5 Great Incentive Programs for Veterinary Employees

by easyDVM

Incentive programs are a great way to motivate employees. But it can be hard to dream up a good incentive program. What you create may not engage your employees like you hoped, or they may have unforeseen consequences.

Constructing a great incentive program requires thinking intelligently about what your employees want and what your practice needs. Every practice will find that different incentive programs work for them, but here are a few ideas on how to motivate your employees to go the extra mile for the people and animals they serve.

1) Incentivizing Working Late or Weekends

It’s a rare employee who’s excited to come in to work on a weekend, or second or third shift. But especially if your veterinary practice provides emergency services, you may not be able to afford to let employees be choosy about the hours they work.

Forcing your employees to work undesirable shifts may hurt morale and reduce the pool of potential job applicants over time. But by offering your employees a little extra money for choosing to work at (comparatively) odd hours, you’ll see more employees eager to take these hours — which will improve the service you provide your clients.

2) Offering a “Beware” Bonus

One of the most common uses for an incentive program is to increase the number of examinations done. But this can be tricky: If you’re not careful, you may see an uptick in unnecessary examinations and procedures as your staff rush to take advantage of the incentive. Your bottom line may improve for a while, but your clients will definitely notice over time and react negatively.

But there are some preventative procedures, like dental examinations, that your staff should be doing with every animal that comes in for a check-up. By offering a “beware bonus” that incentivizes routine tests and exams that your staff may not be doing, you’ll dramatically improve the service you provide.

3) Implementing an Overtime Bonus

Some employees love the chance to take overtime. Others hate it — and because it’s voluntary, you may have a hard time getting your staff to work these extra hours in a pinch. By paying a little extra to employees who choose to work overtime, you’ll encourage more employees to consider the possibility who might otherwise pass it up.

4) Incentivizing Growth

Some practices incentivize referrals — and to be sure, referrals can be a great way to grow a business. But a practice that focuses too much on bringing in new clients without retaining the old ones can suffer.

When incentivizing growth, make it clear what your staff needs to do: Bring in new clients, provide excellent service to existing ones, and encourage clients to schedule check-up and follow-up appointments. By rewarding staff with a percentage of the practice’s growth every year, you’ll see your staff take an active interest in your practice’s well-being.

5) Creating Negative Incentives

Penalizing employee misbehavior, like tardiness or absenteeism, is risky territory. By disincentivizing too many behaviors or making the penalties too severe, you may see employee morale take a serious hit. And if an employee’s behavior is problematic enough that you’re considering docking their pay or removing some other bonus, there’s a strong case to be made that you should be considering firing the employee.

But one of the strongest arguments to be made for a negative incentive “program” is that your employees will sit up and take notice. They may yawn through a meeting about the importance of certain procedures, but if they know they’ll be penalized for not meeting your standards, they’ll pay more attention.

Creating a great incentive program can grow your practice and improve your service. By encouraging your staff to behave in certain ways, you’ll increase motivation and morale, and turn your practice into the thriving place you want it to be.

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..

Diamond in the Rough: Making Your Veterinary Practice Stand Out

by easyDVM

Veterinary practices today operate in a highly competitive market. To attract new clients to your practice and retain existing ones, you not only have to provide a good service, but also convince clients that your practice offers greater value than all the others in your local area. If you are struggling to get enough business while other practices in town hog the limelight, use these tips to polish your practice’s marketing until it shines like a diamond.

Upgrade Your Website

When pet owners look for a local veterinary practice, they often turn to search engines to find out what their options are. If your website sits low in the rankings for key search terms, such as “vet [your local area],” people may not know your business exists at all. In this case, adding keyword-rich content to your site in the form of a blog could help to raise your site’s search ranking.

What if your website ranks highly, but still fails to bring in much business? In that case, you need to consider whether the content on your site is doing its job correctly. Does your website clearly state your location, opening hours and the services you offer? Most importantly, does it provide easy ways for clients to get in touch, such as a contact form, phone number and email address? Making communication as easy as possible could help to ensure your business is the practice of choice for pet owners who are new to the area.

Network Online and Offline

Building connections with the local pet-owning community can help you attract and keep customers. You can stay in touch with clients by inviting them to connect with your practice on social media, where you can share tips on pet care, pictures of your team and updates on the latest services your practice offers. However, even in today’s digital age, it is important not to underestimate the importance of real-world interactions. Increase your community presence by attending community events or giving talks about pet care and veterinary careers at local schools.

Partner With Local Businesses

Local businesses that cater to pet owners, such as pet stores, professional dog walkers and grooming services, can put you in touch with new clients. Research the pet-related businesses in your local area and approach the most popular ones with an offer to partner up. For example, your practice could hand out discount vouchers for a local pet store, encouraging your customers to buy their pet food and accessories from that business. In exchange, the store may allow you to place advertising materials for your practice in their store. Building relationships with businesses that pet owners already rely on is a great way to boost your brand’s reputation and attract new clients to your practice.

Deliver Outstanding Service

All the marketing tricks in the world won’t help you build a loyal client base if you can’t deliver a good service. Be sure to schedule plenty of time for appointments, so your veterinarians can take the time to make pets comfortable and build a rapport with owners. Use veterinary software programs to eliminate billing errors and other admin-related issues. Finally, always ask clients for feedback, as this can help you to identify problems with your service and address them to ensure your practice is truly outstanding.

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.

4 Ways to Successfully Promote Your Veterinary Practice

by easyDVM

When promoting your veterinary practice, you’ll want to set some predetermined goals. More importantly, you’ll want to be able to measure your results.

Whether you’d like to increase the number of clients coming through the door or build a positive reputation in your community, there are plenty of cost-effective promotional tactics.

4 Ways to Successfully Promote Your Practice

To stand out from your competitors, show your clients that you are a credible and valued practice. When you market your veterinary practice effectively, you can keep your current clients happy and attract new business.

In order to do so, here are some top tips to reach your marketing goals.

1. A locally targeted blog

When it comes to the online world, content is king. If you already have a following, blog posts will provide your audience with information about your practice. Also, when you provide informative, useful content, you will develop a relationship with new potential customers.

While writing content, be mindful of SEO. Since you will want to reach those within your community, focus on a local perspective. As your local audience connects with your posts, they’ll be more likely to share — expanding your reach to more local residents. These posts will then bring more traffic to your site and, in turn, increase local awareness.

Top tip: Research local keywords using Buzzsumo and mention upcoming events in the area.

2. Social media

When it comes to your audience, it’s easier to get your preexisting clients to come in more often than to get new clients to come in. In that sense, focus on those who currently follow you on your social media outlets. Use these platforms as tools, consistently posting fresh, engaging content.

Top tip: Run a contest on your Instagram, Facebook or Twitter page, asking your clients to post a photo of their pet and tag your practice. You can either draw for winners using a random winner generator, such as RandomPicker, or create your own contest rules. (Keep in mind that some social media sites have contest guidelines, so be aware of the legal requirements before posting.)

3. Email marketing

When your clients first register at your practice, offer an option to receive updates and news regarding anything from pet health to exciting promotions. Collecting your clients’ email addresses is a golden opportunity to send information and reminders once or twice a month. This will help you build a rapport with your clients.

Top tip: Provide value in your emails, focusing on topics such as pet health. At the bottom of the email, send a reminder about their next wellness visit. With the permission, you can even send out another client’s success story. To simplify this process, an automatic email reminder will ensure consistency.

4. Reputation management

Last, but certainly not least, you need to make reputation management a top priority. What people say about your veterinary practice will influence the decisions of those in your community. Be aware of which websites you’re featured on, and develop a five-star rating.

Since your customers are bringing in their pets, they’ll want to be confident in their decision. Having a great reputation will encourage new business.

Top tip: Politely ask your regular clients to leave an honest review online, based on their experiences. If you have built up an email list, send a direct link to simplify the review process.

Introducing EasyDVM

Although you will want to be hands on in terms of client interactions, you do not have time to organize every minor task and detail. This is why easyDVM, a software that offers a wide range of practice management features, was created.

Whether you opt to run a client loyalty rewards program or would benefit from an automatic email reminder delivery system, this all-in-one software is the solution.

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.

Sources

https://www.shortstack.com/is-your-facebook-contest-legal-infographic/

http://buzzsumo.com/

http://www.veterinarypracticenews.com/7-low-or-no-cost-marketing-strategies-for-your-vet-practice/

Why Rechecks Are Key Ingredient to Optimal Pet Care

by Sam D Meisler DVM

A recheck examination is as important, if not more so, as the initial exam. Rechecks ensure pets are receiving high quality veterinary care which should always be our primary goal. Why then is compliance among pet owners and staff alike so challenging to procure?

Does your practice management software track recheck exam appointments?
Does your practice management software track recheck exam appointments?

The reasons are many. Pet owners may view a recheck as difficult or inconvenient. Perhaps they see them as excessive or unnecessary. Staff members may have a natural resistance to scheduling rechecks because they fear it will upset the pet owner. Therefore, the biggest obstacle in scheduling rechecks may simply be educating both clients and staff on reasons why recheck appointments are vital to the health of the pet.

The primary reason for a recheck or follow-up visit is to give the veterinarian the opportunity to assess whether the pet’s condition has improved. For the health of the pet, it is necessary to determine whether progress has been made. The pet owner may be at a disadvantage when it comes to making an assessment regarding whether their pet is improving. It can be quite difficult, and in some instances impossible, for the pet owner to determine if a surgical incision is healing properly, whether parasites are gone, or whether blood levels are improving. The veterinarian and staff are best able to property evaluate whether progress is being made.

A second reason to schedule a recheck exam is to properly evaluate an acute problem, such as vomiting or a skin condition, to assess if the condition is resolved. If the condition has not resolved, it is important for the veterinarian to have the opportunity to develop a plan for long term care. Pet owners can become overwhelmed when they are given too much information in a single visit. Instructing and educating clients on acute problems and long term care takes time. A recheck examination not only gives the veterinarian invaluable information on the state of the pet’s condition, it provides an opportunity to further instruct the pet owner on the proper way to care for their pet going forward.

Rechecks also provide an opportunity to double check a patient’s progress. Double checking to ensure the client fully understood the instructions for administering medication, or to determine whether they are successful in getting their pet to cooperate with the prescribed treatment, helps the veterinarian measure the progress the pet is making. Not understanding directions or instructions are common roadblocks in administering proper care. Having the opportunity to assess whether the client is in compliance with the veterinarian’s instructions can only be achieved through a recheck examination. Making a proper assessment over the phone or through a voice mail message is next to impossible. A follow up examination with the pet owner and patient is the only way to accurately determine whether there is compliance with the prescribed care as well as improvement in the patient’s condition.

Better pet care begins with the relationship among the veterinarian, pet owner, and patient. When a pet owner brings their pet in for a follow up appointment within a short period of time, continuity of care is established. When the same veterinarian sees the pet to reevaluate the pet’s progress, this reinforces the veterinarian-pet owner relationship which ultimately results in better care. Continuity of care not only builds trust, it helps pet owners feel more comfortable knowing their pets are receiving great care. Pet owners are reassured they are doing their part to keep their pet healthy. When a relationship of mutual trust between the veterinarian and pet owner exists, the pet benefits tremendously. A solid relationship between the veterinarian and pet owner makes it possible for the pet owner to better understand their pet’s condition and care plan. The pet owner gains peace of mind through understanding how to care for their pet at home, being instructed on what to watch for, and when they should call their veterinarian for further help or reassurance. When a solid relationship exists between the veterinarian, pet owner, and pet the foundation for better pet care is fully established.

Follow up care also gives the pet owner additional opportunities to ask the veterinarian about other concerns they may have regarding their pet’s health. This not only gives the pet owner peace of mind, it ensures their pet is receiving optimal care. If the pet has an ear problem or a skin condition, the sooner the veterinarian is made aware of the concern the better for the pet. Having the opportunity to assess ongoing issues means potential problems are identified and treatment prescribed in a timely manner which ensures the pet is receiving the best possible care. This should always be our number one priority and rechecks will ensure this goal is attained.

Does your practice management software track recheck appointments and exams?

References:

1) Clinicians Brief

2) VetStreet