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Information overload. Some manufacturers are sympathetic to the information overload and how this can diminish the dentist’s desire to engage with companies. “I’ve been in the dental business for 8 years now, and initially, I couldn’t believe the focus on new products,” Mark Farmer, Global Marketing Director for 3M ESPE, said. “I can see how doctors might be overwhelmed. On the other hand, however, I hear from doctors we work with asking, ‘Can you get this out faster?’ What we try to do is lead the way with products that we know can be easily adopted by the average doctor.” “There is simply more information out there than ever before,” Dirk Jeffs, VP of Global Sales for Ultradent, added. “Dental professionals need partners who are innovative to help them be on the cutting edge. It’s best to not just look for the most recent company on the scene, but a company with a track record and a history of innovation that would give a dental professional a degree of trust in partnering with that company.” Think partnership, not just purchase. For the average dentist, partnering with a company that pushes itself instead of just pushing product can make all the difference. The Danaher Group, for example, has a corporate culture that prioritizes tracking and measuring. “The feeling is that if you don’t’ track it and don’t measure it, you don’t improve it,” Chuck Ravetto, Vice President of Global Marketing for Danaher’s imaging companies explained. “One of the ways we do that is through our Vitality Index. There are specific goals for percentage of sales that are coming from new products developed recently as a ‘good health’ check for business. Are you riding off old products you launched 12 years ago, or are you winning hearts and minds with the products you developed more recently?” “We could generate a ton of patents,” Farmer admitted, “but if they don’t turn into a practical solution for the customer, that’s not what we focus on. Innovation is part of the DNA of our company, but it’s centered around solving everyday problems.” “My team comes up with new inventions and the coolest stuff in the world, but if the customer doesn’t see any value, it may not be successful,” added Al Viehbeck, 3M ESPE’s Global Technical Director and Farmer’s counterpart on the R&D side of things. “Dentists only care when a new product or idea helps them do their job better, faster, easier.” The key to finding the sweet spot between manufacturer and dentist, according to Sakaduski, is what he calls “small technology.” “Look at a company like KaVo with DIAGNOdent, in terms of cavity detection,” he offered. “They took a small technology and made it easy for the dentist to find something they expect to find. It made it simple for the dentist and the patient. It was a profitable endeavor for the dentist because if he or she found something, it could be fixed and the patient would be happy. The adoption curve seemed to be more fast because it was an innovation the dentist could understand.” Waiting for the next big thing. Presumed obsolescence is also a hurdle: As the conspiracy theory goes, manufacturers try to sell the dentist one product and then update it the next year, forcing them to at least consider, if not buy the updated version. “Practitioners have a fear that new innovation or technology could quickly be outdated and not upgradeable, creating a significant loss in return on investment,” Shuman explained. Simply put: If everything is going to change again in a year or two anyway, why bother? “The question is not, ‘Why should I wait?’ but ‘Why shouldn’t I wait?’” Steve White, Senior VP of Sales and Marketing for J. Morita USA, said. “Digital imaging, for example, is such an advancement for your staff, patients and to the diagnostic capabilities in the office that even if a newer, bigger, faster version comes out in 5 years, the product you’ve got today still is not obsolete.” White pointed out that there are steps manufacturers can take to help dentists transition better as new products are released. “[Dentists] should look at companies that are innovative and don’t just acquire innovation…that way, you know the company will be supporting that product for a lifetime,” White advised. “For example, all of our x-ray systems that go back to 1971 are still serviced. In today’s 3D imaging we have a flow of innovation. Since we started developing and manufacturing 3D imaging in the ‘90s, every single advancement that we have made is retrofittable or upgradeable to the previous model. This way, if you were to buy something from us in 3D imaging and we come out with a new model, it is backwards engineered so that you can fit it to the previous model if someone wishes to upgrade to the new technology without having to buy a whole new machine.” This, to Shuman, is a step in the right direction. “The companies that will be the true leaders in our field will be those that combine innovation with superior education, customer service and upgradeable strategies.”
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