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10 Reasons Why You Should Use a Dental Broker

By: Earl Douglas, DDS Wednesday, July 7th, 2021
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10 Reasons to Use a Dental Broker

Reason Benefit
Accurate Valuation Know the true market value of your practice
Maximize Tax Benefits Structure the sale to save money
Avoid Lawsuits Prevent legal disputes during sale
Protect Confidentiality Keep your identity private from buyers
Increase Profit Focus on practice while broker handles sale
Explain Tax Returns Show buyers true net income beyond taxes
Find Best Lenders Quick and efficient financing options
Attract More Buyers Maximize exposure to qualified prospects
Add Credibility Buyers trust a verified, broker-managed sale
Sell Faster Close deals quickly, often at full value

Top 10 Reasons Why You Should Use a Dental Practice Broker When You Sell a Practice

Using a broker when you sell a dental practice has several advantages. Here are 10 reasons why it’s good to use a dental practice broker.

1. Brokers Know How to Value a Dental Practice

Brokers have the best insight into the true value of a practice. I’ve seen university professors use calculus and involved formulae to value a practice. They have never sold a practice and did not know at what price it sold, if it sold at all. Brokers have to back up their valuations by bringing that amount of cash to the table, and it doesn’t help to overvalue a practice only to not have it sell, or to undervalue it and leave money on the table. Brokers will have the best estimate of a practice’s true value.

2. Dental Brokers Can Help Get the Best Tax Benefits

Brokers can inform your accountant as to how to best structure a sale to get the best tax benefits. I have shown several accountants a legal method for saving tens of thousands of dollars that they were not aware of, savings which were much more than my fee.

3. Avoid Lawsuits by Using a Dental Practice Broker

Brokers can help sellers avoid lawsuits. Knowing what has resulted in lawsuits in the past gives brokers insights that they can share with sellers’ attorneys and key language that will prevent legal losses from frivolous actions.

4. Protect Your Confidentiality with a Dental Broker

Brokers protect your confidentiality. They can provide and explain volumes of financial and other sensitive information to prospects who don’t know your identity. Only when qualified prospects understand and agree to terms and sign a confidentiality agreement would your identity be revealed.

5. Make More Money When Your Use a Broker

How can a dental broker help reduce taxes when selling?

Brokers can inform your accountant on how to structure the sale to get the best tax benefits, sometimes saving tens of thousands of dollars through legal methods.

Dentist having a discussion over paperwork

6. Use Tax Returns to Your Advantage with a Broker

Brokers can help make you money. Instead of spending weeks of effort in doing a task you probably have no experience or expertise in, brokers can handle the process while you treat patients and make money.

Brokers help prospects understand the facts of the deal. Buyers cannot look at a tax return and see what is really happening. We know your tax return was designed for one purpose – to compute the tax you owe – and not to show what a practice net income actually is. Without this understanding, many practices may be overlooked or purchased far below market value.

7. Dental Practice Brokers Can Help Find the Best Lenders to Finance a Dental Practice

Brokers know where the cash is and how to get a practice financed. We know the lenders personally and the best matches for practices and lenders. We work with lenders to get full financing quickly and help find the best rates for buyers and don’t waste time and effort where loans don’t get made.

8. Using a Dental Broker Brings More Prospective Buyers

Brokers provide the maximum market exposure for your sale. The more prospects there are, the more likely you are to get your asking price. Through proprietary websites and the many venues that brokers have developed, your practice will be discovered by the most prospects possible.

9. Brokers Add Credibility to the Sale

Why should I use a dental broker to sell quickly and confidently?

Brokers inspect, value, and market your practice professionally, providing credibility to buyers. They can also sell a practice faster, sometimes achieving full-price offers in just weeks.

Brokers bring legitimacy to your sale. Buyers can discern that brokers inspect, value, and investigate a practice thoroughly before bringing it to market. We show owners how to increase their practice marketability, value, and financeability. It is the difference between buying a certified used car from a dealer versus a used car in someone’s driveway on a dark night. This added credibility gives buyers the confidence to decide to buy and to pay a fair price.

10. Brokers Know How to Sell a Dental Practice Quickly

Brokers get it done. I listed a practice for a seller who had tried unsuccessfully for two years to sell his practice. In three weeks, I had a full-price offer, and it quickly sold. The seller told me that he made more from the sale, even after paying my commission, than he would have by selling it himself. Then the buyer told me that the seller offered the practice to him a year earlier at a lower price but that he didn’t see that it was worth it. But through my explanation of the cash flow, the risk assessment, and other factors he hadn’t thought about, the buyer decided it was worth the higher price.

 

Before you decide to sell by owner, remember the money, time, security, and expertise that brokers bring to your sale.

About the Author

Earl M. Douglas, DDS, MBA, BVAL, began his transition career in 1982 after selling his own dental practice. Currently, Dr. Douglas’ company, ADS South, LLC, provides consulting services in the Southeast, from Louisiana to Washington, D.C. His in-depth experience in both dentistry and business provides you with experience you can trust. Furthermore, he has the understanding of the area, dental networks and brokerages.

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