Move from covering overhead to true profitability [VIDEO]

As part of our Morning Huddle e-newsletter, DPR partnered with notable practice management consultants to provide quick video tips to get your team talking.

Cathy Jameson, Ph.D. on understanding the value of hygiene retention as a strategy in reaching your "profit point."

In the best-selling book, Good to Great, Jim Collins and his group of researchers found that “great” companies clearly defined their “profit point” or “economic engine.” They were very clear at which point their work moved from covering overhead to being profitable. 

One of your most critical “profit points” is hygiene retention. This includes helping people get and stay healthy; educating people about the benefits of going ahead with incomplete treatment; and introducing them to new possibilities such as implants or cosmetic dentistry.

If you develop a system of hygiene retention where people are not falling through the cracks but are rather coming to you on a regular basis, you will be able to move more patients into a comprehensively restored state. Repetition is the key to learning. So, when patients come to you on a regular basis through hygiene, one of the most important parts of that appointment is to show and discuss the patient’s next area of necessary treatment or the possibilities available to them.

The key to a healthy, profitable practice is not so much the number of new patients (although new patients are a must) but rather how many patients are saying “yes” to their full treatment plan.

To ensure you are taking advantage of hygiene retention, you can ask yourself:

• Are we following up on dentistry diagnosed but left untreated?

• Are we focusing on maintaining people in our practice once they have entered as a new patient?

• Are we rolling out the red carpet for all patients or just the new ones?

• Are we aware of the costs and the low profit margins of a large, high volume practice? 

Hygiene productivity can be approximately one-third of the total practice productivity. Plus, during hygiene appointments, patient education and introduction to new possibilities is accomplishable.

With those things in mind, you can realize the power behind the “profit point.” It’s an essential system in your effort to take your practice to the next level and make this a great week!