Dental practice valuation and marketing: where your marketing shows up when you sell
Last reviewed against the regulators’ own text, linked in the sources below.
This is general information, not legal advice.
Dental practice valuation and marketing meet in due diligence, the checks a buyer runs before agreeing a price. Marketing doesn't set the value of a practice, but it shows up in the things valuers do look at: how much private income there is, how dependent the practice is on its owner, and whether the patient flow can be shown to continue after a sale.
Below: what buyers look at, where marketing appears in that picture, and how to get ready. Preparing for a sale is one of the situations covered in marketing by practice situation. Only a valuer can tell you what your practice is worth.
What buyers look at
Goodwill is the part of a practice's value beyond its physical assets: its patients, reputation and income, and the likelihood that income continues under a new owner. Valuers assess it alongside the premises, equipment and contracts.
Christie & Co, a firm that values and sells dental practices, says financial performance is "the starting point", with "adjusted profit / EBITDA" listed first among the factors it assesses1. EBITDA stands for earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation: a measure of operating profit. It also lists goodwill, income mix, owner dependency, CQC requirements, NHS contracts, associate arrangements, patient plans, premises and buyer funding as influences on value and buyer appetite1.
The same valuer notes that "practices with similar turnover can therefore have very different values"1. I won't quote a valuation multiple here. They change with the market, they depend on the practice, and figures that circulate without a valuer's name behind them shouldn't be relied on.
| What a valuer weighs1 | Why it matters to a buyer |
|---|---|
| Adjusted profit or EBITDA | What the practice earns after running costs |
| Income mix: NHS, private and plan income | How the income is made up, and how dependable each part is |
| Owner dependency | Whether income depends on the seller staying |
| Patient plans | Recurring income that moves with the practice |
| Associate arrangements | Whether the clinicians who generate income will stay |
| Quality of financial records | Whether the numbers can be checked |
Where marketing shows up
Marketing isn't on the valuer's list. It shows up through the factors that are. There are four places a buyer will see it.
| Where it shows up | What a buyer can check | What weakens it |
|---|---|---|
| Private revenue share | Private income, and where new private patients came from | Private income that can't be traced to any source |
| Owner dependency | Whether new patients come from systems or from the owner's personal reputation | Marketing that only the owner understands or runs |
| Asset ownership | The website, domain, Google Business Profile and ad accounts belong to the practice | Assets held by a supplier or in the owner's personal accounts |
| Documented systems | Written processes for enquiries, tracking and reporting | Knowledge that leaves with a person |
Asset ownership is where practices get caught out. When a business changes hands, Google advises transferring primary ownership of the Business Profile to the new owner, so that business information such as reviews is kept2. Only the primary owner can make that transfer2. If a former agency holds primary ownership, the transfer depends on them.
The same applies to ad accounts. In Google Ads, admin users can give account access, change access levels and remove other users3. If nobody at the practice has admin access, the buyer can't take control cleanly, and years of conversion history may be lost. The full checklist is in what your practice should own.
Attribution is the other piece. A report that joins marketing spend to booked and completed private treatment in the practice management system (PMS) shows a buyer that private income has sources the practice can keep using. A folder of monthly ranking reports doesn't.
Getting ready
Preparing marketing for a sale is mostly housekeeping, and most of it takes months, because a buyer wants a history, not a snapshot.
| Step | What to do |
|---|---|
| Inventory every account | Website, domain, hosting, Google Business Profile, Google Ads, Meta, analytics, tag manager, call tracking |
| Fix ownership | Move each account into the practice's name, with a practice admin |
| Separate personal from practice | Move anything in the owner's personal accounts into practice accounts |
| Document the systems | Write down how enquiries are handled, tracked and reported, and who does what |
| Build the evidence | Monthly records of spend, enquiries, bookings and private treatment starts by source |
| Check patient data handling | Patient data is special category data when it concerns health4; know where marketing lists and tracking data are held and on what basis |
Start at least a year before you plan to sell if you can, so the records cover a full year. Share the marketing records with your valuer and let them decide what weight to give them.
If you're preparing a practice for sale and want the marketing side documented and owned properly, email me at [email protected]. You can read how I work first.
Sources
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Christie & Co: Sell your dental practice, accessed 1 October 2026. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4
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Google Business Profile Help: Transfer primary ownership of a Business Profile, accessed 1 October 2026. ↩ ↩2
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Google Ads Help: About access levels in your Google Ads account, accessed 1 October 2026. ↩
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ICO: Special category data, accessed 1 October 2026. ↩