Taking Pride In Your WorkAugust 17, 2012 As we all know, veterinary medicine is a passion, a calling, but it is also a business. So when I’m out and about in the big world, I can’t help but compare our business to those businesses I visit. I notice things like the parking lot, the store cleanliness, the behavior of the employees, promotional marketing campaigns, and especially the customer service. When I come across sub-par customer service, I can’t help but think, gee, I hope “we” are doing better than this, with “we” being the entire veterinary profession! After all, we each represent our practice, sure, but we also represent the entirety of our profession and have the ability to affect a client’s opinion of veterinary medicine as a whole. I was in a large-store-that-sells-everything the other day buying some pajamas for my daughter…she had grown, again. This is not a big budget item for us, knowing she’ll need more when it gets cold here in Wisconsin, and it’s likely that we parents will be the only one to really see her in them. So the garments I was buying were, well, “cheap,” in really every meaning of the word and that’s OK by me. Then …
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Knowing What To ExpectAugust 10, 2012 As veterinary professionals, we all understand the concept of diagnostics, the search to find out what is wrong with the animal so we can treat the problem, and give the pet owner some idea of what to expect in the future. If you’ve ever had to present a treatment plan to a client, then you know how this conversation goes. But have you stopped to think of all the factors that a client must consider when making a decision about diagnostics? Once again, my experience with my sick little kitty, Rosy, illuminates this small part of our job as veterinary professionals who are trying to heal the sick and support the family. Hang on as you enter the Twilight Zone…well, really just my muddled mind as I work through this experience of being the client. Rosy has been doing better this week, no vomiting, eating pretty well, drinking lots of water and stools almost look normal. Wow, maybe she’s not sick after all! Geez, now that I’ve mentally prepared myself somewhat for the inevitable loss of Rosy, maybe she’s not as sick and will be with me much longer. Her mood is good and she’s loving her …
Veterinary Practice Loans On The UpswingAugust 9, 2012 For veterinarians ready to go out on their own, the timing may be right to purchase an existing practice–as long as they have stellar credit, access to liquid assets, a polished business plan and a seller who’s willing to carry a percentage of the loan, according to veterinary loan experts. “The market is fairly active on the acquisition front,” says Travis York, senior loan officer for Live Oak Bank headquartered in Wilmington, N.C. “We’re getting a lot of calls from people who want to buy practices in the current economy, and there are some veterinarians who are OK with the fact that they need to sell and retire.” William Murray, national sales director for Bank of America’s Practice Solutions veterinary division, reports similar activity. “We’re seeing a lot more first-time practice owners coming to the table looking for financing,” he says from his New York City office. “About 60 percent of our business right now is associates who are buying out the [practice] owner or purchasing an existing practice outright.” The hitch: Some of those ready-to-retire practitioners are sitting on the fence, says Byron Farquer, DVM, who sits on the board of directors for VeterinaryLoans.com, …
Could You Retire With $1 Million?August 9, 2012 We have all kinds of fascinating conversations in the OR. Whenever I dare to suggest that people need at least $1 million to retire (some people now say you need much more), I typically get the “have you totally lost your marbles” look. In fact, I recently saw an online report that said that a couple with two kids needed $3.5 million to retire comfortably. Surely, a mil sounds like a lot of money … until you do the math. Financial advisers often say that if you do have a $1 million nest egg the day you retire, you should only withdraw about 4 percent during the first year. Then during the following years, you should adjust that amount for inflation to maintain your standard of living. I didn’t make that up, believe me. Here is a quote from a recent article1 on the subject: “If you withdraw 4 percent of your savings in the first year of retirement and boost that amount annually for inflation, chances are your money will last 30 years.” But back to our example. Let's do the math for year one of our theoretical retiree: 4 percent of …
Buying A Veterinary Practice? Your History And Clinic’s Are KeyAugust 6, 2012 In today’s market, many veterinarians consider practice ownership an avenue to securing their financial future. There is security in being the boss, dictating medical protocols and having the long-term opportunity to be rewarded for your hard work and time. Often, the key question is not whether to own a practice, but instead how to accomplish the goal. Lenders will ask some key questions as they consider financing a practice acquisition. A lender will review seven primary items related to the individual borrower as well as the practice. They are personal credit score, personal debt obligations, personal liquidity, business and personal collateral, experience, business cash flow, and whether the purchase price is supported by standard business valuations. Credit Score and Debt Obligations These individual factors are not influenced by the practice targeted for purchase. Potential practice owners can start to build these pieces of their resumes while still in veterinary school. The credit score is driven by several key items. The one that everyone is aware of is the history of payments on personal obligations. Any missed payments will reduce a score and decrease loan options. One missed payment will not restrict a veterinarian from …
Front Office FrustrationsAugust 3, 2012 The other day, we needed to order more heartworm, flea and tick preventive for our Cavalier named Joy (notice the Bark Busters “bah bag” next to her in photo!). She is boarded on occasion and we ran out of preventive right before a camping trip; we take our Georgia with us camping, but Joy tries to eat all the vegetation and just acts nervous the whole time. One of our challenges with Joy is that she has some type of intermittent GI mess that causes bloody diarrhea and bad cramping. Previously we switched her to a hypoallergenic diet, and we resist giving her anything other than that special food, including chewable heartworm preventive. So at that time we switched her to a topical that does it all: heartworm, flea and tick. My partner called the veterinary clinic so we could run up real quick on a Saturday before they closed (yes, we are that family that is calling at 11 a.m. despite your closing at noon! No, we didn’t see before that we were out, and yes, of course, it was an emergency!...all said with a smile, but don’t we all hate “those” clients?) …
When Veterinary Professionals Learn From Each OtherJuly 27, 2012I hear that attendees learn more during the 10-15 minute breaks talking to each other, than the 50 minutes of lecture they just sat through.On a recent trip to Australia, attendees had as much to learn from each other as from the material I was presenting.July 27, 2012 Let me tell you about a remarkable discovery I witnessed. Recently I returned from a trip to Australia, where I discovered the first-hand beauty of the koala and kangaroo in their native habitat. But besides that, I was also reintroduced to the remarkable energy that is generated when we learn from each other. You see, I was invited to come teach practice management to owners and employees of veterinary referral practices in Australia. This was one of the first times, if not the actual first time, these professionals had gathered in one place to discuss the challenges of managing in referral practice; they would often see each other at IVECCS, yet this was the first gathering “Down Under” as it were, and I was very fortunate to have been invited. At the beginning of the three-day meeting, I announced as I often do that this was to …
Client-Centricity: A New Veterinary Business RealityJuly 26, 2012 Service providers who have successfully grown their businesses over the last decade have changed the way they interact with their customers. They have built client-centric cultures in which the needs of the customer take precedence over the needs of the business. Relationships have become more important than expert opinions, and providers must offer solutions to more than a single problem and anticipate potential issues and provide solutions before the customer even knows they exist. In his book, “Making Rain: The Secrets of Building Lifelong Client Loyalty,” Andrew Sobel explains that in order to consistently “make rain” it is necessary to “reposition yourself as a client adviser rather than an expert for hire.” Businesses ascribing to a client-centric philosophy recognize that the bar has been raised in regard to customer expectations from all levels within an organization. This means the burden—or opportunity—to please clients is a greater responsibility than ever before. What They Want Pet owners demand more from veterinarians. They no longer bring pets to the clinic to seek out experts to sell them specific products or services. Expert opinions and veterinary drugs are readily available with just the click of a mouse. Instead, they …
Software Can Lead To Leaner Operation, Improved EfficiencyJuly 26, 2012 Providers of practice management software report a spike in sales as more veterinarians rely on technology to help them get through the work day. Improving efficiency and operating a leaner business are tried and true tactics that allow practices to emerge from a down economy stronger than the competition. Practice management software can accomplish many things, including catch previously missed charges, create and access medical records, manage appointments and send client reminders. Though many software options available today spawned from programs initially intended to serve as electronic filing cabinets, such systems can now manage every aspect of the practice. Experts say a practitioner considering another software program or investing in one for the first time needs to factor in all the practice’s goals. Integrating equipment, converting to a paperless practice and saving time rank among the top functions that veterinarians want, say software companies. “It can be tough to compare apples to apples when looking at what practice management companies are offering,” says Lateefa Hayes, national sales manager for Sneakers Software Inc. of New York City, the developer of DVMAX software. “Each company presents its pricing in different ways. Some companies offer hardware along with their …
Taking Care Of Business With Practice Management SoftwareJuly 26, 2012 If the staff is the soul of a veterinary practice, the practice management software is its heart, because fully integrated PM software touches every aspect of the practice and unites the clinical and business sides. “Other than the people, there is nothing more important to a practice [than its PM software],” said William J. Griffin, VMD, CEO and medical director of the Regional Veterinary Emergency & Specialty Center in Turnersville, N.J. “If you have a rock-solid practice management software that is fully functional, then you will have an efficient team. “Our software program is the core of our business and the core of our standards of care, because everything goes to the medical record,” Griffin continued. “It becomes central to everything we do, from the medicine to the business. And it does all the reporting of our finances.” In the course of a day, a clinic’s practice management software generates thousands of pieces of client information, medical information and business information. The PM system must collect this data and present it to the practice in a way that enables veterinary staff to practice good medicine and practice owners to make their businesses profitable. Yet, as an …
