Building Business Competence for Dentists
Benjamin Franklin was way ahead of his time when back in the 1700’s he said: “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.”
He was not alone in placing importance on planning as these wise old owls show:
- Always plan ahead. It wasn’t raining when Noah built the ark. – Richard Cushing
- Plans are only good intentions unless they immediately degenerate into hard work. – Peter Drucker
- A plan is a list of actions arranged in whatever sequence is thought likely to achieve an objective. – John Argenti
- A good plan is like a road map: it shows the final destination and usually the best way to get there. – H. Stanley Judd
Planning is also essential for those serious about buying a dental practice. I use the word ‘serious’ deliberately as we have over 4,300 dentists registered with us looking to buy a dental practice and only several hundred will make that seismic shift in the next year.
Those most likely to be successful in this pursuit will be those best prepared. Preparation starts with establishing what you want to achieve from practice ownership and then putting in place the necessary stepping stones to ensure this dream becomes a reality.
Finding out early on what practices are within your financial reach can be easily established by getting a financial pre-assessment from FTA Finance – this comes with the added benefit of a certificate confirming your creditworthiness. Simple and essential planning.
It is also important to ensure that you build your core business skills and knowledge in readiness for being a principal. These business skills will also be of interest to the bank that will be lending you the money to buy the practice – it is increasingly popular for banks to look for business experience in your CV.
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) are also taking an increased interest in the business experience resident in buyers when registering with them. There have been instances where buyers have not been approved by the CQC due to a lack of knowledge. No CQC registrations is a serious roadblock.
If you need to build your basic business knowledge this can be done in a day by attending the Building Business Competence seminar. This is a one day business management seminar to provide a taste for the tools you need to successfully manage your business.
To finish with Tariq Siddique, “If you are failing to plan, you are planning to fail.”
