By Hayley Robins, Senior Accountant at Hive Business

Since we’ve been developing our Hive Intelligence product (a KPI dashboard — watch this space) I’ve been talking to dental teams about their front desk software. There are loads of CRM systems that help you administer patient bookings, track the productivity of your clinicians and more.

But talking to so many teams I realised that a CRM system is only as good as the data you put in it. I’ve seen a snowball effect when it’s used well, with benefits I wouldn’t have expected, most notably transformational team buy-in.

When everyone on your team knows how to use the CRM system and they are using it consistently, something important has happened: they have realised what the point of getting out of bed in the morning is — to make the business improve and thereby increase their own earnings.

Having that kind of mindset entrenched in your team has obvious benefits. Things get done quicker, people are accountable and there’s a shared sense of purpose because of a shared objective: higher productivity.

But this is possible only when you let people see the numbers — as I’ve said before the onus is on you to explain the maths. People want to feel part of something bigger than themselves and they like being creative and spontaneous, traits associated with the top of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.

By sharing the numbers you are decentralising command so your staff can reach their potential and your business can reach operational excellence. It’s no surprise therefore that in the best practices staff aren’t just shown how to use the appointment booking function part of their CRM system, they’re encouraged to spot gaps in productivity and do something about them.

One receptionist I talked to had the typical view of the CRM system as a geeky and mysterious distraction from more important operational issues. I was trying to extract information to see how many days a month a dentist was in surgery, and the receptionist said she had simply blocked out the dentist’s time signature on the CRM system so it looked like he was permanently on holiday.

Then I explained why I wanted the information — the surgery cost £500 a day to open, and I was calculating how often it made a loss. I think it was the first time anyone had bothered explaining the basic maths of the business to the receptionist and she was instinctively, immediately and voluntarily accountable. What kind of manager or business owner wouldn’t be interested in unlocking that kind of potential? To discuss how we can help you get more from your practice, please get in touch on 01872 300232 or email us at hello@hivebusiness.co.uk.