Dentaltown May 2016 - (Page 90)

finance feature Should I Stay or Should I Go Now? W by David James, president and CEO of REALscore David James has nearly 30 years of experience as a certified public accountant, chief financial officer and consultant to companies and individuals. The company he founded, REALscore, is a Townie Perks-endorsed company. For more information, go to dentaltown.com/townieperks. 90 MAY 2016 // dentaltown.com When The Clash asked, "Should I stay or should I go now?" back in the early '80s, I'm ssure ure they didn't have their dentist in mind. However, in today's economic environment, that question is a crucial one for every dental practice. Regardless of whether your practice is killing it, just maintaining, or struggling, your location has been and always will be the No. 1 factor that determines your success. Let's dive into the factors that affect whether you should stay in your current location, move the practice, or even add an office. Then I'll tell you how to make the decision simple, fast and devastatingly effective. A. Understand your population-to-practitioner ratio for all of the specialties and how to interpret it (e.g., a 2,000-1 ratio for a general dentist is a saturated market). B. Understand your market demographics-both current data and the future growth potential. Use only data that is collected by census block. Avoid ZIP-code data. C. Understand the drive-time dispersion of your active patient base. View it on a map. Knowing this data is the key to everything, both operationally and strategically. STEP 1: Get a baseline STEP 2: Decide if you should stay One overlooked fundamental is understanding your competition and demographics. While you've been hard at work, it's likely that aspects of your market have changed. After all, since you've started, people and practices have come and gone, and even the surrounding neighborhoods may have changed. Keep these points in mind as you make your evaluations: Here are factors you should consider when deciding whether to stay in your current location: A. Are you happy with the current production? B. Are you meeting your growth goals? C. Is it easy to find new patients without breaking the bank on marketing? http://www.dentaltown.com/townieperks http://www.dentaltown.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Dentaltown May 2016

On Dentaltown.com
HOWARD SPEAKS: Talking Monkeys, Reviews Gone Wild, and Valuable Margins
PROFESSIONAL COURTESY: A 5-Star Future?
Continuing Education Update
Industry News
Special-Needs Patients
3Shape TRIOS 3
The ABCs of Dental Ethics
Townie Meeting Recap
Is It Time to Be Conservative, or Progressive?
Balancing the Scale(r)s
A Dope Does a Startup
The Dental Laser’s Role in Managing Periodontal Disease
Do Good: A WHALE OF AN EFFORT
Do Good: HOW SMILES ON WINGS TOOK FLIGHT
Do Good: SERVING THOSE WHO HAVE SERVED
Do Good: BE A HERO, HONOR A HERO
Do Good: THIS WE’LL DEFEND
Do Good: PAYING IT FORWARD
Do Good: A BEACH IN WESTERN KENYA
Do Good: A GIANT EFFORT: HENRY SCHEIN CARES
Should I Stay or Should I Go Now?
Poll
New Products
Ad Index
You Should Know
Practice Solutions: Tokuyama Dental
Product Profi le: Planmeca
CONTINUING EDUCATION: Mill In or Send Out?
Dentally Incorrect

Dentaltown May 2016