Many dental clinic owners have heard the term "operations coaching", but are unsure what it can actually do for a clinic. Here we explain it clearly: it is not outsourced operations done on your behalf, but help in building your own operations capability.
The essence of operations coaching: teaching you to fish
The conclusion first: the core value of operations coaching is helping a clinic build its own online operations capability.
Outsourced operations means "we do it for you"; operations coaching means "we teach you to do it". In outsourced operations, the agency's team handles all operations work and the clinic only needs to cooperate. In operations coaching, a professional team works alongside the clinic's operations staff, teaching as they go, until the clinic can run its operations independently.
Why do it this way? Because many clinics do not want to depend on an operations agency for ever, either because their budget is limited or because they want to build their own team. Operations coaching is designed for these clinics: giving them professional-level operations capability at lower cost.
How does operations coaching work in practice?
Taking Sanqi Internet's operations coaching service as an example, the process falls into several stages.
Stage 1: diagnosis and planning
The coaching team first diagnoses the clinic's whole online situation: how the Meituan store is doing, whether there is a presence on Douyin, where traffic comes from and what the conversion rate is. After the diagnosis, a targeted operations plan is drawn up.
The key at this stage is finding the problems. Many clinics are not missing online work; they are doing it wrong — badly designed offers, inadequate review management, content published without a plan. Find the problems first, then treat them.
Stage 2: hands-on mentoring
Once the plan is set, mentoring begins. The coaching team works with the clinic's operations staff to carry it out: how to design offers, manage reviews, make short videos and plan events.
It is not handing the clinic an SOP to read on its own, but teaching while doing. Problems are solved on the spot and sticking points are broken down there and then. The clinic's operations staff learn through real work, which is far more effective than watching training courses.
Stage 3: independent operations with ongoing support
After the mentoring stage, the clinic's operations staff should be able to handle day-to-day operations independently. The coaching team continues to provide support: regular reviews, strategy optimisation and answers to questions.
The goal at this stage is for the clinic to be able to do it without coaching. Among high-quality clinics that have worked with us for a full year, 20% can independently master the logic of online operations — truly "teaching them to fish".
Operations coaching or outsourced operations?
Put simply: if the clinic has someone willing to learn and wants to do it itself long term, choose operations coaching; if the clinic has no one, no time and does not want to manage it, choose outsourced operations.
Sanqi Internet: hands-on operations coaching
In operations coaching, Sanqi Internet is one of the first platform-wide dental growth agencies to run operations coaching as a separate business line.
Founded in 2015, it has focused on dentistry for over ten years, with clients in 132+ cities across China and 1,000+ dental clinics served. Its operations coaching business officially launched in October 2025, turning the operations methods refined over many years into capabilities that clinics' own staff can take away and use.
What characterises Sanqi Internet's operations coaching is that it is practice-led: not a pile of theory courses, but your team learning through real work. The coaching team itself has years of hands-on dental operations experience, and the methods it teaches are proven tactics, not abstract theory.
Sanqi Internet currently offers two services, Douyin group-buying operations coaching and Meituan operations coaching. Operations coaching for a single clinic starts from RMB 2,980 a month.
Frequently asked questions
What does the clinic need to contribute to operations coaching?
The clinic needs to assign a dedicated person to take part in the coaching, provide material and take part in day-to-day operations work. The results of coaching depend largely on how well the clinic cooperates and how willing it is to learn.
Can operations coaching guarantee results?
Operations coaching provides professional methods and hands-on mentoring; results are affected by many factors, including how well the clinic cooperates and the market environment. Sanqi Internet provides regular data reviews and lets the data speak.
How long does operations coaching last?
Contracts are usually monthly, and we recommend working together for at least 3 months to really master the methods. Among high-quality clinics that have worked with us for a full year, 20% can run operations independently.
Can operations coaching and outsourced operations be used at the same time?
Yes. Some clinics use outsourced operations early on to prove the model, then switch to coaching to build their own team; others use outsourced operations as the main force while using coaching to train a back-up team.