Author: Dr Robert Donald
There are various opportunities and challenges associated with dental practice growth in the UK. Whether you are looking to take your business to the next level or preparing for a future sale, it is essential to have a solid business development strategy in place for the best results.
Understanding the market
First and foremost, it is necessary to understand industry trends and to establish how your practice stands up within the broader landscape. For example, it can be useful to know that most family-focused practices are seeing reduced patient numbers right now or that the majority of implant practices are growing. Where your experience differs significantly from the industry norms, this may indicate potential for change and improvement. Understanding what the average practice is achieving may also provide opportunity and motivation to excel beyond these standards and propel your business forwards.
A brief analysis of your competitor activity should be included in this wider evaluation. Identifying the most common treatment solutions or services offered in the local area will highlight gaps in the market and help you develop unique selling points (USPs).
Setting goal posts
These USPs are crucial to distinguish your practice from others and to define your business messaging. They will also influence the goals you set for your practice, which will form the baseline of your growth.
Setting targets for your practice’s development provides clarity, motivation and a way to monitor success. For the best results, your business objectives should follow the SMART principal – Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound. This will ensure they define exactly what you wish to achieve and how you will determine your progress. It also encourages your goals to be realistic and right for your business, as well as giving a timeframe in which to work.
As such, goals for the dental practice might be to achieve a 5% increase in revenue in the next 3 months, to reach 90% chair occupancy for the dental therapist inside 6 months or to increase the number of new patient enquiries by 30% in 1 year. These should be tailored according to what is most important for your business, and may be related to specific treatment types or overall business objectives.
Planning the pathway to success
A comprehensive business strategy will incorporate both the growth objectives set and a plan of how they will be achieved. This should be considered from a strategic, tactical and operational perspective, clearly defining the steps required for success.
For instance, if an uptick in revenue is your goal, are you looking to close more open treatment plans or attract totally new patients? If improved chair occupancy is being targeted, will you be reorganising internal referral pathways or working with other practices to offer services to their patients? Should you decide to focus on improving profitability, will you consider increasing cost-efficiencies or establishing new revenue streams?
Getting further into the details, the plan should explore how your marketing activities will need to support your objective, with details of when, where and how you will promote your practice. If you are introducing new payment options or creating a bespoke dental plan, these should be tailored to your patients and to your goals.
Monitor and manage
In order to monitor progress and measure success, key metrics should be identified that link to both your strategic and tactical objectives. This is crucial as it will demonstrate which changes implemented are working best and which still need refinement to help you stay on track and achieve your goals. They also provide tangible data that can be used to inform future decisions about the direction of business growth.
These metrics will vary significantly and depend entirely on your objectives and growth plan. However, they will likely include monitoring of total monthly revenue and revenue growth rate as a percentage. Other examples would be the number of new patient enquiries received per month and conversion rate to booking an appointment, or number of dental therapy appointments per month and difference as a percentage compared to the previous month.
If results show a substantial or immediately adverse impact, this should trigger rapid adaptation of the plan. Otherwise, the findings should demonstrate growth over time.
Support
To bring everything together, your business growth objectives and your strategic plan will need to be communicated with the entire team. This will likely require tailored training and on-going support, the infrastructure for which must also be put into place. It can be hugely beneficial to work with experts in the field who understand the dental market and have experience in helping practices of all shapes and sizes to grow and develop.
When working with IndepenDent Care Plans (ICP), for instance, you will have access to a Business Development Consultant who will help to evaluate your practice and offer expert guidance on how to implement changes for successful growth. ICP dental plans increase monthly revenue while making income more predictable and more stable. They are also fully customised to you and are delivered in practice-branded packaging to blend seamlessly with your wider marketing.
Purpose-driven growth
Success in dentistry is reliant on constant growth and development – for individuals and for the business. Defining your goals, understanding how you will achieve them and monitoring your progress are crucial.
For more information and to book a no-obligation consultation, please visit ident/co.uk or call 01463 222 999
