Small changes make a big difference when making the distinction between a successful practice and a failing one.
Steve Kuchuris, owner of SK Dental Consulting, spoke with "Becker's Dental + DSO Review Podcast" to weigh in on how to have a successful practice.
Note: This is an edited excerpt. Listen to the full podcast episode here.
Question: What are some of the big themes that you often see, or trends in terms of the issues that come up with [failing] practices, and how do you avoid them?
Steve Kuchuris: There's a lot of common themes, and it's interesting that the approach that I take when I work with a practice that's failing versus a practice that's doing well, that just wants to do better — interestingly enough, I do the same thing. There's just basic principles and systems that you need to put in place to have a successful practice.
Oftentimes I see … and I don't want to offend any dentists out there, but oftentimes they have a hard time with confrontation and holding people accountable. Again, in all fairness, their job is to be dental surgeons all day, and they're very busy. They should have no time to even go sit at their desk and check their Facebook. They should be on the floor all day. So they don't have a lot of extra time to kind of see the mechanics of the business and what's going on. How are people answering the phones? Are they collecting money like they should? What's your accounts receivable? I look at everything. I hope we're not using the cheapest toilet paper in the restroom, and are the restrooms clean? Does the office smell nice? Is the lobby clean? And don't call it a waiting room, by the way, it's a lobby, nobody likes to wait. So waiting room has a negative connotation. So even the verbiage that you use is very important on the phone and how you talk to patients.