The dental business environment is changing. Rapidly so. Changes such as more competition, increasing supply of dentists, NHS funding crisis, more patient mobility have been in the pipeline for a little while. The new NHS contracts and the belief of potential new entrants like supermarkets and High Street players that dentistry is a viable market will cause an avalanche of more changes and a permanent restructuring of the industry.
In short what it will take to survive and thrive within dentistry will be redefined. Very likely, the defining skill that dentists will need to thrive will be “business skills” – being a good dentists wont differentiate your practice enough to give it the competitive edge it needs to get ahead of others.
Make the Most of Your Dental Business after 2012
With such drastic changes due, new winners will surely emerge and there will be lots for whom things will not be as good. The expected winners will be asking themselves what can be done now to emerge with some advantage – planning their way to suceess.
Getting ahead of the crowd
Business planning is not something that dentists do all that much. Arguably, it hasn’t been needed so far. Dentistry has been a straightforward business – about being a good dentist. Not so now. Like the lawyers, pharmacists and opticians whose sectors undertook similar journeys, dentists are rapidly finding that it is not their professional skills that differentiates competitive advantage but their business and management skills and the ability to attract patients. At a large lawyers commented… “doing the work is easy, the challenge is business development [sales]”.
Whats the urgency?
There is gloom in dentistry that cannot be explained away by the recession the world at large is experiencing. Many are convinced that the “good times” are definitely behind the industry. cBPE has come accross more than one set of accounts where the dentist principal’s earning are below the minimum wage. There’s tales of banks not lending or renewing overdraft and getting edgy about the mangement capability of principals being able to manage multi-site dental business.
However, none of these define the need to act now for those doing better. Why its important to act now rather than later is about getting hold of the opportunities for the benefit of your practice. Act later and others will taken the lead.
cBPE can help
Business planning is not something that dentists do all that much. Arguably, it hasn’t been needed so far. Dentistry has been a straightforward business – about being a good dentist. Not so now. Like the lawyers, pharmacists and opticians whose sectors undertook similar journeys, dentists are rapidly finding that it is not their professional skills that differentiates them from the competition. Rather, competitive advantage is endowed through business and management skills and the ability to attract patients. As a pratner at large lawyers firm commented to cBPE… “doing the work is easy, the challenge is business development [sales]”.
Master Workshop on Strategic Planning
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