Strong relationships that support your business

Multi-ethnicPractice manager Manjit Gill explains the importance of having strong relationships with your suppliers.

One of the biggest frustrations that a business owner can face is knowing where they want their dental practice to go, but lacking the resources and the connections to get there. Carefully choosing the right business partnerships can offer the resources needed to take your practice where you want it to go. And this is exactly what Manjit Gill did with her plan provider.

‘Relationships with our patients, my team and suppliers are extremely important to me so that I can ensure that our practice is running as successfully as it can,’ Manjit said. ‘For example, if a supplier can demonstrate that they know the dental profession inside out, as well as tune into our specific practice situation and tailor their expertise to support us, then why wouldn’t I want to be part of it? It’s going to make my life and running the business so much easier.’

Genuine support

‘A few years ago, Amy, a regional support manager from Practice Plan walked into our practice and asked us how our business was doing,’ Manjit continued. ‘She didn’t pitch her product, she asked about us. She continued to pop in every three to four months, just to see how we were getting on and offer advice and support. The result? The start of an utterly amazing relationship with us.

‘In truth, during that first visit, if she had walked in and asked if I was happy with our plan provider I would have said yes and dismissed any notion of switching. But she didn’t, and over time, her genuine interest in our business was what set her apart. She continued to pop in and ultimately just came by to share her business knowledge all to our benefit. She was starting to become one of the team. She was starting to be there for us.

‘At the end of the day, the way in which a plan provider administers our plan will always be important to me, but what I also came to value, and perhaps didn’t quite appreciate in the past, was the relationship that I could continue to develop with Amy and Practice Plan.

‘Amy went out of her way to understand the needs of the team and the practice, demonstrating right from the beginning that she knew how to harness her expertise and connections to support us. And Practice Plan clearly understands dentistry as a business; it tailors for our development, supporting us with topical business related events and online access to our plan – all so that we can continue to keep ahead. I am so glad that Amy didn’t give up on us.’

Delivering on promises

‘Fast forward to now and not only does she encourage us to boost our plan numbers, but I genuinely trust and rely on her honest advice about other business related issues – things that aren’t necessarily directly involved with our plan, such as marketing or compliance, but supports us as a business nevertheless,’ Manjit explained. ‘She listens to me and I trust that she truly has our best interests at heart.

‘In fact, it’s not just me that welcomes the interaction, the whole team get excited about her visits and the way in which she looks to support each and every one of us. When she’s been in we are all on a mission to focus on our actions and get the next challenge sorted out. She wants us to succeed and it’s infectious.

‘Over the years I have come to realise that the relationship I have with Amy and Practice Plan is based on one simple principle and it is one that matches our own practice philosophy – to ensure that you understand your clients and deliver on promises. Amy and Practice Plan are fantastic and I know that I have found a great mutual partnership. Our relationship matters and Amy demonstrates that to us time and time again. They have never let us down and it is now something that I search for in all my supplier relationships.

‘So be honest with yourself: as a business, are you in a mutually beneficial relationship with your current plan provider? Are you motivated by it, does it support you and deliver on promises? If not, I would seriously suggest that you look for an alternative.’


Practice Plan is a specialist provider of practice-branded patient membership plans and an increasingly significant source of wider business support services for dentistry. Over the years, it has helped thousands of dentists introduce membership plans and switch provider to become profitable and sustainable businesses. Access to experienced regional support managers, customer service advisers and expert marketers as well as dental business consultants and speakers, means a practice will get the practical and strategic advice needed to help them achieve their unique goals. If you’d like to know more about how Practice Plan could help you make a greater success of your practice, visit www.practiceplan.co.uk/dental-plans, call 01691 684165 or sign up for their business support at blog.practiceplan.co.uk.

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