Client Industry: Dental Practice Owner
Background: Purchased private dental practice with twelve employees with the goal of growing the business significantly.
Situation: We had advised this client for over a decade on her personal finances while she was working as an associate dentist at a local dentist office. When circumstances required the previous owner to retire, our client wished to purchase the business, yet she needed guidance on developing a financial plan to ensure the best possible outcome.
Tasks: First, she needed to determine the fair market value for purchasing the practice and the best ways to finance the transaction. Next, she needed advice on growing, protecting, and eventually exiting the business. She chose The Wilson Group to guide her on this journey.
Actions: The initial step was to partner with a business valuation service to determine a fair market purchase price. Once that was determined, our founder Brandon Wilson quarterbacked meetings between the client's attorney and accountant to get everyone on the same page about the best way to finance the deal.
All her advisory team agreed that it made the most sense to purchase the practice outright with a lump sum check. The client's advantage was that she had already become financially organized with The Wilson Group's guidance and had established strong creditworthiness, allowing her to obtain financing from a local bank.
Once she took ownership of the dental practice on January 1, 2022, we got to work by having an initial vision-building meeting. During this session, everyone gained clarity about the goals to grow the business and the company's value within the first seven years.
This meeting laid the foundation for developing our G.P.E. Plan (Grow. Protect. Exit.) As the business started under new ownership, our initial focus was on growing and protecting the practice.
To do that, we created a Business Owner Blueprint™, so she had a visual planning tool to stay financially organized. The blueprint allows the client to focus her efforts on growing the business at a rate of roughly 10% each year.
The blueprint also addressed what was needed to retain two key employees who would be vital to the success of the practice. As talent attraction was also integral to expanding the practice, The Wilson Group secured a benefits consultant to guide the client in assembling an employee benefits package that stood out to attract top talent.
The Business Owner Blueprint™ also pointed out inadequacies when protecting her practice against death, disability, and lawsuits. As with most corporations, these “3 Black Swans” are the biggest threats to business continuity.
To address that, we immediately researched her marketplace options to obtain the proper insurance coverage to protect against these three catastrophic risks.
Lastly, we scheduled our quarterly check-in meetings with the client so that she could continue staying on task and be inspired by our progress.
Results: In the first ten months of purchasing the practice, the client achieved well over 100% of her revenue goals. She secured the loyalty of two key employees through the rollout of a supplemental executive retirement plan (SERP.) It incentivizes them to stay with the company and includes key-person insurance to ensure business continuity.
We secured the proper insurance to insulate the client and her family against “The 3 Black Swans” (lawsuits, disability, and death). The Wilson Group also partnered with the firm’s attorney to execute crucial legal documents, including a buy-sell agreement.
The coolest part? The money to fund these protection efforts was discovered during our cash flow mapping exercise with the owner. Essentially, she had no additional expenses to incur because we were able to redirect spending inefficiencies.
Most important, the client is having fun in her business because she knows she’s on track to grow it in a way that will allow her to eventually exit on her terms, all the while knowing that her business and family are protected.
