In these unprecedented times, I’ve been thinking a lot about history. You know, I got my B.A. in history, so I like to look at what we can learn from history. One of the things I’ve learned is that tough times like these are nothing new. Looking back nearly 100 years in U.S. history, the nation faced similar tough times during the Great Depression. Do you know what FDR (President Roosevelt) did to get the nation to come “roaring” back after the Depression? He came up with a “first 100 days plan”.
I think that as we look at post-COVID-19 especially now that the vaccine is being rolled out, we can use a similar approach to help our dental practices come back stronger than ever before. In our practice LifeSmiles, we already rolled out this plan last year, and you can hear more about what we did here: https://www.thrivingdentist.com/first-100-days-plan/. But if your dental practice is still struggling in 2021, you can use this plan today to set some goals to get things moving in a positive direction this year.
4 Tips to Make A Successful First 100 Days Plan
1. What’s in it for your team?
Build your plan around this to get everyone on board so that you get the support you need from your team. It takes a team to run a practice, and you may need to reassure your team members that you are doing everything you can to make things better for them at work with this plan too.
2. Have a plan to deal with missed hygiene
As you know, I believe hygiene is the backbone of a thriving dental practice. So when you’ve seen a drop in hygiene appointments over the past year, you will need to have a plan to make up for this specific loss, even if that means extended or weekend hours.
3. Build the relationship side of your practice
Spend some extra time talking to your patients and give them time to share their concerns and reassure them of what you are doing to ensure their safety. Make sure you are meeting your patients where they are and hearing them out fully.
4. Incorporate virtual consults
Virtual consultations are a great way to connect with any of your patients who are still a little unsure about visiting in person. Not everyone is going to be comfortable with coming into the office, and this is a great way to meet the needs of those patients.
Get your practice back stronger than before by using these tips to build your own first 100 days plan!
