Save Your Pennies: Practical Ways to Keep More Money for Your Practice

When you were a kid, did you ever ask your parents or grandparents for something a bit extravagant only to hear, “Save your pennies”? In light of today’s explosive inflation and its effect on everyday goods and services, that’s still sound advice. While pennies won’t get you far today, finding ways of saving where you can will help you through economic swings. Here are three practical ways to save money and build that rainy day fund. Because it’s looking pretty cloudy out there…

Hire more staff

Hiring more staff seems counterintuitive because you’ll spend more money up front. But if you’re running a small team and that team is juggling multiple roles, their focus on patients is going to suffer. A bad patient experience will cut into your repeat business and repel new prospects. Rumors will spread like wildfire that your practice is not patient-centered. Can you afford a bad reputation? 

In an ideal world, a dental practice would consist of dentists, hygienists, and dental assistants. Each has a specific job to do to keep the practice running smoothly. Operating at their full value will mean a happy team, which results in happy, returning patients. 

Buy directly from the supplier 

You’ve probably heard the expression “cut out the middleman” to save money. We have nothing against the middleman (he needs to eat, too), but if you’re serious about saving money, consider negotiating bulk-buy discounts with the supplier. Now is not the time to cut corners and buy low quality supplies or equipment. It will catch up to you with subpar performance, and we know you’re too good for that. Here’s another old-timey expression to carry with you, “You get what you pay for.” Our ancestors were on to something.   

Outsourcing is NOT a dirty word 

You’re a dentist. Your dental hygienist is a dental hygienist. Your dental assistant is a dental assistant. You get the pattern. Our point is that none of you are marketers, a scheduling service, insurance filers, accountants…shall we go on? This goes back to stretching ourselves too thin. Take on too much, and your patients (not to mention YOU) suffer. 

It’s worth doing a cost analysis on these roles. If you’re attracting more, and better, patients because of a savvy and awesome marketing agency (👀 we know one), that means you’re making more money you can sock away. If you have someone going to bat for you against the insurance giants (better yet, someone who can help you drop insurance), you’re in a better place to do dentistry and take care of your patients.

Do some research…if you have the time

There are other ways to save a buck or two – or thousands when it comes to your practice. Growing that profit margin is exciting when you know you’ve taken the right steps to right the ship. 

If you’re overwhelmed on where to start, consider a complimentary Practice Growth Call. We’re not going to pitch you a solution that’s one-size-fits-nobody-ever. Instead, we’ll take a walk through your challenges and help you build the blueprints to profit. A happy you means a happy team and happy patients.  

Like this topic? Here are other recommended readings:

A Dental Practice Without a Path to Profit May Just Be a Hobby

Your Thinking Is Getting in the Way of Your Thinking