How times have changed! With the advent of vaccine and spay and neuter clinics, then mega pet stores selling "our" pet food and supplements, and now internet pharmacies taking more of "our business," it's not enough to be great doctors. We also need to be great businessmen and marketing experts.

When I opened my small animal practice in July of 1991, there were no books, no guides to tell me how to start or run a practice, much less anything about sales and marketing (as a result, the first books I wrote for veterinarians dealt with these issues, saving doctors from wasting a lot of time on things that don't work.)

One of my sources of inspiration was the great selling coach, Zig Ziglar (a fellow Plano, Texas resident.) He was one of the greatest salesmen and sales coaches ever, and his teaching formed the basis of what I learned about and adapted to selling to veterinary clients (I highly recommend his book, Secrets of Closing the Sale.)

About the time I started my practice, I also started speaking at national veterinary conferences. One of my passions is obviously marketing and sales, so I developed a unique marketing seminar. Unlike a regular lecture, participants actually "do marketing" and leave with completed tools to help them attract new clients and sell more products and services to their existing clientele. One of my favorite topics in the marketing seminar is my discussion about selling, which I've adapted for this article. My hope is after reading this article (and if possible, attending my workshop at a conference,) you will become much more comfortable selling to your clients. If done correctly and confidently, clients will benefit, your patients will benefit, and your bottom line at your practice will benefit.

A historical 'why'

As I mentioned, until the 1970s and 1980s, veterinarians really didn't have to think about selling. We offered mainly services; pets needed our services, and clients were happy to come to us for their pets' care. We didn't need to find clients; they found us and bonded with us, becoming members of our pet care families.

Then spay and neuter clinics, and vaccine clinics, opened up (often right down the street) challenging our bread and butter services and threatening our income. The landscape had changed, and we needed to change with it or face going out of business. Competition had come to our monopoly, and we had to learn to sell not just services but now products as well (we also had to learn how to charge appropriately for our services, as these lower cost options forced us to charge correctly for our time/knowledge/expertise, rather than rely on vaccines, spays, and neuters to compensate us for our lower cost medical services.) For many doctors, this was a scary, threatening time, a time for which most of us were ill-prepared. We were trained to be doctors, not business people or salespeople.

In the early 2000s we had pet stores and the internet now competing on product sales, often after pharmaceutical and pet food companies first got us to sell their products in our hospitals. We priced products to reflect the increased cost of running a hospital, whereas pet stores and the internet seemed to give away products. Sometimes they did it as a loss leader, making up the lost profit in volume and add-on sales.

How do we change/adapt/deal with the increased need for us to sell and be comfortable selling? We don't have the option of "doing nothing" and watching our profits go to others who may not have the best interests of the pet in mind, but rather are strictly focused on their own bottom lines.

This article focuses more on the business side rather than the medical side, but note I'm not suggesting you try to sell everything to everyone. Doing so is irrational, unethical, illegal, and certainly immoral. Rather, you should look at your sales interactions with clients as a chance to improve the pet's care, as well as the bottom line of your business. Viewing selling as a positive interaction where all parties win is the goal.

Every time we interact with a client, we are forming a contractual relationship. Every interaction involves buying and selling. We are selling, and the client is buying. Once this is understood, selling to clients becomes easier and a normal part of our daily practice interactions.

Until doctors and staff are comfortable selling to clients, practices can never reach their potential, medically or economically. By using time-honored effective and simple sales techniques, I want to show you how to increase sales the moment you finish this article. Selling can be fun, good medicine, and profitable! You and the client must walk away from every transaction as winners, with a positive view of the transaction. Your patient's life depends upon it!

Every interaction with a client is a buy-sell transaction, a contract. The client/pet has a need/problem; you have the solution (and if possible, you are the only one with a solution you are uniquely qualified to offer, but that's another article for me to write.)

A deeper dive into the 'what'

The first question to ask is an important one: what are we selling as veterinarians?

We sell several things to our clients. On the surface, we sell veterinary services and products (the more unique to our practice the better, as this uniqueness becomes a selling point in itself). Looking a bit below the surface, we are selling solutions to problems. Whether it be a wellness visit where the solution is to maintain and perfect health, a sick pet visit where the solution is to restore health and wellness, or a visit that requires a surgical solution to solve the problem, we as doctors have the solutions to the pet problems the clients bring to our attention.

Going a bit deeper still, we are selling good feelings and positive emotions. Restoring health to a sick pet should make the client feel better. Ditto for maintaining the health of the pet. Every interaction should produce a positive emotion for the client, or we have failed in our roles as salesmen and spokesmen for the pet.

If we look at the deepest level of what we are selling, it's simply this: we are selling the enhancement and strengthening of the human-animal bond. If we fail, that bond is fractured and someone else will need to repair it (if possible).

We don't just sell medical advice, drugs, supplements, and food. We sell solutions, good feelings, and enhancement of the human-animal bond.

How do you sell something to someone? Remember that all of us buy when we have a need or desire for a product or service. Unless you are addicted to shopping, a purchase must fill a need or a want. If there is no need or want, there is no sale (at least not a legitimate sale where the client feels good about the transaction, which is our goal).

Sometimes the client is already aware of at least part of the need, such as when the pet is due for a wellness check or is ill and needs immediate care. Most of the time, though, the client is unaware of all we can offer to help the pet. This is where we need to work on our selling skills. If the client is unaware of a need and our solution, the client can't make a purchase, and the pet suffers.

The easiest way to make a sale is for the buyer to ask for it! Think about this for a moment. If you have no interest in purchasing something, it's unlikely even the best salesman can sell it to you. You must have at least some interest, some need, some desire.

So how do you create this interest in your client? By making the client ask for what you are selling. This creates the need, the desire, the interest.

As an example of something that has worked well in my practice, we created a health questionnaire. This is the same thing I fill out when I go to my doctor, but in a much shorter version. The questions require yes and no answers, with space for the client to discuss any specific issues.

For example, one question is, "Is your pet drinking more or less than normal? If yes, please explain." Alternatively, you could offer a choice of answers (more, less, the same amount of water) and have the client choose the correct response. This questionnaire is given to the client at the start of the visit before the vet tech and doctor see the client. It can be done on a computer pad or the old-fashioned way on a paper form that can be scanned into your software after the visit.

When the tech enters the room, they review the questionnaire with the client, noting any abnormal responses that the client brought up on the form. This allows the client to identify any problems that need to be addressed, making the sale/solution easier to "purchase." If, for example, the client mentions the pet is drinking more water, the tech will mention they will address this with the doctor "who may need to do blood and urine testing to make sure Fluffy doesn't have a disease such as diabetes or kidney disease." This way, the client brings up the problem (making the sale easier) and the tech/doctor can bring up solutions to the problem the client brought up. We also reinforced the "need" for more testing by having the tech give the client a handout on kidney disease and diabetes to read before the doctor went into the room; the handouts discussed necessary (not recommended) testing. Then when the doctor discussed the necessary testing, the client had heard this message several times, which again makes the sale easier to accomplish.

Some of you may be uncomfortable with all of this talk about selling, which goes back to our lack of training and understanding of the business of medicine. Again, I am not suggesting to sell a client something unnecessary. I am suggesting selling the client something that is needed for the health or life of the pet, and these tips make this process easier for the doctor, staff, and client.

6 key takeaways on 'how'

1. Don't turn down the sale! I see this happen too often in both the veterinary world and other businesses. If the client brings up a concern (the pet is scooting, itching, has bad breath, is sleeping more, etc.) and you have the solution, say so and explain it to the client. Don't let the client leave with an unsolved problem that may worsen.
2. No one likes to spend money, it's a pain point. The pain point is lessened when we spend money and feel we got value for it. We want to get more back than we give in money.
3. Add value. Can you do more than expected? Can you give something away with a visit, such as a nail trim, anal sac expression, sample of food or supplement, or first bottle of supplement free to encourage repeat visits and sales? What separates your practice from all the others the client passed on the way to see you?
4. Sell the project, not the single service or product. As an example, if a client purchases a pet at the pet store (which I don't recommend) they always leave with a kennel, food, toys, treats, etc. What can you sell of value that solves the problem totally and doesn't make the client return for more services or products that should have been dispensed at the time of the initial visit?
5. Train your entire staff to sell and to enjoy it. They and you are responsible for the pet's health. Remind your staff that their salaries and bonuses depend on selling.
6. Finally, view selling positively. As long as you are solving legitimate problems with legitimate services and products, and not trying to make a quick buck, everyone wins, which is the goal!

Shawn Messonnier, DVM, opened Paws & Claws Animal Hospital and Holistic Pet Center in Plano, Tex., in 1991. His special interests include holistic and functional medicine, exotic pets, dermatology, cancer, and internal medicine. In addition to serving clients, he has written for numerous veterinary and pet publications, and is also the author of several books, including the award-winning The Natural Health Bible for Dogs & Cats. Author opinions do not necessarily reflect those of VPN Plus+.