Jeremiah 29:11

Hello depression, welcome back.

I swear I wasn't like this before starting my business 3 1/2 years ago, and I have never been diagnosed so I don't mean to offend anyone with diagnosed depression ("what's the deal with cancer").

However, the voices are back.

Not the fun happy sarcastic voices.

The "YOU SUCK" voices.

Ever get those? Ever have one of those weeks where you are just worn down? One of those weeks where you are a walking panic attack. An actor who walks around the office smiling but has to hurry back to the privacy of my private office before the true emotions come through. A week where you know you have snapped at your kids and wife when they didn't deserve it. A week where you had unfounded, random fears of being diagnosed with cancer or having a family member die (yeah, I have those voices a lot). Then to cap it all off you hit a weekend where instead of relaxing and recharging you spend 6 hours rebuilding a hard drive in one of your operatory computers (can't wait to get that bill) and then spend Saturday seeing a patient in severe post-frenectomy/extraction pain who can't wear his new denture because of the inflammation.

I don't even know where to begin so if this is stream-of-consciousness and you don't like it - fine, skip to Wednesday. I'm lying on the couch now, ready for the healing to begin.

November was one of the worst collections months in the brief history of this office. It was a month where I am still juggling bills so that everything clears on time. It was a month where you realize that there is no such thing as a "profit margin" in a dental practice with the start-up costs we have. It was one of those months where I felt like Bernie Madoff - is this really a successful business or simply a fancy maxillo-mandibular-ponzi scheme.

It was one of those months where I had to expend all my energy juggling bills and fighting the pressure to "diagnose to help the bottom line". I don't know the technical term, but I don't think non-dentists can appreciate that pressure. Is it only me?? I am extremely conservative on my diagnosis. If a practice manager came in I'm sure the 1st thing they would say is to cut 2 staff members and the 2nd thing they would say is to start diagnosing more crowns. BUT I WILL NOT COMPROMISE, I WILL NOT SETTLE, I WILL NOT STOP FIGHTING. I hate the pressure of having a stack of bills on my desk and still diagnosing as if I am Bill Gates. I don't like leaving an operatory frustrated because the tooth isn't cracked a little more to justify a crown.

It is the holidays, I want to be generous and happy. I love giving things to people - that is my gift and my curse (thanks granddad). I employ a single mom, a young woman putting herself through college, and 2 new moms (one of whom's husband recently lost his job). I have a responsibility to these people. They have each worked so hard this year, and we are growing but there is just nothing extra. How do you do Christmas bonuses?? I am not going to be able to do much and that just bugs me.

There is an analogy that I use all the time in situations like this. If you enter a strange room and the second after you enter the room all the lights go out, if you continue moving across the room your mind will retain the brief image of the furniture in the room and you can navigate across the room without hitting anything. If, however, you stop, you lose that image and it is more difficult to make it across the room. I can self-diagnose and give myself that advice. It seems dark now but remember your vision, just keep moving forward, stay the course. I know we are doing fine (Mr. Banker if you are reading this - believe me, we are doing fine - promise). That said, it is a hell of a lot easier to cross the room with a freaking light on.

Well, I can't put it off any longer. I have to go through the stack of mail on my desk and start figuring out what bills to pay. Time to put on the iTunes and just do it. Hopefully next week will bring back some of the mania that everyone enjoys so much more.

Have a good week,

ric

Rolexes

Hey all,

I haven't done a thing this week. I have had 3 flag football games this week. I haven't even watched TV. I am too tired to read, so nothing.
All my flag football teams are getting rolled on. The first grade boys are kind of having a hard time focusing (imagine that). We have practice one day, and all we do at practice is this ONE play. Then the very next day, at the game, we go to run this play and half the kids are looking up in the sky doing pirouettes and the other half has no idea where to go. One kid starting running the wrong way with the ball.
My fifth grade team is going pretty good. I think most of the kids are having a good time. We played an undefeated team yesterday, and I think we held our own pretty good. We were down 18-7 at halftime and on the last play before halftime it was our guy running all by himself and somehow got caught from behind. That was a game changer. We lost 38-7, but it was much closer. They scored two quick ones at the end.

Well the other coach got the "why isn't my kid playing" speech from one of the parents this week. It is so difficult coaching. You have to try to manage the game. You try to put kids in a position in which they can succeed. You tell everyone their pass patterns, and at the end of the game you get three kids coming up to you and telling you they didn't catch the ball today.

We played a team last week that practically gave it to the same kid almost every play. It's tough... and you are wondering why I can't sleep.

I am not going to tell you that I am leaving today to HOT-LANTA to watch the team I am not talking about in the SEC Championship game. And that is all I am not going to say about that.

Okay,

I am a watch guy. I look at everyone's watches. I don't know what is about watches. I know some people are shoe people. My wife, she is a ring person.

Are we all like this in some way? Is there something you check out on people? Shirts, necklaces...tell me your thing, it's anonymous.

Anyway, I look at everyone's watches, and really I don't know much about watches. I recognize a nice watch, but to be honest with you I wouldn't know if it was $15 or $15,000.

Okay, I will be honest with you, I look for Rolexes. I don't know why. I heard one time by someone, "They make a statement," and I think this is true for me. For me, I think watches tell me volumes about people. I just know they are easy to spot, at least for me.

That being said, I am not much of a watch guy myself. But I have been. My father had a Rolex, when I was in high school, that I have always liked. So when I got out of dental school I wanted a nice watch. I was hoping he would give it to me, but that was not going to happen.

But one Christmas, my wife bought the watch from my father and gave it to me. I think I was 31 years old. I was thrilled.

About a month after the gift giving I went to change the date and the stem pulled right out of the thing-a-ma-jig that turns the hands.

Usually if you have a watch that breaks you throw it away. This watch is too expensive to just throw away. So I had to find a jeweler that is a Rolex certified guy. Well you know what I found out about Rolexes...they have to be serviced.

WHAT?!!

Yeah, they recommend that every year you get the watch tuned-up. So 10 years ago I paid my father $1000 for a 15-year-old watch. Then I had to have the thing serviced and put the stem back in the thing-a-ma-jig for the low low price of $650.

Isn't it great to have a Rolex?

I told you they make a statement.

So after a couple of years of having this thing (no, I never did service it again. Did I ever tell you about how cheap I am?) I didn't like the watch.

No, I said that wrong. I loved the watch. I didn't like who I was when I was wearing it. It made me feel like I was somebody.

So when I went out I would want people to see it. I found myself pulling up my sleeve so people could see it. "Does anyone need to know what time it is? No, well let me tell you anyway." I wanted for people to see the statement that I was trying to YELL.

When I am at work it was the total opposite. I didn't really want people to see it. I would be bringing someone up to the front, while saying goodbye and filling out the router (this is the form that I use to tell my front desk personnel how much the procedure is going to cost) and I know the person is really going to struggle to pay my bill. I know they have a bunch of kids that come here and they are just scrapping by to be able to afford my dentistry. Meanwhile, I am rolling around in my phat watch.

So there is a lot going on in my head when I wear this stupid watch.

First and foremost, the money doesn't make any sense. I mean who in their right mind is going to have a watch serviced for $400. I could buy 8 Timex running watches for the same price as the SERVICE on this watch. It made me feel more special than I deserve. I mean, if I need a watch to fit in or feel a certain way, well...I know, I totally need therapy.

And I didn't want my patients to feel like they are paying my high prices just to fund my luxury.

The reason why I am bringing this up today is there has been an episode that I want to tell you about. I want to wear a watch again. I use my cell phone to tell me what time it is and I hate it. I have to go in my pocket and pull the thing out to tell me what time it is. It is too much effort.

So I wanted to pull the Rolex out again. It is the only watch I have.

I stopped wearing it about 5 years ago because of all the stuff above and because the band was breaking. Turns out the band is silver and gold. Well as you know the gold on the band is soft.

And as I told you the watch is about 20 years old. The gold links have stretched out and they are starting to break. I have had them soldered and soldered and now I think I just need to have the band replaced.

I took the watch out of the jewelry box and sent it to the guy I have work on my watch.

He calls me and tells me that I indeed needed a new band and they cost...wait for it.....$1800.

ONE THOUSAND EIGHT HUNDRED DOLLARS for a watch band.

He then goes on to tell me that they make off-market Rolex bands that will look just like a Rolex band and they are much cheaper. I was still having a hard time focusing after the above mentioned price so I asked him what the off-market bands cost. Just $850.

Now this is just plain ridiculous. We are talking about a 20-year-old watch. I just want to wear a watch.

"Or" he said, "I can repair the broken link for $50."

"DONE, now you are talking my language"

How do you think a gold Rolex with a black face with diamonds on every number would look with one of those Velcro bands on it? Trust me I thought of it.

I think spending that kind of money in any economy is foolish. I think maybe when my kids are gone and I have money to just blow I might pull the old Rolex out and buy a new band (in 15 years what do you think the price of gold will be? The band might cost $5000 by then) but for now I think it is back in the jewelry box again. I think for now in this stage of my life, the Timex Triathlon is looking real good.

Thoughts?

Have a great weekend.

Hey does anyone have the time?

John

p.s., if anyone has a old Rolex band sitting around and wants to sell their favorite blogger a band...I thought I might as well check.

That First Phone Call

Hey,

Hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving.

Mine was great. We decided not to have it at our house because it was too much of a burden on my wife being that the baby is only eight weeks old (and very needy I might add).

So my sister volunteered.

Her house is not quite big enough for everyone so we did it outside.

It was great. The weather was perfect. Food was great. Company was great.

We finished dinner, and we all went into the living room and watched Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (the old version). It was a great movie to just veg out on the couch.

I got in a little nap. The kids loved it.

The Gator Basketball team (I am not talking about the other Gator team) beat #2 Michigan State on Friday night and then beat Rutgers on Saturday. So we moved into the rankings yesterday at #13. We play #5 Syracuse next Thursday. I'll let you know how it goes.

About the other team that I am not talking about, if I was talking about them I would tell you that I just got my tickets to their SEC championship game on Saturday.

I just finished a book called Crazy Love by Francis Chen. It was recommended to me by a friend (shout out Ethan). It is one of these books that makes you think about life a lot and how we probably should be doing this a little bit better (or in my case, a lot better).

See this is why I don't read these kinds of books. Ignorance is so bliss.

I like to read about how other people are screwed up so it makes me feel a little less screwed up.

This book looked at me and I didn't like it.

I just started Counterfeit Gods by Tim Keller. I will let you know.

Okay about the marathon. I have put off talking about it for as long as I could.

This race was called the Space Coast Half and Full Marathon.

So this was my first half and full marathon together.

It is a small venue. The weather was perfect.

I wanted to run a sub 4 hour marathon.

So my running buddy and I decided to start with the 3:50 guy and see how long we could hang with him.

Bang it started, and we started going and we were going fast.

I was first thinking that people are running fast because it was the beginning of the race and they will settle down.

Well it didn't take me long to realize that this was the 3:50 pace.

What?!!!

It took me about 2 miles to realize that I couldn't keep this pace. About mile 5 we took our first walk break for about 30 seconds. Keep in mind that we train in a way that there are drinks every two miles. We stop and get drinks and then go. Sometimes waiting for everyone to get drinks will take about 2-3 minutes.

Mile 8 I was really struggling. Mile 11 I told my friend to go.

This is where my mind started to go. The 4 hour guys started to pass me. I didn't have a watch or an iPod or anything. I was all by myself and struggling.

I could have sworn I saw the 4:30 group pass me. Now I was pissed, and I was annoyed with myself.

I thought now, if I go on, I am going to come in at 5 hours. I was walking at every mile, sometimes twice a mile.

Then I started seeing the 13 mile signs.

I started to think I could just finish now. Now the sign was getting bigger. Half marathon go this way and full marathon go this way. Hmmmm? This is definitely not my day so why don't I just end the torture now? If I run the full marathon and it takes me 5 fricking hours, my friend, who I drove with, would be sitting around for an hour waiting for me.

I went to the half marathon path.

I finished in 2 hours and 1 minute.

Wait a minute, how then did a person with a 4:30 minute sign pass me? Either she was 30 minutes faster than her group or I was delirious and read her sign wrong.

Anyway I was done. I was so disappointed. I don't know what to think.

I guess I will be back at it next week. Maybe I will catch a later marathon and give it another try.

Next time I won't blow it in the first 5 miles.

I am still kind of depressed about it.

Topic,

I wanted to talk to you about the phone call. In case you missed the first blog about this call, let me refresh your memory. Well because I am running out of time in the day let me just give you a link to the first blog.

http://agdblogs.blogspot.com/2009/11/how-much-do-you-charge.html

This is something you have to talk to your phone call answering people about.

I know sometimes you go in your office and isolate yourself from the phone calls. You isolate yourself from the collecting money. You isolate yourself from conflict up at the front.

Well at least I tend to be this person.

So, because I know I tend to NOT want to get involved, I force myself.

I schedule meetings with my front desk staff once a month. It may be 20 minutes on the first of the month first thing in the morning.

We talk about procedure, we talk about patients, we talk about how they answer the phone. (I do the same thing with my hygienists. To talk about things like toothbrushes, fluoride, how they are handling certain patients, sealants, you know stuff like this). Constantly opening the lines of communication.

So in our front desk people meeting we talk about this conversation.

I ask them if they get this phone call and of course their answer is "all the time," and we talk about what they presently say.

Well this is what I tell them to try to accomplish on this phone call.

I want them to know the difference between our office and other offices. I want them to talk to this potential patient about the good in a new patient exam. I want them to spend time, for lack of a better phrase, getting to know this person on the phone. I want them to hang up the phone and say to themselves that that was an unbelievable phone call. That person was so awesome on the phone.

Now does this mean that everyone is going to want our type of dentistry? NO. You think that you are setting yourself up for so much failure. BUT, what it might do to that person is plant a seed for that kind of dentistry. They may go to another place and not get treated very well. They may go to a place that they feel like a number. They may go to a place that makes them start second guessing their decision. So when they do second guess themselves and they get tired of feeling like cattle, what do you think is the first place they are going to come back to? Hopefully, the office that treated them the way they wanted to be treated.

Now real quick about the CEO that has his/her administrative assistant call...

A couple of reasons why they have their people call, they don't really understand the type of office we are or they don't know what kind of dentistry they need. So you have to first get this person on the phone. If they don't want to come to the phone, well then you are better off not seeing this one. If they come to the phone there you are right back to the above paragraphs.

How do you get the person to realize they are calling the Ritz-Carlton of dental offices. I am not talking about stick your nose up Ritz-Carlton. I am talking about the five-star service Ritz-Carlton. And if the person is a CEO or some high-flooten job like that it shouldn't take them long to figure out this place is special.

We had our meeting today and one of my people said a couple of times she has had to say on the first conversation, "I am sorry Mr. Jones, maybe this is just not the kind of practice you are looking for."

I don't mind this. Trust me it is better to let people know up front. I have plenty of patients that I wish I would have told them this before the first appointment. (If you are my patient and you are reading this...that last sentence was definitely NOT about you).

Am I making sense? Am I rambling?

I would like to know if you have meetings with your staff. Do you have a full staff meeting and then have separate meetings as well?

Do you isolate yourself?

Do you know you should get involved but let your staff do it (trust me you are not alone)?

Let me know,

Have a great Wednesday,

john

Florida Football Free Post ;)

OK, happy to report that I am still thankful even after a 4-day road trip to both families.

Movie report - I'm not a huge movie guy, I really go for the popcorn and milk duds. This last weekend I went with my wife on a date to movie. Now, I'm too embarrassed to tell you what movie it was but let's just say it is very popular and is an astronomical event that occurs monthly - maybe you have heard of this movie, don't worry I won't spoil it for you (the director did that already).

This movie involves many mythical creatures/monsters and is apparently attempting to recreate a Romeo and Juliet storyline in the Northeast US but instead of Juliet we have a morose, co-dependent, breathy teenage girl. Romeo is a soul-less (literally) bloodsucker, and I guess Mercutio is a 6-pack ripped, shirtless teenage werewolf.

I don't have a problem with the theme, the content, or the double-standard we have with teenage guys being exploited for their bodies (that is an entire blog conversation in itself). What made the movie so frustrating was the fact that in the 200 seat, mostly sold-out theater there were at least 50 children under the age of 10. The 6-year-old boy if front of us was freaking out during the movie and his grandmother (yep grandma brought him) was having to calm him down the entire time, cover his eyes, hold him, etc.

WHO TAKES A 6-YEAR-OLD TO A MOVIE ABOUT WEREWOLVES AND VAMPIRES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm sorry, my kids are 12 and under so this falls right in my wheelhouse. They don't belong at this movie. It is not a movie for them. My wife and I were commenting on this on our way out of the movie and the parent in front of us turned around a said, "some kids really like these kind of movies." OK, fair enough. Some kids would really like crack if their parents allowed them to have it - doesn't mean they should. Parents need to be parents and say no sometimes.

Beyond that, as the father of a tweener girl, where is the outrage over the presentation of a female that can't exist without a boyfriend?? This is co-dependence at its most basic form. It concerns me that this movie that is so marketed to teenage girls proceeds to present them as shallow, breathy shells of humans whose entire existence is tied to a male figure (alive or undead).

All in all a very frustrating experience at the movie (but a great date).

So in summary, lots of travel, lots of eating, lots of family time, yada yada yada. . .get home and crash in my own bed.

Have I mentioned that I hate when payday falls within 2 days of the 1st of the month. I do payroll every other Monday so many months this does not occur. However, today is payday and tomorrow is the 1st of the month. That is just a lot of money going out of the practice and the voices like to discuss that amongst themselves during the night.

The voices are also happy to say goodbye to November - don't let the door hit you in the tail on the way out. I'm sure that no other practice saw a slowdown in November but we must be missing something. Phone calls were way down, cancellations/reschedules were way up. I'm ready for this recession thing to flatten out and sanity to return. I was reminding the staff today in our monthly staff meeting of the importance of asking for referrals and of pointing out to patients the quality of the work that we do.

Do you realize what goes into a simple periodic exam and cleaning? I think we take it for granted as dentists so you know the patient does not realize it. In our office a periodic exam consists of an oral cancer evaluation, comprehensive periodontal evaluation (including probing), occlusion evaluation, cavity check, scaling, polishing, flossing, fluoride (sometimes), oral hygiene instructions and home-care products. And all of this is "free" to most insurance patients.

Do you include this information on the walk-out statement that you give to the patient? We haven't but are going to start doing it. It is another great way to remind the patient of the value of that service - it is more than just making their teeth feel slippery and clean.

The voices are telling me that I need to run payroll so I better get going. Have a great week, I can't wait to hear how he marathon went for Dr. G.

ric

Look Around

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone.

I don't know if I can beat Dr. Ric's blog on Monday, but I will try.
I hope today's won't be a letdown.
I was supposed to follow up on the "How much is a cleaning" phone call, but I will postpone that until next week because I totally didn't realize tomorrow is Thanksgiving.
Can you believe it is Thanksgiving tomorrow?
I can't.

Before I forget, our flag football team won on Saturday. We are 2-1, and I think we are getting a little better. We haven't played any of the elite teams yet but it feels pretty good to be where we are at right now. I am sleeping a little bit.

I saw The Blind Side on Friday. I loved it. I am biased because I read the book last year, and I have been telling everyone what a great story this was since then. I have been keeping up with Michael Oher's progress since then.
It is a real feel good movie. It made me laugh and cry.

Okay topic...
A joke to start this entry.
A monk decides to try to get closer to God and he goes into a monastery. All the monks at this monastery take a vow of silence. He was okay with this as long as he obtains his goal.
So he started and five years went by like nothing.
After his first five years he went into the head monk's office.
The head monk says to the monk, "You have really surprised us with your progress. We have really been impressed with you. And because of this we will allow you to say two words."
The monk said his two words, "Bed hard."
The head monk said, "Great talking to you. We will see what we can do to take care of this problem."
Next thing you know five years have gone by and the head monk brings him into his office and gives him the same schpeel.
The monk this time says, "Cold food."
The head monk says again, "It was great talking to you, and we will see if we can rectify your problem."
Again, five years goes by so fast and the meeting between the monks happens again.
This time the monk again gets two words to say.
He says, "I quit."
The head monk says, "It is just as well. You have been here fifteen years and all you have done was complain."

My name is John Gammichia and I am a complainer.

I don't think I have always been, but I think my personality has eroded to such. My wife is a bit of a complainer (I love you honey), and I think we are breeding complainers too. My kids are complainers.
I don't know if it is because, if you let it, this world gnaws at you. It wears you down.
If you listen to the radio (during this administration) they are all complaining. If you listen to the TV (during the last administration) they are all complaining.
I think it is becoming so much of what we hear and read (oh yeah everything in the newspaper is bad or people complaining).
But in the fog of my thoughts a hint of clarity has shown through.
We have so much to be thankful for, are you kidding me.
Look around.
Just in the room you are in right now. You have a computer and an Internet connection.
Okay that puts you way better off (that is of course if you don't think the Internet is the Devil) than about 90% of the world's population.
You are sitting in your office or your living room in air-conditioned air (for me it is air conditioned for you it could be heat right now. It was 83 here on Monday) which is better than 90% of the world's population.
You have to think of the big picture. It is all about perspective.
I have 4 awesome kids (okay I have 3 awesome kids and one that cries and poops all the time) that think I am the best (okay 3 of them think I am the best and one of thinks he got robbed).
I have a wife that I love and she loves the snot out of me and still laughs at my jokes.
I have a job that I love.
I have a staff that I love.
I have patients that I have built relationships with that I cherish (well most of them).
I have a God that knows every hair on my head and promises never to let go of me.
I have friends that are so great.
I have food to eat and then some.
I have clothes on my back.
I have an awesome house in a great neighborhood.
I won't bore you with all the stuff I have.
But I was trying to make a point.
What the hell do I have to complain about?
Do things have warts? Are things sucky sometimes? Yes.
Are people mean sometimes? Yes.
Do money problems get to me sometimes? Yes.
Do I have kid problems sometimes? Yes
Do I have wife problems sometimes? NEVER (I love you honey)
But let me repeat...LOOK AROUND. How can we complain?

We need to be more thankful. I need to be more thankful.
Why can't Thanksgiving be every day?

In closing, I am thankful to the AGD for letting me write this blog.
I am thankful for the peeps behind the scenes...Jason, Lindsey, the Cathys that make this thing happen.
I am thankful for all of you that read this blog. I am thankful for your comments (most of them), and I hope I have made an impression in your lives. I hope I am staying current and continue to talk about things that are relevant in your lives.

Have an awesome Thanksgiving.

Make this a day you look around and see the glass half full. Look around and count your blessings.
I will,
Thanks
john

ps I am not talking about the Gators, but if I was I would tell you that it is Tim Tebow's last home game. I would tell you that we are playing FSwho this weekend.
Very emotional for me.

Marathon in 5 days. My knees are knocking and I am getting butterflies. Think of me on Sunday.

Thanks

Thank you God for loving me, for creating laughter and smiles and kids.

Thank you Mom and Dad for being patient with me as a child, for allowing me to learn hard lessons under your protection and care. For equipping me with the desire to be an entrepreneur. For giving me such a good example of Christian parents and business owners.

Thank you Mel and Kay for raising a wonderful daughter and allowing me to marry her 16 years ago. Thank you for giving her the opportunities that I know required many sacrifices on your parts over the years.

Thank you Susan for being an incredible wife, mother and friend. Thank you for being a woman of faith. Thank you for allowing me to move from a legal career to a dental career without batting an eye. Thanks for putting up with the sleepless nights, financial tightrope walking, an a moody husband. Thanks for pretending that I am both funny and handsome. Most of all, thank you for giving me 3 amazing children.

Thank you Kayla, Brennan and Madeline for letting me be the tickle monster. For letting me hug you and cry even when you don't know why I need to. Thanks for making me laugh as you dress up like munchkins or create dances and skits that you perform. Thanks for singing songs. Thanks for promising me that I could be your prom date/live with you/work with you. Thanks for making me so proud to be called your daddy.

Thank you to the men and women who let me sit comfortably in my office and type this blog. Thank you for being the tip of the spear and protecting me and my family.

Thank you to the many AGD colleagues around the country who so patiently have answered my questions and given me instruction as I continue to grow as a dentist.

Thank you to all of my patients for trusting me with your smile.

Thank you to my staff for working so hard growing a business and being my cheerleader when you know I am down.

Thank you Jerry, George, Elaine and Cosmo for giving me so many reasons to laugh.

Thank you Dr. Gammichia and readers for allowing my voices to visit the blog once a week.

Thank you voices for letting me sleep well the past couple of weeks.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving and a safe holiday season.

ric

How much do you charge?

Okay no one cares about bartering.

I only got one comment.

So on to the next topic.

But first, my week.

I have to tell you I have been a complete mess for the last couple of weeks.

I told you about the football, well I don't know if I have told you the extent of it.

When I told you I can't sleep, I really mean I can't sleep. On Tuesday I woke up at 3:30 am, Wednesday it was 4:30, and last night I was so exhausted I was able to sleep to 5:15.

So I am like a zombie.

Both our teams won last night and both the scores were 7-6.

The 1st grade team was chaos. They had never played in a game before, so it was a mess. Coaches literally lifting kids and moving them into place.

I told a kid to watch the quarterback. So he runs in and grabs the quarterback's flag. Problem is that the quarterback handed the ball off about 10 seconds earlier and was just standing there when my superstar took his flag.

Now the 5th grade game. This such a tough age. We are not executing very well and when someone else throws an interception or drops a pass or misses a flag well he gets to hear how stupid he is from the other 5 guys.

Oh and then there is me. I am using everything in my power to not yell out, "What the heck is the matter with you. The play is to the right and you are the only guy on our team to run left.

We are having fun that is for sure. The other coach basically said he was so stressed out that he wanted me to take over the play calling. I am telling you, it is not easy.

So it is not as much having fun but wanting your team to do well. It is at the end of the game and you have guys in the huddle saying, "coach I haven't got the ball yet," and things like that.

It is the second guessing of yourself. You are trying to do good for the kids and you end up breaking their spirits because you are such a shmuck.

Oh the joys of football.

I saw this movie Sunshine Cleaners (when you are up at 3:30 am you have plenty of time to watch movies). It was very good. Put this movie on your queue.

I am going out for pizza tonight with the family, then I am taking my son to see the movie The Blind Side. If you remember I read this book last year. It was one of my favorite books of the year. It was one of those books that you have to shut the book just so you can compose yourself or just stop and cry for a second.

It got a 2 star from my paper. I hope Hollywood did not screw it up.

Remember my friend who past away last week. He has a son that is turning 9 on Sunday.

He and his son had plans to go to Disney for his birthday (Disney lets you in for free on your birthday). He asked his mom if it would be alright if me and my son would go with him on Sunday.

They asked me.

So my son and I are going to take this young boy to Disney on Sunday.

I am totally consumed with my life right now, but I wanted to still talk a little about work.

I wanted to talk to you about a certain phone call. Because it is Friday afternoon and my life is so crazy, what I might do is throw it out there. Touch on it a bit and then talk about it on Wednesday of next week.

The phone call is when someone calls your practice and ask, "How much do you charge for a ____?"

This phone call has so much going on it has given practice management speakers material for a whole weekend course.

How about this one, "My name is Janice, and I am Mr. Stein's administrative assistant and he would like me to make him a cleaning appointment."

(I am posing this to dentist that choose to do a new patient exam first before any cleaning.)

So what is behind this call? What do you train your staff to say?

I am mortified when I go to the front, and I hear one of my peeps answer the phone and do their greeting and then they listen. Then I hear them say, "We charge $80 for that."

Then its, "Oh, your welcome" and hang up.

Some of you might be saying, "What is wrong with telling someone the cost of the cleaning?"

For me it is a philosophy thing.

I have to admit I am probably higher priced than other dentists. Nothing crazy, but if someone is cleaning teeth around town for $75, I am might be $80.

If someone is doing crowns for $1000, I might be $1100.

But there is so much more to my office than just a cleaning or a crown.

Let me try to explain this...

Let's say I need tires, and let's say I am a Cooper tire guy.

I will call 10 places (after I have check out the Internet) and ask them what they charge for the exact Cooper tire that I have on my truck right now.

So I am asking each place what they charge for the same tire.

So for this price I am getting four of the same tires, installed and balanced.

Apples to apples.

So I get why people are calling.

They are thinking I am selling the same Cooper tire that the next guy is selling.

And I believe I am not.

I believe there is so much more to my shop than just selling this tire.

And quite frankly, at my shop I am selling a much better tire.

Now how are you going to inform the caller of this if you just say, "$80...Oh, your welcome"?

To me this is what the caller is saying, "Hi, my name is Stacy, and me and my family are new to the area. It has been 8 months since we have been to the dentist and it is time. I don't know anyone in the area, and I don't even know what dentist to call so can you please tell me if I should come to your office or not? And, oh, by the way, how much do you charge for a cleaning?"

How would you answer this question?

Would you say, "$80...oh, your welcome"?

Or the caller could be saying something like this, "Hi, my name is Stacy and I have lived in your area for about 10 years. I go to your competitor. My kids have been telling me for a while now that they don't like their dentists. I have heard such great things about your practice. I was just calling to see how you treated me on the phone. I was just calling to get a feel for the way that you do things. I want you to win me over. And, by the way, how much do you charge for a cleaning?

I get that a lot of people are money conscious right now. Shoot, I am money conscious right now.

And they just want to know how much you charge, and I am over analyzing things.

But let's say you go overboard with your personality on the phone and you talk to this person.

They were not saying anything other than "how much do you charge?" They weren't new to the area or wanting to change dentists. But you gave them the Ritz-Carlton personality. You went over the top explaining your philosophy, and you told them how you were going to treat them.

You not only told them how much it was going to be, but you have planted a seed.

I have talked too much about it. I will give you more on Wednesday. Cliff hanger, yeah.

What about the administrative assistant call?

This is a tough one.

Okay, so you have a person that is very busy, so busy that he can't make a call for himself.

I have done this myself.

To me this call is all about telling someone about your practice. This call is about you the dentist and how you are going to be treated and does this person want to conform to your practice philosophy.

At my office we take at least an hour to do a new patient exam, and we usually don't clean the patient on the same appointment.

This really chaps some people.

People are busy, and I totally get that. People don't want to spend all day at the dentist office, and all they want is their teeth cleaned. I get this.

But we have to do our job, and we have to do it well.

If they don't want it done the kind of way we do it then maybe this isn't the place for them.

Now dentists, don't you hate letting someone go like that. Can't we just work something out.

I mean this guy seems to have it together. I mean he has an administrative assistant calling for him. He must be important, and he must have some cash.

We all know this guy is trouble if he won't conform to your style.

I will end on this...

I had a patient that came into our office and got nasty with my staff. Husband and wife were both professionals.

Talking about how much money they had and all that.

But every time they would come in I would have multiple stories of how rude they were to my staff.

It got so bad that I had to call them and asked them very nicely to be nice to my staff.

It continued and I eventually had to ask them to leave my practice.

Wouldn't it have been nice to kind of set the ground rules before all the nastiness started.

You can get a lot of that accomplished on that first phone call.

Or you can just say, "$80...your welcome."