New Dental Practice: The Question of Where

When choosing to be your own boss and open your dental practice, the positives are you can decide where you want to locate and what type of practice you want to operate.  You may want to return to your home town — or perhaps you’ve always liked Bend, OR and want to start fresh in a new latitude with a new attitude.  It’s your choice, Doctor.  The world is your oyster.

Now, that’s not saying you should sign a lease for the first location you stumble across—on the contrary, the question of where to build your new dental practice is one that requires careful consideration.  Perhaps you found space in a professional office, or a great deal in a strip mall.  Maybe you found a closed stand-alone business you can re-purpose. With any option, you need to carefully consider the choices available to you and how they might affect the success of your new business.

What a Great Idea!

It was a good little sandwich shop.  The floors were stained concrete and the motif was “Mom’s Kitchen 1957” with Formica tables and just the right amount of kitsch on the walls.  What made it special was the homemade bread that you could smell even before entering and the use of premium meats, cheeses, and condiments.  The owners put a lot of thought into their food and décor.  What they lacked was a good name and location.  Fill’er Up was located in an old gas station on a busy road.  Like too many hair salons who use puns to name their businesses (The Hare Affair for a salon located in a former pet shop), Fill’er Up played on what the former business was to name the sandwich shop.  Good product, cute interior design – bad name, bad location.

Two months later Fill’er Up was closed.

What Went Wrong?

The dreamers who opened Fill’er Up did not research:

• who the public would think the business was by naming it as a play on the former business,
• what the public would think of a restaurant located in an old gas station,
• why the service station closed.

Although the location was on a priority road, it wasn't at an intersection.  The addition of traffic lights on the street made it nearly impossible to access from a left-hand turn and often cars were backed-up and blocking the entrance.  For people specifically going to the location it was difficult – casual drive-by’s wouldn't make the effort to stop.

In addition, not much effort was made to redesign the exterior building as the owners thought the name would was a clever explanation of the new business.

It wasn't.

People thought it was still a service station with out-of-order gas pumps.

How Does This Affect My Practice?

A dental office is a service-related business and a lot can be learned from other successful businesses.  Even more can be learned from businesses that failed.  Whether a restaurant, service station or another dental practice, studying their mistakes can help you avoid similar problems when opening your office.

Does Who Was There Before Matter?

Buildings may go through many tenants over the years, but may remain associated by local residence with one from several years back.  Take the Willis Building in Chicago as an example.  For many, it will always be the Sears Tower. 

Ask questions about the history of the location, if it has any significance to the community and what businesses have used the space.  It may be great the space is already built out as a dental practice, but you may not want to be associated with the former doctor.

You don’t want your first patient saying, “I’m surprised you opened up here, considering what happened a few years back.”

Next Article, Part II:  Location, Location, Location

If you have questions regarding your practice’s marketing strategy, feel free to contact me at darrensomsen@gmail.com.

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