The 120 doctors across all of Rodeo Dental’s Texas locations are in the business of keeping patients’ smiles healthy. Dr. Saam Zarrabi, dentist and cofounder of Rodeo Dental, is looking to keep the smiles on those doctors’ faces — and the team members who support their work.
“Our company culture is phenomenal,” Zarrabi said. “I’d put it up there with any of the best in health care and even retail. We really want to lead a strong culture and it’s a testament to all of our team members.”
Excellent company culture is intricately tied to quality customer service. And the patient experience at Rodeo Dental is unlike any other.
“When you walk into a practice, you’ll feel a certain energy that is positive,” Zarrabi said. “You come by, we shake the bells, we celebrate.”
Rodeo Dental lobbies are designed to be fun and engaging for patients. Many of them include arcades, movie theaters, crafts activities, and Pop Spirit Celebration themes for decor.
“We are maniacally focused on the patient experience from starting on the phone to when they enter the lobby all the way through to when we give a tour,” Zarrabi said. “Ultimately, even till the end of the appointment — what we call the epic sendoff. We wanted to change the dynamic of the traditional healthcare patient experience.”
Much of the time, patients leave doctors’ offices in a hurry after an appointment, as eager as the medical professionals to wrap things up. At Rodeo Dental, it’s different.
“We do all this cool different stuff to really leave a positive impression as they leave,” Zarrabi said, adding that his team is big on patient birthdays. “We have fun not just patient birthdays. Man, we’re crazy about employee birthdays and anniversaries. We do a lot of things. We have quarterly events. We’re big on learning, continuous education. We have an annual event that’s incredible — we just had our 10-year annual event.”
That event took place at the House of Blues in Houston, and hosted 700 people. Team members from the Rio Grande Valley’s 12 practices rode buses up to hear words of wisdom from motivational speaker Jonathan Sprinkles and author Capt. D. Michael Abrashoff, who wrote It’s Your Ship. Team members also took part in a game show and talent shows.
As it turns out, Rodeo Dental team members are talented even away from the dental chair. A couple of them are professional wrestlers on the weekend and regularly performed at the company’s annual event. For the special 10-year gathering, they gathered four participants for a wild showing.
“We embrace that. Maybe some companies are like, ‘not here.’ We’re like, ‘bring that here. Be you and show us the best version of yourself and bring that to the practice and share it with everybody,’” Zarrabi said of the wrestlers. “Man, they rocked it.”
While Rodeo Dental already has a quality company culture, Zarrabi says he’s always looking to improve it.
“I feel culture is like this living, breathing organism,” he explained. “It has its ups, it has its downs. You’ve got to constantly love it, massage it, give it attention, and when you do, you bring the best of people. We’re constantly trying to up our game and really make sure we’re delivering, we’re empowering our employees, we’re really giving them a voice to do the things they think are great not just for the patients, but for each other.”
Zarrabi celebrates Rodeo Dental’s RGV offices in particular for their superior company culture.
“I think the culture of our company really started and has just blossomed from here in the Valley. The energy that the team brings here we share with the rest of the state,” he said. “Team members from here in the Valley will go and train the new offices and really help us grow.”
That growth is a focus for the future — even as Zarrabi and Rodeo Dental embrace the company’s foundation of delivery high-end dental care to all its patients.
“I really have learned it’s all about creating a culture that is served around the mission and core values, and then creating systems that allow the team members to really live through and deliver in those systems,” Zarrabi said.
To learn more about Rodeo Dental, visit RodeoDental.com.
