By DR SIMON HOCKEN
Last week I hosted three Breathe Business Clubs with around 20 clients, which were workshops focusing on performance reporting in dental practice.
This topic is a bit of a short-straw gig, not nearly as sexy as marketing or vision or any of the other six workshops we run for our Business Club members over the year.
Anyway, somebody has to do it (!) and I was pleased to discover that most of our clients are producing some if not all of the Breathe Super Six KPIs.
It’s clear they know far more than they used to about which bits of their marketing are working and the average treatment value and treatment take-up for their new patients.
However, there’s quite a few who haven’t got to grips with monthly financial reporting and they still persist with running the practice on their online bank statements.
Actually, for some this is OK, but here’s the proviso: it’s only OK if you are not interested in growing the practice. (We know that most UK practices are either in a steady state or gently shrinking…)
So, in future I will say to clients: “Run the practice on the bank statements as long as you are happy to remain in some sort of steady state, but if you want to grow, you have to start understanding and measuring the way money flows through your practice.”
Because (here’s the mantra) You Can Only Manage What You Measure. We call this kind of financial reporting monthly management accounts.
Each month the reports tell the story of the previous month, revealing: practice total gross fees, gross fees by clinician, average daily yield by clinician, direct costs, indirect costs, profit, super profit (the money left in the business after the owner has paid themselves). All against targets.
The data enables the practice owner to do something now if the practice is getting behind its forecast numbers and thereby maintain whatever growth trajectory the practice is riding.
So how do you get hold of these useful monthly management accounts? You can crunch the numbers yourself but, to be honest with you, this can be a heart sink for all and the least reliable solution. And if you don’t trust the numbers you won’t want to spend much time with them!
You can get your accountant to do it, yet often this is the most expensive option and, surprisingly, the figures are often late.
So? Breathe will do it for you. Breathe has its own performance reporting division and you can outsource this function economically and reliably.
Performance reporting is an essential habit for ambitious practice owners who are really interested in growing their businesses. We can help you set this up and understand your data.
Get in touch if you’d like help or if you want to know more about Breathe’s Business Clubs.
With all good wishes,
Simon
07770 430576
simon.hocken@breathebusiness.co.uk
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Reviews of Moonwalking For Dentists
Primary Dental Journal, November 2014
Dentistry, September 2014
British Dental Journal, November 2014
BDA News, November 2014