WITH MATT COGGIN, CEO OF SPEAR EDUCATION
Matt Coggin
Every clinician dreams of practice growth and success, but how to get there isn't always clear. Well-known in the dental industry for its world-class in-person and virtual education, including the most established network of study clubs in the world, Spear is on a mission to transform dental education from a professional obligation into an immersive experience that fuels practice growth and empowers the entire dental team. Here, Matt Coggin, CEO of Spear Education, shares why the company is perfectly positioned to do just that.
Q: What’s the biggest challenge dental professionals face when pursuing continuing education?
A: It’s extremely difficult to fly out to a course over the weekend, or even attend virtually, and then fully implement what you’ve just learned come Monday morning. As CEOs of small businesses, dentists are tasked with breaking down the clinical work they’ve just learned and then passing it on to the office—from deciding what role each team member needs to play to hunkering down and making the appropriate changes. I think that’s what really differentiates Spear: Our goal is to help the dentist and their team members get started immediately so they get a return on their investment as quickly as possible.
Q: How does Spear help dentists implement new skills into their practices?
A: At Spear, it’s all about learning and then being able to implement that learning back in the practice. What makes us unique in the marketplace is that we have a team of dedicated Growth Partners who will help the practice incorporate new clinical or business skills. Where we really feel Spear and CDOCS can help transform a practice is by fi ne-tuning the dental team. We’re building our interactions and connections not just with the dentist, but with all their staff members. If you think about it, most large organizations have learning management systems. Spear and CDOCS provide access to a very large, curated learning management system where we can make sure that practices are driving better employee retention.
Q: What makes Spear a great resource for dentists of every generation?
A: We're trying to build an amazing experience for the lifelong learner. The dental industry is so dynamic. We’re seeing dentistry rapidly evolve from analog to digital, and there is so much software and equipment out there from which to choose. We’re learning from CDOCS, which is an expert in technology and technological implementation, to figure out how to build a better way for dentists to learn these new technologies and bring them seamlessly into their practices. We don’t simply want someone to come in and take a course—we want clinicians to partner with us.
Q: How does Spear balance in-person and virtual learning?
A: One of the things that attracted me most to Spear is the company’s ability to blend virtual and in-person events. There is certainly a lot of content that dentists can learn virtually, but it needs to be complemented with in-person learning. That’s how you build the best learning experience, and in the end, that not only creates the best dentistry but also the best patient experience.
No patient wants to be sitting in a chair wondering if this is the first time their doctor has done this procedure. And for clinicians, there is a desire to get into a workshop and meet with Spear Faculty members who are exceptional at teaching that procedure. Then, immediately upon leaving, that doctor has direct access to the educators via the Spear digital community, which can provide a second opinion as they get started. We really encourage doctors to do that.
Q: What makes the Spear learning experience unique?
A: Spear is a community unified around the goal of performing great dentistry. For dentists, this means not just consuming education to earn CE credit but also learning how to transform their practices through clinical excellence and implementing new learning. Spear offers a world-class faculty paired with diverse learning opportunities available online, locally, and on our campus to help dentists practice to the highest level they would like to achieve. We work with our dentists to understand their aspirations, and then build learning pathways customized to those goals so they can accelerate both their careers and practice growth.
Q: How can dentists use education to grow their practices?
A: Dentists will come to us and say, "I want to grow my practice." And naturally, the next question is, "Well, how do you plan on doing it?" They’ll say, "Well, I probably need to incorporate more of these procedures.” Everything is about them doing more. If someone asked me, "How are you going to grow Spear and CDOCS?" I would tell them that working harder and doing more is not going to help the business grow. What will help is getting a great group of people around me and making sure I'm giving them opportunities for development.
We’re trying to bring that same idea to the dentist because they shouldn't feel like they're doing this alone—it does take a village. I think Spear and CDOCS should be that village for the doctor who's really trying to grow their practice, improve their patient experiences, increase their marketability, and incorporate new workflows.
Ultimately, we believe in building great patient experiences. Everything we do is geared toward driving better patient outcomes, which in turn, will bring more patients into dentistry and help dentists grow their practices.
