5 Communication Skills to Improve Employee Retention

As a practice owner, you know the key to an excellent patient experience is first establishing excellent communication with your team: making your intentions and expectations clear in person, in a group, and in writing. It is one of the best ways to retain your best team members, and it naturally flows into how patients are treated. 

Is it simple? Not always. Communication in the workplace is always a delicate matter. It needs to be deliberate and appropriate to the medium and the situation. As a dental educator and a business owner, I have learned that the intended message doesn’t always come through, so mastering all communication styles and mediums is to any leader’s advantage. Here are five tips for clear and effective communication.   

Communicate to be understood. Always strive to make your intention clear through your choice of words, volume, tone, and cadence.     

Master clear text communication. Email is the most used business communication medium: it’s quick and unobtrusive. It can also be misunderstood. When you’re juggling three other tasks and a team member fires off a question, it’s easy to resort to a terse reply that answers the question but might feel harsh or dismissive to the employee. If the issue can’t wait, take an extra moment and answer with care. 

Avoid one-word answers; add a promise to deliver a more detailed explanation later, and close with a thank you. Adding a few extra words can make a world of difference in the employee’s day. Finally, do not use all caps, exclamation marks, and emojis. They can be easily misconstrued and are just not businesslike.

Schedule regular face-to-face time. Huddles and team meetings are an essential part of team life, but they are no substitute for one-on-one interaction. Schedule check-ins with each team member regularly. That is your chance to listen with intention to concerns and to answer questions more thoughtfully. Face time is the best way to check for understanding and gain valuable feedback. It’s also important to listen more than you speak. Nonverbal cues are as important as what is said, and sometimes more.

Master your emotions. The leader in you knows how important it is to keep negative emotions in check, even as the human being in you is eager to let off steam. Always be mindful of how your message will be received. If you’re angry or frustrated, reschedule that team meeting or wait before hitting “send” on that email. Take deep breaths, take a short walk, or tackle another task until you feel in control. 

Never stop learning. Most of us think we are better communicators than we are in practice. Of course, for some people, effective speaking and writing do come naturally, but the other 99 percent of us have room to improve. 

With dedication and practice, you can be the communicator — and leader — your employees want to work with for the long term. 
For inspiration, watch effective speakers around you and on YouTube. Look for business writing resources on the Internet, and join our free private Facebook group, Dentistry’s Growing with Grace, to enrich your overall marketing and communication skills. For assistance with marketing your dental practice or to engage me as a motivational speaker, email grace@identitydental.com or fill out our contact form.

Why EQ is More Important than Ever in a Leader

You have probably heard about EQ, also known as emotional quotient or emotional intelligence, but might wonder how it stacks up to IQ (intelligence quotient) in business and, more importantly, how important it is to effective leadership. 

EQ is More Than a Buzzword

Emotional intelligence encompasses our awareness of our emotions, how well we control them, and how we express them. It is also our capacity to exercise empathy and good judgment in our interpersonal relationships. It impacts everything we do and everything we communicate to others.

We all know people like this. They are the ones who are always calm in chaos, who make people feel valued, who genuinely listen, who deescalate conflict with ease, and who deliver leadership with a calm assuredness.   

While it can’t be as easily quantified as IQ, emotional intelligence is clearly recognized as an asset in conducting business. This is how important EQ is: The World Economic Forum ranked it as one of the top ten most critical skill workers need for success. That is true regardless of IQ, profession, gender, or culture.

 Research by EQ experts published in Inc.com shows:

  • Emotional intelligence is responsible for 58 percent of work performance
  • Ninety percent of top performers are also high in EQ
  • People with higher EQ make an average of $29,000 more each year than those with low EQ
  • Those with average IQs outperform those with the highest IQs 70 percent of the time

The Good News About EQ

Our IQ is predetermined; it stays pretty much the same throughout our lives. EQ can be developed. While some people have innate “people skills,” almost everyone can boost their EQ through self-reflection and practice. It is a matter of training your brain to adopt new habits. Here are five ways to start:

1. Observe how you react to other people and keep a journal.

2. Look at how you react to stress or chaos.

3. Before you act, examine how your actions will affect others.

4. Take responsibility for your own actions; resist the blame game.

In today’s competitive culture, cultivating emotional intelligence in the workplace is critical. For a dental office, that means handling frightened or difficult patients with equanimity. It means valuing each team member’s contributions. It means being kind to yourself and others.

Good Resources for Developing EQ

It is not difficult to develop your emotional smarts if you stay dedicated to it. The most widely read authorities of the subject include Travis Bradberry, Daniel Goleman, Jeanne Segal, and Justin Bariso. If you are a fan of daily affirmations, look for emotional intelligence aphorisms to put into your rotation. Consider professional EQ training as part of employee education and onboarding, and work to develop it within yourself. You and your team members will be better for it, and so will your bottom line.For help with marketing the qualities that set you apart, or to engage me as a motivational speaker, email grace@identitydental.com or fill out our contact form. For the latest dental marketing tips and inspiration, join our Facebook group, Dentistry’s Growing with Grace.

Grace Rizza Dental Speaker | Why You Shouldn’t Ask For Loyalty From Your Employees

Recently I made a post asking the dentists who make up the Facebook group “Dental Marketing with Grace” if they could list only one main core value. The post generated excellent engagement and many members listed values that I easily agreed with and understood. 

When someone mentioned “loyalty”, my thoughts quickly oscillated between “that’s a good one! It’d be amazing to know my team is loyal to the business!” To “wait, no. That really shouldn’t be the core value of any organization.” 

Let me dive into this concept in a way that will hopefully challenge thinking. 

According to Webster Merriam Dictionary, loyalty is defined as: ‘unswerving in allegiance’.

This is where I’m challenged. See, loyalty is a big word. It’s what you promise when getting married. There’s an infinite timeline on loyalty. Can a person truly give full loyalty to a business? Perhaps. Should they? No. One’s loyalty to a business shouldn’t come before their loyalty to their own personal needs and the needs of their family. 

Should a person stay with a company or employer even if the position no longer serves their family’s needs? Absolutely not. Employees can serve a business with the intention to be a long term part of the team, but should a person commit to a lifetime of loyalty to a business? Yes, but with the contingency that it continues to serve their needs. 

I’m not implying that when the going gets tough, people should leave without first attempting to overcome a challenging situation. I’m also not implying that people should job hop or be in a state of constantly seeking the next best thing. That won’t serve them well in the long term of their career. A career should serve you, as much as you serve it. Work should be fulfilling and should be something to look forward to. It should allow you to grow professionally and personally. It should allow you to be surrounded by caring and honest people. It should contribute to your life. If it stops serving you, take the next steps to a better future. 

You have one life. 

Instead of calling this core value ‘loyalty’, it should be referenced as ‘dedication’. You can be dedicated to your team without committing to loyalty, which is unwavering. If you see a practice or methodology that doesn’t seem ethical, you should question it. You should challenge the leadership in your life. You should openly and directly challenge things that don’t feel right. This is where growth occurs. 

I challenge you to create an environment that produces dedication. Support each employee individually while recruiting for ethics such as integrity, a strong work ethic, and a dedication to excellent communication. The result will be a dedicated team. 

In this life, it’s more important that we live with love and compassion, than it is that we demand loyalty. Instead, serve your team and loyalty will follow.

Dental Marketing Speaker | How Are You Celebrating Your Wins?

Whether you’re running a single dental office or the entirety of a global enterprise like Amazon, there’s a focus on how we can improve and grow our businesses. This is one of the best parts about owning a company and I would never suggest you do otherwise. At my speaking events, in my business, and even in conversations with friends, I talk openly about the importance of embracing the need to improve. Considering how we can be better is a great way to induce change and create a stronger business.

However, the “too-much-of-a-good-thing” rule applies here. When we focus solely on “fixing” our business, there is no time left for celebrating our wins.

It can be challenging to focus on the good when you’re overwhelmed by your business, worried about your patients or your schedule. But taking the time to stop and celebrate is critical.

When your team only hears from you when things are stressful or wrong, they never see the other side. Ignoring the wins can be not only demoralizing for your team, but can also sabotage your long term success. If you’re not consistently celebrating the good, you may be creating an atmosphere that people neither want to work for or with.

Today, make the conscious effort to celebrate a win. Ask yourself, “what is worth celebrating in my business and how are we going to do so?”

  • Did you recently have a larger number of five-star reviews than usual?
  • Have you received a large number of patient referrals?
  • Did you go for a week with no missed or canceled appointments?
  • Did a particular department meet a set of goals you had created?
  • Have you met or beaten certain benchmarks of the industry?

Know that these celebrations aren’t just “nice”. If you want to improve your team, your practice, and yourself it is absolutely necessary.

With this knowledge, I challenge you to celebrate at least one win in your practice today. Think about what your team has been doing well and celebrate. For this first time, the how and the why aren’t nearly as important as simply making the effort. See how your team reacts and let us know if it helps create a happier and more productive work atmosphere.

In the meantime, if you want to more useful business management tips, or want to get started on a marketing plan for your practice, contact me to learn how you can book me for your next speaking event. https://gracerizza.com/contact/

Video Link:

https://www.facebook.com/gracerizza/videos/10102670433451954/

Grace Rizza of Identity Dental Marketing | 3 Reasons Why You Hate Marketing That Are Really The Reasons You Should Love It

Grace Rizza of Identity Dental Marketing

It has been a long held belief in the dental profession that there is no place for marketing in dentistry. Unfortunately, the marketing industry is not doing itself any favors when it comes to dispelling this myth in my opinion.

For some doctors, it is the concern that marketing may be simply too much of an added stressor or time drain. You are already responsible for excelling as a dentist and leader of your practice. The thought of adding marketing manager to that list of roles can be daunting for many. For others, they finally make the leap into the marketing waters only to be met with the icy embrace of an unethical and unfair marketing company.

For those that are suffering from the latter, I can understand why you may never want to try marketing again. But I can also assure you that one bad experience is not a reflection of the entirety of what marketing can offer. In fact, these bad experiences are often blessings in disguise.

Reason 1 Why You Don’t Like Marketing, But Really Should:

In my 10 years of experience, I have found that many have a negative view of marketing because they don’t fully commit. Doctors in high competition areas will invest $200 one time and if it doesn’t bring in a patient immediately, they’ll write off marketing as just another hoax. Imagine if your patients only brushed their teeth for 30 seconds one time and expected to maintain a healthy smile forever after. That low risk tolerance holds many people back and prevents them from seeing the full rewards that are possible with a little faith and patience.

However, this shouldn’t discourage you. You should love marketing because it almost always gives you what you put into it. When the same doctor who invested $200 once begins to invest more (both in terms of time and money), they’re going to begin to see results. A good company can help you use your resources more effectively, but at the end of the day, you’ll still need to give to get.

Reason 2:

It is also a common expectation for new practice owners to expect results quickly, without giving their campaign time to gain traction. What I tell those dentists, and what I will now tell you, is that most marketing initiatives only START to gain traction at the six month mark. Anyone who tells you otherwise either doesn’t know what they’re talking about, or is purposefully lying to you. Give your marketing the time it needs and you’ll be rewarded.

When you do so, marketing becomes more than just clicks and Google searches. Your marketing also increases your word of mouth referrals because you’re top of mind. It accelerates growth by educating the community on your services and the importance of proper oral health care. When you put all that together, it means you’ve become a positive force in your community. You become an entity that people know of, that they trust, and that they first think of when the need for dentistry arises. That’s a pretty powerful reason to love good marketing.

Reason 3:

It is often the case that many marketing companies (especially in the dental space) don’t have the proper education, experience, or certifications to be running successful campaigns. Unfortunately, there’s also a gross lack of ethics in the marketing profession (from what I’ve seen in dental marketing since 2008). As a result, campaigns run, but the dentist doesn’t know their ad spend, doesn’t have ownership of their websites and as a result, they don’t see the results they are looking for.

However,  ignoring marketing is not the solution. Instead, learn enough to protect yourself, create a plan, track your patient referral sources, and do it the right way. If you’re looking for all of these needs wrapped into one dental specific marketing company, then you’re looking for Identity Dental Marketing. Not only do we deliver marketing that works, but we do it in an ethical way that you can feel confident about.

Whether you’re trying out marketing for the first time or you’re looking for a better way of doing things, we are here for you. Schedule a complimentary marketing planning session and allow us to learn about you and your practice. Together, we can work to achieve many of the goals you have for your success. https://identitydental.com/cmps/

(847) 629-4646

https://gracerizza.com/

Do You Suffer From Decision Fatigue?

It’s morning! In those few moments before your alarm clock goes off, before the sun rises just above the horizon and you are nestled under the covers, snoring away in blissful ignorance, the whole world holds its breath in anticipation for the start of the day. Truly a picture perfect scene of peace.

Unfortunately, it’s all about to come to an end. There’s something waiting for you, lurking all around, ready to spring when you open your eyes. What is it?Decisions.

From the moment your alarm clock goes off to the moment your head hits the pillow again at night, you are bombarded with the daily decisions that dictate your life.

Should you hit the snooze button or roll up and out of bed? If you’re like me, you’ll also have to decide whether you want to hit that snooze button a second time. Maybe even a third. When you finally decide it’s time to wake up, do you immediately check your phone or wait until later? Do you check your text messages? Your email? Facebook? Which requests need immediate responses? How should you respond? When should you finally put the phone down and get started on the rest of the day?

Already, you’ve made more decisions than you can probably count and you haven’t even gotten out of bed yet.

As the leader of your practice, the CEO, or whichever title you prefer, decision-making is quite literally a part of your job description. It’s likely that as your day continues, the number of decisions you’ll have to make is only going to increase exponentially. When those decisions pile up, your brain gets tired of making them: a phenomenon known as decision fatigue.

Decision fatigue hinders your ability to make decisions that are really important to you and your business, like, should you have another child? How do you tell an employee that they’re not a fit for your business? Should you open a second location? The bigger the decision, the more you’ll struggle with it, because you’ll know that the consequences are going to be far reaching and life changing. Grappling with those consequences only increases the difficulty of making the final decision, paralyzing us from making them at all.

So how do you overcome the issue of decision fatigue and remove the fear from decision making?

The truth is, you probably won’t be able to. At least not completely. Making a decision without knowing what will happen will likely always be a stressful endeavor. However, there are a few ways you can mitigate the effects.

First, don’t be afraid to delegate and regulate. If you’ve built a strong team, chances are you trust at least a few of your employees to make the day to day decisions for the business. Not everything will need to get cleared by you before it happens. This action can keep you focused on only the most important decisions, helping you make better judgement calls when the time comes.

If you already take those steps, but still struggle to make those big decisions, you’re not alone. When that mental block of anxiety or uncertainty happens, I like to return to what’s important – my reasons for starting my business.

For you, this may be your desire to improve people’s lives, or your commitment to patient care.

If your focus is something like creating the best possible patient experience, don’t just write it on your website, or above the door. Prove it. The core values that you created when you first thought of owning a practice should be the same values you use to make your decisions.

If your debating about whether to add another doctor or location to your practice, think about how it will affect your patients. Will the quality of care suffer or will you be able to provide great dentistry to even more people? Those answers are unique to your circumstances and will be able to tell you if it’s worth the risk.

Sometimes however, the biggest decisions require a little help from an expert. When it comes to your marketing or strategies for growth, that’s something that we can help you with. If you’re looking for extra help with those important decisions, schedule a complimentary marketing planning session at https://identitydental.com/cmps/ and talk to me about what concerns you have. We can work through them together, and find a solution that fits your needs.

Why Transparency Is So Important To Your Business

Recently, I had some unexpected time on my hands and thought I’d check out the corporate optometrist near me. I was curious what kind of shenanigans I’d get to witness. After seeing specials for $35 eye exam, I didn’t have much to lose. Of course the exam was next to nothing and the eyeglass section was abundant. Since they were 15 minutes late for my appointment (no biggie), I picked out my glasses before my exam.

The process was smooth, the doctor was very nice. All was well.

I picked out frames that were $190 and on sale 40% off. I went to pay it was just shy of $400. I paused, asked again the cost of the glasses and then again asked the cost of the exam. She said the glasses and exam were on sale. Now the basic exam was $50 (not the same as the sign outside) and the glasses were on sale from $190. I then asked to see an itemized breakdown. I’m no mathematician but $190 + $50 doesn’t equal $400. It equals something less than that. 😂

It was all digital and presented on an iPad. The descriptions of items were not things I recognized. I noticed the $300 coating on the lens and said “well we can definitely remove that”. The price didn’t change much. Everything else just adjusted its price to equal almost $400 again. Again, I’m not a mathematician but $400- $300 isn’t $400. I was then given a discount for having medical insurance (Weird! Especially since it didn’t include vision.)

Now my price was down to around $350. The math still wasn’t clear. I decided to take my now $59 exam and leave. I said, “this pricing just doesn’t make sense and I’ll have to take the prescription and move on.”

After I paid, in a last-ditch effort to sell me the glasses the woman said, “just so you know, the price of the frames is $190. The lens’ are not included in that price.” Now I know anti-glare coating and some other options cost money— but this was just crazy.

There was a lot of clever and somewhat sneaky things happening in that optometrist’s office that day and I know it’s very similar to how some dental offices operate. While I’m sure that some people may go along with the trick and get taken advantage of, I have to believe that most people would take the same course of action that I took. What could’ve been a higher sale and perhaps even a loyal customer, turned into much less because of their attempt to pull one over on me.

The same lesson goes for your dental practice. If you’re willing to lie and offer anything just to get patients in the door, you’ll lose something more valuable than business. You’ll lose your reputation and you’ll lose the trust of your patients.

Transparency, honesty, or even just being a decent human being are critical components of your business. Without them, there’s simply no way you’re going to experience continual growth and success. While it hopefully seems like common sense to most of you, I’ll reiterate for those who rely on false advertising – patients go to health professionals that they trust more readily and more frequently than they will ever go to someone who lies to them.

Later that same day, I took my prescription to a website called Zenni Optical and purchased SIX pairs of glasses for under $200. It wasn’t that I was unwilling to spend. It was that I was unwilling to spend with a company that wasn’t transparent. Your patients are going to be the same way.

If you want to work with a marketing company that places the same emphasis on integrity and transparency as you do, contact Identity Dental Marketing. We’ve been helping dentists create honest, ethical, and effective marketing for over 10 years and we can help you do the same. Schedule your complimentary marketing planning session with me online at https://identitydental.com/cmps/ and let’s have a conversation about you, your goals, and your transparency.

Dental Speaker | The Recipe For Successful Relationships: 1 Part Integrity, 1 Part Openness, 1 Part Trust

Have you ever met someone who is incapable of admitting when they made a mistake? Whether it is from fear of punishment, or a simple unwillingness to believe that they could be wrong, this inability to apologize is a serious hindrance on your business growth.

No one likes to mess up and admitting when you made a mistake can be difficult. However, doing so demonstrates an invaluable quality for any employee, or for that matter, any person to have: a strong commitment to integrity.

Integrity is the foundation of true growth and success. When someone possesses integrity, it allows you to depend upon them to get the job done, correctly and completely. That level of trust allows your business to do more and operate more efficiently.

Like any house, your relationships are built upon a foundation of integrity. When someone fails to honor a commitment, or doesn’t own up to their mistakes, it’s like taking a hammer and chipping away at the foundation you’ve established, bit by bit.

No, the house won’t fall immediately with a few chips in the foundation, but if these chips continue to occur over a long time, there will eventually, and inevitably, be a destructive failure.

Similes aside, the little promises we make to people throughout our day can add up. Whether this is in employee exchanges, a business partnership, or a marriage, all of your relationships are built upon your ability to trust that the little promises people make to you will be honored. If they are not, then you should also be able to trust that the person will be open and honest in their communication about their failures.

When looking at your own team, make a conscious effort to gauge the level of trust you have in each person. Who are the people you trust to see things through? Who are the people who could use some time to develop into a more dependable person?

Determining these answers is a big step to ensuring your team is a powerful and cohesive unit. When you count on your employees, you can delegate more responsibilities, freeing up your time to work on big picture business growth ideas. If any member of your team seems to be incapable of moving up on that meter, it may be a sign that they are not a fit. 

As a business owner herself, Grace brings her knowledge in management and team creation to speaking engagements across the country. Helping dentists build more successful practices is one of her greatest passions, and she is ready to help you find success of your own. Learn about her presentations for both single practice and multi-practice organizations at https://gracerizza.com/.

Grace Rizza Dental Speaker | Small Steps That Build Your Brand in Big Ways

When it comes to building a successful personal speaking brand, it may seem tempting to focus on the big picture. Booking the biggest gigs, meeting the most important connections, and speaking about the most interesting topics may be a few of those big picture items for you.

Doing these things are definitely worthwhile, and they’re part of the reason why being a professional speaker is so exciting, but they are not the only way to generate success. In fact, if you try to take on these larger projects before you’re ready to do so, it could be detrimental to your career. The old adage “you can’t run before you can walk” still holds true for most things in life, and your professional speaking career is one of them.

Here, we’ll outline a few of the small steps you can take to build your brand and explain why they’re critical to getting you to greater success.

Include video content to your offerings

Pay attention, because this is important: video content is one of the most powerful pieces of marketing content.

Allowing people to see you in action is how you get hired. Video content is a great way to build your brand while giving audiences and event planners a preview of the skills you deliver. What form that content takes is up to you and your brand.

You can provide instructional vlogs, you can respond to common questions in an interview format, or if you’ve already had a speaking engagement, you can expand upon clips from the event. While it may seem like the more free content you have, the less likely people will be to pay to see you in person, the opposite is actually true.

Chances are, you know an “influencer” who is already taking full advantage of this method to grow their brand. The first that comes to our mind are entrepreneurs, life coaches, and even fitness/makeup YouTubers. These individuals have been creating free video content that not only contributes to their brand exposure, but also makes people more inclined to purchase their products and travel across the world to see them.

Video marketing is a small thing, but it can yield big results when done right. All you need is yourself, a camera, and a strong message.

Why it’s okay to take smaller speaking roles

It would be a great thing if you could decide to become a speaker one day, and have an audience of a few thousand people the next. Unfortunately, it very rarely works out this way, and that’s okay. You shouldn’t be disappointed with these smaller roles, or turn them down in the hope that something better will come along.

Getting involved at smaller events you are familiar with can be a great way to practice your skills, test out new ideas or techniques, and network with more people.

Ask event coordinators about opportunities and try to be open-minded about the answers you receive. It may surprise you how beneficial something such as a panel discussion can be to your career and your speaking skills.

Focus on helping your audience

Speakers can get so caught up in their presentations and their careers that they often forget about why they became a speaker in the first place – to use their unique message to help more people.

When you focus on providing actual useful content for every person you talk to, you have a much better chance of succeeding than if you only thought about your own desires. People like to listen to useful things, not a sales pitch. When they trust that you deliver excellent content that improves their business and their lives, people will continue to come back for more.   

These little steps really do add up. Before you know it, you’ll have the background, experience, and influence to book the big events. If you have more questions, or want to get started on developing a marketing campaign for your speaker brand, we’re here to help support you. Feel free to set up a complimentary marketing planning session with our team at https://identitydental.com/cmps/.

Grace Rizza Dental Speaker | The SWOT Analysis is Broken, Long Live the GIST!

Dental Marketing Presenter

The SWOT analysis is broken. When working with companies, I have seen firsthand how the SWOT analysis creates redundancies in their business plans. Their lists of weaknesses and opportunities are often the same, creating confusion and unnecessary efforts. This is why I have tossed the SWOT analysis and created a fresh way to scale your business, making practice growth simple to understand and execute.

The GIST is a simple acronym that you can implement into your quarterly business meetings to evaluate your business. GIST stands for Growth strategies, Innovation implementation, System development, and Team cohesion that easily leads to accomplishing your desired growth.

When you look at these four areas of your business, it gives you a complete overview of your progress and what you are moving towards. Business plans often contain so much detail that the action items get lost. With the GIST, there is more action than detail which allows you to get your entire team on the same page. Only when a team collectively knows the goals of the business can they begin to work towards them and ultimately achieve them.

This is how you see dental practices go from good to great in the matter of months.

If you would like to learn more about the GIST analysis, visit https://gracerizza.com/GIST or sign up for one of my full or half-day GIST workshops. In these workshops, I will work with you individually to give you the tools and resources to create a GIST for your business.

For more information on Grace Rizza or her GIST Analysis workshops, contact her today.

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