SME Excellence for ambitious dental practices From dentist to entrepreneur

The ‘solo dentist’ is a dying breed. Those who run a practice with several dentists today are actually the heads of complex SMEs. With heavy investments in technology, extensive stock and the constant challenges of recruitment and retention, dentistry is one of the toughest sectors to do business in. Many dentists feel that the operational pressure is rising, because they are a medical specialist, HR manager, buyer and financial director all rolled into one.

Lots of practices grow organically to support 3 to 6 dentists, but the internal organisation often lags behind. This multidisciplinary knowledge network exists to help dentists or dental practice managers who realise they are running a business.

The programme is based on 3 pillars. The first consists of a management programme with practical sessions in which you apply management theory, models and tools to your own business. The second involves applying the insights gained to a dental practice case in which you can learn from the input of like-minded entrepreneurs. The third is an individual sounding board session by coaches and experts at the end of the programme, in which you present your business plan and receive feedback on it.

To be successful and stay that way, you need to know where you stand, what you want to achieve and how best to go about it. You will find out how to determine your value proposition and what strategic position is most suitable for your business model. Afterwards, we will link your strategic goals to concrete action plans.

Financial health is a key goal of every business. In this module, you will learn how to interpret your figures and those of the competition, and also what questions you should be asking your financial advisers to get optimal reporting. Furthermore, we will investigate how you can manage your brand and give you an idea of the techniques you can use to convey your value proposition to your clients. Other secret weapons of the modern dental practice are service design and hospitality. These two disciplines ensure that efficiency also feels human and is commercially profitable.

This might well be the subject that gives you the most sleepless nights. Every business is a people business. How do you delegate with good results? How do you monitor your team? What is the best way to motivate them? Are they in the right place, and how do you keep them on board? What skills and competencies are you still lacking? And how do you persuade everyone involved? We also take a good look at your leadership and role in the business, and we work on the areas you can improve. Additionally, you will learn what entrepreneurship and growth entail.

The participants present their long-term strategy and business plan for their dental practice to a jury, along with the associated action points. What insights have they gained? How are they going to implement these insights? What is their planned approach? What is their own role in this? What do they want to achieve with their practice?

For ambitious practice owners and managers in growing dental practices (approx. 3 to 6 dentists) who want to make the transition from a medical practice to a professionally run organisation.