This year’s auction features a sparkling array of tempting treats, including two tickets in the Faculty section of a Florida Gators game with a gourmet breakfast prepared by OHA Board Member Dr. Frank Catalanotto, dinner with Henry Schein CEO Stan Bergman and his wife Marion at the Grand Tier Restaurant in New York, followed by a performance at the Metropolitan Opera or the American Ballet Theater, and a stay at The Allison Inn & Spa in Oregon wine country donated by A-dec.

Reserve your tickets at www.oralhealthamerica.org or call Joe Donohue at 312-836-9900.

The Little Dealer-After years of consolidation that eliminated many local family-owned businesses, will the little, full-service dealer make a comeback? Let’s hope so. They are easy to do business with, and are as responsive to their customers’ needs as their larger counterparts. Big manufacturers must stop pulling their lines from perfectly good sources of distribution and let this channel make a comeback.

No More Tribute-Manufacturers have grown weary of supporting large dealer catalogs, sales materials and sales meetings. Print media is dying, so dealers can’t continue holding manufacturers hostage to this genre. And expecting large stipends so sales people can gather at a resort is borderering on extortion. A degree of fundamental fairness needs to be brought to bear here before the the goose that laid the golden egg is gone.

The Trade Show-Can’t someone find a stake to drive through this vampire’s heart? Booths in New York looked about 50% as large as in years past. Did the New York Dental Society get the message? Do we still need a Yankee and a Hinman Meeting to hit sales goals? How about state and local meetings? When the economy tanked, we really saw how cost-prohibitive meetings are. And this doesn’t consider the hassle of travelling. (I don’t have a good answer, I’m just griping)..

The Indendent Rep-With consolidation now occurring on the manufacturing side, many long-time independent sales reps have seen income opportunities evaporate. At one time, a visit to a major trade show yielded three or four new lines. No more. For years, the independent sales rep was the backbone of our business, helping many small and mid-sized manufacturers get their products in front of a customer. The independent rep is still a viable sales option. In the past few years a number of sales management organizations have been formed. These groups hire train and pay independent reps, so a small manufacturer can outsource the sales function, getting and experienced group of sales people at a fixed cost of sales.

The Dentists is a Consumer Too-The dentist needs money to buy stuff from a dealer. When patients stop coming to the practice to get their teeth whitened, and when credit lines are tougher to get, the dentist will delay purchasing, and won’t start buying in earnest again until patients start marching back in the front door.

Make Value an Option, Not an Afterthought-Too often, value-priced has been associated with cheap or low-end, No more. There are plenty of good companies who make quality goods at reasonable prices. As the dentist has learned in his/her personal life, shopping for value has become more the norm than the exception. Why wouldn’t they look for value in their dental life?

Be a Little Conservative-If there is concern about where Quarters 1 and 2 will look like, it is sheer terror predicting Q3 and 4. There are some good ways to protect your interests. Don’t bet the farm early in the year. Spend conservatively, so if some recovery 2010 does not
materialize, you haven’t overspent. If there is better than average recovery later in the year, then you have funds available to take advantage of the upturn.

I have been in this industry for almost 30 years, and it pains me to see so many of my colleagues in distress. It would be easy to say that everything will go back to the way it was but I don’t think that’s the case. The economic collapse at the end of 2008 has permanently altered the financial landscape, so the entrepreneur who can figure where these changes will land his or her company on the curve, will be the one who comes out ahead of the competition. I hope, for everyone’s sake, 2010 is a much better year.

On that note, Nancy and I wish everyone a very happy holiday season and a healthy ans prosperous New Year.

Among the trends I found applicable were:

 ”Real-time Reviews” - The rise of dentalcompare.com and Dental Product Shopper, not to mention rating sources such as CRA, REALITY, and the Dental Advisor, have shown that dental professionals are as interested as anyone in reading reviews and ratings before they buy.  The  idea that customers and potential buyers would have a platform for conducting conversations about products (social networks are promoting this as well) will change how decisions about products are made.

“(F)luxury” - The idea that luxury is in the eye of the beholder is another aspect of the increasingly consumer-driven marketplace.  Luxury for one might be the most lavish dental chair money can buy; for another it might be a technology product that saves time or effort in order to create the luxury of more free time.

“Eco-Easy” - If you’re not concerned about the environment, you haven’t been paying attention.  Making it easy for your customers to “do the right thing” when it comes to waste and recycling is good corporate citizenship and good marketing.

“Tracking and Alerting” - Dental products aren’t exactly chocolate chip cookies that are best fresh from the oven, but keeping your customers informed about the progress of their orders has become more than just a nicety.  People now expect to have orders acknowledged, be notified when shipments leave the dock, and be given an estimated delivery date.  If orders are delayed, additional alerts should be sent.

“Embedded Generosity” - Combining business with charitable activities is nothing new, but most customers expect the people they buy from to give back where they can.  Allowing customers to pile on by combining charitable giving with product purchases is an extension of this.  You could start by taking a few customers to the Oral Health America Gala, which is being held on Wednesday this year because the Chicago Midwinter starts a day later: http://www.events.org/cpage.aspx?e=23405

There are some other parallels among the trends as well.  Point being, mass consumer trends do affect the dental industry.

Trade-in programs have been used in past years as promotions in the dental industry, but with the success of the Cash for Clunkers program, it may be time to resurrect them. For companies that are having trouble moving big-ticket items, a Cash for Clunkers style offer might be an effective way of boosting year-end sales. Whether you offer a rebate for competitors’ products or your own (or both), now may be the time to get those customers out of the window shopping mode and into a buying mode.

According to an article in Newsweek, at the first sign of business softening, the restaurant’s management looked at every single element of their business that didn’t touch the patrons or the product.  They cross-trained employees to perform more than one job, hired an expert to develop a new scheduling tool to manage staffing more efficiently, and did everything EXCEPT fall into the panic-discounting trap. 

While streamlining operations to reduce costs isn’t exactly new news, focusing on process improvement rather than just revenue boosting is paying off for P.F. Chang’s, whose stock has doubled since November.

Yesterday, someone we highly respect commented that we “take the high road.”  I like to think that’s how people view us.  If we can’t help, we say so.  We try to keep our fees reasonable, and consider the size and resources of the company when setting the price.  We avoid conflicts of interest, and let people know when we have a financial arrangement with a company or service we recommend. We do our fair share of pro bono, volunteer, and community work.  We’re not perfect, but we do our best.

Recently, we formed a partnership with Global Practice Solutions to offer small to mid-sized companies a managed independent sales force.  This endeavor will complement, not replace, our business, marketing, and communications services.  The recent launch of the Trimira Identafi 3000 Cancer Screening Device is an example of the kind of synergy we are now able to offer our clients

We appreciate the support we’ve been given over the years by our many friends in the dental industry and hope to continue to maintain these friendships in the years to come.  It’s been a great nine years.  Thank you.

The first thing your website should do is convey what your company is all about (and I don’t mean just a list of your products). Is your company highly specialized, or the experts in a certain niche? Look at Hu-Friedy’s website:  http://www.hu-friedy.com  There can be no mistaking what this company does, even from a single glance. Maybe you are the cost-effective alternative to higher priced brands.  Check out Mydent’s website: http://www.defend.com. 

Your website should provide all the information necessary for making a buying decision, even if you are not taking orders online. The products’ features (and more importantly, benefits) should be clearly outlined, as well as the nuts and bolts of sizes, configurations, compatiblity, etc.  Ideally, there should be educational information as well: How to use the product, clinical documentation, case studies, preferably including information of interest to different audiences (dentists, hygienists, students, etc.) and plenty of good quality pictures.

Your website should also showcase your company’s other advantages. Do you provide extraordinary customer service? Hold educational/training sessions? Provide in-office assistance? How good is your warranty? Are you active in the dental industry or your local community?  Have you considered all of your audiences? If Spanish were your native language, wouldn’t this be helpful:  http://whipmix.com/espanol.aspx

Finally, keep your website current. If you use e-newsletters, post the newest one on your site. Feature any current promotions right on the home page. Add new products promptly–the moment people hear about them they will go to your website! React to any questions or concerns about your products quickly. Remove dated information. If one thing is out-of-date, people will have to question everything on your site because they won’t know if it is still accurate. Place downloadable copies of your literature online. That way, customers (and sales reps) can access them immediately.

A good website makes your company accessible. Make sure you have a website that is easy to use and gives a clear and accurate picture of your company and its products. The shoppers are coming!

The supposedly recession-proof dental industry is, by most accounts, seeing at least a softening of demand, and in some cases, a collapse of demand.  I heard a story in Chicago of a cosmetic dentist who was down to one case a day. 

No doubt at the very high end, money is still not a concern.  And a case can be made that an investment in cosmetic dentistry may pay off at the job interview.  But indications are that many people are putting off not just discretionary, but mandatory procedures.  So, with the numbers of patients dropping, dentists will be looking for value added (read revenues added) for the patients that are coming in. 

There’s money to be made in any market, the secret is finding where. In the dental market, it may be that dentists need to concentrate on mining the patients they have–making reminder calls for missed hygiene appointments, perhaps offering discounts here and there, and making sure those who can afford it are completing treatment plans.  On the industry side, the key may be to provide dentists with products that allow new, inexpensive procedures that have high patient appeal, and those that help make dental practices run more efficiently and cost effectively.