THE ENTREPRENEUR
‘We started out our business in the middle of the Celtic Tiger but we had a flawed idea, so it was really difficult back then. Now we have our strategy right, but it’s difficult now too’
is ‘quality accessible and affordable dentistry’.” Applying just that logic, the Smiles clinics are open seven days a
week, 8am to 8pm on weekdays. “It means customers can come before or after work, and I think particularly now, when people are conscious of their jobs and have serious commitments, that’s a real differentiator.” Customer service is also a key focus, “that quality of care and cus-
tomer service that we wrap around the dentistry if you like”, he says. “We try to look after our patients really, really well.We definitely go above and beyond normal expectations.” Of course the pricing strategy too has been key, says O’Neill, and
Smiles Dental prides itself on offering “Northern Irish prices”. To be in a position to do this, cost management is a strong focus in the business. “No 1 at the moment is obviously managing the costs and that is
something of which we’re acutely aware, but the bigger we get the easier that becomes in many respects. As the volume grows, we can afford to have a smaller margin on a per-item basis. That is our busi- ness model. We have highly qualified dentists working in our prac- tices, so they do very well, and we do less well. However, because we have a lot of dentists we can kind of make up for it in that way.” And Smiles does have a lot of dentists. When we speak, Smiles
Dental has 13 clinics on the go, with three more due to come on stream within weeks, employing 100 staff and 62 dentists, making the business by far the largest of its kind in Ireland. Last year, Smiles treated 120,000 patients. O’Neill has his sights set beyond these shores too. 2011 will see the opening of Smiles’ first two clinics in the North of Ireland, and there are plans to expand to the UK mainland. “We’re also looking at the management systems that we have in place, and exploring whether we might be in a position to sell them, as a kind of a spin-off of our core business. We’re just really exploring it at the moment, because we know we’ve a good brand, we know we have a good way of doing this. If we could automate it even more, then it’s a system that we could probably offer to other people to run their businesses.”
Reconnections O’Neill has fond memories of his BComm at UCD, and says it still stands to him today, and not just from a strictly academic perspec- tive. “I came from a fairly small school into a huge college, the biggest college in Ireland. The human skills that you develop in that respect have stood to me greatly.” “And of course the network of people that you meet atUCD, they’re
people who are your contemporaries throughout your working life and, having that in common with people, that breaks down barriers.”
“You kind of drift in and out of coverage with people,” he contin-
ues. “Just a few weeks ago I met a guy frommy class, and it turns out he’s now got a design business and we’re going to do some work with them. It’s that kind of reconnection that can happen.” Despite the success of Smiles Dental, O’Neill is the first to admit
that he too has been touched by the recession of recent years. “It’s funny.We started out our business in the middle of the Celtic
Tiger but we had a flawed idea, so it was really difficult back then. Now we have our strategy right, but it’s difficult now too. “But I think what the recession does is to make you think about the
human side of things that little bit more,” saysO’Neill. “I have people who work with me who are being crippled by the USC (Universal Social Charge), and that’s hard to swallow. Obviously, as a business owner, you have to keep your own costs down, but then you sit oppo- site somebody who can’t afford their rent or their mortgage. Reconciling all of that is very hard. To me that’s the real tragedy in this recession. Hard-working, honest people are suffering for being hard-working, honest people. There’s something wrong there, and I’ve no idea what the answer is.” It creates challenges for the business too, with average spend per
patient down, although patient numbers are up, says O’Neill. “Everything changes in a recession but I do think that, if you get through a recession, you’re lean, you’re hungry and you’re definitely tougher coming out the other side. We’re all looking to one or two years down the road, to be ready for the upturn. “I know a lot of entrepreneurs say tome that a couple of years ago
they hardly had to do any managing, and all of a sudden they’ve become superb managers and directors – because it takes talent to keep a business going in this environment. “I can’t stress how lucky I’ve been with the people who have
joined us over the years, many of them are still with us since the day we opened,” says O’Neill. “There’s a culture here driven as much by them as by me, a proper team environment. If you don’t have a working functioning team, you’re brown bread in the cur- rent business environment.” O’Neill admits he is a positive person by nature and is, naturally, positive about the future. “I don’t know any other way to be. Positivity is not a choice, it’s all you have. I come across some very sour people, and I think that is awful for them. I don’t know how they get through the day.” It’s an attitude that seems to come so naturally to him, there’s a
tone of genuine sympathy in his voice when he speaks those last words.
Ann O’Dea UCD BUSINESS CONNECTIONS 25
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56