760: The Silent Killer of Your Profit – Dr. Barrett Straub

Collecting 95% sounds great — until you do the math. That missing five percent of your net production is a lot of money! To help you understand what's picking your pockets and how to put a stop to it, Kirk Behrendt brings back Dr. Barrett Straub, ACT’s CEO, with some strategies to eliminate the silent killer of your profit. To learn the quickest, easiest way to add cash flow back into your practice, listen to Episode 760 of The Best Practices Show!

Learn More About Dr. Straub:

• Send Dr. Straub an email: barrett@actdental.com 
• Join Dr. Straub on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/barrett.d.straub
• Register for Dr. Straub’s live workshop (August 23, 2024): https://www.eventbrite.com/e/act-dental-gaps-method-the-formula-for-financial-freedom-tickets-776572418007

More Helpful Links for a Better Practice & a Better Life:

• Subscribe to The Best Practices Show: https://the-best-practices-show.captivate.fm/listen
• Join The Best Practices Association: https://www.actdental.com/bpa
• Join ACT’s To The Top Study Club: https://www.actdental.com/ttt
• See the ACT Dental/BPA Live Event Schedule: https://www.actdental.com/event
• Get The Best Practices Magazine for free: https://www.actdental.com/magazine
• Please leave us a review on the podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-best-practices-show-with-kirk-behrendt/id1223838218

Episode Resources:

• Watch the video version of Episode 760: https://www.youtube.com/@actdental/videos
• Register for Miranda Beeson’s Beyond the Front Desk workshop: https://www.actdental.com/213

Main Takeaways:

• Collecting 95% seems great — until you do the math.
• Have systems for collections so you can focus on doing dentistry.
• Understand how not collecting 100% negatively impacts your business.
• “Doing more” and “producing more” is not the solution to increasing cash flow.
• Collecting what you're owed is the fastest and easiest way to increase cash flow.
• Your financial coordinator must be comfortable and confident collecting from patients.
• Collecting from patients is a form of art. Train yourself to embrace the awkward pause.
• Stop teaching patients that not paying is acceptable behavior. Collect what you're owed.
• It’s not okay to have a month’s worth in AR. That money should be in your bank account.

Snippets:

0:00 Introduction.

1:05 The four gaps, explained.

2:36 The collections gap, explained.

4:04 What collecting 95% truly means.

10:26 The quickest way to add cash flow.

13:18 Mindset is important.

18:19 Embrace the awkward pause.

20:33 One patient at a time.

22:18 Teach patients when and how to pay.

24:35 Revisit your financial arrangements.

27:46 Collect what you're owed.

31:12 Final thoughts.

33:13 More about ACT’s BPA and future courses.

Dr. Barrett Straub Bio:

Dr. Barrett Straub practices general and sedation dentistry in Port Washington, Wisconsin. He has worked hard to develop his practice into a top-performing, fee-for-service practice that focuses on improving the lives of patients through dentistry.

A graduate of Marquette Dental School, Dr. Straub’s advanced training and CE includes work at the Spear Institute, LVI, DOCS, and as a member of the Milwaukee Study Club. He is a past member of the Wisconsin Dental Association Board of Trustees and was awarded the Marquette Dental School 2017 Young Alumnus of the Year. As a former ACT coaching client that experienced first-hand the transformation that coaching can provide, he is passionate about helping other dentists create the practice they’ve always wanted.

Dr. Straub loves to hunt, golf, and spend winter on the ice, curling. He is married to Katie, with two daughters, Abby and Elizabeth.