After years of extra schooling, associateship and paying off debt, many doctors are ready to branch out on their own. Intuitively, they seek trade areas where the demographics best fit their practice strategy. For example, a Medicaid-focused family practice would seek a market with lots of families and children who qualify for assistance. On the other hand, a practice investing in state of the art equipment will likely target higher income households.
Sometimes overlooked in this search is the presence of competition already serving the market. You may find a location where the demographics fit your practice perfectly, but if the area has a number of well-established competitive dental practices, it might be difficult to attract patients. Therefore, when you’re researching an area, find out what practices already exist there and if their services are the same as what you would offer.
So how many competitors would be considered too many? In short, you should look at how many residents there are per dental practice. Generally, more residents per competitor means more opportunity for a newcomer, like you, to build your own loyal patient base.
But your research shouldn’t stop there. You’ll need to consider a number of additional factors such as population density, per capita demand for dental services and even the size of the study area.
Researching the competition takes a lot of effort, but it will definitely pay off. Your dental practice is unique, and you’re surely going to take the time to make it as inviting to your potential patients as possible. Don’t waste that effort by being lost in the crowd.
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