Incase you have been living on the moon (as I obviously had because I only found this out recently)
Integrated Dental Holdings took control of Dental Directory recently. A bold move and a statement of intent as to how IDH see themselves in the dental market. They intend to own everything and everybody, control distribution and become like Nestle, where you can try and practice dentistry without their influence but good luck with that.
This is where a statement of principle comes in. Make no mistake, Dental Directory will get cheaper. It will be cheap because everybody knows that IDH do cheap and that's where, as an independent you have a bit of a problem.
Go to the cheapest supplier and fund the growth of your biggest competitor or go to an ethical supplier and embrace service.
Chris Barrow (and me to some extent) have been banging on for years about differentiating yourself from the corporates. You will never, ever win a race to the bottom with IDH and you will end up second and that is a shit place to be.
Differentiate yourself now, provide service and quality and don't pretend to compete with them for price. Let IDH use Dental Directory to supply its own practices and go with another supplier. Over the past few years we have developed a relationship with Henry Schein which is proving to be hugely mutually beneficial. They get customer service, they get customer care, they get relationships. I am past the stage of caring whether they are cheaper than Dental Directory or not because they offer me value for money.
You will never get value for money for bargain basement.
If you're in the market for arguing the toss over 5p on your cotton wool rolls then enter into a battle with a corporate but in the end, you will not win.
P.S - IDH own DBG as well!
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