Unleash the Power of Hospitality in Dentistry

What if you could turn your orthodontic practice into a beacon of excellence like the Ritz Carlton? What if every patient felt nurtured, respected, and cared for at every touchpoint? That’s exactly what Dr. Michael Sonick, a seasoned dentist and periodontist, accomplished in his 40 years of practice. An embodiment of hospitality in healthcare, he generously shares his insights in this enlightening interview.

The Making of an Exceptional Dental Practice

Dr. Sonick’s journey to dentistry was born out of personal adversity—a severe bicycle accident as a child that led to extensive dental work. This experience ignited his passion for reconstructive dentistry and the importance of exceptional patient care. As he honed his craft under the guidance of influential mentors, he learned that quality care goes beyond clinical expertise—it’s about creating a welcoming environment that leaves patients feeling valued and respected.

Building a successful practice is no accident. Dr. Sonick emphasizes that reputation is key for attracting new patients, stating, “By the time someone meets me, they are ready to say yes to treatment.” This isn’t sheer coincidence; it’s the outcome of strategic marketing and a relentless focus on the entire patient journey.

Picture this — your dental practice as a luxury hotel, known for its unmatched service. Dr. Sonick believes in offering a spa-like experience from the moment patients first engage with the practice. He points out that only 2% of businesses truly excel at customer service, which means there’s an enormous opportunity for those ready to commit to superior experiences.

The Patient Journey — A Roadmap to Excellence

In his book “Treating People, Not Patients,” Dr. Sonick meticulously outlines the patient journey. He urges dentists to scrutinize every facet of their practice from the patient’s perspective—from signage to the waiting area, aromatherapy to music selection.
Details matter. Everything from lighting and paint colors to cleanliness plays a role in shaping patient perception. Dr. Sonick advocates for being “unreasonably” meticulous because it sets a high bar for the entire team. Standing out amidst fierce competition is possible by delivering a consistently premium experience.

Think about this: “Do you like being put on hold for four minutes?” Dr. Sonick challenges us to consider. It’s clear that even the phone call experience can make or break a patient relationship. By educating patients and offering choices at each touchpoint, we can alleviate their anxieties and empower them to make informed decisions.

Hospitality — The Heart of Exceptional Care

Hospitality lies at the heart of Dr. Sonick’s approach. He learned the art of hospitality in his early years working in restaurants and has since integrated it into his practice. He believes that dentistry offers a unique opportunity to nurture patients through tailored care based on their needs and comfort levels.

Great hospitality takes worry and uncertainty out of the equation. Dr. Sonick aims to replicate the supportive environment of luxury hotels in his practice—even amidst potentially uncomfortable dental treatments. With many patients grappling with fear or lack of knowledge, extraordinary hospitality can tip the scales in your favor. Dr. Sonick believes that this level of service attracts loyal patients who feel respected and valued as individuals.

Embrace Challenges to Reach New Heights

Dr. Sonick acknowledges that his approach demands confronting challenges that many would prefer to avoid—from patient frustrations and staff issues to personal discomfort with public speaking. But overcoming difficulties is a crucial part of growth.

He encourages fellow dentists to continually build proficiency in new areas and surround themselves with mentors operating at higher levels. Dr. Sonick also values colleagues who offer candid feedback, proving that even the strongest foundations can be fortified.

Are you ready to transform your orthodontic practice into a beacon of excellence? It’s time to embrace the power of hospitality and embark on a journey to create exceptional patient experiences. Visit Dr. Sonick’s website for more information on his course and book: https://www.michaelsonick.com/ and purchase his book Treating People Not Patients: https://amzn.to/3StIa92.

The post Master the Power of Hospitality in Dentistry with Dr. Michael Sonick appeared first on HIP Creative.

[00:00.000 --> 00:30.000] Welcome. You're listening to the GrowOrtho Podcast presented by HIP. This podcast is dedicated to orthodontist who want to stand strong in their market and be leaders in their community. Now, on to today's show. Dr. Michael Sonic, thanks so much for being on the GrowOrtho Podcast today. Well, thank you for having me. I'm excited for our conversation. Definitely looking forward to it. Tell me a little bit just about your background and how you got started. Well, part of my story is that I'm [00:30.000 --> 01:00.000] I had a bad accident when I was eight and I flew over to handlebars of my bike and I knocked out my front teeth. I broke my jaw and I was hospitalized for a few days and my jaw was wired shut for about six weeks. So I had to drink through a straw. This was back in the 60s. So I was born in 53. So this was I was 1962. They're about and there wasn't very modern. My teeth were on the sidewalk and a dentist and oral surgeon in Bridgeport, Connecticut, where I was living. Put them back teeth back in. [01:00.000 --> 01:29.900] I hired them in. So I went through high school with two broken front teeth because back in the 60s, they weren't doing cosmetic work on kids. They were just, you know, they said, well, if you stopped growing. So I didn't have crowns until I was 18. So I went for 10 years with two broken teeth. People used to make fun of me didn't bother me, you know, because it was my when your kid something happens to you, you accommodate, you know, because that's the way it is. And so that's how I sort of got started in, you know, anterior reconstruction because of my own experience. I had root canals done. [01:30.160 --> 01:43.000] Back in 1961, there were only two root canal specialists in the state of Connecticut and it took hours to have them done. And one of them, Phil Levin, who did my root canals, turned out to be my professor at University of Connecticut, where I went to school. [01:43.540 --> 01:59.360] And I put my x-rays up and I said to Dr. Levin, I go, what do you think of these x-rays? Now, at the time, those x-rays were about 17, 18 years old of root canals were done. He was, they look really good. He didn't remember me with, you know, I said, well, you did them like 18 years ago, which was sort of cool. [01:59.800 --> 02:11.360] And one of them today, still in my mouth, the other one I lost due to DK. So I got involved in, you know, probably in the part of dentistry that I do because of, because of my own experience. [02:11.560 --> 02:18.920] And it wasn't, and I had a great orthodontist, Ernie Mendelow, when I was a kid and I just loved the way he ran his office. He was very cool. [02:20.360 --> 02:28.440] He wore a string tie, you know, like a bolo tie in classical music playing. This was before, this was in the 60s, this is before streaming music. [02:28.440 --> 02:37.440] So he actually had a record player. And he had only Swedish nurses who were all white and white clogs. And it was like a really clean office. [02:37.480 --> 02:45.960] But it was sort of cool. And when a commercial came onto the radio or something, he'd have a foot pedal and you'd have to hit the foot pedal to throw up the music. [02:46.520 --> 02:54.920] And then he had sculptures around the office that he had done. So it was a pretty cool, cool setup, classical music, Swedish nurses being put off. [02:54.920 --> 02:58.920] And it was all his little attention to detail. And I sort of said, well, maybe I'll become an orthodontist. [02:59.920 --> 03:10.920] And then I ended up going to dental school. And I wasn't, I mean, at that point in time, when Dennis, you know, or physicians or lawyers, you get into a track. [03:10.920 --> 03:20.920] I mean, today, I think it's different. You know, I'm 70 years old. So today when kids come out as a whole different thing, they have a much more broader view of the world because of the internet and what they know. [03:21.920 --> 03:28.920] But when we were going to school, we just got into a track and we just want to get good grades and do it. I wasn't even thinking about the future. I was just thinking about getting my degree. [03:29.920 --> 03:36.920] And then when I got out of school, I started to work. And that's when I started to think about the future. And I was a general dentist at the time. I said, you know, I think, I mean, I was doing everything. [03:37.920 --> 03:45.920] I was working in an office in New York City for a guy named Myron Finkel. And he was a huge influence on me. And I'll tell you about him in a second. [03:45.920 --> 03:54.920] But I decided to go on a specialized in periodontics because I wanted to be really good at one thing. I didn't think I could be good at a lot of things. And I was a little frustrated. [03:54.920 --> 04:03.920] So I was thinking about ortho about my brother-in-law, Ray Greenfield, was an orthodontist. And I didn't want to be an orthodontist if he was. I figured, you know, I'd do something on my own. [04:04.920 --> 04:17.920] So I decided I'd do perio. And it turned out to be a phenomenal specialty. Then I was able to, you know, amalgamate my clinical skills, the biology with my personal stuff in terms of fixing front teeth. [04:18.920 --> 04:30.920] But, you know, what I really got into, I mean, is the hospitality part. You know, I wrote a book on hospitality. I'm pretty well known in my field as being a good clinician. I've written two textbooks. [04:31.920 --> 04:42.920] And, you know, I published, you know, 70 articles. I've been teaching clinical dentistry since I got out of my residency in 1983. And so I've always been involved in that. But I thought that was important for me to do that. [04:42.920 --> 04:49.920] And so I could be of service to others because if I don't teach, then I don't feel confident. And I'm constantly pushing myself. [04:50.920 --> 05:04.920] When I stop pushing, then I stop, then I'm at a certain level. I'm sure it looked you the same way. You're constantly pushing more and more. And as we were talking before, you want to get to do different things on social media. You work with different areas and become good at one thing. [05:04.920 --> 05:13.920] And then what do you find? Oh, I got to learn this to be really good at this. And then I got to learn this and it builds. And then all of a sudden you have these relationships with people all over the world. [05:14.920 --> 05:30.920] And so I started teaching and I enjoyed that. But this hospitality piece, I did unconsciously. And I don't know if you know much about neuro-linguistic programming. It's sort of a soft science. It's about how you relate to each other. [05:31.920 --> 05:56.920] And LP. Yeah. So your listeners may not know. So it's basically how we process the world, you know, through what we hear, what we feel, what we smell. And I was very competent on providing good hospitality. But I didn't know it. So, you know, we talk about, you know, there's different levels of competency. You can be incompetent or you can be consciously incompetent or you can be unconsciously competent. [05:56.920 --> 06:25.920] I was what my neuro-linguistic programming coach said. Unconsciously competent. So I did a lot of things that worked, but I didn't know why I was doing it. It just worked. You know, like I see a lot of athletes like that. They're just really good naturally. And then, you know, when you become a great athlete, like LeBron James, you know, or a Tom Brady, you become an elite, you know, exactly what you're doing. And, you know, these people, they, I use those two names because they, they went on to their late 30s and LeBron James is 39 and still practicing in the league. [06:26.920 --> 06:38.920] He's got a good physical skills, but he's got something else. He's got some tremendous wisdom, you know, because he knows how to, how to gain flows that he didn't have when he was a really great athlete at 19. [06:38.920 --> 06:46.920] So when my coach said that to me, I started to think about the process that I go through and how do I get people to be comfortable? [06:46.920 --> 06:55.920] Because we're talking about marketing a little bit. And I think what a definition of marketing is getting the customer or the patient or whatever you want to call it's the same thing. [06:55.920 --> 07:07.920] You're in business, getting that person to seek out your services. But you could have great marketing. But if that initial experience is not good, I mean, it's over. [07:07.920 --> 07:15.920] So I have very good marketing that happens a lot of it organically. And we could talk about that because I think that was one of the things we were chatting about. [07:15.920 --> 07:24.920] It's the customer journey and the customer experience before they meet me. Because by the time someone meets me, they should, they're ready to say yes to treatment. [07:24.920 --> 07:37.920] You know, I walk into the room. I'm a rock star when I walk in, not because I'm Mike Sonic, but because of the 15 to 20 touch points that that patient has had that were very hopefully very positive before they met me. [07:37.920 --> 07:45.920] And they got to sit in my dental chair back to this journey. So I'm involved in anterior aesthetics and reconstruction because of my own experience. [07:45.920 --> 07:51.920] You know, because of my family history, you know, I was pushed to become a professional. I mean, they really didn't give me too many choices. [07:52.920 --> 08:02.920] I mean, if it was up to me, you know, I would have been a, you know, piano player and an actor. I mean, so that's, I'm sort of a performer. That's why, one of the reasons I teach. [08:02.920 --> 08:09.920] But it's also really good as a dentist to be a performer because I'm performing all day long talking to people. [08:09.920 --> 08:19.920] And, you know, I did a lot of different jobs. One of the things that I was privileged to have is I had my father who was believed in hard work. [08:19.920 --> 08:26.920] So I didn't play high school sports. I had to work, you know, on the weekends and I delivered furniture and every finished up. [08:26.920 --> 08:30.920] And, you know, he had me doing all these things in his business and I life guarded. [08:30.920 --> 08:37.920] And then when I was in college, I said, you know, I saw how they, I decided to wait on tables. And that's what really got me into hospitality. [08:37.920 --> 08:42.920] I saw it was a lucrative way to go. And I was going to school in upstate New York. And I said, I want to go home for summer. [08:42.920 --> 08:48.920] I want to go to a, to a different location. So I went up to Kenabung Port, Maine, which is a resort town on the coast of Maine. [08:48.920 --> 08:53.920] And I worked in a place called the Shomit Inn. And that's when I started to learn about hospitality. [08:53.920 --> 09:00.920] And it was a big, big place. It was a convention center. It's right down the street from where George Bush's house was. [09:00.920 --> 09:05.920] You know, it was this family place. And we'd have big conventions. And there were like 40 of us there. [09:05.920 --> 09:12.920] And some of the people really knew how to play the dish, pour wine, uncork a bottle. I didn't know any of that stuff. [09:13.920 --> 09:20.920] And I started to pay attention. And I really enjoyed it. And being hospitable is its own reward, like giving good service. [09:20.920 --> 09:25.920] It's like by getting very giving, you get a lot back. And that's what I started to notice doing it. [09:25.920 --> 09:29.920] I mean, in a restaurant business, you're hospitable because you want people customers to come back. [09:29.920 --> 09:34.920] And as a young waiter, I was 20 years old, you want good tips. And I learned a lot there about hospitality. [09:34.920 --> 09:40.920] And I learned how to cook. I was a short order cook. I was a waiter. I was a busboy. I was a bartender. [09:40.920 --> 09:46.920] And then the piano player was out one night. And I even did cocktail piano there for a while. And it was a lot of fun. [09:46.920 --> 09:52.920] And I really got into the hospitality. And then I went another summer to Saratoga Springs, New York, which is another resort town. [09:52.920 --> 09:57.920] And I worked at four different restaurants there. And I started to really start to pay attention to it. [09:57.920 --> 10:06.920] And I love food. And I love to cook. And when I was in college and in dental school, I was the cook. [10:06.920 --> 10:11.920] I lived with a bunch of guys. I mean, it was split rent. And it was very inexpensive then. [10:11.920 --> 10:17.920] If you put a bunch of guys in an old house, we didn't care. And I got $25 a person for the five guys. [10:17.920 --> 10:23.920] And I provided food for the whole week. So I said the deal was, you pay me. I'll cook. [10:23.920 --> 10:28.920] I don't want to clean, but I'll cook and I'll shop. And I provided a great food. And I liked it. [10:28.920 --> 10:35.920] So that whole feedback loop was really important. And when I started to treat patients, I realized because I was a patient myself, [10:35.920 --> 10:40.920] I mean, I was in a dental chair since the age of eight. So now I'm on my 20s, I'm treating patients. [10:40.920 --> 10:47.920] And then in my residency program, you know, we're in these little cubicles, you know, we're like rabbits in a warm. [10:47.920 --> 10:52.920] Patients come in and it's not our practice. We don't control anything. We don't control the supplies. [10:52.920 --> 10:58.920] We don't control the assistance. We got to do everything ourselves. I know as the patients like they're in a clinic, [10:58.920 --> 11:02.920] but I want to give them a good experience. I didn't look at them as clinic patients. [11:02.920 --> 11:05.920] I look at them as human beings that are in my chair. They want to have a good experience. [11:05.920 --> 11:08.920] So I went out and I bought all these cassette tapes. I don't know if you know what those are, but they're little tapes. [11:08.920 --> 11:13.920] Oh, yeah. I took a cassette player before iPods and all that. And I'd have 20 cassette tapes. [11:13.920 --> 11:18.920] You know, one was Willie Nelson, one was Handel, one was Beethoven, one was the Beatles. [11:18.920 --> 11:23.920] You know, I'd have all sorts of different music. And I'd have 20 choices for the patient. [11:23.920 --> 11:26.920] And I brought in sunglasses. I had three or four pairs of sunglasses. [11:26.920 --> 11:33.920] And I bought some cheap pop-up art and in every operator, even though it wasn't mine, I put a painting up on the wall, even though I had it for a day. [11:33.920 --> 11:37.920] So I'd come in here with my instruments, my music, the painting, and the sunglasses. [11:37.920 --> 11:41.920] And I say to the patient, you got to put the sunglasses on because it darkens the room. [11:41.920 --> 11:45.920] But now it's the rigor because it protects your eyes. But here's some music. [11:45.920 --> 11:48.920] So in my office, I started to provide that really good service. [11:48.920 --> 11:53.920] Matter of fact, I worked in a clinic once because I got out of my residency and I had to make a living. [11:53.920 --> 11:58.920] I wasn't sure what I was going to do. So I started working in some clinics and it was in a mall. [11:58.920 --> 12:03.920] For like two years, I worked in malls. Terrible places to work because there's no windows. [12:03.920 --> 12:06.920] You don't know what season it is unless you walk by a card store. [12:06.920 --> 12:11.920] And I would, it was terrible. And the owner, he didn't really care. [12:11.920 --> 12:20.920] This was before DSOs and all that. And so my friend, Jeff Shapiro, who's now a prominent dentist in New York City, he's got one of the best practices there. [12:20.920 --> 12:23.920] He and I were just out of school and we were working together. We didn't know each other. [12:23.920 --> 12:28.920] But it was this fortuitous for both of us that I brought Perio and he was a great restorative dentist. [12:28.920 --> 12:33.920] I said, you know, we got to clean this place up. So when he only went on vacation, we hired all the clinical team. [12:33.920 --> 12:36.920] We bought paint. We painted the whole office ourselves to make it look nicer. [12:36.920 --> 12:40.920] And the owner came back and he was mad at us. We didn't charge him. He was this mad that we took over. [12:40.920 --> 12:44.920] But it made it a lot nicer for us. And then we put up our own artwork. [12:44.920 --> 12:49.920] And it was a nicer place. And I stayed there for like three years before I opened up my own practice. [12:49.920 --> 12:59.920] So giving that customer journey, which I started to learn a lot more, writing the book and over the last 30 years of practicing, it's really important. [12:59.920 --> 13:04.920] The people that are in my life, no matter who they are, I want to be able to give them a good experience. [13:04.920 --> 13:11.920] And dentistry, I think I'm very fortunate and blessed. It's a job. [13:11.920 --> 13:15.920] But it's a job that you get to serve people and you get to help them. [13:15.920 --> 13:20.920] You know, I have a lot of patients that, you know, have great jobs and they make a lot of money. You know, I'm in New York City area. [13:20.920 --> 13:24.920] I'm right outside of New York City. And a lot of my patients are in the financial business. [13:24.920 --> 13:30.920] I don't know how great you come back after you're trading all day long or doing these deals. You're really not helping people. [13:30.920 --> 13:34.920] You're really just making a lot of money. Nothing wrong with it. It's a different experience. [13:34.920 --> 13:39.920] And so when I come to the office every day, no matter what kind of mood I'm in, I know I have to be of service. [13:39.920 --> 13:49.920] I want to be able to give a great experience by giving a great experience to my team, which is real important, my patients, people around me. [13:49.920 --> 13:56.920] They feel better. I feel better. And the bottom line is I have a more successful business. I love going to work. [13:56.920 --> 14:02.920] I don't have to work any. I haven't had to work for a while, but I still go to work two days a week seeing patients besides my teaching. [14:02.920 --> 14:11.920] And I get to make my team feel better because my team, most of them like to come to work most days, you know, because the team doesn't have to be there. [14:11.920 --> 14:17.920] Most of that to say to me, I just want to be a dentist. I love my work, but I hate my staff. [14:17.920 --> 14:21.920] And I said, well, that's a problem. You know, you really don't want to hate your staff. [14:21.920 --> 14:28.920] And if you're not good at managing them, you need to hire someone that can do that for you so you can just be in a room and do a clinical work. [14:28.920 --> 14:34.920] But usually if you have that attitude, you have other things going on as well that's causing you not to be that happy. [14:34.920 --> 14:40.920] You know, I think we're fortunate. I read an article in dental economics about five, six years ago and said, [14:40.920 --> 14:45.920] 45% of old dentists would not become a dentist again if they knew what they know now, because they're not happy. [14:45.920 --> 14:50.920] I think that number is higher in every other profession. You know, most people don't like what they do. [14:50.920 --> 14:54.920] You know, you like what you do. I know it. I can just see it by looking at you. [14:54.920 --> 15:03.920] You know, there's a certain joy in it. You know, I can talk about this for literally three or four days and I repeat myself because I have so much passion, passion for it. [15:03.920 --> 15:11.920] So, you know, how did I get here? You know, I had the accidents, family, you know, told me to go get a job that's professional. [15:11.920 --> 15:18.920] And then the hospitality piece is something I've been attracted to. So I'm a real love. I really love great service when I'm out. [15:18.920 --> 15:24.920] I've got good hotels, good restaurants. And I get it about 2% of the time. That's about it. [15:24.920 --> 15:29.920] That's my rule is the 2%. It's probably lower than that, but 2% of any business is really good. [15:29.920 --> 15:36.920] So if you do a good job, Luke, and your business, you're going to be in the top. All you got to do is just care, show up and persevere. [15:36.920 --> 15:39.920] And you'll be right right there because nobody's doing it. [15:39.920 --> 15:43.920] You know, I have a good friend that does, he does roofing and siding. [15:43.920 --> 15:49.920] And he says, if he picks up the phone when someone calls him, he's got the job because most people don't. [15:49.920 --> 15:55.920] And I think everybody online can relate to that. I always ask, do you have a good plumber, good electrician, good siding guy? [15:55.920 --> 16:01.920] I mean, most of us don't. I mean, if we do, maybe it's one of those services. I'm looking for a good plumber right now. [16:01.920 --> 16:06.920] And I've had, you know, I've been in business for 40 years. I can't still can't find a good plumber. [16:06.920 --> 16:10.920] I got a great electrician, but I don't have a good plumber, but I need one now. [16:10.920 --> 16:16.920] It's hard to find a good handyman, a good anything. Do you love your dentist? Do you love your doctor? Do you love your cardiologist? [16:16.920 --> 16:20.920] What restaurant do you go to? It's probably one or two of the same ones over and over again. [16:20.920 --> 16:28.920] You don't go to all the other ones. You know, my town, I think in my town here, Fairfield, they're like 950 restaurants. [16:28.920 --> 16:32.920] It's a town of 65,000. It's a lot of competition. I go to two, three. [16:32.920 --> 16:36.920] In New York, there are 8,500 restaurants in Manhattan. [16:36.920 --> 16:42.920] And I probably go to 10 restaurants, you know, and I'll go to the other ones, you know, 8,000 or so. [16:42.920 --> 16:48.920] It's interesting because I think we could probably talk for a week around NLP, [16:48.920 --> 16:56.920] hospitality, and just a fun little fact with cassette tapes. I still use them. [16:56.920 --> 17:01.920] My daughter listens to cassette tapes every night because it winds her down. [17:01.920 --> 17:06.920] And she's not on a tablet and, you know, these chemicals are releasing through her brain. [17:06.920 --> 17:08.920] She's actually able to calm down. [17:08.920 --> 17:13.920] So I actually like things like that that you can only do one thing. [17:13.920 --> 17:17.920] You can't be distracted doing a hundred things with a tape player, like iPad. [17:17.920 --> 17:27.920] So I actually think that for learning or retention, some of those old forms of technology are better than what we have today, [17:27.920 --> 17:31.920] even though we have a supercomputer in the palm of our hands. [17:31.920 --> 17:39.920] It's all about how you can leverage it versus, you know, you become a slave to it, which is what most people do. [17:39.920 --> 17:47.920] And it's also interesting because Tony Robbins has been promoting his new book and he is in terms of NLP mainstream. [17:47.920 --> 17:51.920] You know, he's the big mainstream guy that talks about NLP. [17:51.920 --> 18:00.920] To go back, you know, something that I talk a lot about in my books or within my company is hospitality, [18:00.920 --> 18:06.920] and I worked at Chick-fil-A when I was 15. And in terms of quick service, like getting things fast, [18:06.920 --> 18:14.920] they understand hospitality service, but they're also, you know, quick service. [18:14.920 --> 18:19.920] They don't want to be called fast food, even though most people compare them with fast food. [18:19.920 --> 18:28.920] But I do believe if you go to Wendy's or Burger King versus a Chick-fil-A, most of the time it's a very different experience. [18:28.920 --> 18:33.920] Another organization I've studied is Ritz Carlton. [18:33.920 --> 18:39.920] Primarily, you know, there's a few that have a really great experience. [18:39.920 --> 18:45.920] I went to the Ritz in Paris, which is not part of the Ritz Carlton. It's just the Ritz. [18:45.920 --> 18:52.920] Something that I showed my team is, you know, the handwritten card I get from the manager with his cell phone number, [18:52.920 --> 18:59.920] the service all the way from entering before you enter the building, even the eye contact 10 feet away. [18:59.920 --> 19:06.920] Every single touch point is thought through, but then when you come to small business, you know, you're talking about plumbers. [19:06.920 --> 19:16.920] You know, I would let's just go ahead and group in Dennis and orthodontist into the small business mix, because most of them are. [19:16.920 --> 19:21.920] They don't really think through the touch points and experience. [19:21.920 --> 19:28.920] And most of them I find, and maybe you find this too, think that the experience is really good, but when you ask them about it, [19:28.920 --> 19:35.920] it's all about when the patient is in front of them, which they probably most orthodontist and Dennis do provide [19:35.920 --> 19:40.920] good care in terms of a doctor and health care. [19:40.920 --> 19:47.920] But perception on the, you could call it consumer and patient side is very different. [19:47.920 --> 19:51.920] When I called, how did the person sound? How did they talk to me? [19:51.920 --> 20:00.920] Now I can shop orthodontist and I think to a large degree, whether this is right or wrong, people may feel like it's a commodity, [20:00.920 --> 20:08.920] because there's so many choices. You know, recently we saw Smile Direct Club go up in flames, which I think is a good thing, [20:08.920 --> 20:10.920] because the level of care was terrible. [20:10.920 --> 20:20.920] But I think what it showed us is through marketing and sales and the internet, things are very different than they were 10, 20 years ago. [20:20.920 --> 20:28.920] So I'm just curious, because I go in offices, I've probably been in 50 actual offices. [20:28.920 --> 20:36.920] And I like to visit two or three every year, so I can stay up on my game and know what's happening in the office. [20:36.920 --> 20:45.920] But when I go, I would say 50% of them haven't thought about their phone call, what's being said, the entry points. [20:45.920 --> 20:54.920] So when people are walking in, the signage, the door, the paint on the walls, the lighting, the artwork, none of that is thought through. [20:55.920 --> 21:04.920] And what I'm hearing from you is you picked up on those things, even at a young age, you're able to visualize and still talk about that office that you went to. [21:04.920 --> 21:19.920] And so it had an impression on you. And I'm curious, how important do you think that those things are and what advice would you give to an orthodontist, dentist, other specialty who may be thinking right now? [21:20.920 --> 21:24.920] I haven't thought through these things. How do they start to unpack this? [21:24.920 --> 21:30.920] To navigate that journey, you have to develop a heightened level of sensitivity to what's around you. [21:30.920 --> 21:37.920] Now, you and I are probably born with that, which is a blessing and a curse, because we see everything. [21:37.920 --> 21:43.920] If you're staying at the Ritz in Paris, you want to see what that experience is like. [21:43.920 --> 21:45.920] And you mentioned commodity. [21:45.920 --> 21:48.920] Dentistry is a commodity. The hotels are commodity. [21:48.920 --> 21:53.920] You can sleep just as well, you know, in a hostel in Paris, as you did in the Ritz Carlton. [21:53.920 --> 21:58.920] But what are you getting there? You're getting an experience, an experience that is phenomenal. [21:58.920 --> 22:02.920] You know, I just came back from three weeks in Patagonia. [22:02.920 --> 22:06.920] And it's been the longest trip I've taken since I've been, you know, in my twenties. [22:06.920 --> 22:14.920] And I stayed in many different places. And I stayed in a very high end place, right in the middle of the park, [22:14.920 --> 22:19.920] where there's nobody. And the experience, everybody there gave me a great experience. [22:19.920 --> 22:22.920] And they had, they just, they just were wired that way. [22:22.920 --> 22:31.920] So what I would do, I think maybe this would be a good experience is go into your own office anonymously. [22:31.920 --> 22:37.920] You know, go to your website, look at it, look at other websites of businesses that are successful. [22:37.920 --> 22:40.920] You know, it doesn't have to be dentistry. It could be the best restaurant at the best hotel, [22:40.920 --> 22:42.920] Ritz Carlton site. [22:42.920 --> 22:47.920] Call your office. See what the experience is like. Do you like being put on hold for four minutes? [22:47.920 --> 22:50.920] Do you like saying, please hold? You know, you know all this stuff. [22:50.920 --> 22:55.920] You know, you will like to listen to an infomercial about how good you are as you're waiting for four minutes [22:55.920 --> 22:57.920] and getting more angry at the infomercial. [22:57.920 --> 23:00.920] You know, do they even say your name or do they even pick up the phone? [23:00.920 --> 23:03.920] You know, the phone is a really important touch point. [23:03.920 --> 23:08.920] Walk into your reception area, walk into your drive up to your office. [23:08.920 --> 23:11.920] Look at the neighborhood. I mean, in front of your building, if you don't own your building, [23:11.920 --> 23:15.920] is there still garbage there? Do you pick up the garbage because it's not your building? [23:15.920 --> 23:18.920] Even if it is your building, do you still pick it up? Look at the front desk. [23:18.920 --> 23:21.920] What's the mat look like? Is it neat? Is it clean? [23:21.920 --> 23:24.920] So I am a stickler for details. [23:24.920 --> 23:27.920] You know, I'm not a highly detailed person, but I know exactly what I want. [23:27.920 --> 23:31.920] And so I will do what's necessary to become extremely detailed. [23:31.920 --> 23:34.920] And the average dentist is very detailed. [23:34.920 --> 23:37.920] If I was going to give you a profile of the average dentist there, Technocrat, [23:37.920 --> 23:41.920] that's very good at doing some small procedures in a small space and they want to get a good outcome [23:41.920 --> 23:44.920] and they want to get in the track and they're not going to think outside the track. [23:44.920 --> 23:48.920] Dentists usually are not that creative. Some are, but the average. [23:48.920 --> 23:54.920] So it requires most dentists to get out of their comfort zone and to look at things that they didn't think were important. [23:54.920 --> 23:56.920] I'll tell you how important it is. [23:56.920 --> 24:00.920] Unless you do those things, you're not doing any dentistry. [24:00.920 --> 24:06.920] And my fee, in my office, it's not about the fee, it's about the experience. [24:06.920 --> 24:11.920] I don't know what the Ritz is in Paris, but it's more than $200 a night, okay? [24:11.920 --> 24:16.920] And it's, you stay in those type of hotels, you get a phenomenal experience. [24:16.920 --> 24:21.920] So why do people who stay at the Ritz in the four seasons, why did they stay at those places? [24:21.920 --> 24:24.920] Because they have great sheets. Were the sheets really good there? [24:24.920 --> 24:27.920] Well, they're, I'm sure they're really nice. And they must have been a thousand thread count. [24:27.920 --> 24:30.920] Did you have a better TV there? Well, it was a good TV. [24:30.920 --> 24:33.920] I mean, was the food good? Yeah, the food's good, but you give good food a lot of places. [24:33.920 --> 24:38.920] What you felt when you went to those places is you felt taken care of, nurtured, [24:38.920 --> 24:42.920] and you knew that this was a different experience than you had any place else. [24:42.920 --> 24:45.920] How often, look, how often have you gone to a doctor's office? [24:45.920 --> 24:50.920] Forget that, a doctor's office and then totally overwhelmed by how well you've been taken care of. [24:50.920 --> 24:55.920] Unless it's a plastic surgeon with a boutique practice or a dermatologist, [24:55.920 --> 25:00.920] or young dermatologist, that's just doing cosmetics, you're probably not going to get that experience. [25:00.920 --> 25:05.920] Now, I have my cardiology office. I get that experience, the phenomenal. [25:05.920 --> 25:10.920] And in my book, I give them five, six pages on what it's like to, you know, [25:10.920 --> 25:16.920] have a great experience. And I could have written chapters on bad experiences I've had. [25:16.920 --> 25:21.920] But that experience is really important. So take yourself through the customer's journey [25:21.920 --> 25:25.920] through your own practice. Go around your office with a piece of paper [25:25.920 --> 25:29.920] and write down everything that you see wrong if you were going to redo it. [25:29.920 --> 25:35.920] Paint is one of the drawer handles off. Go into every drawer. Look behind the scenes. [25:35.920 --> 25:39.920] What does your private office look like? Go into the drawers of your private office. [25:39.920 --> 25:43.920] If they're not immaculate and neat and clean, then the rest of your office is not going to be [25:43.920 --> 25:46.920] because it starts from the top. And that's very hard. [25:46.920 --> 25:51.920] I have been coaching my team for this for 35 years. I have two younger partners. [25:51.920 --> 25:56.920] They do not have the same level of commitment to all these little things. [25:56.920 --> 25:59.920] They're great doctors. I mean, with the Harvard and Brown, [25:59.920 --> 26:02.920] and one of them operated on me, he's a good surgeon. [26:02.920 --> 26:05.920] But does he look at every detail? I was in Patagonia for three weeks. [26:05.920 --> 26:10.920] I wasn't in the office for three weeks. I am the heart of the office. I'm the visionary. [26:10.920 --> 26:13.920] I set the tone for what things should be like. [26:13.920 --> 26:19.920] I do not vary from my standards, and I ask everybody around me to have the same standards. [26:19.920 --> 26:23.920] So I was concerned that when I came back, when I walked back in the office, [26:23.920 --> 26:26.920] it wasn't going to be the way I wanted to. And it pretty much was. [26:26.920 --> 26:29.920] Everything was perfect. I said to them, I said, great job. [26:29.920 --> 26:33.920] I said, they were all worried I was going to come back because you know what I'll do? [26:33.920 --> 26:38.920] I will turn off a light bulb and see how long it takes for somebody to replace the light bulb. [26:38.920 --> 26:41.920] Try that. Ask your dentist to do that to coach. [26:41.920 --> 26:44.920] They turn off a light bulb, see how long it takes to turn it back on. [26:44.920 --> 26:47.920] Most of the people don't turn it back on. I have done all sorts of games like that. [26:47.920 --> 26:51.920] I'll put a piece of trash on the grass outside and see how long it takes someone to pick it up. [26:51.920 --> 26:55.920] Usually they never do. And then I'll say, you know, that piece of trash has been there. [26:55.920 --> 26:59.920] You know, I have a fence around my parking lot. If a board falls down, [26:59.920 --> 27:03.920] unless I call the, tell somebody to call, they're not going to call, you know, the carpenter to get it back. [27:03.920 --> 27:07.920] You know, I would say it drives me crazy, but here's the good news. [27:07.920 --> 27:11.920] By being that attentive to detail and being that, that's insidious. [27:11.920 --> 27:14.920] I don't have any competition because nobody else is doing it. [27:14.920 --> 27:18.920] So it would be really great. Look at everything, and everything is important. [27:18.920 --> 27:22.920] And I just read a book by Wilga Derek. It's right here in front of me. [27:22.920 --> 27:27.920] It's called Unreasonable Hospitality. Wilga, and I'd recommend that your customers [27:27.920 --> 27:30.920] and your people on here read that book. It's about running a great restaurant. [27:30.920 --> 27:33.920] His restaurant is 11 Madison Park. It's at Danny Myers restaurant. [27:33.920 --> 27:38.920] Danny Myers is the founder of Shake Shack and My Mentor. He writes about taking 11 Madison Park [27:38.920 --> 27:43.920] from being a two-star New York Times restaurant to a four-star restaurant to be in James Beard restaurant [27:43.920 --> 27:47.920] to being one of the top 50 restaurants in the world, number 50 out of 50. [27:47.920 --> 27:49.920] This seven years later, becoming number one. [27:49.920 --> 27:52.920] This book is called Unreasonable Hospitality. [27:52.920 --> 27:56.920] I believe you have to be unreasonable to be able to take it to that level. [27:56.920 --> 27:59.920] No paint chips, no dirty carpets, or your windows clean. [27:59.920 --> 28:04.920] Do you have a window cleaning service that they come in every three months, or when you think they're dirty? [28:04.920 --> 28:12.920] Every six months, whatever. We have a protocol book for everything in our office to make it look great. [28:12.920 --> 28:15.920] What kind of music do you listen to? What about the lights? [28:15.920 --> 28:19.920] Some people don't like, don't mind lights. You go into some restaurants. [28:19.920 --> 28:22.920] They got great food, but they got fluorescent lights. I won't eat there because it bothers me. [28:22.920 --> 28:25.920] You're probably the same way. I will walk right out. [28:25.920 --> 28:32.920] What doesn't he talk about hospitality? He goes, I can't explain hospitality what it is, but I can tell you what it isn't [28:32.920 --> 28:36.920] and what it isn't is when you don't feel it. So you feel it. [28:36.920 --> 28:40.920] There was an old Supreme Court Justice said, I forgot who it was a number of years ago. [28:40.920 --> 28:43.920] He asked for a definition of pornography. [28:43.920 --> 28:46.920] He says, I can't define it, but I know it when I see it. [28:46.920 --> 28:51.920] It's the same thing with hospitality. You know it when you feel it, because it's all around you. [28:51.920 --> 28:54.920] There's nobody who doesn't like great hospitality. [28:54.920 --> 28:58.920] There are a lot of things. I think you mentioned cell phone. [28:58.920 --> 29:02.920] Earlier? My cell phone is on my business card. I hand my cell phone. [29:02.920 --> 29:05.920] I do surgery. My patients have a cell phone. [29:05.920 --> 29:10.920] Now it's on my business card, but if my patients picked up their sedated and the wife's picking them up, [29:10.920 --> 29:15.920] my business card called me on my cell. It gives them that feeling of, I don't have the worry. [29:15.920 --> 29:21.920] It's being taken away. Now in our practices, they're not coming there for a good filet mignon or a plate of pasta. [29:21.920 --> 29:25.920] They're coming in there for something very scary that they don't know anything. [29:25.920 --> 29:29.920] There's so many unknowns. They don't know how much cost. They don't know how much pain it's going to be. [29:29.920 --> 29:32.920] They don't know how much time it's going to take. They don't know if the outcome is going to be very good. [29:32.920 --> 29:36.920] They don't know if you're any good at your job. Nobody trusts anybody anymore. [29:36.920 --> 29:40.920] So people are scared. So you want to be able to take away that. [29:40.920 --> 29:45.920] A friend of mine, Todd Williams, he's the executive vice president of Four Seasons Hotels. [29:45.920 --> 29:50.920] And he says the purpose, the reason that people come to the Ritz Carlton or the Four Seasons, [29:50.920 --> 29:54.920] or any of those boutiquey hotels, is not for the food or the sheets or the TV. [29:54.920 --> 29:59.920] They all have that good stuff at home. People who spend $10,000 a night for a room, they're not there for a great room. [29:59.920 --> 30:05.920] They're there for something else. They're there for an experience of where you're taking away all the worry. [30:05.920 --> 30:09.920] When you're there, you don't worry about anything. There's nothing better to me. [30:09.920 --> 30:14.920] I said to my wife, I said, you know, I put those little chocolates by our bed. I said, there's only one here. [30:14.920 --> 30:20.920] She goes, call for another one. I call up two seconds later. They're there with the chocolates and extra coffee in two towels. [30:20.920 --> 30:25.920] Wow, overwhelmed. It doesn't take much to overwhelm somebody. [30:25.920 --> 30:31.920] And it took me a while to learn all that. But when you're there for somebody, they just love it. [30:31.920 --> 30:37.920] And it keeps you booked. Not everybody is booked four months in advance. How do you get there? [30:37.920 --> 30:40.920] It's easier now because it seems like there are less doctors out there. [30:40.920 --> 30:44.920] But most of the good doctors are booked away in advance. And they don't even do these things. [30:44.920 --> 30:49.920] You do these things on top of being a good doctor and a good clinician. You're going to kill it. [30:49.920 --> 30:56.920] So what do I recommend? Look at everything that a patient sees before they walk into your dental chair. [30:56.920 --> 31:07.920] And it's from the neighborhood, to the driveway, to the shrubway, to the building, to the front door, to the signage, to the lighting, to the aromatherapy. [31:07.920 --> 31:17.920] Do you have a aromatherapy in your way to smell it? Do you have a selection of magazines there? Not last year's, you know, sports illustrated from the, you know, the World Series, but like 15 to 20 different magazines. [31:17.920 --> 31:22.920] You have brochures out there that you created yourself. You have books that you've written before and after pictures. [31:22.920 --> 31:25.920] Okay, do you have hand creams out there? Do you have a bowl of fresh fruit? [31:25.920 --> 31:34.920] For patients that we can do that after COVID. When they go into the bathroom, do you have hand creams? Do you have special soaps? Do you have toothpaste? Do you have nice toothpaste for them? [31:34.920 --> 31:42.920] Do you have aromatherapy going on in that room as well? I mean, do you have a little sign there that says if anything is out of order, please let one of our team members will take care of it for you? [31:42.920 --> 31:50.920] Everything in our office says we're here to take care of you. You're like coming into a spa when you walk into our practice. It's a spa-like experience. [31:50.920 --> 31:59.920] You give masks, full masks so that everything's blocked out. You give them hand creams that they're in there. You give them warm blankets. You give them a choice of any music that they want to listen to. [31:59.920 --> 32:08.920] You give them a choice of sedation. All of those things are important to tell them everything that they're going to go through before they go through the customer's journey. [32:08.920 --> 32:17.920] Once you meet them, what happens? You know, you get that 30 seconds. When I walk into a room, it's like the doctors here, you know, the curtains part, I walk in. [32:17.920 --> 32:26.920] And the first thing I looked them in the eye, I sit down with them, knee to knee, eye to eye as my friend Bob Levine says, and I say to them, how can I help you? [32:26.920 --> 32:31.920] I said, and then I could see if they're nervous. They're very nervous. They're going to say, I said, thank you for coming in and trusting me. [32:31.920 --> 32:38.920] I know I realized that the hardest thing you did was walking through that door because for every patient in my chair, there are eight that have been referred that don't show up. [32:38.920 --> 32:44.920] And then I say to them something. And this is really important. It's probably one of the more important things I've said during this podcast. [32:44.920 --> 32:51.920] I said to my patient, I said, I can assure you, you were in the right place. Thank you for coming. [32:51.920 --> 33:01.920] Now, people believe you. Okay. One of my trainers used to say people were sheep. He used to run a bunch of foot lockers and he was managed people because people were sheep. They'll believe you. [33:01.920 --> 33:06.920] You just tell them what to do and they'll believe you because most people do. They believe the other people say, you come in there with confidence. [33:06.920 --> 33:13.920] You sit a patient and you're in the right place. I'm going to take good care of you. And then you tell them what you're going to do over the next hour. [33:13.920 --> 33:21.920] And you explain it to them and you show them everything. You know, it's a it's a great experience. I don't know if you know Bob Barkley, I don't know if you know that name. [33:21.920 --> 33:29.920] He's an old dentist. He passed away in the 70s. He talked about co-diagnosis, co-treatment planning, co-treatment. He talked about collaborative care. [33:29.920 --> 33:40.920] He was one of the first dentists to talk about him. And unfortunately, he died too young and it was 47. And nobody really talks about him except some of the old timers. There's a new book that was just out by Paul Henny. [33:40.920 --> 33:47.920] I don't know if I have it here. Do I? Yep. Here it is. I'll show it to your viewers. [33:47.920 --> 33:53.920] Code Discovery by Bob Barkley. And it's written by Paul Henny. It just came out a few months ago. [33:53.920 --> 34:02.920] He talks about the legacy of collaborative care. And he was amazing. You know, he was amazing, amazing, amazing doctor. And he helped a lot of people. [34:02.920 --> 34:12.920] I also feel like most businesses I work with that happen to be practices, dental, orthodontics, perio, endo, you know, within dentistry. [34:13.920 --> 34:33.920] They're not considering what the patient is feeling or thinking. And it may even be like you're saying at a subconscious level to where when they walk in and things are in disarray or they didn't have a good phone call or, you know, there's chipped paint or all these things happening. [34:34.920 --> 34:52.920] We have to start to consider what's happening at a subconscious level because all these walls start coming up and they start thinking, you know, am I in the right place or they start feeling uncomfortable or maybe their heart starts racing a little bit or just all these things. [34:52.920 --> 35:00.920] And then in today's age, they can pull out their phone and maybe they already did this and booked other appointments before they came to you. [35:00.920 --> 35:14.920] And if they receive half of what you're talking about from someone else, where are they going to go? And, you know, I know too many doctors who are thinking because of my quality of care, I should be busier. [35:14.920 --> 35:27.920] Why aren't people starting treatment? And it's really because of all these other things because to your point, most consumers, they don't understand what's going to happen in terms of a procedure or treatment. [35:27.920 --> 35:36.920] They're probably going to take the doctor's word for it, but they do understand all these other things. They do feel this energy. They do feel hospitality. [35:37.920 --> 35:51.920] And so if you're leaving it up to chance for them to feel that somewhere else, what's that mean for your practice? And so many people come to us for marketing and they don't have any of this stuff right and they just want to grow. [35:51.920 --> 35:59.920] And well, you know, we're not really growing like we want to grow. And I'm like, well, you know, it took you 20 years to kind of create this mess. [35:59.920 --> 36:14.920] I can't fix it in three months or six months. But if somebody comes to us and they've considered a lot of these things, I say, you know, they're already getting on third base or, you know, hitting doubles, maybe even some home runs here and there. [36:14.920 --> 36:33.920] It's a lot easier to take that team to the playoffs and the Super Bowl when those fundamentals are there. And so I think we can't talk about this enough because so many small businesses, not just within dentistry fail so quickly. [36:33.920 --> 36:42.920] I think the statistic is within the first decade, 80% of small businesses fail. Most of it is due to what we're talking about. [36:42.920 --> 36:51.920] You know, I think dentists, it's not for dentists. It's amazing how few dentists fail. You know, the overhead is not that high. [36:51.920 --> 37:01.920] You know, the average dental practice overhead anywhere from between 40 and probably 65%. So most businesses don't walk away with a 40% profit. [37:01.920 --> 37:06.920] You know, the grocery store profit is one or two percent. [37:07.920 --> 37:19.920] Yeah, a restaurant may be 10. All right. There's a lot out there. So you can be terrible and still make a living as a dentist. What do you want to do that? [37:19.920 --> 37:20.920] Right. [37:20.920 --> 37:26.920] There's two things I look at. It's I look at that. How much stress are you having with this decision and how well are you going to be effective? [37:26.920 --> 37:34.920] Look at how effective you are. So every decision I make in practice is it's going to increase stress, decrease stress, make us more effective or less effective. [37:34.920 --> 37:48.920] And you can be a lot, most dentists, what I see, they're very stressed and they're not that effective. And they're constantly, constantly spending a lot of time and energy, you know, doing things that they don't want to do. [37:48.920 --> 37:58.920] And what did you say? You want all of the fundamentals to be there and putting the fundamentals in place requires work. [37:58.920 --> 38:13.920] And it's the fundamentals in place are not doing a in this line case. One of those in case is spending like I did yesterday, spending 45 minutes with a staff member who put in her. [38:13.920 --> 38:22.920] She resigned. And when I was going in for three weeks, one of my my partners sent me an email that so and so gave two weeks notice. [38:22.920 --> 38:30.920] Now, this is a person I've been mentoring for two years. That's an email session. She came there with no experience. She's very timid. [38:30.920 --> 38:41.920] We are only an hour from Manhattan. I teach Manhattan all the time. It took her a year to take a train in Manhattan to come to one of my courses and it was a big deal and she's there. [38:41.920 --> 38:50.920] And so she's very scared. She is an underachiever. She's beautiful. She's intelligent. But she really keeps herself at a very low level. [38:50.920 --> 39:03.920] And she's just got to take a couple of tests and she gets a raise of about 10%. And she doesn't want to take the test, you know, the sterilization test and x-ray test, which everybody has passed because she's afraid of failing. [39:03.920 --> 39:10.920] So when I saw that she gave a two week notice, I think like what the heck happened? And she did it when I was going for three weeks because we're close. [39:11.920 --> 39:21.920] And not close friends, but I get her and I understand it. So I'm thinking something happened. And so I got back and my partner said, he talked to her. She's okay now. [39:21.920 --> 39:29.920] I said, all right. So first day I'm back. She's my sterile tech and she actually wants, doesn't want to be a sterile tech anymore. She wants to do patient interaction. [39:29.920 --> 39:37.920] And we hired her. She goes, I don't want to see patients. I just want to be in the lab. And she loved it. So she felt like now in her own head, she says, I don't want to be in the lab. I want to be a patient, so I'm being disrespected. [39:38.920 --> 39:53.920] That's where she was coming from. So he told me, and my partner is, he's not a real touchy-feely guy. He's very, he is more like an engineer and he's a phenomenal surgeon, but he doesn't, he's not a human interactions person. That's not his strength. [39:53.920 --> 40:01.920] But he's very nice. And he talked to her and he thought it was okay. So I thought to myself, you can't talk to somebody who gave two weeks notice and didn't even talk to anybody about it. [40:01.920 --> 40:15.920] She never came to me. And so I sat down with her. I said, come on, let's talk. And she goes, Oh, she doesn't want to do this. But I knew I had to. And I told her how great she was and how good she was. And I said, if I didn't know you so well, I'd be offended that you did this without even talking to me. [40:15.920 --> 40:30.920] She goes, I was so afraid to tell you. I said, what do you want? She goes, I want to work with patients more. I said, we can do that. I said, do you want to make more money? She goes, yeah. I said, just take this test. You take this test. We'll work with patients. I said, here's what all you got to do. And it was a longer conversation. [40:30.920 --> 40:43.920] But I gave her 30 minutes in the middle of a busy day. And I said, by next Tuesday, next week, I want to have a list of one page of everything that you want in practice, where you want to be, and you'll be there. And I'll make sure that happens for you. [40:43.920 --> 40:50.920] Now, that's something that they don't teach in dental school, something on teaching management. There's no management courses for dentists, really. [40:50.920 --> 41:00.920] You know, it's just sort of like you're learning about a C of your pants. But for me to come off the mountaintop of the big surgeon who's only there two days a week, you know, it comes around. And I'm all over the world. I'm teaching. [41:00.920 --> 41:09.920] Talk to the lowest level employee in my office and say to her, I think you're great. And I go, you wouldn't be here if you weren't, because I'm looking at that as an opportunity for her. [41:09.920 --> 41:17.920] I said, you've grown so much in two years. Don't leave. I said, I know this is difficult. I go, and you know, I was listening to Will. [41:17.920 --> 41:27.920] I was listening to him. I was listening to him in the gym on a podcast when I was away after I found out that she gave her a notice. [41:27.920 --> 41:36.920] And Simon Sinek, he's pretty well known as a human psychologist that coaches CEOs of organizations all over the world. [41:36.920 --> 41:50.920] He's got a very small team of about nine people to work for him. Because all he does is talk. He doesn't need a really big team. He writes, he talks. That's it. He's not doing dentistry. [41:50.920 --> 42:03.920] All he has to do up there is go out there and be Simon Sinek. It's more than that. But anyway, during his talk, he was talking about millennials and Gen Zs. He says, you know, they come to the workplace. [42:03.920 --> 42:14.920] He says, you know, they come to the workplace. He says, the average employee is there 12 to 18 months now before they leave because I have a small team and three people quit in the last year. [42:14.920 --> 42:23.920] He says, three of them. He says, but they didn't talk to me. They just quit. He says, because what they do, if they're unhappy about anything, they're not going to confront. They're just going to walk out the door. [42:24.920 --> 42:37.920] And then my employee, I'm not going to name him. That's what she did. I'm thinking like, that's exactly what she did. Now, most of the people in my office have been there for a while. I mean, I've had people there for 25 years and I have people there for, you know, she's there two years. [42:37.920 --> 42:47.920] So it does range. We don't have a turn over every 12 to 16 months, but 18 months. But it's important for me to realize that I got to be there to be in touch with those patients and those people. [42:48.920 --> 43:01.920] And anytime there's a problem, there's an opportunity. You know, when they say what, what they say that in Silicon Valley, what's bankruptcy, an opportunity to do something better because most of the people, most of the people who are very successful have gone bankrupt or have failed startups. [43:01.920 --> 43:13.920] You know, the average number of startups that make it. Okay, right away. It's like five or six percent. The first time by the time you do your 10th startup, you're at about 80%. So you got to fail and get up there. And that's where most people like to do it. [43:13.920 --> 43:24.920] You run from their problems, you know, whether it's a surgical complication or financial problem. You know, yesterday, I got a text. One of my patients, I don't kick anybody out of the office, but this is a patient. [43:24.920 --> 43:32.920] And the first day I met her, she was so obnoxious. She was so mean. And she had a really difficult procedure. It was going to be, it was going to be two years of work. [43:32.920 --> 43:38.920] I said to her, I said, I can't treat you. This is before I started treating her. She went, you know what I mean? I said, you're just too mean. [43:38.920 --> 43:50.920] And so ended up, I should have never treated her, but I did. I treated her and we had a good outcome. It took two years and we're now friends. She's got a video on my website and everything. This is, I've treated her about nine years ago. [43:50.920 --> 44:03.920] So she was in getting her teeth clean and she's got all full implant reconstruction. I said, you look good. And so when she went with a nice talk and I gave her a copy of my book and I went to graph the floor. She goes off to pay for this. I paid $100,000 in your office. [44:03.920 --> 44:16.920] Huge exaggeration. I said, no, of course not. I handed her a book. I get a text from her and then I get three voicemails yesterday, each one of them, three to five minutes long, ranting. [44:16.920 --> 44:23.920] Because I had, because she didn't make an appointment to get a teeth clean for a year. Now, she's got all this reconstruction. I said, she should be in every three to four months. [44:23.920 --> 44:30.920] So my staff called her up and said to him, doctor, sign up like to see every three to four months. And the rant was how all I wanted to do was get her money because I wanted to get her teeth clean. [44:31.920 --> 44:41.920] Now, I don't want to make this phone call for this woman. Okay, because it's going to be five minutes. And I'm going to have to put her on speaker. I'm going to have to pay as much doing it. But if I don't make it, I don't know what's going to happen to that. [44:41.920 --> 44:50.920] And what Danny Meyer talks about in this book setting the table, he says, you want to write the end of your own story. So if I have a disgruntled anything in my life, I'm going to run to it. [44:51.920 --> 45:03.920] There's a book called run to the war. It's about when you hear a roar out in the woods, it was written by the squash cap, the squash coach of Trinity College, that the longest record of winning seasons was 11 undefeated seasons in squash. [45:03.920 --> 45:09.920] You talked about when some, when you hear a roar, you need to run to it and embrace that. Because when you embrace that, then you can control the outcome. [45:09.920 --> 45:16.920] It's also much easier to control the outcome when you have somebody disgruntled, because it's so emotional. And if you know anything about neural linguistic programming, you already got your hook. [45:17.920 --> 45:26.920] So you can just take them emotionally and turn around. But here's the problem. It requires your time and patience and tolerance. But on the other side of that is a better outcome. [45:26.920 --> 45:32.920] And that's where you make your money. That's where you make your success. You make it a success. Not when everything goes right. [45:32.920 --> 45:41.920] Because I have a 95% success rate, but I got a 5% complication rate. I can't get away from that. That's where I spend my time in the complication rate. [45:42.920 --> 45:50.920] Because when I turn those around, they thank me so much, even though they had a complication. You know, the people who think go well, they don't thank me that much. They think it's normal for us to go well. [45:50.920 --> 45:56.920] It's not normal. It happens most of the time. But sometimes things can go bad. Even though you do everything in your power right. [45:56.920 --> 46:01.920] Like with that lady, I gave her a hand-written copy of my book. I spent 10 minutes with her in a hygiene room. That's a lot of time for me. [46:01.920 --> 46:07.920] If you walked out and I just said, make sure she's in three or four months. And then I got the ramp. So I'm going to have this conversation with her. [46:07.920 --> 46:13.920] And I'm going to say that she's now going to be in my lecture program because of what she did. And I learned something from that. [46:13.920 --> 46:23.920] And I'll get her to lay off, et cetera. But I'd rather do something else with my 15 minutes than that. But that's not how you make your great living by running those things. [46:23.920 --> 46:33.920] And I think Mike Tyson, I always reference this quote. He says, discipline is doing what you hate to do, but doing it like you love it. [46:33.920 --> 46:41.920] And I can relate with that story because a lot of times I hate confrontation. Or I don't want to have this conversation. [46:41.920 --> 46:51.920] But then on the other side of that conversation is growth in a much better path forward than if you ignore things. [46:51.920 --> 47:03.920] And I have failed even on stage. I tell this story to my team is one time I went to talk and for whatever reason nerves happened and this happened and I couldn't even speak. [47:03.920 --> 47:09.920] Then I started talking to all these people who went through public speaking and who I thought were some of the best. [47:09.920 --> 47:18.920] And they had the same thing. They vomited maybe backstage or one guy I talked to said he felt so sick. He had to call and cancel one of his speaking engagements. [47:18.920 --> 47:26.920] And I started to find out most people who became great at public speaking. They weren't born amazing at public speaking. [47:26.920 --> 47:34.920] Maybe they had something to say and they had a powerful message story. You know wisdom for people. [47:34.920 --> 47:42.920] But they had to learn how to actually speak publicly to get that message out. And so that helped me a lot. [47:42.920 --> 47:49.920] And so I say all that to say talk to other people who are maybe where you want to be. [47:49.920 --> 47:54.920] And I guarantee you they're going to start telling you about their failures and how they learned. [47:54.920 --> 48:00.920] And that's really the separation. Is somebody going to continue to move forward even though they fail? [48:00.920 --> 48:06.920] It's a good point. Find mentors. I've been around a while but I still have mentors. [48:06.920 --> 48:14.920] I have mentors in every area. Nutrition. Your own linguistic programming. Physical sports. [48:14.920 --> 48:22.920] In my field. Sometimes there's not one person I go to anymore because I'm older and I've ever seen so many people. [48:22.920 --> 48:29.920] But I create mastermind groups. So one of the things that you can do with some of your listeners might want to create a mastermind group. [48:29.920 --> 48:34.920] So let's say let's say I have what they're worth and honest. You know, 10 worth of honest around the country. [48:34.920 --> 48:41.920] I created a mastermind group 19 years ago of 10 of the top, what I who taught with the top period honest in the country. [48:41.920 --> 48:48.920] And now it's 18 years later, you know, seven of them are retired. But we're a group now is 18 people because the next generation is in. [48:48.920 --> 48:53.920] So I'm the senior person. I was, you know, I started it when I was younger and now I'm the senior person. [48:53.920 --> 49:00.920] I have all these people in their 30s and 40s. Believe me, it's I jokingly say, well, you guys will pass me. [49:00.920 --> 49:09.920] Well, in certain areas they have and they some of the clinical things they're doing. I haven't done the digital things that I'm not going to get into it at the level that they are. [49:09.920 --> 49:16.920] And they're doing a lot of really cool things. And what's what's nice about is I get to learn from them and they get to learn from a perspective. [49:16.920 --> 49:22.920] So I have a different perspective. They didn't practice in the 80s, you know, before implants and when we had to do this, this and this. [49:22.920 --> 49:28.920] They don't know what a patient looks like 30 years later after you treated them. You know, they just see the beautiful before and after now. [49:28.920 --> 49:36.920] So there's that perspective. And it's important to have both knowledge and wisdom. And I just read a book something. [49:36.920 --> 49:43.920] I started reading a lot. I'm at Patagonia. I used to read a lot. I was a voluminous reader and then I spent 30 years reading journals and news and stuff. [49:43.920 --> 49:49.920] And I don't I read not as many books. So I'm trying to read two or three books, you know, at a time now. [49:49.920 --> 50:03.920] And not the same time. But you know, you know, every every couple of weeks. And when it says they said the difference between knowledge and wisdom is knowledge is knowing that a tomatoes are fruit and wisdom is not putting it in a food salad. [50:03.920 --> 50:08.920] So and that's what I don't know who said that. It was sort of a cute little thing. I love that. [50:08.920 --> 50:15.920] I do like that because I see a lot of young people with a lot of wisdom and the knowledge part piece. They don't. They know. [50:15.920 --> 50:17.920] And I don't have a lot of wisdom for certain things. [50:17.920 --> 50:27.920] I mean, I know I know a few things pretty well. Most things I don't know. And I just give it to other people to know. And I think that's what a lot of people try to do. They try to control everything. [50:27.920 --> 50:36.920] The collaborative effort, you know, is phenomenal. You know, this conversation with you. I've been taking some notes. Some of the things are things I said that I didn't realize I was thinking that. [50:36.920 --> 50:43.920] And some of the things that you said about looking at an office, you know, I have a whole checklist when I teach because I had to give a two day program on on this. [50:44.920 --> 50:53.920] And I'm things that they look at. I didn't write down signage. You know, I didn't make. I talk about lighting all the time. It's one of my main things, but I don't have a whole thing of lighting. I should. I should. [50:53.920 --> 50:58.920] I'm thinking about putting in some photographs of lighting because I'll walk out of a room if I don't like the lighting. [50:58.920 --> 51:09.920] Same. And the wall paint in relation to the lighting too, because if your paint is a certain color, the lighting will just make the whole room yellow. [51:10.920 --> 51:20.920] And it's like, just gives you a headache. Yeah. The worst place. It's better hospitals. Hospitals. Yeah. Hospitals make you sick because it's light. Yeah. [51:20.920 --> 51:31.920] For listeners or viewers, what is the title of your book and where can they pick it up? The title of my book is called treating people, not patients. [51:32.920 --> 51:43.920] This is a copy of my workbook, treating people, not patients. I have a course workbook that comes with the book. The book can be purchased on Amazon. [51:43.920 --> 51:52.920] My website is my name, michaelsonic.com. On my website, you can see courses that I give on surgery and things like that. [51:52.920 --> 52:00.920] You can also see courses that I give on treating people, not patients. I do seminars. I do keynotes. [52:01.920 --> 52:14.920] If you want to learn about this topic and be able to actually actualize it in your office, at the end of each chapter, there are three or four pages of questions and to do list. [52:14.920 --> 52:25.920] And they can also purchase the course online. It's a video course. I think it's like $490. It is a three and a half hour course. It comes in 10 modules. [52:25.920 --> 52:34.920] Each module is 15 minutes and it comes with the workbook. And at the end of each module, it's designed to be watched with your staff and your team. [52:34.920 --> 52:42.920] The end of each module, you fill out that. And you said, how can the team figure out how to make their offices better? [52:42.920 --> 52:48.920] Whether it is a workbook here, one of the lessons is to walk around your office and write down everything that's wrong or what can be improved. [52:49.920 --> 52:58.920] So the module is about creating. We didn't talk about all the concepts. I always like to create a show. I'm on a Broadway stage. So I can't be sick. [52:58.920 --> 53:03.920] If you're going to go see you, Jackman on Broadway, you don't want him to have an off-night saying, I'm not going to sing tonight. [53:03.920 --> 53:08.920] Somebody else is, I'm not feeling good. You always have to be on. It's all part of the show. The importance of that. [53:08.920 --> 53:16.920] There's one chapter on your own linguistic program. There's one chapter on decor. There's a bonus thing on how do you hire and how do you build a team? [53:16.920 --> 53:21.920] How do you develop core values? All the things that you teach and you know about. So all those little things. [53:21.920 --> 53:28.920] There's also importance in practicing with integrity and always being your word and having your insides match your outsides. [53:28.920 --> 53:37.920] And one of the things that I always do when I go to a new dental office, and I'm not a consultant for offices, but if some of my friends ask me and they go, can you give me some help? [53:37.920 --> 53:43.920] I go, yeah, take me to your private office. And I just start going through jurors. And I open up every cabinet in the office. [53:43.920 --> 53:48.920] And if I see any messy cabinets, I go, that's your insides. They can't be messy. You can't hide your mess. [53:48.920 --> 53:53.920] So I have a patient's name is Bill Ravis. You may know him. He is a nationally known real estate agent. [53:53.920 --> 53:59.920] I'm not violating HIPAA. He's in my book. And I'm in his book. So he's been a patient of mine for a while. [53:59.920 --> 54:06.920] And I've known of him. He is the most successful private real estate agent in the country. He's got 5000 employees. [54:06.920 --> 54:13.920] And he's up and down the East Coast. And he's from Fairfield, Connecticut. My mom worked for years ago. And he came into my office after canceling for five visits. [54:13.920 --> 54:21.920] And he's very successful. And he's got an attitude. And he came into the office and I walk into the room. He's on two cell phones at the same time. [54:21.920 --> 54:29.920] And I said, Bill, I said, I'm very happy that you're here. I'm messing with him a little bit. I said, you know, I've been looking forward to coming. [54:29.920 --> 54:35.920] I said, you realize that you have three or four appointments, five appointments before you had to cancel. And he looks up and he gives me a look like, what are you doing? [54:35.920 --> 54:40.920] And I go, my mom used to work for me. So yeah, I know that. Now he didn't know because it was like 30 years ago. [54:40.920 --> 54:48.920] And he's got the two cell phones going. I go, yeah, see, he got two cell phones. You must be pretty busy. He goes, I am. I go, how many employees do you have? He goes 48, 4900. [54:48.920 --> 54:58.920] I said, 4900 employees. And you're still got to take every call yourself. And he looks at me. He goes, F you. Okay, right to me. [54:59.920 --> 55:09.920] And I start laughing. And at that point, I knew I broke in the ice with him. He goes, you're a bit of a wise guy, but you're okay. I go, thank you. I go, how'd you know? He goes, I checked you out. [55:09.920 --> 55:15.920] So I go, how'd you check me out? And I was always interested in what patients say because it's very, usually it's pretty funny. [55:15.920 --> 55:22.920] Maybe to butcher or website or something. But he, you know, we're in the same town. He goes, now I went to the most important room in your office. [55:23.920 --> 55:33.920] I go, what's that? He goes, you don't know? I go to bathroom because I have a really nice bathroom. Okay, it's my most expensive room in my office. It's marble and all this stuff. And people get an experience in there. [55:33.920 --> 55:41.920] He says, no, not the bathroom. He goes, I went into your basement and I have 150 year old building. And the basement is, of course, underneath my clinical area. [55:41.920 --> 55:51.920] I go, how'd you get into the basement? He goes, I'm a realtor because I know where basement is because it's, you got to go, you got to find it. You know, it's not like accessible to the public. [55:51.920 --> 55:58.920] And I said, oh, so that's, that's the most important room. He goes, yes, he goes, your basement is meticulous because I've never seen a basement so clean. [55:58.920 --> 56:06.920] He says, your basement is that clean. You got to be good at what you do. And so that's, that's, that's my last chapter is have your insides match your outsides. [56:06.920 --> 56:14.920] So you want everything to look good. And I have a hard time getting my partners to get their private areas as clean as mine are. [56:14.920 --> 56:20.920] But if you go there right now to my office, you're welcome to go anytime. When I'm not there, it is perfect. I leave it perfect at the end of every night. [56:20.920 --> 56:27.920] And I just make sure it's like that. And I can't, I can't, you know, I can't get everybody to do everything I want them to do. [56:27.920 --> 56:35.920] But I try, I try, I try my best. My clinical area and areas that I'm in control of are, but I can't control my, my partner's private, private drawers. [56:35.920 --> 56:43.920] Although they're very good clinicians. They just don't, they just don't think it's as important as I do. You and I, I think are soulmates. We both think this is really important. [56:44.920 --> 56:53.920] Yeah, we do. And in so many ways, there's common ground that we could talk about for a very long time. [56:53.920 --> 57:02.920] Well, thank you so much for being on the Grow Ortho podcast. It was a great conversation. And I'm looking forward to speaking together soon. [57:02.920 --> 57:04.920] Thank you so much for having me. [57:04.920 --> 57:15.920] Thanks for listening. If you'd like to learn more about HIP, or any of the topics in this episode, send an email to hello at hipcreativeinc.com. [57:15.920 --> 57:24.920] That's hello at hipcreativeinc.com or jump over to our website at hip.agency. 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