3,552 Miles Traveled to Visit 16 Member Practices in September
It’s been a while since I was on the road—I mean, really on the road with the sole purpose of visiting our customers. I always say my goal is to visit every Zen member up until we reach impossible number of customers. If we combine ZenSupplies customers and ZenOne that I have perosnally visited, it will be about 250 dental practices.
My goal is to learn how Zen works in real life—how people actually interact with what we designed. There is no right or wrong way of using it, and my aim is to see how it’s actually being used so I can convert that into a list of improvements for our team to tackle. Not to get ahead of myself, but I finished the trip with a list of five major improvement requests and 10-15 minor fixes.
The entire trip lasted two weeks, during which I traveled through 12 different states, visited 16 practices, and spent roughly $3,700 on gas, hotels, and food.
My first observation is that inventory control is still a big problem. When we launched in 2016, our goal was to get dental practices organized—hence the tagline "Let’s Get Organized!" And in 2024, with the launch of 20 other companies, one would think that this issue is resolved and that we have a simple and easy-to-use solution. Nope. That’s where we see a lot of opportunity for ZenOne: to build a solution that people will find useful.
My second observation is that sales reps—not manufacturer reps but the reps from the top four companies—are becoming less relevant unless they bring additional value to the table in the form of equipment knowledge, technology, or even helping practices with processes and checklists. Sales reps who fully immerse themselves in the life of their practices are winning. You might think, "How do they find time to serve 100-150 practices and have time to be deeply connected with each office?" I'm not sure, but I would ask your peers who are actually able to achieve that. Sales reps who bring ordering platforms like Zen to their practices are the ones who go on offense and offer a better way to purchase supplies. On the other hand, they get access to the data and can adjust in real time to the purchasing habits of their practices.
My third and final observation: every dentist has a unique passion outside of dentistry. Those who think they don’t just haven’t spent enough time or had the resources in the form of time or financial freedom to explore it. I met dentists who love woodworking and metal craft (see image below from Salina Dental Arts, where Dr. Barth built all of the artwork himself—every single one!). Dr. Nicholas in Baltimore dances at the ballroom every Friday night. I can go on and on, and it’s true. So for those who are reading and thinking, "I don't have any," it’s just a matter of time; give yourself a little breathing room or start exploring.
Final observation, and it’s incredibly positive: lots of pregnancies 🙂
My Journey Begins
My first stop was in Tulsa, Oklahoma, at Bold Dental with Dr. Alex and Ray. It was a short 15-minute stop to see each other in person and discuss any feedback. Ray provided a few important requests to improve the site, and I was off on my way to Salina, Kansas.
Salina Dental Arts
Second stop was the same day, after nine hours of driving, at Salina Dental Arts. Chelsey and Dr. Barth had to come back at 7 p.m. to meet with me, and we had a great discussion about organization and what is still missing in Zen. Chelsey asked to be able to customize the names of products and have a "Reorder Qty" printed with the QR codes as a point of reference for the ordering person. Then we also had a minute to dream of what Zen could look like in 2-3 years (I won't share the details, but it was a lot of fun). We finished the day at a local restaurant over dinner, sharing life stories and our passion for dentistry.
Meeting with Delaney
My third stop was in Kansas City to meet with Delaney, our amazing Practice Success Manager. We spent time over lunch just catching up on life and talking about kids. Our daughters are four months apart.
All in the Family Dental
Then, 290 miles to Indiana to see All in the Family Dental. The next day, I stopped at the Indiana practice. This was a 5-minute stop just to say hello and introduce myself. Everyone was busy, and I only had a few minutes to chat with the ordering person.
Dale Family Dental
Next is Louisville, a 3-hour drive, and I'm at Dale Family Dental. This office recently went through an expansion, and as I walked into the office, I could still smell the paint. I was greeted by Matt and Kristin, who took the lead in organizing inventory in the practice. They started as a 4-op practice and now expanded to 12 operatories, so inventory control is at the top of their mind. I got to see how QR codes are actually implemented, why the Avery template is not the best, and how to organize other parts of the office.
Florence and ThoroughDent
Next stop is two hours away, north of Louisville, in a town called Florence, where I met one of the new offices that joined Zen after Scott Leune’s event in San Antonio. Dr. Adeniran and Carlei are managing inventory to a tee, and with Zen they are able to delegate ordering supplies to the entire team, not just one person.
I finished the day at one of my favorite offices in Lexington, KY—ThoroughDent with Dr. Jordan Smith. They were part of our legacy system, ZenSupplies, and we are now migrating them over to ZenOne.
Jessamine Family Dentistry
Friday, September 19th, my day starts with Jessamine Family Dentistry and Dr. Daniel Dela Cruz and Brittany. Dr. Daniel opened a practice (or purchased one) while being a D4 at the dental school. Now it’s a huge facility with 12 ops, an educational center, and an in-house lab. Please check out the video to see the tour of the office.
Inventory storage area:
And I also wanted to include pictures of their facility—probably the best staff lounge that I’ve ever seen!
Graf Dental Surgery
Next on my list is Dr. Graf with Graf Dental Surgery in Wheelersburg, Ohio. A general dentist turned into a 100% surgery specialist. We actually recorded a podcast (link to the podcast) where we discussed Dr. Graf’s journey from dental school to two locations doing just surgery. Here I met with Caroline and her puppy Luna. We spent a few hours going over how Zen works and discussing inventory control. They have a lot of implant products that need to be properly stored and managed to make sure they never run low.
Images of the Implant Wall with Tip Out Bins:
Dr. Graf and I stopped to get dinner, and I was on my way to Maryland where I’d stay for a weekend with my good friend Dr. Aaron Nicholas and his wife Anahit.
Weekend with Dr. Aaron Nicholas
Dr. Nicholas was a client until he sold the practice, and now we are friends. I enjoy watching his career evolve into teaching and passing the torch to the young generation of dentists. Aaron has a unique way of delivering the message; it never feels like he is smarter or wiser—which he certainly is—and is always down to earth.
We can't spend a weekend without going topless—roof off—around Maryland and Virginia fields. As you can tell, I'm always cold and Aaron is a t-shirt kind of guy:
PRP Dental and North Bethesda Dental Associates
I start the next week on Monday, September 23, with PRP Dental and Dr. Yazdani in Washington, D.C. We discuss how Zen works in their practice and what we can do to improve. We take a picture, and I'm off to North Bethesda Dental Associates.
At North Bethesda, I met Jessy, an amazing dental assistant and the ordering person. We discussed how Zen currently works, and she gave me a few things we need to improve. At the end, we took a picture with her and the office manager.
DC Pediatric Smiles and Lansdowne Family Dental
Next stop: DC Pediatric Smiles with Dr. Blank and Aned. They have been supporting Zen for many years, and we had a chance to see how difficult it was during COVID to get supplies. Dr. Blank reminded me how we organized group purchasing for all Zen practices and made sure everyone had PPE for the reopening of their practices. He was grateful to our team. At the same time, I’m grateful for their continuous support and feedback. Now the practice has grown, and Aned has people helping her with orders.
Final stop of the day is Lansdowne Family Dental with Dr. Wael Elosta. It’s another recent signup from Dr. Scott Leune’s event, and I wanted to meet them in person and help set up the account properly—also to learn what can be improved on the platform. Here I spent three hours helping set up their Darby account, reset passwords, and connecting it all to Zen. At the end, we had everything up and running, and Zen was showing lots of savings opportunities (worth $$$$). No picture :) I got overly excited and forgot to ask Dr. Elosta to take a picture with me.
Journey to Knoxville and Beyond
From here, I ended up driving almost nine hours to Knoxville, Tennessee, to meet with Lakeview Dental Studio the next morning. This was the longest drive in one sitting, but the nature surrounding the road was amazing. I always enjoy the drive crossing the Appalachian Mountains.
Tuesday, September 24, I start at Lakeview Dental Studio with Dr. Haderlie. I didn’t have a chance to send him a heads-up of my visit, so I wasn’t sure if he would have time for me or not, but he gave me 10 minutes of his time, and we had a great chat about Zen and how it helps his practice get supplies at better prices and never run low.
Lakeside Dental
My next stop is an hour away, Lakeside Dental, and my good old friend Dr. Joseph Blalock. I met him together with Dr. Daniel Dela Cruz in Lexington while they were still in dental school. They were part of the Life and Dentistry Podcast together with a few other great guys. Dr. Blalock bought a dying pizza place on the corner of the street and turned it into a beautiful dental practice. I spent 2-3 hours helping them organize supplies in the storage, clearing the room of bulky items on the shelves, and reorganizing tip-out bins.
Organizing supplies:
Visit with Dr. Matthew
Final stop was to see Dr. Matthew, another great guy from the Life and Dentistry podcast. I toured his office, and we went to grab dinner at a local place. Such a great guy, and all of them now have so much wisdom—I wish they would get back to doing a podcast!
Sullivan Dental Partners
Next day, on Wednesday, September 25th, I was in Nashville, meeting Andrea and Dr. Sully at Sullivan Dental Partners. I was blown away by the size of the building he built. Last time I was here in 2019, it was a single-story 4,000 sq ft building with a CEREC machine in the bathroom. Today it must be a 20,000 sq ft, two-story facility with a fully equipped teaching/education room, in-house lab, four large surgery suites—one fully equipped with cameras to perform live surgeries.
Touring the new facility:
Meeting with Dr. Tom Novak
To wrap up the trip, I had to meet with one of my favorite doctors, Dr. Tom Novak in Weatherford, Texas. I couldn’t wait to share with him all of my findings and discuss what needs to be improved. We met for breakfast with him and his wonderful wife Karen. We had a blast!
Breakfast with Dr. Novak and Karen:
Reflections on the Road
Well, that's a wrap. During my long drives—some 8-9 hours long—I made phone calls to my Zen team, business partners, and friends. I also listened to a ton of podcasts, All-In being one of my favorites. I was lucky my trip was right after their annual event, and they were releasing interviews on YouTube, so I had plenty of things to catch up on and learn. I often do miss long uninterrupted drives, as it creates the space to think and ponder within your own head.
Thank you for joining me on this journey. It was an incredible experience visiting our member practices, gathering feedback, and building stronger relationships. I'm excited about the future improvements for Zen and the continued growth of our community.