March 10, 2025 • 34 mins
The secret to higher production? Better leadership, not just more patients. In this episode, Dr. Spencer Greer shares the biggest lessons he’s learned from scaling multiple practices, optimizing production, and keeping teams motivated—even when you're leading remotely. He reflects on the mistakes he made, what he’d do differently, and how partnering with a DSO has helped him step back from ownership stress and focus on a new chapter in his career. Learn what you can do to increase production and become a better leader!
Topics discussed in this episode:
- How sales skills translate to dentistry
- Balancing leadership between multiple practices
- Why your team isn’t motivated (and how to fix it)
- Common mistakes in remote practice management
- Transitioning to DSO partnership and work-life balance
- The power of coaching and professional investment
Find out how you can work with Dr. Spencer Greer at Big Time Dental Producers!
Text us your feedback! (please note: we cannot respond through this channel))
Check out www.relevanceonlinemarketing.com if you want to get the same great marketing results as Dr. Etch. Mention DPH and get your first month FREE!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Do you ever feel like your dental practice has more
potential than what it'sachieving?
Or you struggle to get yourteam motivated to do those
little extra things that add upto big results?
Or maybe you wonder if you'llever be able to step away
without everything falling apartat the practice.
Well, in this episode today,we've got Dr Spencer Greer, the
big time dental producer himself.
(00:23):
We got him back on the show andwe're diving into leadership
and mindset shifts that can takeyour practice to the next level
in production and profitability.
We're also going to share inhis biggest mistakes and lessons
learned along the way tosuccess.
Let's get to the interview.
You are listening to DentalPractice Heroes, where we help
you create and scale your dentalpractice so that you are no
(00:44):
longer tied to the chair.
I'm Dr Paul Etcheson, author oftwo books on dental practice
management, dental coach andowner of a $6 million group
practice in the suburbs ofChicago.
I want to teach you how to growand systematize your dental
practice so you can spend lesstime practicing and more time
enjoying a life that you love.
Let's get started.
A life that you love, let's getstarted.
(01:09):
Hey, what's up?
Welcome back to Dental PracticeHeroes.
I'm so happy that you're herewith us today and I've got a
very special guest because hewas the guest on the number one
most downloaded podcast onDental Practice Heroes of 2024.
And I just had to have him backon because it's just so much
information, such a great personand brings so much value.
I got Dr Spencer Greer.
He owns two dental practices inWashington and he's the founder
(01:31):
of Big Time Dental Producersand just an overall BA dentist
man.
What's up, spencer?
How's it going, dude?
Speaker 2 (01:37):
I appreciate that intro.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
So if the listeners didn't listen to a previous
episode, I think it's importantif we touch on this, we don't
have to spend too much time onit, but talk about your
background in sales, that youknow it helped you in your
practice ownership journey andjust what you learned and you
took that into owning a dentalpractice.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Yeah, dude, I wasn't really that great of a salesman.
I was just kind of average.
You know, I wasn't the worst, Iwasn't the best.
There were definitely peopleout there who were doing double,
triple what I was doing, butwith my sales experience, all it
was was reps Just making surethat I was getting the reps in,
because even though I wasn'ttotally succeeding it's a
(02:14):
numbers game, right Even thoughyou might go into your first
exam as a dentist and you'verecited all the things into your
head and you're like I'm goingto nail this, you're still going
to trip all over your tongue,you're still going to make
mistakes and just walk out ofthat exam just rolling your eyes
at yourself, thinking man, Iwas such an idiot, why did I say
that?
But let's say year two, yearthree, you feel pretty dang good
(02:37):
about yourself and you're justgetting your stride because
you've done all those reps.
So that was why sales helped meso much.
I think because I failed sooften.
I kept going for it.
I would have door after doorafter door slammed in my face,
but I knew that one out of 30people that I knocked on the
door would say yes.
So I had to get through thepeople who said no.
(02:58):
To get to, the people say yes.
I've taken that lesson a lotinto dentistry.
Just because people tell me nodoesn't mean that I'm going to
drastically change my approachor I'm going to change exactly
what I say to people or how I dothings.
I'm going to make small tweaksbut I'm still going to stay
consistent.
I'm still going to be kind, I'mstill going to be brief in my
(03:21):
exams and not talk all over theplace.
I'm going to show empathy andI'm going to show them that
professional confidence that,hey, I'm the guy who's going to
take care of it.
As long as I give them thatnice little formula right there,
I get a lot of yeses.
So just got to keep on keepingon.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
Yeah, it's interesting.
I used to sell cell phones atRadioShack and if listeners are
like what the hell is RadioShack?
It doesn't exist anymore, but Iused to sign people up for cell
phones and they would provide alot of training from the
corporate level.
Much of it was very, I guess,like hard sales.
It was just very aggressive andvery dual alternative closes
Like okay, did you want the redone or the green one?
(03:56):
They're like oh, I didn't say Iwanted either.
What are you talking about?
It's very salesy.
But what it made me learn isthat a lot of it was confidence.
A lot of it was like how I wasfeeling when I had days where I
went in there feeling reallygood and I was just having a
good time and I was like in flow, being myself and just going
through the process.
I would sell more cell phones,but it's helpful to do those
(04:16):
reps and you learn more and moreand you see that there is a
process to selling.
So I think that's kind of whatyou learned as well.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
Yeah.
So what they're teaching you,there was the option close.
The option close is where yousay do you want a bridge or do
you want an implant?
Yeah Right, because either waythey have to tell you yes.
It's just like I've learnedfrom my mentor.
He says it's like when we tellour kids would you like to walk
to the bath or you want me tocarry you to the bath.
Either way, they're going tosay yes to a bath.
(04:42):
So with that, we don't have togo with the option close.
That's so blatant, where itjust spells out do you want A or
do you want B?
Basically, what they'reteaching you is are you going to
walk them to?
Yes, because there's always agood option.
There's always a good option.
You have to figure out what thatoption is and guide them
towards that, because you knowthat that's a good option for
(05:04):
them.
So that's the beautiful thingabout dentistry is a lot of
times people come in for an examand they don't know that they
need three crowns.
Okay, I'm going to lead you tothis destination, which is
fixing these three teeth withthe best product possible.
Yes, it's called a crown.
Yes, I have to drill in yourteeth and numb you.
But let's not talk about that.
Let's talk about the solutionand where you're going to be and
(05:26):
how it's going to be amazingfor you.
So that's what they're teachingyou.
Like you said, confidence, butalso just like get towards that
yes, because that yes is rightthere in front of you and you
just have to figure out how tonavigate to it.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
Let's talk about your two practices.
Now You've got two practices.
Talk about opening the firstone.
When did the second one comeand how did that all start?
Speaker 2 (05:45):
yeah.
So 2017 was the first one, 2019was the second one, and so I
did go in with somebody else,but then in 2020, I became the
sole owner of both of them.
You know it.
Just recently I decided that itwas time to partner with the
dso.
So I'm really grateful for thatgreat experience that I had,
because I understand that it'snot always great for a lot of
(06:06):
people, but I've had a superpositive experience, just like
you've always shared you did.
It's been great, but I reallyloved being the sole owner for
those four years five years andit was a great experience.
It took its toll on me mentally,just because of how much was
entailed into owning practicesand so any owner known we all
(06:28):
know what we're gettingourselves into and it takes its
toll.
So finally, I decided you knowwhat this has taken a little too
much toll on my mind, and thatis extracting the joy that I can
bring as a dad and a husband,and I saw that as being my
number one priority.
So I made fantastic money beinga dentist for several years,
(06:50):
but I realized that I broughtthe practices to a great
valuation, took some chips offthe table, so now I can focus on
just being a solid everythingof where I am a dad, a husband,
a partner with the DSO, a coachto other dentists to teach them
just how to produce, like yousaid, big time dental producers.
(07:10):
I'm not like you in which yougive them a lot of systems, a
lot of just.
You are all encompassing.
I'm pretty niche.
It's just like hey, do you wantto up your production, let's go
.
I can get people within threehours to increase their
production by 10K a month.
One guy doubled his productionin a month because he attended
my three-hour course.
He then attended my four-weekcourse and it's just like he
(07:32):
keeps getting all-time highs.
You, on the other hand, it's asuper benefit where every time
that you're talking about yours,I'm just like dude.
Paul knows what he's talkingabout.
He knows how to train the team,he about.
He knows how to train the team.
He knows how to teach thesepeople how to make systems.
You're all encompassing andthat's awesome.
So being a partner in a DSO,like I said, has allowed me to
just kind of focus a little bitmore on coaching, which is great
(07:52):
.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
What would you say to grow your practice?
If someone listens and they'relike man, I really want to do
that.
I want to grow my practice to ahigh valuation.
What were some things thatreally got your practice off the
ground and got you to where youcould sell it for a large sum
of money?
Speaker 2 (08:11):
First off, you've got to have the grit to just.
I mean, there's a hunger right.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
What kind of hunger did you feel when you were a new
owner?
Oh yeah, I was all in, 100%.
I mean, I gave everything, yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
How much hunger could you have for that right now?
And so there's a lot of hungrydocs out there.
They just want it, they want togrow it so bad, and so they've
got to have that hunger andthey've got to have humility.
Those are the one, two stepsthat you've got to have if you
want to learn from people likeyou and me, because if you have
a humility of you don't knoweverything yet, there's still a
(08:39):
lot that you can learn from myexperience, from Paul's
experience.
For whoever, those two thingslike if people are humble but
not hungry, they're not goinganywhere, and I guarantee you
those types of people aren'tlistening to your podcast either
if they're not hungry.
People who are listening to youwant more.
They're looking for answers,they're looking for inspiration.
Right, I was listening to adental podcast on the way home
(09:00):
from a basketball game about aweek ago.
It wasn't yours, but I am anavid listener to you, by the way
.
So I was listening to anotherone and my 11-year-old is in the
car and he interrupts me thepodcast and he goes.
This is really interesting,this is really good, really.
And so at the end he goes Dad.
That guy really sounded like heknew what he was talking about.
(09:21):
He was very interesting.
He sounded like he knew what hewas talking about.
He was very interesting.
He sounded like he had a lot ofcredibility.
However, an 11 year old saysthat and I really liked that.
And I said Gavin, is it weirdto you that I listened to this
type of stuff every singlemorning?
He's like you do.
I said, oh yeah, I want toconstantly feed on these people
who are just out there, who canteach me something.
(09:42):
So, even though I have thesepractices, we're at a level
similar to you.
I think that you say thatyou're a six or $7 million
practice.
Six.
We're pretty similar to you.
Like, we can still learn right,we can still grow, even if it's
not in a number sense Maybe itmight be, but it's in a personal
sense or a leadership sense.
(10:03):
So we title this leadership.
By the way, should we talkabout this being a leadership
podcast?
Speaker 1 (10:09):
I think we should, but we won't put it in the title
.
We want people to listen to it.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
Mass production is amazing and the profitability is
yours.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
Parentheses, leadership.
Let's go back to like getting apractice to this level, because
I think that's what we all wantto do.
Is we all want to grow apractice to a level that?
I mean, maybe we don't want tosell, but it's nice to have that
freedom to do so and pull thattrigger, if you want.
What do you think like were thebiggest challenges to getting?
I mean, you grew thesepractices without you being the
(10:38):
dentist in them.
I mean, at some point youpulled yourself out.
What point you pulled yourselfout?
What was the biggest challengeof getting to operate like a
true business rather than a solodoc office with you?
Speaker 2 (10:48):
First off, I didn't become a dentist in order to
become a non-practicing dentist.
I'll just put that out there.
That was not the intent.
I, as a two-practice owner,knew I needed redundancy and so
I thought how can I make surethat I'm not going to be a sole
producer with two practices?
That just doesn't make sense.
There are people out there whohave to do that.
(11:09):
I didn't want that to be me, sotherefore I had to make sure
that each office had a full-timeassociate to take care of that
production.
The biggest struggle to gettingit to this point, man, I feel
like this constant level thatI've got to meet every single
(11:30):
day, and it doesn't matter howgood yesterday was.
Today's the new day and I'vegot to hit that level.
I don't care if I produced$35,000 in an office yesterday.
I still am not going to taketoday lightly.
Right, that is not common amongpeople that I talk to as
dentists in my community or justamong the nation or on Facebook
(11:52):
groups.
No matter how good yesterdaywas, today is still so crucial,
and that takes consistency, thattakes a constant fire.
I had a really hard timedetaching.
I had a really hard timevacationing.
Even when I go to Hawaii in afew weeks.
(12:12):
It's only going to be for likefour days because I haven't
really been that person to belike you know what.
Let's take 10 days and go onvacation, because I'm just
constantly mindfully in thepractice.
Detaching from that has beenreally tough.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
All right.
So you're talking about likestaying motivated, staying on
top of it, never acceptingenough.
I know that as a dentalpractice owner and a manager of
a team.
Often it's really hard to getthe team to stay motivated where
you're not just like burningthem into the ground, they're
just like, man, you're addingmore production.
Why is it always aboutproduction?
Why are we doing this?
Why are we still putting ourfoot on the gas?
Can't we ever chill the hellout?
(12:48):
How do you keep your teammotivated?
Because if you can't get yourteam to want to produce like
that, it makes it really hard todo it.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
as the doctor, I get that question so much I'm
motivated to produce more.
How am I going to get my teamto do the same?
And, sadly, I have to say,maybe they're not the right team
members for this new level ofthinking, but there are people
out there who will match that.
(13:15):
So level them up or level themout, because eventually you'll
get the level that you want, butyou have to have the
mindfulness that maybe thesepeople won't work out.
But don't bring your levellower in order to accommodate
those who work for you.
They work for you, they workfor you.
So therefore, we have to getthem to level up with us.
(13:39):
And Justin Short was my coach in2020 and he loved to say like
hey, on my ads, I love to say inthis office, we work hard and I
got to put that out there fromthe beginning, from the get go.
So people who don't like that,people who like those lax
offices where they just see onepatient at a time they're not
even going to apply.
So set the tone right to whereit's just people are going to
(14:02):
come in with the understandinglike we work hard.
This is a place where I'm notgoing to run you crazy, but I am
going to make sure that I makemy day super efficient.
We can make it busy withoutmaking it crazy.
Don't you love when the teamtells you that they're just like
, wow, today is really busy, butit didn't feel crazy?
Yeah, that's a great feeling.
That's a great, and I've had tofilter through a lot of
(14:26):
different employees to finallyget to the teams that I have in
order to really make sure thatthat is a sentiment.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
Yeah, and I think it's like staying consistent,
like I've noticed that workingwith a lot of coaching clients
is that the way we show up everyday becomes the normal.
It becomes the culture.
And when I work with a lot ofclients, we're often trying to
change a culture, especiallywhen somebody comes and works
with me when they just took overan acquisition and I just keep
telling the same thing Be trueto what you want this to be and
(14:55):
you will find your people.
And it just takes a time and ittakes consistency.
But be true to what you want tobe.
Now, talk about having twoseparate dental practices,
because often we're talkingabout culture and when you're in
the practice every day, itbecomes very easy to project
that culture to the team.
But as you pull yourself out,this becomes more of a challenge
(15:17):
.
Did you experience that at all,like bouncing between two
practices or just being kind ofabsent in some of the practices?
Speaker 2 (15:23):
Yeah, I learned that there's two different types of
leadership when you're amulti-practice owner.
There is on-site leadership andthere's remote leadership.
It's a real difference.
You really have to learn how tobe an off-site owner and an
on-site owner, becauseeverybody's going to button up
everything.
When you're there, they'regoing to walk faster, they're
(15:44):
going to sit straighter, they'regoing to take less breaks,
right, and so how are you goingto make sure to manage from afar
?
It's not the same skill leveland that's what I had to learn.
It was really hard to ownmultiple practices at once,
especially when I was producingfull-time in one and an
associate was producingfull-time in the other.
(16:05):
Definitely I was the higherproducer.
That's how owner doctorsusually are.
My team, where I was present,was bonusing higher, the culture
was better, it was moreconsistent.
I was getting less complaints.
So it comes with a fine linewhen you own multiple practices
and that's a danger that I thinka lot of aspiring dentists
(16:28):
don't understand.
That they're going to getthemselves into.
I don't tell people not to, butit is going to be a hard thing
for them to go through.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
Sometimes I wonder if you just have to have the lower
expectations about offices thatyou're not going to be in all
the time.
And I hate having the answer belower your expectations.
But I've experienced when Ipulled myself out of practice is
that I would hate that when Iwould show up and people would
be like people just they dobetter when you're here, they
(16:56):
work harder when you're here.
And I'm like why?
Like, what am I doing?
Why am I the only one that canI mean I'm not like walking
around intimidating and yellingat people Like what am I doing?
Why am I the only one that canI mean I'm not like walking
around intimidating and yellingat people Like why do they
perform better when I'm here?
And I can't say that I everfigured it out, it's just I had
to get them to perform goodenough when I'm not there and I
just accept that they're goingto perform better when I'm there
.
But can you think about I mean,you said you learned a lot of
(17:19):
things Does anything come tomind as a specific situation
where maybe you feel like youdidn't handle it the greatest
and you might have handled itdifferently, knowing what you
know now management wise, as youturned over the team?
Speaker 2 (17:30):
Wow, great question.
I will say first, beforeanswering that question, I did
lower my expectations at thetime.
I was just like you.
I just think, huh, I think Ijust need to have a lower
expectation, I need to have alower threshold of what is not
going to twist my stomach onthat office versus this office,
and that helped my sanity.
(17:50):
But at the same time, you justgot to understand you're not
going to be at two places atonce.
So just be realistic.
Be realistic.
Yeah, I can think of asituation that I made a mistake.
So on my practice managementsoftware, I logged into both
offices and at the office that Iwas absent I saw something of
(18:11):
concern.
I'm like ooh, red flag, and Iwrote a note on the schedule.
Hey, dr Spencer Greer is goingto say this that it was kind of
like a encouragement, but youcan never control the tone of
written word.
And after I did that a fewtimes it really rubbed people
the wrong way Really, because Iwas just like well, you know the
(18:33):
feeling of he's not here, hedoesn't know what's really going
on, he doesn't know what thepatient interactions are like,
he doesn't know what theno-shows look like.
Like maybe I'll say like heyguys, we're only scheduled at
8,000.
You can do it, let's push,let's get that 12 or whatever it
was.
That could come across as justout of touch.
This guy, he loves his otheroffice more, that's why he's
(18:54):
over there.
He doesn't really get it.
So that was a big mistake thatI learned that I'm not doing
anymore.
Now, if I'm gone and I see agreat day, I put a note on there
.
I'm just like oh my gosh, youguys are so amazing with blank,
way too many exclamation points.
I will do that, but that's all,nothing less positive than that
.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
Was it the content or was it just the mode of
communication that wasproblematic there?
Speaker 2 (19:16):
The mode of communication.
That was problematic.
So my friend is a is kind of alead getter for an attorney here
in town and he goes around tochiropractors to find people who
have had car accidents and sohe wants to get as many leads
for this attorney as possiblefor for their car insurance.
(19:37):
So he sent us a screenshot ofthis attorney boss's text that
he sent all the reps.
He goes hey guys, we just hadan all-time high 267 for the
month.
Today's the 30th.
Let's see what we can do to hit300.
And I got so pissed off.
You know why?
It's because that came out ofnowhere.
(19:58):
The number 300 was so arbitrary.
So be cautious in how you'repushing people, because what's
incentivizing you?
What does this guy want to do?
He wants his P&L to be awesome,to look great.
He wants his accountant to seehow good it is.
He wants everybody in hisnetwork to know like, oh my gosh
, we're hitting all-time highs.
Look at these numbers.
(20:19):
Nobody's going to benefit.
Who are actually doing the work?
Speaker 1 (20:22):
Yeah, it's like we want to give that encouragement,
we want to be.
I mean we want to see our teamwin.
I mean we want everyone to win.
But I've noticed when peopletake things the wrong way, it's
often because they think there'sa different motivation of
intent behind it.
Like you are being there saying, hey guys, you're doing great,
I know we can pull this off andwe can hit goal.
(20:44):
Saying, hey guys, you're doinggreat, I know we can pull this
off and we can hit goal.
And the team's probably readingthat, saying like he's not here
, he just wants more money, hejust wants us to hit goal to
make a money.
And you're there saying I wantto encourage my team because I
believe in them.
So it's like does the intentcome off?
And that's what I always tellpeople especially.
I've had a number of coachingclients like send texts, deal
(21:04):
with difficult conversations viaemail and text.
I'm like, dude, you have got topick up the phone and talk in
person, you're going to lose theintent.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
Right.
I mean, paul, as you weretalking and you're saying, does
the intent come across as right?
Most of the time, paul, we dowant more money.
That is our intent, right?
True?
So therefore, we have to becautious.
Even if my intention is good, myintention still comes from my
own personal goals of wantinghigh financial metrics hit.
(21:32):
So how do I deliver that?
How do I deliver that message?
And it's a fine line, and Ithink a lot of people are doing
it wrong and they're learningthe hard way and we're going to
experience turnover, we're goingto experience trauma, you know,
like just drama with the team.
So the way that we lead reallyneeds to be purified in us in
(21:53):
order for us to hit our goal.
I don't talk about production alot with all of the team
members.
I do with the head ofscheduling, who feels that
ownership of production, but Idon't get in front of the whole
team and be like all right, guys, we're going to hit 20K today.
That doesn't rub wrong withcertain people.
So people just need to becautious in how they do that if
they're really production driven.
Speaker 1 (22:15):
Yeah, great advice, man.
Now you mentioned part of thisDSO partnership led from some
things.
I don't want to say personalthings, but like life-work
balance.
Where you were, you know fivekids and where you were at your
life, did you find that it was astruggle to balance life and
work with two practices, andwhat did you learn through that
(22:35):
and how have you improved?
Speaker 2 (22:37):
Dude, I had so much time with my family I don't want
to take that away.
I was home at a good time.
I worked four days a week.
A lot of the time my mentalenergy was not present though,
so even though my physicalpresence was there, I really
struggled with the fact that Iwas not mentally, emotionally
present.
(22:57):
Anytime my phone would buzz, Iwould look at it.
What if it's urgent?
What if somebody needs urgent?
What if somebody needssomething?
What if something is wrong withtheir paycheck?
I was always in that mode.
They could text me at 11o'clock at night.
First thing I would do is checkmy Slack messages, check my
email.
I got in such a bad habit, paul, to where my alarm would go off
(23:21):
.
Such a bad habit, paul, towhere my alarm would go off.
Tell me if you relate with this.
I would pick up my phone.
First thing I would do, openemail.
Second thing I would do is aquick scroll through to see if
there are any resignations.
How unhealthy is that?
Speaker 1 (23:38):
I've never done that, but I've had, like, anytime
somebody's like I got to talk toyou, I'm like oh God, here
comes a resignation.
Yeah, I think.
Speaker 2 (23:45):
I had gone through enough trauma.
You know, it just takes acouple of times for it to be
like, oh crap, okay, I'm good,yeah.
And then the next morning,groundhog Day, oh crap, okay,
I'm good.
And then I would slowly gothrough the emails, emails.
But that just showed howbusiness ownership just kind of
possessed me a little bit.
You've really got to start withthe end in mind.
(24:09):
Okay, what am I building?
Who do I want to be?
When it hits the point that Iwant it and my kids were
starting to get acne and armpithair, and so I said, hey, the
time has kind of come to where Ineed to be more present before
they leave the house.
So therefore I decided you know, I think that I've made enough
money in the dental practice.
I can continue to make moneyelsewhere, I can continue to
(24:30):
make money as a partner, but Iwant to give a lot of this
stress to somebody else whowants the stress.
So therefore, it was a greattime for me.
I was 41 when I partnered and Ifeel like it's my first
retirement in my life and I'msuper excited about it.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
Yeah, that's awesome man.
Congratulations for that too.
It's so cool.
What this reminds me of is I'venever looked for resignations,
but I so relate to that becauseI was looking for similar things
and I remember one time it waslike a Monday morning I woke up,
I went to go use the washroomand I came back and my wife goes
how are you?
And I go, I can't wait.
It's Monday morning, can't waitto see what's going to piss me
(25:07):
off today.
And she goes oh, what happened?
And I'm like, oh nothing, Ididn't even open my phone yet,
but I'm sure something's there.
So yeah, I could totally allhave that.
You know that it's almost likethis cynicism or just negativity
that just creeps in, and Ithink it comes from success.
But I still see it in peoplethat don't have big bustling
(25:28):
practices as well.
I think it's just practiceownership.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
Yeah, and you know you do have people who are
listening to this podcast, whowant big bustling practice, and
so to them here's what I sayRemember, every seven years it's
proven that we kind of havemajor shifts of who we are, our
identity, our faith, ourviewpoints.
You know just, there's alwaysmajor shifts every seven years.
So if you are in that mode ofjust go, go, go make hay while
(25:55):
the sun's shining, do it, go forit.
Plan for the time that itdoesn't feel that way anymore.
What are you going to buildtowards?
Right, it's those little nagsthat we've gotten over our
careers, paul, of those emailsor of the text or the comments
where they say, hey, can I talkto you for a second?
It's been that constant poke,boom, boom, boom, constantly
(26:16):
hitting us that finally we havea breaking point.
So, people who are cranking sohard, just remember that's also
one of those things where you'regoing to have a breaking point.
Plan for the future of what youwant this to build towards.
Don't make this a hamster wheelto where it's just like every
day is the same.
I have my goal it's 10,000 aday, whatever it is.
(26:38):
18,000 a day, whatever it is18,000 a day, whatever it is.
At one point you're going to besick of that goal.
At one point you're going to besick of producing for a goal.
So where are you buildingtowards?
That's my advice for today.
I think that your podcast is sogreat because everybody that I
listen to is a go-getter.
Everybody that I listen to iseither doing something big or
(27:01):
wants to do something big, andthat's why this podcast is super
special.
If I can say really quick, Imet this dentist who was
mentoring me and I thought hewas so special dude.
I thought he had everythinggoing.
I'm like man, I am so luckythat I get to learn from him.
Then I bought your book, dentalPractice Hero, and as I
listened to it I go oh my gosh,he learned everything from
(27:26):
Paul's book.
Everything is in here, I kidyou not.
I learned pearl after pearlafter pearl, and it was all from
your book.
So you have a wealth ofknowledge and people can just
pay a couple bucks to haveaccess to it, which is amazing.
But are they hungry and arethey humble and are they willing
to execute?
You have to put money whereyour mouth is.
(27:48):
You have to get people to keepyou accountable, right?
That's the most powerful thingis when you hold your people
accountable.
Who are in your coachingprogram, paul.
They grow so much faster.
Yeah, right.
But for those who have visionsof doing something really big,
how do you see that practiceserving you?
(28:09):
And where do you see yourself?
Because you've got to make surethat you can keep transitioning
into different roles until youhit that peak role, like with
what you're doing with realestate and coaching, right.
Do you see that as kind ofbeing your optimal position of
where you want your career to be?
I think so.
Speaker 1 (28:25):
Yeah, it's like you mentioned, dude.
I love watching my clients justkill it.
It's like almost likevicariously living through them
to some extent, but it's fun towatch things grow and a little
bit goes a long way.
You know what I mean.
It's like just a little bit ofknowledge, a little bit of
implementation and people see ahuge difference.
Speaker 2 (28:43):
Massive, massive difference, and even though the
price point might sound like alot in comparison, it is just
completely dwarfed.
It is so in the shadows.
I mean think about people whotake an implant CE and then go
on placing implants for the restof their life Same thing.
So I really applaud what you'redoing, paul.
(29:08):
You've been a great example forme of how I've gotten into this
mentoring coaching realm in myown life.
It's turned into somethingsuper fulfilling for both of us.
You know, growing the practicehas been really great proof, and
then showing how it can be donejust through associates now is
even further proof.
Speaker 1 (29:21):
I love that man.
Thank you so much for thatabout sharing that story as well
.
Last thing, talk about yourprogram Big Time Dental
Producers.
I love the name and I love whatyou're doing.
I sent my associate to it.
She was awesome we had.
She increased her productiondaily.
I mean, she was sitting thereand it changed the way that she
approached her day.
Speaker 2 (29:42):
Yeah, we don't know what the potential is unless we
put ourselves out there Everyday in the practice.
It's just us, we're the big dog.
There's an emergency, getdoctor.
There's something that needs tobe done, get doctor.
It's not until we put ourselvesinto a bigger situation that we
can understand.
Oh, I just thought that doing$60,000 a month was normal.
I didn't know that people weredoing $300,000 a month.
(30:05):
So putting yourself out thereand seeing what your potential
is, that's step.
Number one is showing peoplewhat they're truly capable of,
because they've just gotten usedto what is their norm.
So I teach people kind of wherethey can go.
I teach people how to actuallyincrease each procedure that
they're used to doing.
(30:25):
I give them the confidence ofhow easy it can be to do some
new procedures that they're notquite doing yet.
It's amazing how many peoplejust aren't doing some really
basic things, that they are justgiving that money to
specialists left and right Crazy.
And so it's just learning thebasics of those things, making
sure that people understand howto manage the flow of their
(30:47):
practice, manage the flow ofhaving, like, a higher
production level.
My production goal used to be$9,000 a day.
I thought that was ambitious.
Now in each office it's $15,000for one associate, $18,000 for
the other associate.
They consistently hit those,and so where can we go from
there?
And that's what I show peoplehow to do, that I do mentoring
(31:09):
and coaching through all sortsof different methods.
If people want to see thedifferent methods, it's on
bigtimedentistcom.
Why did I name it that?
Because when I'm in the officeI want to be big time.
I want my production numbers tobe big time, and so anybody who
learns from me, I want them tohit big time numbers.
It kind of is a name that makesme laugh, but it's actually
(31:34):
something that I think islegitimate for people who take
my course.
They laugh at it after the fact.
They're like dude, I am doingbig time numbers now I'm like
absolutely so.
It's a very simple way ofcommitting to just a few
sessions or ongoing sessions.
It's very flexible.
So I love how it's helped a lotof ambitious docs to get to
their next level.
Speaker 1 (31:51):
Awesome man.
Well, dude, thank you so much.
I love when you come on here.
We got to do it again.
I love interviewing you.
It's just such a wealth ofknowledge and I love the way you
reflect on your experience.
I think that's so helpful toshare, and more people need to
be more vulnerable and sharethat sort of stuff.
So, ladies and gentlemen,spencer Greer, thanks so much,
man, thanks bro.
Do you ever feel like your dental practice has more
potential than what it'sachieving?
Or you struggle to get yourteam motivated to do those
little extra things that add upto big results?
Or maybe you wonder if you'llever be able to step away
without everything falling apartat the practice.
Well, in this episode today,we've got Dr Spencer Greer, the
big time dental producer himself.
(00:23):
We got him back on the show andwe're diving into leadership
and mindset shifts that can takeyour practice to the next level
in production and profitability.
We're also going to share inhis biggest mistakes and lessons
learned along the way tosuccess.
Let's get to the interview.
You are listening to DentalPractice Heroes, where we help
you create and scale your dentalpractice so that you are no
(00:44):
longer tied to the chair.
I'm Dr Paul Etcheson, author oftwo books on dental practice
management, dental coach andowner of a $6 million group
practice in the suburbs ofChicago.
I want to teach you how to growand systematize your dental
practice so you can spend lesstime practicing and more time
enjoying a life that you love.
Let's get started.
A life that you love, let's getstarted.
(01:09):
Hey, what's up?
Welcome back to Dental PracticeHeroes.
I'm so happy that you're herewith us today and I've got a
very special guest because hewas the guest on the number one
most downloaded podcast onDental Practice Heroes of 2024.
And I just had to have him backon because it's just so much
information, such a great personand brings so much value.
I got Dr Spencer Greer.
He owns two dental practices inWashington and he's the founder
(01:31):
of Big Time Dental Producersand just an overall BA dentist
man.
What's up, spencer?
How's it going, dude?
Speaker 2 (01:37):
I appreciate that intro.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
So if the listeners didn't listen to a previous
episode, I think it's importantif we touch on this, we don't
have to spend too much time onit, but talk about your
background in sales, that youknow it helped you in your
practice ownership journey andjust what you learned and you
took that into owning a dentalpractice.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Yeah, dude, I wasn't really that great of a salesman.
I was just kind of average.
You know, I wasn't the worst, Iwasn't the best.
There were definitely peopleout there who were doing double,
triple what I was doing, butwith my sales experience, all it
was was reps Just making surethat I was getting the reps in,
because even though I wasn'ttotally succeeding it's a
(02:14):
numbers game, right Even thoughyou might go into your first
exam as a dentist and you'verecited all the things into your
head and you're like I'm goingto nail this, you're still going
to trip all over your tongue,you're still going to make
mistakes and just walk out ofthat exam just rolling your eyes
at yourself, thinking man, Iwas such an idiot, why did I say
that?
But let's say year two, yearthree, you feel pretty dang good
(02:37):
about yourself and you're justgetting your stride because
you've done all those reps.
So that was why sales helped meso much.
I think because I failed sooften.
I kept going for it.
I would have door after doorafter door slammed in my face,
but I knew that one out of 30people that I knocked on the
door would say yes.
So I had to get through thepeople who said no.
(02:58):
To get to, the people say yes.
I've taken that lesson a lotinto dentistry.
Just because people tell me nodoesn't mean that I'm going to
drastically change my approachor I'm going to change exactly
what I say to people or how I dothings.
I'm going to make small tweaksbut I'm still going to stay
consistent.
I'm still going to be kind, I'mstill going to be brief in my
(03:21):
exams and not talk all over theplace.
I'm going to show empathy andI'm going to show them that
professional confidence that,hey, I'm the guy who's going to
take care of it.
As long as I give them thatnice little formula right there,
I get a lot of yeses.
So just got to keep on keepingon.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
Yeah, it's interesting.
I used to sell cell phones atRadioShack and if listeners are
like what the hell is RadioShack?
It doesn't exist anymore, but Iused to sign people up for cell
phones and they would provide alot of training from the
corporate level.
Much of it was very, I guess,like hard sales.
It was just very aggressive andvery dual alternative closes
Like okay, did you want the redone or the green one?
(03:56):
They're like oh, I didn't say Iwanted either.
What are you talking about?
It's very salesy.
But what it made me learn isthat a lot of it was confidence.
A lot of it was like how I wasfeeling when I had days where I
went in there feeling reallygood and I was just having a
good time and I was like in flow, being myself and just going
through the process.
I would sell more cell phones,but it's helpful to do those
(04:16):
reps and you learn more and moreand you see that there is a
process to selling.
So I think that's kind of whatyou learned as well.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
Yeah.
So what they're teaching you,there was the option close.
The option close is where yousay do you want a bridge or do
you want an implant?
Yeah Right, because either waythey have to tell you yes.
It's just like I've learnedfrom my mentor.
He says it's like when we tellour kids would you like to walk
to the bath or you want me tocarry you to the bath.
Either way, they're going tosay yes to a bath.
(04:42):
So with that, we don't have togo with the option close.
That's so blatant, where itjust spells out do you want A or
do you want B?
Basically, what they'reteaching you is are you going to
walk them to?
Yes, because there's always agood option.
There's always a good option.
You have to figure out what thatoption is and guide them
towards that, because you knowthat that's a good option for
(05:04):
them.
So that's the beautiful thingabout dentistry is a lot of
times people come in for an examand they don't know that they
need three crowns.
Okay, I'm going to lead you tothis destination, which is
fixing these three teeth withthe best product possible.
Yes, it's called a crown.
Yes, I have to drill in yourteeth and numb you.
But let's not talk about that.
Let's talk about the solutionand where you're going to be and
(05:26):
how it's going to be amazingfor you.
So that's what they're teachingyou.
Like you said, confidence, butalso just like get towards that
yes, because that yes is rightthere in front of you and you
just have to figure out how tonavigate to it.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
Let's talk about your two practices.
Now You've got two practices.
Talk about opening the firstone.
When did the second one comeand how did that all start?
Speaker 2 (05:45):
yeah.
So 2017 was the first one, 2019was the second one, and so I
did go in with somebody else,but then in 2020, I became the
sole owner of both of them.
You know it.
Just recently I decided that itwas time to partner with the
dso.
So I'm really grateful for thatgreat experience that I had,
because I understand that it'snot always great for a lot of
(06:06):
people, but I've had a superpositive experience, just like
you've always shared you did.
It's been great, but I reallyloved being the sole owner for
those four years five years andit was a great experience.
It took its toll on me mentally,just because of how much was
entailed into owning practicesand so any owner known we all
(06:28):
know what we're gettingourselves into and it takes its
toll.
So finally, I decided you knowwhat this has taken a little too
much toll on my mind, and thatis extracting the joy that I can
bring as a dad and a husband,and I saw that as being my
number one priority.
So I made fantastic money beinga dentist for several years,
(06:50):
but I realized that I broughtthe practices to a great
valuation, took some chips offthe table, so now I can focus on
just being a solid everythingof where I am a dad, a husband,
a partner with the DSO, a coachto other dentists to teach them
just how to produce, like yousaid, big time dental producers.
(07:10):
I'm not like you in which yougive them a lot of systems, a
lot of just.
You are all encompassing.
I'm pretty niche.
It's just like hey, do you wantto up your production, let's go
.
I can get people within threehours to increase their
production by 10K a month.
One guy doubled his productionin a month because he attended
my three-hour course.
He then attended my four-weekcourse and it's just like he
(07:32):
keeps getting all-time highs.
You, on the other hand, it's asuper benefit where every time
that you're talking about yours,I'm just like dude.
Paul knows what he's talkingabout.
He knows how to train the team,he about.
He knows how to train the team.
He knows how to teach thesepeople how to make systems.
You're all encompassing andthat's awesome.
So being a partner in a DSO,like I said, has allowed me to
just kind of focus a little bitmore on coaching, which is great
(07:52):
.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
What would you say to grow your practice?
If someone listens and they'relike man, I really want to do
that.
I want to grow my practice to ahigh valuation.
What were some things thatreally got your practice off the
ground and got you to where youcould sell it for a large sum
of money?
Speaker 2 (08:11):
First off, you've got to have the grit to just.
I mean, there's a hunger right.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
What kind of hunger did you feel when you were a new
owner?
Oh yeah, I was all in, 100%.
I mean, I gave everything, yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
How much hunger could you have for that right now?
And so there's a lot of hungrydocs out there.
They just want it, they want togrow it so bad, and so they've
got to have that hunger andthey've got to have humility.
Those are the one, two stepsthat you've got to have if you
want to learn from people likeyou and me, because if you have
a humility of you don't knoweverything yet, there's still a
(08:39):
lot that you can learn from myexperience, from Paul's
experience.
For whoever, those two thingslike if people are humble but
not hungry, they're not goinganywhere, and I guarantee you
those types of people aren'tlistening to your podcast either
if they're not hungry.
People who are listening to youwant more.
They're looking for answers,they're looking for inspiration.
Right, I was listening to adental podcast on the way home
(09:00):
from a basketball game about aweek ago.
It wasn't yours, but I am anavid listener to you, by the way
.
So I was listening to anotherone and my 11-year-old is in the
car and he interrupts me thepodcast and he goes.
This is really interesting,this is really good, really.
And so at the end he goes Dad.
That guy really sounded like heknew what he was talking about.
(09:21):
He was very interesting.
He sounded like he knew what hewas talking about.
He was very interesting.
He sounded like he had a lot ofcredibility.
However, an 11 year old saysthat and I really liked that.
And I said Gavin, is it weirdto you that I listened to this
type of stuff every singlemorning?
He's like you do.
I said, oh yeah, I want toconstantly feed on these people
who are just out there, who canteach me something.
(09:42):
So, even though I have thesepractices, we're at a level
similar to you.
I think that you say thatyou're a six or $7 million
practice.
Six.
We're pretty similar to you.
Like, we can still learn right,we can still grow, even if it's
not in a number sense Maybe itmight be, but it's in a personal
sense or a leadership sense.
(10:03):
So we title this leadership.
By the way, should we talkabout this being a leadership
podcast?
Speaker 1 (10:09):
I think we should, but we won't put it in the title
.
We want people to listen to it.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
Mass production is amazing and the profitability is
yours.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
Parentheses, leadership.
Let's go back to like getting apractice to this level, because
I think that's what we all wantto do.
Is we all want to grow apractice to a level that?
I mean, maybe we don't want tosell, but it's nice to have that
freedom to do so and pull thattrigger, if you want.
What do you think like were thebiggest challenges to getting?
I mean, you grew thesepractices without you being the
(10:38):
dentist in them.
I mean, at some point youpulled yourself out.
What point you pulled yourselfout?
What was the biggest challengeof getting to operate like a
true business rather than a solodoc office with you?
Speaker 2 (10:48):
First off, I didn't become a dentist in order to
become a non-practicing dentist.
I'll just put that out there.
That was not the intent.
I, as a two-practice owner,knew I needed redundancy and so
I thought how can I make surethat I'm not going to be a sole
producer with two practices?
That just doesn't make sense.
There are people out there whohave to do that.
(11:09):
I didn't want that to be me, sotherefore I had to make sure
that each office had a full-timeassociate to take care of that
production.
The biggest struggle to gettingit to this point, man, I feel
like this constant level thatI've got to meet every single
(11:30):
day, and it doesn't matter howgood yesterday was.
Today's the new day and I'vegot to hit that level.
I don't care if I produced$35,000 in an office yesterday.
I still am not going to taketoday lightly.
Right, that is not common amongpeople that I talk to as
dentists in my community or justamong the nation or on Facebook
(11:52):
groups.
No matter how good yesterdaywas, today is still so crucial,
and that takes consistency, thattakes a constant fire.
I had a really hard timedetaching.
I had a really hard timevacationing.
Even when I go to Hawaii in afew weeks.
(12:12):
It's only going to be for likefour days because I haven't
really been that person to belike you know what.
Let's take 10 days and go onvacation, because I'm just
constantly mindfully in thepractice.
Detaching from that has beenreally tough.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
All right.
So you're talking about likestaying motivated, staying on
top of it, never acceptingenough.
I know that as a dentalpractice owner and a manager of
a team.
Often it's really hard to getthe team to stay motivated where
you're not just like burningthem into the ground, they're
just like, man, you're addingmore production.
Why is it always aboutproduction?
Why are we doing this?
Why are we still putting ourfoot on the gas?
Can't we ever chill the hellout?
(12:48):
How do you keep your teammotivated?
Because if you can't get yourteam to want to produce like
that, it makes it really hard todo it.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
as the doctor, I get that question so much I'm
motivated to produce more.
How am I going to get my teamto do the same?
And, sadly, I have to say,maybe they're not the right team
members for this new level ofthinking, but there are people
out there who will match that.
(13:15):
So level them up or level themout, because eventually you'll
get the level that you want, butyou have to have the
mindfulness that maybe thesepeople won't work out.
But don't bring your levellower in order to accommodate
those who work for you.
They work for you, they workfor you.
So therefore, we have to getthem to level up with us.
(13:39):
And Justin Short was my coach in2020 and he loved to say like
hey, on my ads, I love to say inthis office, we work hard and I
got to put that out there fromthe beginning, from the get go.
So people who don't like that,people who like those lax
offices where they just see onepatient at a time they're not
even going to apply.
So set the tone right to whereit's just people are going to
(14:02):
come in with the understandinglike we work hard.
This is a place where I'm notgoing to run you crazy, but I am
going to make sure that I makemy day super efficient.
We can make it busy withoutmaking it crazy.
Don't you love when the teamtells you that they're just like
, wow, today is really busy, butit didn't feel crazy?
Yeah, that's a great feeling.
That's a great, and I've had tofilter through a lot of
(14:26):
different employees to finallyget to the teams that I have in
order to really make sure thatthat is a sentiment.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
Yeah, and I think it's like staying consistent,
like I've noticed that workingwith a lot of coaching clients
is that the way we show up everyday becomes the normal.
It becomes the culture.
And when I work with a lot ofclients, we're often trying to
change a culture, especiallywhen somebody comes and works
with me when they just took overan acquisition and I just keep
telling the same thing Be trueto what you want this to be and
(14:55):
you will find your people.
And it just takes a time and ittakes consistency.
But be true to what you want tobe.
Now, talk about having twoseparate dental practices,
because often we're talkingabout culture and when you're in
the practice every day, itbecomes very easy to project
that culture to the team.
But as you pull yourself out,this becomes more of a challenge
(15:17):
.
Did you experience that at all,like bouncing between two
practices or just being kind ofabsent in some of the practices?
Speaker 2 (15:23):
Yeah, I learned that there's two different types of
leadership when you're amulti-practice owner.
There is on-site leadership andthere's remote leadership.
It's a real difference.
You really have to learn how tobe an off-site owner and an
on-site owner, becauseeverybody's going to button up
everything.
When you're there, they'regoing to walk faster, they're
(15:44):
going to sit straighter, they'regoing to take less breaks,
right, and so how are you goingto make sure to manage from afar
?
It's not the same skill leveland that's what I had to learn.
It was really hard to ownmultiple practices at once,
especially when I was producingfull-time in one and an
associate was producingfull-time in the other.
(16:05):
Definitely I was the higherproducer.
That's how owner doctorsusually are.
My team, where I was present,was bonusing higher, the culture
was better, it was moreconsistent.
I was getting less complaints.
So it comes with a fine linewhen you own multiple practices
and that's a danger that I thinka lot of aspiring dentists
(16:28):
don't understand.
That they're going to getthemselves into.
I don't tell people not to, butit is going to be a hard thing
for them to go through.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
Sometimes I wonder if you just have to have the lower
expectations about offices thatyou're not going to be in all
the time.
And I hate having the answer belower your expectations.
But I've experienced when Ipulled myself out of practice is
that I would hate that when Iwould show up and people would
be like people just they dobetter when you're here, they
(16:56):
work harder when you're here.
And I'm like why?
Like, what am I doing?
Why am I the only one that canI mean I'm not like walking
around intimidating and yellingat people Like what am I doing?
Why am I the only one that canI mean I'm not like walking
around intimidating and yellingat people Like why do they
perform better when I'm here?
And I can't say that I everfigured it out, it's just I had
to get them to perform goodenough when I'm not there and I
just accept that they're goingto perform better when I'm there
.
But can you think about I mean,you said you learned a lot of
(17:19):
things Does anything come tomind as a specific situation
where maybe you feel like youdidn't handle it the greatest
and you might have handled itdifferently, knowing what you
know now management wise, as youturned over the team?
Speaker 2 (17:30):
Wow, great question.
I will say first, beforeanswering that question, I did
lower my expectations at thetime.
I was just like you.
I just think, huh, I think Ijust need to have a lower
expectation, I need to have alower threshold of what is not
going to twist my stomach onthat office versus this office,
and that helped my sanity.
(17:50):
But at the same time, you justgot to understand you're not
going to be at two places atonce.
So just be realistic.
Be realistic.
Yeah, I can think of asituation that I made a mistake.
So on my practice managementsoftware, I logged into both
offices and at the office that Iwas absent I saw something of
(18:11):
concern.
I'm like ooh, red flag, and Iwrote a note on the schedule.
Hey, dr Spencer Greer is goingto say this that it was kind of
like a encouragement, but youcan never control the tone of
written word.
And after I did that a fewtimes it really rubbed people
the wrong way Really, because Iwas just like well, you know the
(18:33):
feeling of he's not here, hedoesn't know what's really going
on, he doesn't know what thepatient interactions are like,
he doesn't know what theno-shows look like.
Like maybe I'll say like heyguys, we're only scheduled at
8,000.
You can do it, let's push,let's get that 12 or whatever it
was.
That could come across as justout of touch.
This guy, he loves his otheroffice more, that's why he's
(18:54):
over there.
He doesn't really get it.
So that was a big mistake thatI learned that I'm not doing
anymore.
Now, if I'm gone and I see agreat day, I put a note on there
.
I'm just like oh my gosh, youguys are so amazing with blank,
way too many exclamation points.
I will do that, but that's all,nothing less positive than that
.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
Was it the content or was it just the mode of
communication that wasproblematic there?
Speaker 2 (19:16):
The mode of communication.
That was problematic.
So my friend is a is kind of alead getter for an attorney here
in town and he goes around tochiropractors to find people who
have had car accidents and sohe wants to get as many leads
for this attorney as possiblefor for their car insurance.
(19:37):
So he sent us a screenshot ofthis attorney boss's text that
he sent all the reps.
He goes hey guys, we just hadan all-time high 267 for the
month.
Today's the 30th.
Let's see what we can do to hit300.
And I got so pissed off.
You know why?
It's because that came out ofnowhere.
(19:58):
The number 300 was so arbitrary.
So be cautious in how you'repushing people, because what's
incentivizing you?
What does this guy want to do?
He wants his P&L to be awesome,to look great.
He wants his accountant to seehow good it is.
He wants everybody in hisnetwork to know like, oh my gosh
, we're hitting all-time highs.
Look at these numbers.
(20:19):
Nobody's going to benefit.
Who are actually doing the work?
Speaker 1 (20:22):
Yeah, it's like we want to give that encouragement,
we want to be.
I mean we want to see our teamwin.
I mean we want everyone to win.
But I've noticed when peopletake things the wrong way, it's
often because they think there'sa different motivation of
intent behind it.
Like you are being there saying, hey guys, you're doing great,
I know we can pull this off andwe can hit goal.
(20:44):
Saying, hey guys, you're doinggreat, I know we can pull this
off and we can hit goal.
And the team's probably readingthat, saying like he's not here
, he just wants more money, hejust wants us to hit goal to
make a money.
And you're there saying I wantto encourage my team because I
believe in them.
So it's like does the intentcome off?
And that's what I always tellpeople especially.
I've had a number of coachingclients like send texts, deal
(21:04):
with difficult conversations viaemail and text.
I'm like, dude, you have got topick up the phone and talk in
person, you're going to lose theintent.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
Right.
I mean, paul, as you weretalking and you're saying, does
the intent come across as right?
Most of the time, paul, we dowant more money.
That is our intent, right?
True?
So therefore, we have to becautious.
Even if my intention is good, myintention still comes from my
own personal goals of wantinghigh financial metrics hit.
(21:32):
So how do I deliver that?
How do I deliver that message?
And it's a fine line, and Ithink a lot of people are doing
it wrong and they're learningthe hard way and we're going to
experience turnover, we're goingto experience trauma, you know,
like just drama with the team.
So the way that we lead reallyneeds to be purified in us in
(21:53):
order for us to hit our goal.
I don't talk about production alot with all of the team
members.
I do with the head ofscheduling, who feels that
ownership of production, but Idon't get in front of the whole
team and be like all right, guys, we're going to hit 20K today.
That doesn't rub wrong withcertain people.
So people just need to becautious in how they do that if
they're really production driven.
Speaker 1 (22:15):
Yeah, great advice, man.
Now you mentioned part of thisDSO partnership led from some
things.
I don't want to say personalthings, but like life-work
balance.
Where you were, you know fivekids and where you were at your
life, did you find that it was astruggle to balance life and
work with two practices, andwhat did you learn through that
(22:35):
and how have you improved?
Speaker 2 (22:37):
Dude, I had so much time with my family I don't want
to take that away.
I was home at a good time.
I worked four days a week.
A lot of the time my mentalenergy was not present though,
so even though my physicalpresence was there, I really
struggled with the fact that Iwas not mentally, emotionally
present.
(22:57):
Anytime my phone would buzz, Iwould look at it.
What if it's urgent?
What if somebody needs urgent?
What if somebody needssomething?
What if something is wrong withtheir paycheck?
I was always in that mode.
They could text me at 11o'clock at night.
First thing I would do is checkmy Slack messages, check my
email.
I got in such a bad habit, paul, to where my alarm would go off
(23:21):
.
Such a bad habit, paul, towhere my alarm would go off.
Tell me if you relate with this.
I would pick up my phone.
First thing I would do, openemail.
Second thing I would do is aquick scroll through to see if
there are any resignations.
How unhealthy is that?
Speaker 1 (23:38):
I've never done that, but I've had, like, anytime
somebody's like I got to talk toyou, I'm like oh God, here
comes a resignation.
Yeah, I think.
Speaker 2 (23:45):
I had gone through enough trauma.
You know, it just takes acouple of times for it to be
like, oh crap, okay, I'm good,yeah.
And then the next morning,groundhog Day, oh crap, okay,
I'm good.
And then I would slowly gothrough the emails, emails.
But that just showed howbusiness ownership just kind of
possessed me a little bit.
You've really got to start withthe end in mind.
(24:09):
Okay, what am I building?
Who do I want to be?
When it hits the point that Iwant it and my kids were
starting to get acne and armpithair, and so I said, hey, the
time has kind of come to where Ineed to be more present before
they leave the house.
So therefore I decided you know, I think that I've made enough
money in the dental practice.
I can continue to make moneyelsewhere, I can continue to
(24:30):
make money as a partner, but Iwant to give a lot of this
stress to somebody else whowants the stress.
So therefore, it was a greattime for me.
I was 41 when I partnered and Ifeel like it's my first
retirement in my life and I'msuper excited about it.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
Yeah, that's awesome man.
Congratulations for that too.
It's so cool.
What this reminds me of is I'venever looked for resignations,
but I so relate to that becauseI was looking for similar things
and I remember one time it waslike a Monday morning I woke up,
I went to go use the washroomand I came back and my wife goes
how are you?
And I go, I can't wait.
It's Monday morning, can't waitto see what's going to piss me
(25:07):
off today.
And she goes oh, what happened?
And I'm like, oh nothing, Ididn't even open my phone yet,
but I'm sure something's there.
So yeah, I could totally allhave that.
You know that it's almost likethis cynicism or just negativity
that just creeps in, and Ithink it comes from success.
But I still see it in peoplethat don't have big bustling
(25:28):
practices as well.
I think it's just practiceownership.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
Yeah, and you know you do have people who are
listening to this podcast, whowant big bustling practice, and
so to them here's what I sayRemember, every seven years it's
proven that we kind of havemajor shifts of who we are, our
identity, our faith, ourviewpoints.
You know just, there's alwaysmajor shifts every seven years.
So if you are in that mode ofjust go, go, go make hay while
(25:55):
the sun's shining, do it, go forit.
Plan for the time that itdoesn't feel that way anymore.
What are you going to buildtowards?
Right, it's those little nagsthat we've gotten over our
careers, paul, of those emailsor of the text or the comments
where they say, hey, can I talkto you for a second?
It's been that constant poke,boom, boom, boom, constantly
(26:16):
hitting us that finally we havea breaking point.
So, people who are cranking sohard, just remember that's also
one of those things where you'regoing to have a breaking point.
Plan for the future of what youwant this to build towards.
Don't make this a hamster wheelto where it's just like every
day is the same.
I have my goal it's 10,000 aday, whatever it is.
(26:38):
18,000 a day, whatever it is18,000 a day, whatever it is.
At one point you're going to besick of that goal.
At one point you're going to besick of producing for a goal.
So where are you buildingtowards?
That's my advice for today.
I think that your podcast is sogreat because everybody that I
listen to is a go-getter.
Everybody that I listen to iseither doing something big or
(27:01):
wants to do something big, andthat's why this podcast is super
special.
If I can say really quick, Imet this dentist who was
mentoring me and I thought hewas so special dude.
I thought he had everythinggoing.
I'm like man, I am so luckythat I get to learn from him.
Then I bought your book, dentalPractice Hero, and as I
listened to it I go oh my gosh,he learned everything from
(27:26):
Paul's book.
Everything is in here, I kidyou not.
I learned pearl after pearlafter pearl, and it was all from
your book.
So you have a wealth ofknowledge and people can just
pay a couple bucks to haveaccess to it, which is amazing.
But are they hungry and arethey humble and are they willing
to execute?
You have to put money whereyour mouth is.
(27:48):
You have to get people to keepyou accountable, right?
That's the most powerful thingis when you hold your people
accountable.
Who are in your coachingprogram, paul.
They grow so much faster.
Yeah, right.
But for those who have visionsof doing something really big,
how do you see that practiceserving you?
(28:09):
And where do you see yourself?
Because you've got to make surethat you can keep transitioning
into different roles until youhit that peak role, like with
what you're doing with realestate and coaching, right.
Do you see that as kind ofbeing your optimal position of
where you want your career to be?
I think so.
Speaker 1 (28:25):
Yeah, it's like you mentioned, dude.
I love watching my clients justkill it.
It's like almost likevicariously living through them
to some extent, but it's fun towatch things grow and a little
bit goes a long way.
You know what I mean.
It's like just a little bit ofknowledge, a little bit of
implementation and people see ahuge difference.
Speaker 2 (28:43):
Massive, massive difference, and even though the
price point might sound like alot in comparison, it is just
completely dwarfed.
It is so in the shadows.
I mean think about people whotake an implant CE and then go
on placing implants for the restof their life Same thing.
So I really applaud what you'redoing, paul.
(29:08):
You've been a great example forme of how I've gotten into this
mentoring coaching realm in myown life.
It's turned into somethingsuper fulfilling for both of us.
You know, growing the practicehas been really great proof, and
then showing how it can be donejust through associates now is
even further proof.
Speaker 1 (29:21):
I love that man.
Thank you so much for thatabout sharing that story as well
.
Last thing, talk about yourprogram Big Time Dental
Producers.
I love the name and I love whatyou're doing.
I sent my associate to it.
She was awesome we had.
She increased her productiondaily.
I mean, she was sitting thereand it changed the way that she
approached her day.
Speaker 2 (29:42):
Yeah, we don't know what the potential is unless we
put ourselves out there Everyday in the practice.
It's just us, we're the big dog.
There's an emergency, getdoctor.
There's something that needs tobe done, get doctor.
It's not until we put ourselvesinto a bigger situation that we
can understand.
Oh, I just thought that doing$60,000 a month was normal.
I didn't know that people weredoing $300,000 a month.
(30:05):
So putting yourself out thereand seeing what your potential
is, that's step.
Number one is showing peoplewhat they're truly capable of,
because they've just gotten usedto what is their norm.
So I teach people kind of wherethey can go.
I teach people how to actuallyincrease each procedure that
they're used to doing.
(30:25):
I give them the confidence ofhow easy it can be to do some
new procedures that they're notquite doing yet.
It's amazing how many peoplejust aren't doing some really
basic things, that they are justgiving that money to
specialists left and right Crazy.
And so it's just learning thebasics of those things, making
sure that people understand howto manage the flow of their
(30:47):
practice, manage the flow ofhaving, like, a higher
production level.
My production goal used to be$9,000 a day.
I thought that was ambitious.
Now in each office it's $15,000for one associate, $18,000 for
the other associate.
They consistently hit those,and so where can we go from
there?
And that's what I show peoplehow to do, that I do mentoring
(31:09):
and coaching through all sortsof different methods.
If people want to see thedifferent methods, it's on
bigtimedentistcom.
Why did I name it that?
Because when I'm in the officeI want to be big time.
I want my production numbers tobe big time, and so anybody who
learns from me, I want them tohit big time numbers.
It kind of is a name that makesme laugh, but it's actually
(31:34):
something that I think islegitimate for people who take
my course.
They laugh at it after the fact.
They're like dude, I am doingbig time numbers now I'm like
absolutely so.
It's a very simple way ofcommitting to just a few
sessions or ongoing sessions.
It's very flexible.
So I love how it's helped a lotof ambitious docs to get to
their next level.
Speaker 1 (31:51):
Awesome man.
Well, dude, thank you so much.
I love when you come on here.
We got to do it again.
I love interviewing you.
It's just such a wealth ofknowledge and I love the way you
reflect on your experience.
I think that's so helpful toshare, and more people need to
be more vulnerable and sharethat sort of stuff.
So, ladies and gentlemen,spencer Greer, thanks so much,
man, thanks bro.
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