Michael Moore, Esq. Director McKenzie HR Solutions Printer Friendly Version

Human Resources Policy In A Down Economy

With this year’s autumnal equinox came the crash of the stock market and the credit squeeze that signaled tough economic times ahead. The experts forecast another year of recession. Doctors may already have seen the impact of the economy on their patient visits.

The most natural response to this situation is for doctors to tighten belts and not invest in any non-essential purchases. If you had been thinking about revamping your employment policies, but now believe it is not a good time to invest, think again. We have been preaching the need for every doctor to have an office manual that satisfies the insecurities of staff and protects the practice against legal claims. Your risk of having a claim against you is perhaps greater now than at any time in the last decade. Consider for a moment that filing of legal claims—particularly employment claims—goes up in a recession. Often the increase in filings is dramatic. Why is that? It has everything to do with how lawyers advise clients.

Plaintiff lawyers are first of all businesspeople, just like doctors. Most clients—employees—do not have the money to pay case expenses even when the lawyers take the cases on contingency. That means the lawyer must fund the case and collect the expenses he or she paid at the end.

The expense of funding an employment case today to, but not through, trial averages about ten thousand dollars ($10,000.00) in costs of depositions, filing fees, subpoena costs and other related fees. This means the lawyer must pay out a great deal of money in the expectation that the case will eventually turn a dollar. Because the lawyer’s money is on the line, he or she must make a reasoned judgment at the beginning as to the likelihood of success.

Lawyers who make bad guesses about success are not long in business. But it is not only the possibility of success that plays a part—one of the biggest considerations is the amount that will likely be awarded, and the key factor in that analysis is what the client has and will lose in income and benefits. The first thing the good lawyer looks at is how long the client has been out of work, how long she might be out of work and, if she finds a job, whether it will pay the same as her last job.

Once the lawyer has a handle on what “out-of-pocket” damages might be, he or she then looks at the intangible damages—emotional distress, loss of self-respect, humiliation, etc.—to get a feel for what the case might bring in if filed and prosecuted. In a good economy, we plaintiff lawyers turn away many potential clients who have good legal claims because the “hard damages” (lost income and benefits) do not support the expense. In a good economy, it is more likely that a terminated employee will be able to find a job rather quickly; the demand is high. If the loss of income and benefits is very modest, the lawyer is much more likely to turn the case down.

Many employment lawyers (like me) follow the “six-month rule.” We take the client on, but do not begin proceedings until she has been unemployed [or underemployed] for six months. If, before six months pass, she has found comparable work, we generally decline to prosecute the case. Whether or not she received unemployment compensation has no effect on our evaluation because under federal law such benefits are not considered when damages are calculated.

What happens, then, in a bad economy? Two factors come together to increase filings. First, when the unemployment rate climbs, clients are unemployed longer, and more cases have more economic loss to recover. Second, lawyers themselves are under economic pressure. The incentive to take cases they might not otherwise take is great. The lawyer might take the case, but prosecute it “on the cheap,” taking fewer depositions than usual and making other economies.

Doctor, you are more exposed to employment claims now than at any time in the recent past. The national average of the cost of these claims is over $100,000.00. Having solid, effective human resources policies that document your fair and equitable treatment of employees is the only defense you have to these claims.

The office manual that we create is customized to your situation and your state. We support the policy with forms keyed to specific provisions. When issues arise with employees or when an employee must be terminated, following our documentation track can virtually eliminate the risk of a claim. And with the alternative dispute resolution package that we offer with the office manual, you can avoid the courtroom completely.

Up-to-date human resources policies are not non-essential luxuries in today’s economy. They are necessities. A noted defense lawyer recently said that for even the large corporations he represents, “I try to get them to deal effectively with employment issues before a claim is made. They can pay me now, or pay me later. Paying me later, however, is what puts my kids through college.”

Mike Moore is ranked among the best in employment law and named one of the top 10 lawyers in Ohio. As Director of McKenzie's HRSolutions, Mike is the creator of the Employment Policy and Handbook, geared to providing dentists who are unsophisticated in the legal arena with a step-by-step policy manual.

Click here to hear Mike present “7 Elements of an Effective Employment Policy.” Email Mike at mike@thedentistsnetwork.net.

Interested in having Mike speak to your dental society or study club? Click here.

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Joel Harris, President ADA Intelligent Dental Marketing, Inc. Printer Friendly Version

Create A Marketing Plan For 2009

There’s a saying in marketing that goes like this: There are two good times to create a marketing plan—yesterday and now. If you’re like many dentists, you’ve never created a marketing plan and don’t even know where to begin. However, dental practices that are successful in marketing invariably start with a marketing plan. Do yourself a favor and create a marketing plan for 2009. Let it begin with this article.

Every how-to book on the market has different advice on the essential elements of a marketing plan, but the words you use are much less important than how seriously you approach the task. No matter how it's ultimately organized, your marketing plan should be a straightforward, easily understood document.

Starting from a blank white sheet of paper can be intimidating, so I’ve created the following list of planning questions to help you get your writing juices flowing. Answer these questions as clearly as possible and be willing to put some real effort into the process.

Marketing Planning Questions

1. What marketing tactics worked well in 2008?
2. What marketing tactics didn’t work at all in 2008?
3. Are there any obvious reasons for #1 or #2?
4. Did your new patients in 2008 match your objectives?
5. What dental products/services do you provide?
6. Describe your market population, demographics, income levels, etc.
7. How large is the area that most of your patients come from?
8. What competitors exist in your marketplace?
9. What are the best message components (headlines, benefits, offers) for your target market?
10.  What message components need to be enhanced or revised?
11.  What marketing tactics will you use in 2009 (direct mail, radio, television, signage, Yellow Pages, etc.)?
12.  What will your referral generating program be?
13.  What is your overall marketing budget and how will it be divided among the tactics?

Get Your Plan On Paper
Like most practices, much of this information for a marketing plan exists in the heads of the management team. But now is when you write it down. A marketing plan gives you a chance to pull all this relevant information together in one place, to spur ideas and justify actions.

Compare your dental products or services to those of your competitors. How well do you stack up? Is there any significant marketing opportunity for you that neither you nor your competitors are currently exploiting?

Setting Goals
If you're new to dental marketing, how do you set reasonable goals? Start with your past. Review your past production numbers, your growth over past years, the value of new patients and how the introduction of new dental products or procedures has fared. If over the last five years you've grown a cumulative 80 percent in annual revenue, projecting a 15 percent to 20 percent increase in the next year is reasonable; 45 percent is not. Set modest goals for what you'll be able to accomplish, especially if you don’t have at least a few years of marketing experience.

Your budget will probably force you to limit the number of marketing tactics you use in a given year. Too many objectives can also bring stress, disorient staff and sometimes even confuse your target market. Keep your goals challenging but achievable. It’s always better to set ambitious but reachable goals than to depress yourself by failing at too many enthusiastic goals.

Tracking Effectiveness
To track the progress of your marketing plan throughout the year, establish a regular schedule of meetings and spell this out in writing. How will you make adjustments to your plan midstream if you need to? How will you monitor progress in income/costs to make changes during the year? You can't leave yourself without this capability.

The reason you must pick measurable marketing tactics is to be able to track your progress as your plan unfolds. Some marketing tactics aren't quantifiable or are difficult to track. Make sure you don’t let your marketing budget get lost in this process by not giving credit where credit is due.

Lastly, remember that your dental marketing plan is best managed through the classic feedback loop: Act, Observe, Adjust, Act Again. Nothing is more important than personal experience when executing a properly developed marketing plan.

Joel Harris is CEO and Co-Founder of Intelligent Dental Marketing, one of the nation's leading dental marketing companies focused exclusively on dental practices. Intelligent Dental Marketing provides powerful marketing tools to help dentists grow their patient base, increase their profit and improve their image. Joel can be reached directly at 877.942.8855.

Interested in speaking to Joel about your marketing concerns? Email him at joel@thedentistsnetwork.net.

Interested in having Joel speak to your dental society or study club? Click here.

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Thomas L. Snyder, DMD, MBA Managing Partner The Snyder Group, LLC Printer Friendly Version

Integrating Your First Associate-Part II

In Part I of my previous article we discussed how to transfer patients through reactivation strategies as well as recommended staffing protocols and effective scheduling. In Part II we’ll review a few strategies that will complete your associate’s integration plan.

1. Develop a Marketing Plan. It is amazing to us how many dentists do not make an investment in announcing their associate to their entire patient base! For the first sixty to ninety days after integrating an associate, we do not recommend that any “global” marketing take place, because the associate is in the probation phase. In certain instances he/she may not be the right candidate so making a broad announcement would be ill-advised. Each patient who will be assigned to the associate during this probation period can be told verbally, or sent a letter of introduction that contains a bio, but once the associate has passed the probationary period, marketing efforts should commence. These activities include the following:

• Printing new business cards.
• Changing the signage. Sometimes this is not feasible if there is a combined professional sign that may be cost-prohibitive to modify. If there is smaller signage at the practice’s entrance or on the door, at the very least those should be changed.
• If you have a brochure, have it modified to include the associate’s bio and photo (if applicable).
• Edit and update Web pages.
• If you publish a newsletter, dedicate a section to introducing your associate. Review his/her educational background, but also highlight his/her personal life as well, with descriptions of hobbies, family size, involvement in coaching or sports, etc. Make the associate part of your dental family.
• If you use external marketing strategies, place an ad in the local newspaper announcing your new associate.

2. Weekly Meetings. We are strong believers in constant communication. Many associate relationships have failed due to lack of communication between the host and the new doctor. We recommend scheduling a weekly meeting to discuss clinical and scheduling issues. For example, if your experienced dental assistant notices an area in patient management that needs to be addressed, a timely resolution through a weekly meeting can take care of the matter. If you utilize a treatment coordinator, that person can oversee those cases for which feedback from the host doctor is warranted on a patient that is scheduled with the associate.

3. Monthly Meetings. A monthly meeting should be scheduled for the purpose of reviewing the associate’s production and collection reports, especially if the associate is paid on a commission. This is an excellent way to ensure your associate is staying on track, so that the draw he/she is receiving is being met by Production/Collection goals. In the long run, if your associate becomes your partner, you will have established a positive habit of regular communication. We have seen unhappy partners, and a lack of communication can contribute to unsuccessful partnerships.

4. Staff Meetings. Involve your associate in staff meetings as much as possible, perhaps delegating to him/her responsibility for certain marketing and/or personal matters.

5. Mentoring and Over-the-Shoulder Training. Based on your clinical services mix, it’s appropriate for young doctors to participate in “over-the-shoulder” observation. Having the associate assist you chairside in specific cases is a great learning tool to enhance clinical skills. Also make sure you review comprehensive treatment plans to oversee case acceptance. If the associate is faltering in his/her presentation approach, try some role playing.

If you take the steps listed above, as well as follow the ideas we presented last month, chances are you will have a very successful associate relationship and one that will enhance your practice transition plans.

Dr. Thomas L. Snyder is Managing Partner of The Snyder Group, LLC, a nationwide practice transition and financial management consulting firm. With more than 75 years of experience in the field, The Snyder Group can provide you a full range of services relating to practice transition matters and retirement planning. They can be reached directly at 1.800.988.5674.

If you would like additional help, email Dr. Snyder at drsnyder@thedentistsnetwork.net.

Interested in having Dr. Snyder speak to your dental society or study club? Click here.

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