[My First Note] The Story of How I, Who Seriously Considered Closing My Clinic in Its Third Year, Achieved a V-Shaped Recovery by Doubling My Private Practice Rate and Halving Recruitment Costs | Self-Introduction

Nice to meet you, I am Fujisaki, a dentist.

In this note, I will share the real record of how I, who once suffered from "repeated staff turnover," "worsening cash flow," and "low-margin, high-volume practice with a private treatment rate of less than 5%," and seriously considered closing my clinic, managed to rebuild my management and reach the point where I can now immerse myself in the treatments I truly want to provide.

"This isn't how it was supposed to be": The reality at the start of my practice

I opened my clinic several years ago with the passion of a dentist who had honed their skills and wanted to "provide the best treatment for patients."
However, reality was not so sweet.

• Every day from morning until night, I was just churning through insurance-covered treatments.

• Even if I wanted to explain things carefully, I couldn't find the time because I was worried about the patients in the waiting room.

• A sudden resignation letter from a staff member I thought I had finally trained well.

• Cash flow that made my stomach ache every time the end of the month approached.

"What on earth did I become independent for?"
"Wouldn't I have been much happier staying as an employed dentist?"

By the time I reached my third year of practice, I was exhausted both mentally and physically. My ideal image of a clinic had crumbled, and I was in a "hand-to-mouth" state, just buried in daily tasks. There were many nights when the two characters for "closing the clinic" seriously crossed my mind.

The encounter with the "system" that transformed my management

The turning point for me was when I realized the cruel, yet obvious fact that "dental clinic management cannot be sustained by the skills of a craftsman alone."

No matter how much skill you have, it is meaningless if it is not conveyed to the patients.
No matter how much passion you have, the clinic will not function without an environment where staff can stay long-term.

From there, I temporarily put my study of treatment techniques on hold and began to thoroughly learn and practice "systematization of management" and "marketing".

At first, it was a series of failures, but as I gradually built a "system for attracting patients" and "operations that do not depend on specific staff," a dramatic change occurred.

Doubling the private treatment rate, halving recruitment costs. And moving toward "the treatments I want to do"

Once the systematization began to function, the atmosphere of the clinic changed unbelievably.

• Increase in private treatment rate: Even without any pushy sales from our side, the number of patients who naturally chose private treatment increased, and the private treatment rate became more than double what it was before.

• Halving of recruitment costs: Staff who resonate with the clinic's philosophy began to gather, and the turnover rate dropped drastically. Wasted recruitment costs and training efforts were halved.

• Time to spare: And above all, I was freed from daily chores and management anxiety, and I became able to immerse myself in "high-quality treatment that faces each patient individually," which was what I originally wanted to do most.

What I want to share in this note

The reason I started this note is that I want to help doctors who, like I once was, are "confident in their clinical skills but struggling with management."

What I did was by no means magic.
I simply learned the right "systems" and practiced them steadily.

In this note, I will share without reservation the "customer acquisition systems," "team building," and "concrete steps to increase private-pay ratios" that I implemented to crawl out of rock bottom.

Finally

"Specifically, where should I start?"
For doctors who have that question, I have compiled the record of the management reconstruction I implemented into an e-book (Kindle).

The title is
"Doubling Private-Pay Ratio, Halving Recruitment Costs. There Is a Reason Why Staff Don't Quit at Certain Clinics. ~The Story of How a Dental Clinic Director on the Verge of Closing Became Able to Immerse Himself in the Treatments He Wants to Do~"

It is not a fancy book written by a professional consultant, but it contains my real-life failure stories as a private practitioner who tasted rock bottom, and everything I did to get out of it.

"I'm so busy with daily clinical practice that I don't have the time to think about management."
"I'm always worried about staff issues."

I would be happy if this could provide some kind of hint to such doctors.
It is currently available to read for free, so if you are interested, please read it here.

▶︎ My record of management reconstruction (Kindle version) is here
https://ai.fastfunnel.net/p/w5w3ydxqQOy0

I will be sharing my experiences little by little from now on, so thank you for your support.

Makoto Fujisaki