The Review You Keep Putting Off Will Show Up at Your Closing Table
Here's a sentence I've said to more practice owners than I can count: “Your best assistant just asked the buyer for a raise during diligence, and now we have a problem.”
It lands like a slap every time. And it's almost always avoidable.
Let me explain how a missing performance review becomes a deal-threatening event — and then let me give you the boring, durable fix that prevents it. Because the fix isn't complicated. It's just consistent. And in my experience, owners are great at complicated and terrible at consistent.
The thing nobody warns you about
When you sell a veterinary or dental practice, your team finds out at some point. Maybe before close, maybe at announcement — but they find out. And the smart ones, the ones you most want to keep, do quick math the moment they hear it:
“I haven't had a real review in three years. I haven't had a raise in longer. The owner is cashing out and walking out the door. This is my last shot to get mine before a stranger takes over.”
That's not greed. That's a rational response to years of silence. You taught them that compensation here is a squeaky-wheel system, and now the wheel is squeaking at the worst possible moment — while a buyer is reading your books and deciding whether your team is an asset or a liability.
Suddenly I'm refereeing conversations nobody enjoys. The seller feels held up by the very people they spent a career mentoring. The buyer wonders what other surprises are buried in the staff. And the associate or lead tech who could've been the anchor of a smooth transition is now a flight risk with leverage. Multiply that across a few key people and you've put real pressure on the one thing buyers pay a premium for: a stable, happy team that stays.
I've watched this scenario shave value off practices and stall deals that should've sailed. Every single time, the root cause was the same: there was no process. Just vibes and good intentions.
The fix is a process, not a personality
You do not need an HR department. You do not need a 40-page manual or a software platform with a name that sounds like a startup. You need a written, repeatable review process in your HR manual that every employee can read, predict, and count on.
Here's the entire philosophy in one word: consistent. A simple review done the same way every year beats a sophisticated review done whenever you remember. Pick a system you'll actually stick to, write it down, and run it like clockwork.
A few decisions to make and commit to:
How often. Once or twice a year. That's it. Twice is better for newer or developing employees because feedback compounds faster. Once is fine for a steady, veteran team. Pick one and apply it across the board.
When. Either everyone on the calendar year (all reviews in, say, January) or each person on their hire anniversary. Calendar-year is cleaner for budgeting and lets you handle raises in one coordinated pass. Anniversary spreads the workload across the year and feels personal to each employee. Both work. The wrong answer is “whenever it comes up.”
Keep it simple. A one-page form beats a ten-page one you'll dread filling out. The goal is honest, documented feedback — not a dissertation.
Tie money to it. This is the part owners love to dodge. Raises and bonuses should flow from the review, not from a hallway ambush or a resignation threat. When compensation is connected to a known, scheduled, criteria-based process, your team stops wondering and starts performing. And nobody saves up grievances for closing day, because there's nothing to save — they got their fair shake last cycle, and they'll get the next one on schedule.
Five things to actually measure
Keep your scorecard short and real. Here are the five I'd put on every review form, vet or dental:
Time & attendance. Showing up, on time, ready to work, not burning through PTO they haven't earned. Unglamorous, but it's the foundation. The most talented hygienist in the world is worthless on the days they don't come in.
Performance. Are they doing the actual job, at the standard the role requires? Clinical quality, accuracy, production where it applies, handling their responsibilities without you hovering. Hold them to the job description you hired them for.
Attitude. Culture is a real asset — buyers pay for it, even if it never shows up on a balance sheet. One talented person with a rotten attitude can poison a treatment floor faster than you'd believe. Reward the people who lift the room.
Teamwork & reliability. Do they make everyone around them better, cover for teammates, and own their mistakes? A practice runs on people who pick up slack without being asked. This is the trait that survives an ownership change and keeps the wheels on during transition.
Growth & initiative. Are they sharpening their skills, taking on more, chasing certifications, solving problems before they reach your desk? This is how you spot tomorrow's lead tech or office manager — and how you justify the raise you're about to give.
Score them simply. A 1–5 scale and a few honest sentences per category will do more than any elaborate rubric.
The why, plain and simple
A standardized review process does four things at once:
It retains your best people, because they feel seen, fairly paid, and clear on where they stand.
It protects you legally, because documented, consistent feedback is your friend if a termination ever turns contentious.
It removes the leverage that turns a sale into a hostage negotiation, because nobody's holding three years of resentment in reserve.
It raises your sale price, because a stable, well-managed, predictable team is exactly what buyers pay a premium for — and exactly what falls apart when there's no system holding it together.
That last point is the one I'd tattoo on the inside of every owner's eyelids. The discipline that makes your practice a better place to work today is the same discipline that makes it worth more the day you sell. A buyer flipping through clean, consistent review files sees a practice that's run like a business. A buyer who finds nothing sees risk — and prices it in.
Start before you need it
The owners who breeze through a transaction are the ones who built these habits years before they ever called me. Their teams aren't surprised by reviews, aren't hoarding grievances, and aren't treating the sale as a last-minute payday — because they were treated fairly all along.
So if you've been meaning to put a real review process in your HR manual, don't do it because you're selling next year. Do it because it's how a serious practice operates. The fact that it also protects your eventual sale is just the bonus — and a big one.
Put it in writing. Run it the same way every year. Pay people on a schedule they can see coming. The version of you sitting at a closing table someday will be very, very grateful.
Wicklow Healthcare Advisory helps veterinary and dental practice owners build, run, and ultimately sell businesses worth buying. If you're thinking about a transition — this year or five years out — the work starts long before the listing.
Wicklow Wisdom — from the desk of Bill Murray, Wicklow Healthcare Advisory
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