As we prepare to turn the page on 2021 and open the book of 2022, it is essential to take the time to reflect on the past year. Reflection is a powerful tool in identifying and making progress for your own personal growth, and the success of your dental practice.
Even though the average dental practice spends between five to eight percent of its total expense budget on supplies, it may still seem like a small percentage. But without conducting a proper analysis of your spending, that number can quickly increase. Reevaluating supply prices, your budget, and the practice’s total spend is essential to ensure that you are staying in complete control of your operating costs. Ensuring that you clearly understand your overall financial picture can help you calculate those numbers and stay on track.
Effective budgeting is an integral part of efficient dental practice management. Dedicating an appropriate amount of time to reflect on your supply percentages in 2021 can help you reevaluate your costs and potentially save for the upcoming year. It’s recommended to spend time looking over your budget and compare that to what you’re paying monthly and annually. Do the two numbers match up? Knowing where the budget stands can help your practice set attainable goals and offers the opportunity to track how you are effectively cutting expenses.
If you realize that the cost of your dental office supplies is getting out of hand, now is the time to reevaluate your practice efficiencies and ensure that you are doing everything possible to save on costs. And this is entirely possible by being strategic about how you order your supplies. The continual growing trend of e-commerce in the dental industry can help your practice stay on budget. Establishing a set method for inventory ordering protocols is a beneficial process that can save your practice valuable time and money.
Knowing what supplies are actually used each day and how much you use within a month is vital for accurate and trackable ordering. An online marketplace offers dental professionals a wide range of products at discounted prices from leading industry brands and manufacturers. Online prices are typically lower than standard prices, and marketplaces regularly offer discounts, sales, and promotional offers. But perhaps the best piece of advice when it comes to cutting your supply costs and decreasing your overhead is always to shop before you buy.
Many products are needed to ensure a dental practice runs smoothly and efficiently while striving to be profitable. Let’s talk about comparison shopping. Do you stick with a particular vendor out of sheer convenience? Have you considered the fact that you’re likely paying more than necessary simply because you don’t take the time to shop around? It’s easy to reorder the same industry brands and type of supplies each month, but there could be alternatives that are equally as great but at a lower price point.
Remember, the cheapest option isn’t always the most cost-effective in the long run, so it’s crucial to assess quality versus cost. A best practice is to ensure that you look at the quality of products and the overall cost. Paying more for products and supplies that work better and last longer can effectively help your long-term supply budget.
