Dentistry is essential in any community and many practices are able to become highly lucrative businesses. With other healthcare industries such as opticians and pharmacies saturated with big investors like Bupa and Boots, dentistry is fast becoming the new healthcare service seducing venture capitalists and other investors..
You’ve spent years – blood, sweat and tears in building up your dental practice and perhaps at the point where you are considering selling.
This short discussion will outline steps to get your practice ready for selling and make buying a dental practice for potential buyers worry-free.
From Dental Practice to Dentistry
Whether you set up your practice as a squat and developed it, or if you bought your practice – dentistry and the business of dentistry are very different things. An excellent dentist isn’t necessarily going to be a great business owner.
A well-run and profitable practice becomes a high-value and desirable practice to potential buyers. Every seller will have their individual priorities when it comes to selling – not all sellers will be looking to the highest bidder. Perhaps you wish to continue clinical duties and step away from management or you want a clean break from dentistry completely and don’t want to be tied-in to any target driven, earn-out requirements that are a common need of the larger dental body corporates.
An experienced dental sales agent and legal team can help you deal with the details of selling your dental practice once you’ve made the decision to sell.
An NHS dental contract will undoubtedly pique the interest of the big dental body corporates but a good reputation, reliable patient recall system and patient payment scheme are key features that will also add more to your goodwill value.
Preparation for Selling Your Practice
Take time to prepare your practice for sale before you are ready to part with your practice. Yes – it’s possible that you just woke up one day and decided you’ve had enough. However, sellers who command the highest price and most favourable deals are often those who have spent time in preparing their practice and it’s not unheard of that this starts months or even years before they put their practice up for sale.
The first step is to ensure your practice is ship-shape and evidenced by complete paperwork with regards to your financial information, , employee contracts, suppliers, as well as records on your daily operations. The next step is assessing your surgery, tools, equipment, facilities, compliance and patient records and staff members. Everything should be ready and easy to show in the record to make it an attractive, lucrative offer.
You will be asked to provide property documents as part of the sale process and it’s imperative that these are to hand. If you are unsure what will be requested, speak to an experienced dental legal advisor, You will receive support and advice regarding your next steps and help you gather documents required by law. These elements should be complete and organised before you talk to prospective investors and buyers to prevent delays once the sale process is underway.
Conclusion
Growing your dental practice into a lucrative and well-performing business may take a few years and lots of hard work. A well-run and profitable practice will prove to be highly desirable to investors and buyers commanding a high price together with attractive terms.
After years of nurturing your practice and business, ensure you place your practice sale in the best possible hands. Goodman Grant Solicitors are the largest legal team in the country solely focused on advising dentists. Partnered with our Business Services Team, we are able to guide you throughout your sale from valuation and marketing your practice to all legal requirements through to you handing your keys to the buyer. We are the business support and legal team for dentists; give us a ring to start your process.
