Letters from a Perfect Imperfectionist

It was an absolute pleasure last week to catch up with Darrin Robinson, former Clinical Director of Integrated Dental Holdings and now founder of BeaconFell bikes.

http://www.beaconfell.com

After a 15-year spell in Britain’s largest dental corporate, Darrin decided to leave the company when they were acquired by Carlyle and spend some time looking around for a new direction.

Ultimately he was in a position to take his time and explore the world of business outside – and also to align his continued work ethic with a desire to explore the world of the owner-manager and follow a lifetime passion for cycling.

It was fascinating to hear the story of how he concluded that there was a gap in the market for a new British cycle manufacturer and his journey to create the brand and then source the time, money, people and systems necessary to make it happen.

Gerber would be proud – Darrin has created a profitable and growing business with links to celebrities in the world of entertainment and sport.

Anyone watching Davina McCall’s recent charity journey across Britain would have seen her riding one of BeaconFell’s bikes.

Knowing how keen many of my dental contacts are on cycling, I’ve asked Darrin to think about setting up a special event for 7connections clients and friends – watch out for further news.

I was inspired by Darrin’s story and motivated to get my bike out of The Bunker and back on the road.

It has been a day of great pleasures here in Luxembourg, not the least of which was, without doubt, the most delicious panna cotta I have ever enjoyed at Pavillon Madeleine, one of Lea Linster’s restaurants.

I am a lucky guy – I appreciate that – getting to work not only with a superb team and a group of world-class dentists but also an award-winning celebrity chef, whose philosophy is teaching me a lot of transferable knowledge about passion, commitment and customer service.

The trade off is that I am teaching her and son Louis about smart technology, permission marketing and brand tribalism. We have big plans.

A FaceTime this evening with Tim Caudrelier about the opportunities before us in coaching, in lead generation systems and in strategic alliances.

Just now, we discussed relationships in the UK, Ireland, the USA, Luxembourg, Romania, Brazil and Australia – and our need to resource the business with the three essentials (time, money, people) to make worthwhile hay whilst the sun is shining brightly.

7connections is a rapidly expanding small business – and the dangers are clear – running before we can walk, over-trading, making promises that cannot be kept.

We are aware of those risks and plotting a safe course through, with a huge eye on our existing clients, without whose loyalty we could not be where we are today.

Can you believe it is May tomorrow? Where did that go?

Admittedly I have had some time off – but even so the clock seems to be racing.

The TV show has been resonating in the background all day – like the vibration of a distant generator. When you are busy you cannot sense it – but every time you pause – there it is, humming away, creating a small ripple in the fabric of normality.

The national press are still running with the sexist theme, including a particularly fascinating attempt by The Guardian to be nasty, which sadly only managed to be puerile and thus lost its impact (I could have done better).

There is a great video on the Channel 4 website for the programme that peers backstage at the technology behind the show – take a look as it will give you an insight into the huge, almost military, operation required to simply make the show happen, as well as ensure our safety in a high risk environment.

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-island-with-bear-grylls/videos/all/the-making-of-the-island

The dental press joined in today (more to follow) with simple reportage – but that, of course, can create a platform for the “usual suspects” to parade their historic prejudices.

So far, the whiners have been very quiet but I was amused by a pictorial representation of me as Gollum on Kevin Rose’s Facebook page (friend Kevin and go take a look)  – it actually did look like me after 28 days of deprivation (Andy Serkis watch out).

That apart, the calm before the storm I think as, when the show goes live, I’m sure there will be plenty of opinion on the strategic and tactical decisions we made, the relationships we forged and the opinions we express (as moulded by the editing team).

Nobody knows how we will appear, except the good folks who, as I write this, are working away in editing suites across London – working against the clock to create the TV they think that you want to see.

The 13 of “us” are at their mercy.

How exciting.

In the meantime, I’m in my Luxembourg hotel on day 8 of a 10-day tour, feeling exceptionally lonely and missing the comforts and the people at home. Thus, sometimes, you communicate by catharsis – hence this post.

2 more days until I get back – flying to London at day-break tomorrow for a couple of very busy days.

I’m going to watch the football for a bit – then retire, thinking of opportunity, celebrity and panna cotta.

Well they did warn us that the press would have their own “take” on the show – as would the public.

Last week we were the unwilling accomplices of an anti-feminist plot, today we are clowns.

So it goes.

A lot of conversation with family, friends and colleagues went into my decision to accept the invitation to appear on The Island with Bear Grylls, not the least of which was the initial concern that this would be some kind of game/celebrity/reality/“get me out of here” event. Votes, evictions, silly games.

Had that been the case, you wouldn’t have seen me within a million miles of that god-forsaken rock.

But my concerns were answered convincingly at a very early stage. There was never any intention to trivialise the subject of survival or create a bunch of entertaining freaks whose antics would provoke controversy.

During filming and afterward, the professionalism of the whole production and editing team have been beyond reproach.

This was a serious social experiment to explore modern man’s masculinity which, clearly, had to be good TV for the audience or else the viewers would not show up.

I remember being interviewed by an experienced psychologist as part of the final selection process.

After asking me a bunch of questions, no doubt designed to make sure they weren’t letting the next Dexter run amok, he asked me if I had any concerns.

“Only one” I replied.

“We are going to take many hours of footage that will be condensed into just 5 episodes, what happens if I say just one thing, out of context, in the heat (sic) of the moment, that makes me look a prick in front of the nation?”

He looked at me, smiled and said “Do you want my advice? Don’t be a prick.”

History will show whether I took that advice.

For the next 6 weeks, however, we are at the mercy of the press and public opinion – and that is a little bit scarier than some of the challenges we faced in the Pacific.

We will see whether more headlines follow – and it will be intriguing to explore reaction to some of the decisions we made in order to survive.

I’ve got my thick skin ready.

So the best kept secret since who shot JR is finally out – that I am one of the “blokes” who was dropped on a desert island for a month by Bear Grylls and we will be starting the series next Monday 5th May at 21:00 (so you will have to record Game of Thrones).

I’ve been dying to tell you “all about it” but we have been embargoed until now by the lovely folks at Shine TV and Channel 4 as they didn’t want any pre-publicity until they were ready.

This morning I had the pleasure of watching a draft version of Episode 1 (of 5) and have to congratulate the editing team who have had the challenge of turning 2500+ hours of our footage (we filmed ourselves) to create less than 5 hours of drama.

Judging by Episode 1, they have captured the essence and the spirit of the experience – I had goose-bumps watching.

The careful observationist will know that there was some negative press last week about the show (and BG) being “sexist” by not inviting women. The idea of a women-only version is being discussed but greater powers than us will make that decision – and to some extent that will depend on our ratings – not even my extensive social media connections will ensure that success.

For now – this was a social experiment designed to explore the notion of 21st century British masculinity – and whether the age of the internet and affluenza has made us all a bit soft.

All will be revealed but I can guarantee the viewer entertainment, drama, dark humour, scenes of suffering and a lot of very bad language.

The metaphors for life and business are endless and I have asked the powers that be whether I could pen a business book based on my adventure – in discussion.

What I do want to do is take this opportunity of thanking Annie, my kids, the team at 7connections and our wonderful clients – for allowing me the 5 weeks I was away for the filming.

It has changed my life a lot – and I’m hoping that now the veil has been lifted, I’ll be able to share some of that with you.

However, this amount of publicity will bring risks – the trolls, the nut-jobs and the socio-mediapaths will, no doubt, be out in force – and we are watching carefully to protect ourselves.

Remember, 28 days on a desert island with little food or water, in the clothes we arrived with. Maybe I said something, or one of the guys says something, that may be disagreeable. 

We weren’t there to win any votes or a competition – this wasn’t a reality show or a game show – it was the real deal – as you will see.

Stay tuned.

At one level, marketing is EVERYTHING.

The way you do the thing you do.

Seth Godin has been reminding us of this in recent weeks – that every interaction that the patient has with you and your team – every experience that you deliver – from first contact to treatment completion – its all marketing, even your building and your paperwork.

You could perhaps say that the definition of “brand” is simply the way that your marketing makes people feel.

I was asked this week “what are the absolute must do’s on lead generation?”

1. Create curiosity – your message has to be bold, outrageous and provocative (BOP) and stimulate people to ask questions. Most dental practice marketing is boring. Deploying MagicBox for Marketing, Karl Taylor-Knight has created some stunning visuals – they are working;
2. Capture email addresses and permission to alert people when you have something to say. We are busy developing a turnkey solution for dental practices using Infusionsoft;
3. Hand out referral business cards – all day, every day, without exception. Make this a mission – with the appropriate conversation;
4. Tell stories. Tell stories about patients whose lives you have changed.  It doesn’t matter whether they are “anon” or named – the fact is that nobody (apart from dentists) is interested in dentistry – but everybody is interested in everybody else’s story

Marketing is like breathing – its not an option.

Another superb owner-managed business bites the dust, with the news that Dental Directory has been acquired by Carlyle/IDH.

I recall a conversation at the last Showcase, during which I listened attentively to a detailed conversation about the supply-side of dentistry – and heard that 76% of all purchases in British dentistry were from either Henry Schein or Dental Directory (leaving not much room for all the other exhibitors).

I had the pleasure of working with the DD team twice in the last 5 years, once in conjunction with the launch of Centre for Dentistry (a.k.a. practices in Sainsbury) and secondly (thankfully briefly) with the ill-fated BKH.

They are a fantastic team  – and I’ll hold my breath for them as corporate ownership wreaks its possible consequences.

Listen – I’m all for innovation, risk and entrepreneurship.

Gerber teaches us that the reason you open a proper business is to sell it.

I’m equally determined to stay as positive as I can at all times.

I hope, hope, hope that the DD team keep their humanity and their sense of humour – unlike many of their predecessors in dentistry who, after mega-corp acquisition, say “au-revoir” to their risk-takers and raconteurs, then “good morning” to middle-managers whose mantra is “don’t make a mistake”.

Fingers crossed in anticipation of mature change management.

p.s. I trust the owners have had a pay day – they deserve it.

p.p.s. for the smaller supply companies out there – don’t miss the opportunity to send your BOPP sales people in.

(Bold, Outrageous, Provocative Personality)

Things to be grateful for today:

• I don’t own a car
• I don’t have to commute to a work-place
• I don’t have to be anywhere by 09:00, 5 days a week

• I do own a pair of running shoes
• I can play and work wherever I am in the world
• I can choose when I do either

OK – there are no spoilers in this review BUT – do yourself a huge favour and don’t bother going to see Spider Man 2 unless you have a 12-year old daughter who is desperate to re-discover the inner feelings of desire she felt on first seeing The Twilight movies.

In fact, the whole tangled web is simply a collection of poorly imitated best bits from Twilight, Watchmen and the last gazilion Spider Man films (when are they going to come up with a new plot?).

It is also a huge let down after the promise of the last outing.

I’m the first to agree that Tobey Maguire was as engaging as Ed Milliband.

However, this time around as Peter Parker, Andrew Garfield delivers a diluted version of the troubles racking love-struck vampire Robert Pattinson, crossed with a screenwriters impression of what Andy Murray would be like if he had a personality.

The dialogue between Garfield and love interest Emma Stone runs at about the same emotional level as Popeye and Olive Oil, which former characterisation can be extended to “Spidey’s” inane conversations with the various villains he confronts – classic lines such as “Hello Mr Criminal – are you having a nice day?” (I think I heard that) seem to be pulled out of play-school.

Just about every scene involving a fight to the death with a mutant bent on human destruction is laced with “quips” from the masked hero that would frankly have any opponent calling a truce and suggesting an urgent appeal for a child psychologist for the webby wimp.

Garfield even has a ring tone on his cell phone that is the old Spider man theme – really?

Don’t even get me started on Jamie Foxx, whose initial character is stolen straight from a Hollywood comedy featuring a gay wedding planner – then metamorphosing into former Manchester City moron Mario Balotelli after he has accidentally got his ridiculous Mohican stuck in an electric toaster.

Mind you, Foxx’s tooth whitening is sight to behold – but he clearly has the worst case of zingers on record.

The special effects are fantastic – no doubt – but to be fair, if you have seen the trailer, you have seen the special effects – not even Imax 3D had me gripping the sides of my seat as SM jumped off tall buildings – largely because every such leap was often accompanied by the dread realisation that we would soon be subject to more facile dialogue or irritating teenage love.

The official classification of this movie is “12”.

Any adult wishing to see this epic pile of arachnid drivel should be accompanied by a 12-year old to make the investment worthwhile.