One of the most common things I hear from dentists who want to own a practice is some version of this:
“I’m ready to buy. I just can’t find anything.”
They’ve checked the broker websites. They’ve set up alerts. They’ve looked at the same three practices that have been sitting there for months.
Then they start wondering if there just aren’t any good practices for sale in their area.
Usually, that’s not the problem.
The problem is where they’re looking.
The Zillow problem
I think a lot of dentists approach buying a practice the same way they’d approach buying a house.
You decide where you want to live. You open Zillow. You scroll through what’s available. When the right thing pops up, you make an offer.
Dental practices don’t work that way.
There is no Zillow for dental practices. There isn’t one place where every dentist who might sell puts up a listing.
In fact, some of the best practices never get publicly listed at all.
I’ve seen plenty of buyers find practices because they knew another dentist who knew another dentist who was thinking about retiring. Sometimes the seller hadn’t even decided to sell yet.
That’s why I’ve been giving buyers the same advice for years.
Spend 80% of your time with dentists
If you’re actively looking for a practice, I think about 80% of your search effort should go toward building relationships with other dentists.
Especially older dentists.
That does not mean calling every dentist over 60 in your city and asking, “Hey, are you selling your practice?”
Please don’t do that.
It means actually getting to know people. Creating real relationships with other dentists who like you enough to think of you when they (or their friend) is ready to sell.
Take someone to lunch. Ask how they built their practice. Tell them you’re hoping to become an owner. Ask what they wish they had known when they were your age.
Be curious.
Dentistry is a surprisingly small world. The dentist you have lunch with may have no interest in selling, but he may know somebody ten minutes away who has quietly started thinking about retirement.
That’s the grapevine you want to be part of.
And it takes time to build. I’d estimate less than 10% of the associate dentists I give this advice to, actually take it. But I’d also estimate that 100% of that small group find an awesome practice they’re excited to buy.
Spend the other 20% with brokers
I’m not anti-broker.
Brokers are an important part of a good practice search. Get to know the brokers in the area where you want to buy. Get on their email lists. Check their websites. Let them know exactly what you’re looking for.
Just don’t make that your entire search strategy.
If all you do is refresh broker listings every few days, you’re only seeing the practices that have already made it to market.
Your goal should be to know about some of them before they do.
There are a few other places worth looking
State and local dental associations sometimes have classified sections with practices that aren’t listed anywhere else.
Dental supply and equipment reps can also be great people to know. They spend their days inside dental practices and usually have a pretty good sense of what’s happening in a local market.
Direct mail can work too, especially if you’re very clear about the geographic area where you want to buy.
But all of these work better when you stop thinking of the search as browsing inventory and start thinking of it as building a network.
Start before you feel ready
This is probably the part I wish more dentists understood.
You do not need to wait until you’re ready to make an offer before you start looking.
If you think you want to own a practice in the next few years, start building your network now.
Make a simple spreadsheet. Put the dentists, brokers, reps and other people you meet into it. Keep notes. Follow up. Have lunch with people.
You don’t need to find your practice this week.
You just need to start putting yourself in the path of the right one.
Want to go deeper?
If you’re actively looking right now, I’m teaching a free live webinar on October 2 called How to Find a Practice for Sale.
I’ll walk through the search process I recommend to buyers, including where to look, how to build the right network, and what I’d be doing if I were trying to find a practice today.
If that’s where you are right now, I’d love to have you join me.
Register for How to Find a Practice for Sale
And if you want a quick head start, here’s my short video on the first step I give every buyer: building a network tracker so the dentists, brokers, and reps you meet don’t slip through your fingers.
