It was a little over two years ago, just after graduating from dental school and joining my father’s dental practice, when I first heard of Professional Referral Exchange. Scott, our credit card processing guy, was visiting our office one day for routine credit card machine maintenance and invited me to join him for his weekly PRE meeting. Since the expansion of a dental practice from one doctor to two requires a steady influx of new patients, I had been looking for new ways to market our practice and accepted Scott’s invitation, mostly out of curiosity.

From the very first introductions with the members of the group, I could tell PRE was no ordinary networking group. My first impressions were of friendliness, motivation, and an underlying professionalism; it did not take long for me sign up to become our group’s “friendly PRE dentist.”

To be completely honest, I was uncertain, and even slightly skeptical, about how much our practice could benefit from my membership in PRE. My skepticism was initially confirmed as I only received one referral in the first six months of membership. If it wasn’t for how impressive the PRE meetings and the group as a whole were, I might have thrown in the towel and quit. Boy am I glad I didn’t! In the last year and a half, PRE has rivaled our internal referrals as the leading referral source in the office.

I have seen first-hand how this symbiotic network has effected the many businesses in my PRE group, including my own. Thanks to PRE, my practice has welcomed almost 40 new, high quality patients to our practice. This has surpassed any expectations I originally had when I first joined the group. Perhaps even more surprising has been the evolution of my fellow PRE members from a networking group into an extended family of friends.

For those considering joining PRE, I have a few recommendations: join, be patient, and have fun. In the past two years, my business, personal life, and even public speaking skills have benefited thanks to PRE. I highly recommend Professional Referral Exchange to anyone in the dental profession, any other medical profession, or really any profession.

Sincerely,
Brian E. Bowser, DMD
Bowser Center for Advanced Dentistry