Through bleary eyes, I’m looking at an airport wall clock that’s reading 4:55 am. I’m on my home from the VHMA Manager’s Exchange that was held in New Orleans this past weekend. We were there just in time to catch the first bead-strewn-street days of Mardi Gras; that intoxicating, raucous celebration that drenches the city with revelers each year.
It’s an anniversary for me too. Twelve years ago, my first employer offered me a job in veterinary medicine and maybe 1 or 2 years after that sent me to my first veterinary conference. I’m marking that day as I watch the minute hand go round.
This particular conference was sold out and assembled in the hotel’s ballroom on any given day were some of the most experienced, educated and gifted managers in veterinary medicine. Though I’m sure they’ll post videos and pictures of the event online, I’m concerned that practice owners may still not appreciate the full value of sending their team members to a VHMA conference. So here’s an honest and hopefully motivating entreaty:
Educated Team Members grow your business: VHMA is a formidable organization. It is comprised of veterinarians, hospital owners and non-dvm managers, many of whom have successfully passed an extensive list of continuing education requirements, college level business courses, and a 75% pass-rate exam on federal employment law and business finance specific to our industry. Some manage small 1 and 2 doctor practices, while others handle jaw-dropping conglomerations of 100 or more veterinarians. At any given time, at any given VHMA meeting, 10% of the attending group are leading members of our industry; who provide regular advice and insight to a nation (and in some cases world) of veterinary professionals.
Attending Veterinary Professionals leave invigorated: As a practice owner, your job is to get your team members to see your business through owner eyes and undertake their jobs with an owner-like enthusiasm. How have you been trying to accomplish that up to now? I’m sure that you’ve found hollering doesn’t work and monetary incentives are short-lived at best. But just as your client care reps, technicians and associates all fall into the same patterns of behavior at your office, so your managers will fall into step with the exemplary talents of VHMA conference attendees. Moreover the habits learned will stick. VHMA is a small, highly-interactive organization (check out Member Connect if you don’t believe me) and attendees have any number of ways of keeping communication lines wide open and relationships aflame long after the cloths on the conference room tables have been stripped away.
But just how much money are we talking here? To best illustrate the rate of return, I thought I’d translate the benefits of attendance into clients instead of dollars. Let’s assume that every new client that comes to your practice, or leaves for that matter, is worth 150 dollars per visit and that each client comes two times a year (300 bucks for those who insist on knowing the math). How many new clients do you believe your team member may be capable of drawing to your practice or bonding to stay with your practice based on their attendance to a VHMA meeting? Before you answer, remember that these conferences are chock-a-block with individuals who lead the industry in client retention, marketing and service protocols. Can we say, very conservatively, 12? Is that too outrageous a projection? With transportation, the average cost of a VHMA conference is probably 1.5 to 2.5 clients. That means that at the most conservative estimates, a VHMA conference returns 6 times its investment. Think about that the next time a client leaves your practice due to a chronic problem or an unnecessary blunder.
A changing world that’s changing all too fast: Ten years ago, your biggest challenge was figuring out how to raise prices across-the-board without crashing the server. Now just the thought of price hikes is cause for anxiety. Add to this increasing competition for your pharmacy, toxic online review engines like Yelp, a shift from print marketing to online and social media ads, increasing health care costs…the list goes on long enough to require an aspirin and an ice pack. But why struggle with this on your own when VHMA conference attendees have any number of solutions for all of these problems up and running? The kinks are already worked out. The landmines are already identified.
An argument for friendship: Whoever said it’s lonely at the top spoke from extensive experience and while the top position often brings monetary satisfaction, it can be emotionally debilitating. How much is it worth to you or to your practice leaders to find true colleagues, advocates and friendships in this business? How much more can you or your team members accomplish just knowing that support is only a phone call away? How much time does logging onto Member Connect and having your management question answered by your colleagues in minutes save? Though our positions may require us to play the heavy, there’s still a living, feeling part of us that benefits from a peer relationship or an ear that listens and understands.
I started in veterinary medicine because the work was gratifying, meaningful and very enjoyable, but my growth as a manager, in symbiosis with the VHMA, has led to nothing short of self-actualization. I am, who I am today not just because of my career choice, but the education, camaraderie, alliances and breadth of experience afforded to me by association with fellow veterinary professionals. I reflect on it now, sitting in an airport terminal watching the minute hand slowly rounding the noon mark. It all began twelve years ago when my owner made a generous, leap-of-faith investment in his business…an investment in me. Thank you once again Dr. S. Oh, and good luck with your 2000 sq foot addition to your practice and your manager’s pursuit of the CVPM designation. It looks like your continued investment in your team is paying off! ;)
