Articles

Many people feel that the only time to get a professional business appraisal done for a business is when you are about to buy or sell that business.

We are often told that the secret to a successful career is hard work, determination, persistence and resilience. What we aren’t told is that another crucial skill in determining the success of your overall career is the exact opposite…knowing when and how to quit. 

We are both about enjoying the journey. We know that by the time we are 80 we won’t want to do much, so live life now – we do not want to have regrets about things we didn’t do when we are old. This is not a dress rehearsal …. “Your last pair of trousers doesn’t have pockets!”

We have a house in France, and I am planning to spend more time there and with our 3 daughters who live overseas in Monaco, Barcelona and Hong Kong. When I owned the practice and we used to visit, I would always have to be in contact with the practice and my accountant. I was away, but never totally. Now that I have sold the practice, when I travel it is someone else’s problem.

In order to effectively negotiate any deal, you need to be able to understand the person on the other side of the negotiation. You need to know what their fears and motivators are. Somehow though, buyers often misjudge the emotional journey that a seller is going through towards the end of their career. 

There are a lot of misconceptions out there about the council zoning required for a dental practice. Can you put a dental chair in a retail shop and start practicing? Can a dental practice operate in an area that is zoned “commercial”, or does it need special purpose zoning? If a practice has been in the area for a long time…is council approval assumed? Are all approvals for dental practice use the same?  What happens if your practice is operating under the wrong permit?

At first glance, many would assume that young and older dentists would have a shared perspective when it comes to what it takes to run a practice - after all, they have chosen the same profession and job description. However, in reality, there is often a generational divide that exists in their perspectives. The practice of dentistry has changed enormously in the past 25-35 years. From the technology and compliance needed, to the equipment and materials, and from the clinical range offered to the marketing allowed to bring in patients, there is actually very little about the modern practice of dentistry that has remained untouched and would have been the same when senior dentists (55+) started practice.

"One fateful day, we had a BBQ at home and a mate of mine, who is a winemaker, looked at my paddock and said I should grow grapes. I checked with an independent consultant, who also said I could grow grapes there. I did a wine-making course and started to make wine...We began planting the vineyard in 1991 and it was a few years before we produced a commercial volume."

It is no exaggeration to say that your premises lease can make a massive impact on the profitability and sellability of your dental practice. While many landlords will issue their tenants with a proposed lease, saying that what is proposed is “standard”, and imply that there is little to be negotiated or concerned about, it is important to seek advice, as not all commercial leases are created equal.

I am sometimes asked by buyers how much patient attrition should be expected when a practice sells.