We Train You How To Open a Dental Handpiece Sales and Repair Center
PREVIEW INTRODUCTION
Thank you for your interest in Orion Dental Sales, Training & Repair. The following page provides a more in depth coverage of this business training. Many different topics are covered related to this business. If you would like to further discuss any of these issues or others feel free to call or e-mail. It is somewhat extensive, but we believe it will answer many of the questions you may have as a potential business owner.
ABOUT US
For over 20 years, we have been the the largest handpiece repair trainer in the world offering in person training, and now virtual training courses. We have trained people from the USA, Canada, Mexico, England, Ireland, Scotland, France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Lebanon, India, Thailand, Hong Kong, South Korea, the Philippines, Australia, New Zealand, Guyana and other countries. We are also the preferred trainer for the US military and other national governments worldwide. We have had over 400 people through our handpiece repair training courses without a single unhappy trainee. About 20% of all dental handpiece repair centers in the United States were trained by us. And, some of those companies now offering training were trained by us.
Our dedication to providing top-quality training and support has earned us a reputation as the best source for those looking to open a dental sales and repair center that specializes in handpiece repair. We also help companies add handpiece repair to their existing services.
BUSINESS OVERVIEW
We train you how to open and operate a business that provides a needed service to dentists in your local area. Handpiece repairs are the most commonly needed repair service in a dental office. Currently, most dental offices mail their handpieces to a national company for repair. However, these companies have lessor service, slower repair times and higher prices. We show you how to offer a local option to dentists in your area which would provide much quicker repair times, better customer service and lower repair prices than the national competitors.
TRAINING COURSE NEED
Knowing the need by dentists nationally and internationally for a local handpiece repair option, we began offering our training courses in 1997. We have always offered our training for a one time fee rather than as a franchise with restictions and ongoing fees. Because of the quality of our training and our fair offer, we have trained more people to open a dental handpiece repair center than any other company offering this training. More people prefer an independent option rather than a franchise from a quality source of training.
NOT A FRANCHISE
We continue to offer our training packages and courses with one time fees rather than a franchise fee structure providing a better value iniatially and over the long term, making them a more affordable option for entrepreneurs looking to start their own business.. We offer these training courses in addition to our regular handpiece business, and normally will train 6-12 people per year. We have trained people from all walks of life to open this business.
TRAINING PACKAGES
At Orion Dental Sales, Training & Repair, we offer a range of training packages that provide the knowledge, skills, and contacts necessary to open and operate a dental handpiece sales and repair business. We have several training course packages available with our Platinum Training Package being our most commonly sold training course followed by our Gold Training Package.
PLATINUM TRAINING PACKAGE
Our most commonly sold training package is the Platinum Training Package. This nine-day training package includes pneumatic and electric repair training, as well as new business start-up training. It also includes repair tools and repair parts inventories for your business that are good selections of the repair tools and repair parts you will need as you open your business. With the Platinum Training Package, you'll learn everything you need to know to open and operate a successful dental handpiece sales and repair center.
GOLD TRAINING PACKAGE
Our second most commonly sold training package is the Gold Training Package. This six-day package includes pneumatic-only training and covers everything you need to know to repair pneumatic dental handpieces. While it doesn't include electric repair training, it's still an excellent option for those looking to start a dental handpiece sales and repair business. You would still offer electric handpiece repairs, but could outsource those repairs until you took the electric training at a later date. We could repair these drills for you at wholesale repair prices and provide you with a suggested retail.
HANDS-ON TRAINING
All of our training courses are one on one, with a hands on training format including both office and repair desk training following a well practiced outline each day. We have picked handpieces for training that are good examples of their type to best represent a broad range of dental handpieces. Each day of training we will repair handpieces. In addition, each day we will provide training in other areas of the business including office and shop set-up, marketing, and accounting. We will also go over our preferred vendors and will give you assistance in setting up your wholesale account relationships with the same vendors that we use.
Overview of Training Packages
Our training packages are designed to provide you with the skills and knowledge needed to start and grow your own dental handpiece repair business. The packages are designed to be turn key training courses that cover everything you need to start and operate this business from handpiece repair, shop desk set up, office desk set-up, marketing, and accounting training. We also help you to set up your wholesale vendor relationships with the same parts and supply companies that we use.
Support Included
All of our training includes ongoing support with three years of free telephone support, three years of free retraining support and ten years of free email support included with each of our training packages.
Here are some of the highlights of our training:
Handpiece Repair Training
During the handpiece repair training, we will provide you with comprehensive instruction on how to repair highspeed and lowspeed dental handpieces, along with related types of handpieces, including both pneumatic and electric handpieces. You will learn how to identify problems, disassemble and assemble handpieces, clean and lubricate internal components, replace damaged or worn parts, and perform final testing to ensure proper functionality.
Each day of training will be focused on repairing handpieces, but we will also cover other topics, including:
- Shop set-up: We will provide guidance on how to set up your repair shop, including running your air compressor, air lines, and air station, and the needed tools and equipment for repairs.
- Office Training: From opening the business to daily operations of the office, also further described below.
- Repair Parts inventory: We provide a suggested opening repair parts inventory, with each item individually labelled, with our two most commonly sold training packages, the Platinum and the Gold Training Package.
- Repair Tool Inventory: We provide a suggested repair tools inventory, with each item individually labelled, with our two most commonly sold training packages, the Platinum and the Gold Training Package.
- Diagrams, repair videos and manuals: You will receive all the necessary diagrams and manuals for major tool repairs including repair videos for many common models. We have built our extensive training manuals over many years. Our Platinum Training Package comes with 9 training manuals and our Gold Training Package comes with 5 training manuals.
Office Training
In the office training, we will cover several areas focusing on some key aspects of the business operation: marketing, accounting, and others. Here's what you can expect to learn in each of these areas:
Marketing
We will provide you a flash drive with digital templates of flyers, brochures, postcards, catalogs and related marketing materials that you can use to quickly start out marketing your business. We will show you how to take our company name off and put your company informaiton in its place. In addition, we will train you on how to create your own marketing materials, including tri-fold brochures, catalogs, fold-over mailers, one-page flyers, coupons, and related items using the same marketing program we used. We will also provide you with a various graphics and images on a flash drive that you can use to create your own marketing materials in addition to using our material
During the marketing training, we will also provide instruction on various useful computer programs and apps including accounting programs, mapping applications and customer relations management programs. We will provide step-by-step instruction on how to build accounts through various means, including mailings and visits along with training in customer service and interactions for this business.
Accounting
In the accounting training, we will train you on how to set up your accounting for the business using QuickBooks Pro accounting software. You will receive a suggested retail price sheet for every item you may see, as well as guidance on how to set up your invoices and parts inventory in QuickBooks. We will also review how to expense for the IRS a home-based business and related accounting issues.
New Handpiece and Add On Sales
We will train you in how to purchase, market, and sell new handpieces and other add on products. This instruction will include a review of the various handpiece manufacturers' models and styles, handpiece sales company addresses, phone numbers, and personal contacts, a suggested retail price review for various items, and related matters in marketing and sales of new handpieces and other add on products.
U.S. Government Business
We will train you how to solicit U.S. Government business on military bases and other installations such as VA hospitals or Federal prisons. This Federal business is a great source of high-volume sales. The process of obtaining this business is basically a two-step process of first getting registered to do business with the government and then going out and soliciting this business.
Business in General: Overview
This section will provide a brief overview of the business in general, and is not intended to cover all topics related to the industry. The following subsections will discuss the competition in the industry, including handpiece manufacturers, national catalog companies, and local competitors.
Competition
Once the dental industry was required to use sterilizers, such as autoclaves, after every patient the need for handpiece repair companies greatly increased. The rise in the use of sterilizers, called Autoclaves or Chemclaves, which break down the handpieces much more rapidly than before, created a need for more frequent repairs.
The primary sources for handpiece repair are the handpiece manufacturers, catalog companies and local repair centers. Through a competition of speed, price and service we can show you how to be a better option for your local accounts.
Handpiece Manufacturers
For simplicity, this business can be compared to automobile dealerships. If you take your car to the dealership, they tend to be a lot more expensive and a lot slower than a local repair facility. In this business, handpiece manufacturers typically run 3-6 weeks for repairs versus 1-5 days which we can provide. And, more importantly, handpiece manufacturers typically charge twice as much for repairs. Plus, we can offer much better service by being in the local market than a customer being able By offering quicker repair times and lower prices,
National Catalog Companies
Another source of competition are national catalog companies, which sell everything under the sun that dentists might need, including handpiece repairs. The biggest one here is Henry Schein. While they charge a lower price than the manufacturers for repairs, they take longer to repair handpieces and do not offer the personal level of service that local repair shops can provide. And, these large national companies have had tremendous staffing problems and customer service problems that leave dentists searching for other repair options than expensive and slow national companies.
Local Competition
Finally, as a source of competition, on the local level there are the franchisees and other independents in the handpiece repair business. This business is ahead of the curve in terms that there is still not a lot of local competition in many markets. Some bigger areas will have some, but for many areas there is still no one offering this service to the dentist on a local basis.
With the other independents and franchisees they are not your real competition. The real competition is the national companies, as they tend to currently do most of the business. And, they are lacking in service and speed so much that you can easily out perform their service, price, and speed of repairs.
Business Positives
Additionally, I would like to cover a few more points about the business in brief including; this business is not a labor intensive business. Most of your time will be spent picking up and returning the handpieces rather than the actual time it takes to do the repair; this business is not a space intensive business. It can be run out of a small bedroom or corner of a garage. Basically the shop area needs a desk, some shelves, and good lighting. The office needs a desk, a computer, a good printer, and some shelves; the repair skills can be taught to anyone who has the ability to learn and retain, perhaps at least a high school level of education. It is not rocket science. It is much repetition with similar motor designs and the same brands and styles across the broad market of dentists. It is not an issue of strength, but more of a patient and precise hand; we work with small items but not so small as to require any magnification; the business is very rewarding in that you work with your hands on expensive, precision drills whereby you take them completely apart clean all the parts replace the necessary items, then rebuild them, test and make the handpieces run like they are new again; the business can easily be run by one person or can be split with a spouse. My wife and I in the beginning split territory and each of us did a little bit of everything. After about a year we realized she liked doing the pickups and deliveries, as well as, dealing with the individual dentist offices while I enjoyed the repairs more. We both develop the marketing together and I do the bookkeeping; the business has a relatively low start up cost; the business provides a service that is in high demand.
Each and every single dentist office uses a handpiece repair center. The handpieces are expensive and can be repaired over and over for many years; the business provides immediate cash flow with new accounts not hard to get with the level of service you provide. Handpiece repair is very profitable with a typical profit of about $200 per handpiece. This business has a high profit margin with the replacement of relatively inexpensive parts.
Marketing and Potential
The earnings potential of the business, how much money and how quickly it can be made go hand in hand. We recommend to market to between 750-1500 dental offices. Since we are not selling you a restricted territory you are free to draw your area as large as you like. You are free to market to dentists statewide, nationwide, on the Internet, or whatever region you like. I would recommend and will show you how to grow this business as a local service to your area dentists. Therefore get out a map and draw the area you feel you can comfortably cover. Then get out the yellow pages and count how many dentists you have in that area. The larger the number of dentists, of course, will be directly related to how fast you can grow your business. According to "The Dentist's Choice"(The Dentist's Choice is a registered trademark and Orion Repair is in now way affiliated with it) franchisees we interviewed, when we looked into their franchise, and correlating our numbers, at about two hundred accounts you will make about one hundred fifty thousand a year take home and at about two hundred accounts you will be as busy as you can manage with no employees running the business as a home based business. The two hundred account number is flexible in that many dental offices have three, four, five, and more dentists per office. If all your accounts are large offices then of course that two hundred number may only be one hundred and fifty or so. So set as a goal two hundred accounts while you are continually seeking to grow your business to that number. How fast or how much you will make is directly related to the size of your market-the number of dentists in the area you choose to market to, and to the amount of effort you put into marketing and growing new accounts.
Briefly, this business is a business that can be operated on a part or full time basis. It can be started part time by only marketing to twenty dentists and then slowly adding dentists as you were ready to accept the business.
Finally, I will touch on briefly, how we marketed and grew this business. First of all we did a tri-fold brochure on heavy bonded paper that briefly introduced us to the dentists, what we offered, our prices, and our warranty. Also, we do an assortment of freebies or goodies such as rolodex cards with company name tabbed out and advertising information, logo pens, 3M post it note pads with logo, lubricants with logo and information, etc. with each mailing or visit. We mailed our tri-fold brochure out to all the dentists in our area with some freebies included in the mailing. Then, we waited for the business from that mailing. It was nice on our first mailing we had business ten days later. In the first year we tried to get our name out there as much as possible without being annoying. So we would follow up our mailing with visits to each dentist office. By visits it was not necessarily that you get to talk to the dentist, the office manager, or even the hygienist who is responsible for the handpieces, but rather is simply an opportunity to drop off further information about your products and/or services, discounts, specials, or new items in the form of one page flyers with or without some form of coupon along with a few freebies. Then you would wait two, three, four weeks depending on how busy you were, and then you would follow the visits with another mailing highlighting a different point of your business services. Then you constantly rotate mailing and visits to constantly keep gathering new accounts and interest. After a while your new accounts just keep rolling in on their own and your not sure whether it was from some information that was mailed to them or the rolodex card you delivered to their office. We also in the first year or so sat down and called all of our accounts with a brief twenty second message to whoever answered the phone. The short message would say something like "Hi my name is Paul Laird with Orion Repair, we would like to be your local handpiece sales and repair center. We would like to let the person responsible for the handpieces, in your office, know that we have a monthly special this month for ten percent off any handpiece repair. Thank you very much and have a nice day." So that is basically how we built our business.
Conclusion
Thank you for visiting our website and your interest. Please, call if you would like a brief verbal overview of the business, which usually takes 3-4 minutes, and afterwards, I would be happy to answer questions or provide more information. Also, please telephone or email if you would like more information or if you would like a specific question answered. We look forward to helping you, if we can, to open your own dental handpiece sales and repair center. A good place to start reading information about our training courses is at our website under the Frequently Asked Questions section.
We offer several training courses that can be purchased with or without related suggested opening shop tooling and parts inventories. Our Platinum Training Package is our most commonly sold, followed by the Gold Training Package.
In conclusion, this business has been good for our family and we believe it can be good for many others. We will give you the necessary knowledge, information, and contacts for you to open this home based business. Plus, we will give you our experiences in this business that have enabled us to succeed. This is a real business that will not make you a millionaire overnight, however, with hard work and dedication, along with our assistance, it can make a nice income, as a simple to operate, home based business with no employees needed.
Again, thank you for your interest. We look forward to helping you, if we can, to open your own dental handpiece sales and repair center. Please, email or call if I can be of any assistance. I look forward to speaking with you and answering any further questions you may have. Please feel free to call or e-mail me at your convenience.
