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Today, I'm addressing a question I frequently encounter: "My practice growth has stagnated. Should I consider opening a second location?" In this blog, we'll dive deep into the factors you should weigh before expanding your practice, ensuring you make an informed decision without any lingering doubts.

Let's delve into the details.

Firstly, it's crucial to recognize that stagnant growth doesn't automatically justify opening a new practice. Instead, identifying the root causes behind the stagnation is essential.

There could be numerous reasons for a growth plateau, but let's focus on the five most common culprits. Wondering how to pinpoint these issues? I've got you covered. I'll pose five questions related to these common challenges, helping you to reflect on your situation. Later, we'll explore potential solutions to these challenges.

So, let's uncover the reasons behind Practice Stagnation with these five questions:

1. Is your growth hindered because you cannot accommodate more patients in your practice?

2. Are you unable to treat more patients due to time constraints?

3. Is your clinic's location limiting patient influx?

4. Are you facing resistance to your current charges & unable to revise it and hence the suffering?

5. Do you feel the competition is too intense at your present location and you feel that you won't be able to capture a bigger market share?

Did any of these resonate with your current predicament? Understanding these issues is the first step toward addressing them.

Now let’s discuss the solutions..

1. Capacity Constraints:

If you're at full capacity, consider expanding your current practice before thinking of opening a new one. Enhancing your existing setup can accommodate more patients, making it a wiser choice than starting a second branch.

In case, there’s no scope of expanding the current capacity, it would be great to open a second branch as close as possible. Whether you should keep both practices in function or shut down the first depends on multiple factors and I’ll be able to guide you over a one on one consultation.

2. Time Constraints:

If time is your barrier, it's time to delegate. You might be stretching yourself too much and need to build your team. Remember you can’t do everything on your own beyond a point. You will have to work on team building and work delegation.

3. Location Limitations:

If this has been happening for a month or two then you can ignore it… every practice goes through ups and downs and may have its own share.

However, if it's a long-standing issue, amplifying your marketing efforts to attract new patients is crucial. You must think of reaching out to more people and generate new leads. If you have tried that already and are confident that marketing won’t work any further then you can think of starting a second one.

4. Pricing Resistance:

If you think your practice is stagnated because there is resistance to increase your charges then you should consider branding and value addition.

This can be done in multiple ways. If someone is resisting your charges then it may mean that they don’t find you that worth and you can overcome this with branding. When I say Branding I don’t mean printing visiting cards or giving goody bags. Branding is much more than that… I’ll put a separate blog on Dental Practice Branding sometime.

5. Competition Concerns:

Concerned about competition? It's time to shift your mindset. Your focus should be on your growth, not the competition. You just need to tell yourself that your neighboring dentists have nothing to do with your growth…

Let me prove this… why are you here reading this blog? It’s because you are minding your own business and growing. You are not here to hold someone’s growth. Cultivating a growth mindset is key to overcoming this hurdle.

I don’t deny that there is no competition but honestly most of the time it’s we ourselves who put our growth on hold. I feel it’s better to put our thoughts and energy so that we can become our own better version…

Now let's see the considerations before setting up your 2nd practice…

Starting multiple practices has become a kind of fad in India, but if you just look around you will find that 6 out 10 dentists who start their 2nd or 3rd practice end up closing it down within the 1st 5 years.

Remember starting a new practice should be considered only when you have automated your existing practice to some extent. Now when I say automation, I mean that your 1st practice should run on its own. Without you being present in the practice, otherwise you will end up in frustration. If you really wish to expand your practice, you have to consider your operations, team, finances & marketing. You have to make the right moves at the right time.

If you are interested in saving your time, efforts & money then I can help you with clear growth plans… I can guide you with what exactly you should do… and most importantly what not to do. Because, I have invested more than a decade in understanding “how a dental practice can be scaled up?”

In my personalized coaching program BLUEPRINT, I have shared each and every point that any practicing dentist can customize and create their own success BLUEPRINT. Just fill in the form below and one of my team members will get in touch…

Book a consultation call today!

DR PRANAV AGALE

FOUNDER & CEO

Pranav is a practice marketing consultant on a mission to help doctors streamline their practices and grow ethically. In 2013, he bootstrapped and founded Praxis360 to fuel his mission.