How Vitamins Can Nourish Your Practice...As Well As Your Client's Pets

Summer is nearly upon us, and with the warm weather dogs and their owners spend more time outside, which can mean an increase in table scraps from barbeques and outdoor gatherings.   More scraps means a decrease in nutrition if dogs are eating less of their own food – table scraps aren't formulated to give them the nutrients they need.   But poor nutrition is not just about table scraps.  What pet owners don't realize is that once you open a bag of food, exposure to oxygen lowers the nutritional content.  In addition, not all foods have all the essential nutrients pets need to maintain optimal health.

Vitamins are an easy solution to this problem.   They can only help maintain a pet's health, not degrade it.  Unlike drugs, they don't have side effects and pets cannot overdose on them.   For many pets, studies show there can be improvements such as a nicer coat, better balance and an improvement in alertness.

PCI Animal Health proudly carries the Lloyd brand of multivitamins, which are designed for pets and sold exclusively sold to licensed veterinarians.  Lloyd (www.lloydinc.com) is a pharmaceutical company that makes nutraceuticals for pets. “Our commitment is to the independent veterinarian and our vitamins are made in our FDA approved facility, which speaks to the quality,” says David Tori, Regional Sales Manager, with Lloyd.

Lloyd's multivitamins contain essential nutrients required for proper pet nutrition, and even contain ingredients like omega-3 fatty acids and choline for optimal heart and brain health.  In addition to the three main multivitamin products Pet-Form, Geri-Form and Felo-Form, they carry a host of specialty products designed to help treat everything from skin conditions and bone health to hypothyroidism and animal poisoning.

Dave Tori of Lloyd with his pal Cortez

Vitamins can be a great way to increase your clinic's bottom line.  Although they are high end in quality, Lloyd vitamins don't cost any more for clients than brands sold in pet stores.  PCI is currently running a special where you receive two free bottles of Lloyd vitamins if you purchase 10.  Call 800-831-0004 or email info@lloydinc.com to have some samples mailed to your clinic.

Positive in the Community: The Toby Project

PCI Animal Health highlights veterinarian community initiatives within our region.  PCI Territory Manager, Lisa Alexander, wanted to showcase The Toby Project out of New York City for our latest feature.

"I am a huge advocate for our pet community and when a PCI customer shares initiatives that impact our companion animals, it motivates me to share their accomplishments with others," said Lisa.  

Andrew Kaplan, DVM,

President of The Toby Project

Veterinarian Andrew Kaplan started The Toby Project after he adopted a wolfhound/lab mix, scheduled for euthanasia the same day as the adoption.  Dr. Kaplan decided to help end pet overpopulation by forming the non-profit, which offers free and low-cost spay/neuter services to low income pet owners.  The organization uses a mobile surgical truck and makes stops around the New York City area (Bronx, Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn, and Staten Island).

The Toby Project has spayed or neutered 10,000 animals to date preventing the births of as many as 122,880,704 offspring in five years!


The mobile surgical spay and neuter unit 

 for The Toby Project 

The Toby Project will be holding a fundraiser at Gotham Comedy Club, NYC on Monday, May 21st 2012.  Comedians from late night TV shows will be performing.  For information and tickets, call 212-367-9000 or visit http://gothamcomedyclub.com/show.cfm?id=147210&cart

We hope to see you there!

To share your community initiatives with PCI Animal Health, send an email to Sidney Alvarez, Director of Marketing at salvarez@pcivet.com 

Why Your Clients Should Be Buying Flea, Tick and Heartworm Products from YOU

From our May 2012 newsletter:

Fewer sales of flea and heartworm products are much more serious than cheaper prices down the road. It is a full-on assault by larger chain companies to steal veterinary business – not just products – from private practitioners. This tacit acceptance by veterinary practices that a certain portion of sales will inevitably go to online retail stores and large discount emporiums is a direct reflection of our dwindling faith in the education, service, accessibility and commitment we have to our clients. It means that we, too, have fallen under these large retailers’ spell: Quality products at affordable prices.

A recent phone call to a veterinarian’s office had me bug-eyed. When I explained to the client care representative that I ‘thought’ my dog had fleas, she advised me to go to a pet store or to a discount shopping club for the best-priced flea product. Never mind the exam my pet should have had…or even a cursory look to see if the pet had fleas. Never mind a handout, a suggestion that I look at their website for advice, or read one of their blogs. This representative had no faith in any of that – it was only about price…and surely it was cheaper elsewhere.

Marly is tired of vets losing business to the big chain stores

First of all, when you add in the specials anyone of your vendors are willing to heap upon you, your prices are competitive and if you don’t believe me, have your front team do the math. Compare your prices to other major retailers pill per pill or application-toapplication, including all the promotions you are running. You’ll find your prices are quite competitive.

Secondly, since when aren’t you falling over yourselves to help your clients? Since when are you not willing to educate them about parasites, teach them how to treat the pet and the environment, show them how to correctly apply a product (or apply it for them), and immediately remedy anything that might go wrong? Isn’t that worth anything? Isn’t that better for your clients and your patients?

This spring, do us pet owners a big favor: Teach us about your services and products. If you truly care about us, you’ll invite us into your practice and manage all the care of our animals yourselves. Surely you and your team are a much better advocate for our pets’ well-being than the store employee hanging out in aisle two.

Bash Halow is a veterinary practice consultant. He is a Certified Veterinary Practice Manager, a Licensed Veterinary Technician in the State of Delaware, a Registered Veterinary Technician in the State of New Jersey and a member and founder of the New Jersey Veterinary Hospital Manager’s Association.

For more information go to
www.halowconsulting.com or
www.halowconsulting.blogspot.com

Using Local Media to Help Your Clinic Succeed

From our May 2012 newsletter:

Any marketing plan should always have a section on public relations and using local media outlets to help increase positive awareness to your veterinarian practice. Here are three quick steps to help you be media savvy.

1. Become A Local Expert: News reporters are constantly looking for experts in their respective fields; professionals they can contact at a moments notice and get the necessary opinions for their stories. As a veterinarian, you can leverage your practice exposure by simply being available and on the media’s radar. If a reporter calls and says they are doing a story on the dangers of tick exposure because of the mild winter, say yes to the interview. Most veterinarians say they are too busy or shriek at the word ‘reporter.’ By presenting yourself as the go-to expert in this field you will garner positive free publicity and eventually attract more clients. Any negative story can beturned into a positive experience as long as you stick to the information at hand.

2. Send Press Releases: If you are having a community pet event make sure you invite the media. In fact, take it a step further and ask a local news personality to emcee. All media affiliates are always looking for stories that they call “kickers” or “feel-good” stories. Pets are the perfect fit for these requirements. Give them plenty of time to make sure it fits their schedule and if you are asking atelevision personality to participate, stay away from coordinating events during ratings periods (February, May, and November).

3. Consult With a PR Guru: Sometimes clinics may not have the budget to hire a PR Firm or a marketing consultant, but PCI Animal Health can help. We work with our clinics to help them understand the power of local media. We have experts in the media industry who can help your clinics step-by-step to leverage your media knowledge. Contact your local PCI representative for details.

-Sidney Alvarez

NY State Dept. of Education Changes C.E. Requirements

From our May 2012 newsletter:

As of January of this year, the continuing education requirements for veterinary doctors and veterinary technicians in the state of New York have been changed. Section 6704-a and Section 6711-b, of the Education Law respectively require veterinarians to complete 45 hours and veterinary technicians to complete 24 hours of acceptable continuing education every three years in order to be legally licensed to practice. The only exception is for those veterinarians and veterinary technicians who are teachers. Half the credits may be earned through an approved self-instructional coursework program. Be sure to keep all certificates as the Education Department conducts random audits. 

Clay Cass, PCI; Corey Randell, PCI; Pam Schwartz, Dechra; 

and Dr. Cathy Just, Dechra at a recent PCI continuing education seminar

PCI Animal Health spoke to Terri Li, practice manager for the Downtown Medical Veterinary Hospitals in New York City, including the newly opened Seaport Animal Hospital (www.seaportanimalhospital.com). She believes the change will have positive effects. 

“We strongly believe that these new CE requirements will only enhance veterinary medicine and the care that we provide to our patients. New medicine, methods of practice and technology change so frequently; especially in our digitized world, that we can only benefit from learning what other options are available in providing the best medicine,” said LI.

PCI has conducted various lectures in the past that count towards continuing education credits. Be on the lookout for future lectures. For more information on the CE requirements visit http://www.op.nysed.gov/prof/vetmed/vetcenotice.htm.

PCI and Merritt Form New LLC

PCI Animal Health (PCI) and Merritt Veterinary Supplies (Merritt) officially announced their joint partnership to form Veterinary Distributors Group, L.L.C.  The new venture will allow both organizations to seek other distribution members so that they can together develop strategies and offer customers aligned resources for optimum choices and services in the Eastern USA.  PCI and MVS will however remain separate organizations.

"Our new relationship will allow Veterinary Distributors Group to operate as a ‘think tank’ for additional distributors to join and explore mutual resources," said Robert Zeide, CEO and President of PCI Animal Health.

WHAT THIS MEANS FOR CLINICS
Our customers will see added value services and products to help their practices in business.  Some of the examples include:
1) More product and equipment selection
2) Specialty Resources
3) Business Analytics (probability and purchasing)
4) Ordering Process (easier and faster)

Bob Mims and Clay Cass at the Merritt sales conference in Daytona, Florida March 2012

Merritt Veterinary Supplies is the largest independent distributor in the Southeast.  The organization is based in Columbia, South Carolina and services more than 4,000 key accounts. 

"PCI Animal Health has experienced tremendous growth over the last few years and we see a new partnership with them as a means to leverage resources and initiatives," said Bobby Mims, President of Merritt Veterinary Supplies.

PCI Animal Health is based in Secaucus, New Jersey and services more than 3,500 clinics throughout the North East region of the country.  Both organizations are formidable distribution leaders in their respective territories. Vendors will have broader opportunities to reach targeted markets and maximize their outreaching initiatives with Veterinary Distributors Group members. Other advantages will include sales initiatives and product education, strategic planning, catalog development, and community initiatives.

How to Make Your Customers Feel Important

From our March 2012 newsletter:

Making your customers feel important is an incredible step towards building customer loyalty.  But how do you know what customers want in order to feel important, especially when each individual is different? Customers often feel like they're just a number, so if this is the case, make sure they are #1.  Here are six easy tips to help your veterinarian practice get the edge on customer perfection.

1) Learn your customer's name and use it as often as possible.  If you or your team regularly meets customers face-to-face, then practice learning and memorizing names.  Every time your customer returns to your practice they should be greeted by name.  This genuinely helps make them feel like you care for them - which we know you do! If you don't know your customer's name, ask!

2) Resolve issues immediately.  Nothing makes a customer feel more valued and important than when you drop everything to solve their problem.  Avoid saying "I'll see what I can do." Sometimes it is necessary to get back to a customer at a later date, but if there is an immediate solution available, do it now.

3) Be proactive when it comes to your customer relations.  Try to anticipate their needs and be ready to meet them.  Do not be afraid to ask what else you can do to make them happier.

4) A smile goes a long way! In the animal health industry it is hard not to smile, but just in case you need reminding - please smile.  A sour-faced service professional will accomplish much less than one who is friendly.

5) Follow-up with your customers on a planned schedule or timeline.  Send follow-ups and reminders for your customer's pets, like: Cards on their birthdays, ownership anniversaries, checkup reminders or upcoming community events.  Also, if they contact you for anything via voicemail or email, respond as quickly and thoughtfully as you can.

6) Say "Thank You." Acknowledging that you appreciate their patronage shows sincerity in how you value your customer.

-Sidney Alvarez

Getting Client Conversation Right

From our February 2012 newsletter:

I call around to lots of veterinary practices and it’s not too often I enjoy a fantastic client experience. I get perky, I get zeal, I even get lots of questions and answers.  What I rarely get is a person who closes the conversation confidently by making a trip to the veterinary hospital sound inviting and the solution to all my concerns.  We don’t train sales in our team members; we train information.  And  while information has its place in our training program, it can never be an end unto itself. 

I believe we never train for sales because our team views salesmanship in the veterinary practice as unfairly capitalizing on a client’s emotions and love for their pet.  Simply not true.  All veterinary team members must understand that clients have little to no insight into the passion, training and
education all of us undertake when we choose this profession.  They don’t see the effort that goes into our lunch and learns, our certifications and our licensures.  How many of them really understand the kind of nurturing care that goes on behind the scenes or the concern that we carry with us long after we lock the clinic door? To merely tell a client about a disease or quote a price about a surgery and leave the decision up to them is drastically short changing our clients and their pets.

Our client care team members must make a hard case for how our practice, services and team members directly answer the client’s needs.  We must invite our clients into our practice where they can partake of what it is we do best and experience firsthand why our work is superior.  To do otherwise is to set them loose on the web, chat rooms and online pharmacies with no experience to guide them.  Build scripts for your team members that outline strong arguments for your practice, your team and your efforts.  Any veterinary team member that believes that modesty is the best policy when it comes to discussing your practice’s services and products is seriously shortchanging your clients and leaving a door open to pet care ignorance, noncompliance, and potentially serious blunders.

Bash Halow is a veterinary practice consultant.  He is a Certified Veterinary Practice Manager, a Licensed Veterinary Technician in the State of Delaware, a Registered Veterinary Technician in the State of New Jersey and a member and founder of the New Jersey Veterinary Hospital Manager’s Association.

For more information go to
www.halowconsulting.com or
www.halowconsulting.blogspot.com

7 Tips to Get New Customers

From our February 2012 newsletter:

The economy is still sluggishly moving forward, but you want to jump start your veterinarian services and reach new clients.  How do you get started? Welcome to the world of sales.  Yes, even as a medical professional you still have to sell.  You may stop and say, “I started my practice because I’m passionate about companion animals, and I’m no salesperson.” This couldn’t be further from the truth, however, it is your product (rapport with customers, quality of services, expertise, etc.) that will get the new customers in your office.

Here are a few tips to help give you the edge over the competition and bring new folks into your practice (in no particular order):

1) Belong to your community.

Get your clinic involved with community events.  Participate in neighborhood open houses and fun days.  Costs tend to be very minimal with these types of events and your investment will render a sense of belonging to your customers.  Word of mouth travels fast and your success rate will shine through as people start to recognize your practice as the caring community clinic.

2) Competitive pricing.

It could be a tough call to drop prices, but you could gain a competitive edge if you make the right calls at the right time.  Working with distributors like PCI Animal Health for product solutions

and inventory management can help you set solid pricing and purchases.  Also, look at other cost saving measures like job duties consolidations, time management, and shared-expenses.

3) Network.

People do business with people they know, plain and simple.  Align yourself with solid industry leaders, like PCI Animal Health.  When aligning yourself with any organization or individual, don’t just think about ways they can help you, think about how you can both create an impact to generate success.

4) Create your niche.

Become the expert you always wanted to be in the veterinarian community.  Pick a specific area to excel in and tackle that concept to become the go-to-person.  This will make it much easier to focus your efforts and beat the competition.  If your focus is companion animals then take it a step further and engage specific breeds.  It will give you the marketing pull you’re looking for.

5) Why should customers go to you?

This is a question you have to answer honestly and whole-heartedly.  Use a jolt of brute realism and get to the core of the matter.  You will be able to examine your strengths and weaknesses to better develop business strategies for increasing your customer base.  Build upon your strengths and uniqueness and remedy any shortcomings.

6) Customer service - treat them right.

This is your golden rule and you would think it is the most obvious, but many organizations still lack in this.  If a customer has a bad experience word travels fast: by mouth, in blog, on a website, in a Tweet, or even a Facebook page.  It starts from when your customer calls your clinic and is met with staff member that answers the phone.  Customer experience is everything.  Train your staff to be professional, attentive, and have core abilities for troubleshooting.

7) Be social online.

It doesn’t cost you anything to get your Facebook page started or get a Twitter account.  What it does cost you is not to promote yourself on-line; especially since your customers can talk about you on-line.

-Sidney Alvarez