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Practice Few factors have had such a dramatic impact on increasing practice productivity and profits and decreasing stress as the revolutionary concept of the Boutique Dental Practice. Have you ever received boutique service before? Don't feel bad if you haven't. Actually, many people never experience boutique service. But, as professionals in dentistry, we owe it to our patients and ourselves to turn our practices into boutiques. The boutique practice enables dentists to reach their full potential, while simultaneously providing the highest level of service to patients. There are three primary components to the boutique practice that we at The Levin Group teach our clients: 1. High quality 2. Exceptional customer service 3. High fees A combination of all three above-named elements is required for building a highly successful dental practice. The boutique practice philosophy helps practices become even more successful than they already are, but, more importantly, it may be the only effective solution for dealing with changes in traditional dental needs due to the permeation of managed care. High Quality The foundation of the boutique practice is high-quality dental care. Without quality care, the practice will be unable to charge appropriate fees and offer distinctive customer service. Each team member in the practice must make a conscious effort to offer and promote quality. One way to ensure quality is by attending continuing education seminars and study clubs. These outlets help you and your staff stay on top of the most current techniques and materials available in dentistry. While attending seminars and study clubs may be somewhat time consuming, it is an investment, which, if it becomes a routine part of your and your staff's duties, will surely pay off. In addition, highly successful boutique practices become so as a result of increasing the percentages of elective services they perform. Why? The answer is simple. Elective services are the most effective way to combat the effects of managed care and to deal with the changes in modern society's dental needs and wants. For example, suppose your practice adds additional cosmetic procedures to its list of elective services. Begin tracking each cosmetic procedure's production, and compare this figure to the practice's overall production. The percentage you come up with indicates the role each service plays in your office's production. Say your office's production for July is $70,000. Of that $70,000, porcelain laminate veneer procedures account for $14,000. Use the following calculation to figure the percentage of production from veneers: [$14,000 (veneers)/$70,000 (total)] x 100=20% This formula shows you that 20 percent of July's production is from porcelain laminate veneers. Using this figure, you can now formulate a goal for your production from veneers. Each procedure you perform should be given a specific goal with an overall objective to increase the total percentage of cosmetic procedures. In addition, this calculation will help you determine which services to market and to what degree. Exceptional customer service Turning boutique also requires extremely high levels of customer service. Each patient should leave the practice with what I call the "WOW" factor. This means that your patients are so impressed by how they are treated that they literally say "wow" as they walk out the door. This may sound a bit unrealistic, but I have seen first-hand the effects the boutique practice has on its patients. Exceptional customer service goes a long way in enhancing your practice and helping you achieve your goals. High fees Do not misunderstand your motivation for charging high fees. Do not feel bad for charging high fees. You are not out to take advantage of patients, and you know it. If you are going to have a well-trained staff that can provide exceptional care and outstanding customer service, the best materials available in dentistry, and the newest techniques available in the industry, among other things, you will need to charge high fees. Getting the best doesn't come cheap. In addition to covering your expenses, your fees will have to be high enough to allow for reinvesting in the practice. Investments have one purpose - to increase productivity and profitability. How can you invest in your practice? If you purchase the latest in dental technology equipment and close the office for continuing education seminars for your staff, you can expect your expenses rise significantly. But with this rise in overhead comes an increase in employee productivity and practice profitability. With a more educated staff and a head start in the industry's technological advances, you can expect your fees to be well worth their weight in gold, so to speak. The Levin Group has surveyed hundreds of thousands of patients for our clients during the past 10 years, and one primary concern regarding fees continually surfaces. Most patients believe that the fees in their dental practice are too high, yet they continue to return. Meanwhile, patients in boutique practices report that the practice's fees are reasonable - even though these fees are among the highest in dentistry! Why? Patients appreciate the better care and higher level of customer service the boutique practice provides, and they are willing to pay more for it. While the boutique practice enables you to have the highest quality care, highest levels of customer service, and highest fees of any practice in dentistry, perhaps its greatest asset is its ability to handle changes in dentistry such as managed care. It's not just financially beneficial, it's also the smart way to practice dentistry today. |