Alun Rees

Alun Rees

Author at Dentistry Online

Alun Rees is a dental business coach
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Where does the news come from?

No evidence of difference does not mean there is no difference, Alun Rees says. There has been a Twitter storm following the presentation of a report from the ‘Iquad team’ on the value of the routine scale and polish. The bottom line of its findings, shown on a single slide and then shared on social…

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You could not make this up

With the news Jeremy Hunt will now create an NHS workforce plan, Alun Rees questions what he’s been doing up to this point. I sometimes wonder if I am on the same planet as Jeremy Hunt. The longest serving Health Secretary shows as much inclination to resign after making mistakes as an Aussie batsman who…

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In praise of elitism

UK dentistry should also start recognising those that don’t seek awards, Alun Rees says. It’s the season of elitism, Nobel prizes, Michelin stars and ‘The Best FIFA Awards’. With all respect to the excellence of Ronaldo, I’ll concentrate on the first two. The Nobel prizes were established in the will of Alfred Nobel, who dictated…

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Where are you spending your money and why?

Is your advertising targeting the right people or are you wasting your budget, Alun Rees questions ‘Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half.’ Attributed to everyone from Henry Ford to Lord Leverhulme, there is no evidence that this was anything other than a throwaway comment…

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Premium practice prices?

Is the market for dental practices due a shake up, Alun Rees questions. Sales mania can be defined as excessive excitement or enthusiasm involved with sales. It can bring out the very worst in people; look at the behaviour at ‘Black Friday’ events. The spiralling costs of dental practices have been great for sellers and…

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The market has peaked – now what?

A rise in interest rates and further austerity from the Government could prove difficult for some dental practices, Alun Rees says. Reports would have us believe that the sale price for practices has dropped from the recent peak. After playing pass the parcel for the past decade could it be that when a couple of the corporates remove…

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The top 10 lies in dentistry

Alun Rees lists some of the top lies that are told around dentistry. The top 10 lies that (some) patients tell dentists It’s the filling that was done last time No one ever told me about cleaning in between my teeth I always go every six months without fail My last dentist told me… The…

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Turn it off

Turn your phone off and give yourself a proper holiday, Alun Rees says. The opening words of psychiatrist Scott Peck’s book, The Road Less Travelled are: ‘Life is difficult’ and the dental life can be. I don’t subscribe to the work-life balance theory; it’s just life with work as a significant part of it. It…

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The new man at Ford

Can you excel by offering traditional dentistry, whilst also pioneering new business ideas, Alun Rees questions. Recently I saw a profile piece about Jim Hackett – the new chief executive of the Ford Motor Company. A decade after Alan Mulally halted their last slide, Ford face trouble again. New boss Hackett has enjoyed a very…

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Psychological shrapnel

‘Psychological shrapnel’ is bad for businesses creating an atmosphere of ‘us and them’, Alun Rees says. Cartoonist and consultant, Hugh MacLeod, recently introduced me to the phrase ‘psychological shrapnel’. The phrase is adopted from the system of shells devised by Major-General Henry Shrapnel in the early years of the 19th century. The use of shrapnel…

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The Ten Quid Dentist

With contract values changing, should we now start ending the era of the ‘Ten Quid Dentist’, Alun Rees questions. In George Bernard Shaw’s play, You never can tell, the opening scene is set in a dental surgery. We are introduced to Mr Valentine the dentist, who has just treated his first patient six weeks after renting the…

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Disruptive innovation

Too many practices are copying what the corporates are doing rather than truly disruptively innovating, Alun Rees says. In the 20 plus years since Clayton Christensen from the Harvard Business School introduced the theory of disruptive innovation, his theories have never had such a prominent, and misinterpreted year. When pundits discuss Brexit and the US election,…

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Is it time for a different sort of entrepreneurship?

It’s time the NHS dental system was changed, Alun Rees says. The history of general dental practice is of ‘one-man-bands’: the archetype of a ‘micro’ business. Typically a dentist worked with just one ancillary staff member. When the NHS arrived, doctors ‘sold’ their goodwill, dentists kept their independence and freedom to contract out to the…

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Simply sceptical

Alun Rees has doubts about Denplan’s rebranding to Simplyhealth. The origins of branding come from the custom of using physical marks to express animal ownership – literal branding. The Flying-V, Bar-L, or Greenapple-D ranches would have logos burned onto their cows’ rumps to differentiate them. Dentists are loyal to a material, a technique or a…

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What’s the plan?

If you’re not willing to be open to changes there is no point planning for the future, Alun Rees says. A neighbour of mine was recently rebuilding his dry stone wall, it took time and skill but he hopes that, with care, it will last for more than 300 years. The family have farmed the land…

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Price/cost/value perception

Dental business coach Alun Rees looks at the perception of price, cost and value It is said that a cynic is ‘someone who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing’ but I think that attitude is not limited to cynics. Too much is written about pricing and profit and not nearly enough…


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