How the most success dental businesses are taking care of their lily pads…
Leading consultant to dentists Rob Walsh, of Clear Vision, reveals the key points the most successful UK dentists have addressed to maximise their results.
At the moment, as I travel across the UK visiting dentists and their practices, I am seeing a ‘10/80/10’ split in terms of their success:
- 10% of dental businesses are continuing to report healthy, often growing, profits month on month
- 80% are experienced mixed fortunes, with fluctuating financial results
- 10% continue to struggle each month, some of which are close to going to the wall
So what is it the top 10% are successfully doing, which the others aren’t?
There are two very significant differences between these dental businesses and their counterparts:
- These businesses have a clear vision
- The owners of the businesses have shared this vision with their team and aligned their team with it
I liken a business vision, whether for a dental business or another type of firm, to a lily pad on a pond.
You can set your vision but in order for it to grow and flourish, it needs the support of a root system.
A key part of this root system is your team. After all, it is your team who help you to make your vision a reality. Or they hinder you.
Your team therefore needs to know, understand and be motivated by your vision. This is certainly the case in the top 10% of dental businesses. The business vision isn’t simply in the principal’s head, their teams are living and breathing it.
Plus your team needs the other necessary factors in place to help you support and pursue your vision on a consistent basis:
- Core values to uphold as they go about their work – these are the guiding principles which govern your team members’ dealings with each other and your patients
- Defined systems they can refer to at any time which create an exquisite patient experience
- The non financial measurements which are key to the development and growth of the business
- Systems in place which keep the team accountable to taking actions agreed, and upholding the business systems and values
The top 10% have these factors in place. I see their teams work together in a constructive manner. I see them follow their excellent patient systems all day, every day. I see them discuss and take action to improve the key measurements which drive their success.
What are you doing to take care of your lily pad?