subject: The Way You Think Affects Your Dental Practice [print this page] The Way You Think Affects Your Dental Practice
By Charles Martin, DDS
Daily life can teach practical lessons to be implemented into your professional life. Many of life's lessons deal with how we look at things and react to them. Here a few life lessons to incorporate daily into your dental practice to help it grow and prosper.
Learning anticipation from a waiter: While dining with friends, the waiter made the experience especially enjoyable because he anticipated your wants, needs, and when you wanted things. Anticipation is the key to success in your dental practice. You should anticipate what your patients want and need from you and your staff.
Turning a "don't want" in life into a "want": Healthcare and dentistry is a "don't want" profession. People don't want to spend money, be inconvenienced, or feel pain. The "don't want" professions are a necessity. It is your job to make the outcome of the procedure more important than the negativity of the procedure. You have the ability to turn your "don't want" profession into a "want" profession.
Family values are not the same as business values: Family values are based on unconditional love. Business values are based on merit. You should never let family values rule your practice. You can care about your employees, but they need to be held accountable for their merit. A business is only successful through performance and production.
Lessons from legacy airlines: Is your practice new and innovative like JetBlue, constantly improving like Southwest, or is it stagnating like the legacy airlines, Delta, United, and American? Coming up with new, inventive ideas will help your practice flourish. Hanging on to outdated or old-fashioned ways will negatively affect your practice's bottom line.
Overcome the victim mentality: You will often hear people complain how the economy affects their dental practice and that they are victims of the economy. It is up to you to overcome the adversity of the economic times. Use a positive business mentality to overcome problems. Step up your marketing plan and focus your direction on obtaining new patients. Don't let the negativity of the media drag you and your practice down.
