Obey the ‘rules’ to locate your practice

Location, location, location! You can negotiate the best lease ever — but if the location isn’t right, your practice will suffer.

Rule 1: Don’t select a site for the wrong reasons. The wrong reasons are convenience to your residence and low rent.

Rule 2: Pick a location convenient to a large number of desired patients. Convenience for your patients has to be a top-most criterion in deciding where to locate. Measure convenience in terms of access to your office, parking, and their time.

To make sure you follow rule No. 2, you have to make some decisions:

• Who is your targeted patient? Consider this carefully in terms of age, residence and work locations, occupational classifications, family status, purchasing habits, religious affiliations, hobbies, and lifestyle.

• Are there enough of your desired patients in your marketplace?

Your defined marketplace can be based on radius or drive time. The best defined marketplace is based on 15-minute drive time, either based on residence or workplace.

Only after you have followed these two basic rules are you ready to look for a property and sign a lease.

As Willie Sutton remarked when asked why he robbed banks, “Because that is where the money is!”, you should lease office space where your desired patients are.