It’s tough out there for the solo dentist or small practice. An objective look at the dental industry landscape makes it clear that market forces are constantly heading toward consolidation. Managed group practices are growing at a rate of some 20 percent a year. Solo practices are declining at around 7 percent a year.
With the economies of scale that those group practices enjoy – economies that a solo or small practice will be hard-pressed to match – competing on price is a losing proposition. Larger practices also enjoy more flexible scheduling, another major attractor for prospects.
That’s a rather depressing scenario… unless you know how to beat the corporate chains and DSOs at their own game. The decline of the private dental practice may be inevitable, but you don’t have to be part of it.
Play By Your Own Rules, Not Theirs
Assuming that you don’t enjoy tilting at windmills, there’s no need to play a game that’s rigged against you. You see, the two advantages that group practices enjoy – lower costs and increased availability – simply don’t appeal to a large segment of almost every market.
How large a segment? At a minimum, 20 percent of prospects. Maximum? 30-40 is common; in select markets, it can be 50 percent or even higher.
Those prospects aren’t looking for the lowest price or the next available dentist. They’re not much concerned about what their dental insurance will cover or how much it’ll pay.
They are interested in finding the right dentist for them, the one they perceive as being the trusted, relatable, dental expert. They’re willing to pay more for that dentist, and typically their fiercely loyal to that dentist.
Can you imagine a practice filled with loyal, motivated, and willing patients? It’s more than possible; it’s something that SmartBox helps dentists achieve every day.
When you appeal to a different, better segment of your market, you negate the inherent advantages of group practices. It’s a whole new ball game that the chains and the groups just can’t compete against.
What Are You Waiting For?
Whatever the current inroads into your market that group practices have made, it’s only going to get worse at time goes on. The time to act to safeguard your business is now.
SmartBox is a practice growth firm specializing in turning your marketing investment into bottom-line profits… even in the face of corporate dentistry and large group practices.
Dr. Michelle Haynes of Highlands Ranch, Colorado is thriving in spite of her competition. “Here in Colorado,” she said, “we have a ton of corporate dental offices. They actually all seem to have very similar websites, and I think ours is far superior in our functionality. And when we check and do searches, we’re able to pop up above them so I really think that we’re able to compete with those huge, huge practices in spite of being a private practice.
Since we’ve been working with SmartBox, we actually have had a 30 percent or higher growth each year. Which is pretty incredible, so we’re thrilled about that. We’re busier than we’ve ever been and more profitable, which, that’s what we want, right? We love getting our reports monthly on just what our return on investment is with SmartBox. We’ve been thrilled to see that we’re averaging about 20:1 with our return on investment with our marketing dollars spent. And it was even as high as 50:1, so that has been pretty exciting to see the overall growth that we’ve managed to accomplish. My goal is to double our practice size in the next two years, and I really feel confident that with our help through SmartBox we can accomplish that.”
Discover what’s possible for your practice. Schedule your 25-minute Practice Growth Call to get your actionable growth plan and realize your practice’s full revenue potential. You’re going to leave this call with an action plan to add immediate revenue into your practice and overcome your most pressing problems.
In a world that’s increasingly filled by big business, your practice can be an island that the economic waves will never wash away.