You recently purchased a dental or medical practice and several months have passed…how is the new practice doing? Is the practice everything you had dreamed it would be? Are your numbers up? Or are you struggling? There are a number of factors that can negatively affect the future business of practice after the transition. Below we have listed a few areas to focus on along with a few practical solutions you can implement TODAY.
- The Staff: Your staff can make or break your new practice. The existing support staff may not be as excited about the change as you are as they may be uncertain about their future with the practice. In fact, they may feel overwhelmed or unhappy.
- Schedule a team-building event: Schedule a meal or fun activity for your team outside of regular business hours. This will give you the opportunity to learn more about your staff and determine how they feel about the transition. They will also get to know you a little bit better, which will hopefully reassure them about the future and the changes to come.
- Existing Patients: After you purchase a practice, you should first focus on your most valuable resource- your existing client base.
- Schedule a “transition” party: This can be a physical open house event or a virtual campaign you host online through social media or email. Regardless of how you decide to do it, you should reach out to your existing patients to spread your enthusiasm about the change.
- Assess Existing Client Files: There are a number of tools out there to help you do this, but take a look at your client files. How many are still active? How can you get them back in the door?
- Hire a Consultant: This is plain and simple. You may be worried about the cost of a consultant but remember, their job is practice management- your job is dentistry. In the long run, they may be able to save your practice by helping you evaluate the numbers.
- Run a Practice Analysis: You should individually, with your consultant or with an outside third party run an assessment on your practice’s numbers that can show you what areas you should focus on to improve. Equipment companies in the area will run such an analysis for as low as $300.00. This small expense could lead to a tremendous revenue boost.
- Day-To-Day Operations: You won’t want to make any sudden substantial changes, but there are many little things you can do to make a difference.
- Spend time in the office: You may be focused on managing the financials of the practice, but you should do your best to actually be in the office and have that face-to-face time with your patients. This makes a world of difference and shows them how much you care.
- Use compliments to win over your patients! If you purchased a dental practice, tell your patients their smile is “beautiful”, their teeth are “bright and white”! Make them feel good about their teeth and they will feel good about you working on them.
- Bringing In New Business: There are a number of marketing strategies you can test out but just remember the following key items:
- DON’T be fooled by a salesperson: You will meet a number of convincing salespeople that disguise an advertisement as a ‘marketing plan’. Hire a marketing agency if you want a solid marketing plan, do NOT buy any advertisement without having a message or plan in place.
- Online Presence is oh-so-important: In this day and age, the majority of new patients will find their new dentist on the web. You have probably already been told that you need a website, but there are many other factors to consider. SEO and Google Ads are HUGE- find an online marketing professional to make your website easily accessible to new online searchers.
LEGAL DISCLAIMER
NC Planning’s attorneys are licensed to practice law in NC. The information herein is not legal advice and does not create an attorney/client relationship. The information is in the form of legal education and is intended to provide general information about the matter. The above is not, nor is it intended to be, legal advice. Oftentimes there are significant and important facts and timelines that if known could significantly change necessary course of action. NC Planning strongly advises an individual with questions to confer with an attorney in their state in order to ensure proper advice is received.
