Dr Phillip Palmer, July 2015 -  

A false economy is an action that initially saves money, but which over a longer period of time results in more money being spent, or wasted, than being saved.

This is a balancing act that every dental practice will find itself having to navigate.

In any business, you need to watch your expenses carefully in order to maximise profit. However, it is important to keep in mind that as the adage goes, “you have to spend money to make money”.
It’s not always easy to identify when short-term savings will lead to a false economy, in which it ends up costing you more income and stress in the long-run.

Below are four ways that dentists can fall victim to false economies:

1. Saving money on clinical courses
Some dentists seem to feel that if they had good grades at university, then they are – and will always be - a good dentist, and that Clinical Continuing Education is only for less capable dentists.

When they do attend a course (because of dental board registration requirements), they sit at the back, pay as little attention as possible, answer emails and are the first ones out the door as soon as they’ve received their certificates of attendance.

Being a good dentist means providing the best possible oral health solutions for your patients, and this means keeping up-to-date with any clinical advancements in treatment, equipment and materials. To do this, you must commit to spending time and effort on clinical courses.

2. Saving money on team training and service skills training
I have heard many reasons why dentists don’t spend money on service training for their teams. Usually, it is because they feel that it is out of place in a dental surgery, that somehow investing in communication skills and experiential excellence takes away from their focus and commitment as health professionals.
The truth of it is that the general public has no idea how good a clinical dentist you are. Often, what keeps them loyal and coming back is your team’s service and rapport-building skills. Your ability to have treatment accepted will also have more to do with their overall experience than your clinical ability.
There will be no greater return on training investments in your practice than communication and service skills for you and the team.

3. Saving money on management training
Your success as a business, and the level of stress that you have while working, will have a lot to do with management skills and your ability to manage your business.

Management skills training can help your practice with: 
• Effective procedures and systems being in place throughout your practice 
• Team members knowing their job descriptions and being more responsible and accountable for their roles 
• Team retention; better management skills result in lower staff turnover 
• Patients’ journeys through the practice experience, from initial phone calls to follow-ups and re-appointments, being more predictable and controlled (and more positive) 
• Better communication with your staff and patients 
• Better impulse control when the unpredictable happens 

While investment in service/communications training will bring the greatest financial return on investment, management training will bring the greatest return in the reduction of stress levels throughout your practice.

4. Saving money on equipment and fit-out
Some dentists take great pride in the fact that all (or almost all) of their equipment has depreciated, and they have nothing on lease in the practice. While this lack of reinvestment will have been a profitable short-term decision, it usually means that your practice is not looking modern or feeling comfortable, and is often an indication that the morale is as tired as the décor. Regular reinvestment increases interest in the practice for you, your team and your patients. It tells  no longer rely on their old patients to keep them busy. If you’re not marketing to new, prospective patients, you can bet your competition is.

Conclusion
Just because something isn’t broke, it could still need fixing. If you have been running your practice the same way for decades, without investing in new equipment, staff, skills and management training, marketing and outsourcing, then you are ignoring your business’s untapped potential. By spending money on your practice, you can increase your patient-base and your business’s profitability and success, while decreasing your stress levels and the pressures that come with running your own business.