Over the last 15 years, the dental sales market has been increasingly favouring a more entrepreneurial mindset. Individual buyers and micro-consolidators have come into their own and gained more traction in the last year.
An entrepreneur is an individual who creates a new enterprise, taking responsibility for all the risks as well as benefits. Most entrepreneurs aim to find or initiate a business that can grow in value over time – either to optimise profits for resale or to provide an income and expand the business. Once in business, an effective dental entrepreneur is always learning. They look for ways to enhance their services to patients and the viability of their practice, ensuring their business flourishes in a competitive market.
Dental entrepreneurs don’t need to reinvent the wheel to succeed, and it’s never too late to develop an entrepreneurial spirit or breathe new life into an existing enterprise by developing the appropriate knowledge, skills, and approach.
Laying the foundations
An entrepreneur is always looking for imaginative, innovative ways to add value to an enterprise, and there are many ways to do this. Whether building an entirely new practice from the ground up or investing in an existing one to enhance the delivery of profitable procedures, the entrepreneur needs a solid business plan to map these ideas out and detail how they will be realised.
An excellent business plan will include relevant, in-depth research, outline a clear vision and have achievable goals and actions. The plan will benefit from including details on specific measures of success, monitored through key performance indicators (KPIs). It should also include details on how the enterprise will remain agile, adjusting strategies to meet challenges where needed.
Personal qualities
Brilliant leadership qualities – such as having the courage to make decisions, motivating the team, and effective communication – are important for any entrepreneur. Contrary to popular belief, you don’t need to be born with leadership skills to be a great leader. These can be developed through learning and experience, like any other skill.
Adopting the principles of a growth outlook can be highly effective in leading and inspiring a team as a leader. A growth mindset is the belief in the principle that talents can be developed, and good strategies can solve problems. This can be particularly effective when facing challenges, criticism or when experiencing failure.
For a business to thrive, it should focus on positive problem-solving, strategies for attracting and retaining the best talent, demonstrating that you trust and value your team, and paying attention to risk management.
A resilient enterprise
Positive problem-solving is vital to improve systems or processes that don’t serve the business. For dental entrepreneurs, this may involve looking inward and perhaps looking at corporate culture, improving digital systems, or planning relevant team training.
Looking outward and assessing your business against external variables is just as important. Developing a robust strategy which takes all the factors involved in running a successful new business into consideration is an art as much as a science, and is an ongoing pursuit.
An honest appraisal of your business can help direct positive change and ensure you can withstand challenges. Management tools, like SWOT and PESTLE analyses, are useful if done regularly and accompanied by genuine efforts to steer strategic action. They can help you understand how to get back on track if you’re not meeting your target KPIs, and can form a great basis for future evaluation.
Help is out there
No entrepreneur works in isolation. Whether at the start of your journey, or expanding a current enterprise, there’s help out there to ensure your goals are achievable. The complexities of setting up a new dental enterprise, or of acquiring an existing business are such that a specialist team is an invaluable asset.
Dental Elite has dedicated teams with decades of shared experience to help entrepreneurs meet the strict regulatory frameworks of the dental industry and find the right funding to realise their dreams. Its team understands the sector and works closely with its clients, whether they’re ready to buy or sell a practice.
It is a very exciting time to be a dental entrepreneur. Setting up brand new practices, or taking on existing ones, and providing fresh ideas to help your business flourish can be a real pleasure and privilege.
References available on request.
For more information visit https://dentalelite.co.uk/