We recently came to a crunch point here at Hive HQ. For years, we’ve been using an ever-increasing selection of software, adding new tech to our arsenal based only on our own research. As this slowly became overwhelming, we knew we needed to sort things out – to cut through the noise and find focus – but we just didn’t have the time, context or knowledge to do it.
In the spirit of practicing what we preach, we tapped into the benefit of an objective pair of eyes. We brought in an outside consultant, who told us what we sort-of knew, but now realised we clearly hadn’t understood. Based on his recommendations, we’ve streamlined and realigned our priorities. There’s new energy across our team.
What was a “that’ll be nice to do when we get round to it” has become “do or die”.
I’m sharing this because it’s a mindset we can all benefit from today. I don’t need to talk about the current industry climate being tough for dentists – if you’re reading this, you’ll already know. However, with the challenges of this situation, alongside the last budget, I’ve been surprised by how many people are doing nothing at all.
The difficulty for dentists is that there’s so much noise. Comments on market conditions are all politically loaded. Your day-to-day experiences will tell you things are hard, but there’s no independent party to tell you why. The whole landscape is changing, even for those who’ve done everything right. For instance, you may have been sensible, saved your money, and bought a buy-to-let property. If so, you’ll now be facing a double tax on your pension and increasingly harsh rules for landlords. The goal posts haven’t just moved – they’ve disappeared.
When I see practice owners struggling, I know it isn’t due to a lack of care, or even a head-in-the-sand scenario. It’s simply that so many people are completely burnt out and don’t know what to do next. Curiously enough, it’s just as Marty Hart, in the greatest TV show ever made (True Detective), explains of the detective’s curse… “The answer was right under my nose”.
Allow me a minor digression to illuminate the point. Sainsbury’s in Truro has been “my” supermarket for almost as long as Hive has existed (ten years). Even with kids, I have never really been a “big shop” guy. Not knowing what I want to cook from day to day means I visit this Sainsbury’s many times a week. For the sake of this exercise, let’s conservatively say twice; i.e. 2 x 52 weeks a year x 10 years = 1,040 visits.
Quite a lot.
Last week I was cycling to the office and had to swing in, for the first time, on my bike. All the way up the hill, I was racking my brain, thinking, “Where do you park a bike at Sainos?…. Maybe I’ll just take it in with me…”. It was only when I got there that I saw it: right before my eyes and next to the Amazon pick-up point was a bike park. And the strangest thing was, I knew it was there; in fact I had seen it more than 1,000 times. It just had never been important to me before.
Much like our tech headache, clarity provided a solution pathway for the challenge. For this very reason, we’ve developed a diagnostic process that zeroes in on areas like your practice, finances, and marketing. From this, we can pinpoint the most valuable areas for improvement: those golden opportunities to turn things around, and make them important to you.
The Diagnostic is a chance for owners to share what they want, and realise what’s possible. In that way, they’re less about short-term steps and more about the big picture. Crucially, we’ll never derail your existing structure if it’s working; we’re interested in serving you, not ourselves. If you’re already getting a great accountancy or marketing service, we’ll happily suggest it stays in place: results are what matter. But, if we see opportunities for long-term growth, we’ll let you know. How you use those recommendations – whether you ask us to implement them, or take care of them yourself – is entirely up to you. We even offer a money-back guarantee if things aren’t clearer by the end of our session (although we’ve never yet had a client ask for it).
It can be lonely for dental practice owners. When you’re feeling stuck, we know how tempting it is to believe the quick-win solutions peddled by people on LinkedIn. But however “amazing” that course or agency promises to be, it can’t – and won’t – solve the big, strategic problems in your business. There’s a place for courses, but fundamentally, you now need to act. If that feels exhausting or even scary, we get it – and that’s why we have a team of people here to support and guide you. We’re able to listen, empathise, and provide the objective advice you need to move forward, without feeling alone.
The good news is that if you have a small or medium-sized practice, you’re probably in a stronger position than you think. Where large dental corporates are slow to evolve – like trying to turn a supertanker – smaller businesses can be dynamic, adapt, and create change. Importantly, they can reap the benefits of that change.
If you’re struggling to decide what to do next, we can help work things out. Just get in touch to talk about holding a diagnostic session.
