You can’t do it all by yourself.
At £600,000 in sales you need a full-time practice manager.
You handle:
- Overall business strategy
- Dentistry
Your practice manager handles:
- Finance
- Marketing
- The patient experience
- Treatment co-ordination and sales
- Operational issues
- Teamwork
At £1.2 million in sales you need a full-time business manager and a full-time clinic manager.
They split 1-6 above.
At £2.4 million in sales you need:
- a part-time financial manager
- a full-time marketing manager
- a part-time social media manager
- a full-time clinic manager
They split 1-6 above.
As a result, the bigger you get, the lower your profit margin – because “people” are your biggest expense.
“People” includes more payroll as well as more self-employed sub-contractors.
At £600,000, run it well and you will hit 30-35% net profit before tax (and before your drawings).
At £1.2 million, run it well and you will hit 25-30%.
At £2.4 million, run it well and you will hit 20-25%.
Above £3 million you will hit 15-20%.
Bigger doesn’t necessarily mean better – sometimes it just means bigger.
Becoming bigger is only possible if you embrace two important skills into your armoury:
- Leadership
- Management
Understanding the difference between these two – and grasping the essentials of becoming a good leader to good managers – that’s a key skill that will differentiate the winners and losers.
If you are doing 1-6 (or any part of them) – you need a coach to help you recruit and train a great manager(s).
If you aren’t hitting those profit margins – you need a coach to help you get there.
