The fourth quarter of 2019 is fast approaching, the question is are you and your dental clinic ready to tackle the busy season ahead?
Summer was a great time to kick back, relax and take some time to yourself. Those of us keeners probably even took some time to reflect on the year and mentally evaluate what is working, what’s not and what still needs to get down this fall to achieve your financial goals.
Here at Shift Accounting, we spent the summer trying to figure out how to better serve our clients. We decided that our project management tools needed an update so we can better respond to our clients and track progress, so we spent the summer finding the best tools. We also added more members to our team, so there are now more awesome people to help us shift our client’s accounting.
But the summer is now over and it’s time to get back to business as usual. So, are you ready?
How to set your clinic up for Q4 success
They say, failing to plan is planning to fail. And the key to having a successful Q4 is good planning. If you’re aiming for success during this busy last quarter, here’s how you can get there:
Realign with your goals
It’s a real challenge to meet and exceed your goals if you don’t touch base with them every once in a while. Many business owners set goals with good intentions but quickly forget about them, then when it comes around to yearly review and evaluation time, they’re disappointed that they were unable to meet them.
The start of Q4 (or, even better, towards the end of Q3) is a great time to sit down with your goals and review them. If you don’t have goals set out for this year (you should!) then it’s time to plan them.
Understand where you are
While you’re touching base with your goals, it’s important to accurately and objectively figure out where you are today. Knowing where you are makes it a lot easier to figure out how you can get to where you need to be to meet your goals.
That means taking the time to evaluate your progress since the beginning of 2019 and plotting where along you are in the route to achieving your goals.
Make a road map
Once you know where you are, you can plan where you need to go. There are three months left in 2019 for you to achieve those goals and creating a goal achievement roadmap can help you get there.
What does that look like? A roadmap to achieve your goals is simply a series of small incremental goals that help you stay on track and work towards achieving your overall goals. This will help you achieve goals faster, which will help you stay motivated and excited about your progress!
Get everyone on board
Your goals won’t come to fruition if your team isn’t on board. Disorganized teams have problems operating on a day-to-day basis, let alone achieving big goals. Once you’ve figured out where you’ve been, where you’re going and how you’re getting there, it’s time to bring the team up to speed.
Call a meeting where you can update your team on what needs to happen in the coming months and ask them for their input on how to achieve your goals more efficiently. Your team is on the frontline, they know what works and what doesn’t. Chances are they have some ideas on how things can operate more smoothly.
Measure as you go
Once you’re back on track, it’s important to measure your progress as you go. Analyzing your data constantly (daily, weekly and monthly) is the only way you can truly measure your performance.
How do you do this? First and foremost, you need to ensure that you’re getting the data that you need to make decisions. With the right data and proper analysis, you can keep your practice on track. You need to be looking at your KPIs from both your practice management software, as well as from your accountant or bookkeeper.
… and correct when you can
If you come across issues along the way when you’re looking at your progress, it’s important to correct on-the-go when you can. Making small fixes and changes while your progress is ongoing can help you avoid making huge fixes later on.
Learn to delegate more
Finally, if you want to have a successful fourth quarter this year, you need to take advantage of delegation. Get things off your plate so you can focus on what you need to do to reach your goals, and trust your capable team to help carry the load.
Delegation not only helps you focus on what you need to be doing, but it also helps inject growth into your team. When people are given responsibilities outside of their comfort zone, they learn and grow!
Need support reaching your goals this year?
While we don’t have a lot of time left, there is enough time to start making your clinic work for you. That means having access to the right data and information to make decisions and knowing whether you’re hitting your targets. Shift Accounting can help with that.
Our Management package is specifically designed to give you the tools that you need to help make your clinic a success. We provide our clients with a comprehensive monthly report that helps them understand where their clinic is in relation to their goals and where they need to be.
If you're interested in finding out how our Management package can help you and your clinic reach your goals and scale your business, book a meeting with us today!
