Episode #424: Better Profitability Through Insourcing, with Brenda McNulty

There are things not getting done in your practice. But what if there was a way to get a team member to do exactly what you need at your budget? Well, there is! And Kirk Behrendt brings in Brenda McNulty, the dental group director from Support DDS, to tell you all about insourcing — a great way to help your team members free up their time. If you want a remote, certified, trainable team member who can work on your schedule to increase profitability, listen to Episode 424 of The Best Practices Show!

Main Takeaways:

• Insource what your team members don't like doing.
• Support DDS offers complete front desk support.
• There is a large pool to choose from in Support DDS.
• You can customize when and how they work for you.
• They will be trained to represent your brand.

Quotes:

• “Right now, burnout is happening at a huge rate. People are leaving a dental office to go get paid $0.50 more an hour down the street. I live in Colorado. There's a big, huge sign out in front of Target that says $24/hour starting wage. It took me years to get $24 an hour! And let's face it, if I was working at Target, or if I'm working at Dollar Tree or In-N-Out Burger, I'm pretty much leaving all my cares at my job when I leave. Dentistry is not like that. We have things that carry over day to day. It is very stressing on the body, on the mind, on the communication, vocal skills — everything. It’s stressing. And so, people that are really good are demanding a lot of money, or they're going to go somewhere else for $0.50 more.” (5:30—6:19)
• “Imagine that you put out an ad for exactly what you want, and within two days, you had three people to interview that matched your skillset, that matched everything that you want perfectly, all well below the budget of what you want to spend. Imagine that. And that's why [Support DDS] is so popular. Because you're not getting a service, you're getting a team member that represents your team, and they do whatever it is that you want them to do.” (6:44—7:16)
• “I tell the dentist, ‘Go to your team and say, ‘What are you doing right now that you don't like to do?’ And they’ll give them a list of all the things they don't like to do. And then, have the dentist say, ‘If we took those things off of your plate, what could you be doing?’ And you'll find out all the things that should be getting done that aren't.” (8:01—8:19)
• “We have some offices that are paying thousands of dollars in marketing each month, and yet their phones are going unanswered. We have other offices that team members are sitting on hold for 45 minutes with Aetna, or Cigna, or fill-in-the-blank of whatever insurance company, all because the office needs to know whether something is covered or what the history is. But the team members don't have time to serve both the patient in the office as well as the back side of it. So, I think where the value comes the most comes from knowing what the need is of the dental practice.” (8:49—9:26)
• “[My favorite position we have is] the director of first impressions. The new patient phone calls are routed to our team members in Zimbabwe who speak with a beautiful accent. It kind of sounds British-Australian squished together. So, it’s an accent that people want to listen to. They take the new patient phone call, and they ask all the questions that normally, in office, they don't have time for, like, ‘What are your expectations of us as your new dental home? What inspired you to contact us?’ They're also able to spend as much time as they need to develop that connection with the patient.” (9:31—10:07)
• “By implementing this director of first impressions, what we’re doing is we’re rolling out the red carpet long before [patients] even walk up to your front door.” (11:41—11:49)
• “The people that are the director of first impressions, one of the first things that they do is create a list of the top 20 things about the practice. So, if somebody says, ‘My last office was really dirty and I didn't like it, so I'm going to come to you,’ they have a phrase that they can turn to that says, ‘Oh, you're going to love our office because we exceed hospital sterilization standards within our practice. I know how you feel, and you will never feel that way again once you walk in our doors.’ And so, they have these reassuring statements that are going to represent your brand really well. Remember, they don't have a patient walking up to them to check out, or one to check in, so they can spend as much time as they need to develop that relationship based on the personality styles. And all of our team members are university-educated, so they can take cues from a patient. They understand communication. They're very, very intelligent, so they're going to pick up on anything that you throw at them rather quickly.” (13:16—14:16)
• “Recare and reactivation [are also top services]. And I like those two because you can see a direct return on investment. If I bring in four people into spaces in your schedule that would've otherwise been empty, you're going to get the 1980. If I reactivate a family, you're going to get the 1980. I love things that I can see a direct return on investment from, and those are some of the ways.” (18:56—19:17)
• “You can outsource pretty much anything. You need to buy your wife a gift? They can do that for you. You want them to remind you when your anniversary is happening? It’s all up to the creativity of the dental office. I don't think we have two offices doing things exactly the same. We have high-level executives. We even have law firms that have lawyers as their executive assistants. We have people that have somebody answering phones but also doing social media. We have people that are scheduling travel that are coordinating webinars, things like that, all for the clients. And it’s really up to you just saying, ‘Hey, I need you to do this, and this is how you do it.’ Then, they go, ‘Okay. Let me do it.’” (24:52—25:34)
• “The variety of degrees that we have that come across our desk is amazing. My personal executive assistant is a commercial airline pilot. And it’s just not something that is readily available for work in Zimbabwe. And he says, ‘I'd rather be an executive assistant.’ Talk about somebody who’s detail-oriented, is a pilot who has to go through step-by-step processes. It was the perfect fit for me. But we have quite a few people that are lawyers, that are certified accountants. You just name it, and you can find it.” (26:04—26:44)
• “There are three big [misconceptions about insourcing] that come up. Data security. We connect via a secure VPN. We have protections in place. And we even use Black Talon Security, who is in place to make sure that everything is secure. We have insurances, all of that. So, that should be the least of your concerns.” (27:51—28:08)
• “[The second misconception of insourcing] is, ‘Boy, there's going to be a language barrier.’ English was their first language. So, they speak very good English. The only time you might have a problem is if they spell organization with an “S” instead of a “Z,” a few words here and there. But they change their keyboards to be American keyboards, and we are fine with that when it comes to spelling.” (28:09—28:31)
• “The third [misconception of insourcing] is that they're getting a service, that they just hired a service that they don't need to deal with. And our team members thrive on communication. They want to be included in your meetings. They want to be included in your daily huddle. You can send them a shirt that has your office logo on it, and they’ll wear it with pride every day. Many of our team members have a picture of the office printed out. And it’s on their desk because they really want to say, ‘I work for Support DDS, but my true heart belongs to Magic Smiles.’” (28:32—29:06)
• “[Support DDS team members are] not a service. They are yours. So, if you have three offices and you want to hire one person, you tell them, ‘Okay, Monday and Tuesday, I want you to remote into this office. Wednesday and Thursday, this office. Friday, do this.’ You don't necessarily have to hire one person per office. You do have one bill for this person, but you get to decide what they work on during their 40 hours in a work week. And pretty much, nothing is off limits, other than the fact that they only have 40 hours in a work week.” (29:22—29:52)

Snippets:

• 0:00 Introduction.
• 2:05 Brenda’s background.
• 3:03 How she got started with Support DDS.
• 4:50 Why this is an important topic.
• 7:16 Examples of services they offer.
• 12:12 Benefits of employing Support DDS team members.
• 16:27 Fee structures.
• 18:35 Additional services they offer.
• 21:50 The interview and selection process.
• 23:51 You can outsource almost anything.
• 27:36 Misconceptions about insourcing.
• 29:58 Insourcing your bookkeeping.
• 31:01 Support DDS security and reliability.
• 33:34 How to find out more about Brenda and Support DDS.

Reach Out to Brenda:

Brenda’s email: [email protected] 

Brenda’s Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/admc.net

Brenda’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brenda-mcnulty-91653072/

Brenda’s social media: @academyofdentalmanagementconsultants

Resources:

Support DDS website: https://supportdds.com/

Brenda McNulty Bio:

Brenda McNulty has over 27 years of dental experience and is currently an Efficiency and Profitability Coach for Support DDS. She brings a depth of knowledge from both the clinical and business side of dentistry. Brenda’s expertise is helping teams work smarter, not harder, by simplifying the everyday tasks that occur in dental practices. She creates increased profitability by establishing systems for practices that focus on the talents of each team member. Prior to accepting the position with Support DDS, Brenda has provided dental coaching with consulting and has been seen speaking on her expertise from the podium at several major dental events. Her passion for the dental profession continues to propel her forward as a key expert for dentists and teams looking to pursue more successfully their ideal practice vision.

Outside of dentistry, Brenda’s passion is her faith, family, giving back, and volunteering. She has five children, and one grandson who calls her Nana. Brenda is very active with veterans’ organizations, especially the Navajo Code Talkers from World War II. She has been one of the organizers of Navajo Code Talker Day since 2006 and is proud to have been declared an honorary Navajo by the Navajo Code Talker Association. Brenda is also the Chairman of the Board for the Smile Foundation, a Non-Profit Missions program bringing dentistry to children in Mexico.