#909: How to Stay Consistent During the End-of-Year Rush

Dental A Team Podcast

Tiff and Britt are here to give advice on how to maintain consistency during the busiest times. They talk about keeping a positive mindset when things become stressful, how to avoid getting stuck in “fix mode,” how to find what tasks you can automate, and more.

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Transcript:

The Dental A Team (00:02.11)

O my gosh, Dental A Team listeners, I am here today with the one and only Brittany Stone. I am so excited. I bring you Dana a lot and Dana is freaking fantastic. You guys know how much I love my time with her. But recently, I have been mixing it up a little bit and I love it. I get my couple hours a month of just one -on -one solo time with you, Britt. So thank you. I love having you here. I love that we're in different colors today. I think it spices it up a little bit.

How are you on this beautiful Friday when we're recording right now? It's Friday and it's freaking beautiful outside, right?

Britt (00:38.059)

I know Arizona, it's like the end of summertime where it starts to break a little bit in the heat. We're like, my gosh, this is why I live here. yeah, that's right. This is the reason why. I like that I got a full name today. It's always fun when that comes out and I get called by my full name. So I'm excited to be here. know, anytime I get with you consultants, anyone on our team, especially one -on -one, it's my favorite.

The Dental A Team (00:49.495)

You got it.

The Dental A Team (01:01.005)

I love it. love it. I had I had a client today actually on our coaching call say, what's the weather like out there? Like, are you is it cooling down? And I was like, no, it was like 101 the other day, I think he got down to like 95. But there was 99. And like, we're all over the place. And I told my friend the other day, she's like, gosh.

it's supposed to be fall, like where's our fall? Where Arizona is, and we don't get fall, we get ideal hiking weather. So we are walking into ideal outdoors weather in Arizona. There's no fall. We just get our hiking season until now May. So here we go, ready to hike.

Britt (01:36.779)

we can get back outdoors. know Tiff today is like, should I go for a run? And I'm like, should I go for a ride tomorrow? Probably. Like now we can liven back up and be outside.

The Dental A Team (01:46.702)

I was actually thinking that last night when I was like, gosh, dang it, what do do? And I was like, Britt would totally be on a ride right now if she could. I love it. I love it. Well, I want to hear from you guys. What do you do when it's nice outside? And I hope that some of you are in some beautiful weather as well. I know we've got some Arizona listeners out there for sure. But we've got listeners all over the country. And honestly, we have listeners outside the country. So I love hearing about the weather. I love thinking about that. And I love just making sure that

Britt (01:52.384)

-huh.

The Dental A Team (02:12.777)

No matter what your experience with Dental A Team is top notch and we are here for it. So you guys today, I really want to talk about busy season because with fall coming, with winter coming, being in fall, all of these pieces, your busy season is about to really, really hit in the dental practice. I know for a lot of pediatric practices that summer. So sorry guys, you're coming out of your busy season, but for majority.

Britt (02:38.145)

Congratulations.

The Dental A Team (02:38.89)

Yeah, they were crazy, right? just did analysis with my Peto practice this morning in July and August were freaking bananas for them, but September is starting to slow down. So with October coming as well. So here we are in the middle of it all in the thick of it all and hopefully you guys have already done things to ramp up that schedule from September to October now looking freaking amazing and really just getting into it maybe within the year benefit letters things like that. I know we put all the suggestions out there.

But as it gets busier, I know me and I think you know me. I you probably know me better than most people in my life at this point. I tend to, as it gets busier, get more and more and more forgetful. And I don't know if I'm the only one out there, but I'm forgetful by nature just in general. a very forgetful human being and I don't mean to be, but it's just who I am and I have to love myself for it. But as things get busier, especially when I was in practice,

this time of year where it's like that end of year rush, get the end of your benefits done, prep for the new year that's still busy, we tend to forget to focus in on that ultimate patient experience. And those pieces that we do that really set us apart from other practices, they get forgotten. Those are the first things to go. It's kind of like forgetting the chocolate chips and the chocolate chip cookies and you ended up with these bomb sugar cookies because you forgot that stuff or

Britt (04:00.307)

You

The Dental A Team (04:03.164)

the baking powder or whatever. Like we just, start forgetting those little things. And Brett, I really wanted to talk with you today because I know you coach a lot of practices and especially in our group practice realm, you have a ton of practices in there, you and Dana and the other consultants that really come together every week to talk about these kinds of things. And in preparation for that, I wanted to pick your brain and see what do you have practices doing right now or what have they been doing and how do you

Truly help your practices prep for this busy season to really keep that patient experience at the forefront and top notch. What are you doing and how can our listeners do something maybe a little bit different, something they can pick up?

Britt (04:45.471)

Yeah, end of the year we know it gets busy. I always say once Halloween hits, it's like poof, like we're in January because that seems to be the holiday that after that all the rest of them come along and it goes real fast. And in the dental world, we are really busy on top of it because people are coming in to utilize their end of year benefits, whatever it may be, getting stuff done before the holidays or in between their travels. While our team has also taken some time off for the holidays.

The Dental A Team (04:58.983)

That's so true.

Britt (05:14.707)

So I think it's a time that number one thing I would say is remember the things to be consistent at, right? So be consistent at our huddle, be consistent at making sure we have a plan on how we're gonna tackle the day. Because if you start with that strong foundation, keep it consistent, it's gonna help you to make sure that like, all right, we can handle this. And it's not gonna get too wild for us to where we kind of hit that frazzled zone where we start to forget about that patient experience. So I think.

That's number one, is stay consistent on the things that are gonna help you. And I always say, if you're leaving morning cuddle saying, well, we'll just figure it out. my gosh, it gives me anxiety. No, we won't, it'll get crazy. So figure it out before you leave morning cuddle when those things get added in and even add a little like reminder, right? We're here for team and patients. So let's make sure our team and our patients have an awesome day today. I think even just that to keep it a little bit top of mind can go a long ways.

The Dental A Team (05:54.873)

hahahaha

The Dental A Team (06:13.067)

I love that. I love that the consistency of it and really finding those pieces that create the magic when you're not busy. So you said like morning huddle, making sure our team is prepared and making sure our focus there is too, that our team has a good experience because when we have a happy team and our teams enjoying what they're doing, it just translates to the patient experience so easily. So staying consistent in those pieces and

If you don't have a good morning huddle routine, like reach out, we've got a million of them and we've got a million ideas, a million podcasts on them. And writing those things down, right? Make sure that the systems and processes, even if you're in the thick of the busy right now, write it down. What's working for you guys? What's separating you from the others? What's projecting your success today?

so that you can keep doing those over again. And Britt, it makes me think I have this conversation with practices and honestly with people in my life constantly, I hate nothing more in life than wasted time. And to me, Britt knows this. It makes me so angry inside and it makes me wanna just like leave whatever situation it is, right? I'm just like, this was so absurd to me.

Britt (07:17.665)

That's accurate. It's accurate. 100%.

The Dental A Team (07:31.458)

So, and I say that meaning I don't wanna do things that aren't getting the result that I intended. And if I'm doing things consistently that are not getting the result that I wanted, that is wasted time because I could have been doing something that was getting the results I wanted. And what I tell practices and friends and family is like, you're literally running the definition of insanity. If you feel insane, you feel crazy, you feel...

spun up and out of this world out of control, it's probably because somewhere you're running the definition of insanity doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different result. And with what you're saying, kind of combining those things, it's really taking back that control and seeing what's working that you're doing consistently. And when you're busy, how do you maintain the control over that consistency? How do you ensure that those things stay top of mind for you?

Britt (08:09.291)

Thank

The Dental A Team (08:29.344)

I love that I get on a, you know, I get on a time tangent. So you guys like don't even test me on that. It's not worth it. It's like my biggest pet peeve and Britt does. Go ahead.

Britt (08:39.967)

You have a really good point and I think a lot of times it's easy for us to get stuck in what's not working or like picking the things that go wrong and any practice we walk into there are a lot of things you are doing that are working. So I think it's big to recognize whenever we're evaluating what's going on within the practice, what is working for us because I guarantee you there are things that are working for you.

The Dental A Team (08:47.487)

Yes.

Britt (09:09.483)

And we don't want to lose sight because sometimes we try to fix another issue and we get rid of something that's working for us and then it doesn't turn out the way we want it to. So I just want to kind of highlight that a little bit. Like that's an important statement that you made is focus on what's working, focus on the wins. They're in there, they're out there. Don't just focus on the bad things. And keeping those things that are working top of mind are just as important as working on improving the things that aren't working.

The Dental A Team (09:37.368)

I love that so much. And I work with clients constantly on that very topic because it is really easy to get lost in that. And I always say that it's like, you've got a new haircut, and you decided bangs were your jam this time. And you're like, I'm doing bangs and your hairdresser's like, cool, let's do it. You get bangs and we're like 1990s style bangs and we're walking down the street.

and somebody walks by and is like, my gosh, you did it. Your bangs look amazing. And 10 people tell you your bangs look freaking amazing and your hair is bomb. And then one person walks by and they're like, ooh, I don't know if I would have done bangs. When we go home and we look in the mirror, we're like, should I have done bangs? One person out of 11 said, don't know about that. And we're contemplating whether we made the right decision or not because it is so much easier to find and look at and

and be stuck on what's not working, what's wrong, how do I fix this, do I do better, than it is to look at what could be right. And when we start with what's working, rather than starting with what's not working, we can easily see what systems and processes are creating what's working and can any of those apply to what's not working. But if we flip it, we're stuck on fixing.

we get stuck in fix mode and we say, what's not working? How do I fix this? Instead of saying what's not working and how or what is working and how do I do more of this? Efficiency you guys like that is just efficiency and time management. those are Kira Dent says like efficiency will be on my tombstone on my grave one day because that is what I live my life by and this is why because it just doesn't my brain cannot comprehend.

doing something for no reason. There is a reason behind everything and we have to be intentional about it or we go crazy. And in the midst of being busy, that intentionality gets dropped. We're just doing, we're taking everything in as it comes and we're like, my gosh, I'm inundated. have so many things to do. Front office is checking out, checking in answering the phone and sending claims at the same time. Like one person is doing all of these things.

The Dental A Team (11:52.476)

And we're like an octopus in every space dental assistants, they're running four chairs because we had emergencies at the front office was like, no, we can do it. It's fine. One more crown before the end of the year. Don't worry. And my dental assistants are like, I'm going to kill you. And we've all got these octopus arms running all over the efficiency piece, the intentionality, the integrity of it all, the action ability that gets left to the side because we're just moving. And those are the days you guys that I run into the most walls.

Those are the days I wake up the next morning with bruises and I'm like, how did this even happen? I don't remember, but I've ran into 15 walls because the universe is like slow down, slow down and do the things that matter. So in the midst of being busy, the patient experience actually drops. And what I've seen happen is we cram a ton and I just talked to a practice actually yesterday about this and I was like, this is what happened. You guys got busy. So we get busy.

And we're like, I don't have time for all of that stuff that worked to get us busy. You guys, that's the point. I don't have time for re -care calls and re -care is booked out for three months anyways. Why am I calling them? And then what does three months from now look like for a hygienist, Britt?

Britt (13:06.635)

We got holes in it and then all of a sudden we're like, well shoot, why are there holes in the schedule?

The Dental A Team (13:11.036)

Because we stopped doing what worked to fill that schedule. And when we're busy, we stop doing those pieces, or we stop looking for a workaround. If I don't have time for calls, what can I automate to ensure that the information is still getting out there that people are still getting touch points? Can I ramp up emails and text messages? If I can't get on the phone? Like what can I automate that keeps those touch points going and keeps that relationship building? Because this practice I talked to yesterday had a stellar

month, stellar month, they were like, this was one of our best months ever. Get into the next month. Three weeks later, they're like, it has sucked. It has tanked. We've had no patients. I have not treatment planned anything. And I'm like, well, you're gonna have them next month is gonna tank too. Because guess what we did is in our busy month, we lived it up. We partied it out. It's like getting that giant paycheck in your 20s. And you were like, yes, like I got paid. And now I'm going out for the weekend.

But then in three weeks, we're like, shoot, is due. I wish I had the money. That's kind of what we're playing here. We're like, awesome, we've got all of this excess and we're going to live it up and we're going to party. And then comes the fall and we break down. So giving your patients the ultimate experience when you're busy, you guys, my biggest, biggest, biggest suggestion is to automate what you can find the pieces that you don't have to.

Do every single time on your own. There's a ton of automated pieces out there There's virtual assistants that you can hire to help offload some pieces even that the phone calls and the touch points to Patients reaching out to them while your stuff is busy like whatever that looks like I can I consider that an automation if I have a virtual Assistant who's not physically in the practice busy with me. That's an automation I can automate I can pull things off of my team

send it over to my virtual assistant and automate it from there. Making sure that systems and processes are actually being written down that we know what they look like. like Britt, like you said, staying consistent with those things that are working like morning huddles. How can our team win? How can our patients win? And really, really, really using like checklists. I know that's so mundane and so elementary, but Britt.

The Dental A Team (15:33.944)

How have you seen it? You've had a ton of clients before. You work with clients now, like I said, on that group basis. I know there's a stark difference between a practice that uses checklists and a practice that doesn't use checklists. And what have you seen in your experience from each?

Britt (15:50.815)

Yeah, I mean, I'll also just plug that like I personally am a checklist person, right? Because I couple things. I don't want to have to spend the energy to try to remember it when I can just write it down or have it on a checklist and make my life easier. Like, no, no pride in that. Like I'm not trying to be the one that like, my brains are like vault. I'll remember everything. It's not.

The Dental A Team (16:04.747)

Yep. Yep.

Britt (16:15.443)

I if our congratulations, I haven't met any one of those. But so I'm a big checklist person. And that's the difference. It helps with the consistency, right? Because everyone's trying to do their best, right? Everyone wants to get all the things done and make sure they don't drop anything. But nature of human beings, like if we don't have it somewhere to make sure that we're getting all the things done, it falls in, especially when we're busy, right? That it's like we get to the end of the day and it's like

I don't, what did I do today? Like, I don't know, did I get all the things on? I don't know, I'm so tired, I'm just gonna go home and we'll like try to do it again tomorrow. But when you have a and I love, especially for a front desk, a checklist that has like times in it. So it's like, clean things, midday things, afternoon things, or something, however you wanna organize it that's gonna help you, so then we don't get to the end of the day and have this whole checklist of things to do.

The Dental A Team (16:52.278)

Okay.

The Dental A Team (16:59.125)

Yes.

Britt (17:09.545)

And front desk, you get pulled in a million different directions. So it's like, all right, once I'm done checking someone out, where was I? What do I need to be focused on? I can go back to my checklist. yeah, this is the next thing I need to get done. anything for me, TIFF is efficiency. And I'm like, if I can automate something and not have to use my brain to try to remember it, like, hallelujah, I don't want to waste energy where I don't have to. If I don't have to memorize something, I'm not going to waste the energy to try to memorize something. Because I'd rather spend my energy on other things.

The Dental A Team (17:34.91)

Agreed.

I totally agree. I totally agree. I have to highlight you said, like, we're not vaults. We're not going to remember everything. And I like to think that I'm special in that, like, gosh, what is wrong with my brain? Like, you don't know how many times I've been like reminded of something I was supposed to do that I forgot. I'm like, what is wrong with my brain? Why can't I do this? Right? Like, I just need to understand it's okay. And then I'm not the only one. Like, I'm not alone. Mine is special. Like, I know that. Like, I know.

I'm pretty bad, but I use Blitz. I've got checklists, I've got Post -Fit Notes, I've got things in my calendar. We use ClickUp reminders. That's been fantastic with our company and that's a way to automate those checklists. actually have a pediatric practice out in Virginia and they have, Virginia and Maryland, they have all of their checklists, all of their end of day sheets, all of their monthly sheets, their, gosh, like the sterilization checklist. Everything is in ClickUp.

And so the team goes into ClickUp and they go in and or Asana any of those styles, especially for our administrative team, those are super helpful, you guys makes it really easy. I've got other teams that have it written and they'll do the laminated sheets with the dry erase markers and maybe they've got a big team. so they'll take a picture and they'll slack it into the team space at the end of every day. So it's not physically being turned in, but it's on.

automation like that. So I know we have automations in Slack that help us remember to fill out our KPIs or to go into our click up and update it like we have things that come automated as well. So that we remember things and as consultants, like we've got, you know, a handful of freaking clients to try to remember everything on and something you said about that, like, our brains not evolved. It's so funny to me, because for me, I can still recall, gosh,

The Dental A Team (19:33.458)

I've been with Dental A Team at this point for a little over seven years. So I have been out of my practice for seven years. So 10, 15 years ago is when I was with these patients. I can still recall multiple patients. I remember what they do for a living, their names, right? I could probably come up with their date of birth if I tried hard enough. I know what their kids did. Like I was thinking just the other day about

this family that I loved and she was always so sweet. She always wanted to like come in and talk to me about Brody and what is Brody doing? And her son loved Legos. And Brody at this time, Brody's 16 now and Brody at this time was like three. She's like, I can't wait for him to get into Legos. I'll have to bring you some Lego sets when he's ready to get rid of them. And I was thinking about it because Brody now is that kid's age then playing with Legos. But I was like, how in the world is it okay for me to be able to remember that conversation?

from 13 years ago, but I cannot tell you what I did yesterday and did I accomplish all my notes and get everything done. Like that is so far beyond comprehension to me and frustrates me so much, but it is just the point. Like we remember things that hit us on an emotional level or a trigger level. Like we remember things for God only knows why, but we forget the other pieces. And it's just crazy to me, but.

Anyways, Britt, tell me I guess.

Britt (20:59.859)

It's human nature, right? We're all humans. And that's at the end of the day. I sometimes we want to think that we're not human, but guess what? Everybody's human. So do the things to help yourself out, especially when you know you're heading into those busy times. And then I want to plug like a soft thing for patient experience too. I think this is helpful always, but especially when we get busy. I think that dental practices, right? We're all multitaskers. think front desk might.

The Dental A Team (21:08.474)

We are all human, that's fair.

Britt (21:27.541)

take the cake, like everyone assistance hygienists, we multitask a little different though. But I think right, we're pulled in a lot of different directions, but we want to be there. The best thing you can do is be there present with your patient when you're actually right in front of them. And so when you walk into that patient, like, just take a deep breath, like, as simple as that, just take a deep breath. So it kind of signifies like, all right, like this is where I'm at. So you can be present with that patient.

The Dental A Team (21:41.146)

there.

Britt (21:54.613)

So even though it's a busy time, you might be an assistant running three different chairs or something, you know, but if when you walk up to that patient and you look at them in the face and you take a deep breath so you can actually be there with them, I think that goes a really long ways that like, no matter what else, they may have waited a few minutes, but it goes back to the people remember how you make them feel. And if you can be there with them, like that's the piece they're gonna remember.

The Dental A Team (22:18.575)

Totally. I love that you said that because that is so important. And that's part of those pieces of, we said to go back and figure out what separates you from the other practices and your intentionality and your relationship is probably what separates you from the practice down the road. They're billing, they're seeing patients, they're doing the x -rays, they're diagnosing however they want to diagnose, but those are the pieces, those soft skills, those are the pieces that do separate you. So automate.

as much as you can on the other side of that so that you have the time, the space, the availability to be intentional with those pieces when you're busy. So absolutely. Okay, biggest pieces, biggest takeaways from today, you guys, write your systems and your protocols down, know what they are, take inventory of what's working and how you got there. What's working? How did you get there? And can you apply it in other areas? Use checklists, you guys, and do more of what's working.

less of what's not working, automate the pieces that you can so that you can spend time focusing on those pieces that truly separate you from the practice down the road because you are different and that is so magical and you need to really, really, really hone in on those pieces when you're busy. That's the most important part and it's the first part that gets dropped. Britt, thank you so much for today. I knew that you have some incredible insights to this one.

I appreciate you being here today. Of course. All right, guys, go do these things. Don't wait. I know you're in the thick of it right now. I know you're busy and you're like, tiff, Brett, I don't even have time for these things. Make the time because it's worth it. Don't let January, February, March tank because we didn't do the work right now. So go do the things. Brett likes to say choose your hard. Is it hard today or is it going to be hard later? And later usually means longer. So do the hard right now.

Britt (23:45.905)

Yeah, thanks for having me.

Britt (24:07.381)

Mm

The Dental A Team (24:13.806)

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