What Owning a Veterinary Practice is Really Like
Owning a veterinary practice can be like drinking water from a fire hose. It completely consumes you physically, emotionally, and intellectually. You not only wear the hat of a veterinarian, but you have to also play the role of human resources, accountant, marketing, public relations, lease negotiator, salesman, supply management, janitor, referee, etc. Whoever believes there is a 40 hour work week as a practice owner has not owned a veterinary practice. Yet, all the public ever sees of you are running in and out of the door telling them their furry friend needs treatment. They don’t see or appreciate your countless hours refereeing staff disputes, negotiating a new lease, fixing broken equipment, or installing a new light. They think you are gone fishing or at your lake house every weekend.
Many of you have recognized the power and need to delegate. You have people you can trust – your knowledgeable service rep now fixes your equipment, a skilled plumber who fixes the leaky sink, and an expert commercial broker who takes care of your lease. By delegating you have freed up your time, reduced your stress and let the experts use their skills to do what they do best.
When it comes time for your veterinary transition, you can try doing it yourself, but that’s like giving the patient a sharp veterinary instrument to spay their own pet. They don’t have the knowledge, experience, or skills to do it right and may end up bleeding in the end. Or, you can entrust your veterinary transition to the people at OMNI Veterinary Practice Group who have the experience, knowledge, and track record to help you achieve your goal giving you peace of mind, freedom, and more happiness.
ARE YOU 5 TO 7 YEARS AWAY FROM SELLING YOUR VETERINARY PRACTICE?
Here are a few things you can do to help prepare for your veterinary practice transition:
1. Know your financial situation – Meet with your financial advisor, CPA, or whoever gives you financial advice to get a good picture of where you are with your savings and investments.
2. Get a practice valuation – A practice valuation will help you see how much equity you have in your practice. Additionally, a CPA can help you figure out what the taxes and net proceeds from your sale will be.
3. Update Technology – Buyer’s like to see new technology in a practice.
4. Cosmetic updates – Have you updated the interior with paint and carpet in the last 20 years? If not, it’s time. Buyers like a practice with a fresh feel to it. A 1970’s feel was good in the 1970’s.
5. Review Accounts Receivable Aging – Collect any past due accounts, send to collections or write them off. Also, review credits to either pay back to the patient or send unclaimed property to the State.
6. Review Staffing – Are you over or understaffed? Adjust accordingly.
7. Clean up your financial statements – Make sure the expenses you’re running through your veterinary practice financial are related to your practice, or at least identifiable as an adjustment.
8. Consider ramping up production – If you are not sure how, then hire a veterinary consultant. Ramping up your practice when you’re 3 or more years out will pay dividends on the sales price.
9. Review your fees – Do you have the lowest fees in the area? Consider a fee increase to catch up.
10. Harvest your Equity – Maybe you are a few years away from retirement, but tired of being an owner. You should consider selling now, take the equity out of your veterinary practice and work back as a veterinary associate.
How OMNI Veterinary Practice Group Can Help Speed Up the Process of Selling a Veterinary Practice
Selling a Veterinary practice, also known as Veterinary practice transition, is a time consuming and often stressful experience, both for the seller and for the buyer. Even with a professional to help with the process, it can sometimes take years to complete. OMNI Veterinary Practice Group can help to streamline the selling process, making the transition smoother and much quicker for all involved.
Hard Work and Dedication
On average, it takes approximately 200 man hours to complete a transition from start to finish. The experienced team at OMNI Veterinary Practice Group work hard to complete the process as quickly as possible by focusing on each client’s needs, while maintaining complete confidentiality until the sale is completed. One way OMNI Veterinary Practice Group does this is by showing the Veterinary practice after hours, over the weekends, and will even conduct showings throughout the holidays as needed. When it comes to selling a Veterinary practice, OMNI Veterinary Practice Group is dedicated to the success of their client, before, during, and after the sale.
Keeping the Buyer Focused
Due diligence is a key part in Veterinary practice transitions. The experts at OMNI Veterinary Practice Group strive to keep buyers focused throughout each step of the process. Obtaining financing, for example, can be a complicated and drawn out step in selling a Veterinary practice. Through assisting buyers with the financing portion of Veterinary practice transitions, OMNI Veterinary Practice Group helps maintain the momentum of the sale up to closing, regardless of the type of transition needed to ensure the best possible outcome from both the seller and the buyer.
Experience
Hundreds of doctors have successfully bought and sold their practices through the OMNI Veterinary Practice Group. The experience allows the professionals at OMNI Veterinary Practice Group to handle a wide variety of Veterinary practice transitions throughout each step of selling a Veterinary practice, with creative transitions and solutions being a specialty. Some of the types of Veterinary practice transitions include:
- Setting up associate to own agreements
- Partnership sales
- Merging practices
- Outright sale of the practice
OMNI Veterinary Practice Group has the experience and resources to successfully perform all aspects of the transition process, such as:
- Consulting
- Valuations
- Real Estate Services
- Transitions and Sales
To learn more about how Omni Veterinary Practice Group helps doctors sell their Veterinary practice in the Washington, Oregon, and California area, please contact their team of experienced professionals for a free consultation.
Reasons to List Your Veterinary Practices for Sale with OMNI Veterinary Practice Group
Whether you are planning for retirement, looking to relocate, or taking your Veterinary career in a new direction, placing your Veterinary practice up for sale is a huge endeavor, one that you should not be do alone. The experts at OMNI Veterinary Practice Group are dedicated to providing their clients with the best possible services to meet their needs, while building a trusting relationship. Here is why you should trust OMNI Veterinary Practice Group when listing Veterinary practices for sale.
Confidentiality is Paramount
At OMNI Veterinary Practice Group, maintaining seller confidentiality is one of their highest priorities. Deciding to list a Veterinary practice for sale a major career move, regardless of the reasons behind it. When confidentiality is breached, the practice risks losing valuable patients and employees who would otherwise have remained during and after the sale, which reduces the overall value of the practice. For this reason, the professional team at OMNI Veterinary Practice Group have dedicated themselves to becoming experts at maintaining complete confidentiality throughout the process, while ensuring high listing exposure.
Marketing Experts
Even the most profitable Veterinary practices for sale can sit on the listing pages indefinitely when marketing efforts are lacking. At OMNI Veterinary Practice Group, this is not an option. The OMNI team of professionals have extensive experience and formal training as marketing experts to ensure the highest exposure for the listing as possible without risking the seller’s confidentiality. Each practice is listed across the nation in over 30 locations, including:
- Universities
- Associations
- Programs
- Social Media Platforms
- Online Marketing Efforts
- Mailers
- And More
To better expose Veterinary practices for sale, OMNI Veterinary Practice Group has built strong lasting relationships within the field. These relationships, which also help in speeding up Veterinary practice transitions, include:
- Vendors
- Bankers
- Attorneys
When you are ready for a career move involving the selling of your current practice, you can trust the experts at OMNI Veterinary Practice Group to maintain your confidentiality, while marketing your practice to a large group of potential buyers. To better assist you in the transition, OMNI Veterinary Practice Group is a leading provider of a wide range of services to Veterinary professionals, which include:
- Practice Sales or Transitions
- Valuations
- Consulting
- Real Estate Service
- Buyer Representation
To learn more about listing your Veterinary practice in the Washington, Oregon, or California areas, please contact the expert team at Omni Veterinary Practice Group. OMNI specializes in Veterinary practice sales, and are dedicated to ensuring your success throughout the entire process.
The Importance of Veterinary Practice Valuations
Common Reasons for Veterinary Practice Valuations
There are several reasons doctors need to know the value of their Veterinary practice. The most common reason is for Veterinary practice transitions or sales. Valuations help to determine if the asking price is reasonable, to figure out a reasonable asking price to begin with, and to ensure the practice is profitable enough to invest in; this is also important to know when considering a merger. Doctors should also get their practice valuated within ten years of retirement and every two years after for estate planning purposes. Therefore, it is important to make sure the valuation is not a cookie cutter process.
Rule of Thumb Should Not Apply
No two Veterinary practices are the same, so no two valuations should be the same. Often veterinary practice valuation are conducted using a rule of thumb method. The method does a major disservice to both the seller and the buyer, as it often does not highlight the practice’s uniqueness and how that influences the actual value of the practice in question. For a true valuation, many aspects of the practice must be taken into account and evaluated by experts with extensive formal training and resulting certifications, such as the experts at OMNI Veterinary Practice Group.
Experience Matters
When looking into Veterinary practice valuations, it is important to make sure the professionals have extensive experience performing said valuations. The team at Omni Veterinary Practice Group; example, have helped hundreds of doctors buy and sell their practices using accurate valuations based on the practice itself and are considered Veterinary industry experts in practice valuations. As members of the Institute of Business Appraisers and the Practice Valuation Study Club, OMNI Veterinary Practice Group offers accurate and individualized valuations for Veterinary practices in Washington, Oregon, and California.
To learn more about why and how Veterinary practice valuations are conducted, or to request a free consultation in the Washington, Oregon, or California areas, please contact the expert staff at OMNI Veterinary Practice Group. OMNI’s team of experts are dedicated to ensuring each client’s success through transitions, valuations, consulting and other real estate services in the Veterinary field.
