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Dental Tribune U.S. Edition

Dental Tribune U.S. Edition | March 2015 a15Industry News Ad Planning for partial retirement can be tricky By Nicholas Spanakis, Group Practice Manager, PNC Bank If you want to keep working, only on a less demanding schedule, you’re not alone. Many people these days are considering a “partial retirement.” Ac- cording to a University of Michigan study, 20 percent of those ages 65 to 67 consider themselves partially retired, while in 1960 this group was nonexistent.1 The reasons for this trend vary: Some partial retirees need to prolong income to support their lifestyle, but others simply enjoy their work and don’t want to stop.2 Can you participate in this trend? Possibly — but it takes planning. To help you clarify your goals and how to reach them, consid- er drafting a partial retirement plan. Having a ‘planned duration’ helps The process of retiring, especially partially, is complicated for dental professionals, largely because of their practices. If you’re the owner of a private practice, a partial re- tirement must be planned well in advance, and generally is more successful if there is a planned duration.3 But whether you’re negotiating with partners to scale back, looking for possible buyers to take over your practice or considering moving into an entirely different part-time job, plan- ning is crucial. Consider the following questions and discuss them with your busi- ness and life partners. Then share the answers with your accountant and/or financial professional. • Do you want to change jobs, or stay at the same job and reduce hours? • Have you made a financial plan that takes into account the reduced compensa- tion resulting from fewer hours? • Have you spoken with your financial advisor to prepare for partial retirement? • Have you communicated your plans to your life partner and your business part- ners? Once you’ve discussed these questions with all the players, the next step is to sit down with your accountant or finan- cial professional and draft an actual plan for your proposed retirement. This plan should cover financial matters, including how much you expect to earn and how that will cover your living expenses; work responsibilitiesincludingscheduling,such as on-call hours, regular hours worked and patients taken on; the expected dura- tion of this arrangement; how a change in work habits will affect the ownership of the practice; and a clearly stated plan for the eventual transition to complete retire- ment.4 All of the above goes double if you’re in a solo practice and plan to eventually sell or Hnman BOOTH NO. 329 hand down your practice to the next gen- eration. Preparing a business for sale takes years if you want to get the best price, and both you and your patients will benefit from long-term planning. Nicholas Spanakis, group practice man- ager with PNC Bank, can be reached by phone at (866’0 356-6916 or by email at nicholas.spanakis@pnc.com Disclosures The third-party trademarks referenced in these articles are owned by and are the registered trademarks of their respective third-party owners. There is no affiliation, sponsorship or endorsement relationship between PNC or its affiliates and any such third party. PNC is a registered mark of The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. (‘‘PNC’’) This article was prepared for general in- formation purposes by McMurry/TMG, LLC and is not intended as legal, tax or ac- countingadviceorasrecommendationsto engage in any specific transaction, includ- ing with respect to any securities of PNC, and do not purport to be comprehensive. Under no circumstances should any infor- mation contained in this material be pre- sented be used or considered as an offer or commitment, or a solicitation of an offer or commitment, to participate in any par- ticular transaction or strategy or should it be considered legal advice. Any reliance upon any such information is solely and exclusively at your own risk. Please consult your own counsel, accountant or other ad- visor regarding your specific situation. Neither PNC Bank nor any other subsid- iary of The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. will be responsible for any conse- quences of reliance upon any opinion or statement contained here, or any omis- sion. The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily the opinions of PNC Bank or any of its affiliates, directors, of- ficers or employees. Banking and lending products and services, bank deposit prod- ucts, and Treasury management products and services for health care providers and payers are provided by PNC Bank, National Association, a wholly-owned subsidiary of PNC and member FDIC. Lendingandleasingproductsandservic- es, including card services and merchant services, as well as certain other banking products and services, may require credit approval. ÿ References 1 blogs.marketwatch.com/encore/2013/11/15/ the-rise-of-the-partial-retirement/ 2 www.benefitspro.com/2013/11/18/more -americans-opting-for-partial-retirement 3 medicaleconomics.modernmedicine.com/ medical-economics/content/modernmed icine/modern-medicine-feature-articles/exit- and-succession-planni?page=full 4 www.thehealthcaregroup.com/PDF/92839. pdf Reputation management facts for today’s dentist Reputation marketing is now the most trusted and effective form of online mar- keting for any dental practice. Moreover, sites such as Yelp and Google My Business directly affect the buying decisions of mil- lions of patients on a daily basis. Here are quotes from three highly respected busi- ness journals: “These days, a Google review can shape your business far more than a Google Ad.” – Forbes “61 percent of customers read online reviews before making a purchase deci- sion, according to recent surveys. After all, reviews provide a first stop for any po- tential customer to understand a product from a consumer point of view, delivering honest and impartial insight from peers.” – Entrepreneur “Every marketer is aware of the rise of online reviews and other sources of peer- to-peer information, but many neglect this trend and market products much as they did a decade ago. We believe that many companies need to dramatically shift their marketing strategies to account for the rising power exerted on future custom- ers by the opinions of existing customers.” – Harvard Business Review Without question, every practice owner and office manager will tell you that re- ferrals are the backbone of their success. In fact, word of mouth – good or bad – can be the difference between prosperity and continual struggle. In today’s world, word of mouth is now represented by online reviews and social sharing.Someexpertshavereferredtothe blending of the two as “word of mouse.” But did you know that even with all this overwhelming information, and with online reviews generating some practices hundreds of thousands of dollars in ex- tra annual revenue — some practices are slow to take advantage of these undeni- able facts? In fact, Fox Business stated: “90 percent of consumers are influenced by positive online reviews — but only half of small business owners believe these re- views are important. Nearly 25 percent say online reviews are unimportant.” The solution for any practice is to be- come proactive in controlling its online reputation. It’s the difference between get- ting new patients or not. The team at Planet Success created Rep- utation Express specifically to meet this challenge and put the control in the prac- tice’s hands. Its purpose is simple: Drive in more patients by making your practice the obvious choice. Planet Success wants you to be found, to be chosen and to be recommended more than you are now. The system was devel- oped from a combined history of more than 50 years in marketing and consult- ing, working with practices from all over the United States. For more information on how to make your practice the obvious choice you can visit Reputation Express online at www. reputationexpresspro.com. (Source: Planet Success) phone at (866’0356-6916 or by email at

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