When you’ve purchased the ownership of an existing dental practice, you need to treat it like you’re a sports team that’s rebuilding. You’re not betting on winning the championship that same year; you’re setting yourself up to win sustainably. This is one of the key dental practice acquisition tips to keep in mind.
And, anytime a torch is being passed from a seller to a buyer, there are going to be issues—there are hairy things you’ll need to contend with. It’s super important that the baton gets passed with context if things are to go smoothly. Understanding any potential challenges you’ll be inheriting is crucial for success when acquiring a dental practice.
No matter what, the seller has a vested interest in your success—and your success is contingent on making changes. If they’re not content with getting out of the way and letting you establish your foundation, then they need to get in line with the establishment of your foundation. Unfortunately, most sellers don’t come hardwired with that abundance mindset.
Having a tough time cooperating with the owner of the practice you’ve acquired is a headache itself. However, there are other problems you’ll face. Here are two problems dentists often run into after acquiring a new practice (and how to overcome them).
1. Overcoming staff resistance in dental practices: The team you inherited is resistant to change.
Once you’ve come into the practice, your staff isn’t going to be immediately loyal to you—at least not yet. If the seller hasn’t fully transitioned out of the practice, then they may still go to the seller in lieu of you when they have questions. While you and the seller might know that you’re the one who should be asked these questions, it’s hard to untrain the staff on this.
First off, you ought to put yourself in the shoes of the team and understand where they’re coming from. They’re coming in, getting paid hourly, performing a job, and they just got told that their professional world is changing and they don’t have a say in it. In other words, they don’t have much trust in you yet and their feathers are ruffled by all the change.
The more you can over-communicate on the front end and relay your values, your focus, your commitment to patients and staff, and what you’re going to be able to do for them, the better they’ll feel coming to you. Tell them what your ecosystem will look like and communicate what you’ll be bringing to the table and how this transition is going to be a positive thing for them. This is essential new dental practice owner advice for overcoming staff resistance in dental practices.
Once they get that understanding, they’re going to inherently be enrolled in what you’re doing. It doesn’t happen overnight, though, and it’ll take a consistent effort of proactively communicating, making sure your team feels heard, and trying to meet in the middle when problems arise.
Take them out to dinner, introduce yourself, and try to memorize their names. Chit chat with them about their personal lives and get to know them better beyond what their role is in the office. Give a speech that communicates everything we just talked about, and get everyone on board with your vision. Bring your spouse or partner or family if you can, and show them how you’re a real person just like them.
2. Improving patient trust after dental practice acquisition: Previous owners weren’t diagnosing enough, and now you need to have some difficult conversations with patients.
Let’s say the previous doctor has been doing a lot of patchwork dentistry but nothing substantial. As you begin examining patients, you realize there’s a lot of dentistry that needs to be performed. If that doctor hasn’t fully transitioned out of the practice, it can be uncomfortable to approach that doctor about all of these patients who they failed to diagnose. You just met this person and, as a young doctor, they may have some feelings about you questioning their ability to provide treatment.
That’s not to mention that patients might not trust what you’re saying to them as the new guy. They’ll likely be surprised at you telling them they need treatment when the last doctor never did. In fact, this period in your career may very well be when you have the least amount of trust with your patients. Improving patient trust after dental practice acquisition is one of the biggest challenges in acquiring a dental practice.
These situations are going to be common after you acquire an existing dental practice. My advice is this: get into the habit of using intraoral photos to substantiate your diagnoses when presenting treatment to patients. Hopefully, when you pull up charts, you’ll see that the previous doctor has made notes about certain teeth, that they’ve been on the radar for a while, that they’ve been charting and tracking, etc. You can point out that you’re starting to see some changes and things are appearing differently today than they did when the photos that were last taken. You can show them the big blown-up color photo of the leaky amalgam or the missing cusp or whatever needs treatment and explain what’s going on (in layman’s terms, of course). That way, they know you’re not just blowing smoke.
The truth is, many patients are going to be wary of you being a “money-grabber” when you’re the new guy. That’s why you need to double down on showing and educating your patients when presenting treatment. Let the chips fall where they may, but things are going to work out better if you focus on communicating exactly what the patient’s needs are.
A phrase that I throw around when presenting treatment is “Hey, if you were my dad or my mom or my brother or my cousin, this is what I would recommend that you do.” Maybe they put up a fight about a crown and would prefer to throw a big filling in it but if you countered by saying, “If you’re my mom, there’s no way I’m letting you not go through with a filling because of the XYZ potential pitfalls and problems you’ll end up facing.” You won’t be seen as the money hungry person if you just tell people what they need, make honest forthright treatment recommendations, and speak to them in a genuine way. This approach is crucial for improving patient trust after dental practice acquisition.
The first years are the hardest.
It’s tough to inherit a business—especially a dental practice. There’s so many small, moving parts that we need to handle that even the best business minds would struggle to get in line. These two problems are common for anyone who acquires an existing practice, and I hope this article helped you to understand what measures you can take to overcome them. These dental practice acquisition tips and new dental practice owner advice can help you navigate the challenges in acquiring a dental practice.
I run a community full of dental professionals who can tell you all about the problems they ran into during their first years of dental practice ownership. So, join the Nifty Thrifty Dentists Facebook group and reach out! People from all across the globe will be happy to let you in on their two cents about overcoming staff resistance in dental practices, improving patient trust after dental practice acquisition, and other challenges in acquiring a dental practice.
