C O N N E C T I O N S M O R E
P R O F I T
I N
L E S S
T I M E
Issue 6 / Nov 2013
C O N N E C T I O M O R E
P R O F I T
I N
L E S S
Money Monday - the strategy of money
Strategic thinking and planning is about visualising a future horizon
7connections .com
The 20
Your shop window
If dental marketing was not allowed
Will the real Chris please stand up?
I’m creating an elite community
I have shared the various components of a good practice web site
Imagine a worls in which...
A very stripped back version of Chris Barrow,
T I M E
Letter From The Editor
T h e r e are times and seasons
in all things and I’m really enjoying what appears to be a golden patch in my experience of work at the moment. The biggest realisation I’ve had in the last few months is that my work as a trainer, consultant coach and mentor is either about: •
thinking ahead with visionary Principals (the landscape gardeners)
•
practical implementation with brilliantly effective Managers (the lawn mowers)
•
connecting people in business (manufacturers, suppliers, providers, innovators)
An interesting distinction occurred this month, as a result of delivering the first of our group meetings for the Top Twenty Club (T20) and, last week, our first Mastermind Meeting (MMG).
Last Friday’s Mastermind Meeting (MMG) was primarily populated by Principals with gross revenues less than £1m (and one associate who is planning a private squat next year). The distinction that caught my attention was that Friday’s MMG clients wanted all the spreadsheets and the mind-maps for themselves - because they either don’t have the managers who can use them - or cannot afford the managers to do the work. So here we have a classic Catch-22 - “there are not enough hours in the day already - so how on earth am I going to add all of this work to my to-do list - and don’t tell me I have to hire brilliant managers, because I don’t have the money.” Problem.
“The Twenty” was split into 2 days - Friday working exclusively with the Practice, Business, Marketing and Sales/TCO Managers - primarily for practices with sales over £1m.
On the Friday of the T20 meeting I sent the managers home with a to-do list.
On the Friday I was immersed in mind-maps and spreadsheets with said managers, who wanted to know more and more about “what to measure”, “why to measure it” and “what analysis must take place and what course corrections have to be made”.
Last Friday I sent the MMG Principals home with a to-do list and a migraine.
On the Saturday, the T20 owners wanted to invest a lot of time in blue-sky thinking - imagining where dentistry will be in the next 10 years and how best to grow their businesses and, ultimately, whether to winddown their clinical activity and/or build their 01
entrepreneurial skills and then define an exit strategy.
The T20 owners on the Saturday had no homework.
There is a fundamental flaw in the way a £500,000 practice operates. They will often have a “practice manager” who is effectively managing the appointment book, the rota and the clinical supplies and governance. The responsibility for finance, marketing, the patient experience, sales/TCO and mentoring other clincians then falls on the shoulders of
written by Chris Barrow
“ With the right manager/assistant you are an entrepreneur - and if you get it right, you will never work another day in your life”.
the Principal, expected to deliver all of that on top of a 30-35 hour clinical week (and pity the “Working Mum” Principal, who then has to
Whether you are opening your first business in 2014, have an established small business or plan bigger things - here is the moral of
So in walks the business coach, armed with mind-maps, spreadsheets, project plans and 101 great ideas - the cumulative result being a depressed and overwhelmed sole-trader.
You cannot grow a business and a life without delegation of all non-unique responsibilities to excellent managers/ assistants. They are the first and most important assets on your balance sheet.
accept the role of homemaker as well - I don’t know how you do it ladies).
Solution? The advice I give to those planning a private squat. I became self-employed on 1st January 1987. My first conscious act was to employ Mrs Audrey Heaton as my full-time personal assistant and the (then scary) staring salary of £4,000 per annum (my sales that year were going to be £20,000). Before I had a single new client (as a feebased financial planner), before I had an office, before my first marketing seminar. I knew I couldn’t (and wouldn’t) do everything - and that I wanted a life as well as a business (with a 9-month old baby at home and more planned). So I decided to delegate everything I didn’t have to do - to someone who could. Here I am over 25 years later, still delegating everything except speaking, coaching and writing to the my essential p.a. Phillippa Goodwin.
my story:
The bigger you want your business to grow, the more managers you will need to cover the essential bases of: 1.
finance
2.
marketing (lead generation)
3.
the patient experience
4.
sales (TCO and lead conversion)
5.
operations and compliance (clinical and non-clinical)
Contents 03 - The 20 06 - Will the real Chris please stand up? 07 - Your shop window 80 - Benchmarks – info-graphic 09 - If dental marketing was not allowed 10 - Money Monday – the strategy of money
6. team So that you you can focus on your unique roles in the business 1.
Clinical dentistry and/or
2.
Overall strategy
In the absence of a manager/assistant - you have a job. With the right manager/assistant you are an entrepreneur - and if you get it right, you will never work another day in your life.
“They” (my p.a.’s) have lasted 4 years on average (because their lives move on) and Phillippa will be evolving her business next year and a new p.a. will appear soon. 02
The 20
written by Chris Barrow
7connections is 7 months old – and this year I’ve been taking the time to think carefully about how I want to spend my time in the years ahead. I want to focus 80% of my energy on working closely with a very select community of clients to facilitate extraordinary business results, using “what” I know and “who” I know to help them get there. By 2020, I want to be working exclusively with 20 businesses enjoying combined sales of £200m and profits of over £30m per annum – I believe it can be done.
This is an updated version of a post
originally created in July this year – a reminder of what we have been doing here in London these past few days – and again today, meeting with Practice Principals. I’m creating an elite community of Chris Barrow/7connections clients: “The 20”: •
You already own either a established dental practice(s), a dental laboratory or a dental supply company
•
You want to grow up to at least £10m in annual sales over the next 7 years (with a minimum target of at least £1.7m net profit per annum before tax)
There will be no more than 20 members of this community – after that the doors are closed. The exciting news is that I already have 10 “Champions League” dental businesses committed and ready to welcome you from 1st November – the objective of this article is to identify the remaining 10 in the next 3 months. (We currently have 9 dental practices and one Supply Company in the community – I am especially looking for one dental laboratory, one other Supply Company and 8 more dental practices) 2013 is my 20th year of coaching dental businesses and I celebrated my 60th birthday on September 9th. 03
I want “The 20” to be nationally recognized as some of the best businesses in European dentistry (already, one of “The 20” is located in Luxembourg).
I want them individually to be hugely attractive as acquisition candidates, so that not only do we take them from “good to great” but also we facilitate an exit route for the owners. I have the full support of the 7connections team in this quest – and they will be supporting me in delivering results to “The 20”. “We became clients of Chris in late 2007, at a crucial time in our business development. We had just won a National Award, we were on paper doing well, and we hoped we were delivering a very good service to our clients. And yet we knew that there was so much more to learn about running a successful private dental practice. Chris has helped us develop our business thinking in so many ways; our intentions were good, we had strong ideas about the type of practice we wanted to be, but we had no business training and no-one to help us focus our ideas in a meaningful way. Chris has been, and continues to be, an essential part of the team. He is relentlessly honest, thought provoking, and challenging, and we find it difficult to imagine a time when we won’t find his advice invaluable.” James Hamill, Blueapple Dental and Implant Team – Belcoo, Co Fermanagh, Northern Ireland
Quick outline of how “The 20” will work: Results •
The best financial systems in the business, giving you real time access to the key data that will maintain and grow profits
•
The best marketing systems in the business, giving you a steady flow of new patients/clients and new business
•
The best CRM (customer relationship management) systems in the business, ensuring that your patients/clients become ambassadors for your brand
•
The best sales management systems in the business, working with your feeearners and sales team to make sure they maintain activity and hit target
•
The best treatment co-ordination systems in the business, training and mentoring your TCO team to achieve maximum conversion
•
The best operational systems in the business, aimed at zero wastage in the utilization of facilities
•
The best purchasing systems in the business, creating a purchasing group that can buy intelligently and competitively
•
The best leadership and management systems in the business, empowering your people to realise their full potential
•
The best recruitment systems in the business, to rapidly and successfully fill positions in the business as they become available
•
The best managers in the business – your financial, marketing, customer service, clinical and operational managers will achieve recognition as “best of breed” and will free you to do your best work
•
The best growth plans in the business – whether you decide to grow organically or by acquisition, we will equip you with all the tools, models, funding connections and support necessary
written by Chris Barrow
“A commitment from you to becoming an efficient owner and an effective personal time manager”.
Time
Annually
What is your time commitment to “The Twenty”?
•
A commitment from you to becoming an efficient owner and an effective personal time manager (with my help) – 30 minutes
Invitation to a 3-day business planning retreat to establish your strategy and tactics for the following year – attendance by members and the whole 7connections team as facilitators
•
Joint attendance at one overseas dental conference to explore market innovation
Real time access for your whole team to the 7connections support team and to our strategic alliance partners
•
On-line access to the 7connections team
•
On-line access to “The 20” members
•
On-line access to me
Daily •
•
• •
The best personal systems in the business – as your personal coach I will use my 43 years work experience to help grow the most effective version of you that you have ever been
Weekly •
In short – committed at all times to bringing “simply the best” of everything to the table. Incidentally, I’ll be choosing the next 10 members very carefully, to make sure that there is no competitive overlap and so that we can pool our strengths. Through my career as a dentist, I have met and listened to many people talk about our profession. Many leave you with some interesting thoughts and ideas which you are able to take back to your business but only one is able to engage you and involve you in such a way that you actually MAKE those changes- Chris Barrow. An entertaining speaker- yes; Intuitive about the dental worldYes; a personal coach…..? Above all Chris’s personal approach to coaching us has made the difference. We have travelled an amazing journey over the last 5 years and are about to embark on our next chapter. Through Chris we have spoken and met many like minded Practices who have been a fabulous help in sharing their experiences and vision. My career pathway has been influenced by Chris, for the better. I’m a Yorkshireman through and through- I don’t spend if I don’t see the benefit. Having Chris as our business coach (and Lifecoach at times!) is an absolute honour and a pleasure. Jack Cooke, Ashby Dental, Wetherby
Access between members (and your managers) to share great ideas and solve problems
Sharing a weekly positive focus with “The 20”, with the 7connections team and with me on wins, losses and lessons learned – corrections to stay on course – 30 minutes
Monthly •
•
A monthly business management meeting with me, Chris Barrow (face to face), relevant to needs at the time – half-day A monthly on-line meeting of members to share progress – one hour
Quarterly •
Attendance at a Leadership meeting (working dinner, overnight stay and all the following day) that will be hosted close to one of “The 20” and include a tour of their business – to incorporate •
Half-day session on progress reports from members and
•
Half-day training on selected business and clinical topics
•
Guest speakers on clinical, business and personal innovation
A separate full-day Management meeting for your practice/business managers to train them in new skills and create a support community
Ongoing
Collaboration and Sharing •
Pooling of knowledge, resources and connections
•
A private on-line forum for owners
•
A parallel forum for your managers
•
Financial metrics to establish benchmarks
•
Marketing initiatives and ideas – we trial ideas together
•
Systems, Protocols, Brand-Standards for “everything”
•
Training for teams by 7connections and guest trainers
•
Productivity management of fee-earners
•
Sales management of treatment coordinators and sales team
•
Clinical skills development and product trials
•
The best deals with suppliers
•
Cost savings via effective facilities management
Continued on next page
04
The 20
(cont.)
“I’m excited about investing my next 7 years as a business coach creating 20, £10m micro-corporates”.
written by Chris Barrow
Who will support you from 7connections?
What will your investment be?
•
Chris Barrow – personal coaching, overall business strategy, sales management, connection with key industry leaders
My objective is to make membership of “The 20” self-financing.
Tim Caudrelier – project management, intelligent purchasing, negotiation with suppliers
How?
•
•
•
Karl Taylor-Knight – training and mentoring of managers, implementation of systems, content creation and design Access to our strategic alliance partners on all aspects of business ownership, management and growth
I’m excited about investing my next 7 years as a business coach creating 20, £10m micro-corporates that can then either be sold by the owners or will generate stable profits. Sue and I have worked with Chris for about two years now. We have used coaches before who have helped us with designing the clinical and the business sides of the business, we felt that it was time to make a change and decided that we were looking for someone who would help us identify the strengths and weaknesses of The Smile Spa and to then take the practice further forwards. In the time that we have worked with Chris he has helped us in so many ways; He seems to have a real feel for what is happening in dentistry today, and that knowledge has enabled us to identify where opportunities for development exist. He asks relevant questions of ourselves and the team, that means we can focus in on what works and what doesn’t. He has helped us recruit dentists and is happy to advise and help with staff recruitment We are aiming this year to grow the practice substantially and despite the country’s financial situation, five months on, we are on target. I know we wouldn’t have been so successful without Chris’s help. Simon Andrews, The Smile Spa, Stockton on Tees – Private Dentistry Practice of the Year 2012
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That’s right – it will pay for itself.
By reducing your operating costs and by growing your profits by an amount at least equal to your membership fee. Your investment is £2,000 per month (plus VAT) for all 7connections and Chris Barrow time and results – the only additional expenses we will expect you to cover will be your travel, accommodation and delegate costs when we hold any meetings off-site. All off-site meetings will be held on a “not for profit” basis. I will interview you personally for membership of this community and if I cannot identify at least £24,000 of clear bottom line savings and growth in the first 12 months (and more beyond) then I will not expect you to join us. I want to invite serious business owners only with ambitious goals to our existing community of 10. Next steps I am allocating time over the next 12 weeks to personally meet with and interview potential members of “The 20” – I want to be very selective as to who I coach in the coming years. I’m asking for 90 minutes of your time, no charge and no obligation – face to face. Maybe we could meet at The Showcase or BACD – I will be there. If we “click” as people, if our ideas fit your plans, if our philosophy of business and life is in harmony with yours, if we can agree there is mutual benefit and if I can demonstrate that membership will be self-financing, if you can work with the other members, if you can become as excited as we are – then we are good to go. If you would like to consider membership of “The 20” please email coach. barrow@7connections.com
Will the real Chris please stand up? when you love what you do, you will never work another day as long as you live It really doesn’t feel like work right now – more of an adventure and a vocation. Last week at The BDTA, one of the many friends I caught up with was Tracy Stuart, who I love because of her authenticity and direct approach (I wonder why?) and I listened very carefully when she said: “I was recommending you to one of my clients a few days ago and he asked me – what exactly does Chris Barrow do?”
I’m sat on the train from York to
Manchester after a monthly meeting with Gary Dickenson at his team at Cfast, planning their “bigger future”. Big revelation this year has been the opportunity that train travel brings to stay way ahead of the “incoming” and also have the time to create content and THINK. In the last three months I have had the opportunity to re-engineer a very stripped back version of Chris Barrow, focusing 80% of my time on my unique abilities of: •
Coaching Principals and Managers on strategic business growth
•
Public Speaking at conferences, workshops and Study Clubs
•
Writing across our own social media channels and a guest contributor to other publications
and 20% of my time working with Tim Caudrelier and the rest of the 7c team on the strategic development of 7connections – planning our next 10 years. This is pure Strategic Coach territory – focusing on your strengths and delegating weaknesses. The net effect of this has been simply a happier me – even the 7c team have commented that I seem to have my “mojo” back after the distractions and disasters of the last two years. Very true – my schedule seems punishing to those who observe – but as Isadore Sharpe of Four Seasons Hotels famously says:
One of those moments when you want to jump into the lake at the NEC, after unjustly shooting all of your branding and marketing team. Are we so good at helping dental practices to get new patients and grow – that we have failed to get our own marketing message across? Or is it that I’ve changed companies, brands and clothing styles so many times that the audience just don’t know which version of me is the current one? (Note to self – am I the Madonna of dentistry? Different image every tour?) Well something is clearly wrong if everyone thinks they know who Chris Barrow is – but not enough people know what he does and, thus, when to call him in. So what do we do? Here are my top 7 answers to that question: 1.
We help owners to create “more profit in less time” (been doing that since it all began 20 years ago)
2.
We help dental start-ups (often up to 12 months before they open – to 3 years in)
3.
We help established practices that want to get better
4.
We help frustrated owners who are in trouble and need a rescue plan
5.
We help ambitious owners at the top of their game who need a bigger vision – a new quest
written by Chris Barrow
6.
We help successful owners who are looking for a succession plan or an exit route
7.
We help manufacturers, suppliers and distributors who want to create, maintain or expand market share by CONNECTING them to the people they most need to know
We facilitate a 30% growth in profits and a 20% reduction in hours worked by the Principal. We often achieve that by helping to recruit, train and mentor some of the best Business Managers in dentistry. See attached a PDF of the agenda for my management meetings with clients – whether I meet with them once a month, once a quarter, once every few years – 1:1, in a Mastermind group or on-line. The agenda stays pretty much the same, although the focus changes for each client. Now do you get what we do? And since I returned to doing what I’m best at – I’m having the time of my life. Just one final point – in case you were wondering – I’m working at 75% of capacity and I’M LOOKING FOR SOME NEW CLIENTS. So email me if I can help you – and I’ll gladly invest in a no-charge, no-obligation assessment of your needs and desired outcomes. coach.barrow@7connections.com
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Your shop window
written by Chris Barrow
How on earth are you going to encourage someone to PAUSE, look at the shop window and then perhaps change direction and head through the door? We used to suggest that your presentation had to be “WOW!” if you were to have any chance. For me, the bar has now risen much higher as the number of practices with web sites and active social media campaigns begins to increase. I’m thinking that the bar is now set as (forgive me) “WTF?”
Previously
Please do not expect me to PAUSE if you give me static text, static photographs and a dialogue that tells me your provide “State of the art dentistry in a relaxed and comfortable environment”
CLICK HERE
The commonly accepted thinking right now is that video on your home page and throughout your site (and social media) is the best way to influence your Google ranking.
, I have shared the various components of a good practice web site (see my series on Krishan Joshi’s web site)
Since those videos were recorded a couple of years ago things have changed – and I would add a further “P” to the top of the list. PAUSE Your first challenge is to get a visitor to PAUSE for long enough to become engaged and look further. Our attention spans have reduced, following the onslaught of digital media and “devices”. Passing through Clapham Junction station a couple of weeks ago I was reminded of a modern-day Lowry painting as the “workers” hunched – not into the rain and wind but hunched over their smartphones, checking their social media, their emails, their texts and Google whilst waiting for the train home. Whether a prospective new patient is standing on a station platform, sitting at a desk or in their home study – my question is “how are you going to encourage them to PAUSE and look further into your web site – in a world of “same”? The same challenge no doubt faces the window dressers at Selfridges on Oxford Street. Countless thousands of people, dozens of shops.
07
SEO, PPC and Adwords are inexorably diminishing in their importance as Google’s algorithms are re-written to measure influence and not marketing spend. Even so – I still the the “same old, same old” when I see new web sites launched. From a design perspective there seems to be a growing preference for lots of white space, beautiful rolling graphics, product recommendation and demographic recognition. But I can’t say I’ve been “WOW’ED” or, better still, “WTF’ED” in the last few months. I feel as if there is a gap in the market for a web design team to take a quantum leap forward. Frustratingly, I’m not a designer and so annoyingly know what I want to feel but don’t know how to get there. I’m calling out to the experts in web design and social media management – make my day and do something so Bold, Outrageous and Provocative that it will go viral, as well as bring a significant increase in visitor retention and action.
Benchmarks – info-graphic
written by Chris Barrow
There is seldom a week goes by
that I am not asked about “benchmarking” in the business of dentistry. “what should I be spending on X?” “how does what I am spending on X compare with other practices like mine?” So click on the link below to download a new 7connections info-graphic that will show the benchmarks that we have observed across our client base. CLICK HERE
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If dental marketing was not allowed...
written by Chris Barrow
We have carefully calculated operating costs per surgery per day and know exactly what has to happen to make sure that each day, in each surgery, creates a profit. The team are excellent, highly motivated, appreciated and excited about their future potential. Violeta is passionate about her dentistry and about the quality of the experience that her practice delivers. What we cannot do is roll out the 7connections marketing systems. The Collège Médical keep a close eye and will immediately contact any practice who steps beyond their very tight boundaries. So we MUST focus on excellent customer service and word of mouth systems – there is no other way.
Imagine a world in which: •
•
you are not allowed any prominent signage or advertising either outside your practice or in any media channels you are not allowed to promote your services via the internet or external print media
•
any form of overt marketing activity is frowned upon by the dental regulators
•
networking is regarded as an unprofessional activity
•
you are not allowed to pay a percentage of fees to any associate – they MUST pay a rental for the use of your facilities
•
you MUST pay your hygienist or therapist a salary – they are not allowed to be self-employed
•
you MUST be fluent in at least three languages (French, German, English) to secure any position in the practice
•
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expected wages for all staff are generally around 50-100% higher than in the UK
How do you think that would effect the way that you organise your business? That was my day yesterday, working with Dr Violeta Claus and her business manager Alicja Jimenez at Violifesmiles in Luxembourg – a member of my Top Twenty Club. They have one of the most beautiful practices I have visited in 20 years, located in the financial, legal and political district of Kirchberg, on a plateau to the North East of the city centre. A district of the most contemporary architecture, wide boulevards echoing to the sound of busy commuters. I am delighted to be working with the team on the evolution and expansion of the current business. Existing production figures are impressive, with a complete range of high-end and cosmetic dental services offered across multiple demographic groups but with an emphasis on the 35-50 age range. We are implementing the best of the 7connections financial modelling systems (as amended to incorporate the associate payment model), patient experience systems and team-building systems. The quality of the reporting is improving every month now.
Interesting that the inability to market externally focuses everyone in the team n the need to market internally – and the results are as good as any I have seen. It does make you wonder whether we would all be more focused if the same were the case in the UK?
I’m looking forward to introducing Violeta and Alicja to the other members of a Top Twenty Club at our first gathering in London next week – the exchange of ideas will be very stimulating.
Money Monday – the strategy of money
written by Chris Barrow
Strategic
thinking and planning is about visualising a future horizon and then working towards that horizon, knowing that it doesn’t exist in reality. There is no “finish line” – if that were true, the Branson’s and Sugar’s of this world would have retired long ago, rich as Croesus, to play with their toys. Entrepreneurs never retire. I’ve listened to a few who tried it, languishing on deserted islands, yachts or in opulent property in sunnier climes – but they inevitably become bored and return to our grey and sodden shores to dabble once more in the game of business. It is patently clear that these individuals are not chasing “more money”. I doubt that Stuart Rose has taken the job at Oasis to extend a spare bedroom over the garage. They just love being in business (perhaps with someone else’s money this time around – although I’ve noticed that the best dragons usually have “skin in the game”).
Have a strategy of value – of doing something that is: •
the best use of your unique abilities
Looking back – some of the biggest mistakes I have made in my very long working life have been when I have been chasing money – whether its been working with someone I didn’t like but who paid well – or signing up to a big “corporate” vision which was in line with ambition but not close enough in daylight to my core values or unique abilities.
•
of fundamental good in the world
And “yes” (before you say it) I have repeated the same mistake on more than one occasion – which clearly opens me to accusations of human frailty (I confess). I sometimes wonder whether I’ve spent so much time advising my clients to avoid business bloopers that I’ve been too busy to spot the obvious raised manholes on my own pathway (boy oh boy, have I worked with some raised manholes). The strategy of money – is to not have a strategy of money.
• innovative •
in tune with where people are happiest
•
cognisant of tribalism
•
making a real difference to peoples’ lives and not just to a balance sheet
Same goes for you and the world of dentistry. Ask a question before you work with any dental business….. Are they creating better value or a bigger pile of money?
and either create highly specialised value for the few or huge and general value for the many. p.s you cannot do both at the same time – choose. The money will find you – as I hope it will ultimately find me. If I ever tell you that my BIG IDEA is to make pots of money – please slap me in the face. If I tell you that my BIG IDEA is to use INNOVATION to CREATE VALUE – then applaud my efforts and join me.
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Make your business stand out from the crowd by becoming a Bridge2Aid Unity Partner. To date, Bridge2Aid has trained 260 East African Health Workers in emergency dental care, providing safe, sustainable access to oral pain relief to an incredible 2.6 million people. But there is still a long way to go, and we need your help to continue our work. Contact: Shaenna@bridge2aid.org to begin a discussion about how your practice can get involved.
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With thanks to: Matt Cox - Graphic Design mattcoxmail@yahoo.co.uk Photography: Cover
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Chris Barrow - Google search
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Michael Melrose - Flickr
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Donkey Hotey - Flickr