Finding God in the details

There is an old saying that “the devil is in the details”. I’ve never liked it. Because in a well-run dental business, I think the opposite is true. God is in the details.

The small things matter.

• The way the phone is answered.

• The way a new patient is welcomed.

• The cleanliness of the toilet.

• The fact that somebody remembers a patient’s name.

• The quality of the coffee.

• The tone of a treatment plan.

• The speed of a follow-up.

• The way a team member says goodbye at the end of an appointment.

None of these things, taken individually, will transform your business. But put them all together, consistently, and they become your brand. And that matters enormously in the owner-managed dental practice. Because you are not going to beat the large groups and corporates by becoming more corporate than they are. You are going to win by being more human.

• More personal.

• More attentive.

• More consistent.

• More hospitable.

That is where the independent practice has an extraordinary advantage. The patient does not experience your strategy document, your EBITDA target or your latest management meeting.

They experience moments of truth:

• They experience the website.

• The first phone call.

• The welcome at reception.

• The conversation with the nurse.

• The consultation.

• The treatment coordinator.

• The treatment plan.

• The journey through treatment.

• The final goodbye.

Every one of those moments either builds trust or chips away at it. That is why systems matter.

Extreme Business has always been about making sure that excellence is not dependent on somebody “having a good day”. The right systems create consistency.

• The morning huddle means the team knows what is happening today.

• The patient journey means nobody falls through a crack.

• The CRM means treatment plans are followed up.

• The financial systems mean we understand whether the business is actually making money.

• The people systems mean everyone understands the standards expected of them.

Good systems protect the details. And good people bring those details to life.

This is not about perfectionism. It is certainly not about the owner wandering around the building checking whether the teaspoons are pointing in the same direction. Micromanagement is not leadership.

The objective is to create a culture in which everybody notices. Everybody cares. Everybody understands that the seemingly small things are often the things patients remember most.

One of the great dangers in dentistry is that we become so focused on clinical excellence that we forget the rest of the experience. Of course the dentistry has to be excellent. That is the entry ticket. But patients are rarely qualified to judge the technical standard of your crown margin. They are very well qualified to judge whether you ran 25 minutes late without explanation.

• Whether they were listened to.

• Whether somebody smiled.

• Whether the treatment plan arrived when you said it would.

• Whether they felt cared for.

And in an increasingly automated, digitised and AI-driven world, I believe those human details are going to become even more valuable. Technology should take away administration. Systems should take away chaos. AI should take away repetitive work.

And all of that should give us more time to be human.

So take a walk through your business today.

Not as the owner.

As a patient.

Look at the details.

Listen to the phone.

Sit in reception.

Visit the toilet.

Read your emails.

Look at your treatment plans.

Watch the handovers.

Ask yourself one simple question:

“Does this feel like we care?”

Because when the answer is yes, consistently and in all the small places, you have created something very difficult for a competitor to copy.

God is in the details.