The Business of Dentistry Podcast

Les Jones talks to Chris Barrow about how dental practice leaders can handle the current situation. Chris shares his thoughts on what can be done right now to get the best chance of a good outcome from the COVID-19 crisis.

What you'll hear today:

• How communication is key in consuming and creating information.
• Who you should target and what channels to use - 5 groups to engage with.
• What support you can you provide to your community.
• How to evaluate practice finances - what is important and time frames to keep trading.

Who should listen:

• Practice Owners and Managers
• Anyone who leads a team

Date recorded 30th March 2020

Ashley speaks to Les Jones about how he is dealing with the current crisis. How to use time away from your patients constructively and the importance of routine to maintain health and mental wellbeing. He covers utilising the time away from consultations to increase communications resulting in strengthened relationships, education and enhanced patient loyalty.

What you'll hear today:

• How to communicate and how frequently to do this - What channels to use and how often you should use these
• Effective time management to ring fence clients - Where to focus your time to keep patients in the loop
• Target audience and added value - Who do you target and how to make content relevant to them.

Who should listen:

All practice managers and owners

Recorded on 30th March 2020

Simon Thackeray talks about how the current COVID-19 crisis is impacting his practice and the dental profession as a whole. He discusses the measures he has put in place and looks at what the future might hold.

What you'll hear:

• How Simon’s practice is coping with the ever-changing situation
• The importance of finding some positives
• How the dental landscape might look on the other side of this.

Who should listen:

All practice managers and owners.

Recorded 25th March 2020 10:00 am 

Ellie Young talks through all the key things you need to consider in order to grow your patient membership plan. She explains the processes you should have in place and the difference involving the full practice team makes.

What you’ll hear:

• The key factors in getting your membership off the ground
• The processes that you should have in place to help you grow your membership numbers
• The role of the full team in discussing the membership plan

Who should listen:

• Practice owners and managers with a membership plan in place
• Wider team members who talk to patients about membership

Practice Plan Videographer Fern Lloyd explains how you can get engaging video content for use on your website and social media channels, using just your smartphone. She covers the different types of videos you can consider and why video is so important.

What you’ll hear:

• Why practices should be using video
• What makes a good video
• Practical tips on preparing, choosing a location and editing tools.

Who should listen:

• Anyone responsible for the practice website or social media
• Practice managers wanting to engage more patients online

Chris explains what makes a good leader. He discusses the importance of having a vision, setting a good example and what to do if you find yourself tolerating behaviours you don't want within your team.

What you’ll hear:

• The four characteristics of a good leader
• How to be an example of the standard you want to achieve
• What to do if one of the team doesn't want to be lead.

Who should listen:

• Practice owners and managers
• Anyone who leads a team.

Les Jones shares his experiences as a 'mystery shopper'. Posing as a married mum of one who has recently moved and is looking for a dentist, he completed a web enquiry form for a number of practices. Les talks about the responses he got, the opportunities practices missed and a number of simple but effective changes that can be implemented to convert more enquiries into patients.

What you’ll hear:

• The average value of a web enquiry 
• How taking control of your webform and responses could transform your practice
• Practical tips on creating engaging responses.

Who should listen:

• Practice owners and managers who want to increase patient numbers 
• Team members who respond to web enquiries
• Front desk teams.

Chris discusses the current trends with regard to choosing who to sell to. He also discusses possible alternatives to selling and explains the concept of the self-managing dental business.

What you'll hear:

• The reasons why people decide to sell
• The four hat philosophy of running a practice
• The model that enables you to retire without selling.

Who should listen:

• Practice owners who are exit planning
• Practice owners who are ready to sell
• Practice owners considering their future.

Sophie and Pippa from our events team share their expert advice for event planning. They explain the benefits of holding an open day and provide top tips for making sure you get the best from your event.

What you'll hear:

• Why dental practices should hold events
• Key things to consider when planning an event
• The importance of following up afterwards.

Who should listen:

• Practice owners and managers who are considering an open event
• Practice teams planning open events
• Dentists trying to grow their patient numbers.

Les Jones draws on his own experience creating and publishing his magazine, Elsie, to share his advice for generating creativity in your practice. He explains how to overcome common obstacles to help you to get projects from the ideas stage through to completion.

What you’ll hear:

• Ways to get your ideas off the ground
• How to avoid common pitfalls
• The benefits of involving your team in the creative process.

Who should listen:

• Practice managers and team leaders
• The full practice team.