5 Steps to Total Success

Success is when your thoughts and actions move you closer to your goals, and when your goals move you closer to happiness.

When I began my dental practice over three decades ago, I never dreamed my goals would take me down this path from successful dentist to motivational speaker and eventually to author. It was a natural evolution. In the beginning, I felt I was running my practice inefficiently, so I hired people to teach me how to run the business better. My mentor helped me learn a goal-setting process, beyond making haphazard resolutions.

I eventually found that “Total Success” requires more than just a successful business and a great income. Total Success is about being successful in both your professional and personal life, having a balanced life, giving back, and enjoying what you do. And I realized so many people could benefit from this focus on the health of business as well as the health of person—including relationships with family and mental, spiritual, and physical health.

I have developed my own three-pronged approach to business success: The Success Triangle. At the top, you have your Product, Internal, and External Marketing. You must have a great product or service to attract and keep customers. Your Internal Marketing includes the appearance of your business, location, cleanliness, the way your customers are handled, and what they experience when they enter your business. External Marketing is what you do to encourage people to visit your place of business or how you position yourself in the marketplace.

In the lower right corner of the Triangle, your Systemized Sales Call (or office visit) is your customer encounter, from meeting, greeting, presenting or selling, treating, and departing. In the lower left corner of the Triangle, your Systemized Sales Presentation (or case presentation) is what you say or do to your customers to help them say ‘yes’ to the services they want or need. If you have an effective sales call and presentation, your dollars spent on services and a good product, internal marketing, and external marketing will have greater return.

Total Success is determined by your thoughts, feelings, and actions. You can achieve it by applying these five steps to your professional and personal.

• First, be an expert at what you do.
• Second, develop sales and marketing skills. This is all part of the Success Triangle.
• Third, have mentors in your life.
• Fourth, control the way you think, because thinking controls your actions.
• And fifth, have balance in your life.

Lastly, don’t forget to identify your goals. This helps you gain direction, clarity, and vision. Think of every area of your life you want to improve. Decide what you want, and what you are willing to do to get it. Write your goals down. Read them everyday. And take the appropriate actions to achieve your desired outcome.