by Miranda G. McLeod
Staff Writer
Slapping a name brand on an industry has been done before. We know the names — McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, Disney, Ford — but a brand name for braces?
That’s what Mark Berman is doing as vice president of sales and marketing for Imagine Orthodontics.
Advertising is what you say about yourself; public relations is what others say about you. These two phrases got Berman into the marketing side of business and have led him where he is now.
Imagine is a breakout national company based in Ponte Vedra Beach that has 20 current locations and 45 slated to open this year. Berman is tasked with building a national sales culture in a business that has not seen one. A sales culture, according to Berman, is making the health care industry a company built on listening and one more responsible to customers needs.
“Imagine Orthodontics has done what no other company had done in our field of health care. We’ve combined the most advanced technology with convenience and created a product that is very cost-conscious,” said Berman. “It is our goal to take care of the patient from start to finish in a technologically-advanced health care environment, without losing sight of our primary objective, which is to give people a great life through a great smile.”
Imagine is part of the Orthodontic Education Company’s network of education programs that provide scholarship opportunities for aspiring orthodontists in exchange for a seven-year contract to open and operate an Imagine orthodontic practice. After orthodontists graduate from the Dental School of Orthodontics at Jacksonville University or the University of Colorado at Denver, the soon-to-be smile makers have one more class to fulfill — a crash course in sales.
“The staff at Imagine Orthodontics are really good clinicians, not sales people,” said Berman. “We don’t want them to be sales people, but we want them to understand that side of the business.”
A sales training company comes in and teaches the basics of the trade to the orthodontists, most of whom have had little to no exposure to the sales profession. It removes them from their comfort zone, according to Berman, who says there’s a statistic showing only 2 percent of the population enjoys being out of their comfort zone, and he’s part of it.
“It’s inspiration,” said Berman, who uses that out-of-comfort-zone experience as a trigger for creativity.
Creating a brand is nothing new for Berman, who had five consecutive start-up companies that successfully ran the gamut of respective markets. His last start-up company was the Jacksonville-area market of Garage Tek, a national franchise specializing in garage organization. Berman turned Jacksonville into the number one market in a 68-store national network while building the company’s local and national brand.
Berman says Imagine Orthodontics is like Garage Tek for teeth.
“Imagine is built on a philosophy of trying to make orthodontics accessible,” he said. “Being a national company helps lower the price. Technicians are trained in state of the art schools and make patients comfortable by their knowledge. It’s a company accessible and affordable for the masses.”
And as far as marketing, Berman says he is taking another run at business with a better business model.
“Imagine is a very dynamic, patient-focused company and I’m excited to contribute to its growth and success,” said Berman. “To follow these guys in battle is an honor.”