As the holiday season approaches, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by even the positive parts of your life, especially your dental business. And a huge part of your dental business is your team. Where would you be without them?
"Running a successful dental practice is not easy, but it is only possible with the help and dedication of your dental staff. Fortunately, thanking them is easy!” - Princess Dental Staffing
There are countless ways you can thank your dental team for all they do to run your practice or group, but only a few ways will have a lasting impact — and also benefit your business.
Recognizing their efforts with these unique gifts can significantly boost morale and productivity in the workplace, while increasing patient satisfaction and lowering your stress.
Here are our top 3 ideas for gifts to give your dental team that they can enjoy all year round:
Gift #1. More confidence — Sales training for treatment presentations
One of the most empowering gifts you can offer your dental team is the gift of confidence when giving treatment presentations. Sales training is the key to enhancing patient communication and treatment acceptance.
An effective treatment presentation involves clear communication, empathy, and the ability to address patient concerns confidently. When talking to patients about their oral health and how costly it may or may not be to maintain it, the conversation can become sensitive.
It’s crucial that your team knows how to move through the conversation with assurance as they encourage the patient to pursue treatment. Here are a few quick tips for covering all the bases when presenting a treatment plan to a patient:
- Take your time explaining why your patient needs this treatment
- Be clear that insurance payments are only estimates
- Remind the patient that benefits are not determined until the claim is processed
Read more: 3 tips to successfully communicate your patient's dental treatment plan presentation
Beyond these essentials, there’s much more your team can do to effectively communicate with patients about treatment. And when it comes down to it: Every treatment presentation is a sales presentation.
Invest in sales training specifically for healthcare providers. Your team will appreciate your commitment to their professionals skills, and your practice will benefit from higher case acceptance rates, fewer billing complaints, and more satisfied patients.
Gift #2. More of what they want — Cash bonuses and extra paid time off (PTO)
Let’s be real: While your dental team can feel like family, they are still employees. And they can all use more money and free time!
Recognizing your team’s hard work by rewarding them with cash bonuses, more paid time off — or both — is a great way to show your appreciation. Time off and financial incentives are helpful for reducing burnout and increasing job satisfaction, which benefit your patients and your practice, too.
Think of it this way: The happier your employees are, the harder they will work for you. These bonuses and incentives can be performance based, and if your team knows they will be rewarded generously for working hard, they’ll be more likely to do it!
You could do this through small competitions in the office, and give the winner a cash bonus, a gift card, or an extra day off. Here are 2 examples:
- Hold a monthly challenge for who can get more patients on the schedule for treatment.
- Incentivize the sales training we mentioned in Gift #1: Offer gifts to all team members who complete the training, plus a bigger prize for the one who scores the highest on the training assessment.
These incentives and bonuses are an expense, but they will quickly pay for themselves through higher productivity and the resulting higher revenue in your dental business. They also promote a healthy work culture and work-life balance, inspiring your team to get along better, enjoy their job more, and produce better results for you.
Related: 10 ways to create a healthy work culture your dental team loves [Free Guide]
Gift #3. More support — Modern technology and RCM services
If your team is stretched thin over a wide workload, a great gift for them is ongoing professional support through up-to-date technology and revenue cycle management (RCM) services.
Administering the revenue cycle of a dental business can be tedious, time-consuming work for your team. Each step of the revenue cycle holds unique challenges, from insurance verification delays to claim appeals to chasing down payments from patients paying out-of-pocket.
It’s common for a dental administrative team to juggle all of those tasks while also scrambling to fulfill other important tasks that drive your dental practice — such as answering the phones, scheduling appointments, patient check-ins, treatment presentations, and more.
Many of your team’s repetitive tasks can be eased or eliminated through the AI-assisted technology and expertise of a full-cycle RCM services provider.
For example, our patient billing services at DCS are completely automated. Thanks to digital billing, online payments, and text reminders, your team will no longer have to mail paper statements to patients, process their check payments, or make uncomfortable phone calls to remind them of their outstanding balance.
But that’s not all: With the help of RCM experts, your team won’t have to worry about:
- Insurance verification
- Claim submission and appeals
- Insurance payment and posting
- Accounts receivable (AR) management
- Patient collections
Which means fewer worries for you, too, along with an increase in revenue. With our experts handling nearly every step of your revenue cycle, you can count on streamlined workflows and a bigger bottom line.
Partnering with an RCM provider is the gift that will keep on giving to your dental team, and also your dental business. Your team will be able to focus on providing amazing patient care while also taking steps to grow your business — tasks they couldn’t give due attention until they had the continued support of RCM services.
Related: More freedom with RCM services: 5 ways your dental team will invest their time
Give your dental team the gift that keeps on giving — expert RCM services
To recap, we suggest gifting your dental team with lasting impact:
Gift #1. More confidence — Sales training for treatment presentations
Gift #2. More of what they want — Cash bonuses and extra paid time off (PTO)
Gift #3. More support — Modern technology and RCM services
Your dental administrative team is the heart of your dental business. And as a business leader, you wouldn’t be where you are without them. Show your dental team how much you appreciate their hard work and dedication.
Think of these 3 gifts as investments in your team and your practice or group, as well as gifts to your patients.
This holiday season, consider the bigger picture and beyond, particularly how RCM services will ease the burdens on your overworked dental team, while also enabling your business to make more money.
DCS offers full-service dental revenue cycle management services to both private practices and emerging dental groups alike, including OMS practices.
Gift your team and yourself with the expert RCM services at DCS: Book a call today.
Related Posts
Dental billing resources