Tips, when do you give them?

We are just back from a week away skiing in Les Houches just outside Chamonix. Overall we had a great time with the family and close friends as well as meeting new people. At the end of the week the question of what tip to leave came up. Usually my rule is that I am happy to provide a tip if I feel that the service I recieve is above  the norm, something exceptional has happened to make me feel special or simply I have been made to feel good about spending my money. I cannot bear when a tip is ‘expected’ just for someone doing their job adequately or when it is assumed that the service is so good every time that an automatic surcharge is applied ie: the  typical 10%  . In my experience it is rarely good enough every time to warrant this.

I feel that as the ‘consumer’ I should be allowed to make the following 2 decisions……   should I leave a tip? and if so how much ?

So getting back to the holiday, we stayed in a catered chalet which was described as ‘Luxury’ (that most overused of words in holiday brochures) boasting this and that. To  cut a long story short the food was great (down to Dave the wonderful chef) but the chalet was dirty and even filthy in some areas!!!…. in my  book there is just no excuse for this. I really dont mind basic at all, but dirty I cannot stand as it is not expensive  to keep things clean. So with 3 staff why was it so dirty? I think it was just lack of respect and care for the guests to be honest and no pride being instilled in those 3 people left by the owners to run the chalet. I must remove the chef from this as he was great, worked hard and obviously took pride in his work and it showed.

So did I tip?? The general feeling was that a tip should be left for the team of 3 but as you might guess from the above I did not agree.  I felt that only 1 person deserved to be rewarded for doing what I felt was something exceptional because his gesture made me happy to be spending my money with this company depsite the negatives we experienced. So what was it? well our kids have a habit of taking a piece of plain bread to bed  without crusts  (dont ask why).  The first night this was given with a smile, the second night I did not have to ask as it was sitting out  ready on 2 plates and on the third night it was out on individual plates without the crusts!!…. lovely, easy to do, no cost… just some thought!!! This chap was tipped. The other 2 just turned up, nice people but no real thought, they did not recieve a tip.

I feel that we as a team in ‘Blueapple’ do not just turn up for work but we go beyond what is generally expected of us on a daily basis, its what we strive to do for every client we deal with. We want to give a feeling that the time, effort and investment that people make with us is worth it, we want to be the chef in the chalet, because it feels good.

Felix and Mum

happy family

 

It was lovely to welcome my baby sister and her Husband in to see us today with their first baby, Felix, our 4th nephew!! He is our youngest registered client.

He had a quick check-up with myself and a polish with Tanya our Hygienist.

Study Club Success

Our 2009 programme has started well with 2 evenings completed to date in-house, both well attended by existing and new members. We are getting to the stage now where consideration is being given to relocate the evenings to a larger venue to accommodate the  interest that there seems to be.

This year we have introduced our ‘business group’ which is being very well directed by our business coach Chris Barrow,  (www.coachbarrow.com) on the first evening the floor was his, and after a roaring journey from Belfast with Sonya, Chris arrived to present a great 2 hours of sensible buisness advice to 14 alert dentists. There certainly has been a call for this sort of advice and the feedback we have recieved certainly showed that the evening was enjoyed and minds opened. We will be releasing details soon of the other events planned, looking at this stage to a full day of team training (now if that is not a reason to be a member I don’t know what is!!) and I will post these as we finalise them.

This week the job was mine. With 5 new faces  and 10 regular faces it was a delight to welcome everyone for either their first or return visit to blueapple for a treatment planning evening. There was a nice balance of opinion and experience and the feedback was very positive which is always pleasing to see, athought someone did ask for more wine!!. It was great to see that despite some recent press, dentists really do care about what they offer for their patients and often deliberate greatly over the decisions they make,  this was evident throughout the evening from the discussions that arose.  My thanks go to my great friend and mentor Larry Browne who flew from London just for the evening to lend his 45yrs of techinical and educational experience to the mix, thank-you Larry you are a true star.

We really want our study club to prosper, but as I said on the night it is not just about gaining business for blueapple it really is about sharing a passion for dentistry, education, peer support, networking, friendship and enjoyment in the view of benefiting our clients.

It would be remiss of me not to thank all of my brilliant team who help so much in the background to support these evenings, they never fail to amaze me in their ability and enthusiasm.

Lastly to make these evenings work the ITI (www.iti.ch) provide us with valuable sponsorship, marketing support and help on the night. A great organisation I am proud to be a member.

study club

Getting ready for our study club

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new tunics

We have been playing about with ideas for personalizing our uniforms. Trying to stay away from the badge we had these embroidered as a first step.

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Dentists and PR

I just received this letter this morning via e-mail from Manan ltd, a specialist dental marketing firm who we  are in the process of doing some work with for 2009. Sue, Barbara and their team are at the top of their field in the marketing of dental business with many notable clients and a growing client base.

Its interesting to think that as dentistry as a profession moves forward it must embrace many methods of ‘communication’ that it has been alien from in the past, twitter, blogs, e-zines, newsletters etc. As Chris Barrow says the day of the single handed dentist who does not move into the 21st century are over, the profession is changing and doing so fast. It is under increasing pressure from many angles and those involved in it at the ‘coalface’ must adapt and do so positively to be here in 10 years time.

But we should not be downbeat about this, we must be excited at the opportunity it provides us with and we at ‘blueapple’ are looking forward to moving with this tide to ultimately improve the service we offer our client base and improve our business and the lives of those who are involved in it.

 

Dear blue apple, “The dental profession and industry is poised for many important and far-reaching changes and it is critical that these developments and issues are explained accurately and effectively to the general public.” Manan Ltd Launch New Consumer Public Relations Service As you would expect from the UK’s only full service dental marketing agency, we are committed to supporting and exceeding our clients’ expectations. With this in mind we are delighted to announce an exciting, new addition to our portfolio – Consumer Public Relations. We have commissioned the services of Peter Harris, a member of the Medical Journalists’ Association and former newspaper health correspondent and medical writer. Peter has unrivalled experience in the placement of news and feature material in the national consumer media and we are confident that his extensive understanding of editors’ demands will help gain exposure for our clients in the national press.

If you are interested in receiving national consumer press coverage for a new product, clinical or market research or a general dental topic, just call Sue or Barbara on 01844 299292 for more details. Kind regards   Sue, Barbara & team Manan

the girls

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staff night out

Team building in action
We enjoyed a fab evening out in the restaurant of the Westville hotel last night. Gavin the head chef was superb, the food was fantastic, customer service was excellent and the whole environment conducive to having a great experience. Check it out on www.westvillehotel.co.uk. It was a night of celebration as we welcomed a new clinical team member Ciara who you will hear more about over the coming weeks….. Very exciting for us!!

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The day ahead

Friday 6th March brings to me a day of administration and a list of to-do’s that is as long as a long arm. I never really look forward to these days as really I am happiest in the clinic, but it offers me the chance to do those jobs that can easily be put aside. The day will be made up of sorting questions left over from practice meetings, telephone calls, answering e-mails, dictating treatment plans and then finishing with a visit to see the bank manager.

On a lighter note have had an evening of business and customer service chat at home with our good friend and colleague Chris Barrowman of’ ‘infinityblu’ dental in Pitlochry in Scotland (web site coming soon). We always look forward to his visits and the ‘banter’ that ensues.

Blueapple study club

We have run now for 2 years an in-house study club for dentists that refer work to us. This has built up a successful core of supporters who we have grown with and have now a mutually beneficial relationship.

At the end of 2008 we considered what we wanted to offer in 2009 and were determined to expand our educational portfolio and the services we offered through the study club we had established. We are currently getting ready for our next get together on the 10th march which will focus on ‘treatment planning for implants’ and will be an open discussion forum for those attending. This will be the real start for our ‘clinical’ activities this year and  is the first of several clinical educational evenings we will have in 2009. We are  particularly delighted to be able to offer via the ITI (international team for implantology’) on the 4th and 5th June our first live skills course at blueapple. This will be a dedicated restorative 2 day hands-on course, call for details.

The biggest change in 2009 will be the introduction of the ‘blueapple’ business club. This has been formed simply in response to the concerns many dentists have at the minute regarding the ‘credit crunch’ and judging from the feedback we received following our first evening on the 12th Feb it will be a success. The evening was lead by our business coach Chris Barrow (www.coachbarrow.com) and we will look forward to welcoming him back with us on the 21st May. There are plans in the pipeline to expand this whole idea and please keep a look out for more information.

Do you want to join? Do you want to see what it is all about? Well, please feel free to contact us on admin@blueappledental.com or info@blueappledental.com for information. 2009 has created interest with 5 new members coming to see us on the 10th, we look forward to their visit and particpation. 

The study clubs are free to those who wish to attend and for members there will be discounts available for other events planned under the blueapple umbrella.