given your background if a dentist's listening and looking to potentially sell in the next five four or five years for example what are the kind of things that they could be doing now uh to get themselves ready for for a potential sale

yeah i think the main thing is really just it's just preparation so if they're thinking four or five years i'm gonna start to sell um it's well what can i be doing at this point to get ready um to put myself in the best position for a smooth process and i think there are a number of things but The most important will probably be the getting a head start on their due diligence documents.

So this is going to be things like to start thinking about do all the employees have contracts? Do the associates have contracts? Are they with the right entity? So if you trade as a limited company, are the contracts with the company and risk assessments, things like that, and service reports for equipment.

they need to be done fairly regularly.

So it's a case of start thinking now, if my fire risk assessment expires in six months time, get it renewed now and keep doing that when they need to be renewed.

So you don't get to the point when you've got a sale agreed and then you need to run and get all this stuff done.

So that really does streamline the process.

so in your expert opinion, David, what are some of the biggest mistakes that you see practice owners potentially making in that lead up to sale? Any potential red flags that might stand out to a potential buyer?