Episode : #1,167: The Life-Changing Magic of an In-Office Consultant Visit

Podcast Description

Kiera and Trish are on the podcast together (yay!) to dive into the art of a Dental A-Team visit to your office (double yay!). They go into how an eagle-eyed consultant was able to take a specific office that couldn’t quite reach its goals and tip them into success. They also touch on relationship dynamics, the power of “mom eyes,” being a cheerleader and a coach, and a ton more.

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Transcript:

Kiera Dent- Dental A Team (00:01)

Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera and I am so excited for today’s podcast. I have the one and only Trish. She’s known as TADA in our company. She’s all the confetti, the glitter, the sparkles, the spice, and Trish honestly just reminds me how great life is. So Trish, welcome to the podcast today. How are you?

Tricia Lee Ackerman (00:17)

I’m doing great, thank you Kiera. I always love getting this time in with you.

Kiera Dent- Dental A Team (00:21)

⁓ likewise, I, Trish, you are just my little like light on the Hill. just, whenever I need to remind myself how good life is, I just need a little Trishism in my life. So Trish, thank you for being that. And Trish, you just got back off the road. You were in offices and that was what we’re going to podcast today of like, you have had some pretty freaking outstanding results after being with offices, being in person with them. And so we kind of wanted to office autopsy that, but like Trish.

Just walk us through like what is an office visit like and how does that magic happen? So kind of walk us through because you just Literally flew in I think last night and here we are. was like, hey, let’s do a quick early morning podcast with you But yeah, let’s let’s talk about some of that magic Trish What what happens in an in-office visit and how does that magic happen?

Tricia Lee Ackerman (00:57)

Yeah, that’s good.

You know, it’s like we do, we build strong relationships, you know, via the Google meetings and video meetings and such, but something truly does happen when you get to touch somebody, hug somebody, and then really just like look at them knee to knee, eye to eye. And I was, when I meet with teams, like it’s typically, we kind of know each other already. You know, we’ve been working together a couple months, sometimes even up to like four or five, six months already. But when we get there and we see each other,

And we get to have a lot of fun together as a collaborative team, because the Dental A Team style is like, we are fun. That we definitely are. And we try to make the lives of people easier. And this collaboration that takes place, also is kind of like it’s cousins with a trust that also forms at the same time. So it’s like we collaborate, yeah, that’s great. But then the relationship, it steps it up a notch and a trust starts to come.

Kiera Dent- Dental A Team (01:39)

Yeah.

Tricia Lee Ackerman (02:00)

And when you can see that happen, can all, well, you feel it and then you know it’s there. And then the magic really starts to like, it speeds up the momentum. It like you hit the, you hit the pedal to the metal and like, it’s go. And I’ve seen it more than once. And so it is truly the onsite visits that, that bring this kind of full circle and put the big red bow on what we’re trying to accomplish for ourselves as consultants and for the teams.

Kiera Dent- Dental A Team (02:30)

Yeah, I love that you say that because you’re right. Like we do virtual and in-person consulting. We also have an in-person mastermind, which is so fun, but it’s that I think it’s the collaboration. It’s the connection. It’s the conversations that are had that you wouldn’t normally have. ⁓ it’s having, I almost got like the hallway whispers, teams open up a lot to you when we’re in person. They, we find out things. And also when we go in person, you’re able to see things. I remember, I think like one of the highlights of my career.

was walking into a practice that I had been consulting for almost a year. We were growing them and I walked in and I did like a, it was a head turn. Everybody says I have some good mom eyes without being a mom. And I was like, you guys have paper charts? I didn’t know that this was a thing. And how has this never come up on a single call because paper charts should not be happening. And the dentist was like, but Kiera, I’m just so comfortable with them. And I said, well, great, we’re gonna get really uncomfortable and it’s time to change. I just think it’s a…

Tricia Lee Ackerman (03:23)

Yes

Kiera Dent- Dental A Team (03:27)

things that offices don’t even know that they should be bringing up to you of issues on virtual calls. We can’t see the practice. can’t see how like there’s a practice. You and I both know them very well. The thing we did for them was we put in a different flow and that’s all we did. And that increased our case acceptance, it increased team morale, but it was just something simple like that. So Krish, you have a practice though. You got an office, it’s a unique office. ⁓ And I think what’s magical is,

after the visit, it’s crazy. People can always tell, I had somebody actually chart my visits and they were like, Kiera, without fail, every time you come in, we get a boost in production, a boost in revenue. And I’m like, well, yeah, cause the team’s happier. You guys are all aligned. You’re rowing in the same direction. But the goal is that that can also sustain. So I hope that it’s a, and what I have seen is it’s a boost and it’s like, there’s a spike, but then it’s also the baseline goes up and it stays up.

Typically speaking, because people are like, well, if you’re not here all the time, how are we supposed to get these boosts? And it’s like, no, it is a boost, it’s a spike, but then is the baseline hires and we live in that, that becomes our new norm. Then we come back in and we spike again and the baseline norms up again. So Trish, let’s talk about, you got a couple office autopsies out there. What did you do for some practices and what were the results afterwards?

Tricia Lee Ackerman (04:42)

Well, I have, I do have a client and there’s two practices. We joined them together for the onsite visit and they were, because there’s the two practices, they are real, they’re very great with being collaborative, but we were all together. So everything was implemented at the same exact time. you know, Kiera, what are the other things I want to throw in about our approach is when we do implement and when we do go onsite, it isn’t like the Dental A Team way.

You know, doesn’t have to be this way. You know, we asked the teams, well, here is a way that we could do something a little bit easier. How do you think we could do this? So there are really big part of, and these teams that we work with, I mean, they’re like, geniuses. They really are. We actually learn so much from them. But this particular team that really kind of sticks out to me, they were really struggling hitting their goals. They kind of just didn’t know how to do it.

Kiera Dent- Dental A Team (05:26)

Okay.

Tricia Lee Ackerman (05:36)

But we set in metrics that they could, we broke them really, we broke them down almost like to the hour. So they didn’t have to look at a big thing. And yes, that we can do virtually. However, being together and me being able to watch them collaborate and give them those like, almost like the standing ovation, like, wow, did you guys see what you just designed? And Kiera, when I left that practice, they have hit their goals the last two months now. We put in some, which,

Kiera Dent- Dental A Team (06:03)

Yeah.

Tricia Lee Ackerman (06:04)

is so neat because they have such a skip in their step. But this, in February, they were $600 away from their collection goal. It was the last day of the month. They ended up going over by $4,000 because they are competitive with each other now in a super fun way. And they ended up getting a patient that was in for a consult to schedule and pay in advance because they wanted that goal. And

Kiera Dent- Dental A Team (06:07)

Ha ha ha!

dang.

That’s incredible.

Tricia Lee Ackerman (06:32)

And it’s those things that they would not have done before. again, you know, it’s almost like it’s an invisible magic that does take place because they now know that they have somebody that’s not there to change them, that’s there to help them. And they want to make us proud. They want to make themselves proud. And it just kind of like the progress that they want to make steps up quite a big level.

Kiera Dent- Dental A Team (06:35)

Mm-hmm.

Tricia Lee Ackerman (07:02)

It just does. It just does.

Kiera Dent- Dental A Team (07:02)

Yeah,

it does. And George, what I love, and I think you highlighted it so well, you’re exactly right. I think all of our team, not I think all of our team members, all of our consultants have been team members before. And that was something as a team member and also as a business owner, I wanted to make sure when Dental A Team is consulting, we don’t go in and we don’t say, have to follow this script. Because people push so hard on that. They’re like, listen, I’m not your robot. Like I don’t want to do that versus

here’s some tools and here’s some resources. Like my job is to be your little fairy godmother, whatever I can do to help you. But at the end of the day, we’re looking for outcomes and results. We’re not looking for robots. And so if you guys are doing a great job and you’re hitting the results, fantastic. And I think Trish, what you said is I think Denali team does a really great job of bringing teams together, helping them put together tangible, actionable plans that are like, this is what we’re going to do in here is how we’re going to set the goals, but we get the teams to do it. And you and I have another office that we worked with and I thought it was

Tricia Lee Ackerman (07:57)

Yes.

Kiera Dent- Dental A Team (08:00)

fascinating because people tell us all the time like, well, this associate won’t produce or this won’t happen. We have an office that hit the highest production that they have ever hit in the history of this dental practice shortly after you and I visited. And I think you and I both sat back and were like, is that causation or coincidence? Like, I think that there’s a, they kind of come together and ⁓ it definitely was not a coincidence. It was very intentional. Trish, we put it together. We got the whole team rallied.

but we were focusing on what the doctors wanted. And as a by-product, we, I don’t know, I feel like we’re little magicians as consultants. You focus on what the doctors want, but as a by-product, we weave these threads through like, well, why don’t we just try tracking this? Not on their radar, not what they’re thinking. And then all of a sudden they start hitting higher goals. They start hitting these things and like, wow. We’re like, yeah, it’s crazy how when you just track it a little bit, you hit these things. They were concerned about their new patients and they, do you remember like after we left,

highest new patient numbers and highest production numbers. And what I think you and I love is when a practice is able to do that and they rally together, you and I can then come back around and be like, we’ve done it one time. What did we do? What are the things? Let’s make that a constant. So this isn’t just a one time like flash in the pan because Trish and Kiera showed up or Dental A Team did. It is truly a, this is going to be a sustainable model. So what are your thoughts on that? Because I think some people are like, well, just because you guys show up, then my team does it.

But for us, we’re big on like, we don’t want just flash in the pans, we want long-term sustainability. And I will say these practices are continuing to hit higher goals than what their baseline was before as well.

Tricia Lee Ackerman (09:34)

Our delivery, you know, it’s kind of like, you know, we can’t hear, I’m always using analogies. My brain has to take with an analogy. And it’s like, you know, people just receive the messages differently from whoever it is delivering it to them. Meaning like, my husband will respond totally different from his business coach than he ever would from me.

Kiera Dent- Dental A Team (09:39)

I love them. This is why you’re to dot Trish.

Tricia Lee Ackerman (10:00)

And I could be saying the same exact thing. There’s a, there’s, and that’s just a relationship dynamic. And so we are just, to these teams and to the doctors, we’re, we’re different. We’re, we’re just coming in a different approach with a different perspective, even though some of the messages they may have already been hearing or even sharing with their teams, but they get to hear it just a little bit differently. And, and I think once, and well, I should actually change that, not differently. They hear it more.

Like it resonates differently. And then they go into action. But when we show them, you you guys have already done this, because they forget what they’ve already done. They’re so busy. Then you go into the next day of dentistry, then the next day of dentistry. But when we’re like, look at, let’s go back and look at this piece. You actually did it. So let’s help you do it again.

Kiera Dent- Dental A Team (10:52)

Mm-hmm.

Tricia Lee Ackerman (10:52)

And then

they just kind of, go arm in arm. kind of code, we code diagnose with them, just like we want our doctors to code diagnose with their patients. We code diagnose with our teams and we’re like, let’s do this together. And then, I mean, they’re the ones that are really like talk about magicians. They really truly are. mean, they’re the ones, they do it. do it and it’s so rewarding. the best part of this. You this job is already rewarding enough to be able to share.

Kiera Dent- Dental A Team (11:10)

I do.

Tricia Lee Ackerman (11:17)

I always love to tell people, I’m no genius, all my material is stolen. I’ve just had this, I’ve been so blessed to work with incredible people and learn incredible things that I get to share it with teams. And then these teams, go and they go do it. And it’s so fun to sit back and go look at what they did.

Kiera Dent- Dental A Team (11:32)

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Yes, I agree. And I think if, if you watch the video, I love Trish, you actually like had a little shimmy, like we go with the office. And what it is, is it’s Trish walking down the office with these teams. It’s partnering with these teams. It’s being the cheerleader and the coach. think you need both. think a coach tells you your blind spots. A coach doesn’t always tell you what you want to hear. Their job is to be looking down the line. And that’s what I obsess about. Like we’ve, we’ve been there, we’ve done it. We’ve done it multiple times. mean, Trish, shoot you.

You’ve managed hundreds of team members. Like, like you said, it’s all stolen. It’s all on repeat. It’s stuff, it’s helping your team have another voice that they trust that they listen to. That’s not you. Doctors have told me many times, Kiera, I pay you a lot of money to come in and tell my team exactly what I’ve told them, but they respect you. They listen to you. They want to know from you. And that is the greatest gift I think we can give our doctors too, is you don’t know, have to be the only voice in the room saying this. You’ve got backup, you’ve got people and we work with the doctors. it’s.

Tricia Lee Ackerman (12:21)

Yes.

Kiera Dent- Dental A Team (12:34)

We game plan with them before we come into office. We game plan with the office managers. But what I love Trish is in these two different practices that we’re talking about, and we even have a third, ⁓ like our Rolodex, if you look and listen. So the first practice, you set goals with them. You had it achievable with them. The second practice, we went through like an entire new patient experience. have them doing office tours. We were working on new patients and we just said, hey, by the way, here’s two areas. If doctors start tracking their production, this is going to go up. And all of the doctors,

kid you not every doctor went right up but as you listen to it and then the office you just came from it was like how do we help this associate doctor like there’s just different dynamics of associate doctor staying leaving what do we pivot how do we fix it all three practices and the reason i want to highlight this is because Dental A Team does not have a one tool fits all approach it is very dynamic of what do these teams need what is going to get these offices motivated and Trish what i love is i still remember it was ⁓ one of the masterminds

You came in, you were in a cute little dress and like you were just so just like high on life. And you said, Kiera, I love my job and I love my job. And we are so lucky because we get to change people’s lives. And it’s so fun for us to be able to do that. And I’ve thought about that so much because well, yes, we’re hitting goals of dentistry. I think we’re changing humans at the same time of helping them see that, if we set a goal and we work as a team, we can do things we never thought we’d be able to do. And I think that’s magnificent, but Trisha, anything else you have of like,

How did you actually get a practice to hit their goals? Two times in a row when they were not hitting, like they’ve gone, they’ve got a history of never hitting and now they’re hitting it consistently. And they were so close and so committed to the goal. Like how did you, how did you turn a team into that overnight?

Tricia Lee Ackerman (14:14)

The biggest, okay, I truly do think that the biggest part of that success is getting their buy-in. However, when I ask teams for a buy-in, it’s a very, very deliberate and individual buy-in. So it’s not just like, as a group, are we all bought in? Are we all gonna do this? I do go through each and every team member and ask, are you bought in? Do you think you could do this with us? Because when we say yes,

Kiera Dent- Dental A Team (14:43)

Trish, do do that in a public setting or a one-on-one setting? Perfect. Which I don’t, I do the same. And I, the reason I highlight that is because you’re not getting blanket to group buy-in. You’re getting individual buy-in in front of team members, which is critical and pivotal. And I wanted people to hear the difference. Cause also if you’re doing it behind closed doors, the whole team doesn’t see to hold accountable. So the fact that it’s in a public setting, not just like head nods, yes, but each individual person. And what you said is, do you think you can do this? Do you think you can hit the goals with us?

Tricia Lee Ackerman (14:45)

I do it in public setting. I do it in public.

Okay.

Kiera Dent- Dental A Team (15:13)

They are also then self committing. It’s like a patient who tells you, yes, I’m gonna get the new patient forms back to you. They are already bought in and committed to doing this and it’s brilliant. So continue on. I just wanted to highlight and differentiate that.

Tricia Lee Ackerman (15:26)

No, thank you, because that was something that I learned a long time ago. And that individual buy-in, there is something that happens when you own it in front of your peers. There’s an ownership there. And you don’t want to be part of a team and be there and say, yes, I think I can do this, I’m bought in, and then not do it. It’s just kind of natural. We don’t want to be that person. ⁓

And you know, there have been, I have run into occasions where there, a team will be a little reluctant and I appreciate that because they’ll, some teams might go, well, I’m, I’m bought in on almost everything, but I’m like, that’s perfect. Let’s stop right there and let’s get, what do we need to do to help you get past this? But, and so we stop and, that is something like, we don’t, we don’t negotiate like you have to be bought in. the, you know, there’s 22 members and one has a yeah, but

That’s okay, but we just need to get past it so that it’s a real, real sincere buy-in. and Kiera, I have, mean, to this day, and I’ve been doing this for a good minute, I’ve never not had a team member not be able to get past the abut ever. Because the rest of their team members, that’s when they also step in and say, well, we can help you and we can do this and let’s look at it at this angle. So that buy-in definitely does help, it does.

Kiera Dent- Dental A Team (16:47)

Well, I think what you even teach on that Trish is that’s healthy debate of a team. If they’re the yeah, but great. We want to hear that. We don’t want just head nods of yes, but in the back of your mind, you’re sitting there like, ⁓ but like, we are saying this goal, but the reality is we don’t even have the patience to do that. That’s a great call out. So let’s talk about that and find out, is this a new patient issue? Is this a motivation issue? Is this a diagnosis issue? There’s ways, but teaching teams that the yeah, but

Tricia Lee Ackerman (16:52)

Yes.

Kiera Dent- Dental A Team (17:18)

is not wrong. The yeah, but that is trying to derail, not bought in, hating your team, that is wrong. Like that is not okay. That is not healthy debate. That is just willful rebellion. And that person is a wrong person and should probably move along and not probably like I would recommend strongly. ⁓ But most of the time I found that teams are not doing it out of willful rebellion. They really do have hesitations and reservations. And if we can just talk about it and find solutions.

Tricia Lee Ackerman (17:25)

Yes.

Kiera Dent- Dental A Team (17:46)

but you want to also encourage your team to bring these up. Again, not in Willful Rebellion where they’re just like, we’re not doing this, but in a true like, what are the blind spots? What have we missed? So that way we can actually win the game. That’s what we’re looking for. And I think it’s brilliant. And I think when people hear that, there is no cookie cutter recipe for success. There is your practice, your team, your pieces. But I think the piece that Trish highlighted that we’ve done with all of them.

is you get the whole team by an, go around and I show them what they’ve committed to for six weeks. They all sign off on it. We put it up in the break room. They all see that every person on the team has signed their name, that they’re committed to this at least until they designated deadline. And that I, I don’t think, but I do think as an owner, I’ll flip to like my owner hat. I think that that can be a hard thing to do as an owner to be like, all right, team, like I heard this great podcast. We’re going to do this. I think sometimes this is the magic of having an outside voice come in.

to help your team rally, to teach them that this is the way we do it, so then owners can then duplicate this, but you’re not the one who’s having to set this up initially all on your own as well.

Tricia Lee Ackerman (18:51)

I totally agree. Totally agree. And it’s also change. know, like with success does come typically some change. And that can be scary to some people. mean, again, if you have the team of 20, you might have one that’s like, okay, hold on, I want to do this, but… And it’s also, it’s empowering for us as consultants to remind, consistently remind people that change is uncomfortable as it is. Like it’s a person, it’s an internal personal growth too. It’s not…

You’re not always just making the practice see a better success. You’re succeeding as yourself as an individual by just going through that uncomfortableness. Just that alone. You’ll take that with you outside of the office. they grow, yes, they grow professionally, but they do also grow personally. And when I talk about like, love seeing, you know, I love changing the lives of people. I do sometimes get a little emotional about that because

The most rewarding piece of this is when you do have a doctor or a team member share that not only has the practice implemented things and tools that have really helped them be more efficient and just happy, but that outside of the office, these individuals have a different skip in their step as well. And that when it comes, when it comes full fold like that, talk about a win. That’s powerful right there, that one.

Kiera Dent- Dental A Team (20:12)

Yeah.

That is, and I’m so glad you said that because we were actually talking at Dental A Team and we changed it. We actually changed up what our mission and vision were and it’s one practice, one life, one person at a time. And what you just said is our mission. It’s like, yes, we’re changing the practice, but we want to focus on the individuals on helping them change their life on them as a person. And I think it’s so magical that we get the playing field of the dental practices that brings us all together, but we’re able to change those lives. And so I think Trish,

I love the magic, the passion, the camaraderie. I watch you, you turn teams around very quickly and it’s fun to watch you work to their nuances. I see you, I feel like you’re a chameleon with practices. You morph into who that practice needs. You change and adapt. You change your style. Sometimes you’re like over the top flamboyant. Other times you are like solemn and somber. You always have your wit to you that never changes. But you really will adapt to the team and what the team needs at that point.

And you have insane results. And so I think for one, we’re so lucky to have you two offices are so lucky to work with you. Yes, of course you’re welcome. And three, I think for anyone listening, if you’re like, I wonder what that might be like in my practice, I wonder like how this would be. I hope you’ve heard that it is never coming in and ripping apart a team. is taking their successes or wins. heard Trish. They’re brilliant. The teams are brilliant. They’re already doing 90 % of it. Right. Let’s just help them get that one or 2 % change. So they’re actually able to get the wins.

So if you’re interested in that, reach out, [email protected]. We’d love to come to your practice. We’d love to help you out. We’d love to see if you’re a great candidate for it. So reach out, we’d love to help you out. And Trish, thanks for being on our team. Thanks for sharing the wins and ⁓ thanks for truly just changing lives out there.

Tricia Lee Ackerman (21:56)

Thank you, Kiera. Thank you so much.

Kiera Dent- Dental A Team (21:58)

Of course, and for all of you listening, thank you for listening and we’ll catch you next time on the Dental A Team Podcast.