7 Steps to Selling Your Dental Practice

The essential 7 steps to selling your practice. From your first call right through to completion.

Steps to complete your dental practice sale

1. Consultation Call

Whether you are looking to sell or would just like to discuss your options, book a no-obligation, confidential chat. This is where we can gain a real understanding of your practice and answer any queries you have.

2. Valuation

This is the first and, most important step of the whole process and is key to getting the best price for your practice. An inaccurate valuation can have a profound impact on your ability to sell your practice and also the return you get from your sale.

If you would like to know more details on how we value your practice, pop on to our practice valuations page.

3. Marketing Your Practice

Each buyer offers something different and they are constantly updating what criteria they are after to enrich their portfolio. 

We will discuss the different buyers with you, what they would be looking for and what are your options. For example, it’s not just the asking price but deferred consideration and earn-out period. So when you would be paid. Would it be on completion or in 5 years' time? This is just one example of the many options we would be looking at.

Once we have discussed your preferred options, we will go on and create a prospectus to go to the chosen buyers with. Tailored to the terms you have agreed to and the best way to get the highest return.

This of course all stays 100% confidential.

4. Heads of Terms (Offer Letter)

If the buyer is then interested, we go into the negotiation stage. This is where an accurate EBITDA makes all the difference. An EBITDA briefly is the number we get to in our valuation. If you’d like to know more about the impact of EBITDA then we have more information on our blog article and on our practice valuation page.

An accurate EBITDA makes the whole process more efficient and quicker and so does our understanding of the buying process. 

Once the terms are agreed upon, you will be issued an offer letter. This will outline a number of terms that must be met such as revenue and staff levels. This though is not legally binding.

At this point, you may have to also sign an exclusivity agreement which stops you from negotiating with another buyer during this period.

5. Due Diligence

Before completion, the buyer asks for a financial due diligence report which is basically a legal and financial analysis of the business. This is the buyer doing their homework on what they are buying and giving them comfort that everything is sound.

We have provided independent reports on some of the largest practices sold in the UK in the last 5 years so we know what they will be looking for. This knowledge enables the process to speed up as we ensure we have all the information they are after. If the buyer has concerns or doesn’t have the information they want. This can result in a long, drawn-out process and in a lot of cases a sale falling through. We will manage this process for you, liaising with your practice manager to release you from the burden and stress and ensure the sale proceeds promptly.

6. Drafting the Contract

When the buyer is happy with this, a legally binding contract will be drafted. Which includes the price and future obligations of both parties.

7. Completion

The agreed contract is then signed and dated and that is the end of the sales process.

We will then support you through the transition process ensuring all your questions are answered and being there to help you have continued success in the next chapter. We will help assist with telling your staff and making the transition as smooth as possible.

More on how we can sell your practice