Hey friends, it's Sarah Beth Herman. Welcome back to our 86th episode of No Silver Spoons. And today I wanna talk about something that every dental business owner dreams about, at least at some point. And that's scaling, adding that second office, maybe that third, or building out a multi-location group.

If you're anything like the dentists and the doctors that I coach, you've probably thought if I just had more revenue, if I just had more money. We could expand, but here's the truth. Money is rarely the biggest barrier to growth. The biggest barrier is lack of systems. I've watched practices pour money into expansion without setting the right foundation, the right processes, accountability, culture, and all the things that come with that.

And instead of scaling up, they scale the chaos. What you end up with is doctors who are exhausted, associates who are stretched too thin, staff who just doesn't get it, patients who feel the cracks, and two or more offices that are struggling instead of just one. Today's episode at No Silver Spoons is about how to scale smarter.

I'm going to show you why the right processes, the right systems, and the right support will take you further than extra money ever could. I am also going to share how my company dentistry support comes alongside practices to build that backbone so you can actually grow without burning out. Let's start here.

The scalability myth. There is a myth out there that growth equals more locations, more chairs, more staff, and more money. But here's the reality. Growth without systems isn't growth at all. It's just multiplication of problems. Data shows that multi-location practices do have more advantages and major advantages.

Dare I say, they can increase revenue, potential, gain bargaining, leverage with suppliers, and reach more and new patients. But studies also warn that without operational backbone, you're looking at an increase in overhead, fragmented administration and financial vulnerability. And I've seen this in real life.

A dentist adds a second location and suddenly spending more time on payroll, billing, headaches, and insurance confusion, and they're spending more time on all of these things than they are on actual patient care. And that is not scaling, that is suffering. So what does real growth look like? Well, in my opinion, it comes down to three things, standardized processes.

So. Every location needing the same SOPs, the same scheduling, the same billing, the same insurance verifications, the same follow up, the same use of dental software, the same processes when you answer the phone, when you work with patients and treatment planning. When you onboard a new employee, when you train your back office, if every office runs differently, you are going to bleed.

Efficiency and reputation. Now, if you don't focus on your SOPs first, what happens is the common theme throughout multi-locations that exist today, that's just how we do it at this location or this location is different. The demographics are different. We have to do it this way here because this is the only way it works.

It's not the same as that. Location number two is cloud-based systems. If you can't see real time numbers across locations, you're flying blind. Cloud-based systems give you visibility, consistency, and accountability. And number three, high value services. First, before opening a new office, maximize what you already have.

Dr. Scott Loon calls it building a micro practice within your existing walls. Focus on higher value services and streamline costs. Scaling isn't just opening more doors, it's making sure the doors you already have run like a machine. Here's where so many leaders miss it. You can't scale dental practices without scaling culture.

Every new location must carry your DNA. The way patients are greeted, the way phones are answered, the way treatment is explained, the way your team talks to each other, you should have common phrases, common quotes. Terminology that is all consistent across every location. The DEO Dental group found that practices that scale successfully preserve their core values with standardized onboarding and training. This is where dentistry support shines. We don't just set up your billing or eligibility systems.

We help protect your culture across every office. We replicate your best version everywhere. I'm gonna pause here for a moment because I know that what some of you are thinking is, Sarah Beth, this all sounds great, but I don't have the team or the time to build all of that. And that's exactly why this episode is sponsored by Dentistry Support.

We step in as your extended team, your virtual billing, your dental insurance eligibility, your dental phones, and your leadership support, so you can focus on being the doctor and the leader. Think of us like DSO style backbone, but without giving up ownership. If you've been dreaming about opening that second location or you're drowning, just trying to manage one dentistry support is here to give you the processes you need to scale smarter.

Head to dentistry support.com to see how we help practices like yours, build consistency, reduce waste, and grow with confidence. All right, let's get back to the episode. When practices expand without support, the biggest pitfalls are almost always the same. Insurance verification, bottlenecks, manual checks, creating errors and delays.

Administrative overload, so payroll, HR, and billing. All ballooning with each new office and inconsistent onboarding. So one office trains one way another trains differently, and patients feel that inconsistency. According to Air Pay Dental, these silent inefficiencies eat directly into profits. They don't just drain money, they drain morale.

And the fix isn't more money, it's better processes. Dentistry support has proven that when you standardize these workflows and centralize, the heavy lifting growth becomes smooth and sustainable. Let me share a story with you. I worked with a practice that had just opened their second location.

The doctor was excited, but within a few months she was drowning. Billing errors were piling up. And what I mean by that is she had claims aging over 30 days, 60 days, 90 days, and 120 days. Now, some of you might be thinking, well, that's normal in dentistry, but I'm here to tell you that it is not. You should never have claims aging over 30 days unless there is an extenuating circumstance that warrants that aging timeline.

Now, that is very few and far between. And in fact, less than 5% of your claims should exist over 30 days. Aging. There is so much technology in dental billing today that claims are being adjudicated within 24 hours. If that isn't happening, your billing errors will pile up just like hers. She also had insurance claims that are getting denied for random reasons that have no relevancy.

And if you think relevancy exists in credentialing issues. That's not a relevant reason for claims to get denied. Someone should be on top of it. Her staff turnover spiked because the team was overwhelmed. Patients noticed the cracks. Patients were actually commenting on the fact that the staff was changing so frequently.

When we stepped in with dentistry support, we ran an operational audit, a full chart audit, finding out what's going on with patients. How are treatment plans going. We documented processes, centralize their billing to just dentistry support fully offsite, standardize their insurance workflows by creating customized breakdowns of benefits and processes of where this information went.

So when their treatment coordinator was presenting treatment plans, they knew where to find all the information. We trained their team for consistency, understanding what great workflows look like within six months. Their collections increased.

We reduced all of their claims that were over 30 days to be fully cleared out, and we were managing only under 30 days aging. We were collecting in the same month what we were producing. Turnover stabilized because we had outsourced two dentistry support, all of the work that could be done outside of the office.

And now those that were in the office were focused on just the task that they were really strong at. And it wasn't a matter of finding the right person. It was initially creating the processes, the systems that our team members in office needed to align with. It's not the ever evolving or revolving door of finding the perfect person.

It's creating the perfect process and then hiring a person and training them, well, coaching them to expectations. Now, both offices ran like one cohesive business. That doctor went from stressed and reactive to leading with vision again, and that is the power of scaling with systems.

Instead of stress. So what can you do right now even before you think of a second location I have five simple action steps for practice owners. First audit, one process. Start with something like your insurance eligibility verification. Where's the lag? And I don't believe that the solution is an AI that tells you they can do it all.

Because I know firsthand that AI can't do absolutely everything in insurance verification, and the limitations that it has that it's not telling you about are going to create more problems. So figure out what's going on with insurance eligibility verification. Where is the lag? You know, you understand your practice and you hear your patients.

Where is it? Number two, document your SOPs. Write a clear three step process your team can follow. What does your SOPs look like? Where are you missing them? Have you ever created them? How do you create them? Cut duplication. Look at where your team is entering the same data twice and fix it. You don't need it duplicated.

You need one place to go to for all of the information for said topic. Number four, invest in visibility. Move to cloud-based systems so you can see your business in real time. And number five, get support. Don't wait until you're overwhelmed. Partner with dentistry support early. We offer all of the virtual administrative support you could imagine, including training for your team.

We will audit your office and tell you where your breaks are. Help guide, coach, and train your team. Scaling isn't about building bigger, it's about building smarter.

Here is a takeaway that I want you to have today. Dentists don't fail to scale because they aren't good clinicians. They fail because they try to scale chaos. Money helps. It really does. But processes build. And if you want to scale beyond one office, beyond one city. Beyond one vision. You need support Dentistry support was built for that exact reason.

The DSO model has exploded because dentists crave freedom from admin burdens. But you don't have to sell to A DSO to get that freedom. You can scale your practice while keeping ownership, and that's what we help you do. Every episode I bring in a moment called our, that's good moment. It's the information I want you to take with you and I want you to put into action.

Because what is another podcast episode if you aren't learning and putting into action, something to help make you better, grow your business and expand dentistry the way you always dreamed of. So today I want you to remember that scaling isn't about more. It is about better. When you invest in systems, you create the freedom to expand without burning out.

You create consistency for patients, stability for staff, and profitability for yourself. And that's not just growth, that's actual legacy. And to me, that's really good. If you're looking for digital downloads on different ways, you can scale your practice to an eight figure practice. Learn how to write SOPs or simply create what you've always been looking to create.

I have a series of digital downloads at your disposal, that are linked in the show notes of this episode. If you're looking for support for dental billing, dental insurance verification, phone support, credentialing, medical billing for dental, or any other admin that comes along with a dental office, I want you to head to dentistry support.com.

You can click the link to schedule a call with us and spend 15 to 30 minutes learning about how we support your practice. Thank you for joining me today, and if you're ready to scale smarter. Connect with us@dentistrysupport.com, and let's talk about how to make your next office not just possible, but profitable.

I'm Sarah Beth Herman, CEO, and your host of No Silver Spoons. I'll catch you on the next episode.