining, but it doesn’t
have to be that way.

There are practices thriving in the current dental environment by

doing what successful businesses do...

• Implementing expertly designed business systems

to ensure efficient practice operations
• Providing top-level, ongoing training to staff
• Launching high-performance marketing programs
that steadily increase the number of new patients
• Developing a results-oriented culture

These doctors recognize that success doesn’t come by grabbing

one pearl and believing that it will make all the difference. That’s a
myth. The solution is to create a systems-based dental practice that
continues to grow year after year.

So why aren’t all dentists following this advice? The answer is

simply this––they are buying into 7 Myths of Dental Practice
Success.

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 7 Myths of Dental Practice Success

Myth 1

An Improving Economy
Will Improve My Practice

Unfortunately, as the United States economy continues to improve,

dentistry won’t benefit. The reason? The dental economy is no
longer tied to the general economy. Patients will spend freely on
vacations, refrigerators, tuition, TVs and cars, but when it comes to
dental care, they’re holding tightly onto their wallets.

According to published research, over the last decade, there has

been a persistent decline in the number of new patients. This trend
is predicted to continue through 2026 and is creating downward
pressure on practice production and profitability.

Simply put, the demand for dental services is lower than in the past
and it doesn’t appear it will increase anytime soon.

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 7 Myths of Dental Practice Success

Myth 2

Adding Dental Insurance

Will Make Up the Difference
The formula in the past for ramping up production quickly was to
join a couple of insurance plans. A decade ago, this strategy worked
fairly well, infusing the practice with new patients and increasing
annual production. Today, this strategy’s dead on arrival.

• First, 89% of dental practices now participate with

one or more dental insurance companies.
• Second, dental insurance reimbursements are
declining and will continue to decline. In fact, my
prediction is that they will all eventually drop to
the level of current PPO reimbursements. We’re
talking a decrease of anywhere from 10% to 20% in
production.
• Third, today’s patients are extremely careful not to
exceed their maximum annual amounts or to accept
out-of-pocket dentistry the way they did in the past.

Insurance is becoming a part of most practices, but it won’t be the

cure-all solution that it was 10 years ago.

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 7 Myths of Dental Practice Success

Myth 3

My Staff Will Fix My Practice Problems

This may be the oldest myth in the book. Frequently, dentists hire
staff members who don’t have the background to turn around or
grow the practice. If you question this, here are a few interesting
statistics:

• 85% of office managers have no formal management

education or background
• 92% of financial coordinators have no financial
background
• 96% of treatment coordinators have no sales
background

In general, practices are hiring people without the necessary skills.

They definitely can be trained, but they need proven, step-by-step
systems. In addition, staff and doctors often have diverse views of
what is working and what isn’t, as this mini-case study illustrates:

During a recent seminar, I had lunch with four staff members from
one of the practices in attendance. The team members politely told
me that they were enjoying the seminar, but that they were already
doing everything I taught. I would have bet a year’s salary that they

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 7 Myths of Dental Practice Success

weren’t because I give specific targets that most offices have trouble
achieving.

At the afternoon break, the dentist from that practice––who wasn’t

part of the lunchtime conversation––came up and asked to speak
to me privately. He made a list of all the things I had mentioned
throughout the day and basically told me his team wasn’t doing any
of them. Further, his practice was down 7% from the previous year
and he wanted help to turn this situation around.

Later, when a Levin Group analyst visited the practice and

performed an analysis, we found that the staff wasn’t even close
to following the systems taught at my seminar. This is a clear
example of the staff perceiving that they’re doing a great job while
the practice is declining and yet they tell the doctor that they don’t
need any help.

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 7 Myths of Dental Practice Success

Myth 4

If I Give My Patients Excellent Dental Care,

Competition Won’t Matter
This one is almost ridiculous. Find a business anywhere that isn’t
affected by competition. From dental school onward, dentists
are taught that providing excellent dentistry––which is our ob-
ligation––will automatically lead to practice success. While this
appeared to be true for many years, because most practices were
successful, it had little to do with the excellence of the dentistry
and more with simple supply and demand. There were fewer dental
practices back then, along with more patients seeking care. Neither
one is true any longer.

Today, practice success depends on the ability to compete effective-

ly in a crowded market. You need to implement the best systems,
promote your office continuously and effectively, provide incredible
customer service and find new ways to grow your practice.

Moreover, I can assure you that most patients have absolutely no

idea about how to measure the quality of clinical care they’re re-
ceiving. In fact, patients are judging your practice more by the level
of customer service they experience than the actual dental treat-
ment. For example, if the crown looks good and feels okay, then
patients assume they received outstanding quality of care.

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 7 Myths of Dental Practice Success

Don’t get me wrong. Excellent clinical skills still matter greatly, but
they also need to be supported by excellent business skills. You can
be the greatest clinician in the world, but it won’t matter if your
schedule is half-empty every day.

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 7 Myths of Dental Practice Success

Myth 5

Your Patients Love You and Won’t Leave You

You are wrong on both counts. And even if they really like you,
they may still leave you.

Why? Because they changed their insurance… they moved farther

away… they heard about another dentist who offers a Groupon on
whitening, implants or hygiene … they can’t get the appointment
they want… they don’t like your new front desk coordinator… and
host of other reasons.

Patient attrition is an incredibly important statistic, but how many

practices are actually tracking it? Fewer than 2% based on our
experience consulting to new clients.

The bottom line is that some of your patients are going to leave you.
The key is to minimize that number. How? Create an outstanding,
consistent customer service system that WOWs every patient every
day. Fewer will leave you if you get to know them on a personal
level, if the team has fantastic interpersonal skills, if you get patients
in quickly when they call and offer them convenient appointment
times and finally, if the practice develops the right scripting, so that
your team engages patients versus alienating them.

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 7 Myths of Dental Practice Success

Myth 6

You Don’t Need a High-Performance

Marketing Program
You’ve got to be kidding. Find me any great business on this planet
that doesn’t invest significantly in its marketing. Apple does it.
Amazon does it. All successful companies, large and small, do it.
Why is your practice the exception?

The real problem is you don’t know what to do and you are often
being solicited to participate in expensive marketing programs
that don’t work. Advertising has a very limited effect today. Direct
mail has its challenges. Attracting patients through some type of
telephone program often results in people who call and waste the
front desk’s time, making appointments for patients who either
don’t show up or who show up and don’t accept treatment. Many of
the marketing strategies today have very different outcomes than
what you are told. A high-performance marketing program focuses
on:

• Referrals from patients/parents for general dentists

and orthodontists
• Referrals from referring doctors for other specialists

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 7 Myths of Dental Practice Success

• An incredible customer service program

• A minimum of 15 marketing strategies functioning
at all times

The other half of the equation is online presence. Not just being on
Facebook, but also review sites and other social media platforms.
Knowing what to do, how to do it and where to be online is a
critical part of the future. Most practices fall short in this area,
despite what they may think.

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 7 Myths of Dental Practice Success

Myth 7

You Are Excellent at Case Presentation

When we perform a practice analysis, we find that in most general
practices over 80% of the patient appointments are for single-tooth
treatment.

The truth is that most dentists lack superior case presentation

skills. Case presentation is a step-by-step system that encompasses
proven sales techniques accompanied by a deep understanding
of consumer buying psychology. Combined, these enable dentists
to educate, motivate and, ultimately, persuade patients to accept
treatment.

Without this type of system in place, most dentists and teams

won’t be able to increase the acceptance of elective treatment and
larger cases despite the fact that many patients need or want those
services.

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 7 Myths of Dental Practice Success

Conclusion

Too many dentists have made a wrong turn or, worse, a series of
wrong turns based on these 7 myths and ended up spinning their
wheels for years, trying to get back on track.

Trial and error is part of any learning process, but at a certain point
you have to recognize errors for what they are. If you don’t, you end
up making the same mistakes over and over again.

The solution for practice success is actually easy. Implement the

best possible business systems, which will enable your team to op-
erate at maximum potential. Often, practices see significant growth
in less than six months if they’ve taken the right steps.

Isn’t it time to let go of the myths and move your practice forward
in 2017?

In times of great change, people get nostalgic for a golden past. But
you can’t make progress if you’re holding onto false assumptions.

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 About
The
Author

Dr. Roger P. Levin is the Chairman and CEO of Levin Group,

Inc., dentistry’s most respected consulting firm. Levin Group has
worked with over 26,000 dentists since 1985.

A regular contributor to the Journal of the American Dental

Association, Dr. Levin has authored 68 books and published more
than 4,000 articles. He has been interviewed by The Wall Street
Journal, The New York Times and Time magazine.

Dr. Levin has been named one of the “Leaders in Dental

Consulting” by Dentistry Today magazine. He has received the
Dental Excellence award given by DrBiCuspid.com for Best
Practice Management Consultant.