That’s right. I said it. Check your cheeze-whiz.

As in cheeze-whiz marketing. This is what I call any generic attempt at marketing or patient education to save a few bucks or time and it always comes out looky CHEESY and well, for lack of better terms, cheap.

Do you feel that way sometimes? Shufflin’ through a spotty schedule and wondering where did Mrs. Smith’s crown appointment go, did anyone follow up on Mr. Jones who was sent out for a root canal 4 months ago and wasn’t it time for Joe Schmoe to be seen here for PM since he alternates with the periodontist?

Notes. Chart notes. Clinical notes. Appointment notes. Who likes taking them? Who likes reading them? Not too many people who I know of. Well, except of course me!

The schedule that is!

Show me a full dental practice schedule, complete with loaded short call lists and I’ll show you a team who works that schedule EVERY SINGLE DAY of the work week.

They don’t miss working it on Wednesdays, or Fridays or even 1/2 day Thursdays. They may not see patients those times, but they are still actively working the schedule – filling open appointment times, working to pad the short call lists and actively engaging with patients. Are you winging it, or do you have solid systems in place to keep your schedule full?

Need support with answering your phones and scheduling appointments? Losing a front desk person? Someone call off sick? Admin team overwhelmed and finding themselves with not enough time to systematically and consistently answer opportunity (calls) and follow the systems needed for a full schedule and maximum results? How about PRN support for special projects like mass-mailing the USE IT OR LOSE IT letters or even chart auditing?

In my many blessings of speaking with offices all across the United States, it continues to perplex me as to why so many offices still don’t extend 40 hours of phone availability to their patients. I am not talking an answering service, who in my humble opinion are nothing more than a glorified answering machine – I am talking real availability to your patients to meet any and all of their needs during this time and this includes LUNCH HOUR! I am always amazed at ANY office that sets an answering machine over a lunch hour. Holy cow! Don’t you know that is when working moms make the majority of their appointments??? And how frustrating it is for someone calling your practice to hear “We’re out to lunch for an hour and half, your call will be important to us when we get back” (that IS what they hear you know!)

“Hi – this is Mr. Jones. I have an appointment scheduled next week, Thursday I think, that I need to cancel. I don’t have any more insurance left this year and it’s just a cleaning anyways so I am going to wait until after the new year”

“Hello! This is Mrs. George. Last time I was in, Deborah the hygienist told me she wanted to see me every 3 months. I don’t even know why. My insurance will only cover cleanings 2x a year so I need to reschedule my appointment that’s coming up next week.”

It’s 3 pm in the afternoon on a beautifully sunny day with a sky full of cotton candy clouds. There is a warm breeze caressing the city like a lover caressing his soul mates cheek after a passionate rendezvous. (Did I grab your attention??!!)

The phone rings………… The over tired, unappreciative employee cringes in dismay at the thought of actually having to answer the phone on the second ring,  rolls their eyes on the third, wearily answers it on the fourth by mumbling some unintelligible pathetic greeting that even a certified speed reader can’t decipher and then couldn’t even tell you who called or what they wanted after they completed the call in 32 seconds flat. They go back to wondering why their life sucks, how they got stuck in this pathetic job (oh, hey, when is payday?!) and how Susie is having a banger of a get together this weekend and gosh is it Friday yet?

No football team wins without being prepared. No football team wins without systems in place. No football team wins without teamwork. No football team wins without passion.

“The minute I think I’m getting mellow, I’m retiring. Who ever heard of a mellow winner?” Woody Hayes

How do I know? My husband is a football coach who has passionately dedicated his talent and time for over 16 years to create winning strategies by placing all the talent on the team in the positions where they will succeed; encouraging these young men to think, act, be responsible for what they do, remove the “I” from their thinking, think in terms of “team” and be disciplined enough to always do what is right (both on and off the field).

System: An organized and coordinated method; a procedure; A group of interacting, interrelated, or interdependent elements forming a complex whole ; A condition of harmonious, orderly interaction.

Protocol: A code of correct conduct; Rules or guidelines that are peculiar to every culture or organization , and are supposed to be observed by all parties in the conduct of business, entertaining, negotiating, politics, etc.

Does your practice have clearly defined systems, job descriptions/expectations and protocols that encompass every single department, task and expectation within?