Getting down to business

There are 10,000 independent practice owners in the UK right now. I've been a consultant to the dental profession for 17 years and during that time I've managed to work my way round approximately 15 per cent of that market, so I have a lot of experience of what people are going through, as well as what works and what doesn't.

One of the first things I've noticed is that people will only hire a coach when there is a problem which has become so great, that the pain of doing something about it has become less than the pain of not doing something about it. It's a bit like people who only go to the dentist when they've got toothache.

Compliance consultants have got absolutely no trouble getting work at the moment because the pain is the fear of getting closed down by the CQC. Whereas if a business coach were to say, 'I can show you how to improve your profitability by 20 per cent', they are much more likely to be given the brush-off. People are far more motivated by the fear of loss than they are by the anticipation of gain. When in actual fact, the best time to hire a coach is when you're having your best ever year.