Thursday 26 January 2012

Time to face reality

"Irrespective of how great you are, it is your weaknesses that will give others a competitive advantage and undermine your success.”
 
It is a scary and yet realistic fact!
 
You may be an excellent clinician and have more letters after your name than an alphabet that that is not enough to create a successful profitable business.
You know this is true, you have seen the radiographs at the defence union lectures, incredibly complex work that is being done by dentists who do not have the competency to undertake the work. You may have the clinical skills and not the patients to provide the work for. It’s frustrating isn’t it.
 
So why is it patients are spending money with dentists who don’t have the clinical expertise?
They have other talents. They will have developed skills in building rapport, communication and sales. These skills may have been learnt or they may be naturally gifted communicators.
Neither one of these skill sets is enough to build a long term sustainable practice. Dentists with great communication skills and poor clinical skills may be less likely to get sued, and their lack of clinical expertise will come back to haunt them eventually and their practices will suffer. If you have great clinical skills and under developed communication skills your will always have challenges building your patient base.
 
So where are your weaknesses in your skill sets?
 

Where are you giving other practices a competitive advantage?
 
Common areas that practices who want to succeed are honing are;
  • Communication
  • Rapport building
  • Customer service
  • Financial acumen
  • Systems development and implementation
  • Sales
  • Marketing
  • Social media
  • IT
  • Leadership
  • Time management
  • Organisation
  • Team building
  • Training
  • Values based visions
  • Recruitment

If you were to rate your skills in each of these areas out of 10, where 10 is excellent and 0 is unskilled how would you rate?
 

If you would like some help developing your practice by developing your communication and business skills, call me and I can discuss the ways I can help you make your good practice great. T: 07989 757 884 E: Jane@IODB.co.uk

Wednesday 25 January 2012

Thought for today

"It is not the employer who pays the wages he only handles the money. The product pays the wages"
Henry Ford

Is the quality of your product good enough to support your wages bill?

What actually is your product? Is it fillings, crowns, dentures, veneers, whitening etc or does your practice provide confidence, security, peace of mind, health, beauty and much more besides?

In many ways dentistry is like selling cars, there are many people who buy on price, and those people generally drive a yugo a car at a basement price.

Yet many  many more people buy their car on the intangibles the car provides, like freedom, peace of mind, status, comfort, kudos.

Isn't it curious to note that when car manufactures don't sell us commodity, they focus on providing an emotional outcome the price tag goes up.

What difference would it make to your practice if you were in the business of delivering valuable emotional based outcomes that were provided through excellent quality dentistry, rather than fillings, crowns, dentures etc?

If you would like to know how you can move away from item based dentistry and provide more values based services, call me and ask how.

Tuesday 24 January 2012

Thought for today

"The worst days of those who enjoy what they do are better than the best days of those who don't"

Jim Rohn

What can you do to make sure you enjoy your job today?

What can you do to make sure those around you enjoy their jobs today?

Monday 23 January 2012

Chinese proverb

If you want to be happy for an hour - take a nap
If you want to be happy for a day - go fishing
If you want to be happy for a year - inherit an fortune
If you want to be happy for a lifetime - help someone else

Friday 20 January 2012

"Nourish the mind like you would your body. The mind cannot survive on junk food"

Jim Rohn

What is junk food to your mind?
For many it is lack of sleep, alcohol and recreational drugs, mindless television, social media, gossip, magazines etc etc

How will you nourish your mind
Many successful people choose, reading educational books and biographies of inspiring people, selective viewing of television and films, taking up new hobbies to expand their cognitive capacity, exercising their body, eating nourishing foods, time spent in quiet contemplation or meditation.

How do you treat your mind?

Wednesday 18 January 2012

Friday 13 January 2012

“Messages From Dental masters”

It wasn’t supposed to be like this.

When you qualified from Dental School they didn’t tell you about the stress some of you would face. They didn’t tell you about the high suicide rate. They didn’t warn you about the treadmill, about burnout and about how dealing with Bureaucrats can sometimes feel like bashing your head against a wall.

Of course many of you qualified years ago, before the UK became one of the most litigious countries in the world. And all of a sudden you wake up one morning with the stark realisation that the equation has changed.

And yet there are many of us who are still loving our dentistry. We treat and employ great people. We love our jobs and we love our lives, and the natural challenges that appear in the path of our lives only make us stronger.

So where are you, right now? Do you see the CQC as an excuse to up your game? Or do you see them as an all powerful Ogre stalking the realm of the Dental folk? Do you do 5 minute check ups, or do you spend the time you need to build rapport with your patients.

It’s never about the system. It’s how you react and work in the system. It’s never about the situation, it’s how you react to the situation.

You might feel you are in a dark place right now, overburdened with regulation, hit financially by the recession, your work suffering from self doubt or delusionment. And what you need to remember is that it’s often in your darkest moments that your true character emerges. There can be no light without the dark, and even the bleakest winter is always followed by summer. Life’s greatest opportunities usually come wrapped up in what seem like impossible situations. Trust me, I know.

Of course, sometimes we need a little help. Recently 30 of some of the top names in UK dentistry came together to collaborate in a book called “Messages From Dental masters”. In this book are 30 never before seen articles, ranging from advice to stories of self discovery. They have agreed to share their knowledge on how dentists can improve their working lives. The book contains such well known names as

Chris Barrow

Jane Lelean

Ellis Paul

Paul Tipton

John Renshaw

Kevin Lewis

Barry Oulton

Raj Rattan

Sheila Scott

Amarjit Gill

And many more.......

There is another reason for the book of course. 40% of all profits will be split equally between the BDA Benevolant Fund and the Dentist health Support Trust. Want to know more? Visit www.GDPResources.com today


Thursday 12 January 2012

Thought for the day

"The book you don't read won't help"

Jim Rohn


What was the most recent book you bought and have not yet read?

What was the most useful book you have ever read?

Tuesday 10 January 2012

Thought for the day

"You don't get paid for the hour. You get paid for the value you bring to an hour"

Jim Rohn


Where can you add extra value to every hour of your day today?

Monday 9 January 2012

Win a free dental business coaching session valued £300

To win an hour of free coaching session valued at £300 send an e mail titled January Prize Draw to Jane@IODB.co.uk answering the questions below and the first person out of the hat will win a one hour coaching session free.

The closing date to submit your answers is Friday 3rd February 2012
The winner will be announced in the March 2012 newsletter.

This is what our previous winners have said;
“I have been quite staggered by the progress we have made since we last spoke” RD Dentist Warwickshire

“I think you are excellent”
JT Dentist Ireland

“Thank you very much for a wonderful coaching session. I feel empowered again”
PJ dentist Harrow

November’s winner is Elaine Hope
Congratulations Elaine, you win a free coaching session valued at £300

January prize draw questions
  • What, if you didn’t achieve it this year would you regret the most?
  • What if you did achieve it in 2012 would make you most proud?
Some of our previous winners include
Dr Claudia Muegge
Peronel Barnes
Dr Elaine Hope
Dr Stephen Murray
Dr Alistair Saleem
Dr Priti Joshi

Congratulations to all the winners and commiserations to those who have not yet won; continue submitting your answers, this month it could be you.

Thursday 5 January 2012

Make 2012 your best year yet

CD's of last nights tele-seminar are now available.

Click here to find out how you can Make 2012 your best year yet or visit

http://epurple.eu/communication/clients/handw/pages/854.html