How Do You Eat an Elephant?
I know that sounds like the opening line of a “Boy’s Life” joke but it is the thought that comes to mind whenever I take on a large project. As many of you know, I enjoy restoring old cars. I am reluctant to call them “Antique” or “Classic” cars as it seems a little pretentious when you are talking about the cars of my youth but in any event, it can be a daunting process. Picture below is the starting point of my current project, a 1966 Mustang Coupe.
Obviously, there is enough elephant to go around the table several times. Since this space is not usually reserved for a discussion on auto restoration though, I suspect you are wondering where I’m going with all of this. Well, the fact is, transitioning a dental practice is a lot like eating an elephant. It is a big project that takes planning, expertise, hard work and yes, even a little luck. If you don’t fit all of the pieces together properly you probably will not be too happy about the end result.
One of the handicaps we dentists suffer with is the wish that all processes could be linear. In other words, we want one step to be completed and logically move on to the next step and the next step and so on. Seat the patient, greet the patient, check out our treatment site, anesthetize, prep, etch, bond, fill, trim, polish and dismiss the patient. You can’t do it in any other sequence. While dental practice sales can be big elephants, they are compounded in difficulty by the fact that the elephant won’t sit still. The back and forth, starting and stopping drives dentists crazy!
In most cases, a practice sale involves five major components; the evaluation, marketing, acceptance of an offer, agreements/financing and closing. While it would seem logical that all of these steps proceed in an orderly fashion, in the real world there can be considerable movement back and forth between them. The evaluation process can be ongoing as revenues, staff, patient base, equipment and lease agreements change. Marketing focus can move from getting the best price to “get me out of here as soon as you can”. The economy of the last few years has made buyers very cautious about committing to an offer and even once that is done, analysis of the practice begins again through the eyes of lenders, accountants and attorneys. To top it all off, just when you think the closing date is at hand, the buyer discovers that they cannot sell their out of state home and you are back to square one. You can’t help but wonder sometimes what you’ve gotten yourself into.
As dentists who are used to making hundreds of decisions every day, we are frustrated too in discovering that just because someone shows some interest in our practice, we cannot go ahead and schedule the closing. The filtration process from inquiry to closing often involves several dozen people and the ultimate sweepstakes winner may be the first, eighth or the last prospect. Sometimes you just never know. I find too that the lack of control over the activity of the marketplace is distressing to dentists. People who are used to making things happen don’t do well when nothing seems to be happening. The news, weather, time of the year and even the day of the week can have an influence over our contact traffic.
So how do we keep from going nuts? Remember that I too am a dentist and suffer some of the same anxieties as my clients. I find that even though I have no real control over the market, I delude myself into thinking that doing something with every listing every workday will make me feel better. Whether it be reviewing a file, reconnecting with a previous contact, discussing financing possibilities with a lender or just doing a drive by to make sure the office is still standing seems somehow to help push the rock up the hill. I believe in the old line the “the harder I work, the luckier I get” and I like for my clients to get lucky and experience a good outcome with our service.
So how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.
Steve Wolff, UMKC Class of 1977
Transition Thoughts
You Can't Have it Both Ways
DISCLAIMER: This is not an entirely objective article as the subject matter has affected my time, our company’s clients and our revenues. I am not a licensed dentist in the state of Kansas (although I do have a current Missouri license) . . .
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