Getting ready for the New Year

December is turning into a bit of a bloody nightmare, what with snow, snow and snow creating collapsed appointment books PLUS the distraction of the annual retail frenzy, just at the time when you need to maximise every penny of cash flow. Sod’s Law appears to be fully operational and I’m convinced that careful cash flow management and a focus on high value cases will be essential in the next three weeks. Please don’t stick your head in a bucket and hope it will go away – get in control of:

1. your marketing

2. your new patients

3. your treatment planning

4. your pipeline management

5. your closing skills and

6. your cash flow

so that, come the 23rd of December, you can rest and open a bottle of something nice, without having to wake up at 04:00 on Boxing Day, in an alcoholic sweat and staring at the ceiling, wondering how you will get through January. Very soon now, Wagner, Ann Widdecombe, mince pies and the arrests following the Christmas party will be a thing of the past – and we will be staring into the cold light of 2011. Be ready, not surprised.