A SWOT analysis is not new to the business world. SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Good companies engage in an annual SWOT analysis to better understand their companies and their futures. Levin Group has been doing this in strategic planning sessions for clients for many years. It is a tried and true traditional business technique that allows companies to perform at the highest possible level.
Then came this crisis, and it is a crisis. It will end. It may be back. There’s a great deal we don’t know.
So, we need to focus on what we do know and that is your SWOT. But this is not as easy as it sounds. It is not difficult or unpleasant, but it does require a process and some thought time in order to determine what your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats will be in the COVID-19 era.
Strengths
The strength of your practice prior to the crisis may not be the same when you enter the recovery phase. For example, you may lose 10% to 15% of your patients. You may lose 20% or more of your annual revenue. You may now have loans, which represent debt that must be paid back. You may not be able to hire back all of your team members. The strengths that allowed you to be successful and move forward in the past may be different from the ones that will make you successful in recovery.
Weaknesses
In any crisis the weaknesses change and, unfortunately, sometimes expand. Perhaps pre-coronavirus your weaknesses were needing an office manager, inadequate time for the team, an absence of step-by-step documented systems, not running on time, and others. Following the COVID-19 crisis you will have a different set of weaknesses. These may include patients who for safety reasons are afraid to come back to the practice; limited financial options in a time when an economic recession is causing severe financial challenges for many patients; attracting new patients using traditional marketing if the practice fees and options do not change; not participating with dental insurance in a fee-for-service practice (which was not necessarily a weakness in the past but may become one post COVID-19). These are just examples of what may lay ahead.
Opportunities
In any crisis there are opportunities. Perhaps you’ve heard the quote “Never let a crisis go to waste.” Well, having a crisis may be good for certain businesses, but not for most. Unless you were about to manufacture gloves, masks, and ventilators there is not much about this situation that’s good for dental practices. But you can shift the curve. Opportunities could include expanding hours, adding weekend hours, hiring highly trained team members who were not able to remain with other practices, reducing labor costs, reducing supply costs, reevaluating all expenses with companies that are soliciting business, and being willing to except lower fees or prices.
Threats
This coronavirus has awakened dentists to the reality of threats. It will probably never be business-as-usual again. Threats include patients who will no longer go to the dentist unless they have an emergency; patients who cannot afford or choose not to afford treatment and forego regular preventive care; or patients who leave the practice because they do not participate with any insurance plans. Other threats include the return of coronavirus, the lingering recession from the crisis, loss of income, higher taxes to pay for all of the loan and bailout programs, increased regulation of dental practices for safety concerns, and others that we have not even thought of yet.
Take some time to think about your SWOT from a post–COVID-19 perspective. You won’t have all of the answers yet, but this is the time to get realistically prepared for the most effective recovery you can achieve.
Roger P. Levin, DDS, is the CEO and founder of Levin Group, a leading practice management consulting firm that has worked with over 30,000 practices to increase production. A recognized expert on dental practice management and marketing, he has written 67 books and over 4,000 articles and regularly presents seminars in the US and around the world. To contact Dr. Levin or to join the 40,000 dental professionals who receive his Practice Production Tip of the Day, visit levingroup.com or email [email protected].
Editor's note: To view DentistryIQ's full coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic, including original news articles and video interviews with dental thought leaders, visit the DentistryIQ COVID-19 Resource Center.
