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November 2011

DentaLab NewsNovember 2011
from Mainstreet Systems & Software

FAQ  DentaLab News

 

Just Once Each Century

This month on a Friday we will have a  #1 date that occurs only once each century:  11/11/11

We gave special treatment to two similar dates with a Lucky 7 contest on 7/7/7 and then the International Olympics on 8/8/8.  So we pondered how to give recognition to this year's special date.  Here's what we decided.  For the first 11 days of the month (that is, if you license between 11/1/11 and 11/11/11), we will extend a 11% discount on one DQB or DentalRx module of your choice.  So if you have been sitting on the fence, here's an incentive to move ahead and save some money.

Just Once Each Year

Each year, near the end of the calendar year, we offer an opporunity to catch up for those who have licensed DentaLab for QuickBooks but have not kept their software up-to-date with a service agreement and participation in the user group.   This year, because of planned travel for our support personnel, we will be offering this in November rather than December.   The 2011 open period will be from November 14 though November 30.   If your release version is 1.12 or above (this can be found in the About box under Help), you can call for the fee schedule and request a dedicated appointment to bring  your software and database up to release 1.28.

If you would like to review the updates, go to our website www.mainstreet-systems.com, then click the Support tab and then Quarterly Releases.

Here are some of our November plans....

Our offices will be closed on Thursday and Friday, November 24-25, to celebrate the USA Thanksgiving Day.    We will, of course, check voice mail and email for those in other countries.

Here in Pennsylvania, we have already had our first snowfall--both a big surprise and a big wallop--and so here again is our first snow reminder that in the event snow and/or ice prevent us from travelling to our offices, we are setup to check both email and voice mail from our home computers.  If this occurs and you are connected to our answer call, be sure to leave a complete message with your name, lab name, telephone number and the reason why you are calling.  

Underway for DentaLab for QuickBooks Release 1.29, targeted for release in  January 2012, are a number of enhancements for the Customer Center that will focus on each individual customer as well as activities and alerts for a chosen date or date range.   This is the first step toward the goal of having this information available both in the classic venues such as desktops, laptops and remote connections, but also on secured wireless devices such as tablets and smartphones. 

And in this month of giving thanks, we want to extend our heartiest thank you to all of you who have helped  DentaLab become the #1 selling software for dental lab case management and who recognize that doing this takes a team effort on the part of many labs as well as our in-house staff.    

 

  Easy, versatile software for the modern dental laboratory.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q:  Can you schedule by minutes with DQB?

A:  Yes, you choose the unit of measure when setting up your daily limits and schedule factors.   This can be minutes or intervals of minutes such as quarter-hours, half-hours. 

Q:  Can you customize to meet some of our special needs?

A:  Typically yes.  Although our software provides support for a wide variety of business models, levels of sophistication and options, we recognize that labs sometimes have unique wishes, sometimes due to special requests from their customers, sometimes for new or different approaches to production, marketing and/or reporting.   You can always call to open up a discussion on this.

Q:  Do other labs pre-assign case items to specific technicians?

A:  Yes, some do.   Pre-assignment works particularly well when a technician has training, skills and/or expertise in certain areas or specific technology.  Labs have told us, however, that in some work centers in the lab, it is best to have each technician simply move on to the next case in line.   


   With the same look and feel of QuickBooks.

Booming Businesses

In our phone calls with dental labs, we encounter a variety of business models and a variety of comments on how well their businesses are doing.  Although many are struggling through a tough economy, we do encounter some whose businesses are booming.  How are they doing this?  Here's some of the insights we have gained.

  • Continual marketing is key.   One southern USA lab tells us that after hiring a dedicated marketing manager five years ago to call upon and communicate with doctors, they have quadrupled their annual revenues.  They plan to expand this success by hiring four customer service representatives, arming them with tablet computers and wireless access to the DentaLab for QuickBooks database of customer information. 
  • Introducing doctors to new products and new technologies is another strategy that nets good results.  There are a variety of ways this is accomplished, including in-person visits, phone calls, webinars, seminars, boot camps, advertisement.
  • Investing in new technology or partnering with other labs who already have to produce better results with greater efficiency...and then using one of the above ways to let the dental offices know about this.
  • Many have told us that another key is having synchronized software that provides up-to-the-minute accurate information from various perspectives including specific cases, products and services, preferences, pricing, efficient scheduling, quality control, financial considerations....this is where the QuickBooks plus DentaLab for QuickBooks combination plays an important role in supporting business development.

How Old is Too Old?

Like a comfortable old shoe, many want to cling to the computer systems they have used for a long time.  They become very familiar with the equipment and software and find it hard to even think about making a change.  Yet, because the success and continuity of their business depends to a large measure on the information stored in their system, they need to ask from time to time "How old is too old?"

Here are some issues that can make a computer system too old to keep:

  1. There is little or no technical support available at an affordable cost. 
  2. Access to information is difficult, complicated or just plain unavailable.
  3. The same data must be entered more than once in different modules or at different times.
  4. It does not provide an easy way to be in compliance with government regulations.
  5. The system is at times unreliable or does not meet current security standards.
  6. It wastes your time, making you less efficient, less competitive. 
  7. It does not provide quick, accurate answers to requests from your customers.

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Customization is available for all products.

Contact us at 1-800-257-4535 or www.mainstreet-systems.com.

"DentaLab for QuickBooks is pretty impressive?so easy to maneuver."

Angie Guilbeau
Summit Laboratories, LLC
LA


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