- Hygiene. Increase the hygiene component to ideally 35%- 40% of total practice revenues. Nothing moves the practice value needle more than a productive hygiene department. Many purchasers pay twice for the goodwill of hygiene revenues than dentist revenues.
Why such a big difference? The reason is that hygiene revenues are a predictable and secure source of cash flow. Hygiene patients come to the practice at regular intervals and leave the practice each time with the next appointment. Revenues for dental treatments are much more unpredictable as they are based on the patient’s needs and the patient’s ability to pay. Another benefit of a thriving hygiene department is that an estimated seventy- five percent of new dental treatments are diagnosed by hygienists. - Increase revenues. An increase in revenues of $100,000 minus dental supplies and lab fees increases your net income by an estimated $80,000. This $80,000 additional net income translates into an increase in practice value of about $200,000.
- Trim expenses. See if you can make your practice a bit leaner, perhaps cross training your staff to assume multiple roles, and reducing dental supply costs and other office expenses. Reducing expenses is much harder than boosting revenues. Instead focus on building revenues rather than spending hours looking for ways to shave a few dollars from the overhead.
