Chris Barrow’s Blog

There aren’t many people about at 6.15am in the morning – so I have the Hilton Gateshead to myself in order to catch up on emails before I drive to Glasgow.

I’ve already received a testimonial email from one of the partners at yesterday’s practice – and that’s made my day before it begins.

It takes so little effort to say a genuine “thank you” and yet it means so much.

I realise that I haven’t spent enough time in Geordie-land previously and that the warmth of the people calls me to return.

Now to Scotland – I’m calling in to see the Isoplan team this morning and then on to visit John Barry in hospital.

Dinner in Glasgow tonight with the organisers of tomorrow’s conference – over 400 attending – a big “gig”.

I’ve just finished a great day working with 50 members of three dental practices who trade under the name of the South Tyneside Dental Group (shortly to be rebranded).

We met at the South Shields Golf Club and enjoyed excellent customer service from the manager, Martin, for whom the mantra ” no problem, leave it with me, I’ll get it sorted” was evidently embedded.

The dental team are predominantly offering NHS services to the local community – and on my drive to the location this morning I passed row after row of council houses, all decorated with satellite dishes – so I knew the residents could afford to pay for good quality customer service and clinical care – if they were asked.

But they are not being asked to pay – because the dentists are valiantly trying to keep up with their UDA targets.

The good news is that the principals have just embarked on a year’s coaching with me and today was my first opportunity to meet with the team.

What a fantastic team they were – open-minded, willing to learn, ready for change – and prepared to laugh at my awful jokes.

I’ve had a perfect professional day and I’ve loved it.

A few days ago I may have been presenting to 100 attendees at the BACD conference (and getting rave reviews) – on Friday I may present to over 400 people at a Scottish FGDP meeting but last night I drove 3 hours to speak to 4 people.

I like to remind up and coming consultants and coaches, who suggest that “it’s OK for Chris – he has a mature business”, that sometimes you do have to take a rough night on the chin – and just keep on “gigging”.

No disrespect to the organisers of the event, my good friends at Isoplan (with whom I shared a great stage in Belfast last week). They had done their level best to fill this room and poor response, together with some last minute cancellations, created the unusual sight in Bristol last night.

That’s the absurdity of 4 delegates (two partners in one dental practice and a man and wife team from another) surrounded by me, by 3 representatives from Isoplan, 1 from St James Place (financial planners) and 1 from Chrysalis (dental finance packages). That’s 6 sales people versus 4 prospects.

It would have been no surprise if the delegates had circled their wagons and prepared to defend themselves but we quickly reassured them that we don’t do “pushy” and everyone settled down to an intensive session.
In the event – I decided to ignore my PowerPoint slides and just engage the 4 in a conversation about financial management and some of the measurement systems we use with our clients. It was an impromptu fireside chat, rather than a formal show – I didn’t even get past my first slide. Sometimes you just have to ditch the slides and speak from your commercial heart.
I believe that the two business partners really appreciated that. They are Chris Barrow junkies and have attended many of the guest “gigs” in the Bristol area over the years – but have never taken the plunge with The Dental Business School.

I’m hopeful that last night may change that – and if I journeyed to Bristol to convince one client to join our programme then the time will have been well spent.

In fact – the other “win” was to agree to call in to Isoplan’s Glasgow offices on Thursday morning to organise dates for our 2007 joint marketing.

Sadly, the other couple who attended, whilst extremely nice people, seem to have arrived with the intention of confirming their decision not to use the services on show. Their behaviour was exemplary – no complaints there – but it was clear that no business was going to happen.

They sat quietly through my presentation and seemed to nod in agreement at the right places – but when Martin Booth started to present Isoplan the fun started – with an increasing stream of negative comments, not about his company but about the whole concept of the type of service provided – a centralised administration membership scheme that allows patients to spread the cost of their treatment.

I sat at the back of the room and waited for a good half hour as Martin did a valiant job of responding politely to the various perceived concerns aimed at this type of scheme – until the penny dropped that this couple ran their own “in-house” scheme and may have been along to assess their competition.

After biting my tongue I eventually rejoined Martin at the front of the room and attempted to explain to said couple (in response to their question “how do we double our membership?”) that the best way to grow their practice would be to join forces with people like Isoplan and The Dental Business School to develop better marketing systems, including business cards, Welcome Packs, Smile Checks and a robust Patient Journey system.

Mentioning web sites as part of 21st Century marketing I was challenged to review their web site for them.

Before clicking through to their site, I carefully asked for permission to give them direct feedback.

“Bring it on.” They said and explained to the assembled (and by now somewhat irritated) room that they were ready for whatever harsh feedback I could give them.

So take a look at their site “designed by a 23-year old IT graduate from Bristol University” and ask yourself what you would have done faced with 9 staring faces before you and this going on behind.

Click here

Needless to say, my feedback was very direct – and not well received.

Friday and Saturday were spent with a group of 6 clients, working on their 3-year vision, 12-month plan, 90-day goals, 2007 calendar and 2007 cash flow forecasts.

It truly was an Intensive in every sense and we had all emotions on display.

Here’s one testimonial I received on Saturday evening.

Chris,

Congratulations for a wonderfully stimulating roller coaster ride that has sent all of my senses spinning! I’m so excited to have finally discovered more business strategies in the last 48 hours that will literally have a massive effect on how my relatively new business will flourish.”

I’m pleased and proud that the 2 days has such a profound effect on 4 dental practice owners and 2 coaches.

At my age (53) it’s quite normal to wake in the middle of the night as bladder duty calls. I’ve become very used to that and can normally get straight back to sleep before the demons and gremlins rush through the “air lock door” (written about previously).

During my working week it’s normal for me to sleep for 6 to 7 hours – I don’t watch TV very often and so enjoy the good habit of getting to bed by 11.00pm latest – and waking at 5.45am (with an alarm call) to throw on a t-shirt and shorts and start my early email sessions before the meetings or presentations of the day.
I know how tired I am because, each of the last 2 nights I have slept over 10 hours without waking – even for a pee!

My body is telling me that its “had enough” – and I have to listen or suffer the consequences.

The last three months I’ve been working at least 6 days a week, sometimes 7 – the harvest time mentioned in my last ezine. I consider that such a pace can only be maintained for 3 months before severe burn out sets in – and my 3 months end this week, with yet another 5-day tour of Britain that starts in Cornwall this morning, visits Bristol, Manchester and Newcastle and ends in Glasgow on Friday night.

Yesterday my only effort was expended on a hour’s walk in the fresh air and 2 hours watching Manchester United v. Chelsea on the TV – the rest of the day I did a pretty good impression of a vegetable.

Probably a leek, bearing in mind my earlier comments.

My mobile phone rings and it’s a London number that I don’t recognise – but I answer.

“Morning Mr. Barrow, this is the upgrade centre – I wonder if I could have a word with you about your mobile phone billing?”

“Well I might do but which upgrade centre are you?”

“Well we are the upgrade centre that helps you with your mobile phone billing.”

“So which company are you calling from?”

“I’m calling from the upgrade centre.”

“Yes – I know you are calling from the upgrade centre but which company are you calling from?”

I can sense his fingers running up and down his flow chart, looking for the standard response to a question he hasn’t got written down.

“It’s the upgrade centre – can I ask you some questions about your mobile phone useage?”

“Which company are you calling from?”

“I’m calling from Vodaphone.”

“OK – so I use O2 for my mobile phone and you are making an unsolicited phone call from Vodaphone to try and convince me to switch from O2 to Vodaphone – is that correct?”

“I’d like to help you reduce your mobile phone costs.”

“So you are making an unsolicited phone call to try and sell me a new mobile phone provider. I don’t like unsolicited phone calls and I’d like you to remove my name from your list and make no further calls.”

“OK Sir.”

Bugger off Vodaphone. Actually,if you click here, you can go to the Google page where they have a sponsored link – click on their link at the top of the page and it will cost them money – I did.

Great opening sentence from the pilot of my flight from Belfast to Birmingham this afternoon.

The passengers are delayed without explanation “indefinitely” and I’m initially thankful that I don’t have a “gig” this evening.

But as time passes I realise that I’m going to land at Birmingham right in the middle of the evening rush – and will have to face the always grossly congested M42 as I head North.
However, a few emails and phone calls later, I’m snuggling into my seatbelt when the Captain announces himself over the radio with the following:

“I don’t know what they told you in there – but the reason for the delay was a fault with the avionics.”

Coaching tip number 1 – don’t talk about them “in there” as if they are buffoons who habitually lie when there is a problem. Next time I fly I’ll assume they are telling fibs.

Coaching tip number 2 – great teamwork Captain.

Coaching tip number 3 – what the hell are avionics? I might be able to Google that later but the more senior people on the flight look as if we will be crossing the Irish Sea with a wing missing.

Lousy communicaion mate.

Great workshop last night, a happy audience, wonderful testimonials from three dentists who are existing clients, a few tasters for our next Belfast DBS workshop in March, a new DBS client who arrived with his paperwork and a confirmed 10th member for our 2007 Mastermind Group – that’s a good evening PLUS a phone call from Paul Nelson to say that he had greeted a new client into our Manchester group during the day.

Once again, the team at the Hilton helped us all the way through and, after a slow start this morning, I’m writing the ezine and catching up with emails in the 12th floor Executive Lounge.

Later I’ll be flying back to England and making my way to Leeds for a 2-day mini-retreat that starts tomorrow morning and will consume me for 48 hours.

It’s been a record three months for sales – the best we have ever experienced in the 9 years of the DBS – and I’m on a professional high.

Business is good – and there’s always room for more.

The most important aspect of this was, last evening. listening to the existing clients report back on the difference we have made to their personal and professional lives – it was kind of them and a humbling/inspiring moment in the day.

To know that you have dedicated your professional life to a “good thing” – that’s priceless.

I have many happy memories associated with Belfast.

Arriving here with a copy of Richard Dawkins “The God Delusion” under my arm, reminds me of the old story from the times of “the troubles” about the masked gunman who asks a visitor “What religion are you?”

The frightened visitor responds “I’m an atheist.”

The gunman asks “are you a Protestant atheist or a Catholic atheist?”

Happily, Belfast is a wonderful city to visit nowadays and tonight I’ll be speaking to a dental audience invited by Isoplan, on the subject of financial controls.

60 minutes to tell them all I know about how to keep their fingers on the pulse of their finances – that will be a mad rush, so I’ll have to leave them wanting to know more.

Later, I’ll enjoy a pint of the real black stuff in the bar.

On the TV news this morning I hear that an 8-year old child has been forced at gunpoint from a vehicle whilst the child’s parent was paying for petrol.

A few weeks ago a Polish student was killed in Glasgow by a known sex-offender released from prison after his “good behaviour”.

Yesterday I watched on TV the family of a middle-aged man bemoaning the fact that his killer, a known psychopath, had been released on a physchiatrist’s recommendation.

This morning, a Warrington man shows the video he made as a group of youths attacked his home and possessions.

Last summer, two of my sons were beaten senseless in separate incidents when house parties were invaded by drunken yobs looking for a fight.

UK prisons are full with 90,000 inmates, costing the taxpayer £1,000 per week each.

So I have an idea.

Every Saturday night the nation is glued to reality TV and elimination game shows.

Ask Sir Richard Branson to organise the Virgin Games on prime time Saturday TV.

Make it a pay-per-view channel.

Tie it in with the National Lottery and take the franchise off Camelot.

Have every yob, idiot, bully, moron, violent criminal, drug pusher, paedophile, sex offender and low life that has been caught and sentenced that week paraded for our viewing.

The punishment fits the crime – petty offenders just have odd digits removed – a finger here, a toe there. But make it hurt and make it live.
The more serious and violent offenders have whole limbs removed in exciting encounters with machinery or wild animals. We get to see the fear in their faces as they realise what it’s like to be terrorised.
And then, to culminate the evening, the worst offenders are executed live on TV in a variety of amusing and interesting ways.

We can even involve the audience or the viewer at home in choosing an appropriate method for these scum to be dispatched.

“If you would like to see the sharks feed, call 0123-456789 now – calls will be charged at 25p and 15p of that will go to Children In Need.”

Of course, top of the bill would be rapists, child molesters and sex offenders – who would be eliminated by the families of those they have hurt.

As an aside – when a social worker or a physchiatrist releases someone who subsequently re-offends, said “do -gooder” is locked up alone with the person they released.

“I’m a pyschiatrist – get me out of here!”

We could eliminate the need for income tax, raise funds for good works, cure cancer, stamp out crime and provide a popular Colosseum show to make an otherwise boring TV evening something to look forward to.

We could also clear out this human trash and provide a regular deterrent to all those who think that there anti-social actions are “fun”.

Anyone for a vigilante group?

It wasn’t an overly difficult question as I see it.

It’s breakfast at the Hilton on Saturday morning and the hotel, which has been deserted for the last 2 days, is bustling with 250 Italian women who are here for a conference (why would 250 Italian women go to London together to meet in a Docklands hotel?).

Here are some of my customer service experiences from, of all people, Hilton:

• Well, as you know, they crashed their baggage trolley into my car on Wednesday night – still no news on that one;
• The new Hilton at Canary Wharf is super-trendy – but I object to paying £7.50 for a poorly presented vodka martini – and I nearly have a cardiac arrest when they tell me that a hot breakfast will cost me £19.90, when I’m paying over £200 for my room. After negotiation the breakfast price is reduced to zero;
• The staff are mainly very helpful (and the concierge team apologetic – I think the poor waif who crashed into my car has been dumped somewhere round the back with a copy of the Hilton Brand Standard shoved where it fits);
• But it’s in the breakfast area that the “suspension of disbelief” collapses;
• On Thursday and Friday I am served politely by a collection of foreign workers – there’s nobody else about so they have time to practice their English on me;
• Friday’s request for a boiled egg requires some translation – but eventually I get what I ask for – a boiled egg. That’s an egg that’s been boiled. Boiled to destruction. I get a plate – with an egg on it – shell removed and so hard that you could throw it at the wall and the wall would break. It’s a boiled egg. They obviously haven’t heard of chucky-eggs in Lithuania. In fact, thank goodness I didn’t ask for a boiled egg and soldiers;
• Saturday is, as stated, a female Italian mob – interlaced with German tourists – so you can imagine that the concept of queueing has been abandoned. Just a host of chattering, gesticulating, shoving women;
• I am escorted to my table by Maria and when I ask for tea and white toast she responds “Oh – I can’t do that this morning, because it’s self-service when we are busy.” £19.90? Self-service?
• So I have to wrestle with the Twittering Sisters of the Immaculate Docklands for 10 minutes to find a tea-pot, fill it with hot water from an urn and then dig out some tea-bags and carry the whole palava back to my table;
• The toast machine is surrounded – no chance of getting anywhere because even if you manage to throw your two rounds on the revolving grill, there is no guarantee that you’ll get the same two slices at the other end – and it’s all looking very unhygienic to me;
• So I corner a young male waiter and ask for a bagel. Just a bagel please;
• He returns some time later with a plate full of pickles. Pickles?
• “No – not pickles – I’d like a bagel please”;
• Eventually he’s back – with some rashers of bacon. Bacon?
• I don’t want bacon – I want a bagel.
• “I want my £19.90 bagel and I want it now”.
• Having obviously conferred, he produces a plate with about 10 bagels on it. I take one and he stands there looking at me. I ask him to take the other 9 bagels and let the Italians have them. He looks confused and wanders off.

Sorry Hilton – your Canary Wharf hotel looks good, the rooms are lovely, but your restaurant team suck.