Keeping it simple

About six years ago I had a dental practice in Katikati and was looking to give up my day job by creating a product for export that would solve a common dental problem.

After making 180 prototypes I launched my first product to a very good reception. I thought, fantastic, this will take off, and went to a trade show in New York.

It was a sales disaster but I learnt a lot about what we were doing wrong, including the packaging and the initial purchasing deal. I went back to New Zealand and fixed those things but we were still only breaking even and I was still working my day job.

I’d invested around $300,000 – a lot of it not my money – in a product that wasn’t going anywhere. It was too complicated. You have got to have something that is easy to understand and to market.

During one of many sleepless nights an idea came to me as to how I could simplify the product – and so the V-Ring Sectional Matrix System was born.

The V-Ring was designed to overcome one the most difficult procedures in dentistry – doing high quality composite direct fillings. It was a huge success and we are now exporting it and a subsequent version to most of the western world.

We work very hard on the design and aim to emulate companies like Apple, making multiple prototypes and testing them continuously, improving the design using customer feedback. We focus on high value, simple consumables that are patentable, lightweight and easy to ship.

We don’t set budgets. For example all of our ads have a promotional code so we can tell which promotions are successful and which aren’t. If an ad works – makes more sales than it costs – we do more of it. If not, we stop straightaway.

Most of our sales are direct and we demand payment upfront – it’s much better for the cash-flow!

In English-speaking nations, where it’s sensible, we cut out the middle man. Our in-house 24-hour call centre makes direct sales and provides after-sales support.

It was based in the US and then the UK, but bringing it in-house made a massive difference to the quality of the service.

It’s important to get the right people on board. We try hard to select great people and offer staff a dividend-related bonus scheme. We aim to add at least five percent to pay, otherwise it isn’t taken seriously.

Ninety percent of our internal communication is via email. Meetings are reserved for problem-solving, brainstorming and relationship building, not for information transfer.

We don’t plan to death. We are execution focused and bureaucracy-averse. We question everything and are careful about using experts, particularly in uncharted territory. They will often say it can’t be done. And just because other people do it a certain way doesn’t mean we have to.

Triodent is diversifying to spread our risk and we are now entering a new project involving titanium and some cutting-edge technology, for which NZTE has been particularly supportive.

The company won the Award for Best Use of Research & Development in International Business, supported by TechNZ, in the New Zealand International Business Awards 2009.

Entries for this year’s New Zealand International Business Awards are open until 16 April 2010.

This article was first published in the National Business Review.