SGA — Advertising & Promotion | May 2026 vs. May 2025

May 2026 vs. May 2025 — Advertising & Promotion

May 2026 — Total Promo Spend

$333K

SGA entity only · 159 locations

May 2025 — Same Period Last Year

$278K

Year-over-year baseline

Year-Over-Year Increase

+$55K

+19.9% vs. May 2025

Over 2026 Budget

+$36K

+12.2% over $297K budget

Account	May 2025 (SPLY)	May 2026 Actual	YoY Change	2026 Budget	vs. Budget
Advertising & Marketing	$252,217	$305,646	+$53,430 (+21.2%)	$294,911	+$10,735 (+3.6%)
Practice Promotion / Giveaway	$25,101	$27,748	+$2,647 (+10.5%)	$2,260	+$25,489 (+1,128%)
Other Promotional Expense	$833	$0	−$833	$18	−$18
Total Advertising & Promotion	$278,151	$333,395	+$55,243 (+19.9%)	$297,189	+$36,206 (+12.2%)

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Two Different "Overage" Stories — They Have Different Drivers and Different Owners

The +$55K YoY increase and the +$36K budget variance are not the same number. The YoY increase is driven by Advertising & Marketing (more locations, chronic accounts, inflation in paid media). The budget variance is driven almost entirely by Practice Promotion / Giveaway, which was budgeted at $2,260 for all 159 locations — roughly $14 per location — and came in at $27,748. These should not be presented to Myles as a single "overspend."

What's Driving Each Increase

A — Budget Variance (+$36K): Practice Promotion / Giveaway

Practice Promotion / Giveaway drove $25,489 of the $36,206 budget variance — 70% of the total overrun. The 2026 budget for this account was set at $2,260 for all 159 SGA locations combined. Actual spend came in at $27,748.

This is a budgeting problem, not necessarily a spending problem. The budget target was not aligned to actual patterns: May 2025 actuals in this same account were $25,101 — meaning the 2026 budget was set at less than 9% of what the prior year showed. The budget needs to be recalibrated before this line can be managed.

Note: vendor-level detail for Practice Promotion / Giveaway is not available from Power BI at this account level. A Sage GL pull would be required to see the specific items driving the $27,748.

B — Year-Over-Year Increase (+$55K): Advertising & Marketing

Advertising & Marketing increased +$53,430 vs. May 2025. Against the 2026 budget, it is only $10,735 over (+3.6%) — within a reasonable range. The YoY increase has three structural components, each with a different owner:

Bucket 1 — Marketing-Directed

Sharley-Controlled Spend

Paid digital, TV, print, and agency spend directed by marketing. Kept lean — AdWords budgets are conservative, swag and print require Sharley's approval. This portion is defensible and within Sharley's authority to explain line by line.

Bucket 2 — Corporate / Ops-Directed

Corporate GL Rows

Albany HQ ($15,316) and SGA Dental Partners OpCo ($5,095) total $20,411 in May with no patient attribution. These are corporate-level costs allocated to the marketing GL — not practice advertising. They inflate the marketing number and skew per-practice benchmarks.

Bucket 3 — Doctor-Authorized

Chronic High-Spend Accounts

Riverside ($55,659) and Ressler ($26,002) together are 24% of total SGA promotional spend. These accounts have been raised with Ops previously without resolution. Ops and Myles have historically authorized them to spend as they wish.

Practice-Level View — May 2026

Source: Power BI Marketing Expenses page — 145 location rows captured out of 159 total. Sorted by spend. Network average: $48 per new patient. Per-location budgets are not available in this report.

#	Practice	Promo Spend	% of NPR	New Pts	Cost / New Pt	Note
1	Riverside — Jacksonville	$55,659	8.1%	60	$928	Bucket 3
2	Ressler — Del Ray Beach	$26,002	21.6%	9	$2,889	Bucket 3 · High CPP
3	Albany HQ	$15,316	—	—	—	Corporate GL
4	Van Scoyoc — Southern Pines	$12,513	6.3%	43	$291
5	Ways Station	$11,123	12.1%	38	$293
6	Family Dental Care of Shelby	$10,770	4.4%	40	$269
7	Fording Island — Okatie	$9,002	6.7%	86	$105	Efficient
8	Perio — Memphis	$8,746	1.3%	133	$66	Model Practice
9	Dental Partners of North Georgia	$7,844	19.5%	26	$302	Denovo
10	Smile Center Orlando	$7,796	6.0%	17	$459
11	Batten	$6,826	5.2%	36	$190
12	Brentwood	$6,559	7.0%	1	$6,559	Needs Review
13	Sharp Smiles — St. Marys	$6,436	4.3%	39	$165
14	Elite — Gallatin	$6,077	1.8%	79	$77	Efficient
15	Moskowitz — Concord	$5,866	4.4%	21	$279
18	SGA Dental Partners OpCo	$5,095	—	—	—	Corporate GL
All SGA Locations — 159 total		$333,395	1.5%	6,924	$48	Network Avg

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$20,411 in Corporate GL Rows — No Patient Attribution

Albany HQ ($15,316) and SGA Dental Partners OpCo ($5,095) are the #3 and #18 spenders in May with no NPR and no new patient data — 6.1% of total promotional spend. These are corporate-level costs allocated to the marketing GL. Separating them from practice-level marketing spend changes every per-practice benchmark in this report. This is the "unfair allocation" concern: practices are being measured against a total that includes spend they did not generate.

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Brentwood: $6,559 Spend / 1 New Patient — Worst CPP in the Network

Brentwood is the 12th-largest spender in May at $6,559 with only 1 new patient attributed — the highest cost-per-patient ratio in the 145-location report. Ressler is second-worst at $2,889 per patient (21.6% of NPR, 9 new patients). Network average is $48 per new patient. Both warrant an immediate Power BI Decomp Tree pull to understand the vendor breakdown before the Myles meeting.

✅

High-ROI Practices — The Network Standard to Reference

Perio Memphis: $66/patient (133 new patients). Elite Gallatin: $77/patient (79 new patients). Southern Oak Greenville: $40/patient (103 new patients). Fording Island Okatie: $105/patient (86 patients). These practices show that meaningful spend can drive high volume at efficient CPP — and set a bar for what the rest of the network should be targeting.

Structural Issues & Recommendations

The May 2026 data reflects three structural gaps — not a single marketing overspend. Each has a different owner and a different fix. Marketing cannot resolve any of these independently.

Issue	Context	Owner	Priority
Practice Promotion / Giveaway budget does not reflect actuals	Budget was set at $2,260 for 159 locations. May 2025 actuals were $25,101. May 2026 came in at $27,748. The budget was never calibrated to reality — the "overage" is a budgeting artifact. Needs CFO reset for remainder of 2026.	CFO / Finance	Immediate
Corporate GL rows inflate the marketing line	Albany HQ and SGA Dental Partners OpCo are #3 and #18 spenders in May with no patient attribution. $20,411 in corporate costs hitting GL 74000 distorts per-practice benchmarks and makes the marketing total larger than marketing owns. Requires GL sub-account or cost center separation.	CFO / Finance	Immediate
Brentwood and Ressler CPP require COO-level review	Brentwood: $6,559/patient. Ressler: $2,889/patient. Both are significantly above the $48 network average. Ressler has been raised with Ops previously with no resolution. The Power BI Decomp Tree review that worked with Dallas and Nathan previously is the right tool here — brings vendor-level data Myles can act on.	Ops / COO	Before Meeting
Marketing lacks access to Power BI "Undeclared" vendor column	The Decomp Tree already separates declared vs. undeclared spend at the vendor level. Sharley currently cannot drill into the undeclared column — meaning she cannot speak to a significant portion of the Advertising & Marketing total. This is a Row-Level Security permissions change in Power BI, not a build. Estimated 30-minute IT fix.	IT	This week
No per-practice marketing budget or variance tracking for SGA East	The Power BI Marketing page shows spend only — no per-location budget, no variance. SGA West runs Velixo with budget/actual/variance per practice in near-real-time. PGPs receive P&L 30–45 days after close — too late to intervene. Extending Velixo to SGA East is an IT/finance configuration task using the tool already deployed on the West side.	IT / Finance	30–60 days

Immediate Next Steps

1

IT: Fix Power BI RLS — give Sharley access to the Undeclared vendor column

Row-Level Security permissions change on the existing Decomp Tree workspace. Estimated 30 minutes. Without this, Sharley cannot speak to the full Advertising & Marketing number when presenting to Myles.
Owner: IT · This week
2

Run Power BI Decomp Tree for Brentwood and Ressler before the Myles meeting

Pull vendor-level drill-downs for both accounts. Same playbook used with Dallas and Nathan — resulted in cuts Myles saw and approved. Brentwood ($6,559/1 patient) should be the lead case. Bring the output to the Myles meeting so decisions can be made in the room.
Owner: Amy + Sharley + Nathan
3

Finance: Reset the Practice Promotion / Giveaway budget for remainder of 2026

Current budget ($2,260 for 159 locations) has no relationship to actuals. May 2025 SPLY was also $25,101. The CFO needs to set a realistic target — either a per-location envelope or a network-level aggregate — before this line can be actively managed.
Owner: CFO + Amy · Before next budget cycle
4

Bring the three-bucket framework to Myles and request a COO-level decision on Riverside and Ressler

Frame the May 2026 spend across three buckets — not as a single marketing overspend. Bucket 1 (Sharley-controlled, lean and defensible). Bucket 2 (corporate/Ops GL allocation, needs Finance fix). Bucket 3 (doctor-authorized chronic accounts, needs a Myles-level decision on spend limits or joint authorization). Riverside + Ressler together = 24% of SGA total promotional spend. Resolving them requires COO authority — marketing cannot act on these unilaterally.
Owner: Amy + Sarah + Sharley
5

IT + Finance: Extend Velixo to SGA East to close the 30–45 day P&L lag

SGA West already runs Velixo with budget/actual/variance per practice updated as charges post — not at month close. If SGA East is in the same Sage Intacct environment, this is a configuration task using an existing tool. PGPs currently receive P&L data 30–45 days after close, making it impossible to catch overages in-month. Velixo closes that gap.
Owner: IT + Finance · 30–60 day target