Selling a dental practice can be a long and arduous process, but when you employ the services of a renowned company like Dental Elite, you can rest assured that your transaction is dealt with to the letter. For a successful outcome and to make the sale as stress free and efficient as possible, the experienced and knowledgeable agency offers a single point of contact, personalised service and works with you every step of the way. When Philip Price, a recent vendor, sold his practice, he chose to work with Dental Elite. Here, he offers valuable insight into what the process entails and how working with the specialist practice sales and acquisitions agency helped him to achieve the outcome he was looking for.
Which consultant in Dental Elite did you work with?
“I worked with Paul Wilkinson.”
Was he in regular contact?
“Paul was very professional during the process, and he was always available to answer my questions and discuss the sale.”
What was your biggest fear prior to marketing your practice?
“Ultimately, my fear was that the sale wouldn’t go through and I would be left in a position where I would have to repeat the process over again. Having witnessed colleagues struggle with a sale that’s fallen through, I know that it’s costly, time-consuming and stressful. Naturally, I was concerned that it would happen to me. My only other reservation was that I didn’t want to sell to a corporate or a group, as it was important to me that the buyer held similar values and had similar vision for the practice. Consequently, Paul made sure that corporates were excluded from the initial marketing.”
How did your completion price compare to your original valuation?
“The buyer I sold my practice to recognised what it was worth, so in the end I achieved above the asking price.”
How quickly did you accept an offer?
“I accepted the bid pretty much straightway after the open bidding process was complete, as I was very happy with the offer and the buyer.”
Have you stayed on in the practice?
“I have stayed on as an adviser to the buyer – who is a first time practice owner and has come from being an associate – to ensure that they understand the processes and the practices that are already in place.”
On reflection, what was the most challenging part of your sale?
“In some ways, there were no parts of the process that felt more difficult than others; it was time more than anything that proved to be a challenge. In part this was because the lawyers were very demanding about every minute detail, and that caused everything to take a long time to go through. On top of this, there were constant delays from the other side because of the amount of due diligence that they wanted and the amount of time they took to process all the information that we sent them. They also introduced new terms and conditions throughout the sale, which resulted in unnecessary delays. All in all, it was a protracted and tiring process that took 16 months to complete.”
How was the CQC changeover process?
“Again it was difficult, but only because of delays from the other side, which caused the CQC paperwork and DBS certificates to time out. By the time they had been redone, there was a new set of accounts due that had to be prepared, and it was this that ultimately caused us to repeat the process twice.”
What advice would you give to future sellers?
“My advice would be, use an agency and find a good lawyer, as the prospect of undertaking the process without help is unbearable to think about; you need a good team behind you. There’s no way I would have got through the process and achieved a satisfactory sale without the help of Dental Elite and my lawyers.”
Why did you choose Dental Elite over others?
“I’ve been involved with Dental Elite for over five years now, since Paul Wilkinson carried out a healthcheck on my practice to determine ways in which I could maximize the value of my assets. In fact, it is because of these suggested changes that I managed to achieve such a high offer on my practice when I eventually decided to sell. Although it took four years of work to get it in a position where it was ready to market, Dental Elite has worked with me every step of the way. Apart from the difficulties with the buyers, I’m absolutely delighted with how everything has worked out. I would definitely recommend Dental Elite.”
To find out how Dental Elite could help you with your sale, get in touch.
For more information visit Dental Elite online, email info@dentalelite.co.uk or call 01788 545 900 our team.