In June Dentistry magazine and Breathe Business launched a competition to win £5,000 worth of consultancy in return for dentists sharing their biggest business challenges with a panel of judges, including Dentistry editor Julian English.
The magazine received a fantastic response to the competition, with dentists up and down the country sharing the greatest obstacles they face in the year ahead, ranging from trouble with regulators to rising costs, difficulty articulating brand values, filling empty diaries and keeping up with the breakneck pace of change in the industry.
Although judging was incredibly tough, the panel, which also included Dr Simon Hocken and Jonathan Fine of Breathe Business and co-authors of acclaimed book, Moonwalking for Dentists – How to Win Big in Dentistry, reached the unanimous decision to announce Conrad Nel of McKenzies Dental Surgery in Sevenoaks as the winner.
Realising a dream
Commenting on the decision, Dr Simon Hocken said: ‘The response to this competition has been overwhelming and the quality of entries we’ve received has been outstanding, but we could only have one winner. Each of the judges looked at the entries separately and after thorough analysis we picked Conrad.
‘As a former dentist and multiple practice owner I can really appreciate the challenges Conrad has to face as he takes the leap from working in a practice for 10 years, to owning it. His entry was refreshing and demonstrated a true passion for, not only dentistry, but also making his newly acquired business work commercially.
‘We’re really looking forward to working closely with Conrad to help him realise his dream.’
The prize includes an on-site Breathe Business immersion day with marketing strategist Jonathan Fine who will examine the place of Conrad’s business in the wider market and articulate opportunities and threats he will face in the next five years. Once these are identified, Breathe will provide Conrad with all the practical tools necessary so he can cope and work towards achieving a thriving business.
Conrad will also benefit from Breathe’s Performance Reporting service, which will offer an immediate real-time health check of his business across six key performance indicators (KPI) – profit, daily yields, average patient value, treatment plan take-up and practice growth. After six months Breathe will commission a fresh round of KPI reports to be compared with the first set of data in order to analyse progress.
The best possible start
In addition, Dr Simon Hocken will work with Conrad by coaxing out his personal and professional goals during a one-to-one session and four follow up fortnightly Skype sessions, designed to troubleshoot and ensure the new practice owner feels supported and remains on track for success.
With Breathe’s guidance Conrad will create a robust, scheduled plan to get the best possible start as a practice owner, which will incorporate his deeper values and business imperatives.
In April, Conrad and Breathe Business will appear in Dentistry magazine to look back on the success achieved. So watch this space.
For more information about Breathe Business visit www.breathebusiness.co.uk or subscribe to its newsletter update for more information about news, views, advice and competitions www.breathebusiness.co.uk/best-practice-update.
