Many veterinary clinics feel that they already have a very good idea of what the local competitive market will allow for, and therefore, the general thoughts and feelings tend to be that the growth is limited, cannot be controlled, or influenced, and essentially you don’t want to price yourself out of the market. However, like any other project you may initiate either personally, or professionally, your opportunity for success is directly correlated to the level of planning you are willing to engage in. The same holds true for marketing your practice. Not every practice is the same. The truth of the matter is however, that most clients don’t know or understand specifically what the differences are or may be from your practice to the local shelter.
Clients are not doctors.
Service and “The Apple Effect”
That simple truth, means quite simply, that they have no frame of reference in terms of identifying a good practice from a bad one. There is one underlying fundamental commonality that all practices share however,…… the service aspect. Every single one of us can recognize poor to excellent service. In veterinary practices, clients have more direct contact with the service and patient care support staff than the doctors. Those interactions, whether positive or negative, are what tend to tip the scales one way or another for clients choosing a practice. Service is something we can all gauge. It’s something that successful companies like Apple, Inc. understand and build directly into the fabric of their operations. They realize that while the product must be top notch – without excellent people, who are highly skilled, trained, and supported, fewer people will be willing to purchase their products. Today, if you walk into an Apple retail store, you can find iPhone users ranging in age from 6 years old to 86 years old. They have reduced the level of complexity with regard to the product, and in fact, shifted the focus from the product, to the service. These customers return with questions – questions about what else they can do with their product, and that requires highly trained, skilled employees, with positive attitudes and a great support team to make that a successful environment. I reference the Apple retail stores simply because of the parallels that can be drawn between them and veterinary medicine, and what can be learned. While it’s true that veterinarians are not selling iPhones, they are in a sense, selling what clients perceive as increasingly costly procedures which are highly complex – much like the iPhones. Clients want someone to communicate with them about these procedures so that they are more simplistic, and they can understand the value they’ll receive for their money. Apple does an excellent job with managing communication, keeping things simplistic with high tech products, and crossing generations in the process.
The staff at the Apple retail stores do not receive any sort of sales training either – they are instructed to learn as much about the products they have a responsibility for and simply be a source of information and help customers who visit the store in answering any of their questions. They also use a strategy called ‘talent flooded to the front’ meaning that their most valuable assets – the people who can answer questions, are all on the floor, engaging with customers. It’s service at it’s finest. While you may think this sounds like an expensive method of operating, consider that the Apple retail stores have consistently outsold brick and mortar retail stores by more than 17 x the national average.
The reason these numbers are research are important is because what Apple does better than anyone is understand their competitors, and identify how to brand or position themselves, offering something that their competitors are not or, are not doing as well. The late Steve Jobs had proffered at one point, why stores such as “Gateway Retail” had failed? In his estimation, it was because anyone could sell you a computer. What they failed to realize and Apple capitalized on, was that customers would have questions, and those questions had to be answered, and done so with a high level of accuracy and consistency. He ascertained that prior attempts had failed because there was no formal or structured system for managing and ensuring a high level of service to the customers. He recognized that was the niche in the market that Apple could successfully occupy.
Veterinary clinics are facing similar challenges in that while the business is more ‘touchy feely’, the lack of a systematic process for delivering service can substantially hurt your business. Conducting effective market research research and helping you to identify your best opportunities to improve your practice through service delivery is something that we excel at, and can help you developing a strategy and training your staff.
Veterinary Management Technology Solutions Group 