around the World - April 2009
promotion tool
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Service: a key to business success
by Winston Marsh
Service is all about exceeding customer, client and patient expectations. Service is about
making people say 'Wow!' It's about making people feel great about the way you handle their
enquiry, their complaint, their problem, their need, their demand or their order. Take the time
to look at what service means to you and then start delivering it. The better you do it, the
better the results you'll get.
So, here's the 64 thousand dollar question for you to wrestle with and find an answer to…
"What do we do to make dealing with us memorable, so memorable that people will tell others
about it?"
When you can do that and make clients, customers or patients say 'Wow' from great service, they
keep on coming back and they tell their friends about it. Good service is the lifeblood of great
business.
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News from Veterinary Success Services
by Steve Kornfeld and Peter Weinstein D'sVM
The three basic elements of a successful direct marketing program are: message-market-media.
As we've indicated in the last issue, a direct marketing message has to be powerful and to the
point to generate favorable results. For a direct marketing message to be powerful, it has to
talk to the emotional side of what your clients need and more forcefully, what they want.
We usually act on what we want more than what we need. For example, many of us NEED to lose
weight, but the "I want to lose weight" is not very strong. Therefore we break down easily with
the first temptation. Think about it. You need to lose weight, but you don't really want it,
although you know it's important. Then someone offers you a triple cheese hamburger or if you
are into chocolate, a triple-layer, decadent chocolate cake. You know it's not good for you, but
you WANT it. As wants are usually stronger than needs, you find an excuse to reach out and
eat it.
As you can see, you are more driven by your wants than by your needs. This is very important
if you want to become a successful direct-marketing veterinary professional. We are all emotional
creatures in the end. Some of us (more in veterinary medicine than in many other professions) like
to think of ourselves as logical, but we are not. We all make emotional decisions, including
buying services, based on emotion, then we justify them by logic.
So think about the juicy morsel you are tempted to eat although you know it's not good for
you. Emotionally you feel you want it. Your logic then goes into overdrive and starts explaining
why this time it's OK to eat it: "it's only this time, I am going to work out to burn the extra
calories, I'm not that over weight", etc. Once the logical barrier is removed, you make your
move.
The same thing happens with your clients. When you tell them their pet NEEDS vaccination or
heartworm testing, or fecal testing or a blood test, it doesn't touch their emotional-self, only
their logical-self. Selling to logic is what the vast majority of us in veterinary medicine
are doing without realizing it's not the best strategy. Instead, if you talk about the same
services but speak to your clients' emotions, you will experience much greater client
compliance. Surprisingly, there is a way to do that systematically with awesome results.
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What's happening in small animal practice in the UK
Selected data from the Fort Dodge Index (FDI) Report to Dec 2008
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SPVS Congress 2009: helping practices survive the recession
The theme of the 2009 Congress of the Society of Practising Veterinary Surgeons (SPVS) will
focus on the current economic crisis, and in particular, what practices can do to not only
survive but thrive during the downturn.
SPVS Congress -- to be held this year at the fabulous Belfry Hotel
in Warwickshire from May 7-10, will address the challenging issues that practices are now
facing. 'Coping with the credit crunch -- making things pay when times are tough' is aimed
at the entire practice team from vets and practice managers to veterinary nurses and front-desk
staff.
With interactive sessions designed to encourage and inform all delegates, delivered in an
informal atmosphere by an excellent panel of speakers - headlined by Alison Lambert and her
team from OnSwitch - Congress 2009 will equip delegates with the skills and knowledge that's
needed in tough times.
Anyone wishing to attend as a day delegate will find the perfect opportunity on the Friday
(May 8) as this is a standalone day. Sessions will be aimed not just at practice owners, but
will be divided into two streams - one for owners and senior managers and one for employees
and junior managers. The streams will come together for some activities and split for others.
SPVS President Richard Hillman explained: "The idea is that it's about the whole team working
together and about empowering employees to show their employers how they care about the practice,
want it to be economically successful and then share in that success."
He added: "This year's Congress will be bigger and better than ever with excellent events
and CPD, not to mention the legendary social and networking opportunities that Congress provides
every year. I'll look forward to meeting delegates at what promises to be a real highlight in
the profession's calendar this year."
Dunlop's Question Time will present delegates with the annual chance to quiz the leading
lights within the profession, including Richard Hillman. A charity lecture from the Orangutan
Foundation will serve to highlight the plight of Asia's great ape, and what is being done to
fight for its survival. These are just a few highlights from this year's busy and exciting
Congress schedule.
Congress 2009 will also provide plenty of opportunities for networking and socialising as
well as relaxing and taking part in a variety of activities, including a golf competition, or
simply exploring this culturally and historically rich part of the country.
Congress will also thank Richard Hillman for an excellent and very busy Presidency during which he has helped raise the profile of the Society considerably. The Congress
AGM will usher in a new President, Iain Richards, BVSc CertVA Cert SHP MRCVS.
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VetPartners and VHMA Management Research Survey
VetPartners and the Veterinary Hospital Managers Association (VHMA) are working together on
a joint management research project regarding the future of veterinary practice management. The
research project seeks to identify the change in motivation and behavior that causes a change
from mediocre financial performance to high level financial performance. Specifically, the
research project seeks to pinpoint why practices made a change from mediocrity to success and
the tools that they utilized to implement change.
Through this survey we seek to identify potential practices for participation in our
research project.
All data submitted is restricted to essential access only to ensure confidentiality. Only
aggregate data will be reported.
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SEVC2009 - An International Event!
AVEPA in collaboration with NAVC will once again host the SEVC - Southern European Veterinary
Conference to be held this year, at the Fira de Barcelona's Montjuïc exhibition centre, which
houses the largest trade fair area in Spain and one of the biggest in Europe in addition to
offering excellent conference facilities.
This year's change in venue aims to provide visitors with an enhanced overall experience as
the new central location will offer participants a superior space with improved access, additional
services and a wider selection of nearby hotels.
The SEVC has strived over the past years to consolidate its reputation as an outstanding
continuing education opportunity for veterinarians from all over the world. Efforts are channelled
into providing a specialist scientific programme with over 80 hours of lectures covering all
aspects of companion animal veterinary care from diagnosis to therapy, with specific topics
including anaesthesia and pain management, dermatology, orthopaedics, dentistry, ophthalmology,
reproduction, emergency/critical care, neurology, wound management, behaviour, diagnostic imaging,
and surgery.
In addition, the SEVC programme of lectures includes a special two-and-a-half day
International Nursing Programme addressing practical nursing issues and a two-and-a-half day
Practice Management Programme scheduled to cover matters such as: implementing practice changes
and training programmes, preparation and implementation of marketing plans, strategies for
increasing revenue and improving team work.
The SEVC mission is to present the veterinarian community with the latest advances in animal
health care in an environment of professionalism, fun and sun. This year's social calendar will
include daily lunch at the conference centre and the not-to-be-missed "Grand SEVC Fiesta".
The official languages at the SEVC are English and Spanish with simultaneous translations of all
lectures. Additionally, some lectures will include simultaneous translations into other
languages such as French, German and Polish.
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Veterinary Technician Career Burnout is Evident within 5-7 Years
Every year, the variety of career choices for veterinary technicians expands to include more
and more options that offer upward mobility, appealing challenges, and monetary rewards. For
some veterinary technicians, thoughts of making a change start with dissatisfaction with
their current jobs. With knowledge of the options that exist, many of them would stay in the
veterinary industry.
Career Choices for Veterinary Technicians: Opportunities for Animal Lovers is a new book which
explores the daily responsibilities, salaries, qualifications, and pros and cons for a variety of
careers for veterinary technicians. It is full of career choices for working and aspiring
veterinary technicians, including positions in general practice, specialty practice, industry,
higher education, government, and more.
"Whether you want to jump-start your career, broaden your responsibilities in your current job,
make a move to a different hospital, or change your career path altogether, you will need to
take stock of where you are," writes Rebecca Rose, CVT, co-author of Career Choices for Veterinary
Technicians. "To improve your resume and broaden your choices, think of yourself in a new way.
Rather than being "just a technician" you have a compilation of skills and knowledge that is much
broader than you think."
Career Choices for Veterinary Technicians: Opportunities for Animal Lovers, written by Rebecca
Rose, CVT, and Carin Smith, DVM can be ordered from the American Animal Hospital Association.
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Technicians
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University of Queensland Veterinary Business Management Association
The Universityu of Queensland VBMA is a new Student Professional Group. They are the
second branch of the American based Veterinary Business Management Association, which was
founded in 2001 at Penn State and rapidly spread to all 27 American Veterinary Schools. The
goal of the American VBMA is to provide a support network among students with common interests
and goals. These students believe that in order to practice quality medicine, veterinarians
need to possess subsidiary skills to enhance client compliance and personal success. One of
the founding principles and greatest attributes of the VBMA is that is has always been led,
managed, and organized entirely by veterinary students.
The University of Queensland VBMA's initial aims and goals include a series of lectures
and workshops throughout the year aimed at all year levels, and beginning with a series of
lunchtime lectures to establish a stable membership. Ideally these lectures will involve
collaboration with other special interest groups of the UQVSA to enhance networking and attract
speakers from numerous specialties.
The major project of the inaugural year is the UQ
VBMA Conference - this will be a 2 day educational experience in the development of
professional and business management skills, and the fostering of respect for the group
as a Professional Organization by Australian Veterinary Industries, the UQ faculty and
its students. They aim for significant Veterinary Science and Veterinary Technician student
participation in the program and will encourage faculty attendance of all Lectures and
Workshops. This participation will provide an increased sense of business acumen;
understanding the intricacies of how a veterinary business functions and how goals are
translated into actions. It will also provide networking opportunities with key industry
stakeholders by getting to know various prominent figures in the profession and the roles
they play. It will advocate professional leadership and development in addition to
fostering the development of interpersonal skills.
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