How to Scale Your Practice: Advice from Doctors Who’ve Done It!
SmileMakers loves being a part of cultivating patient satisfaction, and one indicator of truly happy patients is a full appointment book. When you have more patients than available slots in your schedule, it may be time to grow and expand! Considering scaling your practice? Wondering what steps to take first? We sat down with Dr. Mukund, Dr. Raj, and Dr. Louis of Sea of Smiles Pediatric Dentistry to discuss their growth and their advice for doctors looking to expand. Here’s what they had to say:
When did you know it was time to open your second practice?
Our main goal has always been to make sure that as many children as possible enjoy coming to the dentist. We also don’t want parents to have to stress about their children’s dental visits, either. As we grew organically at our first location, our patients began to come from further and further away. Many parents began suggesting, asking, and jokingly demanding that we open a location near them. As more and more parents brought it up, we realized that an expansion could be a great opportunity to really change the lives of more children and help parents out as well.
What are the major differences between having one practice and multiple locations?
Each office comes with its own struggles. We ran into some construction issues with the second and third, which delayed things a bit. Ultimately, we do as much as we can to make sure that the patient care does not change between our three offices. Also, we have learned that having a great team is key while dealing with the stress of growing pains.
What are the steps you took when you decided to expand? We wanted to make sure that our decision to expand was correctly timed, so we discussed our plans with our advisors and mentors and asked numerous questions to get solid advice and create a plan for moving forward. From there we met with contractors, designers, dental suppliers, and banks to make sure that our visions were aligned and that we were not spreading ourselves too thin. We also made it a point to discuss our plans with our team to ensure that everyone was on the same page.
What were the biggest pain points and how did you deal with them?
Our biggest issues with scaling have always been construction issues. During the build of our second location, we dealt with permitting issues as well as constant increases in costs due to unforeseen construction problems. Managing that while working full time at our first location was definitely a learning experience for us. Our third office ran into issues with construction due to other tenants in the space. Construction was halted, and we had to redesign our entire space to make sure we could move forward. Dealing with these issues required resilience, perseverance, and flexibility.
If you could offer advice to doctors looking to grow and scale their practice, what would it be?
Our best advice for others is to determine your values and stick to them. Our priority has always been to treat every child as if they were our own. We want parents to feel like they are a part of the process, and we want children to willingly come back every six months. We will try to treat as many children as we can according to these standards and values, and scale as that allows.
Our initial intention wasn’t to open multiple locations. Our main goal was always to change the perception of going to the dentist for children and make it a fun experience. Sticking to our values and priorities has been the main reason for our growth.
Can you share any secrets to success?
Always stay true to who you are, and always do the right thing!
We Love Helping Practices Thrive and Grow
SmileMakers is always happy to be a part of your growth! Expanding involves planning and hard work, and our resources can help make the process as smooth as possible. Marketing supplies, practice essentials, and our prizes and giveaways will ensure that your patients keep smiling as you expand.
