Dr. Bill Blatchford is excited to announce the completion of his latest book, Playing Your “A” Game. It was inspired by the parallels of creating a winning sports team and the challenges of “winning” in the dental business. The Blatchfords share individual Doctor’s successes and challenges with the purpose of learning from others. Hearts and souls are bared and the truths are told.

Learn:

• The successes and pitfalls of starting a practice
• The challenges of finding the right location and naysayers discouraging you from starting "in their town."
• Challenges of assembling the winning team
• How to keep the team motivated and moving forward
• How to be a leader and communicate greatness
• What keeps you in the game and keeps you going
• Creating an effective strategy for the final season or continuing on
• How to become known and branded in today's market
• Internal and external marketing plans
• Communicating for team effectiveness
• Learning, practicing and mastering sales skills
• Implementing strong systems to always win

Practical information is shared. From Dr. Barry Turner, "He and his staff discuss all large cases in their weekly staff meeting. What made this guest feel trustworthy and what did we do well to completion? On others, what did we do to "drop the ball" and now set a different course?"

"Since the Ziegele team is composed of four, including the Doctor, everyone is completely cross-trained. All can excellently answer the phone, change appointments, make financial arrangements, consult and do initial conversations, clean or setup a room and run instruments. We will NEVER interrupt a member who is with a guest." Dr. April Ziegele

"With Bill's help, I was able to do this by changing the mix of treatment offered. Now I work on fewer patients, doing more work. We quadrupled our production with more comprehensive treatment planning. Bill taught me what patients want is look good, feel good and last a long time. He said, 'it is not an accident people are coming in. They want something.'" Dr. Jim Elias

From Dr. Brian Saby, "Lessons Brian has learned about staffing is the leader must know what you are looking for in a staff member. Look for your dream employee. Brian wisely has learned, "People do not change much. I have learned I do not have the time or inclination to be a personal growth center. If you find you selected the wrong person, don't waste time or effort in trying to train a duck to be a swan. Sell the duck and buy a new swan."

Another lesson from Brian is to be a successful leader, you need to make decisions. Some decisions may not be popular with your staff. "Get over it," Brian advises. The leader must be interested in results and respect. Make decisions consistent with your vision. "Wishy-washy doesn't gain respect."

From Dr. Chris Mueller, "Other pitfalls on the path to excellence for Chris include:

• Holding on to staff too long once it was apparent they weren't sharing your vision. I kept hoping they would suddenly change, thinking, 'we can make this work.' If you have to MAKE it work, then you are spending energy instead of becoming profitable. I can't emphasize this one enough-by lacking the courage to make uncomfortable choices, I limited the heights to which we could rise. Once these choices were made, it was like cutting a hot air balloon free from its moorings. The interesting thing is that I knew in my gut that everyone of these people was not going to work out but my mind kept hoping they would change. People may change but not very much. In the same vein, avoiding difficult situations for long periods of time by occupying myself with less important tasks. Technically, this is probably called 'risk avoidance.' It's much easier to tinker with a faulty handpiece than to have a frank discussion with your receptionist about how you're not happy with her performance. Essentially I had subconscious procrastination in the tough areas which just prolonged the problem."
• "Dr. Okamura coaches to meet goals as she is basically supporting the family with Tim in commercial real estate investments. This is a numbers game. They want to gross $1M, netting half. They want to do a full mouth case once a quarter. This means attracting and diagnosing about four a quarter to meet that goal. Her external marketing, website and networking bring in the larger cases. Internal marketing, service, conversations and comfort keep existing guests referring their friends and family to Dr. Okamura. Her current crown fee is $1574 and veneer fee ranges from $1870 to $2200."

Teams assessed their offices... "The team thinks Dr. Ziegele's coaching is "very clear what she wants, and then she trusts us to do it. It doesn't have to be her words or Blatchford words but gives us the freedom to make it work for us. I feel comfortable being able to do what I know she wants me to do. I do not have someone looking over my shoulder and criticizing me," said Helen. Anne importantly said, "she does not micro-manage us."

We wanted this to be a very motivating read for Doctors and teams. Grab the ideas and run with it. Click here to order Blatchford's Playing Your 'A' Game-Inspirational Coaching to Profitability or call 888-977-4600.