If your team have beautiful straight, white teeth – they will do your marketing for you. No amount of investment in brand, literature, web presence or customer service training will do as much for you as an enthusiastic team member explaining: 1. how little discomfort or inconvenience was involved and 2. how much difference it
Read More

There’s no point in being normal or politically correct if you want to be noticed. Bland gets deleted. Eccentric gets reaction and response – not all of it complimentary. What’s your eccentricity?

Last week saw me arrive back in Cornwall on Friday evening in burn out. I’ve been around long enough to recognise the symptoms which, apart from sheer exhaustion, manifest themselves in an inability to focus and concentrate on tasks. You know that moment when you realise you have been shuffling paper around your desk, or staring
Read More

I have recently started reading an excellent blog from the Centre for Design Innovation in Ireland. Just take a look at their blog entry on the Help Remedies web site (and don’t forget to follow the link through from the blog to the site). A quite beautiful example of how branding can make a seemingly dull
Read More

Dr David Horobin, Orthodontist, Bexleyheath, Kent.     Job Description Practice Business and Development Manager     This new and important post is suitable for an experienced person of graduate level. Excellent interpersonal, computer and numerical skills are essential. A background in the financial services sector or previous management experience would be an advantage. The
Read More

I enjoyed my second VERY positive experience in a week with Holiday Inn last night – this time in Cambridge. Arriving here from Manchester for my evening webinar with Dental Channel TV, I was horrified to find that my web cam and mike had expired since they were last used – no idea why. The
Read More

I’ve just agreed with Dentistry magazine to start a “Dear Coach” column in their on-line publication. The first “test” article is here (actually a previous post in this blog) – but I’m hoping to redevelop the Dear Coach theme that worked so well as few years ago. Keep your eye on this. Oh – and
Read More

A client in Scotland tells me today that his appointment cancellation rate has increased in the last 10 days because his patients are concerned that they will not have enough petrol to make the journey to his surgery. This latest problem will pass, like all others, but we had to discuss ways to reduce the
Read More

Here is a photo of me in March 1998 on my way up to Everest Base Camp. Apart from the Graham Norton hairstyle (not intended, I think I had been wearing a bobble hat for 2 weeks) it was a timely reminder of why I signed up for orthodontics the following year. Which reminded me
Read More

Is it me? I just listed the loyalty cards I have with me a I travel: Hilton Diamond VIP Card (my favourite – when I walk into a Hilton Hotel, the Red Arrows fly overhead) Radisson Gold Points plus Marriott Rewards Waterstone’s Bookstore The Falmouth Bookseller British Airways Executive Club BMW Recovery Tesco Club Card
Read More