AN INTERVIEW WITH HENRY SCHEIN’S TRINH CLARK
TRINH CLARK
SVP, Chief Global Customer Experience Officer
Joining Henry Schein in 2007, Trinh Clark is Senior Vice President and Chief Global Customer Experience Officer, as well as a member of the Executive Management Committee. A seasoned veteran in healthcare technology, Clark has served in a variety of leadership roles at Henry Schein. Previously, she served as Vice President, Technology Enablement, North America Distribution Group. In 2017, she was appointed co-lead of Henry Schein’s Global Digital Commerce team to champion and advance digital commerce and digital marketing initiatives, and in 2018, she was appointed to the transformation Management Office, a strategic initiative designed to satisfy the evolving needs of customers and create an engaging and frictionless online customer experience. Clark is a founding member of Henry Schein’s Diversity & Inclusion Council and an Executive Sponsor of Henry Schein’s Women’s Leadership Network, as well as elevASIAN, a Pan Asian employee resource group.
In 2022, Trinh Clark became Senior Vice President and Chief Global Customer Experience Officer at Henry Schein, responsible for leading a new Global Customer Experience Organization that is focused on driving exceptional experiences across all of the company’s sales channels as well as global brand marketing strategy. Having previously served in a variety of leadership roles at Henry Schein, she works with a team focused on the customer journey—examining every interaction and creating a deep-rooted partnership between the customer and Henry Schein.
She sat down with Dental Product Shopper during the recent THRIVELIVE in Las Vegas to discuss her work to provide the greatest customer experience as well as what every dental professional should know about Henry Schein in 2024.
Q: You've been with Henry Schein since 2007. Can you tell us about how and why you joined the company?
A: My background is in healthcare e-commerce, and Henry Schein was the fulfillment partner for my previous company. The values of Team Schein have always been something I admired from afar, so it was an easy decision to join when we were acquired. While the team I came from was its own e-commerce brand, it has now evolved into what we call Customer Technology Enablement at Henry Schein. This group focuses on providing our Team Schein members and customers with technology solutions to help them manage their supply chain. We know that—especially after COVID—supply chain resiliency is on everyone’s mind, so we are developing innovative ways to help our customers support that.
Q: I know a lot of exciting technologies, including AI, are involved in those efforts. Isn't it amazing how AI is impacting the dental profession, both inside the practice and behind the scenes?
A: It’s fascinating, and it’s exciting to be using it in so many areas of the business—everything from our supply chain inventory management to the way we look at bringing in products. But, most importantly, we’re using AI to better understand our customers and their behavior, and creating unique and innovative experiences to meet them there. At the same time, we’re always looking at how we can improve those friction points along the customer journey. So, I’m always focused on not only addressing challenges, but building those really innovative experiences, as well.
Q: How would you describe how customers’ needs and expectations have changed over the years and how Henry Schein is meeting those needs?
A: As a consumer myself, I certainly appreciate brands that personalize the experience for me. Listening to our customers and personalization are things that we take very seriously here—we really try to understand our customers and personalize our programs. We believe that every customer is different and we celebrate that. So, one of the big focuses is our digital experience and helping our customers transact online through a personalized journey on our e-commerce platform. Our global e-commerce platform initiative is one of our most important strategic initiatives, so we’re very excited about that, as well as our digital clinical workflow and the 3-click dentistry that we’ve demonstrated here at THRIVELIVE.
Of course, the future of healthcare is not only personalization and digitalization, but it also has to have the human touch and those trusted relationships and the partnerships that bring them together. So, we're really excited about all of the different solutions, technologies, and programs.
I would also be remiss not to share that I'm really excited about our Thrive Rewards and Thrive Signature loyalty programs, because we're really trying to bring value to our customers in ways that matter to them most. As we know, when products and pricing are comparable, what sets us apart is our customer experience in accessing our breadth of offerings with unwavering support. And we want our customers to enjoy a very personalized journey across our portfolio of services and solutions. We feel that our Thrive programs represent the best customer loyalty experience in the dental industry by far, and I'm very proud of that. We continue to listen to our customers to add benefits, savings, and experiences to help them improve clinical outcomes and drive practice success.
Q: The COVID pandemic had a lasting impact on so many businesses. How did it affect the way that Henry Schein interacts with customers?
A: Well, COVID certainly showed us that you have to have transparency between a customer and a business, and it showed us the importance of prioritizing that customer connection. While technology makes our lives easier, what's important is that connection that we have with each other. So, when COVID came, we realized that No. 1, we needed to be there for our customers. We fielded thousands and thousands of questions, including about PPE supplies and availability, and we also realized how important it was to ensure that our field sales representatives play a different role when we couldn't go into the office. Their role was now, “I am your partner to get through this and we will do everything we can to help you and your patients feel safe. You have a partner that's going to get you the supplies that you need.”
And no doubt, like many businesses, the need to bring more online experiences that were easy and frictionless was obviously a primary focus. E-commerce became the standard. And so our focus has been improving our e-commerce experience for our customers while we build a new, future-proof global e-commerce platform. Although we had already been working on this when COVID hit, we realized we needed to do it in a way that would meet customers where they want it to be met and transact with them when they want to transact. So many Team Schein members across the globe are working on this now to deliver an exceptional experience online for our customers.
So, yes, we learned a lot and appreciate all of our customers and partners. It was a phenomenon we hope to never experience again, but one that we learned from and are now stronger and more resilient.
Q: In closing, what are one or two things that you would like dentists to know about Henry Schein that they may not know already?
A: First and foremost is that we are not just a distributor, but a full-service provider of healthcare solutions. There are so many opportunities to partner with Henry Schein, from the software solutions of Henry Schein One to our distribution business and the many ways in which we serve the practice to drive success. We want you to come to us not just for supplies or software, but for our network of resources and to meet the team members who can support your practice. So, I definitely want our customers to know that we're a healthcare solutions provider.
Secondly, I would like our customers to know that we read every customer sentiment and piece of feedback, and we follow up on it. We work with our business leaders around the globe to take today's customer sentiment and turn it into tomorrow's improvement. I want customers to know that, along with the rockstar team that I am privileged to work alongside, we are developing a culture that understands how critical it is to follow up and act on what our customers tell us. Henry Schein cares and listens—that is part of our brand and I'm very proud of that. We really appreciate when customers provide feedback. It makes us better, and we are continuously striving to improve and meet them where they want to be met.
