A room with a view
A room with a view, originally uploaded by coachbarrow999. Watching the game in my room at the Copthorne in Birmingham. Its the only way I can get some food. I have driven 200 miles through atrocious weather but it’s worth it. A great day with the Breathe management team. We are at 61% of our [...]
Coaches Corner
I’ve just agreed with Dentistry magazine to start a “Dear Coach” column in their on-line publication. The first “test” article is here (actually a previous post in this blog) – but I’m hoping to redevelop the Dear Coach theme that worked so well as few years ago. Keep your eye on this. Oh – and [...]
Working at the granary
Working at the granary, originally uploaded by coachbarrow999. Simon and Bonnie cranking up our new email server before we begin our monthly management meeting. Lots to do today – we haven’t had a chance to meet for the last 6 weeks and the “to do” list for Breathe is enormous. All that and I must [...]
Petrol shortage hits dentistry?
A client in Scotland tells me today that his appointment cancellation rate has increased in the last 10 days because his patients are concerned that they will not have enough petrol to make the journey to his surgery. This latest problem will pass, like all others, but we had to discuss ways to reduce the [...]
10 years younger
10 years younger, originally uploaded by coachbarrow999. Here is a photo of me in March 1998 on my way up to Everest Base Camp. Apart from the Graham Norton hairstyle (not intended, I think I had been wearing a bobble hat for 2 weeks) it was a timely reminder of why I signed up for [...]
Loyalty Cards
Is it me? I just listed the loyalty cards I have with me a I travel: Hilton Diamond VIP Card (my favourite – when I walk into a Hilton Hotel, the Red Arrows fly overhead) Radisson Gold Points plus Marriott Rewards Waterstone’s Bookstore The Falmouth Bookseller British Airways Executive Club BMW Recovery Tesco Club Card [...]
How do you put out a burning well-head?
You know the imagery here – a fire at an oil well, flames leaping into the air and a gigantic cloud shrouding the surrounding land. Rather similar to what happens when gossip breaks out in a business. An example of which was presented to me the other day as a coaching assignment. “A new nurse [...]
Letter to the deleted NHS patient
A client emailed me asking for suggested wording to a patient whose rude and disrespectful behaviour could no longer be tolerated. After initially responding that my client should submit a first draft, I remembered that the letter had already been written by a different client a couple of years ago. It goes like this: Dear [...]
Customers or clients?
A customer buys off you once. A client invests in your products or services for a lifetime. Is your marketing and customer service attracting customers or clients? I walked into the reception at The Marriott Forest of Arden yesterday for the first time in 5 months. The head receptionist looked up at me and said [...]
“Unfortunately, we only offer private dentistry.”
It was a brave member of the reception team who offered the “confession” at yesterday’s practice visit that she answers the question “are you accepting any new NHS patients?” that way. Brave because her admission was in front of the whole practice team, including the principal – and me! Her authenticity can only be attributed [...]


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