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Dental Solutions scoops
National Dentistry Award
by Gary Skentelbery
Local dental practice Gavin Laidlaw Dental Solutions in Lymm recently won a prestigious Private Dentistry Award
at the Café Royal in London, attended by 800 key industry figures.
Commented Gavin Laidlaw "We are delighted to have won this award.
"We were battling for the prize against some stiff competition from large city practices in London and Manchester,
so it was very rewarding to put Lymm and Cheshire on the map. We would like to thank all our patients for their
tremendous support over the past year.
"We now have the very best dental care right on their doorstep."
He added: "The judges said they were particularly impressed by the relationships we have developed with our patients,
the way we are involved in the local community and our innovative approach to marketing our business."
Picture shows Gavin and his team collecting their award
Groundbreaking book
for business
by Gary Skentelbery
LYMM resident Dr. Jamie Burton, a lecturer in marketing at Manchester Business School, is celebrating
the publication of his groundbreaking book by Wileys.
The book, Converting Customer Value: From Retention to Profit
is written with Professor John Murphy of Manchester Business School, Robin Gleaves and Jan Kitshoff who is also a
member of Lymm and Culcheth Chess Club.
In their new book, the authors offer businesses tools, frameworks and advice that enables them to convert customer
value, and design and deliver higher, more resilient levels of profit.
Jamie said: "Every commercial company exists to make a profit - preferably large enough to enable growth - but
few grasp just how critical this is to their survival. In fact, the long-term worth of a company is perhaps most
accurately described as the sum of future profits from customers, discounted to a present value. No customers,
no business. It really is that simple.
Faced with fierce competition and shorter product life cycles, most of today's companies are striving to "get closer
to customers". Unfortunately many companies try to force a standardised "relationship" on every customer - a process
that generally does not lead to greater profit for the company or greater value for the customer.
Successful companies need to:
discover and nurture their most profitable customers
identify those ripe for improvement
accurately allocate service overheads
see actual cash flows for each customer relationship
motivate their employees
communicate market feedback for continuous improvement throughout the organisation.
But a "one size fits all" approach will not work. The key problem is relationships cost! If you invest in a developing
a deep relationship with every customer then you may be wasting time and resources. Some customers do want the
added value that relationships offer and some see them as a waste of time and just want the basics done right,
therefore firms should use a mixture of both relationship marketing and transaction marketing techniques to reach them.
Successful companies develop methods which suit their customers and their organisations. The book contains a number
of business case studies researched by Dr. Burton.
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