I read an article this week about tonnes and tonnes of cavity wall insurance that was inserted into people's houses on the government scheme that now has to be repaired, fixed, or redone because it just wasn't built for the longer term.
It seems it was a job done quickly for money now, without any thought for the legacy debt or the long-term consequences.
That seems to be a theme almost everywhere.
This week, I spoke at the Lincoln BDA Group. A fancy hotel in the middle of Lincoln for one of their evening meetings at this time of year. It's always a privilege to be asked to go to places like this, particularly locally, and God knows I almost never get asked locally for whatever reason, and so I'm happy to be going.
The talk that Melanie, who asked me to come, wanted me to do was on 25 years of implant dentistry.
It seems awful that I'm at the stage where I can easily do 25 years of implant dentistry, cos I'm heading into 28 years of implant dentistry, but that said, it's not the most exciting subject in the world to do a history lesson, so it has to be more about looking forward than looking backwards.
One of the things which has led to us being successful over the longer term (and I think 27 years is the longer term) is the design and predictability from the start. Trying to build things that last a long time, not because it's a flash thing to do, or a cool thing to do, but because it's the right thing to do.
Being prepared to charge for something that lasts a long time, being able to guarantee it will last a long time, and then hoping and expecting that other people will come to see you because you do that.
You can do it the other way round.
You can do something which has a planned date of departure in the last 2 years in the hope that the person will come back for more work, but that's unlikely to build people who are committed to your brand, your organisation or your future.
Much better to get your friends who’ve had cool things done to recommend other friends to have cool things done.
Etc., etc.
That comes from predictability built in.
Blog Post Number - 4319