Chris Barrow’s Blog

• Grilled pork chops with broccoli and beans. Cooking with Jamie again. #
• On my way up North #
• Made it to Strensham services and it's brass monkeys  #
• arrived Altrincham and its even colder – central heating on and I'm off to Tesco #
• Off to a big recruitment meeting with an open mind #
• perfect day so far – a good conversation with intelligent people at the right level – I love my work #
• Really quite worried about heading for Scotland and snow tomorrow #
• why are there ladybirds all over my apartment? #
• Phew! 2 solid hours of emails – business is booming – coaching rocks! #
• now I'm going to make myself some smoked salmon and scrambled eggs… #
• Hamilton services, M74, slush. And a flat White at Costa served by a smiling girl. #
• In Hilton heaven this evening – the snow is falling outside… #
• OK world – I need to switch off and watch the football – see ya tomorrow. Its a winter wonderland here – and my car is buried – aargh. #
• still snowing this morning – not sure if I will get out of the car park… #
• Real Scottish porridge – lovely #
• car buried and abandoned for the day – client on the way to pick me up #
• Presenting to 100+ people for Fife Dental Care today – one of my favourite gigs of the year. The rain pours. #
• OMG – its just started snowing again #
• http://bit.ly/9bngmA time for a bite to eat. Dog tired. #
• Waited 25 minutes now and no food. Becoming sociopathic. #
• http://bit.ly/9ZtYWK very relieved to be back at my Fortress of Solitude #
• That Saturday morning burned out feeling. First time this year. Tea in bed. #
• Thank you City #
• up and about with very slight fuzzy head from a great night. Pootling about this morning, football this afternoon! #

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Here’s a formula to open a brand new private squat and recruit 218 new patients in the first 6 weeks (during a recession and in the middle of a three-month snow storm).

1. Plan carefully – spend 12 months building the detail
2. Get the right external advisors involved early
3. Location, location, location – a demographic that wants what you like to do
4. A need – for quality private dentistry in an affluent town
5. Footfall or drive by – make sure plenty of people can see you
6. Selected local advertising
7. Hiring the right people (in this case, mature, intelligent, articulate and well-presented people on reception and in nursing)
8. Branding – a strong and distinctive brand
9. Environment – lovely concierge class premises in a small and slightly out of town office unit
10. Parking – easy and plenty
11. Availability – no waiting times for appointments (i know that will change – we were discussing the same)
12. Bring in business heads – in this case a brother who is a talented lawyer and a business coach!
13. A membership scheme (administered by Practice Plan)

I could go on.

A lovely day with Rachael Blyth and the team yesterday – and my special thanks to Rachael and Ross for pushing my car out of the snow at the Hydro last night!

The team at The Hilton Dunblane wear lapel badges with the number “10″.

I ask at reception “why?”

“So that we can make your stay a 10 out of 10 Mr Barrow.”

Orhan Pamuk’s novel of the same name paints a grim picture of the breakdown in society after a local military coup.

We do seem to be obsessed with Apocolyptic stories, from the ludicrous 2012 to the fearsomely gripping The Road. Even the good old BBC have tried to scare us with Day of the Triffids and Survivors. Hollywood seems to prefer lone African-Americans wandering the streets in super-charged muscle cars.

Given that all great civilisations rise and fall, I wonder if the Persians, Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, Aztecs, French, Austro-Hungarians, French, Germans did the same?

As the “developed world” declines and as China, India and South America rise, perhaps we need to take careful notice of the more intelligent prophets of doom.

I’m currently reading The Rapture. It’s a good yarn on a similar theme.

Why are we so fascinated with tales of the demise of humanity?

Its not very often I “gush” at a new hotel – but this evening I’m amazed by my first visit to this location.

The Dunblane Hotel has been here since 1878 but after a £12m refit by Doubletree/Hilton has re-branded and re-launched as at September last.

My Diamond VIP Hilton status (Clooney is such a copycat) entitles me to a free room upgrade – but I was not prepared for my beautiful bedroom and separate lounge , for the magnificent common areas and for the enthusiasm of Gordon the receptionist, the bar staff and others, who all wanted to tell me how excited they were to be working here.

Very ironic given my blog post earlier today.

As the location is 40 minutes drive from both Glasgow and Edinburgh, I’ll be re-thinking my accommodation when in Scotland – and have already spotted an excellent location for Mastermind meetings.

A full set of photos are on my Facebook site – check out my room.

Travel sucks – but every now and then it doesn’t.

Off to the bar in a moment for a light supper.

An exciting day tomorrow catching up on the recent birth of a new dental practice – in fact I’m almost visiting mother and baby in the business maternity ward – of which more later in the week.

Dentistry for a long time has been the preserve of a combination of low wages and mushroom management.

I imagined a Friday afternoon, somewhere near the end of Dental School, when budding graduates were taken into a dimmed room and the “secret” of successful employment was revealed:

“pay them low wages and keep them in the dark”

How times have changed (although sadly, not some principals).

Survey after survey reveals that the best employees count “money” as the fourth most important aspect of a job that they care about, with “appreciation”, a “sense of purpose in what they do” and “a career pathway” ranked higher.

A similar story around associate recruitment, with the mythology that associates are interested only in making the most money for the least effort.

My experience is that this behaviour manifests itself in the absence of

• a strong brand that the team are proud of
• effective leadership
• robust marketing systems
• concierge class customer service
• modern brand standards
• excellent physical surroundings and equipment
• a future vision

Stephen Covey is often quoted:

“if there is a problem with your team – the problem is you!”

And I have had occasion to use that phrase many times – even in the last few weeks.

An unattributed phrase is that “a workforce is s group of people being forced to work together”.

I still get those “can you come and fix my team?” calls – and without fail, the conversation eventually focuses on what the employer needs to do to make the workplace a place worth caring about.

Do that – and the right people rise to occasion.

Since the New Year began, I’ve had more then on email along the following lines:

“Chris

and my initial reply:

“Morning

Funny you should mention that – because its the second time in a week that this has come up.

I reckon a good subject for a blog post – don’t you?

When I joined IDH it was made very clear that any references to them were to be avoided in my e-scribbles – ezine, blog, Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin – not because they have anything to hide but because that’s commercial confidentiality – and I agree with that.

CLICK HERE for an interesting view.

My take on this is that, in future, all employment contracts should include a clause that prohibits sharing confidential information, including any comment that could bring the business into disrepute or damage the businesses reputation with suppliers, existing and future customers or existing and future employees.

In the absence of such a clause – nothing much you can do – expect post back that you appreciate how she feels.”

and the client responds:

“I do have pretty clear guidelines for employees and they each have a copy
one such clause being

I am one of the 300m+ people who use Facebook (although happily NOT one of the 80m who play Farmville – or any other MMORPG for that matter) – and I have to admit that I enjoy it as a social networking medium – and become increasingly fascinated at the business applications via pages and groups.

But I’ve learned a few lessons along the way:

• don’t “befriend” people you don’t really know – they are probably trying to sell you a coaching programme!
• what you meant when you wrote that and what the other person thought you meant can be very different and troublesome (same goes for emails)
• don’t imagine for one minute that its in any way confidential – people who you don’t want as friends but who want to stalk you – will find a way
• refer back to my blog post on Friday afternoon about the intrusiveness of some sales organisations who are now using Facebook to trawl for you
• finally – don’t be so astonishingly stupid as to update your profile with disparaging comments about your job – or anything/anybody else for that matter

Perhaps a timely reminder of Paddi Lund’s Courtesy System, which still hangs on the wall right next to my desk.

We live in a 24/7/365 global, digital, just-in-time, real-time village – and there is no such thing as a secret.

For the employers reading – perhaps a new clause in your contracts?

• It is so important to take time away from the coal face. Time to think. #
• Don't ask me to "fix your team" unless you have a compelling vision #
• London – cold, grey, pouring with rain. Where's my Dream Cat? Where's my girl? Where is the warm sun? #
• This evening – Dental Angels gig at The Soho Theatre , 21 Dean Street – CB live and uncut from 18:30. http://tinyurl.com/yzb3tv8 #
• Are you a drain or a radiator? #
• Busy day "in practice" ahead – going home this evening! #
• sat in my train at Paddington – the engine has broken down #
• sat on my train in Paddington – the engine has broken down #
• train fixed and mobile #
• I have a friend looking for a Barrowed-up type dentist in the Gerards Cross area – post code SL9 – can you help me? #
• Suddenly at home with a trip to Scotland cancelled! Annie B cannot cope. I may need to camp at the bottom of the garden. #

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……….and in my face

16:00 on Friday afternoon and my (Orange) iPhone rings – the number isn’t blocked, so I answer (I never answer blocked calls).

Me: “Chris Barrow”

Ben: “Hello Chris, its Ben from BT Customer Service. I notice from your facebook site that you are a business coach and I wonder what type of coaching you do?”

Me: “I work with UK dentists.”

Ben: “And is that just in Falmouth or all over the country?”

Me: “Its all over the country Ben.”

Ben: “And what do you do for the dentists Chris?”

Me: “I show them how to improve their profits by 30% and increase their team effectiveness.”

Ben: “And do you deal with anyone else apart from dentists?”

Me: “Ben, can I ask you a question please?”

Ben: “Yes, what is it?”

Me: “Ben, what are you trying to sell me?”

Ben: “Well Chris, we can get your web site to the top of the search engines, we can include you in 4 BT directories and we can get you on to 118118.”

Me: “So basically , this is an unsolicited sales call from a company that have looked at my Facebook details?”

Ben: “Yes.”

Me: “And you are using my Facebook profile to try and sell BT directory listings to me as well as some SEO?”

Ben: “Yes that’s right.”

Me: “Well thanks for the call Ben but I’ve got work to do – and I already have IT consultants who handle my SEO and my web site and I’m not looking to replace them. I’m not interested in your services thanks.”

Ben: “Well I’ve Googled ”business coach in Falmouth“ and I can’t find you, so they aren’t doing a very good job are they?”

Me: “Ben, which bit of ”I’m not interested“ are you struggling with?“

Ben: ”All of it.“

Me: ”Well Ben, you have just crossed the limit of my tolerance, so who is going to end this call, you or me?“

Ben: ”you are?“

Me: ”That’s right Ben – thanks for your call and goodbye.“

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I know I’m a sucker for a sale – and I love my techie toys BUT….

I’ve just invested £149.00 in Buzan’s iMindmap and the story was…..

• downloaded a free trial of the software for my Macbook Pro some months ago
• used the trial until it expired but did not purchase
• did purchase a low-price copy of Novamind because I thought at the time the features were better
• have used Novamind for about 6 months
• via Mashable and an email from a client, sees the new Buzan iPhone app – free of charge
• download it yesterday (launch day – early adopter) and plays with it on the train last night
• love it – very easy to create good quality maps on the iPhone – minutes of meetings, ideas, projects, presentation outlines, article outlines, brand standards – my mind starts buzzing
• email to myself the first iPhone Mindmap I create – iPhone to Mac
• to open in Buzan this morning BUT
• my trial has expired SO….
• I go to their web site and take a look at the different versions on offer and
• decide to invest in their Ultimate version because the features look cool and
• and I’m loving that my iPhone and Macbook pro can now sync on the maps

So – they made me a KEDO (free iPhone app) and that was the step I needed to take to become a full client for an added value product.

And then they sent me an email to give me a free pack of Mindmap templates as a thank you for my business.

And here I am writing to you – enrolled as a member of their unpaid salesforce.

I know what they are doing – and its lovely to see.

What’s the version of this in your own business?