#928: Maintaining Patient Trust After A Senior Partner Leaves
Dr. Brian Harris is back once more, this time talking about how he continued the practice after his father left. He touches on financial considerations (like selling to a DSO), growing pains being part of a first-of-its-kind DSO, and more. Episode resources: Learn about Smile Virtual Listen to episode 840: Easy Way to Get More Patients Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Join Dental A-Team Consulting Leave us a review Transcript: The Dental A Team (00:00.214) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera and I am so pumped that you are back for day two with me and Brian Harris. We talked yesterday about partnerships and the different pieces about it. And now today we're actually going to talk about how to have a successful practice after the buy-in, which I think is so important and is not talked about. So get ready and as always, thanks for listening. I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team podcast. And one other thing I want to talk about really quick is after you buy in. Yeah, let's talk about that. Well, I just, you know, come like 2014, 15, 16, like, I don't have to practice for long time. And then I start getting to that point where, you know, you're like, I just want to, I want to have full control, you know, and you start thinking like, man, it'll be nice when this is just all mine, you know, and I will tell you, that's the one thing that I did not appreciate that senior doctor that's been there for so long. They're the ones that have all the trust with the patients. They're the ones that they're the they're they're your most predictable producer that you're ever going to find is a doctor. Like you want them as your partner for as long as possible. And when they're ready to be bought out, you want them to stay on and continue to work for you as long as possible. There's that selfish side of all of us that I think we're like, I just want to call this all mine. I just want it to be mine so I can make all the decisions. But it's really, really hard to replace a family member, especially if it's like your father that you're working with. It's going to be really hard to replace them from a production standpoint with an associate doctor, but also the stress of having to worry about somebody else's work and are they doing a good job? Are they being fair? When you have someone that you trust, especially when it's family, you don't ever have to worry about that. You don't ever have to worry about them pissing patients off or saying the wrong thing to staff or, know, it's like, I think that's totally undervalued that there's so much value in having, you know, a long trip partner continue as a partner in the practice and continue as an associate after. Yeah, no, that's brilliant. And also just thinking, as you were saying it, I don't think that we value the wisdom and the mentorship of that senior partner. You can't put a price tag on it and you can't even realize, but I guarantee you. The Dental A Team (02:20.683) Your dad taught you a lot about how to run a practice from a successful standpoint. He'd gone through a lot of things. Like you said, like trusted with the patients. That's what's built a lot of this foundation for you that I think like, yes, agree. I think it's good that we have egos to a point because they drive us. But at the same time, realizing how much you can learn from that doctor, that senior partner before they leave you. Now, of course, there's some senior partners that aren't as great. understand that, so, depending upon your partnership. But if you have a good business partner, if they're good with the business, if they're good with production, if they're great with patients, if they've built something of a legacy, if they want to leave a legacy, I think those partners are just invaluable. And so kudos, thank you for bringing that up because, yeah, I think it is easy to wanna like move on. Like, I wanna take this on, but gosh, there's a... There is a lot of wisdom in that. And also for, I'm sure for your dad and for those senior partners to have a place that they also trust, like to pass it to you and to see it flourish and to be able to continue to work and do their passion for as long as they want, I think is also a gift you can give that senior partner for building a practice that you were able to buy to grow, flourish, just allowing them to finish out their career in a way that they want to, I think is also pretty incredible. Yeah, I agree. How do you navigate the DSO world now? I'm just gonna like dive into like all the like, juices, like, what do do? Because like, you can hold it for a legacy. How do you navigate legacy dental practices versus selling to a DSO that's paying top dollar right now? I just want to ask all the questions, Brian. I'm here for you. Do you know my story, right? Yeah, tell our listeners. Yeah. So I mean, I think it's, I think it's absolutely a conversation needs to be had. One of the things I didn't recognize And I don't even think Scott and I recognized it when we bought my dad out is, you know, we went and paid him what the practice is worth. And then we were like, wait, you know, we have a eight and a half, $9 million practice. Now, who's going to buy into this? Yeah. Who's going to be the other third partner that's going to come in and, you know, and pay, you know, $3 million to buy in just a fraction of ownership and a practice. and so we, kind of got ourselves to this place where we're like, The Dental A Team (04:37.333) we're kind of stuck, you know, and it's a great thing. it's either, okay, good, continue, just continue to do what you're doing and figure it out 20 years from now when we're ready to retire. Or, you know, do you take advantage of joining a DSO? Do you take advantage of creating a partnership now and growing with them? And what does that look like? And so, I mean, we turned down 14, 15 different offers. mean, we would get it. We'd get approached all the time and it just never, it never made sense. And ultimately we were approached by a group. did it not make sense? Explain why it didn't make sense. It didn't make sense for me because it was like, The Dental A Team (05:22.253) I want to say this in the right way. I felt like we had spent a lot of time building like a reputable brand and I felt like it was like selling out. I felt like it was like, you know, it's like we build like this, this elite brand and it's all about patient care and, and quality dentistry and all these things. Then it was like, but we're going to take a big check. And now we're just part of this other group of bunch of other offices. Sure. And And so when Gen 4 had approached me, they sat me down and they basically were like, hey, this is what we've done in the endo space. This is what we did in the oral surgery space. This is what we did with small doctors in the ortho space. And they'd had this track record of forming groups within the specialty industries that were highly respected specialists in their industry. And so, you know, they said, hey, we're looking to do the same thing with cosmetic dentistry and higher end family practices. And when they shared that vision with me and I started to look at it and then I reached out to a handful of my friends that were very, very well known cosmetic dentists, you know, probably 10 years my senior that are that have some of the most well known practices in the world. And and and I said, hey, you know, What do you guys think? You know, is this something you want to be a part of? And when I saw them start to see that same vision that I had where they recognize like, hey, they're kind of in this interesting spot too now where what is their exit strategy? so there's been a ton of us that have joined Gen 4 and it's been a journey. mean, I would feel totally comfortable saying this out loud if the... investors and the partners were in the room like, yeah, there's challenges. There's challenge anytime you're growing something new in an industry. You there hasn't really been a DSO out there to my knowledge that's that's been one of trying to do more higher end, higher quality. And I've, I've worked with a ton of them. And I actually think there are some amazing groups out there that they do excellent dentistry and do very good quality dentistry, you know, but The Dental A Team (07:46.475) A lot of them have started from the ground up, one or two offices, to bring together a bunch of seasoned offices. That's a tougher thing and hadn't been done at this level. So it's, yeah, we've had our own pains, but at the same time, like, it's been great. It's been great to kind of work through that together. I've been part of the group two years now and I'm happy. I really enjoy it. You know, they give me total freedom. I haven't had to change the way that I practiced industry, you I do everything exactly the same. But you know, there's some other behind the scenes business stuff, you know, that I've had to adapt to. but no, no regrets, no regrets at all. And were they a DSO? And if you can share this great and if not, don't don't fill because I know every day is different. were they one where it was like they sold you stock in the business, they took part of it then they keep you on as an associate? Is that basically kind of because I know that's most of the structure of DSO is they'll buy you out. pay you for it where you're at, you get stuck in the company typically, and then they continue to pay you as an associate doctor basically of whatever production. Is that how it worked for you with Gen 4? Or were there different nuances or different ways that they did it for you to keep it within what you wanted it to be? Yeah, the two main structures I've seen, it's like they're coming to buy out half and you stay half partner and then you continue to grow together or they buy you out entirely. and you roll back in s