All practices have an average per hygiene check value that is higher or lower than the above $880 example. On the other hand….whatever the average…all practices have production values that are significantly HIGHER when evening & weekend patients are checked in prime time hygiene.
So again, the $20 per prime time patient in the chair incentive amount is merely an example…but is a good place to start. Your amount may need to be higher or lower. As with all bonuses, this amount is like an auction…you do not want to overpay…but if you underpay, staff will show you with their actions that the amount was too low.
This is scalable…up or down…without regard to the size of your office staff or hygiene department. For instance…would you pay $2,000 a day for four front desk people to fill 40
prime time hygiene appointments that generated 2x the $17,600, or $35,200????
This represents a SUPER SIMPLE, emergency level, more urgent approach to incentivization…one that can be applied TODAY…whereas, on the other hand, the long-term, whole practice, self-adjusting three-month rolling average plans discussed elsewhere in this document may take more time to implement.
We don’t like making these suggestions…to pay more for staff to do what they are supposed to be doing anyway…any more than you like paying them. However, we need to deal with the world the way it is…not what we want it to be. So please suck it up… & give this a try. It has never NOT
worked.
2. Lucrative Awards for Perfect Secret Shoppers: Please consider lucratively rewarding reception staff for perfect 65
chrisad Secret Shopper grades. Multiple prime time appointments must be offered within a DAY! Chrisad Secret Shopper grading systems are directly tied to key verbiage & communications that have proven to fill prime time hygiene…or if managed improperly…empty it out!
With a perfect Secret Shopper transcript, inherently, insurance, money… & other EXTREMELY volatile/ sensitive areas of conversation that might dissuade the caller from appointing…are optimized.
Chrisad studies suggest that the public is generally not aware that prime time appointments are available at ANY dental office…so information as to these appointments’ availability must be proactively communicated.
In order for the caller to achieve a perfect Secret Shopper grade, the potential new or returning patient must be offered three prime time slots within 24 hours along with all other sensitive communication variables being properly
communicated.
Obviously, as we mentioned above, the practice must make the incentive possible by regularly… &
DISPROPORTIONATELY…adding an abundance of open
prime time hygiene appointments. While the amount you elect to award is up to you…in consideration of your local economy, practice overhead, staff salaries & other factors…the amount must be VERY LUCRATIVE & SIGNIFICANT FOR STAFF! Many of our clients award $50
or even $100 for perfect Secret Shopper grades.
Remember, the amount of time that it takes the patient to get in the door for an appointment that they want is an EXTREMELY powerful marketing tool. The longer they wait to get in…the more likely they are to cancel/no-show…not refer… & /or tell others to stay away.
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Get them in within a day for appointments that are convenient for them… & they have been repeatedly documented (as a result) to bring in their entire company!
COMPEL REFERRAL! We have significant amounts of data that suggest that if three or more prime time appointments are enthusiastically offered to the potential new or returning patient WITHIN A DAY, the referral rates of other wealthier, working & well-insured patients SKYROCKETS EVEN FURTHER!!
Again, in order for the staff to be able to receive their bonus, the practice owner MUST proactively FIRST ADD a massive amount of these EXTREMELY DESIRABLE prime time
appointments BEFORE the receptionist can enthusiastically
& abundantly offer them!!!
In addition to offering multiple prime time appointments within 24 hours…recently…due to practice software manipulation…office staff have been tricked into asking all sorts of proven-to-be EXTREMELY DAMAGING insurance related questions over the phone (asking for date of birth, social security number, “is it a PPO or HMO”…etc.) & even worse, mentioning “paperwork”…or suggesting that
paperwork be filled out.
PLEASE DON’T LET THIS HAPPEN! Not only will your
team NOT receive their A Secret Shopper bonuses…but your practice will suffer GREATLY in relation to these shortcomings over the phone!
Also, frequently, practice staff will identify our (not so?) Secret Shopper caller & do whatever it takes to get the rewards for a perfect score. They will tell us what we want to hear…up to & including offering desirable appointments that do not exist. To identify this deception & guide the receptionist & practice ahead, chrisad will perform even 67
more covert “DEEP DIVE” calls that are less likely to be identified.
Finally, I suspect you are worried about “breaking the bank”
with too many perfect Secret Shopper grades. DON’T
WORRY! The practice owner can control the number of Secret Shopper calls that are made… & /or control the number of such transcripts staff is aware of… & thus control outlays related to this incentive system.
To be frank…if you are offering a phone/reception profile that optimally invites new patients in & returning patients back…you will be growing so rapidly & earning so much money that the $100 Secret Shopper bonus (that helped in this growth) will seem like a penny to you!
As optimally managed (not blocked or sabotaged) & ABUNDANTLY OFFERED, it is extremely easy to fill these prime time appointments… & as 100% of these increased number of prime time hygiene patients are checked, practice production will quickly increase in direct proportion.
3. Pay More Per Hour, Time & a Half or Pay Double Time for Working Prime Time: Many practices have been experimenting with paying their (non-clinical) staff $2/hr.
more (for instance)…or time & a half…or even pay double time…for staff to work prime time hours.
In many regions & nations where we are proud to maintain clients, local laws mandate that ANY & ALL employees are paid time & a half or double time for working weekends… & in some cases staying late or coming in early.
IMPORTANT: We are not 100% in favor of using these prime time hourly wage increases alone. Historically, hourly increases can cause staff to come to work, sit around, get 68
paid a LOT MORE…without having to fill appointments, check hygiene or in any way work more!!!
For instance, if an employee is paid more by the hour, they are not directly paid more to properly answer the phones, fill the schedule, reactivate or pre-appoint properly.
We much prefer hygiene fill percentage-based incentives or other incentives that will tend to focus on filling evening & weekend hygiene schedules. If a prime time hourly increase incentive is used…it should be coupled with an increased prime time patient in the chair-related incentive.
While they still are far less than thrilled about it, hourly pay rate incentives clearly appear to decrease the level of staff resistance, sick outs & sabotage of prime time hours.
So if you were considering offering your staff time & a half or even to pay double time, you might want to start with the lower-cost time & a half approach FIRST… & see if it is sufficient to motivate them. (Remember: It is like an auction.) But don’t wait too long.
Frequently, this prime time pay increase works pretty well.
A number of our clients were shocked when they found that staff were ALL OF A SUDDEN VERY EAGER to
offer, work & appoint prime time hours in exchange for a relatively low increase per hour on their paycheck.
While some have VERY SUCCESSFULLY experimented
with amounts as low as $2 per hour more, your local economic & staffing conditions may require higher amounts…or even allow lower amounts…to be paid!
If this increased hourly approach doesn’t work…you must next jump to a prime time fill rate based incentive.
Again, this is all case-by case: It’s like an auction!
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4. Ensure Associate Doctors are Disproportionately &
IMMEDIATELY Rewarded for Working MORE Prime
Time Hours. While some systems related to motivating associates are outlined above, we have many cases where by using the following system, associate doctors who were previously thought to be “FROGS” & unproductive… & on the chopping block…have magically turned into high-producing “PRINCES”…overnight!!!
You may think these associates are as smart & aware as you are. But SADLY, please remember, just because they got through dental school, it doesn’t mean that they are as astute…or as wise of a businessperson as YOU are…or even begin to understand what you understand!
We have TOO MANY well-documented cases where
associate doctors have been aggressively (but usually very subtly!) working against & sabotaging prime time appointments… & thus (inadvertently & unknowingly) REDUCING their OWN INCOME…as well as the
practices’!
Associate doctors (particularly younger) are commonly inexperienced in business…having applied 100% of their brain cells to get into & through dental school… & not so many brain cells to the common sense ways of the world.
We have seen them make a massive number of knee jerk & bone head intuitive associate doctor decisions that cost them ( & you!!) a lot of money… & frequently their jobs.
The senior doctor/owner must use incentives (plus extensive training/regular oversight) to guide their associate doctor(s) to make the right decisions… & thus make more money for themselves… & the practice.
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Lead the horse to water! For much more on this please read our Associates book. We will only touch on some of the key issues related to associate compensation & incentivization herein.
Essentially, associate doctors ( & the practice) will make FAR
more money… & will have longer careers…by checking a maximum number of wealthier & better insured hygiene patients during prime time… & then appointing them for the diagnosed & accepted restorative care during the middle of the week, middle of the day when hygiene chairs are increasingly left unfilled & open.
However, judging by their actions…corroborated by a number of off the record conversations…associate doctors want to IMMEDIATELY earn the maximum amount of
money during prime time to OFFSET THE
INCONVENIENCE of working early, late or weekends.
So they do what they were taught to do in dental school or during a GURU conference: They tend to go for the big case or other restorative care where the patient will make a big initial payment… & where the associate expects that they will be IMMEDIATELY receiving 30% of that amount.
Again, the associate seems to like immediate gratification!
But please consider…as we noted above…that while the associate doctor is performing that restorative case on a Saturday (for instance), he could have been checking eight hygiene patients…which…based on this doctor’s diagnostic performance probability statistics…would have generated 2–
3x more money for the associate personally & the practice!
The patients would be better cared for as well.
Unless you guide associate doctors, they will naively & intuitively shoot themselves in the foot! Obviously, training
& monitoring are key factors here. You CAN influence the 71
associate doctor to only check hygiene during prime time if you constantly monitor them.
FOLLOW THE MONEY: But if associates are paid MUCH
LATER for the amounts that are accepted in prime time hygiene…when the practice (later/eventually) receives the money from insurance…on the basis of collections...THE
MINUTE YOU TURN YOUR BACK, they will commonly
begin to instinctively slip in restorative care during prime time hygiene periods for IMMEDIATE GRATIFICATION
from the 30–50% of the deposit/copay…or full
payment…that is collected that day!
Remember: They usually aren’t as business smart as you are (yet!). We even have cases where our clients have monitored associates wasting 20–30% of their day running to the front desk to see what money was collected!
Yes, their spouse is complaining about spending all Saturday at the office…away from the kids & (from their unsophisticated, narrow view perspective) only earning $1,000 from exams.
When the associate doctor is paid MUCH MORE
MONEY... immediately upon reasonably collectable acceptance (or by using one of the pioneering new approaches noted herein)… after the patient’s restorative agreement, appointment & deposit…THEY’LL typically eventually BEG TO CHECK PRIME TIME HYGIENE AS
MUCH AS THEY CAN!!! Then everybody wins!
Associate doctors absolutely will follow the money. We have (amazingly) even seen cases where associate doctors resist checking hygiene because of the fact they were not paid a percentage on the basis of the exam. But later, when they perform exams…uninterrupted…on ALL hygiene
patients, the associate’s personal income (along with the 72
practice’s income) doubles from the RESTORATIVE care that was accepted & later produced! Even this paid on acceptance system requires training & random/regular oversight.
However, when the associate doctor is guided to check 50
hygiene patients on a Saturday… & they find on average $1,000 worth of work on 20 of these checked hygiene patients…the $6,000 (30% of $20,000) from one day (practice earns $14,000!!)…that shows up on their NEXT
paycheck usually gets their attention in a Pavlovian sense… & their behavior is changed for good.
That’s right, you must guide Associate Doctors to be successful by IMMEDIATELY rewarding them for doing what they intuitively don’t want to do.
Finally, I know that you are worried about being the bank & paying the associate upon acceptance. However, this has worked out very well…as long as various safeguards are applied. The practice reserves the right to balance the books every pay period to make sure no one is getting ripped off. If the definition of “acceptance” includes there being a deposit made… & appointment set to produce the accepted restorative care…the collection rate has shown to be within 1–2% of what is expected. The amount that is paid in advance to the associate doctor upon acceptance usually is miniscule…relative to the MASSIVE increases in the associate’s… & the practice’s income!
5. More ELECTROSHOCK THERAPY! Use Short-Term EMERGENCY Bonuses to Push the Practice Ahead in One or More Areas: Over the years…in many practices…we have experienced what appear to be glass ceilings! By this we mean that one or more areas of the practice are stagnant or 73
declining…over many months or years…with seemingly no apparent explanation! The practice is in a rut.
Commonly, nobody can figure out why. We increase
marketing…but the numbers don’t increase in proportion.
Here, we need IMMEDIATE “electroshock therapy”! There may be a deep psychological root cause. Are they lazy?
Physically tired? Is morale low? Do they burn out at a certain point in the day or month?
We may never know…but we must fix it today! In these cases, the team…or the area of the practice in need of the boost…is brought into a meeting where a goal is set well above the current norm (but not out of reach) & the staff is told that as they hit that goal, everybody will receive (for example) $1,000.
Furthermore, tell them if they hit it 3 months in a row, not only will they receive the $1,000 each month…but also at the end of the third month, each will receive $3,000! Watch what happens! BOOM! You can use this to promptly shock your practice out of a funk in many ways.
For instance: Use it to catapult your practice out of the $100,000/mo. rut & into the $130,000 area. In this case, the practice grew by around $100,000 over three months (+$400,000/yr.!!!)… & should retain this rate into the future.
SO WHAT IF YOU HAVE TO PAY FOUR STAFF
MEMBERS $24,000 over three months to get there… & it otherwise would not have occurred?
If it doesn’t occur, you don’t pay! WHAT DO YOU HAVE
TO LOSE?? You can also use it to propel your new patients inflow rate from the 50 new patient/month rut to the 75-plus new-patient-per-month area! You may be able to calculate that each new patient is worth $1,000. So if you pay out $30 to each front-office staff for every new patient above 74
the 50 level, you won’t care if you pay out $750 one or more months to each reception staff to positively alter their behavior into the future!
While less precisely targeted than the prime time fill incentive previously noted…this more general approach has great value… & can be used in conjunction with all or some incentives outlined herein!
NOW what will happen to that 4:47pm Endo call? Here again, pick dollar amounts that are appropriate for your situation…but make it spectacular for your staff & don’t be cheap!
In these cases, staff had commonly been simply physically
& /or psychologically burnt out & required incentives to make the changes allowing them to catapult your practice…as a team…to the next level.
What do you have to lose? These should be used as short-term emergency shocks. After they have been used, the practice should adopt a Rolling Average system to ensure this level of growth is maintained over the long run.
6. SELL MORE INDIVIDUAL DENTAL PLANS! As your team is trained & incentivized, you WILL sell more! It has been our experience that as your staff is properly TRAINED… & incentivized to sell these Individual Dental Plans…FAR more IDPs will sell. As with all dental office incentive plans, the IDP sales incentive must be extremely simple… &
MONTHLY
PROGRESS…with
daily
updates…must be extremely visible to ALL TEAM in your break room. Unfortunately, (with all chrisad’s incentive suggestions) as premiums/copays & staff sizes greatly vary…we cannot suggest an exact dollar amount…or method of IDP
sales incentivization. Incentives that are offered to individuals can cause more harm than good as multiple staff argue over 75
which one more or less influenced the patient to purchase. So these IDP incentives must be offered to THE ENTIRE
TEAM…full or part time. In simplistic terms (please alter on a case by case basis)…in a seven-staff office (please include hygienists!!)…with a plan that has a premium per individual of a bit less than $200, if everyone receives (conservatively) $10
per new enrollee (PLUS $2 per spouse & each child), a great many more IDPs will sell. Incentive is paid at the end of each month. The contest starts again at the first of the next month.
This must be good for everyone. The higher the bonus, the more that will sell. As the more business savvy practitioner runs
calculations
as
to
the