Why incentive program is important? In the last 6-8 months I visited a lot of practices across the country and it's always surprising to me that doctors have same if not bigger expectations to their team members as if they own a dental practice software. I understand the perfectionism and being type A, however, please remember your team members will work hard and put their 100% if they inspired and feel appreciated. This is where a well designed incentive program will be important. Trust me, it's not the amount that matters, more of an act of appreciation for a going above and beyond. There are plenty of resources regarding building an awesome incentive program. However, we are interested in the one that involves overhead and dental supplies. So far we were able to find one that is designed and tested by our great friend Dr. Mark Costes, DDS and it serves a lot of great purposes. We have seen in our client offices a difference that bonus system can make. There are couple of aspects of designing a well accepted system: Simplicity - if it takes you longer than 20 seconds to explain it, it’s too complicated and will send a message “I really don’t want to create one, but here you go, take it…”. Covers the areas you need improvements and you can measure success. Before you start handing out bonus checks, your system needs to be easy to track and have tangible end results (in supplies, staying under 5% of the collections) Follow through - the biggest issues that I have seen is when the bonus is promised, goals are met, and the owner of the practice (dentists) decides to “We will pay them out in Christmas” when it’s only July in the calendar. This is the easiest way to lose your people and lose respect to you as a leader. This podcast will cover most important aspects of the incentive program and I really hope you implement one in your practice. Link to Dr. Costes' podcast on team incentives.
If you’re anything like the practices we serve, gaining full control of your inventory is easier said than done. A lot easier. The reality is, the dental industry and standard processes in place don’t make managing inventory a simple task for most practices. But with the right approach, it can be. Since the beginning of 2016, when ZenSupplies first began, we’ve processed over 3,000 orders and organized more than 35K products. And through our observation and analysis of the 29 clients we serve and their inventories, we’ve never wavered from our core aim: to help practices organize and regain control of their inventory, and save them time and money so they can focus on their patients and providing them with quality dental treatment. While our product has been increasingly effective in accomplishing this with our clients, finding the best way to break down smart dental inventory management into as simple a step-by-step process as possible has been a trial and error endeavor, to say the least. Fortunately though, after more than a year of observing and analyzing practices, and countless brainstorming sessions, we’ve finally managed to fulfill that endeavor. If you want to gain control of your dental inventory before considering implementing ZenSupplies, below are five easy steps any practice can take even without the help of our dental software programs and training services. Determine your practice’s biggest inventory issues. What aspects of inventory frustrate you the most? What really drives you up a wall? It could be running out of product while a patient is in the chair. Maybe it’s not having enough team members who know how to place orders. Or perhaps just the amount of time alone it takes for you and your team to fill out and submit orders grinds your gears the most. If you’re like most practices, the list is probably long. Whatever your practice’s biggest inventory issues are, take the time to go through them with your team and write them out as you do. Then, once you’ve done this, take a consensus to determine your greatest three. This will provide you with the foundation you’ll need to start painting an accurate picture of your inventory. Furthermore, by identifying these core issues that the lack of an organized inventory process causes, you will also be able to determine your need level for a more robust inventory management system like the one ZenSupplies provides. Make a list all of the distributors you buy from. Once you’ve determined your practice’s greatest inventory issues, the next step is to compile a list of the distributors you work with - yes, even the small guys you only order one specialty product from. The key here is to continue developing a more complete and accurate picture of your vendor relations as it pertains to your inventory. When we first ask our new clients the question, “How many distributors do you purchase from?”, the most common response we hear is “three to five”. But after going through order history and invoices, we find that in most cases there are far more - often times upwards of 20. This sort of inaccurate picture makes gaining control of your inventory processes incredibly difficult, if not near impossible, as it leads to confusion among staff, and time spent on simply finding the right distributor for a given product. After all, how can you expect to determine which distributor to buy a certain product from if you don’t know you buy from them? From a pure business standpoint, knowing your vendors well is essential to your practice’s success, and will help you in myriad ways in the long run. Identify the major distributor you buy from the most. After hashing out your list of distributors, the next step you’ll want to take is to identify the major distributor you buy from the most (Patterson, Benco, Schein, etc.). In our experience, there are two types of practices: ones who buy products from various distributors fairly equally, and ones who rely on primarily one or two major distributors. Regardless of which one describes your practice more, it’s critical you determine the major distributor you buy from the most. Once you’ve accomplished this, you’ll need to print out all the invoices you have of theirs on file from last year. This may sound like an excruciatingly couple of hours, but it’s essential to fully knowing your distributor climate. For example, if your primary distributor is Patterson Dental and you buy supplies from them two times a month, you will need to print 24 invoices (typically 3 - 4 pages long each). Within this example, going through 24 invoices should take you roughly 3 - 5 hours. Doing this will not only help you gain a more complete picture of what you’re paying and if there are any price discrepancies, but it will also provide you knowledge you can leverage in the following steps. Consolidate products to your primary major distributor OR select 2 - 3 distributors that sell online and set up accounts for easy access. After you’ve determined a primary major distributor, you’ll want to begin consolidating your inventory with them. Using the information you’ve gathered from steps 2 and 3 and analyzing your invoices from last year (order volumes, product prices, etc.), you can enter into this dialogue with leverage on your side. If you elect the first option (consolidating to your primary major distributor), start the conversation with your sales rep by stating your situation. “X is the volume we did last year, Y are our expectations for this year, and Z are the prices we’ve found for your products online.” Having done this, then tell them you’d like to consolidate and ask them what prices they can give you. Naturally, this conversation can be a bit uncomfortable, especially if you have a long-standing relationship with your sales rep. This is where, as a dentist, you will need to make a decision on what’s more important to you: saving 15-20% on supplies, or maintaining your current relationship with your rep. Any good sales rep will respect your decision, and the opportunity to earn your business. But don’t stop there. Use the information you have at your disposal to negotiate pricing, particularly on your more common products (heavy body, fluoride, exam gloves, etc.). The second option is a bit more straightforward, but isn’t for all practices. However, if you already know that you will be purchasing products from online vendors, make sure you narrow them down to 2 - 3 and confirm following important details: Product quality and procurement (authorized dealer, no grey market products, etc.) Return policy Shipping speed Customer service capabilities (call center, order reconciliation services, etc.) Where they source products from Payment terms - 30 days If you find an online distributor with significantly cheaper prices but you are unsure about product quality, or more importantly, the credibility and legitimacy of that distributor, don’t order from them. No amount of cost savings is worth risking you and your practice’s reputation. Stop autopay on all your purchases. As soon as you’ve consolidated your inventory or selected 2 - 3 trustworthy online distributors to work with, have your office manager or an assistant contact your current distributors and request that autopay be discontinued with each. Ask for a 30-day net time invoice to be emailed to you. Some may exhibit resistance or pushback, but don’t be deterred. Not only are distributors legally obligated to fulfill these kind of requests, but this step is critical for being able to effectively control your spendings. In the 3,000+ orders we’ve processed, there have been a considerable number in which mistakes and overcharges occurred. This is by no means an indictment on distributors - we’re all human - but, well...we’re all human. Mistakes happen. Instead, use a more reliable, auditable method, like Chase Bill Pay. In the end, not only will this will help mitigate invoice errors and eliminate the hassle of paper order submission, it will save you hundreds of dollars a year. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ By the time you’ve completed each of these steps, your practice will have gained a clearer picture of your inventory, simplified its ordering processes, economized on staff time, obtained better prices, and begun the road toward savings. But most importantly, you will have taken back control of your inventory. Now, just make sure you keep it that way. Since this is what we live by at ZenSupplies, we have to add a sales plug! If any of these tasks sound too difficult or time-consuming, you can give us a call at 872-225-2ZEN!
We are fortunate to have clients that are patient, provide critical feedback and stay by our side while we are building worlds greatest dental software. In only 8 months we grew to 50 active clients and 44 that are in the onboarding stage, so in no time we believe we will cross that significant mark of 100 offices. I can tell you that we have learned a lot and continue to learn every day and through our daily mantra of “Let’s screw things up” we continue to push the envelope. During my sales calls, doctors ask me “Tiger, what is the most difficult aspect of your system?” and unfortunately my only answer is Human Nature. Yes, the software part is easy, we can design pretty buttons, make it all work just like a Cerec machine, but the human part is the most challenging. Please don’t get me wrong, I’m happy that it’s this way, it helps us build a better software, more intuitive, and by no means is this a “The world needs to change” article. This is to simply acknowledge that change is indeed hard! Remember trying to lose weight? Fix a relationship? Or grow your business? We have a lot of startup offices and doctors who are opening new locations, remember first 30-60 days, I bet it wasn’t easy. I bet there were days working late seeing patience, then working on marketing, then looking at the finances, and then writing an ad to hire a new dental assistant. Then eventually all the hard things led into building knowledge, systems, attracting the right people to get to the next level. On a side note, it shouldn’t be easy, these things need to be hard, for a simple reason that you want the life to be on your terms. How does this all relate to ZenSupplies and implementation? Luckily it’s easier than losing weight or looking for a new dental assistant, but it has similarities. Let’s break it down: Decision - just as deciding to open an office or building a startup practice implementing a dental inventory management system has to be a well thought out process. I’ve seen several instances where doctors make a decision to implement, then life takes over with busy schedules in and outside the office. More Importantly if your dental assistant thinks that you don’t need one and it will over complicate things at this point you know, it’s a game over. A well thought out decision builds reasoning beyond “let’s just try it” and runs deeper in the culture of the office. Leadership - the amount of times I’ve heard doctors’ say “Let’s give it a try and see what my assistant thinks” is staggering. Again luckily for us there are a lot more really hard working, positive, dental assistants and team members in the field of dentistry that are willing to put it all on the line for the success of the practice; however the 5% that’s negative just kills the mode of action. Moreover, I can’t imagine going into battle and the general says “Let’s try this strategy and see if our soldiers will like it”. Just to be clear my problem with this point not the assistants, but the doctors who are putting the “leadership hat” on to someone else. If you made a decision, stick with it. Which leads me to my last point. Take 100% ownership. Building systems driven practice is a hard task but it will allow you to step out from the day to day routines and build the life you desire. The process of getting there though is usually not an easy one. Let’s take Zen as an example - going through the training, 1 week morning huddles with a team, taking full dental inventory count (only 1 time) and learning to stick to the budget. All these things are hard especially when your team had full freedom. This is where our offices with GREAT leaders shine. They know how to delegate, not to get involved, but when need be to roll up your sleeves and get to work. For example, one office decided to get the entire team together to take full inventory count. Ordered Pizza and for 2 hours worked as a team to accomplish the task. More importantly when things weren't’ done, the doctor and the leader in charge for the practice took the blame and did everything in his power to remain focused on implementation. Now you might think, all this for an inventory system, then why do I even need it. You are correct, for inventory management it is an overkill, however if you look at all the systems that a dental practice needs to have in place, marketing, phone skills, presenting treatment, patient’s first experience to name just a few above mentioned is a must. Let’s finish on a positive note, just remember any hurdle you had in the past and turned into a system (from morning routine, to workout, even eating habits) you now don’t even think about. That’s what all systems should lead to or aspire to, giving you FREEDOM! Turn ON no Excuses mode! Tiger
It is often said that the best way to learn a new language is immersion. Simply stated, it’s the concept that being present and surrounded by the speakers of that language with active context accelerates the learning process. Even greater than formal, structured education, immersion allows the learner to strip away all of the hypotheticals. The only new words and phrases that are introduced are ones that are people all around are using. This type of focus makes their use of their new skills much more impactful to those they are conversing with. At Zen, we believe in constant learning. One of our core principles is curiosity. After all, it was insatiable curiosity that gave birth to ZenSupplies in the first place. We wanted to learn more about everything that concerns our ZenFamily. What do our customers love about Zen? What do they need to be changed? What do they to be changed? From ordering to dental inventory management to reconciliation and payment, how do we improve the experience at every level? These make up a minute sample of the questions that we were dying to answer. That thirst for understanding allows us to stay rooted in our cause and plugged into our network, for their benefit. So much like learning a language, we took the opportunity to immerse our selves with our customers as soon as possible. The greatest number of users were in Texas, we were sitting in Chicago. That made the choice very easy. Despite the challenges of travel and working from the road, we knew we had to go where we were needed. We could have called all of the same clients or set up video conferences. We would have gained some insight. But there is no substitute for being shoulder to shoulder with the assistant, hygienists, and managers that have made Zen part of their daily lives. We found such wonderful works of art and culture all over Austin. From the very moment that we stepped into our first practice of the trip, we received immediate confirmation that we were in the right place! That first practice blew our minds with their organization and strong dental system software that, in some ways, were contrary to how we guide practices to run. This new perspective prompted even more questions. There were more things that we wanted to understand about their workflow. All of this feedback is invaluable to the curious. Had we not been able to physically see, touch, and feel these processes, the impact could not have been nearly as great. The revelations did not stop there. Meeting with over a dozen customers in almost as many cities, we picked up a tremendous amount of knowledge and feedback. We got right to work with this information. Some minor tweaks were implemented right away. Changing the color of a button, or moving a function to a place that is easier for the user were things that we could implement immediately, so we did. The things that will provide a significant impact but also require a significant amount of development were prioritized, planned, and scheduled for implementation. Austin skyline at Night We value all of the feedback from our clients and partners but something is truly extra special about the connections made in this way. Looking at each other eye to eye, and tackling challenges together makes for solutions that are far more applicable to the people actually using them. No changes were made nor features added over this trip that did not come as a direct result of the one on one attention both given to and received by our customers. When looking at the journey through this lens, racing through a blizzard, stopping to work in coffee shops, long hours driving and all of the other obstacles seem so small. Nothing could possibly be as important as doing the right thing for our users. Enjoying some down time with happy members of the Zen Family Apart from the amazing knowledge we were able to gain through visiting our current customers, we had some other great opportunities as well. We were able to provide world class customer support to local clients, identify best fits for ZenSupplies, explore Austin, and even host our fist Zen Meetup! Stay tuned this week for more details and stories from the road!
This is a crosspost from a recent interview, where Dr. Gina Dorfman interviewed Tiger Safarov on the Power of Organization and Inventory Control. Listen on: Stitcher iTunes Podcast Episode Info Dr. Gina Dorfman sits down with Tiger Safarov, founder of Zen Supplies. They talk about a wide range of hot topics in dentistry from dental inventory management to motivating and complementing your team. It's an episode packed with tips and topics about technology that you don't want to miss. Dr. Dorfman: Hello and welcome back to another episode of Behind The Smiles. I'm here today with my good friend Tiger Safarov. Tiger is the founder and the CEO of ZenSupplies. Tiger, welcome to the show. How are you today? Tiger: Fantastic. Thank you, Gina, for having me. Dr. Dorfman: I'm excited to have you here today because everyone talks about saving money on supplies, and I think that your company began with, wanted to get a little bit perspective of what your company does and how did you end up with that? Tiger: Sure. I always talk about how it started. The whole premise of Zen started out of curiosity. I was walking in a hallway by the dental practice, and I saw a dental assistant using a sticky note, and just writing down the things that they need to buy on a piece of paper. My curiosity was always through the roof. I stopped and I asked him, "What are you doing?" His name is Justino, he is the lead assistant at the practice. Tiger: He said, "Tiger, I'm just sticking order." I started looking and he was writing down gloves, three boxes, and three boxes of pouches. And then the funny thing, he had a phone and an Apple Watch. It was 2015. Then he takes a picture of it and texts it to the rep. I'm like, well, it's a little bit of technology here. But then he's like, "Please confirm when you receive it." I'm like, "How long would it take you to get the confirmation?" He said, "I don't know, he may never text me back." I thought, just out of that simple thing I said, what if we build something a lot easier to use where it's all in one place, you just click and submit it? Little did I know that now we have to deal with 250 distributors; 500,000 products; about the 1000 manufacturers. Three years ago, I didn't have a clue that it's going to be that big of the problem to solve. When we started out, it was funny. We started writing code, December 2015, I'd say right after Thanksgiving, November. We were launching the beta version by April. We spent December, January, February, March, four months writing the beta. Dr. Dorfman: That's incredible. Tiger: It was super-fast, and I was so proud of it. Again, I had no clue. I have no software background. I knew a little bit about technology. And then in April 2016, I'm at that same dental office with the same dental assistant and we're going to the dental inventory page with about 700 products, and you know this spinning wheel, and it's like spinning and spinning, spinning and spinning. I grabbed Justino by the arm and said, "All right, let's go grab a coffee at Starbucks." Came back, it was still loading. So that's how we started. It's a blessing that I had no idea about dentistry because if I would know how much it would take, and if I would listen to a couple of other people out there that say two dentists can't agree on a single composite, I probably would never start. Another thing is people ask me, some of our really expert Zen members, I call them Zen masters, they call me and they say, why do you charge so little? You should charge more. I have other people that are like, "Oh, I don't think we're going to use it." I'm going to tie it back into the concept that we haven't even scratched the surface of what the Zen should be because we're still learning. We're three years into this and we're still learning. Oh, lidocaine is equal to bupivacaine and whatever the names are. We're still building the system, where it's as simple as you go to search and type gauze and who would know that it's actually two by two? All these things that make sense for dental assistants and dental professionals, like dentists, and hygienists, they don't make sense for software. That's where we come in, and we try to understand, okay, if you're searching for gauze, and I have 1500 hits a month on my search for gauze. All right, let's take a look at what that means. I think we're just getting started. That's why I look at it as a project. I look at it as an experience. We started with long onboarding and It's a long process to onboard an office and get them started. Then we said, you know what, people don't have time for that. Maybe we should automate that and we automated the whole thing and with very little human touch onboarding. And then we learned that it’s not going to work; therefore, we're slowly coming back to it that and realized people do need the training to learn the basics of inventory. We usually start with, do you guys need an inventory management system? I've never had an office say no. Everybody's using three methods. Tags with rubber bands Spreadsheets where you can manually manage products and orders Nothing – is the most popular method These are the three most popular methods of managing inventory. So, then we start and we say, "All right, what would work best for you?" And then we schedule the training. We verify all the distributors, people connect all of their current vendors to Zen, and then we start analyzing and say, okay, so you're buying this from this company, this from that company, maybe you should look at all the other companies available. The biggest thing we discuss with new practices is how to get off of the next day delivery. And the idea behind is you managing inventory and not running out of items. Believe it or not, the number one reason why some of the big three names are the big three names is they master their logistics. It's just Susan at the dental practice, don't want to get yelled by the doctor that she's out of the product, so she's going to go in one of the big three websites or call the rep and place an order for the lidocaine so it's there tomorrow. We start that discussion saying, "All right, how do we get you to two or three-day delivery because that's where you can save money, and buying the same products from other vendors." Then we go into deeper training. Lately, I've been going to offices and simply throwing shit away. The first thing we do is we buy foldable tables at the Wal-Mart, bring them to the office and unload each individual room these tables, and we go through every storage, closet, drawer, everything. Believe it or not, every single office that says: “Tiger, I don't have a single expired product”, we end up throwing about a full construction bag full of expired products and just old stuff they never use. Dr. Dorfman: I believe that because I've been ... You know what, I always, my claim to fame, I'm a very organized person. I have a very organized office. In fact, everyone who comes into my office, they say three things. Wow., it's very clean. Wow, it's very organized and wow, it's very efficient. Where have you been before? But in my office, my clean, organized, efficient office, we always throw things away because dental supplies expire because a lot of times you get them close to the expiration date. Actually, I want to mention something. There are some websites that are selling inexpensive supplies. I think you can buy supplies on eBay probably. There's Net32, there are some other companies. The problem is that you need to get a big order to get a discount. And then a lot of them are close to the expiration date. So, now you have a lot of well-priced shit that's close to the expiration date and you don't have enough time to use it up or even determine whether you want too much. How do you determine if you want too much? I interrupted you, but I believe I heard they call you Mary Kondo of dental? Tiger: The Russian version. I should come up with some funny words like, you know how she speaks Japanese, right? I watch a couple of Netflix because when people started calling me that I didn't know what they were talking about. And then I watched a couple of them and she talks total Japanese and nobody cares. I think I should go into the offices and just speak Russian, and then have a translator next to me and translate it into English. I think that will spice it up a little bit. But you're touching on something very, very important. I think a lot of people don't realize that number one, there's nothing free. People are buying free goods and specials. So, people are literally buying free goods. That's the concept just doesn't fit in my head. And then the second part is, people, waste their time chasing deals, going to eBay and going to Amazon, when the best part of ... To take a step back, the best part of running Zen, I have right now about 350 offices across the country. I can study them all. I see everything that people buy. I see the distributors and all of the transactions and I see what makes an office 3.8% overhead. And I have offices with five and I have seven and 10 % overhead on supplies. I can tell you, putting everything I've got. If I would lose all of it tomorrow, I can put my name on it, that the biggest problem that offices make is they're buying too much stuff. An example I always use is this. Let's use lidocaine. Most likely people that are listening today on March 2019, paying for lidocaine about $27. If you pay more, you have a problem. But on average, people are paying $27 for a box of lidocaine Imagine, you go on eBay and you buy it for 24, a great deal. You save $3, right? The problem is most of the offices when they go on eBay, they buy three boxes versus one. Now, you've wasted $48, 24 by two, $48. Their $48, yes, they're going to use it at some point when it gets expired, they don't even know. But in reality, they needed one box. None of my offices that are running supplies budgets under 3.8% will ever buy specials and free goods. They can use their big three, it's totally fine. It's just the problem is that 80% of the savings come from quantities and only 20% comes from price. That equation is reversed right now in dental that we're trying to bring it back into quantity versus price. Dr. Dorfman: I think that for ... We're talking about cash flow here. There are so many things that we can invest in, besides lidocaine and gauze and in order to save money on buying in quantity. Especially for startups, every single startup essentially is a no brainer for a startup, because starting with a system, and in the startup cash flows is a big deal. The lidocaine that you're injecting today, you're not going to get that money from insurance for six to eight weeks. That's in money investing. If you are buying lidocaine to last you till October, you might save $7, but that's a lot of money invested into lidocaine that could be going towards paying off your student loans or your other loans, right? Tiger: Yes, these are two such important things. If we get to leadership, we'll talk about it. When we demo the product there are usually two excuses I have from doctors when we get to this free goods and cheaper prices, people say number one "Well, I'm going to use it anyway, so I have cash available. Why don't I do that, and I just buy all the supplies and they keep them there. It doesn't cost me anything to keep them in the practice.” But the opportunity cost of lost cash? Right now, everybody talks about Facebook being one of the greatest platforms to advertise. 250 bucks can bring you; I don't know how many new patients, but at least one. What's that one new patient will be worth for the practice? Probably a lot more than you saving all that money. That whole concept that people have of like, no, I would much rather put money, literally park dollar bills on the shelf and wait until it's being used is ridiculous. I think the second one I hear from people saying, "Well, who cares if my assistant is spending two hours in ordering? Going from website to website trying to find a deal? She is on payroll anyway.” What about patient recalls? What about doing things that ... I'm sure you guys automate, but it's a human touch picking up the phone and say, "Hey, we haven't seen you in six months. Would you rather do that?" Or have your assistant be on the phone to try to save you $2 in a box of lidocaine? That's just ridiculous. Dr. Dorfman: Yeah, absolutely. I completely agree with you. The same thing with next day delivery, we need next day delivery, because we're running out of stuff. But the company that I order with, and you know I have a long history with this company. I buy so much that I'm actually getting a really good deal, which is why I was asking you, can I still order from them through you? Which is really cool, because you can keep your vendor, but there's a charge for that next day delivery. But the reason why it needs to be placed is that the assistant doesn't want to be yelled at for running out or being low on something. A lot of times because we don't have a good inventory system, like in my office, nowadays, they're building those tilt out bins or whatever. But in my office, you have cabinets and closets, and you just have boxes sitting in closets. You don't know what's in there. Tiger: Right. Dr. Dorfman: I think that the ability to really monitor your inventory, and ... Zen allows budgeting, is that correct? Dr. Dorfman: How does that work? Tiger: It's funny. When people tell me, "Can you get me to 5%?" I usually say, "I can get you to 5% next month." They say, "It’s impossible, I’m at 10%." I hope people know what we're talking about, it's the collections multiplied by your overhead goal on dental supplies, usually 5% or 10%, that should be a budget. First of all, 80% of the offices that do a demo in supplies don't even know how to set up a budget. Literally, people don't know that you take these two numbers, collections for the last month multiplied by the percentage where you want to be, that's your budget. People don't know. Second is, people would say, "Well, how long would it take me to get to my budget?" I say, "Next month." Because you set the budget, and build Zen properly, which we train people to do, your assistant is not allowed to spend more than you allocate per month. Now, if she spends more, that means you approved it because we have an approval process within Zen. She sends an order for approval, and if it's over the budget, she can't even send it for approval, she needs to adjust or he needs to adjust the quantities. I tell people, next month you're going to be at 5%. As simple as that. Budgeting is really cool. A lot of people love it. Dr. Dorfman: I love that. You actually go into offices, you help them clean up and you help them implement the system because you have trainers, I'm sure. I bet when you go to offices, you can really quickly spot some differences between the offices that are very successful and the offices that are not. Tell me about it. What are some of the differences? Tiger: Can I show you one? This is my favorite. This is literally my favorite subject. Check this out. I hope you can see it. Right? Dr. Dorfman: That's really cool. Can you describe it for the listeners? Tiger: Yep. For Listeners, especially doctors, if you're the ones taking the trash out, if you're the ones that don't mind taking a broom and cleaning up the place and turning over the rooms and helping you assistants, you're the type of person I want to work with. I'll be honest. I have an office that I just went to ... Again, it's so cool, we have ... Can I tell you very quick the craziest thing about running Zen? Dr. Dorfman: Yes, please. Please do. Tiger: I rarely pay for hotels. Most of the time, I stay at my clients' houses. As weird as it sounds, I rarely stay at the hotels. Every time I go on travel, it's like, "Whoa, Tiger, can you stay at my couch? I got a room for you." The number of times I've stayed at people's living rooms, it's insane. It's like a long night conversation is fun. It's really awesome. We get to connect at a very different level. And then I always, on my flight back, I'm taking notes in my journal, and I say, what makes so special about this doctor or the practice? If I go and I combine all of my notes together, it's usually bowling down to a couple of things. Number one, my most successful offices, the doctor never walks through the back door. It's paramount how much a doctor walking through the main door means to the practice. Number one, that means he or she is on time. Number two, they get to see everything within a practice the same eyes as the patients. Amount of times the offices that I went to that have very poor leadership, I go in and the garbage can in the front is full, there's no water. There's a sign that says, we have coffee and cookies and usually, it's empty, it's crickets. Doctor’s ability to go through the front door means a lot. Then the second part which is also equally important is, when they go through the front door, they can see the reaction of the person that greets the patients. If the doctor walks in and he is a little grumpy and stuff like that, that affects that person right away. If they come in ... Usually, I can tell you. My top doctors are all these cheerleaders. They come in and they're like, "Megan, how are you doing today?" That's how they come in, full of energy, or some of them come in and bring the Starbucks to their team members. Imagine $7 spent on Starbucks for two cups of coffee for your front desk per day will probably lead to a lot of recalls and reactivations. It's just my experience. I might be totally off on that, but that's just my experience. Dr. Dorfman: I don't want to interrupt, but you're absolutely right. I always hear team members say, not always, but a lot of times I hear team members talking about feeling underappreciated. The doctor always thinks well, they want a huge raise, they want this. A lot of times, it's really the small things, just letting them on a daily basis know they matter, that they're important, and then that we're thinking about them. That's what that appreciation is, letting people know that you're thinking about them, right? Tiger: Yep. Part of when I visit the offices, as crazy as it sounds, is I pick up on dynamics pretty quickly. And then I always remind doctors, especially when I do these inventory makeover projects, "You know what, there's going to be one big challenge for you is not to say anything." When we start working with your team, especially a dental assistant and hygienists, where they're going to take a lead on reorganizing the rooms, agreeing on how we're going to do things, they're going to decide what's going to go in the treatment room, not you. You can have a say "Look, ideally for me as a doctor, I would love to have a set of burs 557 as an emergency and things like that. But that's on you to decide whatever we need, whatever you think is going to be an urgency, and that's it.” Not even like ... You could check at the end and say, "Yeah, great job. I'm proud of you." But not even being the process. There are so many people that we start, and I say, "All right, Stacy, what do you think?" She will say, "Well, I think we should do it." And the doctor will interrupt right on the spot and start saying what needs to be done. I'm burning inside. I will be the one saying timeout, timeout, let's go grab a coffee. I will grab a doctor and say, "That's got to change." Which is really hard. Dr. Dorfman: It is hard, but you're absolutely right. First of all, people support what they help create. If the dental assistant takes leadership on creating this inventory system and deciding what goes in the rooms, if she really owns that project, then she's going to continue to run with it. For us doctors, we're practice owners, we're doctors, we're decision makers. We make decisions and we expect people to implement those decisions, and then they don't. As soon as we walk away, things started to tank because they were never part of the original decision because the flow doesn't make sense to them. It's really those who are carrying on the responsibility that should be implementing. Also, because I can see how it can be demoralizing to employees when the doctor is constantly talking over them or, sending direction down the stream so to say. I think when they allow them to own a project they really build them up and help them become more self-sufficient and independent and take pride in that work. I love what you said about walking through the front door. It's funny because yes, you're on time, and yes, you're raising the energy of the team. I always say the CEO is the chief energizing officer. You know what, I remember we once had a meeting at my dental office. It was one of those ... I'm not a touchy-feely type of person, I don't like those touchy-feely meetings. But it was one of those meetings where we started off with everyone having to say something nice about someone else in the room. What they appreciate about that person. One of my hygienists said she was talking about Ken. She said, "What I really appreciate about Ken is when he walks in, he comes out to every single one of us, says, hello, addresses us by name, asks how we're doing, what kind of day we're having." For me, it was the biggest aha moment because I am the one, I'm coming in, I'm all about business and have a ton of things to take care of. Hearing that from my team ... This is so small, you just walk through the front door, and you say hi to everyone. That was a big game changer for me. That was okay, I have to adopt. I might not be that person, but I have to become this person if I want to be a good leader. Tiger: Yep. Can we talk about it for a second just to hopefully help your listeners? There are two things in this example that you gave. The big part of it is understanding your personality. I also don't like when doctors don't have that within them, it just not in their DNA to smile or to appreciate their team members. That's totally fine. You happen to have an office, you can't just sell it, this is your practice, you want to grow it, I get it. Be self-aware, understand you can't do it but appoint somebody in your office. Like you have Ken, come in and do it. There's got to be someone that's going to do that front door experience, and run it and then come back to you and say, "Look, I think we're doing great." Then you can put a checkbox in your checklist for a day and say, done. Be self-aware, appoint somebody to do that. That can be your office manager, the cheerleader can get it done for you. If you're a startup and you don't have somebody, well, suck it up for a little bit until you have an office manager and do it. I don't have anything else to say. Dr. Dorfman: Yeah, that's absolute, that's very true. Often, it's Ken who would come up and point something that I overlooked. Maybe like the magazines are not looking that great. If you can't do it, if it's not one of your strength, you definitely need to have that person in your office who is going to do that. So, excellent point. What are some of the other things? Because you said that earlier like a fly on the wall in the office because you're coming in from the outside and being a CEO of your own company, you know how things are supposed to run. You see things from the side and you work closely with the team and with the doctor. You probably see a lot of things. Let's talk about some of the other things. Tiger: I think my other thing is a little bit of what we talked earlier, is understanding, which is the hardest, is knowing what you're good at, what you strong at and what you're not and not try to fake it. I have seen doctors that it's just not in their DNA to take the garbage out. But they will show it and prove it to everybody. When they do it, it comes out a little fake. They will come back and say, "Look at me, I just took the trash out." That's wrong, in my opinion. It's better to say, "Look, I don't even know where the garbage can is. I don't know what I would do without my team. I so appreciate what you do." Being real, I think is very very important. Authentic, exactly. A lot of people is just absolutely not there. I think another part about delegation vs. Abdication. Doctors are good at abdication, but not at delegation. I've seen this many, many times. All right, we're setting up an inventory management system. Assistants have no clue what that is, and what would that involve? The doctor is like, "All right, Stacy, you're in charge. Bye." And then I'm trying to schedule a follow up in two months with a doctor, they have no clue what's going on. The right way of doing things is probably and actually picked it up from again, one of my offices at Zen that went from 10% to 5% in one month, is they pick a project for a quarter. Every quarter, they have a project. For quarter four, there was an inventory project for them. I got lucky, they picked us to be their provider. So, the whole team, top to bottom was involved just on inventory. The way they did it is doctors involved checking all the products, understanding how the flow works, working with the team, understanding how the flow works within their specific office and only then delegating to the whole team saying, "All right, we've tried all this, this is what's going to work. And then on top of it, every Friday, Every week, they check in. " And say, "Okay, so we put this system in place, how's it working?" Somebody comes in like Amber she'll say, "Well, I don't like that it's this and that." She goes like, "All right, note taken." The biggest part is nobody says, well, you just didn't think about this. They're like, taking notes. And then Susan comes in and she's a hygienist and she is like a doctor, are you out of your mind? I don't have toothbrushes." The team is taken notes down, no conversations about, no Susan you just didn't look at this cabinet. No, they just write it down. And then they go back with their original three or four people team and discuss and say what did the process feel? Go back change, adjust. Monday on the morning huddle, roll out the next one. Speaking about the morning huddles, I would say 10% out of 100 will have a morning huddle. How's that possible? Dr. Dorfman: Blows my mind away. You're starting a fresh day. You got to have a quick powwow just decided how this day's going to go. Tiger: You know what I learned; this is a fundamental thing every office should implement. I really think that every single dental office should have, call it a social media coordinator or call it a patient heart coordinator. What that person does is for every morning huddle, they would sit down and look at the schedule for the upcoming day. This heart social media coordinator would look at the patient schedule for the next day. Then she goes on social media, literally, that's what she does, during the day, on the phone, all day long. Looking at all these patients on social media; Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, and probably less Twitter but Facebook and Instagram, the biggest one and look what's going on. And then in the morning huddle, and the next day, they give an update for every patient, and write them the chart notes and say, "All right, little Jackson has a birthday today. Our Lily had a soccer tournament yesterday and her son won." Imagine those little things they put in a schedule. Now, the doctor goes in into each treatment room and start the conversation with like, "Hey, did Johnny win the tournament last night?" That will change the whole freaking thing for everybody. That's what I've learned from Gary Takacs, they do that in their practice is for every patient, they have a person that checks everything, birthdays and what's going on in their life and this and that. Sometimes they'll tell the doctor and say, look, in this room, we have a person that needs a little bit of pep talk for 10 or 15 minutes, just sit down and listen, something big happened or horrible happened in their life. That's the biggest thing. You can talk about it during the morning huddle for five, 10 minutes. Dr. Dorfman: Absolutely. You can really change someone's experience by ... First of all, I think a lot of our patients feel like a number. They come in and it's especially apparent when I think dentists are better when you go to a medical office, it's like okay, sign your name. Then they got that peel off sticker. Sometimes I have offices always ask us why don't you have a kiosk? Because we want you to talk to your patients. Human interaction, it's so important. We like our social media, we like our mobile devices, the convenience, the iPads, all that stuff, but nothing- Tiger: The convenience of everybody putting their entire life on this thing. Everybody put so much information. It's insane how much you can know about the person right before their appointment. I love this, I go and see my clients, I don't remember their names sometimes. Not like, but spouses and their kids, I would look it up on Facebook, come back and say, how's JC doing? Things like that? It's so easy. Dr. Dorfman: I know. It's great. Very good tip. When you travel to those offices, and you started this conversation, do you sometimes get a little bit of a push back from the team? Like they're not comfortable with technology? Because I know this is something that we experience. What's your take on this, and how do you overcome some of those challenges? Tiger: I think the blessing is that A, I'm an immigrant, I can play a dumb card for a little bit when I start. The second is, I had a blessing early in my life. I was a lab instructor at one of the colleges for underserved and minorities. It helped me a lot to understand the process, how to get people to even learn how to use computers and things like that the first time in their life. Looking back now, that it's such a huge experience for me, I would go in and I would start ... Usually, I get an excuse of, “Oh, Tiger technology is not my thing. “ Or “At my age, technology is not my thing. That's okay, let's start somewhere. Did you have Facebook?” People say, "Oh, yeah, of course." "Do you post things on Facebook?" "Oh, yeah, I do." "Well, it's just like Facebook. It's easy. You will be able to post things. Zen's plays just the same way." Then we will do some jokes and I let them play a little bit and click some buttons, something easier, and then people break through and they get comfortable. I think the other thing is, I think I do more than, that my job, I feel like it's being the cheerleader for them. When I do trainings, I'm this sunshine pumper, sitting and saying, "All right, Susan, you're doing awesome." The biggest thing I've learned is, I always say, and it's natural now. I think it's always been naturally is I say, "You know what Susan? Where you started, and where you at now is incredible. I'm so proud of you for what you've accomplished. I know we have a lot more to do. But just that one little step that you have done is huge. I'm super proud of you. Let's keep it up to the same way." And then I can feel they're slowly getting to where we need to go. I think that's how we do it. Dr. Dorfman: I love what you said there because I think ... This is sometimes a reservation that I hear. Someone's age is going to prevent from using technology. One example I can give, my mother in law is 70 years old. She still works, she's a bookkeeper. She's on Facebook. She is using Gusto for payroll. She's using QuickBooks for ... She does online banking, she shops online. It used to be my thing, now my mother-in-law, I get all those packages delivered to my house because we have someone at the house all the time. If she can do all that online and she's 70 years old, and then what's going to prevent someone to order supplies online? She buys things on Amazon; she buys things from Nordstrom, why not. As long as you really take the time with them and help them. She's still a little terrified of Dropbox somehow because she's used to a paper filing system. When I moved everything to ... She's a bookkeeper in my practice and she's working for YAPI as well and Dropbox somehow is a little terrifying because we just moved last year. She's getting there. You really just say, okay, see, you're doing it, you're doing fine. You're just doing fine. Tiger: I think it's the attitude. Dr. Dorfman: Exactly. I think you get what you expect, right? Tiger: Mm-hmm (affirmative) It's a similar example. I love your example. I would say something similar. I say, "Yeah, I understand what you're talking about. My grandfather, 95, had the same problem before using Skype and now he uses Skype every day." Dr. Dorfman: Yeah, that's right. She's using Skype, she has a smartphone. I don't really see that as a factor there. When you go to those offices, and you're working with assistants, are there any aha moments that they experience that, okay, maybe this is really a better way of doing things? Tiger: It's a great question. I think we both have aha moments. For some reason, people say a dental office is a dental office, what are you going to see in another dental office? Every time I go to an office, I have this aha moment that A, I don't know anything. I literally have to learn things again. And B is, I watch how people have aha moments, and to me, it's interesting. I say, "Oh, maybe we should say it this way, or maybe we should rephrase certain things and use it differently." I think the biggest thing is that people have aha moment is when they truly understand that we try to save them time, that becomes a huge factor for many, many offices. Our biggest thing is at the end of the day, I sell time. I don't sell anything else. People buy products from other distributors, what they're paying a subscription for is for the time. I remember one of the comments that I got, the whole team was sitting and tearing up a little bit, had some tears when an assistant called me. They have 26 offices and she's been running supplies for one of the largest offices. She said, before Zen, she would stay two hours after work to get everything ready and organized for the next day. Now, it's 15 minutes. She says: “I can go home and see my kids and spend time with my family. Thank you guys so much." That's the greatest comment that we ever get. Saving money, it's fine, but when you can provide that to the team members, I think that's the biggest thing for us. Dr. Dorfman: Absolutely. I can relate because, with our software, yes, it's convenient. Yes, you don't have to buy the toner and the paper, and yes, the patients like it. All those are great things, but when you realize that a typical dental office going paperless, the front office will save 600 hours a year just on scanning, filing, shredding, data entry, that's huge. What can you get done in 600 hours? We don't realize that but when we ... This is like one doctor, two hygienists working four, five days a week. That's a lot of time. When you give people the time back that they can do more things and take better care of patients, that's really important ... Because we're all so busy. Everyone is so busy. In a typical dental office, I feel like a lot of things are not getting done especially at the front office because there's always something happening. The front office is answering phones, and people coming in and people leaving and they need appointments scheduled. In the back, the assistants are running from room to room to room. Only when you have an opening in the schedule, is when you can actually sit down and start going through catalogs and finding supplies. That's actually the reason why a lot of times they run out, is because there's never an ordering time on the schedule. It's always like, whenever I have time. Tiger: Exactly. Dr. Dorfman: They don't have an opportunity to do a full inventory and they have things hidden in closets that they cannot see in plain view. I really think that this is the biggest value there. What's in the future? What are you dreaming about? Tiger: My dream is this, I really want to get Zen to the point where you have a package show up every two weeks and you're under 4% and we're spot on what you need. That's all. Dr. Dorfman: I love that. Tiger: That's a total Zen for me. Nobody runs out of products anymore. It's done. Nobody needs this whole price ... To me, right now the whole industry is going through so much commotion about this whole pricing and distributors and big three being sued by the government and all that stuff. To me, it's unnecessary for the teams because the patients are number one, and they're stressed already enough. Why put the team through all of that? It should be super easy. It should be a couple of clicks to set it up, get everything, put it in the software and then done. Dr. Dorfman: I love that. Let's talk. I see you have a couple of meetings coming up where you are planning to speak. Tell me about that. Where are we going to see them? Tiger: One thing when I travel and go to the offices, I hear doctors getting excited about their Cs. I hear hygienists being sad about their Cs. I feel like my poor dental assistants are left out, and they're sitting in the room like, it would be cool if we would have some kind of conference to go. But I don't think there is one. I've been thinking about it since we started. Tiger: It took me probably a year to really realize something important. For ZenSupplies our end user is an assistant and most of the time, not the doctor. Then I thought, okay, we need to organize our own event where we get the chance to get all of our assistants together and give them the platform to learn more, become better, really encourage to step out of the comfort zone and go for more. Tiger: We finally, this year, partnering up with some people that we're going to help bring that to real life, and that's actually, it's going to be Dental Assistant Conference- Dr. Dorfman: National Conference. Tiger: National Conference for Excellence. The acronym is DANCE. We talked about everybody loves to DANCE. I didn't come up with this, I work with a couple of incredible people. One of them is Julie Varney. She's putting it all together and we're fortunate to be part of it. I'll be speaking at that event primarily about the organization, what that organization of when you can deep really brief. I’ll be talking about how does it feel when everything is organized and it sits in the right place. It's that feeling when you organize your pantry. Everything is in the right place. I'll talk about that, but primarily, my main focus right now is getting that conference to life and we're super excited to do that. Dr. Dorfman: This is wonderful because there is a conference for office managers. I've been to that conference multiple times and it's always this really fun event filled with so much energy and the office managers who attend the conference really love being a part of it. They love being a part of an organization that really connects them, that provides them learning opportunities. They recognize those who achieved a lot in the field of front office management. Of course, the dentist we have ... Are you going to be at the Dental Success Institute in Scottsdale? Tiger: Can't wait. Dr. Dorfman: Yes, that's going to be so much fun. Between the voices of dentistry and the dental town coming up, we're going to be at the dental town next week and DSI and practice on fire, there are so many wonderful events where people really organize in communities. I'm not aware of anything like that for dental assistants. For me, when I first started my practice, it was always my goal to bring the assistant up to not only be a patient advocate or someone who is holding a suction all day but really someone who owns her space. Who is productive, who is proud of her accomplishments, who is- Tiger: And confident. Dr. Dorfman: And confident, exactly. Who are continuously learning? I've used every possible opportunity to help my assistants really learn as much as possible. Whether it means that we have small meetings in the office where I personally teach them. Whether I get the videos, bring them to conferences. I think for them to have this kind of conference where they can learn and organize and work together and really be a part of something bigger than themselves. I think that's wonderful. Kudos to Julie, I'm glad that you are part of this. Tiger: Yeah, it's October 18- 19th, dentalassistantconference.com. I think the best part about this conference is that nobody's trying to make money off of it. People are really putting it together for having it. I think that's always the best part. I love when people do things for a greater good than just putting money in their pocket. Dr. Dorfman: Absolutely. Any other advice before ... We are almost coming on time. I can't believe how fast that went. You talk so fast and I talk so fast, and we still fill out an hour. But anything else in closing that you'd like to? Tiger: I'd like to ask you a question. Dr. Dorfman: Okay. Tiger: What do you think in a dental technology horizon in the next two years, what do you think that technology is going? Dr. Dorfman: I think there's going to be a lot of automation. I think we're going to see some bots that are helping connect our patients with the dental team that are going to provide some information when the office is closed. Because we are getting to a point where we have more and more millennials sent to the dental office and they're going to, whether it's patients or as employees or doctors. There are more and more millennial doctors entering into practice. The doctors want to streamline things. For patients, I think it's really important that they get answers to their questions when they have those questions. They want to be able to connect with the office through websites, through Facebook, through any other venue. I think that being accessible and being available to those patients, and being reachable in a way that the patients want to reach us is where it's all going. Of course, on a business side, we're seeing a lot of DSOs are growing and they're leveraging technology and they're leveraging their buying power. For private practices, it's going to be incredibly important to be streamlined and to budget well and to really leverage technology in their own way to run practices better. Tiger: Interesting. Yeah, I think I agree with you, it's automation. The coolest thing is just as a final thought that I just had is, every single private practice, and I think you and I are in the forefront of helping private practice just to continue to stay private and not go into the DSO route, which is nothing bad. But I think there's so much beauty of owning the practice and being the 100% sole owner. I think it's being adaptable to the new technology. The offices that I see that that doesn't sit on the rear end and say, well, I'm just going to hold my breath and hope I'm going to retire soon. These days are over. The sooner people jump into the new things and new technology, that will allow them to stay ahead of the curve and not go in the DSO route and continue being successful solo owners. Dr. Dorfman: Absolutely. I 100% wholeheartedly agree with you there. Wow, that was a fun discussion, and I am so glad that you were able ... I know you're busy and you're traveling a lot. I thank you for taking the time to spend with us, with our listeners. We will put the link to ZenSupplies website on the show notes. Tiger: Thank you. Dr. Dorfman: I'm looking forward to seeing you at the Dental Success Summit. Tiger: And a link to the conference too. Dr. Dorfman: And the conference, absolutely. Absolutely, thank you for the reminder. I'll see you at the DSI, and have a good rest of your week. Tiger: Thank you. It's been an honor to be on your show. Thank you so much. Dr. Dorfman: Thank you.
Welcome to our first webinar on Dental Inventory Makeover process. In this 30 minute video we break down the process into 5 major steps: Organizing Physical Space How to Implement Dental Inventory Controls Ordering Process How to Control your Budget How to Negotiate Prices Hope you find it productive and something you can implement right away. [embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNMlRKkiTlw[/embedyt] Resources mentioned during the webinar: TipOut Bins: Zen Recommended Assembly Are Free Goods really FREE? CheckLists and Budget Tracker
When we started Zen back in 2016 it was a simple onboarding process that included - distributors, navigating Zen and pretty much that's all. Then we started going to our client's practices to learn and observe and we realized our offices are busy. Rarely we get someone excited over "Let's rebuild your dental inventory", and it's more "Wow you guys do that for us?". One of the first "Aha" moments was when I visited Bright Smile Dental - Dr. Rami Salloum when he said, "Tiger, you have so many offices, why don't you give us a template and we can build from there..." This was the beginning of us trying to push the envelope. What else can we do for our practices? Can we share more of what we've learned from our visits? Can we help organize physical space? As a result, 2 important elements were added: We share all of our knowledge through Dental Inventory Makeover Webinars (link to the most recent) where we break down entire process with forms and checklists to encourage our members (and pretty much anyone who is interested) to take full control of their inventory We introduced additional setup plans. Some offices wanted to get basic training. However, lately, a lot more practices ask for either advanced training or even for Dental Inventory Makeover. So more on this below So What Zen Setup Plans are there? Standard Setup Is for practices that need help building virtual inventory and getting comfortable using Zen dental software on a daily basis. We designed this plan for teams who feel more comfortable around computers and need Zen Instructor just to help review all the features and how to navigate the system. This plan includes: Distributors Setup Building Virtual Inventory Assign products to a template; identifying duplicate products in inventory; review of missing products in virtual inventory 1 HR Training 3 Follow-Ups on the 1st of each month Standard Setup Investment: $399/1st location/one time Advanced Setup Is for Teams that need to take their inventory control to the next level or start from complete scratch and customize to their unique environment. Advanced Setup is for practices that need a custom design of the storage space, help with analyzing floor plan and help to select the right storage solutions. Our Zen Instructors will be able to handle the entire process of customization from start to finish as well get the entire team comfortable using Zen and take full advantage of the system. This plan includes: Distributors Setup FaceTime Call with one of our Dental Inventory Experts Help to prepare an order to purchase storage units (we call them Tipout Bins) Help to allocate products to the right bins 1 HR Training 1 30 Min Training 2 3 Follow-Ups on the 1st of each month More on this here [embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8oMEnRU-vo[/embedyt] Advanced Setup Investment: $799/1st location/one time Dental Inventory Makeover Is designed for practices that require on-site help from one of our Zen Instructors to completely revamp the entire process from physical storages, getting read off old and expired products to designing new storages. Our DIM plan includes all travel expenses as well as expenses required to purchase and install new storage units. DIM is truly transformational for many practices and a guaranteed way to get your practice organized and under 5% overhead goal. This plan includes: Distributors Setup FaceTime Call with one of our Dental Inventory Experts Help to prepare an order to purchase storage units (we call them Tipout Bins) 1-2 Days On-Site Visit to work on inventory; storages; help count inventory and simply get the entire team excited about the process. 30 Min Training 2 3 Follow-Ups on the 1st of each month More on this here: [embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Arj9O9XBoPQ[/embedyt] and here [embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tBCVE7ZxYA[/embedyt] Dental Inventory Makeover Investment: $4,999/location/one time - includes travel expenses and the cost of purchasing storage units. Pretty much all-in cost. I truly think these 3 plans are designed to provide the best value to our practices and anybody who is looking to get full control over the ordering and supplies management. We look forward to seeing you soon and let me know what do you think of new setup plans? Tiger CEO ZenSupplies.com
When we hear the word systems, we instantly think of a machine, or a computer program, where everything MUST be black and white. We think redundancy. Ultimately, we think of the dreaded word...CHANGE. Yup, that's the dreaded word we hear all too often!! CHANGE. Instantly our minds go to “She isn’t going to like the new way. What do I do if they won’t change? What if they leave because of all of the change?” So, how do we set up dental inventory system to positivity impact the overall flow of the dental office systems, AND keep our team happy. These are ALL valid concerns. Especially during this time. It is so scary to think about losing a star team member, or having to hire another team member, while trying to open AND follow all the new guidelines. Setting up systems initially CAN cause some fuss in the office. So let's talk about how to minimize the effects of the change by creating systems. Set up regular team meetings with your team, (At LEAST once a month). IF this is your first time having regular meetings, feel free to schedule one every 2-3 weeks. *Remember, people will own what they help create. So lets involve them!! Keep open communication with your team about what is up and coming, and how they can play a role. *Remember, people like to be in the KNOW, and they like to HELP. Find those team players and maximize on their strengths! Set up consistency and stick to it! …What do you want your office to look like? What does success look like in your office? What do you want your culture to look and feel like? Come up with a plan-(I would like to have a morning huddle EVERY morning by the end of next week.) What is that going to look like? Explain the “Why”. What would we like to accomplish, and Why? What will we discuss? *Morning huddles are important to touch on all the “other” stuff other than the patient's treatment. Talk about additional opportunities for that day, celebrate birthdays, HIGHLIGHT who in your office has done a positive action! Set deadlines for implementation. Setting a deadline is important for clarity. When the team knows changes are coming, they want to know WHEN. Remember-systems are able to be improved and changed anytime! Get feedback from your team on what they like, and what they would like to change regarding the system. Be open with your team. Barriers create miscommunication and misunderstanding, along with CONFUSION. No one wants to show up everyday confused and worried! Creating systems in the office will ultimately lead to personal accountability. No more will your team wonder, what should I do here? What am I responsible for at the end of the day? With a few simple steps and ultimately implementation, systems will lead to positive changes amongst your team. This can build rapport within the office and cut out blame within the team. Your TEAM is the most important thing you have! Without open communication, trust, and accountability, your team is only a group of individuals. Create your systems, your CULTURE, and the flow you have always wanted in your office! YOU are ultimately the LEADER! ~Kellie Black, RDH Disclaimer: This article is the sole opinion and research of the writer and doesn’t reflect the opinions of ZenSupplies.
We love it when our friends in the industry share something interesting with our members. Today, our friend Dr. Gina Dorfman, CEO of Yapi Dental and a successful dentist, shares with us the myths about scheduling appointments online. Let's get right into it: Online dental platform appointment scheduling is growing in popularity with dental patients. In contrast to phone bookings, online scheduling is more convenient for patients and saves time for the dental front office team. Many dentists are afraid to switch because of common myths and misconceptions regarding digital scheduling systems. Your fears may include worrying about insurance incompatibility and patients messing up your well-organized schedule. You may also think that a phone call is more intimate and personalized for the patient. In reality, scheduling by phone is more time-consuming and more frustrating for both the patient and the dental office team. There are so many reasons you shouldn't be afraid of online appointment bookings. It is a transition that usually requires a time investment to customize your dental office systems but later pays dividends in increased dental office systems efficiency and happier patients. Here, we dispel the misconceptions surrounding online booking. Myth #1: Patients Prefer Phone Bookings Picture this: It is 4 p.m. at your dental practice with one more hour left in the workday. Your final patients have all arrived (some early, some late). They are waiting patiently to check in, but there is a problem. Both of your front office team members took calls just before the last patients of the day arrived. Both calls are to schedule appointments. Your patient care coordinators don't want to put the phone patients on hold and risk upsetting them, yet these appointments are complex and take time to figure out. Now, you are running behind, your dental hygienist keeps popping in to see if her patient is ready to be seated, the patients in front of you are getting impatient, and all of your team members are stressed out. You might even not get done on time and go home late. Having a customizable real-time online scheduling system in your practice can take a lot of stress off the front office team and create a better patient experience. The number one myth about online scheduling is that patients prefer phone bookings. It is an understandable assumption and may depend on the average age of your patients. Those with older patients assume they enjoy the familiar and personalized experience of talking to a person on the phone. Yet even older patients get annoyed when they hear, "Can I put you on hold". Other than the very elderly patient, most adults are familiar with the Internet and comfortable scheduling appointments online. Plus, millennials and younger generations prefer it. Your dental team may need convincing to change up their usual workflow willingly. Over time, however, the team members will recognize how much less stressful their jobs become. They will have more time to manage patients in the office and answer phone calls related to more complicated issues. Patients that do call the office won't be put on hold. Your dental front office team will be on the phone less. Consequently, they can focus on other tasks without being interrupted. Everyone wins! Myth #2: Online Bookings Will Mess Up Your Schedule Every dental team operates differently. Some prefer to handle complex restorative cases during the morning and new patients in the afternoon. Others prefer the complete opposite approach. They all have in common the need for a customizable system of online scheduling. One of your chief concerns about online scheduling is that patients will mess up the schedule. Your dental front dental office systems team is highly knowledgeable about your practice's specific ins and outs. They know exactly how to categorize the appointment and where it should fit into the schedule. On the other hand, patients don't know how long their visits should be, what time of day, and which operatory to schedule them. But don't worry, your schedule is not as complicated as you think. Any reliable scheduling software will allow you to customize the appointment offerings and create required dropdowns to categorize patient appointments. What about insurance? It's easy to set up your scheduling software to request and require insurance information before booking. If you don't take a patient's insurance, they won't be able to schedule. Myth #3: Patients Will Cancel Last-Minute More Often If patients don't establish a relationship with your practice through a personal phone call, will they be more likely to keep the appointment? Diving deeper, it is clear that this isn't the case. A phone call isn't significantly more personal than an online system. The conversation probably doesn't last more than 7 minutes, and the new patient does not see a human face. In fact, a phone call can be a potential turn-off if the call goes to voicemail, a patient waits on hold for a long time, or the scheduling coordinator feels rushed. Established patients have already developed a relationship with your practice. A patient who books an appointment over the phone thus isn't held more accountable than a patient who books online. It is more likely that the patient's stress level at the time of booking will impact whether they become a no-show or not. Over the phone, they have to choose between a few options offered by the scheduling coordinator while considering their availability and other commitments. They often have to call during the workday when they are busy and trying to multi-task. It is a recipe for scheduling at the wrong time, forgetting to write the date down, or becoming frustrated and deciding they might not like the practice. Online scheduling allows patients to schedule at a convenient time, and they can easily access their calendar and consider the best day and time. This environment is more likely to lead to a kept appointment. A bonus is that some digital systems like Smart Fill from YAPI can help you fill last-minute cancellations. Patients are more likely to cancel if they wait for an appointment for a long time as the urgency passes. Thus, a system that allows patients to request to be notified when an earlier or more convenient time becomes available, such as Smart Fill, will help keep your appointment book full even when last-minute cancellations come up. You have enough things to worry about at your dental practice. Remove scheduling from your list of problems while simultaneously increasing the profitability of your practice. Online scheduling equals fewer cancellations, a fuller schedule, happier patients, and relaxed team members. Modern patients expect you to have a digital presence. They will be delighted when they go to your website or their favorite review site and find an online scheduling system; no waiting on hold, no rushed conversations, no scheduling mistakes. When they visit your practice, they will find your staff welcoming and available to help them. Invest in an online scheduling system, and life will be a lot easier for everyone. About the Author For almost two decades, Dr. Gina Dorfman has continually proved herself to be an innovative leader in the field of dentistry. As a dentist, practice owner, and entrepreneur, Dr. Dorfman has had the opportunity to engage with dental professionals across the country to help them grow and thrive. Dr. Dorfman completed her dental training at the Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry in 2000 and shortly after started her practice near Los Angeles, California. While starting a practice in a saturated market came with its challenges, the practice grew tremendously over the years, expanding to several locations. Because of her experience running multiple practices and leading a big team, Dr. Dorfman developed a unique insight into how efficient practices organize and operate and how dental teams can work together to overcome obstacles and reach their goals. A recognized speaker and author, Dr. Dorfman is regularly invited to teach other dentists across the country. Dr. Dorfman is also a frequent contributor to several industry publications and blogs. She is also the Behind the Smiles Podcast host, which features the most disruptive and influential dental community members moving dentistry forward. Her passion for creating systems and leveraging technology to streamline practice operations eventually led her to co-found YAPI, a practice automation software, where she serves as the company's CEO.
Today I seat down with Santosh Patel, President of Complete Specialty Solutions. We talk about early days and how Santosh had to take PTO days to visit dental conferences and meet people at the Starbucks to save money on fancy dinners. With support of his and the family he decided to go all in and pursue the journey against his own doubts of being an entrepreneur. We cover so many things, how AI dental platform, like Overjet and Pearl and true AI applications in dentistry that will revolutionize the industry just like CEREC and digital scanners did back in the days. We discuss leadership traits, biggest cause of specialists burn out, leading by guilt vs fear, and seeing how dentistry will go through next economical challenges as it always does. And we finish our conversation with Santosh’s best advice for life and parenting: “You are never going to be perfect, your kids are never going to be perfect, just accept it and enjoy the life” [embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYo_rCxf_rc[/embedyt] 3:45 - Starting Complete Specialty Solutions 7:45 - Push back from the Industry 8:00 - a case for building internal software platform 12:00 - Genesis of the idea for the business “Why dental industry didn’t have in house specialty services” 13:50 - Most Specialist coming out of Residency with a tremendous debt 16:35 - “I never had entrepreneurial bone in my body” 17:25 - The concept of changing lanes 19:00 - Dentist take all this debt, get excited about future, build the practice and open the door. And the number of patients is not there. Then they start to question 21:20 - hitting the bottom. It’s always the payroll question 24:26 - Push back and misconceptions early on 30:10 - Constant chicken and the egg problem and to tackle it 37:50 - Larges cause for specialist burn out 46:40 - Employee Retention is a huge issue in dental practices 47:40 - AI in Dentistry - Overjet and Pearl 49:00 - How to apply AI platform to identify hidden revenue with your current patient base 51:45 - AI will change the industry, same scanner and Cerec changed dentistry back in the day 53:00 - Favorite thing about running Complete Speciality Solutions 59:50 - Unique Leadership traits 1:03:45 - Dentistry will always bounce back from any challenge About Pearl: https://www.hellopearl.com/ About Overjet: https://www.overjet.ai/ To learn more about Complete Specialty Solutions: Complete Specialty Solutions provides in-house specialty solutions to general dentist offices through our unique combination of clinical, business and operational support delivered as an integrated and turn-key solution. Our highly experienced team has activated and scaled in-house specialty solutions across all major specialties (oral surgery, orthodontics, periodontics, endodontics, and pedo) in both solo office and large DSO operations during the past eight years. http://www.completespecialty.com/
Staying informed and up-to-date on the latest news and developments in the dental industry is essential for us. One way to do this is by listening to the Compliance Divas podcasts that focus on important topics such as dental infection prevention and control. These podcasts provide valuable information and insights on how to maintain a safe and compliant dental practice software by following dental infection control protocols. In this article, we will share one of their top podcasts that covers the topic of infection statistics and control at the beginning of 2023. You can listen to it here: Here are the main thoughts and important statistics discussed in the episode: "As the new year begins, we are reminded of the ongoing challenges in infection prevention and control. These challenges have been exacerbated by the emergence of new variants of the coronavirus. In this episode, the Divas delve into some of the most pressing issues related to infection prevention and control, including the impact of these new variants and the measures that can be taken to mitigate their spread. As we move forward in the new year, it is crucial that we remain vigilant and proactive in our efforts to prevent the spread of infection and protect public health. The CDC reports that seasonal influenza activity is declining in most areas, but 61 pediatric deaths have been reported this season. Overall, there have been 20 million illnesses, 210,000 hospitalizations, and 13,000 deaths from the flu. The new Omicron sub-variant, XBB 1.5, is a concern as it is more infectious and evasive to vaccines. The CDC estimates that 40% of confirmed COVID cases are from this strain, so be aware of symptoms such as sore throat, hoarseness, cough, fatigue, nasal congestion, runny nose, headache, and muscle aches. The number of invasive group A strep infections, primarily in children, is increasing. These infections can lead to severe conditions such as necrotizing fasciitis (flesh eating disease), toxic shock syndrome, and cellulitis. Historically, strep was considered a minor illness treated with antibiotics, but now dental practices must take precautions to prevent spread of the disease by refusing treatment for children with symptoms despite having PPE on dental professionals. The recent study by Harvard School of Dental Medicine titled "Dentists and Covid Risks: No Increased Risk for Dental Practitioners During Clinical Activities" has been widely cited by various organizations such as the American Dental Association and American Hygienist Association. However, it is important to note that the study's conclusion that there is no increased risk for dental practitioners during clinical activities is misleading. The study found no cases of Covid among dental students at Harvard due to the use of N95 respirators and other appropriate personal protective equipment. The study also did not have a control group for comparison. Therefore, it is important to read the study in its entirety and not rely solely on the headline before drawing conclusions. Therefore, it is crucial to wear the appropriate PPE to protect from various respiratory illnesses, including COVID-19. Standard precautions should always be followed and using N 95 respirators should not be dismissed. Resources: CDC Flu Activity and Surveillance - https://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/fluactivitysurv.htm CDC Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infection (RSV) https://www.cdc.gov/rsv/index.html CDC Covid Data Tracker https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#datatracker-home CDC COVID-19 Variant Information https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/variants/index.html?s_cid=11720:variants%20of%20covid%20virus:sem.ga:p:RG:GM:gen:PTN:FY22 https://www.buzzsprout.com/1774326/11993585-86-updates-on-infection-control-covid-19-sub-variants-rsv-influenza-and-more "
St. Clair & Massey Orthodontic Partnership is a well-established orthodontic practice that has been serving the community for many years. Recently, the practice has focused on improving its dental inventory organization and implementing ZenSupplies with impressive results. This case study explores the strategies and practices that have been used by this dental practice, and the impact they have had on the overall operation and success of the office. To learn all the details of the dental inventory management process, we have interviewed Carina Sauceda, an experienced dental assistant at St. Clair & Massey Orthodontic Partnership who has a wealth of knowledge of the latest techniques and technologies in the industry. Whether you have an organized inventory management system in place or are just starting out, Carina's insights are sure to provide valuable information and inspiration! Carina says: "Ortho is very Unique when it comes to inventory. We have so many products! The way I organized inventory before using Zen was through a spreadsheet I created in Excel. I had two different spreadsheets. The difference between the two was that one was organized by vendors I had to personally contact by phone, and the other was organized by products I received from one representative, mainly all of our disposables. The spreadsheets contained the item number, the item description, the supplier, and the quantity to order of every item needed for the clinic and our lab. The challenges I faced were that I didn't have a laptop that I could carry around between offices to use digitally. I had to print two sets of the two spreadsheets, which were about seven to nine pages long. What frustrated me the most before starting Zen Supplies was the high volume of representatives calling about sales and having to do price comparisons myself. However, the amount of time spent taking inventory hasn't changed much with or without Zen; it still takes me about two hours per office to do a full inventory check. The order process was faster with Zen, because most products are ordered through it. Some items, like our bands, are easier to order through the website. Placing orders takes about 30 minutes. The challenges I faced while implementing Zen included getting everyone on the same page and understanding my thinking process. I had to move things around and find homes for items that were in multiple locations. Our assistants had a mindset of filling every empty corner with as many items as possible. With the support of the lead assistant, I was able to move items around with different limitations per office due to the amount of storage. This helped me with inventory because I was going to three different areas to count how many of an item we had and then figure out how many to order. I also had to think about how much of an item had to be in the sterilization room for immediate back-up and move as much as possible into the main storage area. For example, how many Caviwipes do you need to keep in the sterilization room to avoid going into the storage for a week with six chairs? We were keeping 15-20 Caviwipes in the sterilization room per office at a time, which was the "fill up every corner as much as possible" concept. With this being said, in our main storage, we would have maybe 5-10 Caviwipes and I would order more because I didn't think we had enough. We realized we only needed 6 Caviwipes for 6 chairs in the sterilization room per week! Having a small amount in the sterilization and everything else in the main storage area cut down the amount I needed to order because we had more than enough and started seeing a decrease in budget because I realized I was ordering way too much. With all this being said, my best advice would be to limit homes for an item to 2 locations. Firstly, things that need to be restocked chairside in the sterilization room can be designated as a quick, one-week stock area. Only items that are restocked weekly should be kept in this area. Secondly, while room limitations may be an issue, proper organization can make it possible to have a main storage area. To make this more efficient, items should be restocked chairside daily and sterilization room items should be restocked weekly with just enough items to get through the week. This will limit the number of times assistants need to enter the main storage area. However, it's important to note that there is no surefire way to completely eliminate stress during onboarding as it is a new and unfamiliar process. But the outcome of a well-organized and efficient inventory system is worth the stress. I was stressed when I started, but I already had all the items and item numbers on a spreadsheet. So, if you don't have that yet, that is where your main stress will be. Some items may be missed and you won't know until you run out, and then realize they were never entered into Zen. But, the Zen team is super helpful and will assist in getting things organized. As for now, my inventory process is as follows: I like working closely with 1-2 people, as too many hands in the pot can get messy. I order once a month and select one date that works for me, ordering on that date every month. I have one assistant who restocks the chairside units and sterilization room in both offices with enough items for a week, a day or two before I do my full inventory. This way, I know she has pulled everything needed from the main storage areas and I'll have an accurate inventory check. If someone is not doing this before going to do the full inventory check, then you are most likely going to have to place orders more often and at random. I do everything with an iPad and carry it between offices. I check everything in and put it away when it arrives and ask for the estimated time of arrival for items that haven't arrived, to see if I need an alternative solution. I do a full inventory check and place orders once a month. I do this to spend less time ordering and inventorying, and I am available to do more things. This also goes for assistants, they are restocking less as well. To wrap it up, a few tips for other ortho offices: - Find a supportive partner/s. - Ask the doctors why you have two of the same concept products and, if they say there is no reason, order just one. - Organize things in a way that even a new person can find the product, not just you. - LABEL EVERYTHING - Explain why you are moving things, as most people don't like change. - Keep products in their original packaging, as this helps visually see how much you have and how much you need to order. Some products can be condensed into a small container, and you may be tempted to over-order this product. - Try new products by ordering a small amount (1 or 2) and trying them out. Sometimes, they work better and are more convenient than what you have been using before."
English is a funny language. Words that are spelled the same can have different pronunciations and wildly different meanings. Words that are spelled differently can mean the exact same thing. To complicate things further, we also like to use everyday words in our slang. This can create some confusing and often humorous situations around these words. Avatar. That word likely brings to mean a number of things. The smash-hit Disney movie by James Cameron likely is first, maybe it is the animated character and show by the same name or the electronic version of oneself on Twitter and the blogosphere. There is still yet another meaning and we are not talking about the incarnation beliefs of the Hindu religion. Merriam-Webster defines avatar in the way we want to use it today perfectly. “An embodiment (as of a concept or philosophy) often in a person” When setting out to determine what makes a Zen-user avatar, this author had some preconceived notions. Through constant feedback, careful listening, and crunching some data those notions were laid to rest. There was no real correlation between office size, storage locations, the age of the doctor, the age of the team, nor current distributors. The factors that create the Zen Avatar are much truer to the definition listed above. These users embody the philosophy of Zen. Purchasing anything without embracing the philosophy behind that product will ultimately lead to shoving it aside on a shelf somewhere. Let’s use a metaphor. Everyone would like to be in better shape than we are now. Most of us know the steps, even small ones, that we could take for little gains. We could drink more water, do some push-ups every morning, or go for a jog after work. Yet, these things often give way to the other things in our lives. We are not truly too busy or too old to work out. More accurately, we have not embraced or embodied the philosophy that fitness is a lifestyle. Much in the same way, when someone subscribes to Zen, their results can vary. The software does not change but its implementation and consistent use in the dental practice management system moften does. This boils down to which concepts are embraced and which ones are not. Here are some scenarios on both sides of the coin. For example, two doctors want to reduce overhead. They both find Zen, take a demo, and sign up. Doctor 1 sends his only their lead assistant in for training, glosses over the change in a staff meeting, and skips the next training session altogether. I can tell you already this team is set up for failure. On the other hand, Doctor 2 engages their team through the entire process. They discuss “the why” at length so that the team does not feel it is a change for the sake of change. Instead, they see how this new process will benefit and make their lives easier. Everyone who is involved with supplies is in for both training sessions. They ask engaging questions and work to understand what they do not know. The doctor stays involved through the implementation process and holds the team accountable for their end of the bargain. Doctor 1’s office will struggle with buy-in at the team level. “I don’t understand it.” “It just creates extra steps in my day.” “I have my own process.” This team will also not be able to make full use of Zen. They will not verify orders in a timely fashion, which will not allow them to restock their dental inventory management software with one click. Now, they are back to their old ways of counting each item and guessing what they would need for the month to come. Then the end of the month comes in emergency orders are being placed and the budget smashed to ruins. Doctor 2’s office will look far different. They put in some leg work at the beginning but now the team is operating better and freer than ever. There is never a worry whether they will have everything because they always do. Orders come in every two weeks and the team hardly seems to notice. There is not a mad dash to the supply order because everyone knows they will have what they need. The ordering process takes less than 10 minutes and they are using that time to more effectively treat patients. These are small examples of the giant impact that a mindset can have. You see, it is not about much more than that. As a leader or THE leader in the practice, it is your duty to guide the team to function at the highest level possible. This ensures that each patient is getting the highest level of care possible. With any change, there will always be push back. The best offices manage that push back from the onset by effective communication and accountability. Those who choose to cut corners, get an incomplete system in the end and no one is happy with that. The ones willing to put in the work to truly establish a process, end up with a real solution that helps them grow. In summary, it is all about the mentality of the office, the end users. That mentality starts at the top. If a team is finding all of the reasons that a system will not work, I can assure you they will find those excuses in practice. The teams that are finding the solutions to integration will find solutions throughout the entire process. This is not to suggest that we like certain clients better. Through hard work and research, this is what we have found to be true, “It can be a great day or not, the choice is yours.” Embodying this philosophy makes a true ZenSupplies avatar.
ZenSupplies is a lifesaver when implemented and the entire team is on board. In order to understand what does it really take to implement Zen the right way and also provide true feedback from the "trenches", we decided to interview one of our most successful lead dental assistants Brittany Lopez from Castle Peak Dental Tiger Safarov: Okay, awesome. So, I have Brittany on the call today from Castle Peak Dental. She is absolutely the right hand and Dr.Summer always says that she is not only the right hand but the left hand and pretty much takes care of everything at the office is Brittany, right? Brittany: Yes, so I- Tiger Safarov: Did I describe it accurately? Brittany: Ha Ha Ha, pretty much, yes. Tiger Safarov: Yeah, Dr. Summer always tells me about you and she's like I don't know how I can survive without Brittany and I believe that's absolutely true even when I visited you guys, which was probably way too long ago. I need to come back. You were really on top of things. Brittany: I try to be. I mean, we're such a bigger office now than probably when you came and if I'm not on top of things I feel like everything falls apart. Not just me but as a team, but you know, in the back office we've got to keep it together just as much as the front, so. Tiger Safarov: That's true. Well, Brittany let's dive into this, because what I really want to get into your mindset and how do we present this to the Doctors. So, let's just say when we're starting up an office, one of the big questions or worries of Office Managers and Doctors is how the team is going to react to it. What's your take on this? What's the best way to present it? How do we flip the coin so that the Doctor's know how to talk to their team about Zen? Brittany: So, it all just comes down to managing your overhead. I mean, a lot of offices, their team isn't as involved and overhead percentage and keeping it as low as possible as, maybe, some other offices but, you know, in order to gain bonuses and, you know, make your time there worth it, you have to worry about that kind of thing, right? So, in our office, for example, I'm the person who's responsible for making sure overhead is low and if it's not and there are not people contributing with that, then nobody gets a bonus and I feel like that's a huge incentive for people, don't you think? Tiger Safarov: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. Brittany: So, go ahead. Tiger Safarov: Yeah, I'll come back to it. You touch on something so important, I always talk about it but I don't want to interrupt you. Brittany: Oh no, you're fine. Tiger Safarov: You know how some offices I go to I know its definitely not your office, but some offices I go to, people say well the doctors are providers or the hygienists are providers too and who are the dental assistants and I feel like if you take over the budgeting for supplies and show the office that you can bring money, you're in the same boat. You're the provider. You're saving money in the budget. That gives so much leverage to the lead dental assistants. Would you agree with that? Brittany: Oh, oh, yeah one-hundred percent. I mean, yes, the dentist are providers as are hygienist but if you're, like, the leader of the back office and, you know, responsible for ordering supplies you're just as important. It's your responsibility to make sure you're getting the right costs, the right percentages, all that stuff in order to function well as an office. Tiger Safarov: That's so true. So, back to that same question. If Dr. Awesome is about to sign up with Zen, and we call him Dr. Awesome because they're signing up with Zen. What's the best way for them to present it to their team and say, like, do it during the morning huddle or what would you say from your standpoint. How did Dr. Summer Kassmel present it and how would you suggest for other doctors to do it? Brittany: Well, she made sure she had enough time to really explain the system and the importance of it during a team meeting where we actually had the time to discuss it and she basically just said, you know, like I touched earlier, overhead's important if you want that extra cash in your pocket. If you, you know, to function smoothly as an office it's important to make sure our supplies are low enough and are running smoothly and with Zen, which is so awesome you're absolutely right, it's just a place where you can make it easier, you know. We have our budgeting on there. Brittany: We have all the distributes on there. It's just an easy system and one go-to place where the front office can order, the back office can order. Whatever you need is in one place and I think that's the most important part because I think that at least for me, it was super stressful to log on to a bunch of different websites and find what I needed and go back and forth to find the lowest price and the best product and, you know, I'm sure its super stressful for assistants that don't have the time to do so and so that in itself was, like, the best benefit to why I first mentioned Zen and your company. Tiger Safarov: Mm-hmm, right there. Let's take the next step. Let's just say you're the lead dental assistant. You're pretty much; you and I are setting up Zen. We're going through this whole product inventory and then we get to the point where I say okay Brittany so now I'm going to give you homework. It's going to be- not moving forward but your homework for the next training to add quantities and you're like “uh-oh, that's an extra step on my plate that I'm not sure if I have time to do.” Tiger Safarov: How do you think we can overcome that? How would you suggest for the team members or if that's something you think we should truly do as Zen, maybe that's the case but when we get to these quantities and setting up the quantities in the dental inventory system, what's your take on that? Brittany: You know, you're right it is a bunch of work on the forefront. That is dedication and making sure you have enough time to do so and I think that's where your other team members and dental assistants, you know, I guess it depends on the size of the office and how many you have but that's why the team works together to give you that time to do the quantities and figuring out the inventory. That's the only way I feel like you can get Zen to work in the first place is if you figure out what you have and how much you need. I mean for me it was more so doing it on my off time, you know, unfortunately because I didn't have the time to do so but, I think that's a great opportunity for other assistants to work together to figure out what's best and that's why we have Dr. Kasmel helped because like you said she's my right hand but it's definitely worth it once it's figured out. Tiger Safarov: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, okay. So, did you guys have anything, like, you know for example you sat down with a team and said okay guys in order for me to set up Zen, I need five-six-seven hours and by the way, that's another question? How long did it take you to get all the quantities into Zen? Brittany: I broke it up into a couple of days, spending like an hour or two each day. So, I would say, like, just breaking it up like a good week, to be honest. Just, like, with an hour to two a day. Tiger Safarov: Mm-hmm. What if a dental practice wants to go cold turkey and just sit down for whatever number of days to get all of this figured out. What would you say? A day or two? Brittany: Depending on the average I would say yeah, a day or two. Tiger Safarov: Okay and so, how did you guys approach it when you sit down with a team and said hey guys I will need an hour or two a day to work on this. Can you guys cover me up on certain procedures or what was the discussion like? Brittany: Basically, I just let my team members know, you know, Dr. Kassmel had already introduced Zen and the importance of it and why we are switching to you guys. So, I just, you know, had to make sure my team members were on board with them taking over procedures for me. Just basically saying, like, hey if we want this system to work and we want the best possible outcome there is, then this is something I have to do and, you know, I just made sure- Rachel, that's our other assistant. I just made sure she was able to cover where she could and then I just used Dr. Kassmel as best I could when needed. Tiger Safarov: Awesome, and you definitely got huge support from Dr. Kassmel, right? Brittany: Oh, definitely. She is my biggest supporter, the offices biggest supporter, she just is amazing. Tiger Safarov: Okay. I do want to touch on this very quickly. From your experience, how much during the implementation or after implementation the doctor should be involved in Zen. What are the touch points that you absolutely need the doctor for? Brittany: I definitely think in the beginning to implement it into the team I think definitely having the doctor have your back or whoever it is ordering whether it be the lead assistant or whoever, having your back and letting the team know, like, hey, this is their system. This is why it's important. This is what we're doing and then just being able to set the budget, obviously. Dr. Kassmel is very hands-on when it came to budgeting, kind of finding the lowest prices and then once it was all set up and all said and done she, kind of, just left it in my hands to, kind of, just play with and figure out and now, you know, its like second nature to me but in the beginning she was one-hundred percent involved in every single piece of it. Tiger Safarov: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. Next question is tough. The ZenOut. Every time we do the demo's, or the trainings, or a simple implementation it gets to the point where some of the practices, not all, but some of the best dental practice software practices get to the Zen Out app and see it as one of their challenges, since they need to get the whole team to ZenOut the products, similar to scanning, but on the app. What was your process for this? How were you able to get the team to ZenOut products? Brittany: So, what I did was I got a whiteboard and I put-like we're a smaller office so I was able to put like, you know they had two hygienists so I put each of their names. We only had two assistants so I put each of their names and then I just put, like, Doctor's and front office and I labeled all of that on a whiteboard and just basically told the team when you take something, you know, the last of something I need you to write it on the whiteboard and then at the end of the day go Zen it out. Brittany: I did it daily because I didn't want a few days to go by or it be the end of the week and then somebody forget or it just-I felt like it'd get tossed to the corner and then it'd get left behind so I made sure it was a daily thing and then on the little I-Pad that we the Zen out app on, I put super simple instructions on how to Zen out so that a front office person or a hygienist who has no extra time, it literally- and I timed it, it literally took like a minute if not a minute and a half for them to log-in, Zen out what they needed to and then move on with their day. Tiger Safarov: Wow. Would it be possible for you to take a picture of the ? We can erase the names so that people don't see it. Do you mind if I included part of the article? Brittany: Oh, no not at all. Tiger Safarov: Okay, that would be so cool and then also the instructions for the Zen out. I would love to share it with the rest of the people. Brittany: Okay. Tiger Safarov: Alright, so probably as we're wrapping up one of the last questions is for us at Zen when we think about the valid that we bring to dental assistants, like, it's great that there are a price comparison and budgeting and that you spend less money on dental supplies but one of the biggest things for me personally is the time. I love to think, or I tend to think, that with Zen essentially you're spending less time managing inventory and taking control of the inventory. Tiger Safarov: I want you to ask if that's true or not and how much we impacted the time part of your life? Brittany: Oh my gosh, it's one-hundred percent true and I can definitely say my time spending with Zen as opposed to when I used to order is cut in half. I order bi-weekly and before I used to have to put a block for, like, two hours to, like, stalk everything, look through all my inventory and then order from like I said different websites, different companies and with Zen it literally only takes me like half an hour if that because I know what I'm low on. I know what I have to order. I know the lowest price and it's in one spot. Zen is like a lifesaver so thank you so much. I love it. Tiger Safarov: Wow, that's awesome. I really appreciate it, it means a lot. I just really wanted to get that honest feedback from you because I know you're always honest and it's, like, truly the impact of Zen and if we're moving in the right direction because like I said my biggest thing is time and it’s the only thing we can never get back and one thing I want to strive for is for our assistants to make sure that you guys don't waste time on just things that don't matter. Brittany: Oh, one-hundred percent and I think you guys are doing a great job with what you're offering and I think any kind of office or assistant should definitely use Zen because like you said it's a time saver more than anything. Like the price comparison is amazing, don't get me wrong, but, you know, to have that time to be able to do your other duties or just assist I think being able to use Zen and do it that quickly, as long as its implemented right, then I think it's just amazing. Tiger Safarov: I one-hundred percent agree with you. As we're wrapping up, what do you think would be the final suggestions you have for the offices. Like, as they're looking to implement Zen, what would you say is your one or two or three tricks or, like, maybe short cuts, even though I hate short cuts but what would you say is the thing? Brittany: It would definitely be, be patient with it because I know in the beginning it may feel like its tedious just putting your distributes in one spot and your inventory count and, you know, quantity and all that but just making sure the team implements ZenOut because if you don't do that or, you say, forget or your team's not on board then it puts more work on whoever it is ordering. It makes you have to go back and re-count your inventory and it's just making sure the team implements it just as much as you first and foremost and then you just have to mess around with it. I did a lot of research on it playing around with it and just finding quickest ways and distributes you can to make it that much easier and quicker. Tiger Safarov: You're so awesome. Thank you, thank you so much. Brittany: I appreciate it. Tiger Safarov: Yeah, like, from day one I knew that you guys were going to be awesome, you know. I can definitely say you're one of my top five's, that's for sure and it's so much fun too. Even I know when you go into the chat and ask some questions because when I go back and I listen or I look at the chat messages I know there's going to be some gold there because when you ask questions its probably something we don't have as a feature that we need to look back and maybe build it, you know. That's how I look at it. Brittany: Right, and I love that you guys are so on top of it. Any time I do have questions or concerns you get back to me if not instantly, like, within twenty-four hours so I appreciate your guy's customer service as well. Tiger Safarov: Awesome. Brittany, thank you so much. I don't want to take more of your time. I'm just grateful to have you, that's all I can say. Thank you. Brittany: I am grateful for you and Zen. You guys have saved us so much time and money and what you're doing is amazing and so I'm so thankful for you and your team. Tiger Safarov: It means a lot. Well, keep doing that. Alright, so, thank you so much. We'll be wrapping up and this episode will be available on our blog so subscribe it and Brittany I probably am really clued- I'll just see if anyone has any questions for you if they want to reach out to you I'll just ask them to reach out to us first and we'll coordinate it so you don't get bombarded with questions, okay? Brittany: Okay, that's perfect, no worries and I will send you over the picture of the instructions and the whiteboard. I don't work today or tomorrow but if you need it by a certain time before next week, I can get that to you. Tiger Safarov: Awesome, awesome.
Hi, everybody. Let's break this down into the simple steps and figure out a way to use spreadsheets to simply and easily control your dental inventory, submit orders, and pretty much stay within a budget. First, we're going to start with what we call Operatory Inventory Checklists. So that's going to be available for the download at the link below. You can use it. You can adjust it. It's an Excel Spreadsheet. The credit on that one goes to the Dentist of Omaha for providing the treatment room list, the one that you guys are looking at right now. So we highly suggest you use that spreadsheet to track your items in each treatment room, meaning that you're going to go and open all the cabinets, all the drawers, everything you've got. Write down on that list, adjust it, and the most important part, put what you want the quantities to be, either for the day or for the week, meaning that before you guys implement this checklist, you'll need to decide if each treatment room will get restocked either on a daily basis or on a weekly basis. And so you're going to put the stocked quantity, the quantity for that period of time, either the day or the week. Let's just say two carpules of red lidocaine. Most likely you're going to use a lot more Septocaine, so you're going to put that, and on and on and on and on, including a restorative. So the idea is to get everything that's in the room on that checklist. Whatever you can't figure out, that doesn't belong on that checklist, that means it doesn't belong in the room, so get rid of it. Buy a huge garbage can and just put it in the garbage can. The last item on this list that's really important is to put who is in charge. So I always like to have the Responsible in Charge. I call them RIC, our lead dental assistant or assistant responsible for that treatment room, who is responsible for restocking that specific room. The idea is you want to have Responsible in Charge for that room. So you got the list. Download the list. Take a look. Put it in the room. Laminate it. I wouldn’t suggest laminating it right away. Maybe try three or four times, adjust the quantities, adjust the products, and then laminate it. Next, you are going to use the Purchase Order. That means, each assistant, or let's just say your lead assistant, we’ll call her Susan, will compile the Operatory Inventory checklists from your assistant(s). Then, Lead Assistant Susan will figure out the quantities of all the products that she needs to buy. Using the Purchase Order is an easy way to control which distributor will get which order. So here's the process and how it will work. Lead Assistant Susan gets the Operatory Inventory Checklists from your assistant(s). Next, Susan goes onto the distributor website of your preference and, using your preferred vendors, puts an order together in the shopping cart. Then, she takes a screenshot the shopping cart, prints a copy with the twirl at the bottom, and puts it in a Purchase Order. So, the Purchase Order has to be filled out. Again, you can download it at the link in the bottom of this article. Download the spreadsheet called Purchase Order. Be sure to fill out which distributor, the total, etc. and text the screenshot over to the shopping cart. Now, the next step of that would be using Dental Budget Tracker. By the way, the Purchase Order credit goes to Michael Lomaton of Dental Design SD a huge supporter of Zen. They provided this Purchase Order idea and the actual template. Now, we're going to move into your Dental Budget Tracker Spreadsheet. That came from a good friend, David Bender at Village Dental at Saxony in Indiana, so huge credit goes to them for providing us a spreadsheet called Dental Budget Tracker. So once you get those Purchase Orders, you're going plug it in, into that specific month, what you guys are going to be using for that month with that distributor, for which week. Then the system will calculate for you what’s the month to date and things like that, and give you the total. I think it's called in Supply Budget Tracker. Somewhere at the top, for that month, it will tell you what it is. So all you have to put in is Allowed Spending. The remaining balance will be calculated automatically. Actual spending will be calculated automatically, and then Prior Month Collections, you guys are putting in for each individual month. I will have to mention that ZenSupplies does it all for you automatically. You don't have to do it. The only thing you're going to have to do with Zen is just plug in your collection numbers for the previous month, but the PO process and putting it together, downloading spreadsheets and things like that, it's all done on Zen automatically. So now, the last part that I want to mention, what a lot of you will do, specialty endo implants, oral surgery, and things like that. I would highly suggest you use a separate spreadsheet for each individual cart if you're tracking items separately. And we do have a checklist called EndoCart Westgate, and a huge credit goes to the Westgate Dental and the awesome assistants at the Westgate Dental who provided the checklist. You're going to use it, and again, it's the same concept as the first checklist. All the items listed and all the quantities that you need to keep in that endo cart. So that's all for now. We've got the Operatory Inventory Checklist, where you're putting all the quantities. You've got the endo cart, oral surgery cart, or ortho cart. They can all have the checklist. Then your lead assistant is using the Purchase Order. It's absolutely the must to use that Purchase Order, and then you guys can plug it into the final spreadsheet, called Dental Budget Tracker, and only then the order can be submitted to the distributor. Now, all these spreadsheets can be converted into two things. You can either convert it into Google Docs, so it's easy for everybody to have access and plug in the numbers, or I've been playing with a thing called Airtable. It's a new app. It is pretty much a spreadsheet on steroids. You can get a subscription and start using that spreadsheet specifically for tracking budgets and things like that. I hope you guys enjoyed this. There's going to be a reference to this article at the bottom. For the full Dental Inventory Makeover Webinar that we did, where we go in detail on how to control the inventory, what to do with products and things like that in each individual treatment room. So I would highly suggest you check it out, and if you liked it, come back to this blog, read more, and we have a lot more videos coming up. Also, check out our podcast that's coming up really soon, called Zen and Work! See you later. Please download the simple inventory control spreadsheet and other useful documents here: Operatory Checklist Purchase Order Dental Budget Tracker Spreadsheet EndoCart Westgate Budget Allocations Guidelines All CheckLists and Spreadsheets Startup Supplies List Reference: https://www.zensupplies.com/blog/dental-inventory-makeover-webinar/ Thank you & Credit: Dr. David Bender, DDS for providing Dental Budget Tracker Spreadsheet Westgate Dental Care for providing Supply List for Endo Carts The Dentist of Omaha for providing Treatment Room List