It was Thomas Watson who said:
“I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.”
That’s Thomas J. Watson, who served as chairman and CEO of IBM between 1914 and 1956.
He made that statement in 1943…
He’s not to be confused with Tom Sturges Watson, golfer, and eight times Major Championship winner between 1975 and 1983.
Oh, by the way, Tom Watson the golfer won five [British] Open Championships during that nine-year period. And each of his wins were played at different venues….
Anyway, back to Thomas J. Watson…. And his “out there” statement.
Accordingly, I’d like to be thinking there are only six different types of dental practice-owning dentists.
Which category do you fall into?
Dentists Who Don’t Seek Advice and Don’t Try To Improve Their Business
Putting it simply, these guys don’t know what they don’t know.
They turn up day after day, going through the motions.
On the main part, their dental lives are at best, ordinary.
They don’t really care.
They just keep going through the motions….
Dentists Who Don’t Seek Advice But Do Try To Improve Their Business
These guys think they know best.
After all, what could be so difficult about improving your business?
“Who needs advice?”
“Advice is for weaklings”, they say.
And these guys are not weak.
They know it all, and they can fix anything.
Just ask them.
Dentists Who Source Information From Multiple Sources And Take No Action.
Squirrels?
Seminar junkies?
Call them what you will.
They’re at every possible conference, learning new techniques and skills.
And then they go back to their dental practices and put all their course notes right up there on the shelf in their office beside all of the other notes from all of the other courses they have attended.
And never take action.
That’s called SHELF HELP.
Information that’s been heard and never acted upon has the same value as information never heard.
Zip. Zilch. Zero.
Dentists Who Source Information From Multiple Sources And Take Eclectic Action.
These dentists are there in the front row of most seminars each weekend taking copious notes.
And then on the Mondays, they’re back at their dental practice implementing the latest changes they need to put into action based on the information they’ve just heard.
And often it’s information that conflicts with previous information?
Sometimes conflicting with information just recently implemented…
Or it’s a new technique learned that’s more exciting than other procedures they’ve been doing. In which case the other procedure gets discarded and rejected, just like an old faithful toy might be tossed in the corner when a new Buzz Lightyear arrives?
Dentists Who Seek Advice But Don’t Ever Use It
These dentists know they have areas of their dental practice that need improvement.
But they fear change.
So they hire a coach or consultant for their practice, and put that coach to work on their dental practice team.
They position the poor old coach as the bad guy in a good-guy:bad-guy relationship.
But these dentists never intend to implement any changes recommended by their consultant…
“After all, what would the coach REALLY know about my practice?”
“I’m the only one who knows this practice.”
“I’ve been here forever….”
Any success they achieve is in spite of themselves.
Not because of them.
And it is occasional at best.
And unsustainable.
Dentists Who Seek Advice And Take Action
These dentists know the answers lie beyond themselves.
They know that they don’t know.
And they want to know what they do not know.
They do know that there is a better way.
And that others have travelled that road….
And those others are willing to share their knowledge about what to do and what not to do.
These dentists know that sometimes moving forward can be a leap of faith.
But they know that nobody ever made progress by standing still.
And these dentists are willing to “trust the force”.
Because they know that “if it has been done, it can be done.”
And done again…
Which dentist are you?
Which dentist are you on this spectrum?
*****
My next public speaking presentation showing Dentists how to grow their Dental practices will be in Sydney on November 9-10 and in Melbourne on November 12-13 with Dr Christopher Phelps, Dr Nathan Jeal, Mr Alex Lalovic and Mr Tiger Safarov.
For more information and to secure your seat click this link here.
*****
Have you read my book , How To Build The Dental Practice of Your Dreams [Without Killing Yourself!] In Less Than Sixty Days.
You can order your copy here: Click Link To Order
*****
The Ultimate Patient Experience is a simple to build complete Customer Service system in itself that I developed that allowed me to create an extraordinary dental office in an ordinary Sydney suburb. If you’d like to know more, ask me about my free special report.
Email me at david@theupe.com
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