For: Dentists, Managers,
**IMPORTANT NOTICE**
- Dentists & Managers ALL DAY
- Hygienists MORNING ONLY
- Nurses - MORNING ONLY
CPD subject
- Creating exceptional patient experiences and practical team strategies in independent dental practice
- Financial performance, team profitability and AI-driven marketing strategies in independent dental practice.
Learning content:
- Creating exceptional patient experiences; developing a genuine team approach; leadership skills for everyone; effective communication and language patterns to enhance patient engagement; lessons from unreasonable hospitality; practical strategies to keep appointment books full; reducing cancellations and improving recalls; and building a patient-centric culture through better teamwork and staff engagement. These themes also align well with your existing materials on patient experience workflows, daily huddles, recall and enquiry protocols, review generation, and team-based operational systems.
- Understanding the financial dynamics of dental practice profitability; identifying surgery running costs and opportunities for efficiency; managing associate costs and development; creating profitable relationships between clinicians and the wider team; tracking meaningful KPIs and translating data into action; and understanding how artificial intelligence is transforming dental marketing, patient acquisition and practice growth through practical tools and strategies.
Overall aim:
- To help the whole dental team strengthen patient experience, communication, teamwork and day-to-day systems so that the practice delivers more consistent service, better patient engagement, improved attendance and recall outcomes, and a stronger patient-centred culture.
- To enable participants to understand how communication, leadership and team behaviours shape the patient experience from first contact to ongoing care.
- To equip participants with practical, team-based strategies to improve diary utilisation, reduce cancellations, strengthen recall systems and build a more patient-centred culture.
- To enable dentists and practice managers to better understand the financial drivers of a modern dental practice, improve profitability through effective cost and team management, and explore practical ways AI can support marketing and new patient acquisition.
- To help dentists and managers understand the financial drivers of practice profitability and how effective cost management, team alignment and meaningful KPIs support sustainable business performance.
Objectives:
By the end of this session, participants should be able to:- Describe the key factors that create an exceptional patient experience in a dental practice.
- Explain how a genuine team approach improves consistency, trust and patient confidence.
- Identify leadership behaviours that can be demonstrated by team members at every level, regardless of role or seniority.
- Recognise communication techniques and language patterns that improve patient engagement, understanding and commitment.
- Apply principles of hospitality and service to create memorable patient experiences that encourage loyalty, reviews and recommendations.
- dentify practical opportunities within the patient journey where the team can improve reassurance, clarity and perceived value.
- Describe practical steps a dental team can take to help keep appointment books full.
- Identify common causes of cancellations, failed appointments and weak recall performance within the patient journey.
- Explain strategies to reduce cancellations and improve recall effectiveness through clearer communication and consistent follow-up.
- Recognise the contribution each team member can make to patient retention, reactivation and continuity of care.
- Outline behaviours and systems that support a patient-centric culture across clinical and non-clinical teams.
- Identify actions that improve teamwork, accountability and staff engagement in support of better patient outcomes and business performance.
- Describe the main financial drivers that influence profitability in an independent dental practice.
- Identify the typical cost structure of a dental surgery and recognise opportunities for improved efficiency and cost control.
- Explain how associate remuneration structures influence practice profitability and team dynamics.
- Recognise strategies for supporting associate development while maintaining sustainable margins.
- Describe how clinicians and the wider team can work together to create a mutually beneficial and profitable working environment.
- Identify key performance indicators (KPIs) that provide meaningful insight into practice performance.
- Explain how KPI data can be used to inform operational decisions and continuous improvement.
- Describe how artificial intelligence is influencing marketing and patient acquisition within dentistry and healthcare.
- Identify practical applications of AI that can support communication, marketing efficiency and patient engagement.
- Recognise simple AI tools that dental practices can implement to support marketing activity.
- Explain how AI can assist in creating marketing content and improving online visibility.
- Identify practical strategies for attracting new patients through modern digital marketing approaches.
- Recognise the importance of integrating AI tools with existing marketing systems and practice workflows.
Chris has been in full-time employment for 49 years. He has operated his own businesses for 32 years and has been a trainer, consultant, coach and mentor to the UK dental profession for 23 years.
Chris combines long experience and deep expertise with the originality and independence needed to resolve the thorniest problems.
Naturally direct, assertive and determined, he can reach conclusions quickly, as well as possessing the sharp reflexes and lightness of touch to innovate, change tack and push boundaries. As a speaker, he is dynamic, energetic and charismatic.
Chris spent the first 17 years of his working life in the corporate sector and followed this with 30+ years of business ownership. The different dynamics of both worlds have given him the valuable gift of knowing how to operate – and communicate – in both.
In 1987 Chris was active in the establishment of the Institute for Financial Planning, an organisation representing the first fee-based Financial Planners in the UK; Chris specialised in working with small businesses.
In 1993 Chris decided to make the transition to business coaching and became one of the first UK students at Coach University, from where he graduated as a certified coach. Recognising the opportunity in the dental profession, 1997 saw the creation of The Dental Business School (DBS) and the development of a 12-month business coaching programme for dental practice owners and their teams, delivered to over 1000 UK dental practices in the following 10 years.
The first decade of the 21st Century saw Chris in a variety of roles including Non-Executive Directorships as well as continuing his training, consultancy and coaching work for dental corporates, PCTs, dental retailers and, of course, independent practices.
Chris has co-authored Profitable Dental Practice (with Prof. Phil Newsome) and The E-Myth Dentist (with Michael Gerber) and is a prolific contributor to dental journals as well as author of his own e-books and blog since 2004.
In 2014 Chris experienced a “brief but enjoyable” summer of celebrity after appearing as one of the first castaways on the TV survival show “The Island with Bear Grylls”, abandoned with 12 others on a Pacific desert island and left to fend for themselves for a month.
His own day to day work as Coach Barrow with The Extreme Business programmes is still focused on strategic coaching with the owners of dental practices and micro-corporates.
09:30 - 11:00, session 1
11:30 - 13:00, session 2
14:00 - 15:15, session 3
15:45 - 17:00, session 4
A, B, C,
