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MailMay 2022--At the inaugural WinDSO meeting in March 2022, Amol Nirgudkar (CEO of Patient Prism) interviewed Dee Fischer (CEO of Fischer Professional Group). Nirgudkar genuinely admires Dee Fischer’s ability to discover problems that need solving in growing DSOs—problems that are often very specific to each unique DSO. Here we learn four behaviors that make her consulting so impactful.
What Does Fischer Professional Group Do?
The Fischer Professional Group (FPG), based in Orlando, Florida, helps DSOs scale to larger organizations. They help DSOs create systems and develop both passion and accountability among their corporate managers and doctors, so they can more effectively lead their teams. Their consulting and coaching, led by founder and CEO, Dee Fischer, focuses on six management needs:
- Growth development management
- Financial management
- System management
- Schedule management
- Team building
- Culture development
These six pillars of management are the foundation on which DSOs grow, so helping managers create and maintain strength in each of these areas is FPG’s goal--but focusing on such serious aspects of business doesn’t mean the process can’t be fun. On the contrary, Dee Fischer and FPG’s coaching team lead DSO management in such a way that they enjoy the experience and have a model for enjoyable team building and sustaining cultural alignment. Local practice teams thrive from their onsite listening and coaching.
Fischer Professional Group also helps practice owners construct state-of-the-art locations. Rave reviews report that FPG makes the experience seamless and fun, while delivering a remarkable turn-key project on time and within budget.
Four Behaviors that Fuel Success
During the inaugural WinDSO event, there was much discussion around the superpower(s) each woman leader in dentistry has, the way in which they show up to powerfully elevate others and assist others towards their goals. Personality, experience, and innate talents combine to make each leader unique in the individual strengths they bring to information processing and conversations. Amol Nirgudkar asks Dee Fischer to reflect on the superpowers she “shows up with” that produce results—that actually help DSOs manage better to scale. Four strengths surfaced to the top.
Desire to hear from the team members
Nirgudkar says he has seen FPG successfully identify problems within DSOs that the DSO management did not recognize as the actual problems. He asks, “How do you have the superpower to figure out what is wrong and fix it?”
Fischer replies, “I think it is listening. I think good leaders listen. And if you really listen to the team from the janitor up you learn so much. And if you take that moment and just humble yourself and say, ‘Okay, I'm not here as the superpower, I'm here as someone that's really going to help and lead them,’ and you really listen to that team, they tell you. They tell you without even asking because everybody wants to grow.”
Passion for helping clients grow
Nirgudkar is amazed that the Fischer Professional Group consults with many hundreds of offices across the nation, which requires a lot of travel. He wonders, “How do you do this? How are you able to manage so many clients?”
Fischer says, “For me, it's the passion that manages it. And if there is a crisis, it's okay for me to go to that crisis. Nobody ever gets upset because they know I'm going to help them if that happens. When we bring a client on, we tell them, ‘We might have a day blocked for you, but your buddy office down the road might be having something that's really important and we’ll need to change your day.’ And as long as a client has an open mind and a growth mindset, we're okay with having that client. My passion for my clients drives me to manage my time, and they help me do it. And to me, that's so important. Why not look at it outside the box? Why not make it about them instead of me? And I think it really falls into place.”
Listening to hearts
Nirgudkar says, “One of the things that you are very successful at is change management. It's the hardest thing to do in any business. How do you get people excited about executing the ideas that you bring to the table?”
“It is really simple,” says Fischer. “Listen to their hearts. If you listen to people first and you listen to their hearts, they will engage. Instead of telling them, ‘This is what you have to do.’ For instance, you sit with a young doctor that just got out of school. They are nervous. They don't know how to do case conversion. Just listen to their heart. They want to be there. They want to do this. You could say, ‘Let’s find that little crack in your confidence that doesn’t needs to be there.’ Talk to their heart. And if you're talking to their heart, you're going to get engagement. And if you get engagement, you get success.”
Nirgudkar relates how Patient Prism clients who have been helped by Fischer Professional Group were helped in ways no other consulting group had helped them before. They were able to help individuals operationalize confidence and talk about their own personal aspirations. “That’s powerful,” he says.
“It’s very powerful,” says Dee Fisher. “Someone might say, ‘I don't want to just be a dental assistant. I would like to go to hygiene school, but I don't have the finances.’ Well, you know what, their employer can help them find the finances and pursue their dream, and they will become a better part of the team. It's that different way of looking. I think.”
Nirgudkar replies, “It's really growing your people, right? At the end of the day, if you grow your people, everything will fall in place.”
“I will never forget the first day I met you,” says Fischer. You had a tee shirt that said, ‘people before profits.’ I remember we were at a conference and I thought, ‘I want you in my room,’ because I knew that we were coming from the same approach. And I think it's because of the integrity and honesty that we've grown up with. It's so important.”
Staying humble
Nirgudkar asks, “What is that thing that you've learned that your childhood brought to you that allows you to just instantly connect?”
Fischer says, “My dad taught me one thing. Always stay humble. Leave the ego out of everything you do in life and be a servant leader. So, I really learned what it was to be humble. To walk into a room and see these young doctors, see these young teams. I've been there. Don't ever forget where you came from. I think that's the thing that really resonates with me.
“At a time in my life, my dad had lost his job. He had five kids. We went through some really hard times, but then we went through some really great times. My dad taught to you to earn respect, stay humble, and pass it on to others, to become that ripple.”
“It is a testament to why you've been successful,” says Nirgudkar. “You don't go into organizations telling them what to do. Instead, you bring out the best in people—whether they're an assistant or hygienist, a treatment plan coordinator or a doctor. You bring out the best in them by giving them the motivation to be their best self. And that is why every office you're going to has crazy double-digit growth, and I'm delighted for the opportunities that you've given me over the years to serve the clients that you serve. And I'm honored to just know you as a person, as a human being and as somebody that I will always look up to.”
About Dee Fischer
Dee Fischer is CEO of Fischer Professional Group and has decades of experience growing DSOs and helping doctors create systems, accountability, and passion in the workplace. She has been an integral part of several DSOs’ exponential growth, guiding the operations and HR management to scale to larger organizations. For more information, visit www.fischerspro.com.
Patient Prism Delivers Actionable Intelligence
Patient Prism’s artificial intelligence (A.I.) incorporates machine learning to provide deep insights into dental patient phone calls and conversion analytics.
Managers can easily see how many people asked about implants, the percentage booked, and the revenue opportunity won or lost.- They can see how many people said they had Delta Dental PPO or spoke Spanish.
- They can see how many called in pain with emergency needs.
- They can see how many prospective patients did not book due to the unavailability of near appointments.
- They can determine if team members are uninformed about advertised promotions, don’t know how to respond well to financial questions, or are so pressed for time they fail to demonstrate empathy for callers’ concerns.
It's really quite simple. Patient Prism's dashboards provide unique insight as to what exactly is happening on the phones in any dental practice, including DSO or enterprise dashboards that include all practices' strengths and opportunities in one view.
These insights help managers identify where to expand services, better coach team members, increase staffing during peak hours, consider participation with an insurance provider, and adjust marketing.
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