A slight edge: the fine line between success and mediocrity

In 2005, Lance Armstrong made history by crossing the finish line in the world’s first long-distance cycling race, winning his seventh Tour de France. For 2,232 miles, the American cancer survivor and cyclist battled fatigue, competitors and even allegations of drug use from the foreign press. In the end, the winner of 2 stages of the 21-stage race was crowned victorious.

Despite the glory and rewards bestowed on the victor, Armstrong’s winning time of 88 hours, 15 minutes and 1 second was just 280 seconds ahead of second-place finisher Ivan Basso of Italy. In other words, Armstrong was only 1/10 percent faster than his closest competitor. In fact, the top ten finishers were all within 4/10ths of one percent.

In the end, Armstrong carried himself to victory with only a slight lead.

In the same way, success in the game of life is often determined by a slight advantage. It’s called “the Slight Edge Principle” and by using it, you can phenomenally transform your practice and your life.

The basis of the slight advantage principle is that small actions repeated over and over again generate massive results. Let me explain…

Let’s take health and fitness as an example. Eating a Big Mac and fries for lunch today won’t immediately make you look like a sumo wrestler, any more than eating lean fish and a salad won’t immediately give you the body of a supermodel. However, every time you choose to eat healthy, you gain a small advantage, slowly and consistently building a healthy body and lifestyle.

Keep in mind that choosing what you eat for lunch is not a monumental decision. It’s not like you said, “Starting today, I’m going to be a super athlete and never eat anything with fat again.” You just decided to go the extra mile to eat healthy that time. But, as you consistently make the same decision over time, you achieve powerful results.

It is the same in your practice. Small decisions made consistently over time confer a slight edge, allowing you to build a highly profitable practice.

We often talk to our clients about making “after treatment calls.” These are follow-up calls made by the dentist to patients who have just received treatment. (Not just a major treatment, but any treatment.) Calls can be made a few hours after treatment, the next day, or even over the weekend. What’s interesting is that post-treatment calls are not a new concept; however, we have found few dentists who have performed them consistently throughout their careers.

What is more interesting is that dentists tell us that these calls last on average only thirty to sixty seconds and that most patients greatly appreciate the doctor’s call.

Now, let us offer you a choice:

1. Spending tens of thousands of dollars on a new Thing-a-ma-jobber X2000 that patients are supposed to go crazy for.
2. Spend just a few minutes each day calling patients who appreciate you, give you an emotional boost, and will even tell their friends about you.

Geez, I’ll take the curtain number… Unfortunately, we get calls every week from dentists who want the “quick-fix magic pill marketing system that will hypnotically dump new filthy-rich patients into my lap.”

Well, I’ve got news for you: the guy looking for the magic pill usually gets ripped off by the newest con man on the block. But the guy who makes the post-treatment wake-up calls will build a monstrous practice every time. That’s because the guy making the calls is taking advantage of the slight advantage principle.

Think about it. How many times could you do something small, simple, and easy like sending a handwritten note or making a post-treatment wake-up call to show your patients how much you care? How many times do you send the note or make the call? Your answer shows your level of mastery of the principle of slight advantage.

Make no mistake, the slight edge principle is the foundation of success. Sure, it’s true that luck, bright ideas, and calculated bets play a role in success, but the slight advantage is often the basis for these popular attributes.

Consider Thomas Edison. It could correctly be said that a brilliant idea was the basis for his invention of the light bulb. However, Edison would say that the principle of slight advantage was the basis of his brilliant idea. You see, Edison tried thousands of different variations to finally find a light bulb that worked. Think about it. Thousands of attempts. How many of us have had the tenacity to keep trying when we have already failed thousands of times?

But Edison was the master of the slight edge principle, staying up late, sleeping in his workshop, trying one more time, then another, then another. He concentrated on one attempt at a time, slowly and steadily weeding out possible solutions. And, in the end, he gave us electric light.

In other words, Edison successfully used one of the most powerful aspects of the slight advantage principle: the constant willingness to do the same thing over and over again until it leads to success.

Dental seminar gurus will tell you all about the “new paradigm” of dentistry: take more time off, provide only your favorite types of treatment, reduce your staff, accept only cash payments, see only a few patients each day, make millions, drive a Ferrari, just follow the yellow brick road…

Well, it’s time to put your heels together and wake up again in Kansas. (If you believe all the crap those guys are telling you, I am selling shares in “brooklyn-bridge.com”, please give me a call.)

You see, your practice will never be absolutely perfect, especially at night. But eventually you can build a great practice if you put in a lot of work. It’s not “hard work” in the traditional sense, but the kind of constant action that led Edison to success in his invention of the light bulb.

If you’re like many dentists, you’ve probably attended a seminar where you learned some great new ideas or, more likely, some great old ideas. You left the seminar very “motivated”. He even held a staff meeting and told everyone what he learned. You “committed” to using those great ideas. But somehow, somewhere along the way, maybe several weeks or months later, he stopped using those ideas. It’s not that the ideas didn’t work, everyone thought they were fantastic. It’s that you were too busy or you lost a staff member or you went on vacation or… In other words, you weren’t “motivated” anymore.

This is where most people lose their slight advantage, because they must continuously motivate themselves and their team if they want to benefit from the principle of slight advantage. Remember, the Slight Edge Principle works through a process of constant action. Big ideas are cool. But simple ideas executed consistently are better.

So, back to those post-treatment wake-up calls. We found that most dentists like the idea right away. (Again, it’s not like they’ve never heard of this simple concept. It’s just that they’ve never actually used it.) These dentists start out strong, making the calls every day. Then eventually, as the calls become more routine, they stop making some of the minor treatment calls. “I’m only calling those people who may still feel some discomfort,” they say. Eventually, they give out the phone numbers to their staff members. “The fact that someone from our practice calls them is enough,” they say. And finally, no one calls at all. “We’re too busy right now,” they say. And without warning, the chance to leave patients with an impression that will last a lifetime is gone.

Think about it. Lance Armstrong rode 2,232 miles in his last Tour de France. Through 88 hours of grueling competition, his motivation level certainly fluctuated. However, he persevered to the end, maintaining a slight but consistent lead over his competitors. In other words, he was “self-motivated.”

We attach great importance to “self-motivation”. However, few of us really understand what it means. You see, self-motivation is not found in a vacuum. You can look to your family, your staff, and your patients for the encouragement that motivates you. You can attend seminars, talk to your coaches, set goals, read articles. All of these things can help motivate you.

But regardless of how you motivate yourself, you must understand that motivation is not a feeling! Motivation is really the product of taking action. Often, you may not feel like making post-treatment wake-up calls. But when you make the calls, you’ll get an emotional boost and feel great about doing it. In other words, you motivate yourself by working through your feelings!

Let me say that again…you get motivated by working through your feelings! Motivation is the product of taking action.

Therefore, strive to constantly do the little things that lead to success, taking action even when you don’t feel like it. After taking action, you will be more motivated to take action again. You will create momentum. And the momentum makes it much easier to hold a slight lead.

The Slight Edge Principle is the most powerful tool you can harness to drastically change your practice and your life. Start using it now!