Module 1Immediately Increase Your Cash Flow

Edited Transcript

EDITED TRANSCRIPTDavid: Hey I am Dr. David Madow.

Richard: I am Dr. Richard Madow and welcome to Module 1 of your Mega Bundle, ten ways to immediately increase your cash flow.David: In this module we are going to give you ten ways, things that you can do pretty much right away, to increase cash flow in your practice. And since this is module 1 we would again like to thank you so much for being with us. With this whole Mega-Bundle setup (whatever you want to call it we appreciate it, and we are going to give you so much information it is going to be well worth your time to view every single one of these videos. Make sure you do, please.)Richard: Definitely! And we put this module first for a reason because if you do all ten of these things, or maybe you are already doing two if you do the remaining eight, we promise you the money you save just by immediately

increasing your cash flow will pay for the entire Mega-Bundle. And then, as they say, everything else is gravy.

Dave: Gravy!!! Everything else I say is gravy, is there another word for it?

Richard: Keep seeing money. I mean it can be all kinds of things, but everything else, in this case, is keep seeing money. Everything else is gravy so, hey! Who doesn't want to increase their cash flow? 

Dave: I sure do. 

Richard: I think you need to from what I have heard (laugh).

Dave: This was not supposed to be a comedy session, (laugh) this is supposed to be Module 1 so…

Richard: OK! We are going to give the first one. This one is stressed within this module and within the entire major bundle. You’ve got to do these things, or else they won’t work so; please keep that in mind. Don't just listen to something and say Ah, good idea, ah I tried that, Ah I've heard that. You've got to do them. We know these things work so let's get ready to increase your cash flow. Why not?

Dave: Let's get ready to rock! Here is number one, are you ready for number one?  This is a big one, and I am telling you something it's so easy it's probably something you've just overlooked over the years. I just want you to make sure you do this right away because it will bring money in immediately. Here's how simple it is: make a

list, however, you do it, it doesn't matter if you do it from your computer, or better if you do it manually, or, however, you do this. Get a list generated of all of your patients that owe you money right now.

It's larger than you think; I guarantee it. Even if you are a cash-only practice things fall through the cracks and for some reason patients owe you money for something here and there. Get an entire list of all of them and then start contacting them. Phoning them is the best. Start calling them. Make it easy for them, be very polite let them know that they have a balance and make it so easy, ask for a credit card. Say Mrs. Jones to make it easier for you we can take a credit card from you right now over the phone, what is your number? And she will give you the credit card number. It's not difficult. Now are you going to collect all these? No! But if you collect a percentage from the people that owe you money, it's going to bring you in a lot of money quickly.

Now I also don't know if you are familiar with a form that Rich and I developed years and years ago, actually, when we first started the Madow Brothers, it was like 25 years ago. We developed this form; it's our original form. It's called our Collection Form Number 207, and it has been shown over the years. Now the purpose of this module is not to get you to buy that, but if you are having a tough time with collections, I want to introduce it to you. Go to our website madow.com and just click on products, great products and you will see it right there it's so easy it's one of those old looking NCR forms. The reason we haven't changed it over the years and made it computerized is because it works so well. I say, over the

last 25 years, which is safe to say, we’ve collected millions of dollars from using this form.

Richard: You know it's funny when we developed the form it was a huge best-seller right away, and as the computer era took over, we thought well, OK the forms were great, but now it's the digital era. People are buying them and using them successfully more than ever.

Dave: More than ever.

Richard: Maybe that's the reason, maybe this old-fashioned kind of an official quasi-legal look scares people more than an email.

Dave: Quasi-legal I like that, quasi-legal I like that.

Richard: More than some kind of an electronic message that you owe money.

Dave: Maybe!   

Richard: For whatever reason the thing works like crazy.

Dave: It's psychological. We are not positive exactly how or why but we know it works. So again, the purpose is not to sell you something we just want to tell you this thing works. But most importantly, make a list of your patients and get on the phone and call them and you will absolutely collect a percentage of them. Hopefully, it's a pretty high percentage. So if you just do that one if you turn off now, we don't want you to do that, but if you turn off now and just get on that you would have more than paid for this Mega Bundle.

Richard: Your cash flow just increased no question.

Dave: So we can stop now.

Richard: But we won't, we won't. We’ve got nine more things to tell you. Number two actually came out of a very famous study. I believe it was called something like customer lifetime value analysis for dental patients, and it was done by some MBA candidates in California a short time ago. And they studied a whole bunch of things that brought more money into dental practices including what patients were worth. One thing they learned in the studies that if you just simply and I mean simply look every single patient in the eye, now not all at once of course during their exam, when they come in for their hygiene exam or new patient exam or whatever sort of appointment. Just look them in the eye and simply say to them "Would you like to have whiter teeth?" If that's all you do just say “Jim, would you like to have whiter teeth?" Your practice income will go up by 10% in just one year. That means if you have a $650,000 practice right now, and all you do is look every patient in the eye. Of course you have to do the whitening (laugh), so you got to do some follow up on it but if you just start with this, no big sale pitch, no big explanations no nothing just say to every patient "Would you like to have whiter teeth?". You just gained $65,000 in income in one year; most of it profit. It's so easy. Now, we know some dentists are saying, "Well I don't like doing that." People want you to ask them. They are curious and maybe they are afraid to ask. Think back to the famous McDonald’s line. You order your Big Mac and Diet Coke, Some genius in Oak

Illinois McDonald's headquarters came up with this idea: "let's ask every customer, ‘Would you like fries with that?’" It's like became a big joke, right!  Would you like fries with that? McDonald's sales go up by 27% in the first year just by asking that of people. It's the same thing for us. We are dental professionals. People want whiter teeth, so look them right in the eye and ask, "would you like to have whiter teeth?" That's all you do and do the treatment any cosmetic treatment that follows, and your cash flows just increased by 10% in one year. Pretty amazing!

Dave: Would you like to have whiter teeth? That's the question.

Richard: Yes!!

Dave: You are so pretty darn right, you're so pretty darn right.

Dave; You know, whatever.

Richard: You go for the natural look, the natural smoker, tea drinker look.

Dave: Smoker!! Smoker!! We’ll have to talk about this after the recording.

Richard: We were at a professional office last week. We had a meeting, and this person's secretary had just horrible tetracycline teeth. She’s had a few other dental mishaps. 

Dave: All kinds of stuff going on there 

Richard: Whitening would have done her a world of good and probably would have helped her practice as well. So I guarantee you, that person's dentist, that woman's dentist, has never looked her in the eye and said, "Would you like to have whiter teeth" seriously and she is probably embarrassed to ask.

Dave: You’re assuming she has a dentist, you’re assuming. The way she looked, she did not look like she had a dentist.

Richard: OK if she did, ok let's move on to number three.

Dave: Number three. Again, it's really simple.

Richard: I'm going to drink some tea while you tell them about number three.

Dave: I tell you what! I'm just going to zoom in.

Richard: Wow you zoomed me right out of the picture.

Dave: I will do that. It’s really, really simple but again most offices that we have visited personally are not doing this, they are way behind and are not doing this on a regular basis. So what is it? You probably have guessed already. Raise your fees. Raise your fees because I am telling YOU, you are not doing this on a regular basis I will practically guarantee it. The reason we know this, the office we are going to they are not doing this on a regular basis. They aren’t raising their fees. How much should you raise it? I am not sure maybe 10%. Take a look at

your fees and see when was the last time you raises them. Maybe it was five years ago. You need to raise them way more than that 10% or else we need to have 10 %. You need to have incremental increases. When you do this, when you raise your fees, and when you do it on a regular basis like doing the same amount of treatment you will be bringing in a lot more money. Doctor, you deserve it for the good work you are doing. You deserve good fees. dDon't be afraid to do that, even if you lose a small percentage of your patients which you will NOT. I can show you mathematically why raising your fees is still, still you come out higher, there is no question about it. So these are not difficult things to do. We’ve got to make sure you do them.

Richard: I agree with that so much but for some reason for many practices raising their fees is a difficult thing to do.

Dave: I know. That's why they don't do it.

Richard: Why do you think that is?

Dave: Because dentists, I think, a lot of dentists not all dentists, not you probably but a lot of dentists really feel they need to be liked, wanted, and accepted. They think that if they, see like him if you raise your fees you are going to piss some patients off, I think. That's what I think, and they think they are going to lose some business. It's been shown mathematically that if you raise your fees, it's been shown that even if you lose 20% of your patients, which you NEVER, NEVER EVER EVER do. We are not even suggesting that, but you still would

come out ahead, so we're just asking for a little bit of an increase just make sure you stay up on that.

Richard: You know, it reminds me. Also, I think we should bring this up too, a question we get from time to time where the dental practice or dental office manager would email us and say "Hey Madow Brothers can you help me compose a letter to notify all of our patients of the fee raise?”

Dave: (Laugh) Right!

Richard: No! We can't help you compose that letter because you don't have to send out such a letter.

Dave; It's not that we can't write, it not that we can't write, but we don't suggest you do that.

Richard: Why send it out? Does your plumber send out a letter saying "Hey I want to let you know from now on my rates are $85 an hour." No! You are allowed to raise your fees. People expect you to raise your fees. It's normal to raise your fees. Does South West Airlines send you a letter when they raise their fares? I don't think so.

Dave: I got one the other day. It was pretty high.

Richard: So you don't have to do that. This is not legal advice. 

Dave: It's like two-bit legal advice (Laughter). I am going to bring back that expression. Two-bit; it's going to be my expression.

Richard: What does that mean exactly? 

Dave: I looked it up, of course, I know what it is. 

Richard: Two bits is 25 cents right, or is it 50 cents? 

Dave: 25 cents but I looked it up it kind of like a half-assed thing not real good at what, not real good (Laugh). This thing is really digressing isn't it?

Richard: It about to progress again. Number four. One does think it's simple. You've heard it a million times. You are probably not doing it, and the good thing is this will also enhance the level of treatment that you are giving to all your patients. Provide better treatment for your patients, and that is offer fluoride to every single adult patient. We offer fluoride to kids. We all know that adults can benefit from fluoride. Why don't we give fluoride to every adult patient? Simple. Insurance doesn't cover it. We're letting insurance companies tell us what the best treatment is for our patients. We all know that everybody me included, you included I get it, I mean I get it, but I also get it benefit from fluoride treatment it's proven to work. Why do we say after a certain age, 18 or 21 or whatever we don't give fluoride? We do it because we are letting the insurance companies tell us what to do. Don't do it. Offer fluoride to all your adult patients now. During the hygiene visit, the presentation is very simple. You finish the cleaning, the polishing, or whatever and just tell the patient some people associate fluoride treatment only with kids. But that’s really not true. Every single patient can benefit from fluoride. It's good for your teeth; it prevents cavities, and it will help that crowning we just did last month it last longer. It's good for your gum tissue

as well. For adults, it's not cover by insurance but the fee is just $24, and we know the benefits are huge. We've got mint, bubble gum, and cherry. Which flavor would you like?

Dave: Grape.

Richard: We've got grape too (laugh). We are going to put cherry in (Laugh). That's the presentation. It's very simple. It benefits everyone. Don't be afraid to do it. We've seen it in practices that begin offering adult fluoride, and they gain about $15,000 to $20,000 per year in production. Is it going to make you a multimillionaire? Absolutely not! Will it increase your cash flow and do a good service for your patients? Yes!

Dave: Absolutely!! Yes, no question.

Richard: It's a win-win, so do it. And along the same line sealants, they not just for kids. Offer them to adults. You probably won’t find quite as many opportunities to do adult sealants as you would adult fluoride, but do that too. Again, it’s the same presentation. Insurance does not cover it but who wouldn't want that extra step of cavity prevention? I know I certainly would.

Dave: Good stuff, good stuff. So number five. This one is actually kind of a two-partner job because it means a little bit of negotiation So doctor, if you are not a great negotiator pick somebody on your team, maybe you got a business manager who is a great negotiator, maybe somebody that you even know outside the office. We are going to ask you to do two things right now. Renegotiate your credit card fees and renegotiate your lease if you

don't own your building, if you are renting or leasing, renegotiate that. Let's start with credit card fees. We've recently done both of these by the way, and it's incredible how much money we've saved all year long now.

These are two things that most people, most docs, most business people don't really look at on a regular basis. Many of your patients, if not most of your patients, these days are paying by a credit card. And when you accept a credit card, the bank, of course, takes out a small percentage of that but it's HIGHLY competitive, it's negotiable but it's very competitive, there are all kinds of fees out there. The banks are thinking that most people aren't even looking at their fees that they are charging for the credit card process. Figure out what you are getting charged, go to your bank ask them to do the calculations and then ask them for the best possible rate. Guaranteed, almost guaranteed, if you just try to negotiate with them, they will lower the rate. If not they know there are other credit card processing houses or other banks that are doing the same thing that will undercut them, and they want your business, believe me. So it's better for them to negotiate with you and go down a little bit as oppose to have you take all your business away. We just recently did this, within the past four, or five, or six months. We did it, and we are saving a ton of money every single year.

We made a quick phone call to a credit card processing company; that's all we did. So it's something most people do not think of, but please do it. Along the same lines, if you are leasing your space approach your landlord. The way that real estate is these days, there is a lot of... it's

kind of a buyers’ market these days. At least, in our complex, there are a ton of empty units out there. The landlords want to rent they certainly don't want to see you leave, and they want to make sure you are happy. So just go in there, and even if you have several years left in your lease, they are still able to negotiate. Sometimes it may mean slightly extending your lease. By the way, if you do that, make sure not only to get a better rate but make sure that they throw in some new carpet, a nice coat of paint, some wallpaper, or whatever they want to do to fix it up because that's all negotiable, and you can throw it all in there. But it's extremely rare to find a landlord that is not willing to negotiate your lease down, especially if you are giving them, you got to think about what you are giving them in return. It could mean adding a little bit of time on your lease but still you are going to be there anyway probably, and when the lease is up you are going to renew. Lock yourself in now at a lower monthly rate. You'll have it for a longer term, so it just makes so much sense.

Richard: As our business attorney just told us last week, actually he said leases are pretty much a starting point on the part of the landlord. They expect negotiations. There are professional lease negotiators out there to do this all the time. Maybe you can contact one of those as well. Negotiate that sucker.

Dave: Good stuff, good stuff.

Richard: Do you remember the Osmond brothers? I think they were your favorite band. 

Dave: I loved them! 

Richard: I was never really a big fan (laugh). They had that song. One of their famous songs goes (sings) "One bad apple don't spoil the whole bunch of girls........................" Now grammar aside, one bad apple does not spoil the whole bunch. Well, you know what? One bad apple can spoil the whole bunch it's really true. So what are we talking about here? Certain team members might want to cover their ears or cower away. But, if you have a team member in your practice that is a bad apple - somebody that shows up late all the time, complains all the time or worse is like a union organizer in your office, it gets everybody all riled up about stuff.  You give them a million tries to do something right, and they just don't get it. It's time to give that bad apple a job opportunity in someone else's practice, where they may be a better fit. So if you've got the bad apple; the queen bee; the person who just will not corporate or will not listen to advice, screws things up all the time, gets everybody on the staff all agitated, and is not working as part of the team, that person does not belong in your office, so they need to go.

So how does that increase your cash flow? Well, you know what? Sometimes you will find, especially if you have a fairly large staff that when one team member leaves you don't necessarily have to hire a new person. That person was wasting other people's time, they weren't doing their job well, they were expanding their job and the amount of time allotted, and everybody just pitches in a little more and loves their job a little more, and you can get things done and eliminate an entire salary. That's really increasing your cash flow immediately. Or even if you have to hire a new person

that person does a better job, increases production, and makes everybody work better as a team that increases your cash flow as well. So one bad apple can spoil the whole bunch, especially when it comes to cash flow. Have a long talk with that person. Maybe give them one more opportunity but (click) give them a job opportunity elsewhere; your cash flow will increase. I hate to say it because we know that many team members are watching this module, but that's the reality of it.

Dave: The main thing I got out of this, I've got to play at that old 45 of mine to see if…

Richard: The Osmonds on MGM Records. 

Dave: Was it MGM?

Richard: I am pretty sure it's MGM. If anybody wants to look that up, feel free, but I am pretty sure it’s MGM records.

Dave: Good stuff, pretty good stuff.

Richard: If you can name all the Osmond Brothers I would really be concerned.

Dave: I surely could not. 

Richard: It was Marlon, Theo, no that's the Jackson family. (Laughter)

Dave: So the next one is something we are going to help you with on several levels. Of course, one of the main

reasons is that we want to help your cash flow. But it's going to help you on some other levels as well, and that's to pay less money for your lab bill. I”ll tell you something; Rich and I have studied dental labs, and we've worked with dentists with dental labs, and we've worked with lab owners for so many years. Lab bills, the fees that labs charge can run the gamut. Of course, there are inexpensive labs out there, there are very, very high and everything in the middle. I think it's kind of like natural for many of us to think that you are going to get the best quality from these really, really expensive labs and the ones that are inexpensive you are going to get really lousy quality.

But it's not always the case. In fact, often, it's not the case. So if you are paying a lot of money for your lab bill and especially if you're frustrated, and your cases aren't just dropping in perfectly, you may want to consider trying another lab that has the fees won't be nearly as expensive, also maybe the workmanship will be better. You may know this if you've seen this at any of our live seminars or we may have talked about this before. It's so important I am going to talk to you now about it for a couple of seconds. Many years ago, one of the most common questions Rich and I were asked when we would go into a dental office, and even people who email us all the time, they'd say "hey, look I am fed up with my lab, they’re are expensive. My cases aren't really going well. What do you guys recommend?" We had some friends that were lab owners all over the country, and we kind of threw some names across out to people.

Many years ago we kind of made it a mission, and we went to visit many, many dental labs all over North

America to find the best dental labs out there for you, our friends, our followers, and our dental friends to use. We settled on this lab in Pennsylvania. It doesn't really matter where they are or what they do. Of course, these days everybody does mail order, UPS, and FedEx, and all that. Maverick Dental Lab, out of Pennsylvania, are just the best lab we've seen. We know the owners personally. They will get on the phone with you, it's a small enough lab to get the owners on the phone and get that kind of information but large enough to have great, great craftsmanship and great workmanship, they’ve got great equipment there. So we are going to recommend trying Maverick Dental Lab number one: to increase your cash flow because it's not going to cost you as much, and also to get great cases back. They pretty much drop in. Patients will say they look great, you'll be happy with them, and so what we will also do for you is we will work out something with Joe and Larry, the owners of Maverick to give you three free crowns. If you have never used them before, I’ll send you a kit, and you’ll have a certificate in there for three free crowns. Try them out. If you like them, you'll continue with them. iIf you don't like them, you are free to use another lab if you like. But again, it's a great way to get on board with Maverick and increase your cash flow. Not only that, it decreases your frustration with cases not really going well.