October 16, 2007

Useful Tools To Help You Run Your Practice

Samera have recently released some useful tools to help you run your practice. This is an excerpt from their newsletter:

As we predicted the mortgage issues from the US have finally come to the UK (a la Northern Rock) which highlights that what goes on over there usually does happen over here, albeit delayed.

The problems confined to Northern Rock, may not just be confined to that bank, and perhaps other "venerable" institutions may have to go cap in hand to the Bank of England if things do go pear shaped. At this moment, no other banks have, but who knows what is in the pipeline?

Alan Greenspan (ex head of the US Federal Reserve) has stated that house prices in the US AND UK are over valued, whilst UK estate agents are saying that the UK housing market is strong and continuing to be robust, despite data showing that there are a few signs of some problems manifesting. Whoever you may believe, I feel this fear in the market will be here for a while, even if nothing major comes of it. The bottom line though is that if fear is in the market, consumers hold back spending, which ultimately affects retail sales, which consequently knocks any want based services (like private cosmetic dentistry?).

Key Steps You Should Take - Free Tools to Download

It is perhaps a little too early to tell what will happen to consumer spending, but we should have a watchful eye. In my opinion in these changing times follow these steps.

1. DO NOT PANIC. If things do slow down, the last thing you should do is panic.

2. But at the same time DO NOT IGNORE the current issues by putting your head in the sand. Take an interest.

3. Get your team together and identify what is working and more importantly what isn't. Make a list of these and work through each issue one at a time.

4. Develop a plan to work with your team to improve patient care and convince customers of taking treatment plans. Identify who needs training to make this area better for you.

5. Run a report from your software system to identify patients who have not followed through with their treatment plans, and follow them up in a polite and courteous manner.

6. Know your numbers. Identify what is not needed to be spent and make a plan of reducing such costs, whilst at the same time, identify what is essential to spend on and still make this happen.

7. Review your financial performance monthly, set targets for you and your team. By sharing your focus in the form of targets will help ensure all individuals focus in the same direction. If you aren't doing this, then you should be!

8. Assess your efficiency and perform some scenario analysis using the FREE tools we are providing to you. These FREE tools can and will help you run a better business. To download these tools please visit www.samera.co.uk/financialtools/

Not only will one of the tools help you assess your performance but it will also help you assess various scenarios occurring in your practice. In addition, the other tools will help you run a better practice on a day to day basis. Take a look you have nothing to lose and everything to gain.