Gems Publishing - May 2020

PART 1

Live 6-Week Course Begins Wed. 5/6/20, 8:30 pm EDT "Deploying the 17-Step Plan for a Rapid Practice Recovery" During this live, members-only, interactive program, I'll walk you step-by- step through the process of implementation of each of the 17 steps.

By Dr. Tom “The Gems Guy” Orent

I’ve always considered myself a “realistic optimist.” I’m always looking for the silver lining and I consciously avoid spending much (if any) time “worrying” about the negative, especially those things over which I have zero control. I refrain from yelling, “Chicken Little, Chicken Little, the sky is falling!” But … if anyone tells you we’re not heading into a deep recession, they’re either in denial or they have their head in the sand.

told him it was one of the best questions I’ve been asked in many years. See his question and my answer, below.

the way, but as I look into my cloudy, cracked, smudged crystal ball, I am trying to prepare for the future. That is pretty funny when you think of it. After all, what did the future look like in February? I could be wrong, of course, but I am trying to be as complete in my analysis as possible.

Tom:

The Wall Street Journal, 4/3/20:

At the outset of this situation, when a date of early April was given, it seemed reasonable to prepare for business as (un)usual with that date. As this stretches now to the end of April, and possibly May or June, I am wondering about strategies to deal with what will likely be a slow reboot as people remain shell-shocked from the loss of jobs, savings, retirement funds, etc. In other words, while I previously imagined a kick-start with the shorter hiatus, I am trying to wrap my mind around, and prepare my team for, something other than merely plugging in the appointments from last month into the start. Our continued communication efforts will no doubt be of great value, especially as we continue to provide support along

“Hope Isn’t a Strategy for Coronavirus Economic Forecasts. Wall Street economists believe the U.S. economy is in the midst of its sharpest downturn since the end of World War II. The risk is that they are underestimating how long it will last. “In the space of a few weeks, economists have gone from saying that the U.S. would skirt recession to forecasting the deepest economic contraction in most Americans’ living memory. At BofA Global Research, they say gross domestic product will fall by an annualized 12% in the second quarter.” Yesterday I received the following question from one of our Gems family members, Dr. Jim Ferris. Jim was the first to ask me a question that should be on all of our minds. I

Remain positive, breathe (through the nose).

–Jim Ferris

NAVIGATING UNCHARTED WATERS – TAKING PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR FUTURE Our Gems family will be working on this nonstop in the coming weeks and months. But if you'd like a head-start ... ask yourself how and why GG12 member Dr. Cindy Wolt and manager (Wizard) Abbie can do $5,000,000 in one location. Then, ask yourself what they are doing RIGHT NOW to stay alive ... and what they are going to

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YouTube Channel "Dental GoldMine"

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have served us well during good times and bad, and I’m confident they will help you, too.

Personal Gems Concierge for a link to my special report on Assisted Hygiene, “The $500,000.00 Hygienist.” ☑ Create a Senior Courtesy Shuttle! Buy a used vehicle and repaint it, then apply a full ad wrap that says, "[Your Practice Name] — Senior Courtesy Shuttle." Offer to pick up seniors for their dental appointments and then drop them back at home (check with your attorney and insurance, of course). I did this and they LOVED it! And they tell all their friends! Look under Advanced Marketing Brain Trust on our members’ website and you'll find several examples of members' wrapped cars. As I mentioned above, I'd combine the new "ad wraps" with what I did with a complimentary shuttle for seniors. Use a little (lot) of imagination … Time permitting, I even had my driver offer to take them to the grocery store or pharmacy on the way back from their dental visits! You can’t begin to imagine the appreciation and relationships we built by going the extra mile (literally) for our patients! Check first with your attorney and insurance company. ☑ Do Daily Follow-up Calls. Have your team make a follow-up CALL to every patient who was injected each day. Ditto for every patient who had even a single unit of prosthetics seated. The wording is very important. Keep it positive. Always say, "Just calling to say you did great today and to check to see all is well, and that you are comfortable?" ☑ Send “Bun Warmers.” You and your team members choose two patients each, every day, to send "Bun Warmers" to. These Continued on page 3 ... "WSJ — In the space of a few weeks, economists have gone from saying that the U.S. would skirt recession to forecasting the deepest economic contraction in most Americans’ living memory."

" Some will do better than they ever have before. It's going to be a small number ... but as long as it's going to happen ... shouldn't you be in that number?!"

As you read down through this checklist, for each item, ask yourself how many of your local colleagues would be willing (or even think) to deploy. You can take action or make excuses … but the two cannot co-exist. ☑ Add Extra Days. At LEAST Saturdays if not also Sundays. Add one or two weekend days, take a weekday off, and see what happens to your schedule! ☑ Add Extra Hours. Open your practice during more of the hours patients won’t need to take time off from work (nights, early mornings!). ☑ Practice "Doughnut-Hole" Hygiene. Offer DOUBLE or TRIPLE hygiene (with the Doctor only doing re-exams, NOT seeing restorative) from 7–10 a.m. and 5–8 p.m. And yes, eliminate hygiene from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. if you find that patients are not scheduling or scheduling then blowing you off (because last-minute, they fear for their jobs and forget they scheduled for a recall visit). ☑ Use a Dedicated Hygiene Assistant. If you haven’t already, this is the time to facilitate your hygienist working out of two chairs at once (assisted hygiene). That's how you take maximum advantage of the doughnut-hole schedule and jam it full of hygiene recall. Assuming your state allows a dental assistant to rubber cup prophy children, you can easily run THREE HYGIENE CHAIRS SIMULTANEOUSLY during peak hours with just one hygienist, a dedicated hygiene assistant, and another assistant taking care of the kids in the third chair. Imagine the productivity of the PATIENT- CENTRIC convenient hours … e.g., six peak hours each day, 7–10 a.m. and 5–8 p.m., during which you’re seeing three hygiene patients per hour! That’s 18 hygiene patients every day during hours your patients will truly appreciate (and take advantage of). Schedule your retired seniors during the middle of the day.

do in the coming months. We have many like them, but they stand out because they have a TAKE NO PRISONERS, do-whatever-it-takes attitude. Does a practice have to be massive to survive and thrive in hard times? Nope. Ask yourself what GG12 members Dr. Terrie Cribbs, Dr. Luanne Curatola, Dr. Jo Zagami, and Dr. David Hanle (and many others) are doing right now in order to ensure their best shot at coming back strong PC (post-corona). What actions did GG12 member Dr. Ken Rasbornik and Crystal take a few short years ago to turn their brink-of-bankruptcy practice around and increase over $800,000 in less than 10 months?

IN THE MONTHS TO COME, IT’S LIKELY THAT … •

Many older Dentists who were already on the fence will simply give up and retire.

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VC will pull out of and simply shut down some DSO offices to cut their losses (already happening). Most don't care about the Doctors or the patients ... they never did.

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Many Dentists will go bankrupt.

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Some will do better than they ever have before. It's going to be a small number ... but as long as it's going to happen ... shouldn't you be in that number?!

PLANET GEMS CHECKLIST FOR SUCCESS Nobody can guarantee your success. But you can take proven-effective steps to ensure you have every possible shot at coming out on top when this mess is in our rear-view mirrors. The following are the first nine steps of a short (not really) list of just some of the strategies and tactics I developed for my practices. I’ll share the final eight steps in June’s edition. They

For a detailed explanation of and sample schedule for assisted hygiene, ask your

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Facebook Group "Dental GoldMine"

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are short, hand-written notes touching on something special you know about them or how they did during the visit, and/or just to express your appreciation that they are your patient. When each of you takes just five minutes per day to touch two patients, the resulting goodwill is immeasurable. By the way … I’d urge you and your team to commence this today . Just begin reaching out to your patients with personalized hand-written notes, each and every day. During the crisis, while you’re not seeing patients (or many), you have more time to get more than two per team member and Doctor written and mailed each day. ☑ Offer Internal Long-Term Financing. Internal long-term financing for your "A" patients is a win. Follow every risk- mitigation step (including the four parameters to determine your "A" patients) as defined in GoldMine Team Training Toolkit 015, "Huge Profits: Financing the Unfinanceable." If you follow what I've

on your Gems family. Utilize your coaching calls, speak with your Personal Gems Concierge, your community of Gems Family Members, plus Elizabeth and me.

"You can take action or make excuses … but the two cannot co-exist."

In your service,

outlined, you will on occasion lose a few dollars. But you'll make far more money as a result of being more flexible with internal long-term financing. Watch the video. Speak with your Personal Gems Concierge or coach. Your patients will need this level of flexibility more now than ever before. Be sure your Gems ratio is