If you’ve landed on this post, we’ll make the guess that you’re a dentist, not a business manager. A dentist would never invest years of their life and thousands of dollars to earn a DDS or DMD degree just to end up running payroll. For dental practices, outsourcing payroll just makes sense.
There are so many details, laws, regulations, and both federal and local guidelines for paying employees; it can be challenging to keep it all straight. It’s a significant burden on any business to manage it all in-house. And when it comes to managing payroll, workers’ compensation, and taxes, the risk of doing it incorrectly can be too high.
Hiring a dental payroll service is a great way to reduce risk, free up your employees’ time, and ensure you don’t get any unexpected tax penalties or fees. But payroll providers are not the same, and when it comes to your dental practice, getting the right fit is key.
Unified Smiles is proud to partner with ConnectPay Payroll Services–their team provides hassle-free payroll hyper-focused on small businesses. ConnectPay takes care of payroll for independent practices and dental-focused CPAs.
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I caught up with Holly Francis, the Michigan District Sales Manager for ConnectPay to dive deeper into payroll services and why her team is the perfect fit for small businesses. Let’s unpack: How can the ConnectPay team help your dental practice thrive?
Guy: Hey Holly, thanks for joining us. We’ve got a solid lineup of questions to unpack today–exploring payroll for the dental community. You ready?
Holly: Thank you, Guy! Happy to be here. We love working with Dentists. We’ve helped a lot of our dental clients manage their payroll. And CPAs focused on the dental community. It’s given us a unique perspective on what it takes to do payroll right, especially for medical and dental professionals. Let’s get into it!
Guy: The dental testimonials on your website are powerful. But let’s start by unpacking the basics: ConnectPay specializes in small businesses–what does that mean?
Holly: We’re only focused on small to medium-sized businesses. That’s it. We’ve heard from customers that larger payroll providers sometimes advertise as “small business” services, but over time, their customers uncover that they are actually built to serve larger enterprises. There’s nothing wrong with fancy bundle deals, but they’re not for everyone. We’re real people helping real people. It’s special!
Guy: It is special. Rare, even–considering the volume of automated tools and/or AI being put to use these days.
Holly: Definitely. Our “people” approach is at the heart of ConnectPay fundamentally. And it’s always incredible to hear that clients can truly sense that. Customers tend to switch onto our services after they failed to receive the care and attention they needed at a big-box provider or a bundle deal that went south. It always stinks to hear they’ve had a bad experience, but we’re happy to help. And we’re appreciative they chose us to pick up the pieces the other provider left behind.
Guy: Let’s dig into that personalized service. What are dental clients receiving when they switch onto ConnectPay’s platform?
Holly: So much! But our fan-favorites are typically the dedicated Payroll Specialist, and our in-house tax team. Like we touched upon earlier, clients coming to us from a service provider are typically used to submitting tickets or waiting on endless phone loops to get help. So learning that they have a dedicated Payroll Specialist to tend to their accounts during business hours is special. And clients typically become very close with their Payroll Specialist. It’s a relationship!
Guy: That's great! So what else is in the ConnectPay toolkit?
Holly: Great question. Let’s break it down. Our toolkit includes a wide range of popular perks, but these are our top three services clients expect and rely on us for:
GUY: Wow. Well with dedicated services like those, I can see why your client base is growing daily. Nobody likes an endless phone loop. What happens if business owners need support right away during business hours?
Holly: We all know what it’s like to reach out to a support number for help only to be rerouted to a never-ending phone loop. All of that is too frustrating to deal with in business, and it's especially inconvenient when there’s an issue with employees’ wages or something scary like tax issues. We know our dental community partners care about their loyal staff and we want to take care of them too.
At ConnectPay, our clients know their dedicated Payroll Specialist by name. When they call, they can reach that person at all times (maybe another person here or there if their Payroll Specialist is on another call.) But they’ll always reach somebody during business hours. Our policy is strict: no voicemail during business hours.
Guy: Good service goes a long way. Now let’s talk about tracking employee hours. Some administrative staff may be working fewer hours than say a hygienist. Do you offer time-tracking solutions to help keep business owners organized?
Holly: Absolutely. Without a time tracking tool, managing employee hours can quickly become a mess, especially when there are multiple locations that “share” employees at different times.
We offer a comprehensive and easy-to-use time tracking solution. The automated technology reduces administrative headaches and eliminates “time theft.” For a dental practice, having employees embroiled in payroll and compliance issues is the easiest way to distract from billing and great customer service. When employees aren’t worried about payroll, they’re able to provide better service.
Guy: Tracking time is a big bear for small business owners. It sneaks up on them and they can quickly end up scratching their heads thinking about whether or not they forgot something or someone. We’ve heard it's similar when you’re managing HR needs - where “It’s all good” until it's not. Does ConnectPay offer a solution to avoid HR pitfalls?
Holly: We certainly do! We know that most dental practices are not large enough to need a robust, outsourced Human Resource department. But even a handful of employees require small business HR Solutions, including:
Similar to our time tracking tool, our clients can utilize our HR Resource Center to manage compliance needs and get pertinent questions answered by HR professionals. It’s one of our most popular subscriptions!
GUY: If dental practice owners are working with third-party team members like CPAs and Bookkeepers, are they able to access the payroll data as well?
Holly: Of course. We’ll get the whole team set up on our platform. There is more to payroll than paychecks and pay stubs. Payroll touches on business matters such as cash flow, taxes, regulatory compliance, and insurance. For the small business, working with a payroll provider that has connected partnerships with CPAs and Bookkeepers, for example, is beneficial. The more team members, the better!
At ConnectPay, we not only serve a lot of great dental clients, but we have strong partnerships with CPA firms and even insurance brokers - which makes handling employee benefits much easier. And, we have an in-house tax team that understands the local tax implication as well as the federal.
GUY: How can dentists–especially our Unified Smiles members–get started with ConnectPay?
Holly: If you’re looking for a dental payroll service that specializes in serving small businesses, schedule a call with us. We would love to talk to you about your payroll needs and make some recommendations tailored to your practice. Unified Smiles members receive special rates so be sure to let us know if you are a member.
And we’ve done our homework, and we’re always trying to stay current with the dental community. We’re a member of dental and OMS associations. We have great partnerships with clients like Smileboston Cosmetic and Implant Dentistry and Rosen Summit Dental Advisors.
If you would like to talk to us about payroll services for your Dental practice, schedule a call with us here. We can’t wait to win your business! Remember Unified Smiles members receive special discounts with us!
Guy: Holly, thanks so much for spending the afternoon with us. Is there an email address people can reach you at directly if they’ve got additional questions?
Holly: Of course. My email is HFrancis@ConnectPayUSA.Com and my direct line is 248-345-8009. We’re always here to help our dental partners and their peers! Thanks for inviting the ConnectPay team to the blog!
Want to learn more about Unified Smiles? We are a premier dental group purchasing organization that's here to support independent dentists. Our goal is to provide special pricing and discounts on the supplies and services you need daily. We've been in the business for over a decade and have negotiated exclusive member pricing, promotions, and discounts with over 100 industry-leading partners.
Our community of over 1400 dentists benefit from reduced overhead and increased revenue thanks to the negotiating power of our group. Our Dental Concierge team is dedicated to helping you find the best savings possible, while our optional all-in-one ordering platform provides real-time pricing comparisons on supplies and budget reviews. Choose Unified Smiles to reduce overhead and experience the benefits of our exceptional service.
If you would like to learn more about saving on supplies and discounts with Unified Smiles, fill out the form below or call us at 844-878-6483.
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Guy Flannery, Chief Operating Officer - Unified Smiles
