In this Ortho Marketing episode, Dean Steinman is joined by Rebecca Herring, Director of Healthcare Operations at Rocket Station. They dive into how virtual assistants are transforming the way dental practices operate— from reducing front desk stress to improving patient follow-ups and boosting overall productivity. Discover how you can regain control, streamline operations, and focus more on patient care.
Ready to elevate your practice? Contact us!
https://orthomarketing.com/contact-us/
About Rebecca Herring, MAADOM
Rebecca Herring is a seasoned dental coach with over 25 years of hands-on experience in the dental industry, a journey that began in her youth while accompanying her father, a dentist, on humanitarian trips to Guadalajara. During these early experiences, Rebecca discovered the transformative power of dentistry and the importance of compassionate care. Her dedication to making a difference has only deepened since, and today, she empowers dental teams and professionals to unlock their full potential, ensuring they are in roles that not only fit their skills but fuel their passion. With her vast experience, approachable demeanor, and unwavering dedication to helping others succeed, Rebecca Herring is not just a coach but a trusted partner in transforming dental practices from the inside out.
For more info: https://rocketstation.com/dental/
Ready to elevate your practice? Contact us!
https://orthomarketing.com/contact-us/
About Rebecca Herring, MAADOM
Rebecca Herring is a seasoned dental coach with over 25 years of hands-on experience in the dental industry, a journey that began in her youth while accompanying her father, a dentist, on humanitarian trips to Guadalajara. During these early experiences, Rebecca discovered the transformative power of dentistry and the importance of compassionate care. Her dedication to making a difference has only deepened since, and today, she empowers dental teams and professionals to unlock their full potential, ensuring they are in roles that not only fit their skills but fuel their passion. With her vast experience, approachable demeanor, and unwavering dedication to helping others succeed, Rebecca Herring is not just a coach but a trusted partner in transforming dental practices from the inside out.
For more info: https://rocketstation.com/dental/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi, am Arecca Herring. In this podcast today, you're going
to learn about the benefits of implementing virtual assistance into
your dental practice to help you establish some SPS for
your practice, as well as how to eliminate some stress
and burnout for your front office team.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Orthomarketing dot com three hundred and sixty degree digital marketing
solutions for your practice.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
Well, hello everybody out there in podcast land. Guess what.
It's Dean Steinmann and we are back with another awesome
podcast for so it is now lovely springtime. It's April
twenty twenty five. The trees of bloomin flowers are in
(00:51):
the air, you know baseball seasons. Here, someone's right around
the corner and it's, as they said the back of
the Brady Bone, day's day to myself. Here, it's time
to change, and there's always changed in the air. And
always I like to always bring on, you know, special
guests that are experts in the industry and can help
(01:12):
you guys learn more. I had them to adapt to
change and to just give you a few tips. So
I'm really really stoked today. I have Rebecca Hearing with
us today and Rebecca is the dental coach for many years.
She's an expert in it and your company is called
Transformational Dental Coaching. And welcome Becca, how are you today?
Speaker 1 (01:35):
Great? Thank you so happy to be here. And I'm
also like you ready for spring?
Speaker 3 (01:40):
Right, everybody all are so so welcome. So when we
jump in, just give us a little background. Tell us
who is Rebecca Harry and tell us a little bit
about you and your background.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
Thanks. I appreciate that. Yeah, So I've been in a
dental really from the day I was born. My dad's dentist,
and so you know, we all grew up and helping
my dad with his business and right down from when
you know, back then we had to pump the lotion
into the empty bottles and put our own labels on them,
and you know, so been invested with my dad and
(02:14):
his practice. He retired about twenty twenty five years ago,
but you know, we all were part of his business
and watching him kind of go above and beyond for
his patients and for that patient experience, and kind of
watching my dad really take his practice in his own direction.
(02:35):
So it's been in my blood forever. Wasn't my first career,
I will openly admit that, but I retired from teaching
about fifteen years ago and went into dentistry. Love it.
Love watching practices and teams expand and grow, think outside
the box a little bit and make the changes that
(02:56):
they need to within their practices so that they can
continue to grow in an ever changing landscape within dental
It really is.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
I love this industry. You know, I always can help people.
We're in the smile business. You know, my job, as
you know with the marketing is to make dentists smile
and give them more, make them more, give them more patience,
and then just change people's lives, you know, to give
people the smile they always dreamed of it that teas
straight or white or cleaner. You know, it's it's incredible
to be able to change somebody's life. So I love
(03:27):
what we do here. So let's talk a little bit
about you talking about transformation and change. So you know,
obviously practices dentistry has been around forever, all right, and
so let's talk a little bit about what would you
say are like three of the most common challenges that
are practice faces today when it comes to basic day
(03:50):
to day operations and why to these three problems exist?
Speaker 1 (03:53):
Do you think, yeah, I think things that the practices
face nowadays is one, they have a lot of things
that they have to do. They have a lot of
check marks right that they want to get things done,
and they just don't have the systems in place that
they need in order to really kind of have things
in an efficiency flow through their practice. I think that's
(04:14):
one of the big ones. I think that we have
a lot of things we want to accomplish within our
practice and we just don't have enough bodies to get
them done. This is where I really like sell when
I help practices want to grow. And Three, I think
we have a lot of tools we can utilize, but
(04:37):
I don't think that we're utilizing those tools to the
best of our abilities. So top three excellent.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
So in order to have implement any of those three problems,
somebody has to change. Okay, have to but nobody likes
to change. People are afraid of change. So what one
bit of advice would you give somebody who just just
(05:06):
can't get just won't take that step, won't take that bite,
won't make the change because they're afraid of the status
called freight to shake in the leaves. You know, one
big of advice besides just do it.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
Besides, just go for it. So I always say, you know,
it never hurts to just have an open mind. Sometimes
you just have to be able to sit down. And
I think we come with these barriers already in place,
like I don't want this to be different. This is
how we've done it for the last twenty years. Right,
it served us well. I understand it served you well.
(05:41):
But let's just let's just talk, right, Let's just let's
just put some of these things aside and let's talk
through what could be right potentials if you could take
let's just put something really simple. Your phone's right, they're
always ringing. There's you're always having to choose between a
(06:02):
patient checking in or checking out, and the phone is
always bringing right. Well, we always do this, right, We
always let it go to voicemail, or we just tell
the patient that's in front of us, if you can
you just hold for a minute. I'm just going to
put them on hold and then I'll be right back
with you. Is that okay with you? Sure? As the patient?
(06:22):
What are they supposed to say? No, No, I don't
want you to do that. I'm standing right here. I
want you to finish helping me. So I can get
on my way. But if you were just to think
about it from the perspective of both the patient that's
on that phone calling in and the patient standing in
front of you, they're both equally as important. So let's
(06:45):
just say, for argument's sake, right with this person who
doesn't want to change, what if you could do both?
What if you could you in the office manager take
care of the patient the standing right in front of you,
and you don't have to choose between the phone ringing.
Which wouldn't it be great if you didn't even hear
(07:07):
it ringing, but someone took care of it for you.
Wouldn't that be even better? Yes, it would be right.
You have to just talk through these options and help
them put their guard down, right, put the guard down?
Look at and let's just think outside the box a
little bit. What would it look like. What if the
(07:27):
phone never rang out loud in the practice to interrupt
the conversations you're having with patients, the treatment plan that
you're going over with the patient, whatever it may be, right,
just don't even interrupt the conversation. Virtual assistance is the
(07:48):
answer to so many of these concerns and disruptions and
overload and burnout that our front desk are experiencing every
single day every day.
Speaker 3 (08:01):
They're great.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
They can answer those questions. They can answer that, when's
my next appointment? I forgot? Hey, I'm scheduled next week.
I just found out I've got to go out of town?
Can you reschedule that for me? Why would you interrupt
a conversation where you're presenting a ten thousand dollars treatment
plan to a patient?
Speaker 3 (08:21):
Right?
Speaker 1 (08:21):
Tell the patient? Right? Oh yeah, your appointment actually is
next week? Not a problem? Want to confirm that? Yes, wonderful, Thanks,
we'll see you. Then, why would you interrupt that conversation
to confirm an appointment? This is where I absolutely love
virtual assistants.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
They're great. You know, it took me a while to
adapt as well. And for my company, I'm all in
on virtual assistance and I have I checked about eleven
or twelve that work for me full time that basically
are able to really make a difference because they care,
(08:59):
They smart, the work inside of your parameters, your time,
and there's significantly less money, you know, so if work,
but you do have to have the right sop in
place and procedure in order to do that. So let's
talk about that. How do you actually help a practice
(09:20):
develop that because if somebody's not there, it's hard for
them to understand what's being done and what's next steps.
So how do you come up with the process for
a practice to implement this program where somebody is not there?
Speaker 1 (09:36):
Great question and absolutely should be the first thing you're asking. Right.
So I work with a company called rocket Station and
they supply virtual assistance in every industry that there is.
So healthcare specifically is what we're talking about today, and
so they do something called process mapping, so they have
(09:57):
a conversation with the dental practice. Let's say you're hiring
your virtual assistant to help you with insurance verifications, eligibility
and breakdowns. Right, another time, suck for the front desk.
Please don't pay your front desk to do these things.
This can be done by a virtual assistant for a
third of the cost. Right, So you will walk through
(10:20):
with our process mapping team at rocket Station and walk
them through exactly how you want it done. I want
you to go into the portals, I want you to
get this breakdown. I want you to put it into
our PMS system, whatever PMS system you have there's a
million out there, and we're going to walk through that
process with you. Ultimately, what we do in that process
(10:42):
mapping call. We do a couple of them. It takes
about five or six hours with the office, and we
create that SOP for the virtual assistant and for the office.
They get a copy of it too, because we should
have SOPs for every single position in our pract So
that's what rocket Station uses to train the virtual assistant
(11:06):
before they start in your practice. Because a virtual assistant
is only beneficial if they are effective day one. Can't
bring them in and then say here you go, now
you get to train them. That's not effective. So with
rocket Station, I'm part of their team and we train
them before they start in your practice so they bring
(11:28):
the most value and the most efficiency starting on day one.
Speaker 3 (11:37):
This podcast is sponsored by orthomarketing dot com. Hey, you
know what, the dentists, We're going to give you a practice,
a competitive edge that deserves well, look no further than
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orthodontis choice for digital marketing. Wealth of Marketing. We specialize
in helping orthodotis and dentists just like you attract more
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(12:00):
outs of the dental and orthodotic industry, and we're here
to help your practice shine. We're going to supercharge your
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patients that you want. Say goodbye to empty chairs and
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(12:21):
today and watch your patient list grow. Visit worthomarketing dot
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your practice success. Worth of Marketing It's not just our name,
it's what we do that's awesome. This is so important
many of our practices we work with. We are bringing
(12:42):
this in handover foot to help facilitate all of the
busyness of the of the office. You know. And one
thing that we implemented recently over Towealth of Marketing is
we implemented the lead part, which is the heart. Which
is the hardest part is nobody follows up, Nobody answers
the phone the last time I checked the staff just
(13:03):
going to this the other day, the cording to American
Dental Association the average practice is losing, depending upon the size,
a minimum of one hundred and twenty thousand dollars a
year and up to over seven figures of business just
because I don't answer the phone or they don't follow
up a call up. So that's what we're doing now
for our practices, is we're implementing that from a sales perspective,
(13:24):
you do everything else, you know, do you know, you
handle there. You know, we're going to get the butts
in the seats for you, and we're doing that. It's
been a game changer. And now we're all and this
is great you're saying this because so many the practices
now they're still bogged down with the with the busy
work and the insurance verification and trying to handle their
existing customers and stuff and putting them back on. So
and I have the full package is really great. So
(13:47):
I'm really happy that you have this. And you know, Andy,
guys listening. You know, notes will be available that you
can you know, you know, you talk to a Becker
and she'll walk you through that whole the whole process
of how to help you out from that day. But
it's something great to have, you know, I said, I'm
using it from my team as from a marketing perspective,
I have a whole vish world team, but when it
(14:08):
comes to the sales part, practices don't follow up but
do anything along that line. So that's why we're doing
that for them, and it's been great. It's been really great.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
Yeah, so cup five about five years ago, the last
dental practice I was working in, I was their COEO
and we had multiple locations. We were not a DSO,
but we had multiple locations and the best thing we
ever did again thinking outside the box operationally. We just
were really struggling to find great team members, right. The
(14:40):
applicants weren't great well, And this is exactly we're all
struggling with this, especially if you live in a rural
area and you only have so many people in your
town or so many resources you can pull from. A
virtual team member is literally the whole world, Like you
have the whole world at your fingertips now. But we
(15:01):
decided to work with five virtual assistants. So we brought
in five virtual assistants. They became our central hub. I
don't like the word call center. That sounds awful in
my mind. So they picked up all of our phone calls,
they did all of our insurance verification eligibilities breakdowns. The
one thing that they did differently for our practice that
(15:24):
made the biggest impact was they started reaching out to
our new patients, our unscheduled trigger plans, and our overdue recare.
The first year that they were with us, they doubled
our production in all three of our locations just by
doing those three lists.
Speaker 4 (15:46):
For us, it's the follow up, right, It's the things
just were so busy and someone who has the time
to sit down and say, hey, hi, Jill, I'm calling
from you know, doctor Smith's office.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
Smith and I were going through your treatment plan and
we realize we haven't seen you in six months, a year,
eighteen months, whatever, it's been AfOR wants to know how
that you know that crown in the upper left area
is feeling you know, are you experiencing any pain or
hot and cold sensitivity? Yeah? Actually I am, Well, you know,
and you're you're making it very personal and you're building
(16:22):
the trust relationship with that patient and they're like, really,
you're going through my treatment plan like you remember me? Yeah,
we do. Doctor cares about you. We really let's get
you back in for your routine cleaning right, get you
back into our hygiene schedule. And let's have doctor do
a reevaluation of that area for you, because you're obviously
(16:44):
due for an exam as well, and let's see what's
going on. Let's see if we can get that taken
care for you before it turns into something worse. Right,
So all of these things are so.
Speaker 3 (16:57):
It's and it's just the right amount of steps you
have to And the thing is also I found as
you can't just do it once. You can't just pick
the ponecus people. I don't know about you, but I
never answered my phone. So you have to reach people
multiple ways. You know, when we when we get a
new lead for a practice, we don't just call. We text,
we email, we have a chat. We constantly have we
tried it four or five different ways to communica and
(17:18):
we don't stop until they say stop. Until they say stop,
because that's what a lot of practices are. We don't
want to be a nuisance. They reached out to you,
it's not the other way around. They reached out to you.
It's not like you're just ran to pick up the
phone and calling people and said, hey, you want to
come in and get you know, in plants. Oh, they
reached out to you first.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
And maybe they're embarrassed to call you back. Maybe they're
embarrassed it's been you know, a year or eighteen months
and now they're just embarrassed to call you. But if
you're all and you're saying, hey, the doctor really cares
about you, right, we want you to come back. We'd
like to make sure you're okay, it makes them feel better. Right.
So the other thing I love about virtual assistance, and
(17:59):
I'm sure you're utilizing this too, is they can work
any hours. No one on your team in the office
is going to say I volunteer to stay until eight
o'clock tonight. Sure I'll stay in work till eight, but
your virtual your virtual team will. So if you know
that you can reach patients between you know, six and
(18:21):
eight o'clock at night, make that part of their hours
and they'll be more than happy to reach out to
your patients and get things rescheduled, or reach out to
your you know, your implant cases. Right, they're the highest
ticket item. Let's reach out to them and see if
we can get them back in to get started on
their implant cases. These are wonderful things that your virtual
(18:45):
team members, who you're right, are very dedicated. They are
absolutely the sweetest, kindest people, and they will work really
hard for you, really hard, for every minut in it
that they're working for you, so right, all wonderful things
it is.
Speaker 3 (19:04):
It's amazing what you know, how much things have changed
and how people will adapt to it. You know, five, six,
seven years ago, nobody would in the right mind would
ever even think of this. You know, I'm not gonna
have somebody else answer my phone for the country and
blah blah blah. Now you have no choice adapt. You know,
we're in a twenty four to seven world. You know,
we're getting leads into practice and booking them at eleven
(19:25):
twelve at night, at six in the morning when you're
not there. You know, it's so it has and through
all different mechanisms. You know, the average person has to
be reached out to seven times in seven days, okay,
in order to breakthrough and through different ways. And it's
(19:45):
also only in the marketing department world we call it
speed to lead. The first practice who has a meaningful
communication with somebody has an eighty eight percent chance to
get in them and as a start, but you have
to be the first one to communicate with.
Speaker 1 (19:59):
Them, and that has to be meaningful. You're right, has
to be meaningful.
Speaker 3 (20:04):
Exactly.
Speaker 1 (20:05):
That's where honestly, your virtual assistants they have the time.
There's no other distractions.
Speaker 3 (20:10):
Exactly.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
You get that new patient that calls in and they say,
you've got to have that new patient call done in like,
you know, three minutes, and well, what if that new
patient wants to talk to you a little bit and
they're nervous, or they have some concerns or they have questions,
that call should go. As long as you know that
patient needs to feel secure in choosing your practice. Virtual
(20:33):
assistants have time to do that. So, yeah, there's so
many great things.
Speaker 3 (20:39):
Yeah, I'm going to ask you to put on a
special pair of glasses and we're going to look two
years into the future. Now, okay, where do you see
the dental world.
Speaker 1 (20:52):
I see the dental world I think two or three
years down the road, utilizing more more resources that take
less people. I think virtual assistance is one of those things.
I think we've got AI that's being implemented into practices,
(21:13):
like into their x rays where they can show patients
that help them to close cases, get their insurances to
pay for those treatments that they're doing. And I just
think that we're going to have so many different things
automated to make our jobs a little bit more efficient,
and I think that's kind of where we're headed. And
(21:36):
I think that I think that virtual assistance is right
along with some of these AI and these options that
make things a little more efficient in our practices a.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
Lot more efficient. I think I think outside the box
and change. So now I have another pair of glasses
they're going to be able to put on, and you're
going to now be able to go back in time
fifteen years. What are you telling Rebecca years ago today?
Speaker 1 (22:04):
I probably would tell her to jump on these trains
with you know, the taking the advancements that we know
are coming and being involved in them sooner. I love
where we're going with dentistry. I think it's an ever
changing world and I think that we should all be
(22:26):
ready for things to change. I think we always have
to be ready to pivot and adjust, and I don't
think we should be scared of it. I don't think
that there's anything out there that's ever going to replace
our jobs. We just have to be ready to jump
on board with the things that can help us make
you help us be more efficient and be more successful.
(22:50):
And that's really what this is about. It is helping
the practices that we work in to be more successful,
be ready to grow, and let's bring on these things
that can help us to do those for our practice.
Speaker 3 (23:04):
All right, well, okay, thanks so much for joining. I
really appeiately. I have two more quick questions for you,
one very important. So I'm really good with giving gifts
out now beside these glasses. So now I ask you
the question. So you have the ability, I'm going to
give you the ability to go have lunch with anybody
(23:26):
in history. Ooh who you having lunch with them? Why?
Speaker 1 (23:34):
Anyone in history? Oh? Well, I would always choose my dad.
I'll be honest. I love having lunch with my dad,
who is a dentist, and I always love telling him
all the great things that are happening in dentistry because
he could not be a dentist today. But if I
could choose someone in history, that's really a hard one.
(24:06):
I don't know why that's so hard for me. I
would love to sit down with all the computer geeks, right,
all the people that like develop all these AI systems,
and I'd really love to sit down at dinner and
(24:29):
pick their brains and how we can make things where
we're right here, right, but how can we take it
to the next level for all of our practices so
that we can be more efficient? And I really would
love to figure out how to travel through time.
Speaker 3 (24:49):
Right.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
I'd like to just be able to jump down to
the Philippines and go see our amazing virtual assistance whenever
I wanted to, you know, all those kinds of things.
Speaker 3 (24:57):
And all right, and the most important question, Okay, reces
or snickers.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
Oh, Reese's p and bear a cup easy peanut butter
and chocolate.
Speaker 3 (25:14):
There you go my favors. Awesome, re Becca, thanks so
much for joining. I really really appreciate it. So if
somebody wants to talk to you, learn more about what
you do. Help you. I think you help the practice.
What's the best way for somebody to reach you?
Speaker 1 (25:26):
Yeah, you can reach out to me. Probably the easiest
way if you're interested in the virtual assistant side, is
to reach out to me at Rebecca R. E B
E C c A at rocketstation dot com. Anyone who
listens to the podcast today we'd like to offer them
five hundred dollars off with their virtual assistants onboarding fees.
(25:48):
I think that's great. Anyone who's interested and set up
a call. I'd love to just talk through whatever situations
you have going on in your practice, any pain points
that you have, and let me see if I can
help you find an answer to those pain points, thinking
outside the box or finding a tool that can help
your practice be more successful.
Speaker 3 (26:08):
Awesome. Well, thanks so much. I appreciate it, and once again,
everybody out there, thank you so much for listening. Thanks
so much for all of the messages and emails and
comments you know from the podcasts, and obviously keep listening,
keep adapting, keep on smiling. Everybody, be safe, enjoy the summer,
and once again, as the great Jerry Garcia says, nothing
(26:32):
left to do but smile, smile, smile. Thanks so much. Bye, bye.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
Worthole Marketing dot Com three hundred and sixty degree digital
marketing solutions for your practice
Hi, am Arecca Herring. In this podcast today, you're going
to learn about the benefits of implementing virtual assistance into
your dental practice to help you establish some SPS for
your practice, as well as how to eliminate some stress
and burnout for your front office team.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Orthomarketing dot com three hundred and sixty degree digital marketing
solutions for your practice.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
Well, hello everybody out there in podcast land. Guess what.
It's Dean Steinmann and we are back with another awesome
podcast for so it is now lovely springtime. It's April
twenty twenty five. The trees of bloomin flowers are in
(00:51):
the air, you know baseball seasons. Here, someone's right around
the corner and it's, as they said the back of
the Brady Bone, day's day to myself. Here, it's time
to change, and there's always changed in the air. And
always I like to always bring on, you know, special
guests that are experts in the industry and can help
(01:12):
you guys learn more. I had them to adapt to
change and to just give you a few tips. So
I'm really really stoked today. I have Rebecca Hearing with
us today and Rebecca is the dental coach for many years.
She's an expert in it and your company is called
Transformational Dental Coaching. And welcome Becca, how are you today?
Speaker 1 (01:35):
Great? Thank you so happy to be here. And I'm
also like you ready for spring?
Speaker 3 (01:40):
Right, everybody all are so so welcome. So when we
jump in, just give us a little background. Tell us
who is Rebecca Harry and tell us a little bit
about you and your background.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
Thanks. I appreciate that. Yeah, So I've been in a
dental really from the day I was born. My dad's dentist,
and so you know, we all grew up and helping
my dad with his business and right down from when
you know, back then we had to pump the lotion
into the empty bottles and put our own labels on them,
and you know, so been invested with my dad and
(02:14):
his practice. He retired about twenty twenty five years ago,
but you know, we all were part of his business
and watching him kind of go above and beyond for
his patients and for that patient experience, and kind of
watching my dad really take his practice in his own direction.
(02:35):
So it's been in my blood forever. Wasn't my first career,
I will openly admit that, but I retired from teaching
about fifteen years ago and went into dentistry. Love it.
Love watching practices and teams expand and grow, think outside
the box a little bit and make the changes that
(02:56):
they need to within their practices so that they can
continue to grow in an ever changing landscape within dental
It really is.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
I love this industry. You know, I always can help people.
We're in the smile business. You know, my job, as
you know with the marketing is to make dentists smile
and give them more, make them more, give them more patience,
and then just change people's lives, you know, to give
people the smile they always dreamed of it that teas
straight or white or cleaner. You know, it's it's incredible
to be able to change somebody's life. So I love
(03:27):
what we do here. So let's talk a little bit
about you talking about transformation and change. So you know,
obviously practices dentistry has been around forever, all right, and
so let's talk a little bit about what would you
say are like three of the most common challenges that
are practice faces today when it comes to basic day
(03:50):
to day operations and why to these three problems exist?
Speaker 1 (03:53):
Do you think, yeah, I think things that the practices
face nowadays is one, they have a lot of things
that they have to do. They have a lot of
check marks right that they want to get things done,
and they just don't have the systems in place that
they need in order to really kind of have things
in an efficiency flow through their practice. I think that's
(04:14):
one of the big ones. I think that we have
a lot of things we want to accomplish within our
practice and we just don't have enough bodies to get
them done. This is where I really like sell when
I help practices want to grow. And Three, I think
we have a lot of tools we can utilize, but
(04:37):
I don't think that we're utilizing those tools to the
best of our abilities. So top three excellent.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
So in order to have implement any of those three problems,
somebody has to change. Okay, have to but nobody likes
to change. People are afraid of change. So what one
bit of advice would you give somebody who just just
(05:06):
can't get just won't take that step, won't take that bite,
won't make the change because they're afraid of the status
called freight to shake in the leaves. You know, one
big of advice besides just do it.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
Besides, just go for it. So I always say, you know,
it never hurts to just have an open mind. Sometimes
you just have to be able to sit down. And
I think we come with these barriers already in place,
like I don't want this to be different. This is
how we've done it for the last twenty years. Right,
it served us well. I understand it served you well.
(05:41):
But let's just let's just talk, right, Let's just let's
just put some of these things aside and let's talk
through what could be right potentials if you could take
let's just put something really simple. Your phone's right, they're
always ringing. There's you're always having to choose between a
(06:02):
patient checking in or checking out, and the phone is
always bringing right. Well, we always do this, right, We
always let it go to voicemail, or we just tell
the patient that's in front of us, if you can
you just hold for a minute. I'm just going to
put them on hold and then I'll be right back
with you. Is that okay with you? Sure? As the patient?
(06:22):
What are they supposed to say? No, No, I don't
want you to do that. I'm standing right here. I
want you to finish helping me. So I can get
on my way. But if you were just to think
about it from the perspective of both the patient that's
on that phone calling in and the patient standing in
front of you, they're both equally as important. So let's
(06:45):
just say, for argument's sake, right with this person who
doesn't want to change, what if you could do both?
What if you could you in the office manager take
care of the patient the standing right in front of you,
and you don't have to choose between the phone ringing.
Which wouldn't it be great if you didn't even hear
(07:07):
it ringing, but someone took care of it for you.
Wouldn't that be even better? Yes, it would be right.
You have to just talk through these options and help
them put their guard down, right, put the guard down?
Look at and let's just think outside the box a
little bit. What would it look like. What if the
(07:27):
phone never rang out loud in the practice to interrupt
the conversations you're having with patients, the treatment plan that
you're going over with the patient, whatever it may be, right,
just don't even interrupt the conversation. Virtual assistance is the
(07:48):
answer to so many of these concerns and disruptions and
overload and burnout that our front desk are experiencing every
single day every day.
Speaker 3 (08:01):
They're great.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
They can answer those questions. They can answer that, when's
my next appointment? I forgot? Hey, I'm scheduled next week.
I just found out I've got to go out of town?
Can you reschedule that for me? Why would you interrupt
a conversation where you're presenting a ten thousand dollars treatment
plan to a patient?
Speaker 3 (08:21):
Right?
Speaker 1 (08:21):
Tell the patient? Right? Oh yeah, your appointment actually is
next week? Not a problem? Want to confirm that? Yes, wonderful, Thanks,
we'll see you. Then, why would you interrupt that conversation
to confirm an appointment? This is where I absolutely love
virtual assistants.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
They're great. You know, it took me a while to
adapt as well. And for my company, I'm all in
on virtual assistance and I have I checked about eleven
or twelve that work for me full time that basically
are able to really make a difference because they care,
(08:59):
They smart, the work inside of your parameters, your time,
and there's significantly less money, you know, so if work,
but you do have to have the right sop in
place and procedure in order to do that. So let's
talk about that. How do you actually help a practice
(09:20):
develop that because if somebody's not there, it's hard for
them to understand what's being done and what's next steps.
So how do you come up with the process for
a practice to implement this program where somebody is not there?
Speaker 1 (09:36):
Great question and absolutely should be the first thing you're asking. Right.
So I work with a company called rocket Station and
they supply virtual assistance in every industry that there is.
So healthcare specifically is what we're talking about today, and
so they do something called process mapping, so they have
(09:57):
a conversation with the dental practice. Let's say you're hiring
your virtual assistant to help you with insurance verifications, eligibility
and breakdowns. Right, another time, suck for the front desk.
Please don't pay your front desk to do these things.
This can be done by a virtual assistant for a
third of the cost. Right, So you will walk through
(10:20):
with our process mapping team at rocket Station and walk
them through exactly how you want it done. I want
you to go into the portals, I want you to
get this breakdown. I want you to put it into
our PMS system, whatever PMS system you have there's a
million out there, and we're going to walk through that
process with you. Ultimately, what we do in that process
(10:42):
mapping call. We do a couple of them. It takes
about five or six hours with the office, and we
create that SOP for the virtual assistant and for the office.
They get a copy of it too, because we should
have SOPs for every single position in our pract So
that's what rocket Station uses to train the virtual assistant
(11:06):
before they start in your practice. Because a virtual assistant
is only beneficial if they are effective day one. Can't
bring them in and then say here you go, now
you get to train them. That's not effective. So with
rocket Station, I'm part of their team and we train
them before they start in your practice so they bring
(11:28):
the most value and the most efficiency starting on day one.
Speaker 3 (11:37):
This podcast is sponsored by orthomarketing dot com. Hey, you
know what, the dentists, We're going to give you a practice,
a competitive edge that deserves well, look no further than
the Wealth of Marketing. What the marketing is the dentist
orthodontis choice for digital marketing. Wealth of Marketing. We specialize
in helping orthodotis and dentists just like you attract more
new patients. A team of experts is the ins and
(12:00):
outs of the dental and orthodotic industry, and we're here
to help your practice shine. We're going to supercharge your
online presence. We're gonna optimize your website. We're gonna harness
the power of social media to connect you with the
patients that you want. Say goodbye to empty chairs and
say hello to a thriving practice. Choose Wealth of Marketing
(12:21):
today and watch your patient list grow. Visit worthomarketing dot
com and learn more and take the first steps towards
your practice success. Worth of Marketing It's not just our name,
it's what we do that's awesome. This is so important
many of our practices we work with. We are bringing
(12:42):
this in handover foot to help facilitate all of the
busyness of the of the office. You know. And one
thing that we implemented recently over Towealth of Marketing is
we implemented the lead part, which is the heart. Which
is the hardest part is nobody follows up, Nobody answers
the phone the last time I checked the staff just
(13:03):
going to this the other day, the cording to American
Dental Association the average practice is losing, depending upon the size,
a minimum of one hundred and twenty thousand dollars a
year and up to over seven figures of business just
because I don't answer the phone or they don't follow
up a call up. So that's what we're doing now
for our practices, is we're implementing that from a sales perspective,
(13:24):
you do everything else, you know, do you know, you
handle there. You know, we're going to get the butts
in the seats for you, and we're doing that. It's
been a game changer. And now we're all and this
is great you're saying this because so many the practices
now they're still bogged down with the with the busy
work and the insurance verification and trying to handle their
existing customers and stuff and putting them back on. So
and I have the full package is really great. So
(13:47):
I'm really happy that you have this. And you know, Andy,
guys listening. You know, notes will be available that you
can you know, you know, you talk to a Becker
and she'll walk you through that whole the whole process
of how to help you out from that day. But
it's something great to have, you know, I said, I'm
using it from my team as from a marketing perspective,
I have a whole vish world team, but when it
(14:08):
comes to the sales part, practices don't follow up but
do anything along that line. So that's why we're doing
that for them, and it's been great. It's been really great.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
Yeah, so cup five about five years ago, the last
dental practice I was working in, I was their COEO
and we had multiple locations. We were not a DSO,
but we had multiple locations and the best thing we
ever did again thinking outside the box operationally. We just
were really struggling to find great team members, right. The
(14:40):
applicants weren't great well, And this is exactly we're all
struggling with this, especially if you live in a rural
area and you only have so many people in your
town or so many resources you can pull from. A
virtual team member is literally the whole world, Like you
have the whole world at your fingertips now. But we
(15:01):
decided to work with five virtual assistants. So we brought
in five virtual assistants. They became our central hub. I
don't like the word call center. That sounds awful in
my mind. So they picked up all of our phone calls,
they did all of our insurance verification eligibilities breakdowns. The
one thing that they did differently for our practice that
(15:24):
made the biggest impact was they started reaching out to
our new patients, our unscheduled trigger plans, and our overdue recare.
The first year that they were with us, they doubled
our production in all three of our locations just by
doing those three lists.
Speaker 4 (15:46):
For us, it's the follow up, right, It's the things
just were so busy and someone who has the time
to sit down and say, hey, hi, Jill, I'm calling
from you know, doctor Smith's office.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
Smith and I were going through your treatment plan and
we realize we haven't seen you in six months, a year,
eighteen months, whatever, it's been AfOR wants to know how
that you know that crown in the upper left area
is feeling you know, are you experiencing any pain or
hot and cold sensitivity? Yeah? Actually I am, Well, you know,
and you're you're making it very personal and you're building
(16:22):
the trust relationship with that patient and they're like, really,
you're going through my treatment plan like you remember me? Yeah,
we do. Doctor cares about you. We really let's get
you back in for your routine cleaning right, get you
back into our hygiene schedule. And let's have doctor do
a reevaluation of that area for you, because you're obviously
(16:44):
due for an exam as well, and let's see what's
going on. Let's see if we can get that taken
care for you before it turns into something worse. Right,
So all of these things are so.
Speaker 3 (16:57):
It's and it's just the right amount of steps you
have to And the thing is also I found as
you can't just do it once. You can't just pick
the ponecus people. I don't know about you, but I
never answered my phone. So you have to reach people
multiple ways. You know, when we when we get a
new lead for a practice, we don't just call. We text,
we email, we have a chat. We constantly have we
tried it four or five different ways to communica and
(17:18):
we don't stop until they say stop. Until they say stop,
because that's what a lot of practices are. We don't
want to be a nuisance. They reached out to you,
it's not the other way around. They reached out to you.
It's not like you're just ran to pick up the
phone and calling people and said, hey, you want to
come in and get you know, in plants. Oh, they
reached out to you first.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
And maybe they're embarrassed to call you back. Maybe they're
embarrassed it's been you know, a year or eighteen months
and now they're just embarrassed to call you. But if
you're all and you're saying, hey, the doctor really cares
about you, right, we want you to come back. We'd
like to make sure you're okay, it makes them feel better. Right.
So the other thing I love about virtual assistance, and
(17:59):
I'm sure you're utilizing this too, is they can work
any hours. No one on your team in the office
is going to say I volunteer to stay until eight
o'clock tonight. Sure I'll stay in work till eight, but
your virtual your virtual team will. So if you know
that you can reach patients between you know, six and
(18:21):
eight o'clock at night, make that part of their hours
and they'll be more than happy to reach out to
your patients and get things rescheduled, or reach out to
your you know, your implant cases. Right, they're the highest
ticket item. Let's reach out to them and see if
we can get them back in to get started on
their implant cases. These are wonderful things that your virtual
(18:45):
team members, who you're right, are very dedicated. They are
absolutely the sweetest, kindest people, and they will work really
hard for you, really hard, for every minut in it
that they're working for you, so right, all wonderful things
it is.
Speaker 3 (19:04):
It's amazing what you know, how much things have changed
and how people will adapt to it. You know, five, six,
seven years ago, nobody would in the right mind would
ever even think of this. You know, I'm not gonna
have somebody else answer my phone for the country and
blah blah blah. Now you have no choice adapt. You know,
we're in a twenty four to seven world. You know,
we're getting leads into practice and booking them at eleven
(19:25):
twelve at night, at six in the morning when you're
not there. You know, it's so it has and through
all different mechanisms. You know, the average person has to
be reached out to seven times in seven days, okay,
in order to breakthrough and through different ways. And it's
(19:45):
also only in the marketing department world we call it
speed to lead. The first practice who has a meaningful
communication with somebody has an eighty eight percent chance to
get in them and as a start, but you have
to be the first one to communicate with.
Speaker 1 (19:59):
Them, and that has to be meaningful. You're right, has
to be meaningful.
Speaker 3 (20:04):
Exactly.
Speaker 1 (20:05):
That's where honestly, your virtual assistants they have the time.
There's no other distractions.
Speaker 3 (20:10):
Exactly.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
You get that new patient that calls in and they say,
you've got to have that new patient call done in like,
you know, three minutes, and well, what if that new
patient wants to talk to you a little bit and
they're nervous, or they have some concerns or they have questions,
that call should go. As long as you know that
patient needs to feel secure in choosing your practice. Virtual
(20:33):
assistants have time to do that. So, yeah, there's so
many great things.
Speaker 3 (20:39):
Yeah, I'm going to ask you to put on a
special pair of glasses and we're going to look two
years into the future. Now, okay, where do you see
the dental world.
Speaker 1 (20:52):
I see the dental world I think two or three
years down the road, utilizing more more resources that take
less people. I think virtual assistance is one of those things.
I think we've got AI that's being implemented into practices,
(21:13):
like into their x rays where they can show patients
that help them to close cases, get their insurances to
pay for those treatments that they're doing. And I just
think that we're going to have so many different things
automated to make our jobs a little bit more efficient,
and I think that's kind of where we're headed. And
(21:36):
I think that I think that virtual assistance is right
along with some of these AI and these options that
make things a little more efficient in our practices a.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
Lot more efficient. I think I think outside the box
and change. So now I have another pair of glasses
they're going to be able to put on, and you're
going to now be able to go back in time
fifteen years. What are you telling Rebecca years ago today?
Speaker 1 (22:04):
I probably would tell her to jump on these trains
with you know, the taking the advancements that we know
are coming and being involved in them sooner. I love
where we're going with dentistry. I think it's an ever
changing world and I think that we should all be
(22:26):
ready for things to change. I think we always have
to be ready to pivot and adjust, and I don't
think we should be scared of it. I don't think
that there's anything out there that's ever going to replace
our jobs. We just have to be ready to jump
on board with the things that can help us make
you help us be more efficient and be more successful.
(22:50):
And that's really what this is about. It is helping
the practices that we work in to be more successful,
be ready to grow, and let's bring on these things
that can help us to do those for our practice.
Speaker 3 (23:04):
All right, well, okay, thanks so much for joining. I
really appeiately. I have two more quick questions for you,
one very important. So I'm really good with giving gifts
out now beside these glasses. So now I ask you
the question. So you have the ability, I'm going to
give you the ability to go have lunch with anybody
(23:26):
in history. Ooh who you having lunch with them? Why?
Speaker 1 (23:34):
Anyone in history? Oh? Well, I would always choose my dad.
I'll be honest. I love having lunch with my dad,
who is a dentist, and I always love telling him
all the great things that are happening in dentistry because
he could not be a dentist today. But if I
could choose someone in history, that's really a hard one.
(24:06):
I don't know why that's so hard for me. I
would love to sit down with all the computer geeks, right,
all the people that like develop all these AI systems,
and I'd really love to sit down at dinner and
(24:29):
pick their brains and how we can make things where
we're right here, right, but how can we take it
to the next level for all of our practices so
that we can be more efficient? And I really would
love to figure out how to travel through time.
Speaker 3 (24:49):
Right.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
I'd like to just be able to jump down to
the Philippines and go see our amazing virtual assistance whenever
I wanted to, you know, all those kinds of things.
Speaker 3 (24:57):
And all right, and the most important question, Okay, reces
or snickers.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
Oh, Reese's p and bear a cup easy peanut butter
and chocolate.
Speaker 3 (25:14):
There you go my favors. Awesome, re Becca, thanks so
much for joining. I really really appreciate it. So if
somebody wants to talk to you, learn more about what
you do. Help you. I think you help the practice.
What's the best way for somebody to reach you?
Speaker 1 (25:26):
Yeah, you can reach out to me. Probably the easiest
way if you're interested in the virtual assistant side, is
to reach out to me at Rebecca R. E B
E C c A at rocketstation dot com. Anyone who
listens to the podcast today we'd like to offer them
five hundred dollars off with their virtual assistants onboarding fees.
(25:48):
I think that's great. Anyone who's interested and set up
a call. I'd love to just talk through whatever situations
you have going on in your practice, any pain points
that you have, and let me see if I can
help you find an answer to those pain points, thinking
outside the box or finding a tool that can help
your practice be more successful.
Speaker 3 (26:08):
Awesome. Well, thanks so much. I appreciate it, and once again,
everybody out there, thank you so much for listening. Thanks
so much for all of the messages and emails and
comments you know from the podcasts, and obviously keep listening,
keep adapting, keep on smiling. Everybody, be safe, enjoy the summer,
and once again, as the great Jerry Garcia says, nothing
(26:32):
left to do but smile, smile, smile. Thanks so much. Bye, bye.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
Worthole Marketing dot Com three hundred and sixty degree digital
marketing solutions for your practice
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