Articles

Dentists often put off selling their practices because they are concerned about life after dentistry. What will they do with all those extra hours; how will they cope with leaving behind the identity that has defined them for decades?

I wasn’t really ready to retire when I put the practice on the market, thinking it might take a few years to sell. I’m 68 years of age and can’t go on practicing forever. In 6 weeks I’m off to Antarctica to do an ultra-marathon. I have always been a marathon runner, even while I was running practices, but I wanted to get into it seriously, which was hard to do with the practice.

Do-It-Yourself (DIY) projects are usually a great source of pride for the person undertaking the project. They are a way of putting your unique touch on something, creating a personal vision or an ideal, from formless raw materials - often saving you money at the same time.

There is a famous story about an old house owned by Steve Jobs in Woodside California, called Jackling house. Steve hated the house and wanted it torn down, so that he could build a new, more suitable house for his family.

Let’s say you had a café that you bought a coffee from every morning.

My practice sold quickly – quicker than I thought. Within two months we had two keen buyers, and I ended up selling to a dentist who bought it six weeks after seeing it. While I was happy with my decision to sell, and the process of selling, saying goodbye was very difficult. I was heartbroken when I walked out of my practice for the last time – but it turned to be an easy adjustment. I was able to let go of it straight away. The hardest part was to get used to not having a regular income.

The plan was always for an associate of the practice to spend time working in the practice, see the value and buy equity. I saw this as my succession plan, and had told dentists this when they started working in the practice, but it didn’t work out. After a few attempts at this, and having a few associates come and go, I learned I couldn’t rely on this method to sell my practice. I contacted Practice Sale Search and we had lunch and agreed to push ahead. I might be old fashioned, but I thought that because I had a country practice, it would be harder to sell than a city practice. I really thought the practice would take a while to sell. But a few weeks later they were showing people through my practice. It blew my mind away when, after the second showing, someone made an offer I was happy with. I was so surprised! I offered to stay on post-sale. I wanted to help with the transition and I want to see the practice continue to grow, even after I leave. I spoke to the buyer about this prior to him taking it over, and he said to me I could work there as long as I wanted to.

When Practice Sale Search talks to dentists who are nearing the end of their careers, there are, of course, natural financial concerns about:

I often get asked by clients, “What are the benefits of engaging one practice sales broker exclusively?  Wouldn’t a competitive process yield the best results?”. The best way to answer this would be to use a dental practice analogy:

Selling or buying a practice is a major milestone in a dentist’s life – it is the beginning of something new and exciting. But that excitement and momentum can slowly give way to fatigue when there are so many people needing consultation and input (buyer/s, seller/s, landlords, financiers, lawyers, accountants, etc) and administrative and legal processes that need to be signed off on before the exchange.