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Corporate Profile: The Scheduling Institute by Kyle Patton, Editorial Assistant, Orthotown Magazine

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Orthotown Magazine spoke with Jay Geier, President and Founder of the Scheduling Institute, to learn more about how his company is helping orthodontists succeed. With decades of experience in generating new patients for dental practices all over the country, Geier and his team are shining a light on how they are one of the best kept secrets in the orthodontic community. Check out Geier’s insights on the importance of new patients, the future of ortho and more.

How did The Scheduling Institute get its start?

Geier: It goes back 20-plus years ago when I was the marketing director for a large private practice and was working on techniques for generating new patients. I used every imaginable strategy to get new patients. The phone was ringing but we weren’t seeing more new patients. My mission became to figure out why and close the gap. I kept working on it until I came up with a solution that closed the gap between the number of patients who called and the number who actually scheduled an appointment. Then it became very clear to me how much impact new patients have on a practice’s ability to grow. I knew it was something every single doctor could benefit from, but most doctors were completely unaware of. So I went out on my own with a mission to teach every doctor this technique. That’s where the Scheduling Institute (SI) started. Since then more than 8,000 doctors have gone through our new patient phone training program. Most doctors, on average, see a 15-40 percent bump in new patients within two to six months.



There’s a misconception that SI is just about phone training and new patients. Let’s set the record straight. What is SI all about?

Geier: We’ve continued to teach our new patient phone training, however, as the success of that was occurring over the years we built up an entire back end to our business and have grown to become the largest training company in orthodontics. We now offer 20 different trainings and continue to expand our doctor coaching programs. We’ve expanded our training facilities to better serve our clients. S ince we were featured in Orthotown Magazine in 2011 we’ve doubled the size of our Atlanta training facility to 20,000 square feet and we’ll be opening our new 24,000 square foot Phoenix facility in early 2015, to help cut down on some travel for our west-coast clients. A third location is on the drawing board for Canada because our Canadian client base is growing quickly. We’ve continued to expand course offerings for the 5,500 team members enrolled in our university. As we’ve expanded our offerings, we’ve also grown our team to ensure we’re always creating value for our clients and exceeding their expectations. We have 50 trainers, a team of six coaches and 122 other employees dedicated to client service and support. Every year we become more intentional about giving back. Ten percent of all SI profit is given to charity and last year we partnered with a community in Costa Rica and started hosting mission trips that our clients go on with us. We have learned that the key to really transforming a practice lies not only in the doctor and the way he or she thinks but also in the team and the way that they think and behave. By working in the practice with the doctor and the team, we’re able to identify several things that play a big role in a practice’s success, whether or not they have the capacity to give the patient the best care and greatest experience and who in the practice is fully committed to the business and its processes, beliefs and purpose versus who is not. Many doctors just really need help figuring that out and instilling that. It’s not many doctors’ natural ability or talent and that is something that our company has been very successful at doing where others have not. I n the past few years we’ve seen a trend among the most successful practices we work with. They are doing a training with us at least once every quarter. So we’ve now created training packages to fulfill this.



You’ve talked in the past about why new patients are so fundamental to success. Explain your philosophy and why you think it’s best for every doctor to work on this first.

Geier: Demand is the key to creating margin and also a patient base that you actually like and enjoy. So people with a shortage of new patients tend to tolerate things they really don’t enjoy and things that can actually be harmful to the practice. They tend to let the patient have a high level of control. S o what we find is that in any situation an abundance of new patients is one of the greatest business-building tools available. And simply trying to get more money from each patient is a short-lived strategy that has very detrimental consequences to the practice. Therefore, we believe every doctor needs to stay very active in the new patient business, especially in orthodontics where there is a high value per patient. For more info on our new patient training program, go to SiforOrtho.com.



You believe that orthodontics will be facing some big changes in the next few years. Describe the transformation you see coming.

Geier: As one of the main advisors to general dentists I can tell you that in no uncertain terms general dentists are aggressively adding more to the mix in their practices, particularly in the practices that would be considered great referring practices. They are assessing what is being sent out and creating strategies to keep things in house. In the next five years we are going to see a massive transformation in general dentists holding on to work that historically was sent out to orthodontists.

What should orthodontic practices be doing to prepare for this transformation?

Geier: You must start by doing an exhaustive study of your referral sources and take a hard look at your level of dependence on general dentists. I f you are like most of my ortho clients, you can probably think of a referral source or two that has dropped off in the last 1 2 months. This is the beginning of the transformation. We’re teaching our ortho clients how to become independent by creating their own market and building up their own resources. Really whatever is needed depending on the particular market. This doesn’t mean you stop going after referrals, you just don’t want to be completely dependent on them because when the general dentist decides to keep those referrals, you’ll have a significant problem on your hands. For more information on this, you can watch a video from my latest orthodontist boot camp at SIOrthoBootCamp.com.



SI has done a lot of work in the past with dentists. What sort of success have orthodontists had working with you?

Geier: We’ve actually been working with orthodontists since 2005. Our success has been tremendous with orthodontic practices and we continue to see rapid growth. Some clients have grown as much as five times larger and we continue to see this market as a growing market, if the doctor is willing to do what it takes. We have a ton of stories from our ortho clients. Here are just a few of them.

What’s the best way an orthodontic practice can get in touch with you or get more information?

Geier: Every orthodontist should know how focused his or her team is on new patients and how well they are doing getting patients into the practice. We offer a practice transformation package that comes with a custom anlaysis of your team and a rating that will tell you how focused they are on new patients and how they stack up against your competition. It’s complimentary. There is no cost or obligation to get it. Just go to SIforOrtho.com and click on Free Analysis or call 855-975-9455. If you’re ready to start the new patient phone training, call 855- 975-9455. My team has special pricing options for you if you mention this article.
Brian McCarthy, CEO – Birmingham Orthodontics
Birmingham, Alabama

“In our first full year working with SI (2013), our new patient production grew by $1.4 million. We had our first ever perfect year, breaking our records every month for new patients, production and collections. July 2014 was our all-time best month ever!”

Dr. Nicole Teifer – North Canton Orthodontics
Canton, Michigan

“When we started working with SI in November 2011 we were seeing about 22 new patients a month. Within 6 months that was up to 35. The average value of our new patients climbed really quickly too. We averaged $675 per patient in 2011 and by the end of 2012 that was up to $1,450. So far this year it’s up to $2,200.”

Dr. Luke Roberts – Blue Ridge Orthodontics,
Asheville, North Carolina

“Once we started working with the Scheduling Institute our practice took off. Our new patients increased 25 percent and our production and collections tripled in just 2 years. We now have a vision to achieve my practice goal of $12 million in production. I’ve added team leaders to help lead our team. We’ll be adding associates soon to multiply my production and we’re making plans to build a new office.”

Dr. Llon Clendenen – Tulsa Braces
Tulsa, Oklahoma

“With the accountablity SI has given me in place my life and practice is moving in the right direction. By the end of this year we will have doubled the collections we had when I started with SI 2 years ago and the next 2 years are off to an even better start. We have added an assoicate and we have a second office that’s thriving. We will be finishing a remodel of our main office soon.”

Orthotown Magazine
April 2024
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