Dental Unscripted

Welcome to Dental Unscripted. Where Mike Dinsio and Paula Quinn break down the practice ownership journey, one episode at a time. Starting up, buying, and running a successful dental practice. what up what up guys welcome back to another episode of dental unscripted it's michael dencio and paula quinn whoa getting crazy with the mic this morning um hey guys uh we're back we're back and uh and and happy to be back um broadcasting on facebook and uh instagram and linkedin and youtube all the things so wherever you're catching us thank you for subscribing and joining and being part of the show um we are going to be talking all things consulting today um really the value of consultants and and where people struggle where people um thrive and how they thrive with the help of their advisors and kind of breaking all that down and so we're super excited about this episode um paul and I are just gonna break it down all the things that we get into but before before we do that a little housekeeping If you're listening to this on Startup Unscripted and also Dental Acquisition Unscripted, you need to jump over to our new program called Dental Unscripted, simply Dental Unscripted. That's where all of these are going to be going to in the future. So if you like our content, you want to jump over to that one and stay there. new brand and a new fresh kind of take on things as we are going to dig into more of the practice and management stuff, not just startup stuff and acquisition stuff, but also how to run a good solid dental practice. And we're excited to do that. Before we get into the episode, though, I do want to give a shout out to our sponsor of today of Candid Pro. As you can see, the stuff behind me, I got the sweater on. I'm totally giving them vibes today. If you guys don't know about Candid Pro, they're an amazing company. I want to share the fact that they have given us a special offer today. Um, for our friends and you guys are considered our friends, our listeners, our clients, all the, all the things, um, all the people that surround next level and this program. But, um, the viewers, listeners who sign up through the link below, um, it's a custom link that you got to go through, um, But you literally can get the gold tier for six months. And that gold tier has incredible savings. They're giving you guys a new provider bundle. I think it saves you like over thirty percent on your first few cases. And if you're trying if you're trying to get into ortho, man, this is the way to go. They have a lot of support in the back end. Um, we had a whole episode about all of this literally a minute ago. So check that episode out. But, um, I think they've got a cool fresh take on things and they're, they're making some noise in the market. And, um, anyways, we, we thank them for, for sponsoring today's episode. I guess without further ado, hey, Paula, I want to say hi. Hey, I mean, goodness, I've been here for ten minutes. Well, we got all this stuff to talk about, but that's out of the way. Let's start the program. But it's good to see you this morning. You know, I was just thinking, why not have an episode about how consultants might get bad raps? Some consultants might get good raps. And why? Right. Because there's a lot of noise. around well consultants are too expensive and you can just use facebook chat groups and get all the answers yourself and even this podcast you know you guys are getting a lot of answers on it but you know just kind of skimmed surface and a lot of you I think see the value of a consultant but um I think uh people shouldn't hire us sometimes when they do hire us And I also see when clients hire us, when they're all in and what that looks like. And I think we should have an honest conversation about it because I think everybody needs help. And I know you've talked about that a lot. So would you like to share, Paula, how you even on your personal life, how I think you've asked for help and used it and probably got value out of it and maybe didn't in other ways? I think. Um, you don't got to go down that road there. It's not a therapy session. No, but you had a coach for a minute. I know you got a lot of good, good stuff out of it. I think, well, I would even say when, when I was opening my practice, you were instrumental, you know, um, like I know that's opening a practice and not practice management but you were also my business partner so you were you were there for some of that as well and I think I leaned on you a lot for accountability um and then as for just like a life coach I've had a coach before I think you know it's two things for me I think it's breaking it down in simple increments so that you can follow because we get sucked up by life and all the things that are happening. And then I think it's someone that brings you back to it. So they hold you accountable. So both, both are cool because it's, compartmentalizing one thing at a time or two things at a time, which help. And then it's somebody driving those results or helping you stay accountable. Um, when, when those, when those on those specific topics. So, yeah. Yeah. I mean, you talk about fitness training all the time. Yeah. I mean, I was a fitness trainer. Um, and I think, you know, I use it example a lot, you know, even in dentistry, but I think it's, it's one of those things that you can read about fitness. You can read about food. You can read about what you should. Well, number one, you get conflicting, conflicting patients sometimes, you know, who's really the expert and who isn't. So I think that's one thing. I think the second thing is you can read about it all you want, but it's implementing it. It's really putting it into practicality. And then, you know, these, for instance, with dentistry, these poor dentists, you know, not, not knocking them, but, you know, they don't go to managerial school. They don't go to business school. Some a little more savvy than others, but they go to dental school to do a procedure. And then all of a sudden they inherit a team of lots of women, usually. And some are men, um, But still, women are a different breed and work setting than men. And so they inherit these team members that they got to manage. And then they inherit this business that they've got to run. They don't know how to run it. And the worst is they don't have the time. They're in somebody's mouth cranking away, hopefully. And so a coach is great. A consultant is great because... Some of us, you know, next here at Next Level definitely are very experienced and we're very experienced in a lot of different. We have experts in a lot of different categories rather than me just being, you know, a front office focusing on the front office things that I know. we've got a team of of different experts um that can help drive that but I I think that just having somebody there in your corner holding you accountable help holding your team accountable and then when you don't know what you don't know like what should I be focused on um our team experts can can lead you to that you know yeah no I I I uh what you said there a lot of those things were getting all kinds of things thinking about my brain or sparking where, you know, like the make fire come out of your head. Yeah. Just sparks. And, you know, you know, first couple of, or now this is second, but thank you for being part of the wake up. But, you know, I I think a lot of people hire consultants for a lot of different reasons right um and I I think whatever wherever you need help is where you need help and that's that's good for you right so if if it's the hygiene department or the front office or buying a practice. I mean, everybody's got their reasons why they need help. They don't have the experience or whatever. So the knowledge itself is like super valuable, of course. Right. I think what you said about the accountabilities is something that we try to work on at Next Level a lot because you can get a lot of information, you know, and and know the answer. But it's like you said, the gym, you know, that if you want bigger arms, that you got to go do some curls. Right. You know that everybody knows that. But then it's like, how do you do it and how often do you do it? And are you disciplined? And yeah. You better throw your triceps in there or your biceps are going to get out of control. Yeah, there's a holistic approach to it. Maybe you should start doing some shoulders and not just arms, you weirdo. Yeah, it's kind of the bigger picture. And so I don't think anybody can argue some of the best performers in sports and in life have coaches. We even sought out help. We're consultants. We ask for help. We need help. We've only had the experiences that we've had. And I think that's what it comes down to. I think the accountability is probably the number one thing of where these doctors, I think, could really benefit. So, yeah, I mean... I think you just said an interesting thing there, too, is we only know from our experiences. And I think that's a big thing in a dental practice, too, is... you know, your let's just use front office, for example, it may be the only office that they've ever worked in, or they may have you know, they, they may have self-trained or they may have learned from the front office before them. And, and let's, let's, let's be honest. I mean, it's been a while, but not that long since paper charts went away since it's been digital. I mean, there's, there's COVID and COVID put that on crack, right? Where, where, yeah, there's just different, there's so many best practices out there that you just may not know. And, and, like the dentist, they're really busy too. So those, those daily, weekly, monthly reports, keeping your eye on the ball, constantly making sure all that stuff happens. It is very systematic. And if you don't have standard operating procedures, if you don't have someone to teach you that, and then you don't have someone to hold you accountable, um, it's probably not getting done and you may not even know it. I love that. I love that. Um, Man, I always say to some of my clients like, gosh, I really wish there was a consultant for consultants like like a a specialty for coaching me. Like, I wish we had that. Like, sometimes I have questions about how I want to scale or how we we you and I as the owners of next level, how we should do things. And I have to talk to a CPA, an attorney, my buddy, my friend. And then I get all of these like data points and then I have to make sense of it all and and and then put it into my terms. And that's hard to do a little bit. Yeah. we're dental consultants this is all we do and there's a lot of us out there dental consultants right there's always there's some great ones there's probably not some good ones out there but literally this is all we do eat breed sleep dental consulting you know and so so there's absolutely value there because um we like paula said um if you're a good consultant you've seen hundreds of dental practices and how they do it best practices And by the way, not every way is the same for every practice. We coach Medicaid. We coach high end, big procedure folks, surgeries, specialists. Ortho is totally different than GP. PETA is totally different than GP. So like everybody's different and has to do it differently. And anyway, so I guess that kind of brings up the next topic. And that is like this was like the meat and potatoes of the program, I think. asking you and me like why shouldn't you hire a consultant or when would you not when shouldn't you how do I say this uh when not to hire a consultant like and and I'll ask you paula like have you have we ever brought in a client I'm gonna softball this up to you here have we ever onboarded a client and you're like dude shouldn't hire no no Dude shouldn't have hired us. I think sometimes we know before. Yeah. I mean, when you're not ready, I know that sounds dumb, but don't hire. What do you mean by that? Yeah. What do you mean? I mean, that's exactly it. Yeah. When you're not ready to listen, when you're not ready to trust, when you don't have, don't want to make the time because you can make the time. So I think, you know, it's, let's just go back to the gym, right? Like you're going to hire a trainer and never show up at the gym, not take your hour four times a week. You're not going to listen to them. You're not going to eat what they tell you to eat. You're not going to flip the things that you're just going to say, no, no, I don't know. I think my way is better. You know, I think, I think my last trainer was better, you know, or I, or I, you know, I have this app. I read this book. Yeah. I have this app that, that shows me how to do it. Or, you know, I, I came in with my wife last week and she looks good, you know, whatever, whatever it is, you know, it's when you're not ready to listen, you know, it, it, It's probably going to probably lead in. I'm going to try not to lead in. I don't know where this is going, but I just kind of keep talking. No, it's exactly what I'm thinking is not listening or not trusting. Yeah. And by the way, you always say trust has to be earned. not just given. And, and I get that. I think there's some level that you've got to relinquish it because it can, it can take a while for, depending on your behavior style, your personality can take a while to earn somebody's trust. Some people trust immediately and then you have to lose their trust and some people don't trust and you've got to earn their trust. So I think when you hire a consultant, you have to be willing to, to change your perspective and you have to just trust, you have to trust the process, trust the system. It would be like, let me think about it. Well, geez, we keep talking about the gym, but even that, like, I'm going to go in and say, I don't know. You want me to lift twenty? Like, I'm thinking five pounds is good. And you want me to do twelve reps? I'm thinking fifteen or two. Like, you have to say this person's an expert. I've, I've hopefully did a little research or were referred or I'm in enough pain. I'm just willing to give it a try. I have to trust that they know what they're talking about. I don't, right. I'm a dentist. I, like you said, I've listened, I've, I've been on podcasts and things. I have my, I have some ideas, but the implementation, the follow through is You know, we do this all the time when we're coaching. They'll say, you know, my hygienists aren't performing. I'm just going to use it as an example. Well, why aren't they performing? Do they have the tools in their toolbox? So we start always, not always, but typically we're starting with the front of the house. Do they have the information on, let's say, the frequency of even hygiene appointments to say, I would like to bring you back sooner. Now people will say, Oh, it shouldn't matter. You should bring them back whenever they want. Yes. But you do have a real life person in front of you saying, well, is my insurance going to pay for it? And dah, dah, dah, dah. So I think just having the information, and this is probably a bad example because we talk about gender, gender therapy all the time, gender bias therapy and offices say it doesn't work. It fails me. We're not going to use it. It's because they're not, um, set up appropriately they don't they don't understand from the front Well, some of it's from the front, a lot of it's from the front. And that's what I'm talking about is you've got to understand you've got a split minute to make a decision on where you're going to go with this patient. And without that knowledge, you have two choices. You're either doing the wrong procedure or you're rescheduling them because you don't have that at your fingertips. It comes with the front hand, giving them that knowledge on that part. But it also, I mean, I don't want to go off into a hygiene tangent, but No, you already are. You already are. Let's go. That code is, they don't even know that it exists and the benefits of it. So right there, a hygiene or not even a hygiene consultant, a consultant, two things we're going to bring is we're going to bring a systematic approach to make sure, you know, and that's just one example that the hygienists are set up for success to do the procedures that they need to do that ultimately bring more money to the practice and take the very best care of the patient and but also teach them things that are out there that they don't even know are out there unless they happen to stumble upon a continuing education course of that. So, which by the way, these continuing education, let's just not to go on that rampage, but you go to these CEs, you go to these trade shows and it's all the same crap. I mean, it's all the same courses. Even you, you said the other day that you're going to go and you're like, I know staging and grading. Like, I mean, come on. How long has staging grading been out? You think you told me like, Two thousand seventeen or eighteen. Come on. Like you guys, you haven't heard that course yet. Like how is it? No, they haven't. Like, come on. Yeah, that's that's a different issue. But like the the reality is a and consultant can bring this newer stuff to the table. But again, bringing it back to when not to is when you're not when you're not ready. Yeah, you got to you just got you just I think you have to trust at least for a while. I think you have to make the time and I think you have to be willing to. Michael, we've talked about this before and I'll let you elaborate on this, but it's like parenting one on one. You have to back up the consultant or the team's not going to try. I was just going to go there like go there. I don't know how many times we've come in, they're having a problem, we put a solution in, a couple, multiple solutions in front of them. We get a commitment from the team, which is all the right things to do, right? Throw out a couple options, get buy-in from the team. My camera's going crazy. Hey, where are you going? Right. And all these things. And you're like off the, I know I'm letting it reset. And then after the meeting, The doctor comes over or after the meeting says, is that is that going to be OK if we do that? Susie at the front is like, what do you mean? Why are you asking them if it's OK? Like, do you own this business or not? And so it's it's just it's kind of funny and interesting that like, I think I get it. Then business owners are afraid to to mess things up. But you just have to remember team member or. Yeah. yeah I mean why would you lose a team member for introducing something new like like what like and if you did goodbye see you later like you I mean that's easier said than done but uh but then so you're just gonna let your business run itself mediocre or or that's right so if you're not if you're not willing to hold your team accountable yeah or ask them for change and ask for help and drive it and hold them account then don't hire a consultant again because we we can't be in the office one hundred percent of the time we always kind of get that client that thinks we're going to literally run their business for them after they hire us it's like no man you you don't pay I'm sure there's some consultants that actually have that program they're going to be way more expensive I would say the average consultant is clients because they Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah, that is a lot of time. Basically, we're there to empower them to become business owners. I don't want as much as I love being a part of our clients practices and their team and stuff. And I love and I always hate when we lose one. And I'm always happy to stay on forever if. we're moving on to new things. But what I don't want is like me be the one in there doing those things. I want to empower the dentist to be a leader and a business owner. And, you know, at some point only need us if they're, you know, they're adding, they're adding associate, they're adding technology, they're buying another practice. They maybe, you know, there's just another growth. It's time for another growth period, you know, you know, um, I was going to say something, but I totally forget now. Well, I mean, we kind of switched topics midway here. Why does consulting, why does it not work? And we already talked about it. When not to hire someone is when you're not ready to make change, hold accountable, dig in, put some energy into running your business and not having it run you. I'll say that again. If you're not ready to run your business, don't hire a consultant. They're not going to run your business for you. They will tell you how to, give you better ways to do it, more efficient, all the things. But if you're not ready to start running your business, don't even hire someone. I know what I was going to say real quick. So can you hold that thought? Because this is on that. I feel like we find, Michael, that teams usually looking for this, right? They are. They are. It's ironic. Yeah. They want they want the systems. They want the knowledge. They want where do they stop and someone else starts and things like that. So I do think even though sometimes we do get resistance at first. Yeah. I felt all in all. Ninety eight percent of our clients like they not only does the dentist want this, but I do think the team wants it. They like to have that that advocate in the practice, too. I mean, we've been in hundreds office, hundreds of offices at this point. Let's be honest. Out of the six team members, one of them doesn't want it. The other five do. That's usually how it works. And all of you listeners that own your practice or will soon own, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about. There's always one. And guess what? It's probably holding them back from calling. And that's the one. Exactly. Because they're like, oh, she's not going to like it. But ironically, that's the one that makes it so painful to change, so painful to train and incorporate new things. It's holding the practice back. The rest of the team thinks maybe that person is holding the practice back or grouchy or grumpy or whatever. But I always find that like. Most of the team members want it, except for one and that and that that business owner scared to, quite frankly, have a have a conversation. Hey, are you on the team or or are you not? So, yeah, you're right, Paula. They do want it. Now they'll fight. They'll fight to protect their system, their way. But then once they understand why their way is from nineteen seventy and that there's a twenty, twenty, twenty three, twenty four, twenty five option where they had to go through the progressions, then then they figure it out usually. But anyways, yeah, no, I love that. let's, let's flip through to like, okay, so that's, that's why you might not want to hire a consultant. And when, when you might not be ready and then not having that trust, we talked about it. And, and I, I actually, I was going to say it, you said, hold the thought. And then it came back. I do always say that, like you got, like Paula said, and I'll say in a different way, you got to back your consultant until you don't. Or advisor for that matter, forget consultant. Back your advisor until you don't. Meaning like when you're talking to your consultants and you're coming up with a strategy and the plan to the team, it's like mom and dad. It's like mom and dad have to be so dialed because if your kiddos crack the foundation and dad gives in, it's over. it's absolutely what happens yeah then the kid runs amok and then fights happen and it you know all the things and so it's no different in dental offices you have to back your consultant until you don't to the day that you fire them if you fire them let them go whatever part ways the day before you were all in on it because your team if they get mixed messages nothing will happen and you're wasting your money on us facts but let's talk about like instead of the doom and gloom stuff like at this point of the program like no one would hire a consultant because we've talked him out of it that's okay actually that that's actually isn't that the goal like don't hire a consultant unless you're ready yeah but if you are ready What could happen? And that's I guess that's when the magic happens. What can happen when you follow and trust Paula? Like what have you seen in your career and what are some things that our best clients did that helped them grow some of their behaviors and and the benefits that you're thinking? I'm thinking a few, but go ahead. Well, I think the first thing is you might learn something you didn't know, right? If you just hire and trust and open arm and listen, you might actually learn something. The next thing is you might actually grow. I know what I'm saying. Actually, you might know. I think that is when there's an alignment there. You know, the sky's the limit. I think the team becomes rock stars. They start loving their job because there's guidance and accountability and goals to work toward. I think that makes anybody feel good. They feel helpful. They feel invigorated. Empowerment in their positions. I think that's what's great for the team. They see the doctor as an amazing leader. They want to follow. Um, and then I think the dentists themselves, you know, they get, you know, the hardest, I think the hardest over the years, what I've heard is I do, I would own a practice forever if it wasn't for team. Um, the dentistry is the easy part, right? So, um, I think just, um, we hire a team for a reason they say it takes a village a team together everybody achieves more this is why we hire experts in each area to make our job easier and when we're not they don't know or they're not following a system and they're just running around like crazy people doing the things that they do all day yeah get through absolutely can we make it through our day sure But are we all exhausted? Did anything really get accomplished? And are we growing where we want to grow? It doesn't typically happen. You don't just trip upon running a marathon or... I'm a bodybuilder or becoming, you know, whatever experts, you know, a famous, you know, a NBA player. You don't trip up on that. You have a talent, you hire a coach, they show you where to focus, you grow, and then you become an expert yourself. So I think that, um, what can happen is whatever you want it, you tell us your goals, you tell us your vision and we'll get you there. So yeah. Well, well said. Well said. Everybody has their own. What's that? Oh, gosh. Be careful with that thing. No, like it's absolutely right. We've seen clients just get their time back with their family. We've seen clients grow thirty percent year over year. We've seen. We've seen our buyers buy practices and they just duplicate exactly what the seller did, which is exactly what they wanted. Foundation, stabilize, make the same money they did. All kinds of stuff. We've seen people take on Invisalign or... Not Invisalign, but a line like like therapy, clear, clear line of therapy when they had no ortho and they they get into it and they add new disciplines, new technologies. We all kinds of stuff. It just really depends on what. the client and you you are looking for and and the more you communicate that the more you hold yourself accountable the more clear your coach understands your goals the more all of that it makes it possible you go into that gym you talk to the trainer and you say these are my goals and hold me accountable and you follow it to a t fun things happen um I love when our clients drive us crazy I mean, I mean, I mean that. I mean, it's, you know, sure. Sure. It can be a bit much sometimes. Absolutely. It's part of the job. Right. But like, I always imagine that, you know, if I hired a consultant and like, I would just be all over them too. I would want to just soak it all up. I would be in their face. I would be not missing any meetings. I would be doing all the things. I'd be trying it all. If it didn't work, fine, whatever. At least I tried. Sometimes I'm just blown away that they hire us and then they don't trust or like. And that's how it goes. And we're speaking for all consultants, not just next level. This isn't just one big infomercial for next level consultants. But it's just like all advisors, you know, all all good, solid advice. This goes for that. So any any kind of last minute thoughts, concerns, questions on this this topic, anything you want to get off your chest? Now we can get into some therapy if you'd like, as as an abused dental consultant. No, no, I don't think so. I think, you know, do your research. It's got to be someone you like. You're going to be working with them for a long time. I think the trust is huge, making the time and just know. I mean, we say it all the time. whatever it costs they should be growing your practice by that on a monthly basis we should pay for ourselves so I think that um you know yeah no no no final thoughts we kind of we kind of drilled that yeah Well, again, I would like to thank Candid Pro for giving us the opportunity to do this episode today. So thanks to them. Big picture, again, take advantage of this thirty percent savings, that gold tier pricing. um we've got the link right there for the youtube listeners we'll have it down below in the in the descriptions don't miss out um and just learn about it I think the one of the best things that they have going in my opinion is if you're scared about getting into ortho and you just you're just nervous about the risk um you have an orthodontist like literally looking at everything you're doing and That's cool. I don't know too many companies that give you that support. And these guys do do that. So if you're thinking ortho could really boost your bottom and top line, check it out. Without further ado, again, guys, jump over, subscribe to Dental Unscripted, get off of the other two channels. We'll see you at a later date here on other cool and great content. And stay tuned. Thanks, Paul, again for your time today. See you later. See ya. Let us know how you like the show. 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