Is Your Practice Prepared for a Natural Disaster?January 15, 2015Just before sundown on November 15, 1989, Mother Nature was making it clear that trouble was on the way as wind, rain and lightning strikes steadily intensified. The National Weather Service had issued tornado warnings for a wide swath of North Alabama, placing our practice in the center of potential tornado touchdowns. As the sole owner of the practice at the time, I suddenly realized how unprepared I was to protect the lives of my staff, the pets housed in our kennel and, heaven forbid, how to function and offer services in the days ahead if we took a direct hit. Fortunately, for us, the direct hit missed our location that night, although we did experience some minor flooding. Instead the tornado touched down in nearby Huntsville, Ala where 21 people lost their lives and $100 million of property damage occurred.1 Does Your Practice Have a Plan of Action In Case of a Natural Disaster? It’s so easy to overlook something as important as a plan of action for an event that may never happen. Most of us convince ourselves that we have a plan “in our head” about what we’d do if we were ever faced with devastation from …
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How to Prepare Clients for Hospital AdmissionsJanuary 6, 2015Originally published in the December 2014 issue of Veterinary Practice News Let’s say the veterinarian diagnoses my 5-year-old cat, Opus, with Grade 1 dental disease during his preventive care exam. After explaining the diagnosis and answering my questions, the doctor asks the technician to present the dental treatment plan. Here’s how to prepare clients for surgical and dental admissions. Explain service first, price last. Use the term “treatment plan,” which emphasizes needed medical care. Avoid saying “estimate,” which centers on price. Stand at the end of the exam table, forming L-shaped body language, or position yourself shoulder-to-shoulder with the client. This is collaborative body language, compared to a confrontational posture of talking across the table with a physical barrier between you and the client. Educating clients before showing prices helps them make informed decisions. Cover prices with a dental report card or preanesthetic testing brochure. Explain each item, pointing to the left column of medical services. After you’ve shared step-by-step photos and discussed medical services, reveal the price. Clients may jump to judgment if they see prices first without understanding the comprehensiveness of professional dental care. Schedule the procedure at the time of diagnosis. If you have computers in exam …
Why You Should Communicate the Value of Preventive CareDecember 10, 2014Originally published in the March 2014 issue of Veterinary Practice News While visiting Navarre, Fla., to present seminars, I noticed a roadside sign at a Walgreens advertising a parking lot vaccine clinic with $10 rabies vaccinations and $25 heartworm tests. Down the street, Ace Hardware sells a seven-way dog vaccine for $6.99 with a disposable syringe. Vaccines are stored in a plastic shoebox in the Coca-Cola cooler near the register. Besides the obvious OSHA violation of storing vaccines in a refrigerator with human foods, what instructions do these customers get on vaccine administration or reactions? Pet owners have multiple choices for preventive care services and products. The Bayer Veterinary Care Usage Study found an average of 15 competing veterinary care providers within a 10-mile radius, including mobile vaccine clinics, pet store clinics, private practices, specialty hospitals and shelters.1 A 2013 Communication Solutions for Veterinarians’ study found that 60 percent of dogs and 52 percent of cats received preventive care exams during a three-year period.2 Besides putting patient care at risk, the lack of regular preventive care also affects practices’ health. A dog owner typically spends $208 during a preventive care visit while a cat owner averages $186, according to the …
How to talk with Confidence about Pet NutritionDecember 3, 2014Originally published in the May 2014 issue of Veterinary Practice News Did you know that a pet owner who buys diets from your veterinary hospital returns an average of eight times during the year? In addition to healthy food sales, those eight visits give you opportunities to improve compliance for professional services and products. When your client service representative rings up today’s food purchase, she should check the status of all pets in the family in your practice-management software. Let’s say your employee discovers a second dog is overdue for care. Tell the client, "Let me get Mason’s therapeutic diet for joint care. Did you know that your dog, Rocky, is overdue for preventive care? He needs a preventive care exam, vaccines, heartworm/tick screen, intestinal parasite screen and preventives. Let’s schedule an exam to get Rocky up to date. Which day of the week works best for you? Do you prefer a morning or afternoon appointment?" Once the client responds with a preference, offer two choices. Known as the two-yes-options technique, this phrasing significantly increases the chance you’ll schedule the appointment. Say, "When would you like to schedule Rocky's exam? We have an appointment at 9 a.m. Tuesday or 3 p.m. …
How to Turn Your New Clients into Lifetime ClientsNovember 24, 2014When new clients visit your veterinary hospital, what experience do you provide to ensure they’ll become lifetime clients? The average bonding rate of new clients is 60 percent. First impressions begin with phone calls and end at checkout. Here are tips to create exceptional experiences. Set up records during scheduling calls. Invest 2 minutes to enter the client record in your practice-management software. Gathering details over the phone lets you start the first visit on time rather than having 15 minutes of valuable exam time eaten up with paper work. Say, “Let’s schedule your new puppy’s exam. To speed your check-in process as a new client, we’ll get all of your information over the phone now.” Then get the client’s name, address, cell and home phone numbers and email. Request her pet’s name, birthdate, gender and breed. If phone lines are ringing and clients are lined up before you, offer to email the new client a link to your website where she can complete the form before the exam. Say, “Let me get your email and within the next 30 minutes, I’ll send you a link to our website where you can complete the new client registration online and read about …
Why You Should Put Software to Maximum UseNovember 7, 2014Originally published in the November 2014 issue of Veterinary Practice News Most professionals say underutilization is the top problem for users of veterinary practice management software. Practices just aren’t using their software to its full potential. Stephen T. Pittenger, DVM, Dipl. ABVP, puts practice management software at the heart of operations where he works as chief of staff at Memorial-610 Hospital for Animals in Houston. “We utilize it as the focal point of each interaction with the client and patient,” Dr. Pittenger said. “If a service is performed or if a product is used or dispensed, the software is the first place we go to record the interaction.” That could mean invoicing, loading a photo of a lesion, ordering a radiographic study or reviewing previously scanned medical records from another practice. “We try to use the software as it was designed, to record our data in ways that allow us to easily find and review it, graph, email and print it later,” Pittenger added. Believers in the superiority of automation like Pittenger believe that many practices don’t use their practice management software to anywhere near its potential. “The vast majority of practices use practice software as a glorified cash register …
How to Get the Most Out of ConferencesNovember 5, 2014Originally published in the November 2014 issue of Veterinary Practice News Whether you’re getting last-minute continuing education hours this year or choosing next year’s conferences, you need to ensure a good return on investment for the dollars you’ll spend on registration and travel. Small businesses with fewer than 500 employees, such as veterinary hospitals, spent $1,800 per employee last year on training, according to the American Society for Training and Development’s 2013 State of the Industry Report.1 Employees average 30 hours of training per year.1 In addition to meeting licensing requirements for veterinarians, technicians and certified veterinary practice managers, you want training to grow your practice’s bottom line through skill development and exposure to new business ideas. Here’s how to make the most of your next convention. Choose Which Lectures You’ll Attend In Advance Review schedules on conference websites or apps. Read descriptions of sessions on medicine, management, marketing and human resources. Ask yourself, “Which clinical skills do I need to polish or expand? Which marketing ideas could grow my clinic? What solutions could I find to human-resources challenges? What practice-management innovations could make our team more efficient?” Once you identify your learning goals, choose sessions that match your needs. At …
4 Ways to Enhance Your Client’s Experience at CheckoutOctober 27, 2014When I picked up my 17-year-old cat, Ollie, from a dental treatment, the client service representative said, “I’ll get you checked out first and then let the technician know that you’ve arrived for your discharge instructions.” Although I was comfortable with the price, the receipt was my first notification that Ollie had 12 extractions, not the eight anticipated. Medical staff should have communicated this information before I saw the bill. Here are four ways to enhance the client experience during checkout. 1. Discharge First, Pay Last Many practices have clients pay before discharge instructions because they’re nervous that some clients may leave without paying. While I understand the precaution, it’s poor client service. Clients need to understand all the medical services that were performed before they see final bills. To provide a better client experience and ensure that you get paid, the client service representative would say, “I will let the technician know that you’ve arrived for your discharge appointment, and then I will see you again at checkout.” So the pet won’t distract the client, keep the patient resting comfortably in the treatment area. In the exam room, the technician explains the results …
What to do When Clients Talk Trash About you and Your PricesOctober 10, 2014Originally published in the September 2014 issue of Veterinary Practice News Last month I spent $2,600 on my newly adopted dog’s healthcare, which is a lot of money in anyone’s estimation—except, perhaps, our own. Here’s the breakdown: $800 was incurred as a result of drugs, diagnostics, supplies, tech time and overhead costs required for the OE, gastropexy and dental extractions I performed in-house. But the bulk of the sum was spent on a first-rate root canal (sans crown) at a top-notch veterinary dentist’s place (at a very generous 50 percent discount, I might add). All this for one adopted Malinois, a retired working girl who deserves nothing less after a life of service than world-class care. Indeed, all our pets do. Whether their job is to take down a bad guy, sniff out an IED or commandeer the couch, what we did for Tika is what we’d recommended for any patient in her position. Unfortunately, few of our clients can afford it. Given that the average person would have had to pay about $6,000 for that kind of work, referral is a non-starter. That’s a sum only the 1 percent or the well-insured can shoulder. Needless to say, the $2,600 …
A clinic facelift without busting the budgetOctober 9, 2014Is it me or is the smell in this hospital getting stronger?” you ask yourself. Perhaps it’s the fraying carpeting, a tangle of dusty computer wires or the random supplies piling up in the top row of cages. Whatever the cause, fairly simple strategies can give an aging veterinary practice a powerful facelift, without major renovations. Having visited thousands of veterinary facilities, I can say that the majority of practices allow the physical facility to fall too far into disrepair before considering a makeover. But the fact is that staff and clients expect medical facilities to be clean and comfortable. Additionally, the adage about “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” certainly holds true with building maintenance. When done correctly, a hospital makeover is a win-win situation for clients and the practice. Cleanliness and orderliness in the office reassure clients about the quality of your clinical care. Dirty floors and bad odors convey a sense of poor attention to detail. Lighting, flooring, sound control and ventilation are key building systems that can make or break these client perceptions. Unfortunately, the simple nature of veterinary work challenges these systems; when thousands of animals pass through an office year …
