Your practice is fine. That’s the problem.

A while ago, part of the restaurant empire of the celebrity chef, Jamie Oliver, collapsed. What happened?

To quote from news.com.au :

“Seeking unique experiences... diners are increasingly shunning cut-and-paste eateries for high-end restaurants that offer a bespoke experience. Or at the other end of the spectrum, pop-up and food hall-style venues that offer good value, variety and are seen as more authentic.”

Interesting!

Diners want to have an experience that is special or an experience that is authentic and good value. But, if you deliver an experience that is neither special nor good value then you’re going to fail, as Jamie has found out.

I reckon that you could replace the word “diners” in the quote above with “dental patients”. People want an experience from their dentist that is either special or good value.

Or, even better, if you can deliver an experience that is both special and good value you will be beating patients off with a stick. This agrees with what I see as I travel around practices.

High volume, good value practices are doing well. Also, practices with a point of difference that offer unique levels of service. The practices that are not doing so well are the ones in the middle.

I call them “me too” practices. They don’t offer anything special but they hope to succeed by being like everyone else. A dentist I know created an acronym for these practices. He called them “DIMs” (Dentists In the Middle).

Jamie Oliver has demonstrated a very useful lesson for businesses everywhere.