Have you ever sat down and figured out how many hats you wear in your business? Many denturists are still one-person shows and are:
- business owner
- telephone answerer
- greeter of patients
- finance manager
- salesperson
- lab technician
- denturist
- janitor
- supplies orderer
- marketing manager
- bookkeeper
- gopher, snow shoveler, window washer, hinge oiler, etc.
When you add up all those hats (and more), you can get pretty tired just thinking about it. So why not hire a staff member or two to take some of the load off you?
The pros and cons
Would hiring a staff member or two make a difference? A lot of denturists I have spoken to over the past four years have given me a fair variety of reasons why they do not hire staff. Here are the major ones followed by some truths.
There are no good staff out there
The fact is there ARE excellent staff working in many of our clients’ practices and many more to be found in your area waiting for your decision to hire them. Yes, you do need to know how to find them and be willing to train them.
Staff wages takes money out of my own pockets
Good staff do not take money out of your pocket, they put money in it! As with any investment, if you spend $100, you expect $150 or more back. Staff wages are an investment. You expect a return far in excess of their wages. As with any investment, you must make the right investment, i.e. select the right staff for the right position that will help your practice deliver more and better service.
I barely make enough as it is
If you barely make enough to pay yourself at the moment, then you need to promote the practice. Start with a volunteer or student trainee or part time person and get them working on promotion and recalling or reactivating your past patients. This will generate additional income and give you the jump start to affording a full time staff member.
It is easier to do it myself
While it is true that sometimes it is easier to do it yourself, there is only so much that one pair of hands can do and therefore your pay is held down to one pair of hands’ worth of income production. If you want more pay and better hours, the answer is to get another pair of hands producing for you.
If I want it done right, I have to do it myself
This statement is usually made to the manufacture of dentures. But how about the other 80% of the functions that could be turned over? See the list at the beginning of my article and work it out. Maintaining the quality control of the dentures produced in your practice is usually one of the last, if ever, functions that you would turn over.
I have had staff in the past and it was a bad experience
I know that not one of our 1,300 clients have a perfect hiring record. Even the best of us have been fooled. However, if you stay stuck in the past and don’t try again, you will severely limit the profitability of your practice.
The truth is…
Denturists who have acquired good staff get to work fewer hours, have more take-home pay, produce more quality dentures (which is the real reason most of you became denturists instead of lab techs), and feel less overworked.
Front end first
If you do not already have a receptionist, start here. She (or he) will give you, among other things, uninterrupted lab time which, all by itself, allows your production to increase. The receptionist’s duties could include: answering the phone, greeting patients when they arrive, scheduling appointments, doing the banking, keeping the books, filing the charts, recalling and reactivating past patients, getting letters and promotions sent out, and simple lab work.
Back end next
When you hit $20,000 per month in production, save your life and preserve your marriage — hire a lab technician. This will reduce the bulk of the lab work and repairs that you do now and allow you to spend more time at chair side. You need to train the technician in the exact ways you want things done in your lab and you will always be responsible for quality control for every denture that leaves your office.
Profitability
Most of our clients are now grossing $20,000 to $80,000 per month and taking home very substantial net incomes — the pay for being a good executive who can confront and take control of their practice.
Our highest grossing client is also the least stressed, works the least number of evenings and weekends, takes home the most net income, and enjoys being the denturist like he never did before. Before he was overworked and underpaid at $15,000 per month when we started coaching and training him on management skills.
Call us at 416-466-6217 for a FREE Practice Assessment!
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