“Every mistake is an opportunity to learn.”  Let your employee know you appreciate them without any “but” or ‘however”. Otherwise why do they still have a job? Let your employee know that “every mistake is an opportunity to learn.”  Let your employee tell their side of the story. Listen. Do not assume.  For some situations it could be one strike and you're out on the other hand always weigh an employee's value versus non-optimum behavior. In general discipline should be done on a gradient.  Until you are comfortable correcting employees, you can simply pull this policy out with your employee present...

I often talk to clients about the importance of role-playing with your dental staff but that may not be enough. Just because you showed someone how to do it once, doesn’t mean they will continue to follow the procedures you’ve shown them. 

As a consultant one of the first things I do is take on the role of being the patient.

So I leave without paying.

The other way to get your percentage of staff pay into an acceptable range is to increase collections by increasing the percent of cases that are accepted. If your case acceptance percent runs 80% - and what I mean is that 80% of your patients commit to pay for and complete full treatment plans within a reasonable amount of time - then you're in the Michael Jordan league of case presentation. An acceptable amount is 70%. Anything less means your dental practice is hemorrhaging money.  This is an area where I find many doctors misdiagnose their dental office’s problem. Production is...