Pamper Your Pet Owner
People love their pets. Just how much they love their furry bundles of joy has become evident in the amount of time pet parents spend creating their beloved fur baby’s social media profiles as well as by the amount of money they are willing to spend to keep their dogs and cats looking good, comfortable, healthy, and happy. Monthly grooming sessions, fashionable clothing, carriers and footwear, as well as food, annual vaccines and wellness visits make it easy to see why the pet industry is booming. The American Pet Products Association (APPA) estimates that in 2018 pet parents will spend more than $70 billion on their pets with nearly $18 billion of that total being spent on veterinary care.
Study Shows Millennials Devotion to Their Pets
TD Ameritrade’s study “Millennials and Their Fur Babies,” makes it clear that appealing to Millennials is essential for any pet-centered business. As a group, Millennials who have cats spend almost $34 billion on their pets annually; whereas, those with dogs spend $67 billion a year. In addition, Millennials say that they expect to spend more money on health care for their dogs and cats than they do on themselves. Millennials make up the majority of pet owners in America and a large portion consider their pets as their fur babies (76 percent of Millennial women and 58 percent of Millennial men).
Online Doggie Dating and DOGTV: A Clear Sign of the Times
Online doggie-dating services are designed to help pet parents find play partners and/or a love interest/breeding partner for their fur babies.
DOGTV resulted from years of research and collaboration between some of the top pet experts from around the globe. This channel is designed to provide the sights and sounds that are known to stimulate happiness and comfort within the canine community. The goal of DOGTV is to help the pet feel confident and happy, which translates into a decreased likelihood of behavior issues caused by separation anxiety and stress.
Doggie Dating for Single Pet Parents: A Place for Pets and Parents to Mingle
One of the main concerns single pet parents who are looking for a significant other have is whether or not their fur babies are compatible. Events like doggie dating for singles are helping single pet parents find out where the relationship between their fur babies stands before they get too involved. In order to increase profits, you have to find a way to stand out from the competition. Besides making your clients feel comfortable by spending a substantial amount of time with their pet, providing excellent veterinary care and offering quality products, one of the best ways to accomplish this is by letting your clients know how important they are to you. However, when you are pressed for time due to a backlog of paperwork, spending the time you need with each patient to make them feel at ease and important is difficult. This is one of the reasons that veterinarians are taking a cue from physicians and implementing electronic medical record systems (EMR). An EMR system eliminates the need for manual charting, which allows the vet to spend more time with each patient.
3 Ways to Pamper a Pet Owner
Simple gestures can make a big difference in the minds of pet owners. Many businesses know this and have capitalized on this fact for years. Here are three ways you can pamper your clients.
1. Pamper Your Clients' Pets with Complimentary Treats
Some banks hand out doggie treats to their clients who bring their precious pups through the drive-thru window, Starbucks offers the ‘Puppuccino,’ Dairy Queen has a ‘Pup Cup’ and Culver’s offers a Milk Bone atop a scoop of vanilla custard. Each of these specialty treats is complimentary. Keep in mind that when you pamper your clients’ pets, you are indirectly pampering your clients. Just as dentists allow the little ones to find a toy in the treasure chest following their dental exam, fur babies need a special something after their veterinary appointment. Offering a scrumptious gourmet treat following each appointment is a great way to make the patient (and the pet parent) feel special. These treats can be purchased from a local pet store or you can use an online recipe to create delicious, healthy treats yourself. You can make the delectable treats for cats and for dogs.
Creating Your Own Customized Treats
If you do decide to create these treats yourself, you could customize the shapes to represent your practice, the time of year and/or to make a specific patient feel special (e.g., a birthday cake-shaped or rattle-shaped treat for new puppies/kittens, etc.). All you need to accomplish this is an array of cookie cutters and some time.
For example, if you know that Ms. Adams is bringing Cocoa in for her annual checkup next week, create a special treat designed specifically for Cocoa. You could play off of Cocoa’s name and create a peanut butter dog treat that resembles a coffee cup full of hot chocolate. In addition, once the holiday season rolls around, you can create treats representing the flavors we all love (e.g., pumpkin, gingerbread, etc.) in holiday-inspired shapes. Furthermore, you can even create treats that are safe for your diabetic pet patients to enjoy.
2. Offer Flexible Hours and Weekend Appointments
While it is common for veterinarians to offer appointments from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. or 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Monday through Friday, consider offering your pet owners later hours on one of these days and Saturday appointments once a month. For instance, you could come in at 11 a.m. and stay until 7 p.m. on Wednesdays, and offer appointments from 9 a.m. until noon on one Saturday each month.
Needless to say, you can tweak this schedule once you know how many of your pet parents find it helpful.
3. If You do not Have an Emergency Line, Recommend a Pet Emergency Center
In the event of an emergency, fear sets in. The emergency situation at hand is scary enough, but when the incident happens after hours, the inability to reach your trusted veterinarian only intensifies the feeling of fear and helplessness. The reality is that although there are emergency room facilities for pets popping up all over the country, pet owners tend to trust their veterinarians more: Understandably, when you consider that these fur babies are much more than a pet, but a beloved family member. Therefore, if you would prefer that your clients visit an emergency center, recommend a center that you trust. Recommending a pet emergency center to your pet parents can help put their minds at ease.
Think about providing the information about this emergency center on your clients’ receipts or ask the center if they have anything you can give to your clients (e.g., informative ‘business card’ magnets, etc.). Magnets are ideal in that they can be placed on the refrigerator and are readily available when needed.
Implementing these three tips can go a long way in attaining patient referrals, receiving amazing online patient reviews and an increasing your number of regular clientele.
Veterinary Electronic Medical Record Systems Save Time and Money
The award-winning medical record solution company Amazing Charts has created an innovative EMR system designed specifically for veterinary clinics. This revolutionary system is PetTracks. When you choose PetTracks Veterinary Electronic Medical Record System, you will save time and money.
PetTracks’ easy-to-use voice recognition feature eliminates the need for manual writing or typing; thus, allowing you to complete your daily record documentation quickly. In addition, PetTracks Veterinary Electronic Medical Record System does not require tangible paper files, which leads to fewer filing cabinets. Furthermore, the elimination of paper files means a substantial decrease in your ink and paper costs.
The Actual Cost of Paper Medical Charts
Creating a single paper chart costs approximately $7 and just storing these charts can cost $1.75 per square foot, annually. In addition, the time spent pulling and then replacing charts costs from $5 to $11 in labor, and staff may waste as much as 30 percent of their time trying to track down misplaced paper records. Furthermore, up to 10 percent of tangible charge slips are never billed to the client because they are lost.
When considering the cost of creating, storing and locating paper charts in conjunction with missed revenue due to lost charge slips, the hidden costs of these charts add up. For example, a practice that sees three new patients daily with a total of 25 patients a week, could be wasting $7,000 a year on a paper chart system; however, with PetTracks Veterinary Electronic Medical Record System, each of these problems is eliminated.
The Benefits of Implementing a PetTracks Veterinary EMR System
Quick and easy medical record completion
PetTracks’ speech-recognition software allows for a quick and easy record completion process; therefore, you can eliminate the time-consuming charting method of typing or writing your patients’ medical records.
The ability to spend more time with patients
By reducing the amount of time spent on charting, you can increase the amount of time you spend with your patients and/or see more patients in a single day.
A smoother running office
Eliminate the wasted time, frustration and confusion associated with missing/lost paper records.
A reduction in the costs related to paper charting
Increase profits by eliminating the hidden costs associated with the traditional paper-charting method.
