Expanding your Dental Practice – Is Now the Right Time?
|So, your practice is growing and thriving. You’ve established yourself in your community and have a dedicated and growing group of patients who may be starting to struggle to get an appointment because you’re just too busy. You’ve even learned all there is to know about dental codes. All of this may mean that you are feeling ready to take the next step in building your business by expanding but are a little unsure as to if this is the right time to do so. Before you make that final decision, it is important that you make sure you have explored some key considerations.
Why Do You Want to Expand?
The most important thing you should consider before embarking on a full expansion process is why you want to expand. Are you finding yourself overbooked and needing more dentists on hand to accommodate your growing patient base? Do dental emergencies leave your schedule in tatters for days as you try and shift appointments around? Is your existing office just too small to fit your growing administration staff contingent?
While a full expansion may assist you in remedying these issues, you need to make sure that opening a new office will offer you enough benefit to make it worth your while. Before you decide to set up another practice, make sure you’ve explored other options as you don’t want to put your entire business at risk by moving at a bad time.
What is the Cost of Expansion?
So, you’ve looked closely at your reasons for expansion and decided it would be best to go ahead. Now you need to consider what the cost of expansion will be in terms of both immediate expenses as well as long-term expenses.
Consider the cost of new equipment to fully outfit another office, the cost of a new lease, salary costs to account for the extra staff as well as marketing expenses so you can inform your existing clients of the expansion as well as attract new patients. If you still feel that expansion will be worth your investment, you are ready to move onto the next step.
How Can You Make the Process Easier?
You already own a successful dentistry practice so you know the struggles and challenges that lie ahead. Why not give yourself a boost from the very beginning and consider buying an already existing practice to remove even more of these teething pains.
There are websites like www.retiring-dentist.co.uk that specialise in selling existing practices from retiring dentists and can assist you in finding a practice that you can make your very own. This way, your own expansion gets a boost in terms of an already active patient list and a fully equipped office so you can cut down on setup costs as well as staff that is already familiar with the industry.
Another way to make the expansion process easier is to ensure you have the right team of people assisting you in the endeavour.
Whether you’re ready to expand now, or just looking ahead to the future, make sure you’re developing a strategy that will help you ultimately reach your goals.