Peak revenue performance comes to those conscientious owners who tune and tweak their practices. They know that not every
growth opportunity comes stock. Yet the strategies that afford maximum performance often aren't that expensive—or difficult
to come by. They can be as straightforward as talking to team members during your next training meeting about how to reinforce
your recommendations.
Of course, you could adjust your fees. (See "Focusing on Fees" in October 2005 for more.) Yet fees alone don't determine revenue
growth. It's a web of interactive forces, involving your client numbers and retention, level of service, offerings, and more.
Tweaking any one of these components can turbocharge growth.
For example, let's say you already perform all the services you recommend for your current clients and charge appropriately.
If so, consider increasing your client base. Or maybe your new client numbers are phenomenal, but you can't keep pet owners
around. In this case, you'll need to evaluate staffing levels and team members' effectiveness. Use these strategies and tools
to tune up your approach—and give your practice more gas.
Attract more new clientsYou want about 20 new clients per doctor per month in a stable community and 43 in a transitional community. To get new clients
through the door, you'll need to boost community awareness of both your practice and pets' healthcare needs. For example,
you could contribute to the local newspaper on animal wellness topics, speak to schools and local civic groups, or conduct
lunch-and-learns where you visit a local business and talk to employees over a brown-bag lunch.
Of course, these ideas are just a place to get started—not a stopping point. Get your staff members involved, and give them
a sense of ownership. Ask them to stir their creative juices and come up with their own ways to build the practice's reputation.
Curious about how adding new clients will affect your revenue? If your average doctor transaction is $130 and clients visit
for medical care three times a year, adding 50 clients each year would increase your revenue by about $20,000.
Create value for clients
Figure 1: 12 critical components of revenue
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Once you attract new clients, you must create value to keep them. Steven Little, a business analyst, speaker, and consultant
in Wilmington, N.C., tells a story about a seafood restaurant known for its oysters—and for the camaraderie of its wait staff.
Diners felt welcome and relaxed, and the restaurant had become a gathering place. As the restaurant grew, it also expanded,
hiring a new waiter whose main focus was to serve oysters as quickly as possible. After all, this was the restaurant's forte.
And the new waiter turned tables faster than any waiter in the restaurant. Yet he failed to interact with his patrons. Attached
to the friendly atmosphere they'd come to love, patrons stopped visiting, and the restaurant suffered.
The problem: This restaurant didn't know what its clients really valued. Sure, the excellent oysters were important—or the
restaurant wouldn't stay open. But other restaurants served excellent oysters, too. The friendly service made the difference.
Patient care is your oyster. You must deliver in this area—but when you do, it's not a guarantee that you'll see business
growth. You must provide great service, too. As Little said in a session at AAHA! Baltimore 2005, "Veterinarians are in the
people business."
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