For the first time in at least seven years, the CDA ended the year (2016) with an increase in its overall market share. According to the American Dental Association, 72.8% of active licensed dentists in Colorado are members of the CDA.
“When you factor in that market trend, the CDA grew almost 3% during this last year,” said Dr. Jeff Kahl, CDA 2nd vice president and secretary, and co-chair of the CDA Membership Council.
The CDA has identified membership growth as a key component of its strategic plan and has identified a goal of 81.2% market share by 2020, which equates to an annual growth of almost 3%.
Part of the CDA’s new Membership 2020 plan is to teach active members how to help identify and recruit dentists in their communities who are nonmembers and engage them to join at a grassroots level. The CDA is developing training modules as tools for current members to use as they learn how best to communicate the benefits of CDA membership to potential members.
“We want to make it as easy as possible for our members to communicate the many benefits the CDA offers, both tangible and intangible, to dentists in their community,” Dr. Kahl said. “We believe the key is peer-to-peer recruitment, and we would like to thank everyone involved in the program.”
“We are very pleased to see the positive growth in market share and believe it is a clear result of the efforts and infrastructure we have devoted toward our Membership 2020 plan,” said Erica Carvin, CDA director of membership. “It’s just the beginning, and we are excited for positive membership growth to become a trend.”
Having more members means gaining the ability to have a louder voice to influence public policies that matter to dentistry. It means having more bargaining power to negotiate products that will save members time and money. And it means having a bigger community of dentists who share similar values.