Tune Into the Dental A Team Podcast!

Ask yourself this question: What is the BIGGEST hurdle that’s stopping your practice from scaling up? When Dr. Summer Kassmel and Kiera recently asked themselves this question, the answer was the onboarding/hiring process. In this episode, the two talk about what they’ve done to make that process easier, including ideas you can start implementing TODAY (in fact, Kiera’s going to try one of the ideas Dr. Kassmel shares).

Hiring people can be arduous, but facing the systems and coming up with ways to best teach information might include web-based trainings — something Kiera and Dr. Kassmel discuss. Protect your practice by hiring the right people; this episode will help you do just that.

More, as always, at www.TheDentalATeam.com.

Time to talk reviews! This episode will give you some excellent ideas on how to hold the best team member reviews possible — whether they’re monthly, bi-monthly, or quarterly. There’s even a tip sheet (check it out below!) for you to get ideas from. Kiera talks with Dr. Summer Kassmel about PDPs, performance development programs — Dr. Kassmel’s title for her reviews.

Curious as to how this works effectively? Dr. Kassmel and Kiera actually do a step-by-step walk-through of what happens based on what ratings are given, comments are made, and challenges are unearthed.

Ultimately, Dr. Kassmel has inspired an honest office, and through thorough check-ins like these, she’s seen her team flourish faster and faster. So go ahead, grab some take-aways from this episode and have an even more successful team! Check out the tip sheet below:

More episode with Dr. Kassmel to enjoy:  017: Goals are lost without Accountability , 066: Teaching...

Remember Friend? He’s a dental student in Kentucky, and he’s been on a few times before to ask Kiera lots of questions about the life of a dentist so he can be the best dentist for his team when he graduates!! YES-- he is looking for his future team now!!

In THIS episode, Kiera and Friend are switching roles — she’s tapping his brain for answers about the world of real estate!

That’s right, as Friend goes through dental school, he’s using real estate to help fund his education and life. The two discuss how real estate can serve as a side cash flow either now or later (hellooooo, retirement), how to find the ideal demographic, and multi-family vs. single-family homes.

The biggest question, of course, is figuring out your WHY. Reverse engineer your goal — what do you want and why do you want to do it? Listen up as Friend answers Kiera’s questions, and keep an eye out for future episodes on this topic!

In the meantime, visit ...

The dazzling Debbie Dodson is back again-- remember, she is Dr. Summer Kassmel’s right-hand woman and regional manager! Debbie breaks down the reality of holding people accountable, specifically department heads.

When it comes to actually selecting who will fill the big shoes of heading departments, Debbie suggests the following tips:

1. Pick people who want it — really, really want it. If you select someone who wants it, they’ll take the necessary steps to get things done successfully.
2. Set clear expectations, and establish them early.
3. Collect reports nightly and weekly
4. Hold monthly department head meetings and monthly team meetings.

Tune in as Kiera and Debbie talk about creating cultures of delegation in your offices, and why this is absolutely fundamental to having a successful practice.

Looking for more from Debbie? Check out episode #119, A Unique Spin to Holding People Accountable.

Happy Thanksgiving! Kiera sits down in this episode to let all of you listeners know that she is incredibly grateful for YOU! Dentistry is the best profession to be able to call a job, and she’s had such a blast getting to know you all in your offices, through email, or just through the airwaves of this podcast.

This Thanksgiving, take time to apply the filter of gratitude to your life. Don’t overlay your day-to-day with frustration or disgust or envy. And when you have that grateful attitude, share it with others! Encourage a team you can gel with and jazz with. Reflect on what you’re thankful for with them.

And, of course, enjoy the food!

Kiera’s met a lot of stellar people in her world travels, and as listeners know, she likes to get ‘em on the podcast to share tricks of the trade. In this episode, Kiera’s joined by Jennifer Abshier, practice administrator for The Dentists at Hillsborough in Omaha, NE. Jennifer rose through the practice ranks, starting as a dental assistant and now overseeing four different locations!

Jennifer shares the advantages (patient accommodation and internal referrals) and disadvantages (communication and navigating lots of opinions) of having such a large practice, and really emphasizes the importance of systems (see episode #73, Copying McDonald’s Systemization). She encourages staying humble, networking, making things fun, and recharging during the hard times.

Jennifer is a big-time Dental A-Team listener, and you should be too! Head over to www.TheDentalATeam.com for lots of dentistry goodness.

The REASON for Kiera’s consulting success is in this podcast episode. Meet Doctor Justin Schmidt out of Hood River, Oregon. Dr. Schmidt introduced Kiera to Mark Costes and let her practice her consulting in his office three years ago this past October.

Dr. Schmidt is both an exceptional dentist and amazing boundary maker. He’s very meticulous with his personal time, and talks with Kiera about why he’s that way, how he manages to keep his work and personal life separate, and how having boundaries means standing up for yourself.

When you’re authentic, others are, too.

More on Dr. Schmidt: Dr. Justin Schmidt took a longer route than most before finding his true calling as a dentist. From building homes to self-professed ski bum, Dr. Schmidt has had many jobs, and lived all over the United States before settling in Oregon, his forever home. Dr. Schmidt is committed to continuing education and takes many advanced courses each year to enhance his skills to better...

Financial advisor Ryan Isaac is here again to talk dollar signs, and this time he’s addressing the most common question he gets from new dental graduates, those in ownership for one to three years, and associates: How do I pay off my student loans?

His advice: Wait. Sure, make your minimum payments and all that jazz, but the *main* thing you should be focusing on right now is your career. Invest in your career now and you’ll grow your practice faster, thus having more money to pay off loans later.

Ryan shares experiences of seeing people attack debt like crazy right after school is done, and they’re still living like poor students decades later. Take advantage of free resources (ahem, like The Dental A-Team and the Dentist Money Show) to understand processes now, and how to best implement them later when your practice is thriving. This is a great episode with a TON of gold.

Ryan is a co-host of the Dentist Money Show and a senior financial advisor with the Dentist...

The fabulous Kristen Shepherd (from episode 92) is back, and sharing more goodness. Remember her 37 to 97% fluoride acceptance in three months? In this episode, she discusses calibration with her dentist, and how it helped her become more confident in her position. Nowadays, she’s an expert a teeing up each new patient for a doctor and letting the patient know what the doctor will be recommending for treatment.

Not only does Kristen share her proactive methods and how to best perform hand-in-hand with her doctor’s needs, but she also walks listeners through her expert time management, and how she gets new patient appointments down from the allotted 90 minutes to 60 minutes (including probing, which you should always, always do!).

Kristen is a bigtime Dental A-Team fan, and you can be just like her by listening to more podcast episodes at www.TheDentalATeam.com.

In this episode, Kiera takes a look at dental practices through the eyes of Debbie Dodson, practice director for Castle Peak Dentistry. Debbie has been in dentistry for 20+ years, practicing hygiene for 10 of those before moving on to office management.

Castle Peak Dentistry (home to Doctor Summer Kassmel, long-time buddy of Kiera’s) is a Dental A-Team-approved practice. Debbie has guided her team to be incredibly accountable. How did that happen? From the top down — looking at the practice’s core values and committing the team to align with those every. single. day.

Another topic of note is Debbie moving from office manager to practice director and removing herself from the front lines. Was she able to maintain respect from her team members? How was that transition in the first place? It’s all here for you in this episode — just hit play!

Psst, more great information like this is available at www.TheDentalATeam.com.