As with all types of businesses, there are certain best practices that managers have to integrate into the administration of the vet operation. These principles and standards are crucial because they help the clinic thrive and achieve growth.
Here are seven of these standards and how they can impact the growth of your vet practice.

Seven Best Practices for Veterinary Practice Management

These are key insights that every vet practice manager should observe in administration.
1. Adopt Technology for Internal and External Processes
It is essential to integrate technological tools in both in-house operations and dealings with clients and other external parties. The most important component of technology use is a website where you can display information about your business, especially your contact details.
You can also provide extra value via blog posts optimized for relevant but popular keywords. Hire a digital marketing expert to help implement an effective online marketing strategy.
Furthermore, in an increasingly remote-first world, scheduling and holding appointments with clients via video calls on a telemedicine platform will significantly improve the client experience.
Internally, adopting technology can take the form of digitized workflows and the use of software tools in communication, scheduling, invoicing, and payments. It can also entail converting files to electronic forms for seamless data storage and administration and enabling collaboration.
2. Prioritize Interaction and Communication
If you want to better retain customers, they must have seamless access to you and your services. Booking appointments should be effortless and available across multiple channels. Also, invest in technological tools to automate reminders.
All this also helps with customer engagement. Surveyed customers say that constant interaction is a critical factor in measuring their satisfaction with a brand. One way to ensure that the client always has your practice in mind is to regularly send them educational materials and tips.
You should also apply this multi-platform accessibility to customer service offerings, ensuring your clients can reach your vet practice via call, email, or even text. Finally, your interactions with customers should include courting feedback for services rendered.
3. Focus on Customer Satisfaction
Often, the difference between “good” and “great” vet clinics isn’t how advanced or sophisticated the facilities or treatments are. Instead, in most cases, the distinguishing factor is the experience that they offer to the patient (the pet) and the client (the pet parent).
A great way to offer such an experience is to show that you care about the patient by going the extra mile in fixing any issues that they might have. The strategies to achieve this range from making the clinic premises welcoming to offering additional perks to the client, such as free vaccination or nutritional supplements.
Then, after the appointment or treatment, reach out regularly to inquire about the pet’s health and to remind the pet parent of any future scheduled engagements.
4. Be Informed about the Latest Trends in the Industry
The veterinary industry is constantly evolving, with fads rapidly going in and out of fashion. New frontiers of research are regularly obtained while new trends emerge. Being unaware of these changes can result in the loss of competitive advantage.
Therefore, there is the need to stay in the know. Be sure to subscribe to top-notch veterinary industry publications and media sources.
You should also join industry groups, where you can garner helpful insights and build potentially helpful networks.
5. Create a Healthy Work Environment for Staff
Your biggest assets are human resources, so you should create the atmosphere for them to thrive and yield returns. For starters, carry staff along in daily operations, and make critical business decisions by promoting staff involvement and engagement. You can achieve this by committing important tasks to them, regardless of their experience level.
While you may preserve a hierarchical structure, ensure that it doesn’t stifle seamless interaction across levels. A way to implement this is to actively court staff feedback on various issues and engender team spirit.
In addition, invest in staff welfare via offering added compensation and continued career growth through sponsoring training programs.
6. Keep an Eye on the Operational Components of the Business
Remember, this is a business, and you have to pay attention to the different elements that constitute the veterinary enterprise. First, keep track of the vet practice’s finances by practicing proper bookkeeping and preparation of financial statements. This will facilitate other essential steps, such as keeping tax records.
Second, examine relationships with external partners, such as input suppliers and consultants, to decipher instances for review, furtherance, or discontinuance of the partnerships.
Finally, keep an eye on regulatory and legal compliance matters.
7. Revamp Your Medical Imaging Management System
Medical imaging is one of the most important components of veterinary practice because it helps achieve more accurate diagnoses and therefore, treatments. If a vet practice still makes use of traditional imaging management frameworks, there is the need to switch to systems that offer advanced storage, processing, and lifecycle management of imaging data. One such system is the digital picture archiving and communication system.

Benefits of Implementing These Best Practices

Integrating these standards in the management of a vet clinic puts the practice on course to enjoy various perks.
1. Seamless Workflow and Enhanced Productivity
Adopting technology in internal operations will help smooth the workflow process, with tasks moving seamlessly from one section of the vet practice to another.
Therefore, a great deal of time is saved that would have otherwise been committed to task management.
2. Increase in Staff Output and Productivity
With so many workflow processes taken over by automated tools, the vet practice can eradicate the need for manual labor in executing rote tasks. Staff members can then redirect their time and efforts toward more purposeful projects.
Accompanying this is an increased capacity to get more work done in less time. Furthermore, cultivating a healthy work environment will boost employee morale and their ability to do excellent work.
3. Better Customer Retention and Reduced Client Churn Rate
When customers enjoy the best of services from a vet clinic, the chances of trying out a competitor are greatly reduced. Therefore, you reduce customer churn rate and may even be on your way to building brand loyalty.
4. Boost in Business Volume and Topline
More client retention means increased or at worst, stable business volumes. When customers derive great services from you, they are more likely to recommend your practice to others. Remember, a personal referral is the most effective marketing strategy.
The combination of these will spur growth in business income.
5. Improved Ability to Generate Innovative Ideas
Conferring with staff and receiving feedback from clients enables you to discern areas that need improvements in the practice. This way, you can develop better ideas to enhance the clinic, internally and externally.

Final Thoughts

Running a vet practice can be complicated because you have to balance running a business and running a medical facility. However, you can still achieve great feats if you observe certain standards and best practices.
Nonetheless, in implementing these strategies, there will be a need for external partners, especially in the area of technological adoption. Asteris is a perfect collaborator. With Asteris, you get access to a suite of bespoke software tools targeted at making vet practice management more seamless, relieving you to focus on what matters.
Here at Asteris, it’s our goal to help veterinarians make sound medical decisions with ease, clarity, and confidence by giving them the tools and insights that they need to optimize the way they work.
If you’re ready to stop feeling like there’s not enough time in your day, we can help you optimize your imaging processes and the way you work. Contact our specialists today to get started!