Social Media is an incredible tool to get your message out, but it’s a two way street. If you treat Social Media like a glorified email list or a megaphone, your missing the opportunity to engage with your followers. I’ve seen a few jump on the Social Media bandwagon, start blogging, Twitter and working with Facebook. Only to find out that they are not engaged in the process. It’s just a stream of info out, but replies fall on deaf ears. This approach often works, but a larger opportunity is missed. The opportunity to build relationships in exciting new ways. Just like a hand written Thank You card matters a quick response through Twitter or FB is a powerful tool to build your brand.

A few months ago I wrote about the problems with office to office communication in our field. You can find that post here.  So, with the help of my Periodontist I began using Basecamp from http://www.37signals.com which I wrote about here.

We have been testing this setup for collaboration between my office and our periodontists office for 2 1/2 months. I am hooked, it is by far the simplest way to keep track of cases, create a full and complete diagnosis and begin treatment. The Docs know what is going on, the appropriate team members know what’s going on and the patients know what’s going on. What I really like is that it works just like any regular internet application, no real bells and whistles, just simple communication that everybody is hooked into. It works from Macs, PC’s, iPhones and Blackberry’s. If are interested in how this works or the details, leave a comment below or find me on twitter @dougsandquist.

I’m a dreamer, I love to dream up new approaches and new ideas. Trouble is I’m usually horrible at implementation. I often get tied up in some detail that becomes a stumbling block, and often derails the idea. Like what software to use, or the fact that there isn’t a business checking account, when there isn’t even a plan to generate any income, but there might be!

So this morning, I woke up to Seth Godin’s blog post.

Here’s Seth’s Hierarchy of Success:

Attitude
Approach
Goals
Strategy
Tactics
Execution

I like Seth’s hierarchy here, everything builds up to the actual execution of the idea, not the other way around.

Lesson for me is to focus on the first 4 of this list before I get to 5 & 6.

Be sure to read Seth’s full post: Hierarchy of Success

Lately, I’ve been thinking about how we communicate.

Why do we still use paper?

Why do we print out emails?

I often arrive at my office to a stack of reports that have been nicely printed out for my review. I review them, sometimes they are acted on, often they are shredded at a later date to be determined. Usually I have to check to make sure they are scanned and placed in the correct chart before I even see them.

We are basically paperless in our office meaning we don’t use paper charts, so there is no way to store these pieces of paper.

Wouldn’t it be much more efficient to figure out how to use electronic communication tools to battle the stacks of paper?

Why don’t the Dental Software manufacturers think about this stuff. Why do we still print out digital xrays?

Hmm….

On a recommendation a week or so ago, I picked up a copy of Leadership and Self-Deception
I didn’t really want to start reading it as I didn’t really want to hear about the topic of Self-Deception especially as it revolves around Leadership. Well I started reading and didn’t put it down, and now I am thinking I need to start all over and re-read it… This is a tale written by The Arbinger Institute. It is a story about a fictional company that has a different approach in treating people as who they are, People. Not objects or pawns in a game. They talk about it “being in the box” or “out of the box” if your “in the box” your deceiving yourself that you matter more than others and if your “out of the box” you see others as just people and equal to you. They are not objects or stepping stones to your success, they are people. Obviously, I have lots to learn, but this has definitely got me thinking about all the relationships I have with people, are they people or objects?

Last night I watched 2 mosquitos flit and flutter around the room. Buzzing my ear, landing on the wall, then bouncing to the curtain and the blinds. All the while hoping to secure a nice piece of flesh to latch onto for dinner. Sadly, over the past few days I’ve been the buffet food for a few mosquitos. As I watched them dance around the room I began to think about how often we just flit and flutter through life, bouncing around without a care in the world, waiting for this opportunity or that opportunity.

THWAT!!! One mosquito dead!
THWAT!!!! Two Mosquitos dead!

Just like a mosquito, we never know when a life changing THWAT!!! is around the corner. How many THWATS do we have to witness to really start living each and every day like it’s our last?

So when you purchase a complete CEREC system, the manufacturer’s of the various materials that you can mill, send samples of their materials. So the image above shows 4 different types of blocks, from left to rightt:

1. 3M Paradigm composite block
2. Vita Cad Temp- Temporary Acrylic block for temporary crowns
3. Ivoclar Emax Block- these turn to tooth color after a cycle in a porcelain oven
4. Vita Mark II Block- These are the gold standard for CEREC systems.

So here’s the deal, the new milling system the Sirona MCXL has a new way to connect the block to the miller, it requires a notch at the very bottom of the sprue, if you look at the image above you will see 4 blocks and the three on the right all have a little notch at the top of the sprue and the bottom of the sprue, but the 3M Paradigm block on the right you will only see one notch on the sprue… so this block doesn’t seat all the way to the bottom of the miller in the MCXL. Does 3M have new blocks with this fixed? I have no idea, thankfully I have a regular milling system too that allows me to use these blocks…
I wonder why 3M is clearing inventory on blocks most can’t use in the new system? I would love to know if there’s a way to use these blocks with the MCXL, and if 3M even knows this is a problem. It looks like from the software that I’m able to choose the 3M blocks to mill and the MCXL to mill it. So if everything looks like it should work, why would 3M send me blocks that don’t fit in the new miller?

One of the great tools built into Twitter is Twitter Search. In real time you can search for keywords and find out what people are saying in real time. Goto http://search.twitter.com and enter in the keyword “dentist”. Often times you’ll see a tweets coming from the dentists chair. Or in this case, thanks to @dentalmarketing from the waiting room.

What does this mean for the business of dentistry? As of now, it’s probably not a big deal since the number of twitter users in terms of total population is fairly small, but if you combine Facebook and Twitter you start to get to some fairly high numbers. Just think about how many of your patients show up with either a Blackberry or iPhone? Each of these devices can very easily connect to both Facebook and Twitter and easily share an experience in your chair with their followers in Real Time.  Is your office ready to handle the compliments and complaints? Are you ready to engage patients in Real Time if necessary?

Over the past few months I’ve been thinking about customer service. What do we as consumer’s expect from providers or vendors?

We want somebody to listen to us. We want to be heard!

If customer service is something your looking to improve, start listening!