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Miles & Associates
P.O. Box 6249
Virginia Beach, VA 23456
757.721.3332
757.721-2892 (Fax)
800.922.0866 Toll-free
www.dentalmanagementu.com
Dear Doctors and Staff,
In Virginia Beach it’s difficult to say Happy Spring because it is still cold, wet and windy. I hope wherever you are, spring has sprung. It has been an exciting quarter for clients of LLM&A, and for our firm as well the past three months. Read complete newsletter for exciting breaking news. We had a record-breaking quarter with our Dental Business Conference in March, the Speaking Consulting Network sold out 6 weeks before our May 22-24 conference, and product sales are better than ever with my new book, DYNAMIC DENTISTRY and pre-orders for our soon to be released, Women Working With Women DVDs and Videos. This new seminar is very much in demand with Associations and meeting planners with three bookings and many requests thus far in 2004. (Read to the end of the newsletter for other exciting 2005 bookings recently scheduled.)
As for dental practices that we excitedly monitor each month, the best just keep getting better. To see solo and/or 1.5 to 2 dentist practices increasing dramatically, makes us want to share the determining factors with our readership. As I’ve always preached, “the hygiene department is the backbone of the general practice and the healthier the hygiene numbers the better the overall practice”, I say by the numbers I receive that this message is RIGHT ON. It is not important to just increase the number of prophys in today’s practice, but the MIX of SERVICES offered. I am amazed by how many hygienists I meet at lectures and meetings who started practicing in the 80’s and for 20 years have not updated their skills or services offered. Those not reading dental hygiene journals such as RDH, Contemporary Oral Hygiene (COH) or the Hygiene Supplements of Dental Practice Report, or who are not attending Hygiene focused seminars are simply not practicing in the 21st century.
Here are a few of the statistical data from five client offices the past three months:
Practice #1, (2 dentists) (17 average days per month): Averaged $33,082 per month in hygiene last year. The first quarter of 2004 their hygiene department averaged $53,058 per month. They hired another full time hygienist; now provide more initial perio along with modern services versus the routine “prophy palace” of last year. The overall practice productivity is up from an average of $97,123 per month to an average of 132,188. Hygiene is 40% of gross (a good target is 33%).
Practice #2, (1.5 dentists) (19 days average): Averaged $29,485 in hygiene in 2003. The first quarter hygiene productivity averaged $32,586 per month. They have the same number of hygienists as last year but again their mix of services has changed. Overall practice productivity changed from a monthly average of $106,793 to an average of $124,173, a 14% increase in overall production and a 10% increase in hygiene. Hygiene is 26% and was 18% when I started consulting the practice 3 years ago.
Practice #3, (1.5 dentists) (15 days average): Averaged $35, 567 in hygiene in 2003. The first quarter hygiene productivity averaged $44,561. They have the same number of hygienists but added an additional hygiene day per week and additional services for their patients. Overall practice productivity was $97,515 in 2003 and is $119,201 the first quarter of 2004, an 18.1 percent in the practice.
Practice #4 (2 dentists) (20.6 days average): Averaged $42,699 per month in hygiene productivity in 2003. The first quarter hygiene productivity was up to $44,931, which is not a great deal except that March was a $52,005 hygiene month. Overall productivity was $210,139 per month for 2003 and is $236,763 average for the first quarter of 2004.While this is only an 11.2% increase; we expect an overall increase of 20-25% for 2004.
Practice #5, my most improved, is a small practice in New England that was literally dying on the vine last year. The SOS call came in the summer and it was November before I could visit to do the practice assessment/consultation. Hygiene had tons of broken appointments; the staff were not well trained in verbal communication with patients and systems management such as scheduling. The dentist was 46 years old and totally burned out because the future looked bleak. There is however good news to report: His hygiene department generated a mere $7892 per month average in 2003. His overall production was only $27,095 per month. In the first quarter of 2004 hygiene is up to $12,217 per month, and his first quarter’s overall productivity is an average of $41,208, (a 34.2% increase in only 4 months). We created a scheduling template, hired a second assistant that started just two weeks ago, started pre-appointing 90% of all hygiene patients using more positive terms versus “would you like us to call you in 6 months?” The biggest change came in the reactivation of lost hygiene patients. A bonus plan was set up starting December 1, and all future increases in salaries and benefits are tied to how well the practice does. Uniforms have already been added and the staff’s first increase came at the three-month average of $40,000 per month. Pre-appointed hygiene will not even kick in until May and the increase was BEFORE the second assistant was hired. Imagine what the second half of 04 will be? The best part of this case history is that the dentist and staff are excited about dentistry and the added care they now offer. They are also confident about the potential for further growth and know the sky’s the limit. The hygiene department was the backbone of this change! Even though my consultants do most of the new starts in our consulting division, those practices I work with, along with those my consultants monitor, are still the highlight of our month when the results are so fantastic. As I tell my consultants and our clients, “we don’t sell billable hours, we sell RESULTS”.
PLACES I’VE BEEN THE PAST THREE MONTHS: January and February are creative months for me as March, April and May are marathon travel months. Don and I took a real 10-day vacation cruise in January (our holiday and birthday gifts to each other). Our ports of call were CoCo Cay; Carousal, a Netherlands Antilles island; Aruba; the Panama Canal Zone, and Costa Rica. The weather was beautiful every day and it was a nice break for the winter.
I spoke in Austin, TX for the Capital Dental Society, January 23, and enjoyed dinner with Dr. Bill and Judy Estes and some of their team. Other than one follow-up consultation in February, the month was spent preparing for our annual Speaking/Consulting Network by creating the workbooks with Lee Tarvin and our graphic designer, Christine, appointing a BOD for SCN, designing the member directory and catching up on articles. The first week of March is always a favorite time of year as it is the American Academy of Dental Practice Administration, (AADPA), annual conference (this time held a the Hyatt Regency in Lake Las Vegas). Aside from the wonderful speakers and social time with the group, one of the highlights was taking my clients, who attend AADPA, out to dinner so they can meet each other. Dr. Patrick Simone of Las Vegas was so kind to not only recommend a superb restaurant for our group, but to also allow us to tour his magnificent office in Henderson. AADPA, for those of you who may not know, is an elite group of dentists who are managing the top practices in every state and even in Australia. Dr. Tony Medland comes each year from Brisbane. It’s such a treat to visit with his wife, Cheryl and Dr. Tony while at the meeting. For those wishing to be included in the mailing for the Orlando AADPA the first week of March 2005 at the Ritz Carlton, please contact the AADPA office in Chicago to be placed on the mailing list or look them up at www.aadpa.org.
Week two of March was our SunFun Cruise with dozens of dentists and their teams on board for the office retreat of a lifetime. Many of our client dentists plus teams we had never met, enjoyed four days of fun in the sun with ports in Key West and Cozumel, Mexico. The onboard entertainment with LasVegas type shows, the scrumptious food, the two half days of seminars, and the fellowship of everyone on board was the perfect blend for a wholesome, educational and refreshing break from normal work days. Many of you have asked when our 2005 SunFun Cruise is going to be? Due to the fact I will be opening a division of LLM&A in India soon, and will spend two weeks there in January, as well as two weeks in Australia for the Masters of Dentistry Extravaganza in Sydney (October 2004) www.mastersofdentistry.com.au, we are scheduling our next SunFun Cruise in February 2006. We do however have an April 2005, Women Working With Women Retreat in Jamaica. This is a half-day Leadership Conference for everyone who attended WWWW in 2003/04 as well as a half-day of the WWWW conference for those who have not attended this exciting team building session. Details will be in the summer edition of Dynamic Data. You may email me your desire to be on the WWWW 05 or CRUISE 06 mailing list when the details are finalized. In the subject area please write Cruise 06 or WWWW Jamaica 05. Janice Hurley of CA, my guest co-speaker for WWWW will be there doing private makeover on image and the new you that you wish to be. Janice is a genius in the image arena. Just jot down the 5 words you would like to be. Janice will help you get there. (PS: Forget Britany Spears as provocative is not professional). HINT: professional, mature, classy, elegant for the ladies and debonair, ruggedly handsome, neat or well groomed for men.)
Week three in March was a day in Louisville with the Uof L and Louisville Dental Association as my hosts. A wonderful day of enthusiastic dentists and staff, plus getting to see friends in KY I have not seen in years. The following weekend was an exciting two-day sold out Dental Business Conference in Norfolk with one of our clients in MD bringing 18 people including his new partner. I will be giving the 2-Day DBC again October 15-16, in Virginia Beach. My consultants are giving the DBC in the two-day or a condensed version (for those who can’t overnight), in various cities throughout the US. Associations and study clubs are sponsoring these, which can also be brought to your city. Call Lee today at 800-922-0866 if your group is interested in sponsoring one of the DBCs. We continue to get rave reviews on the smaller group interaction and the ability of each dentists and staff member to leave with a PhD in practice management and communication skills.
Week four of March, I was back in the Seattle area for the 14th out of 15 past years sponsored by the Seattle King County Dental Society and co-sponsored by the Snohomish County Dental Society. The folks in Seattle are like family and it is amazing with close to 300 people how many new folks were attending their first LLM seminar. Even though it is a day of travel for me (each way) for this annual meeting, it is still one of those favorite groups I look forward to working with each time.
During the first week of April, I had a new and exciting experience of lecturing for two days at the BonaDent Laboratory in Seneca Falls, NY. What a fabulous facility with the best family-run business I have visited lately. With over 150 employees, a full size laboratory teaching facility and auditorium where I spoke, this lab also has a full size gym and equipment for employees and client offices to use. It is complete with a beauty salon, suntan beds, and all the frills for a day of beauty. The dental teams are picked up in a chauffeured driven limo for the experience and served a fine lunch from their on-site restaurant catered from Henry B’s, the best restaurant in town. When they said they had a nursery for employees’ children I didn’t expect to find a fully staffed school that is also open to the public if the employees don’t use all the spaces. One final touch of class is the valet parking for their courses at BonaDent and a surprise box of chocolates left on the seat of each car as it is delivered back to the owners. For those dentists out there who have not had the BonaDent Laboratory experience, their prices are great and their service is superb. The quality of the entire business is in each detail with these folks. Look them up at www.bonadent.com or call 800-732-6222.
A great “pass along” short article on Defining Your Future and how to do it! By: NSA past president, Jim Cathcart, CPAE. Read to the end for my closing announcement.
Describe the life you’d like to live. Be as specific as possible. Write out a word- picture of the future you desire. Note specifically where and how you want to live, what you will be doing for a living, who you will associate with most, what milestones you will achieve and how others will speak of you. The future you’d like to see defines the person you’ll need to be.
Next, ask yourself, what kind of person do you need to become in order to be eligible for such a future. Identify the traits and qualities you’d like to acquire. The clearer the picture becomes the more it will develop the magnetism to attract you to it. When your goals are clear, motivation is automatic.
NURTURE YOUR NATURE
Jim Cathcart is celebrating 28 years of helping people grow their businesses and expand their lives through his coaching, speeches, seminars, books, tapes and consulting. Mr. Cathcart is the author of 13 books including “The Acorn Principle” (ISBN 0- 312-196520) and Relationship Selling. He is also Co- Founder of “The Professional Speaking Institute”.
Cathcart Institute, Inc.
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This “Acorn E-Letter is part of a subscription provided to you by Jim Cathcart. This weekly report will help improve your personal and professional life. Jim offers other e-tools to help you in those endeavors, such as:
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That’s it for our past 90 days! Many people ask how I do so many assignments and have a dozen projects all going at the same time? Just as I teach dentists the value of staff, I know I could not do half what I do it without my assistant, Lee Tarvin, who celebrated her 20th year with our firm in February. Lee’s incredible organizational skills coupled with her devout loyalty to our clients, company and consultants plus her love of people have made her the perfect speaker’s business partner. My other strong support person is Don, my husband who joined our firm full-time in 1988. It is amazing how much we three (and our three consultants) accomplish together and still enjoy each and every experience that the business brings. At age 60, when people ask if I plan to retire any time soon, my answer is, “this IS retirement”. For many years I traveled over 200 days per year and now I limit it to 70-80. I spend more time in front of the computer but that beats air travel any day. Retirement will be going from 80 to 60 days in 2006, 60 to 40 days in 2007 and real retirement in October 2008. That will be my 30th year in business and my 48th year in dentistry, so it will be time for Lee, Don and me to enjoy our families, our thousands of friends we’ve made along the way, then look back on nearly 5 decades of well-spent time. Thanks for being a big part of it!
Recent 2005 meetings scheduled:
- India Tour, January 2-16
- Yankee Dental Congress, January 27-30
- Michigan State Meeting, February 11
- Vancouver BC, May 10
- Hinman Meeting, March 17-20
- AAE, Dallas, April 6-9 (T)
- Jamaica WWWW, April 14-17
- Nations Capital Meeting, DC, April 28-30
- TX State Meeting, (Dental Divas), May 12-15
- Speaking Consulting Network
- Discus Dental Meeting, May 25-29
- Virginia AGD, November 4
Linda Miles, CEO
Linda Miles and Associates
Please keep in mind this newsletter is being offered complimentary in response to the many requests to stay in
touch with our clients and followers. If you wish to unsubscribe to Dynamic Data please send an e-mail message to lindamiles@cox.net“>lindamiles@cox.net to let us know. Miles & Associates’ corporate headquarters may be reached at 800.922.0866. Fax us at 757.721.2892. On the web at www.dentalmanagementu.com, or via email at lindamiles@cox.net“>lindamiles@cox.net.
Miles & Associates – Spring 2004 Miles & Associates
Linda L Miles & Associates
P.O. Box 6249
Virginia Beach, VA 23456-0249
Phone: 757.721.3332
FAX: 757.721.2892
800.922.0866 Toll-free
Tags: 2004