The Best Practices Show

Dr. Howard Farran is on the show today! He is the master at getting great people in dentistry connected. He has done over 633 podcasts and is the founder of Dental Town. He graduated from UMKC in 1987 and then got his MBA in 1989 from ASU. Howard is someone who has managed to merge dentistry, business, and technology to create an empire around dentistry and dental business information. He is the founder and CEO of Today’s Dental a practice he has had for over 30 years. He is also the founder and CEO of Farran Media, Dentaltown, Orthotown, and Hygienetown. This is an amazing episode as he shares his love of dentistry, and how he got started in dentistry and business. He shares fun stories and practical advice for having a successful career in dentistry. You can find Dr. Howard Farran here: Dentaltown Today’s Dental Howard Farran Website Farran Media Howard Farran Facebook Howard Farran LinkedIn @HowardFarran Twitter

Dr. Robert Ritter is partners with my previous guest Dr. Christopher Ramsey. They practice at Ritter & Ramsey and specialize in restorative and cosmetic dentistry. Dr. Ritter grew up in Florida and attended University of South Florida in Tampa. When he went on to dental school, he met his wife in the same school. After graduation, they moved to Palm Beach County, Florida and have been there for 23 years. Dr. Ritter began as an associate in a practice that he later bought. He was a solo practitioner until Dr. Ramsey became his business partner. They built their current practice 12 years ago. They have cultivated an awesome group of specialists that they work with including Dr. Ramsey’s wife as their periodontist and Dr. Ritter’s wife working in children’s dentistry. They are surrounded by friends and family that they work with and refer to each other. They focus on doing dentistry the way that it is supposed to be done, and this show is full of amazing insights.    You can find Dr. Robert Ritter here: Ritter & Ramsey Dental Dr. Robert Ritter LinkedIn Dr. Rob Ritter

Many people who love their jobs sit back on Sunday and are actually looking forward to going back to work on Monday. Most dentists love their practices, but Monday’s can often be the day with the least amount of predictability. Today, I talk with Dr. Chris Ramsey. Chris is a good friend of mine and one of the hottest new up and coming dental practice speakers. Chris has a private practice with a partner based in Jupiter, Florida where he works four days a week and then flies out on Friday’s for his speaking engagements. It is great to talk to Chris and to learn from one of the masters. Today, we discuss how to deal with manic Monday’s and put out fires and remain calm when unexpected surprises come up. You can find Dr. Chris Ramsey here: Ritter & Ramsey Dental Christopher Ramsey  

One of the things that makes a good dental practice a great dental practice is having the right team. I always say there is nothing that trumps organizational health. In any business, having a great group of people around the table is the ultimate game changer. My guest today is Dr. Ken Allen from Caring Smiles in Fort Collins, CO. Ken is a good friend of mine, a client, and now a teacher. He has done an incredible job of finding the right people and building an amazing team, and that is what we are going to talk about today.  Ken shares how he started out by purchasing a small practice with a wonderful philosophy that resonated with him. He also got extremely lucky with his first hire by just taking the recommendation of a previous coworker. When it was time to hire a second person, Ken put an ad in the paper and interviewed all the applicants. It didn’t take long for Ken to realize that a pre-screening process was necessary. By his third hire, he began to hone the process. He now has some great techniques and advice that he shares in this episode.   You can find Dr. Ken Allen here: Caring Smiles Dr. Ken Allen facebook @Caring_Smiles Twitter    Show Notes [01:53] Ken has a practice in Fort Collins and has been there 17 years. When he started his practice it was a one care operation that was open two short days a week. [02:29] Ken purchased the practice because the dentist had a wonderful philosophy or caring for his patients and treating them like friends. That is the kind of practice that Ken wanted to have. [02:43] It was a small start, but over the last 17 years things have grown and grown. [03:19] When hiring, everyone can get lucky once. A friends recommendation  ended up being his one and only first employee. [04:20] When things started to grow, Ken needed an assistant. He put an ad in the paper and interviews all 45 applicants. It was so tedious. [05:13] Interviewing seemed like a long process because he didn't prescreen the interviewees. [05:39] In 2003, Ken needed a receptionist. He came up with ideas to screen applicants before the interviews. [06:34] How time needs to be put into the hiring process. Team members are an extension of the practice and hiring needs to be done right. [07:04] Ken spent a long time crafting his ad so that it was completely in line with his practice vision. Dentists sometimes miss the vision in their ads. [07:51] He created a concise ad that focused on people skills, caring, and empathy. [08:28] The key was "dental assisting experience is helpful, but not mandatory". Sometimes it takes longer to untrain bad habits than to train a new person. [09:59] Writing the ad is critical to the quality and number of responses. Make sure the traits and characteristics are included along with job description and must haves. [10:48] Then they rented a room and contacted the applicants and held a mandatory group interview for 150 applicants. [12:01] They also paid attention to how applicants answered the phone when the team calls them. It was critical to have the entire team there to interact with candidates. [13:05] Some people refused to write their names on the name tags. [13:46] They started at 7:00 and started sharing information. Ken also shared his philosophy. It needs to be match for the employer and the employee. [15:55] The importance of having core values that line up. [16:15] Everyone is asked to feel free to take notes. Sometimes it takes two or three of these group interviews to find the right person. If yo