Returning to a hire car for three days this week has had the predictable consequence that I’m miles behind with emails and projects as my beloved working train journeys didn’t occur. I’ve now reached the stage where I’m getting emails that read “just checking that you received my email on Monday?” – does that ever
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If you are running a three-chair practice with £500,000 in sales and 10 people, you can “wing it” 80% of the time and hold semi-formal meetings to create structures and protocols 20% of the time. If you are running a 6-chair practice with £2m in sales and 20 people, you can “wing it” it 20%
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Practice Plan Workshop #9 in Cambridge yesterday and we are still seeing the following: less than 10% of practices have a full-time TCO; of those who do: all deliver a free assessment meeting between TCO and prospective new patient; the free assessment lasts from 30-minutes to “as long as it takes”; the objective of the
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An interesting conversation with a travelling implantologist yesterday, who revealed that one of his sessions was interrupted by a telephone message, asking him to call a number in connection with “an urgent clinical crisis”. Concerned and confused, he dialled the number, only to discover a head-hunter from a national dental corporate asking if he would
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Following on from a comment I made in yesterday’s post… We know that a business plan is denominated in time and numbers – X profit in Y months, A sales of product B in C weeks – and so on. Business plans are about what we do. We measure with spreadsheets. We know that a
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So – last day on the road before a week’s vacation including a cottage holiday in West Wales. Gloucester Independent Dental today and an audience of over 100 at Cheltenham Racecourse will be treated to a very eclectic mix of speakers, including a couple of successful hairdressers, the founder of a digital advertising agency and
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Your strategy is the reason why your business exists. It is what you want to be known as the best for. Your tactics are the methods by which you intend to achieve your strategy. It is how you will do the thing you do. Your plan is the way you will deploy your tactics. It
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In his book “Linchpins”, blogger Seth Godin argues that the best way to progress in an organisation or business is to make oneself indispensable. He created a Linchpin Manifesto which I share with you this morning – a mantra that your very best team members will identify with in an instant and “the rest” will
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This question came in last night from a Practice Manager: Its staff appraisals time, my Principal wonders if you have a different approach or any ideas on this? So, on reading this, I smiled to myself at the memory of conversations in the 90’s that formed my thinking. Technology changes – people don’t change much. You
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The draft service specifications for the NHS ortho contracts have now been sent out. The contract size for XXXX is double my contract value. At first glance, I will either need to employ a second orthodontist, start training therapists (more space or move?) or join up with the provider in a nearby town. Typical of
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