Why do free dental consultations actually cost the team in terms of bonuses and profit sharing?
Because the time the team spends delivering a free consultation is time not available for billable work, and the lost billable opportunity reduces the practice’s net profit that bonuses and profit sharing get calculated from. The mechanics are not subtle. A team that participates in profit sharing or production bonuses earns a slice of the practice’s net result. Free consultations consume operatory time, team labor, doctor attention, and front-office processing without generating direct revenue. The opportunity cost shows up as lower production for the day and lower net for the period. The bonus pool shrinks accordingly. Team members who do not understand this dynamic see free consultations as a generous gift the practice extends to potential patients, with no personal cost to themselves. Team members who do understand it recognize that they are personally subsidizing each free consultation through their reduced bonus. The realization shifts how they handle free-consultation scheduling. They become more disciplined about restricting free consultations to genuinely qualified prospects, more rigorous about no-show prevention, and more committed to converting the free-consult patient into committed treatment. Tell them the math.
If the answers you are finding here resonate with you, my team and I work with a small group of clients each year. The next step is a complimentary Discovery Consultation and Practice Review with Dr. McAnally.