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Conundrums

Colin Campbell
by Colin Campbell on 13/12/18 18:00
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It goes a bit like this…

You start up a new business (a dental practice) or you’re buying something small or starting from scratch. There’s no point in talking about buying into a partnership here because it’s a totally different thing and you can’t scale that to any degree at all.

So, you start with the new thing and it’s small and you stamp your personality on it.

You brand it, you have a new website, you have a shiny new chair and a receptionist with a uniform that looks cool.

You have an iMac on reception.

You have leather seats in the waiting room and oil paintings on the wall and then you let them come…

And they come, every one at that stage is a huge success.

You’re grateful for anything, any one that will speak to you and any one that will come in and really grateful to anyone that will pay for treatment.

Some of them tell their friends how good it is to have a dentist whose mobile number they have, who they can call on a Saturday if they’re worried about anything.

That doesn’t seem like a chore because you’re building something special.

You get busy.

Your book fills up and people start to wait - except they don’t.

The friend you treated ages ago said they get your mobile number and they don’t have to wait but now you’re busy and they have to wait so someone else comes into the surgery next door and they take some of the work from you.

They take more management than you thought they would, they’re not quite what you thought at interview. They come with baggage and issues and they don’t turn up on time.

They upset the best members of your team and they create an atmosphere but they’re seeing patients and taking the stress off so you manage them (in that time you’ve freed up by them seeing the patients for less money than you get paid)

You need to buy equipment, materials and stuff for their surgery but it grows again and it gets bigger and you get bigger again, but you’re working harder again. So you bring in someone else and you bring in a manager and some more staff and some guys to do things and you train them (in the evenings) and you start to take referrals from local dentists but you have to speak to them in the evenings too but you still have to do your CPD and your compliance and it’s your son’s birthday and you’re later and you’ve forgotten and you don’t have a present for your wife for her birthday.

But they understand because you’re trying to build a business.

All of a sudden there are 15 people in the business, the reception desk is a bit chipped, the iMac is slow and that amazing bit of kit you bought isn’t as amazing as you thought and you never really learned how to work it anyway but it needs to be replaced.

And the associate is pregnant.

And the Practice Manager is pregnant too.

So, you bring in a business coach and they show you how good everybody else’s practice is and you feel inferior and sad that despite all your hard work you never made it.

But it carries on and it still grows a bit and at least you can tell everyone on social media how good you are and how much you #lovemylife so that they can get sad too when they think you’re doing better than them (even though you’re not but that’s what you’re saying)

You have no time.

The practice grows and your waistline grows and you haven’t been to the gym for ages and ages because it’s just too easy to go home and drink some wine in front of Netflix.

Then you realise the mistakes you made when you started.

You realise that free consultations don’t work because you’re too busy and they steal and eat from the business.

You realise that free implant recalls don’t work so you want to change it to a paid system but the patients who are already on the free system won’t pay and they’ll get upset and tell their friends and their friends will stop coming.

There’s a practice opened up down the road and they’re cheaper and they’ve got the new iMac in a different colour.

All of a sudden you realise that almost all of these dental practices have a ceiling (no matter who we are) and when you reach that ceiling you stop growing and then there has to be something else, something else that makes it worthwhile, something else that makes you get up in the morning to come in.

Then you realise if you had that something else from the start your place would be so much better now because to force it in from here, to change the model from one, which gave you a lifestyle and a social media presence and shiny baubles and bangles, doesn’t cut it now after 5 or 10 years.

It’s common this story, I’ve lived it myself.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again… quality dentistry and quality healthcare is not scale able. Not to the degree you think it is and not like a tech company.

As I look around, as I watch and observe, I see lots of people coming to the end of their 5 and 10 year cycles and looking up and realising it’s almost impossible to make it any bigger and maintain the way they do it, and if they scale it now the quality will drop and the whole essence of what they have will cease to be.

It has to be bigger than you, it has to be better than you, it has to contribute to something other than you.

 

Blog Post Number: 1854

 

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From time to time I get requests from people to try and help them find a good dentist to go and work at their practice. Sometimes I’ll say yes and sometimes I’ll say no depending on the practice that’s asking but recently, one of our referring dentists in the Nottinghamshire area has asked me to try and help find the right associate.

They have a fantastic practice and the two guys that run it are brilliant dentists.

It’s majority private on a decent capitation scheme and there’s the opportunity to do whatever type of work you like and develop yourself as an individual.

There will be some NHS commitment, the person who is leaving has been there for 30 years and has managed a private list on 2 days a week for that time but the Principals are quite convinced that the new person will need at least 3 days to manage the same list.

You need to be a really good communicator and someone who is interested in doing high quality dentistry and developing yourself as a professional and individual. For the right person it’s probably the dream job.

If you’re interested then let me know and I’ll put you in touch.

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Colin Campbell
Written by Colin Campbell
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