All the white moves
Interview | Robina Dam Watches, chocolates and banking may soon be joined by cosmetic dentistry as the key sectors associated with Switzerland – at least if the sisters behind Swiss Smile have anything to do with it. voyager caught up with them as they prepare to expand into the Middle East and USA WHEN THE SWISS-based sisters Haleh and Golnar [...]
Interview | Robina Dam
Watches, chocolates and banking may soon be joined by cosmetic dentistry as the key sectors
associated with Switzerland – at least if the sisters behind Swiss Smile have anything to do
with it. voyager caught up with them as they prepare to expand into the Middle East and USA
alt="Golnar (left) and Haleh Abivardi are smiling all the way to the
bank"align="left"src="http://www.bmivoyager.com/images/2008/july/voyager_july_076.jpg">
WHEN THE SWISS-based sisters Haleh
and Golnar Abivardi both chose
to qualify in dentistry, they didn’t
imagine they would go on to create a
new business model for the industry.
But since setting up their company
Swiss Smile in 2001, their concept of
a one-stop-shop for medical and cosmetic dentistry is one
which has left their balance sheet gleaming as much as their
customers’ teeth. Now the sisters, who were born in Iran but
live in Zurich, plan to roll the concept out globally.
They have gone on to garner business recognition (such
as a Veuve Clicquot Business Woman of the Year Award in
Switzerland in 1997) and expand from one clinic in Zurich’s rail
station to several international ones, including London and
St Moritz. They will soon launch several more in Switzerland and
the UK, with New York, Dubai and Madrid to follow next year.
HALEH ABIVARDI, 40, Chief Executive, Swiss Smile:
“When we first set up, we found that people were having basic
dental appointments with us before going somewhere else
for cosmetic dentistry, because how can you have beautiful
veneers on teeth that need root canal treatment?
“As a result we expanded the business by developing both
sides: having healthy teeth and gums as well as the aesthetic
part of a nice smile. When Pricewaterhouse did our audit for
2006-7, they found our turnover had risen by 62% from the
previous year. This is partly to do with our expansion of several
clinics – and we will have another five new openings over the
next 12 months – and also because the aesthetic treatments
are much more expensive. You get a better turnover from
performing cosmetic dentistry than doing a normal filling.
“In Zurich, our teeth whitening treatments have risen from
20% to 50% of the services we offer. In London it started off
at a high 40% and within eight months reached 60% overall.
However, we’ve still maintained very reasonable costs for our
aesthetic treatments without compromising on quality, which
was a deliberate strategy.
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alt="The Swiss Smile clinics are designed like boutique hotels to extract the fear associated with traditional dental surgeries">
“People think that we are in London’s Mayfair and therefore
are extremely expensive. But our research showed that some
of the private clinics in London charged £500-£1,000 for teeth
whitening; we chose to offer it from £195. Dental implants in
certain Harley Street clinics were quoted at £4,000 whereas our
price is from £1,300, so it’s an extreme difference. How do we
offer those prices? Because our brand has grown so much we
are able to negotiate special prices on our products and we pass
those discounts onto the patients. Also, all our practitioners are
self-employed and we keep lease rents reasonable.
“The dentists we brought to the clinics are specialists in
their field – after all, the Swiss are generally known for high
quality – and therefore it meant that if a patient needed to
be referred for other work, they would be seen not only by
a leading dentist but that the specialists would discuss the
treatment so that they had the whole picture of what this
patient needed and was getting. It wasn’t like the old days
where you went to your neighbourhood dentist for regular
check-ups and then a different clinic if you had wisdom teeth
problems and then yet another place if you needed your teeth
whitened – it could all be done under one roof.
“So the appointments were tailored to suit the patient and
right from the start we opened 365 days a year, and wanted to
have enough staff to cater for emergency walk-in treatment.
Where we also differed was that we had state-of-the-art
equipment. But instead of looking like a sterile clinic, we wanted
the atmosphere to be more like a boutique hotel so that it
removed the fear that many people have of visiting the dentist.
“That’s why many people used to fly specially to Switzerland
to have their dental treatment done with us. In our Swiss
clinics, the ‘dental tourists’ make up 30% of our customer base.
They also account for a significant amount of the turnover
because many spend from £20,000-£40,000 on cosmetic
dentistry – we call it a Porsche in the mouth.”
GOLNAR ABIVARDI, 36, Chief Operating Officer, Swiss Smile:
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“The organisers of the Veuve Clicquot Swiss awards contacted
us and asked us to put in an application, which we did. We
had studied dentistry, not how to be businesswomen, so did
not imagine we would be recognised for our business skills.
So when we won it we were so thrilled. The award also really
helped to promote the business as it made a lot more people,
both in Switzerland and abroad, aware of us. Until then, we
were well-known in Zurich but after March 2007 we saw a
faster turnover, as patients started coming to our clinic from
Geneva, Paris and Lugano – with 300 to 400 patients a day.
“To run Swiss Smile with my sister, we separate the areas of
the clinics, marketing and finance. The clinics are in my hands
but we have a shared vision for them. The sector with most
growth is definitely the cosmetic industry. Over four years
ago, when we started to offer teeth whitening services, we
carried out about three bleachings a day. Today, it is between
20 and 40 a day. What surprised me is that 50% of those
were for men, mainly executives and senior businessmen. Men
form 30% of the overall business, but our clients for other
treatments range from young children to grandmothers.
“Another way of developing the brand was to launch our
own product range. There are now 11 products, including
toothpaste, flossing tape and our special toothbrushes, but
we’ve designed them like accessories that you would show
off in your bathroom. Originally they were exclusive to our
clinics but then other businesses approached us to stock them,
including luxury perfumery chain Marionnaud throughout
their 120 stores in Switzerland and five-star hotels.”
