Gary Kadi

It Takes A Team To Close A Case

noreply@blogger.com (Gary Kadi) — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 21:32:00 +0000

Hey all!

Well, I know some of you have seen me speak live, and I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say that it is truly an event one should not miss! It's not only a blast--something I know you've never seen before. But, the results teams are getting from simply hearing me speak (and get CE credits at Invisalign events) is in and of itself fairly profound! Here are a brief couple of results that teams are having after my It Takes A Team events around North America:

~Dr. King from Woodbridge, VA went from 3 Invisalign cases in Q3 to 10 cases in Q4 after coming to my event!

~Dr. Thomure in St. Louis, MO had just 6 new Invisalign cases in the first half of 2008 and after the event it went up to 21 cases in the second half of the year!!

Teams are also sending in emails saying how they are so inspired and motivated that they are using my book Million Dollar Dentistry during their morning huddles and that they now see each patient as a "new" patient and it is making a huge difference for their team and practice.

And then there are the teams that have taken the leap and worked closely with me and my team--producing results in their practices, like one that went from doing $50,000 a month, to doing over $5 Million a year! Pretty great, huh?!

So when am I going to be in a city near you? Click here to find out! Can't wait to meet you!

What's keeping you from your dream?

noreply@blogger.com (Gary Kadi) — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 23:01:00 +0000

Consider that we all have an imaginary container that we built in our minds that limits the capacity of all the things we can have in practice and in life. Let me share with you a great visual for you so you can begin to see it more clearly.
Baby elephants are contained by a stake driven into the ground with a rope attached to one foot. When the baby elephant attempts to get away, that rope stretches and limits how far it can go from that stake. When the elephant grows older, larger and stronger, that same rope is still placed around its foot, however, the stake has been removed and the elephant remains contained and does not run. It doesn’t, because the moment it feels the rope on its foot it stops. It “thinks” it cannot go any further. Consider we, as humans, have a similar mechanism. When we reach a level that we invented in our minds as the limit, from the past, we stop doing the things that will naturally allow us to go to the next level. Consider that our “comfort zone” only allows us to go 20% above or below our imaginary baseline in all areas of life – income, career satisfaction, fun, being connected, success, weight, freedom, etc. Take a look around at the people you associate with. Your income, net worth, interest, and even physical weight is 20% up or down give or take a pound, a dollar or two of theirs.

What do you do, now, knowing that information? Well....take the lid off the container you have self-built around yourself and your future...then see what's possible and start following your dreams!

Five Steps to Building an Interdependent Team

noreply@blogger.com (Gary Kadi) — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 22:31:00 +0000

I'll get right to it:
1. Know what kind of game you are playing and if you’re all playing the SAME game.
Get your team on the same page. If the game you were playing was basketball, it wouldn't work and you wouldn't win if 3 of your teammates thought the game was tennis, football, and volleyball. Find out where everyone is at and bring everyone up to speed.
2. Move from activity-based thinking to outcome-based thinking.
It’s not “do more” equals “achieve more”. The equation is “do less” equals “achieve more” by taking actions that directly correspond with the outcome you are out to produce. My team and I call this the DPO (Daily Primary Outcome) for each position, team member, and the practice as a whole.
3. Shift from “surviving” to “thriving.”
In order for your practice, team, and you to thrive, you have to do what I call, Raise Your HDL™. In life you don’t get what you deserve. You get what you THINK you deserve. Nothing more. Nothing less. Consider that we all have an imaginary container that we have built in our minds that limits the capacity of all the things we can have in practice and in life. Imagine how removing that limit on what’s possible for you, your team, and your practice could impact the BIG game you are all playing.
4. Communicate only with facts and outcomes.
I like to call this Managing By Agreement, or MBA. What has worked for my clients and for my own team is to only deal in facts and outcomes. This doesn’t mean that all deadlines will be met. What it does mean is that when there is a broken or missing agreement, the parties involved only speak about those agreements, not how they feel about the agreement, or the drama that could have been caused from it, but simply on the facts.
5. Acknowledge being invisible.
It’s having your DPOs being fulfilled time and time again, with no one blaming another for any time they aren’t, your team enjoying being at work, your patients receiving world-class customer service, your game being won, and your team working like the well-oiled machine you’ve created by following these five steps.

Thanks for playing!!

MBA

noreply@blogger.com (Gary Kadi) — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 21:58:00 +0000

No...not Master of Business Administration...although it kinda fits. What I'm talking about is Manage By Agreement. It's a simple fact that most of the time while we are working we are dealing with people's feelings and emotions about everything. And, these feelings and emotions get pretty intense when it's about a broken deadline or misunderstanding.

So, my simple to use and ultra-stressfree tip is to only Manage By Agreement. When you are only dealing with what was promised, what was broken--all the FACTS, there isn't much to get emotional about.

It's another way to say "integrity". Doing what you said you would do, by when you said you would do it...

Ahhh...imagine the simplicity of it all!!

You're not listening to me...

noreply@blogger.com (Gary Kadi) — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 21:33:00 +0000

Have you ever felt that way? That people were just not listening to you, always cutting you off mid-sentence, and that they even started treating you differently at some point in time? What I'm about to say is really geared towards you, not them, unless "them" are reading this, too. What's going on is a filter. A filter is a pre-concieved idea or notion about how something is or how a person is or is going to be. Maybe their filter for you is that you're righteous, that you don't listen, or that you don't care.

For example, when my wife was pregnant, every woman I saw was pregnant. It was the filter I had for women at the time. They stood out like a sore thumb. What I'm getting at is that you have a filter for everyone and everything...it's not bad...we all have filters, but distinguishing your filters will have you able to either keep it or let it go and create a new, empowering one.

Also, guess what, maybe you've been wanting more patients, well, from now on all your current patients are new patients! You have had a filter for patients, each and every one of them, and you now have the power and choice to create a filter that maybe has them paying up front, always happy to be there...always on time, even!

Well, keep looking for where you have filters and how altering them will enhance your life and theirs!

What is Leadership anyways?

noreply@blogger.com (Gary Kadi) — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 21:39:00 +0000

It's a time of change...and I think it is the perfect time to look at the word "Leadership." The word itself has a whole world to it. When you hear "Leadership" you could interpret that in many ways. Dictator, manipulator, one who inspires, graceful, governor, etc...what there is to get is that Leadership is many things, but I want you to look at it with a more defined scope. Leadership, for me, is based on two "I's," Inspire and Influence.

In truth, everyone on your team, and in your life, is a leader. Leaders among Leaders! It's important to know that everyone in your office is a leader and that each has their own "leadership personality." It's also very important that everyone on the team is on the same page and directed toward the same goal. And, what there is to look at is how you, as a Leader, can Inspire and Influence anyone and everyone you come across!

I just got done having my bi-weekly conference call with my spectacular "It Takes A Team To Close A Case" group and we had a great time discussing this conversation about Leadership, how to be a Leader, and what it takes as a team to achieve the goal.

I'll be expanding on this topic for the next month, so keep reading and please send me some comments...I want to know what you are getting out of my blogs or maybe what you want to hear about! Thanks!

Raise Your HDL: Healthy Deserve Level

noreply@blogger.com (Gary Kadi) — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 20:53:00 +0000

My new book is finally here! This is my sequel to Million Dollar Dentistry...and I know that it will exceed your expectations! In life you don't get what you deserve. You get what you THINK you deserve. Nothing more. Nothing less. This is the golden nugget that many of the people I have worked with and spoken to have been looking for! Raise Your HDL will enhance your life--the life you crave but up until now have been unable to grasp with both of your hands! Click here to purchase now! Enjoy!

ANTs---Automatic Negative Thoughts

noreply@blogger.com (Gary Kadi) — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 19:04:00 +0000

When someone asks you, "What's great in your life?" there is a knee-jerk reaction that happens in our brains that says all the things in our life that are NOT great. Just click on the title of this post (a new window will open from "Box") press play, and listen--this audio clip is about ANTs and how they affect us in life--from my Boston event! Enjoy!

Fear-based driven performance vs. Confidence-based driven performance

noreply@blogger.com (Gary Kadi) — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 21:11:00 +0000

Clearly these are two very different approaches to how to not only run your practice, but also on how to react in life to any circumstance that heads your way.

It’s rather easy to get bogged down in the swamp of “should haves” and “if onlys” in life. “If only I wouldn’t have bought ‘X’,” or “I should have handled ‘Y’ better,” or “If only I had more time, money, love, etc.” What’s certain in life is that it’s going to keep happening--circumstances, events, emotions, and people…it’s just going to continue on and on. But what you have power over is how you react to life and all that it entails.

Fear-based driven performance will have many in these economic climates scurrying to survive. They will react to situations with anger, frustration, terror, sadness, and resignation that they are doomed to not succeed and live their dreams. This will lead to driving family, employees, and patients away—I know that “away” is not where they want them to go, really—and so do you.

Others, when operating from Confidence-based driven performance, will succeed in any given situation because they know, because of a high deserve level and commitment to success, that life is 10% of what happens, and 90% of how they react to it. These people will see the opportunity in every challenge and they will work as a team, both in the practice and at home, on producing the outcome that they desire most, that benefits all involved.

One isn’t better than the other—that’s simply a matter of opinion…do you want alienation or accomplishment? Sinking or succeeding? Fear or fun?

Your outlook on performance is going to be the key to getting whatever it is that you want in 2009 and on!

Leverage your assets right now

noreply@blogger.com (Gary Kadi) — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 16:53:00 +0000

You have lots of assets at your fingertips that can really be leveraged right now and position you for profit optimization. One of the assets I'm going to highlight here is to hire, if you don't currently have one, a dedicated treatment coordinator. This person, your treatment coordinator (tc from here on out), will be a key agent in closing cases and in patients accepting the full treatment presented. The tc's expertise comes in after the hygienist has educated the patient, the doctor has recommended and requested certain treatment be done to take care of whatever problems the patient may be having or have in the future, and now the patient is in the tc's dedicated space to have a very important conversation. This conversation the tc has with the patient is to gain agreement on moving forward with the treatment presented and on payment.

The tc is so valuable here...this is where you can drastically reduce broken and cancelled appointments...and even reduce any patient complaints you may have about your work if you have any. The patient will have a full understanding about what will happen in their treatment plan, why it should be done, and they will leave with ease about how it will be paid for...since the tc worked hand in hand in having it be treatment that will work with the patient's lifestyle! Perhaps the tc assisted them with third-party financing and made it work in a payment scale that is affordable to the patient, or they received payment in full from the patient...either way, the patient is set up, the team is set up, and the doctor is set up...TRIPLE WIN!

A treatment coordinator is a truly valuable and usable asset, right now, that will help you close cases and increase profitability...let me know how it goes and what you think!!

How do I deal with the recession?

noreply@blogger.com (Gary Kadi) — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 19:42:00 +0000

Recession...wow, I thought the only recession I might be hearing about or talking about is my hair-line recession, and to be honest, it's the only one I'm really all that interested in. However, there is a monetary recession happening these days and how we can deal with that here in the US is by strengthening our Hygiene Department in patient education, basic steps, and processes.

It's the holiday season and consumer confidence is down. They're going to buy only one of three things this year versus last year when they bought all three. The three things to focus on have to do with:

1. Having to do with their home.
2. Having to do with their travel.
3. having to do with their personal self.

The one they choose is going to be the one that will make them feel the best in the face of all the negativity, fear, and uncertainty. Let's educate them and have them choose Invisalign. Paint a picture for them (figuratively--not literally) letting them know how great they're going to feel about themselves and how they will be able to transform a room with one radiant smile. They won't know what happened--everything will just look good, feel good, and fresh. This will truly provide something happy and wonderful for them in spite of the hardship that is at hand and will get them in action on creating more happiness and beauty in their life. It all starts with a little patient education on what's possible...right now, not later.

And in case you were wondering, I have a very full head of hair...

Happy Belated Thanksgiving

noreply@blogger.com (Gary Kadi) — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 17:14:00 +0000

Hello loyal readers!

Well, it's been a week since Thanksgiving and I'm still feeling the need for a little more pumpkin pie...I hope I'm not the only one! Thanksgiving is a holiday that signifies giving thanks and gratitude. The only downfall in that is that we are dedicating one specific day a year to do this really profound and personal growth exercise of gratitude.

I recently read something that spoke about gratitude. And what it said was, "No matter who you are or where you are, you can change your life with gratitude, but you must feel it with your whole heart and radiate it from every cell. Gratitude is not a mental exercise, and in fact, if you simply use your mind for gratitude it will have little or no power. True gratitude comes from your heart! You must think gratitude through your heart, speak gratitude through your heart, and feel it intensely in your heart."

If you're anything like myself, I've never thought of gratitude in this way and the bountiful joy that it brings into one's life. Imagine what it would be like to work with patients and your team this way...and how your family will benefit from this simple, yet not utilized, act.

Here's my suggestion...treat every day like it's Thanksgiving...feel gratitude through out your entire being...but maybe without so much pie...it's up to you.

I am thankful for you and the difference you make in the world!

Your Money Tree

noreply@blogger.com (Gary Kadi) — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 23:43:00 +0000

Hey you!

Ever hear the old saying, "Money doesn't grow on trees?" Well, I've heard it a time or two, and to be honest it's a saying that often perplexed me given that money is made of paper...and paper is produced from trees...simple, no? Ok, so that was in my youth that it was worthy of an argument and I grew out of it...now, however, it's almost like the underlying national theme on money--that there is no money. Geez...I guess I'll miss the trees...

"It's an economic downturn very similar to the Great Depression." At least that is what we're hearing broadcast on every news channel, every radio station, every newspaper, virtually every means of communication is saturated with warnings and "bad" news about where the nations sits financially and what you should or should not be doing with your money. I'm not saying to ignore what's going on. I'm definitely not saying that it is "wrong" or "misguided."

What I will say is that there is no time like the present to capitalize on doing what you love to do--and if you're reading this, chances are that what you love to do is help people because you love healthy smiles and healthy lives! Create your own wealth, your very own Money Tree, right now and sail into 2009 with clarity on what matters most to you! You can do it...and if you have any questions on how...you know how to reach me or my team...we'd like nothing more than to see you win in everything you do! Oh...and paper is still made from trees...

The Dental Economy

noreply@blogger.com (Gary Kadi) — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 21:05:00 +0000

Here is a blurb from an article I just wrote:

First things first, let's check in with your mindset. Do NOT "hop on the band-wagon" and use the economy challenges as the justification that your practice doesn't work. Do NOT go to your colleagues to get agreement or sympathy that there is a downturn in your business. General practitioners participate in the "dental economy." This is different from the US economy. While it is important to pay close attention to outside factors affecting those who buy your services, the important thing to note is that the dental entrepreneur's job is to swiftly maneuver around or through circumstances. The crisis surrounding the US economy is important, but it is just another circumstance to manage. It is actually easier to build a business in downturns. If you Google "business starts in 1930" you will see many businesses that started then and have been successful ever since.

Being agile and willing to successfully adapt to all circumstances is a dental entrepreneur's job. Thriving, not merely surviving, is the mindset that has doctors build their practices in the face of any circumstance, while others are left to think about shrinking. There are less people thinking about expanding and it allows you to attract those that are ready and can buy. Buying anything is rooted in emotion and if you and your team know how to speak directly to that root emotion, in any situation your patient will find the money to get what they want done.

Yeah...You pretty much ROCK!

Losing my Bloginity

noreply@blogger.com (Gary Kadi) — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 15:32:00 +0000

AHHH! As I type the first words of my first blog both fear and excitement rise to the surface. I have been putting this moment off. Mostly because of the fear part. Well, all because of the fear part. The thought of doing something brand new brings up uncertainty. I know everything happens for a reason and this on is to remind myself that when we introduce our Radical Common Sense systems and process in dental offices our client family goes through the similar feelings. Compassion is the lesson here. Not only for ourselves but for others.

From your first implant to your first time presenting our "pay today courtesy" new, first time experiences can be tough.

But now that I have confronted the fear of my first blog post, I'm feelin' lots lighter and now that the fear is gone, excitement has set in.

Can't wait to think of some great stuff to share with you.

Off to Kansas City to deliver "It Takes a Team to Close a Case."

Content Coming Soon

noreply@blogger.com (Gary Kadi) — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 16:45:00 +0000