Selling Your Dental Practice: How an Expert Appraisal Sets You Up for Success
From the moment you opened your practice, you knew this day was coming—the day when you decide to sell your dental practice and retire. Now the biggest question is: how do you make sure that you and your buyer both enjoy a successful transition?
A Familiar Scenario
Senior dentist, Joe Smith, has been practicing in one location for 30 years. When he started, Dr. Smith joined as an Associate and eventually bought the practice. Since then, he has worked solo, living comfortably and keeping the overhead “low.”
Dr. Smith’s practice is a golden opportunity for a fresh, young dentist. He is hoping for the kind of dental practice transition that he experienced—specifically, finding an associate to come in, earn his or her keep, bide their time, and take the reins upon his retirement.
Dr. Smith’s dental practice transition was very successful when he was buying his practice, so would that same type of transition work when selling his dental practice?
The best way to know for certain is to have a dental practice appraisal specialist take a close look at the practice, evaluating strengths, weaknesses, assets and liabilities. For example, you would need to know:
- Is the practice’s revenue production sufficient to support two doctors?
- Is the staff willing to adapt to another doctor?
- Will your patients accept a new doctor?
- As the senior doctor, are you able to mentor and relinquish some patients and responsibilities?
An accurate practice appraisal will determine whether or not your practice can currently handle this type of transition, while also providing many other insights necessary to running your business.
Successful Dental Practice Transitions Begin With Accurate Practice Appraisals
Specifically, when selling your dental practice, you need to have a professional dental practice appraisal, or valuation, that paints an up-to-date picture of the worth of your practice in the current marketplace. This critical information helps you set a fair market value price.
The seasoned transition consultants at Henry Schein PPT have developed a multi-faceted approach for producing accurate, trustworthy appraisals which includes:
- Proprietary Questionnaire – This is the major data-gathering step.
- Comprehensive Analysis – From your questionnaire, our team assembles the vital information that feeds the dental practice assessment.
- Performance Evaluation – We prepare a cash-flow analysis which helps evaluate the stability and strength of your practice.
- Multiple Valuation Methods – We utilize several valuation methods to determine your practice’s value, instead of relying on just one.
- Detailed Valuation Report – Our comprehensive 30+-page narrative leaves no stone unturned, highlighting key dental practice financials along with results, analysis, and conclusions derived from various valuation methods.
A Henry Schein PPT valuation will be accepted by most lenders for financing applications. It is also necessary for many other reasons such as an Associate or Partner buy-in. What is most important is finding the right dental practice transition structure for when you decide to sell your dental practice.
Henry Schein Professional Practice Transitions, Inc. is a national leader in dental practice transitions. A subsidiary of Henry Schein, Inc. they provide expert guidance for dental practice management and fees, selling and buying dental practices, assessing partnership and associateship opportunities, and performing dental practice appraisals and valuations.
