How to Age-proof Your Customer Base

Greg Thayer knows what it means to have loyal clients. Owner of Thayer Dental Laboratory, Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, he still retains 20 of the original 24 customers he had when he opened his laboratory 30 years ago.

But Thayer also knows the danger of relying on long-time customers for the bulk of his work: they get old.

"These aging dentists have many positive attributes: we have wonderful working relationships and they produce a lot of work, pay on time and accept reasonable pay increases," he says. "But as they get older, they take time off without worrying about their incomes. Some may choose to just retire and shut the door rather than selling their practices and, if they do sell, there are no guarantees that the new dentist will remain a customer. The key here is to diversify your customer base."

A diverse roster of clients is always an important ingredient in a healthy business, but as baby-boomer dentists eye retirement, the...