Inflation was the top problem facing small business owners last month. This month, it's labor quality. Jeff Blumberg breaks down what labor quality actually means, why searching for the perfect hire is the wrong approach, and the four practical steps to solving your practice's biggest staffing problem.

A dollar's worth of goods in March 2020 costs $1.17 today, even though the headline inflation number has already dropped back down. Jeff Blumberg breaks down why that compounding effect is quietly wrecking practice overhead, and the five specific things you need to do about it.

How many active patients do you actually need before adding an associate makes sense? Jeff Blumberg walks through the core metrics for scaling a practice, and why reactivating lapsed patients is often the fastest, cheapest path to real growth.

I need to think about it. I have to talk to my spouse. It's just a lot of money. Jeff Blumberg breaks down what patients actually mean when they object to treatment, and the specific ways to respond that keep the conversation, and the sale, moving forward.

If you could drop every insurance plan and take home the same or more income, would you do it? Jeff Blumberg breaks down the real, practical sequence for actually getting out of network, and the three pieces of genuinely good news that make this far less risky than most doctors assume.

Jeff Santone grew his practice five times over hiring baristas, retail workers, and even a former Federal Reserve economist, most with zero dental experience at all. He joins Jeff Blumberg to break down the exact training process he used, and why prior experience barely made his top five hiring criteria.

A dental practice could technically run with just a dentist, but nobody wants to work that way. Jeff Blumberg explains why most staff complaints trace back to one root issue, delegation, and lays out exactly when to delegate, when to hire instead, and how to hand off real responsibility without losing control of your practice.

A client once got a list of 12 things to do and finished none of them. Narrow that same list down to three, and she got all three done and saw her numbers move. Jeff Blumberg breaks down why implementation fails, and the simple daily tracking tool that fixes it.

Eighty-eight percent of consumers check reviews before they buy anything significant, and most dental practices have no idea how many prospective patients are quietly screening them this way. Jeff Blumberg and marketing specialist Dan Brown break down the system for fixing that.

Messing up how an employee leaves your practice can be just as damaging as messing up how you hire one. Jeff Blumberg breaks down when to accept a two week notice and when to walk someone out immediately, why a witness matters, and the full checklist that keeps a departure from turning into a headache.

Inflation, a distorted labor market, and shifting reimbursement have quietly changed what it actually takes to keep a dental practice successful long term. Jeff Blumberg breaks down the four areas of focus MGE has been discussing with clients for the last year to make sure their practices aren't just successful now, but stay that way.

A mediocre closer with a good process will consistently beat a great closer with a bad one. Jeff Blumberg opens a two part series on strengthening treatment presentation, starting with the new patient phone call all the way through the exam.

Over 60 percent of the client success stories hanging on MGE's walls involve a couple running the practice together. Jeff Blumberg breaks down the four rules that make working with a spouse or family member actually work, without it quietly wrecking your home life.

Keeping a bad fit employee around too long doesn't prevent turnover, it causes more of it. Jeff Blumberg breaks down four specific, fixable factors behind staff turnover in a dental practice, and the exact approach he uses to make sure nobody's ever shocked when a job isn't working out.

The national average new patient phone conversion rate is 23 percent. Jeff Blumberg and Jeff Santone break down the 10-point checklist MGE uses on nearly 1,000 mystery calls to grade a receptionist, and exactly where most calls quietly fall apart.

Hiring a marketing company doesn't mean you get to stop paying attention. Jeff Blumberg lays out the six things every owner doctor needs to know about their new patient marketing, no matter who's actually running it, along with the real numbers behind postcard response rates, phone conversion, and return on investment.

A client working six days a week thinks he has no time to train his staff, then cuts back to three days a week and nearly doubles his collections once he does. Jeff Blumberg breaks down the four real reasons dental practices fail to train their teams, and exactly how to fix each one.

Spending just five extra minutes helping a patient understand why they need all six crowns, not just the two insurance covers, can turn a $2,000 case into a $6,000 one. Jeff Blumberg breaks down average transaction value, why it's underused in dentistry, and four practical ways to raise it without seeing more patients.