For many of you, April will have heralded the start of a new financial year. The start of another journey for your business, and yourself if you like. If this was a journey you were about to undertake via boat, you would surely look to navigate the pathway ahead and study the various forecasts, to ensure as smooth a crossing as possible. 2020 saw you all write and design plans and forecasts only for them to be torn up and re-written on many occasions.
Here is something that may help you and your business over the rest of the year, The Dental Shipping Forecast. There is likely to be the odd gust of wind approaching 30 knots, but here are five different areas where you can plan ahead to ensure a smooth sailing.
Effective financial planning
One area I and, no doubt, many others are forecasting is continued financial success. Since reopening, independent dentistry has seen ever-increasing revenues, and this, I believe, is likely to continue throughout this financial year. With that in mind, you should now be planning accordingly with your accountants and financial advisers from a tax planning point of view.
Effective planning early in the year will allow you to control spending and predict personal and business tax without shocks and surprises.
Areas to consider are:
- Capital Allowance Super Deduction giving relief at 130% from now until 2023.
- Director Pension Planning for those of you who are Limited Company Directors and utilising the full pension contribution allowances per annum.
- Investment in training and the team.
Holidays and fatigue
It is imperative that you and you team take time off – you simply cannot run on an empty tank. When appointment books are full, it is temping to think, ‘one more big case’, or ‘I’ll pop in on my day off and see this one patient’.
Patient demand will continue throughout the next year as NHS output cannot match patient demands and needs, so do take the time off, time away from the surgery doors, to completely relax. And ensure your staff do the same.
Failure to do this could see you and your business steering off course.
It may well be that an extra holiday each year may become the norm for a little while to aid not just your health, but that of your team.
Manpower issues
A perhaps worrying trend has become the manpower issues in many sectors of the economy and dentistry is not immune to this.
It’s hard to find good people, in fact it’s becoming hard to find people!
Perhaps now is the time to look ahead and try to predict growth and the team you may need to comfortably achieve that growth.
If your appointment books are starting to grow beyond what is comfortable, plan ahead and start to look now for extra nurses, reception team members and associates.
Don’t wait until things become uncomfortable. And if you need to, use the boosted capital allowance to help with comfortable and sustained growth by looking toward new dental equipment and new technology.
Remember the law of attraction – thoughts become things. At least they do if you plan and write them down.
Diary zoning and control
A difficult area to control these last months has been the demand increases and new patients – whose needs are also increasing – so it’s vital you control your diary both now, and in the months ahead. Simple tweaks can have a major impact down the line on both your mental health and profitability.
Dental PR
It is possible that there could be a public backlash regarding the NHS dentistry offering and availability in the months ahead.
You can control your public and community relations by releasing positive news stories from within your business.
For example, you could say, ‘we have been able to help xx patients since we re-opened our doors in difficult and trying circumstances.’
Or ‘our team have been amazing and we cannot thank them enough for their support, diligence and caring approach.’
Take the TIME to plan NOW to ensure 2021 is as smooth a sailing as it can possibly be, avoiding those 30 knot gusts.