What do Sterling Practice Management’s dental practice management courses have to do with hiring the right staff? Dr. Amit did the courses and now has his ideal staff team.
When you are looking for new employees, how do applicants earn their space on your staff? Having a specific hiring process in place instead of solely relying on the first applicants who respond to a classified or Craigslist ad can help ensure you’re hiring people who can help your team – not hinder it.
Like many dentists, Dr. Amit bought the practice where he was an associate when his partner retired. However, in that first year, he saw a significant decrease in both production and collection. He wasn’t seeing as many clients and the practice was losing money.
Personnel Was a Major Problem Area
Even worse, his staff was a motley crew of people who were holding the practice back. The only step in his hiring process was placing an ad in his local newspaper. Then, “if the applicant seemed ok” he hired them. It is not surprising that his practice was filled with an uncaring and bickering staff. Dr. Amit began losing motivation and losing hope. Though the practice was making enough to keep its doors open, they couldn’t even save any money for future emergencies let alone for expansion projects.
Overhauling the Hiring Process
In 2010, Dr. Amit started turned to Sterling Practice Management for help. As a first step, he received a personal consultation from a Sterling expert. The consultant analyzed Dr. Amit’s practice with him to isolate the key areas of the practice which needed to be addressed. With his consultant’s guidance, he completely overhauled his hiring process and took steps to establish an organization that would last. Using Sterling’s effective personnel procurement and testing methods, he was able to hire his best staff yet! He learned how to correctly manage his staff, including noticing when it was time to let go of unproductive or negative employees. He trained on Sterling’s practice management courses and he had his staff train on these same courses so everyone is now on the same page. He also implemented staff incentives to reward high production.
A 57% Increase in the First Year
The influence a great staff can have on your business is truly incredible. Dr. Amit’s practice, which for three years couldn’t bring in new business, started averaging 70 to 80 new patients a month. Furthermore, through good organization and staff training, he now has a staff team that knows how to treat new patients from the very first phone call. As a result, the practice’s production and collection increased by 57% in his first year with Sterling.
After working with Sterling and his consultants, Dr. Amit says he was “completely revitalized as a dentist,” which is music to our ears! His new hiring process and subsequent increase in practice and productivity all started with a free personal consultation.
