North Texas Dentistry Volume 9 Issue 6 2019 ISSUE 6 DE | Page 26

practice transitions
Leading Practice
Changes with your ‘WHY’
by Lynne S. Gerlach, DDS, FICD, FACD
Today’s dental ownership is a quickly changing landscape. The
changes that seem to get the most press surround student loan
debt, increased technology, regulatory compliance, market com-
petition and static reimbursement rates that make practice own-
ership more challenging than ever. Doctors are either retiring
later due to financial demands for their nest egg, or getting out
of practice ownership early due to market or personal demands.
Sometimes retirement is driven by internal factors. Examples
are age, illness or financial stability that has prepared the retire-
ment road ahead. Other times, external factors drive one’s retire-
ment timing. Examples would be a large community business
that shutters their doors and patients leave with the business, or
market changes in the dental ownership styles altering patient
flow to one’s practice.
The “Why” a doctor wants to sell their practice runs the gamut –
possibly internal, possibly external. In the last few months,
I have had dentists sell their practices for a variety of reasons,
including technology demands that were too large of an invest-
ment for a doctor nearing retirement age, a lease renewal that
was going to require a commitment beyond the doctor’s retire-
ment target, a spouse experiencing a career transfer, and a lan-
guishing local economy. All these doctors had great relationships
with their patients and their staff, yet the dynamic external fac-
tors had practice owners seeking a buyer.
Internal factors such as successful business interests outside of
dentistry that demand more time – a doctor seeking further edu-
cation in a specialty program, a doctor who wanted to move to
their lake house and let go of the congested commute, a specialist
who wanted to change states and set up a new practice closer to
grandchildren, a doctor experiencing marital changes and want-
ing to reset in another state, and retirement due to health
decline – put practices on the market for sale.
The business landscape for dental practices has created previ-
ously nonexistent market tension. This should push practition-
ers to evaluate their ‘Why’ more carefully. In Simon Sinek’s
bestseller, Start with Why, he explores how inspirational leaders
that begin their decisions with “Why” can lead a movement to
positive change. Instead of thinking of the end in mind, start at
the center and define the why! The How and the What will have
greater clarity and the outcome will be more intentional.
26 NORTH TEXAS DENTISTRY | www.northtexasdentistry.com
The first question we were all asked at our dental school inter-
view was ‘Why”. Why did you go into dentistry, and does it
match with why you are considering a practice sale to a particu-
lar group? Why would a practice sale to a DSO model appeal to
your patients and match your beliefs? Why might that sale be
unappealing to you or your patients? Understanding your
“Why”, both internally and externally, can lead your practice
transition to the next phase that satisfies your core values and
your “Why’.
As you seek answers to your future and your potential practice
transition, please keep in mind the three dominant forces which
recur in most of our transactions: control, time and money. Why
are you willing to give up control, or are you seeking to retain
control? Why are you seeking more personal time, and is it worth
the price? Will a financial windfall of a particular size make a
difference in your life, and is this the right time? All of these
questions are led by your ‘Why’, and if you do not start with an
Exercising your ‘Why’ over the factors
which are controllable will yield a more
clear and well-lit pathway to making
decisions.
honest evaluation of your ‘Why’, then you may ask these critical
questions yet receive the wrong answer. It will not matter how
much more control, time or money you have if you do not start
with ‘Why’.
Finally, the timing of your ‘Why’ is critical. Should you decide to
sell too early, then you may transition your practice prior to your
prime earning years. Alternatively, selling too late is equally neg-
ative, and perhaps more so, as most practices decline in earnings
and value if the dentist works longer than optimum.
There are a multitude of issues impacting the internal and exter-
nal factors. Dentists have minimal control over some of these,
and yet have significant control over others. As a practice owner,