Doctor's Spotlight

Drs. A.J. Giesa & Lisa Ciabattoni, Year 3

What was important to us to have the practice of our dreams:

1. First, we had to let go of having to do it all on our own and learning that asking for help was a strength.

2. We had to stop thinking that everything had to be perfect before we started. We never ran such a big business and we didn't want to make mistakes. If we applied the same type of thinking to get our practice to perfect, we never would have started. Having NextLevel's wisdom and real time advice gave us the confidence to take the right actions toward new results versus experiencing paralysis by analysis in preparation for change and never taking action.

3. We are successful because we care deeply about taking care of our team and patients. It was imperative that we were not going to lose control of our practice. You can call us borderline control freaks – which we see as a strength and sometimes it can be a curse when you want to grow. Installing the Complete Health business model actually gave us more control. The tool of Management by Agreement that we learned gave us the opportunity to trust and verify through partnership with our team leaders and team; the ultimate in peace of mind and freedom.

4. One of the main reasons we wanted help was to have time for our family while running a highly successful practice. We also wanted to make a profound difference in the community we serve. We had to make sure that the consulting wasn't going to take extra time outside of office hours. During the first few months, when we were getting everything set up, it took a few hours extra per week. Once we got going, we meet with our team leader one hour a week to review our metrics and talk about what is needed and wanted and a status of progress forward.

5. We have had coaches before and we wanted to make sure that the results were not going to go away when the consultant left the office. We were skeptical about NextLevel' s empowerment approach, where our team leader is the consultant on site and they advise us through videoconferencing. This unique process is why the results are sustainable because they are not reliant on an outside factor but a person on our team in the office day in and day out who built the system from inception. Now we have a business model, not a personality reliant practice, and we can plug and play if someone is out or leaves.

6. We researched a company that was aligned with our personal values. Being just a number to a consultant, applying hard sales tactics or being only about the numbers would never be received well by our team and patients. The 5-Step-Healthy-Patient-Blueprint is life and career changing. Patients truly understand the value that we provide and typical reoccurring issues fade away while a new set of success problems arise. How do we deliver all this dentistry while maintaining a world-class experience had become the next challenge and it was part of the NextLevel Curriculum.

7. We wanted a company that guaranteed return on investment so that the consulting firm would be accountable to help us generate increased collections while the program was being implemented. This, surprisingly, happened quicker than we expected. We really love that our growth in numbers measures how many patients’ lives have been enhanced. We feel good about increasing the longevity and quality of life for our patients.

8. We did not want a company that was going to put high-pressure sales and inauthentic scripts solely focused on money into place. The philosophy at NextLevel is to share intelligent things with intelligent patients so they can make intelligent decisions.

9. Also important, was to have a company that intimately understood the local demographics, practice uniqueness and the mixed group of baby boomer and millennial team members we have and how to effectively transform the group. This is one of the biggest differentiators.

10. We wanted a business model installed. Coaching on how to make decisions and how to deal with situations and having an on demand coach a keystroke away was a game changer. Having scheduled meetings allow us to be accountable and stay on track for implementation. As dentists we are not so sure what steps to take in certain situations. It is a luxury to have a committed advisor to support with all the business and team things that come up.

11. Being ineffective at implementation, we wanted a company that would do more than tell them what they already know to do. Having a strategy with a timeline each year gives us the step-by-step path to get our results. Having regularly scheduled video sessions has us show up and be ready to go. If we fall behind, we get right back where we need to be. This, too, is priceless for busy doctors and teams.

12. Having a willing, motivated team aligned to a common purpose and accountable for individual and practice goals was very important. We really wanted a company that encouraged us to achieve bigger goals than what we could imagine. We didn’t know what we didn't know and working with the NextLevel team, who has worked with over 3,000 practices, have us thinking anything is possible. Maintaining a healthy balance of life and work, impacting dentistry as a whole and achieving sustainable results was what we thought was possible. Now, we are creating the health and wellness destination for people in greater Reading, Pennsylvania beyond our wildest dreams.