Periodontist’s Team Learns Strategies for Growth with Spear Masters Program

Even with 25 years’ experience as a periodontist, Dr. Mark Sutor needed a comprehensive resource to help his team keep pace with the demands of operating a busy specialist practice in Bloomington, Indiana.

He felt that over the past five years, his team was taking more time and effort to achieve the same results. They sought out Spear Masters Program to learn how to create efficiencies, particularly with strengthening the referral network that is so integral to specialist practice success.

“I think most practitioners can relate to the feeling of being pulled in different directions all the time,” Sutor said. “So even when you know, deep down, what needs to be done to develop the practice, it’s easy to get sidelined with other things that demand your attention.”

In the first full month after implementing the strategies they’d learned through Masters Program and the Mastering the Exceptional Specialist Practice – Surgical Specialists workshop, Dr. Sutor and his team enjoyed their best month of the year, with a significant increase in production revenue compared to the previous year.

“Masters Program refocused me and forced me to think about the things that are instrumental in growing referral relationships and growing the practice,” Dr. Sutor said.

“Then, it provided the tools to make it simple to take action right away,” he added. “It’s the kind of experience that makes you eager to get back to the practice and start putting the ideas to work.”

Impact of ‘Mastering the Exceptional Specialist Practice – Surgical Specialists’ workshop

Doctors can bring a team member with them to the Masters Program surgical specialists workshop and other doctors from the same practice can attend for an additional fee.

Dr. Sutor said the workshop introduced his team to the concept of personalizing approaches to specific referring practices and various referring “personas.”

“It’s about recognizing that the practice of Referrer A is going to be different than the practice of Referrer B – a different mindset, a different culture – and if you are going to be successful you must meet them on their own terms,” Sutor said.

“If we get a ‘problem’ referral who comes to us unprepared or misinformed, that’s on us,” he said. “We need to look at what we have to do better with that referring practice.”

Establishing effective team roles

After attending the introductory workshop, the full Masters Program experience provides you and your team with an even deeper sense of how to provide performance-based compensation that clearly defines team roles and aligns your staff on a clear vision for practice growth.

Dr. Sutor learned how to develop his own professional relationship director, or PRD – a role that serves as an ambassador between his practice and referring practices.

Additionally, the coaching and support helped him easily implement more effective work systems into his practice.

“(My PRD) has been with me for 16 years and I have always admired her creative instincts when it came to things like marketing and organizing events,” Dr. Sutor said.

“But like a lot of creative people, I think she benefits from having a structure to follow to help her channel those energies in the most effective ways,” he said. “Since we have given her the PRD responsibilities as outlined in Masters Program, I am seeing a whole new dimension in what she is capable of.”

Content, training tailored for surgical specialists

Masters Program provides periodontists and other surgical specialists with content tailored for specialist practices, including strategy playbooks that lay out clear steps to efficiently address specific referral challenges.

Membership also links members into the overall Spear learning ecosystem – including access to the CE-eligible courses and interactive resources on Spear Online, the platform named “Best Product” by Dental Product Shopper – to reinforce lessons relevant to any individual team and referral network.

“In this kind of hypercompetitive marketplace, there are a few crucial things you simply have to master,” Dr. Sutor said.

“Most of all, to be successful as a specialist in the future, you are going to have to have a solid, loyal community of referrers,” he said. “Masters Program, in my opinion, is a must for any specialist who wants to conquer the challenges ahead.”