As the number cruncher & analyst of the practice appraisal division at Full Circle, you can imagine the variations of data that comes across my “desk” from appraisal to appraisal, even just in the past year. It’s amazing how similar each practice is, yet vastly different….and every marginal variable can adjust the selling price by thousands of dollars as incoming revenue in the current practice operations.
We have talked several times on what you may not consider when it comes to selling your practice, so we wanted to also create a checklist of things you can do to improve your practice operations and your eventual sale price. Prepare yourself for the future by preparing yourself for today. These small tweaks can improve internal efficiencies, clarify the vision for growth and make your customer service so seamless, it will be as if you were treating your mother with every visit.
Here is the overall template that will keep you on track for the year to get the most out of your current practice and be better prepared to sell one day:
Yearly basis:
- Create a marketing planner that covers the entire year with room for quarterly additions as new thoughts and data present itself.
- Ensure there is a component to track the ROI.
- Schedule progress evaluations for your staff on a quarterly basis and create an agenda to keep it succinct and effective
- Do a thorough examination of the previous years finances to assess what costs can be reduced and where profit is leaking.
Quarterly basis:
- Do an analysis of your overhead percentage on a quarterly basis and see where you can trim costs. Most practices are operating at a much higher percentage than they need to be and that is profit you are not taking home
- Perform performance examinations with the staff, which will keep them accountable and acknowledges their strengths in the business.
- Do an examination of the previous quarters’ top producing marketing initiatives and cut the losers.
- Create and nurture growth plans individually with the staff. Whether this is books, internal training, or external training (our retreat is PERFECT for this).
- Look at your systems and refine any processes that are not performing as well as they could be, for example, your table talk and referral strategies.
… write down exactly what you do with every 30 minute chunk of your day to see where your valuable time is spent (and learn what to delegate)
Monthly basis:
- Write out the monthly marketing plans and dates that you will launch in a team calendar, and ensure there is a teammate in charge of overseeing each task
- Schedule your weekly team meetings to ensure all staff can be present to discuss marketing objectives and operations.
- Update your website content to stay relevant, consult the team and even your clients to create an effective content strategy
- Keep track of patient visits and new patients weekly so you can track office visit average, case average and patient visit average (don’t forget to track which marketing objective they converted from).
- Examine the past months revenue on services and key products sold to make S.M.A.R.T. goals for the coming month.
Stay cognizant of what success looks like for you and your practice, with the preferential number of weekly patients, as well as hours worked, and revenue needed to produce the lifestyle you intend. By having a clear vision of where you want to go, you can begin molding the practice to new standards. Begin the day with this clarity and perhaps a solid morning routine to keep yourself committed.
After appraising 100+ practices, we have created the top 5 lessons in the ‘systems that sell series’ that can help you get an extra $106,000 at time of sale. Check it out here:
