Faces of AADOM – Leslie Lytle, DAADOM

The Sweet Success of Customer Service: Leslie’s Journey from Cake Decorator to Dental Practice Manager

In this episode of the Faces of AADOM, Heather Colicchio interviews Leslie Lytle about her diverse career path into dental office management. As a dedicated member of Faces of AADOM, Leslie shares her story and the lessons she’s learned along the way.

In this episode, Leslie discusses her career transitions from cake decorator to flight attendant and finally to her role as dental office manager. Heather highlights Leslie’s dedication to AADOM, noting her commitment to helping others grow.

Leslie identifies customer service as a common thread throughout her career. “Whether it was making wedding cakes, ensuring passengers’ safety as a flight attendant, or managing a dental practice, customer service has always been key,” she explains. This focus on customer service has been essential to her success across various fields.

When discussing her journey with AADOM’s Distinction program, Leslie shares that it was both a personal and professional endeavor. “It’s fifty-fifty,” she says. “I want to learn and grow for myself and bring that knowledge back to the practice.”

Leslie emphasizes the importance of having supportive mentors and leaders in the dental industry. “If you have a team member who wants to grow, why not help them instead of forcing them? It’s important to invest in people who are eager to learn and contribute,” she asserts.

Leslie’s story is a reminder of the importance of passion, continuous learning, and the willingness to embrace new opportunities.

About Faces of AADOM

Meet AADOM members who make up the heartbeat of our community – the diverse and talented individuals who embody the spirit of excellence in dental office management. Every member has a story. “Faces of AADOM” shares members’ unique journeys, the path that led them into dentistry, and the moments that define their passion for dental leadership.

Subscribe to Faces of AADOM to discover more stories of resilience, growth, and empowerment within the AADOM community. 

Be sure to watch our video now or read the transcript below to learn more about Leslie’s path toward becoming an amazing dental office manager!

 

Read the Transcript:

Heather: Hi everybody and welcome to the Faces of AADOM. I am Heather Colicchio, Founder and President of AADOM. And I am absolutely delighted to have with me today, Leslie Lytle.

Leslie is Practice Manager of Family Dental Care in Jacksonville, North Carolina, and she is also an esteemed member of AADOM. Leslie is a Diplomat of the Association. She is a lifetime member and a past nominee of Practice Administrator of the Year.

Welcome, Leslie.

Leslie: Thank you so much. Thank you for having me today.

Heather: So excited to have you. And this series that we’re doing—Faces of AADOM—this series is really about the members because it’s the members of AADOM that make us what we are and who we are and give us that special energy.

So, I’m happy to talk about practice management all day, but I’d much, much rather just talk about you and your journey. And let’s start at the beginning.

So, I learned early on that nobody, as a young girl or boy, says when I grow up I want to be a dental office manager. That just typically does not happen. So, tell everyone, if you can, a little bit about your path into the world of dentistry.

Have you always been in dentistry?

How the Journey Began

Leslie: I have been in dentistry for quite some time, but my career path did not start that way. We’ll say, when I first came into the working career, I was actually a cake decorator for public supermarkets.

Heather: Did you say cake decorator?

Leslie: I did.

Heather: That’s what I thought you said.

Leslie: I did, and I did that for almost 9 or 10 years, as I was in high school and kind of made my way up.

I knew at one point I wanted to go into dental hygiene school. Who doesn’t want to go into dental hygiene school? That was going to be what I wanted to do.

Once I went to college and got the degrees you needed to get and kind of move forward with that, well, at the same time, I also want to be a flight attendant. So, I kind of had two paths and it just so happened to be that both of those paths had an offer come in at the same exact time within a week apart.

So I made the decision to become a flight attendant. I wanted to go and I wanted to help people. I wanted to fly the friendly skies and get to see lots of places.

But, my time with that ended up coming to a slight end with the unfortunate events of 911. I had to make some life changing changes for my life. So I decided, at this point, it was time for me to pursue what I wanted to pursue, which was to go into dental.

And I had the opportunity when I was living in Florida to work in a dental office. And I was hired on as an Admin team member. I began working with the one-doctor practice. Made some great friends there.

It was a great practice, but at the same time, I met who is now my husband, and he was a Marine at the time. We went to high school together and he lived here in North Carolina. So, when I had the opportunity to move up here, I went ahead and made that transition here and found a practice here, which is the practice I’m still with to this day, from when I moved here in 2004.

And, I’ve kind of climbed that ladder, we’ll say, where I was just an Admin team member here at the office and now have made my way to the practice manager here at Family Dental Care.

Heather: I have so many questions for you.

Yeah, so cake decorator to flight attendant to admin to practice manager, right?

Leslie: Yes, ma’am.

Heather: What a colorful adventure you’ve been on. That sounds super exciting. And I have to say, I’m super jealous of the cake decorator part, because like when I watch on Instagram and stuff all the people who can do this thing, it’s like, oh‚artistry.

So, I have to ask: Any parallels, any commonalities across the different career paths that you have found?

Customer Service was a Common Theme

Leslie: You know, one thing that seems to have the same thing in all of it is customer service, and people with all of it.

So many people, from being a cake decorator and making wedding cakes to seeing someone so excited on their wedding day—because what’s the most important thing besides the bride and groom is the cake—to seeing them happy; to be in a flight attendant to where you’re there to help people, to help protect people and to save lives, but customer service as well; to being in a practice with your team and then treating all the patients with customer service as well.

So, it seems that customer service, as I look, has transitioned into all of these along with networking with all different types of people.

Heather: That’s fascinating! And it’s funny when you say what’s most important on a wedding day—the cake—but also the smile. I thought of the smile first, right? I don’t see their smiles.

So, when you did land in dentistry, the first time you went into practice and you kind of had in the back of your mind that you wanted to be in dental and work in a dental practice, how was it?

Did it meet your expectations? How is it different than what you thought? What was that like?

The Impressions of Entering Dentistry

Leslie: You know, I think it was a lot of what I had looked forward to. Even though I wasn’t able to hit the clinical side of it, I did get to hit a small portion of the clinical side, because in Florida I did take a dental assisting class, so I did get to work on patients. Florida laws are a lot different than a lot of other states, like North Carolina.

But, it all transitioned back to that I found my place from starting at that very first practice that I was at of where I wanted to be and what I wanted to follow through with everything, not realizing that I would grow into the position that I hold now, but just kind of sticking to the business side of it instead of the clinical side of it.

That’s where I found my passion to be at was definitely doing different things, learning different things, and trying to help to show others the ways the practices go.

Heather: So, when you started at your current practice in North Carolina 20 years ago, right? I mean, you started as an admin. Was there already a practice manager?

Leslie: We did not have a practice manager at that time. Our practice functioned a lot differently. We have gone through a change of ownership in 2015. So, when I started in 2004, we were under a different ownership. We were a very small practice.

There was 2 admin team members, one that pretty much did all the checkout and scheduling of restorative work. And at that point in time, I was only permitted to schedule hygiene patients. So, hygiene and recall was basically what I did.

I do remember at my first interview, though, the day that I was brought on, that they gave me a list and said, “We need you to work on this list and see what you can do to try and get our hygiene spots filled.”

And I think before lunchtime, I had made like 75 appointments. So, they were pretty amazed at that.

Heather: Back up. Say that again.

Leslie: I’d made almost 75 appointments between the 8 hours of 8 and 12ish, whatever those were. There was a definite need for that. So I think I hit that goal pretty good there and kind of floored them by that. But, it took all of us growing and different things going on within the practice, to be where we are today.

After that transition of ownership, at that point in time, there was only 4 hygienists, basically two or three assistants, and it was a husband and wife team that we had. In the end, in 2015, when they sold the practice, we’d been purchased by a single owner, who’s still our single owner, so we’re privately owned still.

W just expanded again this week. I just opened another portion to our practice. So, we have 6 doctors now. I have 8 hygienists, 11 assistants or admin team members. I have 29 staff now, where we were at 8.

Heather: Wow! That’s amazing. So, you’ve tripled?

Leslie: We have. We’ve almost quadrupled.

Heather: Almost quadrupled. That is amazing! So, it’s funny. So far, all the interviews for Faces of AADOM, every Manager has not taken the place of an existing manager.

Every AADOM member, who’s a rockstar manager, like you, Leslie, was given that position to create, right? So, someone saw potential in you and they said, “You know what? We want you to take on more and manage the practice.”

So, you didn’t have anyone to train you necessarily, or probably a job description or a template. And I would imagine that’s very scary. I mean, exciting, but scary, right? I mean, it’s a create-your-own-job kind of a situation.

Leslie: It’s very scary. It’s very nerve wracking because you’re not taught. You know, it’s not like when you go to college, anybody teaches you how to run a dental office. That’s not going to happen. You may go to school for business, but they don’t teach you all the little things and different things that you learn.

And every practice is different. Every practice administrator does different tasks. Not all of us do the same exact things. We all do different things from what I do at my practice to what somebody does down the street or in a different state. It’s all per what you and your team work together as, to get together and do all of that.

How AADOM Helps with Dental Office Management

But learning through AADOM has been my foundation. I know I’ve told Savanah this in the past when she and I have chatted that I went back to get my bachelor’s degree a few years ago as a bucket list item that I wanted to finish.

I’ve learned more through AADOM than what I have paying thousands of dollars for a piece of paper, and that’s speaking from my heart. That’s the truth.

If people really knew more about AADOM—for people that I’ve tried to introduce it to—if they would just take that step forward, they would have so many opportunities to learn in the insurance world, in the business world, the networking world.

There’s so many different things, but nothing can compare to AADOM as for learning to be where I am today, and I can’t thank anybody more.

Learn About AADOM’s eCampus Now

Heather: That makes my heart happy. I mean, really, thank you for that.

How did you find AADOM? Do you remember?

Finding AADOM

Leslie: Actually, I do remember. I actually made notes on this for myself.

In 2015, when my doctor took over, he had asked me if I had ever heard of AADOM. I hadn’t heard of AADOM before. So, I said, “No, I didn’t.”

He passed the information on to me, and I researched it, quickly joined to become a member, and then found my tribe. That was down in Wilmington.

I attended several meetings in Wilmington, and went ahead and started taking the courses through AADOM, the ones that were online, starting to watch the webcasts, all the different things through all of that. But, I didn’t even know of it.

And shortly after that, I ended up taking over the Wilmington chapter, becoming the chapter president for Wilmington, as one of our presidents that transitioned into different things.

But, trying to grow our chapters at the time and different things like that—it’s a hard thing to do. But, I think that if we can get the word out there more and visiting practices and letting them know about AADOM, it’s going to be a great future.

Heather: The future is bright, and that is for sure. And, honestly, it’s because of members like you. I mean, when I look at your activity in AADOM.

And AADOM—like so much in life—you get out what you put in, and you put in so much that I shouldn’t be surprised you get so much out of it.

And I thank you for your service. I mean, it’s amazing! I mean, to me, you truly have the heart of a leader as someone who wants to share and help other people grow, which is amazing.

So, let me go back to: Now your doctor says, “Okay, you were an admin. Now we want you to be our practice manager.”

Where did you start in the practice? Did they give you direction where to start or was it just as you saw fit? What was the first big thing you set up, besides the 75 recall appointments? What was the first thing as a manager you wanted to tackle?

Becoming a Dental Practice Manager

Leslie: Well, I’ll take a step back.

So, what happened was, when we went through the transition of ownership, at that point in time, one of the previous owners was who did pretty much all of the decisions and business part of it. We’ll say she took the position of what was a practice manager.

But when we sold and we transitioned, of course you get worried when a new owner comes in:

• Are they going to let us all go?
• Are we going to be replaced?
• What’s going to happen?

And I was at the front desk. This all happened over a lunch period— our lunch break. We found out, the new owner came in, brought us some sandwiches, and then here we were.

And I was crying. Yeah, it was a lot over an hour. And, of course, none of us knew what was coming. Yeah, we didn’t know of it, but that was okay.

I was the one at the front desk, bawling my eyes out, crying, worried that I was going to be replaced. But, I remember my doctor coming up to me—our new owner—and sat down next to me and he told me, “Leslie, I need you. You are the one that knows the backs and fronts of this practice. And I need you to be there and I need you to help me grow.”

And, of course, I’m going to do this. He doesn’t want to fire me. He doesn’t want to get rid of me. I think we’re going to make this. We’re going to make this work.

So, since that moment, that’s when he asked me to stand by his side and to help him to make this practice flourish.

And since 2015, we expanded once in 2017. We got in our whole office, kicked out all the walls, revamped it, rebuilt it in 2 weeks.

In 2019, we took over a second side of our practice, which someone rented from us. Once they moved out, we expanded the practice again. And, now, in 2020, we just added our third addition on to the practice, as I took away part of my waiting room and some doctor’s offices to help make operatories.

So, I would say, in nine years, now, this practice and this team is what has made us become where we are today.

Heather: That is amazing. And that story that you just shared, Leslie, that really is the gospel of AADOM, right?

So, our gospel is: Doctors, if there are any doctors listening, please get out of your own way. Go practice dentistry. You’re the only one in the practice qualified to practice dentistry at the level you do. You don’t need to be managing the business side of your practice.

Find someone, like Leslie, who can make 75 re-care appointments in 4 hours and let them manage the practice.

I mean, AADOM members, especially, are so driven and so passionate.  And I’m always amazed how our members treat the practices as if they were their own and want to grow them and want to see them succeed.

And I find, a lot of times, dentists who don’t hand off that authority and don’t hand off that responsibility and try and do it themselves, just get in their own way and actually become the bottleneck and become the limit to the practice growth.

So, that is amazing that your new doctor saw that potential in you and gave you that authority. And it’s good for everyone.

Did you know the new dentist before they did the lunch hour announcement?

Leslie: No, none of us had seen him before. We knew nothing. The only thing that had seemed a little odd is the Reps from the dental companies that come in and we’re looking at a bunch of equipment and just checking it out, and it was just kind of weird.

But yeah, we all got hit way off guard on it.

Heather: Alright, so I have a couple of questions.

One: I gotta ask it. How did you make 75 appointments in 4 hours? Were you calling? Where you emailing? Just for our listening audience: best tips.

Leslie: Every one of them was a phone call. In 2004, we were not digitally anything. We were still paper charts. We didn’t go digital until 2015.

Heather: So, you just got on the phone and started dialing?

Leslie: Yes, ma’am.

Heather: Nice.

Leslie: With Eaglesoft, I would just put a list.  I went off the list and went from there.

Heather: Love it. Love it.

And, so, it sounds like the transition of ownership was kind of a turning point. So, for anyone listening who may find themselves in the near future or future future, part of a practice ownership transition, what advice do you have for them or for the dentist?

It sounded like your handoff ultimately was successful, but maybe could have gone smoother. So, what would you say, Leslie, are like best tips for the dentist— the previous owner and the new owner—to create a smooth transition, learning from kind of what you went through?

Advice for Dentists Transitioning Ownership of a Practice

Leslie: Absolutely. I would say: Sit with your team, depending upon if you’re going to transition your practice or sell your practice or you’re looking upon retirement, to give them a little notice.

But it depends upon your contracts that you have signed. That’s totally a business thing that they have to take care of.

But, make sure before you go in, just to give your team some reassurance and what the future looks like.

When our doctor took over that day at lunchtime, he went over his vision with us and what he wanted to do. He assured all of us that he wouldn’t let us go.

And there’s four of us that have been here since I’ve been at the practice and we’re still here to this day. And, we’re a team. We work together as family.

A lot of practices say, do I have a great team?

I have an excellent team. I have the top of the top and if it wasn’t for all of us working together and striving and wanting more for the practice, we wouldn’t be where we are today.

I’ve never met such dedicated individuals, wanting to learn and to grow in their different aspects, whether they’re a business team, if they’re part of my clinical team or if they’re part of my hygiene team—to keep us up to par where we are today.

Heather: So that leads me to my next question.

So, you manage a team of about 30 all together, and you just said they’re the best of the best. Today, one of the biggest struggles for dental practices and dental managers is recruitment and retaining team players.

But, you said you’ve got the best of the best. They’re the greatest team. And it sounds like they have staying power with you. So, what advice would you have for managers looking to keep their top talent?

How to Retain Your Top Talent

Leslie: To build, definitely, a relationship with your team. Of course, they’re not going to be their best friend, but it just takes little acts of kindness to keep up with them.

If someone has a sick family member or if somebody has something going on, just to kind of do that touch and go with them, to keep up with them.

The practice that I’m in, I’m very lucky to have the team that we have. We are in an active-duty military town—Marine Corps base. So, transition here is constant. Every three years, people are coming and going. And that’s the same with our patient clientele—they’re coming and going.

But this practice, I have patients that drive in just to stay with our practice. We had one this week, she comes down from Virginia and comes in to get her treatment done and her cleanings and everything with us.

And seeing the patients and even my staff members that have left. If they ever come back, they’re like, “Leslie,” and I’m like, “If you come back, we’ll find a spot for you.”

You know, we’re a great asset to the practice and it’s hard. My husband’s retired military as well and I was very fortunate that I got to stay where I did and we had to take some living apart things for me to be able to stay at this practice because, at the same time in 2015, my husband had gotten military orders, and we were going to have to move.

And I had considered it, and when this new ownership came about, I told him I couldn’t leave. I needed to stay. And we did. We lived apart for 4 years. He would come home on the weekends. And, here I still am today.

My doctor says when I retire, he’s retiring. So, I’m like, “Well, I guess we’re both going to be in wheelchairs with tennis balls on them.” So, you’re going to have to figure it out.

But, you’ve gotta thank all your resources that you have. And, in my part, it’s AADOM. With your hygienist even and with your—anybody can be a member with AADOM, and there’s so many things that you can learn from it.

Heather: That’s true. Any team member can be a member of AADOM and we do offer education for so many different team members who can participate in running the business.

But let’s say I want to say thank you to you and your husband for your service— from his service and for yours. Sounds like you have made some real sacrifices, for him and for all of us. So, thank you for that.

And, that’s an interesting challenge. I hadn’t thought of being in a military base or probably any location where there is a lot of transition for whatever reason. I mean, most practices, you set up and you hope to have lifetime patients because that’s your community.

What’s some of the best advice for managers managing, marketing, trying to keep the chairs full in a location where there is high turnover for whatever reason? And that’s a perfect example, like a military base. That’s a tricky one.

Advice for Practices with High Patient Turnover

Leslie: Definitely.

It’s giving your patients the best treatment and the best care customer service that you can, whenever you have them here in the office.

Our office is very family oriented. I have military families that have anywhere, of course, from one child to some families that have 11 and 12 kids, that come in. And, over my years here, I’ve gotten to watch those families grow up and have kids and now their kids are having kids.

So I’m getting to see all generations of these children as they either moved away, or they came back, or they’re still here, or they married military and they came back.

But giving everybody that experience at your office where you want to come back to, which also helps to put the word out.

Because, of course, we all know, we all live on social media these days, and there’s wives pages, there’s military wives pages, there’s military pages here. And, once somebody says, “Where do you want to go? I need a dentist. Who can you recommend me to?”

We like to be right there so we can be a recommendation. We start seeing kids at age one, so we get to watch them grow up and to flourish into what they are and learn about them and what they want to do as they grow up.

And giving them that experience. Like I said, I have several patients, not only one that drives in from out of state. I have a couple that fly in, too, because they want to come and see us.

And that’s fine. They arrange their family vacation around when they can get here. It’s crazy. But I love that.

Heather: I mean, so it’s just that simple, really. I mean, if you just distill it down, just provide excellent care.

Leslie: They’re a human being.

I remember that as I was a kid. I remember going to the dentist. I remember sitting in that Victorian looking waiting room to this day with the music going, the low classic rock or whatever it was. But they always made it seem as if they had just seen me not too long ago.

So, it seemed like they always knew who I was when I came in. Even though they didn’t know me, they knew me. But that’s how things are now. Of course, I know my patients. Some of the new ones I’m learning about, as I’m in a different area in the office now.

But we treat them with first name basis. “How’s your kids?” asking about things going on in their lives so we can get to grow that experience with them.

Heather: So, it just sounds like amazing customer service and excellent dentistry—it’s just that simple.

What do you recommend for members? I don’t know if you do anything in your community or I’m sure you have tribe members in your chapter, in your learning network, who do activities or get involved with the community.

Anything that you’ve seen be kind of super successful or very rewarding as far as getting the practice involved in community events?

Getting Involved with the Community

Leslie: We’ve done some; we haven’t done a lot. But we have done like—we have a group here that’s called Ainsley’s Angels, which is children that can’t walk, or special needs, and we have supported 5Ks with them before.

We’ve had the opportunity of doing one a couple years ago where you actually get to push the child in these glorious wheelchairs. But this is some hard work, because some of these chairs are huge. But it was the biggest blessing to be able to bring that child and be their legs for them and be able to complete that race so that they could get their medal at the end.

And things like that. Just doing things in your community that you can do to help support and being there for other practices as well. I’m very big on that.

I’m not one that would never not help another practice if they called and asked for an opinion or something. I feel that we all work together, and we all have to be a team together. So, I think helping each other out in your dental community is a big plus.

Heather: Yeah, that’s great. That’s a great point.

I want to go back a little now. So, when you took on the role of manager, it was all new to you, right? So, we talked about some of the wins and the growth, which is mind blowing.

Anything that jumps out to you that you can remember as like an, “Oh my God, I can’t believe I did that?” We won’t call it a mistake, but like a learning moment, so that maybe we can use it as a teachable moment for someone who’s new.

Learning from Your Mistakes

Leslie: Absolutely. Well, learn something new. I’m starting to make notes of everything that happens that day, because I never thought that things would happen and they do. You have no idea.

But, I would say is, some things that I’ve learned is—As you can tell, I am very sociable. I’m very jump in and go and get it done and get it started. I’ve had to tell myself though on some things—we’ll say if team members come to me and approach me with something that needs a decision, to take that step back and say, “Okay, we’ll look into that,” not hurry up and make a jump decision at that moment in time.

So I’ve had to slow my role down a little bit on some things, just because you don’t want to be quick to react on things.

Heather: That’s good advice.

Leslie: Sit back and take a minute,  and I’ve had to do that. Even especially after COVID with all the sickness. That was a big turner for all of us.

But trying to just sit back and make decisions with thinking on things and plotting out plans first before we hurry up and jump into something that might not be a good decision.

Heather: That’s great advice to just not be reactive. Nothing good comes from being reactive or having a knee jerk reaction. So as a leader, I think that’s excellent advice.

Leslie: You’re not trained in those things. When you’re making business decisions, not only if you need to get clearance from the owner, or if it’s something that you can handle, you still need to take that time to sit back and think.

Heather: Good advice.

So, I’m going to switch gears for a moment and go from the practice back to AADOM.

So, your doctor helped you find AADOM, which is awesome. What’s your experience been like? Actually, let me ask you—you are a diplomat of the association, which is the highest level of distinction one can earn in dental practice management. So, congratulations again, Leslie.

I mean, talk about the top of the top. You are like the top one percent in dental management. So that is, in and of itself, that’s an amazing feat.

What’s that journey been like for you, the AADOM distinction program?

Benefits of the AADOM Distinctions Program

Leslie: The AADOM distinction program was—it’s phenomenal. I mean, when you first start—I think when I first started in with AADOM, I knew right away I needed to become a FAADOM, like I’ve got to start this.

And, I started taking the courses and the classes and doing the writings and putting all that in and trying to make those relationships with people on different levels and grow. And I think as AADOM grew with the different achievement levels that we could hit, I grew with each one of those, becoming a MAADOM. I was the first FAADOM group as well.

And just achieving those levels shows that the time, the effort, the dedication that we have, not only for the practice, but for AADOM—I’m like, Heather, what’s next?

Heather: I know you guys keep us on our initial route. When we created the fellowship program, we were like, “Okay, we’ve created the Fellowship program. We’re done.”

But, our members, like you, Leslie, are like, “Okay, we’ve done that. What’s next? What’s next? What’s next?” So keeping us on our toes is amazing because it forces us to create the next thing.

And yeah, the first class of Diplomats. So, if you’re listening and you don’t know, it’s Fellowship, Mastership, Diplomat status.

So, you were in the first class. And I think one of my regular first class, Leslie, is that right?

Leslie: I was in the first class of Diplomats that graduated. Unfortunately, at that, my whole front desk got COVID during the AADOM Conference, so I had to stay back. But, I got to watch virtually.

Heather: I know we had some Flat Stanley faces going around. Are you a Flat Stanley?

I think one of my most memorable moments in AADOM was when we inducted the second class of Diplomats the following year. And the first class of diplomats jumped up out of the audience with pom poms and screaming and hooting and hollering and just with your shoulder bands on and just so proud of the class that came after you.

And to me, that captured the true spirit of everything. It’s not just about what you can do for your practice or for AADOM or even for yourself. It’s what can I do for the next person? How can I support the next person? How can I cheer on the next person and help them grow and help them develop?

And that was such an organic moment. How did that come about? I’m just curious. I never got the inside scoop. How did you guys decide to do that?

Leslie: There is a group of them. I’ll have to say Christy Abramson. She’s the one who is our pom pom cheerleader and she really keeps to it to this day.

Last conference, she brings those pom poms with her all the way from California. She even made sure that we all still had our shirts. If not, she had some more that we could have made so we can be there.

And I think this will be a continuous process that as the DAADOMs graduate, our group is going to get bigger and bigger and our cheerleaders and pom poms are going to be bigger. I mean, it’s just off the chain.

Heather: Yeah, it is. And thank you, Christy, and to all the DAADOMs. And as that group grows, the energy grows every time we induct a new class. It’s like you just said, it gets bigger and stronger and more energy. It’s just—no words. I mean, it’s amazing.

When you decided to embark on the Distinction journey, how much of that was for the practice and how much of it was for yourself? And no wrong answer. I’m just curious, like, were you like, “This is something I want to do for me,” or something I want to invest in for the practice?

Leslie: I’d have to say it’s 50/50. I mean, anything I do, I do for the practice—of course, depending upon what it is. But knowledge and everything, of course, I want to learn it all, but I can’t take it all on. I’ve learned that lesson.

But becoming that to be that representative for the office to show, to hopefully pass these roles down, you know, as get more seasoned—to be able to pass those down to my team and staff members as well to be able to hold that role.

Heather: So, what we, one challenge we run up against is sometimes dentists don’t want to invest in their team, whether that be, you know, CE or going to live events, virtual CE. They see it as an expense and not an investment.

So, knowing you’ve had such an incredible supportive doctor and team of doctors behind you, who’ve allowed you to grow personally and professionally, what would you say to the dentists who say, “I’m not going to spend the money on my team?”

Convincing Your Dentist to Invest in AADOM

Leslie: Yeah, and that always a touchy subject, and I know it is a touchy subject.

In my case, I got lucky because my doctor was the one that mentioned AADOM to me. And then once I did pursue with AADOM and started to grow with AADOM, it came to the point where he told me whatever I needed that was AADOM affiliated, I could go ahead and take care of.

So, even with myself with, we’ll say, CEs and conferences and different things—I spend my lunch breaks doing my CEs. That’s what I choose to do. And I build—trips, we’ll say, which I take my AADOM trip each year into that.

And my doctor knows and promotes for me to be able to attend that because he knows on the backside of it, I’m there to learn. And I’m there to absorb as much information as I can to be able to bring that back to the practice with new ideas or new products from some of our dealers that are there, but to be able to push that on.

For the dentist, I would say: For the small expense that it is to become a member—$229—that’s not much. It’s maybe $20 a month. If you look at it that way, the expense is well worth it. And the additional courses that they can take within there are worth it as well, because not only are you helping your team to learn knowledge better, but it’s helping their patience as well, which is awful and all going to help the practice itself.

So, a lot of it starts with the business team or your admin team, whatever it is that you call them. And for them to make the connections.

I have to say the connections that I’ve made through AADOM are not only business connections now—they’ve become more of friends to me—somebody that I could shoot a text to if I had like a serious question, to help me or help direct me where I need to go on where to get resources.

The connections that you make is well worth the small expense.

Heather: I tend to agree. And I think, too, part of the responsibility though is on the manager or whomever it is that’s getting the CE credit then go back to the doctor and say, “Thank you for investing in me. Here’s what I’ve learned, and here’s how I’m going to implement it.”

In your case, Leslie, it sounds like you just jumped over that and just started implementing and you’re able to show hard ROI to the things you learned and put into practice.

So, I think it’s a balance. Dentist, you know, take that chance, that investment. But whether you’re the manager, the assistant hygienist, whatever role you play in the practice, if you have a doctor who is willing to invest in you, I think it’s important like you did to go back and show, “Look what I’m doing.”

Leslie: Another thing, Heather, is if you have a team member that’s wanting to do this, why not help them grow instead of forcing someone?

Sometimes people make you go and make you do this and make you do that. But when you want to go and you want to learn and you want to help your practice, that’s well worth the investment.

Heather: It would be crazy to say no. I’ll say it would be crazy to say no.

So, if you can now, tell us a little bit about your experience talking about connection with the AADOM chapter program. You’ve been just so vital and and so helpful in establishing, and now, I know, transitioning. What’s that experience been like? What was it like starting and what’s it like now?

And actually, if you could tell everyone listening, what it even is, like what you do with your network locally.

Networking Locally

Leslie: Absolutely. So, whenever we had the chapter in Wilmington, we were a small chapter. We probably had 12 to 15 members. We had our 3 to 4 meetings a year.

I knew that we needed to get to get bigger and to be—Raleigh’s not too far away from us and they’re a great chapter. We have lots of large speakers that would come in. Wanted to help to make that bigger and to get more connections as well.

Just depending upon where you are in your states, you can always get big networks and to be able to bring in the good speakers or bigger speakers. However you want to do it.

Or just have round table events. We do one of those too, where we just all kind of go around and hop tables with different people and go over different things, kind of like AADOM does when we have the round tables at some of the conferences.

But being able to transition to that, I’m so looking forward to this next year of what all the changes were transitioning the chapter and everything, which you guys made it a seamless process, and your help and everything with that.

But bringing it into this new chapter and being able to grow it. I mean, I know that the triangle connection was already a big chapter, but now hopefully our members and newer members coming in, we’re going to grow even more, even bigger.

Heather: Yeah. And like you were saying earlier, I think it’s so important to have that local connection because it is different in every practice. How do you do it? How do you do it? There is no, you know, just black and white training manual. It’s a lot of nuanced, a lot of nuanced parts to practice management depending on your team.

And also because, you know, like I’m finding so many of our members create, learn on the job, right? And, made your own SOPs and made your own ways of doing things. So, to be able to share best practices with other managers, I think is so helpful. Like you’re not alone.

And AADOM members want to help. I mean, that’s the beauty of AADOM. They want to see you do well—always. They want to see the person next to them do well. And I think part of it is knowing that when you need help, someone will be there for you.

So, yeah, I mean, North Carolina, you guys—I don’t know what’s in the water down there, but tremendous job of just community involvement and local support of one another. And it shows.

I think it makes dental management more enjoyable to know: I’m not alone, and I have a network, and I have a support system.

So, you really have set the gold standard, I think, of what that should look like.

Leslie: You’ve got to be happy to get up every day, and happy to go to your place every day, and be happy to be around the people that you’re around every day, and I would never look back on any of it.

You have to look forward to it, and what you have in the future.

Heather: I agree. We have members who love getting up and going to their practice every day. So, if that’s not you, ask yourself why, and what can you do to make it that.

So, Leslie, we’re going to have to wrap up soon, so if you have any advice for anyone—dental practice managers, new season or otherwise—what advice would you like to share with our listeners today?

Sharing Some Advice for Others

Leslie: I just want to share with them: If you’re not a member of AADOM, you need to see about signing up to become a member with AADOM. If you have any questions or have any concerns, you can always find me—I’m on Facebook, or you can shoot me a message on email or at my practice, I don’t mind. And I can give you any personal insights on it.

I would highly recommend that you invest in your practice managers, your practice administrators, your business team leaders, your hygienists, your assistants—whatever position it is that they hold. If you can invest in them and they’re wanting to help you with your practice, help do that for them because it’s only going to help you grow more.

Heather: Well said.

Well, Leslie, thank you so much. Thank you for everything you do with and for AADOM. And thank you for being such an amazing example to all the managers out there.

I really, really appreciate it! And I will see you soon, with pom poms.

Leslie: Yes, I’ll be there!

Heather: Sounds great. Take care.

Leslie: Thank you so much!

We hope you enjoyed reading this article. Be sure to watch our video now to enjoy Heather and Leslie discussing how AADOM can help you be successful as a dental office manager!