A complimentary e-newsletter from Linda Miles for the professional dental community.
For subscription (or unsubscription) details, as well as Miles & Associates contact information, please see the end of this newsletter.
Visit us at www.DentalManagementU.com.
Spring is in the air which signifies a fresh new beginning to many projects. Summer vacations lie ahead, and the beginning of the second quarter of 2001. Compared to the first quarter of 2000, how does your practice measure up? Typical of the first two years of a new decade, the economy has been weak, lay-offs are occurring left and right (which can impact even the strongest practice), and you stopped looking at your investment portfolio months ago. For the younger dentists and teams in their 30’s and 40’s, this is just a slight wrinkle in the economy and we all know it will be back up soon. For those dentists who are near retirement age, the thought of working a few more years until the market recovers, is more than a mere thought. When the economy slumps, the demand for our services doubles. Many dentists wish to rethink their exit strategy. Younger dentists and those in the “go-go” stage of phenomenal growth use this relaxed window of time to get their systems in place, their teams well-trained and their goals well-defined.
In the early 80’s my business rose to the top of the charts when many start-ups failed. By the early 90’s when things were a little slow in the country, we had our peak years. The early 00’s find our consultants very much in demand because the practicality of our systems help clients and their staffs rebound quickly and without the huge investment some management companies charge.
In a recap of our clients of the past five years, 69.5% had doubled their practices in 12 to 24 months. Many had the same or 80% of their well-trained loyal team members who are on fire for the practice and their profession. Most of our clients work – to one day less per week, take more major meeting CE, and are rescheduled for a day of fine-tuning this year with their LLM&A consultant. We do not believe in holding the trump card in consulting. It is our goal to teach the dentists and their teams to become consultants to their own business. We do not return to client offices monthly, which can cause co-dependency and non-creative problem-solving by teams. We are available to our clients through conference calls, monthly monitoring, and annual follow-up. Our fees are very reasonable for the return of investment which should be 8 – 10 times what clients spend annually.
HYGIENE PROGRAM
Monday, our Virtual Classroom with Office Administrators was wonderful! Our topic was Hygiene Department Efficiencies, and it was one of our strongest classrooms yet.
Does your Hygiene Department measure up? Following is a review of our hygiene discussion from the classroom.
Sit down with the entire team in your practices and outline the perio protocol. There are many good programs available today. Also, the local periodontist each practice refers to will gladly assist any general practice in setting up this program of when to refer, how to refer, and how to have the early diagnosis implemented immediately in each practice they serve. The hygiene department efficiencies are one of the main reasons for these dramatic increases. On occasion, we have also referred to some hygiene consultants when there are distinct weaknesses they can assist with for the results we need to achieve.
THOMAS P. HINMAN MEETING
The Hinman Meeting in Atlanta was a BIG HOME RUN for our firm. Nine consultants and friends of LLM&A were on the program this year. Six of us were part of our new TTC (Total Team Concept) Program. I spoke for three hours two mornings on “The Four Cornerstones of A Successful Practice” and “The Philosophy Of Excellence”. My five consultants did three hour break-out sessions twice on the various systems of Practice Management. Anne Knouse spoke on Scheduling, Cindy Ishimoto spoke on team building, Vicki Turner presented the Hygiene Department Efficiencies, Denise Holick spoke on Marketing, and one of my Speaking Consulting Network members, Lois Banta spoke on Insurance and AR Management. Char Sweeney who has been part of LLM&A since the early 90’s was also a Featured Clinician at Hinman. Denise Hecht and Mark Hyman, members of the SCN were also there as clinicians. All in all, a very wonderful meeting.
SUNFUN 2001
We are gearing up for our SunFun Four Day Western Caribbean Cruise the end of April. We have over 500 people registered. If you are tired of the cold weather, call our office today and get the remaining cabins for you and your team. See our web-site www.dentalmanagementu.com, or call toll-free 800.922.0866 for complete details.
SPEAKING CONSULTING NETWORK
In early June, we are anticipating the largest group ever for our Speaking Consulting Network at Hilton Head, SC. This is our fifth annual meeting of how to start or enhance one’s own speaking consulting business. This gives each member the tools to market and manage their own independent business while forming a network of speakers and consultants who share ideas and tips in a close-knit forum. Due to the progressive growth, this may be the last year we invite new members in order to keep the program manageable. If you have considered speaking or consulting seriously, call Annie Seela, Director of SCN at our Corporate office today 800.922.0866. Many members have reported that this Network has been the single best professional investment they have ever made. It has helped them by-pass the first five difficult years of starting their business without support from SCN.
Happy Spring to all,
Linda
If you are not a client, and would like to become one of Miles’ & Associates’ superior practices, please call 800.922.0866, email us at LLMiles@ix.netcom.com or visit us at www.DentalManagementU.com.
Please keep in mind that this newsletter is being offered FREE in response to your request for information. If you would like to unsubscribe to Dynamic Data please send an email to LLMiles@ix.netcom.com to let us know.
Miles & Associates’ corporate headquarters may be reached at 800.922.0866 or 757.498.0014, on the web at www.DentalManagementU.com or via email at LLMiles@ix.netcom.com.
Miles & Associates – April 2001 Miles & Associates 4356 Bonney Road Suite 2-103 Virginia Beach, Virginia 23452 757-498-0014 757-498-0290 FAX 800-922-0866 Toll-free www.DentalManagementU.com