Dr. John Meis (00:02.318)
Hey everybody, I'm Dr. John Meis with The Team Training Institute. I'm here with my partner, Wendy Briggs. Hey Wendy.
Wendy Briggs (00:09.376)
Hey, how's it going, Dr. John?
Dr. John Meis (00:11.03)
It's going good. So welcome to another episode of The Double Your Production Podcast. And today's topic is one that we have all experienced has been a little frustrating from time to time. And that is when we get something new, some new technology or something. We get it and the team doesn't get on board. So common frustration, Wendy, isn't
Wendy Briggs (00:35.06)
Absolutely, we see it all the time.
Dr. John Meis (00:38.02)
First time that I experienced this in force was acquiring Diagnodent. And Diagnodent, I think, is a great technology. It's very helpful in very many ways. But my team didn't get on board. The doctors really didn't necessarily entirely get on board either. And so because of that experience, those things were, I don't remember what they were, $3,500 a pop maybe, and we had 21 ops. You know, we invested a lot in those and for them to struggle being used, I learned a very, very expensive lesson.
Wendy Briggs (01:17.644)
Yes, we often call this the bright shiny object syndrome, right? Doctors will go to a show or have a sales rep come in and there's some newfangled technology that the doctor catches the vision, but somehow that vision isn't very effectively transferred to the team. And the team looks at one another behind your back and rolls their eyes and says, if we ignore it, we'll just go away. You know, I don't want to do this one more thing.
Dr. John Meis (01:22.145)
Yes. So, I read articles about Diagnodent. Gordon Christiansen and his team looked at it, said it's a valuable tool, saw it at a couple of meetings, had been rolling around in my head for a while. I was, you know, working on other things, trying to drive profitability so that we would have the cash to do this. So I had gone through this kind of long, you know, mental cycle of thinking about it. And then that my staff's experience was very different because their experience was a box shows up with a bunch of these things in it. That was their whole prep. My fault, obviously. And I could have done a much better job as a leader. And that's what we wanna talk about on this episode.
Wendy Briggs (02:27.01)
Yeah. And we've seen it so many times over the years and you know, there's always the next bright, shiny object. And I think that's what drives some of the team's fatigue is that they've just learned this thing and now we've got a new thing and how many other new things am I really going to be able to incorporate into my already limited appointment time? They really need to understand the why behind it before they can actually get behind it.
And I would say, you know, the things I hear the most complaining about in today's world are things like AI with digital radiographs because it's another step and it's something else to learn and it's new and somewhat overwhelming at first. There's also things like the scanner, you digital scanners get huge pushback from hygienists, you know, across the country until they actually start using it and then they can catch the vision. So that's often the cycle that we get trapped in too, often to really understand the value of these technologies, we actually have to use them.
But if we're not willing to use them, we never really quite see the value in the same way that you came to upon your decision to actually invest in the technology.
Dr. John Meis (03:34.264)
You know, and any time we do something, the things that we do all day, every day, they become automatic. They require very little executive level brain function. But you throw something new in there, like a scan or a diagonal that or something like that, people aren't used to doing. They have to think it's mentally fatiguing. And it's no wonder that sometimes these, you know, really great efforts stall out somewhat because our team hasn't been entirely prepared.
So we teach a change management process that starts with letting the team know kind of what you're thinking, right? So you inoculate the team with the idea that you're thinking about executing on. So they have some time to catch up. Then we have to think through the what's in it for who, right? So it's wonderful if we can think through what's in it for the patient, you know. Is it a really good thing for the patient? What's in it for the team? How is it a really good thing for the team? And if we do those two things well, it's gonna be good for the practice. But often we don't think through those two things, and we may think through the patient, but sometimes we overlooked, and I did, I overlooked the team when I made the decision to make that investment. So.
Wendy Briggs (04:50.69)
Yeah, whenever possible, we love to see the team included, right? In your decision-making process. And if they can be involved in the beginning and somehow it becomes their idea, we've long said that people will support what they help to create. And so if they can be part of that decision-making process from the beginning, you're going to be, you know, so much more successful with implementation of that. Now they're still going to need some support and some ideas on systems and things like that. you know, getting their buy-in from the beginning is great. And I love how you frame that.
Dr. John Meis (04:55.396)
Yeah. Yeah.
Wendy Briggs (05:17.324)
you talking about what's in it for the patient or the compelling, the why, right? We always say we've got to start with the why in order to get buy-in at the highest level because they need to understand what your vision is and why you believe it's, is worthy of investment. But they also need to understand why they should invest their time and energy in using it, right?
Dr. John Meis (05:35.012)
Yep, yep. No, exactly right. And so when we add often practices have some type of bonus structure based on, you know, productivity or collections, you know, from the hygiene app. And if you throw something in there that doesn't have a fee to it, you're just making more work for the same amount of pay is how team members perceive it. Now, pay is only one of the things that's important to team members, right? Having really great patient care is also important.
So we have to find that way, what's in it for the team, being world class, being high tech, those are things that are beneficial for team members as well. So once we have some buy-in, now we can start thinking through training, what training is necessary for everyone to feel comfortable to use it. And with scanners, you and I worked with a very large DSO to help support them as they were introducing scanners because there was quite a bit of pushback initially, wasn't there?
Wendy Briggs (06:38.606)
Yeah, there was. And we still see that even now on hygiene social media forums. You know, every once in a while I capture a screenshot and one that comes out to my mind was someone saying, is anyone using these digital scanners yet? Because I definitely don't have 10 to 15 minutes in my appointment to do that. And I'm not running over into my next patient for it. I already hate the word, you know, the brand name of the scanner they got and we just got it, you know? So we hear, and of course all the other, you know, comments chiming in of like I hear you, I feel you. Yeah, we don't have 10 to 15 minutes. And the key really is, like we said, once they start using it, it doesn't take 10 or 15 minutes. We've seen videos of providers doing it in under three minutes. You know, I think the skillset is, is important too. So we often talk about how important the mindset is, you know, overcoming the mindset involving them from the beginning, explaining the why is just part of it. But then they actually do need to develop the skillset and that becomes overwhelming for people too.
Dr. John Meis (07:37.516)
It sure does. Yep.
Wendy Briggs (07:37.678)
They know they're not going to be fast right away. so like we said before, that vicious cycle is if they use it, they get faster, but they don't want to use it. So we've got to set aside time to really coach people forward and get them familiar with and comfortable with the technology before we just throw it into the treatment room. It's not going to be well received and you're going to get people saying, I'm not running over to my next appointment for that. And so whenever possible, if you can have an opportunity for them to share their, in a way, their objections or their fears or what they feel they need support in. That's also helpful as well. So a lot of practices, at least with scanners, will set up a structure by where the assistants can step in and help with the time flow and the management of that until the hygienists feel more comfortable and capable and get their speed under control. So just having an alternative system for implementation is really, really helpful in overcoming those mindset blockages as well as helping develop those skill sets.
Dr. John Meis (08:36.696)
Having a slow start, so it's not like, okay, day one, we're gonna scan every single patient every single time. No, I can tell you that when we introduce new technology, that's not the best way to do it. The best way to do it is to start with pieces, the most interesting cases. And of course, with the scanner, what I just realized was that a picture is worth a thousand words. And so when they were talking about treatment to patients, they didn't have to talk so much, because the patient can see what they're seeing.
And so it ended up actually saving them time, but it was hard for people to see that until they had an open mind, until they had a chance to get the skills to do it quickly and understand what a valuable tool it is.
Wendy Briggs (09:18.062)
Yeah, I think that's true, especially because as the scanning technology has evolved, it got better, right? So now we were able to replace using the intraoral camera with the scanner. So it wasn't a matter of doing both anymore. It was a matter of substituting. Instead of this, let's use this at least every once in a while because it gives us a more complete picture of what's happening in the patient's mouths. And I can remember too, some of the comments from patients really helped drive the desire to continue to use it. People say, my gosh, I've never seen my mouth in 3D before, or I didn't realize the recession was that serious until I saw it on that scanner, that stone model, for example, you can, all those different settings that you can flip back and forth. That one seems to highlight recession really, really well. And so people can see it differently than maybe they've been able to in the past. And it really does become a valuable education tool, as you said.
Dr. John Meis (10:13.176)
Yeah, so true. One of the things, so as we walk down, you know, the things to get the plan in place, we're involving the team early. They're part of the process of making the decision. They're part of the process of designing the training. And so now we get to the point where, OK, we have to have a clear plan. So this is what we're going to do. Day one, we're going to scan, diagnose, whatever the technology is, we're going to use it once or twice or whatever it is. Day one. And this is day one. Set a date.
That's day one. So now we have a plan on how we're going to progressively get better with it. And if we stick to a black and white thinking, 100 % implementation day one, you're going to struggle. You know, it's almost guaranteed that that's going to be a challenge. So we want to make sure that we have a plan, that that plan gets us to where we want to go, but it gets us to it gets us to that place over a period of time that will bring the team along, not stress them out, not to... We can stress out teams enough that they're not willing. And that's not good for the patient. It's not good for the team, not really good for the practice. So having a clear plan is kind of the next step. And then go to it.
Wendy Briggs (11:25.902)
Yeah, very, very true. I can tell you there's other posts too that say, can't we just clean teeth? I love being a hygienist, but can't we just clean teeth and help our patients get healthier rather than doing all these other million things? That's a very common thought process too. But again, that's someone who doesn't have the buy-in. They don't understand the why. They don't have the desire. You may get sabotage. You may get anxiety about some of these things. It's just usually because pieces of that puzzle are missing, right? So one of the things that I love about what we do at The Team Training Institute is we do help certainly practices at a high level with implementation, as you mentioned, whether that's group practices or individual practices, but we also help companies get their technology into the hands of clinicians and help them understand we've got to overcome the mindset blockages and then we focus on the skill set because there's a lot of technology that are worthy of investment. And certainly we're going to talk more about that here in the next few months. We're going to talk a little bit more about technology. But that's a question we often get, know, is it really worth the investment of the technology? And some of these technologies, you know, Dr. John, once you've got the Diagnodents in place and you got the team using them, they paid off big, you know, even though was a headache and it was a valuable learning experience, but they were able to, for the first time, we were able to show the patient proof that there was a problem. So it drove it.
Dr. John Meis (12:38.328)
Yeah. Yep. Pace, catching things earlier than we would have otherwise. I mean, there were just so many benefits to it.
Wendy Briggs (12:54.254)
Right, so it did pay off at initial investment. So sometimes we have to think about that too. Which piece of technology makes sense for us to invest in and how is that gonna help our practice accomplish our goals? Sometimes you look at growth year over year and doctors might say, we only grew 4 % last year, we'd like to grow 20%. Well, how are you gonna do that? There certainly are ways to do that, but we've got to put out a very clear plan and some of those plans include adding technology that can provide a very strong ROI to the practice. Like you said, some of them will increase case acceptance. Some of them will increase efficiency. know, whatever it will help us do. That's often something we should consider when we buy technology or invest in technologies because that's the ultimate goal is to serve patients better, become more efficient, become more productive and more profitable at end of the day.
Dr. John Meis (13:47.136)
One other thing that I've used that has been helpful in introducing new technology or new techniques or new materials is to have some type of incentive. So we call these activity bonuses. These are short-term bonuses, maybe for 30 days, maybe 90 days. And they're just to focus everybody's attention on this new thing. And so that's another thing that can be used. We have a practice that gave a small incentive to improve the number of scans the hygienists were taking. And so the hygienists had to do X number per day, and then everyone after that, they got a little extra bonus. And the number of scans went up dramatically, and in their case, they were Invisalign providers. The number of cases of Invisalign went up substantially too. Now I know there's somebody who's gonna listen to this, and they're gonna say, why am I paying somebody extra to do their job? That's ridiculous.
Well, you can hold that attitude, but I'm telling you that having a small incentive that for a short period of time does change human behavior and it helps teams accept it, get excited about it. so if we want to be more effective, it's a tool to use. I don't suggest using it for everything, but there are some things that are that it really is helpful to get you over the hump.
Wendy Briggs (15:11.458)
Yeah, we've seen really great success at other practices I'm thinking of did the same thing, a very similar approach, but they wanted to do the in-face visualization tools again, to help drive more aligners. And they did that and it was wildly successful. Right. So last year, that was their, their big push for the year. They worked directly with their hygiene coaches to implement that and get that launched. And when we looked at the number of aligners that came from that, was, it was far ahead where they were over the previous year. Whatever it may be that you're trying to promote, whether that's implants and you want to look at those of missing teeth, CT scans, whatever it is, it really does make a difference in patients' acceptance because the team gets more enthusiastic and more willing and the sincerity comes across, right? So patients actually do buy-in. When you get team buy-in, that often leads to patient buy-in. So we love to see those types of activity bonuses really help. They do help drive results. We've seen it time and time again.
Dr. John Meis (16:12.202)
Sure. So you talked about investment, Wendy, and is the investment going to be worth it and that kind of thing. Well, we have a practice growth retreat coming up in what it's April of 2026, I guess. And in that meeting, we're going to be talking about specific technologies, how to think about calculating what's the return on investment, what's the speed at which that happens.
Wendy Briggs (16:28.973)
Yes.
Dr. John Meis (16:40.61)
So we're going to be talking about specific technologies that we think are very, very valuable that have a very high ROI. And we're going to help you understand how to evaluate it on the technologies that you're interested in.
Wendy Briggs (16:54.7)
Yeah, and as a part of that, my conversation, my lecture will be about implementation of technology. So you're going to get both, right? The best of both worlds. Dr. John, think you're going to be talking about what, in your opinion, what we've seen are the brain dead technologies that dentists can and should use. But then we'll talk about niche technologies and all those types of things. We're even going to have a power hour with some of our clients that will be sharing how they're using the technologies to really propel their practice forwards. I think it'll be a really great opportunity for those that have interest in technology and also interest in joining us at one of our quarterly practice growth retreats to join us in Charlotte. So it's the end of April. And if you'd like information about that, you can request a guest pass pretty easily. You just go to https://www.theteamtraininginstitute.com/guest. And there you'll see a short video and it'll give you all the information that you need to request a guest ticket.
But if technology is of interest to you, if the topic that we talked about today is of interest to you, you're gonna wanna join us because there's so many great things that we're gonna be talking about in regards to technology in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Dr. John Meis (17:55.01)
Technology is going to be a focus, but the same mindsets that you're talking about implementation, any change, right? Thinking about return on investment on anything. So I think it's going to be helpful whether you have a particular technology need or not. It'll be a great meeting. All right. Yeah. So that's it for this episode of the W Production Podcast. We'll see you next time. Thanks.
Wendy Briggs (18:11.736)
Absolutely will.
Wendy Briggs (18:19.106)
Thanks everybody.
