Full-Arch Doctor Compensation & Marketing Scale Model
How the commission rate sets how far we can scale marketing — and what that means for your income · SGA Dental Partners
The question on the table: going from 30% → 15% commission looks like a pay cut per arch. This model shows the other half of the equation.
Every arch already carries hard costs we have to hold — lab/case, patient financing (~$2K), TC (1% of rev) and a setter bonus — and then marketing.
Our CPS target is $3K; most practices are running $5–6K. At 30% and a $5.5K CPS the practice keeps roughly $3K per arch, which is not enough to buy more arches.
The commission rate decides how high a CPS the practice can afford, which decides how far up the marketing curve we can go, which decides how many arches you do.
The incremental cost — a setter and coaching — lifts contact and book rates over time; the margin profile decides whether that lift actually grows the P&L and funds more media. Move the levers and watch the curve.
Load practice:Arch economics from the SGA Full-Arch P&L workbook; spend, CPS and capacity are editable estimates — replace with actuals.
Levers
1 · The arch what every arch must carry
$
collected revenue per arch
$
direct materials + lab
$
patient financing, per arch
% rev
$
per closed arch
$
overhead + margin the practice must hold
%
%
2 · The funnel how leads turn into arches — and what the program moves
$
per month, all full-arch channels
$
media budget = leads × CPL
Stage
Today
At scale
Moved by
Contact rateleads reached
%
%
setter · speed-to-lead
Book ratecontacts → consults
%
%
setter · follow-up cadence
Show rateconsults kept
%
%
coaching · confirmation
Close rateconsults → arches
%
%
coaching · TC / doctor
Lead → arch
CPS = CPL ÷ conversion
SGA target $3,000
Today's path keeps today's rates. Paths that carry the program blend to the at-scale rates over the ramp.
per month, added at scale (bonus / arch is separate)
$
per quarter, added at scale
leads / mo
media budget steps up by this many leads × CPL each month
%
of surplus rolled into next month's marketing, if faster than the commitment
months
floor at today's income while volume ramps
months
projection length
to translate arches into your chair time
Your income — today vs. the scaled model
Your income today
Your income at scale
Arches / month
Marketing the practice can afford
Crossover
Scenario summary — the model in one table
Steady-state operating point for each path (after the ramp). Today = status quo at today's spend and CPS; Proposed = scaled path with setter + coaching at CPS-at-scale.
The sales-to-marketing curve same practice, same funnel — only the commission rate changes how far up the curve we can go
Arches per month vs. marketing spend
Diminishing returns: each extra dollar buys fewer arches, so blended CPS climbs with spend. The status quo runs on today's CPS curve; the scaled path runs on the at-scale curve (setter + coaching). Dots mark where each path stops — where blended CPS hits what the practice can afford after program costs.
Your monthly income vs. marketing spend
Solid = affordable for the practice at that rate; dashed = the practice would be below its floor (it can't stay there). The proposed rate earns less per arch but can be funded further along the curve.
The curve as a table
Each media budget level → leads, arches, blended CPS, your income at each rate, and what the practice keeps after program costs. "Fundable" = the practice still clears its floor at that spend under the proposed structure. Marked rows are the two operating points.
Over time the practice reinvests surplus into marketing each month until it reaches the affordable ceiling or surgical capacity
Your monthly income — month by month
Cumulative income — does the ramp pay back?
Total dollars to you under each path. The gap early on is the cost of ramping; the crossover is when the scaled model has paid it back.
The P&L the incremental cost lifts contact & book rates — the margin profile decides whether that lift grows the P&L and funds more media
Practice contribution — month by month
Revenue less every obligation, doctor commission, program cost and media. The program is a cost until volume absorbs it; the commission rate decides whether it ever does — and how fast.
Funnel over the ramp
Setter moves contact & book; coaching moves show & close. Rates blend from today to at-scale over the program ramp; CPS = CPL ÷ lead→arch conversion. Scaled path shown.
Full-arch P&L — today vs proposed
Annual view. Today = status-quo run-rate at today's rates and spend. Proposed years follow the ramp month by month; "at scale" is the steady-state run-rate once the ceiling is reached.
Where each arch dollar goes
Same arch fee, both rates, at each path's operating point. Practice share is what's left after every obligation and marketing — the only fuel for more marketing.
What you'd need to believe the honest version — where the proposed rate wins for you, and where it doesn't
Conditions
Each of these has to hold for the scaled model to put more in your pocket.
Sensitivity — your income at scale vs. today
Change in your steady-state annual income under the proposed structure. Rows = marketing headroom; columns = the other lever. Outlined cell = current settings.
…and by how much the program actually moves CPS at scale:
Quarter by quarter
Rolled up from the monthly model: media, leads and arches for the scaled path; your income under both paths; the running gap.
Month by month — proposed path
Marketing ramps as surplus is reinvested; arches follow the curve; your income and the practice's share are shown side by side with today's flat path.
Model notes & assumptions
Per-arch obligations (held in every scenario): lab/case cost, patient finance fee, TC at % of revenue, setter bonus. Net before marketing = fee − those − doctor commission. Practice keeps = net before marketing − marketing (CPS).
Funnel & CPS: lead → arch conversion = contact × book × show × close; CPS = CPL ÷ conversion. The setter moves contact & book, coaching moves show & close, blending from today to at-scale over the program ramp on the paths that carry the program. Today's path keeps today's rates.
Marketing curve: arches = (spend today ÷ CPS today) × (spend ÷ spend today)headroom. Headroom < 1 means diminishing returns — blended CPS rises as spend grows. The at-scale curve re-bases CPS today to CPS at scale.
Scaling rule: the practice keeps buying arches until blended CPS reaches net before marketing − practice keeps per arch (the affordable CPS), or surgical capacity is hit. If today's spend is already past the affordable CPS, the practice holds flat — it has no surplus to reinvest. This is the mechanism by which a lower commission rate funds more marketing: every point of commission moves the affordable CPS.
Ramp: each month a share of the surplus above the floor is added to next month's marketing budget, capped at the ceiling. Both paths follow the same rule from the same starting spend.
Your income = commission × fee × arches. Hybrid pays today's rate on today's arch volume and the proposed rate only on growth above it — the practice's marginal economics match the flat proposal, so it scales the same, but you are never below today. Transition guarantee floors your monthly income at today's level for the chosen months.
Program costs at scale: a salaried setter (per month) and coaching (per quarter, spread monthly) are fixed costs the scaled path carries in every month, on top of the per-arch setter bonus. They lower the affordable CPS and slow the ramp; by default today's path (status quo) does not carry them. Paths that carry the program also run at the at-scale funnel rates (hence a lower CPS) — the setter and coaching are what move the funnel; the status quo stays at today's rates.
Media tied to leads: budget = leads × CPL, where CPL climbs along the same diminishing-returns curve (lead → arch conversion = CPL ÷ CPS stays constant). Each month the budget steps up by the committed lead growth × current CPL, or faster when reinvested surplus allows, until the ceiling.
Excluded: fixed overhead, non-arch production, taxes, timing of collections. Preset economics from the SGA · Full-Arch P&L Comparison workbook; spend / CPS / capacity are editable estimates.