I was recently looking through one of my client’s average daily production figures and the change we have seen over the last 2 years.

He is the Principal of a small family-owned practice in a rural area, providing a range of private treatment options – a membership plan and fee per item treatment as required. He covers most of the modern dental disciplines apart from placing implants, which is done by a visiting associate.

His average daily production has increased from £1,750 per day to £3,000 per day in the 24 months we have been working together.

That’s an impressive result and begs the question “how?” (p.s. it’s a question I sometimes find myself asking, even though I may have been the catalyst in the process – “which bit of what I said was the bit that worked?” – coaching can be art as well as science).

To seek further explanation we reviewed his appointment book then and now.

Two years ago he was doing £1,750 a day work. Now he’s not doing that work any more, it has been handed over to his associate and therapist, which means that his calendar is free to deliver the £3,000 per day work.

The patients are quite happy with the handover of work, as they have been educated to understand that they are patients of the practice, not of any individual clinician and that everyone in the practice works as a team to provide their care.

The practice marketing is exclusively internal, focusing on word of mouth and digital patient recommendations. The practice excels in the latest techniques to enrol their patients as ambassadors.

He is constantly attending post-graduate courses and has immersed himself in the world of digital workflow.

Having said that, we can attribute his success mostly to what he is NOT doing any more rather than what he IS doing.

He is simply NOT doing the less profitable work – it is being done by the team.

What we say NO to is often more important than what we say YES to.