Columns

Improve your staff training and enhance your marketing to persuade more clients to follow your dental care recommendations.

I have a confession. Gidget, my beloved long-haired dachshund, needs dental care. She has bad breath, mild gingivitis, tartar and evidence of early infection on her back molars. So, why haven’t I scheduled her appointment? Aside from the fact that I’m super busy, I dread leaving her at the hospital and waiting for the call […]

From sedation to communication, much can be done to make a veterinary visit less stressful for pets and their owners. Don’t forget the towels.

It’s a new year and a new decade, which should give us even more incentive to strive for a better personal and professional life. As you check off another item on your list of resolutions, consider these seven ways to eliminate or reduce fear, anxiety and stress in your patients, clients and team members. 1. […]

Sponsorship opens additional doors for underrepresented veterinary professionals.

At a fall conference on women leaders in veterinary medicine, Dr. Samantha Morello from the University of Wisconsin’s School of Veterinary Medicine called for more sponsorship of women and minorities in veterinary medicine. I immediately tweeted out support —http://bit.ly/2Qx4SwO — which led to a short online discussion about the difference between mentoring and sponsoring and […]

Hospital managers have a huge say in a clinic’s financial course and whether the owner achieves an ideal selling price.

One of our primary responsibilities as a practice manager is to sustainably maximize shareholder value (profit). Whether you have full access to the accounting and play a role in major financial decisions or have limited governance over categories like human resources, inventory or marketing, your actions can shape profit and ultimately the practice’s value. When […]

Should you sell your veterinary practice while prices are high, or does a better option exist?

Ten years ago, the U.S. economy was beginning to recover from the Great Recession. If you wanted to sell your veterinary practice back then, finding a buyer was time-consuming and sales prices were stagnant. Today, the market has changed entirely. Hospital owners are inundated with inquiries from consolidators large and small offering higher prices than […]

Be honest with yourself. Did you rush the job candidate through the interview? Did you miss any warning signs? Did you quiz the references? Does your onboarding and training program need an overhaul?

After you spend time and money advertising for job candidates and interviewing them — and then selecting someone you believed would be a great addition to your veterinary practice team — it can be quite disheartening when the new hire just isn’t working out. You think back through the hiring process, the resume that showed […]

Following 10 principles will help propel your financial portfolio to the next level.

Are you confused about what to do with your investments given all the turmoil in today’s world? If so, you’re normal. Most busy veterinary professionals lack the interest, inclination, knowledge and experience to manage their investments. Those so inclined would be wise to get a second opinion. A financial adviser should be a fiduciary, meaning […]

Veterinary practices administered more vaccines than in 2018, although sales of flea and tick preventives suffered in the face of a competitive over-the-counter market.

Welcome to The Vetalytix Report for the fourth quarter of 2019. In the tables that follow, we shed light on the unique economic characteristics of U.S. geographic markets and reaffirm a consistent theme that veterinary practices serving those markets face unique challenges. For a practice leader to think strategically, measure objectively and thrive in today’s […]

Now is the time for CE providers and users to demand more from learning experiences and work together to raise the standards.

Creative Disruption columnist Dr. Bob Lester wrote in the last issue about the state of most in-person continuing education. (Read “Always Be Learning” at http://bit.ly/2ZMT7qt.) A lot of CE, he stated, is delivered in dark rooms and 50-minute chunks by a sage on the stage, a format he described as “arguably, the worst adult learning modality.” […]

Core training isn’t just for the athletically inclined. Bring your teams together as often as possible to talk about retail products and client messaging.

Sports fans know that their favorite teams’ seasons have a beginning and an end. Professional hockey, baseball, football and basketball leagues have a training season, a regular season and a playoff season that concludes with a championship. It’s a beautiful cycle, and all teams get a restart every 12 months. Running a veterinary hospital, on […]