Dr. Jason Brown Interview | Gene St. Louis Consulting | San Diego, CA

My name is Jean St. Louis, and I'm here with Dr. Jason Brown. And I wanted to just talk with you, just kind of casual. I know we began you hired my consulting coaching firm a little over a year ago, and I was just curious what kind of. What prompted you to even call to inquire about using a coach?

Well, we moved to this office in 2017, and we were growing a little bit, but we knew we had more potential and we didn't really know where to tap into that. Talked to a few people, and your name popped up a couple of times, and so I gave you a call. It took me a few months to commit, but, yeah, once we brought you in, we been very happy.

Good. What would you say was your apprehension or like. Because I know we did talk for maybe about six months before you actually did start.

What were some of your concerns? And do you think that many dentists that are in the same position you're in probably have those same worries or concerns?

Yeah, I mean, I've been practicing now for over 30 years, and.

I've been to meetings and seminars with other practice management consultants. And.

We kind of got the feeling that we were doing a lot of things that they were already mentioning. And so I didn't hire those people. I had colleagues who had mixed reviews over different management consultants. But I've always thought that I needed help. I just didn't know who to hire. Okay. And then once your name popped up and it came up several times to other people, I decided I better give a call. And again, it's been great.

Okay, good. Good. Did you have any apprehension with, like, how your team would react, or were you fearful about, like, what was going to be introduced and was it in your same philosophy and did you have any apprehension about any of that?

I was a little nervous that. That there would be changes that I didn't want to make.

And.

You come on in.

Hi. Yes. We're working during our doctor's busy day and he has a little break, so we're filming this during that time. So I'm glad to see patients are here.

Great. Yeah. And so I apprehensions were I was concerned that there'd be changes that I didn't want to make. I didn't really. My staff is a great staff, and they tend to, you know, if things are brought up to them in a nice manner, they're pretty accepting. But I was a little nervous that they might not want to do a lot of the things.

But everything that was presented the first week that we were with you was A lot of fun, and I think my staff really appreciate that. They were nervous at first, I could tell, but you helped ease. Put them at ease quite a lot.

Good, good.

If you had to assess in our time that we've worked together, what were some of the systems that you would say either a. You really like, were surprised by or helped you the most, or I think.

The two things that really helped it. I was surprised with the tracking of the patients and not letting people slip through the gaps.

I was a little nervous about how my staff would handle that, but they really took that. You made it really easy for them, and they took that and they actually understand that a lot better than I do now. So they're running with it, taking care of people. So a lot of my patients aren't flying through the cracks, especially the people that really need help. And then the other thing was just scheduling. You helped us adjust my schedule in ways. I didn't think I could pack any more visits into my day, but we really were able to step that up in a way that was maybe a little tough on me at first, but I've been able to just move into it and it's kind of routine for me now.

So we used ideal day scheduling. Right. So we kind of used that because you had two. Two assistants to be able to really work with you and not double book your patients, but more or less dovetail, or some. Some doctors will refer to it as dancing with patients. You. You kind of stagger them.

I call it overlap. So overlapping the appointments a little bit. But dovetailing is a great word.

Yeah, yeah.

And we do have a third assistant now. That makes it go even smoother.

And I think, if I recall, when we first spoke, you were concerned about. You felt that you were primarily the one that was carrying the practice, if you will, and that is that hygiene really wasn't doing much. Did you see any improvement or enhancement with that?

I think maybe that's not the right way to put it because I do think my hygienist do a lot.

Sure, sure.

I didn't think they could do more. And they've. They've really, you know, they have a more orderly appointment schedule now and with checklists, and they're able to handle that really well. So they seem to be able to get a lot more done in the same amount of time. So they're able to be more thorough with their patients.

Right, right.

And, you know, making change is always tough on us, so it was hard on them in the beginning, but they're rolling with it really well now. I think they're on time more often now than they used to be.

Yeah. I think the chart audit, teaching them how to properly chart audit, their charts help them to stay focused with your philosophy, which is doing what's in the best interest of the patient. That's our philosophy. So it kind of gelled well because we weren't ever saying diagnose more, do more, that type of thing, or sell more. It wasn't anything about sales. It was really about, can we be doing these systems within the best interest of the patient? And let's see what the results are.

Yeah. I've never wanted to sell dentistry or sell anything, especially something someone doesn't need, unless it's something cosmetic that they want.

Right.

But yes, by having a better checklist for every appointment and having it more orderly, we're not missing things.

Right, right.

That's very important for the patient.

Yeah, I agree. I think being thorough is what we all strive for. And it's nice when you can be without feeling like you have a lot of pressure.

Correct? Yes.

Yeah.

We're not. We don't feel pressured to do what we're doing.

Good.

So, yeah, it's been nice.

Great, great. And I know at the end of the year, you were doing things extremely well throughout the year and we were able to really, you know, you felt, I think, much better even to be able to share with some of the team, all of the team, from a monetary standpoint, to help them. So that I think, made a difference in their day to day life, don't you?

Yeah. We were able to put in bonuses for them and they really like that. They're not typically people that are motivated to do. Do things, buy money there. All my staff seem to be motivated mostly to take care of their patients correctly. They really love talking with the patients and interacting with them. And even though we're busier now, they seem to have more time to do that. So it's pretty nice.

Yeah. That is cool. That is cool. So what would you say if you were talking with a dentist that was, or if you were able to give advice to a dentist who was maybe contemplating having a coach? If it were me or not our firm.

What would be your advice to them?

I would say do it. Do it yesterday because I probably should have called you several years sooner. And.

That would be the best thing I would say to them.

Yeah. Okay, good. I agree with you. But, you know, it's one thing coming from a coach versus coming from someone that has lived it or experienced it. And Then says, hey, this is really what I wish I could have done differently.

Yeah, you don't know what you don't know until you finally learn it or know it.

So I knew we had potential. I just didn't really know what to do. We were trying things that weren't necessarily working.

I knew that I could alter my skill a bit because I had some free time during the day, but I didn't really know how to do it properly. You really helped us do that. And now my day runs smoothly and I don't have very many gaps. Sitting around twiddling my thumbs, wondering, well, gosh, I could have helped that other person that needed that appointment. But now they have to wait. Now we're able to work them into our schedule.

So, Jason, has there been any benefit that you kind of maybe didn't expect to see out of coaching or consulting that you experienced?

Yeah, I think I touched on it earlier, but one of the things I did not expect was, you know, I thought I would hire you and you would teach me how to direct my staff, what to do every day. And what's really been a really nice bonus is you actually even helped empower them with your systems that they're doing things. They're actually coming and telling me what I need to do, do. And so I thought I would have to take this role of being this, you know, a bigger boss and doing more, but my staff is actually doing more for themselves, and they're taking the initiative on a lot of things. And that was kind of unexpected for me, which has been really nice because I can really focus on doing the dentistry, and they're able to do all the administrative stuff, and it gets done now, so it's nice.

Good, good. Thanks for sharing that. That's great. Anything else you'd like to share?

No, I just think, well, I will. Everything. The whole experience of working with you and your staff has just been positive for me and my staff. We've really enjoyed it. And, you know, we enjoyed it so much that we hired you on for a second year. So, yeah, it was. And you're doing different things for us now than you were last year, and it's still very helpful for us.

Thank you. Thanks. We enjoyed working with you, too. I know Molly and Paige and the consultants we have do a great job, and it's nice that you feel the same way because we enjoyed with you and your staff as well, so thank you.