Nothing is harder than running your own dental practice. So much of your success depends on having the right team with the right skill set and the right attitude. If you’re building your first dental practice, success doesn’t come down to having a cheerful front desk or kind hygienists: you need to have a strong sales and managerial staff.
Have a High-Quality Treatment Coordinator
The main objective of the dental practice is to stay in business, and this is only possible if the doctor is able to make sales. The reason that traditional dental offices struggle with this is because the doctor will suggest a treatment to the patient and is then pulled away. This leaves the poor dental receptionist to close the sale, and many patients balk when they see the sticker price on the treatment their doctor has suggested. Alternatively, the doctor may be stretched so thin that they can’t make a good sales pitch for another service, which means that fewer services go on the books. A treatment coordinator is the salesperson whose sole responsibility is getting those new cases on the books. If you want your practice to grow, you’re going to need her.
Choose an Office Manager Carefully
In smaller practices, the office manager may double as a treatment coordinator. In fact, the office manager often doubles as a lot of things, overseeing operation to ensure that the practice runs smoothly. It’s generally better to have a separate treatment coordinator so that your office manager can focus on the overall finances of the practice. Because the office manager is often in charge of hiring and training the new team members–interviewing for the dental hygienist jobs and the dental front office jobs–you’ll need to have the right office manager in place first before you can move forward.
Talk to Other Doctors
So, how do you find the right office manager and treatment coordinator? Rather than relying on a traditional job board, your best bet is to work with dental hiring sites that is specific to the industry. Even better, work with a dentist with plenty of experience running and operating their own practice. They’ll direct you to quality leads with experience in finance, operations, sales, client retention, and more. You’ll find your certified dental technicians and hygienists, but that comes with time.
Running a private practice is difficult, but the good news is that you’ll know the right candidate when you meet them. If your gut tells you that your candidate “gets it,” if the credentials back them up, if they have the steely demeanor of someone who has run a dental practice before, you’ll know you’ve found your candidate.
