Rebecca Herring
Hi, am Rebecca Herring. In this podcast today, you're going to learn about the benefits of implementing virtual assistance into your dental practice to help you establish some SPS for your practice, as well as how to eliminate some stress and burnout for your front office team.
Dean Steinman
Well, hello everybody out there in podcast land.
Guess what. It's Dean Steinmann and we are back with another awesome podcast for so it is now lovely springtime. It's April twenty twenty five. The trees of bloomin flowers are in the air, you know baseball seasons.
Here, someone's right around the corner and it's, as they said the back of the Brady Bone, day's day to myself. Here, it's time to change, and there's always changed in the air. And always I like to always bring on, you know, special guests that are experts in the industry and can help you guys learn more. I had them to adapt to change and to just give you a few tips.
So I'm really really stoked today. I have Rebecca Hearing with us today and Rebecca is the dental coach for many years. She's an expert in it and your company is called Transformational Dental Coaching. And welcome Becca, how are you today?
Rebecca Herring
Great? Thank you so happy to be here.
And I'm also like you ready for spring?
Dean Steinman
Right, everybody all are so so welcome. So when we jump in, just give us a little background. Tell us who is Rebecca Harry and tell us a little bit about you and your background.
Rebecca Herring
Thanks.
I appreciate that. Yeah, So I've been in a dental really from the day I was born. My dad's dentist, and so you know, we all grew up and helping my dad with his business and right down from when you know, back then we had to pump the lotion into the empty bottles and put our own labels on them, and you know, so been invested with my dad and his practice. He retired about twenty twenty five years ago, but you know, we all were part of his business and watching him kind of go above and beyond for his patients and for that patient experience, and kind of watching my dad really take his practice in his own direction.
So it's been in my blood forever. Wasn't my first career, I will openly admit that, but I retired from teaching about fifteen years ago and went into dentistry. Love it. Love watching practices and teams expand and grow, think outside the box a little bit and make the changes that they need to within their practices so that they can continue to grow in an ever changing landscape within dental.
Dean Steinman
It really is.
I love this industry. You know, I always can help people. We're in the smile business. You know, my job, as you know with the marketing is to make dentists smile and give them more, make them more, give them more patience, and then just change people's lives, you know, to give people the smile they always dreamed of it that teas straight or white or cleaner.
You know, it's it's incredible to be able to change somebody's life. So I love what we do here. So let's talk a little bit about you talking about transformation and change. So you know, obviously practices dentistry has been around forever, all right, and so let's talk a little bit about what would you say are like three of the most common challenges that are practice faces today when it comes to basic day to day operations and why to these three problems exist Do you think?
Rebecca Herring
yeah, I think things that the practices face nowadays is one, they have a lot of things that they have to do.
They have a lot of check marks right that they want to get things done, and they just don't have the systems in place that they need in order to really kind of have things in an efficiency flow through their practice. I think that's one of the big ones. I think that we have a lot of things we want to accomplish within our practice and we just don't have enough bodies to get them done. This is where I really like sell when I help practices want to grow.
And Three, I think we have a lot of tools we can utilize, but I don't think that we're utilizing those tools to the best of our abilities, So top three.
Dean Steinman
Excellent, So in order to have implement any of those three problems, somebody has to change. Okay, have to but nobody likes to change.
People are afraid of change. So what one bit of advice would you give somebody who just just can't get just won't take that step, won't take that bite, won't make the change because they're afraid of the status called freight to shake in the leaves. You know, one big of advice besides just do it.
Rebecca Herring
Besides, just go for it.
So I always say, you know, it never hurts to just have an open mind. Sometimes you just have to be able to sit down. And I think we come with these barriers already in place, like I don't want this to be different. This is how we've done it for the last twenty years.
Right, it served us well. I understand it served you well. But let's just let's just talk, right, Let's just let's just put some of these things aside and let's talk through what could be right potentials if you could take let's just put something really simple. Your phone's right, they're always ringing.
There's you're always having to choose between a patient checking in or checking out, and the phone is always bringing right. Well, we always do this, right, We always let it go to voicemail, or we just tell the patient that's in front of us, if you can you just hold for a minute. I'm just going to put them on hold and then I'll be right back with you. Is that okay with you? Sure? As the patient? What are they supposed to say? No, No, I don't want you to do that.
I'm standing right here. I want you to finish helping me. So I can get on my way. But if you were just to think about it from the perspective of both the patient that's on that phone calling in and the patient standing in front of you, they're both equally as important.
So let's just say, for argument's sake, right with this person who doesn't want to change, what if you could do both? What if you could you in the office manager take care of the patient the standing right in front of you, and you don't have to choose between the phone ringing. Which wouldn't it be great if you didn't even hear it ringing, but someone took care of it for you. Wouldn't that be even better? Yes, it would be right. You have to just talk through these options and help them put their guard down, right, put the guard down? Look at and let's just think outside the box a little bit.
What would it look like. What if the phone never rang out loud in the practice to interrupt the conversations you're having with patients, the treatment plan that you're going over with the patient, whatever it may be, right, just don't even interrupt the conversation. Virtual assistance is the answer to so many of these concerns and disruptions and overload and burnout that our front desk are experiencing every single day every day. They're great.
They can answer those questions. They can answer that, when's my next appointment? I forgot? Hey, I'm scheduled next week. I just found out I've got to go out of town? Can you reschedule that for me? Why would you interrupt a conversation where you're presenting a ten thousand dollars treatment plan to a patient? Right? Tell the patient? Right? Oh yeah, your appointment actually is next week? Not a problem? Want to confirm that? Yes, wonderful, Thanks, we'll see you. Then, why would you interrupt that conversation to confirm an appointment? This is where I absolutely love virtual assistants.
Dean Steinman
They're great. You know, it took me a while to adapt as well. And for my company, I'm all in on virtual assistance and I have I checked about eleven or twelve that work for me full time that basically are able to really make a difference because they care, They smart, the work inside of your parameters, your time, and there's significantly less money, you know, so if work, but you do have to have the right sop in place and procedure in order to do that. So let's talk about that.
How do you actually help a practice develop that because if somebody's not there, it's hard for them to understand what's being done and what's next steps. So how do you come up with the process for a practice to implement this program where somebody is not there?
Rebecca Herring
Great question and absolutely should be the first thing you're asking. Right. So I work with a company called rocket Station and they supply virtual assistance in every industry that there is.
So healthcare specifically is what we're talking about today, and so they do something called process mapping, so they have a conversation with the dental practice. Let's say you're hiring your virtual assistant to help you with insurance verifications, eligibility and breakdowns. Right, another time, suck for the front desk. Please don't pay your front desk to do these things.
This can be done by a virtual assistant for a third of the cost. Right, So you will walk through with our process mapping team at rocket Station and walk them through exactly how you want it done. I want you to go into the portals, I want you to get this breakdown. I want you to put it into our PMS system, whatever PMS system you have there's a million out there, and we're going to walk through that process with you.
Ultimately, what we do in that process mapping call. We do a couple of them. It takes about five or six hours with the office, and we create that SOP for the virtual assistant and for the office. They get a copy of it too, because we should have SOPs for every single position in our pract So that's what rocket Station uses to train the virtual assistant before they start in your practice.
Because a virtual assistant is only beneficial if they are effective day one. Can't bring them in and then say here you go, now you get to train them. That's not effective. So with rocket Station, I'm part of their team and we train them before they start in your practice so they bring the most value and the most efficiency starting on day one.
Dean Steinman
That's awesome. This is so important many of our practices we work with. We are bringing this in handover foot to help facilitate all of the busyness of the of the office. You know.
And one thing that we implemented recently over Towealth of Marketing is we implemented the lead part, which is the heart. Which is the hardest part is nobody follows up, Nobody answers the phone the last time I checked the staff just going to this the other day, the cording to American Dental Association the average practice is losing, depending upon the size, a minimum of one hundred and twenty thousand dollars a year and up to over seven figures of business just because I don't answer the phone or they don't follow up a call up. So that's what we're doing now for our practices, is we're implementing that from a sales perspective, you do everything else, you know, do you know, you handle there. You know, we're going to get the butts in the seats for you, and we're doing that.
It's been a game changer. And now we're all and this is great you're saying this because so many the practices now they're still bogged down with the with the busy work and the insurance verification and trying to handle their existing customers and stuff and putting them back on. So and I have the full package is really great. So I'm really happy that you have this.
And you know, Andy, guys listening. You know, notes will be available that you can you know, you know, you talk to a Becker and she'll walk you through that whole the whole process of how to help you out from that day. But it's something great to have, you know, I said, I'm using it from my team as from a marketing perspective, I have a whole vish world team, but when it comes to the sales part, practices don't follow up but do anything along that line. So that's why we're doing that for them, and it's been great. It's been really great.
Rebecca Herring
Yeah, so cup five about five years ago, the last dental practice I was working in, I was their COEO and we had multiple locations. We were not a DSO, but we had multiple locations and the best thing we ever did again thinking outside the box operationally. We just were really struggling to find great team members, right.
The applicants weren't great well, And this is exactly we're all struggling with this, especially if you live in a rural area and you only have so many people in your town or so many resources you can pull from. A virtual team member is literally the whole world, Like you have the whole world at your fingertips now. But we decided to work with five virtual assistants. So we brought in five virtual assistants.
They became our central hub. I don't like the word call center. That sounds awful in my mind. So they picked up all of our phone calls, they did all of our insurance verification eligibilities breakdowns.
The one thing that they did differently for our practice that made the biggest impact was they started reaching out to our new patients, our unscheduled trigger plans, and our overdue recare. The first year that they were with us, they doubled our production in all three of our locations just by doing those three lists. For us, it's the follow up, right, It's the things just were so busy and someone who has the time to sit down and say, hey, hi, Jill, I'm calling from you know, doctor Smith's office. Smith and I were going through your treatment plan and we realize we haven't seen you in six months, a year, eighteen months, whatever, it's been AfOR wants to know how that you know that crown in the upper left area is feeling you know, are you experiencing any pain or hot and cold sensitivity? Yeah? Actually I am, Well, you know, and you're you're making it very personal and you're building the trust relationship with that patient and they're like, really, you're going through my treatment plan like you remember me? Yeah, we do.
Doctor cares about you. We really let's get you back in for your routine cleaning right, get you back into our hygiene schedule. And let's have doctor do a reevaluation of that area for you, because you're obviously due for an exam as well, and let's see what's going on. Let's see if we can get that taken care for you before it turns into something worse.
Right, So all of these things are so.
Dean Steinman
It's and it's just the right amount of steps you have to And the thing is also I found as you can't just do it once. You can't just pick the ponecus people. I don't know about you, but I never answered my phone.
So you have to reach people multiple ways. You know, when we when we get a new lead for a practice, we don't just call. We text, we email, we have a chat. We constantly have we tried it four or five different ways to communica and we don't stop until they say stop.
Until they say stop, because that's what a lot of practices are. We don't want to be a nuisance. They reached out to you, it's not the other way around. They reached out to you.
It's not like you're just ran to pick up the phone and calling people and said, hey, you want to come in and get you know, in plants. Oh, they reached out to you first.
Rebecca Herring
Exactly and maybe they're embarrassed to call you back. Maybe they're embarrassed it's been you know, a year or eighteen months and now they're just embarrassed to call you.
But if you're all and you're saying, hey, the doctor really cares about you, right, we want you to come back. We'd like to make sure you're okay, it makes them feel better. Right. So the other thing I love about virtual assistance, and I'm sure you're utilizing this too, is they can work any hours.
No one on your team in the office is going to say I volunteer to stay until eight o'clock tonight. Sure I'll stay in work till eight, but your virtual your virtual team will. So if you know that you can reach patients between you know, six and eight o'clock at night, make that part of their hours and they'll be more than happy to reach out to your patients and get things rescheduled, or reach out to your you know, your implant cases. Right, they're the highest ticket item.
Let's reach out to them and see if we can get them back in to get started on their implant cases. These are wonderful things that your virtual team members, who you're right, are very dedicated. They are absolutely the sweetest, kindest people, and they will work really hard for you, really hard, for every minut in it that they're working for you, so right, all wonderful things it is.
Dean Steinman
It's amazing what you know, how much things have changed and how people will adapt to it.
You know, five, six, seven years ago, nobody would in the right mind would ever even think of this. You know, I'm not gonna have somebody else answer my phone for the country and blah blah blah. Now you have no choice adapt. You know, we're in a twenty four to seven world.
You know, we're getting leads into practice and booking them at eleven twelve at night, at six in the morning when you're not there. You know, it's so it has and through all different mechanisms. You know, the average person has to be reached out to seven times in seven days, okay, in order to breakthrough and through different ways. And it's also only in the marketing department world we call it speed to lead.
The first practice who has a meaningful communication with somebody has an eighty eight percent chance to get in them and as a start, but you have to be the first one to communicate with. Them, and that has to be meaningful.
Rebecca Herring
You're right, has to be meaningful.
Dean Steinman
Exactly.
Rebecca Herring
And That's where honestly, your virtual assistants they have the time. There's no other distractions. Exactly. You get that new patient that calls in and they say, you've got to have that new patient call done in like, you know, three minutes, and well, what if that new patient wants to talk to you a little bit and they're nervous, or they have some concerns or they have questions, that call should go.
As long as you know that patient needs to feel secure in choosing your practice. Virtual assistants have time to do that.
Dean Steinman
Right
Rebecca Herring
So, yeah, there's so many great things.
Dean Steinman
Yeah, I'm going to ask you to put on a special pair of glasses and we're going to look two years into the future.
Now, okay, where do you see the dental world?
Rebecca Herring
I see the dental world I think two or three years down the road, utilizing more more resources that take less people. I think virtual assistance is one of those things. I think we've got AI that's being implemented into practices, like into their x rays where they can show patients that help them to close cases, get their insurances to pay for those treatments that they're doing.
And I just think that we're going to have so many different things automated to make our jobs a little bit more efficient, and I think that's kind of where we're headed. And I think that I think that virtual assistance is right along with some of these AI and these options that make things a little more efficient in our practices.
Dean Steinman
A Lot more efficient. I think I think outside the box and change.
So now I have another pair of glasses they're going to be able to put on, and you're going to now be able to go back in time fifteen years. What are you telling Rebecca 15 years ago today?
Rebecca Herring
I probably would tell her to jump on these trains with you know, the taking the advancements that we know are coming and being involved in them sooner. I love where we're going with dentistry. I think it's an ever changing world and I think that we should all be ready for things to change.
I think we always have to be ready to pivot and adjust, and I don't think we should be scared of it. I don't think that there's anything out there that's ever going to replace our jobs. We just have to be ready to jump on board with the things that can help us make you help us be more efficient and be more successful. And that's really what this is about.
It is helping the practices that we work in to be more successful, be ready to grow, and let's bring on these things that can help us to do those for our practice.
Dean Steinman
All right, well, okay, thanks so much for joining. I really appeiately. I have two more quick questions for you, one very important.
So I'm really good with giving gifts out now beside these glasses. So now I ask you the question. So you have the ability, I'm going to give you the ability to go have lunch with anybody in history. Ooh who you having lunch with them? Why?
Rebecca Herring
Anyone in history? Oh? Well, I would always choose my dad.
I'll be honest. I love having lunch with my dad, who is a dentist, and I always love telling him all the great things that are happening in dentistry because he could not be a dentist today. But if I could choose someone in history, that's really a hard one. I don't know why that's so hard for me.
I would love to sit down with all the computer geeks, right, all the people that like develop all these AI systems, and I'd really love to sit down at dinner and pick their brains and how we can make things where we're right here, right, but how can we take it to the next level for all of our practices so that we can be more efficient? And I really would love to figure out how to travel through time. Right. I'd like to just be able to jump down to the Philippines and go see our amazing virtual assistance whenever I wanted to, you know, all those kinds of things. And
Dean Steinman
All right, and the most important question, Okay, Reese's or snickers.
Rebecca Herring
Oh, Reese's peanut butter cup easy. peanut butter and chocolate.
Dean Steinman
There you go my favors. Awesome, Rebecca, thanks so much for joining. I really really appreciate it.
So if somebody wants to talk to you, learn more about what you do. Help you. I think you help the practice. What's the best way for somebody to reach you?
Rebecca Herring
Yeah, you can reach out to me.
Probably the easiest way if you're interested in the virtual assistant side, is to reach out to me at rebecca@rocketstation.com. Anyone who listens to the podcast today we'd like to offer them five hundred dollars off with their virtual assistants onboarding fees. I think that's great.
Anyone who's interested and set up a call. I'd love to just talk through whatever situations you have going on in your practice, any pain points that you have, and let me see if I can help you find an answer to those pain points, thinking outside the box or finding a tool that can help your practice be more successful.
Dean Steinman
Awesome. Well, thanks so much.
I appreciate it, and once again, everybody out there, thank you so much for listening. Thanks so much for all of the messages and emails and comments you know from the podcasts, and obviously keep listening, keep adapting, keep on smiling. Everybody, be safe, enjoy the summer, and once again, as the great Jerry Garcia says, nothing left to do but smile, smile, smile. Thanks so much.Bye, bye.
