Four Reasons for a Late-Career Facility Makeover

Why bother with significant reinvestments in your practice when you are just a few years away from retirement? Why not let the new practice owner worry about that when the time comes? Why not save the money and ride out the rest of your career with the facility you're used to?

Here's why not:

1. You increase the value of the practice
It stands to reason that an up-to-date facility fares better on the open market than one that is showing its age. The difference in value is almost always more than enough to offset the cost of reinvestment. If you're trying to attract a quality associate to ultimately transition into ownership, you want to offer an environment that an ambitious young dentist can get excited about practicing in.

2. It drives up value in the eyes of the patients
Your last few years in the practice shouldn't be about playing out the string; a well-thought-out exit plan starts with improvement strategies in areas like retention, case acceptance and invitations. Implementing this process is so you can sustain a transition and start seeing productivity increases that will allow you to gradually decrease your time in the practice without subtracting from your current or future lifestyle. These improvements inevitably come down to increasing patient value, and a refreshed facility is one of the best ways to communicate value and re-energize the patient base.

3. It rejuvenates the team
As I previously mentioned, nothing dulls the senses quite like routine. In this critical period of reinvention for the practice, as you look toward retirement and a new dentist is or will be coming in, the team needs to be excited about the change. A newly enhanced environment is a great way to instil in the team the mindset that changes are happening and it's good.

4. You'll love it
If it's time to wind down your time in the profession, why not make a "bucket list" move and spend that time in the practice of your dreams. I have known many dentists whose only regret after doing this is that they didn't do it sooner, and I have known many dentists who have ended up extending their time in the profession, working a few hours a week on selected cases and patients, because they found the new facility renewed their passion for the profession. This may actually be the best reason of all. You spent a lot of years building your practice and you deserve to have that accomplishment reflected in your surroundings before you retire.