Chris Barrow’s Blog

I’m thinking of registering a couple of new domain names:

www.pillar2post.com – would be where you can go to report organisations that just pass you from “pillar to post” when you are trying to get some service. My 2007 favourites are HSBC Bank and Air South West.

www.face2face.com would be where you can record examples of great customer service – companies (like Dyson) where you feel as if they are quite happy to deal with you “face to face” and are proud of their products, services and customer service standards.

Sadly – both of those sites are already in use by other organisations.

I’d also like to nominate some F2F heroes from the last few days:

• the young lady at the check-in desk in Gatwick on December 22nd, who made it her business to make sure that a cancelled Air South West flight from the evening before was re-confirmed;
• Dave Beswick at Mann Island Finance who took a personal interest in making sure my BMW was ready for Christmas and
• all the team at Ocean BMW in Falmouth – who made my purchase a pleasure.

Perhaps we should create some kind of award programme – for customer service heroes?

After Christmas in Falmouth I’ll be driving North today to see my kids for a few days – my 15-year old daughter Rachel has a birthday today and so I plan to join her for dinner this evening.

I’ll be heading up country in my new and beautiful black BMW M3 – which arrived on Christmas Eve.

An opportunity to get to know the handling of the car as I journey 350 miles with a boot full of presents.

The next three nights I will sleep in my Manchester apartment – that usually means early morning waking and so you can watch out for some more posts – maybe a few piccies of the M3 and reflections on the year.

My assumption, however, is that you will have better things to do – and so I’ll be journalling rather than posting.

I’m working as part of a project team with Elmsleigh House Dental at the moment, re-branding their corporate image and literature and recreating their web site.

We have banned the principal, my good friend Tim Thackrah, from the project – the last thing we need is his input (!) and he has been intelligent enough to recognise that.

So I’m working with Cathy Johnson, Barbara Trotter (who is now working as Tim’s marketing manager) and Simon Alison on the web piece.

Very impressed with Simon – knows what he is talking about when it comes to web creation and all that search engine stuff.

At the moment, we have a home page for patients that makes for very good reading. I would say that because I wrote it a couple of years ago.

You can see the page here.

But Simon has pointed out that Google isn’t going to be paying much attention to my language – after all, it’s a bunch of computers and not people.

Google is looking for the key words that people enter when they are looking for a smile makeover – and Simon has done his homework and revealed that the most frequent searches are:

Cosmetic dentistry (15,767)
Cosmetic dentist (2,387)
Farnham dentist (40)
Surrey dentist (5,241)
Farnham dentist (40)
Dental implant (5,060)
Dentist in Surrey (23)
Cosmetic dentist surrey (11)

So we have to re-write the language in order that Google can spot the connection. My first draft is:

About You 

You are interested in cosmetic dentistry 

You would like more information on dental implants 

You would like to work with a Surrey dentist 

You would prefer to work with a cosmetic dentists at the top of their profession 

You prefer world-class customer service, delivered by people who listen and care. 

What difference would it make if you found what you were looking for? 

We believe that you have.

Yesterday’s visit to Blueapple in Northern Ireland was an adventure into a part of the world I had never visited – and a delight to meet with James and Sonya Hamill and see their award-winning achievements.

After almost 10 hours of conversation – 4 hours of which was in their car on the way to and from Belfast City Airport, I am delighted to say that we will be working together in 2008 to help them reach their “next level”.

For a 31-year old – James has achieved more than most already.

Today I have driven from Manchester to Cornwall and experienced mishap, adventure, client calls and lousy service.

The motorway was busy all day and the weather dull and cold – my 5-hour journey was almost totally consumed with phone calls to clients, team and suppliers – the most irritating being a series of fruitless calls to HSBC, with whom I have had enough!

I want a new bank in 2008 – I have spoken to HSBC call centres in 3 different parts of the globe in the last 10 days – as well as three branches and departments in the UK.

Repeated calls go unanswered and requests are either ignored, confused, mis-understood or refused.

I feel like an account number – a unit of banking activity.

HSBC are delivering NHS banking, supplied by disinterested and obsequious foreigners.

I want a bank manager – just like the good old days.

But I count my blessings as my journey South is halted by an accident on the A30 in Devon – a lorry and trailer have overturned.

The Ford Explorer on the trailer has disintegrated – and, thankfully, nobody is hurt – but there is wreckage everywhere.

I suppose dealing with stupid bank employees is a small sufferance after all.

Two more days to the finish line – and Friday may be the most exciting professional day of 2007……..

A couple of weeks ago I saw Blue Apple Dental from Noerthern Ireland pick up the “UK best practice” award at the Dentistry dinner.

Here I am at Manchester Airport, waiting for my early Belfast flight and then a 90-minute drive to Fermanagh to see the practice for myself and spend the day with James Hamill and his team.

I have to say I’m excited at the prospect – and flattered that Breathe Business have been invited in to discuss “next steps” with a business who have just hit the heights.

It proves the point that 21st Century business is about continous adaptation – hats off to these people that they are not resting on any laurels.

My Google Earth search this morning revealed that I’ll be out in the country – I’ll be interested to see how they have done what they have done.

Had a look at their web site this morning – I have some advice to give them…..

I’m getting used to the old-fashioned photo uploader as my previous image manager doesn’t seem to work with the latest version of WordPress.

Friday’s practice visit with the team at Bow Lane Dental Group was an enormously enjoyable experience, working on their marketing plans (elevator speech for referral business card and lots of work on UAP’s) and holding personal progress interviews with some of the team members.

We had some spare time in the afternoon and I took the plunge and topped up my tooth whitening with 45-minutes of Zoom! I also have gel to administer for the next 5 days – very pleased with the results – laser whitening has clearly progressed since my last attempt about 3 years ago.

A very late supper and overnight at the Tower Hotel – where I cannot praise the customer service highly enough.

After a slow start this morning, I hurtled up to Manchester in the Pontiac GTO, where my apartment here will be a base for the next few days.

Tomorrow I plan some Christmas shopping with my daughters (as well as catching Liverpool versus Manchester United on TV) - Monday and Tuesday are practice visits in Leeds and Northern Ireland.

On the subject of football, I listen with interest as I drive to the comments on the appointment of Fabio Capelli as the new England coach. He seems a strange chap – quoted a saying that “a coach is someone who has to create wine with whatever grapes he is supplied with”. Hmmmm – not quite my definition of coaching – but the Football Association aren’t going to pay me £6m a year for the next 4 years to see how good I am at home-brewing.

I do, however, remember my late father’s attempts at creating his very own white wine – our home was invaded by slowly bubbling flagons of strange yellow liquid for months on end. All I can recall of the result was that it tasted lousy and rendered my parents unconcious in less then 2 hours.

Let’s hope that Snr. Capelli’s home brewing will be as potent without the bitter after taste of forced fermentation. At least he has 4 years to come up with a vintage.

I’ll manage my expectations.

I can’t help wondering how the England players will take to an Italian who is quoted as saying:

“When a gentleman crosses his legs and the trouser leg rides up to show hairy shins, it offends my eyes. It’s like watching women wearing their stockings rolled down around their ankles. Both would be a real turn-off”

Not quite Eric Cantona – but on the way.

I can see Wayne Rooney and Steven Gerrard really bonding with him as he arrives in the dressing room with Immac.

OK boys, firsta we gonna get rid of the chest hair – and then we gonna get rid of dosa hairy legsa.

Trust me, I getta you to de worlda cuppa. You do as I say or you not gonna see your muvver againa.

Back to reality…

The apartment here is a sanctuary – a place I feel immediately comfortable as soon as I walk through the door (thank goodness the central heating is working – it’s freezing weather).

It’s “my stuff” and not a hotel room. It’s minimilist and very much a bloke’s pad.

Such a pleasure to unpack my travel bags and hang clothes on real hangers in a real wardrobe.

I don’t have a television here – which can be spooky late at night – but there is a kind of enjoyment about being cut off from the media bombardment.

He wrote on his laptop! Oh well – sort of cut off anyway. At least it’s quiet.

I have just sipped a nice afternoon cup of tea with a dark chocolate Kit-Kat - and I’m going to settle down and read for a while before heading out to borrow a seat and watch Strictly Come Dancing (it’s the semi!) whilst I visit with my kids this evening.

You’ve guessed that this blog post is me keeping myself company – well my Facebook site is down!

Newbury last night – and a pre-dinner talk for members of the Independent Practitioners Group in a local Spanish restaurant.

My speakers fee was donated to Bridge2Aid and so I felt as if I was doing some good as I waxed lyrical to a respectful group of senior dentists about how they had better shape up to take advantage of market opportunities in 2008 and beyond.

Good to meet my excellent host, Barry Cousins – and to enjoy fun conversation with Mark and Noel from Kendrick Dental – clients in Reading.

I was allowed to warble on until 9.00pm – and then dinner began! Well past my bedtime.

Vitello al funghi at 10.00pm was welcome but late, no wine because I was driving - I missed the desserts and set off for London at 10.30pm on a frosty night.

How bizarre is the metropolis that, after queueing to get off the M4 (roadworks at 11.30pm), I wound my way through the crazy West End traffic and arrived at the Guoman Tower Hotel after midnight.

It’s not Cornwall!

Park my car by the Thames and unpack whilst massed crowds of besuited and frocked-up Christmas part-goers stand outside the hotel night-club to add some nicotine to their obviously generous doses of alcohol.

The hotel lobby and my lift to the 11th floor are shared with men holding up women who are so drunk that they cannot stand.

My check-in eperience was exceptional (this hotel are doing it right) and my friendly and patient exchange with the desk clerk had me upgraded to a very pleasant suite, looking out over the river and Tower Bridge.

Its amazing what a smile and some appreciative conversation can achieve with well-trained team members.

Off to the City today – all pin-stripes and bonuses – to spend what will undoubtedly be an enjoyable time with the Bow Lane Dental Group.

I’m in the middle of a good conversation with David Horobin of Bexley Orthodontics, about the merits of this relatively recent innovation.

We are “best mates” with the lads at Medenta and have been happy to recommend them to our clients, as well as offer payment facilities to our own clients for coaching programmes – but (there is always a “but”) I’m becoming a little concerned about the rush towards offering “interest-free” as a standard by many dentists out there (whether it be with Medenta or other finance companies).

The costs are considerable when expressed as a percentage of bottom line profit – and it’s all too easy to suggest that this cost be “hidden” in the basic pricing structure or accepted as a cost of attracting the bigger-ticket treatment plan.

David mentioned to me earlier this week that a relative works in the motor trade, where “finance” is a profit centre and not a “give-away” – so why are so many dentists giving it away?

My belief is that we have all been guilty of a basic mis-understanding of how it looks from the customers end (nothing new there then).

To quote from my email to David this morning:

The more I think about it – the more I think the client/patient should pay for the finance. 

I’m just about to take delivery of a new car and I’ve financed the purchase – I don’t recall BMW offering interest-free – because they know I want the “experience” of owning the vehicle – its not about the engineering, its about how it will make me feel. 

So BMW are selling me an experience – not a heap of (very fast) metal. 

Strikes me that there is an interesting link here with all that blogging I’ve been doing on “commodities” versus “processes expressed as experiences”. 

You would shift a commodity by making “interest free finance” a feature that would avoid the price trap.  

To paraphrase an earlier comment I made on the blog – braces are braces and there will always be somebody who will sell them cheaper somewhere else (I don’t see Hungarian braces or Chinese – but I guess there will be cheaper versions eventually in the UK market – the corporates will compete in the commodity trap area – with each other). 

So the smaller independent cannot compete on price and MUST compete on “transaction experience” = customer service and physical environment and also on “delivery experience” – you are getting invisible braces so that will cost more – and then on “outcome experience” – you have a lovely new smile! 

If you are selling an experience then why would you offer “interest free finance”? 

I think that’s the debate we have had at Breathe Business – the cost of the finance subsidy was too big a hit for us to swallow – and in any event, the “experience” we are selling is “more profit in less time with happier people” so why would you want to discount that or make it easier? 

I’m moving progressively towards the interest-bearing finance camp for the experiential dentist who does provide a quality customer service in nice surroundings. 

I think too many dentists are just falling into the “we can do this interest free” mantra without thinking it through.

Please don’t get me wrong here – I love working with the Medenta boys and want to continue to do that for a long time – but I also want to have the time to think this through very carefully.

If dentists are being trained to offer interest-free every time, as an inducement to close the sale, then (knowing them as I do) I think there is a danger that they will fall into the trap of devaluing the experience and the outcome – and making it about the commodity again – very dangerous. 

I amaze even myself sometimes, in that I am still banking with HSBC after 10 years – and yet their customer service has all but dissapeared in that time.

I used to have a great bank manager in their Warrangton branch – a lady who I met with periodically, took an interest in my business, chastised me when I broke the rules and spent money I didn’t have, lent me money when I needed it, congratulated me on my business successes.

She felt like a member of my extended team – one of my “Personal Board of Directors” as Ernest Oriente would describe it.

That was 10 years ago.

Nowadays I don’t even know who my manager is. Or if there is one?

Do bank managers really exist mummy?

No dear – they used to in the old days.

Two days ago I tried calling the bank to update some information – and spent 30 minutes trying to understand the very poor English of somebody who sounded from the Phillipines and could only work from the script that was clearly pinned to their work station. I eventually gave up as my blood pressure increased and the arteries around my heart began to atrophy.

Today I spoke with Emma in Malta (very nice lady with great English – told me how it was cold and raining in the Med today) – 40 minutes to be told that she could not trace the answer I was looking for and would ask sombody (from where?)to call my mobile phone with an answer, sometime.

I did actually ask her “will they email, write or call me?” – and she admitted that she hadn’t any idea.

I don’t sit in call waiting systems any more – I delegate and outsource – but this was one of those rare occasions when I got caught in the machine.

40 minutes on a mobile phone – Emma had to re-set my internet banking security number twice because the system screwed up, she had to leave the call three times to get information from other parts of the HSBC global empire.

The individual people are trying their best to use a system that is purely designed to reduce HSBC’s operating costs – and gives no value to relationships whatsoever.

Does anybody know of a bank which still employs local people who can look after me?

I’ve so had enough.

But it remains fascinating that I’ve tolerated this lack of service for probably 5 years now – customer inertia is a powerful force indeed.

I lecture on customer service and tolerate its absence – because I normally delegate the hassle to my support team.

Now that I’m back on the receiving end I don’t like it.

Dare I say that a treatment co-ordinator/care nurse in a dental practice or a customer relationship manager in a coaching practice would deliver the service I’m looking for from a bank?

It does make me think about who looks after my clients – and how much I value the fact that the whole team do.