It's about the content

Guest Contributor: Chris Barrow
Chris' Posts - Chris' Blog


We recently wrapped up the last meeting of our 2007 Dental Mastermind Group and, at the conclusion of the day, revealed the plans for our new business in 2008 - a merger between the individual coaching practices of Chris Barrow (The Dental Business School) and Simon Hocken (Jump Coaching).

Inviting feedback from the delegates on their "shopping list" for 2008, we were surprised not by the subject matter but by the order in which it was presented:

They want:

1. Content - ideas and market intelligence, plus the "how to" of successful business practice (toolkits, templates, systems, standards, models);
2. Community - a business club of like-minded practice owners who are committed to a bigger future, and
3. Confidence - an attitude focused on success, inspiration and authenticity in current and future market conditions

Our surprise was the emphasis on content - we thought that community would be the most important - after all they play golf the afternoon before the meeting and seem to keep the hotel bar open until the early hours!

But no - it's mainly about content - about cutting edge ideas that will keep them ahead of the competition.

So we have carefully (and quickly) revised our 2008 offer to read as follows:

For Principals - The Breathe Business Club(TM)

The Breathe Business Club(TM) will be an elite group of practice owners (just 15 at each of our core locations) who are at any stage in their career, but recognise the benefit of meeting together in a peer-group environment to focus and accelerate their progress.

As well as coaching and conference calls, email reporting, and an on-line forum, the focus of the Club will be quarterly meetings, which will take place over 2 days and will be facilitated jointly by Chris Barrow and Simon Hocken. This is a forum for sharing contemporary ideas and solutions to meet the demands of running a successful business, concentrating on 4 key areas of advanced business planning:

1. The Profit Accelerator(TM) - how to maximise the productivity and profitability of your practice using 21st Century business models

2. The Sales Accelerator(TM) - how to increase and maintain the flow of qualified new patients and high-value treatment plan sales

3. The Team Accelerator(TM) - how to build the ultimate ability team around yourself - freeing you to develop your best skills

4. The Systems Accelerator(TM) - a turn-key package of operational systems and brand standards that have been proven in the marketplace

Breathe Core Locations:

• Edinburgh
• Leeds
• Manchester
• Birmingham
• Bristol
• London

And our intention is to massively increase the scope of our offer - from just one to 6 groups around the UK.

In fact, even as I write we are hearing representations from a group in Belfast, Northern Ireland, that they would like us to create a Breathe Business Club(TM) chapter for them.

So we have been reminded of a n important lesson - that branding isn't about how we see our services - it's about how our customers see our services.

What do you do when it goes quiet?

Guest Contributor: Chris Barrow
Chris' Posts - Chris' Blog


One of greatest fears as a newly-trained business coach (that's the mid-90's by the way) was created around the concern I felt when clients either didn't contact me or make any demands on my time and ability.

"After all" I would tell myself "they are paying fees and I'm doing nothing to earn those fees."

Over time, my fear would settle into a deep paranoia - convincing me that it would only be a matter of time before the clients rose up as a body, accused me of being a charlatan and asked for a complete refund of fees.

So I found myself reaching out to them, asking "why haven't you called or emailed me. Why didn't you send a weekly email report, why didn't you join our bridge call?"

I find myself repeating this pattern in the context of our 2007 Dental Mastermind group - 18 principals paying £6,000 each for quarterly meetings, weekly email reports, a monthly call-in day (30 minutes on the phone with me), unlimited email access to me, an on-line forum and a monthly bridge call.

Surprise, surprise.

1. All 18 attend the quarterly meetings;
2. Maybe 20% bother to send any email;
3. Maybe 20% bother to complete a weekly progress report;
4. Maybe 20% attend the call-in days and bridge call;
5. Maybe 10% (!) have bothered to access the forum and post questions or answers.

So my paranoia began to settle in again a few weeks ago - OMG, they are all going to cancel!

But they don't and they won't.

Because they are getting what they want - rather than what I want to give them.

1. 80% of them are perfectly happy to invest £6,000 in quarterly meetings and a very occasional email or call;
2. 20% of them like to dip their toe into one or more of the extra services;
3. And my work schedule is delightfully clear - helping me to help those who need me NOW.

So if I were starting this year's group again - I would still offer all of those knobs and whistles - but I would manage my expectations as far as the take-up is concerned and make it very clear at the start that, like a gym, the facilities are there but if you don't use them, there are no refunds - not that anybody has ever asked for one.

When it's quiet they are happy - they will soon tell you if they are not.

And every now and then there will be evidence that they do actually see you as their coach - such a Saturday morning, when one of my Masterminders called me in dire straits because 2 important team members had resigned on the same day and he was feeling abandoned.

I had a 5-hour drive and a hands-free phone - he had a crisis - we chatted for an hour - and I probably made my year's fee in that call.

The Second Meeting Approaches

Guest Contributor: Chris Barrow
Chris' Posts - Chris' Blog


We will be facilitating our second Mastermind Group meeting in just a few weeks (23rd April) and we are all amazed at just how quickly 90 days pass by.

In my last post I mentioned that our dentists were a little concerned at the lack of formal agenda in the first meeting - so we are introducing a little more control second time around.

Our day will focus on 2 key issues:

1. Financial controls in their personal and professional lives and
2. Creating a support team to whom they can delegate the management of their businesses.

We cover these topics in our core programme at The Dental Business School - but over 9 years we have witnessed a gap between workshop attendance and implementation - they don't do the homework, even though they pay the fees!

So, with a focus on implementation, I recently wrote to my Mastermind Group members as follows:

We are focusing on financial controls and team-building so:

1. attached is a copy of the KPI spreadsheet from the 2004 MMG clients which is long overdue an update - so I'd like your help. I would like each MMG member to send me their corresponding figures from their last published set of accounts - the required figures should be self-explanatory. If you send them to me I will prepare an updated survey of the latest KPI's;

2. I also want to use the meeting to make sure that you are all doing personal and professional cash flow forecasts a la Mother of all Spreadsheets (MOAS);

3. And looking at individual associate profitability where that's appropriate?

4. If anyone needs help with the MOAS and associates then let me know in advance;

5. On the "team-building" front there are two things I would like you to do:

a. Prepare an organisational chart for the meeting (preferably send it to me beforehand) along the lines of the attached;

b. Most importantly (and this will mean you need to invest sometime and money before the MMG meeting) - go to www.kolbe.com and then to https://www.kolbe.com/all_kolbe_indexes/indexquestions.cfm?indextype=kolbe_a where you can take the Kolbe A on-line. This will cost you $49.95 so have your credit card ready for when you have spent the 20 minutes or so to answer the multiple choice questions;

c. Get your Kolbe assessment numbers and either print off the report or send me the results;

d. Your results will presented to you in the form of a set of 4 numbers i.e. 3 7 3 7 - and it's these numbers I am looking for before the meeting - why?

e. Simon and I have been introduced to Kolbe assessment on our Strategic Coach programme with Dan Sullivan's team - and it's a fantastic tool for team building - we want to analyse your own results with you at the MMG and then enable you to use this as a means of building your own team in practice. No messing - we think this is GREAT - so please take the time to complete the on-line assessment ASAP.

So you will gather that I have sent them a small set of Excel spreadsheets:

1. 2004 financial KPI's from the members that year;

2. Personal and professional cash flow forecasts as templates that they can plug their figures into and

3. An analysis of the profitability of the "junior" dentists they may work alongside.

Simon (my co-facilitator) and I know that these figures matter - and we also know that introducing our clients to the Kolbe assessment will be a revelation.

Should be a good meeting!

Tips For Your First Mastermind Group Meeting

Guest Contributor: Chris Barrow
Chris' Posts - Chris' Blog


Many people seem to have enjoyed my first post on Evan's site, sharing the "recruitment" letter that we sent out to invite members to our 2007 Dental Mastermind Group.

Last Sunday afternoon I drove down to Birmingham to meet for the first time with our Mastermind Group for 2007 - 18 dental principals who will meet quarterly for a working dinner and then a full day of coaching.

In addition we will offer them:

Unlimited email access to myself and my co-coach Simon Hocken;

An individual 30-minute coaching call, once a month;

A group conference call once a month and

A group email facility so that they can communicate with each other.

On Sunday we met in our hotel bar for pre-dinner drinks and, to my delight, the atmosphere was vocal and friendly from the very start.

This happened because some were old friends who have met at The Dental Business School (my core coaching programme) and others who have met on our one or two-day specialist workshops.

When we entered our dining room, I asked the hotel staff to stand back whilst I formally greeted everyone and asked them to stand and share with the group:

Who they were;

Where they were from;

A mini-profile of their business and

A little known non-business fact about themselves (my ice-breaker)

Dinner was fun and, again, vocal. I retired to my room at 10.30pm and heard on Monday that the last group of 4 left the bar at 1.45am (I had warned them not to get too much alcohol in their system so, thankfully, there were few fuzzy heads the next day - but don't lose sight of the social element - many of my clients are single-handed healthcare professionals who seldom get out to play).

On Monday (9.00am start), the energy in the room was immediately electric and full of anticipation.

We spent the first hour presenting to them – rules, boundaries and objectives for the group together with an explanation of the support services I mentioned above.

Then it was straight into 2 syndicates – one of 10, the other of 8 (because we have found that more than 10 is too many and less than 6 is too few.

They have in common:

• Ownership of a dental practice
• At least one year of Dental Business School membership.

When we first created MMG's 4 years ago I mistakenly believed that I would be required to come up with sparkling new "advanced" material to engage their interest.

But we quickly discovered they had heard "the basics" but not implemented them all.

So the MMG evolved as an environment for implementation of the standard stuff they had heard me present on the core programme.

The format is to spend approximately 30 minutes helping each client to deal with specifics - facilitated by the coach but helped by all the other people in the room.

Themes yesterday were:

• I need to employ a full-time business manager
• I need to do the Patient Journey basics
• I need to do the marketing basics
• I'm still overwhelmed and my task list just gets longer

We agreed that, in fact, there was only 1 "to do" on their "to do" list.

The only "to do" is to employ people "to do" the "to do's" on your "to do" list.

Delegate to a business development manager, do dentistry, communication and leadership and let others do everything else.

My favourite comment of the day (from a client) - "have you noticed that there is a tit in the middle of practitioner?"

As always, we spent more time with the earlier volunteers for coaching and, as the day progressed, time became a pressure – but the later delegates require less time because many of their own issues have been addressed in earlier conversations.

Although we nominally allocate 30 minutes per member, it is important to reinforce that the objective of the day is to be results-based and not time-based. If the members get the answers they were looking for in 30 seconds that's OK. Move on.

If a member has been coached but complains that there are "15-minutes of my time left" they may be unsuitable.

The day flew by - and before we knew it there were farewells until next quarter.

A truly inspiring experience - I love the "buzz" of the mastermind group - which is why I am looking forward to attending my own MMG(as a delegate) on Friday this week!