DMD Staff

Dentist's Money Digest sent teams of reporters to cover the Yankee Dental Congress, held Jan. 25-29, and the Chicago Midwinter Meeting, held Feb. 23-25. Each conference contained valuable information for business-minded dentists on managing and marketing dental practices. Here are the top five lessons that we learned.

According to Tim Sawyer, president of Crystal Clear Digital Marketing, prioritizing the right procedures in a dental practice is key to being profitable. In order to do that, dentists need to ask themselves what they can competitively offer in their market, whether that's Botox, Invisalign or sleep treatments. Then, dentists need to fill their schedules with those higher-profit-margin procedures or treatments.

Maybe you're having a difficult time keeping patients engaged with your dental practice. Maybe they're coming in once for an emergency procedure, then you aren't seeing them again years. It's possible that the issue is their commitment to oral health. Or it could be that your marketing efforts aren't effective. Blair Drenner, vice president of strategic business development at eRelevance Corporation, talks about refining your marketing message to keep your patients coming back.

This month's topics include revisiting the tried-and-true investing strategy of buy-and-hold; fixed-income options for retirement; asset-protection strategies; and how cognitive bias can stock portfolios. Catch up on financial advice from Dentist's Money Digest's team of experts.

Brandy Keck is a Brockerage Liaison at Carr Healthcare Realty. In this clip, Keck discusses one of the questions she most often gets from dentists: Is it better to buy or lease space? There is no stock answer, Keck says. The appropriate course of action depends on specific circumstances for each dentist. Here's an overview of what those circumstances are.

Leadership is an ability that some people believe dentists are naturally born with. According to Amy Morgan, CEO and owner of Pride Institute, this is a misnomer. She expressed that no matter what your personality style is, anyone can and should aspire to be a leader.

Larry Emmott, D.D.S., president of Emmott On Technology, explains that the biggest social media blunder dentists make is thinking the only thing available to use is Facebook.

According to Tim Sawyer, president of Crystal Clear Digital Marketing, solving the problem of insufficient patient reviews is a matter of improving your leadership skills. It's up to you as the leader of your dental practice to establish procedures that will channel patients toward sharing their positive experiences on their web. Creating these procedures is easily accomplished with the help of modern technology.

Blair Drenner, vice president of strategic business development at eRelevance Corporation, explains how to make sure your dental patients receive your message and keep coming back for more.

There are so many important nuances to the negotiation of any dental practice lease or purchase. According to Brandy Keck, a Brockerage Liaison at Carr Healthcare Realty, it is imperative that dentists do their due diligence. This puts them in a powerful position when dealing with a potential landlord or seller. It also helps to avoid creating the uncomfortable experience of undercutting a landlord or seller with a lowball offer.

Kerry Straine, CPBA, is the CEO and President of Straine Consulting. In this video clip, he reviews the common cash flow mistakes he sees dentists making today. They include not having a formal budget in place for the year ahead, and not having a clear understanding of how much dentists will take from the practice in terms of profit. Straine provides effective approaches to resolve these issues.

Maybe you're a dentist who has finally decided to go into private practice. In terms of where you want your practice to be located, you've settled on a city or town, but not the property. According to Brandy Keck, a Brockerage Liaison at Carr Healthcare Realty, now is the right time to get a practice real estate broker involved. Do not go it alone when faced with the stresses of negotiating a lease or purchase.

Time and time again, social media and email marketing have proven to be effective ways of bringing in new dental patients and staying connected with your existing patient base. In this video interview, Tim Sawyer, president of Crystal Clear Digital Marketing, discusses strategies for email and social media that produce results. The key, he explains, is targeting your message on both platforms to the precise audience you're trying to attract.

Brandy Keck is a Brockerage Liaison at Carr Healthcare Realty. In this clip, Keck discusses what market factors a dentist needs to understand before purchasing practice real estate. Often, Keck says, her company will recommend that dentists work with a demographics firm to understand the demand for dentistry in their respective markets. Other important factors include proximity to other types of dentists, as well as population-to-dentists ratio.

Randy Fine, LUTCF, present of Robert Fine Associates, discusses how dentists should offer a generous benefits package to retain talent in their practices. Fine explains that though there may be some sticker shock in the beginning about providing a 401-K or other attractive offerings to staff members, these benefits will keep morale high and keep the competition out. It will also save you the trouble of having to replace and retrain employees, which can cost you time and money.

Mayer Levitt, DMD, is president of the dental consulting firm, Jodena Consulting. Here he discusses how he has seen Facebook usage translate to an influx of new patients for dentists.

Blair Drenner, vice president of strategic business development at eRelevance Corporation, talks about the importance of elective-pay procedures for profitability in dentistry.

Randy Fine, LUTCF, present of Robert Fine Associates, discusses how dentists should take a look at their financial priorities, including insurance, estate planning, and investment opportunities, and put them in a specific order.

Mayer Levitt, DMD, is president of the dental consulting firm, Jodena Consulting. Here he discusses what dentists should do to create a practice that's admired by their patients and their peers.

Tim Sawyer, president of Crystal Clear Digital Marketing, discusses how you can use technological solutions to retain dental patients.

Blair Drenner, vice president of strategic business development at eRelevance Corporation, emphasizes in this clip how critical communicating effectively with your dental patients is.

Randy Fine, LUTCF, president of Robert Fine Associates, discusses how dentists should divide and allocate money for savings into short-term, mid-term, and long-term goals.

Mayer Levitt, DMD, is president of the dental consulting firm, Jodena Consulting. Here he discusses what dentists should be doing to retain staff members in their practices.

Tim Sawyer, president of Crystal Clear Digital Marketing, discusses how methods of attracting new dental patients to practices are evolving. SEO is still the dominant force at play, he says, however, social media is gaining strength.

Blair Drenner, vice president of strategic business development at eRelevance Corporation, discusses how to make your major dental equipment purchases pay off.

Brandy Keck, Brokerage Liaison at Carr Healthcare Realty, discusses what dentists need to consider when analyzing the current real estate market.

Kerry Straine, CPBA, CEO and President of Straine Consulting, discusses how important it is to set an economic vision as well as a personal mission for your dental practice.

The U.S. district judge wrote in his opinion that the merger would ultimately thwart competition in the insurance marketplace.

This month's topics include good vs. bad debt, paying down debt quickly, compelling and edifying financial reads, and appropriate levels of retirement savings.

Jim McKee, DDS, is a dentist in private practice. He's also a Visiting Faculty member with Piper Education and Research Center, where he teaches on subjects such as occlusion and the clinical referral process. In this video clip, he discusses how to take a fresh look at occlusion issues in dental patients.