Make More Money: By Rick Kushner, DDS

As dentists near patient capacity in their practices, they are often left shrugging their shoulders, wondering how they can make more money at what they do. If you want to make more money on your existing office, grow your practice. I know my peers often see this as a loss of control–putting part of their practice on an offering block for someone to take their patient base. But when you structure this growth arrangement properly, you can earn more money, work fewer hours, and have more free time. Personally, I enjoy painting and golf. Some of my other Comfort Dental partners race cars or trek outdoors in the great state of Colorado.

The first step toward growth is to offer equity partnerships within your existing practice. As I mentioned above, don't consider this a loss of control over your practice, rather see it as a smart way to increase revenue without increasing your workload. Employee dentists are only around as long as the benefits and the business are good. But someone who owns part of your practice has a stake in its success and will stay through thick and thin. This partner dentist also has the financial incentive to acquire new patients. Twice the doctors equal twice the patients.

You might ask, where in the 40-hour week do two dentists have time to occupy the same space? Maybe they don't; you'll have to decide that based on your office capacity. But don't limit your vision to the 40-hour week. For example, Comfort Dental offices are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Friday, and 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday–a 65-hour or so week. Split that between two dentists, and even though your practice can handle more patients, each dentist is working a shorter 35-hour week. Wouldn't it be nice to have more time to spend with your family or on your hobbies? My 63 partners and I have been enjoying shorter schedules for years now, yet our salaries rank in the top 10% of dentists nationwide (according to the ADA).

One of the biggest advantages of equity partnerships is shared (thus individually reduced) operating expenses. For example, Comfort Dental is opening up seven new offices in Colorado this year alone. Each one will be owned and operated by two to three partnering dentists.

Our partners are asked to make an upfront equity investment that is typically only in the double digits. We even offer affordable financing or work-for-equity programs that can reduce or even eliminate the cash investment for dentists that need more flexible financing options. For a small (or sometimes no) upfront investment, our partners walk into a furnished office that's fully equipped, they share all operating expenses with the other partners, and they have the luxury of earning the best compensation in the industry.

Compare this to the typical scratch-start solo practice that could cost you hundreds of thousands of dollars in upfront capital. On top of that, a solo practice owner is responsible for all operating expenses and for the immense time and effort involved in selecting real estate, managing construction, purchasing equipment and supplies, etc. Walking into a furnished office and sharing your expenses with multiple partners for a very reasonable equity investment and a potentially outstanding income is a great deal.

Now consider your own practice. You have several hundreds or thousands of dollars leaving your pocket every month in operating expenses. Now imagine yourself splitting that personal cost in half because you've added a partner. It probably seems much easier to swallow.

So, how do you find a partner? Recruit. Actively. Comfort Dental's seven new offices are all going to need partners to staff them, and Kevin Costner's "If you build it, they will come" philosophy is not going to work.

We spend money on print advertising, place classified ads in various dentistry publications and send out letters and mailers on an ongoing basis. While placing expensive ads may not be affordable for the single office practice, sending out sales letters or placing classified ads certainly is.

But it doesn't stop there. Personal selling is the most important step in the process. At Comfort Dental, our executive management personally responds to all inquiries. We bring candidates to Colorado to visit our offices and meet our partners over dinner, golf, or the occasional professional sports event. Candidates even get the opportunity to meet our families. You cannot effectively recruit without being committed to spending personal time with your candidates. When all is said and done, you'll have new partners who are just as excited to work with you, as you are to work with them.

When you explore the possibilities of offering equity partnerships to multiple doctors, the future of your practice has no bounds. Comfort Dental's growth is only limited by the number of dentists we can recruit. So naturally, our door is always open. Consider opening up yours too.

Contact: Aaron Ferstman of GD&A Public Relations for Dr. Kushner and Comfort Dental Inc., 303-623-2529, aaron@gda-pr.com