Running a clinic is a tricky business, seeing as how it’s a humanitarian institution and a business at the same time. The same goes for the dental industry. On the one hand, people want only the very best and most professional but, at the same time, being a great dentist doesn’t guarantee that your practice will be successful, as well.
For this, you need to be efficient as an entrepreneur and dental practice manager. It is also important that you provide yourself with a decent head start. One way to do so is to follow an elaborate to-do list.
While hiring the right staff and buying proper equipment is a huge item on this list, this is something that virtually every other checklist will cover. These steps are, more or less, universally agreed upon. Therefore, we’ll focus more on some other, more business-savvy, aspects of starting your own dental practice.
Here are several factors that you need to keep in mind.
Start with Enough Resources
Starting a dental practice is not cheap. According to some estimates, the minimum required is around $250,000. A recommended range is usually between $350,000 and $500,000. This is a considerable sum when compared to some other industries.
Quality equipment is expensive. Finding the right location and the facility suitable for your type of business costs even more. Finally, attracting talent with the right traits and previous experience is impossible without a promise of fair compensation. Needless to say, wages in this industry are slightly higher than average.
The equipment alone is expected to cost somewhere around $200,000, but you can’t spend your entire budget here. Remember that you’ll need some money for operational expenses, as well. This is vital in order to keep you running until your business is self-sustainable.
Beyond Clinical Care
One thing that a lot of people need to understand is that being a dentist and running a successful dental practice is not the same thing. It also requires you to be a skilled organizer. The difference lies in efficient dental management.
This includes both management of your day-to-day operations and your practice’s long-term business plan. It requires you to collect all the necessary data to formulate a strategy. It also involves the technical (logistical) aspect of your business, like managing finances, handling the supply situation, and even handling your online presence.
While this may sound like something primarily concerned with numbers, there’s a lot more to it than just that. Ethical issues like handling patient education, reducing patient cancellations and no-shows, etc., are also under the umbrella of dental management.
Consider an LLP
Another thing you need to consider is the business structure that you’ll register as. One of the options available in the LLP (limited liability partnership). This is a scenario where you team up with another dentist but are protected from any form of malpractice on their behalf. This is particularly handy because no matter how familiar you are with their reputation, you can never be 100% certain that they won’t make a professional mistake.
Having this option available will be a lot easier for you to form partnerships with other dentists. This is because teaming up will carry less risk. Given how much it costs to start a dental practice, this is an incredibly important step to consider.
Types of Insurance
A dental business needs to be properly insured; however, what counts under proper business insurance in this industry? Generally speaking, some of the minimum requirements are:
- General liability coverage
- Equipment breakdown coverage
- Data compromise coverage
- Malpractice insurance
- Business interruption coverage
While all of this may seem quite intimidating, remember that there is a way around it. Some of the larger insurance companies offer packages designed especially for dental practices. Just make sure that you start by examining the contents of this package to see if it has all you need.
The Choice of the Location
Location matters, however, not as much as in some other industries. As a restaurant, a hotel, or a store, people will use the location as a key marker of your identity. This will determine the prestige of your business and even serve as a determining factor of whether they’ll do business with you to begin with.
When it comes to running a dental practice, while important, this is not the main thing to look out for. People are primarily concerned with the reputation of the dentist in question and their previous positive experiences. They will commit more to a commute to get the quality of service they need. If you establish a strong connection with your patients, they will follow you even if you relocate.
On top of this, it’s important to mention that dental check-ups aren’t as frequent as to make a big difference in their commute. This is why the location carries less weight.
Needless to say, the location can still be used for marketing purposes and determine your starting prestige. Speaking of which…
Focus on Your Marketing
Another thing you should likely focus on is the importance of marketing for your dental practice. Sure, the dental industry heavily relies on repeat business, but how do you attract the patients in the first place? This requires a serious marketing strategy.
First of all, more people are reading reviews than you expect. So, it doesn’t hurt to ask your patients to leave positive reviews and rate you online. Just make sure not to be too pushy or annoying with it. Ask but don’t insist. It’s their own goodwill that should determine whether they become brand ambassadors or not.
You could also try to generate some value before they become proper patients. For instance, make a blog or a YouTube channel where you offer some free dental health tips.
Most importantly, don’t be cheap when it comes to your digital marketing. Proper returns require proper investments. So, allocate sufficient resources to your digital marketing efforts to begin with.
In Conclusion
Following some of the above-listed rules and guidelines will ensure that you don’t miss out on anything essential early on. For instance, the need for hiring the right staff and purchasing equipment is evident even for someone who doesn’t have the faintest idea about the industry. The same cannot be said about the importance of proper dental management or choosing the right insurance package. It is essential that you’re covered on all fronts in order to increase your odds of success.
