ARCHIVE from robertdavidhays.com November 18, 2013
1. How Do Other Practices Do “X”?
The average field sales representative is responsible for servicing roughly 100 dental practices. That means that on an average month they’re in most of them at least once. In my nine years with Patterson, I’ve visited nearly 500 offices and seen a wide range of approaches and styles of running a dental practice.
This means that we can draw some best practices from dentists that we see having success in particular areas. Curious for a broader perspective, or insight into how to improve an area of your business? If your rep doesn’t already have some know-how, they’re likely to have a client in mind that they could connect you with.
Give some thought to areas of your practice that you’d like to improve and grab coffee
or lunch with your rep to explore some possible solutions.
2. Continuing Education Programs
Where are you currently seeking out continuing education? Are you relying on your local dental society or the state meeting? They certainly do a great job of putting together courses, but don’t overlook the CE programs offered by your dental dealer and their manufacturing partners.
Generally speaking, we are offering at least two courses per month, covering topics like new procedures, advancements in technology, OSHA compliance, practice management and a whole lot more.
I’m currently compiling a list of available courses at http://www.robertdavidhays.com, so please head on over there to see what’s going on in your area.
3. Overhead Control
If you’re purchasing your supplies from a variety of different sources, the onus falls on you to track and monitor your overhead in the supply category, and often after the fact when the bills start to filter in at the end of the month. Practice management consultants recommend that this line item be kept between 5-7% of practice production, and by selecting one vendor for those supplies, oftentimes your representative can be proactive in helping you maintain your costs and keep them in that healthy range.
I have close partnerships with a number of my clients for whom I play a large role in managing their supply budget. Is your vendor simply a line item on your budget, or are they a partner in helping you control your overhead and ensure the profitability of your practice?
4. Receive Better Customer Service and Favorable Technical Service Scheduling by Enrolling in a Preferred Customer Program
Most full service dental dealers have a preferred customer rewards program that earns you significant benefits by partnering with them and ordering most of your supplies exclusively with their company. Ours is the Patterson Advantage Rewards Program.
As a member of the program, our clients receive:
-Guaranteed emergency technical service response times for equipment repair needs
-Preferred pricing on billable technical service appointments
-Advantage Rewards dollars that can be used for equipment purchases and upgrades
-a whole lot more
These are the official corporate sponsored benefits of partnering more closely with a vendor. The intangibles of having a local rep that is reliant on a long term relationship with you and your team can reach far beyond that. I can tell you that I have lost count of the times I received a call from a client who was in dire need of a particular product and had run out. In most cases I can have something sent from our local distribution center, and in the office the next morning. More than a handful of times, however, the situation was more pressing than that, and I have personally delivered items to the office within hours of the phone call. Just last month I had a client who’s primary sterilizer had gone down. The practice is over 3 hours outside of the metro area – but with a 5am departure from home (and a few cups of coffee) they were up and running by 10 that morning.
Buying your supplies from a catalog company without a local team? Splitting your business between a few companies? Reach out to your rep and ask about the benefits you would receive if you went all in and selected them as your preferred vendor.
5. What’s new?
You know the pile of industry magazines that accumulate on your desk every month? There’s a ton of great information and insights in them, but it can be difficult to distill through it all.
Part of our role as distributor reps is to actively educate ourselves on the ins and outs of new products and technologies coming to market. If there’s ever an area of interest, or a truly disruptive approach to a procedure that will positively impact your practice and your patients, most of us would be eager to share that information with you, and help you evaluate if it might be a good fit for your practice.
Next time you see your rep, lob them the question: “What’s new?”
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