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Hello again, and so the end of the year approaches and I thought I would take this time to reflect on our year in the industry gone by and also give you some indiciation into our plans for 2012.

Firstly, the language of the title of this blog is in no way coincidental. The Spanish Bank Santander do seem to be financing a lot of our transactions at the moment and it is interesting to hear that some of the smaller banks are seeking roads into the dental market in 2012. We have also seen a lot more of Barclays this year so could the Healthcare Stalwarts of Natwest RBS and Lloyds TSB have some real competition on their hands next year?

Secondly, the market remains fluid - if anything there are less practices coming to market than last year. I mean this on an industry level as oppose to a company level, we are still a new company and our business is growing but spectators and buyers are commenting it is quieter!

Thirdly, times are tough! Anyone that tells you the dental market is immune is kidding themselves. There is no shortage of hungry buyers but with banks having chartered valuations conducted prior to agreeing finance it does mean the deals are being inspected more scrupously than ever before! As an aside though these non-dental valuers are starting to get more comparable evidence and are talking to the brokers more so things are getting easier! All of the banks are also getting more competitive which is always a good thing!

Fourthly, Dental Recruitment has changed, there has been a shift in demand, our permanent recruitment is perhaps quieter than last year as there are more dentists in the marketplace and less tender activity. However, with the PCTs looking to thrash the axe, practices are more and more keen to be on target and ensure they are always open in line with their contract so our Locum Recruitment is busier than ever! The busiest I have seen in 8 years in the industry, so given that we are not in the last three months of the financial year yet, we're predicting bigger things for 2012!

And so to 2012! Well for Dental Elite we are planning more growth even with a second dip looming perhaps!

Good Afternoon to everyone. I write this blog standing in the Internet Cafe at the British Orthodontic Society Web Cafe in Harrogate. Its quite amusing that almost everyone is out of sync given that the conference started on Sunday and no-one can quite get their head round that it is only Tuesday now. Something tells me this is going to be a long week. Still we can't complain - having agreed five practice sales in the last 24 hours - a new company record!

 

The BOS is an event that seems to have been well attended by many of the Orthodontic Alumni and it has been nice to say hello again to a lot of our Orthodontic client base - particularly the two who have recently had sales agreed and are excited about the future ahead given that there appears to be an air of pessimism about the new Orthodontic Contract and the likelihood that they will have to tender for their goodwill in the coming months.

 

For us this is the first marketing event of what looks as if it is going to be a very tiring autumn season with an over-subscribed seminar at South Lodge to follow on Thursday Evening. If you are interested in attending there are another six repetitions of this seminar before Christmas with more to follow in the New Year. We will also be launching Buying the Right Dental Business in Birmingham on the 18th November for those at the other end of their dental career pathways.

 

All in all it's been nice to spend a few days in the beautiful city of Harrogate and life without VPN and Wi-Fi has allowed us to consider how to improve our service offering over the coming months. Although, I'm sure my waistline would prefer it without the Shortbread accompaniments.

 

Hopefully see you all over the autumn.

Although this was Dental Elite's first BDA Conference I have personally exhibited at the BDA conference for the past five years and every year I never know what to expect. I try to make predictions on the type of referrals we're most likely to receive or the audience who are most likely to be attending, and I must say that this year is the first year I had it wrong.

 

A couple of things in particular struck me about the BDA show this year, I was surprised that the delegate numbers on the ground seemed generally low including during the designated break and exhibition times and after speaking with several other exhibitors this was the general consensus.

 

 

However, although the quantity wasn't there the quality most certainly was, we spoke to a wide variety of well-qualified professionals at different stages in their careers, from Foundation Dentists looking beyond the summer through to a number of potential vendors looking for healthchecks. There was a wide variety in good enquiries.

 

I spoke briefly with the events manager at the BDA and I was actually surprised to hear that the show this year had less exhibitors than last year and I suppose the argument must be now whether the BDA just provides a ground to maintain a presence for your existing client base or whether it is a successful exhibition for generating new business. I do feel that for Dental Elite as a relatively new name, the BDA was a great place to get our name recognised, but I whether the BDA have the same effect year on year?

 

Overall the show was success for us and thank you to all who attended our stand.