Opening Your Own Veterinary Practice
Whilst more and more practices are joining corporate groups, opening a successful independent practice remains a fulfilling and realistic aspiration for vets today. Of course, opening a vet clinic is hard work, but with focus, detailed advance planning and by following robust and proven processes, profitability after just a few months of operation is entirely feasible. This opening a vet clinic workshop will show you how to achieve your dreams of practice ownership, without the whole process becoming a financial and logistical nightmare.
Opening a New Veterinary Practice – The Tricks Of The Trade
Quarterly ‘opening your own veterinary practice’ practical workshops are delivered remotely, giving attendees a broad spectrum of knowledge and skills to enable you to get off on the right foot in your new practice. We’ll explore the importance of marketing to potential clients in the catchment area with targeted brand messages six months out; as well as establishing key steps to take each month, up to and after launch. Delegates also build vital management competencies for the early months of trading, such as team coaching, developing the customer experience and measuring team and business performance.
Understanding your target market and tailoring your service accordingly is crucial prior to opening a new vet practice, and we’ll look at how you can collect data on a wide range of key parameters such as:
- Catchment demographics
- Likely client numbers
- Strengths and weaknesses of existing competitors
- Physical and commercial barriers and opportunities
When opening a new veterinary practice it’s also important to consider your own unique selling points and branding – how is your approach different to other practices already available? How does it feel to be a client of your vet clinic? Very few areas of the UK are under-provided for in terms of veterinary practices, so if you are to recruit and retain the 1,000 active clients per Full Time Equivalent vet required in order to maintain a sustainable business, the reality is that you will need to switch clients from elsewhere. And attracting new clients is much easier when you have obvious practice values and your ethos is visible in every aspect of the customer experience your team provide – this opening a new veterinary practice workshop will show you how to establish and communicate your unique brand messages clearly and consistently to potential clients in the area.
www.pwc.com/gx/en/services/people-organisation/publications/the-ethics-of-pay-in-a-fair-society.html
So let’s talk about fair pay
Not an everyday topic on here but in the face of a recruitment challenge, is pay a lever that can be used to help
As without great teams we are not able to deliver great care to patients and clients
Very much the reality for many right now
So following a conversation with a lovely practice where the pay is based on who does what to make it all happen. - novel approach and allocation of earnings for delivery - the end result was a hierarchy of pay with senior nurses paid more than junior vets.
So nurse pay ahead of vet pay
Without their senior nurses their care can’t and doesn’t happen
Nurse pay ahead of vet pay ….
And why not?
When you map the care of patients and who does what and who makes it happen, the nurse delivers volumes of work, care and revenue activity
So time to revisit the pay structure and the concept of “Vet Turnover” it’s all about a team delivery
So “Vet Team Turnover” as a concept is worth a revisit
The care is delivered by a team
That team includes vets, nurse and customer care
The client pays for skills
and activity and care and it is done by whom?
If you map the revenue activities - who does the item on the bill - nurses deliver so much where Team consulting occurs
So why not pay nurses for that?
The consequence will be senior skilled nurses will be paid more than early years vets
Controversial for many to consider, yet consider it we must
So much of our ways of working post covid need reviewed and along with that transparency of pay for work
So change pay and conditions and ultimately make great workplaces for great people to deliver great care to patients and clients
It’s all about people and patients at the end of the day
Thoughts
#OneVetTeam
#FairPay
#TeamConsulting
The Ethics of pay in a fair society: what do executives think?
www.pwc.com
We are in the midst of an important societal conversation about fair pay. But what do we mean by ‘fair’? Do those who contribute more deserve more? And is fair pay a corporate issue - or an issue ...hbr.org/2013/11/be-grateful-more-often
We often talk about gratitude and reciprocity and finding tine to say thankyou
Seems like a good thing to do
And “Reap what we sow” is a common tag line to a thought or post
So this popped up on a Twitter feed and is worth a read
The evidence for the idea that taking time to say thankyou and demonstrating gratitude works
So worth a read
#gratitude
#Thankyou
#OneVetTeam
#WeReapWhatWeSow
So part of what we do every month is evaluating locations for new practices
Been doing a lot of these recently as more and more folks look at the possibility of “Opening their own practice”
When we look at a location we assess how many target audience households there are eg pet or horse owners or demand for certain farm services
And it’s usual to find there are plenty of practices serving that audience already , so any new site will need to be able to differentiate themselves or have a point of difference and a “compelling reason to change “ for the local community
So this mornings site evaluation was a surprise
For the first time, in a long time, we have a location that is underserved by practices
Eg a true gap in the market
Highly unusual
Very odd
And on closer digging the reason became clear
3 local practices in the drive time analysis have closed …. For good
So as we work with our post covid situation it’s intriguing to watch sites closing for good and where others are opening up and doing great in the same area
So fascinating times indeed
onswitch.co.uk/site-evaluation/
#OneVetTeam
@OnswitchLtd Nor cake, which seems to be a lot of adverts' compensation of choice....
@OnswitchLtd 10 to a penny?!!! Not how you describe any future colleague. #Bedrock #respect. FYI - cake is no longer an exciting treat - most of us provide it as standard
When you see the quote:
“ you can’t get vet nurses for love nor money” maybe thats where folks have been going wrong?
It’s a job, career, a responsible role so PAY money don’t expect it done for love
It’s not about cakes & puppies
#FairPay
#OneVetTeam
#colleagues
#RVN
Just spent the evening with 3 folks who are looking to do their own thing
#OpenYourOwnPractice
2 parts a week apart
All by zoom
Private session for 3 colleagues
Key question
#Flexible #Learning #Plan
Why not be the boss?
#OneVetTeam https://onswitch.co.uk/opening-your-own-practice/
Exciting times well done #OpenYourOwnPractice all very possible
https://onswitch.co.uk/opening-your-own-practice/