Why I Believe Friendship and Business Go Well Together

I've known a dentist on the same street as my laboratory since I became the new owner here in 2008. Although we hadn't done work together, I'd check in occasionally with the staff and engage in friendly conversations. I am genuinely interested, so I would keep a mental note of our conversations. Whenever I would bring up details from our last conversation, it would always be a surprise to them over what I would recall.

Recently, I saw a "for sale" sign in the front lawn of his office. I decided to give his office a call that day, just to catch up and see whether we were still going to be neighbors. As it turned out, his building was for sale, not his practice. He was here to stay! I've seen so many dentists retire during my career here, so I was relieved. Our call ended, and I went about my day.

The following week, I got a call from his front desk staff. For the first time in all these years, she tells me that he wants to send me a few cases. Although we were always on good terms and kept in touch, I had no idea whether he'd ever be interested in doing business together.

With Friendship Week being in August, I started thinking about this incident because it really was a result of certain personal beliefs. In life, be a friend to everyone you know. I've always known that's the kind of person I wanted to be for my doctors and their staff — a friend — someone who's available, offers help and gives first, openly accepts feedback to be better, and always goes the extra mile.

With my dentists, I don't only want to give them the highest quality product, I also want to give them peace of mind that I'll do everything it takes to make sure they and their patients are taken care of. That includes a personal interest in their honest opinions. If there is no relationship built, especially with new dentists, they will not feel compelled to give honest feedback as a true friend would. Our doctors tell us all the time that the main reason they choose and continue to work with us is because of the personal experience they get with each case we work on together and the relationship we build together.

Recently, one of my doctors was in a particular bind. He had an elderly patient who needed to get to his dental office to drop off his partial. We needed it because we were making him a new crown to fit his existing partial. However, the elderly patient was physically disabled and couldn't get any family members to drive him or help him drop off his partial to his dental office.

The dental practice was very stressed out about this, but I said, "Hey, I can drive to his house and save him a trip." I didn't think much of it, but I could tell they weren't expecting me to go out of my way. It's always a great feeling when you can help someone out when they least expect it, especially for an elderly patient.

Making friends, ultimately, isn't really what you can get out of it, but what you can offer others. I feel very proud that my laboratory can be such a great, unique help to my customers. It takes a lot of commitment to be a friend to people, but that hasn't changed my approach to my doctors in the past 29 years working here.

Thanks so much for reading, and I'll see you all next month.