"In 2006, the dental practice I had opened 25 years earlier started to go stale. There was plenty of work to do, but we were not growing. At that point in my life, I was old enough to worry about my retirement. I tried to find a buyer, or an associate who would someday take over, but no one was interested due to the flat growth. Our revenues would stay flat for the next five years.

"The practice itself was in a state of confusion. Although the staff had job titles, none had assigned duties. As a result, each assumed the other was doing a particular task when no one was doing it. Things fell through the cracks. Additionally, there was drama in the practice. The staff would argue and then complain to me about each other. I was the focal point of everything. I figured I would lose no matter what I did so I did nothing, hoping it would fizzle away. All I wanted to do was practice dentistry.

"I had been to all kinds of management seminars and implemented some good things here and there but there was no complete system. In 2011, I heard about Sterling and looked into their dental consulting. After watching their DVD and receiving an initial consultation, I became a client.

"Sterling came to my practice to implement their program and train the staff. They organized the practice and assigned specific duties to each staff member. They also tested the employees to see which ones were best suited to particular jobs. We made my wife the office manager and I was able to delegate a lot of the management functions to her. Sterling also implemented a means of measuring the productivity of each staff member. With that in place, we were able to institute staff bonuses based on productivity. In the end, the staff came together as a team. They even held morning huddles to see how they could work together to reach their bonus goals. Emotionally, a great burden had been lifted from me. I was able to focus on dentistry.

"After the first year with Sterling, our collections increased by 30%. After 18 months, I sold my practice for the full asking price—something I had been unable to do on my own for five years.

"If any of this hits home, call Sterling at 800-933-7538 and request a copy of their DVD. Through the Sterling program, I turned my practice around, increased its worth and sold it at its full value."—Roger Stevens, DDS