Dr Phillip Palmer, April 2014
Client: Dr Shereen Lim
Practice: Sparkle Dental, WA
Joined Practice Management Program: July 2010
How were you introduced to Prime Practice?
I saw Dr Michael Sernik present at a seminar about 10 years ago when my husband Alex and I had just established our brand new practice. I was convinced from that moment that joining Prime would be a great move, but it took a few more years to get Alex (who was not present) on board! We both now agree, that it has been one of the best decisions we've made for our practice.
What was the impetus for signing up?
About 7 years ago, our first daughter Jessica was born and we decided we needed a bit more order in our lives! I was at home full-time and not able to focus much on the practice which also felt like "our baby". Alex missed the support that I had provided in the running of the practice, and I needed to find a way to feel more certain that the practice could run ok in my absence. Through Prime, we were able to feel less overwhelmed, and more in control of our new situation.
What has changed?
There's so much that has changed since joining Prime. Our team has grown to a team of 15, which now includes 2 associate dentists and 2 dental therapists and we are outgrowing our 4 surgery practice. There's a lot of systems and structure and the entire team is clear on what's expected of them. The comprehensive web based reporting measures and tracks so many aspects of our business, and that has helped us to continually improve across all those areas.
What is the biggest thing that changed?
Our leadership and focus on achieving high employee engagement. We would not be where we are today without building such a fantastic team of people. Prime has given us so many leadership tools and also helped us to identify and work on all the different elements that contribute to an engaged and highly performing team. We are really proud of our employee engagement results and our team culture where everyone genuinely likes working together and is truly aligned in providing the best possible experience for our patients.
How have these changes affected your life outside of work?
I can think beyond the day to day running of the practice and focus on strategy and where we want the practice to go next. This has helped us take advantage of new opportunities and constantly adapt to differentiate ourselves from other practices.
We are also now at the point where we feel confident that we can be absent from the practice for weeks at a time, so we are starting to enjoy lots of travel and creating fantastic memories with our two gorgeous girls.
Congratulations on being a finalist in the Australian Institute of Management Customer Service Awards. That is quite an achievement. How did Prime Practice help with this?
Thank you. It was a remarkable achievement for us as a small local business to be considered amongst such big national companies which included the ultimate winner, iiNet. I believe our entry was able to compete because we could demonstrate tracking our performance through excellent results in our Dental Patient Surveys, Mystery Shopper Telephone Calls and Employee Engagement Surveys. We also included a large volume of patient feedback and testimonials we have received unsolicited. These would not exist without all the systems in place to create an experience that often exceeds patient expectations.
