July 4th, 2010 by Dr. Dean Severidt
One of the most expensive aspects of running a veterinary practice is inventory. It is also one of its greatest assets. Veterinary inventory control and management is often overlooked, with focus instead on billing and marketing. Managers must be able understand the owners vision and take the steps to ensure it becomes reality. This includes being able implement new processes and procedures. An effective veterinary manager is able to juggle the everyday needs of the practice as well as oversee inventory control. An ideal candidate will have knowledge of and experience working with drugs, vaccines, regulations and usage.
The manager must be able to understand the importance of inventory as an asset. Mishandled assets result in the loss of profits. Losses may come from incorrect mark ups on the drugs or extended shelf life, which will mean they will be disposed of rather than used. Procedures proven to be effective in managing veterinary inventory control include monitoring the supplies and medications used and ordered on a consistent basis. Frequent communications with the distribution companies, meeting with the sales reps and customizing the order schedule help reduce excess overhead and may help in receiving better pricing.
Inventory control management is only part of the big picture. As the practice grows, the manager’s duties expand. Managing the inventory becomes a task for other staff members, taking time away from their other duties. For successful growth without losing control of expenses, it is crucial to have a veterinary inventory control system that will track and manage this asset. Systems that are fully integrated into existing management software are instrumental in improving cash flow and profitability. Strong inventory and costing systems allow the veterinary manager to analyze the trends and manage the business more efficiently.
Protocols for ordering, receiving and stocking the inventory can be tailored to meet the needs of the practice. The results are reduced inventory costs. These systems are developed to encompass all areas of veterinary inventory control. Some have the ability to connect to the distributor for automated ordering. Others allow for bar code scanning of supplies to ensure loss is minimized. Reporting options allow the manager to analyze all aspects of inventory and its overall effect on the business. Efficient inventory control not only helps reduce costs for inventory, it streamlines and automates processes that would normally require dedicated personnel.
Tags: inventory control, owning veterinary clinic, veterinary clinic, veterinary management
Posted in Growing Your Practice, Management | No Comments »
June 1st, 2010 by Dr. Dean Severidt
If asked, what would you say is the most important ingredient to a successful career as a veterinarian? It could be your grade point average, years of experience, average transaction, or it could be how good of a surgeon you are. All of these are true, but I believe the most important characteristic is one’s attitude. A person’s attitude can determine everything from how well we perform duties to how we react and get along with people.
Many of us may think that we have a great attitude, but do we ever listen to what we are actually saying on a day-to-day level? Listen to how you respond to problems and situations and see if you are truly positive or not. Also listen to what you say to other employees and clients and see if you are positive. Record yourself for one day and you would be shocked at all of the negative things that you actually say. Unfortunately, we are all programmed to think negative and all of the subconscious stuff that has been buried over the years will naturally make us very negative. We all have a lot of dark shadows in our past that are waiting to be released; however, until they actually are, they will manifest themselves by us projecting our anxieties and fears onto others, which we do by being negative or not having the best attitude. Whenever I want an answer on how to act, I always try and look at Jesus. Whether or not you are a Christian, we all know about Jesus. His life here on earth was one of complete servant hood. He had all of the power of God, but instead chose to be a servant for us. He did not brag of whom He was or what He could do, he humbled himself even unto death on a cross. How many of us truly are humble? Or do we let our ego run with us since we are educated and have DVM behind our name? Be positive and have a great attitude about everything and then see how your life unfolds. Next time, we will talk about these dark shadows and what we can do in order to release them to improve our attitude.
Tags: business leadership, veterinary practice growth
Posted in Culture, Leadership | No Comments »
May 15th, 2010 by Dr. Dean Severidt
Why do some veterinary clinics run so smoothly and others seem to be so chaotic all of the time? Some clinics can handle many people at once and others can only handle one or two at a time. Space definitely has something to do with it, plus patient flow and flow of charts has a lot to do with the amount of congestion in a clinic, along with the attitude of the veterinarians.
I have been in many clinics where there are so many steps to simply get a patient checked in. Then once the patient finally goes into a room, it takes a lifetime for a simple step to happen. They have to pull a record, have a doctor review the record, get the client to sign a release, print out a travel sheet, put the client in a room, find a technician to go in the room, and then reverse this entire process to leave. At the end, the only result is a frustrated and unhappy client. Most people do not mind waiting; however, they do want to see progress. When there are this many steps, there does not seem to be much progress.
Going paperless, as I have talked about earlier, will solve most of these issues. The person is checked in before arriving, then they sign a pad on entry, and then they are put into a room. The technician then goes into the room, followed by the doctor, the procedure is performed, and then the client leaves. All of the steps are shortened and the client is constantly being attended to. A lot of clinics that I have seen have an attitude that the doctor is this “high and mighty” individual and that everyone should cater to them. The doctor is an owner or employee and nothing else. Being a good practitioner has nothing to do with a DVM degree; it is totally dependent on your ability to converse and relate to clients. Do not make people wait longer then you would want to wait.
If clinics would understand that the client is the only reason that they are open and treat them as such, the flow of the clinic would take care of itself. Every client that comes through the door should be treated as if they are the last one left and should be given all of our attention. If clinics and veterinarians would focus on the client and not themselves, there would never be excess waiting time and there would never be unhappy clients. I have just lately seen an attitude coming out of school that “I am the doctor, people can wait on me, and I will get to them as soon as I can”. Instead, the attitude should be more like: “I am the doctor and the only reason that I have the privilege of being a doctor is because these people are coming into my clinic, and I will do everything possible to make them happy so that they do come back.” My bet would be that all of the flow problems and bottlenecks would go away because everyone would be focused on clearing them out so as to make it easier on the clients.
Tags: business leadership, veterinary management, veterinary practice growth
Posted in Culture, Growing Your Practice, Leadership | No Comments »
April 28th, 2010 by Dr. Dean Severidt
Have you ever wondered why some veterinarians are very successful as far as keeping clients happy and having profitable average transactions and others either make everyone mad or have horrible average transactions? There could be many reasons for this, but over my thirty years of experience, I have seen a lot of young veterinarians come and go, some with a lot of success and some with very little. Last week I talked about the different attitude of professionalism that we see from our veterinarians today and how it does not have the same meaning as it did years ago.
I believe from experience that the number one common denominator that most veterinarians lack is their people skills. This is their ability to relate to and communicate with clients. I have overheard veterinarians talking to clients in rooms and can pretty much guarantee that the client has no idea what they were just told. So why would they approve a procedure that they do not really understand? I have learned from firsthand experience as well as watching other veterinarians, that going into a room and talking on a level that the client understands will pretty much always result in the client opting to perform the procedure. Although the old school veterinarians may have not been the smartest people in the world, many of them are extremely down to earth people who are dedicated to their profession and do not feel superior to anyone; this allows them to relate to people at their level. Today I think that schools put so much emphasis on grade point averages that many of the young veterinarians that come out of school are very intelligent. However, although, they are way smarter than I ever dreamed of being, they cannot always relate to people. They can diagnose just about anything and everything, but they cannot explain it or simply will not explain it in simple terms to a client; therefore, leaving the client frustrated and unhappy with the services. I believe that many do this because they feel so superior to their clients that they have to talk in this way in order to build themselves up. I hear them complain about how dumb clients are, yet they can be so self absorbed that when it is 6:00 and time for them to go home, they will leave whether someone is standing in the waiting room or not.
I have never put any significance on grade point averages when hiring someone. My philosophy is that anyone that can get into and get through veterinary school is given the opportunity to be a good veterinarian. I look for people that can talk simply and do not present themselves as someone special, but just are who they are. They should carry themselves with confidence but not be condescending. They will stay for people that are late because they understand that they are doing this job for the client and the pet, and not just for themselves. Do not get me wrong; there are a lot of good veterinarians coming out of school today, but some lack so much professionalism which carries over and they cannot do the job that someone else can. Indeed, some knowledge is important to be a veterinarian; however, listening to people, understanding their needs, and truly caring for them and their pet will be much more successful than the smartest person in the world that cannot relate to clients.
Tags: owning veterinary clinic, veterinary consultants, veterinary management
Posted in Associate Veterinarians, Culture, Growing Your Practice, Leadership, Management | No Comments »
April 18th, 2010 by Dr. Dean Severidt
We have been talking about goal setting, and last time we talked about how goal setting helps us solve problems and that we make money by solving problems. Now I would like to address the idea of planning with goal setting. If we do not plan, then how can we achieve our goals? Most people spend more time planning for a vacation than they do for their future. What if you took off for a trip with no plan in mind? You have the family loaded in the car, you start to drive, and then when you get tired you stop and tell everyone, “This is it; we have arrived, even though we do not know where we are and maybe even how we got here, but yes, sorry everyone, this is it”. No one would really want to do that, but yet we do it all the time with our lives and in our business, and then we look around us and wonder how in the world did we ever get in this position or to this place in our life?
We all know how important it is to set goals, yet many people set goals and then never plan on how to actually achieve those goals. This is where strategic planning comes into play. For some reason, it is a scary term and most people, even large corporations, will do anything to avoid strategic planning. Strategic planning is nothing more than looking at your goals and asking yourself: how I am going to achieve them? What do I need to do today, tomorrow, next week, next month, next year to accomplish what I want? Once you have asked yourself these questions, you already have a plan. Then, if you are not achieving your goals, you do not have to stop; you can simply look at your plan and see if it needs some tweaking. You can come up with a plan on your own, your staff, or you can even purchase software that will walk you through the process (depending on how involved you want to get and how big your organization is). Sometimes you plan and plan and you do not achieve your goals. In this case, it would be a good idea to reevaluate your goals and see if they are legitimate and truly what you want. Maybe God has a different plan for you and you need to look elsewhere for your inspiration. There is absolutely nothing wrong with being on the wrong track as long as we recognize it and get back on the right track. Many successful people set out on a goal, had to completely change mid-course, and it was the best move that they ever made. Ronald Reagan, the greatest President of all times in my opinion, started out in acting and decided to change goals; he became one of the greatest leaders that the United States has ever seen. He did not do anything wrong; he was just smart enough to recognize where his real strength was and then planned for that instead.
Set your goals accordingly so that you can accomplish what you want both in business and in your personal life. Then sit down with everyone that needs to be involved and plan on how to achieve them. If the plan is not working, change it; or if needed, set new goals. There is nothing wrong with changing plans and/or goals. It is only wrong if you quit. Always move forward because once you quit it is over, and where you are is where you will stay.
Tags: goal setting, strategic planning, veterinary practice
Posted in Growing Your Practice, Leadership | No Comments »
