Few articles that I have written over the years have generated as much interest as those that have profiled successful local businesses and the principles that the entrepreneurs have used in building these enterprises.

When selecting a business for a "best practices" article, I am careful to pick companies that have demonstrated a long-term commitment to a quality product/service strategy and where customer satisfaction is high among a wide group of clients.

I recently spent some time studying the Rock Hotel Dental practice and interviewed one of the doctors on the principles that have made this business successful. For our purposes here, the principles are divided into two areas: customer satisfaction and practice management.

Customer satisfaction is not a desire of this practice, it IS the practice. The principle permeates every decision. It is the culture — no compromises, no excuses. Among the customer satisfaction principles es-poused at Rock Hotel Dental:

• The patient's time is as important as the professional's time. One of my first experiences with this culture was during a visit when I sat and waited for 10 minutes for the hygienist to begin my six-month checkup. She apologized for the delay, then handed me a couple of movie tickets. "It's the least we can do for the inconvenience of waiting," she said. I learned that the practice has a "10 minute" policy. If the patient has to wait more than 10 minutes, they do something to rebuild the relationship — on the spot.

• Personalization of service. Clients are given a personal greeting from the technician. The practice notes the small talk during the patient's last visit — a family vacation, hobbies or interests — and then catalogs these details for use during the next visit. When you call for an appointment, the individual answering the phone greets you with their name. The simple act of personalizing the call increases the comfort of the client.

• Be part of the community. The practice believes in sponsoring community activities. At one recent celebration, the dentists passed out free popcorn. The practice also sponsors a customer appreciation day at the local swimming pool for all of its clients — no charge, just come and have fun with your dentist and technicians. Other customer-oriented actions include decorating the office for Halloween, Valentine's Day, 4th of July, Easter and Christmas. Children submit drawings on some of the holidays for gifts and entertainment coupons. And the waiting area is decorated to not look like a dental office — neat, clean and inviting for the patient.

In the area of practice management, several principles reinforce and build the culture:

• Employees are team members. Each morning the firm holds a "morning huddle" to discuss the day's schedule. New patients are reviewed, and the team is made aware of any issues that prompted them to become clients, including issues that they did not like about their past experiences with other dentists. "Top 20" patients are highlighted — these are patients who have been with the practice for a period of time, are loyal and have perhaps referred other patients. The practice wants these patients to know that they are appreciated, and who better to communicate the message than the team?

• Hire good people who are good with patients. The practice uses a prearranged interview form to assess prospective employees. Everyone must buy into the goal of the practice: "We want our clients to feel comfortable in an atmosphere where they usually feel uncomfortable — in the dentist's office."

• Be "state of the art." The practice maintains a state of the art attitude toward dental practices. I enjoy my semi-annual visits just to see what is changing in dental technology and products.
At the conclusion of my interview, I asked the doctor what he thought was most important to the practice, aside from the business culture. His response: "One thing I know is good dentistry."
I agree, and I like the way they go about delivering their service.