#889: Here’s Where Practices Fall Short When Hiring

Dental A Team Podcast

Cory Pinegar of CallForce joins Tiff to talk about how to successfully hire the best people for your practice. They discuss the importance of consistent communication, what happens when one team member isn’t fitting, bringing on remote workers, and more.

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Transcript:

The Dental A Team (00:01.058)

You guys I'm so excited to be here today with the one and only Corey from reach and I just I'm blown away Corey that I get to do this podcast with you. I know I told you this a couple times we chatted a little bit yesterday we had a little bit this morning but for the world that's out there this man's brain has just done wonders for the dental industry in the last eight years it has

blown me away. I've watched you grow. I've watched your companies grow. I told you before when I was in practice, you know, way back in the day, long time ago, I actually used some of the products that you ended up purchasing and taking over. And I have seen that massively improve the dental industry. In my opinion, I've used them personally in practice. And I have a ton of practices that use both sides of what you do. So Corey, I

I'm blown away again, like I said that I get to do this podcast with you. know you've done a couple with Kara. She's fantastic at them and I listened to them over and over. And I'm like, gosh, there's so many great nuggets. send them to a lot of clients and I can't wait to dive into what we have today. Corey, how are you doing today on this beautiful sunny Tuesday? Is it sunny in Salt Lake? It's freaking hot here in sunny. So I just make the assumption. What is it like out there? How are you Corey?

Cory Pinegar (01:15.44)

Hey, it's not as hot as it is in Arizona, which we're grateful for, but thank you for having me. Your team has always been amazing and it's a pleasure to be here today.

The Dental A Team (01:18.283)

It's bad. Yeah.

The Dental A Team (01:25.385)

Awesome. Thank you. We love you. We love your products and we love supporting you guys. And honestly, I truly I have a few clients who use your products already. And I love being able to recommend something from someone that we know we can trust that's done your due diligence to create an incredible company that reaches the masses and really, honestly, I love the benefits that you guys bring to not only our country, but other countries is just really, really cool. So

If you guys don't know this company, I want you to do your due diligence. Follow the link below that Sissy and the ladies will tag in there, learn more. We're going to talk some about it. But Corey, I think what we've chatted about, what we've decided is really relevant and prevalent right now in the world and in our industry is really exciting for me. So we're going to do our due diligence and we're going to talk about both companies. But I think I want to pick your brain today.

done this incredible job of really learning how to onboard employees, hire great team members, really vet different people. And right now in the industry, what I'm seeing with a lot of my clients, I told you this morning, I just got off a call last night with a doctor and I'm like, gosh, like I just, my heart pours out to him and I want to go work in his office. I'm like, gosh, just, I will just come do it. Like I can't, we cannot fill this position. And every time we get somebody that we're like, okay, great. This is going to be awesome.

they don't show up the first day or they have childcare issues or something happens and all of a sudden they can't be there. And I'm like, what the heck? It's just the way the world is right now in the hiring industry. was like, Hey, it's just hygiene. And now it's like dental assistants and front office and just finding people has become increasingly more difficult. And Corey yesterday when we chatted, you had some incredible

ideas and ways that you've actually learned how to vet really great team members for your company, for other companies to use as virtual assistants. And so, so that you guys know out there, Corey's company has has two different sides. have, you know, the re care, recall, phone answering all that. But then they've recently within the last year and a half or so been really, really, really taking over, in my opinion, the virtual assisting world.

The Dental A Team (03:48.841)

with ways of hiring that I don't think other companies are really using and it's making a huge difference and a huge impact. I'm seeing it in my own personal clients. And I'm honestly seeing it in the industry, just reviews that I've seen of your company. Like I am blown away by the way that you go about hiring these individuals and the thought process that you put into it. So Corey, will you just kind of give us some of your biggest tidbits? What do you look for when hiring and how are you really?

vetting these people as humans to be good people that are actually showing up for work because they are showing up virtually but they are showing up. How are you doing this? How are you creating this magic?

Cory Pinegar (04:29.332)

Well, I actually want to even take a step back before we hop into it. I, one, appreciate your kind words. We're not a perfect company, but we're really passionate about the market. And we believe that there's a lot to do better for patients and practitioners. Before we even dive into some of our hiring practice tips and tricks, one thing that I want to talk about is you have to create an environment in your company or in your practice that is a win.

And what I mean by that is there has to be or there is three stakeholders or shareholders in any business. There's customers, there's employees, and there is the business itself. And the business has to make money. If a business consistently loses money, then eventually the business goes out of business and there's no more employees and there's no more customers. If you don't treat your customers,

The Dental A Team (05:21.009)

Yeah.

Cory Pinegar (05:25.108)

really well, then your customers don't refer, your customers don't stick around. And if you don't treat your employees well, if you don't create a sustainable, happy, healthy, not perfect, but environment that cares, your employees don't stick around and they don't treat your customers great. And so even before you go, if you go hire the world's best person, but then you don't have a winning environment and winning team, nothing is going to happen. And so what I and all of us in dentistry,

The Dental A Team (05:51.569)

for sure.

Cory Pinegar (05:54.792)

are entrepreneurs, everyone who's listening today owns or has started and wants to grow their own practice. And something that I've learned from doing this from eight years and inheriting it with no formal business training, like a lot of doctors as well, is businesses have to be built to be sustainable. And so you have to look at your environment well before you go to your hiring practices or go find the best person in the world and you have to say,

Does a team member walk in here and do they have the opportunity to grow? Is it a safe space? Is it a space where they can be pushed professionally? Is the business producing capital that returns to you as the owner that is meaningful and moves your family and life forward? And number three, and equally as important, is are your patients raving patients at the end of the day? And if you do those three, you create a flywheel, that means the business is even sustainable beyond yourself.

That's the number one thing that I do. You go for it.

The Dental A Team (06:51.987)

So I'm gonna jump in, because I have questions. Okay, so I think that's beautiful. That right there, like drop the mic, you've done everything. Fix those things and you've got at least a place I think where you can attract the right people. So my question then is the practices you aren't really maybe even realizing that they need to focus more internally, like we need to fix the foundation before we bring more people in. Do you see...

within your experience as a business owner and watching other business owners, do you see that that translates to maybe an ability to hire? Like we need somebody and we're like scraping and trying to hire, but we can't, or hiring the wrong people or not realizing who we need to hire without that kind of foundation. What are the repercussions that you've seen in your experience with that when they're not doing the right things yet, or maybe not knowing?

Cory Pinegar (07:43.988)

Yeah. So when a business isn't sustainable, especially on the employee side, they have higher turnover naturally. Who wants to work in an environment where they don't feel valued, where they can grow personally, professionally, and financially? And so you see higher turnover. Then what we see from the practices is an urge to fill the gap quickly because the turnover is consistent. And so what they look for

is, I want someone with dental experience in revenue cycle management or insurance verification, and I want them to start as soon as possible. I want an able body to get in there. And that is the next step of the death sentence. Because if I've seen anything through my eight years and hiring thousands of people and having hundreds of them not work out to I've goofed it up as bad as anyone has. What I've learned is

The Dental A Team (08:15.613)

yet.

Yeah.

Cory Pinegar (08:36.992)

personality, soft skills and EQ, emotional intelligence skills, can not be trained. And different practices need different types of people. But what happens is when a practice is in a pinch, what they're doing is they're sub diverting all of those core skills that can't be trained and going to someone saying, you can ride a bike. Well, we need a bike rider. But then what happens is six months down the road again, it's not the right personality fit.

They don't have the right soft skills for the job. And that turnover is created again. It's a systemic system that then just until the core problem is fixed and until the practice starts saying we hire for fit, then we hire for skill, it re -incess and repeats and the doctor and the practice is often wondering what the heck is happening when it really takes a step back, a slow down.

and improvement and then you can create something that is sustainable and less stressful.

The Dental A Team (09:40.546)

For sure, for sure. I love all of that. And I think what that translates into, right, is you can find someone, I think, with the IQ, with the emotional intelligence, with all of those personality traits that you're like, this is fantastic. This is the person we can train, he or she, to do anything that we want them to. But when that foundation isn't there, like to go back to that piece, if our

foundation of team and patient and business experience isn't there. So our team experience is met, our patient experience is like, how many can we get churned through, or it's just not 100 % because our team's not super happy. And the business maybe isn't going in the directions that we really want to see it growing in. We bring that person in, we're like, I found them. I've heard this tip, I found the person. She's the perfect fit. She's gonna solve all our problems. I'm like, fantastic.

let's see how this works, like let's get it on. But when those other pieces haven't been solved yet or even found, maybe they don't even know that they're an issue yet, that person fails, right? Or the team, the business fails that person. And so they don't last because those other pieces haven't been there yet. So then it's like, well, shoot, you told me to hire for the personality, Tiff, and that didn't work. Now I'm gonna hire for, I need someone who can fill a schedule.

I need someone who knows treatment planning. know need someone who knows how to schedule an open dental and can answer the phone. And I'm like, cool. So then we fly into that other space where they're hiring for need and they're hiring for the quote unquote experience that they have, but they might end up with someone who didn't have those emotional intelligence pieces. So as a business owner, and I think, I mean, we've gone through it, like everybody goes through these trends in

a business, this is just part of business, you get stuck on one spot of the business and you're turning and you're turning and you forget the other pieces or they just kind of fall to the wayside. But in your experience, when you've seen that in your business or in other businesses, you help a lot of doctors across this country. How do you see them like realize like what are the key points that they can see? They've got the turnover, but are there other areas where they can see? I think this might be a foundational thing.

The Dental A Team (12:01.191)

I keep having this turnover, keep having people come in. How do they notice that? How do they know? I've got to focus in on my team's experience because there's an issue here.

Cory Pinegar (12:11.722)

think some people are naturally wired. Some people are lucky enough to be gifted to see the whole picture. The reality is it's a painful level of introspection and listening. I recently hired a coach who went and surveyed all of my direct reports and came back and it's a painful colonoscopy. But it's really insightful because you see the way you act and everyone thinks they act a certain way well.

The Dental A Team (12:33.192)

It is.

Cory Pinegar (12:38.89)

Perception is generally reality and perception of other people looking at you is the reality that generally matters in business. And so it's taking those moments to slow down, realize how you're acting, learn about better ways. And then it's the continued art of always learning. I am so far from perfect, but I think I probably either read or listen to educational content for

30 minutes to an hour and a half every single day. And it's the only way that we can then take our team back and develop people and process to truly allow us as owners and leaders to step back or else the chaos always continues.

The Dental A Team (13:11.19)

Well, I love that. I love that.

The Dental A Team (13:17.814)

Mm -hmm.

The Dental A Team (13:25.322)

Yeah. What are you choosing for your personal development? What are you, what are you learning right now? What are you taking back to your team?

Cory Pinegar (13:32.852)

What am I taking right now? I'm working on developing trust in our organization. And so how do we build pillars that then work and support together? And what's been really interesting is the coach that I've been working with has then gone through the pillars of trust. And so it's credibility, it's the ability to be reliable, it's the ability to have personable conversations. Sometimes I look at leadership or trust, these large...

The Dental A Team (13:38.038)

Yeah.

Cory Pinegar (14:00.254)

almost gargantuan words that are hard to define. And it's been really helpful to take a step back and get a coach. But the only ways that I've been able to do it is swallowing the pride pill, which I still struggle to swallow every day and getting outside help and continuing to learn. There is no magic sauce that we wake up with it one day.

The Dental A Team (14:15.532)

Yeah. Yeah.

The Dental A Team (14:20.962)

Yeah. Yeah, I love that you say that. What I see in the dental world from our perspective, you know, our clients are coming and our prospective clients or people who are just reaching out just for information, they're coming for systems. It's always systems. I'm like, I always know, right? I know when I get a new client, I'm like, I know your systems. But we can't focus on systems and fix systems or do quote unquote, the right systems.

If on a foundational level, the leader and the leadership isn't in the right space. So focusing on the leader first, focusing on the doctor, the practice owner, and making sure that that human being is where they need to be in order to grow a business and grow a team and sustain the life that they're there after really reach that life and sustain it and project it into their future. Then

you can go after the systems. But we always get systems first and I'm always like, cool, we've got to take a step back because we've got to look at the foundation.

Cory Pinegar (15:24.478)

We talk a lot about it internally and it took me years to figure it out, it's a business as a layer of people process, but it's a layer starts with the leadership. Then you have elementary processes that begin to start. Leaders are generally or visionaries. Entrepreneurs are generally not the best process people. could not be worse. Tell me to design a process. I've already failed the project, but it's then bringing in people who can help design those processes more. And then they bring design processes that then allow people to live within.

The Dental A Team (15:50.264)

Mm

Cory Pinegar (15:54.388)

those processes, but it's a layered cake. It's not people then process and then you're done. It's a continued stacking as you build an organization.

The Dental A Team (16:04.001)

Absolutely. Absolutely. One of the biggest struggles I see from leaders and tell me if this maybe lies true for you as well for leaders for entrepreneurs for those go get our visionaries, right? The dreamers is the ability to bring clarity to that vision. And so when when my entrepreneurs and my dreamers, my visionaries, they're like, I have an idea, I have an idea. And they're telling someone like, this is what I want you to do.

And then the implementer, right? Implementers, I'm an implementer. I can dream, but I'm an implementer where I'm like, cool, this is what I think you meant, let me do it. And then come back and I like, well, that's totally off the mark. So bringing that clarity into that vision is difficult because you don't have, if you had the clarity, you could implement it. But then in order for an implementer to implement it, they need the clarity. And so how do you find as you're building this trust within your team and

building these aspects and going through the coaching, how do you find the ability to bring some of that clarity into your ideas to make them a reality for the people who are implementing for you?

Cory Pinegar (17:11.284)

This is an amazing question. And I am far from perfect. I have moments when I'm like, I swear I said it this way and it, I asked for a bagel and it came back as toast. But I've realized at the end of the day, there's nothing that beats consistent communication. And out of the one thing that I probably see practices go wrong on significantly is there's this one and done mentality. And that just, doesn't exist.

The Dental A Team (17:13.6)

Yeah

Cory Pinegar (17:41.312)

It is every day looking in and saying, OK, well, how did you understand that? it's involvement as a manager and as a leader with your team. There is no thing as, hey, go get it done. And then it's going to come out perfect. Because what's stewed in my brain at night for 14 days, and then I'm going to regurgitate it in a three and a half minute conversation and expect someone to nail the vision that I've been conceptually building in my head, I don't have the clarity.

but it's learning to over communicate, consistently communicate, and then provide feedback where it's off. But when it's off and it comes back as a piece of toast, I know that it's on me, because I didn't drive clear communication and clarity.

The Dental A Team (18:25.41)

I love that. So I, I want everyone to hear all of those pieces. want you to like rewind, re -listen, look at all those pieces again, because when we're leaders, when we're in a leadership position, when we're a practice owners, when we're doing these things where we're really leading, guiding and growing people, it is important to make sure that we're like good with ourselves first. If we're not true to ourselves, if we can't trust ourselves, if I can't trust my word,

Right, if I'm telling myself I'm gonna get up and go for a run every morning at 5am, but I hate getting up at 5am so I never do it. Like I'm lying to myself every single day, right? I've done it, I've been there and I'm like.

Cory Pinegar (19:02.686)

And I do that every night before I go to bed. I tell myself I'm going to the gym. And damn it, we're here.

The Dental A Team (19:05.722)

I do. I know, I know, but I'm like, I'm not a morning person. So I just need to switch it right to build that internal trust. But if we're not focusing in on the, like you said, those trust pillars, those pieces where it really, really brings that ownership and integrity to you as a business owner, a practice owner, a leader, whatever your position might be, if you don't have those

personal integrity pieces in alignment, you're not able to be held accountable. You're not holding yourself accountable. I think that's where a lot of people, business owners miss that mark of building a team. Because if you can't say it and own it, you're just, anything you do, you're training your team to do. So if you want a team that owns it, team that's like, you know what, I have an idea, I'm gonna go try it. I think this might work. think I should call people in this order. I think I should say these words when I call for a re -care because I think people will call back.

quicker. If you want people to have ideas run with them and make changes and do amazing things in your company, you have to be willing to do those things too. And then when it doesn't go right, be like, shoot, that sucked and try again, because you're training your team to do whatever it is you are doing. If you're stressed out, if you're uneasy, if you're manic, if your emotions are everywhere, and you're telling your team your emotions constantly, you've got an emotional team.

You're just like, you're going to create your reality based on the way that you hold yourself. And like you said, the perception, like the way people perceive you, that's the reality that you're living in. And I love that you mentioned that earlier, those self -evaluate or those evaluations of leaders, those are hard. Those are high. We've done them in our company. I've had to have them on me and I'm like, all right, give it to me. But it's really a reflection of what you're putting out there. No matter what somebody could perceive me a certain way.

But I did something that allowed them to perceive me in that way, no matter what, hands down, something I did or said allowed that perception to be their reality. So it is reality, whether I meant it that way or not. So being able to take a look at that and really dive into it and do the personal work on it makes a huge difference. And then I am a huge fan of podcasting first thing in the morning, like listening to something that's just like inspiring or

The Dental A Team (21:27.157)

leadership techniques or tactics or something that just like gets you motivated. So I love that you're doing that stuff too. think that was that was huge because those are the foundational levels. If your leadership isn't there as the owner, you can't expect your team underneath you to do more than you are. They're going to rise to whatever bar and standard you've set. And they're not typically going to go above that if they are going above that.

they're probably going to go start a business soon. They're an entrepreneur who's just looking for the space to be able to do it on their own. And that's fantastic too and grow them and let them fly because I think that's incredible too. But when you're not in that space, it's really hard to expect others to be there too. So when we've got that now,

I love the emotional intelligence. That's like my jam. My, my jam is personal development, leadership, growth, all of those pieces. that's literally what I specialize in. So that just, you just, you know, have me going on cloud nine over here. Now relate that if you would like you've said you've hired thousands and you've gone through, you know, hundreds that didn't work. And that's totally fair. think there's gotta be some sort of ratio there. Otherwise you're just like superhuman over here and you've got to do a lot more with that.

Cory Pinegar (22:41.542)

I wish we were.

The Dental A Team (22:45.256)

How are you, or what tools maybe are you using that really help you to see what their personality is like before getting them into the practice, like into work? How are you able to see those pieces ahead of time?

Cory Pinegar (23:00.148)

Yeah, really good question. So we have a recruiting team that does an amazing job. Number one, we're clearing the air on expectations to start. So well before we go to an interview, we want to make sure is what you're looking for, what we're looking for instead of starting this process and then losing each other at the end. So there's almost a series of knockout questions to make sure that we're not misusing the candidate's time or misusing our time.

The second thing that we're looking at is are they a good cultural fit? What soft skills do they have? What emotional intelligence do they have? And you can get a read from that, but then we use certain assessments. There's people plus purpose, there's certain EQ ones, and we'll send them to certain candidates in certain positions. And then we actually backtrace those against our most successful candidates.

The Dental A Team (23:51.101)

Beautiful.

Cory Pinegar (23:51.265)

we can look at the superstars and then say, okay, from a data perspective, how do we begin to replicate those? And it is amazing when you look at the pure data of hiring, a recruiter can hire on their gut and they are right or wrong, just like blackjack can about 50 % of the time.

The Dental A Team (24:09.563)

Yeah, for sure.

Cory Pinegar (24:10.333)

And so it's a mix of taking those soft skills, making sure they hit the requirements, but then making a database decision. And that means you still miss every once in a while, but you can correlate it to your best team's performance in those certain positions.

The Dental A Team (24:26.459)

That's beautiful. And that would take the people on your team doing those assessments first. So if you're a doctor who's hiring for a physician now, making sure that you know where your team lies and that way you see, okay, this rock star or these rock stars, the people who are really rising up, where are they landing on these certain things within their performance in their EQ, their soft skills, because now when you're doing that, you've got data to compare it to. But when you're just getting data, you're like, yeah, feels like it's still like a

shot in the dark like gut instinct because it's like, yeah, it feels like those are the pieces that I'm looking for, but not actually having that data to know in comparison makes it much more difficult. I love that. I love that. What do you think a doctor who, and I'm just like making this up right now because I'm like so intrigued by all of this, but what do you think a doctor who is sitting here today, they're listening to us and they're like, gosh, dang it.

I think Corey is onto something like I think I need to fix my foundation. Like where do, where does a doctor start? Where do they start when they say, I'm having a lot of turnover. I just haven't been able to figure it out and I need to look internally. What is, what is the step one? Do you think that they could do to look internally and say, okay, where do I start?

Cory Pinegar (25:46.9)

I mean, that's a hard assessment to make blind. Where I look at myself is there's two base layers. I, and I ask myself it consistently, are we providing value to our employees? If not, where are we missing? Are we providing value to our customers? If not, where are we missing? Or where could we make it better? And am I providing value to myself? Because if I am providing value to my people and providing value to our customers, but I'm run ragged.

I'm not taking home pay. I'm working 14 hours a day. I'm showing up probably like a total ass. And so you have to look across the board and say, where am I missing? number two is, and one of the biggest, I think, learnings for me is you just have to care. If you don't care for your people, if you don't care and sincerely care for your people and sincerely care for your customers, you can't fake it and people can sense it.

The Dental A Team (26:19.421)

Yeah, yeah, that's fair.

Cory Pinegar (26:43.506)

And so it's those base layers of assessing, but where I feel I started to move my foot forward in leadership is I knew the right things to say before or holding a one -on -one or an annual overview and giving someone a raise. But I have to look and say, do I sincerely care for you? And do I want and am I able to move you and your career and your family forward? And if I'm not there, then I'm not serving their best interest. And people can sense that.

The Dental A Team (26:43.86)

a polygrapher.

The Dental A Team (27:12.353)

Totally. Yeah. And I say constantly, if it's not right, like for me, if I'm not, if it's not working for me, it's not working for you either. They may not have realized it as quickly as you did, but it's, it's true. It's not, it's got to be a two way street. It's got to work. And if it's not working for them, it's also not working for you. So when people are, you know, in that space, if it's, if it's not wrong seat, wrong, you know, space of life and we can move them to somewhere else, they might thrive. If they're not thriving with you, there's a reason.

and we've got to figure those things out.

Cory Pinegar (27:43.296)

You nailed something and it's almost a little contrarian to what we've talked about today that in the first 60 to 90 days, they can interview great, they can start great. Sometimes they're not right and that's not a knock against them, that's not a knock against you, but it's better to raise your hand and have those conversations. There have been times in my career where...

because I wanted to be kind or empathetic or I was unwilling to confront the hard conversations that I've allowed bad to brew in an organization and people.

are almost similar to cancer and it spreads where if you're not holding a high standard of how we engage our patients or how we treat our team, that begins to spread. And so our job as leaders is to hold that standard and to make those changes when we realize that they're not right. And it doesn't mean at the end of the day that you don't care. I had this exact same conversation with someone yesterday.

I care for them as an individual, but I know what we need and what they have is not right. And so we are driving two semi trucks at each other at the same time. And it's better for us to raise our hand instead of crashing those semi trucks. And though it seems contrary into caring, it's better to clear where you need to clear, but do it empathetically and leading with their interests first.

The Dental A Team (28:52.926)

percent.

The Dental A Team (29:07.115)

I think in business, we oftentimes do or when we own a team and we're, you know, trying to own our feelings and all these pieces, we take the individual out of the team. And when we can't, when we can't see this, I love your semi, you know, theory there. I love that when we can't see that the semis are running towards each other and we just want to save that other semi. We're like, we think we're chasing the semi to save them. And we pull this one person out of the team and we say, gosh,

Let me change things. Let me move you to a different space. Let me do this. We're grasping at this one person who's just not a fit. They're not working. We forget to care about the rest of the team in most instances. And so now we're putting this one person who's just not fitting. They couldn't be a fantastic human, but they're just not the right human for this space of life right now. Now we've put

5, 10, 20, 200 other people underneath this one person that we're trying, we're gasping at trying to save. And now the potential, the trust loss, the relationship loss, the connection and communication that you've lost with the rest of the team is at the non -benefit here of this person who's gotta go anyways. And so now you're rebuilding all over again.

with a full team because you've lost those pieces, whether they're willing to admit it or not, internally you have lost trust with these people because you put this other person ahead of them. But when you can just say, you know what, it's just not jiving, it's not a fit, and I think you're going to be happier in a place that you 100 % fit, and we're gonna be better off not trying to force a square into a circle, your team respects

that and they feel respected. They're at the brunt of this person not making it. They're the ones picking up the slack and then for you to put them ahead, it's it's this vicious cycle that I think now you go all the way back to the beginning of our conversation because now at a foundational level, we've tanked, we've lost so much momentum and so much growth and gain that you had before. So I do think that was an incredibly important thing to bring up and incredibly important.

The Dental A Team (31:19.309)

piece to talk about is you have to be willing to say goodbye when it's time to say goodbye and be okay with that empathetically, obviously, but that was huge. That was huge. So foundational level, making sure that we're good on a team, a client and a business space, make sure that you're actually a leader. You're not just a manager, you're a leader and you're leading a team.

We talked about some hiring tips hiring for personality, making sure that they're the right fit for your team when you know what that fit needs to look like, and making sure that you know who you're trying to hire that avatar is just as important as the person that you're bringing in. So making sure you know what that looks like. And I love the idea of comparing them to your rock stars. Now once you get that person will quickly go through this one, Corey, but

something that you and I have chatted a lot about and I think it is imperative to the success of business and people is the onboarding piece. And this is something that is dramatically overlooked and not, it's just not seen in dentistry as a whole. Dentistry does not understand the idea of fully onboarding a person onto their team. We throw dental assistants tear side with our highest, you know, highest quality dental assistant. And we say, go figure it out.

We throw associate dentists in and we're like, you know what you're doing, do it, hygienist, all of them, front office. Like we just throw people in and we're like, you should know what you're doing, figure it out. This is, you know, as easy as riding a bike and it doesn't work. So how do you suggest or how have you seen your most successful practices onboard, even these remote virtual assistants that you've got in your company, onboarding them onto their team and how are you?

enforcing onboarding, I want to use that word because you have an incredible layout and system for this within your company of virtual assistants for the world.

Cory Pinegar (33:14.41)

Yeah, really good question. So there's three things that I think lead to anyone onboarding successfully. It revolves around clarity, communication, and expectations. Number one, when someone comes into the role, is it truly defined? Have you sat down and said, OK, I want a wide receiver, and I expect them to catch this, and they're going to run these type of routes? And it also helps you hire in that role. It's not you need an office manager. It's what does winning?

The Dental A Team (33:17.219)

you

Cory Pinegar (33:43.28)

for you actually look like because people get thrust into roles, oftentimes with some templated office manager, receptionist description. And because of that, there's not clarity and alignment. What you talked about earlier, we've all got to be going to the same place. Number two is then you've got to communicate. You've got to get them trained. They can come with dental experience. They cannot come with dental experience. Both of those come different ways. I think the misnomer is, okay, well,

They have a dental background, they know insurance verifications. Well, do they know your dentrics? Do they know the networks that are insurances that are in or out of network? Do they know how you want to file certain things? And that often gets looked at, people will just naturally pick it up. All of the dentists went to school for three to four years, depending on where they went, and sometimes even more specialized training. It's years of work to get it down. And we expect people in a week.

in a practice to pick it up and be integrated. And it's just a slow uphill climb where I really think to truly integrate someone well, it's six months of consistent communication where you're stacking bricks and building a house. And then that final note is once you're consistently communicating and training, it's setting expectations and deliverables and where they should be. It's not, hey, you should be great at answering the phones at the end of week one. It's.

at end of week one, you're going to master new patients. And at the end of week four, we're going to train you. And then there's a guide map where then they can look at themselves because people want to know how they're doing in the job and where they should be. And instead of this vague, ambiguous job description and not knowing where they land, it's OK, here are the deliverables. And it allows that mountain climb where everyone can be paced and have expectations that are reasonable. Second thing.

We specialize in remote team members. Practices are so used to the concept of you hire someone, just as you said with the assistant, you can bring them in, you sit next to someone. The biggest struggle that we see at Reach is people love the idea of virtual assistants. They're cost effective, you get engaged people who truly do care. But then day one starts and you go, do I send them a Zoom link? How do I?

The Dental A Team (36:07.031)

There you go.

Cory Pinegar (36:08.006)

shadow them on calls. And so our goal, the reason that we have success managers at Reach is, number one, they still need to drive clarity. They still need to have expectations. They still need to communicate. But then can we help them in areas of what technology should you be using? When and how should you be checking them in? But one big tip that I would get on the remote side is, and I mentioned this in our meeting before, I hate the term outsourcing. Because outsourcing typically means

I'm gonna take my pieces of paper, I'm gonna take my revenue cycle management, I'm gonna throw them to another company. We've all outsourced and we've all gotten poor quality work back because there wasn't communication and there wasn't clarity. What we really specialize in at Reach is bringing someone in who does work remote, but integrating them into your team. They are part of your team. If they're not joining your morning huddles, if they're not...

getting the updates on what's happening within the practice, you cannot truly play a game of basketball with one player, not communicating with everyone else. so remote is different and our goal is to help guide people through the nuances there. But the biggest thing that leads people to be uber successful or to struggle is the idea of this is now someone who's joining my team. They joined digitally, but we're gonna treat and respect them just the same. And I can promise you.

that the level of engagement and dedication that you get back when you respect a global worker like that is unparalleled because they yearn to be a part of a team and be a part of a movement where they can give better healthcare. And those are the practices that take it to the next level.

The Dental A Team (37:49.193)

I totally agree. And I saved that one for the last because I feel like everything you just said right there wraps up and wraps back into everything that we talked about this entire podcast because the clarity, the wins, knowing how to win for both sides, the accountability, all of that goes straight back to that foundational level. And what we spoke about with entrepreneurs being able to narrow in that clarity and really being able to narrow in what it is that you want.

If you don't know what you want from a team member, whether it's in person or whether it's these incredible global workers that Corey's out, reached to reached out to, I was going to say, with reach, it doesn't matter. If you don't know how you want them to win, like if you don't know what it looks like for them, I've seen it both sides, with remote workers, both sides, the side that says, this is exactly what I want you to do. This is how we're going to get you there. This is how both sides win.

and the side that's like, wait, you don't come with like, I just want you to do this, just go do your thing. And I've seen it work and not work. And it's that clarity piece that makes the world of difference. And I love what you said. am totally for, we've got plenty of outsource like billing companies and people, insurance verification companies that we've utilized that we recommend that we love, but it's not the same as a virtual assistant.

through your company. It's not they're drastically different. And then the level of dedication, the care and the actual integration into your team is different. And I think Corey, that it's because on a foundational level, you as the leader and your company knows the expectations of these workers that you're bringing in, and it sets the practices up for so much success as long as they follow your lead. So

all just ties back to each other. you guys, this has been incredible. Corey, thank you so much for letting me pick your brain and pivot and go back to what we talked about and like go all over the place. That's how my brain works. And I love that you were able to follow with me. Thank you. It gets a little crazy in there sometimes. I want you and this again, I'm just throwing things at you. If you could sum up today's podcast and say, gosh, this is the thing. This is start here. What would you leave?

The Dental A Team (40:11.351)

our listeners with today. What would be the magic sauce sentence at the end of what the most important piece was that we talked about?

Cory Pinegar (40:21.29)

great people and a sustainable business model leads ultimately to a less stressful life and a very successful business.

The Dental A Team (40:29.625)

Thank you. totally agree. I totally agree. I focus a lot of my coaching and my consulting on the person, the leader, the owner and the life that we're trying to create for him or her. Because if we can see that as the guideline, that's our why. That's our, that's our guiding star. Everything else falls thereafter. It's very easy to bring in all the accountability and the ownership and the leadership when we know what it is that we're going after. It's when you're

mind is so muddled and you can't figure out that clarity piece that things get more difficult. So I love that narrow it in, get things done. Corey, thank you so much for your time today. Thank you for your time we spent with us yesterday as well. We are going to link in the show notes, all kinds of information you guys, Corey, your team, you are incredible. And what you're doing for the dental industry here and the industry outside of our country truly like makes my heart on fire. I'm so

Wes to know you and be able to do this podcast with you this morning. Thank you so much, Corey.

Cory Pinegar (41:31.818)

Thank you for the time.

The Dental A Team (41:33.175)

Of course, of course. And we can't wait to have you back again, because we know we will. Dental A Team listeners, thank you so much for being here with us. Listen to this again, you guys. There are so many notes to be taken, so many tidbits, so many pieces that you need to do. Go run, do it faster. And then as always, reach out to us, [e-mail]. If you have any questions, if you need information, if you need us to connect you to Corey and his team in any way, let us know. We're here for you. Thank you.