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In this solo episode of "Dentistry Support The Podcast," host Sarah Beth Herman dives into a critical topic that transcends the dental industry and is vital for any business leader. Sarah Beth shares personal anecdotes and lessons learned from her journey, emphasizing the power of delegating tasks that consume too much time but don't generate enough revenue. You can tune in to discover how recognizing inefficiencies and leveraging third-party expertise can help your business efficiency, improve team satisfaction, and boost your bottom line. This episode is packed with practical advice and powerful insights from which every manager, business owner, and leader can benefit.
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📍 Welcome to season two of dentistry support the podcast. We are at episode 23. And here on the podcast, I share wisdom from my business experience tips I have for you and stories to help you elevate your business, your practice, your leadership, and all of the things in between. I'm your host, Sarah Beth Herman. Today I'm talking about a topic that I believe transcends the dental industry. It doesn't matter if you're a dental office manager, a small business owner or a leader in any field. I want to teach you today understanding when to invest in your business by delegating tasks, that consume way too much of your time, but don't generate enough revenue. Is a total powerhouse move. This episode is all about recognizing the value and letting go and leveraging expertise to make sure that you are at your most efficient state. Efficiency is the cornerstone of a successful operation. When everything runs smoothly from operations to client interactions, patient experiences, it not only reduces your stress. Your team stress, but it also improves satisfaction and it boosts your bottom line. As many of us know there are numerous areas where inefficiencies creep in. Consuming valuable time and resources. I want to discuss some of these common inefficiencies and explore how we can address them, regardless of what industry you are in. Before we talk about those specifics.
I want to share a story from my own journey. I once sat in a meeting with the CEO of a dental group I worked for. That very person may be listening to this episode right now. And I partially hope he is. During that meeting, the CEO told me that we were letting go or letting out of a contract 25% of the business. Hi, could not fathom why anyone would give away such a significant portion of their business or not be in a state of panic.
That 25% of their business was leaving. As he was talking, I was calculating in my mind the dollar amount that we brought in from this business. It was insane that I was sitting here mulling over all of this in my mind. And I was honestly not really listening to any of the words until we got to a certain point in the conversation. Where I think he realized I was tuning him out and he needed to change what he was saying.
So I could understand a little bit more.
That day, he sat me down and he taught me one of the most important lessons in business. This is something valuable for anyone listening. If you don't own a business, I still want you to hear this.
He explained that if something consumes 100% of your time, But only contributes to 25% of your business. It's no longer serving your business. I can say this another way. If something is consuming 100% of your resources, but only contribute to 25% of your revenue. It's no longer serving your organization. This stayed with me.
And over the years I learned so much from the CEO. His leadership and business wisdom prepared me for owning multiple seven and eight figure businesses. As managers and leaders, we must evaluate what consumes our team's time, their mental state. And whether all of that offers a significant return on investment.
I want to talk about the concept of objective evaluation. There is a unique power and expertise that comes from being able to assess a situation without letting personal opinions, moral beliefs, or insecurities cloud, your judgment. Evaluating what's best for the business from a factual standpoint is a skill that exudes confidence and leadership. It's about making decisions that propel the business forward.
Not based on just what feels right personally or in the moment. One major area where businesses, including dental offices and really anyone in leadership often struggle with is the actual art of scheduling. Scheduling a patient, scheduling a client, getting people on the books. Managing appointments, rescheduling handling cancellations. Optimizing a schedule to maximize chair time. All that stuff is really overwhelming. What I want you to think about is having a streamlined system in place. This can include using advanced scheduling software that offers automated reminders, and rescheduling options that are easy for everyone to grasp. Even with the best software. The human element remains vital. Training your front desk staff to handle scheduling efficiently is key. It is also a task that can benefit significantly from third-party support. Learning to trust a team that literally specializes in just that.
Let me talk about billing for a second. This can be in any industry. It doesn't have to just be dental, but let's bring it to dental for a minute. Marcus Limonus. He is a very well-known entrepreneur and he is the host of a TV show. The profit. If you've never watched this show, go watch it. If you don't know who Marcus Limonus is, please go find out. He is phenomenal.
And I've learned so many things from listening to him and watching the show, he talks often about the three P's of business people, process and product. When I think about any industry that doesn't actually sell a product. I tried to say that these three PS. They become people. Process. And the service because a service-based industry that doesn't actually sell something, doesn't have a product.
So I take it there. When we talk about. The aspect of. Your people, your product. And service. How do you always make sure those are in alignment? \ At the largest company that I own. I used to believe when you have a business that has three main pillars of services that they offer, that I could just hire one person that does this service. One person that does the second one and one person that does the third. But I learned over time that's actually not the case. I need to learn to allow my team members to specialize in something, then they're not distracted.
I hire people with a very serious intentionality behind it. I'm going to bring you to billing and insurance claims. This is an area notorious for its complexity and time-consuming nature. Mistakes and billing or delays in claims processing.
They lead to cashflow issues. Like I cannot even explain. I have spoken to three dentists this week who have very serious cashflow issues. I have heard stories that I could talk for 20 to 30 minutes on just giving you the brief highlight and you would want to talk with me for two hours on them.
What I want to teach you. Is investing in a specialized service, a dedicated team, possibly through a third party that focuses solely on your billing. Ensures that your in-house team can concentrate on patient experience without getting bogged down by administrative hassles. I'm not selling you my service in saying that I'm saying your team and office. Needs to specialize on what they do best. They need to stay in their lane. When you are having team members in office, both specialized on the experience. The billing the phones filling the schedule and handling the treatment and learning to do all of these different aspects. Something will fall.
Another efficiency killer in businesses is inventory management. Keeping track of supplies ensuring you don't run out of essential materials. And avoiding the overstocking it's tricky stuff, but automated inventory management systems can alert you when the supplies are low. But these systems do need regular monitoring and management.
This is a perfect example of a task that can be outsourced. Uh, third party service can handle inventory management seamlessly for you, making sure that your practice never faces shortages or access. The problem is, is many professionals, especially our back office team members. They are so skilled at chairside. But they seek to have a leadership role.
They want to be seen as knowledgeable. They want to be seen as I can take on it all. I want to advance myself. I want to position myself to have higher pay. And so I'm going to tell you the best way to do everything. But one of the issues and areas that we lack with our back office team members is the knowledge and leadership. And the knowledge and business to what has advanced in business, what has advanced in capable services that can help the business run more efficiently? And that's where our mind needs to go.
It doesn't need to stick with the same old, same old. Okay. We're going to have tags attached to this. And as soon as that tag runs low, I'm going to place an order for that. What if you already had a system in place that was automatically sending you exactly what you needed based on forecastable information. That was provided by that same software. For example, let's say you use product a. And every three weeks, the system would track that you automatically need a refill every three weeks on that product or that item.
It would automatically send it out to you in advance of that three week cutoff period.
Whereas, if you're waiting for a team member, To place an order one time a month. And they aren't placing that order until week four, week three. You already ran out of it. As kind and helpful as that team member may be their processes work.
It's always done in this way. It's not helpful for the continuance of the business, the forecastable nature that you need, that a software can provide.
Let's talk about patient communication. Engaging with patients sending reminders, follow-ups educational content. They're really important for maintaining a strong relationship. It's also incredibly time-consuming. So utilizing aspects of communication tools. Can be very helpful. Now I don't think every bit of communication should be taken out of the office, but I do think what you can automate, you should. Now some of these tools, they require setup and oversight, but delegating these to technology that can free up your team's time, allowing them to focus on more personalized patient experiences during their visit is key to you improving your bottom line and the experience that your team has and working for you. Let's talk about data entry and record keeping for a minute. Patient records need to be accurate. They need to be up to date. Those are non-negotiables. But it's also one of the most time draining tasks. Implementing EHR or electronic health record systems is a must. I have spoken to in the last four weeks. I'm counting right now.
Three dental practices. I actually think there's four. Who are still using charts and they do not have a system and they want to be on services with my company, dentistry support, but they have no digital record keeping. Zero. The only type of digital process that they have is x-rays they don't actually use a computer.
They have just charts and handwritten appointment books. Some of you listening might think that's insane. There's no way there's dental practices that exist today who are not on an EHR system? There is. They still exist and it's not just small town offices that you're thinking of. These are offices that have been in business for 20, 30, 40, 50 years.
They just never upgraded because the team never wanted to, or they've had the same office manager or the dentist has never moved on from exactly how he's operating. I'm here to tell you EHR is the way to go. It can take over routine data entry. It records maintenance, there's accuracy and compliance without overburdening your staff on these things. There's so many benefits.
And if you need help, figuring out what software to get, how to do that in your practice. I am so happy to talk with you. You can schedule a free call with me and we can talk about it together. Those are not things I charge for to help you with. My goal really in creating any of my businesses has been to be for the communities I offer a paid service to.
And so my goal is to be for you. And if you are in one of those situations where you don't have an EHR system, Let me help you get there. I don't sell any services. I don't make any money off of recommending one over another, because we service such a massive amount of dental practices, we interact with so many softwares.
I'm happy to tell you some pros and cons that we see at a much higher elevation than you would see in your practice. I understand the idea of bringing in third-party support. Seems really terrifying. There's a concern about costs control, even trust. I want you to start looking at the bigger picture when you delegate time consuming tasks, you're not only freeing up your teams, focus on what they do best. Providing an excellent experience. You're also improving your business's efficiency, their profitability and the scalability.
That's what you have to focus on. You may be thinking in your mind, I just want this one business, but there's going to come a time when your brain is going to think. Could I have had multiple locations? Could I have branched out into something more changed the efficiency of my time from being okay.
I want to produce $500 an hour in revenue to. I could be producing $2,500 or revenue, or my business could be producing $10,000 an hour in revenue. You're going to be thinking about these things at some point. You need to begin the building blocks now. Think of it this way. Just as you wouldn't expect your dental hygienists to handle complex, it issues. It doesn't make sense to burden your entire front office or clinical staff. With tasks that can be efficiently managed by experts in those areas. Letting go of this stuff doesn't mean losing control.
It means empowering your team to perform at their very highest level. When you enhance efficiencies and your dental business or any business? It means recognizing where your time is best spent. And where it's not. When you identify and address common inefficiencies and consider the strategic use of third-party services, like a virtual assistant or a company that handles these different categories at an expert level. You create a more streamlined, more productive. And more patient focused practice. And it doesn't have to be just patient.
This can be any industry. Learn that each time that you decide to take on these third party companies or services. You are investing in the future of what your business will become.
The TGM R that's good moment. This week. I want you to think about the story I told you where I met with my CEO. And he let me know that they were letting go of. 25% of a large business. And that the reason was because it was taking up 100% of their resources.
When I tell people how many assistants I have. Jaws usually drop.
At any given time, I have anywhere from 10 to 25 people who handle a various aspect. Of my day-to-day operations. It's not because I love to just not do something. Sit on the couch, eat bond bonds, and go to Starbucks every morning. It's because I know. That there are certain things that my brain needs to focus on on a daily basis.
And when I don't task those things out that are consuming way too much of my time.
My days, get lost my weeks. Get lost. My one month turns into sixth before I know it I'm at the end of the year and I didn't accomplish anything. I wanted to get done. There are people that exist in this world who are specialists in all of the categories that you may need support in. And choosing to delegate, choosing to let go. Does not mean that you are out of control.
It means you are controlling your current situation. You are saying. This is how I want to operate. This is how I'm going to grow and you are allowing yourself the space to do so. Thank you for joining me today on this episode of dentistry support the podcast. I hope you found this helpful. I hope you feel inspired to take the next steps towards a more efficient. A more well-rounded business.
If you have questions or topics that you'd like to cover in future episodes. Please reach out to me. Chat with me on Instagram at dentistry support underscore podcast.
Over the next few weeks, we have some really exciting guests appearing on the show.
You wanted tune in. You're going to learn things you probably didn't think of. And ways to operate your business and leadership. That are truly going to transform. Every single way you operate from now until eternity.
Thank you for choosing. Dentistry support the podcast. We are still ranking number one in five categories. And that is an incredible honor.
Without you. We wouldn't have listens or downloads or new listeners every single week.
Until next time. Keep striving for excellence in everything you do. This is Sarah Beth Herman signing off and I'll catch you on the 📍 next episode.
