Steps to a Good Dental Practice Sales

10 Steps to a Good Dental Practice Sale

  • Build Your Team of Advisors: Broker/Consultant, CPA/Accountant, and an Attorney – Too many dentists say they have read about the process and thought they could handle it. But patients trust a dentist because of their years of education, which is why we don’t get our teeth taken care of by a plumber who has read up about dentistry. These experts exist for a reason and are worth every penny.
  • Be Ready to Transition: Determine the Goals and Transition Plan – Understanding why you are selling is key to a successful transition. A transition for a dentist who is selling to retire is very different from a dentist selling for any other reason.
  • Obtain a Professional Practice Valuation and Understand it – With your team and your goal in mind, a valuation is necessary to understand what your practice is worth. The models used to determine this are not the usual methodology that dentists would use, so it is vital to understand how the valuation works.
  • Structure the “Ideal” Transition for Yourself and Family – With this valuable data in hand, you can estimate your ideal transition. If your practice is not valued as high as you like, you may want to consider taking a few years to improve the valuation.
  • Marketing and Networking the Practice – Cast a large net to get as many offers as possible by working with a skilled practice broker.
  • Showing the Practice to Potential Buyers: Bank Approval – It is not helpful to waste time if a potential buyer can’t get the loan needed, so be sure to get the potential buyers to the bank as soon as you can.
  • Due Diligence: Information Gathering and Sharing – You will be asked for the expected information over and over again. Speed up the process by having this info ready and available.
  • Be Available and Responsive to All Parties – Time is a factor that can kill deals. Be available to potentially interested parties to not miss out on a sale.
  • Receiving Offers and Negotiations – Each offer has a different outcome based on how close it is to the amount you are looking for. The decision to reject an offer, offer a counter, or not offer a counter are all important to think through. Quick decisions are not best.
  • Finalizing the Paperwork – With an accepted offer, the time has come to sell the practice! While the next steps can be tricky for most people, with a skilled team working with you, the transition will be smooth and easy.