The dentist partners at Sunshine Dental (not the practice’s real name) knew the senior partner wanted to retire in the next few years. The practice was thriving, but the junior partner didn’t want to assume the senior partner’s role in running and managing the practice. Her preference was to spend the majority of her time face-to-face with patients and not at a desk, looking at financials, dealing with staffing, and figuring out marketing.

Typically, the solution is to find a buyer for the shares of the departing partner but this route has a history of “misfires”, most notably bringing in a dentist who is a bad fit for the remaining original partner.

Knowing that I work with equity firms that purchase dental practices, the owners of Sunshine Dental called me to explore their other options.

Sunshine Dental is a remarkably successful dental practice. The partner that managed the practice has systematized all the processes within the practice making it simple for onboarding of new staff as well as ensuring a remarkable dental experience for their patients.

From a buyer’s perspective, this was a near-ideal acquisition. The practice was generating a respectable number of new, inbound calls and requests for information. The only real gap I was able to identify was a lack of an engagement process that converts prospective patients into paying patients.

After speaking with the owners, we decided to bring in an outside expert to help Sunshine Dental build a process that would fill this gap.

Initially, the partners resisted the need to add a marketing client relationship management (CRM) software. They insisted on using the CRM portion of their practice management software as they were already paying for it. Although understandable, the first job was to show how their practice management software (PMS) was not ideal for conversions.

Most PMS systems do have rudimentary capabilities like sending emails and text reminders and this is a great place to start. But the goal is to effectively engage and educate prospects for the practice with high-converting content and follow-up activities. This means a system was needed to deliver content (emails, videos, messages, training etc.) that Sunshine Dental’s prospects would open, read, view, and interact with. The purpose of systematizing this process is to predictably drive the conversion of the practice’s warm leads and get them to make a buying decision.

Once this was explained, the decision to add a “marketing CRM” was made and over the next 90 days, we created a series of campaigns for each of Sunshine Dental’s profit centers namely:

• Family hygiene
• Preventative services
• Invisalign
• Whitening
• Cosmetic

The first step was to filter all new prospects into one of these 5 areas with a series of quizzes, information videos, and Q&A pages. By monitoring the responses of the prospects as they engaged with each of the assets Sunshine Dental produced, we were able to gain a clearer picture of what the psychological drivers were of each individual prospect.

The software would use this information to deliver timely and relevant information to the prospect that positioned Sunshine Dental as the best available option.

By the end of the 90 days, the system was completed and over the following 3 months, Sunshine Dental saw significant growth in their revenue and a corresponding number of patients.

How did this help the dentists?

By completing the systemization of the marketing and having all the other processes of the practices systematized and documented, we were able to get offers from multiple parties interested in buying the practice. The partners were able to negotiate an excellent price that both partners were happy with, and the acquiring company already had a management system in place that allowed the junior partner to cash out AND remain in the practice as a practicing dentist – a true win-win result.

If your situation is similar to Sunshine Dental and you’d like to investigate ways to maximize your practice’s value for sale or transition, reach out to Stan Kinder. To discover all your options, call 703.298.1690 or click HERE to schedule a Discovery Call NOW with Stan Kinder for the best options whether selling or retiring.