DR. ACE GOERIG
OWNER & CO-FOUNDER
I’ve just returned from the AAE 2023 Meeting in Chicago, and what a great event with so much energy surging through the profession! It’s wonderful to see everyone truly at 100% and excited about the future of endodontics.
As a doctor, I love the opportunity to mingle with my peers, learn from the scientific sessions, and continue to advance as a clinician. Here I am practicing in my seventies (purely for the love of the profession at this point) and learning and growing as a doctor and practice owner continues to motivate me.
As the owner of Endo Mastery too, the AAE meeting lets me renew and develop my professional connections with other endodontists across the country who are, have been or are becoming Endo Mastery coaching clients. I love hearing from Endo Mastery clients about their growth and success, and how their practices and lives have dramatically improved through coaching and their ongoing goals.
The need for professional relationships
I’m lucky because I have three other endodontists I work with in my practice. So, every day that I’m at work, I have peers and colleagues to interact with clinically, professionally and in terms of business operations and team leadership. Incidentally, one of those colleagues is my son Dr. David Goerig, who was recognized as a board-certified ABE Diplomate at this year’s investiture program during the Chicago meeting. I am so proud of him. Congratulations David!
However, most doctors in endodontics work in a solo practice, which can feel isolating and demanding. Patients, of course, come in every day with clinical needs. Plus, even the most well-run team needs management, problem-solving leadership and someone to smooth over the inevitable bumps and issues that arise in any team environment.
Even with referrers … it’s common to have some referrers that create a lot of stress for their patients, for our teams, and ourselves. Sometimes they have unrealistic expectations. We had one client last year whose top referrer explicitly told him that, as a condition to continued referrals, he expected the endodontist to be on-call 7 days a week for his patients. Suffice it to say that coaching helped that endodontist to quickly grow his referral network so he could simply walk away from the over-demanding GP and reclaim his weekends and personal life.
As a solo doctor, it can feel like everyone is always taking energy and effort from you, and there is no one giving back to you at your level. That’s why the AAE meeting, state endo meetings, local groups, and even online forums or anything else that can connect you with other endodontists is so vital to your health and well-being as a doctor and practice owner. You need those connections, at least periodically, to maintain your love of the profession.
At Endo Mastery, doctors who complete their initial coaching program are invited to join our Mastery Circle community, which is an ideal long-term environment to establish and grow endodontic friendships with other doctors. That’s the reason I created Mastery Circle: I need those connections as much as any other endodontist. I need peers, doctors who inspire me, and doctors who add energy to my experience in the profession.
We are so much better when we can trust, share with, and support each other. Nowhere else can you find a group so purely motivated to help every doctor get the most out of the profession while having incredible lifestyle. It’s an incredible asset for doctors, especially those in independent private practice.
Connecting with referrers
When it comes to referrers, these are also professional relationships with whom we feel some level of affinity as doctors and practice owners. However, the referral relationship is a bit different from an endodontic colleague relationship. We have an interdisciplinary clinical relationship with referring doctors, combined with an interdependent business relationship.
Sometimes interdependency can feel more like dependency. This especially occurs if your practice isn’t growing, if you have persistent downtime in your schedule, or (worst case scenario) if you lose a referrer for some reason. Often, we feel like we’re “cap-in-hand” with referrers, driven by our natural tendency toward a scarcity mindset when we’re not achieving our goals.
Of course, we need to have marketing programs in our practices to nurture and maintain referral relationships, connect with their teams and let GPs know they are important to us. But fundamentally, the success of any referral relationship is driven by the personal connection between the GP and endodontist.
If your referral list has doctors who have been on that list for several years, but you don’t know anything about them, then you potentially have a shallow professional relationship. If you know nothing about their family, their goals, their interests outside of dentistry, or if you’ve never invited them or attended a social event with them, then you haven’t made or attempted a true connection.
I do what I can to become friends with my referrers because friendship creates trust, and trust is the foundation of every great relationship, both professional and personal. And honestly, once you are at that level of trust and friendship with referrers, those relationships do become so empowering and energizing, and they lead to a lot of referral growth and enjoyment in the profession.
It’s the same for Endo Mastery clients. I love these professional friendships. I care about these doctors and their success. I want to do what I can to support them and achieve their goals. We have history together, we have success together, and we have a personal friendship that is genuine. And that’s why, even though these are interdependent client relationships no different than your relationships with your referrers, the AAE meeting always feels like a reunion for me with my best friends. Thank you to everyone who connected with me in Chicago! You are superstars!