Strategic Practice Solutions Guide on How to Avoid Holiday Burnout!

It’s that time of year when you’re wrapping up presents to give your customers, staff, friends, and family.  You’re probably also doing end of year inventory and beginning to prepare financial reports for tax season.  There are also a variety of holiday parties, fundraisers, and volunteer opportunities to attend! 

If you’re not getting enough rest, your immune system could get compromised and you could get sick.  It’s not just a coincidence that many people are sick during vacation or the holidays. As a culture, we typically “burn the candle at both ends” trying to do more than we should. 

There’s only so much you can do!  Try these tips to have a healthy, more relaxed holiday season!

Gift giving!

• Give the same gift to the bulk of your list.  Perhaps monogram the gift to personalize it for each person.
• Wrap presents as you buy them, or get them wrapped at the store.    
• Encourage your family to create on-line wish lists to make choosing gifts less stressful. You’ll have a better idea of what they want, including their size and color preferences.  
• Tag team with a friend or family member to help each other shop.   You could split up your lists and cover more ground at the mall.                          

 Chill Out!

• Keep at least one evening a week to relax at home.  This doesn’t mean, baking, cleaning, wrapping presents, or shopping online. You need time to unplug and rest.  
• Do your best to get a full night’s sleep.  Begin unwinding an hour before bedtime by dimming lights, drinking a warm, caffeine free beverage, and turning off the TV and internet. Listen to light music, read, or just enjoy talking to your loved ones. 

Eat, Drink, and Be Merry!

• Try to maintain a fairly healthy diet, which is challenging with so many traditional offerings       being laden with fat and sugar.  Eat a small meal prior to holiday gatherings to prevent from overindulging in seasonal treats.  
• Find ways to lighten up your favorite holiday recipes. Use light butter or olive oil in place of butter.  Try a lower calorie sweetener or a half sweetener/half sugar substitute mixture when baking.   
• Plan meals in advance. If you know you’ll be extra busy, you could try using a crock pot to cook meals while you’re at work.  You could also cook several meals in advance and reheat them on your busy nights.
• Drink alcohol and caffeine in moderation. If you are at a holiday party drink a glass of water in between each alcoholic beverage.  This will help you stay hydrated, which may help prevent a hangover.  
• Hold a cookie exchange! Bake several dozen of the same cookie, and exchange them with friends/family, who bake a different cookie.  This will cut down on your ingredients, save time, and still give you a variety of cookies to enjoy.

 Be Realistic!

• Remember that you’re human.  You’re allowed to make mistakes.  You’re also allowed to ask for help.  You can’t be everything for everybody.  
• Delegate tasks.  Ask a friend or partner to share responsibilities.  If you’re hosting a holiday party, ask guests to bring a dish to pass.   
• Whether your passion is continuing family holiday traditions, worshipping at church, or giving your time to a charity, focus on what is most important to you.  

We hope you put into practice at least one of the above tips to help avoid burnout and enjoy the holiday season.  Our goal at Strategic Practice Solutions is to help you unleash your team’s hidden potential so you can effectively manage your dental practice!  Contact us today to schedule a free practice assessment.  It’s time for your practice’s checkup! 

http://www.strategicpracticesolution.com/employer/assessments/comprehensive

http://www.strategicpracticesolution.com/contact

Tips to Recognize and Reward Your Staff to Boost Morale and Grow Your Dental Practice!

Are You Searching for Economical Ways to Recognize and Reward Your Staff?

The current economy has forced families, businesses and practices to do more with less!  To keep staff motivated and positive about work, owners and managers need to find creative, low-cost ways to recognize and reward their staff. 

At Strategic Practice Solutions we offer you guidance in every aspect of growing your dental practice.  We’ve put together a list of suggestions on how to boost your employee morale.  We hope you find it helpful! Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you need additional help. 

Virtually FREE Ways To Reward and Recognize!

·          Give them an extra break or a longer lunch.

·          Give them a handwritten “Thank you!” note.

·          Allow flexible work schedules. 

·          Offer a “free pass” or an extra day off to use as they wish. 

·          Feature them in a company newsletter.

·          Hold a “casual Friday” ... on a special day of the week!

·          Allow them to bring their pet to work for a day (if your workplace is suitable).

·          Post a “Thank you!” sign or “Good job!” sign near their office, the lobby or break room.

·          Offer to swap a specific task with them for a day or a week.  It may be good to show them that “the boss” isn’t afraid to get his or her hands dirty. 

Reward and Recognize with Minimal Cost!

·          Arrange to have their vehicle washed.

·          Host a luncheon which is your treat, or arrange for a pot-luck.

·          Take them to a one-on-one lunch. 

·          Hand out “monopoly” money that can be collected and used for real items such as coffee and fast food cards, nice pens, etc.

A Good Place to Start

It’s helpful to get to know your employees in order to know how best to reward and recognize their efforts.  Have a one-on-one meeting and pose the following questions:

            What name do you prefer to be called?

            What are some of your hobbies or interests?

            What type of praise do you prefer: public, private, written, verbal or…?

What reward motivates you the most?  Gift certificates, competition, a genuine Thank you note or email…?

            What is an example of the best recognition you’ve ever received?

Some Traps to Avoid

Make sure that every employee is eligible for recognition and understands what it takes to receive the recognition or reward.

Don’t schedule appreciation activities on a regular basis.  For example, buying lunch for your staff every Friday may cause them to feel entitled.  

Don’t wait until the end of the month.  The reward or recognition should be close to time of their reward-worthy performance to reinforce the behavior.

Try to say more than just “Thank you.” or “I appreciate you.”  Be specific about what you really liked so they will meet your expectations again.  It shouldn’t be a mystery why they were recognized. 

Avoid the Employee of the Month award.  Recognition should be deserved and should not become “Who’s turn is it next?” 

We hope you’ve found our list of Economical Ways to Recognize and Reward Your Staff helpful.  We encourage you to schedule a FREE Comprehensive Practice Assessment to discover where your practice is.  Together, we can design a plan to get your practice where you want it to be. 

Call today to schedule!  888-421-1808

http://www.strategicpracticesolution.com/

You can also sign up to receive Tips to:

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Helpful Tips For Your Referral Program

The Fine Art of Delegation

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How to Handle a Negative On-line Review of Your Dental Practice

Negative reviews … we’ve all read them!  It’s possible your practice has already received one. We certainly feel better when our reviews speak highly of our practice, employees, product, services and so on, yet we can learn a great deal from criticism, and that includes negative reviews. 

The statistics are staggering! 

74% will change their mind based on a negative on-line review [Harris Interactive]

89% of users trust the reviews they read on-line [Cone, Inc.]

92% of users read on-line reviews [Etailing Group]

Social media gives patients/customers an easy platform for posting reviews.  The ability to remain anonymous allows more freedom to write harsh reviews. 

We recommend reading the guidelines below so you can be prepared and have a plan for when you receive a negative review.

Monitor your reviews and respond as quickly as possible.  Some media platforms (such as Google+) allow you to respond publicly.  This will show the reviewer and other customers that you’re responding and taking an interest in what your customers are saying. 

When you discover a negative review, you’ll most likely be upset, perhaps angry.  But here are some tips that may help you handle them, if not well, at least better:

·          Don’t respond until after you’ve calmed down. 

·          Apologize if the situation deserves a legitimate apology.

·          Thank them for the review.

·          Offer your thoughts as to why you believe the review is incorrect (if applicable.)

·          Share what steps you’re taking to improve the situation.

·          If a refund, discount or additional service is offered to keep the reviewer as a customer, make sure it is consistent and that every customer/patient who complains is treated the same.

·          If the social media platform does not allow for a public response, it’s still important to respond directly to that customer.

·          Never threaten or write a harmful or disrespectful message toward a reviewer.

·          Keep your message as positive as possible.

It’s important to respond to every review, both positive and negative ones.  Customers are taking time to write about your service or product and you should definitely thank them. Engage the reviewer by asking additional questions – if applicable – and be sure to share details about the product/service they mentioned. 

Don’t post or have an employee post a fake review.  If a potential client were to find out, the damage to your reputation could be severe.

Use what you learn.  For example, if you get a handful of people suggesting that they’d use a new service, different product, or would like a change to be made, try to initiate the change. 

Beware of Trolls!  There are nasty people online known as “trolls” whose main thrill in life is to harm as many people and businesses as they can.  If you believe that you’ve got a “troll” leaving you negative reviews, politely and generically thank them for their review but try not to engage them.  They’ll hopefully get bored and move on to another target.  Don’t argue, ban or block them from the site because they’ll get their troll friends to bombard you with even more negative comments.   

Unfortunately, some competitors stoop to low tactics to post false reviews to trash their competitors.  There are programs that can mask their I.P. (internet protocol) address so they can post numerous reviews from a list of aliases from one computer.  If you believe this is happening, stand up for yourself and post about how their complaint has not occurred at your business.  Again, keep your message positive and do not post any harsh words towards the reviewer.  You may also want to work with an SEO company who can help design a campaign to counteract the bad reviews. 

Above every thing else, encourage your customers to leave positive reviews.  Give them a link to a place where they can leave a review.  Again, engage with your customers to send the clear message that you care about them and their feedback. 

We hope the suggestions we’ve shared will help you respond appropriately to less-than-positive reviews.   We’ll leave you with a great quote and hope you will leave us your comments as well: 

“Customer complaints are the schoolbooks from which we learn.”   - Anonymous

Schedule a practice assessment and we can discuss ways to gain positive patient reviews and grow your dental practice. 

Toll Free 888-421-1808

info@spsolutionteam.com

http://www.strategicpracticesolution.com

Simple Ways to Motivate Employees and Grow Your Dental Practice

In the past, most businesses would motivate their employees through raises, bonuses and other monetized perks.  The struggling economy has caused many employers to find other ways to incentivize performance.  You may be like others who are searching for ways to improve your staff’s satisfaction and performance without spending a lot.  Here are a few simple ways to motivate your team which will improve their performance and have a positive effect on growing your dental practice. 

Get to Know Your Employees

Employees, like customers, are diverse and aren’t cookie-cutter alike.  An important step for you would be to get to know them and how they are best motivated.  One way to do so would be to use an “Everything DiSC® Workplace Profile.”  DiSC® is an assessment tool that increases a person’s understanding of what motivates them, how they respond to conflict, and how they best interact within group.

 

Strategic Practice Solutions is an authorized DiSC® distributor and offers several workshops for you and your team. For more information, go HERE.

http://www.strategicpracticesolution.com/training/workshops/team_is_key

Listen Thoughtfully 

Take time to truly listen during staff meetings and one-on-one interactions.  We know you have a lot on your mind, but people can tell when you aren’t in tune with what they’re saying.  

How to Demonstrate Effective Listening

• Maintain good eye contact

• Eliminate distractions like your computer, phone, stack of papers

• Relax and engage your posture: sit or stand squarely to the person, try not to cross your arms, don’t doodle on paper, tap your fingers or otherwise fidget

• Show signs of attention like nodding or leaning toward the person speaking

• Repeat a summary of what the person said                         

• Don’t interrupt or make conclusions                 

Mentor, Educate and Lead by Example

Take an interest in their career path and mentor them.  Provide opportunities to learn and grow through training and education.  You have a breadth of experience so it is tempting to share stories as examples.  Yet, the focus needs to be on their journey.  Ask them open ended questions and guide them toward answers. 

In addition, it is important for you to also continuously improve by seeking education and training.  The world is ever changing and everyone needs to make an effort to keep up!  Your employees will view workshops, training and skill building more serious if they see you place a high value on continuous education. 

A Little Faith Goes a Long Way

Show faith and trust in their abilities; perhaps appoint them to head a committee or a special project.  Give them some autonomy to problem solve rather than a list of tasks to complete.  It’s important to share your expectations while allowing them room to take tasks to a new level.  They’ll rise to the challenge! 

Good Job!

Give Praise to those who have earned it. Try not to give generic praise to the entire staff when work performances are not the same.  When everyone wins a trophy, it tends to devalue the reward.  Be mindful how a person best receives praise.  If you are aware that an employee does not enjoy public attention it may work better to praise them on a quieter or individual level.  For example, place their name and accomplishment in the company newsletter versus calling attention to them at a staff meeting. 

Properly motivating your employees has great benefits.  Happy employees will perform better and help your practice run more efficiently. They will also be more likely to provide excellent customer service, which is likely to have a positive effect on your profits. 

If you’d like to learn more, contact us today. We can help you keep your team motivated and working more effectively!  Ultimately, this will grow your dental practice and get you on the way to a happier, less stressful life. 

Strategic Practice Solutions

Toll Free 888-421-1808 

info@spsolutionteam.com

http://www.strategicpracticesolution.com/contact