The Dentist/Consultant Connection Part 2

The Dentist/Consultant Connection Part 2

The consultants’ viewpoint: changing roles/changing perspectives:

These challenging economic times are not the time to put ones head in the proverbial sand and wish for things to get better. Now is when dentists everywhere must maximize the opportunity that really great dental consultants provide to any dental team that is willing to face these challenges head on. Having a dental consultant who is the right fit for dentist and team will stimulate the growth your practice through team development, systems/technology enhancements, improved communication skills, and more. This two part series will capture this author’s experience as a consumer of dental consultant services and will have experts in the field explain what makes the dentist-consultant relationship really work. Once you have read these two articles, you will be much better equipped to locate, hire and then soar with the dental consultant that is right for you. In the first part of this two part series about the dentist/consultant relationship, I viewed the issue from my own personal perspective, that of the dentist and team.

In this second part, I viewed the consultant/dentist relationship from the consultant’s perspective.

So, now let’s hear from the ‘other side.' The consultant’s point of view...

The panel of experts

To gain this important perspective, I asked the following for their help:

  • Lois Banta (founder and president of Banta Consulting Group) along with her co-consultants, Laci Phillips (technology expert) and Anastasia Turchetta (dental hygiene expert)
  • Serena Oldroyd-Wixom, President of Advanced Dental consulting, and consultant to, primarily, start-up practices and
  • Katherine Eitel, President of Katherine Eitel & Associates, Inc., consultant and president of the Academy of Dental Management Consultants (ADMC)


I independently asked each of these consultants the same two questions:
1. What is the best way for a dentist to go about pairing (matching) with a consultant?
2. How can a dentist maximize the financial investment and time invested they make with a dental consultant?
Here are the answers and advice these professionals gave.

The Banta Consulting Group

I first interviewed Lois Banta. Lois has been in the world of dentistry for over 32 years. Beginning as a dental assistant (lasted 6 months… “I could not stand the sight of blood!”) she quickly transitioned to the administrative area particularly the financial side. Lois has been presenting and consulting for the past 10 years. If you ever have a chance to get to know her, you will quickly grow to know and admire her as a person and professional.

Here are her answers to my two questions:

  • Lois relayed that the dentist can locate a consultant in a number of ways. Look to Members of the Speaking Consulting Network (SCN) and ADMC for leads.
  • Go to dental meetings and hear consultants present practice management topics and listen for their philosophy and approach and/or listen to their CD’s.
  • Ask your colleagues in your local community about their experiences with a consultant they have used.

Once the list of possible candidates has been shortened, she strongly urges a phone meeting with the consultant that should be accomplished at no charge to the dentist. The dentist must do his/her homework in advance. Clear goals for the consultation must be firmly established by the dentist and team. A set of written questions should be developed to assess the approach of the consultant to help the dentist/team reach those pre-determined goals.

Lois states that “she interviews them as much as they interview her” at this initial meeting. She stresses that “admitting that you need help is not admitting failure."

During this phone interview, Lois asks what the dentist and team love about the practice and what are the challenges/frustrations they have plus the changes that they would like to see made. Their answers are very telling to an experienced ear such as hers. These answers and other pieces of information she gathers guide her in creating a successful, customized consultation plan.

She is very clear about what constitutes her ‘key ingredients for disaster’ or an unsuccessful consultation relationship.

  • The dentist and/or team have unrealistic goals
  • The dentist is not willing to take on the role of the leader
  • The team positions itself to sabotage the consulting process and consultant
  • There is no opportunity for the for a relationship to be established between the consultant and team prior to the consultation process beginning in earnest

The end result of a successful relationship:

“I believe that success is achieved by a consultant when the dentist/dental team graduate,” says Lois. She feels that her role is to facilitate a group dynamic that will continue on long after she is out of the practice. “Each suggestion that I make is a ‘point of guidance’ that the practice can either make their own or discard. The group must ultimately decide what they will do with the information that is presented to them.”

Lois states emphatically that the team and dentist must WANT to make a difference. A successful consulting experience results in the dentist and team, “not saying, I HAVE to go to work but I GET to go to work.”

The Banta Consulting team members

Lois feels strongly that the day of the ‘generalist consultant’ is a thing of the past. In her view, today’s successful consultant needs to have many specialist consultants to draw upon as ‘tools in his/her toolbox’ since no one can know everything about everything anymore. The world of dentistry is just too complex.

For this very reason, she has partnered with Laci Phillips, a technology specialist and Anastasia L. Turchetta, a dental hygiene specialist.

Laci Phillips has been involved in the dental profession for 15 years first as a chairside assistant and then as an administrative manager, then on to consulting and speaking. She joined Banta Consulting in 2007.

Laci’s response to my two questions about making a ‘good match’ of consultant-dentist and maximizing the experience in many ways mirror those of Lois.

Laci’s ‘technology orientation’ creates her insistence that the dentist use the internet at the earliest stages to find out about a consultant whom they are considering. She states “The mere presence of an effective website means that the consultant is up to date, high tech, and keeping up in the field. I have seen increasing numbers of dental professionals using the internet in the past 6-9 months.” On this website, the dentist should be able to, at a glance, determine the range of consulting services offered, articles published, and upcoming speaking engagements.

Like Lois and all of the consultants interviewed, Laci stresses the critical importance of getting consultant client references AND calling these references in the selection process.

As to the keys to a successful consulting experience she adds these to Lois’ list

  • Make certain that the consultant you pick has had the ‘real life’ experience of working in a dental office and “not someone with only a business degree”
  • Ensure that the approach is customized and not ‘cookie cutter’

She finishes by saying that she frequently tells a potential new client, “I can come here, do my thing and you can decide by inaction to not improve a thing. If there is not energy for change, nothing will happen and the investment will be thrown away. The other option is that you can take what I have to offer, work with it, and make money or accomplish whatever goals you want to achieve. The choice is yours.”

Anastasia L. Turchetta, RDH, is the other member of the Banta team. Anastasia, also began her career in dentistry as a dental assistant, however, her passion in the field was more toward the ‘preventive side’ prompting her to become a registered dental hygienist (RDH). Besides practicing 20 years as an RDH, she has been writing, speaking and training in dentistry for 7 years. She is the author of “Just A Cleaning,” a guide to effective assisted-hygiene practices and a co-author of “Conversations on Health and Wellness.” Anastasia joined Banta Consulting in 2007.

Her ideas about the process of identifying who is the right consultant for a dental team are very similar to those of Lois and Laci. She adds that, “the use of a teleconference in the initial interviewing process of dentist-consultant is a great way for the doctor AND consultant to field questions asked by the team members.” She encourages those on both sides of the conversation to watch for the following:

  • Tone of voice as it is a reflection of the energy a person brings
  • Listening/communication skills recognized by the level of understanding expressed by the listening party

Anastasia is firm in her belief that, in preparation of the teleconference with the prospective consultant, all team members provide their input to the dentist through use of the internet, finding articles, or attending webinars of the potential consultant.

Anastasia, being very ‘team consulting oriented’ stresses the importance of a consulting team approach in order to make the dentist’s consulting experience maximally successful. She feels that the three parts of their group recognize the three most critically important aspects of dental consulting

  1. Practice management in general
  2. Hygiene department: proactive, stress free, productive
  3. Technology challenges

Effectively addressing these top three areas is the key to achieving a successful consultation experience.

Finally, her ‘best two tips’ regarding what to ask the prospective consultant are:

  1. Will the dentist/dental team clients be working with the same consultant throughout the entire contracted time or different individuals?
  2. Has the person doing the hygiene coaching personally experienced or used the methods that they are encouraging such as assisted hygiene or a specific product or technique they are recommending?

Another point of view

Serena Oldroyd-Wixom, our next consultant expert, has been in the dental field for 30 years first as chairside assistant then as office manager. She moved into consulting when, managing her father’s practice, his colleagues asked him why his practice was so successful. He proudly told them, “It is because of my daughter, Serena!” The rest, as they say, is history.

Her niche, as she puts it, is with start up practices but quickly adds,”My work includes existing practices as well.” The majority of her clients are in her home state of Utah.

Serena, like the other consultants, also feels that there needs to be a clearly defined method that a dentist/team use in finding the right consultant ‘match.’ Serena adds her systematic approach to settle on a consultant to the growing list from the Banta group.

  1. First, use the phone for the first interview.
  2. Second, insist on an on-site observation/visit by the consultant. (travel and hotel possibly added in depending on distances traveled). During that visit, have one on one consultant to dentist and separate meetings with individual team members. This process and time investment will help to determine the overall concerns that are present in the office and if it is a ‘good fit.’ 
  3. Third, the final proposal/contract should be created to include a customized plan that clearly addresses the specific concerns that are expressed in the office visit. The contract should be initially for one year.

As to achieving the maximal end result, Serena states “If there are specific and clearly defined goals for the consulting experience, both the consultant AND dentist/team held accountable for the expected results, and clearly defined boundaries put in place regarding accessibility to the consultant by phone or otherwise, the end result will be quite favorable.”

Meet the president of the Academy of Dental Management Consultants (ADMC), Katherine Eitel.

The fourth interviewee is Katherine Eitel. Katherine has been in dentistry for 30 years first as a chairside assistant, then moving to front office administrator, and finally office manager. For the past 20 years, Katherine focus has been consulting/coaching.

Katherine shared that to her, the best way to find a consultant begins by:

  1. Asking colleagues with similar practices, philosophies and challenges for a recommendation
  2. Attending lectures to hear/see a particular consultant in action to “see if that person resonates with you” in regards to
    1. Style
    2. Approach
    3. Philosophy
  3. Read articles/books and listen to tapes by the consultant

Once the field is narrowed, Katherine suggests these avenues to create your ‘short list’ of possible consultant candidates:

  1. Ask colleagues to get a wide variety of opinions and suggestions
  2. Use the ADMC because each member must meet a basic set of requirements to be a member in good standing
  3. Interview your top few candidates by creating a series of questions that will help you see how that person would act or react in any number of situations. Some questions might be:
    1. “What would you do in X situation?”
    2. “Give an example of how you implement X?”
    3. “What are your philosophies regarding X?”
    4. “What was your biggest challenge when X happened and how did you handle it?”
  4. Get a minimum of 4-5 references and call the references NOT just read letters of reference that might have been provided
  5. Don’t become stuck by geography. It would be a plus to hire someone nearby but that is not the main reason to hire any specific consultant.

Maximizing the dentist’s investment in consulting services

Once hired, as with the previously interviewed consultants, Katherine feels that, “establishing and managing expectations is most important in helping the dentist/team gain the most out of their financial and time investment with their consultant.” A mid-course review should be accomplished to not only evaluate if the consultant /dentist relationship is a ‘good fit’ but to make mid-course corrections as needed. What if the relationship is determined to be a mis-match? There should be a way written into the contract that either dentist or consultant can end the contract at any pre-determined point in time.

As Katherine puts it, “consultants must not ‘fire hose’ their clients with an excessive amount of information all at one time” or else the client will not retain anything at all. Instead, she has learned that the ‘trickle out of the garden hose allowing them to drink vs the fire hose’ approach maximizes the true learning AND retention that her clients actually achieve. If it takes an entire consulting session to insure that one basic point is understood, then that is all that she will cover. The dentist/team must buy-into that approach. Sharing and understanding this customized philosophy of the consultant is truly a key piece of their managing expectations and maximizing their investment.

Conclusion

It is not just the dentist/team who want a good ‘match’ but the consultants do as well.

The common theme in effectively choosing a consultant is
• using as many resources as are available to help you make that choice not just one. ‘Experience’ that consultant in every way possible before making the final decision.

The common theme in maximizing the financial/time investment dentist/team comes down to
• having clear communication dentist-consultant and consultant-dentist. Managing expectations and continually monitoring the success of the customized plan for dentist/team are two key points of communication that must occur.

To reiterate Lois Banta’s statement, “admitting that you need help is not admitting failure.” Admitting that you need help is the first step toward creating the most successful work environment and practice that we can possibly achieve. With the right dentist/consultant OR consultant/dentist ‘fit’ there is no limit to what the dentist/team can achieve.

It is your practice. It is your future. If outside help is what you need, find the consultant that fits for you for YOUR reasons and go for it. “What the mind can perceive and believe can be achieved.”

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