Transparency & Regular Updates: Critical for your Dental Practice Transition

It may sound obvious, but establishing and maintaining a healthy rapport with a prospective buyer is a great way to keep tensions low when selling your dental practice. An NAPB dental practice broker is your greatest collaborator because they can advise you about best practices throughout the process.

Most dental practice brokers will facilitate a sit-down meeting with both the prospective buyer and seller. This is a great time to get to know each other and share details about the practice that may be relevant. The prospective buyer also has an opportunity to ask questions about the dental practice transition. This is a more informal meeting with a get-to-know you kind of vibe. This isn’t the time to go over the dental practice valuation or the specifics of the contracts. They can be figured out with your dental practice broker once the prospective buyer decides that this is the right practice for them.

I’ve found that when the seller invests some time in getting to know the buyer, it can really streamline the selling of the dental practice. It provides an excellent forum for both parties to consider whether their individual objectives can be met with the sale. It’s truly wonderful to attend a closing when it’s clear that both the departing dentist and the new practice owner are thrilled with the sale and purchase respectively.

I encourage additional meetings (beyond the initial meet-and-greet) between the prospective buyer and seller. Again, the purpose of these meetings is not to discuss specifics of the deal but to share more intangible aspects of the practice such as the following:

1. What is the current dentist’s work style?
2. How about their bedside manner? Are they jovial or familiar with patients or more formal and all about business?
3. What about their strategies with difficult patients? Do they handle things themselves or do they involve an office manager or other staff member?
4. What types of patients are currently being served by the practice?

In other words, the existing dentist can illuminate the less tangible characteristics of the dental practice.  This approach is in everyone’s best interest. Then, the buyer knows what they are purchasing and signing on (sometimes for the next decade or three). It also provided the seller with one last opportunity to impart all that they’ve learned by being in this particular practice.

Getting to know your prospective buyer on a more human level is a good way to round out the experience of selling a dental practice.  It certainly has a positive influence on a successful dental practice transition. Get in touch with your local dental practice broker today to learn more about the process.