Episode summary
10 Questions To Ask Your Dental Broker Before Selling: Part One
The Dentist Money Show
· · Hosts: Matt Mulcock
Summary
Selling a dental practice is framed as the biggest financial transaction most dentists will ever make, so Matt Mulcock argues that choosing the right broker is a critical part of the sale process. He says dentists should build a team around the transaction and use specific questions to separate experienced dental brokers from generalists who may be learning on the seller’s dime.
The first six questions in this two-part series focus on experience, specialization, and incentives. Mulcock says dentists should ask how many practices the broker has sold in the last 12 months, whether the broker works exclusively in dental, and whether recent sellers can be contacted as references. He stresses that the quality and confidence of the answers matter as much as the answers themselves.
He also says sellers should press for a clear valuation process, ask how listed prices compare with final sale prices, and determine whether the broker is paid by both sides of the deal. His core warning is that dual representation can muddy incentives and narrow the buyer pool, which could hurt the seller’s outcome.
Key takeaways
- Matt Mulcock says a broker should be able to show recent dental deal volume, not just lifetime experience, because the last 12 months matter most.
- Mulcock argues that dental specialization is a major filter, since general business brokers may not understand the details of a dental practice sale.
- He says sellers should ask for recent references, and hesitation or vagueness is itself a warning sign.
- Mulcock wants a broker to explain exactly how a practice is valued, including whether pricing is based on EBITDA multiples or collections.
- He warns that a broker paid on both sides of the transaction can create bad incentives and reduce the quality of the buyer market.
Notable quotes
“Selling your dental practice is most likely going to be the biggest financial transaction you have in your life”
“You don't want to be have them learning on your dime, right? Getting an education on your dime of just of how this works”
“Show me the incentive. I'll show you the outcome”
“Do they have a methodology? they have a process that they follow to get your valuation for your practice”
“Do not at all costs do not work with a broker who's going to be paid on both sides of the transaction”
How the episode opens
Selling your dental practice is most likely going to be the biggest financial transaction you have in your life. Engaging the right broker is a critical step in this process. In this video, we'll break down the questions to ask in order to find the right broker for you.
Hey everybody, my name is Matt Mulco. I'm one of the managing partners and one of the senior adviserss at Dennis Adviserss. Dennis Advisors is a dental specific financial planning, investment management, tax and accounting firm for dentist and specialists all over the country.
Here to talk about all things practice brokers. So, this comes down to if you're getting close to selling a practice or even been considering it, one of the critical steps here is going to be creating a team. Creating a team around you.
One of those team members would be a broker. And we talked to so many dentists going through this process. First of all, we are not a broker.
So this is not something that we do but we very much engage with our clients in this process of selling their dental practice and all that comes before it and all that comes after it. But for the transaction itself, it is really really critical to have again the right broker for that transaction. So we want to break down uh questions to be asking because a lot of dentists just don't know questions to ask their broker.
So we're going to do this in a two-part series. This is going to be part one of questions to ask your broker. So, uh, the first six questions in this video, question number one to ask your broker, uh, how many dental practices have you sold in the last 12 months?
This is critical to for for a broker you're working with to know the dental space, to be connected in the dental space, to know the intricacies of that transaction.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- dental practice sale
- choosing a dental broker
- financial advisory for dentists
- broker interview questions
- practice transition planning
Companies and tickers mentioned
- Dentist Advisors
- Aquire Wealth Advisors
Watch the episode
Watch “10 Questions To Ask Your Dental Broker Before Selling: Part One” on YouTube
Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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The Dentist Money Show, this episode and its artwork belong to Dentist Advisors - Financial Planning and Investment Management. Octagon is not affiliated with the show; this page is an independent summary.
