January 2011

The winter lull is a good time for an annual review

Some jumped the gun and asked for their annual reviews in December so that they could start off the new year in great shape.  January and February, however, have been designated as the prime months to perform annual reviews because for many it is a time when things slow down a bit.  

Our offer this past year to do annual reviews of your computer systems was a big success for many labs.  By scheduling a small amount of dedicated time to each participating lab, we were able to provide guidance on how to improve their computer performance and security in many ways, to make sure they were doing the right things.   We hope you will each allocate a small amount of your time to this important task.   Call soon to schedule...typically each review takes about 2 hours and you can apply your monthly no-charge time toward this if not otherwise used.

Win a Valentine Visa Card

Just let us know how your DQB or DentalRx software helped you in 2010, perhaps with better communication with your customers, keeping track of doctor preferences, improving cash flow, introducing new products, enhancing your reputation for getting the cases done on time, just the way the doctor wanted them...or any other of the many possibilities.

For example, one of our longtime customers reported to us that he thought it was a combination of implementing DQB,  introducing emax to his dentists, and buying a scanner that made his 2010 year a big success.

The best entry will win a $100 Visa Card. Please email your entry by February 7, 2011, so that we can mail it to arrive in time for Valentine's Day.

Oh the weather outside is frightful

We are having one of the coldest, snowiest, windy winters here in Pennsylvania that any of us can remember.   What happened to all that talk of global warming!   So we will repeat again our procedures for the next few months.   If snow and ice prevent us from coming to the office, we are prepared to provide support from our home computers.   If you call in or send an email, be sure to give us your full information including specific details on how to respond to you.  

Frequently Asked Questions

Q:  What is the best way to get to know more about supplements we have not yet licensed?

A:  There are several ways to learn more about the supplements such as Image Scanning, Barcoded Case Tracking and Technician Productivity, Email Notifications, Spreading the News, Product Costing, Automatic Backups/Job Scheduling.  You can determine which one you like the best:

1) You can click Help in your current DQB version and then choose from the blue links in the Table of Contents to find the sections on these supplements or you can search by topic and then read about it.  This is always a good first step.

2) You can request a webinar so that you can review the supplement(s) on our training system here.   These require a high-speed internet connection.  You will be viewing our system from your computer and will be able to ask questions as the demonstration proceeds.

3) If you have a separate computer that is not using DQB, you can install a trial CD on this to review the supplement(s).

4) And, of course, you can call to discuss your needs, explore how the supplements might be able to help, and ask questions.

Keep in mind that our website www.mainstreet-systems.com has some downloadable demos.   Currently available are DentalRx (for allowing online prescriptions and improving communications with dental offices) and Spreading the News (for handling marketing,newsletters and promotions).

Q:  We particularly want to track how we are doing with newly acquired customers.  Can you suggest some ways that software can help us do this?

A:  There are a number of ways your software can help with this.   First of all, in DQB you can enter a customer alert to note the first case date, how long you want to track the progress and any other details specific to the customer.  It is a good idea to record the doctor's preferences by work center and item whenever appropriate and train your staff to pay attention to these at case entry and on the work tickets.   Next you can setup a Customer Group dedicated to new customers to review their production and sales.    You can use the Quality Control recording and reporting as well as the Customer Activity Logs to keep track of any issues, activities and communications.

With Spreading the News, you can setup templates for various types of communication involving welcomes, follow-ups, requests for feedback and product/service promotions, and also setup a category to assign to new customers, then use these to send email communications to the new customers.

The parable of the Hallmark Storybooks

We were asked to record Hallmark Storybooks to be given to two little girls.  So we stopped by the Hallmark store and purchased two of these.  Weeks later, all the presents to be shipped were sent, all the cards signed and mailed, the local presents wrapped and the storybooks still sat on the table.  The day had come that they had to be recorded and shipped if they were to arrive in time.  We had to bite the bullet and read the directions and start recording the stories.  But suppose our voices hesitated or scratched or we read the words wrong...yikes!  To our amazement the long-dreaded task was over and done in about 15 minutes.  Hallmark had made it simple and easy...if we goofed, we could just start recording each page over again...when we were happy with the results, we could move a little switch to say lock it...we were done!

We tell you this story because so often this is what happens in labs when it comes to trying out new software.  Although new features will bring great benefits, some make every excuse in the book to avoid tackling the task of reading a few directions and giving it a try...too busy, too many other things to do, soccer practice, guests coming for dinner, haven't done this before, will get around to it later, later.   We will remember the parable of the storybooks when we come upon a new and different task and hope that you will too. 

Look at those smiles...

The 2010 enchancements to DentaLab for QuickBooks that generated the most smiles and words of appreciation were these:

- The new option to show and print QuickBooks (QB) case invoices in DQB.  This saved a lot of going back and forth, added to the security of QB.

- The new Home Page design made options easier to find, added capability for future expansion.

- The updates to Image Scanning for the WIA (Windows Image Acquistion) standard also greatly reduced the number of clicks needed to scan and store an image, saving lots of time, speeding up case entry.

- The new option to send system error messages directly to Mainstreet, rather than having to copy and email them or read them over the phone, was a blessing for those who had no idea what they meant, gave us better details and tracking toward the goals of responding and resolving quickly.

- For those who tend to forget and those who typically are very busy, the introduction of the Automatic Backup and Job Scheduler helped to assure that timely data backups did take place.

- The ability to choose tooth numbers from multiple tooth charts case by case helped to assure accuracy for those who have a customer base using various tooth numbering standards.

The full lists can be found in the Support/Quarterly Releases section of our website.   Here's the first list of enhancements for 2011, available in the January Release 1.25:

Copy Price Level to Start New Price Level: This new option provides for creating a new price level by copying a prior price level and then editing.  It is designed to be used when a new price level is similar but not identical to an existing one. 

Keyboard Shortcuts:  In some of the menu options in the Cases section of the new Home Page design, you will see in parentheses a keyboard shortcut using the CTRL (control) key plus a letter for speedy keyboard access to the most-used options.

Patient Match for On-Hold and Out-for-Tryin Cases:  This new option provides for a display of matching On-Hold and Out-for-Tryin cases for a customer and full/partial patient name in Case Entry to help reduce multiple entries for the same case.

New Option to Limit Cases to be Shipped Report to One Ship Method:From Reports/Cases to Be Shipped, the screen display now provides an option to include all cases to be shipped on the selected date or limit the report to just one selected ship method.

Invoice Register and Batch Invoice Printing:  As the next step in accessing QB case invoices for printing in DQB, we now also provide a register and batch printing in DQB.

Case Entry and Reports-Show Office Closed and Days to Ship Fields:  Particularly designed for those labs that provide local delivery and to aid in scheduling, two customer fields Office Closed and Days to Ship will be shown in Case Entry below the Customer Contact information frame as well as in the Call Doctor, Pickup/Delivery and Cases to be Shipped Reports.

And we are smiling when we say thank you to all of you who submitted suggestions and helped with beta-testing the new enhancements.   Those with up-to-date service agreements can call to get the current authorization codes to download this release from our website.

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