June 10, 2004
Wayne Lavery is one person who enjoys hearing the word dentist.
And it’s not because he’s fond of having someone probe at his teeth. In the past 12 years, Lavery, along with business partner Karen Galley, has built a thriving North American business by responding to a growing demand for Canadian dental patient newsletters. Today, Patient News Publishing Ltd. is the largest provider of dental newsletters in North America.
“The U.S. now makes up 75 per cent of our business,” says Lavery.
The company began its success story by looking at product flexibility and how it could improve upon what the American publishers were providing in Canada.
Dentists choose editorial content and illustrations from Patient News Publishing’s vast editorial and graphics library to customize newsletters tailored to their marketplace and dental practice. Dentists are able to distribute up to 8 newsletters a year and Patient News Publishing sends them directly to patients and areas surrounding their practice. Patient News has a payroll exceeding 45 full-time employees, divided between sales, accounting, editorial, client services, printing, and distribution departments.
“Their growth has been phenomenal,” says Andy Campbell, Manager of the Haliburton County Development Corporation (HCDC). “In 1997, there were only four people working there including the principals – Wayne, and Karen.”
Patient News was nominated for the CFDC’s Entrepreneur of the Year in 2001. The company’s mailing activity demonstrates just how brisk business has become. Patient News produces and mails more than 15 million newsletters per year from its Haliburton County facility. This generates more mail than the local post office. In May 2003, the company moved into a 16,000-square-foot location on Haliburton’s waterfront, which centralizes all staff under one roof, from three separate buildings. The company has now serviced more than 3000 dentists.
“Excellence in innovation, product quality and service are the keys to our success. We take a lot of pride in our service which has created loyal clients who continue to use our products year after year,” Lavery says.
In 1994, the HCDC provided a $15,000 working capital loan to assist the then fledgling company with the implementation of a marketing plan, and to bolster the firm’s library of dental articles. In September 2001, the HCDC approved a $95,000 loan for working capital and a term loan of $30,000 for a down payment on the purchase of property.
The HCDC also assisted by helping Lavery access the Program For Export Market Development Initiative to expand into the U.S. and introduced him to consultants from the Canadian Technology Network. Campbell says the HCDC’s work with Patient News Publishing exemplifies the range of services CFDCs have to help small and medium-sized businesses. “We assisted with the start-up, provided ongoing assistance, helped point them in the right direction, and continue to help them grow.”