Kris E. Schermerhorn, CDT: Success in Their Own Words
Kris E. Schermerhorn, CDT: Success in Their Own Words
His definition of success wasn't always such. Like many young entrepreneurs, he thought money was the yardstick and that he had to push people to do things. Thanks to his mentor, Dr. Kim Kutsch, he realized the better way is to actually care for the people you work with and they will work their best and their fastest because they care for you.
He cites five factors to finding success at his laboratory.
- Listening and learning from his father, Richard Schermerhorn, CDT, and building upon his father's experiences.
- Getting his associate's degree in dental laboratory technology.
- Consulting for CDM Dental. "I have learned a great deal from CDM Dental over the years," he said. "CDM is great at marketing and business in general. I feel like I have gotten a four-year degree in business working with them."
- Changing to a four-day work week. It was an adjustment at first for the laboratory's clients, but the technicians are happier and he's found it to be an advantage when hiring. "Best of all, I can go in on Friday when I need to and the phones aren't taking me away from my work every ten minutes," he said.
- Raising prices. "About seven years ago we raised prices 20 percent in two increments in the span of one year. We where already charging a good price. The decision was simple, if we raised our prices 20 percent we could loose 20 percent of our business and still be making the same amount of money," Schermerhorn said. "What happened was shocking. We lost about 5 percent of our business. Now we are in a position to make more money while putting more time and attention to detail into the doctors' cases, which made them happier. That was one of the best things we ever did for the company."
