Episode #378: Every number tells a story, using data to drive dental success with Shawn Peers

Intro: This is the Less Insurance Dependence podcast show with my good friend Gary Takacs and myself, Naren Arulrajah.

Intro: We appreciate your listenership, your time, and most of all, we appreciate your intention to reduce insurance dependence in your practice. Our goal is to provide information that will help you successfully reduce insurance dependence and convert your practice into a thriving and profitable dental practice that provides you with personal, professional, and financial satisfaction.

Lester De Alwis: Welcome to another episode of the Less Insurance Dependence Podcast, your trusted source for insights, strategies, and expert advice to help dental professionals take control of their practices and careers. I’m your co-host, Lester De Alwis, and today we’re exploring one of the most important, yet often overlooked, aspects of practice success — that’s understanding your numbers.

Joining me is Shawn Peers, a respected dental business leader and founder of Dental Peers, who has helped countless practices improve their profitability and independence by uncovering the stories hidden within their data.

In this episode, titled Every Number Tells a Story: Using Data to Drive Dental Success, we’ll dive into how dentists can use data-driven decisions to reduce their reliance on insurance, strengthen financial performance, and create long-term stability.

Before we jump in, a quick message from our sponsors. Ekwa Marketing is offering a complimentary marketing strategy meeting where their experts will help you attract high-quality patients, rank #1 on Google locally, and grow your practice organically.

So, if you want to do a health checkup on your website, you can go visit lessinsurancedependence.com/marketingstrategy-meeting  to book your session.

And if you are ready to take your practice to the next level and you’re looking for mentorship, schedule a complimentary coaching strategy meeting with Gary Takacs at thrivingdentist.com/csm.  

Now, let’s get started. Shawn, we are excited to have you here. Thank you so much for joining us.

Shawn Peers: Oh, great to be here, Lester. Thanks for, uh, thanks for inviting me to join you today.

Lester De Alwis: Amazing. So what inspired your belief that every number tells a story, and why do you think understanding those numbers is so vital for reducing insurance dependence?

Shawn Peers: Oh, wow. You know, I mean, we see more and more the importance of understanding numbers in the first place, but sometimes I think we just get lost in it. You know, I think historically speaking, consultants would go into a dental practice that was struggling, and the first question they’d always ask is, what’s your monthly production? And of course, you know, pre the days of dashboards — you know, you go back to having to spend hours to run off a report from your practice management system — dentists didn’t have a clue. Um, they didn’t know, and it kind of made consultants and coaches look like geniuses right off the bat. Such a simple thing.

We now have a situation a lot of times — and it was interesting, I had a conversation with another consultant relatively recently here in Canada — and it was this person’s belief that maybe coaches and consultants aren’t needed as much because the dashboards, the technology, is going to allow dentists to be able to see their production in real time.

You know, some are better at obviously keeping track of it than others, but my — you know — but the bottom line is, it’s there. It’s easy for them to look at. The problem with it is, too often the dentists look at the numbers at a superficial level, and then they sort of go and they think, why is my production so low? What’s going on? How come hygiene isn’t where it needs to be? What’s happening here? And they basically just go beat up their teams for not producing, without taking the time to understand what went into that number.

Because you’re really just scratching the surface. The number is the conclusion — the number is the end, sort of the end of that chapter of the story. And you get to rewrite the story. You get to rewrite a new chapter if you have to.

But the bottom line is, okay, we’ve got a number. How did we get to this number? There’s a story that got to that number, and we now have to go dig and figure out what it is. Because nobody in dentistry wants to just be driven by numbers alone. Our team members are there to provide care. That’s what motivates them.

And the reality of it is, if your numbers aren’t where they need to be, it probably means there’s care opportunities that are slipping through the cracks at your practice — opportunities for you and your team to really make a difference in providing the best quality of care to patients.

And that becomes the story: why are we missing those opportunities? What was the story within our practice that prevented us from seeing what was going on? What was the story with our patient? There’s always a story to it, and the numbers are really just a first scratch of the surface to allow us to then go uncover what that story is telling us.

Lester De Alwis: Amazing. It’s a powerful mindset. So we think it’s like, why you need to know the numbers is, like, if you don’t know the numbers, it’s like walking in a room without any light, and you just get lost.

Shawn Peers: Exactly.

Lester De Alwis: So now let’s talk specific. So when you look at a dental practice’s numbers, what are some key indicators that show a practice may be too reliant on insurance-driven production?

Shawn Peers: Well, I think the first thing, obviously, that you’re going to have to look at — there’s kind of a mix. Obviously, the first thing people look at, the easiest one, is going to be: what is my overall production level?

You’ve got to measure that, then, actually with: what are your collections? You know, are you making sure that you’re not just doing the work, but that in fact, you are getting paid for it? So sometimes that can start to shed a little bit of light on what’s going on.

You measure that against any open time that you have. And then you get into a whole realm of aspects of: well, what’s going on? Why do I have this open time? What’s being missed?

There are a whole bunch of different stories that can take place on that, including just not the best ability to present and get your case acceptance numbers up to where you need them to be.

And then, you still — you know — if you’re looking at it and you’re saying, well, I’ve got pretty decent production, my collections ratios seem to be pretty good, I don’t have a lot of unpaid accounts, I’m one of these wonderful practices, you know, I’m so good at it, I’m coming in at 95%. Wouldn’t that be a nice dream for a lot of them?

But I’m still not seeming to make a whole ton of money. Well, now I’ve got to figure out: what is it? What are the fees that are being paid?

And we know that when we’re dealing with insurance systems, unfortunately, they are not necessarily keeping up with what the cost of delivering dentistry is — what the fees are to really run a successful and profitable practice.

So, you know, I think you have to be prepared to get into the weeds a little bit to really start to look at it and say, okay, these are the numbers I need to look at.

Shawn Peers: I find that when people just say, "Oh yeah, this is the number to dive to right away — this will tell you everything" — no. Everything’s interrelated. Your practice is this organic, living being that’s evolving all the time. And I think you have to approach it from all those different facets.

So I like to look at it more top-down and dig my way down, rather than just dive right in. I feel that if I dive into a particular key number because I’ve made an assumption that this is where my problem is, I’m going to miss a big part of the story.

Lester De Alwis: Exactly.

Shawn Peers: So start high-level, dig your way down, and see where things might be missing. Because maybe part of your problem of lack of profitability isn’t overreliance on insurance. You may not have the case presentation skills. You may have patients falling through cracks that your team is not catching for you.

So it all takes everyone working together to make sure that they know the service overall is being provided. And you dig down and try to find those answers right from the top and work your way down on the numbers.

Lester De Alwis: Exactly. I know. Now, those signals are very important — understanding, through the course, about these numbers.

So one thing I wanted to ask — just a follow-up question. Now, if not knowing the details or getting into the details or the data — is it because the team members are having a lack of training on basically going to the attention to detail? Or are practice owners also lacking training on getting to the weeds of it?

Shawn Peers: Yes. Yes to both, really. At the end of the day, if you’re the practice owner, the proverbial buck stops with you. And when I say, “every number tells a story,” the beauty of it is, you don’t have to be purely a leader who reacts to the story — you get to set the terms, and you get to do a lot of the writing of the story, if you take the time to do so.

And that means: what’s your vision? What’s your plan? What do you see for your practice? So taking that time to initially create this, get your team on board — that then allows you to see, okay, where are we going to need some training? What do we need to focus on? When do we take the time to actually visit and see how we’re doing?

And — ’cause you know — I may have what I think is this great vision and this great plan, but sometimes it doesn’t get executed well, and it needs to be tweaked and revamped. So, am I taking time to kind of rewrite some of the chapters — draft two of the story I want to write for my practice?

I don’t like — you know, I’m a firm believer, like I said, that the numbers tell a story. But I don’t want dentists to simply react to those numbers. I want them to be more proactive — have a response, but a response that ties in with your plan, your vision.

And that means making sure you are trained, doctor, to understand what’s going on. And then you are also trained to effectively delegate responsibility to the appropriate team members.

Lester De Alwis: Mm-hmm.

Shawn Peers: Responsibility — that doesn’t just wash your hands of everything. There may be a lot of information that has to come back to you. So what is it that you need back from your team member? So the team member is trained on that so that they understand — because they can’t read your mind.

You know, these parameters have to be worked out. It’s sort of part of: how do I set the job description of my office manager so that this individual is coming back to me with information I need, but then not also giving me information that I don’t need?

So there’s give and take, and both the doctor and the team members need training for this to be able to work effectively.

Lester De Alwis: Amazing. Now, from your experience, how do team members play a role — since we are talking about team members — how do team members play a role in understanding and using this matrix to create a culture of accountability and performance?

Shawn Peers: Uh, well, it’s not the responsibility of the team member, per se, to create the culture. That, I’m gonna say, starts with the doctor. You’ve got this — you are the practice owner. You have to be the one that takes charge on that. But at the same time, you do need to have those team members that are your biggest supporters.

You know, there’s a great video — it’s gotta be, it might be about 20 years old now — some guy on a hill, dancing at some concert outdoors, dancing like a nut and going crazy and looking ridiculous. And everyone’s kind of laughing at him, until a couple of people start coming and dancing with him.

So doctors, you’ve gotta be prepared to dance like a nut in terms of getting your vision out there and finding those team members who are prepared to get up and dance with you. Because that form of leadership — maybe not the one that initially sets the stage — but the one that then tells everyone else it’s okay to be up there and dance like a nut… that’s what really gets the movement going.

So, I mean, the first thing you need to do is find those people that are prepared to support you — and not just passively — but who will be your advocates. And then give them the freedom and the permission to actually be your advocates.

You’ve gotta give them the tools to be able to do that effectively. Back-and-forth communication — again, you want to make sure that, you know, because they could misinterpret things, they could start going in the wrong direction with the best of intentions. So, you know, you get back and you right the ship every once in a while, in a positive and constructive way.

You know, the team has different stages and degrees of responsibility. But you need them to be open to those concepts. You need those people that are going to be your cheerleaders, right on down to people that will just do the work for you, but are open to being trained and are open to adapting and change.

Because your practice is going to change. You’re going to come up with new ideas as time goes by that will improve things. So, are they flexible enough to move with you — and when the dance move changes, start doing a different dance move?

Lester De Alwis: Yes. Exactly. I love that explanation about dance moves.

So now, for dentists who want to start this journey today, what’s the first set of numbers they should track and analyze to take control of their financial story?

Shawn Peers: Oh, boy. I mean, for me — you know what — there are so many data points that technology allows us to capture, and dentists can really get inundated with them.

I mean, obviously you can never completely ignore production. And, yeah, obviously collections becomes a factor as well.

For the dentist, one of the big things I really do focus on for them is their case presentation and case acceptance. How are they doing on that?

You know, because so often we hear the stories of the dentist leaving a room, and patients looking at the dental assistant or the hygienist, or maybe going out to the front desk and talking to the admin person — and, you know, the doctor says, "I need this, but it’s kind of pricey. Do you really think I need it?"

So that kind of tells me they haven’t fully been won over yet. They haven’t been totally convinced.

And I think dentists have to be aware of that — and maybe have their team members report back to them when a patient might question what the need of that treatment plan really is.

But I’m a big believer that, doctors, you’ve gotta track your case acceptance. And you’ve got to follow your open time. You have to know your patients in and your patients out.

You know, we obviously always want to have new patients coming in. Practices can’t grow if there’s not a new patient load coming in. But at the same time, there’s only so much we can do to attract new patients. We have to keep the ones that we have — we have to keep them coming once we’ve trusted them.

So how many are also leaving? That’s a big one that I think they need to look at. Because if they’re leaving in large numbers, you want to know why.

Again, there’s a story behind that number. What’s the story? So, you know, I would look at that as another key number to monitor in my success.

It might be one of the most important ones to understand. If patients are leaving in droves, what that tells me is that I’m not necessarily getting the service across to them in a way that is resonating with them.

What do I need to do differently? How do I need to respond so that I can change the story?

Lester De Alwis: Hmm, exactly.

So, of course, knowing the right numbers — looking at the right numbers — is very important. Sometimes you might be looking at the wrong numbers as well.

And of course, to do that, you might need expert advice or some kind of guidance. Again, this podcast is about taking action.

So if they want to reach out to you and get in contact with you, what is the best way that they can reach out to you?

Shawn Peers: Uh, I mean, they can reach out with a phone call — (613) 867-8502. They can send me an email: Shawn, S-H-A-W-N, at dentalpeers.ca. More than happy to arrange a discussion. We can book a Zoom meeting and sit down and go over things and just have a chat and see where their comfort level is.

You know, I mean, I think the big thing about it — like I said — is the beautiful part about the numbers telling a story is that it gets us into the human element of dentistry that I think is so critical and gets overlooked when we bury ourselves in the data.

Yeah, data is critical. The data allows us to be intentional because we know what direction we need to go in and we know how we need to respond when we’re not seeing what we want to see.

But you can’t get lost in the data, and that’s why I’m not a big fan — especially with getting started — of inundating. “Oh, you gotta check this KPI, that…” There’s like dozens of KPIs. No — there’s probably like, I don’t know, four to six that you really want to start with. That’ll probably solve 80 to 90% of your issues if you can get those mastered.

But the key to it is: master them by bringing in the story and the human element.

Lester De Alwis: Yeah. Yeah, exactly.

Shawn, thank you so much for joining us and sharing your insights on how data can transform the way professionals lead and grow their practices.

Shawn Peers: Oh, it was a pleasure to be here, Lester. Anytime.

Lester De Alwis: So the key takeaway is: numbers don’t just reflect your business — they guide it. By learning to read and interpret them, dentists can make smarter decisions, strengthen profitability, and ultimately reduce dependence on insurance.

As always, this podcast is about taking action. Like I said:

Firstly, if you want to do a health checkup on your website, you can go and schedule a complimentary marketing strategy meeting with Ekwa Marketing at lessinsurancedependence.com/marketing-strategy-meeting  to learn how to attract high-quality patients and grow your fee-for-service base.

And secondly, if you’re looking for mentorship, book a complimentary coaching strategy meeting with Gary at thrivingdentist.com/csm  for personalized guidance on building thriving independent practices.

Again, all the resources mentioned in this episode are for you to access and take action. They’re all complimentary — so make sure you take that action today.

So thank you again, Shawn, for being here, and thank you to all our listeners for joining us.

Until next time, keep moving towards a thriving, independent practice.