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Max W. Higbee, DMD, Redmond,
Oregon
I have practiced dentistry for over 30 years in a small rural town
in Central Oregon that has a population of just 20,000 and about 20
dentists in this blue collar town.
About six years ago I was producing a little over $1,000,000 and
working five days a week. I felt like I was at the outer edge of the
envelope with what I could produce. Our fee schedule in Central
Oregon was not particularly high and I didn’t know how to make it
any bigger.
One day I noticed a book written by a local business owner who
started his business with one store in Prineville, Oregon and Les
Schwab grew his business into the largest independent tire dealer in
the world.
In his book he explains that he experienced the tremendous explosion
in his business when he extended credit to his customers.
That story inspired me to look at how I financed my patients. I
found that many patients would not go through with dental treatment
after I made the case presentation, treatment plans, and study
models, etc., but when I started extending credit, my practice
exploded! I now have 13,500 active patients in this town of 20,000
people.
You do need to have some tools which allow you to know who to extend
dental credit to; how much credit to extend and for how long, just like
all the banks do. (If
you have college-age children like I do, you probably know all too
well that they receive mail from large banks offering them a credit
card with a $300 limit and 18% interest.) Well, if the banks make
money on that, it made sense that if I extended credit to everybody
and monitored it, that I’d be able to make money, too!
Extending credit to my patients is
what has allowed me to grow my practice beyond my wildest
expectations. I did it by outsourcing the financing to AFS
because I didn’t have the banking expertise or the time to monitor
all the details that need to happen when you extend credit.
I think doctors won’t extend credit to their patients because they
are afraid they will lose money. It is a scary thing to have
accounts receivables and all of a sudden to have to write off a
portion if the patients don’t pay.
You think to yourself “I did this work and I lost money.”
Well, in the last
 26 months, we financed over $5,000,000 and
only lost $58,000 – which comes to just over 1%. Well, I have
to tell you, I don’t mind losing that $58,000
as long as I have the other $4,942,000 I gained! It helps to have an
attitude about the percentage amount you're willing to lose. (Even
though I’m
comfortable with 3%, historically, I’ve only lost about 1%.)
The key thing to growing your practice is that virtually everyone
gets credit! I don’t use any other third party financing since it
makes no sense now that we extend our own credit. Other third party
financing companies will only accept the “A” credit person, and
those patients are the ones who are going to make you a lot of
money. Carrying the credit for them is very profitable because they
are going to have a lot of dental work done. Why let somebody else
make that money? Also, other third party financing companies will
deny your “B” and “C” credit patients. And since you went into this
business to help people, why would you want to turn them away?
If you have the time, knowledge and staff available to extend credit
on your own, then I urge you to do so. If you don’t have all the
resources available to you at this time, I strongly recommend AFS to
help take the mystery out of it for you and help you make dental patient-financing your
own money machine. Using the tools that
 AFS provides has helped me
to grow my production to well over $4,000,000 per year.
Please take a few minutes to find out more and see if AFS would fit
into the production goals you have for your practice and you'll keep
your appointment calendar FULL!
Sincerely,
Max W. Higbee, DMD – AFS Client
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It is my sincere belief that
you will do yourself, and your dental practice a huge favor by
calling either Bob Moothart, or Steve Nilsby for details on the
AFS patient financing system to find out how you can get started on the
program.
AFS Receptionist, Nancy
Queen, is patiently waiting for you to call!
American Financial Services, Inc.
Toll-Free 1-888-669-4553 |
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