Today's Veterinary Practice provides comprehensive information to keep every small animal practitioner up to date on companion animal medicine and surgery as well as practice building and management.
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| PRACTICE BUILDING While the Bayer study doesn't clearly demonstrate that social media drives pet owners to practices, it did find a number of things that successful practices had in common: r 0OF DPNNPO BUUSJCVUF XBT CFMJFG CZ UIF QSBDUJDF owner that marketing and advertising were critical to the practice's success. r "OPUIFS BUUSJCVUF XBT UIBU UIF QSBDUJDF XBT BO active user of social media, such as Facebook. The study also demonstrated that a common factor among practices with declining visits was a belief by the owner that advertising undermines his/her credibility as a veterinarian.2 COMMUNICATION & EDUCATION The most obvious change that technology has brought to veterinary practices (and the world at large) is the ability to communicate with more people, more quickly, and in more ways. A wide variety of inexpensive client communication PRACTICE TECHNOLOGY RESOURCES National Commission on Veterinary Economic Issues (NCVEI): ncvei.org t 3FTPVSDF -JCSBSZ t 4QFDJBMJ[FE SFTPVSDFT GPS HFOFSBM QSBDUJDF TQFDJBMJTU SFGFSSBM QSBDUJDFT UFBDIJOH IPTQJUBMT BOE TUVEFOUT Veterinary Business Management Association (VBMA): vbma.org t 4QFBLFS EBUBCBTF t #VTJOFTT SFMBUFE XFC MJOLT t 1SBDUJDF UPPMT SFBEJOH MJTU t /BUJPOBM NFFUJOH Veterinary Hospital Managers Association (VHMA): vhma.org t .FFUJOHT DPOGFSFODFT XFCJOBST t -JTU TFSWF FNBJM EJTDVTTJPOT t .POUIMZ OFXTMFUUFST VetMedTeam: vetmedteam.com t 0OMJOF DPOUJOVJOH FEVDBUJPO UIBU QSP WJEFT 3"$& BOE 7)." BQQSPWFE $& t /FUXPSLJOH SFTPVSDFT VetPartners (veterinary practice de- velopment association): VetPartners.org t .FFUJOH DBMFOEBS QSPDFFEJOHT t i'JOE B $POTVMUBOUw t 3FTPVSDFT JODMVEJOH NFNCFS BSUJDMFT BCPVU UFDIOPMPHZ BOE TPDJBM NFEJB t .FNCFS GPSVN Conferences & Meetings Calendar: avma.org/meetings/calendar/default.asp 60 Websites As noted earlier, 77% of practices have a web- site, but that doesn't mean they have a good one. For example, cli- ents don't want to see websites that: r "SF TMPX UP MPBE BOE hard to navigate r %PO U DPOUBJO CBTJD contact, hours, and service information r )BWF OP QIPUPT PS graphics r $POUBJO CSPLFO MJOLT Today's Veterinary Practice July/August 2012 and education tools are available in the veterinary mar- ket that allow practices to easily improve their commu- nications with clients (Visit the Resources page at todaysveteri narypractice.com for a list of these tools). Start with one new form of communica- tion that interests you and go from there. While technology makes communication and education easier, the human touch is still critical. CONVENIENCE Another of the findings from the 2011 Bayer Veterinary Care Usage Study demonstrated that convenience is important to clients, including the convenience offered by new technology. For example: r PG QFU PXOFST TBJE UIFZ XPVME WJTJU B WFU- r erinary practice more often if they could make appointments online; however, only 18% of prac- tices in the Bayer study offer online scheduling. PG QFU PXOFST TBJE UIFZ XPVME WJTJU NPSF often if they could access their pets' health records online, but only 20% of practices allow this access. Again, there are number of companies that allow you to easily and inexpensively offer these conveniences to clients. They often offer other marketing services, in- house pharmacies, client survey tools, and more. CLIENT SATISFACTION Advances in technology have made knowing what our clients want and whether we are fulfilling those needs much easier. This is a critical step in growing and main- taining a practice. Data from the Bayer Veterinary Care Usage Study showed the majority of practice owners were very willing to make changes to increase client satisfaction CVU POMZ TBJE UIBU UIFZ SPVUJOFMZ NFBTVSFE DMJFOU satisfaction through after-service surveys; another 14% r %PO U JODMVEF B QSPNJOFOUMZ EJTQMBZFE TFBSDI GVODUJPO r -BDL VTFS GSJFOEMZ MBOHVBHF Many veterinary sites exist with one or more of these problems; if your practice hasn't reviewed its website lately, do so! Make sure your team gets the training it needs to use this technology well and get help from a professional if needed. Certainly ask pet owners to give you their feedback as well. Newsletters That same human touch is necessary in other areas as well. I once took my cats to a cats-only practice and several months later received the inaugural version of the practice's newsletter—filled with dog stories! I like dogs but I have cats and went to a cats-only practice! Just sending out a newsletter isn't enough; it has to contain information pertinent to your clients. Clients want to see newsletters that are personalized to their interests, touch their emotions, written well, include photos and graphics, and don't contain excessive advertising. Again, ask for help if this doesn't describe your newsletters. Human Resources Speaking of which, although the tools themselves may be inexpensive, digital communication isn't "free." A certain amount of staff time will be required as well as up-to-date technology and equipment to produce digi- tal communication and the training to use it. In addition, a consultant with experience in marketing and digital communication can be employed to help develop a digital plan tailored to your practice's needs.