Veterinarians and the New US Tax Law

by easyDVM

Tax reform is likely to have significant consequences for veterinarians. Not only does the reform bill contain several provisions impacting individual rates of income tax, but it also contains provisions that affect how veterinarians manage their accounts and expenses. Let’s take a look at the details of tax reform and discuss how each provision is likely to affect veterinary businesses.

New Pass-through Tax Provisions

The new tax reform allows certain pass-through businesses to deduct up to 20 percent of their qualifying business income. However, some “specialized service” businesses, including veterinarians, cannot use this benefit unless their taxable income is under a defined threshold. The new individual threshold is $157,500 and the threshold for joint filers is $315,000.

The aim of the new pass-through provisions is to prevent high earners from converting their salaries to income that is eligible for the deduction. However, critics have complained that the rules surrounding pass-through tax deductions are unclear. Doctors, veterinarians, lawyers and people working in the financial industry are all excluded from claiming pass-through tax deductions, whereas high earners working in professions such as architecture are not.

Fair or not, the new rules surrounding pass-throughs prevent veterinarians from claiming a 20 percent deduction on their business income, unless their income is less than $157,000 per year. Veterinarians must be aware of this rule, as it can make a significant difference to the amount of tax they need to pay.

New Cash Accounting Provisions

The tax reform allows veterinarians to use the cash method of accounting as long as their annual gross receipts do not exceed $25 million for the three years immediately before the current tax year. This limit of $25 million represents an increase compared to the previous threshold.

New Expenses Provisions

Veterinarians can now deduct new and used equipment as expenses for five years. The tax reform increases the total permitted amount of expenses to $1 million. Veterinarians can now also claim deductions for improvements to non-residential properties, including maintaining the roof or adding heating, ventilation, air conditioning, security, fire protection and alarm systems. However, from 2022, the 100 percent allowance will decrease by 20 percent per year.

New Individual Tax Provisions

As well as understanding the new tax provisions that will affect their businesses, veterinarians also need to become familiar with provisions that will affect them as individuals. The seven income tax brackets have all been modified as follows:

  • Income under $9,525 ($19,050 for joint returns): tax rate of 10 percent
  • Income between $9,525 and $38,700 ($19,050 and $77,400 for joint returns): tax rate of 12 percent
  • Income between $38,700 and $82,500 ($77,400 and $165,000 for joint returns): tax rate of 22 percent
  • Income between $82,500 and $157,500 ($165,000 and $315,000 for joint returns): tax rate of 24 percent
  • Income between $157,500 and $200,000 ($315,000 and $400,000 for joint returns): tax rate of 32 percent
  • Income between $200,000 and $500,000 ($400,000 and $600,000 for joint returns): tax rate of 35 percent
  • Income over $500,000 ($600,000 for joint returns): tax rate of 37 percent

As the top individual income tax rate has decreased from 39.6 percent to just 37 percent, owners of the largest veterinary businesses will pay less tax as a result of the reform.

Conclusion

The tax reform makes some important changes to tax for veterinarians, most notably by excluding them from using the pass-through benefit. By familiarizing themselves with these changes, veterinary business owners can plan their budgets to ensure the financial health of their businesses.

EasyDVM Practice Software is a cloud-based veterinary practice management software system. We pride ourselves in offering a system that is user-friendly, easy to learn for new team members, full-featured and elegant in its simplicity. Best of all, all devices, multiple users, all your clients and patients, always affordable..

Is Buying a Veterinary Franchise a Good Idea?

by easyDVM

When most veterinarians decide they want to manage their own veterinary practice, they either start a new practice or take over an existing one. However, there is another option, which is to purchase or join a veterinary clinic franchise. If you want to open a veterinary practice but need some help, buying a veterinary franchise could be good for you.

Advantages of Buying a Veterinary Franchise

Buying a veterinary franchise is often easier than starting a veterinary practice from scratch. Franchisors usually provide a lot of support for new veterinary clinic owners, which can help you get your business up and running as quickly as possible. You can draw on the experience of people who know what is involved in starting a new veterinary clinic.

Buying a veterinary franchise often involves lower start-up costs than beginning a traditional practice. If you do not have the necessary capital to start a veterinary practice, and you do not want to or are not able to go into debt to finance your own startup, then buying a veterinary franchise could be an affordable option for you. With the support provided by the franchisor, you can quickly begin to make a profit and build a sustainable income for yourself and your employees. Many franchisors provide estimates of how much you can expect to earn after you purchase a veterinary franchise and how you can expect your revenue to grow over time.

Disadvantages of Buying a Veterinary Franchise

Although buying a veterinary franchise is a good option for many veterinarians, you need to consider a few potential disadvantages. In most cases, buying a veterinary franchise does not give you quite as much control as starting your own practice. Before you decide to purchase a franchise, it is important to find out everything you can about the franchise model. Read all documentation that the franchisor provides so you can be clear about how much control you will have over the way you run your veterinary practice if you decide to buy into the franchise. Do not hesitate to ask the franchisor to explain any terms that are not clear.

Is Buying a Veterinary Franchise Right For You?

There is no single right answer to the question, “Should I buy a veterinary franchise?” Every veterinarian has different goals, aspirations and needs, all of which can influence your decision. If you want to focus on providing the best quality of care for your animal patients, while the franchisor helps you out with managing the business side of running your veterinary practice, then you may choose to join a franchise model. On the other hand, if you want to retain full control over your business, then you may prefer to go it alone.

How to Decide Whether to Buy a Veterinary Franchise

Whatever choice you ultimately make for your veterinary career, it is important to get advice from other people who have been through the same process. Network with other veterinarians to find out about their experiences of the franchise model and get recommendations for franchisors that provide the most support to their franchisees. Most importantly, be sure to set out your career goals and make a plan to achieve them, and then ask yourself whether buying a veterinary franchise can successfully fit into that plan.

It’s Opening Day for Your Start-up Veterinary Clinic. How Do You Get the Word Out?

by easyDVM

The first few months of your new practice’s existence are a critical period, and many practices that flounder in this period fold later on. You’re a veterinarian, not a marketer — but if you don’t learn at least some marketing techniques, your start-up practice may not survive.

What’s more, starting a new veterinary practice poses a unique problem: You have to carve out a new niche for yourself and create an identity for yourself out of nothing (or almost nothing). Thankfully, many veterinarians have done it before you, and there are several tried-and-true techniques out there to promote your new business.

Get Listed on Business Listings

The first step as soon as you get a location picked out is to get listed on all the business listing directories.  Google is still the pack leader so make sure you start there.  Other directories include Bing, Yelp, and Yahoo.  Most of them require a way to authenticate that you are truly the owner of the business.  So you may need a way to receive mail at the location or have a business phone number already set up.

Write a Press Release

Writing a press release is one of the most time-honored ways of getting your message out. By sending a press release to TV and radio stations, newspapers and other news outlets in your area, you can drum up plenty of interest. But your press release won’t do much good if these outlets don’t run it. With that in mind, you need to make it as enticing to reporters as possible.

Your press release shouldn’t be an advertisement: Write it from a neutral point of view, in the same style as a newspaper article. Press releases are for news, not just information, so be sure to reference something new like an opening date or an announcement. Remember that reporters are busy people, and they’re much more likely to run your press release if they don’t have to edit it. If you have any questions about how to write the best possible press release, you might hire a professional writer.

Notably, you should put your name and contact information at the end of the press release. Even if a news outlet doesn’t run your press release, they may reach out to you for an interview.

Social Media

Social media has largely supplanted traditional advertising media, like radio and TV spots or newspaper ads, as a way of getting your message out. Making a social media account and posting to it is a free way of getting publicity, so you should consider having a social media presence on major platforms like Facebook and Twitter.

Unfortunately, just making free posts won’t necessarily help you break into your target market. Most social media platforms won’t prioritize your posts on users’ feeds unless you spend money to run advertisements or promote posts.

The good news is that platforms like Facebook allow you to carefully craft advertisements to promote your practice. You can choose precisely the audience you want in terms of location, interests and demographic variables like pet ownership. What’s more, these kinds of ads generally aren’t too expensive.

Opening Specials and Other Deals

Opening specials, sales and other special deals will only work if potential customers already know about your practice. So be sure to use other techniques to build buzz, but bring customers in the door — and build word of mouth — by sweetening the proposition with an opening deal.

What, exactly, you’ll choose will depend on what you can afford and what you think your customers will be interested in. Maybe you’ll give them a discount on their next visit if they refer a friend. Maybe you’ll offer a hefty discount on services for their first visit or give them a discount if they book another appointment before they leave.

When you’re starting a new practice, you have many marketing techniques available to you to bring customers in the door. By using a combination of many approaches, you’ll reach a broad audience and increase your odds of a successful opening — and a thriving practice for many years to come.

EasyDVM Practice Software is a cloud-based veterinary practice management software system. We pride ourselves in offering a system that is user-friendly, easy to learn for new team members, full-featured and elegant in its simplicity. Best of all, all devices, multiple users, all your clients and patients, always affordable.

New Veterinary Clinic – Lease Retail Space or Own a Free-standing Facility?

by easyDVM

When starting a veterinary practice, reviewing all available options is wise — from deciding on a location and employees to which veterinary software to use. One of the biggest decisions is whether to own or lease your veterinary practice location, and the answer depends on quite a few variables. Let’s take a look at the pros and cons of each so you can make a well-informed decision.

Pros of Leasing A Retail Space

Many new veterinary practice owners opt to lease their space for a number of practical reasons:

  • Less upfront cash needed: As a new veterinary practice, and perhaps a new vet as well, money might be a little tight. New veterinarians are typically paying off student loans, which put a crimp in their cash flow, so leasing might be the more comfortable option.
  • Inclusive pricing: Typically, maintenance is included in a lease agreement. This means somebody else will handle cutting the grass and maintaining the parking lot. This type of pricing can make your operations budget easier to control.
  • Fewer issues with maintenance: When something unexpected happens, you will simply call the landlord and let them know so it can be handled. Depending on your lease agreement, you may not have to worry about paying for plumbing or electrical repairs, or even if the roof blows off in a storm.
  • Better location availability: Often, existing commercial buildings have better locations with great accessibility, which is something that might be difficult to duplicate when building a facility on your own location. It’s even better when there are complementary businesses nearby such as pet supply stores, groomers or doggie washes.

Cons of Leasing A Retail Space

However, there are also some drawbacks to leasing as well:

  • Less available space: Sometimes, leasing means not having the amount of space that you would like to have for your vet practice. Leasing commercial property is a function of price and size, and sometimes you have to make do with what you can afford.
  • Less control over the property: When you lease a retail space, you will be bound by the lease agreement and the terms you negotiate with the owner. Of course, these terms might preclude you from doing some of the things that you’d like, so be certain to read the agreement carefully to avoid unintended issues.
  • No equity: Just like when you rent a home instead of buying, you are putting money in the landlord’s pocket rather than your own. You aren’t building equity for your future when renting.

Pros of Owning A Free-standing Facility

Owning your veterinary facility might be the best choice for you.

  • More control: When you buy or build your own practice facility, you have control over the space and can do whatever you want or need with it. From configuring your offices to building kennels and an outdoor dog run, the sky’s the limit.
  • More space: When you build a veterinary facility, you can decide how big a lot you need and how large you want the building to be. Likewise, if you buy an existing building, you can retrofit it to suit your needs.
  • More flexibility: When you own your veterinary facility, you can do pretty much whatever you want with it, as long as it’s legal. Want to stay open until midnight? Put up a really ugly but attention-getting sign (within local regulations of course)? Go ahead and do it. Planning to board dogs and cats and create an outdoor space for them to get exercise? Not a problem.
  • More economical overall: Many practice owners are thrilled to realize that owning is actually more economical for them than leasing a commercial building.

Cons of Owning A Free-standing Facility

On the flip side, there are some negatives to building or buying your own space as well, depending on your situation.

  • Upfront cash needed: Diverting the funds needed to purchase a commercial building or pay a down payment can take away your ability to invest in technology and equipment.
  • Maintenance required: Somebody has to keep up with the maintenance required, and when you own the place, that somebody is you.
  • Not easy to move: When you have a veterinary building completed or retrofitted to your specifications, it limits the potential buyers. Most likely it will only appeal to other veterinarians, so it can be challenging to sell the space when needed, may take longer than expected and can sometimes net less money.

EasyDVM Practice Software is a cloud-based veterinary practice management software system. We pride ourselves in offering a system that is user-friendly, easy to learn for new team members, full-featured and elegant in its simplicity. Best of all, all devices, multiple users, all your clients and patients, always affordable.

Where Do I Get the Funds for My Start-Up Veterinary Practice?

by easyDVM

You have to spend money to make money. But where does that money come from?

If you’ve never started your own business, it can seem like businesses appear out of nowhere. Taking out a loan is perhaps the best-known way to get essential capital, but there are many other ways of getting together the money to open a new veterinary practice. Read on to learn some of the ways of getting your veterinary practice off the ground.

Your Savings

Maybe the most obvious way of getting the money for your new practice is by dipping into your personal funds. If you’re considering opening a practice, you’ve probably been working for someone else’s practice or a veterinary hospital for a while. Along the way, you’ve likely saved up some money.

These funds will most obviously include a savings account. They may also consist of less liquid assets like stocks, bonds or even a retirement account — but be aware that liquidating these assets may carry hefty fees or tax penalties.

In general, you don’t want to drain your entire savings to open a new business. You want to leave yourself a financial cushion to rely on in case the business fails or doesn’t pick up like you’re hoping. So unless you’re very flush, you should probably supplement your own funds with another source.

Grants

Grants are an often-overlooked way to get the capital you need to start a new business. These will be particularly useful if you’re servicing an underprivileged or underserved area or population, because government agencies and charities will often earmark grant money to go toward these communities.

The downside of applying for grants is that you have to apply for them, and assembling the grant application takes time and potentially money (if you hire a grant writer). There’s no guarantee that you’ll get the grant, either, so you shouldn’t plan your opening date around a grant you’ve just applied for! But with a well-written application and a good vision for your practice, you’ll greatly improve your chances of receiving a grant.

Bank and Private Loans

Banks and private companies both offer loans to businesses looking to get off the ground, and this is how many (if not most) practices get established. However, unlike many of these loan types, you’ll owe interest on your loan. The more you take out, and the more time it takes you to pay it back, the more you’ll owe.

What’s more, the interest rate will depend on your credit. If you’ve had trouble paying your bills, or if you have a bankruptcy in your record, you’ll end up paying far more back to the bank over time. For these reasons, it’s a good idea to explore other options first and only borrow what you need (and can pay back).

Friends, Family and Crowdfunding

If your friends or family are affluent, you might try asking them for money to get your practice started. In these scenarios, it’s good to treat these loans like a bank or private loan. Don’t just take the money — pay it back over time. Set out the terms in advance, including the payments you’ll make, and any interest that will accrue.

Another newer option is crowdfunding. Using GoFundMe, Indiegogo or Kickstarter can help you raise capital for a business by distributing the costs across a community of interested people who want to see you succeed. Of course, you’ll need to advertise the crowdfunding campaign to make it successful, and you might need to find a way — even something small — to show your donors your appreciation.

Starting a private veterinary practice takes a lot of capital. But with these methods in hand, you’ll be well on your way to raising the funds you need, so you can serve your community and fulfill your dreams.

Top 5 New Years Resolutions a Veterinarian Should Make

by easyDVM

The start of a new year is the perfect time to make positive changes in your career and personal life. As a veterinarian, the holiday period is a chance to take a break from your busy schedule, reflect on your work-life balance, and work out how you can more effectively work toward achieving your career goals. Here are five resolutions that could make a big difference to your life.

1. Look After Number One

Stress and burnout can prevent any veterinarian from achieving their full potential. This year, resolve to take care of your health and wellbeing. Why not take up an active hobby, such as dance classes, yoga, climbing, hiking, or jogging with a local running club? These hobbies can help to clear your mind as well as improve your fitness. If you think you don’t have time for hobbies in your busy schedule, think again: structuring leisure activities into your schedule could help you work more efficiently.

2. Make Time for Family and Friends

At the beginning of the year, make a calendar of all the important birthdays, weddings, reunions, family get-togethers, and other important events that you want to attend. Make a plan now that will allow you to attend these functions. Arrange for another veterinarian to cover your shifts or be on call during the time you plan to spend with your family and friends. As a busy professional, you need a strong support network around you to help you cope during stressful periods. This year, resolve to foster strong relationships with the people you care about.

3. Appreciate Your Team

Strong relationships with your team are also vital to ensure success in a veterinary career. Show your veterinarians, administrative staff, and technicians that you value everything they do by taking the time to praise them this year. Throughout the year, set aside time to listen to your team members and act on any ideas they have for improving the working environment. While you’re thinking about ways to appreciate your team, add National Veterinary Technician Week to your calendar in October. This is the perfect time to plan a party or social outing for your veterinary team to show how much you value them.

4. Learn Something New

Veterinary medicine is changing all the time, which means you can never stop learning if you want to stay at the forefront of your field. This year, put aside an hour or two each week to read about new developments in veterinary medicine. Consider attending a veterinary conference to network with other veterinarians and learn about the latest research.

5. Use Technology to Free Up Time

Technology can help veterinarians work more efficiently. For example, easyDVM veterinary practice management software can help you track and store medical records, invoice clients, and prepare reports. This software stores all your data in the cloud, which means you don’t need to worry about storing and backing it up yourself. When all your records are available in a format that is easy to access and share, you can spend more quality time interacting with patients, coworkers, friends and family.

Before January 1 rolls around, take the time to make plans for the year ahead. Purchase veterinary practice management software to help you work more efficiently, add important events to your calendar, and set aside time each week to appreciate your team and continue your education. These resolutions should set you up for an enjoyable and successful new year.

EasyDVM Practice Software is a cloud-based veterinary practice management software system. We pride ourselves in offering a system that is user-friendly, easy to learn for new team members, full-featured and elegant in its simplicity. Best of all, all devices, multiple users, all your clients and patients, always affordable.

Training a New Veterinary Employee

by easyDVM

Training is essential to help your new veterinary employees get up to speed in your practice. Training not only helps your employees to avoid making mistakes, but also gives them confidence when interacting with clients and caring for patients. Use these steps to help your new employees learn how to perform important tasks in their new role.

1. Structure Your Training

When training a new veterinary employee, it is important to use a structured training program. Throwing too much training at a new hire all at once is likely to lead to them forgetting important information. Plan the new employee’s training to span a period of several weeks so they have time to learn new skills without feeling overwhelmed.

2. Instruct

Every veterinary practice has its routines and protocols. Rather than throwing your new employees into their roles, take the time to instruct them in the tasks you want them to perform. Provide every employee with instructions they can consult whenever they need to check a protocol.

3. Watch

Many people are visual learners. Watching an experienced employee perform a task gives new hires a chance to pick up tips. Get your team to demonstrate as many procedures as possible during the first few days or weeks of a new hire’s employment. If it is not possible or practical for employees to watch your team carry out every procedure in person, consider using training videos to instruct your new hires.

4. Practice

Employees can’t learn how to do everything perfectly from instructions and demonstrations alone. Give all new employees a chance to practice what they have learned under the supervision of a more experienced team member. This period of practice is essential to let employees ask questions and allow the experts to correct their mistakes.

5. Monitor Progress

Do not assume that all employees will perform perfectly after an initial training period. No one can remember everything perfectly, particularly when they have to take in a lot of information at once. Be sure to review new employees’ performance regularly so you have the chance to correct any mistakes they are making. Be sure to conduct this monitoring in a way that helps your employees feel supported, rather than making them feel like you are waiting to punish them for any error. Always give new team members praise for the things they get right as well as correcting their mistakes.

6. Training Never Ends

Training a new veterinary employee is important, but education should not end when the new hire becomes an established part of the team. Continuing education can benefit all your veterinary employees. Support your veterinarians to meet their continuing education requirements. In addition, remember to check in regularly with your technicians and other employees to find out whether they want any further training. One way to do this is to have an annual or quarterly review meeting with every team member, during which they can discuss their training needs and their goals for the review period.

Conclusion

Training a new veterinary employee is not always easy, but by using a carefully structured training program, you can give all your team members the best possible chance of success. Use the tips given here and remember to check in with your new employees regularly to ensure the success of your training program.

EasyDVM Practice Software is a cloud-based veterinary practice management software system. We pride ourselves in offering a system that is user-friendly, easy to learn for new team members, full-featured and elegant in its simplicity. Best of all, all devices, multiple users, all your clients and patients, always affordable.

How to Increase Compliance With Veterinary Dentals

by easyDVM

Just like humans, dogs and cats benefit from regular dental cleanings. Unfortunately, many clients tend to balk at the price and the fact that the pet needs to undergo anesthesia, which means that their pets don’t get the dental cleanings they need. Convincing clients of the importance of dental cleanings is a tough job for any veterinarian, but it can be crucial to the oral health of the animals you serve. Here are some tips to help you be more assertive with clients when recommending a dental cleaning.

Clarify the Consequences of Skipping Cleanings

Many dentists try to persuade clients to schedule a dental cleaning by pointing out the tartar build-up on the pet’s teeth. However, clients don’t always understand the dangers tartar can pose. Instead of simply telling a client that their dog’s mouth has a lot of build up, you need to explain the consequences of letting the tartar go untreated. Let clients know that dogs and cats can develop painful infections due to poor dental hygiene.

Focus on the Benefits

Clients generally do not like hearing about the health risks their pets face. Although words like “pain” and “infection” may spur some people to schedule a cleaning right away, others may react to hearing about the health consequences of skipping dental cleanings by refusing to talk or think about the issue. For these clients, it is important to focus on the potential benefits of teeth cleaning. These include fresher breath and healthier, whiter teeth. Talk positively about the procedure itself, reassuring the client that the pet can be safely anesthetized so they don’t feel any pain or distress.

Use Assertive Language

The language you use to talk about a dental cleaning matters. Confidently stating “let’s schedule the dental cleaning” is more likely to improve compliance than asking “do you want to do a dental cleaning?” This approach emphasizes that dental cleanings are an important part of pets’ oral care, rather than an optional add-on.

Follow Up

Clients aren’t always able to commit to a dental cleaning right away. If your client doesn’t want to schedule a cleaning at checkout, be sure to follow up a few days later. Remind them of the pet’s need for a dental cleaning and ask them to choose a convenient time. Remember to use assertive language to prompt the client into scheduling an appointment.

A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words

Pictures often speak louder than words. Take a photo of the pet’s teeth so the client can clearly see the tartar build up. It is often easier to point out areas of particularly bad build up on an enlarged photo than on the teeth of a squirming pet. Give the photo to the client so they can take it home with them as a reminder of how badly the teeth need cleaning. This may help to remind the client to schedule a cleaning soon. You can also provide a picture of the pet’s teeth after the cleaning so the client can see the dramatic difference in cleanliness for themselves.

Conclusion

Veterinary dental cleanings are vital for protecting the oral health of cats and dogs. By using these tips in your practice, you can reduce client compliance problems and focus on caring for your animal patients.

EasyDVM Practice Software is a cloud-based veterinary practice management software system. We pride ourselves in offering a system that is user-friendly, easy to learn for new team members, full-featured and elegant in its simplicity. Best of all, all devices, multiple users, all your clients and patients, always affordable.

Top 5 Dental Offers for Clients During Pet Dental Month

by easyDVM

Finding new clients can be challenging, so you need to give the public a reason to visit your practice.

Since February is National Pet Dental Health Month, it’s a great time to educate your clients on the importance of optimal dental care — but how?

In order to benefit both your client’s pet and your business, incentives can be offered to get these pet owners through the door. From there, you can spread awareness about pet oral health, as you grow your client base.

If you want to get creative, here are some ways you can attract new business, while helping the pets within your community. The following five incentives are attractive to potential clients, all while showcasing your presence in the community.

1. Create a Unique Pet Oral Health Kit for New Clients

When new clients visit your practice, they will receive the kit you’ve put together. These kits can include a toothbrush, dental treats, toothpaste, etc. By educating these clients, they’ll also be more open to dental cleanings in the future. In order for this incentive to be successful, you need to promote your practice and this offer specifically.

2. Make Clients Aware of Pain Prevention

In many cases, it’s not that clients don’t care — it’s that they’re unaware. What appears to be just a case of bad breath could potentially indicate a more serious health concern. Start a blog on your website, so that you can post interesting, informative pieces, adding value to pet owners.

In this case, no pet owner wants their pet to suffer, so give them an inside look at what poor oral health can lead to. Before and after pictures are always effective. You could even create an online video, showcasing some common procedures within your practice to improve pet oral health, then send it out to your mailing list. Also, encourage your audience to share your content!

3. Work With Local Groups and Businesses to Donate Items

Once you have a little hype around the importance of pet oral health, reach out to other organizations or groups within your community to collaborate. You could advertise that the first 15 clients who register for a cleaning will receive an item valued at X amount. The groups, shelters or organizations you work with can also advertise through their platforms.

4. Run a Promotion for Both New and Loyal Customers

Whether you pin flyers in local businesses or advertise on social media, run a promotion in regards to a client’s first oral health procedure. For both new and loyal customers, you can offer a discount or a free gift. Perhaps you have developed a loyalty points system? If so, double standard offers in relation to any oral health care appointments.

5. Share and Display Positive Reviews Based on Past Experiences

Clients want to see that other pet owners have had a positive experience with you. If you have had customers schedule oral health procedures in the past, reach out to them for an honest review. You can offer them some sort of incentive, such as 10 percent off their next cleaning. Display these reviews on your website’s home page and within your practice.

Although you have plenty to focus on within your practice, don’t forget about the world outside of your practice. You need to be innovative in order to grow your clientele, all while solidifying your place as an expert in your community. Get involved and be creative this National Pet Dental Health Month — it will be pay off in the long term!

EasyDVM Practice Software is a cloud-based veterinary practice management software system. We pride ourselves in offering a system that is user-friendly, easy to learn for new team members, full-featured and elegant in its simplicity. Best of all, all devices, multiple users, all your clients and patients, always affordable.