We all have a set of priorities. It is not unusual for those priorities to be diametrically opposed to another person or entity. In our business where we match up buyers and sellers of dental practices. At it’s most fundamental sellers want to sell for a high price and buyers want to buy for a low price. It could be dental practices, land, currency or wheat. So a key question for us is always ‘what is their motivation’?
We ask our clients lots of questions in order to understand their motivations. In this blog we wanted to share two examples of why it is important to always keep a handle on what peoples motivations are likely to be.
To help you understand us better these are some of our top motivations.
- To continually demonstrate that we do ‘help dentists fulfil their business ambitions’.
- Ensure our vendor clients get the best outcomes for them.
- Create a competitive environment around the sale of all the dental practices we market.
- To be fair, reasonable and transparent to buyers.
When representing our vendor client’s, we are committed to:
- Earning their trust every day.
- Demonstrating we are experts at what we do and investing the time needed to remain expert.
- Provide valuable consulting on how to take their business to the market.
- Represent their interests in the market place.
- Negotiate on their behalf.
- Provide an outstanding ROI (return on investment) for the fees they pay us.
In business and in negotiations it is essential to understand everyone’s motivations. You must get a handle on what outcome each party is looking for in order to understand what is their motivation? Remember, some people are more motivated than other’s to achieve their goals and you must consider this too.
We published an article entitled ‘let’s stick to our core competencies’ . It is the story of how a principal was given poor advice by a trusted advisor because the trusted advisor wanted to help but did not have the expertise in selling a dental practice.
Recently we met a dental principal who had been advised by a trusted advisor that he should sell to a specific individual.
On further discussion it transpired that the trusted advisor had negotiated a commission from the prospective buyer in the event a sale was completed.
So, let’s consider the motivations.
- The buyer was motivated to offer on a dental practice without any competition of other interested parties.
- The buyer was motivated to purchase the dental practice at below market value.
- The trusted advisor was motivated for the principal to sell to his nominated buyer for the commission.
The only person in this scenario whose best interests were not being met was the dental principal.
Once we talked through the motivations with the dental principal he realised that taking his dental practice to the entire market was in his best interests.
But the message is simple. Always ask yourself ‘what is their motivation’?
