Seven Tips to Finding the Right Dental Practice Consultants
According to The WealthyDentist.com, more than half (62%) of surveyed dentists have had a bad experience with dental practice consultants. Avoid wasting money and time by following TechTrack's Seven Tips to Finding the Right Dental Practice Consultants for Your Practice.
Step 1: Define what you need from your dental practice consultants:
- Are you building a completely new site, or are you remodeling your established practice?
- Do you need someone to help you streamline office processes?
- Are you interested in new technologies that save time and increase patient satisfaction?
Step 2: Seek the dental practice consultants to realize your unique vision:
Not all dental practice consultants have the same experience. If you are remodeling, expanding or building a new practice you will need an IT consultant and contractors that understand dental office designs and project management. If you need to streamline your processes to become more efficient and profitable, you should seek dental practice consultants that have proven experience in practice development and growth.
Step 3: Ask your colleagues for dental practice consultant referrals
Ask friends and peers about their experiences with their dental practice consultants. Interview at least 2-3 consultants. Pick the one that blends with your personality and the culture of your practice, and demonstrates the intuition and knowledge required to be effective in making the changes and improvements necessary.
Step 4: Ask for References
Successful dental practice consultants have testimonials, which they will be happy to share with you. Before you contact them, have some questions ready.
- Example IT consultant questions:
"Did they meet or exceed the estimated timeline?"
"Did the project stay on budget?"
- Example questions for dental practice consultants:
"Did their work increase your profits?"
"How long did it take to see a return on the investment?
Step 5: Ask for a guarantee.
Ask your dental practice consultant for a guarantee. Find out exactly how long the guarantee lasts, and what it covers. You should know:
- IT consultants frequently guarantee their hardware installations up to one year.
- Dental practice consultants guarantee increased revenue with decreasing stress. How long will they work with you for the agreed fee to see that this happens?
Step 6: Ask how much down-time to expect.
Asking your dental practice consultant how much down time to expect helps you define your budget for the project or process. It also allows you to be proactive with patient scheduling, so you won't inconvenience patients with rescheduled appointments.
IT consultants will know the amount of down-time required to cable and install hardware/software, complete with testing. Depending on the scope of the project and your time table, they may be able to work around your work schedule.
Practice management consultants will require training days; in some instances they may require a full day; in other instances they may train for a half day and observe the second half.
Step 7: Ask for multiple solutions.
Your dental practice consultant should ensure that the "solution given to you" is tailored to your practice, your personality and the culture of your team and patients.
Article by Rochelle Reynolds, RDH
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