Latest / My Dental Playbook / 055 Your Associate Isn't the Problem - Part 3

Transcript

055 Your Associate Isn't the Problem - Part 3 · My Dental Playbook

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: And the doctor said, I make 2.1 to 2.5 million.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_01: I have two hygienists, but I'm not at my full potential to bring on an associate yet.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_01: Look, Doc, I know you can do more.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_01: Every high performer believes that he can do more.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_01: And it doesn't matter what you're working in, what field it's in, you can always do more.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_01: If you have another associate and you bring them in, you not only raise their roof, but you raise your own roof, and it gives you flexibility for the future and you start building for that future.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_01: So why wouldn't you do it?
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: You're always allowed to ask me the tough questions.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: It's a lot of fun.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: Here's why everybody's going to be mad this week.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_01: All right, we are back for another episode.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_01: My name is Gary.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_01: I am the co-host of My Dental Playbook, along with my friend Dr.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_01: Blake Hammond.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_01: We're diving deep into his office to take over the world to build a$10 million GP practice, fee for service in a competitive market.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_01: And he's well on his way.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_01: And today we are going to be talking about associates and how to hire them.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_01: And if you haven't watched the first two episodes on this, go watch this.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_01: Dr.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_01: Blake gives us the ins and the outs around bonuses, comps, in network versus out of network, frequency of uh how to pay adjusted production versus collected collections, as well as how to know if you actually need to hire an associate.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_01: If you've come to the conclusion that, hey, you know what?
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_01: I do need to hire an associate.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_01: This is gonna be the episode for you.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_01: We're gonna be talking about how to transfer trust to the patient and how to transfer confidence to the associate.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_01: And then we're also gonna talk about handoffs, um, who sees the patient first, getting them up to speed.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_01: We're also gonna, at the end of the show, we're gonna talk about red flags.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_01: What are some red flags about hiring an associate?
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_01: I recently just talked to a doctor, and I hear this kind of stuff all the time.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_01: I know Dr.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_01: Blake does as well.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_01: We were just talking about it before the show.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_01: And the doctor said, I make 2.1 to 2.5 million.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_01: I have two hygienists, but I'm not at my full potential to bring on an associate yet.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_01: And I simply told him, I was like, look, doc, I know you can do more.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_01: Like you can.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_01: Every high performer believes they can do more.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_01: And it doesn't matter what you're working in, what field it's in, you can always do more.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_01: And it feels like that, but you are optimizing for the now.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_01: And what if you get hurt?
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_01: And what if you get sick?
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_01: Or what if you just don't want to do that dentistry anymore?
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_01: And you're just like, man, I'm tired of doing this dentistry.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_01: If you have another associate and you bring them in, you not only raise their roof, but you raise your own roof and it gives you flexibility for the future and you start building for that future.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_01: So why wouldn't you do it?
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_01: And he was like, you know what?
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_01: That's a good point.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_01: I haven't thought about that.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_01: And Dr.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_01: Blake and I were just talking, and we were really at the point of this podcast, I think, why should someone bring on an associate and how do they transfer that trust over to the other associate?
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_01: Dr.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_01: Blake, what what are your thoughts on that?
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_01: If a lot of times it's like that, you know, I can do more.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_01: I don't, this, this associate can't do it.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_01: They're not confident.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_01: How do you get over that initial hump?
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, there's only one reason that you're watching this podcast, and it's because you want to grow.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_01: We love my dental playbook listeners so much that we have a special gift for you.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_01: We have an AI overview that we do a deep dive into your market and tell you exactly what your competition is doing and how much it would cost for you to generate new patients through online marketing.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_01: If you're looking to grow, this is for you.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_01: There's a link down below.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_01: It takes about 15 minutes that we have to dive through that and it's completely free.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_01: Check it out and continue to grow.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks so much for being a loyal listener.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_01: Back to the show.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_01: How do you get over that initial hunt?
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's a bigger problem than people give it credit for.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: I think that a big piece of it is you believing in the person.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: So, like you, you, number one, you you selected them, um, and so you chose them.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: And so there's there's a little bit of assumed uh belief in the person.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: However, I think a lot of times that might be where it stops instead of uh continuing to put that penny in the well and and really, you know, let them know, hey, this is where I see us at, this is where I see us going.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: I think being re really clear about like, hey, when as we onboard you, the first case you do is not gonna be an FMR.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: Like it's gonna be some class fives and a class one and like some really simple stuff, just like a quarterback getting hit at the first part of the game.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: Like, we're gonna get let you get your feet wet, but we're not gonna be world beaters today.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and that's okay.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um and it and it helps them them build some confidence.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: But from the trust perspective, I think it comes down to uh two different things.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: Number one, you passing that along to your patients and letting your patients know that you know this person is somebody that you hand selected or that is even your dentist, um, that that you would allow them to work on you or your wife or your brother or your sister.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but also I think you can, if you want a little bit more of a hands-on approach, you can you can physically do that depending on the volume of your practice.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: If uh I know myself, whenever I came in as an associate with Dr.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: Kilgore, um, he he really wanted to nurture that relationship, and I appreciated that.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: And he would bring me in and and introduce me to every single patient.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, I think in a in a practice that doesn't have the volume that maybe we have, you can totally do that.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: And I would totally recommend you, you know, you as a seasoned doctor, bringing in this other doctor, let them shake their hand, talk about how amazing they are, the skills that they have, uh, how they've learned all the new technology and all the things, um, and use their youth as a benefit, not as a downside.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um but I think it really just comes down to maybe setting aside an hour of your time and thinking about how can I best transfer uh this trust because your practice is gonna be unique and your patients are gonna be unique and you're unique.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: So really giving some thought to it can go a long way versus just rolling them out and saying good luck.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, how so how much for you, just in the situation you're at, and just to explain to everybody, you have two associates, you're gonna see two you said 220 new patients this month, you're not seeing 220 new patients this month, your name's on the door, Hamblin, right?
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_01: How how have you gotten how do you hand off patients?
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_01: And then how do you build up confidence is gonna be my next question and in the associates that you're working with.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I would say the majority of patients, they just don't care.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: As much as I as much as I wish they wanted to see me, they really don't care.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_01: That's what I was looking for, yeah.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I would say that's probably uh 80% of the patients, and then there's 20% that definitely want to see me.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: And we're quite honestly, we're working through that because I'm still very much involved clinically, but as I start to reduce my schedule, um, how we do that is probably a more uh tailored approach, kind of like what I was talking about earlier, where we're really, if they haven't seen this other doctor, um, letting them know like, hey, this this is the guy or this is the girl that we hand selected to be a part of our team, and she's better than at this than I am, right?
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: And you want them to be your dentist, trust me.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: The other, the other way is is just uh strictly saying, like, I don't do fillings and I haven't done fillings in two years.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: You don't want me to find it.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_00: You don't want me doing your filling.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_01: Like when I I don't do when my kids come in, she does my kids' fillings.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_01: I don't do that.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: That's right, that's right.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_00: Like I and that's what I do currently with my root canals.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: It's like I haven't done a root canal probably since my first year out of dental school.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_00: And so I just tell people, I'm like, you don't want me to do that.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: I promise you.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_00: But but our other doctors are great at it.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_00: They do them all the time, and they just came out of school and they learned all the new techniques and all the new technology, and you're gonna love it.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_01: I think the secret, Joel, in this, because I know some people are gonna be listening and they're like, but I'm good at all of it because I've been doing all of it, and this one new person isn't good at doing all of it, is the secret is to stop doing it so that other person can get better because most people aren't gonna care.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_01: I remember when I started my company, I met with every single client.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_01: And when I stopped meeting with them, it was painful.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_01: But eventually it was like, no, no, no, this person's actually, trust me, you want them doing it.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_01: They know more about it than I do because they do it every day.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_01: I just get on a podcast and talk about it now.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_01: Like it does not, like it's not the same.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_01: They're in the trenches every single day watching these things, answering for the results.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_01: You want to talk to them on a regular basis.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_01: You don't want to talk to me on a regular basis.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_01: So transferring that trust is huge.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_01: But I also think that what you're really good at, Dr.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_01: Blake, is mentoring the doctors to get them confident.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_01: So it's one thing for the patient to say, okay, I trust Dr.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_01: Blake.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_01: It's another thing when the associate's like, no, Dr.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_01: Blake trusts me.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_01: Is there anything in the mentorship side that you've done differently that helps your doctors get up to speed faster?
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and some of it goes back to what I was going to add to the last point is, and we've talked about this in the past, is reducing your menu.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_00: So as uh you it it's somewhat self, it's a self-limiting belief that you have to continue to do all the procedures because you you don't realize that that same two-hour block that you're using to do um, you know, those three extractions that that you get you know a thousand dollars for, that you could do four crowns and get seven thousand dollars.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: In that same amount of time.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_00: And so um you start to look at time differently.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: You start to actually look at open blocks on your schedule as an opportunity, right?
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_00: So you're like, all right, we've got a three-hour block, we need to get that filled, and then magically what happens is the good lord drops someone in your in in your chair that needs three crowns, and now all of a sudden now we've got a block filled.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so I think that's that's super important.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_00: But to to answer the question you asked me, it's um I think that as you're um as you're developing doctors, it just takes time.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_00: And so you can't you can't set aside one day a month and say, all right, this is the day we're gonna calibrate and train, and then you're gonna be good, right?
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_00: Like this is a daily thing.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_00: This is something where when you don't have time to look at the x-ray with the associate and they ask you, hey, hey man, do you have a second?
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_00: You just say yes.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um when when you don't have time, but you need to go bail them out on this extraction, like you just go do it, right?
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_01: You guys really do a good job too of like everybody's allowed to watch each other work.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's not it's not weird.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_00: That's a cheat code for sure.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_00: But what what I think what I think goes a long way is letting like your associate knowing they can fail.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_00: When they know they can fail, and that you can back them up, like what my associates know if they start a root canal that they can't get out of, then they're gonna have to refer to the endodontist because I can't save them.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_00: But everything else I can save them, right?
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_00: That's good, yeah.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_00: And um, I like we've gotten to the point now where Dr.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_00: Farrell's really getting better in extractions.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_00: Great example.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_00: This happened today, and he's starting to do some wisdom teeth, which normally have been off the table for him, right?
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_00: And so he did one, and then the rest of his his day-to-day has been taking out wisdom teeth, and I just started laughing.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_00: I go, You're turning into me, man.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_00: You're saying yes to things that you you may not be ready for, but you are.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you just don't feel that ready, you know what I mean?
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I love that.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_01: And so in business and in sports and in everything, it's like having room to fail is very common to speak about, but it's not common in clinical dentistry.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_01: I've never really heard that before.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_01: I've heard it all everywhere else, but not in clinical dentistry.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_01: But I like the way you framed it, and I think that's going back to your initial point.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_01: You said reducing your menu.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_01: So what you mean by that is like I'm not doing fillings anymore.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_01: Is that right?
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_00: Like you're just like or I'm not doing one crown.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_00: I'll do four, I'll do two or more, but I'm not doing one.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, so I'm not doing one crown.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_01: So you associate, you're gonna get really good at these because you're gonna get volumes of these at bats.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I'm, you know, it's okay.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_01: I'm here to help.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_01: I'm good at them.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_01: Like I'm the safety net.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_01: So there is you're you're giving them the opportunity to fail without uh anything going wrong.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_01: I remember I when I got my appendix out, it was my first surgery.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_01: And uh I went to the went to the doctor, and I got Kaiser, and I know some people love him, some people hate him.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_01: But um I went there and I was so scared.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_01: And it was this younger doctor, and I was like, hey, doc, like what's the chances of me dying?
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_01: And he laughed.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_01: He's like, You're not gonna die.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_01: And he's like, and I was like, okay, how do you know?
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_01: He goes, Gary, I've done like, and I forget the number, but it was like something in the thousands.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_01: He goes, This is all I do is take out appendix.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_01: I've literally done like five today already.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna do like three tomorrow.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_01: Like, and I do this every single day, and no one's ever died out of all these thousands that I've done.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_01: You're totally good.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_01: There's nothing to worry about.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_01: I was so like, oh, oh, okay.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_01: That's because really patients are scared of the unknown.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_01: But guess what?
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_01: That's right.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_00: So when you create that, exude confidence.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you just have to, yeah, you just have to.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_00: I would tell you the the pushback we're gonna get to this comment is that doctors are like, yeah, but you can't just let them destroy the patient.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_00: Like you and I I agree, but there's also when when I was learning how to do dentistry and I knew I was overstepping or I took way too long on that procedure, and we were doing a same-day crown, and it took me an hour and a half to prep the tooth, and we had another hour for the crown crown to mill, I would go and and I would I would save the appointment by, hey Gary, tell me about your day.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_00: What'd you do with your and and like save the appointment?
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_00: So there's a difference between an associate that just is a hack and isn't able to clinically do the dentistry, but there's a uh if if they can improve clinically, but you can't improve them chair side, uh like bedside manner, then that that's the biggest problem because then that starts to impact your your uh like your name.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_00: So like when the associate starts to impact the business that, oh, I don't trust Hamlin Family Dentistry, that's when that's a problem.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I also like that every how did anybody learn dentistry?
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_01: How did anybody do the first filling or the first crown or the first like it nobody's good at the first thing that they do?
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_01: Every single dentist.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_01: So you have to get good at it, but you are the safety net, you the owner doctor, whoever's listening to us right now, you're the safety net for that doctor to do that.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_01: Just like, and just like you said, I can't, I'm not gonna do the root canals.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_01: Sorry, guys, if you mess up on these, then you're going, we're we're we're gonna have to refer out.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_01: And that no one wants, you know, you don't want to do that, but it happens and it happens to everybody.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_01: So I love that you're giving them room to grow, moving people, moving things off your menu.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_01: That allows you to do more dentistry.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_01: The the office is more productive, the patients love it.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_01: They're getting the dentistry that they want right now, and everybody win-win-win.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_01: So, um, anything else on this before we jump to the red flags?
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_00: I think we hit it.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_00: I like what we've talked about so far.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_01: And one other thing I would like to add, and I'm gonna plug this in.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_01: Check out our sponsor, Cherry.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_01: And here's the reason why.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_01: This is gonna help your associate because it's easier to close treatment when you're presenting monthly payments over, okay, Mr.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_01: Patience,$12,000 for that.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_01: It's way easier for the treatment coordinator to close that treatment, which is gonna give your doctors more confidence.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_01: It's gonna give them more at bats.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_01: You got to have people saying yes to treatment, and cherry really helps with that.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_01: Dr.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_01: Blake uses them, all of his doctors use it.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_01: Everybody, like almost all of my clients use cherry.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it's so powerful.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_01: If you haven't watched the training on that, it's down below.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_01: We also have special pricing on it.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_01: So you can come in at a higher tier so you pay less.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_01: Check them out down below.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_01: They're amazing.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_01: And they also sponsor our podcast.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_01: So that's super cool.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_01: All right, let's talk about red flags.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_01: So, what are some red flags that you look at when you're going out there to hire an associate and you're just like, I'm not going to even consider this person.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_01: I know we just had this in our mastermind where someone brought up and they were like, uh this associate that we were going to hire, they they sent back the contract and they had PTO in it, they had prolonged minimums that guarantees, and you were like, No, don't walk away from that.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that was that was an interesting uh situation.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_00: And that that can't really just came down to the associate wanted uh protection from something the business owner didn't have protection from uh themselves, and so like you can't sustainably offer that to anybody.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um like, yeah, it just wasn't a good deal.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_00: And I I would the advice I was giving that person was basically this is going to become a problem long term, so it would be best for you to just not do this in general.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I know you feel committed to this person, but this is not this is not the person for you.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_01: And why is that?
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_01: Like, why like I understand that the doctor can't offer that, but I've I've had seen other people online that are like everybody wants you know minimums forever and da da da.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_01: Like, why is that the wrong person if you are dealing with somebody like that?
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I I think like if if that's your jam, that's your jam.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_00: Like if you want them to have minimums forever, that's fine.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_00: What I I guess what I'm saying is that it if I have an associate that continually makes their minimum, they're literally costing me money.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm I'm in the camp of I want the best people on our team uh uh that we can possibly have.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um we interviewed someone this week for uh a dental assistant and she was great.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_00: She was wonderful, but there were a few things that we both both Paige and I looked at each other and we were like uh might not might not be the the best vision, mission, core value fit for us.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_00: So we made the decision not to hire that person.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_00: And so if you've got an associate that maybe they do have infinite, uh an infinite minimum, like it just doesn't stop, but they're always making that.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_00: Like in my world, that doesn't last very long.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, because because that means you're costing money, but I also could have another doctor that's doing twice that and really serving patients and helping the business grow.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_01: It's like optimizing for lowest common denominator, right?
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_01: Like, why would you optimize anything for the worst outcome every single time and put that there?
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_00: And I've just found just in general that it's really easy for people to pull others down.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_00: It's harder to pull people up.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you know what I mean?
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_00: And so I just try to do my best to protect our whole organization from people that can make us go backwards.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_00: I just want people that want to go forwards, like the only way we're gonna move is up and to the right.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I love that.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, what about um when it comes to like the human factor?
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_01: So I've talked to I I had a dentist once tell me um he uh he basically it was like a joke, and it was like, you know, dentists, dentists are the only people with a worse personality than um tax people, CPAs and stuff like that, you know, because CPAs are always just like, nope, here's your numbers is all that matters.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_01: And it's like, well, can't we do this?
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_01: Can't we do that if you've been in business any amount of time?
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_01: You're always pushing your CPAs and your tax people to like, wait a second, why not do this?
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_01: Or what about, oh yeah, I guess you could do that because CPAs are just like they're very math-driven.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_01: And a lot of dentists are are wired that way as well.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_01: They're very math-driven, spreadsheet driven.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_01: And that doesn't, it may do awesome in dentistry, doesn't do well on the business side.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_01: And the dentists that I've met that are like crushing it in business, they're great at like connecting with people.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_01: They that human connection.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_01: How do you how do you measure that?
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_01: How do you look at that when you're interviewing somebody?
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_00: Just in general, not not specifically for associates, but just in general, I look for the it factor.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_00: And the it factor for me means that within about 30 seconds, I know if you're the fit or if you're not the fit.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_00: And so I try to just like when they always say, like when you're having to let somebody go, make it as quick as possible.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_00: Like I try to do that as well, uh, the very first time I meet somebody is try to make it as quick as I possibly can because I don't want my emotions to get involved.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_00: I don't want them to, you know, say, oh yeah, I know this person, and then now all of a sudden I really like them because I can easily uh fall into that trap of just hiring people I like.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_00: But I um I want to keep it at two minutes or less, walk away.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_00: Did I love them?
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_00: Did I not?
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_00: If I don't love them, I don't want them.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_00: And and that's what I do there.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_00: But from the doctor side, uh, my coach has really talked a lot about uh different avatars and really understanding, you know, is this doctor a social doc?
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_00: Is it a professional doc?
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um, is it a financial doc?
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_00: Is it a um um clinical thank you?
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, um, and and really knowing like how does that interact with our practice?
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_01: What are those?
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_01: So just break those down.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_01: I know a social doc is somebody who just has high social skills.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_01: A clinical doc is somebody who like off the charts clinically, like they can just do everything and they're willing to learn it.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, like they want to go to CE every weekend.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_01: They can geek out on dentistry.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_00: Financial is like, I want to make as much money as I possibly can, right?
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_00: And professionals more of probably most of your entrepreneurs are gonna be more professional.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: They're kind of a blend of financial and they're all hey I'm here to be your associate, but someday I'm going to own 150 practices that would be the big yeah.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_01: And so you're like, okay, that's a professional.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_01: It doesn't quite fall into any of the other categories.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_01: I follow.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_00: And just kind of seeing like what would be the best fit.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_00: Like if you've already got a really social doc, maybe you need one of those clinical docs to come in to really learn.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_00: They want to grow and learn implants and they want to learn sedation and they want to learn all these things that can help your business grow.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so looking at your practice and saying, what would be what kind of doctor am I?
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_00: And am I still chairside?
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_00: And how can I complement that or stack that on top of what we already have from a doctor perspective to help us grow?
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_01: One one of the things that I've learned in business is I want to hire people who are better than me in some category.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_01: Now, most business owners become very good at being well-wounded because you got to learn how to read the PL or else you're gonna get burnt.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_01: You gotta learn, you gotta learn marketing or else you're not gonna grow.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_01: You gotta learn, you just learn all these different things.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_01: And you're good at you're proficient at all of them.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_01: You're good, and if you focused on any one of those categories, you would be amazing, but you don't focus on any one of them.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_01: You're focusing on all of them.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_01: So you're you're you're good, you're serviceable on at all of them, but then you bring in one person that's really good at one of them.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_01: Like they're just a bit bull, an organization, or they're great at marketing, or they're great at finances and all those kind of things.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_01: And then they're able to take it way further than you because that becomes their main job.
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_01: Um, is that kind of do you have to spot your weakness first?
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_01: Is that how you do it?
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's it's just like when you're growing your business, when you're a smaller practice, everybody does everything.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_00: And then you get to a certain point to where you go, oh no, Julie can't do everything now.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_00: We need another, we need Susie, right?
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_01: And you specialize, so you go from everybody being general to everybody specializing.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_00: It's the same idea of reducing your menu.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_00: You become a specialist in what you're doing because that's the most valuable thing that you can do.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_00: And I totally agree with with that approach, yeah.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_01: So you're looking for a doctor.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_01: So if you are super clinical, then you're probably looking for somebody more social.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_01: If you're super social, you're probably looking for somebody more clinical.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_00: Or or like in my case, if I'm if I'm trying to like basically remove myself clinically, how how do I find a doctor that most resembles me?
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_00: Because I know that me works here.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_00: And so if if I can re replace me with not me.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_01: So what's your avatar?
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_01: So what avatar are you?
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_00: I would probably say I'm professional social.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_00: Uh at the beginning of my career, I was very clinical because I wanted to go learn everything.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_00: But I feel like one of my superpowers is connecting with the patients, and patients can sit down and within a couple of minutes feel very connected with me.
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_00: But I also am financially driven and growth driven, which I think is a commonality in a professional doc.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_00: So a professional social is probably what I would say I'm at in this season.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_01: That's awesome.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_01: I think that's really helpful for people.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks so much uh for taking the time and breaking that down.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_01: Let me and let me press you on some of these uh topics.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_01: I know most people would not go on air and say these things.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_01: So I appreciate it.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_01: I know it's gonna help a lot of people figure out how to hire their next associate.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_00: You're always allowed to ask me the tough questions.
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_00: I know.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_00: It's a lot of fun.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I know.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_01: You're like, all right, here's why everybody's gonna be mad this week.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_01: So great.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_01: I love it.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_01: Awesome, man.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much, Dr.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_01: Blake.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.