The Spark Dental Network

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The Spark Network is designed specifically for owners of group dental practices.

Members are (95% dentists) who own multi-doctor or multi-location dental offices. Spark has been designed to provide this particular executive with the tools, processes, and strategy to address dental practice challenges, solve organizational problems, and grow quickly.

Spark is an invitation-only network for these particular dental executives.

Our members describe the dental network as the perfect mix of coaching, masterminding, instructional presentations, education, and high-level peer support. Spark has been engineered to improve both your personal and professional life by quickly delivering solutions to your dental organization challenges. The Spark Dental Network meets four times a year on a quarterly basis.

Learn all the details Below

How It Works

The Spark Network provides dental executives with coaching, education, and high-level masterminding.

The words "coaching" and "masterminding" have become common buzzwords in the world of consulting, and can be used to describe a variety of services and professional settings.

So, here's a breakdown of how the dental network operates and exactly how Spark helps organizations reach specific financial and operational goals.

Access to top leaders and experts:

In his timeless classic “Think and Grow Rich," Napoleon Hill emphasizes that to accomplish great things, you must intentionally seek out the company of people who influence you to think and act on building the life you desire.

Perhaps now more than ever, the dental industry is evolving at an incredible pace and it’s essential to surround yourself with credible mentors, coaches, and peers. The unique thing about Spark is it creates an environment for owners and leaders of group dental practices to come together and share in a way that is safe, inspiring and humbling.

The Fate of the Pioneer

There’s a myth that being a pioneer (an innovator, first mover, and first to market) is the best business position to take.

But, if you do a little research, you’ll likely discover that only a tiny percentage of these people succeed. Figuring out things for yourself often causes you to crash and burn. Or, as the adage goes, "pioneers often end up with arrows in their backs".

The Path to Your Goals Is More Often Paved Than Hewn

Quite simply, the fastest and most precise path to your goals comes by treading on an already paved path. Following and duplicating the actions of those who have already accomplished what you want to do. At Spark, we call these people "first followers” because they build their practice by first following proven methods.

Carving a new path through a wilderness of rocks and warriors may work for a few, but why risk that? A much smarter way is to take advantage of the guidance and collaboration of peers that have walked the path before you. Build first on that solid foundation, then add in your own innovations to create differentiation in the marketplace.

Learn more about the Spark atmosphere and hear directly from our members >>

3 Big Benefits of Spark:

Coaching and executive Masterminds Fast-Track Your Growth in 3 Ways:

#1: You Don’t Have To Make The Business Mistakes Yourself

Having a leader or a group of peers who are willing to share their mistakes will prove to be incredibly valuable in your growth. When you can avoid wasting time making unnecessary mistakes along the way, you actually maximize the time you spend doing what works.

#2: You Get Honest Feedback To Break Through Barriers More Quickly

We all need smart, constructive feedback because we all have blind spots. Surrounding yourself with experts who want to see you succeed and are willing to give you honest feedback will help spark your growth. Recruiting the help of people who have years of experience operating, buying, and selling organizations like yours can help shift your thinking into an enterprise mindset and break down any barriers to growth.

#3: You Get Access to the Best Ideas in the Dental Field

Growing a large dental enterprise requires a very specific skill set. You can choose to build that set of skills on your own, or you can accelerate your results by connecting with people who already excel in this area.

What if you could cherry-pick the very best dental strategies across the country? By aligning yourself with the right people and the right resources, you get access to the very best ideas and can simply choose what to implement for your specific organization. Essentially, it's a "shortcut" to reaching your goals. You don't have to learn the business from scratch, you can simply apply what is proven to work.

"I grew from four to eleven practices, and went from $6 million in revenue to $17 million in annual revenue.

I have a superb executive leadership team. Each of my eleven practices are smooth-running with excellent management, no chaos, and happy patients."

Dr. Jeffrey Burch, Rockford, IL

view more results from dr. burch

The Spark Atmosphere

Surround yourself with the best in the industry.

It's hard to advance to the next level in your career unless you surround yourself with people who are already there. Being in the room and having conversations with those more advanced than you can accelerate your success and allow you to reach your goals much easier.

That's the Spark atmosphere - a room filled with top executives in the dental industry. It's a carefully curated group of leaders who work together to solve problems and grow their organizations quickly.

But don't take our word for it.

Click below to hear from our members, learn more about the Spark environment, and see the remarkable results that dental executives have achieved in Spark.

see inside >>

Quarterly Meetings

Group Meeting details

Spark meets four times a year on a quarterly basis. Each Spark meeting spans two full days, and there is an option to stay for a third, bonus day. Bonus days are deep dives into specific topics and are engineered based on the majority interests of Spark members.

A typical two-day meeting has a theme that is decided in advance. Themes come from what we call the Enterprise Value Matrix, (pictured below) which are the main value drivers for dental group practices.

The Enterprise Value Matrix

four strategic drivers of growth

After successfully working with and owning multiple dental practices, we have identified the specific drivers for profitable growth. We created Spark, a coaching program that provides a structured, high-achiever peer environment to focus on implementing and improving your capabilities around these 4 strategic drivers: Culture, Finance, Personnel, and Process.

Our quarterly Spark meetings are designed to help dental organizations bring this Enterprise Value Matrix to life.

Tools & Systems

presentations

Day One of a Spark meeting begins by creating a theme-based expectation around what you, the Spark members, want. The next two days are spent fulfilling that. The first activity is a teaching presentation, geared to help you think about your business at a higher level, or at a bigger size than it is now.

When you’re a new Spark member, we will take you through a process to glean the core information about your group, so everyone understands where you are and what you’re dealing with.

You’ll be guided through the presentation using a specific tool that we custom create for the meeting. This tool will help you streamline your thought processes and give you clarity on what the next steps that need to be taken are.

Guest experts

We generally have one expert come in to talk to the group about a specific subject within the four quadrants of the Enterprise Value Matrix. We choose a subject that we know the members are missing and that will follow the general, overall theme. So, for example, if it’s an operations person, they will talk about a system or a mechanism of monitoring that dental practices need in order to get to the next level.

Hot Seats

Solutions to Your Individual Challenges

Spark meetings include "hot seats", where we take a member’s practice and dig deep into whatever issues are plaguing them.

Anyone can undergo a hot seat. They are one of the best things about the Spark group, because you get to share what’s working and what you’re excited about. It’s also common to share failures, where things aren’t working, how that feels, and how to deal with it, both from a business perspective and an emotional perspective.

People who are new to the group are always surprised by this. They always say it is the coolest thing ever because there’s a lot of very deep sharing and they have never been in a place where people are real – and that is exactly what Spark is about.

One of the benefits that so many of our members enjoy is the realization that they aren’t the only ones dealing with certain problems.

In fact, the discovery that other people are having similar issues as well often becomes a great point of learning that everyone takes advantage of. Members start to have more realistic expectations of not only themselves, but their teams as well.

Learning from other industry leaders

Members have often said that they learn as much or more when they aren't in the hot seat as the people who are.

When you can peel apart the pieces of the problem that you are wrestling with, by looking at it from an outside vantage point, you can map out a course or courses of action that will deal with the reality. This is incredibly beneficial because often when we are really stuck on a problem, it’s because we don’t know how to get outside of ourselves to think about the a solution, and we will avoid a whatever we don’t feel we can make progress on.

In Spark, we recognize that very often the perceived “obstacle” is actually the right way.

Finding the real obstacle and then identifying a way to either strategically bypass it or solve it … this is why the hot seats are a vitally important component of each session.

Learn more about the Spark atmosphere and hear directly from our members >>

"You are in a room full of peers, most independent, some with multi locations and some looking to expand. The structured learning is effective. The networking is a great opportunity to get to know doctors with similar practices and similar concerns.

The Hot Seats are an extraordinary experience. You present a problem and a handful of peers dealing with the same problem, or who have solved the problem, speak up and share what they know."

Beth Klement PhD, St. Petersburg, FL

view full results from klement dental

The Strategy Sprint

hands-on problem solving

A Strategy Sprint is where we split the group up into random teams and then each team gets to work on some particular dental business problem. We give you the metrics, the problem, and a chance to ask questions. Then you must come up with solutions to the problem.  

This is a great experience because in many cases people don’t understand how to read the data and they come up with a solution that will actually make the problem worse. This is super helpful in learning what the data is, how to read the data, and how to create a strategy from what you see in the data.

We Don't Go Easy On You

Occasionally we’ll throw in a red herring to make sure it isn’t easy. After all, running a practice is tough, and the best strategy sprints are the ones where everybody does the wrong thing because they’re super eye-opening.

It’s great to make these mistakes in this kind of a setting where there’s no consequence.

It’s a pure learning experience without the financial pain. If one of the practices has had a major breakthrough, we’ll have them do a presentation on what their breakthrough was.

Learn more about the Spark atmosphere >>

"When I first met Dr. Meis, I had four practices and wasn’t even breaking even. Dr. Meis evaluated the practices, and then made a series of recommendations to cut cost and improve the bottom line. Under his guidance we have made great strides.

We now own six practices, each is highly profitable."

Dr. Ray Nikodem, St. Louis, MO

High-Level Networking

After the Meetings

At the end of each day, you won’t run back to you room.

There’s a lot of value in the meeting outside the meeting, whether that’s in the hallways, at dinner in the evening, or while having a beer at the bar. There’s a lot of value in people just discussing their ideas in an informal setting. That’s why we always have some kind of social function that allows you to have the opportunity to do that. To enjoy some completely unguided networking where you get to meet new people.

The Value of a strong professional Network

Another very valuable thing is when people in various company roles meet people in that same role in another company, because now they have a network. They have someone who’s in their spot, at the same kind of company that they can connect with to problem-solve if they’re confused or frustrated about a particular issue.

That’s a huge value for everyone from the CEO to members of the management team, because you no longer have to be isolated.

Get a glimpse inside the Spark network...

Learn more about the atmosphere inside the Spark Dental Network and hear from members about how they've grown their organizations and increased in value in just a short amount of time.

There are 2 Ways to Fast-Track Your Practice Growth

the 2 tiers of the spark dental network

We have two executive groups at Spark. Learn about each of the 2 tiers below and where your organization fits within the network.

Spark Mastermind

the spark mastermind

This is where 95% of the group practices that come to us fit. The Spark Mastermind is a group environment where owners and leaders of group dental practices come together and learn, share and get hands on guidance to overcome obstacles in a way that is safe, inspiring and humbling.

save years of guess work and learn from top industry leaders

In Spark you and/or your team will learn from those who have walked the path before you and save yourself years of “guess work” by learning from those who have accomplished what you are trying to accomplish.

There’s no need to reinvent the wheel. Spark has a proven, flawless track record of accelerating the growth of group practices and minimizing the frustration, complexity and potential capital they’ve needed to reach their goals.

Accelerate

for advanced organizations

About 5% of the group practices that contact us are candidate for this – without first availing themselves of the growth that comes from membership in Spark. Accelerate is an individual, customized consulting program, based on your specific business needs, aspirations, and our knowledge of the underpinnings of all successful, fast-paced, expanding dental businesses.

Accelerate includes hands-on, done-for-you, C-Level services that include strategy, operations, accounting, finance development, etc. Accelerate is generally applicable for groups who need a solution to an identifiable sticking point.

individual coaching for accelerated performance

Accelerate is for owners who want more hands-on guidance to fast track the growth potential of their business in order to enjoy their business life while having more time and money. We guide the behavioral and system changes that are necessary to elevate the performance of a growing dental enterprise. Our approach provides a simple, practical way to deal with issues facing your expanding business and the personal side effects.

Ready to Join the Spark Network?

Spark is invitation-only, here's what the executive team looks for in candidates:

Our clients are ambitious practice owners who are motivated and focused on accomplishing the growth potential of their business to reach their personal and professional goals.

Not everyone is ready for Spark. Although there are no income or geographic specifics, you must be an owner or key leader who is willing to “give as much as you get.” We have members in the roles of President, CEO, COO, CFO, Director of Operations, Regional Directors of Operations, Practice Development, etc. The real key is that you must be committed to continuous improvement and growth.

schedule a free discovery call with our office

If you own a small to mid-sized dental practice group or DSO with an annual revenue in the range of $5-$25M, we encourage you to set up a Discovery Call with a member of the Spark team to find out more about your goals and determine if Spark is right for you.

book a discovery call

Meet the Spark Leaders

dr. john meis

Dr. Meis is a fourth-generation dentist, bestselling author, co-founder of the Team Training Institute, and trusted mentor to over 4439 dental practitioners.

Meis helps practices achieve a greater piece of mind and guides them to becoming more productive and more profitable. He’s a “tribe leader” in the industry, serving large dental practices with revenues of $5M to $20M and has participated in nearly 100 dental practice M&A. He was also president of a DSO with 120 locations and 180 doctors.

His best-selling book, “The Ultimate Guide to Doubling and Tripling Your Dental Practice Production” reveals how to make a practice more productive and profitable.

Heather Driscoll

Heather Driscoll is the Director of Consulting for Spark and has been a leader in the dental community since the early 2000’s.  At the end of 2017, she followed her entrepreneurial spirit and co-founded Smart Choice Dentistry with Dr. John Meis, a small Dental Service Organization (DSO).

Previously, she served as the Vice President of Operations for Mortenson Dental Partners. She was responsible for the daily operations and leadership development in 120+ practices throughout the United States and was responsible for over $175 M annual patient care revenue.

Heather has supported over 50 practices throughout the US and Canada with personalized business coaching, leadership and team development.