Okay math nerd, this is for you. 😆

How Our Practice Growth Calculator Works (and Why It’s Simpler Than You Think)

Most marketing ROI calculators try to impress you with complexity.

Ours does the opposite.

This calculator was designed for private practice owners who don’t want a finance lecture or a spreadsheet rabbit hole. It answers one practical question:

“What does my growth goal actually require in real patient terms?”

Here’s how it works, step by step—and why each input matters.

Step 1: Annual Gross Revenue

This is your starting point.

By entering your current annual revenue, you’re giving the calculator a baseline. Everything else flows from here. We’re not guessing where you are—we’re anchoring the math in reality.

Think of this as:

“Here’s what the practice is producing today.”

Step 2: Percent Invested in Marketing

Instead of asking you to invent a marketing budget, the calculator uses a more natural decision doctors already make:

What percentage of revenue am I comfortable investing in marketing?

This mirrors how many successful practices actually think:

  • 5% to maintain

  • 8–10% to grow

  • 12%+ to accelerate

Once you select a percentage, the calculator automatically shows your annual marketing investment.

If you prefer, you can also:

  • Check “Allow manual override”

  • Enter a custom annual marketing number

Either way, the calculator uses your investment—not a generic assumption.

Step 3: Patient Lifetime Value (LTV)

This is one of the most important inputs—and one most practices underestimate.

Patient Lifetime Value is the total revenue you expect from a patient over time, not just their first visit.

We don’t pre-fill this number on purpose. Why?

Because this step forces a useful pause:

“What is a patient really worth to my practice?”

Even a conservative estimate gives you far more clarity than guessing based on one appointment.

Step 4: Total Revenue Goal for Next Year

This is where strategy enters the picture.

Instead of asking vague questions like “How many leads do I need?”, the calculator starts with what actually matters:
Your revenue goal.

You’re simply answering:

“Where do I want this practice to be next year?”

The calculator then looks at the gap between:

  • Where you are now

  • Where you want to go

That gap is what growth needs to fill.

What the Calculator Then Does (Behind the Scenes)

Once those four inputs are entered, the calculator translates revenue goals into plain, human math:

  1. Revenue gap
    Goal revenue minus current revenue

  2. Required new patients per year
    Revenue gap divided by patient lifetime value

  3. Required new patients per month
    Annual patients divided by 12

That’s it.

No funnels.
No jargon.
No “impressions” or “click-through rates.”

Just:

“This goal requires about X new patients per month.”

The “What This Means” Assessment

Numbers alone don’t help unless they’re interpreted.

That’s why the calculator includes a simple assessment that puts your goal into context:

  • Very achievable with consistent marketing

  • Achievable, but may need paid ads to speed things up

  • Achievable, but would require a more aggressive growth approach across marketing and operations

These aren’t judgments. They’re planning signals—a way to understand how much coordination and intensity your goal likely requires.

Break-Even: The Most Reassuring Number

Finally, the calculator shows something most doctors rarely see spelled out:

How many new patients it takes to break even on your marketing investment.

This is calculated using:

  • Your annual marketing investment

  • Your patient lifetime value

It reframes marketing from:

“Is this expensive?”

to:

“How few patients does this actually take to pay for itself?”

For many practices, the answer is surprisingly small—and very calming.

Why We Built It This Way

This tool isn’t meant to “sell” you.

It’s meant to:

  • Replace guesswork with clarity

  • Translate big revenue goals into manageable monthly numbers

  • Create better conversations about growth—internally and externally

Most practices don’t fail because they lack ambition.
They struggle because growth feels abstract and unpredictable.

This calculator exists to make growth concrete, measurable, and calm.

If you know your numbers, you can make better decisions.
And better decisions compound—just like good marketing does.

If you’d like help turning these numbers into a predictable, repeatable growth plan, that’s a conversation worth having. But even if you never work with us, this calculator should leave you with something valuable:

Clarity about what growth really requires.