Anthem, Arizona Spring of 2022
A room full of 8th graders stood in front of me, eating their lunches at a charter school waiting for me to speak. I was their “guest speaker” and decided I would focus on everything I had learned about being an entrepreneur for over a decade. My revenue and income were about to spike in the near twelve months, and I had no idea. There were glimmers of success. Calculated risks were beginning to pay off.
Earlier that year I had made a pivotal decision to focus on a more niched service with a bigger price point. Rather than working with private elementary schools and selling a small pack of cooking classes to affluent parents, I focused on big school districts in low-income areas that had access to big government grants. I could impact more students and have fewer clients to deal with.
In front of the students, I started my speech. I told them about the very, very basics of business. Things I wish someone had taught me, like the Three Core Elements of Net Profit.
I went over what numbers to focus on and what to ignore.
Below are my Six Pillars of a Net Profit-Focused Dentist Practice
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- Focus on a Monthly Net Income Goal
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- The Riches are in the Niches
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- High-Ticket & High-Margin Sales ONLY
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- Test It, Don’t Trust It
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- Create a Virtual Team for Big Results at Low Cost
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- Sales & Marketing is 25 Percent of Your Week
Let’s go deeper into each point:
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- Focus on a Monthly Net Income Goal
Could I be more blunt? Most entrepreneurs have a vague target like:
“I want a $5,000,000 a year business with a great net profit” or “I want to make $1,000,000 per year” but I like a more dialed-down number.
One thing that changed the way I look at income goals was by figuring out a MONTHLY (not annual) net profit goal. It started as “I want to make $45,000 a month in net profit for three months in a row.” This goal was grounded and real, and I could see results faster than “I want to make $500,000 in net profit per year.”
I want you to think of your DREAM monthly income. Then write it down, and make a goal to see that number averaged out over three or six months.
I’ll have another more detailed post on how to figure out that income, but it will involve a Google sheet and tracking the estimated cost of your dream life: dream house, car, vacation, weekly fun, health costs, massages, fancy dinners, business class travel, etc. Just remember to focus on THAT number.
2. The Riches are in the Niches
Who makes more money: the general practitioner or the heart surgeon?
A general doctor makes about $150k a year, but a heart surgeon makes $400k+ a year. Both went to med school, but one was highly niched. If your heart needed surgery, you’d want the specialist helping you…and you’d pay extra money for a true professional.
My business changed when we stopped selling two different after-school programs (LEGO® robotics AND cooking classes). I clipped robotics and cooking exploded.
Later, I sold to private elementary schools and low-income school districts. Once I clipped the private schools my revenue and net profit exploded.
I encourage you to think ahead. What type of dentist do you want to be? Could you be a specialist in some way? Specialists are rarer, can charge more money, and make better income.
This goes beyond “being the best in your area” when it comes to your practice, but having a truly dialed-in niche.
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- 3. High-Ticket & High-Margin Sales ONLY
I’ve gone over this earlier, but it’s a key part of my success.
Would you rather sell 1,000 $100 widgets or sell ten $10,000 widgets? Your life will be a lot simpler and easier with a few big fish clients rather than a ton of small ones.
We can help you look at your practice and identify the big-ticket items and the high-value customers. This way you can give incredible service to fewer clients, develop a deeper relationship, and watch as your margins and income go up.
In my own business example:
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- Private elementary school selling to parents: Worth about $10,000 per year
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- One big school district with twenty sites and after-school grants: Worth about $100,000 per year
I don’t need a ton of districts to have a multi-million dollar business. That philosophy can be used in your practice as well.
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- 4. Test It, Don’t Trust It
This is a business quote that really stuck with me, and originated from a business consultant named Martha. If an idea surfaces, we are often afraid or can imagine a bleak scenario. It’s hard to do something new. My business concepts can definitely work, but a lot of excuses might come into your head.
Your first instinct when I say, “Hire and train a virtual sales assistant based in the Philippines to reach out to previous customers and have them book new services with you” is probably: “That would never work for MY business because of XYZ.”
I encourage you not to blindly follow me and my business ideas but instead think about them and TRY them out. Give it a REAL try. Not a one to three-week test, but at least two to six months.
“Test It, Don’t Trust It.”
Have some real data. “I tried this, Eric, and it didn’t work.” Ok, let’s look at your results and see what happened.
A few key follow-up questions could also be:
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- Are you making this assumption that a business concept won’t work based on real-world experience or just thoughts in your head?
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- Did you actually try this in real life?
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- What is the cost of trying it? (Money/time) How can you make it minimal?
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- What is the cost of NOT doing this over the next five years?
And that kernel of an idea also segues into…
5. Create A Virtual Team for Big Results at Low Cost
I’m not saying ONLY using virtual teams. My team and I will set you up using a BLEND of in-person American-based W-2s AND a virtual team.
I’ve got fifty-plus Chef Teachers and ten internal teams on four continents. By the end of 2023, I’ll have doubled both of those numbers.
The virtual team is specialized in several areas including sales, logistics, admin, customer support, receptionist, recruiting, onboarding, bookkeeping, and operations.
This allows me to run my business with better margins, lower risk (financially and from a legal standpoint), and deliver a stellar experience to my customers.
One of my staff, Jessica, in the Philippines recently told me, “By working for you at $10 an hour I can make a full-time income but work part-time and be able to spend more time with my toddler. Thank you!”
How many American-based admins would tell you that?
For dental practices, a few key positions (and we’ll go over this in other posts) include:
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- Sales assistant/lead follow-ups
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- Operational management
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- Virtual receptionist
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- And more!
6. Sales & Marketing is 25Percent of Your Week
Sometimes you just gotta be blunt and REALLY be honest about your weekly schedule as the business owner.
I’d encourage you to track your hours (i.e. the first two to three hours of your day) and see how much time you’re focusing on sales/marketing efforts to grow your top line.
This could include:
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- Contacting clients by phone, email, or text to rebook services
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- Setting up a campaign of mailed newsletters/ads in your area
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- Writing an email to stay in the front of your client’s minds
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- Using Facebook ads
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- Etc.
If you spent two hours each morning before your staff comes in (7 a.m.–9 a.m.) that’s ten hours a week, which is 25 percent of a 40-hour work week. This is sacred time to focus on new sales/marketing channels. Later, you can delegate it.
Me writing these newsletters counts as a marketing channel because it helps generate leads.
My team and I will help you organize your time and keep you accountable.
If you’d like to earn an extra $100,000 in net profit each year through our Net Profit Focus business consulting service for dentists, we’ll take the principles I’ve perfected and dial them into your practice.
Notice that my offer is everything I went over above: It’s high-ticket, high-margin and niched for dentists.Let’s hop on a Zoom call to go over how can I help YOU gain more sales and more freedom. Click here.