9 Tips for Choosing the Dental Office Point

Choosing the point of the dental office is not easy as many thinks. There are several factors that need to be noted when choosing the office mounting location. I even dare to say that depending on the choice of office setting, the dentist may literally have to spend a lot of money trying to reverse something that is not even in his favor, as it does not follow a market trend. There are still several other aspects that should be noted when choosing the point of the dental office. We will discuss some of them in this article!

1. Who is your office audience? What will your customers be?

One cannot think of choosing the point of the dental office without knowing which audience will be served. Let's think the dentist chooses to attend the C and D audience but set up his office in a prime neighborhood. Your audience concentration will be much lower. The opposite also occurs.

Another aspect that should be considered is the peculiarity of your audience. For example, the oral rehabilitation dentist usually serves young and old adults. So, I can't imagine the office point on the third floor without a lift.

Therefore, the dentist's first step is to decide what your office audience will be. From there, the possible places that will serve to set up the office are surveyed.

2. In choosing the office point, choose known and easily accessible places

In each city, there are streets and avenues well known to the public, regardless of which neighborhood they reside. This is important because well-known places are generally easily accessible to the main means of transportation (car, motorcycle and bus), not to mention that even more confidence passes.

It's one thing to leave home and go to a place that is already known in many ways, including safety. Another thing is still having to look for information about the location (where it is, landmark, safety etc.). Make no mistake: Apps like Google Maps or Waze show you how to get there, but they don't give you other important information, like places to stop your car. Therefore, a known place is so important to the office point.

3. Choose locations that are bright and safe

We live in a time of pure public insecurity. Some factors may help in this regard, such as:
- Internal security (security camera, site security protocols, such as requesting documents and photos, and electronic turnstiles);
- Brightness, especially if the service occurs in the night shift;
- Busy streets are less insecure.

4. The office point should have a place to park the vehicle

Regardless of whether parking is free or paid, it is important to have it, because it gives the office patient more security and, especially, more convenience. I have already stopped going to certain places because I wasted a lot of time running around to park. And still stop the car away.

If the place does not have its own parking, which has at least private parking nearby or even surrounding streets for the patient to park the vehicle.

5. Keep in mind an office model that you will assemble

Number of rooms, size, floor, view, among other things. All this must be considered precisely so as not to regret in the future and even must change points. One tip is to visit other offices and see what the pros and cons of each assembled structure are.

Let's think about a possible expansion of the office. Therefore, it is important that the room is already large enough to allow expansion, including without interrupting the service or having to reduce the size of some environment to accommodate another office. Of course, for this, it is important to have a medium- and long-term office planning. The dentist should not rent a room to expand in the future if he does not even know how to create a demand for this purpose.

One very important factor to consider is the office opening documentation that is required by health surveillance. Talk to inspectors and find out what is being required at the dental office.

6. View the legal issues of the property and know the rules

When it comes to renting the property, it is important to know the legal aspects and to know if it is free of debt, such as municipal or state charges. Before signing the contract, talk to a lawyer and ask for advice not to get into a cold.

Also, it is important to know the rules of the place and to see if they match the goals of the office. For example, there are certain locations whose night care is unsafe or guarded. If the dentist wants to attend this time, it will be very complicated for the patient, making him even choose to look for another professional.

7. Analyze the competition before choosing the office point

You can't dismiss the analysis of the region's dental market. In a capital, the offices are well distributed, with some places with high concentration. However, in small municipalities, dentists are in the center or the main street of that city, where is the focus of commerce. And that has a saturation limit.

Another important aspect is to know who the competitors are. There may be a well-structured, long-time dental clinic, or a dental franchise, which has a market know-how to get ahead of competitors. And it can be very dangerous for a dentist who has no knowledge of office management and administration.

8. If the office point allows the installation of signs or facades, great!

Believe me, there are a considerable percentage of people who simply enter the dentist's office because they think the plaque is beautiful or because the plaque is large and catches the eye. This is something that name companies do not allow.

Already older properties or in popular neighborhoods allow the placement of signs or external facades, allowing the visual dissemination of your office.

9. The point of the dental office should be visible to the patient.

A few years ago, a dentist friend of mine invited me to meet his new office. When I got there, I came across a gallery with a huge corridor. So far so good, if his room wasn't the last. To top it off, there were 3 more dentist rooms before his room.

The result was that the office did not last even six months because everything conspired against the visual disclosure of the office, that is, it was very complicated for the spontaneous demand of patients to get there. Therefore, avoid locations that are too hidden from your audience, especially if the target audience is C and D.

Points on the ground floor, for example, are much more visible in every respect, especially as people will pass in front of them, thus increasing the chance of new patients being recruited.

In addition to the topics discussed above, there are two very common questions among dentists who are looking for the office point or even among dentists who already an office has set up. So, come on:

Buy or rent my office room?

At the beginning of professional life, in many cases, the dentist does not have much capital to invest in buying a room. But what if he had the capital or already had the money?

One of the arguments of those who want to buy is that the owner can request the room for some reason. Even if he pays the fine for breach of contract, the amount received is still MUCH lower than the cost of relocating and setting up another room. However, this is not common.

I am very categorical: start renting the property and only buy if you have money left. The dream of every room owner is to enter into a medium- and long-term contract with a tenant, especially in the current economic moment of our country (2019).

My office doesn't have a good point. What to do? Should I move?

Some dentists end up making the wrong choice of the point, which can be very detrimental to patient uptake. Through a good dental marketing plan, it is possible to circumvent the failure to choose the office point.

However, sometimes the office point is so unfavorable that the money spent to get patients to meet the deficiencies of the point is far greater than the money spent on moving the office. It is important to take this into consideration and put in the calculator.

If the choice to change the office is taken, survey all patients and begin to advise in advance that the dentist will move, including mentioning the qualities of the new point of the dental office.

Source: Empreenda Dentista. Available at: https://empreendadentista.com.br/2017/10/25/escolher-o-ponto-do-consultorio/. Access on: 12/02/2019.