How Your Mindset Determines Your Environment, and Your Future, In the Dental Office

Remember the old days in school when the teacher appoints the dumbest, least popular kid to be the class captain?

And because he’s got the badge, he thinks he’s all of a sudden been bestowed with magical powers and talents he’s never had before? 

Does that situation ever work?

Of course not!

All it ever does is alienate the rest of the class, and demoralize the poor class captain…

It’s a lose-lose situation.

This week I’ve had the occasion of seeing the same situation played out in the business world. [I was going to say “experience” or “pleasure” instead of “occasion”. Believe you me, it’s been no pleasure, nor experience for that matter either….]

It’s sad.

And it’s not going too well there.

And the reason is simple.

The principles of service, the principles of Great Service, are being overlooked.

And discarded.

It’s interesting, because that same sort of thing can go on in a Dental Office.

And it’s usually the Dentist, who because of his accession to his position as owner becomes a ruler. And now, as a result of that accession, he often loses touch with the fact that he’s really meant to be acting as a service provider, rather than simply a physician and healer.

And that’s where he loses touch….

Also this week I’ve had the pleasure of living in an oasis. I’ve lived in a wonderful community of givers and sharers.

I’ve spent the last three days in Tampa Florida at an annual conference for Dental Industry Speakers and Consultants.

And the love, and the generosity there, has been palpable.

It’s a contrast, a distinct contrast to what I experienced at the beginning of the week.

And I know which world I’d rather be a part of…

So can a Dental Practice, or Dental Office, operate under the principles of giving?

Well the simple answer to this, is yes it can.

A Dental Office can always operate from the Principle of Giving.

When you operate from the Principle of Giving, rather than taking, the world changes.

It’s an amazing thing.

And I guess the Principle of Giving comes to you most easily, as a Dentist, when there are zero or minimal financial pressures.

And that’s hard.

Because we all seem to be operating from a position of lean.

Mortgages, leases, and other financial commitments, coupled with setting our fees to be “not too high” seems to make us operate our businesses on tight margins.

And when the margins are tight, it’s very hard to gift away dentistry.

I’ve been in that situation. I know it’s tough.

And I’ve also been in a position of no financial commitments. Where there was no debt, and fees were set higher at a more comfortable level.

And even post GFC, it was such a pleasure to be able to gift away treatment when I wished to.

It was a nice place to be.

And I know which world I’d rather be in.

The Dental Office floats along…and the atmosphere of *Giving* envelopes your practice.

And the feeling is…..relaxing.

It’s one of nonchalance.

And don’t your patients feel it? You better believe it they do!

There’s a warmth.

There’s a friendliness.

That’s palpable.

It really does make a difference.

It’s said that in the animal kingdom, that animals can sense fear in their prey.

[Which when you think about it, in isolation, is not really a nice concept at all.]

And in humans, I believe we, like animals, can sense desperation, amongst each other.

It can be difficult, very difficult, as a Dentist with an Office, to eliminate that projection of wanting.

Because it’s so hard to start an office, and build an office, without having to finance ourselves into big debt.

All I can say is, that when the floodgates open, when the giving starts, it’s like gently floating down a slow moving stream on a rubber lilo…. it’s magical.

The aura of generosity that floats through the office purveys itself not only to the customers, but also onto the team and through them to the customers as well.

Now I’m not talking here about becoming a serial discounter.

[Oh I despise that word!]

But my thought is that selectively offering concessions and gifts is very empowering.

Serial discounting of fees sets a whole different persona to a dental office.

Because the reduction is applied every visit, it says to the patients, “my fees are too high, so I’m cutting some off”, every time they come.

On the other hand, selectively gifting a treatment, for no fee, creates a Wow factor that is totally unexpected by the recipient patient.

Better still, when errors occur, when lab work needs to be sent back, when fillings pop out unexpectedly, it’s so nice to have a “water off a duck’s back” frame of mind to gifting.

Rather than a frustration, have a relaxation.

Because your clients will feel your aura.

And that’s *PRICELESS! *

Getting back to the animal kingdom reference earlier, there are some things that set humans apart.

And as a man of the cloth friend of mine once told me, one of those differences is *values*.

As I finish this article, I’m staying with a friend and his wife for a few days in Cleveland Ohio.

It’s nice to have some relax time, away, between conferences and seminars.

This morning, as I wrote, my friend slipped me a deck of business card sized cards, each card with a quotable quote upon it.

I did not count the number of cards.

There may have been twenty-five. There may have been forty.

But I read each and every one, and as I did, I placed the one’s that hit home to me into one pile, and the ones that went by, in another pile.

Here are the two that I’ll share with you today:

“All great changes begin in conversation.” – Juanita Brown

“Great discoveries invariably involve the cooperation of many minds.” – Alexander Graham Bell

The resounding theme of my conference last week was collaboration and help…for each other.

It’s amazing, when we live in harmony, how providence moves….

So, what can you begin to do in your Dental Office this week to be collaborative?

Will that collaboration result in an aura of generosity?

What will be the benefits?

And will they be ongoing, and everlasting?

I know, from this past week, that love and generosity will prevail.

Which path will you choose?

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The Ultimate Patient Experience is a simple to build complete Customer Service system in itself that I developed that allowed me to create an extraordinary dental office in an ordinary Sydney suburb. If you’d like to know more, ask me about my free special report.

Email me at [email protected]