Marketing Articles
90ish Seconds with Dr. Aspros
What exactly is a Chief Veterinary Officer and why is it such an important role? Our very own CVO, Dr. Douglas G. Aspros breaks it […]
Industry
The most difficult conversation your Associate can have with you…
An informal poll of Associate DVMs recently found that the most anxiety-inducing conversation they could have with their boss was around buying into the practice. […]
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Industry
Why is Veterinarian Ownership so important to the profession at large?
Here at VPP, we like to toot our own horn about how we’re preserving veterinary ownership in a changing landscape (it’s one of our core […]
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Finance
Can you practice high quality medicine and still be truly profitable?
90 seconds with Dr. Aspros! We asked our Chief Veterinary Officer, Douglas Aspros, DVM, whether or not a practice can still be profitable even if […]
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Industry
“Sale” isn’t a Four-Letter Word
I’ve been reading Cindy Adams and Suzanne Kurtz’s terrific book “Skills for Communicating in Veterinary Medicine”, which should be a requirement for every clinician. When […]
Industry
Will Corporations Own Everyone?
Unless you are Rip Van Winkle and have been asleep the past 5 years, you likely have noticed that corporations are calling more frequently now […]
Industry
4 Strategies for Taking Advantage of Manufacturer Consolidation (and how you can save big $$$ along the way)
As we described in a prior Practice Edge article, the drug manufacturer world has consolidated significantly in the last 10-15 years, going from 15+ manufacturers […]
Industry
The driving factors behind Manufacturer & Distributor Consolidation (and what it means for you)
And then there were four. When Boehringer-Ingelheim bought Merial in early 2017, the veterinary drug manufacturers consolidated to four major players – BI, Zoetis, Elanco […]
Industry
Veterinary Practice Partners and Veterinary Study Groups Announce Veterinary Management Group (VMG) Membership for VPP Practices
Veterinary Study Groups (VSG), a leading provider of management support for practices in the United States and Canada and Veterinary Practice Partners (VPP), the co-owner […]
Finance
3 Common End-of-the-Year Traps to Avoid to Keep Your Bottom Line Intact
You’ve worked hard all year and banked the profits. You feel flush and pretty good, but it’s that time of year again, when vendors focus […]
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Marketing
This popular recommendation could mean alienating 75% or more of your client base…
There are a few things that we’re very passionate about here at Veterinary Practice Partners. Our office candy bowl, snuggle time with our office dogs, […]
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Industry
Not too long in the tooth: Practice ownership & age
What’s the best age age to start the next phase of your career in veterinary medicine, becoming a practice owner? Maybe it’s the age you […]
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Industry
Communication, Estate Planning, & Legacy: Managing the Complicated Dynamics of Owning a Family Business
The Trump Organization may be the family business that garners the most attention in the news these days, but it’s not the one we’ll focus […]
Marketing
How to increase your reminder compliance rate in 2 simple steps
No matter how foolproof your reminder system, or how wonderful your client experience, there will always be those clients who mysteriously stop booking appointments. They […]
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Uncategorized
Reflecting on 50 Partnerships
This week Veterinary Practice Partners partnered with our 50th hospital. 50 is something to be acknowledged and even celebrated, but it is, after all, just […]
Marketing
Why Yelp is a necessary Evil pt. 3: How we suggest you use it
Section 3: How we suggest you use it This is the final post in our Practice Edge series about Yelp in which we explore how […]
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Marketing
Why Yelp is a necessary evil pt. 2: How it works
Section 2: The 3 things you should know about the inner workings of Yelp’s platform So, how does Yelp work anyway? You’ve got this listing, […]
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Marketing
Why Yelp is a Necessary Evil
Yelp doesn’t have to be a 4 letter word: Why Yelp is a necessary evil and how to embrace it Ask any small business owner their […]
Student Loan Re-payment Programs: What’s the Catch?
As we partner with practices across the country, we’ve noticed significant deviations in the way employees are compensated depending on many factors. We’ve also noticed […]
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Conquering a Tough Job Market
Like everyone else in the veterinary market today, we’ve struggled with the challenges of hiring the people we need, especially doctors, to provide the services […]
The importance of surgery in general practice – it’s more than medicine
It doesn’t matter whether you’re an enterprising practice owner or a young veterinary associate saddled with debt – you want to optimize your earnings. Good […]
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Best of VMX 2018: Marketing & Technology Tools pt. 2 – PetDesk
This piece is intended to highlight companies that deserve attention from individual, independent veterinary practice owners. No compensation was provided in return for inclusion in […]
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Best of VMX 2018: Marketing & Technology Tools pt. 4 – Vetstoria
This piece is intended to highlight companies that deserve attention from individual, independent veterinary practice owners. No compensation was provided in return for inclusion in […]
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Best of VMX 2018: Marketing & Technology Tools pt. 3 – FuturePet
This piece is intended to highlight companies that deserve attention from individual, independent veterinary practice owners. No compensation was provided in return for inclusion in […]
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Best of VMX 2018: Marketing & Technology Tools
There is a lot to take in when you walk the floor of a convention like NAVC (now known as VMX) or Western. Exhibitors of […]
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Your 2018 CE Resolution
Attending a large CE meeting (and there are so many good ones available these days, spread all across the calendar) is always an exciting break […]
Don’t get conned by a yellow pages scam
Consider this a public service announcement for veterinary practice owners (or small business owners in general actually): Have you ever gotten an “invoice” in the […]
VPP’s CE Workshops: A Year in Review
For the last couple of years, VPP has led full-day continuing education workshops in partnership with MWI, BI & AAHA. The basic premise behind the […]
Wellness Plans: Why Banfield Succeeds and You Won’t
Several years ago, the promised panacea for dwindling patient visits was wellness plans. “Look at how successful Banfield is!” the consultant community raved. Headfirst many […]
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Examining Your Practice’s Financial Health
When a veterinarian examines a pet, there is an accepted approach that all Veterinary Schools teach regarding evaluating their health that includes a SOAP. How […]
New Avenues for Associates interested in Ownership
Historically, practice ownership for veterinarians has been the best avenue to wealth creation, and today that continues to be the case. A life-long associate at […]
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The Most Important Thing Every Practice Should Do to Attract and Keep the Best Employees
How often have you heard organizations proclaim that their employees are their most valuable resource? How often do they behave that way? There was a […]
The Magic (or lack thereof) of Marketing Success
At VPP, we’re very proud of the fact that our partner practices have, on-the-whole, enjoyed phenomenal revenue growth. Our practices have enjoyed 12 consecutive quarters […]
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DVM or Executive Technology Officer? In today’s world, it’s both.
It’s a busy Monday morning – your front desk is trying to catch up with weekend messages, patient admissions, regular appointments and all the telephone […]
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Traveling Specialists: A Growth Opportunity for General Practices?
Over the past 10 years, the availability of traveling surgeons, internal medicine and other specialists has been growing significantly. It is likely due to the […]
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The Driving Forces Behind Veterinary Consolidation
The veterinary industry is undergoing consolidation at an unprecedented rate with Mars acquiring three major players — VCA, Blue Pearl and Pet Partners — in […]
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VETPulse
Twice a year VPP enlists an independent market research group to conduct a survey of veterinary practices. In that survey practices are asked questions about […]
The shrinking middle
“Business is all about solving people’s problems — at a profit.” — Paul Marsden I’ve been a general practitioner all my life. There’s no shame […]
Quality: Taking Care of Business
Total quality in a veterinary practice rests on a foundation of good business practices. You can’t sustain and grow your business if you don’t generate, […]
The Skinny on Nutrition and Profit
The public scrutiny of pet prescriptions and the re-introduction of the so-called Fairness to Pet Owners Act has led many veterinarians to worry about the […]
Jet Setting Pets: What Should Be the Practice’s Role in Overseas Travel?
The growing importance of the human-animal bond has been a positive development for companion animal practice – as family members, pets get better everything, including […]
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Referral Sources: The Best KPI for Your New Client Marketing Efforts
Do you track referral sources? No, I’m not talking about measuring which veterinarians send you cases for your particular professional specialty. Instead, I’m speaking of […]
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Medicine or marketing – no longer a choice for DVMs
It’s long past time for the profession to embrace the fact that veterinary medicine isn’t just a personal calling – it’s a business, too. Businesses […]
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The importance of leadership with a small “L”
If you’ve been to a meeting lately you know that veterinary medicine is focused on leadership these days. From the AVMA’s Veterinary Leadership Conference to […]
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Veterinarians.com AKA LocalVets.com – Friend or Foe to the Practice Owner?
If you’ve owned a veterinary practice long enough, you’ve surely come across Veterinarians.com (formerly known as Localvet.com). This is the online service with a massive […]
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Strategies for Thriving – Even with Student Debt
Whether you’re a recent graduate yourself – or just their employer – you know that newly minted veterinarians emerge into the world with debt problems. […]
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Driving Dental Compliance After Dental Health Month in One Simple Step
February and its ever-present focus on dentistry is now behind us and for many practices this means that appointments for such procedures will diminish considerably […]
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Workshop: Fundamentals of Profitable Care and Growing a Patient Base
This one-day workshop, led by the senior management team from Veterinary Practice Partners, provides you with practical, easy-to-implement tools and strategies for profitably growing your […]
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Industry Publications
At VPP, we think about managing veterinary practices a little bit differently than the rest of the industry. Consequently, our opinions tend to find their […]
The Pitfalls of Using Industry Benchmarks
We speak with many practice owners, all of whom have unique professional goals. While our initial conversations are primarily focused on understanding the practice and […]