Stuart Cardon, DPM, has been a Sterling client for the past year. It’s made a huge difference in his practice:
“Basically I’ve seen a significant improvement in production in the office, better communication between staff members, and I feel like I have a better finger on the pulse of the office itself.
“I understand more when I look at a statistic, whether it be production, collections, or new patients, I know what to do about it, or at least I have some working knowledge as to whether it’s gone bad or what needs to change or what shouldn’t change. Whereas before, I used to get statistics, look at them and say that was a good month or that wasn’t a good month, and that was that. I was just kind of looking at it. Now, I’ve got a handle on what to do with the numbers once I look at them.
“I’ve done the Formulas for Business Success course, Executive Basics course, Ups and Downs in Business course, How to Handle Money, Personal Relationships, How to Communicate with Others. I’ve also had my staff trained on the basics of management in the office.
“Implementing the financial planning in the practice made a big difference. We were solvent before. The issue for me wasn’t so much that I wasn’t making ends meet in my practice, because I was. But I realized I had to be the business owner of my practice.
“The organizing board definitely puts responsibilities back where they belong and takes some burdens off my shoulders that I don’t want to have to mess with. It helped the staff get a better handle on, ‘Hey, you are a part of this just as much as anybody else.’ It’s not just,’ You walk in and you walk out.’ So they’ve been actually excited! ‘They’ve got an attitude now: I’m more than just a receptionist.’
“The consulting I’ve gotten has been brutal. I’m still alive. It’s very good. My consultant is persuasive, especially with people who don’t always get all the things done that they should. Definitely what I appreciate about her is she is not above admitting that if something is working and it may not have been something she suggested, she says, Go with it.’ If we do something and it works she is excited for us. It’s been great.
“Having a working knowledge of how to USE statistics gives me more peace of mind when I make a decision in the office, that I’m making one that’s proper for what’s actually happening in the office. Like, when should I hire a new person? When should I get rid of a person? What needs to be done to improve a person when we’re having problems with one of the staff? Or when something is going a little bit haywire, what do we need to do to change that and make it right instead of just guessing every time and saying, ‘Well, what if we did this?’ I have the technology where I can say,’ Let’s do this!’ because I know it is going to work. It is very comforting to have that ability.
“Learning how to hard sell has been very helpful – how to deal with your patients and communicate better with them so they get what they want and you have a much more satisfied patient base to work with.
“Before I started the Sterling program, I was ‘desperate and dateless.’ I saw one of their ads, made a phone call, watched their video and liked what I saw. It wasn’t just a one-day seminar. It was something that I realized was going to take some time and wasn’t going to happen overnight. I’d also talked to people who’d worked with them and had had success and were really pleased with the results they got.
“If another doctor talks to me about the Sterling program, I tell them to do it! Every doctor’s got his own agenda, problems, his strong points and weak points. A lot of it would depend on what they were after. But again, I think almost anything a doctor would be concerned about or have issues with would be addressed, whether it be personal or business related. Because really, what Sterling had to say, and I agreed with this, was that they are one and the same. You can’t say, well, my personal life is a separate entity from my business life, which is separate from my social life. It all comes together, one way or the other. My advice would be to do it, but be willing to go to work! It’s not going to be, ‘Thank you for fixing the whole place for me.’ You’re going to have to make some life style changes and be willing to put the time and effort into it to make it happen because it is yours. The good news is that the management technology developed by Hubbard is simple enough so that even the simplest of minds can take it and use it.”
