Good Teeth × Zou Qifang | "What can I do for you?"

This was a rather special meeting.

The originally planned in-person meeting in Beijing was changed to a video conference between Guangzhou and Beijing due to the sudden outbreak of the epidemic. On the way back from the airport, the dialectical logic of "uncertainty" and "certainty" kept replaying in my mind, as well as thinking about how to approach Plan B. Experience tells me that reshaping the approach is especially important in such a historic interview in the industry. It determines whether the interviewee is willing to trust the interviewer through a screen, and also whether they are willing to bring a more three-dimensional side of them to a wider audience.

It was nine o'clock in the morning. Mr. Zou, dressed in a wool suit with a light blue plaid shirt underneath, sat comfortably in the conference room of the Ruier Group headquarters. The mug on the table was plain and unassuming, its contents—whether tea, coffee, or simply water—was unclear. This gentleman, over sixty years old with a serene expression, had officially become the chairman of the "first Hong Kong-listed Chinese dental service institution."

Founded at the turn of the century, the 23-year-old Ruier Group now owns the dual brands "Ruier" and "Ruitai" and operates 111 dental hospitals and clinics, covering 15 cities, from Liaoning Province in the north to Guangdong Province in the south, from 43°26'N to 20°09'N, and from temperate monsoon climate to subtropical monsoon climate.

He threw himself into the private dental industry when its future was still uncertain. In a sense, he witnessed, participated in, and even shaped the history of the dental industry.

However,

Before today, he was, as usual, the first employee to clock in at the company. He walked or ran 10,000 steps every day, ate a light diet, and maintained a regular schedule.

Before today, he left an impression of being "refined, studious, and self-disciplined," and insiders did not call him "General Manager Zou," but rather "Mr. Zou." Before today, the employer branding of the Ruier Group had always attracted the curiosity and inquiries of dental service organizations in the industry...

On this day, Ruier Group (06639.HK) quietly went public, amidst a flurry of emotions and comments from various stakeholders, including blessings, joy, doubts, and curiosity, lasting for six hours. Now, the daytime clamor has subsided, so let us refrain from defining the keywords that are about to emerge; let us block out the noise of public opinion; and let us take a look at one side of Ruier and Mr. Zou in this specific time and space.

01

"We are still very grounded."

The headquarters of the Ruier Group, located in Beijing's Chaoyang District, is labeled "Ruier Academy" on Gaode Maps, not "Ruier Group." When I asked about the reason for this name change, I noted that the word "Group" might seem more prestigious to the average person. "You should come and see for yourself," Mr. Zou said with a smile, disagreeing with the outside world's perception of the group as "high-end." "We're very down-to-earth." The photographer sent us footage of the Beijing interview, showing that the Ruier Academy office indeed appeared remarkably simple and unpretentious.

Yueyue: How much of Ruier's success is due to luck?

Mr. Zou: I have always respected those who brought opportunities to our era. Without reform and opening up, I would probably still be a bricklayer now. Only then could I go to university, do business consulting, and now run Ruier. You mentioned luck, but I believe that every step we have taken to get to where we are today has been due to luck.

Unlike most so-called "successful people" who prefer to highlight their achievements on their resumes, Mr. Zou spoke frankly and openly about his background. He had worked as a bricklayer before being admitted to Tianjin Foreign Languages ​​Institute. He said he was indeed fortunate to have caught up with the times, participating in the domestic market operations of "Contac" during the golden age of China's pharmaceutical industry. After completing his MBA, he began working in management consulting.

Image source: Ruier Dental Clinic official website

The pharmaceutical consumer market is primarily about market positioning. Mr. Zou recalled that when he was positioning Ruier, it was based on his past experience in market analysis and research. He judged that oral healthcare has strong consumer attributes, and from a business model perspective, it also has obvious retail attributes.

"So we never told anyone from the beginning that Riel was a dental clinic, we were..."Dental clinics serving high-end clientele."Many people like to use the name = category when positioning themselves in emerging markets. The advantage of doing this is that the potential market size is large. In later operations, if you can make the brand = category, it is easier to eliminate other competitors. However, Mr. Zou added a user profile prefix to the category name 'Dental Clinic,' which seemed to narrow the audience, but it was precisely this prefix that allowed the Ruier brand to spread rapidly among the precise target group."

Yueyue: "High-end" and "immediately" are both function words. How do we understand "high-end"?

Mr. Zou: We serve high-end clients. Founders, CEOs, leading figures in the financial world… these people are mostly our “loyal customers.” I’m very confident about this. Riel’s pricing isn’t low; given their social status, they could easily find other places where they could get away with it for free or even be served by many others. But why do they still choose Riel? In their words, “It feels different.”

Yueyue: What does "Ruitai" mean by positioning itself in the "mid-range" market?「Feel」？

Mr. Zou: When choosing Ruitai, it's important to consider it from a business perspective. You could think of it this way: Ruier serves high-income professionals, while Ruitai serves white-collar workers. For a company to enter an industry, besides brand, it also needs scale. Ruitai's rapid growth is also based on our judgment of differentiated positioning.

Today, the Ruier and Ruitai brands each account for half of the group's business. By the end of the last fiscal year, Ruitai's size and revenue were almost equivalent to Ruier's. Clearly, Ruitai's initial conditions were better than Ruier's. Mr. Zou attributes Ruitai's rapid development to Ruier's brand foundation, operational experience, and equally precise differentiated positioning.

certainly,

There's also our accumulated talent pool.

02

“266
"a seed"

"In essence, our foundation is very simple. This industry is still talent-centric. From the very first store, we've been training managers for the next store with each one." Mr. Zou picked up his mug and paused. "Well, it's not really about training."

Yueyue: How do you understand this?

Mr. Zou: It's not about training, it's more about helping. We realized early on that doctors aren't about "managing" them, you can only help them. Help them find the elements for growth and realize their life's value.

Yueyue: From another perspective, how does Ruier's system guarantee talent development?

Mr. Zou: What we do: campus recruitment. In the early days, many people laughed at us, saying we were "stupid and clumsy," because everyone knew that a recent doctor graduate couldn't do much. We were probably the first dental (service) organization to recruit fresh graduates from universities.

Yueyue: What were your considerations at the time?

Mr. Zou: Hmm. A student asked me the same question back then. I remember our first campus recruitment event was at West China Hospital in 2005. I went to give a presentation, and it was packed to capacity.

Back then, a junior colleague asked me if I was worried about hiring young doctors. He probably meant to ask what we were thinking at the time. I told him that I didn't have high expectations for him within the first five years; I was willing to give myself five years. But I hoped that after five years, he would become a pillar of the company's development. We still adhere to this philosophy to this day.

That's how we got here, little by little, and the results are obvious. This group of people is now the backbone of our team, the core of our core. They are now fully integrated into the Riel culture; they say they are "a group you can't drive away even if you try." Like I said before, you have to give talent time, absolutely.

Today, there are 266 dentists at Ruier who have worked for more than 5 years, accounting for more than 30% of the total number of dentists. Mr. Zou understands the relationship between personal ideals and corporate ideals as a reinforcing loop, which he calls Ruier's "266 seeds," the foundation of Ruier.

Yueyue: Can it be understood that it was the culture of Riel that attracted them?

Mr. Zou: Initially, it was about growth opportunities; everyone wants to pursue their ideals. What we do is help them realize their ideals. On this basis, we formed our overall ideal. Now we have these "266 seeds," and with the foundation of human resources, theoretically, we can achieve geometric growth. For example, the Ruier Group currently has over 100 stores; theoretically, we can open another 100, and when we have 200, we can open another 200. But this takes time and requires the right environment. However, we already have the foundation for rapid development.

According to Mr. Zou, a dentist who can be called "mature" needs five years to lay a foundation and ten years to become mature in the Ruier system, which also requires the building and integration of a support team.He expressed concern about the "rushed growth" phenomenon in the dental industry, saying, "How many people are still willing to get rich slowly?"

03

"Being a good person. It sounds easy."
It's quite difficult to do.

Many outside observers say that Ruier has been waiting for this day and can't wait any longer. But Ruier believes it has never been a company that wins through speed, not even in the dental industry. I asked Mr. Zou if people, after seeing so much of the world's allure, tend to oversimplify the definition of success, equating it solely with wealth accumulation."Defining it as wealth growth is not wrong, you can define it however you want, but it's not about getting rich overnight, there's no such thing in the world."

Looking back, Ruier's early success was indeed due to a confluence of favorable circumstances, but those involved at the time couldn't grasp the bigger picture or take a long-term perspective; otherwise, they would have fallen into the cognitive fallacy of "successful person bias." Although the situation was uncertain at the time, around the turn of the millennium, Ruier had already begun inviting foreign experts to China for training and sending doctors abroad for advanced studies. The brand influence, academic resources, management experience, and talent development model accumulated over the years laid the foundation for Ruier's development and accelerated growth. But all in all, it took more than twenty years of accumulation.

Yueyue: Is it possible that an "uncertain" social environment makes people more likely to choose immediate gratification?

Mr. Zou: On the contrary, I think the development of the industry is the most "certain" thing. There can't be anything more certain than that.

Yueyue: But the risk of "uncertainty" is objectively present, and the impact of external factors is also compounding.

Mr. Zou: It does exist, but only for now. I have some reliable data I've seen: China's per capita spending on dental care is currently around $15, while the US per capita spending is over $400. However, when the US had a per capita GDP of $10,000 in 1975, dental care spending was only around $23. Now, China has a huge opportunity to go from $15 to $400.

• In 2019, China's per capita GDP was US$11,000; the United States' per capita GDP was US$65,000; and the average US expenditure on dental services (out-of-pocket + insurance + subsidies) reached US$425.91. (Source: National Bureau of Statistics of China; California Health Care Almanac - Health Care Costs 101 (June 2021), page 27)

Yueyue: This is theoretical data. What factors affect this "certainty"?

Mr. Zou: I still think there is no uncertainty in the industry, but what is uncertain? It's whether you can grasp it yourself. Those who can grasp it are those who can calm down and lay a solid foundation and those who can step out of the circle.

Yueyue: How does Ruier grasp this "certainty"?

Mr. Zou: First, perseverance; second, innovation. In the end, you suddenly realize that as long as you do one thing right, everything else becomes relatively easy. Being a "good person" sounds easy, but it's quite difficult in practice.

Yueyue: Can this be understood as part of Ruier's corporate culture? How do you interpret the "good people" mentioned here?

Mr. Zou:In fact, every culture has a core pillar behind it, which is your core values.Let me give you an example: One child finds a penny and might hand it to a policeman; another child might keep it in their pocket; yet another child might see a penny in your hand and try to snatch it. You see, this shows that everyone acts differently, and it's entirely a choice. Values ​​are a choice. But morality is actually a social convention; you don't have a choice about it.

Therefore, our values ​​are very simple.Honesty, professionalism, and being a good person.Therefore, within our organization, as long as you do things in accordance with these three points, you are on the right track.

Yueyue: So, is it "human nature is inherently good" or "it is acquired through learning"?

Mr. Zou: Both aspects play a role, and I even think that acquired knowledge has a greater influence. "One's environment shapes one's character," meaning that people are influenced by their environment.Those of us working in the dental healthcare industry in China today are facing a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

There's a trendy term these days called "involution," meaning that none of us can finish everything. So, as long as we do our own jobs well and the industry environment improves, market demand will be released rapidly. If everyone recognizes this, I believe it will greatly promote the development of the industry.

Postscript

Today's content isn't about defining a brand, but rather a fragment of a brand trust story: they are willing to trust young people, trust customers, and trust themselves. In sharing these stories of trust, a shared brand memory and values ​​are formed. As Mr. Zou stated, "In our morning meetings, we simply share stories that happen around us." This interactive mechanism, seemingly simple and unpretentious, has, through years of consistent practice, enabled everyone in the company to participate in building the brand story. Many of these everyday details, some perhaps forgotten over time, and others never mentioned in public, are etched into the hearts of employees and customers.

Think about how we often start our communication with "I," but in reality, there is never an "I," only "we." It is because of the existence of "we" that we have self-affirmation in interactive relationships.If we are fortunate enough to encounter only kind people and good deeds in life, our attitudes and values ​​may subtly change. This is the "field of kindness" and "goodwill" that every generation of professionals in this industry should create. It is through interactions with the people and things around us that more young people will learn to distinguish right from wrong, to know what is fast and slow, and to understand how to make their own choices in life and career—this is a blessing for the industry.

Twenty-three years have passed. In the wrinkles of time, after the bells rang, the "us" of Riel may not be perfect yet, but what is certain is that a brand with such qualities will have many more new "us" and will continue to write new brand stories.

Mr. Zou often said something quite interesting internally: "What can I do to help you?" This includes you, me, and us. Perhaps this is the best footnote to the development of the Ruier brand to this day, on this special day.

• Mr. Zou enjoys reading. He says his reading might stem from a kind of anxiety; he's always worried that his abilities aren't sufficient to support the growth of a rapidly developing company, "so you have to keep learning." He enjoys the process of reading, believing that the words authors write with care demonstrate their deep thinking and consideration. Deep reading is like having a conversation with an excellent person, and that they are genuinely engaged in a dialogue with you. Mr. Zou is currently reading *The Turning Point*, and also recommended Kahneman's *Thinking, Fast and Slow* and his new book *Noise*. At the end of the interview, I looked at *Noise* on the table and recalled a colleague who has worked with Mr. Zou for many years saying: He seems to be practicing what he preaches in his life so far.Knowledge changes destiny, culture changes organizations.

Edited by: Arendt

Graphic Designer: Texture

Producer: Yue Yue

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