10 mistakes In Opening Dental Clinic

10 mistakes In Opening Dental Clinic

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Dental Marketing

How does a young dentist can open his own new clinic and make it profitable in a short period of time??

I had opened my first dental clinic in 2011 and at that time I had made ‘TEN MISTAKES’ which took me many years to improve. Today I have come to tell you those mistakes so that you do not mistake the same. This is a hard fact that dental business is a profitable business if u do it in the correct way. Establishing successful dental practice in comparison to earlier is a big challenge in today’s time. Everyone wants to open their clinic in cities and nowadays cities have become crowded from clinics. And because you have got a dental degree. You can’t even change your field now. And this is why you will get many friends, seniors talking negative things. So listen to their things, learn from their mistakes and stay positive because nowadays thousands of dentists are earning crores in dental professions.

Let’s go on my first mistake without taking any more time.

1. DID NOT KNOW MY CUSTOMERS

If you have no idea about the population of the place where you are going to open your clinic then you are definitely going to be in loss.
I will make you understand from my own example.

When I had opened my clinic in 2011, I wanted to keep Rs 1200 as the charge of RCT but due to financial restrictions, I had opened my clinic in the lower-middle-class area where the monthly income of the patients who were coming to me was Rs 1500. Because of which I felt them costly.

But there were some people whose monthly income was more than Rs 50000 and they could easily give me this money. That’s why I tried my marketing for them. But then also they don’t come to me because my competitors whose clinic was larger than me, older than me they also used to charge Rs. 1200 for RCT. So they have no reason to come to me.

In short, I don’t want the patients who were coming to me and the patients whom I wanted were not coming to me.
And by the time I understood this, my precious time had come.

So, I suggest you define your ideal customer. You have to know before opening the clinic that how is their financial status, they are educated or not, they have nuclear family or joint family, more of the people belongs to which religion and at which type of clinic they wanted their treatment.

2. NOT DECIDED WHERE TO OPEN THE CLINIC

There are no businessmen in my family. So I don’t have the knowledge where to open the clinic. In 2011 I only knew that the clinic must be in the market place. And many of my friends have opened their clinics in their house or any of their own property which was not even visible from the road.

Where u are going to open your clinic? This question is about writing your future.

I will make you understood from my own example.

Gradually, some people started coming to my clinic and my charges were a mass practice but there were fewer patients so there was no mass practice. Suppose that I used to save Rs 25000 as profit from my clinic and that money used to go to the house d/d expenses and EMI because this amount was very less according to the city so I was not satisfied with it and I wanted to open one more clinic. But I did not have the answer to a question that if the new clinic will give immediate profit or not, I will sit at the new clinic so how will my expenses go? And there is not so much income that I can hire a Well-qualified dentist. Also, what is the guarantee of a new clinic too?

So, friends, it is a big question that where are you going to open your clinic. So, think before taking the decision.

Here are some tips for you:-

The width of the clinic is more important than it’s the length.

Space for two chairs is necessary.

If you want the patients/people from the middle and upper class then the parking area is too necessary.
The clinic which is visible from roads can save your money from advertisement.

If you are targeting lower middle class Or lower class then the large clinic will scare them and if you are targeting middle or upper-class people then the small clinic will repel them.

3. NOT DECIDED ABOUT MY SERVICE PRICE

Friends, product and service price can make and even ends a company. For example, nowadays Xiaomi company have its customer due to its price but the price of Apple phones are 10 times more than Xiaomi but then also they are sold and demanded in the market.
If Xiaomi will increase its charge then a disaster will come and if Apple will decrease its charge then also a disaster will come.
So now let’s go to my own example, I put my price of service according to my sir. His charges were Rs. 1500 so I had put Rs. 1200 as my charge and I did not think that his customers and my customers are different.

Consider about four factors for deciding your service price.

First one is:- YOUR COST

You need to know this thing while giving a service that how much cost is needed for giving that service like rent, employee salary, consumable material cost, labor cost, marketing cost.

Second is:- COMPETITORS PRICE

You should know about your competitor’s price too. You can keep your charges 10-20% less than your competitors at starting but not much because you are not Ambani too.

Third is:- CUSTOMERS INCOME

Charges should be that much that your targeted customers can afford to it.

Fourth is:- PRICE ACCORDING TO VALUE

While deciding the price you need to consider these three things only.

4. DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT MY COMPETITORS

Suppose an army goes for a battle and they have no idea about how big and strong the opposite army is, what are the strategy of the opposite army and what is their weakness. So will that army win? Your simple answer will be NO.
I had done the same mistake.
I had opened the clinic but I only knew the name and running situation of my competitor’s clinic which is not sufficient.
You should know about your competitor’s strengths, weaknesses,threats from them and you have to find out any opportunity due to them.

5. NOT UTILISED FINANCE PROPERLY

Everyone has their own budget. Some are rich and some are poor. Someone opens their clinic in their own property some took it on rent. Some will keep one chair setup and some will keep five chair setup. So everyone has to define their budget and divide it into three things. But before this let me tell you about my mistake.
At that time my budget was Rs5 lac. I had used more of my money on wall tiles and POP due to which I had to reduce my dental instruments. At last, I had even no money for the board to hang outside. So due to less money I had to make without a light flex board and run the clinic.
We always want to make a clinic with the latest designs and beautiful due to which many times some important things remain.
So first, you decide your so that you do not have to face problems in the future.

You can decide like this:-

Interior budget
Dental instrument budget
Marketing budget
Back-up budget

6. MARKETING MISTAKE

I was in the wrong belief that if my treatment will be good then patients will come automatically.
But at starting no one knows that my treatment is good so they don’t use to come.
When I came to know then I had done some marketing by collecting money but marketing was not continuous so it keeps on failing.
So you have to decide your marketing strategy and marketing budget beforehand.
For that, you can watch my previous video ’10 laws of dental marketing’. The link is provided in the description.

7. NOT ENOUGH CLINICAL SKILLS

I had opened my clinic just after 8 months of passing. I had not even done a short term course too.
I used to get stuck in a lot of cases at starting due to which I had to call my consultant.
Because of this consultant used to take my profit and patients used to see me as incapable.
Now just because my clinic was not running well so I didn’t want to spend my money on education.
My biggest mistake was not to upgrade my skills.
So, if you have doubts about your skill then do not open the clinic.
Whether you are a specialist in any field but if you want to practice in India you must have the knowledge of basic dental procedures.
If you don’t find a place where you don’t be taught by holding hands then be confident because you can join me in that case. My number is given in the description.

8. NOT PREPARED FOR WAITING TIME

When we start a clinic it won’t immediately start running good. And if there is cut-throat competition then it is possible that it can take many months to give positive results. Everyone has the idea for this but we are not prepared.
When my expenses were not meeting then I took many of those cases in my hand whose prognosis was not good or at that time according to my skills I was not able to manage them.
Due to this, I got the short-term profit but because patients got unsatisfied and a long -term loss occurred to me.
So it’s good that you have six months back up of expenses. So that you don’t feel tempted for wrong things. It’s better to say no if you can’t handle the case or call the consultant.

9. NOT HIRING RIGHT PEOPLE

When we start a clinic we do not have enough money so we look for cheap employees or even sometimes we used to avoid assistant also.
I had also done the same thing.
At starting my employees used to be uneducated and between 17-20 in age. They used to work only for their pocket money. So the biggest problem that used to occur was when they understand the work it was time for them to leave. So I won’t rely on them, they were not committed.
Employees are there to help you out so that you don’t need to take tension of small things and if it’s not like this then what is the use of employees.

10. DIDN’T KNOW THE IMPORTANCE OF OLD PATIENTS

At starting I use to spend all care, all labor and all money on calling new patients. As soon as someone started treatment with me, his importance was reduced for me.
And this was one of the biggest mistake of my life.
Your old patients are your asset and you should take care of your assets. These old patients will only be loyal patients. These old patients will spread word of mouth. These patients will give you a referral. You can sell your costly service on these old patients only and these will only be 80% part of your income. So, from the very first day find the way to stay connected with them.

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