Sadly, in every profession, there are always those whose behaviours disappoint in the eyes of others in that profession.

And lately, I’m being reminded that in Dentistry, there are those who will disappoint because of their actions.

And I may be one of those disappointers.

Sure I’ve had people tell me that my marketing for my coaching is a little too “out there”, but heck, if you don’t like my marketing, then throw it in the bin and get on with doing what you are doing….

A solicitor friend of mine, or should I say, a solicitor who I sometimes play golf with, once told me that the trouble with lawyers was that 99% of them give the rest of them a bad name…

All jokes aside, lately, this week, I’ve been reminded about life’s frailties by the ignorant actions of my fellow colleagues…

Those of you who have read my Special Report will know that I was sacked over the phone by a Dentist who employed me, for being of all things, left- handed.

After one day!!

And of course, there’s the now timeless tale of the first consultant that I started working with at my Dental Office, who was at the same time was setting up practice with one of my competitors just 900m down the road from me!

It’s interesting because both these acts of vulturism involved Napoleonic divide and conquer as well as acquisition at all costs mentality.

Instead of believing in the theory of abundance.

The theory of abundance believes that when we think *abundance*, no matter what we are thinking of, there will be more than enough of it for all to enjoy and have plenty.

Unfortunately, in the two cases above, these two Dentists were acting from a position of scarcity…

My most recent example of vulturism that I have recently heard of has come from a friend who is in the market for buying a Dental Practice.

And I must say, after listening to his tale, and the tales of another colleague recently, there’s one simple lesson to be learned straight away….

Only Deal With Serious Vendors

A serious vendor will have a contract of sale, and use an agent.

Sure, the agent wants to sell everything he lists, so you need to be alert there.

But dealing with a vendor, and let’s call them a water-tester, who hasn’t really truly committed to the sale, is fraught with emotional dramas and exasperations.

A friend of mine contacted me about two such water-testers that he had met.

Now my friend had written to a targeted list that he created of dentists he thought might be wanting to sell their Offices.

The first dentist who responded had what looks like, a really great practice. The practice employed associate dentists, and enjoyed healthy collections.

But the water-testing vendor wanted to sell at a price based on future potential, whatever that means.

And my friend was also concerned that the rental for the rooms, which the vendor owned, was several shades, many shades higher than market rent.

So interestingly, as time elapsed, this vendor became more and more vulturistic….

My friend also spoke to a periodontist who was willing to sell my friend his rooms, and stay on as an employed periodontist on commission.

The rooms were nice, but the thought in my head was that most specialist practices are unsellable, because the specialist has built up his own list of referrers, and when the specialist goes, those referrers on the whole will refer to their B and C specialists, never to the new guy.

[That’s why the corporates presented a lifeline for specialists…just think about it…]

In both these instances, sadly for my friend, his enquiry had brought out some vultures.

I’d tend to think that if buying, we need a commitment to sell from the potential vendor.

Before Active Dental, I worked for three years as an associate dentist for a dentist who told me virtually from Day One, that if I played my cards right, there’d be opportunity of a buy in because my employer was approaching retirement.

And during my third year there, I would often ask about that buy in opportunity, and it’s possibility, only to have my question brushed aside.

Although this talk of buy in was a false, fluffy offer, if it had had some legs, I would have been happy to stay on there.
My employer was a fair man, and I learned a considerable amount about the business of dentistry, more by osmosis, while I was there.

But because of the fluffy offer, I moved on…

Again, the lesson here, is get it in writing…

When I begin my coaching agreements, about half of my four pages of paperwork explains how each party can end the agreement, and continue the agreement, if need be.

There’s no confusion.

Because it’s much easier to discuss the pre-nup before the relationship as opposed to discussing it during the divorce.

And interestingly, the responses to this clause by potential clients has actually acted as a filter to separate out those who really want to grow their practices from those thinking on a scarcity mentality.

Which I’m sure saves me a lot of anguish down the track..

And I’m good with that sort of filter..

BTW, One of my clients sent me an email last night that she’d just had a PB week of collections this week, so after eight months, the growth in her practice is still continuing.

Moral of the story?

Eyes wide open rather than blinkers on.

For my friend who is looking to buy, a new job as an associate dentist fell into his lap, so there’s been a happy ending there for him.

Or a happy turn of events.

I think my friend benefited from running those two practices by me, so that I could help him see the possible dangers. And he worked those dangers out for himself…I was just his sounding board.

Finally, in passing, I’ll mention a dentist I know well who just this week pulled the pin on a good practice because of vendor, or water tester, family issues.

My friend pulled the pin immediately as soon as he found out there were family issues.

Spouses, children, siblings.

If the sale or purchase is conditional on something relating to family issues, that’s a big elephant in the room that you don’t want.

So my friend was out of there.

In dating, there’ll always be other girls and in dentistry there will always be other practices.

It’s abundance…

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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