Latest / Hey Docs! / Succeeding in the New Age of Orthodontics with Malcom C. Riley from Align Technology

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Succeeding in the New Age of Orthodontics with Malcom C. Riley from Align Technology · Hey Docs!

0:05
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Haydocks Podcast with your host Jill Allen.
0:09
Speaker 1: Today I am joined by Malcolm c Riley, Director of
0:12
Speaker 1: Orthodonic Clinical Education and Early Career at Align Technology. Malcolm
0:17
Speaker 1: works with orthodontists who are navigating the transition from clinical
0:21
Speaker 1: to practice owner, helping them build successful businesses in an
0:26
Speaker 1: increasingly digital and rapidly evolving market. Before joining a line,
0:31
Speaker 1: Malcolm spent years supporting small business owners, startups, growth stage companies,
0:37
Speaker 1: and doctor led organizations. In this episode, we're talking about
0:41
Speaker 1: the challenges and opportunities facing new practice owners, how digital
0:45
Speaker 1: workflows are changing the way practices operate, and what it
0:48
Speaker 1: takes to build a thriving practice from day one. So
0:51
Speaker 1: let's get started, and now a word from the sponsors
0:55
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1:01
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1:05
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1:08
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1:12
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1:16
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1:19
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1:24
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1:28
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1:32
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1:35
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1:39
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1:43
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1:47
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1:50
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1:54
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1:58
Speaker 1: Just follow the link in the show to learn more.
2:06
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2:11
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2:16
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2:21
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2:26
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2:44
Speaker 1: com forward slash Clarity to learn more. Welcome. I am
2:52
Speaker 1: so excited to finally have you on Haydos. Thanks for
2:55
Speaker 1: being here today.
2:57
Speaker 2: No, thank you so much for having me. I've been
2:58
Speaker 2: waiting for this for some time. Listen, I've been preparing,
3:01
Speaker 2: I've been watching audio podcasts, trying to do my homework,
3:05
Speaker 2: but just so excited to be able to get to
3:07
Speaker 2: know you and be able to share some things with
3:09
Speaker 2: the audience today.
3:10
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, absolutely, I'm excited. It's going to be a
3:12
Speaker 1: great show today. So just to get us started, you
3:16
Speaker 1: said you've been doing your homework already, so you know,
3:18
Speaker 1: I love it when my guests are able to just
3:21
Speaker 1: give a little bit of background on themselves, talk a
3:24
Speaker 1: little bit about the work they've done, and especially for you,
3:28
Speaker 1: what you are doing now with the line.
3:30
Speaker 2: Absolutely happy to share. So, Jill, as I was thinking
3:34
Speaker 2: about this, really, my hometown is Chicago, and growing up,
3:39
Speaker 2: I remember my parents and my grandparents. One of the
3:41
Speaker 2: things they always stressed to me was just the importance
3:43
Speaker 2: of community, so lifting people up and just trying to
3:47
Speaker 2: make a difference in people's lives. And that's really the
3:49
Speaker 2: thread that I've tried to really use to guide me
3:52
Speaker 2: as i've pursued my career. So like the first stage
3:55
Speaker 2: of my career before Line was at Teke University's Fuqual
3:58
Speaker 2: School of Business where I worked with our NBA students
4:01
Speaker 2: in our alumni, and my job was to really help
4:04
Speaker 2: them pursue their career and their aspirations to do things
4:07
Speaker 2: that maybe they didn't think they could ever be done before.
4:10
Speaker 2: Former athletes who wanted to become investment bankers, former school
4:13
Speaker 2: teachers who wanted to become marketers. So my number one
4:18
Speaker 2: job was to make them believe it was possible, and
4:20
Speaker 2: then my number two job was to give them a
4:22
Speaker 2: blueprint about how to get there. So that included creating
4:26
Speaker 2: programs and designing career and leadership workshops to make sure
4:30
Speaker 2: they actually had the right tools and skill sets to
4:32
Speaker 2: achieve those goals. That included creating partnerships with companies from
4:37
Speaker 2: around the world to make sure there was opportunities for
4:40
Speaker 2: the students and alumni, but also to partner with our
4:43
Speaker 2: faculty members who wanted to make sure that what they
4:45
Speaker 2: were teaching in the classroom was representative of what they
4:47
Speaker 2: would learn outside. And while I was working with all
4:50
Speaker 2: these folks, I was helping them prepare for interviews. The
4:53
Speaker 2: truth of the matter is I got really curious about
4:55
Speaker 2: these big, hairy problems that they were trying to solve
4:59
Speaker 2: and that curioosity led me to actually go pursue my
5:02
Speaker 2: MBA at Duke, which I had the privilege of attending
5:05
Speaker 2: and graduating from, and that was really a decision to
5:08
Speaker 2: kind of change the trajectory of my career. And so
5:11
Speaker 2: after graduating from our business school, there was still one question,
5:15
Speaker 2: so now that I have all this business experience, how
5:18
Speaker 2: do I still make a difference? And the answer that
5:21
Speaker 2: presented itself to me was healthcare and technology And where
5:25
Speaker 2: that first led me to was an NGO called Innovations
5:28
Speaker 2: in Healthcare, and that was an organization that was helping
5:33
Speaker 2: entrepreneurs around the world, startups and row stage companies who
5:37
Speaker 2: were trying to make healthcare more affordable and accessible, and
5:41
Speaker 2: most of them were doctor led. So my job was
5:44
Speaker 2: to figure out, if they're making a tremendous impact in India,
5:47
Speaker 2: could that something could it also work in Kenya? And
5:51
Speaker 2: doing that work, they were doing phenomenal things. They were
5:54
Speaker 2: trying to figure out how to reduce the costs to
5:56
Speaker 2: open heart surgery from two hundred thousand dollars to five
5:59
Speaker 2: thousand dollars, how do we do breast cancer screenings and
6:02
Speaker 2: areas where mammogram equipment is too expensive, and you really
6:06
Speaker 2: got to feel that their heart was truly in it.
6:08
Speaker 2: So doing that work really helped me fall in love
6:11
Speaker 2: with a couple of things. That's when I realized I
6:13
Speaker 2: loved working with doctors. When I looked at all their
6:16
Speaker 2: business models as we tried to help them give them
6:18
Speaker 2: ideas about scaling and connections, it was always technology that
6:22
Speaker 2: was making it possible. It was a tablet, it was
6:25
Speaker 2: a platform, it was a new tool that ultimately allowed
6:29
Speaker 2: them to help more people. And so I saw that
6:31
Speaker 2: there was a central connection. So I knew that's where
6:34
Speaker 2: I wanted to spend a bulk in my career. Shortly
6:37
Speaker 2: after that role, I went over to work for Lenovo,
6:41
Speaker 2: which you might know is the company that makes the
6:43
Speaker 2: black think pad laptops with the red dot in the middle.
6:47
Speaker 2: So they made laptops, they make tablets, they make hardware
6:50
Speaker 2: for data centers. And my job was to work with
6:52
Speaker 2: strategic alliances, and the partner that I managed was Amazon,
6:57
Speaker 2: and so amongst other things, my role was to work
7:00
Speaker 2: with our sales leaders across the country in US and
7:03
Speaker 2: Europe and an agents say well, how do we grow
7:06
Speaker 2: our business on Amazon's e commerce platform? And then also,
7:10
Speaker 2: how can we work with our product teams to come
7:12
Speaker 2: up with cool new products that haven't been done before
7:14
Speaker 2: that integrate Amazon technology in a unique way, like imagine
7:18
Speaker 2: an Alexa on a Lenovo tablet. And I took that
7:23
Speaker 2: role because I knew that to that point, I'd been
7:25
Speaker 2: helping people grow their business, but I hadn't had a
7:27
Speaker 2: chance to grow a business. So that was a great
7:30
Speaker 2: opportunity to be able to go for a deep dive
7:32
Speaker 2: in that moment. And I had a great time until
7:35
Speaker 2: a good friend of mine call and told me about
7:38
Speaker 2: some work she was doing with university in early career
7:42
Speaker 2: at in Visilon. And what was so amazing about it
7:47
Speaker 2: was it allowed me to work on everything I had
7:49
Speaker 2: done in my whole career up to that point. I
7:51
Speaker 2: get a chance to work with universities. I get a
7:53
Speaker 2: chance to work with students and residents again. I get
7:56
Speaker 2: a chance to work with small business owners. Beginning that
8:00
Speaker 2: work back in twenty twenty one, I had an opportunity
8:03
Speaker 2: to work on amazing things. I helped us to launch
8:05
Speaker 2: our educational grant program, which supports almost every orthodonic residency
8:10
Speaker 2: program throughout North America. That makes it so they have
8:14
Speaker 2: access to INVISALIGNE and iterial, so that when they're treating patients,
8:18
Speaker 2: they don't have to make decisions based upon costs. They
8:20
Speaker 2: could just make decisions based upon what's the best treatment
8:22
Speaker 2: in this moment, and that not only makes a difference
8:25
Speaker 2: for their patient, but that community that surrounds it. And
8:28
Speaker 2: then the second pillar was really around education, and so
8:31
Speaker 2: how do we make sure that they understand how to
8:34
Speaker 2: use the technology, how to achieve their own clinical goals.
8:37
Speaker 2: And so we do that through virtual and immersive in
8:40
Speaker 2: person education for residents and early career doctors, and for
8:45
Speaker 2: us at that time that was doctors who were zero
8:47
Speaker 2: to ten years post graduation, all orthodontists. So I just
8:52
Speaker 2: fully immersed myself in this space. I always say that
8:55
Speaker 2: I unexpectedly fell in love with orthodontists. More that I learned,
9:01
Speaker 2: the more that I connected with it, because what you
9:04
Speaker 2: learn is that for every orthodontis, at some point they
9:08
Speaker 2: either aspire to and or will become a small business owner.
9:12
Speaker 2: And that's something where my passion has always been. So
9:15
Speaker 2: we did that work for the next three years, and
9:18
Speaker 2: it was last year where I had the opportunity to
9:20
Speaker 2: not only focus on early career orthodontis, but all orthodontas,
9:24
Speaker 2: regardless of age and stage. So managing our educational programs,
9:29
Speaker 2: managing our programs for our new practice owners to make
9:32
Speaker 2: sure they have the support they need when they grow.
9:35
Speaker 2: And the truth is, it's become one of the best
9:37
Speaker 2: jobs of my entire career. So it's been a lot
9:39
Speaker 2: of fun.
9:40
Speaker 1: I love it, and it's so much fun for me.
9:42
Speaker 1: I have so many wonderful guests, and just to be able,
9:45
Speaker 1: like for your story to just see isn't it so
9:48
Speaker 1: interesting how the universe just kind of opens things up
9:51
Speaker 1: and where you start in one area and where you
9:53
Speaker 1: end in another is so cool.
9:56
Speaker 2: I really believe it's been a real privilege. Honestly, has
10:00
Speaker 2: been I'm having the time of my life.
10:02
Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely, well, as you have been immersing yourself over
10:07
Speaker 1: the years in our profession, the orthodonic profession, and I
10:11
Speaker 1: love it that you've started with a lot of the
10:13
Speaker 1: in the schools. And my passion too is those young docs.
10:17
Speaker 1: I kind of thrive in that eight years and younger
10:19
Speaker 1: stage with the doctors, and you and I can both
10:22
Speaker 1: say that definitely things have changed over the years and technology,
10:27
Speaker 1: I mean talk about Visiligne being a disruptor in our
10:32
Speaker 1: orthodonic profession. I mean, for sure when you look at
10:36
Speaker 1: you know, I having been in the orthodonic profession for
10:38
Speaker 1: over thirty now, man, I can remember when plastic was
10:42
Speaker 1: being introduced and talk about a disruptor. You know, that
10:46
Speaker 1: was like what you know, And just to see the
10:51
Speaker 1: evolution of not only that, but the technology that now
10:55
Speaker 1: supports orthodonics in helping them just be better clinicians on
11:01
Speaker 1: so many levels, with so many different tools at their fingertips.
11:05
Speaker 1: And so what I would love to kind of dive
11:08
Speaker 1: in and talk about is kind of that younger generation
11:13
Speaker 1: that you and I both focus on a little bit more,
11:15
Speaker 1: And let's just talk about new practice owners and some
11:20
Speaker 1: of the differences that you're seeing, differences that I'm seeing,
11:24
Speaker 1: and just the environment of where things are at now
11:28
Speaker 1: in consideration to previous generations, because again I can remember,
11:32
Speaker 1: when you open up a practice, you do a bracket
11:35
Speaker 1: order and that's all you thought about. And now that's
11:37
Speaker 1: a very very different consideration. So if you would mind
11:42
Speaker 1: just giving me your thoughts on that and maybe some
11:44
Speaker 1: of the challenges some of the opportunities that you're seeing
11:48
Speaker 1: right now.
11:49
Speaker 2: No one hundred percent. I think that's one of the
11:51
Speaker 2: first things that I learned in working with like that
11:54
Speaker 2: early career population is that the desire is still there,
11:58
Speaker 2: the desire to take your few you're into your own hands,
12:01
Speaker 2: the desire to pursue your dreams in your own hands,
12:04
Speaker 2: but the way that that manifests itself is so different now.
12:07
Speaker 2: I think naturally one of the biggest differences is cost.
12:11
Speaker 2: From a couple of different perspectives, student loans and the
12:15
Speaker 2: cost of actually going to orthodonic residency program has increased significantly,
12:21
Speaker 2: and that's something that you have to think about in
12:23
Speaker 2: terms of not only if you open a practice, but
12:26
Speaker 2: when so that you can make sure you feel comfortable
12:28
Speaker 2: about your finances and how you're going to manage that
12:31
Speaker 2: as you try to grow your business. And so that's
12:33
Speaker 2: something I know is always on their mind in terms
12:36
Speaker 2: of thinking about this decision. I think the second biggest
12:40
Speaker 2: thing that comes to mind is that I think the
12:43
Speaker 2: patients that they're serving are actually quite different. Now. My
12:48
Speaker 2: mind goes so it's interesting that I supported Amazon as
12:51
Speaker 2: a strategic partner because in many ways, I think our
12:55
Speaker 2: patients and consumers have an Amazon mindset. Yes, and the
12:58
Speaker 2: way that they didn't have before, where I think you
13:01
Speaker 2: used to be able to count on referrals and if
13:03
Speaker 2: I recommend someone and you have my word and you
13:05
Speaker 2: trust me, that's going to be the orthodonists that I choose.
13:09
Speaker 2: But now I think we have the data that shows
13:11
Speaker 2: that every patient is going to at least three practices
13:14
Speaker 2: before they make their final decision, and they have more
13:18
Speaker 2: options than ever before. And so I think that that
13:22
Speaker 2: is one of the challenges that new practice owners said
13:24
Speaker 2: they have to think about is how do you stand out?
13:27
Speaker 2: How do you get noticed? And I think that's really
13:30
Speaker 2: the last piece is as you're trying to figure out
13:33
Speaker 2: how to stand out. When I talk to new practice owner,
13:36
Speaker 2: I said, hey, I get that, but there's also some
13:38
Speaker 2: things that you have in your favor. Number one is
13:41
Speaker 2: I think orthodonics has remained a fairly traditional business and
13:46
Speaker 2: way of doing things. Most of the folks that I
13:49
Speaker 2: visit are still doing things in a very traditional way,
13:52
Speaker 2: which means that for those new practice owners that are
13:54
Speaker 2: willing to adopt digital workflows, whether that's virtual consoles, whether
13:59
Speaker 2: that integrating visualizations into your treatment, truly creating an experience
14:05
Speaker 2: that people will never forget it matters because we can
14:09
Speaker 2: almost guarantee then when you compare that to the experience
14:12
Speaker 2: they're getting at their other ten options down the street,
14:16
Speaker 2: they're likely not going to have that experience. I also
14:19
Speaker 2: think new practice owners have an advantage because there's never
14:23
Speaker 2: been an easier way to share the experience that you're
14:26
Speaker 2: creating in your practice with the rest of the world
14:30
Speaker 2: because of social media. So I think those that really
14:33
Speaker 2: lean into the storytelling, really tap into what are we
14:37
Speaker 2: doing that's special and unique and be creative about telling
14:41
Speaker 2: that story. I would argue that even though in some
14:44
Speaker 2: respects things are challenging because it's more competitive, I would
14:47
Speaker 2: say that you actually have an even better opportunity to
14:50
Speaker 2: stand out as long as there's intentionality. Yeah, well what
14:54
Speaker 2: are you seeing though, because you're supporting and talking to
14:56
Speaker 2: so many of them all the time.
14:58
Speaker 1: Yeah, every point you made right on. I totally agree
15:01
Speaker 1: with you. And one of the things that I tell
15:04
Speaker 1: all of my younger doctors when they're coming to me saying, hey,
15:07
Speaker 1: I think I want to do a startup. I think
15:09
Speaker 1: now's the time, And I do think that everybody kind
15:12
Speaker 1: of comes to that decision at different stages. For sure,
15:17
Speaker 1: is that to your point, I do not think there
15:20
Speaker 1: is a better time than now to really be able
15:23
Speaker 1: to if you're going to do a startup practice, to
15:26
Speaker 1: really be able to set yourself apart. And to your point, yes,
15:30
Speaker 1: we've got these what i'll call our marketing buckets, and
15:34
Speaker 1: there are some very traditional ways that we still have
15:37
Speaker 1: to market, but gosh, we have got literally thousands of
15:42
Speaker 1: people at our fingertips or at their fingertips. Should we
15:46
Speaker 1: choose to kind of lean in to some marketing that
15:49
Speaker 1: way and whatnot. But also beyond that, when you talk
15:53
Speaker 1: about the demographics of a practice, I think what is
15:56
Speaker 1: so cool about the younger generation of doctors right now
16:01
Speaker 1: is number one. I'm going to take this all the
16:03
Speaker 1: way back to just the influence that they're getting in
16:07
Speaker 1: residency programs. Is I can think back twenty years ago
16:11
Speaker 1: when I first started, it was very rare to have
16:15
Speaker 1: any type of a liner program, or it was kind
16:18
Speaker 1: of a fringe thought if it was being taught at
16:22
Speaker 1: all in the residency programs. And now one of the
16:25
Speaker 1: things I love the most is when I've got residents
16:28
Speaker 1: coming out of school and I've got doctors that are
16:30
Speaker 1: the ones that are like, I'm coming out and I'm
16:32
Speaker 1: starting my own practice or I'm going to associate for
16:35
Speaker 1: a little bit, but then I'm going to be right
16:36
Speaker 1: in is they're so primed and open to not just
16:43
Speaker 1: that traditional way of thinking because they've had exposure all
16:49
Speaker 1: the way along and they're just more comfortable with technology.
16:52
Speaker 1: You know, I say our younger docs now, anybody who's listening,
16:55
Speaker 1: I mean your natives, your natives and all of this.
16:58
Speaker 1: So it's not scary to think about treatment planning in
17:01
Speaker 1: a platform that you know is technology driven. So my
17:06
Speaker 1: big long tie rate here, you know, is I think
17:10
Speaker 1: that it is so wonderful for so many of my
17:13
Speaker 1: doctors that I'm working with because right now I feel
17:17
Speaker 1: like they've got such an advantage because they embrace all
17:20
Speaker 1: the technology. And one of the things that I'm always
17:22
Speaker 1: saying to docs is there is never a better time
17:26
Speaker 1: in your career to introduce digital systems, digital platforms then
17:32
Speaker 1: when you're a startup, because you're never going to be slower,
17:36
Speaker 1: but you're never going to be able to put the
17:39
Speaker 1: foundation in place better like you've got one hundred percent control,
17:42
Speaker 1: you have a and you know this with the doctors
17:45
Speaker 1: that are established, the hardest thing and established practice will
17:49
Speaker 1: ever do is introduce a big new technology into their
17:54
Speaker 1: practice because of the drag of team members, because of
17:57
Speaker 1: the drag of new technology, because of how long it
18:01
Speaker 1: takes to introduce something new. In we're a startup, Heck,
18:04
Speaker 1: we can have digital custom brackets, we can have aligner systems,
18:08
Speaker 1: we can you know what I mean, and you can
18:10
Speaker 1: just set yourself up for success, which is then in
18:13
Speaker 1: turn leads us to have, I believe, our orthodonic offices
18:18
Speaker 1: of the future, where we're going to have core team members,
18:21
Speaker 1: smaller teams, more efficient treatment planning, and more patients because
18:27
Speaker 1: we're now not just focusing on those eight to twelve
18:30
Speaker 1: year olds, which are still a bread and butter, but
18:33
Speaker 1: we have an opportunity to meet the needs of some
18:36
Speaker 1: of those adults out there, or people who are like, yeah,
18:40
Speaker 1: so I know you said I was supposed to wear retainers,
18:42
Speaker 1: but you know.
18:44
Speaker 2: We should we should talk about I'm so glad you
18:46
Speaker 2: brought that up. We should talk about those adults because
18:49
Speaker 2: we're actually we've been doing a lot of research and
18:53
Speaker 2: conversation internally just kind of looking at just the US
18:56
Speaker 2: market specifically, and of course, traditionally orthodonts have focused on
19:00
Speaker 2: that growing kid team market. But the reality of it
19:03
Speaker 2: is two things that are top of mind for me
19:05
Speaker 2: all the time. For us to look at the trends,
19:07
Speaker 2: we see that there's been a pretty consistently declining birth
19:10
Speaker 2: rate in the US and that families are not necessarily
19:14
Speaker 2: families of four, but more likely to be families of
19:16
Speaker 2: two these days. But on the flip side, we know
19:19
Speaker 2: that the largest segment of the population is adults. I
19:23
Speaker 2: think like sixty to seventy percent of the population as adults,
19:28
Speaker 2: and they have jobs, they have disposable income. We see
19:33
Speaker 2: this trend that everybody is focused on with health and wellness.
19:37
Speaker 2: They want to feel better, they want to have longevity.
19:41
Speaker 2: All those things are important. And what I often think
19:45
Speaker 2: about sometimes is all of those adults who were never
19:48
Speaker 2: presented with an opportunity for treatment. So you have two categories.
19:52
Speaker 2: You have the ones who had treatment when they were younger,
19:55
Speaker 2: and you know they have not been wearing their retainers
19:58
Speaker 2: number one, so we know to fifteen years later it
20:02
Speaker 2: is time for them to get a little at worse,
20:04
Speaker 2: a little bit of a touch up. But also people
20:06
Speaker 2: like me because when I was younger and I would
20:10
Speaker 2: you know, we had like a little crowding back then.
20:13
Speaker 2: That wasn't I say back then as if it was
20:16
Speaker 2: fifty years ago. This was in like the eighties and nineties.
20:19
Speaker 2: My doctor would say, he said, it's not a medical necessity,
20:22
Speaker 2: So orthodonic treatment was not recommended for me. I received
20:25
Speaker 2: my first orthodontic treatment in my forties, right when I
20:30
Speaker 2: had an employer, when I had health insurance. They're paid for.
20:33
Speaker 2: And think about how many adults are out there, yes, right, yes,
20:37
Speaker 2: on both sides of the aisle, men and women who
20:39
Speaker 2: were just waiting for someone to ask and say, oh,
20:41
Speaker 2: I didn't know this was for me. And that's actually
20:44
Speaker 2: an area that we really want to focus in on
20:47
Speaker 2: helping our partners and our customers think about how they
20:50
Speaker 2: can take advantage of that opportunity.
20:52
Speaker 1: Yeah, I could not agree more, you know. And I
20:54
Speaker 1: just want to say, for a lot of our younger listeners,
20:57
Speaker 1: I am in my fifties and I like to think
20:59
Speaker 1: fifties is the new forties, So you know, when you're
21:02
Speaker 1: thinking about that, I think there used to be this
21:05
Speaker 1: stigma with adult patients. Oh they're harder, Oh they're this,
21:08
Speaker 1: Oh they're that, And yes, they may have more questions
21:11
Speaker 1: to a point, but we also have the tools right
21:14
Speaker 1: at your fingertips now to be able to meet some
21:18
Speaker 1: of those needs to be able to I know I'm
21:20
Speaker 1: getting off topic here a little bit, but even just
21:22
Speaker 1: what we're seeing now with what the IARO can do now,
21:26
Speaker 1: and I think it's so hard. I'm just having a
21:28
Speaker 1: conversation yesterday as a matter of fact, with one of
21:31
Speaker 1: my clients, and they were saying how much they love
21:34
Speaker 1: being able to, especially with adults, when they're like, I
21:37
Speaker 1: just don't think this is moving and they can do that.
21:40
Speaker 1: You'll have to help me with what it's called now
21:43
Speaker 1: where they can the weather matt yes, and they can
21:47
Speaker 1: kind of like lay like where their teeth were over
21:50
Speaker 1: where they are now and real time left.
21:51
Speaker 2: They can look at the time left feature to see
21:53
Speaker 2: where we started and where we're going.
21:54
Speaker 1: Yes, yes, and then be able to show the patient, hey,
21:57
Speaker 1: right here you can see that the movement and is happening.
22:00
Speaker 1: And sometimes again going back to yes, adults can be
22:05
Speaker 1: a little tough. Sometimes sometimes it's just we just need
22:09
Speaker 1: to quell the questions and then they're fine. They need
22:12
Speaker 1: to kind of see the proof sometimes and so and.
22:15
Speaker 2: So much of that Jill I think so interesting. You
22:17
Speaker 2: mentioned that at our one of our flectionship courses is
22:20
Speaker 2: called Advanced Practice within VISI Line API, where we typically
22:23
Speaker 2: have about one hundred and twenty orthodontas come from all
22:26
Speaker 2: across the country, and we're constantly updating the agenda to
22:29
Speaker 2: make sure it fits the needs of this moment and
22:31
Speaker 2: our last course of the year in Denver. That's actually
22:34
Speaker 2: one of our keynote lectures is one of our speakers,
22:38
Speaker 2: doctor Barry Glazier, is going to share the story about
22:41
Speaker 2: how he used to treat twenty percent of his patient's
22:45
Speaker 2: were adults, but beginning with COVID and its sustained afterwards,
22:49
Speaker 2: it went from twenty percent to fifty percent. Wow. And
22:53
Speaker 2: along with that, it's not only about Hey, I was
22:56
Speaker 2: intentional about treating more adults. He's going to share how
22:59
Speaker 2: that forced him to rethink how he treats patients, how
23:03
Speaker 2: he communicates with patients, how his team had to adjust
23:08
Speaker 2: their office hours, had to adjust their talk tracks because
23:11
Speaker 2: they're not the same. We are not the same as teenagers.
23:15
Speaker 2: I also, I did take the Walk ofche and I
23:18
Speaker 2: had to get one refinement because maybe allegedly I didn't
23:22
Speaker 2: wear my trays for a couple of weeks allegedly. But
23:29
Speaker 2: the thing is, I was still very motivated to finish
23:33
Speaker 2: the treatment. I mean, I had the extraction, they had
23:35
Speaker 2: to close the space, they had to do all these things,
23:38
Speaker 2: but they had to talk to me differently, right. But
23:40
Speaker 2: I think that's the one thing I think is an
23:42
Speaker 2: area where we're trying to also create some more education
23:45
Speaker 2: around is understanding how to talk to these generations a
23:49
Speaker 2: little bit differently, right, Because at the end of the day,
23:53
Speaker 2: we still trust our doctors. I still trust my doctor, yeah,
23:56
Speaker 2: because they know clinically much more than I ever will.
24:00
Speaker 2: Sure he talks to me very differently than he would
24:02
Speaker 2: to my daughter. And that's an adjustment that we all
24:04
Speaker 2: have to make. Well.
24:05
Speaker 1: And to that point, if anybody has really thought about this,
24:08
Speaker 1: at this point in our offices, we have five different
24:13
Speaker 1: generations that could be in your practice, you know, all
24:16
Speaker 1: the way from baby boomers that still may want some treatment,
24:21
Speaker 1: all the way up to our alphas now. And I
24:23
Speaker 1: mean talk about just the differences. I speak a lot
24:27
Speaker 1: on that. You know, if you're talking to somebody of
24:30
Speaker 1: a baby boomer generation, that conversation is going to be
24:33
Speaker 1: very different than we're talking to gen z or even
24:37
Speaker 1: that alpha like your daughter who you know again just
24:41
Speaker 1: totally different and.
24:42
Speaker 2: So loves her diasthemas she loves her gap. So ye,
24:45
Speaker 2: maybe sould be one of the patients will say, hey,
24:47
Speaker 2: you can move my teat, but keep my gap in
24:49
Speaker 2: the mid We'll see. I say, well, well maybe you
24:51
Speaker 2: can have whatever you want to. Yes, So I think
24:53
Speaker 2: that's the other I think new mindset deal is that
24:56
Speaker 2: orthodonics is not a one time treatment. Yes, right, yes,
25:00
Speaker 2: So I think about my wife who she actually had
25:03
Speaker 2: orthodontic treatment in her thirties, and now fifteen years later,
25:07
Speaker 2: she's ready for more. And she doesn't see it as
25:10
Speaker 2: a burden. She doesn't see it as that her orthodontist
25:13
Speaker 2: didn't do what she promised. She just says, it's a
25:16
Speaker 2: little bit of shift. I would like to address it.
25:19
Speaker 2: Let's do it right and that So it's really the
25:22
Speaker 2: opportunity to create these lifelong relationships. I think in a way,
25:26
Speaker 2: it used to be Okay, i'll treat Malcolm, then i'll
25:29
Speaker 2: treat his daughter. Yeah, well really you might treat me twice.
25:33
Speaker 2: You might then put me in a retainer program to
25:36
Speaker 2: kind of help preserve the work that you did, and
25:38
Speaker 2: you'll give my daughter and you'll get her classmates. So
25:40
Speaker 2: I think it's how do we amplify those times. I
25:43
Speaker 2: love that.
25:44
Speaker 1: Yeah, I love that, and it's such a good point.
25:46
Speaker 1: It's funny that you say that because my husband, Doug.
25:48
Speaker 1: Anybody who's met Doug before, we all love Dougie Fresh.
25:51
Speaker 1: But he has said that same thing, And I do
25:54
Speaker 1: think it's a shift of he had treatment in the
25:57
Speaker 1: past and he's always bugging me, which I should do
25:59
Speaker 1: something about it, or he should do something about it,
26:01
Speaker 1: but you know, he's like I think I'm ready to
26:04
Speaker 1: Like he was met where he was at for what
26:06
Speaker 1: he wanted at the time, but now he's in a
26:09
Speaker 1: different place and he wants something different. And you're so right,
26:13
Speaker 1: And I'm really glad that you said that, because I
26:16
Speaker 1: do think that it is this shift where I think
26:19
Speaker 1: we're past that you fix it and forget about it,
26:22
Speaker 1: and then we blame the patient if their teeth moved. Now,
26:25
Speaker 1: I think people really do understand that there's nothing you're
26:29
Speaker 1: going to do in life that unless you keep up
26:32
Speaker 1: with it. You know, like I can go on the
26:33
Speaker 1: best diet in the world in the minute I'm back
26:35
Speaker 1: on a couple of cocktails on the weekend and not
26:38
Speaker 1: working out the way I should. My body's going to change,
26:40
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. And you know, and why
26:43
Speaker 1: wouldn't we think that anything else, you know.
26:45
Speaker 2: Is okay? Yes, exactly, Like it's like normalizing that. It's
26:50
Speaker 2: like it's okay, yeah, And when you come back on
26:53
Speaker 2: here for you, it's no saying yep, welcome back home.
26:56
Speaker 1: And that's it. Like I think that's the change too,
26:59
Speaker 1: and that you just said that, because I do think
27:01
Speaker 1: that they're I think that's why a lot of patients,
27:04
Speaker 1: because they felt shamed by our doctors that oh, well,
27:09
Speaker 1: you didn't wear your retainers. So instead of bip, so
27:12
Speaker 1: let's just meet you where you're at. Let's let's take
27:14
Speaker 1: care of where we're at. And to your point, normalizing
27:17
Speaker 1: it is, I think going to be also part of
27:21
Speaker 1: our future treatments is no big deal. We'll just take
27:24
Speaker 1: it and run with it, you know. And now a
27:28
Speaker 1: word from the sponsors who make this podcast possible. Hey, docs,
27:34
Speaker 1: if your new patient follow up depends on someone remembering
27:38
Speaker 1: its leaking revenue, Grayfinch automates new patient follow up texts
27:43
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27:47
Speaker 1: checks their tasks list to see what needs a quick
27:50
Speaker 1: call or a more personalized message. That is one of
27:54
Speaker 1: the many reasons I recommend everyone take a look at Grayfinch.
27:58
Speaker 1: It isn't just a follow up tool. It's a complete
28:01
Speaker 1: practice management software built to help you grow and scale,
28:05
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28:08
Speaker 1: See with the Jill allenspecial at Grayfinch dot com forward
28:13
Speaker 1: slash Jill Allen. So let's talk a little bit about
28:23
Speaker 1: I can tell you the data that I see with
28:25
Speaker 1: my doctors that are doing startups and practices that are
28:30
Speaker 1: definitely more aligner focused right from the beginning, and I
28:34
Speaker 1: kind of alluded to some of the things you know
28:36
Speaker 1: just in I think there's never a better time. But
28:39
Speaker 1: I'm wondering if you can talk a little bit from
28:42
Speaker 1: your end about what you guys are seeing when we
28:46
Speaker 1: have doctors that are leaning into more of an aligner practice,
28:51
Speaker 1: what that does from a profitability standpoint. Some of those
28:55
Speaker 1: different things that you guys are seeing from your data.
28:58
Speaker 2: Not a selpful. So I think what I often say
29:01
Speaker 2: is meeting people where there are means you have to
29:03
Speaker 2: address the elephant in the room. And a lot of
29:05
Speaker 2: new practice owners are wondering, like, cannot be profitable and
29:08
Speaker 2: have an aligner of focused practice. And I think the
29:10
Speaker 2: word that you'll hear me say many times throughout the
29:13
Speaker 2: conversation today's intention yes, because here's the encouraging thing when
29:19
Speaker 2: I look at the new practice owners that I've met
29:22
Speaker 2: who have decided that they want it to be more
29:25
Speaker 2: align or focused. The difference is that I always say,
29:28
Speaker 2: for any business, you have to have a vision, you
29:31
Speaker 2: have to have a strategy, and you have to have
29:33
Speaker 2: a story. And part of the reason you alluded to
29:35
Speaker 2: it earlier is that it's difficult for many who've been
29:39
Speaker 2: in practice for twenty to twenty five years to integrate
29:42
Speaker 2: digital is because it in their mind, it creates so
29:45
Speaker 2: much disruption, and what they're trying to figure out is
29:49
Speaker 2: the disruption worth it based upon the outcome? Well, I'm
29:52
Speaker 2: finding is that if for those who are starting out
29:55
Speaker 2: without that baggage, who have the vision about how they're
29:58
Speaker 2: going to build their practice because everything is interconnected, as
30:02
Speaker 2: you are more aligner focused, that means that if it's
30:04
Speaker 2: run well, it should be more efficient. That means maybe
30:07
Speaker 2: there won't be as need for as mini staff. Yes, right,
30:11
Speaker 2: maybe there won't be as much of a need to
30:13
Speaker 2: work as many days. Right, So if you're working to
30:18
Speaker 2: optimize the entire operation. Really it's different that there's two models.
30:23
Speaker 2: There's one models like, yes, we offer a liners as
30:26
Speaker 2: an alternative. The other model is, you know, we built
30:30
Speaker 2: a model around owners. We encourage the utilization. Of course,
30:35
Speaker 2: we welcome your business. If we want you to start,
30:37
Speaker 2: we can help you. But we believe in it, we
30:40
Speaker 2: understand how to get the efficiency from it, and therefore
30:44
Speaker 2: we already kind of have the thought about how we're
30:46
Speaker 2: going to be profitable. And that question was one that
30:49
Speaker 2: I recognized last year. That's a big reason why at
30:52
Speaker 2: a number of our courses we've included so much more
30:55
Speaker 2: content on how can you be profitable and have what
30:59
Speaker 2: we call high share share practice when it comes to
31:02
Speaker 2: in this line, because it's the intentionality, it's the recognition that, oh, well,
31:08
Speaker 2: maybe I don't need to replace that one person that left.
31:12
Speaker 2: Maybe there's an opportunity to look at our work streams
31:16
Speaker 2: and transform our processes so that we can do it
31:18
Speaker 2: more efficiently. Yep. And I find that those who are
31:21
Speaker 2: doing that really well. One person that comes to mind,
31:24
Speaker 2: one of my favorite people with favorite orthodontis is doctor
31:28
Speaker 2: Rebecca Anderson out of South Carolina, and she wants a
31:33
Speaker 2: brand new startup. And the first thing that she noticed
31:36
Speaker 2: was the kids aren't old enough yet, right, So there
31:41
Speaker 2: were a lot of young family, like there were a
31:42
Speaker 2: lot of young families that had moved to the area,
31:45
Speaker 2: but the kids were still three and four and five.
31:48
Speaker 2: And so what she recognized was, hmm, as I try
31:51
Speaker 2: to carve out my niche in this area as a
31:55
Speaker 2: new practice owner, you kind of have to treat a
31:56
Speaker 2: lot of the cases that other people don't want to.
31:59
Speaker 2: And she always will tell you is that she became
32:02
Speaker 2: really good at treating challenging cases within vis line. And
32:07
Speaker 2: then word starts to spread amongst those communities, amongst this
32:12
Speaker 2: friend tells this friend, and that tells that friend. They'll
32:15
Speaker 2: be like, well, this person told me no, but doctor
32:17
Speaker 2: Anderson said yes. So that's the other part of the
32:20
Speaker 2: equation is that the biggest thing that I've come to
32:24
Speaker 2: really respect about orthodontis is this endless pursuit of education
32:28
Speaker 2: to get better. I love how they want to be
32:30
Speaker 2: the best at what they do in the world. And
32:34
Speaker 2: when I look at the educators at our courses, whether
32:37
Speaker 2: it's doctor Anderson, whether it's doctor mas Machery, they all
32:41
Speaker 2: have one thing in common. I've never heard any of
32:45
Speaker 2: them call themselves experts. They'll say, hey, I've learned quite
32:48
Speaker 2: a few things. I have some things that we can share.
32:52
Speaker 2: But you know what they're doing when they're not lecturing,
32:54
Speaker 2: they're taking notes, listening to their colleagues, and you see,
32:58
Speaker 2: you're like, wow, it seems like you have a ride,
33:00
Speaker 2: but you're still trying to get that one extra clinical pearl,
33:03
Speaker 2: that one extra nugget that's going to help you save
33:07
Speaker 2: more time, that's going to help you expand your case
33:10
Speaker 2: selections as types that you're more comfortable that maybe you
33:12
Speaker 2: didn't think you could treat predictably. So it's a long
33:15
Speaker 2: winded way of saying that. I think the other part
33:17
Speaker 2: that equation, in addition to optimization, is what is the
33:20
Speaker 2: plan and the commitment to continue to strengthen your expertise
33:26
Speaker 2: within visiline in the liners because it's a journey, right
33:29
Speaker 2: And I think that is the biggest thing I learned
33:31
Speaker 2: is that it doesn't stand still. And those folks who
33:35
Speaker 2: are happy and doing well. I see them at the
33:38
Speaker 2: most ee events. I see them at the study clubs,
33:42
Speaker 2: I see them at the community building events because they
33:46
Speaker 2: recognize there's so much to learn from each other that
33:49
Speaker 2: ultimately they can funnel back to their practice. So I
33:51
Speaker 2: think that would be my summary. I think for those
33:53
Speaker 2: new practice owners who are doing well, that's that they
33:55
Speaker 2: have a vision in a like why am I going
33:58
Speaker 2: to be a liner focused? And my strategy is how
34:00
Speaker 2: I'm going to do it? How is that connected to
34:02
Speaker 2: my operational workflows? How is that connected to the case
34:06
Speaker 2: types that I'm treating? And I think the last pilar
34:08
Speaker 2: I would say is recognizing that you can't do it alone.
34:11
Speaker 2: So one of the things you heard me talk about
34:13
Speaker 2: earlier was this concept of community. So one of the
34:16
Speaker 2: things that we're always very intentional about is that when
34:19
Speaker 2: we're working with our new practice owners, will say, well,
34:21
Speaker 2: tell me what you're comfortable with now, and then share
34:24
Speaker 2: more about where would you like to be, what are
34:25
Speaker 2: those case types you would like to do more of,
34:27
Speaker 2: and maybe you need a little bit more support, And
34:30
Speaker 2: that way I can get them connected with our mentorship program,
34:33
Speaker 2: where we connecting with someone who's been treating those case
34:35
Speaker 2: types of over fifteen twenty years, and maybe after you
34:38
Speaker 2: talk about treating open bye and deep bi, you'll just say, hey,
34:41
Speaker 2: now tell me about how you run your practice. How
34:44
Speaker 2: are you doing it? And those conversations happen so organically.
34:48
Speaker 2: So I think that's the third pillar, is recognizing that
34:51
Speaker 2: there's just so much to learn from so many people,
34:54
Speaker 2: and they're always so willing to share. So I find
34:56
Speaker 2: that that's the biggest thing that you and I both
34:59
Speaker 2: know entrepreneur can feel very lonely.
35:01
Speaker 1: Oh gosh, but it doesn't have to be right.
35:04
Speaker 2: You know, that becomes part of our strategy and part
35:07
Speaker 2: of our choice in terms of how we choose to
35:08
Speaker 2: build our practice and deal our network around us.
35:11
Speaker 1: Yeah. No, you're so right on that. And I think
35:14
Speaker 1: to speak to that last point. And then I got
35:16
Speaker 1: one more thing I wanted to say is that I think,
35:19
Speaker 1: especially what I see with younger docs, so I think
35:22
Speaker 1: it's getting definitely better. I see so much crowdsourcing and
35:25
Speaker 1: people leaning on each other. But there is this point
35:28
Speaker 1: where you have risen to this level for a reason,
35:32
Speaker 1: and it does make you feel very vulnerable if you say,
35:38
Speaker 1: I don't know, I'm not sure, and I think with
35:42
Speaker 1: your courses that you guys provide, it's a very neutral
35:46
Speaker 1: environment where everybody's coming in and it isn't like, well,
35:50
Speaker 1: what do you mean you don't know how to treat
35:52
Speaker 1: a deep bite with? You know, because I think that
35:55
Speaker 1: you know, every doctor that's in our profession was top
35:58
Speaker 1: of their class. You know, they had to get there
36:00
Speaker 1: to be an orth and honest, and so I think
36:03
Speaker 1: it can be very freeing. And so I would encourage
36:05
Speaker 1: anybody who's listening, like to be a little bit vulnerable
36:09
Speaker 1: and get into some of these groups if you aren't already,
36:12
Speaker 1: and really take the time to learn, because in the
36:15
Speaker 1: long run, it for sure is going to help you
36:17
Speaker 1: definitely will not hurt you.
36:20
Speaker 2: You know what, It definitely won't hurt you. And I
36:21
Speaker 2: think that's one of my other gear friends, my favorite people.
36:23
Speaker 2: A doctor Regina Blapins. When she gives her lectures, she
36:26
Speaker 2: often says that a quotation that she found was because
36:29
Speaker 2: we've always done it this way, are some of the
36:32
Speaker 2: most expensive words in the human vocabulary. Oh goodness, Yes,
36:36
Speaker 2: That's the coolest thing that I see when I go
36:38
Speaker 2: to our courses is when I hear our educators say
36:42
Speaker 2: you know what, five years ago, I would have done
36:44
Speaker 2: it this way, but now with the introduction of this
36:49
Speaker 2: or the opportunity to do that, I'm doing it so
36:51
Speaker 2: much differently, building on the same principles but taken advantage
36:55
Speaker 2: of the efficiency. And I think that's the exciting things,
36:58
Speaker 2: just to see like this constant evolution. It has nothing
37:02
Speaker 2: to do with age. Yeah, it's all about mindset. In fact,
37:05
Speaker 2: I remember at our API course in Houston where there
37:08
Speaker 2: was a sixty five year old who said, I think
37:10
Speaker 2: you just added ten years to my career, and I
37:13
Speaker 2: was like, well, let's do it. Let's go. Yes, you know,
37:16
Speaker 2: hopefully it's another fifteen years, you know. But that is
37:19
Speaker 2: the exciting thing about digital is that it's not going
37:23
Speaker 2: to be as labor intensive. Your mind is still sharp
37:25
Speaker 2: as attack, you're just using it in different ways, and
37:28
Speaker 2: I think that's really exciting.
37:29
Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely, absolutely. So let's talk a little bit about
37:33
Speaker 1: digital workflows and how you guys are helping to transform.
37:38
Speaker 1: And I know that that phrase digital workflow can be
37:42
Speaker 1: used in so many different things, but let's talk about
37:45
Speaker 1: it directly related to Visiligne and just what you're seeing,
37:50
Speaker 1: how you guys feel that you're really able to help
37:53
Speaker 1: with efficiency and team empowerment and patient experience. You know,
37:56
Speaker 1: some of those tools that you're able to help office web.
38:01
Speaker 2: So let's break that down. So let's break it down
38:03
Speaker 2: into non corporate language, into like real human being language.
38:06
Speaker 2: So let's talk about the new patient console. Earlier, we
38:09
Speaker 2: were talking about how much our patients and our consumers
38:12
Speaker 2: have this Amazon mindset where they're shopping around and they're
38:17
Speaker 2: waiting for this. It's this combination of the right value
38:20
Speaker 2: in the right moment, in the right feeling. And so
38:23
Speaker 2: when we think about some of our tools, like introducing
38:26
Speaker 2: our outcome Simulator pro where people can see it in
38:30
Speaker 2: face visualization of their own smile, one of the things
38:34
Speaker 2: that is really interesting to me. The reason I shared
38:37
Speaker 2: that background is to show that work at a lot
38:39
Speaker 2: of different businesses and every profession, visualizations matter. And as
38:46
Speaker 2: much as buying decisions are intellectual, they are very much
38:50
Speaker 2: emotional because if they were all if buying a car
38:53
Speaker 2: is an intellectual decision, we would all buy the most
38:56
Speaker 2: fuel efficient vehicle possible. We would all be driving Honda
39:00
Speaker 2: Cords and Toyota Camrays, you know, and I don't you know,
39:04
Speaker 2: I did, But we buy based upon what we won
39:07
Speaker 2: in that moment in our life, because it feels like
39:11
Speaker 2: this is something maybe that I've earned that I want
39:14
Speaker 2: to do this for myself. So I think with these
39:16
Speaker 2: visualization tools, that's the beauty is that, yes, our teens
39:22
Speaker 2: and our doctors are incredibly well educated and telling the story.
39:25
Speaker 2: But I'll tell you this, before I even knew I
39:29
Speaker 2: was ever going to work for in Visila, the first
39:32
Speaker 2: time I saw an iterial scanner was as a patient
39:34
Speaker 2: and I was just getting my teeth clean and she
39:38
Speaker 2: just asked me, what have you ever thought about in
39:39
Speaker 2: Viscilon And I said, no, my orthodoxy. You know, my
39:42
Speaker 2: doctor said that it's not, you know, a medical necessity.
39:45
Speaker 2: She was like, would you just want to see a scan?
39:47
Speaker 2: He said sure, And it was the first time I
39:50
Speaker 2: had seen myself in full color.
39:53
Speaker 1: Yeah.
39:53
Speaker 2: I never understood what any of those black and white
39:56
Speaker 2: X rays ever met. I would just say, okay, doc,
39:58
Speaker 2: and you say so, you know, sounds great, But it
40:01
Speaker 2: was the first time I could see it. And I
40:02
Speaker 2: remember I had said, I said, well, hey, I don't
40:04
Speaker 2: know what any of this means, but can you create
40:07
Speaker 2: that final outcome? Because if you can, that would be
40:10
Speaker 2: I would very much be interested in that, right, And
40:13
Speaker 2: I ended up getting my work done by an orthodontist.
40:16
Speaker 2: But that was the moment the team did not have
40:19
Speaker 2: to say much of anything. They just have to show me,
40:23
Speaker 2: show me the possibilities. And that was before in face visualization.
40:27
Speaker 2: That was before showing me the smile video where I
40:31
Speaker 2: can see myself laughing and talking and imagining what that's
40:35
Speaker 2: going to feel like at the family reunion or hanging
40:37
Speaker 2: out with my friends. Those are the moments that get
40:41
Speaker 2: us one step closer to saying, you know what I'm
40:43
Speaker 2: going to start today, right? And I think that's what
40:46
Speaker 2: we're really trying to do, is to create those micro
40:49
Speaker 2: moments using those visualization tools. So that's one example when
40:54
Speaker 2: I think about our virtual tools like virtual care. We
40:58
Speaker 2: talked about how adults can be difficult sometimes, but so
41:02
Speaker 2: much of it is is we do have to because
41:04
Speaker 2: we trust our doctors, our orthodontists can set the tone
41:08
Speaker 2: in terms of what this journey looks like in terms
41:11
Speaker 2: of compliance to get the results we're looking for. So
41:14
Speaker 2: what I see with so many of our educators is
41:17
Speaker 2: that virtual care isn't like this optional thing. They don't
41:20
Speaker 2: even give the patient option. This is what we do.
41:22
Speaker 2: You're going to send me your photos every week, We're
41:25
Speaker 2: going to take a look at them. You're going to
41:27
Speaker 2: see instantly about if they're fitting well, and then if
41:30
Speaker 2: we see any issues, and someone from my team will
41:32
Speaker 2: communicate with you. So it normalizes this post office connection
41:37
Speaker 2: that never has to end, but they don't have to
41:39
Speaker 2: come into your office. Because that's one of the things
41:43
Speaker 2: that I often think about is he talked about what's
41:45
Speaker 2: different now compared to previous generations. I know many orthodonic
41:50
Speaker 2: offices used to be really busy in a lot of appointments,
41:53
Speaker 2: but all those appointments weren't necessarily new patients, yep, with
41:57
Speaker 2: people like my wife that had her racket rogue and
42:00
Speaker 2: she would come in and they would need to fix it.
42:02
Speaker 2: And now this generation is thinking about, well, hey, I
42:05
Speaker 2: want to spend time with my family. I want to
42:07
Speaker 2: spend time with my kids. I want to go on
42:10
Speaker 2: my girls trip, I want to go out with my
42:13
Speaker 2: guys on our camping trip, and I don't want to
42:15
Speaker 2: have to be stressed about it, you know. I think
42:17
Speaker 2: that's what these tools like virtual care allow us to do,
42:20
Speaker 2: is to still have connectivity but also empower others within
42:25
Speaker 2: our practice to do that, you know. And you know,
42:28
Speaker 2: another one that I think is always really cool is
42:31
Speaker 2: particularly as it relates to adult treatment. So when you're
42:34
Speaker 2: thinking about some of those restorations that need to happen
42:37
Speaker 2: like crowns, being able to show the patient using a
42:42
Speaker 2: tool like small architect, like hey, this is what the
42:45
Speaker 2: orthodonic treatment is going to do. In terms of creating
42:47
Speaker 2: space before we do that, and then being able to
42:50
Speaker 2: see an example of what the final outcome can be.
42:53
Speaker 2: It's so powerful, and you know when it also does
42:56
Speaker 2: it builds a relationship with the other dental specialists in
43:01
Speaker 2: your community that you're partnering with, so they can see, oh,
43:04
Speaker 2: we're helping each other, like we are helping each other
43:06
Speaker 2: identify and treat patients and creating them as outcomes. And
43:10
Speaker 2: I think those are some of the new possibilities that
43:12
Speaker 2: are so different now that we're just working to try
43:15
Speaker 2: to make sure we get people that write affirmation about
43:17
Speaker 2: how they can take advantage of it.
43:19
Speaker 1: Yeah. I love that, just thinking about the different ways
43:22
Speaker 1: that we can again meet patients where they're at. I mean,
43:26
Speaker 1: I think time is the most sought after commodity and
43:29
Speaker 1: it is so true. The way we used to think about, like, oh,
43:33
Speaker 1: a patient needs to be in our office in order
43:35
Speaker 1: for us to show value is so different. Now. I
43:39
Speaker 1: think and again that maybe if you're treating one of
43:43
Speaker 1: our boomer generations, that may be something where there is
43:47
Speaker 1: still a lot of value too. I need to be
43:49
Speaker 1: in front of the doctor where if you're treating a
43:52
Speaker 1: gen X or a millennial, they're you know, out there,
43:56
Speaker 1: it might be okay.
43:58
Speaker 2: You know, like my wife very much likes going to
44:02
Speaker 2: the orthodonis's office me because I take my daughter to
44:07
Speaker 2: dance recitals and summer camps and all these other activities.
44:13
Speaker 2: I would much rather not drive an hour to get
44:16
Speaker 2: to your office in an hour home, I would much
44:18
Speaker 2: rather take those two hours and do something where I
44:20
Speaker 2: can invest in my family or myself, you know, so
44:23
Speaker 2: that when I do come to the office, it could
44:25
Speaker 2: be even more meaningful. And so I think that's a
44:28
Speaker 2: big opportunity. That's one of the things that I had
44:31
Speaker 2: noted that I want to talk about today is I
44:33
Speaker 2: think that for orthodontists and their team to become even
44:38
Speaker 2: more obsessed about truly understanding each of these different generations,
44:43
Speaker 2: Like we call a customer obsession in the corporate world,
44:47
Speaker 2: because we know you're obsessed clinically with creating the best treatment.
44:50
Speaker 2: That's where it begins and ends. But there's a huge
44:53
Speaker 2: opportunity to really unpack those layers in terms of what
44:57
Speaker 2: are those trigger points, what are the those things that
45:00
Speaker 2: people care about that really will help them feel like
45:04
Speaker 2: you know what it was when you said this in
45:06
Speaker 2: this moment that made me know this is where I
45:08
Speaker 2: needed to bring my family. And I think that's the
45:11
Speaker 2: other opportunity in this moment. If we can invest more
45:15
Speaker 2: like next generation communication skills that is truly customized for
45:20
Speaker 2: each audience, I think that's truly going to help set
45:23
Speaker 2: the new practice owners and the successful ones of this
45:25
Speaker 2: next generation apart from others.
45:27
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I totally agree. Well, I know, Malcolm, you
45:30
Speaker 1: and I could just talk and talk as.
45:32
Speaker 2: To go and keep going.
45:36
Speaker 1: Well, we'll definitely have to do another episode a little
45:38
Speaker 1: later in the year for sure. As we kind of
45:40
Speaker 1: finish up here, I want you to talk a little
45:43
Speaker 1: bit about the Orthodonic New Practice program that you guys have,
45:48
Speaker 1: because I'm sure we've got a lot of listeners that
45:50
Speaker 1: are like this has been great. I know in VISI line.
45:53
Speaker 1: I'm sure they've picked up a ton of pearls in
45:56
Speaker 1: what they've been hearing here, and so I'm wondering if
45:58
Speaker 1: you can just dive into that, because that is one
46:00
Speaker 1: of the things that I really appreciate about in vis
46:03
Speaker 1: Aline is that you do have some very specific programs
46:07
Speaker 1: geared towards startup doctors and practices, and for me, as
46:12
Speaker 1: a consultant that focuses on young doctors, I can tell
46:17
Speaker 1: you there are not a lot of companies out there
46:20
Speaker 1: that really see the value in educating and helping new
46:24
Speaker 1: doctors get their practices off of the ground and going.
46:27
Speaker 1: So I'm wondering if you can talk a little bit
46:29
Speaker 1: about that as we wrap up here.
46:31
Speaker 2: I love to It's a passion project of mind. So
46:35
Speaker 2: last year we did a lot of listening because we
46:37
Speaker 2: recognize that things were changing for new practice owners, and
46:40
Speaker 2: we just talked to hundreds of them at our courses,
46:43
Speaker 2: say what do you need in this moment? And it
46:46
Speaker 2: really sent it around a couple of different pillars. Number
46:49
Speaker 2: one was when things feel a little bit unpredictable, you're
46:53
Speaker 2: trying to create some type of certainty, and so one
46:57
Speaker 2: area was around costs, Vislin Nainito. And so the first
47:02
Speaker 2: thing we have to address was let's come up with
47:03
Speaker 2: some really creative promotions that meet these doctors where they are.
47:09
Speaker 2: And for those of you who are interested in learning more,
47:11
Speaker 2: please reach out to us, and we're going to be
47:13
Speaker 2: excited to share them with you. We think that we
47:15
Speaker 2: have hopefully effectively removed or at least lesson those concerns
47:20
Speaker 2: of the barrier. But the second thing they said is,
47:22
Speaker 2: even once we get beyond cost, there's so much that
47:25
Speaker 2: I need to learn. Maybe I'm the first person in
47:29
Speaker 2: my family to open up a business, or I'm the
47:31
Speaker 2: first orthodontis in my family, there is no blueprint for me.
47:35
Speaker 2: So literally, the only requirement to participate in this program
47:39
Speaker 2: is to come to one of our flagship two day
47:41
Speaker 2: educational courses this year. That's either our API course or
47:45
Speaker 2: our ORTHO Summit. And the reason is is that infused
47:50
Speaker 2: in these courses is we actually have a one day
47:52
Speaker 2: track specifically for practice owners where we talk about how
47:56
Speaker 2: to be profitable. We have four different sessions about practice
47:59
Speaker 2: market and how to get more patients into your practice
48:03
Speaker 2: across different generations. We bring in expert speakers who are
48:08
Speaker 2: former team leaders in practices to talk about how do
48:11
Speaker 2: you build the culture, how do you create the right
48:15
Speaker 2: talking tracks, how do you build these systems that ultimately
48:19
Speaker 2: give you the best opportunity to build it the infrastructure
48:23
Speaker 2: the right way that you can build on and grow from.
48:25
Speaker 2: And then the last thing is what we often say
48:27
Speaker 2: is most of the magic happens off the stage, So
48:30
Speaker 2: how do we intentionally connect you with some of it?
48:33
Speaker 2: And that's been the best part deal about API. Used
48:36
Speaker 2: to be for early career orthodontis one to ten years,
48:39
Speaker 2: and now that it's open to everybody, you can talk
48:41
Speaker 2: with someone who's been in practice twenty thirty years and
48:43
Speaker 2: they can not only tell you all the things that
48:45
Speaker 2: they've done, but they can tell you all the things
48:46
Speaker 2: that they wish they had done differently. And that's, you know,
48:50
Speaker 2: and that's really powerful. In addition to that, they say, Okay,
48:53
Speaker 2: that's great, we have education. What about my team? Right,
48:57
Speaker 2: So we provide a complimentary team training resources, both in
49:02
Speaker 2: person and virtual. So imagine being able to send your
49:06
Speaker 2: treatment coordinator and your records tech and your financial coordinator
49:10
Speaker 2: to a on site in person course. Imagine being able
49:14
Speaker 2: to get in practice training about not only telling you
49:18
Speaker 2: to use our tools, but actually showing you how you
49:21
Speaker 2: can integrate that within your console. Not do it the
49:23
Speaker 2: way that we say to do it, but we can
49:25
Speaker 2: listen and say, well, show me how you do it,
49:28
Speaker 2: and then we can identify the opportunities to weave this
49:30
Speaker 2: in for you. And the other piece they asked for
49:33
Speaker 2: was what about direct marketing support? So not only will
49:36
Speaker 2: you get that at the course through our courses, but
49:38
Speaker 2: we actually have a team called our Field Practice Marketing team,
49:42
Speaker 2: which are actually people who've helped practices grow by helping
49:45
Speaker 2: them co design marketing strategies for the last ten to
49:48
Speaker 2: fifteen years and so they have a deep understanding of
49:52
Speaker 2: Orthodonic practices in their surrounding market across multiple channels, be
49:57
Speaker 2: it social media, be it community marketing, all those things
50:00
Speaker 2: and imagine having a trusted advisor that you have access
50:04
Speaker 2: to complimentary. So what we try to say is we
50:08
Speaker 2: want to make sure that we create a program that
50:11
Speaker 2: provides comprehensive support. How do we anticipate every pain point
50:15
Speaker 2: that every entrepreneur, that every orth on new practice owner
50:18
Speaker 2: is going to face and make you feel like you
50:20
Speaker 2: don't have to deal with that alone. So how we
50:23
Speaker 2: can be there for you every step of the way
50:25
Speaker 2: clinically if you want it to expand your case types
50:29
Speaker 2: and you'll say, hey, I feel like this has maybe
50:31
Speaker 2: taking me a few more additional refinements to what I
50:33
Speaker 2: would like. We have the ability to send a clinical
50:37
Speaker 2: team into your practice or talk to you virtually, so
50:40
Speaker 2: I think that's the way we want to show up.
50:42
Speaker 2: We just want to show that we are committed to
50:45
Speaker 2: be a part of that journey with you, so we
50:47
Speaker 2: can say we were there with you when you first started,
50:50
Speaker 2: in addition to being there with you along all those
50:52
Speaker 2: key milestones where you're celebrating and hopefully we're celebrating together
50:55
Speaker 2: along the way.
50:56
Speaker 1: Yeah, I love that, And again, I just really appreciate
50:59
Speaker 1: that you guys have taken the time to put a
51:01
Speaker 1: program like that in place, because it is valuable beyond measure,
51:05
Speaker 1: I think for younger practice owners, especially our startups that
51:09
Speaker 1: are getting in and saying I'm embracing digital right from
51:13
Speaker 1: the beginning. I mean, I say, like, surround yourself with
51:16
Speaker 1: people that are smarter than you, people that have done
51:18
Speaker 1: it before, because you just learn so much from that,
51:23
Speaker 1: and I think it just in turn makes a doctor
51:26
Speaker 1: so much more profitable in the long run, and they're
51:28
Speaker 1: practice more successful when you can learn by other people's mistakes.
51:33
Speaker 2: Even that's certain, and I'm always blown away by how
51:37
Speaker 2: the people that you've seen speak on all these stages,
51:40
Speaker 2: how generous they are with their time because they're at
51:42
Speaker 2: a point in their career where they want to know
51:45
Speaker 2: that they're giving back to the industry that's given them
51:48
Speaker 2: so much. That's the part that warms my heart is like,
51:51
Speaker 2: how can we facilitate those connections and seeing them take
51:54
Speaker 2: that on one so willingly, it's really exciting.
51:56
Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely, Well, if somebody wants to learn more about
52:01
Speaker 1: in Visiligne your resources out there, especially for new practice owners.
52:06
Speaker 1: But I have a lot of docs that are listening
52:07
Speaker 1: that are established and are like, yes, maybe you know,
52:11
Speaker 1: maybe this is the year that I want to add
52:13
Speaker 1: ten more years to the end of my practice life.
52:16
Speaker 1: What's the best way they can connect with you or
52:18
Speaker 1: they can connect with the Visiligne.
52:20
Speaker 2: Absolutely, you can reach out to me directly at m
52:24
Speaker 2: Riley R I. L. E. Y at a linetech dot com.
52:29
Speaker 2: And you can also reach out to our team at
52:32
Speaker 2: INA Continuing Education at a line tech dot com. Either
52:37
Speaker 2: platform will work We'll get back to you as soon
52:39
Speaker 2: as possible, and we would love to hear from you.
52:42
Speaker 1: Yeah, and now a word from the sponsors who make
52:46
Speaker 1: this podcast possible. Hey, docs, let's talk about smile Sweet
52:52
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52:55
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52:59
Speaker 1: a proud smile Sweet partner, I've witnessed the incredible impact
53:02
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53:35
Speaker 1: every smile deserves a suite of excellence. Malcolm, this has
53:40
Speaker 1: been just so much fun having this conversation way too
53:44
Speaker 1: long in coming, so I'm glad that we finally carved
53:46
Speaker 1: out some time to get this going. So the way
53:49
Speaker 1: I like to finish up, haydox, I think you know
53:51
Speaker 1: this is to finish us up with a little speed round.
53:54
Speaker 1: Are you ready to take it to the end?
53:56
Speaker 2: Here listen, I'm gonna try to do you proud. So
54:00
Speaker 2: let's go.
54:01
Speaker 1: All right, here we go. What is one business trend
54:04
Speaker 1: do you think more people should be paying attention to
54:07
Speaker 1: right now?
54:08
Speaker 2: I think we should be paying attention to the fact
54:10
Speaker 2: that people are having fewer children, but the reality that
54:14
Speaker 2: we have more adults than ever before who are willing
54:18
Speaker 2: to consider treatment. And what does that mean for your practice?
54:22
Speaker 2: Because it's not enough to just say I will treat you.
54:24
Speaker 2: We have to talk to them different we have to
54:27
Speaker 2: offer different hours, we have to offer different possibilities, and
54:31
Speaker 2: so what type of conversations are we having to prepare
54:34
Speaker 2: for those moments because they're going to be coming too
54:35
Speaker 2: your practice?
54:36
Speaker 1: So yeah, I love it, I love it? All right?
54:38
Speaker 1: How about this one? What is the most unexpected lesson
54:42
Speaker 1: you've learned in your career?
54:44
Speaker 2: You know, I wouldn't say it's the most unexpected, but
54:47
Speaker 2: I would say it's the most profound that I keep
54:49
Speaker 2: with me. And it's one simple phrase. To get what
54:52
Speaker 2: you want, you have to give what they need.
54:55
Speaker 1: Ooh, that is a good one. I'm going to take
54:58
Speaker 1: that and put that somewhere. That's a great one.
55:00
Speaker 2: You know. I think about that all the time, and
55:03
Speaker 2: I think about it all the time in terms of
55:05
Speaker 2: how do I get my own coworkers and my colleagues
55:08
Speaker 2: to believe in new initiatives that I'm leading, I have
55:11
Speaker 2: to first truly understand what are their pain points. And
55:13
Speaker 2: it's the same with our patients. Like I like to
55:16
Speaker 2: think the reason we've been able to make an impact
55:18
Speaker 2: with Orthodontis with our work is because the first thing
55:21
Speaker 2: I said is I want to know everything about them.
55:23
Speaker 2: But you're listening, I want to know everything about you.
55:25
Speaker 2: I want to know where you went to school. I
55:26
Speaker 2: want to know what your hopes are, what your dreams are,
55:29
Speaker 2: what your fears are, what your challenges are. Because only
55:32
Speaker 2: then and I begin to understand what questions to ask
55:36
Speaker 2: and what type of conversation we might need to take
55:38
Speaker 2: place to develop that trust, to get us one step
55:41
Speaker 2: further from working together.
55:43
Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely all right, and one to finish us up.
55:46
Speaker 1: Kind of a fun one here. If you had unlimited resources,
55:50
Speaker 1: you could just do whatever whatever you wanted. What is
55:53
Speaker 1: one idea you would bring to life.
55:55
Speaker 2: Well, I would say that the most profound speriences that
56:00
Speaker 2: I've had have been when I've been able to do
56:03
Speaker 2: work overseas in a variety of different countries, whether it's Africa,
56:08
Speaker 2: whether it's South America, And what I would say is
56:11
Speaker 2: is that it's difficult to work with people in different cultures,
56:15
Speaker 2: in different communities and look at your life in yourself
56:18
Speaker 2: the same way. Yeah, for so many different reasons. And
56:22
Speaker 2: so one of the things that I would love to
56:24
Speaker 2: be able to do if I was to be able
56:25
Speaker 2: to retire and focus on it is I wish everybody,
56:28
Speaker 2: regardless of where they come from, regardless of what their
56:31
Speaker 2: economic situation is, I would love for them to have
56:34
Speaker 2: some type of study abroad, cultural immersion activity in a
56:38
Speaker 2: culture that is just significantly different and far away from them,
56:42
Speaker 2: and just see how much we have in common. It
56:46
Speaker 2: makes the world feel so much smaller, and I think
56:48
Speaker 2: it helps us come closer together as a community. So
56:50
Speaker 2: that would be my dream if I was able to
56:52
Speaker 2: do that.
56:53
Speaker 1: Yeah, Oh, I love that. I love that. I want
56:55
Speaker 1: to be a part of that. If you ever get
56:56
Speaker 1: to focus just on that.
56:57
Speaker 2: Yeah, maybe anything as possible, anything anything is possible.
57:03
Speaker 1: Well again, Malcolm, this has been such a pleasure having
57:06
Speaker 1: this really great conversation with you, and thank you again
57:09
Speaker 1: for being here on Haydocks and I look forward to
57:11
Speaker 1: our next conversation. Thank you.
57:13
Speaker 2: I can't wait for wishing nothing but the best to you.
57:15
Speaker 1: Yep, all right, see yeah bye bye. Are you ready
57:19
Speaker 1: to start a practice of your own, need a new
57:22
Speaker 1: fresh set of eyes or some advice on your existing practice?
57:26
Speaker 1: If so, reach out to me Jill Allen at www
57:30
Speaker 1: dot practice results dot com. If you like what we're
57:33
Speaker 1: doing here on Haydocks and want to hear more of
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