By Darrell H. Low

When renowned endodontist Dr. Cliff Ruddle introduced ExperDent president Imtiaz Manji to Dr. Glen Wysel, the CEO of Mercer Global Advisors, Dr. Ruddle helped set the stage for the creation of a company destined to occupy a unique niche in dentistry.

The timing was perfect. ExperDent, one of the largest and most successful practice management and education companies, and Mercer Global Advisors, one of the largest fee-only financial planning and investment advisors, were each looking for something.

“Our clients at ExperDent were doing fantastic,” recalls Imtiaz. “We were teaching them to be great practice leaders and our consultants were working with them making major improvements in their practice management. Increases in annual gross anywhere from 20% to 40% were pretty routine. But it seemed many of our clients weren’t getting ahead long term. Poor money management, more monthly payments, bigger mortgages…whatever the reasons, we knew we had to find better ways to support them on the money management side. That’s when I met Glen.”

“We were having our own frustrations at Mercer Global Advisors,” recalls Dr. Wysel. “We have a state-of-the-art investment program developed and administered by our Chief Investment Officer Gene Dongieux with the help of top economists including a Nobel Prize winner. It does the best imaginable job of getting clients to their financial goals predictably and reliably. But a lot of our clients had practices that were seriously under-performing. We had clients grossing a million dollars, while others working the same amount of time were grossing less than half that amount. This was limiting the amount these doctors had available to invest, meaning they either had to work for more years than they wanted to, or settle for less retirement income. We wanted to offer clients a way to accelerate their economic engines to generate more income. That’s when I met Imtiaz.”

After a year of due diligence and a cautious exchange of selected clients where it was learned that the hoped-for synergies were even more powerful than anyone had dared to expect, ExperDent and Mercer announced their merger in September 2001. The rest, as the saying goes, is history, and the newly-formed Mercer companies (Mercer Advisors, Mercer Mastery and Mercer Transitions) haven’t stopped growing.

Headquartered in Santa Barbara, California, the Mercer companies now have a staff of over 200. In 2003 alone, Mercer hired 35 new consultants, analysts, IT specialists, transitions advisors and financial advisors, and is still in an active recruitment phase. To date, the company has 11 regional offices located across the country and in Vancouver, Canada, and serves a growing client base of general dentists and specialists.

Although each of the Mercer companies has a mandate to deliver specific services, they are totally integrated at every level starting with common ownership by co-owners Imtiaz Manji, Dr. Glen Wysel, Howard M. Rochestie and Gene Dongieux. Glen, Howard and Gene unanimously selected Imtiaz to be the Mercer companies’ CEO. “Imtiaz is a visionary with tremendous energy, drive and ability,” says Dr. Wysel. “Clearly he is the best choice to lead the Mercer companies and under his leadership our growth has accelerated way beyond our expectations.”

In fact, integration is the key to Mercer’s success. Division Director Howard Rochestie, who holds degrees from the Wharton School of Business and Harvard Law School says, “Every dentist who reads this will know what I mean when I say the business world today is very complex and specialized. To run a practice that meets all the regulatory requirements and supports your lifestyle and retirement plans means you have to have expert advice around investments, accounting, tax planning, pension planning, financial planning, transition planning, retirement planning and many other disciplines. You can get that advice from many different places but it drives you crazy when it’s in conflict – and it usually is – leaving you in the middle trying to figure out what to do. A huge benefit of Mercer’s Economic Freedom program is that it’s a totally integrated plan that brings together all your personal and financial issues and gives you a coordinated game plan for lifetime financial security.”

It’s an approach that works. Mercer Advisors has $1.8 billion in assets under management and is the exclusively endorsed financial planning advisor for eight state dental associations and affiliates across the country. Says Chief Investment Officer Gene Dongieux, “Our investment program is strictly fee-only. We don’t sell any investment products or take any sales commissions. Our clients can be absolutely assured that theirs is the only interest that matters.”

Integration applies equally to the practice enhancement side of the Mercer companies and its benefits are equally powerful. Take the case of Dr. James McPherson, who operated a very successful family practice some 30 miles from Nashville. A Mercer Economic Freedom client for many years, he was feeling frustrated. “What I really wanted,” recalls Dr. McPherson, “was to build a larger and more upscale practice in downtown Nashville where I could do higher value cases. I just couldn’t work out the best way to go about it. So I called Mercer, explained what I wanted to do and asked them to help make it happen.” And Mercer did. Jim’s Transitions Advisor found an associate to work in the practice, and this helped free up time Jim needed to get started on the new downtown practice. His Strategic Advisor recommended attending Mercer’s Leadership workshop taught by Imtiaz. Jim took his advice and then implemented the comprehensive range of improvements and efficiencies he learned at the program. He also worked with a practice management consultant to bring his practice to an even higher level of efficiency and productivity. As a result of this process, Jim reduced his hours, which gave him even more time for the new practice, yet at the same time actually increased his gross practice revenues, which helped support the new project financially.

“It was just amazing,” says Jim. “Mercer had the people and the services in the right places at the right time to literally make my dream practice a reality. I transitioned out of my first practice so I could work full time at the downtown facility doing the kind of dentistry I love to do. Thanks to Mercer and the unfailing support of Colleen, my wife and office manager, my new practice was running beautifully and grossing about 50% more than my old one. I had great practice management in place, strong administrators who were running things competently, I had a good investment strategy and I was in a good financial position.”

Having this support in place more than proved its value when Jim’s son, a dental student with plans to join his father in practice, was diagnosed with a brain tumor.

“My advisors worked together to put my schedule and finances in place so I could get my son the very best possible care available and take all the time off I needed to be with him. I don’t know anyone else who could have done that for me. My son’s surgery was a total success and I came back to work to find everything in order and running smoothly. I had just gotten over all that when I had to go in for open-heart surgery! I called on Mercer once again to help hold it all together for me while I recovered and they did. How do you say ‘thank you’ for something like that?”

Not every client can share so dramatic an experience as Dr. McPherson, but the company has plenty of clients who will attest to the enormous difference Mercer has made in their lives. A good example is Dr. Jim Petraitis of Pittsburgh. “I had a very successful practice but I was feeling trapped by it. I was getting tired and I was looking for a change. I was actually thinking of brokering the practice and I attended a two-hour Mercer transition lecture on how to go about it. Boy, was I in for a surprise!”

“We’ve been a big proponent of Value Transitions over brokered sales for many years,” affirms CEO Imtiaz Manji. “Most dentists only think of transitions in terms of buying in when they’re young and selling out when they’re at retirement. This is a very traditional way of thinking that deals only with transferring ownership. The new wave in transitions that top practices are tapping into is the concept of Value Transitions, which are all about accelerating and leveraging practice growth and opportunity.”

According to Mercer, in as little as five years, a practice can integrate an associate, create a partnership, almost double in value and create an economic windfall for the owner doctor – which can reach as high as a million dollars in some cases – not to mention the potential for a major improvement in lifestyle. The economic benefit makes a huge difference to a doctor’s ability to reach economic freedom either sooner than expected, or at a higher level of post-retirement income, or both. What today’s most successful practices have realized is that done right, Value Transitions can occur at any time, not just at retirement. And a transition is right for the practice when the value is right, regardless of age, community, practice type or size.

“A Value Transition is not only a win for the owner doctor,” says Imtiaz. “Most new dentists are in debt, they can’t work as fast as senior dentists and they don’t have the same level of people skills or practice management ability. A Value Transition is the only practical way for most new dentists to get established in the kind of highly productive, leading edge practice that will guarantee them the most fulfilling and rewarding career.”

Says Dr. Petraitis, “I loved what I heard about Value Transitions in the two-hour introductory lecture and decided this is where I wanted to go with my practice. To learn more, I attended the three-day Transitions in Dentistry workshop with my new associate Dr. Scott Cignetti, and Mercer showed us step-by-step using actual case studies how to really make a transition work for us. Mercer’s integrated transitions services made it easy for Scott and I to complete the deal. I really felt after my experience with the transition that Mercer had earned my trust. When they said I should attend the Leadership workshop, I took their advice. Wow! Between the Transitions and Leadership workshops, my life couldn’t be more different. I’m totally motivated and excited about dentistry and I love coming to work. My gross is way up and I think 2004 is going to be my best year ever. Thank you, Mercer!”

“And from me too,” says Dr. Cignetti. I was fresh out of dental school when I went to the Transitions workshop with Jim and the possibilities were just staggering. I already knew dentistry is a great profession but I had no idea it offered this kind of opportunity. The effects on my life of Transitions, Leadership and the Economic Freedom program have been profound and because of what I learned and the support I’m getting from Mercer, I’m going to be in a position a very few years from now to work because I want to, not because I have to. It’s just an amazing prospect and I have to say that Mercer has shown extraordinary leadership in making this kind of opportunity a reality for new dentists.”

Mercer reports that in some cases, a brokered approach for retiring doctors is the right thing to do, but a Value Transition should always be investigated for potentially higher benefits. Mercer has several three-day Transitions in Dentistry workshops scheduled for 2004 and plans on holding numerous two-hour introductory Transitions lectures around the country.

Always looking for better ways to serve its clients, Mercer is introducing a new program in 2004 called Business in Dentistry, which teaches the strategic planning principles used by top CEOs to create industry-leading businesses. A major challenge faced by many practices today is the issue of team motivation. The Business in Dentistry workshop unveils a system called Team Rewards that was developed to help dentists overcome this challenge. “Dentists have been trying incentive programs for years and they don’t work,” says Imtiaz. “Our Team Rewards system is something different. It’s a new approach where compensation is tied to the achievement of goals set out in the practice strategic business plan. It’s fair, direct, empowering and very motivating. We’ve done a lot of research and testing on Team Rewards. Teams love it because they know exactly what they need to do to achieve excellent job performance. They support it 100% and the impact of their focus and commitment on achieving practice success is phenomenal.”

The Mercer companies offer a range of services to support you at every stage of your career from new dentist to retirement and beyond. You can begin your journey with Mercer through the Business in Dentistry, Leadership or Transition workshops, or the Economic Freedom program. The best way, though, is to let Mercer understand your dreams and current circumstances and recommend a program that will get you to your goals as quickly and efficiently as possible. “Every client is different,” says Imtiaz, “and our services are designed to allow us to customize an approach for each individual where we can deal with their most critical needs first and move forward from there. It’s a client-centered approach that’s completely in line with our philosophy that the client’s interest is the only one that matters.”

A new Mercer initiative for 2004 is Young&Motivated, a leadership workshop for youth ages 15 to 21 developed by Imtiaz’s son, Kaleim. This two-and-a-half day program teaches young people how to live a life of independence, fun and freedom and make the right choices around four of the most important things in life: vision, time, money and relationships.

“Young&Motivated was Kaleim’s idea,” says Imtiaz with justifiable pride. “But I have to admit I have been giving him some pointers. I’m actually really pleased we are doing a youth program. Mercer has benefited so much from dentistry that it’s a privilege to feel we are putting something back.”

The sponsorship of clinical education is another way Mercer seeks to contribute to dentistry. “We believe that when dentists have excellent clinical skills, supported by excellent management skills and a financial plan to provide lifetime freedom from money worries, they are practicing from a position of abundance. We have fantastic programs for practice and financial management, but we wouldn’t feel complete without contributing to the clinical side. That’s why we are sponsoring a series of clinical lectures called State of the Dental Art 2004 presented by Dr. Gordon J. Christensen, with whom we have a close and longstanding relationship. We are planning additional lectures for 2005.”

Mercer also works closely with Dr. Mark Morin’s Great Lakes Education Center, which Mercer believes delivers the finest available clinical education on CEREC®.

The commitment to education applies in-house too. Mercer encourages team members to enhance their skill sets and funds relevant professional development courses. These courses can be from outside, or delivered in-house at the company training center at the Vancouver office – a center that was set up with considerable pride early in 2003. The center has proven to be a real success and the firm is planning to establish a second center in the southwest.

If the two-and-a-half years of achievement since the merger of ExperDent and Mercer Global Advisors are anything to go by, the Mercer companies will have plenty more to contribute to dentistry in the years to come. Existing programs are no sooner delivered than they are analyzed and upgraded to make them even better. New programs and services are being researched, tested and developed.

“We are unconditionally committed to the success of our clients financially, personally and professionally,” says Imtiaz. “It’s what we’re all about. We’re proud of what we’ve been able to do for our clients so far, and we plan on doing even more for them in the future. We see dentistry as having almost limitless potential, and we want to show every dentist how to be part of the excitement and opportunity.”

Visit the Mercer website at www.merceradvisors.com.

We regret to announce that shortly after this profile went to print, Dr. Jim McPherson passed away unexpectedly.

The Mercer Companies and DentalTown Magazine would like to convey our sincere condolences to Dr. McPherson’s family, friends, patients and colleagues.