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Dear Doctors and Staff,

As I review client monitors for the first four months of 2001 and compare them with the same months of 2000, I see tremendous increases from last year. If you have not had this 10-30% increase in your gross and net, make a list of the reasons by doing your own comparative study.

Some of the reasons for non-growth may include, but not be limited to:

Staff turnover- While this in an inevitable event for most practices, it is very costly. It is estimated that the loss of a key member means a loss of one year of that person’s salary in down time, systems changes, and training time.

Dropping Insurance plans that do not meet your standard of care nor fee schedule. While this is an initial and temporary set-back, we have found that most practices work fewer days and produce more at the end of the year than those who continue to write off thousands per month. Dropping plans in a very systematic manner is of utmost importance. Making sure the practice health can support these decisions is a must.

Broken and changed appointments. If this is an ever growing problem in the practice it will certainly diminish the production. The number one cause of broken appointments is lack of communication from team to the patient about the importance of the next visit. The second biggest reason for broken and failed appointments is that patients learn to respect time to the exact degree that the office respects their time. If time management is a huge problem, I can easily estimate that this is the main reason for the patients wasting the practice’s time. It is also a known fact that when a practice clears up the broken appointments they automatically clear up their accounts receivable problems. These two problems co-exist!

Many dentists look for excuses for the practice numbers to fluctuate. The economy is a major issue. Some dentists say, “my patients are afraid to make major dental decisions because their jobs are not secure”. In the same town, the progressive dentists are saying, “interest rates have never been better. Patients are taking out home equity loans to fix the house and have quality dentistry done that they put off for years”. Or they are saying, “my patients are afraid of losing their benefits so they are maximizing their dental care plans this year not knowing what the future holds”. We all know that success and failure starts with thinking and doing things differently. Winners look for ways to succeed. Losers look for excuses to fail. Interestingly, the mind set of the leader in the practice flows to the thinking of staff and patients.

I hope 2001 is off to a dramatic year of total patient care, happy days in the office, enthusiastic staff, and greater net profits. Dentistry really can be fun, exciting and rewarding for patients, dentists and staff.

SUNFUN 2001

For those of you who sailed away with us on our April 26-30 2001 SunFun Cruise, we thank you for being with us. It was a fun-filled trip with ports of call in Key West and Cozumel. Carnival Cruise Lines went out of their way to make the trip enjoyable. Executive Travel arranged one of the best Beach Parties in all our days of sailing. For those adventurous sailors who went snorkeling and to swim with the dolphins, congratulations! Our 504 total numbers were phenomenal. Thanks to the dentists who brought their entire teams (some over 30 people!). Thanks also to the frequent SunFun offices that go with us everywhere no matter the itinerary. Many people ask where we are going in 2002 and 2003. The plans are in the works for and another cruise in 2003. We are currently looking for corporate sponsorship and will have more information as the year unfolds. My thanks to Anne Knouse and Vicki Turner, two of our Senior Consultants who assisted with mini-consults on board. If you would like to have a one hour PAC (Practice Analysis Consultation) with one of our consultants, the format is: An overview of your practice statistics and a one-hour telephone consultation with a consultant to assess your three major weaknesses. The hour will contain very valuable information on how to mend the systems or practice obstacles, not just identify them. The fee is $595 for PAC. You may fax or call with your request to become a PAC client. 800-922-0866 or fax your credit card number with PAC and your forms will be faxed back to you. 757-498-0290 (fax).

SCN 2001

As we go to press, we are astounded by the surge of registrants this past month for our 2001 Speaking and Consulting Network to be held early June in Hilton Head Island, SC. This is our annual mentoring program for those who wish to start or enhance their own speaking and consulting businesses. Our 5th Annual SCN goal was to have 30 people in Level I and another 30 in Level II for a total of 60. (The 4th Annual SCN had 46). Numbers are well over 90 people this year with a cut- off date this week. My thanks to my fantastic staff for all the behind the scenes work involved in getting the menus, workbooks, socials and nametags ready in the midst of moving our office at the end of June.

We will be announcing our new address in our next month’s newsletter. It is an exciting time at LLM&A. I will be curtailing all travel for the months of mid June to mid August to move into our new house and relocate the office at the same time. With the pre-planning of my staff, we don’t expect more than a day of interruption with phones and the computers.

VIRTUAL CLASSROOMS

For those who participated in the Office Administrators Virtual Classrooms every other Monday night for 16 weeks, I send my thanks. It was truly one of the best new programs I’ve started in 22 years of doing business. The 15 OA’s became more than network pals over the course of the program. Everyone said it was the best 8 hours of CE they had participated in. Our thanks to Vicki Anderson of WA, Editor of Insurance Solutions Newsletter, for being our guest speaker for the Insurance classroom. By popular request, we are starting a 10 Week Team Virtual Classroom in September every Monday evening for 10 weeks. Two weeks will have the dentists on line, two for OA’s, two for the Assistants in the same practice, two for the front desk Business Staff, and the other two weeks for Hygienists. The schedule and topics will be announced later this summer. To enroll, please call my office (800-922-0866) or fax the request for more information to 757-498-0290. The classroom format is a tele-bridge call with follow up by e-mail or faxed information. The tuition is $195 per staff member or doctor for their two weeks on-line. The first five minutes of the hour is clicking on and hellos. The seminar on a particular topic of interest is 20 minutes, 20 minutes of group interaction, and a 15 minute wrap-up of how the information will be used in each practice. Registration is limited and on a first call, first serve basis. Until next month, Happy Spring!!

Linda

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 lindamiles@cox.net with your email address to let us know.

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

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

AADPA ANNUAL MEETING

Hopefully in your part of the country it is getting warmer. In Virginia Beach we have had a long cold, windy and wet winter. I spoke in Boise, Idaho in February and it was actually as cold in Virginia as it was that week in Boise. Following Boise, Don and I went to the AADPA Annual Meeting in San Antonio, Texas two days early to have a little sunshine. Guess what? It was cloudy, cold, and wet there too!

The AADPA meeting was truly the best AADPA meeting in the past ten years. With over 650 in attendance, each session was standing room only. Program Chairman, Dr. Don Gary of TN, truly outdid himself in the planning along with Kathy Uebel, Executive Director.

Speakers for this meeting had many powerful messages to share. From the Opening Session with Robert Schuller of the Crystal Cathedral, to Nido Qubein, the country’s foremost successful immigrant who built empire businesses with Fortune 500 companies. Roger Crawford, the author of many books and tapes on overcoming diversity and positive thinking, was also a headline speaker. Roger was born with no hands and one foot. His tapes reveal how he went on to become a champion tennis player and carried the Olympic Torch, all because he refused to believe he was handicapped. Mark Victor Hanson, co-author of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series talked about “The Magic of Imagination”. The line-up of speakers included many dental speakers such as my friend, Joy Millis, Larry Rosenthal, and many others. I was delighted to invite two new client offices this year. Enjoying the meeting with us were Drs. Arthur and Barrick of Lynchburg, VA, and Dr. Lisa Samaha from Newport News, VA. It was great seeing so many of my past clients there as well. To order the entire tape series of the AADPA Sessions, please call Infomedix at 800.367.9286. These sessions will change your life by reshaping your thinking!

One of the highlights of the AADPA meeting was the informal confab with nine other consultants who were there this year. Friday afternoon in the main lobby while the members played golf, we had a great impromptu Consultants Focus Group to discuss the joys and frustrations of consulting and speaking. My thanks to Annette Linder, Joy Millis, Lynn Garber, Linda Lakin, Steve Gutter, Marsha Freeman, Vicki Turner, Lois Banta, and Mary Osborne for their input. We all agreed that we have the most exciting careers in dentistry, and are privileged to be members and prospective members of AADPA, the premiere meeting for Practice Administration issues.

HINMAN DENTAL MEETING 2001

As we go to press, my consultants and I are off to the Hinman Meeting in Atlanta. I speak on Thursday, Friday and Sunday mornings. The consultants’ five break-out sessions are Friday afternoon and Saturday morning. Char Sweeney, who has been with LLM&A since 1990, is also a featured clinician at the Hinman this year. Char “temporarily retired” last year to concentrate on raising her two young daughters and helping her periodontist husband Dale with his very busy practice in Port Huron, MI. It will be great working with these six fine professionals next week. I am happy to report that Lee Tarvin from Corporate, will be joining us for this wonderful meeting, along with our friend, Linda Buschmann from Atlanta, GA

INSURANCE AND COLLECTIONS PROGRAM

This past week I had the pleasure of sitting in on one of my Speaking Consulting Network member’s seminar on collections and insurance management held in Norfolk, VA. Lois Banta of Banta Consulting, MO, did a fantastic job of bringing all of us up to date with new insurance codes, techniques, and most of all to remind her audience that collecting money in dentistry is actually fun!! If your office suffers from a back-log of mis- managed funds, you may reach Lois by calling her at 816.373.0515. Her friends in the Network call her “Dentistry’s Insurance Detective”.

CONSULTING

My Senior Consultants and I have had an exciting meeting which revealed that 69.7% of our in-office consulting assignments in the past five years had doubled their practices in 12-24 months. The interesting part of our survey is that they were already good practices when we met them and began our work together. (We know that good practices seek consulting because it is a known fact, the best want to be better.) If you are a client of LLM&A, and haven’t scheduled your 2001 Follow-Up date, please do so, as our consultants are getting busier each quarter. If you have thought about becoming an active client of LLM&A, call today 800.922.0866, and one of our Senior Consultants will be happy to reserve time on their schedules for your practice. We focus on communication, organization, motivation and appreciation of patients, doctors and staff. The first letter of those four items spell COMA, (what practices are in if they are not reaching their full potential.)

ALL ABOARD!

Our cruise is filling all the reserved cabins with only four to offer in our block. If you and your staff wish to celebrate a great year of 2000, call Executive Travel Services at 877.524.8466, and speak with Ginger. As our repeat cruisers can tell you, when the entire team is geared toward higher goals, new communication skills, and a more positive mind-set, the investment is more than recouped within the first month back to the office. It is also true that “practices that learn together, stay together”. Annie Seela and Christy Garrison from Corporate will be joining Executive Travel’s team to coordinate our cruise April 26-30, 2001.

THANK YOU

Thanks go to Greg and Lenora of Seattle King County Dental Society for their 12th invitation to address their Society in 15 years. It was well worth the day over and Red Eye Flight home Friday night to see all my Seattle friends again. President, Dr. Sue Hollinsworth introduced me and Dr. Ace Goerig and Dr. Paul DiDonato were charming hosts for dinner. My thanks to Lynne Nelson, one of my Speaking Consulting Network Members for her assistance during the seminar.

SPEAKING CONSULTING NETWORK 2001

Speaking of SCN, if anyone in the reading audience wishes to start or enhance their own speaking or consulting business, they should definitely join us for the 5th Annual SCN workshop in Hilton Head, SC. This year’s meeting for 1st and 2nd year attendees is being held June 1 & 2, 2001. The wealth of information, networking, and sharing is parallel to no other meeting you will ever attend! All of our members wished they could stay for an additional two days of learning and discussion. If you are interested in joining us this year, call the Crowne Plaza Resort at 800.334.1881 while there is still room available.

I am truly excited to have various sponsors that will be displaying their goods and services, as well as attending the meeting to share their knowledge and skills with all who attend. They are quite anxious to meet the rising stars in dentistry.

VIRTUAL CLASSROOM

Our bi-weekly Office Administrator eight-session Virtual Classrooms are causing quite a stir in the dental community. Mr. Bob Kehoe of Dental Practice Report, will publish a joint article for the VC group this fall on interviewing and evaluating all members of the team. We took a poll and found the average number of years in dentistry for this group is 21 years, so a lot of experience and knowledge is being shared. If you wish to apply for upcoming Virtual Classrooms, please email or call to get on the lists of classes that begin this fall. Hourly tele-bridge calls include 5 minutes of introductions, 20 minutes of class on a particular subject, 20 minutes of group interaction on that topic, and a 15 minute wrap-up. Continuous networking takes place via email and faxes, and can dramatically improve every practice that participates.

Until next month,

Linda

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:

www.DentalManagementU.com LLMiles@ix.netcom.com Miles & Associates 4356 Bonney Rd, Ste 2-103 Virginia Beach, VA 23452 800.922.0866 757.498.0014 757.498.0290 FAX

For subscription (or unsubscription) details, as well as Miles & Associates contact information, please see the end of this newsletter.

Visit us @ www.DentalManagementU.com

In reviewing my client records for a comparison of their 2000 figures compared to their 1999 numbers, it has been a banner year of growth for most practices we are privileged to consult.

The problems that persist in most offices seem to be universal with a shortage of good chairside assistants and dental business staff. The hygiene shortage experienced for years is not as big of a problem as it has been in the past. With the labor shortage problems, dentists must make a concerted effort within their dental societies to recruit and retain good staff. One of the best ideas is to market the profession of dentistry to all high school students who may not have decided upon a career path.

Having brochures in the office to give every family who has teenagers is a good start in the recruitment effort. Holding career days in malls and schools is another way to attract quality staffers. Institute a comprehensive on the job training program which promotes work release programs with high school students. Ask counselors in local schools to assist the dental society in it s effort to recruit quality people.

Why are the established staff members leaving dentistry? For greener pastures and a better work environment. If an employee is not challenged, trusted, or praised, they will seek fulfillment elsewhere. Companies that offer good benefits such as hospitalization, medical insurance and retirement plans will continue to erode the employment pool in the dental profession. Benefits for career minded people cost a small fraction of the cost of weak employees and constant staff turn-over.

What are some of the other concerns of dentists in today s practices besides staff shortages? One of the concerns is the overall economy. Patients are not as willing to part with their hard-earned money when the economy takes a nose-dive. It is time for the hem-lines of skirts to rise. Have you noticed how many women wear below the knee and ankle length skirts and dresses these days? As un-fond of the mini skirt as most women are, it would be welcome on the fashion scene as when skirt lengths rise, so does the economy.

TECHNOLOGY

Technology is a mixed blessing in most practices. We certainly would not want to return to the antiquated ways of running the practice BC (before computers), but many practices have had computer nightmares this past year. With all the merging of computer companies, the complaints from one system to another often fall on deaf and dumb ears. One practitioner with whom I correspond, lost her entire hard drive back-up for the past three years. It was backed up daily, but not being saved! Another dentist has lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost revenue trying to get someone to admit wrong-doing with their computer. The hardware people blame software, and vice versa. Meanwhile the computer company has been sold leaving hundreds of very unhappy users. The new company pleads not guilty by default.

SUNFUN 2001

Cancun was a real winner for Linda Miles & Associates’ SunFun Seminars. Over 200 people met on the beautiful white sands and pool area of the Fiesta Americana Coral Beach Hotel, one of the finest in Cancun. The special seminar material which can only be heard in 2001 at our SunFun courses, was a home run for both repeat attendees and those who experienced for the first time.

We have over 500 people registered for the 4 Day W. Caribbean Cruise April 26-30. Don’t miss the boat!! Cabins are going fast, with only 33 left as of Friday. Call Executive Travel in Norfolk, VA, at 888.524.8466 today to make plans to join us on The Imagination, by Carnival. (A four day cruise for the price of a three day). Ports of call include Miami, Key West, Playa del Carmen, and Cozumel.

VIRTUAL CLASSROOM

For those Office Administrators who failed to register for our Virtual Classrooms, you have missed a wonderful networking experience. Our third class was February 5th, with our subject matter, How to reduce broken and changed appointments . We are in the process of creating a joint article on interviewing and evaluation questions for each position in the practice.

To sum up the Virtual Experience, I said, it s like a professional slumber party from 9- 10 PM every other Monday night with some very bright OA s. I’ve met these ladies in various practices over the years and couldn’t wait for them to know each other. My thanks to 13 dentists who sponsored these women. I know that the doctors are enjoying the classrooms by proxy every other Tuesday after our Monday night classes.

A couple of the VC members have made arrangements to visit each others offices, most have become email pen pals, and now we are co-authoring an article!! I never knew how much fun these classes would be.

HOLIDAY

Valentine s Day is just around the corner. Don t forget to express your appreciation to those at home and work. At home, make heart shaped cookies, frost your pink bagels with cream cheese frosting and sprinkles. Forget about dieting for just a day, and have fun. If you are a specialist and wish to give gifts to your referring doctors offices, remember that Valentine s Day and Halloween are two holidays the staff enjoy most with remembrances.

AADPA

On a personal note, Don and I are getting ready to go to the AADPA Annual Meeting in San Antonio. It will be an exciting line-up of speakers such as Robert Schuller, Nido Qubein, and Mark Victor Hanson to name a few. Dr. Don Gary of TN has done a superb job as the Meeting Planner along with Kathy Uebel, the Executive Director. If you haven t registered for the meeting and wish to join us February 28- March 6, call Kathy today at 847.934.4404. The Westin Cantera Resort is a five star studded experience.

HINMAN 2001

The Hinman is also just around the corner in mid-March in Atlanta. I am so proud of seven of my consultants and friends who are also on the Hinman this year including Char Sweeney, MI; Denise Hecht , NY; Denise Holick , NJ; Anne Knouse , FL; Vicki Turner, TX, Cindy Ishimoto, HI; and Lois Banta , MO. We hope all of you plan to be at the Hinman. It is ‘second to none’ to every dental meeting in North America. I will be speaking Thursday, Friday and Sunday mornings. Hope to see you in our audiences.

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 and email to LLMiles@ix.netcom.com to let us know.

Miles & Associates’ corporate headquarters may be reached at:

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