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MAR 2019
Attachments
Bonding Supplies
Brackets - Aesthetic
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AN ODE TO ORDERING ASSISTANTS Misty Hirshbein, Purchasing Coordinator, Shares Her Story
Brackets - Metal
Buccal Tubes
Burs & Discs
Elastomeric Products
Few clinics would function for long without an expert ordering assistant. Masters of organization with an encyclopedic knowledge of the latest orthodontic products, these professionals shoulder the heavy task of saving their offices time and money. At Ortho Technology, we interact with these miracle workers every day and have even been lucky enough to have a few join our ranks. This month, we reached out to seasoned ordering assistant Misty Hirshbein to get her insights on how she keeps her two Florida clinics stocked and under budget. “An ordering assistant needs to see the big picture, knowing your clinic’s day-to-day needs and how long supplies last.” Having been in the industry for 25 years, Misty has never lost sight of what makes her job important. “At the end of the day, it’s all about improving people’s smiles,” she reflects. “It’s like getting to see those before and after pictures in person — I love it.” Since becoming an ordering assistant, Misty has combined her passion for helping patients with a love of learning. As she puts it, “I enjoy reading the catalogs and going to expos every year. If there’s a better product out there, I want to know about it.”
Fixed Appliances
Headgear Products
Impression Supplies
Misty sees this constant search for new innovations as essential to doing her job well. “A great assistant is knowledgeable,” she explains. “You have to know your products and which ones work well.” The other key component, in Misty’s experience, is organization. “An ordering assistant needs to see the big picture, knowing your clinic’s day-to-day needs and how long supplies last,” she says. Of course, a big part of an ordering assistant’s job is, well, ordering. We were curious about how Misty shops for products. “Well, I’m pretty old- school,” she proudly confesses. “I’ve built a lot of relationships with sales reps over the years. When I need something, I’ll call one of my friends in the industry. In fact, if a rep reaches out to me over the phone, I appreciate it. The rep I work with at Ortho Tech — Lisa Mannarino — used to be an orthodontic assistant. She helps me out a lot!”
To save money, Misty recommends buying in bulk where possible. “I’m not on a big budget, so I try to do a single large order of brackets every year,” she explains. Knowing where to order from is important too. “Ortho Tech has high- quality products, so I try to get as much as I can from them.” Thanks for the love, Misty! When she’s not keeping two clinics stocked, Misty enjoys spending time with her sons, especially on the playing field. “With two boys, sports have always been huge in our family,” she explains. She’s also a health and fitness enthusiast, which she admits can interfere with her love of baking. “It’s hard because I can’t eat too much of my own cooking!” she says with a laugh.
Instruments
Lab Supplies
Molar Bands
Organizers
Orthodontic Anchorage
Patient Care
Photography
Thanks for sharing your story with us, Misty!
Wire Products
X-Ray & Imaging
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CREATE A CULTURE OF LOVE IN Y
Why Your Business Goals Won’t Work
Company growth is the top priority for many entrepreneurs. If a business stagnates, it will eventually fail. However, when leaders focus solely on finding the best ways to reach new customers, they often overlook an integral part of running a cohesive company. While an operational-minded approach will do wonders for the efficiency of your business, behind every company’s success are the employees who made it possible.
Family
to raise children while balancing a career and a personal life is a significant stressor. As the leader of your company, you can help ease these burdens. A date night for an anniversary, spontaneous time off, or even added vacation time are all simple gestures that go a long way to create a company culture where your employees feel loved.
One of the best things you can do is invest in what matters most to your employees: their families. A familiar problem for many business owners is that their families can fall by the wayside amid the complications of running an organization. Your employees can also face this struggle. The chaos of trying
Chris Kockx Goes the Extra Mile
This month,
territory. Taking on this extra responsibility to make a difference for the clinics he works with isn’t out of character. If Chris’ work with our website has proven anything, it’s that he is more than willing to put in the extra effort to “wow” a client. Since the launch of our revamped website, Chris has prided himself on showing customers the new features it offers. “A lot of customers like the personal touch of talking with a sales representative,” he reflects, “but the website lets them do things on their own time and on their own terms.” Chris’s No. 1 tip for getting the most out of OrthoTechnology.com is “the task bar at the top [that] has everything you’re looking for.” From promotions to in-depth literature, you can navigate to any part of the site using that bar.
When asked how he became known as the go-to resource for our website, Chris laughs, explaining, “I just sort of fell into being the expert … When people called in with a technical question, the first thing I’d ask is if they were in front of a computer.” Fast forward to this year, and Chis has now given full presentations to our team members on how to train newcomers to use all the resources on the site. When he’s not being our resident web guide, Chris enjoys spending time with his girlfriend and his son, Tytan. From swimming and fairs to Tytan’s karate practices, the three love taking in everything Tampa has to offer. We’re lucky to have such a caring, talented father as a member of our team! Thanks, Chris!
we’re shining a spotlight on one of our star sales representatives, Chris Kockx. In his four years at Ortho Technology, Chris has not only developed many tightknit bonds with the customers he works with but he’s also become our resident expert on all things OrthoTechnology.com. We sat down with Chris to get his take on what he likes most about his job. “I love talking to folks from different regions,” Chris begins excitedly. “I get to meet people from California to Alaska … and even a few [from] close to my hometown!” Hailing from Cookeville, a small city in Tennessee’s highland rim, Chris decided to take on clinics in the Volunteer State in addition to his Pacific coast sales
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TAKE A BREAK
UR COMPANY
Autonomy
A dangerous pitfall for many entrepreneurs is developing a detachment between their own work life and the work lives of their team members. During the growth of the business, owners can fall into the age-old employee-boss mindset, and that hierarchy often creates a rigid environment. The moment an employee starts to look at their manager as a boss is also when they start to see their work as a job rather than a career they’re excited about. Trust and autonomy are essential to developing a productive professional relationship, and offering your employees remote work, flexible schedules, and the freedom to take control of their workdays are great ways to establish reciprocal relationships and foster entrepreneurial mindsets.
Try some of these tactics at your company to create a culture of love where your employees and customers thrive. NUMBERS TO SMILE ABOUT Ortho Technology Receives Top Marks From Clinics
At Ortho Technology, we strive for our clients’ complete satisfaction. The quality of our customer service, the ordering tools we make available, the speed of our delivery, and the quality of our products are all elements that stand to save your clinic time and money. Ensuring we are doing our very best to make the entire process as turnkey as possible means never resting on our laurels. That’s why we conduct a customer satisfaction survey every year to hear directly from the clinics we serve. The 2018 numbers have just come in, and we couldn’t be more pleased with the results. With over 150 clinics participating in the survey, we are proud to report we recieved top marks across the board! From customer service to catalog design, the vast majority of responders gave Ortho Technology a 5 out of 5 “excellent” rating. Looking at these results, it’s clear last year’s breakout aspect of our company was the quality of our products.
Survey participants were asked to rate our bracket systems, buccal tubes, and wire products on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being “poor” and 5 being “excellent.” Not only did all of these products receive an average score above 4.5 but they also markedly improved on 2017’s
who took the time to write such kind words.
As always, there’s room to do better. Until we’re scoring 5’s across the board, we’ll always be driven to deliver a better experience. A small number of responders reported isolated incidents of delayed shipments and
stellar ratings. For example, our buccal tubes received a score of 4.44 two years ago. By refining our products, we bumped up this score to a whopping 4.65. That difference is what innovation looks like. Best of all, we were able to hear directly from the doctors we work with every day. We received many glowing accolades, many of which named members of our team directly. Reading through these fantastic, heartfelt testimonials brought us so much joy. Thank you to everyone
missing payments. Thank you for bringing these issues to our attention. You have our word that we are ironing out these systems to keep these errors from happening in the future. We deeply appreciate all of our survey responders and are looking forward to wowing you all over again this year! Want to tell us something sooner? Visit OrthoTechnology.com/testimonials and give us your thoughts!
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4614 Pet Lane Suite D-101 Lutz, FL 33559
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INSIDE An Ode to Ordering Assistants PG1 How to Create a Culture of Love PG2 Meet Chris Kockx! PG2 What Our Customers Are Saying PG3 Prepare for an Adventure in Lapland PG4
Adventure in Swedish Lapland INTO THE ARCTIC CIRCLE
If you’re eager for a new adventure in 2019, you’ll surely find it in
Traveling to Abisko is an adventure in and of itself. From Stockholm, the fastest option is to take one of only two airlines that fly into Kiruna, then travel by train to Abisko. Despite the challenge of getting there, adventure-seeking visitors from around the world arrive each winter to experience the Arctic beauty. Winter attractions include ice skating, snowshoeing, and the Scandinavian sauna (this last one is a must any time of the year). Befriend a Scandinavian and you might be treated to some pickled herring or even a princess cake, a raspberry-filled dessert covered in marzipan. Scandinavians cherish their public lands, and the trail systems are well taken care of. Hikers and backpackers can enjoy the stunning beauty in both late spring and summer, as well as a chance to see the midnight sun. Because of its far-north location, Swedish Lapland receives close to 24 hours of sunlight from June through
early August. Between the boulder fields, mountains, and stunning glacial lakes, hiking here is a treat. While hiking, you may spot reindeer herds or lemmings (a small rodent similar to a hamster) racing around rocks. The Sami people have herded reindeer for thousands of years through this very land. In the summer, keep an eye out for blueberries, lingonberries, and the brightly colored cloudberries. Because of the Arctic climate, weather conditions can change quickly from sunshine to rain and heavy fog, so it’s best to dress in layers and bring wind and rain protection if you plan to venture into the backcountry. The fantastic scenery of Swedish Lapland awaits you, no matter when you decide to take your trip. What are you waiting for?
Swedish Lapland. With trail systems
that take you into the Arctic Circle, the northernmost region of Sweden is home to national parks, glaciers, reindeer, the beguiling midnight sun, and spectacular night skies. Though winters are cold, one benefit of traveling to the region in this season is to catch a glimpse of the night sky. The northern lights are visible from a few remote locations like Abisko National Park, one of the first established national parks in Sweden.
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