Meant to Be… (An Interview with Dr. William Spruill)
Q & A
PDJ: How many years were you and Dr. Wong
in practice?
37 years. Truly we had a great run! We opened our
doors in Carlisle on Nov 18, 1980, after 3 years in the
Army Dental Corps and time stationed at Carlisle Barracks.
PDJ: When did you begin to consider selling
your practice? What had you done to prepare
to transition out of practice?
Honestly there was no pivotal moment. However, after
a few years where practice growth was flat, we heard a
practice consultant at an ADA meeting and we hired
them. With their coaching and accountability systems,
we put in place block scheduling, patient communications,
phone skill sets and cross-training for all staff.
The investment produced significant results in a few
short months. At the end of that year, we were 33 years
or so in practice and we began exploring a sale.
PDJ: Did you want to just stop practicing?
Not particularly. We always intended to keep active,
especially for volunteering.
PDJ: Did you and Lillian hope to sell your
practice to another dentist couple? Was that
something you had considered? If not, how did
that end up working out?
Eventually that’s how it worked out, which was a real
blessing. Particularly because they hired our hygienist
and her/our patients followed her.
For the first six to eight months she saw all of her regular
scheduled appointments but in the new location.
PDJ: How did you prepare your patients for the
transition? After all you had a two-doctor family
practice.
Actually we were a one doctor practice in size, but
attended by two docs. We were seldom in the office
together. Over the years, that allowed us to be around for
our children, getting them on and off the school bus, etc.
Now to your first question. All through the work-up to
the sale, the interviews and the negotiations for the
acquisition, not a word of this was shared with patients,
employees or local colleagues. It is simply better that
way. When a patient asked us about retirement, the
automatic reply was, ‘we’re healthy, we love what we’re
doing, we enjoy caring for you and your family. Why would
we ever retire?’ You get tired of lying to them but it’s
important, perhaps essential to the best outcome to
not share.
PDJ: Did you have a good rapport with the
purchasing doctors right away? Or did that take
a little time for them to grow on you?
It was very good from the start. We had covered each
other’s call for several years. We knew their practice style
and they knew ours.
PDJ: Did you also sell your building to them or
did they already have a practice they were
growing through the purchase?
Our buyers had no interest in our building, which was fine.
PDJ: Looking back, how would assess the transition
and your life since?
A profound blessing; absolutely no regrets! We are living
large and loving it. We have enjoyed travel to quite a
variety of places. We have 3 grandchildren, ages 8, 6 and
3 who deserve more of our time as well.
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MAY/JUNE 2020 | PENNSYLVANIA DENTAL JOURNAL