Big News: Dale Dental Starts Laboratory Membership Group

Get a professional team behind your dental lab for the cost of hiring one ineffective marketing person. How would you like to have a complete corporation helping you run your business including a senior business strategist, chief financial officer, marketing staff, human resources department, operations support and compliance officer? And get all of this for just $3,500 per month.

I’m 40 years old and I’ve been watching my dad make crowns since I was five. So I guess that gives me 35 years experience in the dental lab industry. I’ve spoken with thousands of dental lab technicians, owners, consultants and industry people over those years, particularly in the last 10 since starting Dale Dental.

Dale Dental has given me tremendous experience in high tech restorative dentistry and satisfied part of my dream to help people like my dad provide the widest range of restorative options to their dentists. The other part of my dream was to not just to provide the restorations they need, but also whatever business advice, suggestions and corporate-type resources they need. Truth is, now more than ever, lab owners feel like they needs some extra talent in their corner to ensure continual growth for their business and easy succession of the business to their family or whoever will come next.

So, here’s the plan. For the cost of hiring a single ineffective marketing person (about $3,350 per month) I will do the following.

• 1) Host a Dale Day meeting twice per year. This meeting will be for Laboratory Consulting Division members and their “right hand person” only. No vendors, no press, no association, absolutely nobody else gets into or near the meeting. The Dale Day meetings will focus on the latest industry trends in products or services. The financials considerations behind each trend, how to market and profit from those trends in your region. In addition we’ll make sure our members fully understand profitability terms and impact of Cost of Goods Sold, Gross Margins, Fixed Expenses, Operating Income, Depreciation and everything about their own financial statements.
• 2) We will provide marketing materials which will only be available to our members. These will be 100% professional marketing materials to help you drive business. This will include customized sell sheets, statement stuffers, magazine ads, presentations, event invitations and more - you will only pay for your own printing. We will even give you PowerPoint presentations and teach you how to present these products to your dentists. You will never have to think about preparing these items again and I guarantee they will be the most professional and demand-generating pieces you have ever see or used.
• 3) We will keep you fully abreast of all local, state and association laws and practices that affect you. As a member, your Chief Compliance Officer (CCO) will make sure your facility is in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations. An, should you get inspected, your CCO will be a phone call away, or closer, to work with the agency conducting the investigation on your behalf.
• 4) Providing the latest technology. Your Chief Technology Officer (CTO) will make certain that you get the right answers about the technologies you provide or equipment and materials you are considering. As the president and founder of Dale I talk to so many labs who are nervous or confused about technology decisions they are considering - I will put a stop to that.
• 5) Get great pricing through purchasing power with material providers, shipping companies, equipment providers and more. We can negotiate membership-wide contracts for purchasing and contracting services to save you money, improve service and minimize risk in whatever you buy.
• 6) Give you member-only trade information and industry research on what’s taking place in your industry on a global, national and regional level. This data will be ours and not taken from outside parties that do not know our industry but are in the data selling business.
• 7) Help you use information about the dental industry to create a vision and find your labs place in it. So many people seem to agree about how critical the next few years will be and how important it is to know who your lab is, what it provides and who it provides it for. We will host workshops during Dale Days to help you paint your vision and feel comfortable and confident in what your dental lab will provide to its customers.
• Buying group. Our goal is to make our members the most money they’ve ever made by using their talent and saving money where they can. Once we hit our goal number of members, we’ll likely be the largest dental laboratory equipment, materials and supplies purchasers in the world - likely by far. We’ll reduce the cost to reach us for the vendors and help them save money so we can save money too.
• 9) We will set targets for your labs growth and keep you to them. By strategically looking at the target geography, customer profile or other demographics you serve we can help estimate demand from that region and build sales forecasts for your company.
• 10) Hiring best practices. Are you excellent at interviewing, hiring and cultivating your workforce. If not, your new HR Director will be a big help. Whether it’s about properly classifying employees, finding good time and attendance solutions, shopping for and providing benefits, and adhering to local labor laws, we’re your centralized corporate office and your HR Director and staff is standing by.

 I will be starting this group when I hit just 100 members who have completed an application and are ready to get started. The ideal member lab is…

• 1) Family owned business with plans to pass on to kids.
• 2) Been in business at least five, preferably 10 or more years.
• 3) Is passionate about what they do.
• 4) Has a good reputation in the community and industry. You don’t have to be a rock star, just a pretty solid individual with integrity and respect.
• 5) Feels they cannot keep up with the pace of technology and the industry and is unsure where to turn next.
• 6) Feels like they could really do a great job of making the products their customers need, if only they had more of the answers to questions to get them started.
• 7) Is not happy with the current conditions of their business.
• Has a “right hand person” or “second in command” who is either a long-term employee or family member.
• 9) Feels they would tremendously benefit from a strong business backend to help them out so they can focus on making the teeth and talking to the doctors.
• 10) You’ve seen other labs sell to big lab groups like National Dentex or Dental Services Group and you’re thinking those lab owners are better off now because they made some money and they’re no longer dealing with day-to-day aggravations… “they’ve got a company to handle that stuff now.”

If you think this might be a good fit for you and you like the qualifications above, drop me an email at dave@daledental.com to let me know you might be interested. If it seems like a good fit, I will invite you to either attend an information session in Dallas, or in your city, or do a WebEx call to discuss furhter. Look forward to our first Dale Day soon! 

All the best,
Dave

Tagged as: Dale Day, dale dental membership, Dental Lab, dental lab management, dental lab marketing, dental lab sales, managing a dental lab, sell your dental lab, selling a dental lab