How To Keep The Momentum Going With Your Plans For Your Practice
You have a sound strategy for your practice and have been successfully using your business plan to grow and develop, but how do you sustain this momentum? How do you keep propelling your practice forward without reaching a plateau? To sustain your business for the long-term, here are five ways that you can grow your practice without losing momentum.
1. ENSURE YOU HAVE THE RIGHT CULTURE
To allow your practice to grow, you need the right people to support and actively be involved in growing your business with you. When the culture is just right in your practice, you can be sure that you’re employees are committed to the vision and goal of the company, they find their day-to-day work personally resonant and they will go the extra mile on the job. Take the time to look at your current employees – are they buying into the culture you are trying to build?
2. FACTOR IN CAPACITY BUILDING
What capacity have you built in your practice? Does this align with your growth plans? If you are at the point of needing another doctor or dentist it is too late. This is one position that you don’t want to rush into and it is hard to find the right people for your practice.
If you don’t consider this early within the planning process you will miss an opportunity. Cost isn’t everything. You may personally take an earnings hit (as you are paying the doctor or dentist their percentage) but you will start to run a real business.
3. SHARE YOUR SUCCESS WITH YOUR TEAM
Your team is highly valuable to the sustainable growth of your practice, so share your success with them and help them feel connected to the company. By doing so, your employees will feel proud of their contributions and the results of their hard work which will result in a higher level of job satisfaction, increased loyalty, and increased motivation to work towards achieving the company goals. Businesses thrive when they have a diverse team, so share your success to stimulate innovation and the delivery of better results.
Many practices have really great people that they have not ever realised are on board. This is very relevant if you purchase a practice or take over a practice.
4. MAKE SOUND DECISIONS
Indecision is a momentum killer (and we all battle with this!!!), so start being brave and making the smart choices to ensure that your practice doesn’t stagnate. When no decisions are made, you don’t move forward. Don’t be afraid of making bad decisions, of taking risks, of growing or change. Keep your growth plans front of mind and you’ll make better decisions for it.
5. DIFFERENTIATE YOURSELF FROM YOUR COMPETITORS
With every new client, I ask why should a patient come and see you and not the next dentist or doctor down the road? As such practice growth is becoming increasingly more difficult as patients have many options for their health needs and are able to seek out better healthcare experiences. This doesn’t have to kill your momentum though, not if you differentiate yourself from your competitors.
First, you have to make sure that you do in fact provide a quality healthcare experience worthy of loyalty and referrals. Then, you need to think about what makes your practice and services better than the practice down the road. If you differentiate your patient experience and your marketing message so that you stand out from your competition, you can attract the patients you need to achieve sustainable growth for your practice.
MOMENTUM IS KEY TO THE GROWTH OF YOUR PRACTICE
Every practice wants to grow their business, yet few know how to sustain it for the long-term. Start looking beyond your next quarterly or yearly report and start implementing changes that increase the momentum in growing your practice. Passionate employees, capacity building, decision-making, differentiation, and sharing your success will all help you to build a strong foundation for long term success.
Read: 5 Tips to Plan a Profitable and Enjoyable Year for Your Practice