Dentistry Uncensored with Howard Farran

Your treatment plans must last at least five years. Patches will come back to bite you, especially on the elderly who usually outlive everyone's expectations.

Dentists could learn a lot from Sol Price (1916-2009), the founder of Price Club in 1963, which became Costco, which pioneered the membership, absolute pricing authority, warehouse store retail model. The membership model is currently one of the hottest trends in retail. A store that tries to be all things to all people will end up being nothing to anyone. A retailer reflecting honesty, credibilit...

In baseball and HR, three strikes and you're out. So, if you fire someone and they're surprised, you need to reexamine your ability to manage and lead your team. Sometimes no matter how many times you tell someone they're not performing and meeting expectations, they just don't get it. However, more times than not, managers and leaders want to avoid confrontation and they don't ever address the is...

Getting to Yes by Tracking No means you better know your overhead and break even point for the day. The average net income for: Dental Specialists ($320,990) General Practitioners ($197,190) Dentists who owned their own practices ($244,980) Dentists who were employed at a practice ($147,950) Oral and maxillofacial surgeons $448,140 Periodontists: $330,690 Endodontists: $307,460 Pediatric Dentists:...

Does your dental team celebrate as much as your family? Do they spend more time discussing problems than celebrating victories? The whole team is greater than the sum of each team member. There's no such thing as a self-made dentist. You're only gonna reach your goals with the help of others - and that means having fun.

Is a bird in your hand really worth two in the bush? Is it really better to hold onto something you already have than risk it all for a double? Did capitalism die? Why didn't you keep your fast-food job instead of spending years and student loans for something better? Saving money for retirement is about laying out a bird now to get two or more out of the bush. Do you really want to be an associat...

Transparency vs Opaque. I was wondering why successful dental leaders are transparent and not opaque until it became clear to me that if your not it's clearly offensive. Does your dental office team know the daily breakeven point? Do they know the office overhead? Do they get to see the accounting reports for the balance sheet, statement of cashflow, and statement of income? Management transparenc...

Dentistry could learn a lot from Sanford I. Weill, the former CEO of Citigroup who tried to join the Air Force until his application was denied by a dentist after examining his teeth. His major break on Wall Street came with a mundane job doing g the paperwork behind the brokers trades. Sandys success with Citigroup came from mastering the back office mundane details of Wall Street trading, bankin...

Let's get back to the pre-pandemic mindset. If you're double vaccinated you know this pandemic is over. Let's get back to fight mode in building a championship dental office. What do champion dentists do more of that their colleagues don't?

Dentists could hit a Hank Aaron sized grand slam if they could just learn and implement any of the major business lessons that Denny's have used in over 1,702 locations since Harold Butler and Richard Jezak founded the first Denny's in 1953 in Lakewood, California. Denny's are 24/7/365 explaining why in 1988 more than 700 of their 1,221 stores didn't even have locks. During an economic contraction...

Chris Pistorius talks with Dr. Howard Farran, the founder of the incredibly popular online dental community, Dentaltown . Chris & Howard have an open and honest conversation about all things dental.

First you need to stop doing it backwards. If you get the wrong person you spend all your time managing that person, you get poor results, and then you look like a bad manager. Get the right person who is already internally motivated, loves to work, loves their new job, who gets along with people, now you barely have to manage them and they're making you look like a pro, because that's how the pro...

What is the best use of my dental office profit dollars? Only 60 of the Fortune 500 companies in 1955 were still listed in 2017. Over 50% of the S&P 500 has disappeared since 2000. Economist Joseph Schumpeter called this creative destruction in 1942. Mufasa called it the circle of life in the 1994 Disney children's movie Lion King remake of Shakespeare's Hamlet in 1603. This is why how you allocat...

Dentists could learn a lot from Pizza Hut. Founded in 1958 by two brothers Frank and Dan Carney who borrowed $600 from their mom. They named it Pizza Hut because their sign only had room for eight letters, whereas dentistry has nine. I want to personal thank Dan Carney with a shout out for making a religion out of availability to the young entrepreneurs, always making himself available to young dr...

Dentists could learn a lot from Sonic Drive-In delivering service with the speed of sound. Founded in 1959 in Stillwater, Oklahoma by Troy Smith based on a new technology speaker box allowing you to stay in your car to order with your food deleted by a carhop. Today Sonic has over 3,494 locations in 46 U.S. states, and is owned by Inspire Brands which also owns Arby's, Buffalo Wild Wings, Jimmy Jo...

Does your bookkeeper sit next to you providing statistical analysis like NBA Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban pioneered back in the day with coach Rick Carlisle sitting next to Roland Beech–like I've done with Lorie Xelowski since June 28, 1998?

How to buy a dental office with no money down. Back in the day, owners carried risk, but sellers had skin in the game. We didn't have 3rd-party banks financing $1M+ dental practices to broke kids fresh out of dental school, getting their poor parents to co-sign, where if their kid couldn't do the numbers and it went south, then it was an emotional disaster for the whole family. Greed sucks. Find a...

Doc, I practiced through the 2008 bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers. I met the financial crisis that led to the Great Recession when investors withdrew a record $196 billion from their money market accounts. 2020, you're no 2008. I've been contacting my friends at Henry Schein and Benco. In 2020 Benco closed fewer accounts due to collections/payment issues than in either 2018 or 2019, in fact in 2020,...

Millions are unemployed but dentists struggle to find new employees 

Who's answering your phone? Funnel-y how most dentists don't track their new patient journey from landing on your website to calling your dental office. On average 100 people have to land on your website for three to call. Three people have to call for your front desk to convert one into a scheduled patient. Three patients have to come in with a cavity for you to convert one into getting treatment...

When you increase your treatment plan acceptance rate you prevent a small problem cavity today, from turning into a bigger problem root canal or extraction in the future. When you offer same day dentistry patients are very motivated to do it today so they don't have to come back. If the patient fails to schedule and come back your treatment plan acceptance rate goes down and the disease continues...

Welcome to Our Practice! We realize that when it comes to picking a dentist that you have many choices to choose from. We want to sincerely thank you for coming in today and choosing us to keep you smiling for many years to come. Please feel free to share the enclosed referral cards with your family and friends to bring in on their first visit. Share the care $10.00 gift card. Tell your friends an...

Kudos and praise to all the Dental Public Health (PDH) specialists who were recognized as a speciality in 1950, focusing on improving dental health at the community level rather than the individual level with programs like Community Water Fluoridation, children's dental health programs in schools, setting up coronavirus and HPV vaccination programs, and public health clinics, the PDH work is never...

When hygienist pre-appoint their own patients to future continuing care they will instantly find out which patients are onboard who isn't . If the patient bought in to do the right oral healthcare thing and schedule their next appointment in advance, you can monitor this vital sign of patient buy in or give a warning sign your back door is open and the patients are going down stream so you can dec...