3 Problems Preventing You From Growing Your Dental Practice

3 Problems Preventing You From Growing Your Dental Practice Growing a thriving dental practice is difficult, to say the least. According to the American Dental Association (ADA), as of 2021, less than three-fourths (73%) of dentists in the United States were private practice owners, down from 84.7% in 2005. The majority of dental school graduates don’t receive instruction on practice management and development, which are two skills that can make or break the success of your growing practice. This level of business and financial insight must be attained through alternate resources. And while it is not your instructor’s job to teach you how to run a successful company, it is extremely difficult — and costly — to learn on your own through trial and error. In order to offer your patients, employees, and family the very best experience, it is crucial to reinvest in yourself through professional development and stay up to date on advancements in treatment and technology, as well as financial management and operational strategies. Here are three issues most dentists face when trying to grow and expand their practices: Issue #1: Strategy At Tower Leadership, we stress the importance of creating a “Top-Down Strategy,” meaning it starts with the CEO. The very first thing to start with is the leader’s ability to create and execute strategy and operations while fully understanding what it takes to do this. A leader must formulate a strategy and understand what makes the practice unique. Then, they must create a pricing model that fits, whether it’s focused on cost-efficiency or perceived value. From there, we create scalable processes and systems that repeat without the direction of the owning doctor. Then, we will move into Standard Operating Procedures and Key Performance Indicators, and lastly, focus on training to ensure we can onboard team members quickly and meet the standards of the business. Often, most dental practices focus on starting from the bottom and then moving upward. Even though it’s easier to implement a bottom-up approach that focuses on training team members first and the leadership and strategy last, there is a large problem with this approach. The issue is that these are the members most likely to leave the organization, and you have not built up the processes to train internally. This creates frustration with the business, excess fees to retrain, and a lack of future scalability. Even when we get all this correct, all businesses will eventually hit an organizational ceiling. This is the place where under the current business strategy, organizational structure, talent, pricing or service model, etc., you will find it difficult to achieve future growth, and the business revenues and growth tend to slow. This is the place you, an owning doctor, need to identify, and it is where the business must push through what is called a strategic inflection point. Oftentimes, owning doctors will find it difficult to do this, as it will create a period of temporary turmoil and uncertainty. However, without this push, the practice will eventually mature and then decline. If you look at the dental landscape, you can see examples of this everywhere. To look at a non-dental example, think of this: Netflix dominated the DVD industry far and wide, then saw the need to shift its business model to streaming services even though they were winning in total market share. It utilized several tactics to shift its business model away from warehouses and DVDs to modern data centers and streaming services. In turn, Netflix experienced a dramatic boost and remains an industry leader in the video streaming space. The same must happen to a dental practice. It is crucial to know when it’s time to make changes to your business model to not only keep up but outperform competitors in the same space. Eric J. Morin of Tower Leadership, a group practice consulting organization specializing in expanding dental practices and maximizing revenue, offers insight, as well as ways to overcome roadblocks that many practices face with growth and expansion. “We have these points in our business where we cannot grow anymore unless we change the business model,” Morin explains. “Our knowledge base can also stop us from moving the organizational ceiling and getting to the next level.” Issue #2 Capital allocation Dental school teaches the intricacies of being a dentist, not excelling in business ownership, leaving many practice owners struggling with how to run a lucrative business. In his career, one thing Morin has seen lacking the most is a true understanding of how to effectively make capital management decisions. One thing that is definitely true of owning and operating a business is that “growth eats cash,” says Morin. When we understand internal rates of return and the return on investment of decisions, it allows us to affect future profitability and, ultimately, cash flow. Then we place controls around that cash to mitigate the loss of capital due to poor or lack of cash management decision-making. Depending on the vision and growth plan of the owning doctor, this will have a significant impact on future growth and their ability to acquire and retain capital for future growth needs. “Having the wrong or no capital management strategy can cost a business tens of millions of dollars over a career, as well as years of productivity,” Morin warns. “To add, the number one need of a business is access to capital.” Issue #3: Organizational structure Referring back to the first issue, Tower Leadership’s emphasis on creating a Top-Down Strategy also plays into the organizational structure. How your team is utilized in the day-to-day is just as important as your long-term strategy. By effectively placing each team member in an unambiguous position to succeed, the organization can move forward with fewer hiccups and less uncertainty. Many practices realize too late that they do not have the correct organizational structure or team to scale quickly. Without the right team and structure, growth will create a tremendous amount of stress on the organization. Morin encourages building out an effective business flywheel and the operations to support it, which allows your practice to scale quickly while reducing the stress of the owning doctor dramatically. This will create a better patient and team member experience and will ultimately create a much more efficient organization. It will also have a dramatic impact on future valuation if the owning doctor decides to sell. When you start at the top of an organization versus the bottom and build effective leadership, strategy, capital management, and operations, the business can reach its future goals with much less stress and a greater outcome in less time. This is how Morin has scaled dental practitioners from one to over 30 locations in a relatively short period of time, and the same can be true of your future organization. Tower Leadership teaches business, leadership, and wealth skills to dentists. Its mission is to help dentists match their ambitions, carve out a work-life balance, and positively impact their team, community, and family. For about 20 years, Morin has helped small businesses grow to 30-40 million dollar group practices, in addition to assisting dental groups on a national scale to overcome developmental roadblocks. Morin is available to speak to your dental organization and offer his sought-after insight today. For more information and resources, visit towerleadership.com, and watch the group practice accelerator flywheel video.

阻碍牙科诊所扩张的三大难题 简言之，打造一家蓬勃发展的牙科诊所绝非易事。据美国牙科协会（American Dental Association, ADA）2021年统计数据显示，美国仅有73%的牙医为私人执业所有者，较2005年的84.7%有所下滑。绝大多数牙科院校毕业生并未接受过诊所管理与发展相关培训，而这两项技能正是决定诊所扩张成败的核心要素。此类商业与财务层面的专业认知，只能通过其他渠道获取。尽管牙科院校的讲师并无义务传授企业运营之道，但仅凭试错自学不仅难度极高，更是代价不菲。为给患者、员工与家属带来最优体验，通过专业发展进行自我投资、及时跟进诊疗技术与治疗方案的最新进展，同时掌握财务管理与运营策略，至关重要。以下便是多数牙医在拓展诊所规模时面临的三大核心问题：

问题一：战略
Tower Leadership始终强调构建「自上而下战略（Top-Down Strategy）」的重要性，即战略制定需从首席执行官（CEO）层面启动。首要之举在于领导者能否在充分认知执行路径的前提下，制定并落地战略与运营方案。领导者需先明确诊所的独特定位，制定适配的定价模式——无论该模式聚焦于成本效益还是感知价值。随后，我们需搭建可规模化的流程与系统，确保无需执业医生亲自指导即可重复运转。接下来则是标准操作流程（Standard Operating Procedures）与关键绩效指标（Key Performance Indicators），最终聚焦于员工培训，以实现快速入职并契合企业运营标准。
多数牙科诊所往往选择自下而上的推进路径：先开展员工培训，最后再补全领导力与战略搭建。尽管自下而上的模式看似更易实施，但存在致命缺陷：这类最先接受培训的员工恰恰是离职率最高的群体，而此时诊所尚未建立内部培训体系。这将引发企业运营困境、额外的再培训成本，且难以实现未来规模化扩张。
即便完成了上述所有环节，所有企业最终仍会遭遇组织天花板：即在当前的商业战略、组织结构、人才储备、定价或服务模式框架下，难以实现进一步增长，营收与扩张速度逐渐放缓。作为执业医生，你需要识别这一阶段，并推动企业突破所谓的「战略拐点（strategic inflection point）」。多数执业医生往往难以完成这一突破，因为这将带来一段时期的临时动荡与不确定性。但若未能推动变革，诊所终将走向成熟继而衰退。放眼牙科行业，此类案例比比皆是。
以非牙科行业为例：奈飞（Netflix）曾在DVD租赁市场占据绝对主导地位，即便当时其整体市场份额领先，仍敏锐意识到需向流媒体服务转型。为此，奈飞采取了多项策略，将业务从实体仓库与DVD租赁转型至现代数据中心与流媒体服务。此举为奈飞带来了业绩的大幅增长，使其至今仍是视频流媒体领域的行业领军者。牙科诊所亦需如此：明确何时调整商业模式，不仅是为了跟上行业步伐，更是为了超越同赛道竞争者。
专注于牙科诊所扩张与收益最大化的集团咨询机构Tower Leadership的埃里克·J·莫林（Eric J. Morin），分享了其行业洞察，并提供了破解诊所扩张障碍的解决方案。莫林表示："企业发展到一定阶段，若不调整商业模式便无法实现进一步增长。我们的知识储备也可能成为突破组织天花板、迈向更高层级的阻碍。"

问题二：资本配置
牙科院校传授的是牙医执业的专业细节，而非企业运营的卓越之道，这导致诸多诊所所有者在如何运营盈利性企业方面举步维艰。在职业生涯中，莫林发现多数从业者最缺乏的便是对有效资本管理决策的真正理解。运营企业的核心真相之一便是"增长吞噬现金流"，莫林如是说道。当我们明晰内部收益率（Internal Rates of Return, IRR）与决策的投资回报率（Return on Investment, ROI）时，便能有效影响未来盈利能力，最终优化现金流。随后，我们需围绕现金流建立管控机制，以规避因现金管理决策失误或缺失导致的资本损失。
具体而言，资本配置策略将根据执业医生的愿景与扩张计划，对未来增长以及其获取、留存增长所需资本的能力产生重大影响。莫林警告称："错误的资本管理策略或缺乏资本管理策略，将在职业生涯中让企业损失数千万美元，并损耗数年的运营效率。此外，企业的首要需求便是获取资本渠道。"

问题三：组织结构
回到第一个问题，Tower Leadership强调的自上而下战略，同样适用于组织结构搭建。团队在日常运营中的配置方式，与长期战略同等重要。通过为每位团队成员明确职责定位以助力其成功，企业便能以更少的波折与不确定性稳步推进。
许多诊所直到为时已晚才意识到，自身并不具备适配快速规模化的组织结构与团队。若缺乏合适的团队与架构，扩张将给企业带来巨大的运营压力。莫林建议搭建高效的业务飞轮（business flywheel）及其配套运营体系，这不仅能让诊所实现快速规模化，还能大幅减轻执业医生的工作负担。此举将优化患者与员工的体验，最终打造更为高效的组织架构。若执业医生未来选择出售诊所，这也将对其估值产生显著积极影响。
从企业顶层出发搭建高效领导力、战略、资本管理与运营体系，而非从底层入手，企业便能以更低的压力、更短的时间达成未来目标。莫林曾帮助牙科从业者在相对较短的时间内，将诊所从1家扩张至30余家分支机构，这套方法论同样适用于你的企业。

Tower Leadership专注于为牙医传授商业、领导力与财富管理技能，其使命是帮助牙医匹配自身职业抱负，实现工作与生活的平衡，并为团队、社区与家庭带来积极影响。近20年来，莫林不仅帮助小型企业成长为市值3000万至4000万美元的集团诊所，还协助全国性牙科集团破解发展障碍。
莫林可受邀为你的牙科机构开展演讲，并分享其广受认可的行业洞见。如需了解更多信息与资源，请访问towerleadership.com，并观看集团诊所加速器飞轮视频。