The next big thing for forward-thinking dentists

By Angus Pryor, MBA (Marketing)

It’s said that nothing is as certain as death and taxes, but I’d like to add another item to that list: change.

With change comes threats but also opportunities:

• Change is a threat for dentists who refuse to adapt - they risk being left behind; and

• Change is an opportunity for forwardthinking dentists who embrace the benefits of what’s new!

In this article, with this in mind, we’ll explore the next big thing for forward-thinking dentists.

Global changes impacting dentistry

One of the big changes we’ve seen in dentistry in recent times is the large range of additional services available to patients. In years gone by, there were very few services that dentists could provide: check-ups, cleans, fillings, crown and bridge work, dentures, extractions and occasionally, traditional braces.

Better technology has expanded the service offerings to many more treatments. But there’s been another change: the source countries of dental equipment.

Over the past few decades, dental equipment has changed from largely being:

• Designed and manufactured in the western world, to

• Designed in the west and manufactured in the east, to

• Designed and manufactured in the east.

As dental manufacturers seek to compete with higher quality products at a lower price, these kind of changes are inevitable - like it or not.

With these changes of design and manufacturing comes changes in perceptions.

After the second world war, items manufactured in Japan were considered cheap and nasty – whereas now they’re considered high quality.

In 2022, Toyota (a Japanese brand) was the biggest car seller in Australia and enjoys a reputation for good quality.

Similarly, there’s been a change in perception about the quality of items manufactured in China. Once they were considered to be consistently poor quality, but now, high quality brands such as Adidas, Apple, Calvin Klein, Louis Vuitton and Mercedes Benz are all produced in China.

We’ve moved from doubting the quality of everything made in China to people almost asking “you’re NOT manufacturing in China?”

The next big thing

In dentistry, a high portion of dental goods are manufactured outside Australia but until now, dental services were largely provided from within Australia.

In the cover photo for this article is me and a group of new employees in the Philippines. I recently spent an extended period recruiting and training a team to support Australian dental practices.

I was at a facility in a town called Dumaguete (pop: 130,000) and was frankly amazed at the businesses represented there. Town planners, real estate agents, law firms and accountants to name a few.

A decade ago, this would have been impossible due to technological limitations. These limitations no longer exist.

12 months ago, a friend of mine started a business providing admin and phone services for Australian doctors from the Philippines. In just 12 months, this business went from ONE doctor using these outsourced services to dozens and dozens doing so.

This month I launched the same product for dentists. Here are the benefits:

• Price - getting a quality employee in the Philippines is around 30-40% of the cost of an Australian equivalent;

• High value work - many practices are simply too busy to mine the gold in their practice such as incomplete treatment plans and recalls/reactivations. Outsourced staff can focus on these tasks without interruption;

• Work quality - outsourcing important (but not urgent) work, frees up Australian team members to do higher quality work such as giving patients a better, more focused, experience when they visit the practice; and

• Time zone - for most of Australia, most of the time, the Philippines is only two hours behind. This means that you can have your team working at a time that suits you - they’re not having to get up early/stay up late.

With proper training and quality assurance systems, it’s possible to deliver a service that is a similar quality to the best such services delivered in Australia at a fraction of the price.

For practices implementing this approach, the winner is actually the patient because they get a more responsive outsourced service and a more personal experience inside the practice.

For Australian reception staff, they are often required to juggle the phone and patients and ordering and recalls and billing and social media, etc. Yet, the tasks that require less skills can be outsourced allowing the in-practice team to provide a higher quality experience for patients in the practice.

Many big businesses in Australia are going this way, recognising that in a multicultural country like Australia, consumers are happy enough to get served quickly by someone, even if they have a bit of an accent.

Hurdles to making this work

Outsourcing such services to the Philippines, or elsewhere, is not without its challenges. Outsourced staff need to be selected for their relatively “neutral” accents and trained how to talk to Australians.

There are also additional hurdles in achieving appropriate medico legal protection for the practice, though this can be overcome by appropriate insurance plus suitable checks and balances from management.

Quality control and ongoing training are important too.

Similarly, appropriate technology is required to access practice management systems, record patient information accurately and provide an overall high-quality patient experience.

On the other hand, there are a few unexpected benefits of outsourcing to the Philippines. The one that probably surprised me the most is the level of education such outsourced staff come with.

Our initial trainees hold degrees in nursing, communication and teaching.

So why do they apply?

For them, working in an outsourced position provides better pay and conditions than in their chosen field, based on their qualifications.

Strange but true.

Secondly, experience has shown that Filipino employees tend to stay in their jobs longer, rather than the “grasshopper” approach that is all too common among some Australian employees.

Conclusion

In an increasingly global economy, it’s only a matter of time until much admin/phone support will be provided to Australian clients from outside Australia. We barely bat an eyelid at “manufactured in China” now. Soon, “support from the Philippines” will be viewed the same way.

About the author

Multi-award-winning Practice Growth Specialist, Angus Pryor, is an author, marketer and international speaker. He is the number one Google-ranked dental marketer in Australia. In 2023, Angus’ team at Dental Marketing Solutions received the Australian Dental Industry Associations’ marketing award. More details are at www.DentalMarketingSolutions.com.au. To find out how to unlock the gold in your practice from incomplete treatment plans, reactivations and more (and to access free sources), visit www.DentalStars.com.au.