veterinary practice – EasyDVM Practice Management Blog

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.

Veterinary Medicine and Technological Trepidation

by Hunter Little

In a recent editorial published in the May/June issue of “Today’s Veterinary News”, the University of Georgia’s Simon R. Platt wrote a piece concerning the telemedicine, the AVMA, and the implementation of new telecommunication technologies in the veterinary field. The editorial, in part, focused on a report written by an AVMA advisory panel that attempted to define telemedicine and its potential implications for veterinary medicine. Platt’s assessment saw telemedicine and veterinary telemedicine as dividing into two distinct camps: the first being a kind of consultation structure that facilitated collaboration and cooperation between practitioners, and the second being a more diagnostic role, offering a diagnostic/care service for remote situations, etc. But the real task at hand, as Platt argues, is the degree to which this kind of technology can fit into veterinary medicine not just accurately, but ethically too. Platt notes how “we fear where it all could lead […] the rules of the game don’t change because a consultation occurs electronically rather than face to face.”

To outsiders looking in, veterinary medicine, in some regards, is a very slow moving beast when it comes to technological implementation. But, as Platt’s piece indicates, this isn’t such a bad thing. There are ethical and legal aspects to consider. More importantly, there is the question of standard of care. And here, I would have to agree. Pets present such a raw, emotional attachment for their owners; unconditional love from a pet is an almost universal constant, and something veterinarians must contend with at all times when providing medical care. So it would stand to reason that the technology that is implemented into veterinary medicine augment animal health and well-being in such a way as to support that underlying principle. On the individual practice level, this sentiment towards technology holds true, almost more so than at the broader, AVMA-policy level. So, my thought is this: when you, as a practice-owner, are considering new technologies and software to implement into your practice, consider its ability to effectively relay that standard of care. If your software can relay that level of care so inherently intertwined with veterinary medicine, then perhaps it is technology worth considering. If it only proves to bog your practice down, and mar your ability to provide that certain standard of care, then perhaps you should look elsewhere. When implementing new tech or software, trust what you see, and trust what your employees see. Platt includes a quotation at the beginning of his piece that reads:

“We must always tell what we see. Above all, and this is more difficult, we must always see what we see.” – Platt

The Challenge and Value of Q&L, not Q&A, in Veterinary Practice

by Hunter Little

I’m going to pose a challenge, of sorts, to you. What do you expect when you ask a question? An answer. We want to get from point A to point B. But what if I told you we should expect more from our questions than just an answer? What if, instead of thinking about the process as Question & Answer, we thought of the process as Question & Listen? Q&A implies that there is a finite end; that there is a point A and a point B, and that is all. But, Q&L implies something more, like a vector, a starting point of a line that projects out; a launching point with no end, but limitless direction and possibility. That limitless possibility that emanates from a question, I believe, is learning. When we question and listen, we learn.

This whole line of thinking is inspired by Frank Sesno’s new book, Ask More. Sesno, a veteran of CNN and the current director of the School of Media and Public Affair at George Washington University, understands the value of a good question. As he says in the book, “Smart questions make smarter people. We learn, connect, observe, and invent through the questions we ask.” Without giving away the whole book, Sesno breaks down questions into 11 categorical types (Diagnostic, Strategic, Empathy, Bridging, Confrontational, Creativity, Mission, Scientific, Interviews, Entertaining, and Legacy) and delves into each, defining what they are and how they can be utilized.

In addition to dissecting questions themselves and how we can best craft them, Sesno although emphasizes the importance of listening. It is this particular dynamic of Ask More that I think is most applicable to the veterinary practice setting, and really life in general. Emphasizing questioning and listening imbues the process with an educational quality. The importance is to learn, not just to find an answer. To learn, we must engage. We must engage in thinking about how we question, we must engage not by looking for the answer we want, but rather by listening.

This whole Q&L paradigm implies a certain level of thoughtfulness, and this is where I challenge you from a veterinarian perspective. When we make the conscious decision to question and listen thoughtfully, we are engaging in the process of consciously interacting and learning. To think that we, as veterinary practice owners, have already learned everything we need to know – especially if there’s a graduate degree/DVM/MBA sitting in your back pocket – is a foolish notion and can close us off from opportunities to pivot, grow, evolve, or even open new doors and paths. We should never be done learning. And to think we have learned all we need to learn shows just how little we have actually learned. So my challenge to you is this: as you interact with your associates, employees, clients, or what-have-you, be conscious of your interaction and make the effort to be deliberate in how you ask questions. Then, instead of looking for a particular answer, just listen. Be open to the notion that there is always the possibility to learn. Learning implies growth, and I would surmise that this personal growth might spill over into your business, in one way or another. To question is to learn, and to learn is to grow.

Should I Open My Own Veterinary Practice?

by easyDVM

Opening your own veterinary practice gives you a lot of control over your career, but some vets are happy to remain associates in existing practices. The right choice for you depends on what you want out of your career. Let’s take a look at the benefits and drawbacks of each option to see which is right for you.

Why Open Your Own Veterinary Practice?

Veterinary practice owners often have more control over their working lives than vets who work as employees in practices owned by other people. When you own the practice, you can determine the opening hours of your practice, as well as choosing the layout and decor of your working environment. Feeling that you have chosen to come into work every morning can make a huge difference to your state of mind, as you will feel in control of your life. You may also feel more invested in the practice and feel as though you are working toward an important goal.

Why Remain as an Associate?

Associate vets often have a better work-life balance than practice owners. Although they may in theory have less control over their working hours, they often work fewer hours in total. Whereas practice owners must do everything it takes to keep their practice running, including solving any crises that occur, employees are only obliged to work their contracted hours. When you go home at the end of the day as an associate, you can stop thinking about work, whereas a practice owner is responsible for planning the long-term future of their business.

Which Is Better for You as a Veterinarian?

Choosing to remain an associate doesn’t mean you aren’t committed to your career. Some veterinarians choose to forgo practice ownership so they can spend more time reading the latest medical journals and developing their medical skills. On the other hand, practice owners get a wider view of pet care, as they interact with pet owners, insurance companies, and the regulations that govern the industry, as well as the animals themselves. Which option is best for your career? It depends whether you want to focus purely on medicine or explore other areas of running a veterinary business. This is a very personal choice, so take some time to think through which aspects of your job you most enjoy before making the jump into practice ownership.

Which Option Is More Financially Rewarding?

Practice owners have a greater potential to increase their earnings than associates, but they also risk losing money. As an associate, you may enjoy the stability of taking home a fixed salary every month, or you may aspire to build a business that provides you with long-term financial security. If you have access to enough capital to start your own practice, you could create a highly profitable business that gives an excellent return on your initial investment.

Should You Open Your Own Veterinary Practice?

Opening a veterinary practice is a great option for many people, but before you jump into this option, it pays to do your homework. Take the time to learn the business skills you’ll need to manage your practice, such as marketing, accounting and managing practice budgets. Think carefully about what you want from your veterinary career. Are you an ambitious entrepreneur who craves control or an associate who simply wants to care for animals while maintaining a healthy work-life balance?

The Top 10 Problems Veterinarians Face (and How to Solve Them)

by Sam D Meisler DVM

The life of a veterinarian is very rewarding, and you likely enjoy your career. Still, it does have its challenges. If you’re struggling with a specific problem or simply want to improve your practice, read on for the most common problems and how to solve them.

1. Angry Customers

Most pet owners are cordial when their pets are well, but the tables may turn when the news isn’t good. If you want to prevent angry customers, push the importance of veterinary preventive medicine and regular veterinary wellness checkups. When a customer’s emotions are heightened by stressful news, try to stay calm and comforting at all times.

2. Pricing

Pricing is a critical issue for veterinarians. If you price too high, your customers are disgruntled. If you price too low, however, your veterinary practice may suffer.

The trick is to find a competitive price that still pays your bills and your employee salaries, and leaves a little for savings. Review your pricing regularly and compare it with your net profit to determine the sweet spot for pricing.

3. Stress

Like most medical jobs, veterinarians deal with daily stress – and so do your employees. You can’t prevent stress completely, but you can manage it with regular breaks in a quiet room and shorter shifts for employees.

4. Disgruntled Employees

Every industry has the potential to upset its employees. Make sure you’re paying your employees what they’re worth, and keep your expectations reasonable. Most importantly, follow the proper procedures to keep your employees safe from diseases and injuries when working with animals.

5. Slow Cash Flow

Nearly all veterinary practices experience slow cash flow. To boost sales when cash is short, create special offers to entice new customers. You might offer a special for pets who are behind on immunizations or provide extra services for puppies and kittens.

6. Continued Education

Veterinary practice is a science, and science is changing constantly. Staying on top of trends and advancements isn’t always easy, but it’s important for your career. To make the job easier, consider learning as you work by watching videos or listening to podcasts.

7. Competition

You’ll face more competition than ever before, thanks to mobile clinics, mega pet stores and internet diagnoses. You can’t possibly defeat all the competition, but you can stay relevant by offering to match the prices of other clinics (when asked), advertising your strengths and focusing on one or more specialties.

8. Lack of Time

You’re probably busier than most people you know. Instead of just accepting that you’ll never have free time again, try to find ways to streamline your business. Maybe you could convert to digital records instead of paper, or perhaps you should hire additional support staff so you can focus on the most important aspects of your business. There are likely numerous ways to make your life easier if you brainstorm a bit.

9. Finding Great Employees

It’s a struggle for any business to find the best employees. To find yours, consider cutting your experience requirements, and focusing instead on finding people who love animals and can learn quickly. Once you find a great employee, do everything you can to keep them – it’s cheaper to retain employees than to find new ones.

10. Low Income Pet Owners

Some pet owners simply don’t have the funds to take care of their pets. It’s heartbreaking, but what can you do? You have your own bills to pay, and many of your customers can afford your services. Here’s one solution: You might offer your services at a reduced rate if your city leaders agree to fund a clinic that provides basic veterinary care to local residents. When it comes to larger treatments like surgeries, there are many financing companies with which you can partner. And if a low income, affordable clinic comes to town, embrace them rather than try to compete with them.

Mentorship in the Veterinary Practice

by Sam D Meisler DVM

Guidance from a senior veterinary associate.

In a study of career path choices in the early post-graduate, “more than a third (38.0%) of respondents reported leaving a position solely because of inadequate mentorship and support.” Canadian Veterinary Journal, 2009 Sep; 50(9): 943–948. As a practice owner for almost 20 years, I have learned that the true problem lies more in an expectation mismatch on the part of both the practice employer and the new veterinarian graduate.

New graduate veterinarians enter the work force with the expectation that their new employers will complete the incomplete education that they received at veterinary school. On the other hand, practice owners are looking for competent associate veterinarians willing to adapt to their practice environment and culture. And both – after a few months into the relationship – can get increasingly frustrated with each other. The fundamental issue is that even though most veterinarians enter the work force in pursuit of general veterinary practice, our veterinary schools and colleges are graduating veterinarians who are not prepared for it on day one. As a result, the idea of mentorship to solve this problem has been introduced to the new veterinary graduate.

Unfortunately, mentorship in the world of business and mentorship to a new graduate have two completely different meanings. As a veterinary business owner, I define mentorship as the assimilating and guiding of a new graduate into the practice culture by a mentor. Many new graduates, however, see the mentor as their new professor responsible for teaching them the needed skills to become a more confident and competent veterinarian. Yes, all of our more experienced associates are happy and willing to assist the new graduate with acquiring new skills. The expectation at our practice, however, is that the mentee is ultimately responsible to make sure this happens, and the mentor is there to guide and assist in how best to navigate that training within the confines of our company culture. As Chris Myers, CEO and co-founder of BodeTree, says in Forbes Magazine, “Too many young professionals fail to realize that mentorship is a two-way street. You have to deliver tremendous value to your mentor as well, and that often means working longer and harder than those around you.”

We solve this expectation mismatch by asking the new graduate in the interview process what their expectations are and what they define mentorship as. We then clarify what our definition is. And we explain that we will help guide their assimilation into our practice culture. We also expect them to identify areas where they need skill development and to take our advice on how to develop those skills. We do not say we will be responsible for teaching those new skills. We will guide them in their education and teach them how to use the resources available to learn new skills. Ultimately our goal is to develop an associate veterinarian who learns throughout his or her career.

Worried about the transition from Paper-based to Paper-less Veterinary Practice Software?

by Sam D Meisler DVM

Worried about the cost and expense of a transition from paper to paperless? This is a very valid concern and there are many things to consider. First, how will the transition take place. In going from paper-based medical records to paper records, we recommend proceeding slowly.

Once you have decided on a veterinary practice management software provider, the first thing to do in the initial set up after getting your basic business information in (ie. name, address, logo, sales tax percentage, etc) is to load up your prices for services and products. Most providers will allow you to put all of your prices onto a spreadsheet like Excel and they will then
load them into their software database. Or you can enter them in one by one.

Next, take a good hard look at all those shelves or filing cabinets full of paper medical records. Converting them to your new veterinary practice management software system is a daunting task. Yes, you could pay a third party to come onsite and scan in all the thousands of patient records into i
ndividual pdf files for an exorbitant fee. Then you could upload them all one-by-one into the software wasting hours and hours of your staff’s time. Instead, we suggest that this is a great time to clean house. Instead of converting every medical record, take this opportunity to purge records.
The best way to do this is when you are ready to start using your new system, enter client and pet information into the computer only as those particular clients come in for services. You could also save time, if you have scheduledappointments, by entering client and pet information into the system the night before. Scan the old paper records into a pdf file at the same time. Many veterinary practice management software systems have a client registration screen where the client can do all the work for you by entering their current information directly into an iPad. When the client comes in, give them the iPad to enter their information. After a year of doing this, you can slowly purge that huge mess of paper medical records. And in time, you can slowly move the old paper records of clients no longer using your services to the back room for storage.

Above all, make the transition super easy on you and your staff. And use a veterinary practice management software system that is as easy to use as ordering something from Amazon.

Going Paperless in Veterinary Practice

by Hunter Little

For nearly the last 30 years, the notion of going paperless has been at the center of an ongoing dialogue on veterinary business innovation and evolution both large and small; however, the paperless dream has been mostly just that: dialogue. It is certainly hard to argue with the stalwart tenure of a veterinary practice management paper-based system. Like an old friend, the paper-based system has been -for the most part- reliable and steadfast, a constant companion that has seen us through the good and bad times. Yet, paper is also cumbersome, time-consuming, and –something no veterinary practice owner wishes to hear – costly. Either because we don’t yet see the benefits of a paperless system or we simply don’t like change (which is entirely possible and not without its merits in the veterinary practice community), going paperless hasn’t quite yet taken the firm hold so many believe it should. But, I’m here to tell you that going paperless is no longer the hassle it once may have appeared to be. Given the ease-of-use of most current veterinary practice paperless platforms, the increasing demand for mobile-friendly businesses, and the numerous veterinary cloud-based software systems now available, it is nearly impossible nowadays to argue for a paper-based system. As with any comparison of this magnitude, there will always be some give and take. Having said that, let’s get perhaps the biggest detractors of going paperless out of the way.

The difficulty of the transition from a paper-based system to a paperless one is one of the few remaining arguments against going paperless still out there, but quite frankly it’s a talking point that loses ground every day. What I am speaking of is the fear many veterinary practice owners have that going paperless – if they haven’t already- will give way to learning curves and breakdowns in workflow, veterinary clients may become upset as changes occur, inefficiencies will ultimately arise and the flow of business and profit margins will be affected. Granted, it is always healthy to have suspicions and keep a keen eye on anything that may change or affect efficiency and productivity. But, it is 2016, not 2006. The reality is, technological literacy (particularly among the younger generations now entering the workforce in droves) is up; computers and operating systems are no longer foreign languages to the average person. Moreover, the number of mobile users is growing, which means the demand for mobile-based platforms is growing. If anything, the average veterinary client is now more readily prepared for a paperless system than they ever were before. Additionally, the average veterinary assistant tasked with learning the paperless system is more than likely already technologically versed to some degree, making that once daunting learning curve far more manageable, if not nearly painless. Of course, any transition is going to bring with it bumps and hiccups, but this notion that a technological transition is nothing but a pitfall simply isn’t the case in a technologically-versed 2016.

Data security, or the notion that files simply aren’t as secure electronically, goes down much the same route as the transition argument. While a veterinary practice paper-based system requires the physical removal of files (thus making them seemingly harder to steal), they can also be subject to physical and thereby permanent damage. More often than not, there are not multiple copies, so the damage is often irreversible. Additionally, there is the longstanding fear of hackers gaining access to sensitive data stored electronically or files being damaged by viruses or malware. But, once again, this is 2016, not 2006. Nowadays, particularly through veterinary practice cloud-based software, data is backed up through multiple systems to multiple locations. This makes data security far more robust, as well as providing multiple copies of files to reduce to potential for data loss.

Although no argument is ever definitively right all of the time, it would seem that those few remaining arguments against going paperless have lost some serious steam. If nothing else, simply consider the fact that technological evolution over time has given way to the paperless system. It is never a good idea to invoke change for the sake of change. This certainly may have been the case 10 or even 5 years ago, when the notion of going paperless was considered more of a revolution. But now, given the current technological climate, going paperless is no longer a daredevil’s endeavor. Going paperless is now an evolutionary process, an opportunity to let your veterinary practice evolve and progress.

As a sort of bonus, here are a few additional ways that going paperless can benefit your business:

the access time for veterinary medical records and data, when paperless, is instantaneous
veterinary medical records can be edited and updated at any time from anywhere
the copying and sharing of data can occur instantly whenever it is needed
redundancies and file maintenance, as well as file loss, can be avoided with the help of electronic systems
going paperless can vastly reduce the amount of space needed for file and data storage, which can, in turn, save money
the legibility and accuracy of files and veterinary medical records improves when digitally stored and maintained
the environmental impact seems rather obvious and self-explanatory, but you can learn more here (that may be a little snarky, but I felt that we should focus on the less obvious business benefits first)

Is Your Veterinary Practice Website Mobile Friendly?

by Hunter Little

If you’ve been scanning the web-based veterinary landscape in the new year, or attended the 2016 NAVC Conference, you may have noticed the growing conversation around the term “mobile-friendly.” While there may be jokes a-plenty about everyone spending too much time on their smartphones and mobile devices, there is a definite level of truth behind the humor. The reality, regardless of you vet_selfie r opinion on it, is that much of our everyday lives and routines in some way or another heavily incorporate our mobile devices. Checking our social media accounts, emails, reminders, sending that happy birthday text to your friend, and even checking the weather have all become long-established mobile-based norms that populate our everyday life. So, it would only make sense that your website should be mobile-friendly too, right? Everything else is readily accessible via our mobile devices, and our lives have oriented around that. So, why should your veterinary practice be similarly oriented?

“But, my veterinary website is up-to-date on its veterinary software and content generation,” you might say. And that may very well be true; however, keeping up with the nuts and bolts of your website, as well as regularly updating content, may not necessarily make your website mobile-friendly. The real key is the presentation, the look and feel of your website on a mobile device. It should move seamlessly with the swipe-and-click nature of a mobile device, without requiring constant re-orientation of the smartphone or having to zoom in and out. Luckily for you, this isn’t as hard as you might think.

Google (unsurprisingly, I might add) has created a resource that can help you determine just how mobile-friendly your veterinary practice website is. Visit this Google search engine page, type in your website URL, and it will provide basic analytics to determine how mobile-friendly your website is! But, there’s more. Google has also constructed a blog designed to help you navigate the process of improving your website and making it more mobile-friendly, which can be found here. They have also conducted research on mobile usage trends, and hopefully a few statistics from these studies might be the final push you need to get your website mobile-friendly:

77% of mobile searches occur at home or work; 17% occur while on-the-go
3 out of 4 mobile searches trigger follow-up action; 36% trigger continued research, 25% triggered viewing a retailer’s website
55% of store visits, phone calls, or purchases, happen within an hour of the mobile search

Remember, being mobile-friendly is all about presence and presentation. Potential clients may be searching for a veterinary practice in there area, come upon your practice in the search results, yet be unable to adequately or easily access your web-based content and info because your website is not mobile-friendly, and move on to the next practice. But do not despair, it is easier than you think and your clients will thank you for it.

Additional Resources:

Want to learn more about web-based trends and tips with Google? Check out Think With Google: https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com