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How to Prepare & Maximize Your Med Spa for Future Resale

by Triumphant Transition Partners

If you’re planning to sell your med spa, preparation is key. The medical spa industry is constantly evolving, and staying relevant in your market requires ongoing investment in your business. The right upgrades and improvements can significantly increase the price you can demand for your med spa at the time of sale. Conversely, neglecting certain elements can weaken your negotiating position.

The good news is that many of the steps to enhance your med spa’s value and maximize its resale potential are straightforward. Read on to learn how to prepare your med spa for sale and increase its future value!

Improve Equipment

High-quality medical equipment plays a crucial role in the value of any medical practice, including med spas. Adding a few strategic pieces of high-end equipment can dramatically boost your med spa’s worth.

Consider investing in:

  • Lasers
  • The latest esthetician equipment
  • Light therapy devices
  • Marketing systems and patient contact tools
  • Operational systems for procurement, HR, and IT

Upgrading your equipment does more than just add tangible assets to your books—it can also expand your service offerings, increasing cash flow and collections. Investing in the right tools to better serve your patient base is a smart way to enhance your med spa’s overall value.

Improve Retention and Grow Your Patient Base

A strong patient base is a key indicator of your med spa’s vitality. Potential buyers will want to see evidence of a healthy, growing clientele. Take the time to compile relevant data that demonstrates the popularity and stability of your med spa.

If you’re preparing for resale, growing your patient base should also be a priority. Strategies like increasing your marketing efforts or automating patient outreach can have a significant impact. Track and document any growth you achieve, as buyers will be interested in seeing trends in patient numbers over time. Even small, incremental growth percentages can lead to substantial improvements in profitability and cash flow. Highlighting this growth to potential buyers is an excellent way to strengthen your position during negotiations.

Improve Operational Efficiency

Even the best service offerings won’t compensate for operational inefficiencies. Outdated systems, cumbersome procurement processes, and high staff turnover can all undermine the value of your med spa.

Optimizing your business operations may take time, but it’s well worth the effort. Focus on:

  • Upskilling staff
  • Implementing modern systems
  • Reducing overhead costs

These improvements will enhance the operational health of your med spa, making it more appealing to buyers and increasing its resale value.

Understand Your Financials

Knowing your med spa’s financial value is a critical step in the sales process. Without a clear understanding of what your spa is worth, it’s impossible to evaluate offers, compare your spa to similar businesses in the market, or confidently negotiate terms.

An inaccurate valuation could result in leaving tens of thousands of dollars on the table by accepting a low-ball offer. Take the time to gather detailed financial data and seek professional guidance to ensure you’re fully informed.

Work with a Trusted Transition Partner

Selling a med spa is a complex process that requires expert support. Partnering with a qualified transition advisor can help you navigate potential pitfalls, accurately value your business, and sell on your terms.

At Triumphant Transition Partners, we specialize in medical practice transitions and are dedicated to helping you achieve your goals. Our team works strategically to ensure that your med spa is sold at your desired price.

When you work with us, you gain:

  • Expert valuation of your med spa
  • Guidance on navigating the market
  • Support in screening and connecting with qualified buyers
  • A dedicated advocate to help you close the deal

Call Triumphant Transition Partners today for your courtesy consultation and take the first step toward selling your med spa on your terms!

What’s the Difference between a DSO & a DPO?

by Triumphant Transition Partners

If you’re researching how to sell your dental practice, you’ve likely seen the terms “dental partnership organization” and “dental support organization” come up. You may even have contacts at various organizations or know colleagues who have connected with one of them.

 As you’re navigating the dental practice sales process, you might wonder what the difference is between a dental support organization and a dental partnership organization. The differences between the two may seem small, but they can impact your satisfaction as a dentist. Dentists who don’t research the difference between the two do so at their own risk. Selling to the wrong organization could be a disaster for your career and have a detrimental impact on your business satisfaction. 

The dental practice transition advisors at Triumphant Transition Partners are here to help you answer these questions and determine if a dental support organization or dental partnership organization would be your best business partner. 

Differences between Dental Support & Dental Partnership Organizations

Ownership

Generally, a dental partnership organization will grant the selling dentist greater ownership within the practice. Profit-sharing models are more common in dental partnership organizations. Dental support organizations are an excellent option for dentists who want to have some distance from the ownership and business direction of the practice.

Suppose you want to be in the driver’s seat within the practice and are hoping for the best financial deal possible. In that case, you likely want to primarily field offers from dental partnership opportunities. 

Relationship to the Parent Organization

Dental partnership organizations allow the selling dentist to retain practice-level ownership. Even when a dentist sells their practice to a dental partnership organization, they retain a minority ownership of the practice, the very same practice they’ll be operating and seeing patients in. Profit distribution and equity are vested at the practice level, and if you’re a dentist who wants to control your situation, this can be a great way to bet on yourself. When in a situation with the right dental partnership organization, you’ll reap the benefits of your work, which is always great. 

Dental support organizations, on the other hand, usually operate using the 100% sale model, and profit-sharing is much less common. Equity is generally vested in the organization’s collection of practices, not your specific practice. DSOs are great for dentists who don’t want to be in the driver’s seat but don’t offer the same financial incentives as DPOs. 

Decision Making

DPOs tend to preserve the clinical autonomy of the dentist, and the dentist tends to retain a greater degree of control over the routine decisions of the practice. The dentist will have much more say in hiring, firing, strategic direction, and other routine business decisions within the practice. For many practitioners, this is a fantastic option that allows them to grow their practice, better tend to patients, and retain control of the direction of the practice. For others, focusing on patient care while allowing the dental support organization to manage the practice is a better trade-off. 

Is a DSO or DPO Better for Me?

You might wonder which of these organizations is right for you as a dentist. There are, of course, some overarching trends that might be helpful. Generally, dental-support organizations subsume most decision-making authority within the practice and let the dentist focus on patient care. Suppose you’re a dentist looking to merely tend to your patients and want your partner to own the practice’s strategy, procurement, and hiring. In that case, a dental support organization is likely a good option.

However, if you want to remain involved in the practice’s leadership, ownership, and direction, a dental partnership organization is likely a better fit. You’ll retain much more of a voice in the practice’s future while benefiting from an external partner for capital, expertise, and economies of scale. That’s a tantalizing offer for many dentists.

It is worth noting, however, that each situation and practice sale is unique. Your particular goals, practice culture, practice values, and desired terms all significantly impact which option is right for you. Without a detailed consultation and assessment of your practice, offering a tailored recommendation and strategy for your specific needs is impossible. 

If you are trying to determine if a dental support organization or dental partnership organization is right for you, call Triumphant Transition Partners today!

An Intro to Dental Partnership Organizations

by Triumphant Transition Partners

If you’ve been in the dental community for any amount of time, you’ve likely heard about dental partnership organizations. There’s no shortage of visibility of DPOs within the dental industry. 

You’ve likely seen them at dental conferences, received collateral from these organizations, or heard about colleagues partnering with a DPO. These organizations are a key part of the dental industry – however, you may have never done a deep dive into the concept of a DPO. If you want to learn about dental partnership organizations, you’re in the right place! These are essential questions to ask yourself when selling your dental practice. Read on to learn more about dental partnership organizations. 

Benefits

A DPO or Dental Partnership Organization is merely an organization that partners with dentists to create more efficient and impactful dental practices. The how of each DPO will vary, but all DPOs work by partnering small dental practices with a broader network for more support and operational efficiency. DPOs provide a plethora of benefits for many dentists. The list below isn’t exhaustive, but it is a good overview of why many dentists partner with dental partnership organizations. 

Time-Savings

By some estimates, dentists are one of, if not the most overworked professions. Small dental practice owners might be the most overworked. That’s one of the principal reasons many dentists are interested in partnering with a dental partnership organization. The opportunity to get their nights and weekends back is incredibly tantalizing to many dentists. All the administrative tasks involved in running a dental practice can be subsumed by the Dental Partnership Organization, allowing the dentist in question to focus on patient care. 

Financial Gain

Working with a DPO can also help you grow your practice. The balancing act between being a healthcare provider and a business owner is one that many dentists struggle with. By bringing on an experienced DPO, you’re better poised to invest in marketing, find ways to increase profit margin, retain customers, and provide better service. Plus, you’ll likely keep a seat at the table regarding business operations. As a partner within your practice, you’ll be supported by the DPO’s expertise but will also retain some degree of ownership in the direction and profits of the practice. That’s an excellent place for many dentists to be.

Upskilling

If you’re a dentist looking to further your education and career, a dental partnership organization can help better connect you with your peers and the industry. Access to these conferences provides many dentists with continuing education and a network of colleagues. Depending on the organization, you might have access to funding for certain continuing education pursuits. 

Economies of Scale & Access to Resources

Running a dental practice as a solo practitioner has its perks, but it also comes with drawbacks. One of those drawbacks is the cost-prohibitiveness of being a small business owner. On the other hand, dental partnership organizations have extensive experience supporting practices nationwide. This expertise proves invaluable when looking to support your dental practice better. By partnering with a DPO, you can access more capital to better staff and equip your practice and efficient economies of scale for procurement. 

Process

Do you love dentistry but find yourself spending most of your time tending to the non-dentistry elements of running a dental practice? Do procurement, marketing, HR, and general administrative tasks take up countless hours of your day? If so, a dental partnership organization might be an excellent fit for you! If you’re considering partnering with a DPO, they likely have extensive experience templating and coordinating all the humdrum elements of business ownership you don’t enjoy. The amount of process a DPO brings to your practice is quite freeing for dentists trying to wear multiple hats independently. 

Call Your Triumphant Transition Partner Advisor Today! 

Are you considering selling your dental practice? Do you need help understanding your practice’s value, potential options, and closing the deal? If so, call your friendly Triumphant Transition advisor for a courtesy consultation!

How to Sell Your Dental Practice In 2024

by Triumphant Transition Partners

Dentistry can be a challenging industry. Many dentists have poured countless hours into their careers to reach the point of owning a dental practice. 

You’ve invested an immense amount of time, from undergrad to dental school and beyond, to get here—and now, you might be wondering how to effectively sell your dental practice. It’s not an easy feat, but it is a worthy one. Selling your practice to the right buyer can be an excellent springboard to the next step in your career, whether that’s retirement, growing your practice, or finding a better work-life balance.

However, it’s not as simple as posting your practice online. You’ll need to ensure you’re selling to the right buyer, which isn’t always easy. This is one of the most significant career decisions of your life; the stakes are high. To help demystify the process and guide you through selling your dental practice, the transition experts at Triumphant Transition Partners have put together this step-by-step guide. Read on to learn exactly how to sell your dental practice.

Know Your Value

Knowing the value of your dental practice is the first step in the process. Without an accurate understanding of its worth, you won’t be able to evaluate offers from interested buyers effectively. You might relate this to selling your house – before beginning the process, you must first know its value. Determining this value can be difficult, but just as with your dental practice, it’s critical that you get the assessment correct. If you don’t, then you could be drastically underselling your practice – or, in the case of this example, your house. 

Even if you think you “know” your practice’s value, it’s wise to return to this and reassess. Many common valuation methods might undervalue your practice or overlook relevant aspects that make it more enticing to a buyer. Your dental practice is complex; estimating its value accurately is equally complex and an essential step before you sell.

Know Your Goals

The dollar value of your practice is, of course, important, but every dentist is different. The right business deal for one dentist might be a poor fit for another. That’s why it’s critical to clarify your goals and assess prospective offers against them. Would you prefer to work with a large organization with ample resources and strict processes? Or would you rather have more day-to-day flexibility? Knowing your goals helps you better understand your ideal outcome and adjust your expectations accordingly.

Know Your Preferred Buyer

Any good marketer knows their target demographic when launching a new product. They can describe the demographic and socioeconomic details of their buyer, their motivations, pain points, and potential objections. This detailed ideal customer profile helps the world’s biggest brands understand buying behavior and tailor marketing to attract potential buyers.

While you may not need to know all the specifics that a Fortune 500 company does, you should have a clear idea of what is and isn’t a good fit for you as a seller. For instance, if you want substantial flexibility, many dental support organizations might not be suitable for you. Conversely, a dental support organization could be a great fit if your focus is primarily on patient care and outcomes.

Know Your Advisor

A trusted dental practice advisor is invaluable to the sale and transition process. You may know the dental industry well, but the ins and outs of practice sales and transitions are a different realm. An industry expert with strong business relationships and deep familiarity with practice transitions is a valuable resource. If you’re looking for a dental practice transition advisor, look no further than Triumphant Transition Partners!

A dental practice transition advisor can:

  • Help You Develop Your Ideal Customer Profile
  • Evaluate Your Practice Finances & Assess Its Value
  • Screen Potential Buyers & Assist with Drafting Letters of Intent
  • Keep You Abreast of Market Trends
  • Inform You of Common Pitfalls in Deals & What to Keep an Eye Out For
  • Help Create a Full Auction and Bidding Process 

Call now for your courtesy consultation!

Common Mistakes Made When Selling A Dental Practice

by Triumphant Transition Partners

When you’re looking to sell your dental practice, you likely have many questions, and rightfully so. Selling to the right buyer could be a significant next step in your career. Selling to the wrong buyer could completely upend your career and waste one of your greatest assets. 

A lot is riding on the sale of your dental practice, and this sale is likely the most complex, valuable, and intricate of your career. The stakes are high, and you can’t afford any missteps. 

To help you prepare, our team has compiled a list of common mistakes to avoid when selling your dental practice. Read on to learn more!

Mistake 1: Not Knowing Your Worth

Imagine trying to sell a car without knowing the approximate worth of the vehicle in question. You might be able to field quotes, haggle, and finalize a deal, but you’ve likely left money on the table by going in without a good estimation. The complexity and nuance of sales are bad enough when you’re selling a car; now, imagine what it’s like when you’re trying to sell a business with an existing client base, experienced staff, and high-end medical equipment. The potential for misquote or undervaluation is high. 

We always recommend getting an accurate practice valuation before fielding any inquiries. Trust us; you’re flying blind without knowing what your dental practice is worth. 

Mistake 2: Accepting the First Offer

Your first offer is likely not the best offer. This is particularly true if you’ve just received a cold call from a Dental Partnership Organization. The dollar figure of the deal offered might be enticing, but it’s likely not the fair market value of your dental practice. The fact that these DPOs are taking the time to cold call you is a sign that your practice is valuable. Don’t be tempted to bite at the first offer. Take the time to understand the value of your practice and screen a list of qualified and interested buyers. If you take the time to field several offers, the odds of selling your practice at your terms and for your ideal price point increase significantly. This is where trusted transition counsel can be invaluable. 

Your dental practice transition advisor will be able to help you gauge the many offers you’re considering and can even help you find new interested buyers. 

Mistake 3: Not Reading the Fine Print

Joining a Dental Partnership Organization or a Dental Support Organization isn’t just a question of dollar amount. Oftentimes, the terms of the agreement have just as much lasting impact on how you live and work with the organization in question. Details around who controls hiring and firing decisions, profit-sharing, and other key practice leadership elements can make or break your satisfaction with your new partner.  For instance, if you expect to retain control over staffing, you might be in for a rude awakening if your new partner has its eyes set on some hiring changes within your practice. That can sour your new business partnership and fast. 

Few things in life are as burdensome as a complex business partnership; make sure that whatever organization you sign with is the right partner for your unique situation. 

Mistake 4: Not Calling Triumphant Transition Partners 

Selling a dental practice is challenging work and one that requires expertise, dedication, and skill. If you’re looking for a trusted dental practice transition advisor to help you navigate the complexity of the sale process, look no further than Triumphant Transition Partners. Our advisors have a deep and intimate knowledge of the dental industry – knowledge that they apply to your case to help you sell your practice on your timetable and terms. At TTP, we offer:

  • Practice Evaluations
  • Access to Private Buyer’s Network
  • Help Screening Applicant & Drafting Letters of Intent
  • Pertinent Financial Documents to Equip Your Attorneys at Close

You need a dedicated and savvy dental practice transition advisor if you want to sell your dental practice on your terms and timeline.  Selling your dental practice can be complicated, but it doesn’t have to be with Triumphant Transition Partners. Call now for a free consultation to discuss your needs further!

3 Ways To Grow Your Med Spa

by Triumphant Transition Partners

Running a med spa can be hard work. Caring for patients always requires a high degree of detail, running a med spa can be complicated, and staying up to date within the field also takes time. 

If you’re running a med spa, you might find yourself spinning your wheels and putting a lot of time and effort into the spa without reaping the rewards you’d like to see. If you’re trying to grow your med spa, you’ll need a specific and actionable game plan that helps you regain your nights and weekends without compromising profitability. 

Luckily, there are proven techniques that you can take advantage of. These techniques will help you grow your med spa and give you the small business you’ve always wanted. 

Invest in Your Marketing

If you’re running a small business, you need to invest in digital marketing. It’s just a bedrock principle of business ownership in 2024. Your current and potential customers are online, looking for solutions to their problems. If you are not promoting your business online, you risk letting your competitors speak to your potential clients. 

Most med spa owners know this, but it can be easier said than done. Taking care of your patients, handling staffing decisions, and staying at the top of your field all take up a lot of your time. Most med spa practitioners don’t have the expertise and bandwidth to stay up to date with the latest and most significant trends in digital marketing. 

However, the good news is that there are some simple ways to maximize your med spa and grow your patient case through digital marketing, ways that won’t require an MBA in marketing or a considerable amount of time.

  • Keep Your Website Up to Date
  • Make Sure Your Spa Is Listed Correctly on Google
  • Email Your Patients About Spa Updates
  • Run a Business Social Media Account for Your Spa

These are simple yet effective ways to improve your med spa digital marketing and keep your patients and potential patients educated about what your spa offers!

Improve Your Operational Efficiency 

As a clinician, you likely shine brightest when caring for your patients. After all, that’s what you went to school for and where you are most qualified. However, if you’re anything like most med spa owners, you probably get pulled away from patient care for the more mundane tasks of running a business. Items like staffing, procurement, answering phones, and office management likely consume much of your time.

Here’s a tough pill to swallow. These administrative tasks may be necessary, but they keep you from putting your effort into patient care entirely. Successful med spas find a way to balance administrative upkeep and patient care to let the business grow, and patients receive the best possible care. Find ways to improve your med spa’s operational efficiency to help the company grow. Automated appointment reminders, repeat purchases for procurement, and seasoned and reliable office manager help are all ways to get your time back and help your spa shine. 

Bring On Outside Help

A recurring theme we keep returning to is the problem of wearing multiple hats as a med spa owner. Depending on the day (or hour), you might be a hiring manager, a doctor, a procurement officer, or a marketer. That’s a tall order for anyone, and it’s only natural that you might struggle to juggle every ball thrown your way. 

That’s why selling your med spa or partnering for outside help may be the right option.

If you’re struggling to stay up to date with your med spa’s responsibilities, an outside partner could be a great way to divide up your responsibilities. Outside partnership organizations offer you a business partner with access to capital, proven excellence in operations, and scalable processes. 

Moreover, you don’t need to sell your med spa to an organization like this en route to retirement. Sometimes, you can sell your spa and remain at the spa as a practicing doctor. This gives you access to the support of the broader organization and lets you focus on patient care. That can be a win-win for many!

However, the decision to sell your med spa is not one to take lightly. The right partnership organization can make your career amazing; the wrong one can destroy your professional satisfaction with your spa.

That’s where Triumphant Transition Partners can help! We’ve been helping doctors sell and transition their practices across a number of medical specialties for years and are standing by to help you determine if selling your med spa is the best option for you!

Call our offices to:

  • Discover the Value of Your Spa
  • Access Our Qualified Buyers Network
  • Screen Offers
  • Arm Your Attorneys With the Best Possible Data for Negotiation at Close

How To Value A Dental Practice

by Triumphant Transition Partners

Learning how to value a dental practice can be tricky for dentists looking to sell their practice. Most dentists are experts at tending to patients and running their practice, but the valuation of a practice can be a potential hurdle. It truly requires a high degree of financial competency and business acumen to properly evaluate a dental practice. And while dentists are highly skilled within their profession, using EBITDA and free cash flow to properly value a dental practice is something entirely new and different. 

At Triumphant Transition Partners, we know the dental practice valuation process from front to back. Plus, our healthcare-specific CPAs on staff are experts on the subject, given that they perform healthcare practice valuations daily. All that to say, we’d love to share some of our thoughts and advice, Please note that all recommendations here are not fool-proof bits of business advice. A custom dental practice valuation is always best practice.

Learn About How To Value A Dental Practice

What Goes Into A Dental Practice Valuation?

The truth is that there is no sure-fire, copy-and-paste way to value a dental practice. Every practice, market, situation, and business model is different and requires a unique valuation. The reason why is relatively simple. The more accurately you value your dental practice, the better you are primed to make good decisions about selling or buying said practice. As a dentist looking to sell or buy a practice, you don’t want to undersell or overpay, and an accurate dental practice valuation is the best way to counteract this. 

There are several different ways of valuing dental practices, and unfortunately, some of the rules of thumb circulating in the dental management community aren’t useful. The 1.5 net income rule and the 75% of the last few years of collections rule are helpful for quick estimates, but they are just that: estimates. 

There are many ways to value a dental practice, and a quick and easy rule-of-thumb is not a solid cornerstone for a business decision. The sale or purchase of a dental practice is likely to be one of, if not the biggest, decisions of your professional life. Don’t rely on simple guesswork. instead, pursue a comprehensive dental practice valuation.

Understand How You Want To Valuate

There are several different ways of determining a dental practice’s value.  Like many elements of economics, this can be confusing and helpful. There are several different ways of valuing a dental practice, so you have different methodologies to check your work. Utilizing three or four different methods of valuing a practice is likelier to produce an accurate result than one. However, the variety of valuation methodologies can be confusing for dentists, so we have compiled some of the more common methods here. 

Income-Based Valuation

Income-based valuations of a dental practice tend to produce the best results. The reason why is that these methods look ahead to projected future net incomes and/or backward to the prior year’s net income. This paradigm gives you an accurate view of the practice’s financial health. If you have a knack for finance and economics, you might discuss whether a capitalized earnings or a discounted cash flow method fits your needs. The better you understand the net income of a dental practice, the better you understand the practice’s business situation. 

Market-Based Valuation

A market-based valuation looks at the market a practice operates in and compares the practice to similar dental practices. The goal is to use the historical collection data of these practices to inform the seller or buyer of the value of the practice in question. While this is a useful endeavor, it’s not a foolproof methodology. We tend to be a little skeptical of relying only on this method. 

  • Not all practices are the same. If you assume the practice in question is the same as those in the area, you leave the door open for unintended errors. Every practice in your market has at least one unique variable that raises or lowers its value. Assuming every practice in the market is exactly the same could be problematic.
  • Intangibles are difficult to measure. Brand perception, patient base, future growth, and patient trust are almost impossible to measure in a market-based paradigm. While these are still difficult to gauge in an income-based view, an income-based view at least values the practice on its own. A market-based valuation compares your practice to others without a failsafe way to evaluate these intangibles.
  • This method doesn’t capture profit. Looking at a practice’s collections versus others in the area doesn’t properly consider the practice’s profitability. Without that piece, a market-based evaluation can be inaccurate. 

Asset-Based Valuation

An asset-based valuation ought to be the most accurate way of valuing a dental practice, right? The value of all assets should be a surefire way to take stock of a dental practice since it’s a pure stock of tangible assets.

Well, yes and no. Asset-based evaluations are still flawed. For instance, older practices might have less valuable equipment, but these practices likely have the best brand recognition, patient base, and income potential in an area. A young practice without a loyal patient base but blessed with expensive assets might be valued higher than an established practice, even though the expected earnings of that young practice are likely much lower than the established practice. Asset-based valuations can be helpful for practices that hold a large amount of real estate, and they can still be insightful if used alongside other methods. However, we would never depend entirely on an asset-based valuation.

Valuing A Dental Practice 

Valuing a dental practice can become complicated, especially if you aren’t an expert in business models or selling a business. As a result of that complexity, it’s imperative that you are able to properly value a dental practice in order to inform your business decisions. It’s just too important a piece of data to estimate.

That’s where the experts at Triumphant Transition Partners enter the picture. We know how to value dental practices and equip you with the most accurate information possible. We’re here to help you through the process and be your trusted partner. Valuing, selling, listing, and closing on a dental practice is a complicated process. Turn to a team with expertise in the area to help you navigate the deal cycle and help you sell your dental practice!

Ready to learn more? Reach out to your trusted Triumphant Advisor today for a courtesy consultation. Fill out the contact form below or give us a call to get started.