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The Four Lessons to Being Teachable

Sunday, January 24th, 2010 by Dr. Dean Severidt

Formation of Leadership XVI

We will continue to talk about the need for leaders to be teachable. The moment that you stop learning is when you stop leading. We need to always continue to remain teachable and never stop learning from the past. Always remember that teach ability begins with knowledge, moves to understanding, and then results in application. You are teachable if you are consistently changing. All good leaders learn from their experiences , especially experiences that cause pain and suffering. The toughest lessons can sometimes create the greatest reward, if we look for the lesson and allow ourselves to be taught.

There are four lessons that we need to learn in regards to being teachable; these lessons are extremely important to the essence of leadership. The first lesson: do not believe your own press because the greatest enemy of tomorrow’s success lies within today. Do not think that just because something is working today that it will still work one to five years from now. Especially with technology changing every single day, we need to keep up at all times. It absolutely amazes me that in this day and age veterinarians are still not paperless with their medical records. They are hand writing records that no one can read. I have been paperless since 1993 and would never practice any other way. The second lesson: always observe how you react to mistakes. We need to get honest with our needs and make sure we do not make mistakes just because that is the way we used to do it. Veterinarians used to use ether for anesthesia; today that would be malpractice. Keep learning in all aspects of not only your practice, but also in your personal lives. The third lesson: try something new; watch how challenges change us for the better and keep us learning. I had performed ACL surgery a certain way for 29 years. About 1 year ago, a younger veterinarian that worked with me showed me the way that she performed this surgery. I listened, tried her approach, and I now use her technique every time I perform one. It is a better technique and less time consuming than my old approach was. The final lesson: grow in the area of your strengths. Do not be satisfied where you are today; always keep stretching. God has given us all different talents and abilities. We need to utilize the ones He gave us and make use of them the best we can.

As you continue to grow as a leader, always remember that we need to be open to learning and being teachable. Too many people fall into a rut because it is easy. They stop leading because they do not want to change or simply refuse to change. Many great leaders have failed and missed out on many incredible opportunities; simply, because they did not have the foresight to see that there are other options. Next time, we will talk about how my mistakes over the past 30 years in both veterinary practice and leadership have taught me lessons and made me grow into the person I am today. God keeps challenging me every day by allowing me to use my ego and make mistakes; fortunately, each time I try and learn a lesson and improve from these mistakes.

Tags: dr dean severidt, Leadership, veterinary management
Posted in Culture, Growing Your Practice, Leadership, Management | No Comments »

Selling Your Services as a Veterinarian

Thursday, January 14th, 2010 by Dr. Dean Severidt

What Separates Veterinary Practices VII

I have always wondered why veterinarians are so afraid of the word. I have asked so many veterinarians if they believe they are in sales and their answer always seems to be a firm no. Most professionals believe that they do not have to sell. They seem to have the illusion that people will just come to them because they have a need. However, the reality is that this has never been true, especially not today.

People are shopping around for everything these days, including medical services and specifically veterinary services. Just because we have our door open does not guarantee that we will obtain customers. People are looking for a friendly clinic, where they can trust the staff and doctors, and where they will be provided with good service for a reasonable amount of money. We have to sell ourselves to our clients every day, both as the doctors and also the staff, in order to keep clients coming back . In reality, we have to convince our clients to spend their hard earned cash on a service for their pet. Our job, as a clinic, is to show them the importance of this service and then let them place value on it. If clinics cannot do this for their clients, they will simply go to someone who can. It is very easy to talk people into or out of services, depending on your belief in that service. This is why selling is so easy. If we truly have a passion for animals (and I believe most veterinarians do), then we will want what is best for the pet, and our belief will sell that service. If we just practice what we believe everyday then it will be easy to provide our clients with more services. Our belief in what we do will ultimately sell the service. Furthermore, if we truly love what we do, selling will happen more simply then we think. Our attitudes and how we handle our clients will determine the services that the client wants to leave with at the end of their visit.

So the next time you go into an exam room think of selling and see what happens to your average transaction. As a result, it will increase dramatically and when it does, what happens? You will make more money, and the client and pet will be better taken care of because you offered them everything possible; you did not pick and choose on what you perceived they could afford. In conclusion, selling is providing your client with the best services possible.

Tags: dr dean severidt, Leadership, veterinary management
Posted in Associate Veterinarians, Growing Your Practice, Leadership, Management | No Comments »

Using Delegation to Increase Volume

Friday, January 8th, 2010 by Dr. Dean Severidt

What Separates Veterinary Practices

Delegation is the key to being able to become successful and generate average transactions that are profitable, yet still providing the client with the time and service that they want and expect. How good are you as a veterinarian at delegating during the day? Or do you choose to do tasks that others can do and not let your technicians do what they are trained to do? The question remains: why do some veterinarians generate a million dollars a year in revenues and others can only produce $500,000? Given the same number of potential clients, the answer lies in one’s ability to delegate tasks.

As veterinarians, we seem to have an inherent belief that we can do things better than anyone else . With this attitude, I have seen veterinarians that I have hired insist on doing unnecessary tasks from wanting to draw blood from animals to starting intravenous fluid lines. They are spending their time doing the work of a technician, while another veterinarian is seeing 3-4 clients in the same amount of time simply because they are utilizing their techs properly. Veterinarians have to finally get the attitude that they are paid to diagnose and recommend treatments, not necessarily to do the treatments themselves. Until veterinarians start utilizing their resources, we will remain a profession of low producing professionals that are busy doing unnecessary tasks.

When I am working, I picture myself as the quarterback of a football team, and I am directing my offense. I may have three exam rooms filled with patients to be seen all at once, and I use my technicians to do everything from getting blood, taking x-rays, to starting IV fluids. I am just going into the rooms, doing a physical exam, ordering tests for my techs to perform, and then reading the results and working up treatment plans. I am getting paid for what only can do. Using this method, I did over $1 million in revenues last year; therefore, I know it can be done. To me, it is a lot more fun because I get to just be the doctor, which is what I want to be. Working this way as a veterinarian does require having good technicians, not necessarily certified ones, but very well trained with lots of experience. Try delegating and you will be surprised at how much more volume you will do and also how much better you will feel at the end of the day. Furthermore, watch and see what happens to your technicians as you empower them . We can keep the great service that we have always offered as veterinarians, yet see more people if we stop doing tasks that are not needed to be done by veterinarians.

Tags: dr dean severidt, Leadership, veterinary practice management
Posted in Associate Veterinarians, Growing Your Practice, Leadership | No Comments »

What Seperates Veterinary Clinics

Friday, December 4th, 2009 by Dr. Dean Severidt

I have walked into veterinary practices that have spent tens of thousands of dollars on the reception area, only to have a person behind a desk that seems to be driving away business. A receptionist that does not readily welcome clients as they walk in the door, staying seated behind a messy desk could leave a lasting negative impression of the clinic. These practices focus so much on the aesthetics that they forget that the person behind the desk is truly what makes the first impression. I have never understood why veterinarians do not put more focus on those responsible for delivering customer service to their clients. I guarantee you if a client is impressed by a receptionist, they are going to leave remembering the excellent customer service they received rather than if the reception area was “shiny” and “new”.

At our clinic we focus a lot of our hiring process on finding someone that fits our “brand”. As a business it’s important to know what your brand is and what you’re trying to deliver to your clients. Sometimes the person with the most experience is not necessarily the best fit. It’s important to find someone that’s willing to adapt to the culture you’ve created. At our clinic, we have created a positive culture where our employees actually care about the well being of our clients as well as their fellow co-workers. If you develop this type of culture, you would truly be amazed at what it can do for your business. Investing your efforts in developing an interview process that is not only geared towards experience, but more importantly towards how adaptable the employee is culture will make you less likely to hire what I call “Siamese Weasels”. “Siamese Weasels” run around looking for other negative people to latch onto. In most cases, if there aren’t other negative people to latch onto, these people end up leaving on their own.

Many companies make the mistake of holding onto these people under the impression that they will eventually change. If they don’t fit your culture, let them go. Keeping this culture consistent throughout every member of your staff is vital. I constantly receive the compliment that we have the friendliest staff of any clinic a client has ever visited. I believe this is the greatest compliment I could receive even more than a compliment about one of my veterinarians. I want veterinarians to do a great job. I certainly understand that it’s a lot more difficult to expect good performance form an employee who makes far less than a veterinarian with a large salary. Regardless of salary, all employees should be a positive force in your business that you want and should demand.

Tags: dr dean severidt, Leadership, owning veterinary clinic, veterinary consultants
Posted in Culture, Leadership | No Comments »

Formation of Leadership IX

Monday, November 30th, 2009 by Dr. Dean Severidt

After deciding to become a veterinarian and then getting lazy my second quarter, I had to make a decision as to whether being a veterinarian was truly what I wanted. I made a choice at that time that no matter what, I would get into veterinary school and become a veterinarian. I was not going to let one bad quarter prevent me from doing what I wanted. All of the sudden I developed a desire, and nothing was going to get in my way.

I started going to the library at 6:00 every night and stayed until closing at 12:00 am, which was a total of 6 hours of studying every night, except Fridays and Saturdays. However, I had many temptations along the way as other kids were partying and having fun while I was walking to the library. More than once I was told there must be something wrong with me if I would rather study than party. Luckily, I had the desire to be independent of the good opinion of others; and as other students would say this to me, I would ignore them and go on. As we all know, peer pressure can be an incredible pull but true desire will overcome anything. Many of these students that were telling me this were in pre-veterinary or pre-medical studies also. Since we were all in similar courses, they did not understand why I had to study the way that I did when they were not doing the same thing. I would just say maybe I wasn’t as smart as them and go on and do my studying. I was determined to get a 4.0 this quarter, and I ended up with a 3.9. My desire was so strong now that nothing would stop me from getting accepted into veterinary school.

This same desire is what I went back to many times in practice when times got tough and difficult decisions had to be made. Many times leaders have to make decisions that aren’t popular and the desire to do the right thing will win out over the fear of making people unhappy. My desire kept me going, and after three years I was accepted into veterinary school and was that much closer to my goal. Out of all the students that were making fun of me, not one of them got accepted into a professional field the year that I did. Once again, my desire to accomplish something overcame all else and out of probably 30-40 guys in my dorm, only I was fortunate enough to get into a professional school. Next time, I will talk about how desire carried me through veterinary school and into practice.