Bite Point

11:59

 

For the next 3 years, it’s 11:59. All the time.

And in spite of all odds, 2009 has been a good beginning for us. Because we made it so. Laser focus, people, that’s the key. Full-throttle sense of purpose. Nothing less will do in these times.

Trust me, though. You can do it. Si se puede!

I’ve set goals and I’m determined to rock out in spite of the overall economy. Operating within Seth Godin’s philosophy which so far is working beautifully. It’s not fast, not a quick fix, but I’m just beginning to see real long-term rewards.

http://sethgodin.com/sg/

I believe that each business should identify their own “Four Horsemen of their Apocalypse”. Maybe three, maybe five, but some tangible things that hold us back. I also firmly believe that it’s hard to see your own challenges clearly, and that it helps a great deal to look at other industries or fields that are different than your own. Then draw parallels and learn and apply the lessons to yourself.

Wanna hear mine? The last will surprise you. OK. Essentially all I need to experience growth are a certain number of new patients per month. Leave the rest up to me and my wonderful staff, we practice Edgecraft etc. and treat people with Anne McCrossan’s Visceral Business model, very I-You. All I need is to have enough folks find us. We’ll handle the rest.

http://www.annemccrossan.com/Home.html

So my Horsemen are:

1. People who move away. Our society is a very mobile one. I still miss folks who moved away a long time ago, and recently we’ve had such fine patients go far away. It’s sad, and also of course it drains away a little part of the practice each time it happens.
2. Patients who pass away. (No, not in the chair!) Our practice has a large elderly population. Even sadder than when they move, of course, and same effects in losing potentially more than we can gain with new patients.
3. Patients who say, “My insurance changed, I can’t see you anymore”. But you have to say this out loud in that exact voice that Jerry Lewis used when he screamed “Laaaady!” ;} Here’s the irony—they are usually folks who are healthy and have very little dental needs besides maintenance, and it might cost them, say, $140 per year instead of, say, $57 per year. I can understand changing doctors when thousands of dollars in some reconstruction might be reduced, but these smaller amounts do leave me bemused.
4. Here’s the interesting one—people get healthy! If patients are reasonably compliant and listen to health advice, we can reduce cavities and periodontal disease to very low levels. It has been said that dentistry is the only major business that is constantly trying to put itself out of business.

I post these in detail because, again, it takes a lot of deep thought to truly identify the challenges in your own business, and I find going far afield helps to figure it all out. So maybe someone here who does something quite different than me can use this, and will see something that they missed before.

So, in my case I need Marketing. Not Advertising, which is broken, but Marketing. So we Embrace The Purple Cow, we use Edgecraft, I recognize that we’ll always serve a crowd but also we can lead a "tribe" within that; I reflect on and use Anne’s Visceral Business and Blatant Integrity concepts. I’m a bit fortunate that way because Dr. Sukoneck practiced that way instinctively since the 70’s, before it was ever called that.

So, bringing in an appropriate number of new patients and treating them with excellence is what I need to do to counterbalance my Four Horsemen. As long as we stay focused every minute as if it’s 11:59 we will continue to grow. The best thing about using Seth’s concepts as opposed to “Y’all come” advertising is this—nearly all of the new patients who are referred by our existing patients are fine people with whom we can have a good mutual relationship, and this is simply because they were referred in by similar people who are already in the practice. We rarely have an extremely difficult, cantankerous new patient these days because it’s not a random selection process.

*Joel Canfield was kind enough to guest post me on his blog, Jan 30 2009:

http://commonsenseentrepreneur.com/ce/blog/

And is basing a seminar series in part on this concept- which may come to our East Coast in the Fall!

http://www.thetimeisnow1159.com/1159/

Please Handle With Care

Welcome to my blog.  Our main focus will be oral health issues, yet in these difficult times I'd like to start with a piece, that I've posted elsewhere, on  how important and valuable it is to maintain our focus on the people who matter to us.  In today's socially networked, new media world we stand to gain more than ever before if we think and act in this way...

In these times, it seems that many of the Structures around us are crumbling. The media, and many many people, respond with cynicism. But I'm here on my little blog to tell you all: Cynicism Is A Losing Strategy! What we have to rely on to find our proper path are ourselves and our friends and family.

I saw this remnant of a box in a creekbed the other day, slowly breaking down, and it got me to thinking. Regardless of what cargo it once carried, regardless of what kind of person it carried it to, someone that we would admire or possibly revile, this soggy bit of cardboard has more of wisdom in it than most of the talking heads on the airwaves can ever aspire to. As it fades, this box is sending us the message, "PLEASE HANDLE WITH CARE".

Do we need much of anything more in the way of philosophy to teach us how to deal with our friends and family? Even our business, our job, the things that we enjoy? Handle them with care and all will be OK in the end.

One of my friends did this for me yesterday, thanks K, and it made a world of difference to my outlook.

Listen to the box, fading in the creekbed. Check in with your family. Stay in touch with your friends. Think carefully when you're at work, and enjoy the times when you're at play all the more. We'll all get through this together, whatever "this" turns out to be!