Is Your Practice Built to Sell? (Ep.156)

Is your practice built to sell?

Catherine Maley, MBA: Hello, and welcome to Beauty and the Biz where we talk about the business and marketing side of plastic surgery. I’m your host, Catherine Maley, author of Your Aesthetic Practice – What your patients are saying, as well as consultant to plastic surgeons, to get them more patients and more profits. Now today’s episode is called “Is your practice built to sell”.

And the reason the question of “Is your practice built to sell” came up is because. It’s I’ve been talking to a large group of surgeons who have been in practice 20 years or more. And they’re thinking about their extra strategy, by the way, the time to ponder this is now no matter how long you’ve been in practice, because it can take years to turn your practice into a sellable asset.

And if nothing else, at least you’ll have a practice you enjoy for the rest of your career because the alternative. You don’t do anything to improve your practice, but then you’ve got to know you’ve only created a job for yourself now. That’s not a bad thing if that’s what you want, but the goal is to be sure you’re clear what you’re working towards in regards to “Is your practice built to sell”.

So, you’re satisfied with the outcome. Now, since you’ve already mastered surgery, let’s master the business side of surgery. That is what catapults you to success and a more certain future that gives you more options. So, all of this starts with mindset as always. So as a surgeon, you were programmed to think in a certain fixed way, and you had to think that way to become a great.

However, that thinking is the opposite of how a business person thinks when it comes to the question of “Is your practice built to sell”. For example, you most likely put more value on you as a surgeon versus growing your staff and your systems, and you most likely work in your practice rather than work on your practice. Now, Michael Gerber explains it well in his excellent book.

The E-Myth. Why most small businesses don’t work and what to do about it. I highly recommend you read that. Now, basically he says to run a successful business or practice, you need three key players. You need the entrepreneur to come up with new ideas, to keep up with the times. Then you need the manager to set up the processes and people.

So, things run smoothly, and then you need the technician to actually do the key work that makes a profit. So, in a cosmetic practice, you, the surgeon is. But you’re also juggling the jobs of the entrepreneur and the manager, and that takes different skill sets. Now that’s not a good use of your time and it will not get you to your financial goals when considering “Is your practice built to sell”.

So, we’re going to change that up for you because when you set up systems, you and your staff get clarity, and when you remove the complexity results happen, because money is made in the process. Gosh, have I learned this the hard way money is made in the processes? So, here’s the first big mindset shift operate your practice like it’s for sale.

In other words, regularly, ask yourself if I wanted to sell my practice tomorrow, what would I need to improve to get the most value for it or said differently? Or in other words, Is your practice built to sell? If I wanted to buy an existing practice, what would I be looking for? And be willing to invest? So, let’s focus on turning your own practice into a sellable asset, and then I’ll give you several more exit strategies other surgeons have used.

So first you want to build a team of rock stars. Now hiring the right team for your practice will be your biggest challenge, but also your greatest asset, because it’s all about the who. So please start looking at your staff as assets rather than overhead liability. They are your secret practice building so you can be confident when you ask yourself “Is your practice built to sell”.

When it comes to patient relations, since they spend way more time with your patients than you do, staff can make or break your cosmetic practice. So be sure you have the right people representing you. They are your leverage. You can’t do it all alone, nor should you. So, when you hire the right people, give them the right tools and hold them accountable.

They handled the majority of your practice for you. So, you don’t have to. So, focus on the revenue generators first, such as adding another surgeon or a nurse injector and or laser tech, then an incredible patient coordinator who knows how to convert consultations, then a receptionist who can bond with callers and book appointments.

And then the support staff and then an office manager who could be the buffer between you and all this staff. Now, as you grow, add a marketing person to handle your PR and social media, as well as a bookkeeper and then an accountant and eventually a COO to overlook. And by the way, this is the time to document each role, title, task, and responsibility.

Then you document how they perform the tasks using checklists and videos to screen capture exactly how they do the tasks. Now, that way there’s no interruption in your processes since it’s documented and someone else can step in, watch the, how to videos and use the checklist to get the job. Now the next focus goes to strategic marketing and planning to answer the question of “Is your practice built to sell”.

A buyer is looking for an automatic patient lead pipeline and marketing plan to predictably and reliably keep a steady stream of patients coming through the door, as well as a plan to increase the patient’s lifetime value today, tomorrow and far into the. Now the more, you can show that to a buyer, the more they will pay for your practice.

So be strategic by focusing on the six key ways you grow a cosmetic practice, and those are you increase the number of leads, increase the number of appointments so your practice can be built to sell. Then increased the number of consultations then increase the number of conversions. Then increase the number of patients returning for more and then increase the number of referrals because they’re always going to be faster, cheaper, and easier than getting new patient-strangers from.

So, before you invest in anymore new patient attraction, shiny objects, plug up the holes in your systems that are robbing you blind. That’s where you’ll see new profits more quickly and easily. Now, as a side note, this is why I created the kiss loyalty club. It sets you up with a reliable stream of cash paying patients.

Who grow your practice for you organically without discounting? So, you have a more profitable practice to sell or enjoy, and you can check out those details at kiss loyalty club. Now, the next focus is on setting standards. So, you don’t compete on price. You are surrounded by competitors who will slash their prices to attract new patients.

However, if the aesthetic rejuvenation was based solely on price, this would always be about the lowest price and that would turn into a race to the bottom and then nobody wins. Now. It’s only about price until you add in other determining factors. To help the prospective patient considerate the value they get.

When choosing you now contrary to popular belief, the majority of cosmetic patients rarely decide based on price alone now, affordability and value. Yes, but price alone, rarely. It’s important to keep this in mind when you’re building your practice to eventually sell. So, get very clear about your value and what you stand for. Have conviction and believe in yourself. Now, if you believe you deserve top dollar, because you do great work, then price your services for your preferred patients.

Now, those are the patients who see you as a skilled, reputable plastic surgeon, and they’re glad to pay more for your expertise so they can be confident. They’ll get a great result safely. Find out what’s important to those preferred patients and give them. For example, is it procedures, technology, innovation experts?

Credibility status, convenience, quality and or five-star customer service, and consistency is the key. Whatever you decided are your standards. Your patients learn to trust those standards and expect the same experience and result every time. And then lastly, you want to focus on leadership now, you know, you’re doing a good job leading when your practice is running smoothly and your staff is working well, too. A key takeaway when asking yourself “Is your practice built to sell”.

You’ve got peace of mind knowing your’re building your practice to someday sell. It’s running like a well-oiled machine with, or without you there. If you feel frustrated, like you have to do everything yourself, or you feel the need to micromanage to ensure what you think is getting done is actually getting done. That’s a red flag, because if you feel like nobody cares about your practice, like you do that could mean you did not hire the right people, give them the tools they need to succeed and, or you’re not holding them.

So, the reality is you simply cannot build a successful practice by yourself. You’ve got to get a team supporting you, and that starts with your vision as the leader of your practice so you can confidently say YES when asking “Is your practice built to sell”. So, decide now what your vision is. And I always say this, no thyself, are you building an empire or a lifestyle? Do you want to crush the competitors or be home for dinner every night?

You need to know that because it’s going to affect every decision. And then be sure the staff knows your vision. So, they perform at a high level because they have clarity and they know the end result you’re striving for, which is of course being able to have an answer on the subject of “Is your practice built to sell”. So, a good leader also takes good care of their staff and they take great care of their patients in turn.

Now that means you’re genuinely interested in them as people first, then as staff show interest in their lives and families, and what’s important. Catch them doing things right. And thank them often now a good leader communicates the culture of the practice. And here are just some examples that can be used to get your point across, but of course use your own, but this will be a good start for you.

So, here’s something like we are in business to make money and do that by taking care of our team in order to position your practice to be built to sell. So, our team takes care of our patients, or we do not say no to patients who give us money. We make time for them because that’s how we get. We treat every patient the same with kindness and respect, always with a smile, no matter how many patients or how crazy it is at times, we acknowledge every referral with a heartfelt thank you.

And then so on. So as a good leader, make sure the entire group plans as a team wins as a team and celebrates as a team, they also give credit for their success to their team, knowing it would not have been possible without. So, a good leader gives the staff solid goals. They can work towards and have something to strive forward when you someday have to sell your practice.

That is concrete. A good leader meets with the team, listens and gets feedback, and then lets the team brainstorm how they will meet the goals. A good leader then holds them accountable without micromanage. And team meetings are a must. When you run your practice, like a business, holds your meetings on the same day in time. Also key on answering “Is your practice built to sell”.

So, nobody can say they didn’t know about it. Now this is true team building and keeps everybody engaged and interacting with the success of the practice because you want to know at a glance, if you’re healthy or hurting, and that’s easy to do when you regularly review your numbers.

Now you’ve got a well-oiled machine you can enjoy or sell or duplicate. In other words, having a practice that’s built to sell or duplicate. And lastly, here are other ways surgeons use their entrepreneurial skills to grow or have a practice that’s built to sell. They sell, documented and proven practice in a box system to venture capitalists or create their own management operation systems called MOS and invite other practices on board to give those practices of stronger buying power and scales of economy to lower their costs, or they come up with their own signature procedure and marketing plan that is reproducible for other surgeons to license perform.

Or they create a new product and sell it to the pharma industry, or they create a new SAS software. And SAS stands for software as a service that helps practices grow and they charge a monthly or annual. And there’s many more of these strategies. So, I plan on interviewing lots more entrepreneurial doctors on this podcast.

So, stay tuned so you can get more ideas and get your creative juices flowing on how you too can gain more from in terms of “Is your practice built to sell”. Just a plastic surgeon running a practice.

And if you have any questions or feedback for me, you can go ahead and leave them at my website at www.CatherineMaley.com, or you can certainly DM me on Instagram @CatherineMaleyMBA.

If you’ve enjoyed this episode on Beauty and the Biz, please head over to Apple Podcasts and give me a review and subscribe to Beauty and the Biz so you don’t miss any episodes. And of course, please share this with your staff and colleagues.

-End transcript for “Is Your Practice Built to Sell? (Ep.156)”