Dr James, 9s:

Hey guys, welcome back to the Dentistry Invest podcast. And I've got a gentleman sat in front of me who was on the podcast way back when and his name is Mr Ridda, and I thought it's about time to do round two. Mr Ridda Alwan, and Mr Ridda's specialty is reducing the overheads of dental practices, which is really flipping important because the gap between your turnover and your overheads is your profit. The bigger the gap, the more profit you make. Everybody's interested in the sexy side of things, which is boosting turnover. Actually, you really got to keep one eye on the outgoings, or no matter how much turnover you make, outgoings are going to catch up with you. But anyway, I'm sure Mr Ritter is eminently more qualified to speak on that than me. But before we get into that, how have you been my friend? How's life? Life is good. How are you? Yeah, good man, I'm just same old bro, just hustling inverted commas, building Building is a better word Building the next version of Denison Invest and all the cool stuff that is coming along alongside that. But I'm going to be a little tight-lipped on that. More revealed in due course. How about you? What's fresh?

Rida, 1m 23s:

Looking forward to it. What's fresh? Wow, business is changing. You know times are changing. You know potential governments are changing soon. So you know, you've got, you've got. You've got to see what's going on and you've got to pick up with the times and you've got to think of innovative ways on how to problem solve and how to think on your feet and solve and and to help your business grow by you saving money. You're 10 times than 10 times more likely than income listen, it's actually you know what.

Dr James, 1m 58s:

Once upon a time I just thought that was boring and I was just like, yeah, let me boost income and yes, there is a time for boosting income. But actually now, rid of your preaching of the choir. You gotta keep one eye on those overheads or they get you. And it's so easy to make a little bit of money and then think to yourself, hey, I've got a bit more, I can just splash out on this, splash out on that. And with that mindset it's a dangerous one that can catch up on you. Rita, you and I were talking just off camera about some recent case studies that you had with regards to dental practices that you helped, recent case studies that you had with regards to dental practices that you helped. So I thought it might be really valuable if you could cherry pick some of the coolest examples of when you were able to save these practices an absolute fortune, because there's a lot of stuff principals out there are doing that are expensive and there is more cost-effective ways of getting exactly the same result. Would you agree with me?

Rida, 2m 54s:

100%, I mean. I'll give you just a basic example. Down in Brighton there's a practice I was in and within, I'd say, an hour of being on site, I managed to save them just over £18,000 on their utility bills alone as gas and electric. So that's £18,000 for the year it's been £1,800. Yeah, £1,800.

Dr James, 3m 22s:

£1,800,. That's still amazing, man.

Rida, 3m 26s:

You know, for that dental practice he's like I can now have an extra nurse or I can buy a new machine. You know that's a whole new individual that he can bring in into the business that he didn't have before. You know, being able to negotiate with suppliers as well I mean I recently was in a practice in team managed to get them 30% of a supplier that's a 30% discount of one of the big name brands, suppliers just by bringing in the company rep in to have a discussion and sitting down and negotiating. What you've got to understand out there in business, business is not about just bringing in revenue. Like you said, james, if you're able to reduce your overheads, what that means in regards to profit is that it increased that small amount that increases in profit. It's a long-term effect on your income. So for every one pound you bring in, that's what is it? I think it's 10p of profit, roughly say 10p to 25p of profit. Now imagine saving that one pound. So how much money did you not have to bring in? That's five pounds of money you didn't have to bring in. Now multiply that by 10. That's one filling. You didn't have to do just by saving 50 pounds Actually, no, that's 10 fillings. You don't have to do so. You know that's 500 pounds of income. He used to say 50 pounds of profit. Now the numbers start becoming mind-boggling. If you're now able to save 100 pounds, 1,000 pounds, 3,000 pounds, think of how much income that would have had to.

Dr James, 5m 33s:

you've had to generate it to get that saving that's the problem, and when you think about it in those terms, yeah, how much do you have to generate? You mean you have to generate like what? Like 10 times to bring that in. Uh, particularly if your variable costs go up as well, uh, depending on what you're doing, like with implants or something. So, yeah, it's worth thinking about. I'm a convert. I'm a convert to this way of thinking.

Rida, 5m 58s:

I really am. I mean, you've got to look at every aspect of the business. So staffing is a cost, but do you have the right staff? Do you have the right receptionist selling your services when customers are calling in? You know they are an overhead but they are also a revenue generator. So do you have the right phone systems? Do you have the right booking systems? Is it generating you money? All of these things which you've got to look at? It's not only about how much are you spending on the equipment or on the IT systems, or on the phones or on the booking systems. It's what does it bring it back to the business? What is it generating for you? What does it mean for the business? So, saving money. Yes, you can buy cheaper equipment that does exactly the same thing. It comes out of the same factory but it's just under a different brand name. You know the suppliers. If you go to them and you tell them I want this type of filling with this percentages and everything, it's all there. But all there is is that it's branded or unbranded. What's the worst? That you know you can trial them If it works, fantastic. If it doesn't work, that you know you can trial them if it works, fantastic. If it doesn't work, you know you can go back to your normal. But then there's potentially over 60 to 70 percent saving for unbranded equipment. They're big numbers, big margins there big margins.

Dr James, 7m 29s:

So you talked about, I think one of the biggest ones is utilities, and this is one of the most common areas I feel dental practices could be doing better. So how can any principals who are listening to this podcast, who are obviously paying utilities, get a better deal, or what are the red flags that you're getting a bad deal whenever it comes to your outgoings? Whenever it comes to utilities Like when you go into practice Rida and you look at the overheads and you're thinking to yourself, right, this practice is paying too much. I can help them. What are the parameters that you use to decide that?

Rida, 8m 3s:

So there's a few things I look at. Roughly. On average, a practice should be paying in the region of about three to five hundred pounds, depending on how many chairs per month and utilities. When I go into practices and I've seen this, where they're paying two and a half or a grand, I'm like, ok, that's a bit too much. Either there's some wastage of electricity or it's you're being charged through the roof. If you're getting charged over a pound per unit, mate, you're getting gripped off, blind. And some of these companies, although they'll call you up and listen I really hate the phone calls because I've got businesses myself and you get these companies that call you up. I can get you the best electricity rate and they're forever calling, forever calling the receptionist. I can get you the best rate. I can get you the best rate. The way that I work is I don't look at one company, I compare six different companies and they're all comparison companies. And because I know the main suppliers, they get me the best rates. And because I know the main suppliers, they get me the best rates. And because I know what the current rate is, it fluctuates day to day. It's it's like gold. It goes and down. Gas and electricity rates go up and down daily and you know most people don't even know that. But once you get a fixed price, never let anybody fix you in for more than two years as well. That is one of the key things, especially on phone systems. Phone systems is one of the key things, especially on phone systems. Phone systems is one of the biggest scams, where people are getting fixed into seven-year contracts and they're getting tossed through the roof for systems that are updating so quickly, they're becoming so redundant so quickly and they get tied into these seven-year contracts. I don't want to name and shame any companies, but it's disgusting what they're doing in the industry. Certain companies have their tying in practices into long-term contracts and they think they're getting a saving because they've got a long-term contract. Unfortunately, these companies are abusing the practices. I classify it as another dental tax, and this is a term that I've learned once I started working with dentists. As you know, james, I don't even know dental tax, you know it was around, but dentists get charged through the roof of services that are a penny to the pound Dental tax is real, bro.

Dr James, 10m 39s:

I'll agree with you there. It's 100% a thing. And this is this is actually part of the power of your message right there, because your point is that actually, in part, through going to companies who do not discern whether we're dentists or not, is actually going to offer us a saving 100%. It shouldn't matter that you're a dentist or not.

Rida, 11m 6s:

It shouldn't matter that you're a dentist. It shouldn't matter that you're a dentist. All you are is a commercial unit. That's what matters. You're a commercial property and then you're working through there. It doesn't matter that you're a dentist. It shouldn't be changing your prices because you're a dental practice, regardless of whether it's phone lines, phone systems, it doesn't matter. The internet is the internet. It's not going to change because you're a dental practice. And I've heard dental phone suppliers. They'll say oh, because you're a dental practice, it's this much. Well, no, you can go to BT and it's half the price or a tenth of the price. It doesn't. It doesn't matter, it's the phone lines. The phone line it's not going to change. The broadband speed is not going to change. These special companies are not going to give you that special system, because you know the copper cable that comes in under your building is still the same copper cable or fiber optic or whatever it is, it's still the same fiber.

Dr James, 12m 2s:

Yep, 100%, man. No, I totally hear you. So that's a good example. And is there a way to shop around for dentists who are on the wrong side of the dental tax?

Rida, 12m 11s:

let's say the most important thing that I tell all dentists, right, is that when you are shopping around, there are a couple of websites which you should check, like comparison websites. They're not the ones that you use for your home, right? If you just go into Google and just type in commercial electric suppliers, you will get about five or six main companies that will come up, and they tend to be pretty good. What I, what I tend to do, and especially if you're doing it by yourself is call two of them. I wouldn't say the dentist, call them. Ideally, the practice manager, uh, would call them, and all you've got to do is just sort of give them your last utility bill and then they will tell them how much they should be able to save. If they're unable to save them any money, then don't waste your time with that company. There are companies that will try and mislead you and what they'll say is I can save you this much for the year, right, but they're going to give you a five-year contract. So be careful of that. Don't to give you a five-year contract. So be careful of that, don't tie yourself into a five-year contract. Gas and electric prices are on its way down right within the next two years, I think. I think they should be down to half, hopefully, with a couple of wars finishing off, especially down in europe. Um, if, if they gone, then prices will be slashed to about a quarter. That's how much of a change. Yeah, mate, listen. Commercial units electricity rates went up by 500% and they are not regulated.

Dr James, 13m 59s:

Holy moly, Holy moly. So they're high right now, in other words.

Rida, 14m 5s:

So there's got to be some scope to reduce those correct 100%, and if you're on a seven-year-old contract, you're going to be going into a big jump at the same time. So you've got to make sure that you're shopping around.

Dr James, 14m 18s:

Hell, yeah, man, okay, cool, well, listen, thank you for that. And those are some good places to look for principals. How about card machines? That's one of the big hitters. I hear so many people hitting on their card machine supplier because the fees are through the roof. It's like a tax, bro. What is it Like? A certain percentage in every single transaction? Yeah, absolutely.

Rida, 14m 39s:

Yeah, no, it's absolutely. There's a practice that I saved them just over a grand a month on credit card bills.

Dr James, 14m 47s:

Holy moly.

Rida, 14m 49s:

Yeah, so I'm one of the preferred suppliers for one of the big banks and they've now reached out to me through my LinkedIn. So they said, because of all the work that I've been doing through LinkedIn and how I've been helping businesses, what they've given me is a rate card through LinkedIn and how I've been helping businesses. What they've given me is a rate card and in that rate card is that they've smashed every single dental provider's rate and they're promising me that anybody's rates and all of my customers are entitled to it, regardless if you're a one-chair practice or a 10-chair practice. I can guarantee you I'm going to beat your rates. I've got big businesses approaching me saying can you just refer us? Because all I have to do is the referral. All I do is refer you to the bank and they contact you and they'll send you the rates and all of my rates are the same for all of my clients because it's my referral. It's big business, because what you've got to understand is 0.1% on a million is how much?

Dr James, 15m 54s:

Go on, james 0.1% on a million. Well, 1% of a million is 10,000. So 0.01% is 1,000, right, have I got that right?

Rida, 16m 9s:

I think it's more 10,000, but it was really.

Dr James, 16m 11s:

No wait, that can't be right. Is 1% of a. No, no, it must be, it must be a thousand. It must be a thousand because, think about it right, because, uh, ten thousand is one percent yeah a hundred times ten thousand. Yeah, it's a million and a hundred, because if a hundred thousand was one percent then then then that wouldn't make sense. It must be a thousand.

Rida, 16m 38s:

It's about a grand Imagine. I'm able to save you 0.7%, oh wow.

Dr James, 16m 47s:

Now we're talking 7Gs. That's 7Gs a month 7Gs a month, hell yeah.

Rida, 16m 53s:

There are certain practices that are making those monies monthly a million a month. There are certain practices that are making those monies monthly, you know, a million a month. There are practices that are making 100,000. But whatever you're making, these little savings do add up big time, big time.

Dr James, 17m 8s:

And they add up. The little savings add up. Or, to paraphrase and flip it on its head, the little costs add up as well. For the practice, that's what I'm saying. You get through all of these, you optimize them, and it's really easy just to be like, oh, only 0.1% there, 0.3% here, blah, blah, blah. But it's when you accumulate them all together, that's when the real magic happens.

Rida, 17m 34s:

There's a practice up in scotland when, when we, when, when we accumulated just on the card terminal alone for the year, we saved them just over 25 grand for the year.

Dr James, 17m 46s:

Right there, there you go.

Rida, 17m 48s:

That's big numbers alone come on, that's on card terminal alone. You know that's not looking at any other things, it's. It's those little things that you've got to look at. You know, because you're so busy you're thinking it's small, small potatoes. Um, you don't think. And listen. I totally understand. Dentists are phenomenal practitioners. They don't have time to be wasting, to be doing this, and that's why they need consultants, business solution managers, people like yourself or myself that can refer the right people to them to get these things done. You know the coaches to look at the nitty gritty stuff, because you know when they're busy in their practice. You know doing the implants. They don't have time to be doing this. You know that you've got to have people like you, james, who you know you're looking at people's finances regularly and you're helping them with their money. You're helping them with their money management and how to invest their money and what what that does is that it accumulates money without them doing anything, and that's what dentists need it's a big belief shifting thing for people to witness that for the first time that that's possible, because we're all trained to think that we have to be grafting for money.

Dr James, 19m 6s:

But that's not actually true until you, and you'll realize that when you experience that side of life. But it all starts with education and understanding how it's possible, and that doesn't start until we learn about that world, which is actually a big part of the reason why I started denison invest. So yeah, I feel you, man and I mean listen, james.

Rida, 19m 27s:

I mean I learned quite a lot from yourself and your podcast and they're phenomenal because you look at all of the different types of people that you've brought into your podcast. I mean jamal recently I think you spoke to on your podcast absolutely phenomenal person well, I did, I know yeah yeah, and you know how many practices has he opened. You know in the last. In the last was a practice a year roughly I think he's got four now and he's 29.

Dr James, 19m 55s:

Yeah, like that, that's phenomenal four in a lifetime is an achievement and and but that's the thing, it's the but.

Rida, 20m 2s:

Now he's like looking at how to invest his money in in other things, because and you've seen what he does he doesn't have a finance company. He finances his patients, which is phenomenal.

Dr James, 20m 16s:

It's amazing, man. Yeah, he, yeah it's amazing. And I believe on the podcast he said he had to get fca registered to do that because that was the next level for him. Uh, we had to make these considerations. So, yeah, man, it's, it's, it's crazy what's possible. And I think it starts with change and implementing a little bit of change. And then that that little one percent every day it builds and builds, and builds and builds. And the next thing, you know it's you're like a million miles away from where you started and you're in a zone which is almost hard to believe for some people, in whatever respective area or pursuit you've chosen to chase after or go go down the rabbit hole off. So, yeah, it's, it's. It's very powerful to realize that, and costs is no exception, which is the thing that you were talking about just now, because we're throwing around these numbers 10 grand, 20 grand, 30 grand, all of that but actually in a business, well, that's only a small slice of the money that's on the table. But because there's so much money on the table, it means that it's a worthy saving and a worthy pursuit to consider a lot of the stuff that you're talking about.

Rida, 21m 22s:

Yeah, absolutely. I mean I've, I've listened, I'll tell you, in the last year I think I'm talking in the region of about 300,000 pounds on the dental practices I've worked with, and I'm not. I'm not talking about working with 300 practices, I'm talking about only working with about nine practices.

Dr James, 21m 45s:

Nice. I mean, let's do the math. So if we're going to do 300,000, that's what?

Rida, 21m 52s:

30 grand On average to do 300 000 that's what?

Dr James, 21m 55s:

30 grand for each practice, ish, just over 30 grand. 30, 34, 32, 33, something like that, something along those lines. Flipping crazy, bro. It's just mad what's possible. So you know what? This is a question that I love to ask coaches. It's one of my favorite questions that I love to ask and I think this is a really nice way to round off all the things we've talked about today. So here is the thing right, when you're a coach and you're out in the field and you know is, is coach a good label for yourself?

Rida, 22m 22s:

I know some people are yeah, yeah, coach, coach, coach, mentor, whatever. I'm happy with either way coach ridder.

Dr James, 22m 29s:

Let's roll with that. I like that, I like that. So here's the thing with with the word coaching. Some people are a little bit averse to it, but I'm a believer in it, man, only because it's helped me so much in my life achieve things that I never thought were possible. You get the right coach, that's gold dust. That's actually the best, not just one of the best, but the best investments anybody can ever make, in my opinion. So anyway, going back to coaching, the question I love to ask coaches is in your experience in the field, rida through helping these dentists, you will have noticed that there's probably three, four, maybe five of the most impactful things that a dentist, that a principal, can do in order to save their practice money. In order to save their practice money. There'll be hundreds of them, of course, but out of those hundreds, there'll be like three or four. There'll be a few ones that make the biggest difference. That are like the first places that you would look. Now, just to give you context, the reason why I like this question so much is this is in the field experience. You observe this with your own eyes and you're like bang bang bang, these are the biggest ones. Observed this with your own eyes and you're like bang bang bang, these are the biggest ones. Whereas for somebody to be able to find those on their own, well, they have no contacts. They haven't talked to as many practices as you, as you have. So, actually, context is a very powerful thing because you're able to say, right across hundreds of practices, these are the biggest things. So when a dentist hears this and what they'll be able to do is think to themselves right, these are the places I should look, because rita's eyes are far more trained than my eyes or anybody else's eyes whenever it comes to this stuff. So rita speaks with an amazing level of authority when he tells us his top. Let's say top five. Shall we read it? five, okay, yeah, okay, let's go with five, the five biggest things that every principal should look at whenever it comes to saving money in their practice, whenever it comes to cutting costs. And here's the thing some of those things that we talked about earlier maybe in the top five, that's completely fine as well.

Rida, 24m 26s:

I'm curious to learn so staff, your reception staff, are number one. These guys can make you or break you. I've gone into practices where I've seen people sorry, can you hear?

Dr James, 24m 44s:

I lost you there for two seconds.

Rida, 24m 46s:

You said I've gone into practices and then it just paused for a bit I've gone into practices where I've sat down, because what I tend to do is I come in a little bit early to the meeting and I sit in reception just to see how reception are dealing with customers, how they're communicating on the phone, how they're communicating in person, how they're taking money off customers. You know, these three things can make or break a practice. I've seen a practice manager live off credit cards because of his staff and his receptionist and their poor communication. That's number one.

Dr James, 25m 20s:

So that's the biggie.

Rida, 25m 22s:

That's humongous because people are so busy in their practice making you know, going through their customers, because people are coming through the door but they don't know how their reception is treating so mystery shoppers. You've got to be doing it somehow, some way. Bring a friend in, do something where nobody knows. That's one of the biggest things. That's number one. Number two your suppliers. Make sure you know your suppliers. Make sure you sit down with the regional sales reps. Make sure you are able to negotiate. That's number two. Number three your utilities. Right, understand your utilities. Make sure you know what's the in-goings and out-goings of your business. Why is it suddenly one month we're paying an extra £400 for something? Pick up on the little things. You need to understand your in-comings and out-goings. Number four and this potentially could be a funny one holidays. Yeah, so staff holidays. What you tend to see is staff start to wind down before their holiday and they don't pick up until about a week after they've come back. So work ethics and things like that keep an eye on those holidays. In other words, yes yes, and then your payroll understand what your staff are getting paid and the hours they're working. I've gone into practices where, when I've sat down and had a look at the numbers, there are staff that are being paid for an extra 10 hours because they used to work those 10 hours 10 years ago and nobody's updated payroll and they've just kept on the rewards coming in every month.

Dr James, 27m 20s:

And they ain't going to mention most of the time.

Rida, 27m 22s:

Oh no, oh no, gotcha. You know ain't going to mention most of the time. Oh no, oh no, gotcha. You know people unfortunately become complacent and if you're not watching the pennies, pennies are not looking back at you you ain't watching the pennies, well, you ain't watching the pounds either.

Dr James, 27m 42s:

What's the pennies? Pounds look after themselves is the expression that gets thrown around a lot, and yeah, I'm a big believer in that, but of course, not coming at it from a place of austerity where we're pinching every single penny. There's got to be a little bit of give in there somewhere absolutely no.

Rida, 27m 59s:

Listen. I'm one of those people that you know say you know, look after your stuff, make sure they're getting well paid, make sure you're giving them bonuses, make sure they're happy. You know they're big things for me. Don't get me wrong. I'm not victimizing staff. You know, treat people you know as if they're family, because they will look after you. You look after them, they look after you. But it's the people that are used and abused, people that mislead, people that take advantage.

Dr James, 28m 30s:

Unfortunately, there are a few of them out there and you've got to look out for them. Hell yeah, and it's just good for us both to get that little bit of clarity in there as well. For anybody who might listen to this podcast and thinking, well, it's all about scrimping the pennies, it's not? It's just that most people they've got some way. Most of us are maybe just not patching up the leaky holes in the bucket. There's a good analogy.

Rida, 28m 52s:

And literally that Once you've patched those holes, listen, you know, I've turned around a business in six months. You know, a business that was, like I said, the practice owner was living off cards within six months is now making enough profit for him to now restart repaying things, and that was just just that was just due to staffing you know two staff members which was the leaky bucket there you go right there.

Dr James, 29m 21s:

A big difference, my man. Well ridder, listen, I'm really glad I asked that question because it's a powerful one and lots of coaches out there who are experienced in what they do. Well, they can offer direct in the field wisdom, which is particularly useful because there's no real other resource in which those top five are recorded, so you have to actually go to people who are doing it day in, day out in order to find that info. So thank you for sharing with us, riddick. We're going to go ahead and round up around about there. Have you got anything that you would like to add on top of today, or happy with everything that we said?

Rida, 30m 1s:

No, so far happy with everything. Just one last thing. Every business is different. No two businesses are the same. What you've got to look at, I I see businesses as fingerprints. So no two businesses are the same. So don't think because one practice, done one thing, that it's going to work for you, regardless of if it's the marketing or if it's how you're treating your customers. Every area is unique, every customer is unique, every business is unique, so make sure you stand out from the crowd.

Dr James, 30m 39s:

Love it. What a nice note to end on today, rida. Thanks so much, rida. If anybody listening wants to get in touch with yourself, how are they best off doing that?

Rida, 30m 48s:

yeah, you got me through linkedin. That's reader l1. That's my first name and surname um profectus consultancy international. Uh, read it up. Perfect this on instagram. So there's, there's a few ways just there. And then that, yeah, those are the three main ways. I wouldn't give out my mobile number on a podcast, but you know, uh, happy, happy to message anyone my number and we'll take it from there sounds good, my man, well listen.

Dr James, 31m 13s:

Thank you so much for your time. Once more, reddit. I'm already looking forward to our next step, so I hope you have a smashing day, buddy, and we'll see each other soon likewise, thank you.

Rida, 31m 20s:

Thank you so much, james. Have a great day.