How to Remain Profitable in Your Dental Practice

If you’re still following the business model you established for your dental practice 20 years ago, you’re missing countless opportunities to increase your profits. General inflation, your current patient base and your competition are just a few reasons why it’s important to focus on the “now” of your dental practice. Here’s how to keep profits up at your dental practice.

Cutting costs

Simply looking for ways to cut costs in your dental practice will actually hurt your business in the long run. If you cut your marketing budget, you run the risk of losing new business. If you stick with your old equipment, there’s a chance you’ll lose patients to your competition. No matter what shortcuts you try to take, the slack will end up getting picked up by you or other staff members, running the risk of burnout in your dental practice.

Think transitions

Eventually, whether because of retirement or looking to unload managerial responsibilities by selling to a dental service organization (DSO) or taking on a partner, every dental practice will experience a transition of ownership. You should always enter any business agreement with the end in mind so you aren’t short-changing your chances of a profitable transition, then come up with a plan for how to get there. No decision should be made at the expense of your business and its future.

Train your staff

Even if you think your staff is operating at the top of its game, there’s always room for improvement. Investing in training may seem counterintuitive, but even something as simple as how staff is communicating with patients, whether that’s setting up automatic appointment reminders or even phone call etiquette, will free up bandwidth for other tasks that need attention. More efficiency and investment from staff equals more profits in the long run.

Grow your services

Looking at your competition can help you determine where to grow your dental practice. What services are in demand in your area? Again, investing in new opportunities can open the door to new business. Just know your limits and come up with a solid plan for diversifying your resources before taking on every specialist in the phone book.

Establish a plan

Think of your business plan in terms of investments rather than expenses. Any costs that aren’t moving you toward your goal of growing your business should be reconsidered. Only put your efforts toward your best opportunities, considering financing, time and effort along the way. Then, decide where to go based on your aim. Just don’t wait too long before the opportunity passes.

What’s next?

Contact the experts at Professional Transition Strategies for more ways to set your dental practice up for success.