Re: [ACEsthetics] What Mac and Joleen told my team OMG!!

I think I would have a man-crush on Tony if he & I were a little more like Hedge, and not the country boys we are.

Damn, Tony.  You have said things I have thought but not put into words. WOW!

Joe Hair

Boulevard Smiles by Dr Joe Hair

www.DouglasvilleDentalCare.com

www.HateTheCPAP.com

www.SleepApneaDrHair.com

www.FaceLiftDenturesAtlanta.com

(770) 949-1005

On 4/25/2013 11:00 AM, Tony Soileau wrote:

Curtis, this is the exact email I sent to Mac before he came to see us except I took out the descriptions of each team member as they may one day be on ACE and see it. Of course I already fired the one I wrote some less than inspirational things about!

Mac asked me to write about what makes me mad so he has a grocery list of what to cover. Now the very interesting thing is THAT'S WHAT HE COVERED!!!! I really thought he would be like other consultants that ask what you want and then come in and go over what they think you need cause they know better. Nothing pegs out my Bull S*&% meter more. On the second day Mac actually brought me into my private office and pulled out the email. He had actually printed it out and brought it with him. He showed it to me and said we are half way through how am I doing? Am I answering whats on your list? BLEW ME AWAY! Cause he was! It really mattered to Mac that he was helping me with my problems and not just going over what he wanted to cover. And he nailed it by the end of the two days.

Is this the exact kind of list Mac was looking for? I don't know. I will let him tell you that. But it sure worked.

Now I realize I think differently than it seems most dentist's do or at least the dentist that talk about it do. I am not into gross production but focus more on net profit. I have been in my new office for just over a year now and we are killing it. But this is because of some great advice I got BEFORE and during my move in. Kathy and Tom Hedge showed me how to make my office look really nice without spend hardly any money. And Kathy convinced me that Waterford Crystal vases with pretty flowers wont sell much dentistry. Kathy saved me a ton of money. Marvin helped me design an efficient office that is easily affordable and has the ability to produce a lot. If all I collect is $3000 a day i still make money. If I had not listed to Kathy, Tom, and Marvin my office would have cost me so much I would have to collect $10,000 a day just to break even and it would be so inefficient I would be miserable. Rick Coker and Curtis taught me to look at profitability and not just production. Curtis told me when I build my office to set up a room just for orthotics. WHY???? Well, if he does 10 orthotics at $5000 a piece he makes $50,000 and his lab bill is $3500. And his assistant does most of the work. If he does a single $50,000 full mouth rehab his lab bill can reach $10,000 and he works three times as hard. Hmmmmm.  That got me thinking about it. And I can list everyone else on ACE that has helped me. So now that I am in my new office a year and a bit it was time for Mac and Joleen to come in and put it all together.

I hope some of you realize that I am no different than you. And I know sharing actual numbers makes most dentist's uncomfortable. I don't care about that stuff so I don't mind showing mine. Maybe if your not able to buy new homes and stuff like I am its because you make a lot but it cost you a lot? Maybe. Rick Coker made the point to me that it cost a lot of marketing dollars to get a full mouth case in his office and there are not that many patients out there. But it cost very little to market sleep apnea and there are a ton of CPAP hating patients. That got me thinking to.

OK. I am tired typing. Bill, did I put in enough paragraphs!!??:)


email sent to Mac:

Mac, I know we have spoken directly about a lot of this stuff over the phone and in person. I am keeping it in the document just so you can review it or show it to Joleen if needed.

 

About my practice and philosophy.

I have fourteen years experience and you already know about my lecturing. I do everything except take out wisdom teeth, treat screaming kids, traditional dentures, amalgams. We offer in addition to most practices treatment for sleep apnea, Six Month Smile braces, and e4D same day/appointment crowns. I wear an orthotic but have not bought a tens yet or a pan. I need a little more information before I spend the money. I am focused on what I take home more than what I gross. We both know dentist that produce a lot and spend it all before they see any of it. The way I run my business all I need to get to is 1.2 million a year and I am happy. Last year we did $880K and I paid all my bills and bought a new home. So I don’t spend money on toys until I understand how I can make money back first. I care a only about profit, not high gross.

Facility

I have a new, 14 month old office. 3000 square feet. 6 ops. 4 are equipped. Wired for pan but do not have one yet. Dentrix. Digital radiographs. Computers in every room. Big monitors but not what I would call a BIG ASS MONITOR. Ability to give in house seminars to patients but have not set up monitor for it yet. Consult room but not using it.

Team

I have one hygienist, one assistant, two front office, and an additional assistant that handles all my six month smile and sleep apnea cases.

Joy Hygienist

Sandy Front office and unofficial office manager/momma

Rachael Floater front to back but prefers front

Erin Assist me with all procedures

Kerri Treats sleep apnea and Six Month Smiles

Goals

Primary goal and 95% of why I am paying you $10,000 is to help me get my daily average collections to $7000. For 2012 we averaged just over $3000 which paid all my bills including my salary. Our daily goal was $4000. After I got back from Galveston I raised it to $5000. I would like for you to help me raise it again to $7000 on average. I guess we should also discuss what I am NOT paying you for. I am not ready to retire. I do not hate my job, life, wife, or team. I am not sleeping with any of my team. Or have any of the hang-ups it seems a lot of our dental friends have. I guess I am boring because I simply love what I do for a living. I have a great family, home, son, truck, hunting property, 4 wheeler, shotgun. I can hit just about anything I shoot at and can cook the hell out of it. So I do not need you to help me find myself, change my inner soul, “look in the mirror”, or any other psychological/spiritual stuff. Just don’t need it and I let go of my other consultants because I got tired of paying for what I consider crap. Just help me get to $7000 a day on average and I will be beyond satisfied with the $10,000 I am paying you. Now keep in mind I am a big boy and I can pee in the tall grass. I do not need you to tell me I have to run my own office. I am not looking for you to do that for me nor would I let you. Just provide me with some good sound advice, answer my questions like you promised in Galveston with direct answers and I will be very happy. Please keep in mind that when somebody answers my questions with questions I kinda stop asking them questions. I start to believe that don’t know the answer. So as best you can please keep the “look in the mirror” bullshit to a minimum. I have confidence you and Joleen will do just that or I would not be hiring you.

What makes me mad?

You asked me this about a month ago and I have been thinking about it ever since. It’s a really good question. I can give you several examples but I have been trying to boil it down to what the common cause is that makes me mad. Best way to describe it is that I don’t want to have to micromanage my office. Not to the extreme that I want to turn a blind eye on it. But if I have to do a team members job then I wonder why I am paying them. I also get really pissed at drama from my team and I guess also from patients to a lesser extent. That’s why I don’t treat screaming kids. My team knows that I am here to do dentistry and they best be here for the same reason. I do get into arguments with my team occasionally but they know I have the final word. I have a real problem when my team is not prepared for a patient. And it drives me nuts when they ask me in front of the patient what are we doing or something that makes us look incompetent. I hate it when I am put in a position where I have to make the team member look bad, make the patient uncomfortable, or just be rude when I get asked a question that puts me in a no win situation. I also get frustrated when the team seems to lack focus on the collection numbers. None of my team (or that I know about) are lazy. When the schedule falls apart I don’t see them balancing their check book or playing on facebook. But that does not mean they are focused on filling the schedule. Instead they will go do other stuff like sterilize instruments or make retainers. Yes those things need to be done but the focus needs to be on getting butts in the chairs. And many times its not And yep that gets me mad.  

Concerns I have

I figure I have spent $150,000 with consultants over the past 5 years. And while they have gotten me to a new office the amount I paid them for what they are providing me does not add up. So I fired them last week and have agreed to spend $10,000 with you and Joleen. Kinda scary to spend that much and not be 100% sure of what you and Joleen are going to do for me. I want to make sure I am not wasting my money again. I am not in any way comparing you to the consultants. I just want to share with you some of my frustrations with them so we don’t have the same problems. My biggest frustration is they would never answer my questions directly. It really started to get on my nerves. A lot! I am OK if I ask you a question and you say I am going to cover that in a minute just be patient. No worries. I am oK if I ask you a question and you say I need to ask you some questions so I have more background information to give you a good answer. Example. I PAID to fly consultants to come my office last November in addition to the $2200 a month I was paying them. I was just finishing up my new office and had some equipment questions. I asked my consultants if I should get a pan now or wait. He answered “what would a pan do for you personally and for your patients”. In my head I wanted to say it would give me something heavy to smash your head in for charging me all this money and giving me bullshit questions instead of answers. But instead I politely said I don’t know. You tell me. He of course asked me another damn question, “how would a pan enhance your patients overall experience in your office”. That’s when I decided he has no clue what a pan cost, how much can I charge for each pan, what are the additional cost, what are the time savings, how to present pans to patients, etc etc. And then I started adding up in my head how much money he is costing me to not answer my questions. So Mac please understand my questions are not “teaching moments”, “epiphany enlightenments”, or “mental inspirations”. They are just simple questions from a simple coonass that just wants a simple answer. OK? This really is a big deal to me.

Sometimes I just need to hear things once. And if I don’t get all emotional it just means I got it, I understand, lets move on. Two examples. When I was 15 years old we would go hunting with my uncle Jink (yeah that was his name). We would have to get there at 4am and then I would listen to these old men talk until 8am about where to hunt. Damn! Just pick a place, make a decision, and lets go! It was like a bunch of old women! Now when we go duck hunting I just ask my hunting buddy are the ducks on the big lake, little lake, or in the bayou? I don’t need to hear it twice. Once is enough and I got it. When we went to our consulting seminars we had to go through “epiphany experiences”. Its where the teams would listen to what changes should be made in their offices and then repeat them back. And Mac I shit you not the dentists started crying. I mean actual tears because they now get it! Tears! So my office manger looked at me and whispered if you start crying like these wussy dentist I am quiting! Yep, she still works for me. No crying from me. Raise my fees. Got it. No tears. Send recall cards. Got it. No tears. So can we just move the F&*^ along?!?!?! Now if my team needs to hear thing several times that’s different. I am only talking about myself. Another example is I want to smooth out how Joy (hygienist) goes over with me what she said to the patient and what I reply. I want to know where this is done, whats on the monitor, whats printed out, etc. For me I probably need to hear it one time and I got it and I am ready to move on. But Joy may need to hear it several times so please don’t go over it again if needed.

I don’t need to be convinced I need to be convinced. I just spent a million dollars on a new office last year. I am now spending $10,000 with you. So I have over a million reasons to be committed to making changes in order to get to $7000 per day. I want you to spend very little time on discussing problems. We already know we don’t close the deal on enough patients. Please spend a lot of time on solutions! And I would be OK if you skipped talking about the problem all together and just said here is how you schedule. Here is how you present cases with a pan. Here is how you ………. And so on. Again this is for my benefit. My team may want to talk about why problems are occurring. My wife is my college sweet heart and we started dating in 1989 and married in 96. So I have been living with her for a long time. I have been practicing with an all women team since 1994. So I understand fully that sometimes women need to talk and talk and talk about a problem before they get to the solution. That’s OK. So for my team please take all the time you need. For me, just get to the point.

Specifics

What I think we need help with or at least hear how you do it is:

Scheduling for production. We tend to fill the schedule with the non productive patients that complain the most than the ones that pay the most. Some days it seems we have given control of the appointment book to my patients. What to do when a patient is late. What to do to get them to fill out forms ahead of time.

Customer service. My team is great warm caring country girls. But sometimes they get a little rough. Hard to explain what Ritz Carlton customer service is if you have never been to better than a Holiday in. Not sure how to teach this.

What to do when the schedule falls apart. We have strategies but wonder if they could be better

Morning meetings. We have them but I wonder if they could be better.

Case presentation. When you see the photos on the wall you will see we do a lot of nice dentistry. But I was the one to sell 98% of the case. A lot of cases walk out the door because I personally don’t have time to present it. My team is getting good at talking to patients but this is a big area we need help. I simply cant sell all the dentistry myself. Marvin’s office really opened my team’s eyes to this. Now they just need help on how to do it themselves. As I am writing this Kerri is selling a veneer case. Very cool. So they are all ready to learn how to do it better. Just need someone to teach them.

Break case presentation into new patients, existing patients recall, emergency patients. Where to handle each. Who does what. Etc

 

More about team

 

I deleted the comments I made about my team for this email on ACE. Not sure it would be respectful. Basically I gave Mac and Joleen a heads up on the strengths and weaknesses of each team member.

Me. You already know me. You know I like straight talk and little bullshit. I still worry a lot about new office. I left a 900 square foot office with three ops that cost me nothing to run. But the facility and location really hindered my growth. And the facility was crappy. Now I am in my dream office. But it has a price tag. At $3000 a day I am paying my bills plus may salary but just enough. $4000 a day I make profit but not as much as I would like. $5000 a day I am good to go. $6000 a day and I am very comfortable. $7000 a day and life is very good! Remember I live in a swamp so I do’t need giant numbers to have a great life and I have already paid off most of what I own. I made sure my new office could run on what my old office made. But now I am ready to speed up. I push my team too hard some days. They do the best they can with what they know to do. So I try to back off them as best I can. But the truth is I do panic sometimes when the schedule falls apart. And I really go nuts when I don’t see my team trying to fill it. And yep I am a perfectionist sometimes to a fault. And I do have a tendency to work myself too hard and too long and then I am not the nicest guy to be around. Remember I grew up on a cattle farm where that’s how things were done. But I have a 4 year old son now and I want to be able to spend more time with him. I am sure you have realized I don’t like the Tony Robins stuff too much. If it is something that can relate to patients then I want to hear it. But I have listened (and paid) too many consultants that just use it for filler. So yeah I guess my bull shit meter goes off a bit when I hear that stuff. But I am trying to keep an open mind.

 

On 4/24/2013 7:41 AM, Curtis Westersund wrote:

OK

I will bite Tony.

"What make Tony mad?"

What was the grocery list you sent Mac?

Curtis

On 2013-04-23, at 3:33 PM, Tony Soileau wrote:

IT WAS AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok. I did not get to go to Reboot meeting. Sold my other house so I could live in log cabin and we closed that Friday. No seriously. I now live in a two story log cabin. Anyway thats not the story. The story is what Mac and Joleen have done for my office in just three weeks. Here is how it happened. I have been using a consultant group for the past 4 years to help me get to my new office. They did and a 15 months ago I moved from a crappy 900 square foot office with 3 ops to a brand new 3000 square foot office with 6 ops. Well we are doing great but I seemed to have plateaued with collections and was not getting anywhere with my consultants. I had been talking with Mac about coming in to my office for 2-3 years now and never pulled the trigger cause I was already paying a couple of grand a month for the consultants I had. In late January this year I was at a study club in Galveston that Mac attended as well. For this study club I always cook some of the meals. So I got up at 4 am and prepared some of the dishes, packed my truck, and drove 4 1/2 hours to Galveston. Ok so maybe I was a little tired and a little cranky. So here is what happened.  I got there a little late and the meeting had started. So when I got a chance to speak I said "here is what I need help with. I went from 3 ops to 6 ops and have only euiped 4. I have 4 team members and 1 hygienist. So to increase my production should I hire a second hygienist or hire another assistant, or hire a hygiene assistant? And what about equipping the other two ops?" Ok, I am asking a purely business question and was expecting the dentist around the table to share how they are staffed and equipped and what works for them in a purely business answer. I was not getting any help with this from my consultants so I figured I would get really great business advice from this group. NOT!!!!!!!!!!!! For the next 30 minutes all I got was I need to look in the mirror and own the problem and all this touchy feelly crap. Well I guess I was a little sleep deprived cause after 30 minutes of me asking for specifics and kept getting this Tony Robins crap I finally stood up, looked across the room at this big giant mirror on the wall and said "OK. I am looking at the damn mirror. All I see is my hair is turning grey and I dont give a damn how it looks so stop the gay hairdresser bullshit about looking in the mirror!!!!!" Ok, when I sat down Mac was sitting right next to me. He could tell I was pissed and I kid you not his exact words to me were "get me in your office and I will answer your fucking questions!" No joke. Thats what he said. So 5 minutes later after I calmed down I hired him.

Later in the weekend Marvin told me to bring my team to his office and he would help get busier.  And then made sure I knew my head was up my butt for spending so much on consultants if they were not helping me. Right before I got in my truck to come home Tom Hedge told me to back off 4 1/2 days a week to three days a week. So when I got home I changed my schedule to 3 days a week and told my team we were going to McKinney to see Marvin in two weeks and I was getting Mac and Joleen to Lafayette in 4 weeks.

So Mac and Joleen came in and in two days my office was completely reworked! I mean they got my team so fired up and now we sell more dentistry then ever. No. Thts not true. My TEAM sells more dentistry than ever! Not me. I just drill and eat Doritos in my lab. And donuts. My guys do it all now. And it only took Mac and Joleen two days! The things they told my team were amazing. No Dr Phil show. No Robins touchy feelly crap. Here is the job. And here is why you should be grateful for it. And Joleen! OMG Joleen. Listen, she told my team stuff I could never ever never get away with. One of my team members started to cry. Pure bs cause Joleen was putting her where she needed to be. Without even taking a breath Joleen just said tell me when your done crying cause we got more stuff to go over. It was AWESOME!!!!!!!!! And she does it from a woman's point of view and not a guys way. It worked!!!!!!!!!! The week after they left my team sold a full mouth rehab without even bringing me in the room. And orthotics are flying out of the hygiene room! And yesterday I paid them all a bonus just because we COLLECTED way above goal for the first time in my new office! And this weeks looks like we may hit it again! Mac and Joleen not something that can be easily described. You really just need to see them in action. What's funny is when I hired Mac and we set a date for him to come in he said he wanted me to fill out some questions about what my goals were. I thought here we go. "How do you see yourself when you look in the mirror" "What are your life expectations" How many stupid touchy feely questions will I fill out before I get nauseated and puke....... Nope. Mac only asked me one question. "What makes Tony mad in the office?". Thats it. He said once he knows that he already knows the rest and can take it from there. "What makes Tony mad?" What a great question no one ever asked me!! If any of you want I can share what I worte back to him. This email is getting kinda long and I am tired typing. Bottom line. Hire Mac and Joleen TODAY! Period. And when they come in make some popcorn, sit back, and watch the magic! Its unreal!

Tony

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