May 2019--Smile Source® has a network of 700 independent dentists in the U.S. that successfully helps their private practices thrive through group purchasing, marketing, and learning of business strategies.
The Smile Source model is an off-shoot of Vision Source, a company that was formed to help independent optometrists compete in a changing marketplace. Now, one in five independent optometrists is part of Vision Source.
Just as in optometry, dental practices are consolidating, and the DSO space is exploding. With that rapid growth in dental service organizations, comes pressure on the independent dentists. So, we give independent dentists the ability to compete.
Our goals are:
We're not for everyone. We exist to help our independent dentists with the business aspects of their practice:
We want to help dentists in private practice drive revenues and reduce expenses.
In the last six years, Smile Source has increased the revenues of its collaborative practices by over $130,000,000. The average Smile Source practice size is $1,100,000, whereas the average size of a private practice in the U.S. is $750,000.
In the industry, there is one percent growth. We've maintained 5.4 percent growth, year after year, over the last six years. This is the power of collaborative buying of supplies, marketing, education, and sharing ideas in local business meetings in 43 states. Our groups get together monthly or quarterly, whatever the group wants. Within each group, members work on problem resolution to help them run a better practice.
As a buying group, Smile Source has the best prices in the industry, and that’s a primary reason why dentists join. When they realize they can let their guard down and open up to other like-minded dentists, they realize they can learn from them. They quickly learn it takes more than just cost savings to build a great dental practice.
We have 80 people on the payroll, and those 80 people are out there to help you grow your practice, which is why our practices always outpace the market growth rate by at least five percent. Our average practice is over a million dollars. So, our average practice is growing by more than $50,000 a year. Take that out over 10 years. It's a big number. That's $300,000 to $400,000 in growth when you do the cumulative annual growth rate. we have the best pricing in the industry that independent dentists can get their hands on. But that's only where it starts.
Each of the member groups in 43 states is a strong community that shares their problems with each other. At each monthly or quarterly meeting, the members all “check in” about how things are going and their biggest current challenge. Right then and there, the group will mastermind solutions. For example, members have discovered that what they thought was a scheduling issue was really an embezzlement issue. If someone is struggling with whether to fire and replace a team member or whether to take on an associate dentist, the group helps think through the circumstances and best solutions. When a group of people you trust arrive at a decision together to help guide you, you have more confidence to act. You feel accountability to the group to make progress on whatever challenge you are facing before you “check in” with them again.