Dental Practice Heroes
Where dentists learn how to cut clinical days while increasing profits - without sacrificing patient care, cutting corners, or cranking volume. We teach you how to grow a scalable practice through communication, leadership, and effective management.
Hosted by Dr. Paul Etchison, author of two books on dental practice management, dental coach, and owner of a $6M collections group practice in the south suburbs of Chicago, we provide actionable advice for practice owners who want to intentionally create more time to enjoy their families, wealth, and deep personal fulfillment.
If you want to build a scalable practice framework that no longer stresses, drains, or relies on you for every little thing, we will teach you how and share stories of other dentists who have done it!
Dental Practice Heroes
Practice Policies: Cell Phones, Tattoos, and Staff Discounts
When’s the last time you reviewed your office policies? Regular check-ins keep your practice running smoothly and your team on the same page. In this episode, the DPH coaches share how they've updated their own policies to reflect today’s workplace, cut down stress, and avoid playing favorites.
Get tips on managing cell phone use, stopping patients who start recording in the chair, and creating policies that are fair to all employees. Plus, find out how staff discounts can strengthen your team and grow your practice!
Topics discussed in this episode:
- Evolving cell phone policies
- How to handle cell phone use by patients
- Appearance policies: tattoos, piercings, and apparel
- Creating fair, consistent policies
- The benefits of employee discounts
- Why you need updated policies in your practice
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Take Control of Your Practice and Your Life
We help dentists take more time off while making more money through systematization, team empowerment, and creating leadership teams.
Ready to build a practice that works for you? Visit www.DentalPracticeHeroes.com to learn more.
As practice owners, we have lots of things that can stress us out each and every day, and often our solutions are to create policies around those things. But which policies work and which ones don't? And what are we supposed to do? Today, myself and my DPH coaches are going to talk about the way our cell phone policies have changed over the years, as well as our policies around appearance, like tattoos and piercings, and the surprising way that staff discounts can help your practice grow. You see, policies are something that we need, and we need to review them from time to time as well. So if you are a practice owner, or will be one soon, this episode is definitely worth a listen. Let's get to it.
Speaker 1:You are listening to the Dental Practice Heroes podcast, where we teach dentists how to step back from the chair, empower their team and build a practice that gives them their life back. I'm your host, dr Paul Etcheson, dental coach, author of two books on dental practice management and owner of a large four-doctor practice that runs with ease, while I work just one clinical day a week. If you're ready for a practice that supports your life instead of consuming it, you're in the right place. My team of legendary dental coaches and I are here to guide you on your path from overwhelmed owner to dental practice hero. Let's get started.
Speaker 1:Hey, thanks so much for listening and welcome back to the Dental Practice Heroes podcast. I am your host, dr Paul Edgison, and I'm joined today by my DPH coaches, dr Stephen Markowitz and Dr Henry Ernst. Henry is a two-day dentist with a very large 18-op practice and Steve is a one-day dentist with six practices and 68 chairs Not that we're measuring or anything, but 68 chairs. That's pretty impressive. So today we're going to be talking about policies, because we've got all these policies and there's times in my career where I really believe that policy was key to everything, and I still think it's important. What is new at our practices, what is new at your guys' practices as far as policies go? And I'll just go straight to you.
Speaker 2:Henry, what comes to your mind when you talk about new policies? The first one that came to my mind was cell phone policies. I mean, back when I started my projects in 2014, we had a no cell phone policy, in other words, you can only keep the cell phone in the break room, nowhere else, and some of that stemmed from just being reactionary. You know, I had a sedation patient one time that was in the room an oral sedation patient that you know the staff members watching over this patient and she was looking at her cell phone and the patient got really mad and it hit home with me and I'm like you know what? She's right. So at that point in time, we made that policy and, as time has just gone along, you just have to kind of roll with society.
Speaker 2:And I kind of got this from you, paul. I just I think I asked you a couple of years ago and I was like what do you do? And I think you had mentioned to me at the time. Well, you know what? We don't police them, not keeping them on them, but we don't want it ever to be seen in front of a patient. I think is what you said. Yeah, and that's basically what I have evolved into and it's not. I don't know if it's perfect. I'm not sure what other people are doing, but, like I said, we used to have them only in the break room and nowhere else. And then you know, people have the watches and people have all this stuff, and how do you police that? So I think that's just the one thing that came into my mind and how I've rolled with the punches over the years.
Speaker 1:Well, I think it's a good example. And you're right, that's exactly what our policy is, because there was times we were fighting it and I'm just like dude. There is so much else I would rather be talking about now than keep on telling you to put your damn phone away. But that reminds me of a time many years ago we had an associate doctor that would talk to his assistant and they would just shoot the breeze and he kind of felt like it was entertaining to the patient, it showed his friendly side, it kind of kept their mind off the dentistry. And then we had a patient complain about it and say I felt like they weren't even paying attention to me. And here I am in the chair paying money to see this person, paying a lot of money and not getting the attention that I deserve. And I think that's the same thing with a cell phone policy Anything that shows that you're distracted from what's at hand. What's your cell phone policy?
Speaker 3:Anything that shows that you're distracted from what's at hand. What's your cell phone policy, steve? It's very similar. For us it always goes back to our values. The core of our core values is trust, and trust means that you can use your cell phone, but it can't be in front of a patient, it can't be seen, it can't interfere with patient experience. There are definitely times where it comes and bites us in the ass and there's someone who's like you know, we've had someone using their phone over I mean their watch over a patient and we definitely need to police that, I guess, for lack of a better words. But the team knows that if as long as it doesn't interfere with the patient experience and they need to check something on their like, I'm doing it. And if I'm doing it, I can't expect anything different from my team and that's kind of where we've landed.
Speaker 2:So if we turn this around, how about your patients? I don't know if you ever had this instance in the most recent times here where you're sitting there doing some work and a patient's companion is sitting in the room and they've got like their cell phone and they're taping you. Oh, I hate that. Have you guys run into that? I know for me, I stop and I just say listen, you know the policy. I just feel uncomfortable. Have you guys run into that? And what do you do?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I definitely have run into that. I actually make a like I stop everything and I go is there something that you need to record on your husband or on your son? And then I'm about to put an impression in or take a scan or whatever. And then the patient brings up their cell phone, Like they're going to start texting or typing or checking whatever, and at that point I'll stop too and I'll be like do you need to take that? Because if you do, that's okay.
Speaker 1:Do you come across nice? When you're saying that, I feel like you're being very assertive.
Speaker 3:No, of course I'm being nice.
Speaker 1:Okay, okay, dr Markowitz, I'll put my phone away.
Speaker 2:Kind of gave me the asshole vibe, Steve. So let me put you in another situation here, because I ran into this one, All right cool. No, that's what I'm going for today. So you got to pay and this is what I've done in this situation. I had a kid who I was moving some wisdom teeth Right, but that's it, nothing else after that. What does Steve Markowitz do in that situation?
Speaker 3:I would try and make a joke of it in my most jerky way, but I think I would make a joke of it, try to minimize it. But also let them know that if it's interfering with my ability to safely do my job, I'm going to try and make light of it. But also I make them aware that I need to get this done and it's for their benefit, not because I'm a jerk.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it almost comes off like we're hiding something, but I think the patients don't realize how it's just like it makes you nervous. I feel the same Sometimes when I have friends and family come in and they like maybe they come with their son or their daughter and I'm like looking them or I'm doing fillings on their kids and they're talking to me the whole time.
Speaker 3:Does it make you nervous or is it just more that it's like disruptive?
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know what? I think it's disruptive, because that's the thing. When I think about it, it's like I'm not really nervous working on the kids, but I feel like I'm trying to balance being buddies and being the dentist at the same time and I can't meld these at the same time.
Speaker 3:Yeah, because, like, I would like videotape me. This is the best you're going to get, so put this on screen. I'm happy to be a performance. I'll say something like I do my best work in front of an audience. Let's go. But really, it's that One of the five classic jokes that we each have. Yeah, all right, I can't wait to get to the four others Paul's here. The next policy is going to be Steve's jokes, but it really is that. It's just disruptive, and when it's disruptive, I'm not as attentive to what I need to get done.
Speaker 1:Yeah, totally Well, let's take a left turn here. What other policies come to mind for you guys? Because one thing that I was thinking about that's very new there's a company that helps you integrate with your software to do the patient pays.
Speaker 2:The credit card charges Are either you guys doing that we haven't yet, and I guess I'm in a different position being, you know, post-sale Right, yeah, so I just kind of take a more hands-off approach and I feel like my DSO does a great job. If there's something that you know and frankly there's not, for me it's just like what's the push right, you know, is it going to move the needle that much for me personally, Maybe not.
Speaker 1:Maybe it decreases treatment, except, do you mean personally, because you're not full owner now, or personally? Yeah, okay, all right, yeah, okay, so.
Speaker 2:I think for me it makes sense, for when people are doing it, this is they're getting tightly crunched and they're trying to, you know, figure out how to make their bottom line better, and this is certainly a way to do that. But for me there's no push. I mean, things are fine, the numbers are great, practice is going great. I don't want to mess up anything right now.
Speaker 3:For me, Especially for offices that are in network, like we don't get to control our. It's very unique from a purely business sense. We are in a very unique position as we can't control our price. So when we can't control the price of what we sell our services for, the expense side is where we have to try and find profitability or find health. And when we're getting squeezes from suppliers, from the payroll side, when there's opportunities like passing the credit card fees along to the patient, I can understand why a lot of offices would be going that way.
Speaker 1:So what are some new policies?
Speaker 2:I mean I feel like tattoos is one thing and this makes me feel old Like when I first started we had a no visible tattoo policy, because I feel like I don't know, back in the day it was like you never saw professionals with tattoos that were visible. And obviously society's changing. I mean I met a dentist the other day that had a full sleeve and I'd never seen that before. And I guess you know society has just changed so we can just kind of change with that eventually, slowly but surely. We just rolled that away Right.
Speaker 2:Maybe something else that can spark a conversation is we have a large staff and I know Steve is going to have like five, six times the staff that I do. But you know we do have staff dentistry that we provide. You know our practice provides almost like a dental savers plan for the staff members. They get like I think it's $2,000 a year but they still have to pay for lab fees. So in a huge practice I don't know what you guys do, but I tell you what we've learned over the years has worked well. Is we just kind of, if we have a lot of dental work, we just get one day that we say you know what we're going to take this half a day and it's going to be a staff day. All the dentists, all the hygienists are working and it's just staff, and we just knock all the staff work out in one morning and maybe we have lunch or something like that for the people who aren't numb. What do you guys do for that?
Speaker 1:We mix it in, but it's funny because we had to have First on your tattoo thing. Our dress code policy is the exact same thing. We read it it's like 12 years old and I felt like I was reading like 1950s, like girl skirts must be past their fingertips and stuff, but it just seemed very antiquated and it was like about it. I'm pretty cool with that now but yeah, it makes you feel old, but we do our staff in between. But we had an issue that came up where somebody was upset that I didn't extend the same discount to her boyfriend that I extended to my number one assistant's husband, who I very much like. So we had to make a policy of you know what? You're not married, so you don't get this. So we had significant other policy. It's a very elaborate policy, but we never needed it until people started calling me out on playing favorites. So that is what we created and we do it in between because I just don't want to shut down for half a day.
Speaker 3:How about you steve? Yeah, we're, we're similar to that. But I think what's important is just creating the consistency at scale. When you are the only provider and it's only in your schedule, it's easy to say like we'll pick and choose favorites and all that. But as you get bigger and the team's coming to you of like you did this for this person and I did this for that person and it just it becomes too much. So the consistency whatever the policy that you think is best to take as a benefit to your team, stick to it think is best to take as a benefit to your team. Stick to it.
Speaker 3:And for us, what that looks like now is the team members have to schedule themselves in the provider's schedule and we have a reduced rate on the employee and the employee's direct family for the dentistry that they get. And what I tell our doctors and our team is they're going to be our biggest marketing. When someone sits in my chair and they have a great experience, they're talking to every single patient and they're going to say, actually, you know what? I had that same procedure done by that guy and it was amazing. So, yes, it's at a reduced rate for our team and our doctors, but their ROI on that is incredible, so I think everyone's bought into it. It just has to happen at a time that's convenient and not going to interfere with other patients or their own working schedule.
Speaker 1:It's amazing just the amount of policies we've had to create, and they always come from problems. They always come from complaints of me playing favorites. It's always that I get so frustrated. I'm like I want to be like I love all you equally, but of course I don't. I have favorites. I do, and it's very obvious apparently to some people. I guess that's business.
Speaker 3:Like, business can't have favorites. Business needs to have structure, consistency and the ability to evolve. So, like when we're talking about these policies, I bet if we went back and listened to this in three years it'll be hilarious to listen to, because none of these things will probably be in place. The patients will be paying all of our credit card fees or whatever else is going to be happening at that time. We need to be at a place where we're willing to say that worked. Then it doesn't work. Now let's evolve.
Speaker 2:So it's never set it and forget it. You got to be consistent with the policies. We've got team members that have been with us forever and they've had boyfriends forever which almost seem like husbands. Yeah, but you can't tweak. You know the standards there or else somebody's going to get mad. But I think the other point is be ready to evolve, like these things can and will evolve as society evolves.
Speaker 3:When I was much smaller, we had different policies because it fit for who we were, and then, as we grew, we needed to evolve, and if I didn't sit and share why we were changing with the team, they would get frustrated, even if the intention was to benefit them, which it always is. So as you go through these policies and you're revisiting your handbook, I would recommend everyone look at their handbook once a year to make sure that what's written in your policies is what you're actually doing. When there are changes, you share why those changes are made. It's not just a memo Sign this that you put in their mailbox and then all is well. You will get pushback when you don't explain why you're doing these changes.
Speaker 1:What you say, steve, about the why. I mean. You even said that back when we were talking about the cell phone policy. It's not just like you just don't want people on their cell phone because you want them working every hour. It's because of the perception of the patient, it's because of the patient experience. And why do we need consistent policies? Because we want to treat everybody the same. We want everyone to feel equally valued and we want to have consistent things. When we don't have the policies, we have to make decisions. And that's how you play favorites. When you have to decide, how much do you want to hook this person up?
Speaker 3:I had a Janice reach out to me this morning and ask me about our PTO policy and I embarrassingly had to say I actually don't know what our PTO policy is.
Speaker 2:I don't know mine either, steve, so I'm right with you.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:That's why we have great people. You work, you take time off. Passed off, it's Andrew, yeah. So if you're listening and you're thinking like man, I don't have anything like this for my practice. I really like to systematize it so I can breathe easy at night and sleep easy and know that my team knows what to do, when to do. That's why you would want to.
