Page 30 - The Dental Entrepreneur

The Dental Entrepreneur

The Perfect Anchor

Shopping center locations usually have a couple of high traffic retailers such as a grocery store
which are called anchors. Anchors are great because they pull consistent traffic throughout the
day, every day. One particular anchor that I have seen next to several Aspen Dental locations
is a Verizon store. Cell phone vendors do crazy amounts of business. People wait in line on a
daily basis. If you can tap into this kind of synergy, I would pay a premium for that. The
exposure is worth a lot in terms of marketing dollars over the long term. Another location that
does a consistent amount of traffic is Starbucks.

One word of advice if you do find yourself in such a blessed position, take advantage of
extending your hours so the office appears to be open during consumer friendly hours. If your
office is always closed on Friday (even if you just have the receptionist available), you will lose
a lot of this opportunity.

Traffic Counts

Counting cars is another demographic analysis done by strategic planners looking for good
retail locations. ADT or “average daily traffic count” of an area includes both peak and off peak

hours, and may be based on one, five, or seven day counts. Most of these counts are taken at
major intersections and streets in growing areas of a town. If possible get a traffic count map
with past, current, and projected counts. This information is usually available from the traffic
engineering unit of your local public works department

The standards for the fast food industry are a minimum of 20,000 to 35,000 vehicles per day
as a guideline to start assessing a potential good location. There is a certain amount of
interpretation that has to be applied to this raw piece of data. For instance, you may find a very
high traffic count in an area that interests you but there may be a problem with congestion. A
lower traffic count might be ok if it coupled with outstanding frontage visibility. The bottom line
is that the practice with the most convenient and visible location will be in an advantageous
position.

I have to reiterate how important location is. I have seen more dental offices than I can count
in horrible locations. This was not an issue 30 years ago but it is today. You may even want to
purchase a practice and move it to a more favorable one. That would have to be calculated
into the valuation of course. The bottom line as that a great location can help ease your
marketing expenditures and a bad one can cause your marketing to be this monster you have
to feed on a constant basis.

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