As an owner of a dental practice, especially single-handed dentists, taking time off to go on holiday can be a painful financial double whammy. Not only do you have the cost of the holiday to contend with, but you also have to face up to the fact that, potentially, you won’t be earning a penny whilst you’re away; a bitter pill to swallow whichever way you look at it.
This is a recurring problem for many practitioner-based businesses such as dental practices, where income generation is hugely reliant on chargeable time spent with the patient. A perfect solution, of course, would be for all of your patients to take their holiday at the same time; a little impractical though!
The challenge faced by a service-based industry such as dentistry is that you can’t sell your services while you’re asleep or when you take time off, unlike a product-led business where orders can land at any time of the day, month or year.
So, what could you do to generate income…even when you’re not working?
Introducing a patient membership plan into your practice is one potential answer. Offering your patients the ability to spread the cost of their routine dental treatment across the year, through monthly Direct Debit payments, allows you to iron out the financial peaks and troughs in your practice creating a consistent and reliable income, even when you’re away or the practice is closed.
Dealing with a dip in income due to absence from the practice can be particularly problematic for smaller, one and two chair practices where there is not the level of staff resource to cover times when the principal is away. A poor month in terms of income generation can result in cash-flow problems further down the line, leading to increased pressure, stress and worry (meaning you need another holiday!). It’s a well-known fact that most businesses that go under do so not because of a lack of work, but from a lack of cash flow to keep their business operating.
A patient membership plan provides a clear win/win for patients and practices alike. Patients benefit from the ability to spread the cost of their routine treatment and receive discounts on additional treatments, whilst practices benefit not only from a predictable and regular income, but also from increased patient loyalty, a reduction in FTA’s and an increase in treatment uptake.
Many may argue that the plan simply spreads the pain of those non-earning weeks across the year, making some kind of loan facility for the dentist. However, this is a misconception. Calculating your monthly membership fees should take into account the owner’s full salary (including paid holidays) as well as other factors such as covering the practice overhead costs, clinical hours, length of procedures and future investments.
A regular and predictable income is essential for any business and that’s no different for dental practices. A patient membership plan is a simple and effective way of helping you to achieve that goal. So, if you’d like to relax, worry-free on your sun lounger during your next holiday, start thinking about introducing and building a plan in your practice.
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