Lessons from Local Leaders:

Jenn Sullivan & Susie Silva

The Orthodontic Patient Experience Revolution: Lessons from C1C Consulting

In today’s competitive healthcare landscape, patients aren’t just buying treatments—they’re buying experiences. This philosophy is at the heart of what Susie Silva and Jenn Sullivan, co-founders of Customer First Consulting (C1C) and Loudoun County Orthodontics, have built their business around. Their journey from orthodontic practitioners to consultants to practice owners offers valuable insights for anyone in patient-facing healthcare.

The pair’s story begins with their shared experience working in a successful orthodontic practice where they developed their patient-first approach. After reaching a ceiling in their growth there, a casual conversation with Jenn’s husband sparked the idea to start their consulting business in 2019. Just months before COVID hit, they launched C1C to help orthodontic practices across the country improve their operations and patient experience. Their consulting work eventually led them to open their own practice in Leesburg, creating a “teaching hospital” model where they could demonstrate their methods in action and train future consultants.

What sets their approach apart is their unwavering commitment to creating memorable patient experiences. “We want our patients feeling better walking out than they walked in,” explains Susie. This means knowing patients personally, greeting them warmly, offering beverages and treats (including their signature snickerdoodle cookies), and giving new patients comprehensive office tours. The practice environment itself is designed to feel modern yet calm—more like a spa than a sterile medical facility. This approach has created such a distinctive experience that patients frequently comment they’ve never experienced anything like it in healthcare.

The duo’s philosophy on hiring is equally distinctive. Rather than prioritizing experience, they focus on personality and values alignment. “Personality you can’t change, but you can train just about anyone,” Susie notes. One revealing interview question they ask candidates: how have you given back to your community recently? This question helps identify people who are naturally service-oriented and likely to go above and beyond for patients. They believe strongly that culture starts at the top, with leaders who recognize team members’ contributions and provide clear expectations.

For practices struggling with staff turnover, they recommend implementing incentive systems that reward team members who help grow the practice. They also emphasize the importance of “weeding out” team members who don’t fit the culture, despite the common fear of losing technically skilled staff. Their experience has shown that protecting the team’s culture ultimately creates a more stable workforce.

Balancing their roles as consultants, practice owners, mothers, and community volunteers isn’t easy. Both women credit their support systems—particularly Jenn’s mother and husband—with making their demanding schedule possible. They typically spend Mondays and Tuesdays traveling to client practices across the country, then work at their Leesburg office Wednesday through Friday, while still making time for family and community involvement.

Looking ahead, their vision includes expanding their workshop offerings to bring clients to Leesburg, where they can see the C1C methodology in action. Their ultimate goal is for practices they work with to be known in their communities for exceptional experiences and excellent clinical outcomes. As Susie puts it, they want patients to say, “If you want to be treated well, that’s where you go.”

What makes their story particularly inspiring is that they built their business without having all the steps planned out in advance. As Susie shares, “You don’t have to know the how. You just take a step forward.” This leap of faith, grounded in their shared values and complementary personalities, has allowed them to create something truly special in the orthodontic world—practices where both patients and team members thrive.

Reach Jenn & Susie Below