Equine Veterinary Business is Changing

May 6, 2012 By Post a Comment (2)

Equine Veterinary Business is changing. I’m not talking about the industry, but rather the blog. One of the most profound things I have learned in business is that no business sector is truly unique and that there are lessons to be learned from other industries.  The light went on for me about this while I was attending the Equine Business Management Strategies Course a few years ago. One of the presenters challenged us to identify business challenges we had in equine vet practice, and to look at other industries to see if we could find similar issues and, better yet, solutions to these challenges. Until then, I thought, like many equine vets do, that our business was unique and that we were the only ones to face the challenges we do. My opinion on that changed forever about 15 minutes later. Our group identified seasonality as a concern in equine vet practice. Our business is in the North, so we are busy 3 seasons of the year, and at that time we died during the winter. When we looked at other industries we, indeed, found  businesses facing similar situations. Better yet, we also were able to find ideas for solutions to these challenges.  For example, Bombardier, used to only manufacture Ski-Dos. That was great for the winter but what could they sell in the summer? That business challenge led to the creation of the Sea-Doo. Anyone who spends time on a lake in the summer now yearns for the days of yore, when we never had to hear the incessant buzz, of the this now ubiquitous summer recreation vehicle. Great success for Bombardier, bad for quiet days on the lake. This led us to think of the owners of ski hills. Once the snow was gone what next? Now, most progressive ski hills offer summer recreation, like mountain biking.  I have used that lesson in our own business to make the peaks and valleys of our business year less abrupt. We are much more busy in the winter than we used to be. The ability to think outside of our own constraints led to many opportunities.

Last year we purchased a companion animal practice. At first I was overwhelmed by the apparent differences between an equine vet business and our new endevour, but I soon realized there were numerous similarities. A vet performing an exam and then taking a dog or cat to the back room for diagnostics or treatments is no different than the work flow in an equine hospital. I also learned that there were things we did in our equine ambulatory practice that can be useful in a companion animal practice. Equine vets know a lot about working on the road, so we can offer a wealth of knowledge about running a mobile companion animal practice, which is a growing area in companion animal practice. Our small animal business has a busy retail section and a high level of compliance with preventative health programs. I think most equine vet businesses could use some help in those areas.

When I looked at the Equine Vet Business blog with the point of view that lessons can be learned from other industries, I knew I had to change the focus of the blog. I had to try to bridge the usual gap between vets who think what they do is so special to asking what can equine vets learn from small animal vets. Conversely, what business lessons are there for companion animal vets from the equine vet industry. Indeed. what can these 2 learn from large scale food production veterinarians? I don’t know yet, but I am looking forward to finding out.

With that in mind I have changed the name of the blog to Veterinary Business Matters. The name has two, very relevant meanings. Business matters of course. Without paying attention to how we run our businesses we would be in big trouble. We will also be talking about the individual items that make up a veterinary business. To do all of this, I will feature blogs and podcasts with me and others discussing veterinary business issues relevant to all vets. I have added a new Facebook Page in conjunction to this blog and have renamed the Twitter account to @dvmbusiness. The iTunes Podcast has also been renamed to Veterinary Business Matters – The Podcast. You can find links to all of them on the right hand side of this page.
If you are interested in veterinary business and want to be part of something beyond your area of professional interest, I hope that this will become a destination for you. We are fortunate to work in a wonderful profession that is facing threats on many sides. Those who can run there businesses well will survive and prosper. If we can encourage enough veterinarians to pay attention to their business then the whole profession will do better and we won’t be as challenged by online pharmacies, lay practitioners, decreasing vet visits (in all species) and price slashing colleagues, to name a few current issues. By learning from each other, we can make all of us better. I look forward to this new collaboration. If there is anything you would like to present in a blog or discuss on a podcast please let me know. I look forward to numerous people contributing to this blog.
Welcome aboard. Lets make our businesses and our profession better.

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Generational Issues Between Veterinarians and Clients: Equine Vet Business Podcast #12

February 7, 2012 By Post a Comment

I had the pleasure of facilitating a table topic discussion on generational issues at the 2011 AAEP Annual Convention. Unfortunately, there is only 2 hours to try to cover every issue that attendees bring up so sometimes good subjects go unaddressed. One such topic was raised by Dr. Mark Roozen. He wanted to discuss how younger vets are dealing with older clients and conversely, how older vets are dealing with younger clients. We spend so much time discussing generational issues between vets and staff and yet we rarely discuss intergenerational issues between vets and clients. We didn’t have time to discuss this during the table topic so I asked Mark if we could record a podcast together on that subject. Mark has some other insights on veterinary business management as well, so this podcast covers a wide range of topics.

The direct link to the podcast is here or you can click on the iTunes icon on the right side of the page to subscribe to the podcast. I look forward to your comments here or on our Facebook Page.

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Converting Veterinarians to Social Media

February 2, 2012 By Post a Comment

 

We are at a crossroads in vet medicine: either we adapt to the technologies of the new economic order or we die a slow, lingering death with no one to blame but ourselves. This harsh reality becomes evident when confronted with the dug in heels, shaking head, and rolling eyes of the older vet who doesn’t want to learn about social media. I see the frustration of younger vets when I give presentations that highlight the benefits of online marketing for veterinary practices. The younger vets start off nodding their heads, excited to create a practice Facebook Page, but then they think of the practice owner and their shoulders sag. They know the owner and senior vets won’t want anything to do with social media. How can they convince their reluctant leaders that digital marketing is as essential as the stethoscope to their veterinary practice? One listens to the heart of the patient and the other ensures the viability of the vet practice.

The easy answer would be to tell them that the world is a different place: Accept it, welcome it, or die. You could also tell them that the future will have even more of these ever-changing communication platforms. These scare tactics might work on a few but it isn’t enough to convince the vast majority of those who are resistant to our arguments. In my experience there are three tactics I have found to be successful when working with the stubborn vet and their resistance to social media.

Prove that it works

Vets are cautious people in general and are unlikely to be the first person to jump into an unknown situation, but when they know that success is likely and there is little risk, they can be the biggest advocates of that new procedure or therapy. This happens all the time with new skills we learn at CE events. At first we dabble with them until a client comes back raving about how it helped their horse. The next time we are confronted with a similar presenting complaint you can be sure that the new technique or therapy will be one of the first things we think of.

Here are a few successes we have had with social media that you can share with the skeptic in your practice. Prior to 2010, our practices revenues were all flat or declining as the recession took hold. Since then, in spite of the continuing recession, we have had increases in revenue in the practices that have engaged in social media. In 2010 we had 5 equine clinics and we featured 3 prominently through facebook, twitter, and youtube. Those practices grew. The other 2 had flat or declining revenue for that year. In 2011 we had to close one of the struggling practices for an unrelated reason, while the 3 that were featured in social media again had revenue growth. The non-social practice was still flat. Guess what? We started a social media campaign for that practice in December of 2011.

I am part of an equine benchmarking group that anonymously compares key data between practices. McKee-Pownall had significantly more new clients than the rest of the benchmarking practices in 2011. In Ontario, the average small animal practice saw a decrease of approximately 10% in new customers last year, and while I don’t have data for equine veterinary businesses I don’t think it is a stretch to assume that they had at least similar if not greater declines. The only thing we are doing differently from 2 years ago is the addition of social media.

In June of 2011 we tracked how many people called our 4 equine practices. The total number was in the area of 3000 calls. Contrast that with the number of people who looked at our web page or saw one of our facebook posts – 36,000!!! This doesn’t take into account the views on our YouTube channel or interactions on Twitter. Add at least another 4000 if we count just those two other platforms. What this tells us is that more people are getting to know your practice online much more than with personal one-on-one interactions. Social media works to increase sales and attract new clients. It is as simple as that.

Make it easy for them

Like most people, vets don’t like doing things that will make them look stupid. To those standing on the outside, social media can look like the happening party that they haven’t been invited too. All the cool people are there, doing the cool things that only cool people do. Who wants to walk into that party uninvited? If we continue on with this analogy, if I’m on the outside looking in, I would love to be invited to go to this party with someone who knows everyone there, can make introductions, and tell me what and who I need to know. In the social media world perhaps you could offer to teach the skeptical vet about Facebook or YouTube. If you can walk them through the basics then it isn’t so intimidating. They may even find that in the social media party that there are people there they may know and want to interact with. Before you know it you have converted them.

Engage their emotions

People like to be liked. Flattery can open a lot of doors. People also have a competitive spirit and vets are no exception. Part of the reason they got As trying to get into vet school was the need to get better grades than the other students trying to get into vet school.  If your practice has a Facebook page and someone posts something complimentary about the practice, show that to the skeptic. If they see that social media offers the opportunity to be liked then their resistance to it will lessen. To spur the competitive spirit, show them the Facebook page or YouTube channel of a competing practice. This will be particularly effective if they have more fans than your practice’s Facebook page. If stoking the competitive juices is what it takes to get them engaged then use it.

Online interaction has become ubiquitous. People are searching the web for recommendations on products and services. In other words, our current and future clients are online looking for solutions. The voice of your veterinary practice should be part of the conversation. If you’re not there, you can be sure that someone else is. What does that mean for the person looking for a new veterinarian or wanting to vent after a bad experience with your business? Social media is the obvious way to be part of the conversation. By showing the naysayer(s) in your practice that it works, it’s easy to do, and that others are succeeding at it to your business’s expense, they should be more willing to dive into the social media pool.

How have you been successful converting a naysayer to a convert to social media? Please sure your experiences in the comments section or on our Facebook page.

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Stress vs Success and Equine Veterinarians

January 20, 2012 By Post a Comment (1)

This blog has been written by Dr. Melanie Barham. You can see her bio at the bottom of the page.

In the wintertime, equine veterinarians like to breath a sigh of relief.  Then, two minutes later, we throw ourselves into all the fun things we wanted to do but were too busy for in horse show season.  This year, I am pursuing a dream to run a half-marathon, with help from the Running Room clinics.  The Running Room is a retail store for runners offering courses/clinics to help runner achieve their goals of running a particular race (everything from 5km to marathon) for a nominal fee. Runners frequent the store at least 3-4 times per week and become really loyal customers.

On our clinic “lecture” night, we heard from a sports psychologist, who introduced Lazarus and Folkman’s model of stress vs. success, leading me to think of learning in veterinary medicine.  The model states that the outcome of a situation is influenced by the way in which an individual assesses a situation (or threat), and by the number/quality of coping mechanisms they have on hand to deal with the issues at hand.  Changing how we perceive the threat, and increasing or using our coping mechanisms can incite success instead of stress.  The idea is that basically, changing your outlook can make a big impact.  Of equal importance- knowing what to do when a negative situation arises.

The model applies well with respect to young veterinarians, how they/we learn, and how we teach them.  When we come out of school, we are “baby vets”, like novice runners, and have very little in the way of tools or coping mechanisms.  Even a simple call or client question can be a “perceived threat” and leave you speechless.  As runners progress from novice recreational joggers to elite athletes, their biggest predictor of success is past performance.  They are able to draw upon the experiences they have had and get through the tough parts of the race. Novice runners don’t have the experience, so they must rely on self-confidence and positive outlook.  Running clinics and groups work to improve success for this reason; they help to build self-confidence and some experience through actually performing the activity we’re training for.  We have weekly talks to prepare for the race, and we run with group leaders who are experienced runners.  I often email my questions to my group leaders to ask advice about technique or aches and pains.  I could have completed my training alone, but I’ll be honest, I probably would have stayed in bed on those cold -16C days! I also would likely have given up or been discouraged at my first shin splint.

An interesting realization I had was that there really is no way around the model of stress/success.  I find it very gratifying to attend hock or back injections and be able to successfully diagnose and treat a problem.  I am also able to anticipate potential problems, deal with the unexpected and handle situations calmly and gracefully.  I also remembered, when working with a new associate, the exact same process I went through learning to perform hock injections. I palpated the site many times before using my needle.  I worried I would never be good at injecting hocks. I asked for help when needed.  Now, it’s one of my favorite (vet) things to do.

To me, the model presented above is the absolute best argument out there for doing an internship.  Of equal importance is to subsequently position yourself in a practice willing to be supportive and helpful as you grow and learn.  An internship is a controlled environment where one can gain experience and self-confidence just like a running clinic.  You get an idea of how to handle the things that could go wrong at any given time, and a way to approach a problem positively.

Just like a running clinic, an internship helps you every step of the way, building upon what you have learnt already.  There should be a good group of individuals interested in helping you succeed, but letting you try to do it yourself.  No one can carry you across the finish line, nor can anyone force you to become a successful clinician.  However, you can surround yourself with a good team of mentors and as much knowledge as possible so that with a little luck, you’ll cross the “finish line” or complete your day standing tall and smiling.

If you have any comments please post in the comment section or on the Equine Vet Business Facebook Page.

More about Dr. Melanie Barham

Dr. Melanie Barham is an associate veterinarian at McKee-Pownall Equine Services Campbellville location.  Melanie grew up riding and showing horses on the eventing circuit in Ottawa, Ontario.  She graduated from the Ontario Veterinary College in Guelph, Canada.  Following graduation, Melanie completed an internship in southern California at a performance horse practice, before returning to Canada.  Currently, Melanie enjoys treating lameness cases and working on all types of performance horses as well as incorporating acupuncture with Western medicine.  She enjoys running, hiking and cross-country skiing and lives with with her husband Tim and her dog Cali.  Melanie hopes to complete the Chilly Half Marathon in Burlington, March 2012.

Follow Dr. Barham on Twitter @mbarhamdvm

 

 

 

 

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Twitter, Facebook and the Equine Vet – Equine Vet Business Podcast #11

December 13, 2011 By Post a Comment

The recent AAEP convention saw an explosion of vets using Twitter, Facebook and other social media platforms. From where I stand, it was encouraging to see so many new people embrace social media. During all of the online action I was tweeting with Fran Jurga, the editor of of the Hoofcare Blog. Fran has been a great supporter of the equine vet industry as the preeminent journalist covering all things related to the equine hoof. She is also a big fan of social media and can be found on numerous platforms. After the recent convention Fran and I had an in depth chat about how she saw vets using social media, the pitfalls they encountered and how using social media can help them communicate with their clients.

One of the things Fran was able to do was use a platform called Storify to create a running summary of all things related to the AAEP convention as found on the various social media platforms. Check out this link to see what Fran created. If you want to follow Fran on Twitter she can be found at @hoofcarejournal or @franjurga. Her blog can be found here.

The podcast can be listened to on the web here or click on the iTunes icon on the right to download the podcast.

As always comments are always welcome here or on our Facebook page.

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Veterinary Practice Culture; create your own DNA

December 2, 2011 By Post a Comment (2)

Every vet practice has a culture whether it is by intent or default. Simply defined, the culture is the DNA of the business, or how a business looks and behaves. It encompasses how they treat their clients, patients, each other and how they offer their services. Up until now the foundation of most vet practice cultures has been excellent veterinary skills, courteous receptionists, and well-stocked pharmacies.  Differentiating cultural factors would be cleanliness of the hospital or vehicles, how employees are cared for, or customer service. Very few veterinarians set out to define a culture, instead the culture is exemplified by the influence of the practice owner(s) and the behavior they tolerate or encourage. We have all heard of the vet practices that have staff morale issues, practices inferior medicine or conversely, are on the cutting edge of technology or have a great client education program. With this in mind, does it matter if a vet practice purposely defines their culture or is it enough to let a culture just develop over time? Is there an advantage to determining what a culture should be and putting in the effort to bring it forward?

Over the past number of years I have been reading about companies like Zappos and the Union Square Hospitality Group. These companies share several factors that we wanted in our vet practices: excellent customer service, lower staff turnover, a happy work environment, and prosperity in a competitive business. What struck me about their culture of customer service was that it was based on taking care of their staff first. Wow, I thought that customer service was “the customer is always right” or “do what it takes to make the customer happy”. Then I learned there are different approaches to both. First of all, the customer is not always right.  In our case, some are mean or petty and do nothing except make our vets and staff miserable. Part of a customer service oriented culture is learning who our customers are and catering to them. Those who don’t fit into our values or type of practice are eliminated. Our clinics enjoy working with the animal owner or trainer that wants the best and is willing to pay for it, and not those that like the idea of having the best but never want to pay for it or expend the effort to care for their animal. This leads to the second approach, that we must take care of those clients who do value us by giving them exceptional value in the services and products we offer. Up until now these were simple concepts for me. What surprised me was the concept that you can only give exceptional service to your clients by first taking care of your vets and staff. If they are happy at work they will be more likely to reflect that attitude back to the client. The simplicity of it astounded me. I remember being miserable in a job and struggling to care about customer service, but when I worked for people that cared about me I would do anything to help the business.

Early in 2010 our vet practices decided that we were going to create a business culture of customer service excellence, both internally(staff) and externally. We were hoping to create a great work environment, which would then translate into better customer service. Based on this underlying vision, my wife and I as practice owners asked staff members to  help identify the key characteristics of our culture and created a manifesto of our ten cultural behaviors with examples. Once we had our template we met with all of our vets and staff to explain why we have identified our culture and what the behavioural characteristics were. Since then, we reinforce this by ensuring that new hires have appropriately answered behavioral questions based on our culture. As well, we compensate staff based on positive cultural activity. For example, everyone identifies “gold star” actions of staff members each month in our staff meetings. My wife and I are the drivers of the culture and we set the example for everyone else. I also meet with new hires and go over, not only the values and vision of the practice, but the why of what we are and explain how they all tie into our culture. Our culture is all-encompassing in that it permeates how we make business decisions, treat each other, and influences actions taken individually, or as a group.

What was the end result of this? Now that we know the type of vets and staff we want to work with, we are able to hire people more effectively. We use our culture as a basis for staff evaluations, so that those vets and staff who live up to our culture are more likely to get raises or promotions. We have an excellent record of customer service where complaints from disgruntled clients are rare. A huge benefit is that we have fun at work, laughing a lot and enjoying each others company. I have lost track of the number of times clients have commented on how much fun we have while working. There are no office dramas or crises. We could never say that before.  On a dollar and cents basis we are holding our own during this recession. It has transformed our business in more ways than we can measure.

How can your business evaluate and determine your culture? Here are 5 easy steps.

  1. Practice owners write down their ideal culture. An example would be a workplace where staff work together in a positive and cohesive environment.
  2. Quiz vets and staff to determine what the culture currently is so areas of shortcoming can be identified and targeted for improvement. A comment on work environment that mentions mini soap operas would reflect that the desired cultural traits need to be adjusted.
  3. Create a culture document and explain to all vets and staff that this is the desired culture for the business. Practice owners then have to live and breathe the culture as they set the example
  4. Make staff compensation and HR decisions based in part on positive culture activities.
  5. Measure internal and external client service metrics to evaluate the success of your new culture. Are you getting less complaints, are fewer staff quitting, have you noticed increased business?

Your veterinary practice has a culture. Is it one that you have created and control or is it one that controls your practice.

Have you done anything in your vet practice to actively influence your culture? Please let us know in the comment section below or on our Facebook Page.

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