Keith Myers DDS – Interview with Ginger

Dr. Keith Myers shares his experience of being a part of Dr. Ginger Bratzel’s private Mastermind & Coaching program, where he describes the growth his practice has had in the first 6 months of the program, and how Dr. Bratzel’s program is different than any other consulting program he has participated in.

“We had about a 30% increase in revenue in the first six months of the program.  It was a good decision because you were offering what I needed.  I’ve had a management consultant before, all the things were place but it just wasn’t clicking, it wasn’t working.  So we needed to add the marketing, Facebook, promotions, mailings, things like that.  We had not done anything like that and for me that was a really difficult step to take but we’ve accomplished that with you.  With you helping to kind of prod and push me along, and that’s what I needed.”

Ginger:  I am here today with Dr. Keith Myers, one of my clients from the Gold Mastermind meeting.  He has a really interesting story to share with you today about his experience.  So I asked him, and he graciously agreed.  So thank you for being with me Keith.

Myers:  Sure!

Ginger:  So I’m glad you agreed to be here because I’m really proud of what you’re doing and I can’t wait to brag on you a little bit.  Tell me about your practice, what kind of practice you have, please share it…

Myers:  We are in Springfield Missouri and have a small practice.  It’s a bread and butter practice.  We work 3 days a week, I have one assistant/office manager and a hygienist.

Ginger:  Ok.  So you’ve been in the Gold program, at 6 months we ran your numbers at 6 months… what kind of difference did you make?  What kind of increase did you see being on the program?

Myers:  We had about a 30% increase in revenue since we started with the program.

Ginger:  So, what kind of things did we make?  Of course I made you bring in another doctor, you have a whole new team, right?  And you worked 20 extra hours a week?

Myers:  No, we didn’t change anything.  Our attitude changed.

Ginger:  Ok.

Myers:  Fortunately the office manager that I brought with me is on board with all of this and wanting to see some changes.  And it’s just us working together as a team, and with some specialized instruction on how to get things done more efficiently.  And more patients.

Ginger:  Ok.  You mentioned having your team, your office manager, is that really critical as if you did this by yourself?

Myers:  That’s critical that you have your most important team member with you.

Ginger:  Right.

Myers:  Because they’re going to be on your side of that, that’s the person you’re going to go to for reinforcement and to take that back, as well as me being the dentist taking it back to the other staff, she is also doing that as well.  It makes it very important for me.

Ginger:  Right.  I think that is key to your system, those too because you have that support.

Myers:  Absolutely.

Ginger:  So, what were your major frustrations?  Why was support major for you to make these changes?  How many years have you been in practice?

Myers:  I’ve been in practice for 32 to years.  And I was at the point where I needed to get out of dentistry or I needed to change the way I was doing dentistry.  It wasn’t the dentistry itself, it was the business aspect of it.  When I got out of school, you put your shingle out, and people came in.  You didn’t have, if you were a relatively good dentist, you had a great group of patients who were loyal to you.  Today is completely different, marketing and managing patients.

Ginger:  And a practice and a team…

Myers:  Right, and a practice and a team.

Ginger:  Dental school does not prepare you for that does it?

Myers:  No it does not.  I thought I did great dentistry but the business aspect is really where I am surely lacking, and marketing.  I have no clue about marketing.

Ginger:  So, going forward, what kind of things are you looking for in your career, to get to that next level?

Myers:  I’m looking for probably adding another assistant.  Working 4 days a week, at least 3 ½.  My ultimate goal is to really add someone to come into the office, as far as another practitioner, and building that, so that I can maybe sell that practice or I can maybe work 2 days a week, while someone else is working 4 days a week and maybe taking that income so I can retire, or semi-retire.

Ginger:  That’s a great plan.  You have the end in sight, building it now for when the time comes.  It’s not like you’re looking to leave tomorrow but you’ve got to have an idea.

Myers:  Right, because we’re looking 5, 7, 10 years out.  Actually, if I could do just the dentistry part of it, I would practice as long as I could.  I love what I do.  But, the other part of it, marketing, getting the word out there, that’s the frustrating part.

Ginger:  And that’s what we’ve been helping you with.

Myers:  And that’s why we came to you, was to get help with that.

Ginger:  Right, and you’re not someone I think, I know you’re not someone who takes situations lightly.  It was not an immediate, ‘Hey I’m going to do this!’  You didn’t jump in, you were really doing your due diligence, you asked me a lot of questions.  So, if someone is researching if this is a good thing for them, you went through that research process, what would you tell them?  Why was this a good choice for you?

Myers:  For me, this was a good decision because you were offering what I needed.  I’ve had a management consultant before, we had the systems in place, we had our morning huddles, we were doing the meetings, like I said, all the things were place but it just wasn’t clicking, it wasn’t working.  So we needed to add the marketing, Facebook, promotions, mailings, things like that.  We had not done anything like that and for me that was a really difficult step to take but we’ve accomplished that with you.  With you helping to kind of prod and push me along, and that’s what I needed.

Ginger:  Right.

Myers:  I needed somebody to push me.

Ginger:  Accountability

Myers:  Absolutely.

Ginger:  Because, you’ve been burned before?

Myers:  I have been

Ginger:  So if someone’s been burned before, it’s hard to get over that.  So if there is a lot of people out there that might have been burned, what would you recommend to them?  If someone is considering this, what do you think is working, making it worth looking into for their practice.

Myers:  Yes, it’s definitely worth looking into and if they are in the same spot that I am, or that I was in, yeah it can make all the difference in the world for them.

Ginger:  Well I’m very proud of you, I’m glad I get to spotlight your story.  You know, those numbers were phenomenal.  We didn’t have to make a lot of changes to make that happen.

Myers:  No

Ginger:  And you still have so much potential, we just keep adding steps and steps so I can’t wait to see what can be done.

Myers:  The thing I want other people to understand too is that it is a one step at a time procedure.  I think when I was coming into this, you get so overwhelmed with all the things you need to do, that you don’t know what to do.  And you kind of brought that back home to me when we first started talking, you said, ‘Woah, take a breath and you need to stop, we can only do one thing at a time here and we’ll build on that.’

Ginger:  Right

Myers:  And that’s what it is, it’s a process of building.

Ginger:  Right, you’ve done fantastic and so I’m excited, and congratulations for you and your team.  Your office manager Jennifer is fantastic!

Myers:  She is!

Ginger:  So kudos to Jennifer.  And thanks!

 


Keith Myers, DDS
Springfield, MO