January 2019 granted me the pleasure of covering a significant portion of our great country of Canada with my travels. Regardless if I was in Toronto, Saskatoon, Vancouver, or Montreal, the message from my clients was fascinatingly similar; “I wish I studied business in school to have a better understanding of how to run a business verses only being a clinician and straightening teeth. Orthodontics? That’s the easy part.” This week someone shared; “After 15 years of practicing orthodontics, I now accept I need more training on running a business, as this profession is now running me.”

More and more Doctors are finally coming to terms with the reality that the business of orthodontics has changed. The ripples created from the changes witnessed to have impacted the Orthodontic industry in the USA, are finally being felt in Canada. In short, doing business is harder than ever.

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As a business owner, you have four choices:

1. Do nothing and hope you survive until change passes you by and normal returns.
2. Fear change and design mechanisms you hope will stop or prevent it.
3. Waste energy trying to predict the future and plan the one big move to beat it.
4. Or, accept your new reality and develop a flexible strategy that allows you to define success, create your own future, and reshape your business.

We have recently witnessed one of our department stores, Sears Canada, closing their doors after opening in 1953. At the same time, we have all watched, and helped I’m sure, their competitor Walmart increase sales and dominate the market place with their “Low Price Guarantee.”

I am not suggesting you need to run your business to parallel Walmart’s discount pricing business model, however, are you challenging yourself to ensure your image and value proposition is aligned with your market and ideal patient? Are you thinking outside your comfort zone, considering some direct to consumer marketing, evaluating ways to differentiate you and your team from competition, or working hard to earning the right to ask your existing patients for a referral?  

As much as your practice demands change, so have the Practice Management consulting services we provide needed to evolve and adapt to your needs to ensure we are aligned with the direction you want to take your practice.

Call today for a complimentary consultation to discuss your business in more detail and how we can help with the ever-changing demands you face every day.

- Lori William