Episode : #1,215: Strategic Partnerships Grow Your Practice. Here’s How to Form Them.

Podcast Description

Kiera takes a spin on profit growth by talking about a tactic many people don’t consider: strategic partnerships. This means looking at the community around you, those in your field and outside of it, and learning to refer and support one another. Kiera’s tips will help even the most introverted person begin to utilize their network.

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Transcript:

Kiera (00:00)

Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera. And today I want to talk about something really fun. We talk about it in our mastermind groups with our clients. and it is like your network is your net worth. And so how strategic partnerships, you might not even be thinking this is a completely different, innovative way for you to grow your practice in a very easy, effective way. And so I’m super excited about it because a lot of times we just think that like the only way for us to grow our practice is to do more, hire another team member, or

To like just I think it’s that GSD, which I’m very grateful that you have. but sometimes it’s not even about that because sometimes there are other people around you that can actually elevate you, can grow you, can grow your practice, and that’s through your network. And so really it’s going to be about what are maybe the some of the partnerships you’ve you’ve forgotten, or maybe some of the partnerships we could rekindle that actually might help you elevate. Now, for somebody who you guys might think is very extroverted human, I am very extroverted, but you better believe we were just talking about an event.

I love to speak, you guys. I love to be on stage. but I am very much somebody that doesn’t always love to be a porcelain doll on stage. And I know that might come as a shock for some of you, but like when I go to events, I’m like, the happy hour networking time is like my most stressful time of all of it. Like I love to have a conversation, I love to talk to people. It also stresses me out to no end. So just hearing that I recognize that what I’m about to talk to today.

might be foreign for some of you. For some of you, it might be the easiest thing and you might be like, Kiera, this is a great idea. for those of you who might be a little Kiera-esque or maybe a little less Kiera and like way less extroverted, just know that you don’t have to do everything. But one of these things even can help you tremendously. And I just think it’s a really fun way. Again, we talk about so many things and there’s so many places of like grow your practice with this, grow your practice with marketing. I thought partnerships was a really fun spin on a great way for you to possibly grow your practice, grow your net worth. And you never know

Who your network’s gonna bring into your place. Like, truly, my next door neighbor was Shelbi. Shelbi now is my EA, and she’s absolutely incredible. there’s been several people that I’ve just happeningly randomly met that have made my life exponentially better by being connected. And there’s people that are way more connected. So, this is also a podcast for Kiera Dent. So it’s all for you guys, but truly, I just want you to know that strategic partnerships really can be a benefit for you. If you’re new to the podcast, hi, I’m Kiera. I hope I can be your best friend in dentistry. I truly am here to help you in whatever way possible.

I am obsessed with all things Dental. Our team is obsessed with it. I’ve built a team of consultants that truly their passion is to make you successful. We believe that running a successful practice should be fun and easy. And so I’m so happy you’re here. For all of you OGs who have been listening, thank you. I hope you just give yourself like a little squeeze. Like give yourself a little squeeze and know I’m giving you a giant hug and saying thank you so much for your support, for being on the journey. And hey, if you’re obsessed with us like I’m obsessed with you, go leave us five stars because your reviews are what ultimately are gonna make us.

continue to reach more people, be one of the top podcasts in the dental industry. And I just want to say thank you for making Dental A Team that I try to provide value for you. We’re here all the time for you, three days a week, giving you practical, tactical tips. And we’ve been doing it for shoot. Like five years, six years, so long. So thanks for being on the journey. I’m obsessed with you and I hope that you remember dentistry is the greatest profession you could ever be in. Let’s continue to make it great together. with that said, I hope that you know that like number one on this is we got to build referral relationships. So that’s

Beyond sending patients. So I know a lot of you might have relationships with specialists. So I know a lot of people listening to our GP practices, also on the specialist side. there is a doctor that works with us, one of my dear friends, and he’s a periodonist, and he literally is like the mayor of our town. He knows every single dental practice. He is always at offices, he’s always driving around, meeting people, taking them to dinner, knows all the best restaurants in town. And that’s what specialists have to do. And I think sometimes generalists don’t realize that like you connecting and knowing all of your community.

really can drive like I text him at any time I’m like, hey, who’s got the best hands in dentistry in our area? And he’s like, you want to talk to this person? You meet somebody else. They know that person. Like he’s so interconnected. And I just think like how amazing is that because he is referring back and forth. He’s always looking for ways to connect somebody else. And I have found that when people come to the mastermind, that’s something they tell me that they’re obsessed with. So like all of our clients get together and we’re like, my gosh, John, you need to go talk to Kevin and Kevin, you need to go meet Jamin. And Jamin, you need to go meet

Susie, like all of them connecting together. That’s the same thing that you should be doing. So this is when like a partnership is broken and maybe we’re being a little bit more of a user rather than a a giver on it, is if we only reach out when we need something, or we only have minimal communication with that specialist when we’re referring a patient there, or we have very little collaboration on patient care. When it’s thriving of a successful partnership, it’s building that relationship with the specialist. It’s connecting when we refer offices, it’s communicating about our shared patient.

And it’s creating a mutual trust. And so that can be as much as going over and saying hello. Like I have a doctor who was trying to get sleep. And I was like, get out of your office and go say hello. And she’s like, I just don’t want to, Kiera. And I was like, I know. I don’t want to do half of this either. You guys think I enjoy being on video for the podcast? I absolutely do not, but you’re welcome. Go say hello and say thank you on Instagram. Like, I hate being on video, but guess what? This is part of the name of the game. This is what I signed up with when I became a business owner. It doesn’t mean you have to do everything, but I promise you, you go start to say hi, they know who you are.

Think about your neighbors. Like if you know your neighbors that refer people to you. I have a neighbor, I went and met our whole neighborhood. She literally watches for my packages every single time I’m out of town. That was a great strategic partnership, if you will, that benefits my life so much. I’m able to help her out with her kids. But we want this mutually referring. It shouldn’t be a one-sided space. So I will say that when I’ve seen doctors, especially GPs and also specialists, you’ve got to build this. And there was a doctor who is a specialist, he’s like, Kiera.

Is there any way for me as a specialist not to need my GP doctors? And I was like, unfortunately, no, we work in a we work in a referring basis. And so how do you become the person? It’s like the lawyers or whomever in your town, how do you become that person that when they need a dentist or they need a referral, you are the first name that comes to mind? I want my specialist to be thinking about you as a dentist, not all the 50 other ones. Remember, people like pull out of their pocket what’s familiar to them. So I want you to just know that like this is a reality, this is a space.

I want you to be the trusted partner and having that, it really will drive new patients. Also, you could go look at your new patient referrals and see how many of those are coming from specialist or from referral partners. If you don’t have very many of them, it might be a good c key indicator for you to say, Hey, I need to go make more friends. I need to go build these stronger relationships. It’s over time. It’s not something of like, and please know there’s a book called The Go Giver by Bob Burry. We had him on the podcast. If you didn’t listen to that podcast, go listen to it. I was a fangirl that day.

but that’s a book that was what I started the company on. And the go-giver is we are always giving more value than we expect. So I’m not going to meet these people hoping that they send me referrals. I’m going to find out what value can I give them, how can I support them? How can I grow their business? And in return, it always comes back to you. So I would encourage each of you to refer reach out to like one referral partner. every single month you could even like put it in your calendar. So you just have a rotating basis. Maybe it’s I meet this person, and then in three months I reach back out to them.

staying top of mind, doing whatever we possibly can to make their life easier. and doing it not because you need something, but because you genuinely are interested in building this amazing relationship with them. step two on this would be like surround yourself with advisors who challenge you. So it doesn’t just need to be within our industry. it needs to also be within your advisory board. And so thinking about like when you make every decision alone, maybe you don’t have an advisory board. Waiting until there’s a crisis to ask for help or feeling isolated as an owner, that might tell you you don’t have an advisory board. And so

Successful owners, I see, like not just within referring partners within dentistry, but they also have a nice advisory board with their CPA, their attorney, banker. Like literally one of my friends who’s a multi million pushing the billion, true friend, met him on Craigslist. I kid you not. he is now dating his banker. And I was like, How do you know your banker? Like, no one in the bank knows me. I’m not in there. And he was like, yeah, Kiera, I go make relationships with all of them.

And I thought about that. That led him to somebody he’s now dating. But I thought about all these people. This guy is hyper connected, multi-million. I will say his business is larger than any dental practice owner I have ever met. So knowing that, let’s take notes from these very successful people, knows every single person. And he’s not a super outgoing guy. He just knows he needs to have these strategic partnerships within his life. What about marketing experts? How are you in the marketing world? What about technology partners? Do you know any of them? Do you like I have another friend.

Very successful business. He’s yeah, I know the like CEO of HubSpot. Let me just send their name right over to you. I need to take a note from all of my friends and say, Kiera, get your booty out there and go start meeting these people. And then also consultants. Do you have a consultant? We are hyper-connected people. I know I’m like ragging on myself here. I have a Rolodex of so many people that I know, so many people we can connect you to, whether that’s a dentist in the industry or the best in the best. I’m constantly betting them. You guys hear some of them on the podcast. Others I reserve only for our internal clients, but truly.

Do you have these people? Because every person that you know is your bench and then they know people and they can connect you to this person. I have a really great friend who is a CPA who is billionaire family office CPA, who knows a ton of people. I had an issue with our trademark, and I just texted him and said, like, hey, who do you know that’s the best in the industry for a trademark lawyer? Sent me one of the best people that I could have ever asked for and had an amazing experience. So again, don’t just think about I need these people for dental patient relationships.

They could like a lot of these people will actually refer to you. I can tell you how many of our dentist friends are like, Hey, I have a patient, they’re moving. Well, great, who’s in that area? We’re gonna refer them to that dentist. That’s awesome. But how many of your marketing people, how many of the people locally, your banks, you become the town mayor, people know you, you know the people in dentistry. You start to then have all these people around you that can help you make the best decisions. So, with this said, I have found that like people who have a very good advisory bench.

is also our best performing practices. They’re great with their CPA. They them. They want all their numbers dialed in. They’ve got a relationship with their marketer. They know it. They their stats. They know their numbers. I asked them. They’re good with that. They know their financial advisors forward and backwards. They got a great relationship there. But they’re talking to these people. And again, yes, you use them for tech. They also have a consultant. I forgot that one. Sorry guys. True. Hey, hi. We can be on your advisory board and help you out. but those people who have it, you’re not just using them for their knowledge like you are.

But also, these people are gonna refer to you. It is this whole like human referrals are the transactions of great business owners. And it’s doing it not because I need to, but because I want to. And I’m gonna get you connected to the best of the best. And we all know each other. It’s like a connecting the dots. And so for you, I just want you to realize that isolation slows growth. Collaboration is going to accelerate it. So this might not be a direct referral to your patient base, but it is a direct referral to your network faith. And so getting that place. So I want you just to think about what’s in a business relationship.

That you’ve been neglecting that you need to reconnect this quarter or add to your advisory board. I listed them off for you. If you don’t have that advisory board, start working to get that advisory board for you. So you’re not making every decision alone. You’ve got great people on it. They will refer to you, they help you out, they will connect you to the best of the best. I my CPA, he’s got me connected to our insurance person. Like I’m telling you, these people are so valuable. Somebody told me that, Kiera, I love working with you because you’re literally a Rolodex. Like, hey, I need help with You’re like, I know the best person for this. You need people like that in your life.

Just like I talk to a realtor and I’m like, who do you who’s the best painter or the best electrician or the best this or that? They’ve got a network of people. You talk to somebody building homes, that contractor, they know the best of the best of the best. But people aren’t willing to just give that to you just because. Like I had a friend reach out to my brother-in-law who builds these incredible homes. He’s like, Could I get your sub list of all your subs? He’s like, Absolutely not. Like he knows that that’s a big portion of his business that actually is what makes him so successful. He’s not just gonna give it to just like I’m not gonna give you guys every one of my people that I’m gonna refer to.

I like you, but also I recognize that like I’m only referring these people because I want to refer good people and be a great referring partner. I like you. I just don’t know if you’re the right fit for them. So just know a lot of times things are also gate kept until you work with these people. And it’s not intentional, it’s just relationships. And I want to connect you with the best. I was at the gym, had this girl, we were talking about things. She’s like, my gosh, let me connect you to this person. Like truly get to know people because that’s gonna be the benefit that like that’s your that’s your

Path to success. So if you want the easier path, get your network up. and then another piece is choose partners that make your team better. So looking at this of like partnerships should truly save you time. Like these are the ones we’re paying for, these are the ones we’re we’re having in. The best ones improve execution. So they should save you time and they should improve your execution. So when we’re looking at it, like these are vendors, these are labs, these are supplies, technology. So I want you to make sure, like, are you looking at your stack? Like, are we using our vendors?

Not because we’ve always used them, but because they’re the best. Do I have ongoing education? Like, am I making sure that we’re continuing to grow? Do we have our technology fully implemented and are we using it? And if not, like let’s get rid of it. And like, what am I doing to make sure those those vendors are truly being maximized and executed and I’m using them? Like I have some clients that don’t even reach out to us and I’m like, no, no, no. You we should be hearing from you like every single week, whether we have a call or not. Like you need to be using us constantly to make sure we’re elevating you and growing you. So with that said, I would

I would definitely look at your tech stack right now. I’d look at the vendors you’re using and see, am I using the supplier up just because I’ve always used them? Or is it because they’re the best of the best and I’m always getting the best deals? Are my supplies at 5% or not? What about my labs? Are those at 9% or less? If not, if I need to talk to other dentists, find out who the best lab person is, what are their fees? I had a financial advisor that I was paying one and a half percent. You guys might be losing your eyeballs. I was too. Got it down to point eight percent. Met another financial advisor who works with much higher net worth people.

0.25%, better quality, better services, better rate, but that came from talking to people. That person’s not advertising themselves. They’re only taking on certain clients. And this is what I found is when you get into those elite levels, they’re not there massing and marketing to the masses. They are literally held back and people only refer their best of the best. Like there are certain people that I will not refer publicly anymore. But if I know you and I know this person’s going to benefit you, I will refer. But again, it’s because I know only a certain clientele that person will take on.

So I can’t just say like, go meet Johnny. No, it has to be that. So again, look at your vendors, look at your platforms and see are these maximizing me? And if not, might be time to make a change. So I would really recommend you to look at your current vendors and ask who’s helping us grow and who’s simply providing a service. Now, simply providing service can be totally fine, but I just want you to reevaluate it. So there’s three tiers of partnerships, right? Number one is our dental referring partnership. Number two is our advisory board. And number three are our vendors and our suppliers.

And looking at that to see of all these people who’s helping us. So I want you to remember your network is your net worth. Be surrounded by people that are smarter than you. If you don’t have a group of dentists that wrote grow you, inspire you, make you smarter. Like we just had a mastermind back in February. We’re about to have another one in September. And it was fascinating because people took ideas from that of multi-million startups.

And they implemented it. And it’s been crazy to hear over six months how people talk about these implementations that they learn from each other. We had another one. We have a monthly mastermind. They were talking about AI. So many people were able to get AI tips and tricks from each other by being a part of it. If you are the smartest person in your group of friends of dentists or your advisory board, you need a bigger pond to swim in. I hope you heard that. You cannot be the smartest one in the group. Go get a bigger group. If we can be that group for you, amazing. Our dentists share with each other. We meet every single month, we meet twice a year in person, and you have a consultant.

That literally comes to your office or works directly with your team. Like, what more could you ask for? This is what I begged for as an owner, and we’ve created it for you with the best of the best. People that want to give, want to make you successful. And you are not in a room where people are better or worse. Everybody’s equal. Everybody has something to give, everybody has something to take, and that’s what we’re here for. Be in a group of people. Your network is your net worth. And I want you to always remember that. So look at who’s in your corner. Are they helping you build your practice?

Do you need to maybe make some changes? Do you maybe need to elevate your friendship group? How can we get these partnerships? I would go look at these three areas. Get a referring partner that’s in dentistry. Get an advisor and check your vendors to make sure all of them are benefiting you. And hey, if we can help you out, reach out. [email protected]. I’m obsessed with you guys. I’m obsessed with making your life easier. We’re obsessed with being the best of the best of the best for you. So reach out. I’m happy to help you in any way possible. Whether it’s just a friend, maybe like Kiera, who are those referrals? Well, depending upon who you are, maybe it is.

And I don’t say that to say I gatekeep from people. I say that because I genuinely value the relationships I have. I will not put anyone on the podcast unless I’ve vetted them. I do not share people unless they’re the best. And I have to own that sometimes they could be the best when I first put them on the podcast and they no longer are the best. And that’s just how it works. I believe that businesses every single day, we have to win our patience over, we have to win our reputation over, and we gotta continue to stay the best or we will be be out. And that is something Dental A Team is very committed to. So

If you don’t have someone on your advisory board that you know you can bank on who will give you the no nonsense, no BS answers, I’m here for you. So reach out. [email protected]. Go make the changes. Get your strong net worth. Get a little more brave. Like be like my friends. And I’m going to take notes from them too. All of us are here. And I want you just to be 1% better. Not perfectly better, but 1% better. You can do it. Your patients need you. You need it. And it’s very helpful to have people that you know you can count on when things don’t go right.

And you know you can have people that can celebrate you when things do go right. So get that net worth. I promise you it’s worth it. Go reach out. Let us know if we can help you in any way. And as always, thanks for listening. I’ll catch you next time on the Dental A Team Podcast.