Top management tips for multi-location dental practice

Many dentists aspire to expand to multiple locations to continue growing their practice. However, for dentists to own multiple group dental practices, it’s crucial to understand how to build the infrastructure to make it successful.

Vision, expertise, and hard work landed you where you are. From here it’s about how you scale your vision if you want to grow your private dental practice into more locations.

We use the term “vision” because it’s helped drive your current success. Now it’s essential that you duplicate it going forward.

And that’s key to expanding your business beyond a single dental practice.

Whether you’re just starting out, continuing to grow or looking to sell, there are key areas to focus on:

• Start with the end in mind
• Take the initial first steps
• Establish legal structure
• Document proper accounting
• Secure financing
• Expand your growth
• Manage multiple group practices
• Develop an exit strategy

How will you lead and manage another location?

You should determine how prepared and willing you are to divide your time. Your time margins will fluctuate depending on your workflows. 

Be cautious about overextending yourself. Thin margins impact you but also your team and your patients. 

Count on the need to up your energy when bringing another practice into the mix. Your time investment will coincide with how you choose to manage the additional practice (team), who provides dentistry in addition to you (associates), and the processes you put in place (practice management systems). 

Question your vision

Self-awareness is at the core of achieving success in any endeavor. That’s why it’s important to test your vision with a few probing question to see how self-aware you are as you proceed to grow your practice. 

Ask yourself the following questions to determine if you and your vision can bear the weight of expansion.

What are the financial risks associated with more than one dental practice?

Your success to date can help inform your investment potential. You may need to incur additional debt and this can impact your revenue stream and available cash flow for a period of time.

Other financial considerations include assessing your savings, the growth potential relative to the demographics of your next location, marketing and promotional strategies, and staff additions.