Business is tough out there.

Only those tough enough to survive in business will survive.

As economies change, adverse conditions will drastically affect those who have not prepared for those changes.

It is often said that any fool can make money when times are good.

But some fools can lose money when times are good.

But in tougher times, when conditions tighten up, it’s only the astute who emerge out the other end without being adversely affected.

In the olden days, owning a dental practice or dental office was a license to print money. There weren’t so many dentists around and there was plenty of supply of people in need of dental services.

In 2016 there seems to be an oversupply of dentists.

Here in Australia, there are too many dental schools operating with scant regard for the laws of supply and demand, graduating dentists every year who are trying desperately to find a place in the dental workforce,.

On top of this, the professional regulators seem hell-bent on registering an additional number of overseas trained dentists who sit for an entry examination each year.

These additional members of the dental community enter the dental marketplace and are left very little choice than to and compete hard for their share or at least for some share of that market.

And in what way?

Most of the time in any industry, or relating to a service or commodity, when supply exceeds demand, the only means of competition left to those supplying is to compete on price.

“I can do that for you for five percent less than they will”

And an oversupply of a service then results in the consumer asking:

“Is that your best price?”

Both of these responses are indications to the consumer that prices are arbitrary and are open for downward negotiations.

Any discussion on price tends to imply that the vendor is trying to charge as much as they can.

And any question by the customer implies that they do not believe that the set price is appropriate.

My belief when I am a customer is always this:

I believed that if I wanted the best product and the best service from my vendor then I would pay the ticketed price.

If the product and the service I received then failed to match the fee or price that I paid, then I would question the vendor after the fact rather than negotiate with the vendor ahead of time.

Similarly, when I was a vendor, I set my fees to be a true representation of the service that I provided to my clients.

And I stuck true to those fees.

They were never open for negotiation.

What I also did religiously was that I reviewed and adjusted my fees on a regular basis to reflect inflation within the economy as well as reflecting market forces such as rent increases, currency fluctuations, and cost of raw and processed materials and supplies.

On top of these factors regarding overhead, it is important for every business to be profitable.

What’s the point of being in business at all if as a business owner all you do is pay yourself lastly?

And in so doing, you pay yourself hardly at all?

What’s the point of wearing out and traumatizing all of that heart muscle and stomach lining looking after the welfare of all of your employees and all of your suppliers, while at the same time neglecting the futures of your family members and of yourself?

If you DO NOT run your business as a business then what the heck has been your purpose in life other than to be exploited by some or all of those who see you as a patsy to take advantage of?

Don’t spend your life as a wilting wallflower.

Be strong.

Set your goals and take action to maintain your course toward those goals.

You MUST arrive where you want to arrive and not where you end up arriving.

Otherwise, what really is the point of it all?

*****

Have you read my book , How To Build The Dental Practice of Your Dreams [Without Killing Yourself!] In Less Than Sixty Days.

You can order your copy here: Click Link To Order

*****

The Ultimate Patient Experience is a simple to build complete Customer Service system in itself that I developed that allowed me to create an extraordinary dental office in an ordinary Sydney suburb. If you’d like to know more, ask me about my free special report.

Email me at david@theupe.com

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