Practice Accelerator Podcast

During this episode of the Practice Accelerator Podcast, we speak with Tania Semper, native Canadian, owner of Pamper & Splurge, podcaster, branding maven, and sustainability entrepreneur. Tania speaks about the nature of branding and the emotional component behind it. She teaches listeners about the importance of creating alliances with local communities to reflect the values of your neighborhood. Tania also discusses a brand style guide and how it can be used to improve your brand.
Episode Highlights:

• How would you define branding?
• Tania does have a history working in the medical industry.
• Why should people consider branding?
• Effective branding relies heavily on emotion.
• You can only attach branding to ROI with time and consistency.
• Tania mentions the Starbucks logo - originally the logo had the word Starbucks but it has since been removed as the logo has become so recognized worldwide.
• What are some challenges or what are some things you have seen work for dentists to stand out?
• Whether you have a large or small budget, you can make small changes to make your practice feel more welcoming to a diverse group of people and the consistency is a great smile.
• Find a way to have fun in an environment that is usually very intimidating.
• Think about an alliance you can make with another local brand that caters to your neighborhood.
• People have lifestyles and they aren’t going to completely change them, so dentists need to be accepting of that.
• What actions can people take to get help with marketing and branding?
• Talk to different people, find something that is of value to your business, and go from there.
• After branding yourself, you should look for a branding specialist to create a brand style guide.
• A brand style guide can help you expand on the brand without transforming it every single time.
• A brand style guide can be thought of as a compass.
• Tania compares it to going to the hair salon and your hair looking different than expected - sometimes the stylist has a vision that does not align with yours.
• A stylist should guide their customer the whole way until something clicks.
• If a client approached you for a branding exercise, what are some questions that should be asked?
• What can people do if they are already entrenched in something they’ve inherited?
• Tania also mentions scent branding as a way to create emotion within their patients.

3 Key Points:

1. Effective branding relies heavily on emotion.
2. Align your practice with people’s lifestyles without compromising your dental standards.
3. A brand style guide is a compass that can help expand on your brand without completely transforming it.

Tweetable Quotes:

• “Branding can be transferred over to just about any industry.” -Tania Semper
• “Branding, especially effective branding, is all about emotion.” -Tania Semper
• “Find someone, a brand specialist, that is immersed in your brand.” -Tania Semper

Resources Mentioned:

• Tania: Instagram LinkedIn Pamper & Splurge

During this episode of the Practice Accelerator Podcast, we speak with Timothy A Brown, CEO of ROI Corporation, Canada’s leading healthcare practice appraiser and business broker, working with business owners to reveal the fair market value of their business. Timothy A. Brown talks about what goes into valuing a practice, what to look for in reliable brokers, the dos and don’ts of the sale process, and the major moments that occur during the typical dental practice sale.

Episode Highlights:

• What is a business broker and why would a dentist need to hire one when selling their practice?
• Empathy for the buyer can reduce the sale price.
• What are the benefits of a reputable broker?
• What are common dos and don’ts during the sale process?
• Dentists need to make sure they are ready to sell.
• What do the milestones of the sale process look like?
• What goes into valuing a practice?
• Timothy A Brown discusses the key performance metrics he looks out for?
• He discusses non-ground level practices vs. ground-level practices.
• How is COVID-19 impacting the industry?

3 Key Points:

1. Dentists deserve to sell their practice with dignity and profit.
2. Pay for the expertise of the broker to guide the sale of your dental practice efficiently
3. Be weary of the impossible promise of a broker saying they can get you more money. It is misleading because how can they promise to outdo other brokers?

Tweetable Quotes:

• “When you negotiate for yourself, you can accidentally become somewhat empathetic towards the purchaser.” -Timothy A Brown
• “We are the intermediary. We keep everyone at arm’s length. I wouldn’t say we sterilize the process. But we certainly take out some of the risk of becoming intimate or empathetic towards a purchaser.” -Timothy A Brown
• “Empathy will reduce the sale price from the eyes and the mind of a buyer in a large amount of instances.” -Timothy A Brown
• “You as a seller, you can pay the commission to the buyer or you can pay it to the broker. EIther way there is a very high probability you will be paying a reduction in sale price.” -Timothy A Brown
• “Because we work here at ROI Corporation in Canada, we exclusively work and represent for the owner. We only advocate for owners.” -Timothy A Brown

Resources Mentioned:

• Timothy A Brown
• ROI Corporation
• ROI Corporation Linkedin
• ROI Corporation Instagram

During this episode of the Practice Accelerator Podcast, we speak with Dr. Sunny Gill, founder of the City Dental Toronto Group, and founding partner of the HealthOne Medical Group. Dr Gill discusses the changes his practice is planning upon reopening, such as increased PPE and patient screenings. He also emphasises the importance of creating a safe environment in his dental practice and reducing apprehension upon coming to his practice.

Episode Highlights:

• What’s your strategy or approach to re-opening?
• What changes do you think you will implement upon re-opening?
• Dr. Gill talks about how dentists are at an increased risk for contracting Covid-19, and discusses the increased precautionary measures they will be implementing.
• Some changes include increased PPE, plastic shields, face guards, and screening protocols
• Dr. Gill talks about how it can be difficult to know where to draw the line between being cautious and fearful.
• Are any staff hesitant to come back?
• Right now, Dr. Gill is seeing that his team is willing to come back to work, but understands that with 50 employees some things could change as they get closer to actually reopening.
• What is your strategy for PPE?
• What about practices that can’t afford to wait to open?
• If something like this happened again, what would you change?
• What outreach or communications are you sending out to your clienty/patients?
• Is there anything new you are deploying among your staff relating to work-flows or processes?
• It is important that his practice is safe and that his clients and employees feel safe.
• They plan to implement screenings, but do not yet know what that will look like.
• Is there anything else you are doing that you want to share?
• What is your take in terms of the next couple steps?
• Dr. Gill believes there will be a pent up demand for dental services when practices can reopen.
• Dr. Gill wants his processes to be tight but also understands he will need to be flexible to change them as needed.
• What are you doing with your time off?
• Dr. Gill practices dentistry 2 days a week, and works more on growing the business at this point.

3 Key Points:

1. It is important to make sure that both patients and employees feel safe coming to the dental practice.
2. There is a lot of uncertainty surrounding what reopening will look like, and Dr. Gill is waiting to hear more information from the governing bodies.
3. Dentists are very technically trained, but also need to be in tune with their clients.

Tweetable Quotes:

• “One of the keys for us is to make sure that we’re being smart about it, we’re protecting our people, we’re protecting our patients, but we’re not going to get driven into a fear driven situation.” -Dr. Sunny Gill
• “You gotta start thinking about things differently than you did before.” -Dr. Sunny Gill
• “I think that’s going to be the major point for any dental practice to make sure you are relieving your patients of any apprehensions they may have around returning for dental care.” -Dr. Sunny Gill
• “At the end of the day as a dentist practice owner you wear a ton of hats and each one of them is very demanding.” -Dr. Sunny Gill
• “Facts don’t matter as much as stories do. Story tellers really do run the universe, and so your story matters a lot.” -Dr. Sunny Gill

Resources Mentioned:

• Dr. Sunny Gill’s LinkedIn
• HealthOne Medical Group
• City Dental

During this episode of the Practice Accelerator Podcast, we speak with Dr. Sukhman Chauhan. Dr. Chauhan Sukhman talks about working in small town rural dental practices in comparison to big city practices, the nuances to consider when interacting with small communities, and what it took to start her practice.

Episode Highlights:

• What is Dr. Sukhman Chauhan’s background?
• Why did she decide upon a small town practice?
• She talks about commuting by airplane weekly for two years to a small town practice.
• What are some nuances of running a rural practice?
• How did she learn to appreciate interacting with local patients?
• What are the advantages to a rural practice as opposed to a big city practice?
• What are the business pros and cons?
• She shares her experience with the diversity of specialized procedures in small towns.
• Be great with your patiences and be great with your staff.
• She talks about her experience with taking over a practice.
• How did she transition into the new practice and the old system.
• Don’t be afraid to ask questions of your team and learn how to integrate the business with them.

3 Key Points:

1. Commit to trying out a work environment instead of just basing your choice on the experience of others.
2. When you make assumptions, you set yourself up for disappointment and possibly failure.
3. Good communications are especially important in small dental practices because people get to know you.

Tweetable Quotes:

• “The choice of moving to a smaller town did not come right away. I had already moved from India to Canada. So, that was already a big move for me and my family.” -Dr. Sukhman Chauhan
• “I enjoyed the interpersonal relationships with people and other team members of being in a smaller community just forced us to be closer to each other as a team and I kind of liked that office environment.” -Dr. Sukhman Chauhan
• “It’s one thing to listen to people’s experiences and make your decision based on that. But it is very different when you actually do it.” -Dr. Sukhman Chauhan
• (Running a rural dental practice) “You aren’t just a dentist anymore. You are a community person as well. People want to see that aspect of you.” -Dr. Sukhman Chauhan
• “If one person had a bad experience, it could mean that you lose 10 more potentials, right? They are going to talk.” -Dr. Sukhman Chauhan

Resources Mentioned:

• Canoe Dental Website: https://canoedental.ca