Finding and sorting Attractive Optometry Practice Sellers

We have pointed in a previous post that the search for acquiring an Optometry practice may take on average two years, and the costs of the search are budgeted in a similar way you budget for the acquisition. Once you start searching you need to quickly develop a process of search to minimize the costs, shorten the time spent searching, and optimize the search for prospect sellers.

Start sourcing using either connections, listing directories, or brokers. As you start getting prospects, continue by refining your search based on the insights you gain from the interaction with the first sellers and meetings with brokers. Never stop sourcing even you get a lot of prospects. If you feel that the number of prospects is enough or hard to manage and sort, refine your search by adding criteria but never stop the process of searching and sourcing until the last minute before you close the acquisition deal. I remember the last meeting I had before purchasing my first location was two days before, and the last meeting before closing the deal for my second location was one hour before.

The more you master refining your search the more efficient you become at filtering prospect sellers. An efficient way to filter prospects helps you adopt quick decision making relying on insights delivered from bold conveyed messages as well as red flags that appear at different steps during the search and make you immediately shift to the next prospect. Some of those red flags relate to location, accessibility, size of the business, specialties in the practice. With time and experience, you can easily filter those criteria using information that is accessible from yellow pages, or google maps. You can use online reviews on apps and social media to gain insights about the practice and highlight strong and weak points so when you make a field visit, you identify the importance of those points so that you employ them in your negotiation process.

There are criteria that are not relevant and require a deeper investigation. Those relate to profitability, the seller’s seriousness to sell, and leanness in negotiating price, terms, and other conditions. (equipment, decoration, insurances, and other leased items and machinery). Search for online customer feedback, interaction, endorsement, and recommendations as an indicator for recurrence and lasting profitability.

A preliminary assessment using an online search is not sufficient where you have to dive deep, but you can get enough information about the seriousness of the seller and willingness to negotiate using email and phone communication. While collecting information through online investigation and meeting with the prospect seller, try to figure out the practice core competencies and its competitive advantage over other competitors that shaped its strategy and allowed it to sustain growth over the years. This should also give you an idea about the barriers to entry in that area so when you meet other potential prospect sellers in the same area you know what to look for. Also, be sure that the seller is serious and not simply testing waters to see if he exits or no.