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Archive for the ‘Dental Care’ Category

What’s stopping you from getting all of the patients you desire? Is it your technique? Your office staff? Your reputation?

The answers are most probably no, no, and no.

What is it then?

Let’s look at the historic facts that most people live with: they hate dentists. Historically, dental work has hurt – especially for us older folk who grew up with a very limited choice of care. So we either don’t go to the dentist regularly, or go only when there is an emergency – and then don’t return.

There are several issues here: finding patients, getting patients to return, and having referring dentists choose you to refer their patients rather than their other dentist friends.

PATIENTS DECISION FACTORS

Since patients don’t like coming to dentists, they have to make a decision to visit one at some point – hopefully prior to having a dental emergency. And, while you can connect with referring docs, or place ads, or have a web address, the patient still has to choose you.

How do they choose? How do they know it’s time to go to a dentist when they are not having pain? How do they know to choose one dentist over another if they don’t have a regular dentist?

It’s a choice they must make. What criteria do they use? Is it money? Is it pain? Is it proximity?

How do you find your target audience? Through current patient referrals? Through clicks on your website?

Here are a couple of Facilitative Questions you might use – on your site, in phone calls, in marketing materials – to help people choose you over your competition:

How do you know when it’s time to visit a dentist?
How do you know which dentist to choose?

Remember that it’s a choice they need to make. Telling them you’re wonderful is not only a difficult thing to do, it doesn’t help.

REFERRING DENTISTS

One of the easiest ways to get new patients is through referring dentists. It’s easy to get others to agree to refer you – take them to lunch, keep in touch, attend conferences with them and get to know them – but there is an inherent problem here: how do they decide to refer you over other dentists they know?

Again, here are a couple of questions you can use to help them:

How do you choose dentists to refer your patients to? How would you know that the way I work would serve your patients ethically and appropriately?

FACILIATIVE QUESTIONS

It’s very difficult to tell others that you’re wonderful. It’s also tricky to tell current patients that they need cosmetic dentistry (Mary, you’d be pretty if you had white teeth.).

Using Facilitative Questions will teach your patients how to recognize and manage their internal criteria so they can make a decision based on their own beliefs – not based on any information you might direct at them. After all, decisions don’t get made based on information.

How are you currently growing your business now? What is stopping you from getting all of the business you deserve? From getting the patients that deserve you?

Once you begin asking the appropriate questions to help your patients decide, then they will know how to choose you, get all of the work done that they need to have done, and decide collaboratively with you how to move forward to give them the best mouth and smile they can have.

With the increase in good transport links, the options to work from home or satellite offices and people’s general acceptance of moving across counties or indeed countries for the right role, packages have become more and more interesting to both attract and retain the right people. So what is in the remuneration package and how do you value it?

Salary – the key thing that everyone knows. It benchmarks where you were to how far you’ve come. It gives you a feeling of where you fit within your peer group and it opens physical doors by way of how much you can borrow as a mortgage. You know what your outgoings are. You know which are essential and which are nice to haves in your monthly spending and you know what you need, can and will accept as a minimum basic salary.

Bonus – lots of roles are now being offered with a flexible bonus on top. This can be as much as 20% of your salary, would typically be paid annually and will be awarded against the achievement of personal and company objectives. Annual bonuses are great; they can pay for a holiday, a DIY project, a special event or even a car. If you are living comfortably within your salary a lump sum is a glorious treat.

Commission – if your role generates any type of revenue for the Company you may be entitled to commissionable pay. This will be awarded against a revenue generation target and is typically paid monthly or quarterly. It is a great incentive to do well and can create ongoing feelings of high self-esteem when you make commission month on month on month. This can easily increase your ‘normal’ monthly income, giving you a higher standard of living and can be used in conjunction with mortgage applications when it is regular and consistent.

Car or Car Allowance – a company car is just that. A physical vehicle, often entirely of the Company’s choosing (even down to the colour) and you will be taxed on it’s value as it is a perk. If you are covering a lot of business miles this is a great benefit to have. The car allowance on the other hand is a monthly amount awarded dependent on your salary grade and will arrive with your salary payment (also taxed). You don’t have to prove you are spending this money on a car but you will be expected to drive a vehicle that is appropriate to your role and that falls within certain company parameters. This is a better option than the physical car when you do less business miles.

Home Office – on work from home roles your office expenses will be covered; broadband and phone plus a percentage of your domestic heating and lighting bills (worked out on square meterage of the office versus square meterage of your house). The real benefits of working from home though are in the huge amount of time and money you gain by not having a commute. There are also savings on lunches out and dry-cleaning.

Shares and Stock Options – some companies will gift you shares on joining, others will give you options to buy stock at reduced rates on an annual basis to a maximum percentage of your salary. This gives you a real vested interest in the success of your company and even in fluctuating markets, over time most shares do increase in value. There will probably be stipulations as to how and when you can sell your stock.

Healthcare – a lot of companies offer private health for their employees. Some include your family too; spouse and children. Those that don’t can normally offer you the option to add your family at a reduced rate.

Gym membership – large companies can have a gym onsite which you can use at similar times to that of regular gyms. Others have deals set up with a local gym that their employees get better monthly membership fees. Perfect if you either like to keep fit, or have been intending to start. There is also a huge chance that your colleagues will be using the gym too making it easier to find training buddies.

Pension – contributory, meaning the company will also pay into your plan so this has a real financial value to you or non-contributory where your input is your own.

Holiday entitlement – if you are in Europe you will get at least four weeks plus the standard public holidays. Some companies start you on five weeks, others increase the amount of your entitlement dependant on length of service up to a maximum of six or seven weeks. If you have a flexible benefits package you might be able to buy more days over and above the company standard.

Other things you might get include dental cover, free medical wellness checks, eye tests, laptops and mobile phones. When you are considering your options and assessing the remuneration offered it is worth sitting down with a pad and pen and calculating the worth to you of all of these things. Gym membership might not appeal to everyone but if you are someone that already pays for that you can deduct £X from your outgoings straightaway. If you are going to be working from home and you have typically been office based and dropped into your local sandwich shop you might be saving another £100 per month. Packages are quite complex and have various elements, although it is easy to know if the basic salary is what you wanted the rest can also have a huge monetary value in both income and savings. Take some time, pour over the offer and work out just how good this is for you!

In order to have a strong, active and growing business, you will need to have good referral sources and also be able to provide good referrals for your clients to receive services that you do not offer.

Florida? California? Aruba? Thinking of retiring to a tropical destination? Consider Panama – one of the world’s top retirement destinations and a world class tourist location – particularly for adventure and ecotourism.

From its pristine white sand beaches and Hispanic colonial ruins, to its untouched primary rainforest and year-round tropical maritime climate; Panama City, Panama offers an ideal primary residential destination. Panama retirees can enjoy the benefits of a developing economy, take a taxi across town for under $4, get a haircut for $5, or enjoy dinner with a bottle of wine at a trendy Panama City restaurant for under $20 a person. There are also many activities to enjoy including its jazz clubs to art openings to English-language theater performances.

Need additional motivation to retire to Panama? Consider the reasonable condominium pricing, and the fact that the government of Panama has the best incentive program in the world for foreign retirees — its incredible pensionado program. Panama’s pensionado program was created via Law No. 6 and Law No. 9, both passed in June, 1987. Today, the program still provides pensioners with the most appealing special benefits the world has to offer. Under the pensionado program, retirees are entitled to the following:

o 50% off entertainment, such as movies, theater, concerts, and sporting events
o 30% off bus, boat, and train fares
o 25% off airline tickets
o 30 to 50% off hotel stays
o 15% off hospital bills
o 10% off prescription medicines*
o 20% off medical consultations*
o 15% off dental and eye exams*
o 20% off professional and technical services
o 50% off closing costs for home loans
o And more…

Additionally, pensionados also receive a one-time exemption on the importation of household goods of up to $10,000, and, additionally, will enjoy an exemption from duties for the importation or local purchase of a car every two years. The government has also set up an additional national and foreign investment program where new properties have a 20-year exoneration period during which investors do not have to pay any kind of real estate property tax.

Rated as the number one place in the Americas for retirement by Modern Maturity magazine (based on safety, cost of living, infrastructure attractions, beauty and climate), Panama’s lifestyle offerings and cultural activities coupled with the gorgeous beaches and great surfing, kayaking and diving, ensures Panama has something for everyone.

Miami dentists are urged to identify and treat periodontitis cases as soon as possible to lessen the risk of heart disease. This holistic concern has risen in the wake of recent scientific inquiries into the long known correlation between gum disease and heart disease.

The heart and mouth share relatively little physical proximity in the human body. While both are instrumental in the breakdown and delivery of both oxygen and nutrients throughout the body, each has conventionally been thought of as exclusive and to have little affect on the other. Recent studies conducted at the University of Minnesota, however, have identified bacteria that link periodontitis, a common gum disease resulting from poor oral hygiene, to the blood clots that cause Coronary Heart Disease.

Mark Herzberg, Professor at the University of Minnesota, addressed the 150th meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science with the declaration “now we show a potential biological reason [for the correlation].” Professor Herzberg’s studies originated as a follow-up to several alarming studies conducted in the 1990s that showed those with periodontitis were twice as likely to develop Coronary Heart Disease.

The correlation between periodontal and heart disease, as linked by Professor Herzberg’s study, is most likely causal. Using rabbits, proven models for testing human heart disease hypotheses, Herzberg and his colleagues were able to show that dental plaque’s bacteria caused blood clots within minutes of being released into the bloodstream. The chronic inflammation that this plaque causes in the gums is further conjectured to cause the very same swelling that leads to the build-up of plaque in arteries. These swollen and constricted arteries, in turn, lead to heart disease.

The link between periodontal disease and heart disease has been further supported by recent studies at the University of Kiel in Germany. As research mounts, both doctors and dental professionals urge adults to schedule regular examinations to catch either disease as early as possible.

Dental professionals recommend adults brush and floss daily to rid their teeth of the plaque that daily food consumption leaves embedded in their teeth and gums. This plaque provides an environment for bacteria-like the bacteria that has been increasingly linked to heart disease-to live, grow, and reproduce.

In light of these recent worldwide research findings, it is more important than ever for adults to recognize the inter connectivity of the human body. Like a pocket watch, the human body is comprised of several finely tuned pieces that flow into one another. No piece can turn, tick, or move without affecting another piece of the complex infrastructure that comprises the human body.

It is important to find a dentistry practice where the inter connectivity of the human body is placed at the forefront of patient education. Great strides must be taken to ensure each patient is educated in how the body is connected mentally and physically, as well as how such connections manifest themselves. Young adults ages twenty to thirty are passionately encouraged to consider the holistic nature of the human body as well.

Like periodontal disease, most diseases can be cured or their risk minimized by early identification and treatment. Early identification, however, hinges on the ability for both physician and patient to understand the causal, inter connectivity of each piece of the human body, down to the most minute of cells.

When you start a courier company there are a few things you need to know, maintain and understand. The first and most important being that a well managed company is a successful company. If you look at some of the world’s biggest and most successful courier companies, the one thing that they would surely all agree to, is having a well run infrastructure, which translates to a very good parcel tracking and management software solution.

Choosing your system

Before you even begin to open your doors for anticipating clients, make sure you choose a software program that would not only have all your specific requirements, but that it would be user-friendly and easily manageable by your staff. It is pointless of you to install a system that your employees would struggle to understand and use. The cost involved and time spent on a lengthy course to simply train the staff to be able to operate the software should be kept as low as possible without compromising the quality with which they would be able to operate the system.

Managing a courier company

Management is one of the most important aspects of maintaining any kind of company. The saying goes that a team is only as strong as its weakest link. In the courier world this would be how you manage your delivering system. If your courier company fails to adhere to the client’s needs, you’ll find that your company would soon be without clients. Choosing the right drivers, parcel tracking and management operators and of course management is very important.

Potential pitfalls

The biggest pitfall in the courier industry is not having the right software. If you are unable to pinpoint the exact location of a package, managing deliveries would be the biggest problem. Your system should be able to know the exact whereabouts of every package and driver.

In case of the driver, their exact position should tell you which driver would be able to pick up and deliver the client’s package quickest. This of course ensures not only that the client receives better service, but that your company would be able to do more deliveries within a set amount of time, saving your company time and money and creating a trust between your courier company and the client.

The reason why you should be able to know the exact status of a package enables your company to have a good relationship with clients. If, for whatever reason, the client needs to know the whereabouts of the package, you should be able to inform them of the exact location and the estimated time when they could expect delivery.

More than just good service

By running a well established courier company that delivers to every need of the client, the quickest and most sufficient way possible, you would be able to establish trust with your client. If the client was pleased with the service they received from your courier company, you’ll find that not only would they return to your service but would also be referring you to more potential clients, something that can only be gained through excellent service on your part. Therefore it is essential to have the right parcel tracking and management software to ensure that you would be offering them only the best, incomparable service.

Establishing a good name for your courier company is exactly what you need to ensure that you not only run a good business, but that it has everything to offer to your client’s needs.