5 things I need for my job. By Alan Wright

5things to do my job

This month Blueprint Dental’s Alan Wright gives us the lowdown on his 5 must-have things to be able to do his job.

1. My core belief to do this job

Having spent 22 years in the military, I fall back heavily on my training and lessons learnt whilst in that environment. In particular, I would highlight the importance of the following skills and experience which I use on a daily basis:

l Communication l Man management l Adaptability l Understanding of the task in hand and means to achieve that goal l A sense of humour is definitely needed in this job! l Value of both the individual and the team l Honesty

2. A great team behind you and the products

For me, service and support team members are invaluable to a company and its products, and I have been fortunate to have worked alongside some great engineers.

Without their interaction with the customer and their product support, we would be left with a ‘sell it and on to the next one’ approach, which I don’t agree with!!

It has always been important to me, and none more so than when given the responsibility of establishing the laboratory division at Blueprint, to incorporate some of the things I learned from my time at Chaperlin and Jacobs, with Lynford Chaperlin. Lynford taught me that a potential customer will already have a good idea of what they want and that it’s up to us to listen and then provide that solution to them, whilst being mindful of the need to offer them support and service after they’ve placed their trust and investment in you and the product. In addition, the old adage that ‘people buy from people’ has really proved itself over the years.

I am proud of where Blueprint Dental stands now in the dental trade. We are a company that has a great product portfolio and relationships with some of the biggest names in the business, but we never forget the responsibility we have to our customers, be it a single person lab or some of the large groups and businesses we have been involved with helping them become established. 3. The Dental Technicians and Labs

Customers! Without doubt the most important part of my job every single day and the thing I value most is the trust and time that people give me to be able to discuss solutions on how we can work together and move their business forward. Both are invaluable to me and very much appreciated.

I count myself fortunate at Blueprint Dental and the other supply companies I have worked with including:

l Bracon l Chaperlin and Jacobs l Skillbond

And now Blueprint Dental Ltd. www.blueprintdental.co.uk

Having been a Dental Technician in the Military, mainly in Maxillofacial and Prosthetics, I am able to listen to my fellow technicians, speak their language and understand their requirements.

I relish the fact that it’s technicians and not dentists that I am involved with. Those reasons are best explained over a few drinks, but I salute my fellow colleagues at Blueprint who are the specialists in those disciplines!

The lab trade has recently evolved rapidly into the digital world. This has brought added pressure as to what suits your needs as a dental technician, together with the ever-present pressure of cost and how to balance passing that onto your fellow professionals at dental surgeries.

4. Media and mobile communications

For me in my job role, I have found that lockdown has changed the way I work. Gone are the days of sitting in a car on a motorway trying to see as many busy labs as possible in a chosen area, of hastily bombarding lab owners, who kindly allotted me time in their busy day, with offers and product information and the advantages over what they are already using.

Now I find lab owners generally know what works for them and if it’s doing the job, unless they are let down by the product or its supply, they tend to stick to the adage “If it’s not broke…”

Our main focus, as the lab division of Blueprint Dental, is equipment and the sundries which support that equipment, so I find myself heavily involved with online meetings every day with labs that are looking for solutions to add to their business or to take them further in the growth of their business.

Also having been the person who set up the Dental Technicians Great Britain Facebook group, initially just as a means to get technicians talking to each other, it fills me with a great sense of pride that there are now over 2000 members! Technicians can now jump online, create a post and receive multiple solutions from the amazing membership to help them with the question in hand, and not forgetting some great banter along the way too!

The DTGB Facebook group and Dental Technician Magazine also raise a great deal of money for Den-Tech (Andrea Johnson) and the Veteran’s Bite Back which I also set up. So, thank you to everyone who donates equipment or buys some of the Den-Tech merchandise, I can’t thank you enough.

All this illustrates that definitely having an online media presence and means to reach out to each other via multiple routes of communication is invaluable nowadays.

Just to be able to message a customer or friend to see how they are getting on with their new piece of investment into their business or simply to see how they are doing is priceless.

The instant ability to reach people via Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram or even TikTok is great and it’s just a button away. 5. Family and Friends

We all know what the last few years have been like for everybody and we have all been touched by issues during this time, and I count myself as very lucky to have an amazing family and friends behind me.

I have met some brilliantly talented individuals in this job and never cease to be amazed at the level of skill British Dental Technicians bring to their job for the betterment of the patient. I count myself privileged to be in a position to sometimes be involved with bringing that technology to that technician to aid the customer.

In summary, I think there are exciting times ahead for our industry. Having been involved with a number of teaching centres with their digital development, it’s great to see that they are giving today’s students - tomorrow’s technicians and future business owners - the cutting edge knowledge to be successful.