Adjusting to Success

One of my all time favorite pieces of business and motivational literature is a speech given by insurance executive Albert E.N. Gray entitled “The Common Denominator of Success.” Some of the more salient points of this address were popularized by Earl Nightingale in later years.

I was reminded this week of a specific point Mr. Gray makes in his address. He said, “It is easier to adjust ourselves to the hardships of a poor living than it is to adjust ourselves to the hardships of making a better one.”

“Making it” in dentistry, or any other field takes effort, energy, and endurance; three things that are increasingly difficult to find. But the key ingredient is adhering to a set of natural laws and systems that get results. That sounds easy, but it is much more fun and entertaining to run off after the latest fad or new idea, show up late and leave early, or forgo additional wants in order to avoid the work, effort and energy it takes to become better.

I have frequently thought that there are few professions to which Albert Gray’s quote applies more than dentistry. There are few professions or professionals that I have seen that work harder at not working than dentists. In dentistry, it seems to be a badge of honor to not work very much. You’ve heard the conversation. A dentist will ask a colleague, “How many days-a-week are you seeing patients?” “Four days,” the other dentist responds to which the inquiring dentist replies, “Well, I’m only seeing patients 3 days a week.” And then he strides arrogantly away!

Sometimes it gets so bad that this “Don’t work” syndrome seeps down to the earliest entries in the dental field. I recall a dentist out of school just a few years who was only working 3 days a week. His practice was suffering, his production was mediocre, but he sure knew how to strut on the golf course two to three days a week!

Maybe I am out of touch here, but if your goal is to work less and see patients as little as possible so you can do other things, you might want to seriously consider your approach to your chosen profession. I have never seen anyone rise to any level of true success that did not put in the effort, energy and endurance to get there.

Case in point: I just finished reading Geoff Colvin’s book, Talent is Overrated – What Really Separates World-class Performers from Everybody Else, as recommended to me by Olympic Gold Metalist, Lanny Bassham (www.MentalManagement.com) If you want to read something that will give you some great hope, especially if you don’t think you are particularly talented in any one area, this is the book for you. As the title suggests, Colvin makes the convincing case that we give far too much credit to talent when observing the success of others, and we have far too little appreciation for the work that it really takes to be great. Becoming good – really good, takes effort, energy, and endurance. That’s why it is, as Albert Gray suggested, a lot “easier to adapt to the hardships of a poor living than it is to adjust ourselves to the hardships of making a better one.”

So, where are you slacking off? Where have you adjusted your desires, ambitions and attitudes to a lower level of accomplishment? Where do you need to step it up and apply some additional energy, effort and endurance? The “hardship” on the front end might take some sacrifice, but the success on the back end will be much better than the long, unending hardships of adjusting yourself to a lower level of success.

Now….Go to WORK!

The Practice of Choice

Beltline Road in Addison, Texas, just north of Dallas, is the home to one of the highest concentrations of restaurants per capita of anywhere in America. It is known as "Restuarant Row" in the Dallas area. Every time I take a guest from out of town down Beltline Road, the response is usually the same. They can’t believe there are so many restaurants in one place. How could all of those restaurants compete with each other and be successful? Well, they don’t and they can’t! Let me explain.

Because there are so many restaurants in one place, Beltline Road has become know as THE place to go if you are looking for a place to go out. It has become a magnate for the dining out crowd. Other restaurants in the vicinity that are not on Beltline Road don’t fare as well because they don’t benefit from the “competition.” That’s right! Too often we think of the competition as something to fear. In fact, the “competition” may be one of our greatest assets. In the case of Beltline Road, the high concentration of restaurants attracts a higher number of people who are just looking for the right place to eat. Additionally, patrons leaving one restaurant may see another that looks interesting and decide that they will try that place the next time. It is a benefit the new restaurant would not receive if it had been in a more remote location.

Take another example: Have you ever noticed how often there are two gas stations at the same intersection? Common sense would tell you that they compete against each other, when in reality they are helping each other. How? Because there are two choices, the location has become known as a prime place to fill up and/or get what you need on the run. As long as each “competitor” has a way of differentiating itself from the other in some way, both can thrive.

Now to dentistry; With over 50% of the population that does not go to the dentist on a regular basis, your biggest concern should not be about the dentist down the street or around the corner. It should be how you can differentiate yourself and create a compelling benefit strong enough that attracts people to come in the first place. There are plenty of teeth to go around as long as you know what makes you different and you know how to get them in the door in the first place.

So, quit being so concerned about the “competition” and go to work on capitalizing on the assets you have that make your practice the attractive choice. There’s always going to be plenty of choices. What makes you the practice of choice?

Miles for Life

We are just back after riding 1,000 miles over 4 days through Yellowstone National Park with over 20 Crown Council dentists who each made a generous donation that amounted to a $100,000 benefit to Smiles for Life (www.SmilesForLife.org). Officially named the “Miles for Life” ride, Dr. Roy and Frances Hammond four years ago offered to donate the proceeds from one of their Learning Curves (www.LearningCurves.net) dental adventure tours to the Smiles for Life Foundation. Four years later, this event has raised over $300,000.

Over four years ago when Dr. Roy invited me to join the Learning Curves faculty, I had never ridden a motorcycle. But his challenge to step out of my comfort zone resulted in an official motorcycle safety course and a new Harley-Davidson in the garage! Since then the “Miles for Life” ride has taken us through the Colorado Rockies, National Parks of Southern Utah, and Yellowstone National Park twice. (Above: as the sun rises over West Yellowstone, Dr. Ed White, Roy Hammond and myself prepare with over 20 other riders and partners to depart for the day.)

One of the fun aspects of this building tradition is the numbers of riders who have decided to get out of their comfort zone and prepare to ride for the first time as well. Our thanks goes out to Dr. Hammond and his family for making this a great experience for veteran and neophyte as well.

As mentioned in this blog several weeks ago, we recently lost Frances Hammond. This was the first Learning Curves ride in over 12 years that she was not present. Frances was missed, but we admire Dr. Roy’s commitment to carry on the good work that they started together.

My thanks also to the dentists and spouses who stepped up to the challenge, donated, and rode including:

• Allan Acton
• Joe Albert and Maurene Cronyn
• Dale and Lynn Behner
• Bill Dorfman
• Joes Gurevich and Ana Loynez
• Chris and Ali Hammond
• Eric Harris
• Fred Hecht
• Denise Markoff and Fran Landoff
• Michael Cooper
• Mario Lemay and Suzanne Harmony
• Ron and Cindy Massie
• Ken and Lori McAfee
• Lon and Holy M cRae
• Tim and Faith Modic
• Jim Moore and Tara Bauer
• Ralph Pamenter
• Howard and Alla Steinberg
• Jared Theurer
• Ed White
• Mark and Angel Webb
• Paula Swenson
• Tracy Beckstrom
• Amy Gerstner

It was four days o0r great scenery, education, and mentoring never to be forgotten.

So step up to the challenge. Join us next summer for “Miles for Life.” If you have never ridden, you have a year to learn and get ready. If you are a veteran rider, you’ll never go on a ride that is more fulfilling that will do more good than this.

Dates for next year’s ride will be announced shortly. To tentatively reserve your space, e-mail us at Answers@TotalPatientSerice.com today. The ride has been sold out for the last three years running. That’s a tradition that is bound to continue.

Who is the fool?

This week, Pam Peterson, our lead ToPS Practice Advisor, quoted the first dentist she ever worked for years ago, Dr. Nate Hudgins: “A dentist who has him or herself as a dentist has a fool for a dentist.” Just as a brain surgeon would never perform surgery on himself, it does not make sense to think that you could do a quality job on yourself either, even if it is not brain surgery.

But let’s take that thought a step further, “A dentist who is his or her own advisor/coach, has a fool for an advisor.” Let’s face it, you can’t be objective about your own work, practice, or life for that matter. You are too close to it. You can’t see what others might see objectively.

Case in point: We spent a few days this week out of town, behind closed doors at the hands of a strategic planner who helped us look at our own business with a new set of eyes. Granted, I was familiar with the process he used and I knew exactly where he was going. But there was something different about having someone else guide the process than my guiding the process. I was in a different frame of mind. The biggest benefit was the things that we would tend to skim over and take for granted, we were invited to drill down, analyze and think about from a different perspective. In many cases, it was work that I would not have taken the time to do unless someone objective had been at my side holding my feet to the fire, asking all of the difficult questions, waiting for me to answer, and not being satisfied until the answer was complete and comprehensive.

So, who is your advisor or coach? Or are you trying to do it yourself? I am always amazed at the results that come back from ToPS practices where a ToPS Practice Advisor is involved, guiding the process, asking the difficult questions, and challenging the entire team to new levels of success. Often times, we will allow someone else like a ToPS Practice Advisor to do things that we would not have the courage to do ourselves. We all need a push, a challenge, encouragement, and a new perspective. The right advisor can provide a HUGE return by guiding the process that will help us get further and faster than we would ever get on our own.

So, don’t be your own dentist! And don’t be your own advisor. The person who has him or herself as his only advisor, has a fool for an advisor!

Do Your Specialists Get It? - Do you?

In a discussion recently with a group of specialists, the question came up as to why general dentists give their patients several choices instead of just recommending one specialist. Most specialists think it is for liability reasons – that the general dentist does not want to take the blame if something goes wrong. It is a convenient explanation, but totally off base.

If you are a general dentist and referred one of your patients to a specialist and the patient came back raving about the experience and then thanked you for the referral, it would get your attention. If the patients you referred to that particular specialist routinely responded in like manner, you would start thinking twice about referring them to anyone else because that particular specialist made you look good – really good! If you are specialist and want more loyalty from your referring dentists, wake up and start giving the patients something to talk about so they can’t help but talk about their experience when they return to their general dentist. It seems like a simple formula. I am not sure why most specialist don’t get it, but they seem more interested in boosting their out of control egos and arrogance than they do TREATING patients in a way that reflects positively on the person who referred them. (And I’m not talking about clinical treatment.)

Now let’s turn the tables for a moment. What are you and your team doing to really give your patients something to talk about after their appointment? Take for example a recent new patient who works for a major employer who came into an office with which we work. After his initial visit, the phone started ringing at the dental office with other employees from the same company. They called simply because this one patient was telling everyone about his experience at the dentist. Since half the people don’t go to the dentist on a regular basis, they have a level of guilt that they are trying to relieve if someone will just give them a good reason to pick up the phone. All it takes is just a little enthusiasm from someone they trust to push them over the edge.

So what did this office do to get the patient to talk? They did what they do with every patient. They treated him right, made him feel important, listened to him, met him where he was emotionally, and followed the entire ToPS system for total case acceptance. They did it right!

So, whether you are a specialist or a general dentist, if you don’t have raving word of mouth, wake up and get on your game. Word-of-mouth is only the most powerful form of marketing in dentistry if you give your patients something to talk about. Make the commitment today to be a “specialist” – a specialist in creating such a compelling experience that patients can’t help themselves. They HAVE to talk about you.

No More Comfort Zones

While I have talked about getting out of a comfort zone in speeches and seminars for the last 20 years, there are probably no two people who have challenged my own comfort zones more than Dr. Roy and Frances Hammond. Six years ago, they challenged me and Cheryl to do a week of humanitarian dental work in Central Mexico with them and a group of Crown Council dentists. After that experience, we were hooked. With their excellent leadership, Crown Council members everywhere have now contributed thousands of hours and dollars through participation in our collective dental humanitarian efforts in the Dominican Republic and other parts of the world. The vision for what can be accomplished in these remote parts of the world has been theirs. Their purpose has been to educate, assist and help the people we serve to be self-reliant. Not to just give them a handout, but to ultimately help them help themselves.

Roy and Frances are responsible for another big jump out of my comfort zone – motorcycle riding. Five years ago, they invited Cheryl and I to be on the faculty of their LearningCurves company (www.LearningCurves.net) which provides dental adventure tours on motorcycles combined with dental continuing education. Up until that time, I had never touched a motorcycle! But thanks to their encouragement, it has been one of the most thrilling things that Cheryl and I have learned and done together. Each year for the last four years we have ridden with Roy and Frances along with twenty other dentists for four days on what we have titled our “Miles for Life” ride to raise money for Smiles for Life (www.SmilesForLife.org) benefiting the dental humanitarian work in the Dominican Republic. We leave again on July 15 to rumble through Yellowstone National Park for this year’s ride.

Roy and Frances have created living metaphors for getting out of one’s comfort zone through purposeful change in our lives. Our lives and our personal relationship has benefited immeasurably because of their influence.

This last week, we were saddened by the passing of Frances Hammond. She will be dearly missed by Roy, her family and all of us. We are so grateful for the influence they have had on our lives. It is difficult to say Roy’s name without Frances’s and Frances’s without Roy’s. They are truly an exemplary couple who have walked together, worked together, taught together, and ridden together ever since they were 14 years old. They are a model of what true love and marriage should really be. We are blessed to have them as an example in our lives.

Frances, we will miss you. Roy, we are with you as you carry on the meaningful things that you and Frances have started together. Thanks to both of you for leading the way. Thanks for making a difference in our lives and the lives of the thousands you have touched and served around the world. The world is a much better place because of Roy and Frances Hammond.

Invisalign Alignment

There has been a lot of chatter this week about Align Technology’s new requirements for Invisalign providers of a minimum of 10 cases a year and 10- hours of CE. I made some comments on the Crown Council Forum about this topic this week, but I would like to add a few things here about your practice and about Align.

How should you react? This is clearly a moment to take an objective look at your practice. If you have a procedure that you are doing less than once a month, are you really serious about it? It probably is not worth it to you or your practice to do Invisalign anyway if you are not going to do it that often. So just bag it and refer your cases to…the orthodontist.

Then on the other hand, maybe this is an opportunity to get serious about doing more Invisalign cases. Rethink your attitude about it and your approach. Like most everything, it is a matter of focus. If Invisalign treatment is part of your philosophy of care, then get serious about promoting it and do more of it.

Re-examine where you stand and make a decision. Whichever way you go, it will be a good move for your practice. You will ether do more Invisalign treatment which will be good for your patients and good for your practice, or you will not do any at all, which will free you up to get more focused on the things about which you are really passionate. Just make a decision.

Now about the company…Align Technology.

If you want a great example of how NOT to deal with your customers, you’re seeing it with the example of this company. Let’s put things in perspective. Imagine sending a form letter out to your entire patient base (including those you had just seen recently face-to-face) to let them know that they are no longer welcome in your practice unless they come every 6 months without fail and complete at least 80% of their outstanding treatment. You would never do something like – ever, unless you were so arrogant and out of touch with reality that you routinely made it a point to upset your patients and run people off.

If you wanted to raise the standards, any rational person would start by talking face-to-face with its best customers to explain what was coming, give them an action plan to be successful with the new standards, and then give them some lead to time get up to speed. They would also set up a different class or provider…”beginners” and “select.” The beginners would be provided with special services to help them get above the 10 cases a year mark and would be given a goal time to do that. The select providers would be given VIP services because they are doing more than 10 cases a year. In other words, they would do everything they could to help their clients be successful and communicate it in such a way that the client felt supported, appreciated, and encouraged to do better. Unfortunately, that is not the case here. But from what most people tell me, it is very “aligned” with the actions of the past with this organization.

There is also a great opportunity here for completing technology to rush into the market with the competitive advantage of great customer service and philosophy of “partnering” with their clients for success. With the right ingredients, a company like this would take the industry by storm and practitioners would flock to it. It is only a matter time before it happens. A market will only put up with an arrogant provider for so long before it responds with a better option. That is the beauty of a competitive market-based economy.

So, start making some decisions about the direction of your practice. The time is right. Thanks to Align Technologies, they are giving you a great opportunity to do that. Let’s thank them for that. In the meantime, if you have an idea for a competitive product, get some good customer service behind it and go for it! There are going to be plenty of angry dentists out there who will jump on board just for spite!