Recently I got into a … let’s call it a spirited discussion about the merits of buying a dental practice versus starting a new one from scratch. It should come as a shock to absolutely no one that I’m on Team Buy a Practice. But I have good reasons! Let’s talk about just one.
The dentist I was talking to argued that starting a practice makes more sense because (I’m paraphrasing here), “Tons of patients loyal to the seller will leave anyway, and I’ll have to build a patient base again. I might as well start from scratch.”
There’s wrong, and then there’s completely, totally wrong. This dentist was the latter.
I know many dentists share this fear, even if they’re not as adamant about it as the doctor in this story. And it’s not a crazy fear! But it is wrong.
Here’s the double-barreled truth.
Barrel #1: It’s possible that after buying a dental practice, a few of the patients might take their teeth elsewhere. But not many. It’s rare that when a practice changes hands, there’s more than a 5% patient attrition rate.
Yes there may be a few people who are extremely loyal to the selling dentist and leave in a huff. But that’s rare, and they might have been a pain for you anyway. Regardless, this is hardly the same as starting from scratch.
Barrel #2: More commonly, I actually see an increase in patient numbers after the first year of ownership. This is probably for a lot of reasons. Here are a few:
- The selling dentist was coasting, not being as effective as possible with marketing and advertising. You, the new owner, will be more enthusiastic about attracting new patients.
- The staff may be eager to impress the new boss, and will step up their game accordingly, making for a better patient experience, more and better online reviews, and more appointments made.
- Potential patients see that there’s a new dentist at the practice and are curious about you.
- And lots of other possible reasons.
The point is, I see a lot of buyers wringing their hands about this issue, and I wish they wouldn’t. Take care of the basics of practice operations, have a decent marketing plan, and maintain a good relationship with your staff, and you’ve got nothing to worry about.
If you think you’ve found that potential perfect practice, drop us a line, we’ll help you check it out (and allay some fears in the process.)
