As Practice Plan celebrates 30 years of supporting dentists to build thriving businesses, one of its founders, Jan Tinsley, looks back to how it all began.
Although the business had been incorporated in August 1995, it was on the 10th of January 1996 that we started collecting by direct debit and earned our very first pound. That single pound represented more than just money earned as it was also proof of concept, the culmination of months of groundwork, software development, bank sponsorships, and a leap of faith into the unknown. It was the beginning of Practice Plan.
Looking back over 30 years, it’s hard not to feel a deep sense of pride and gratitude. We didn’t start out with a grand vision to revolutionise dentistry. Like many businesses, we were led by the market, by listening and responding. My husband, John, and his business partner, Ian, were trained financial advisors with a solid grounding from Royal Life. They had already decided to go against the grain and set up as fee-based financial planners in a converted cow shed, serving high-net-worth individuals. So, not on the High Street with footfall, just concentrating on a particular category of client wherever they were based.
John travelled across the country visiting clients. He started advising a dentist in North Wales who recommended his services to other dentists and so word spread. What he heard time after time from dental practice owners was frustration. Frustration with the NHS contract, with Denplan [the main dental plan provider at the time] and with the lack of autonomy.
Helping dentists overcome their fear
Dentists wanted to leave the NHS, but the fear of losing regular income held them back. With John’s financial services background, he was able to do all the calculations to determine what they would need to earn to replace their contract and the idea for Practice Plan was born. What he came up with was different from a capitation plan, which is what Denplan’s model was at the time.
To be able to join Denplan, patients needed to be dentally fit and then they would pay a monthly amount based on their needs. John’s approach was to strip things right back and say, ‘Hang on a minute, let’s make life fairer on the patient, so they can understand exactly what it is they’re getting.” We developed a plan where patients had two check-ups a year, and regular hygiene visits.
Hygiene appointments, when suggested by dentists would sometimes be viewed by patients as an upsell. However, we included them in the plan as dentists were telling us that if you keep your teeth clean, you’re probably going to keep them for life. It’s a fundamental part of dentistry, but it’s one that wasn’t communicated to the public well at the time.
So, we pared the message right back so that the dentist could be completely comfortable about saying ‘I want you to have your two hygiene visits a year and that’s what our plan will be. If you require or request any more treatment, then we have a fee list. And this fee list will be discounted for you as one of our members.”
So, that is how it all began. We gave the dentist something that could help them leave the NHS that they were comfortable would provide a regular income from the basic plan fees. We were also able to use our financial services background to calculate their hourly rates so we could help them set fees that we knew would cover all their costs. Things grew organically because all we were focused on was helping the dentist. There’s real satisfaction in seeing someone with a problem and knowing you have the solution to it.
It wasn’t just about the dentists, though. It was about their teams, their patients, their families. I remember one Sunday morning, a dentist’s wife called me, worried sick about her husband’s stress. I’d just put a leg of lamb in the oven. So, I said, “Put him in the car and come and have lunch with us.” They drove two-and-a-half hours, sat with us, walked around the garden, and left with peace of mind and a plan. They became real ambassadors for us. They became so successful in what they did and really transformed their practice and their life.
Retaining the family business feel
We didn’t think of ourselves as a big business. We were a cottage industry, focused entirely on serving dentists and helping them and their teams transform their practices. We were keen to help them understand that they were offering a different service post-conversion and give them the confidence they needed to raise their standards and believe in their worth.
We built our team the same way. “Recruit attitude and train the rest” was my motto. Yes, qualifications matter, but personality fit was everything. We had our little tick box criteria at interview, and the final one was always: will they fit?
Later on, we introduced what was then called ‘the 250 Club’. It was our way of saying thank you to our practices. Not with ads or gimmicks, but with genuine celebration. Our year end was June, and the event was in May. At the August meeting with our accountant, he said: “You were doing great, but what the hell happened in May?” We had blown May’s budget at Carden Park for the 250 Club. I just told him that was our marketing spend. We gave our clients a super time, recognised their partners, and built something that still continues, and is valued, today.
Business serving individuals
Thirty years on, I still do a bit of mentoring. And I see more and more companies waking up to what we knew all along: business is human. You can talk strategy and finance in any boardroom, but you’re still dealing with people and all the things they have going on in their lives like school runs, illnesses, hopes, and fears. AI might be changing the landscape, but as long as you’re dealing with humans, then we have to deal with all the human traits and requirements, and some of those are about belonging, caring and being respected. Any business that doesn’t do that, then they’re not winning.
Here’s to the next 30 years of Practice Plan continuing to serve dentists and their teams with a human touch.