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    • Don T Buy All New Dental Products
    1. Practice Management
    2. Financial

    Tempted to buy that shiny object for your dental practice? Read these words of advice first

    June 13, 2014
    Read about this dentist's experiences before you automatically buy the next shiny object

    Maybe it’s because I’m moving after 32 years in the same house. Or maybe it’s because my dental supply bills keep slipping up like the temperature. But I would like to take a minute and share something very valuable that will save you a ton of money, and will keep you from stacking away bright shiny dental objects in your closets until you can’t slip a package of gauze between them.

    I’m speaking not as a saint who has never violated what I’m about to share, but as someone who’s paid the price every time I have. So this is how it goes.

    Don T Buy All New Dental Products
    I’m reading an article, or looking in a supply catalog, or attending a CE, and wow! There it is – the bright shiny new thing that will make my practice better. I immediately place the order with great anticipation. By the time it arrives, I’m no longer certain why I thought it was such a great idea.

    I try to make it functional in the practice, but I realize that to make it functional, my staff needs to be trainedon how the new gizmo works. They find 15 reasons why it was not a good idea to buy, and tell me how it will move us backward instead of forward. I quietly place the bright shiny object in storage, where it will tarnish next to the last new shiny object.

    Now don’t get me wrong. I’m all about staying on the cutting edge. However, I want to share the system I’ve developed that will keep you from bleeding to death from the cuts.
    • See a bright shiny object
    • Don’t by it immediately
    • Think about how it would be used
    • Will it improve your practice with regard to the quality of care or finances? What will be the implementation price? Don’t be fooled. There is always a price to make a change that exceeds the price of the shiny object.
    • Take a survey of what your team thinks of it and how they envision themselves using it.
    • Take a survey of your peers and partners regarding their use of the shiny object.
    • If it passes with flying colors, you will have an 80% reduction in junk accumulation and more money in your pocket.
    • This process works. I promise.

    Experience is that life event that has happened to you that you wished would have happened to someone else. Please let my experience pay your price.

    ALSO BY DR. KELLY BROWN:3 survival keys for the new dental economy

    Kelly Brown 2

    Kelly Brown, DDS, is the founder and chairman of Custom Dental, the fastest growing, joint venture, owner-operated dental business in the world.