A Sense of Belonging

Of the many marketing tools at our fingertips, the very best are the kind that reach into the community and inculcate you and your team as part of that family.  The message isn’t about purchasing something, discounts, or value; it’s about your place as a denizen of the town and your pride in being a part of it.

In New York City, where I spend a good deal of time, the problem isn’t a desire to be a part of a community; it’s a struggle to find a community!  Sure, we have sections of the town that historically have had a flavor, a sense of scaleable size, Murray Hill, Turtle Bay, the Upper East Side, Chelsea, come to mind, but anymore, NYC and Lord knows how much of the America’s sense of community has been paved over and replaced with a generic identity.  Secure an inroad into a community?  What community?

Which might be a great opportunity for you and your practice. I’m flipping through the twenty-five pages of the local newspaper here in my other world…it’s the opposite of New York City…a little town called Wyalusing in part of Pennsylvania called the Endless Mountains.  If New York City is the place to go for haute cuisine and glam, this is the town for neighborly help when selecting the right shotgun or securing that used Dodge pickup you’ve been meaning to buy. This place is rife with community inroads because it is abundantly just that: community.  Page five features a picture of six kids from the high school that sewed pillowcases for children with cancer.  Page three is a ‘way we were’ photo of the town’s citizens 68 years ago.  Page one is a detailed expose on the goings-on at this year’s Quilt Festival.  None of these events made the national news, but they did an amazing job at lighting up my face when I read about them and the businesses smart enough to sponsor (and in some case create the event), captured my attention.

Those of you who’ve attended our the Social Media Workshop with the infectiously likeable Brenda Tassava,Brie Messier and Phillip Barnes know that the secret to a successful social media marketing plan is an honest connection with one’s audience.  Its the site administrator’s ability to create content that embraces its ‘like’ base, says hello and most importantly belongs.

You're Part of the Solution

I spent 6 hours this past week talking to veterinary technicians at the CVC in Washington. If you’ve never been, you should treat yourself.  It’s a polished show.  It’s a one of those one-two punch experiences where you realize that in addition to talking about care, service and attention to detail; they’re actually demonstrating how it’s done.  The presenters too offer more than you’d otherwise expect.  Spanning the country…well the globe now that I think of it…they seem handpicked for brains, experience and unmatched exuberance for their topics.   Though caffeine (and delicious food btw) is handy…lining the hallways…at a corner stand, you forget you need it.  The speakers provide that much of a kick all on their own.

But enough gushing, the real reason I’m telling you this is that my topics were not about veterinary nursing.  I was asked to do material for vet techs interested in management and the issues we were addressing were not pleasant: anger in the workplace, micromanagement, disastrous management habits, and the like.  The topics spurred a lot of commentary from the audience, both during and in-between lectures.  I was moved to hear some of the problems that those in attendance were experiencing at their practices back home.   Despite the fact that our industry is chock-a-block with capable, well- intended and highly ethical professionals, too many are working day after day in practices besought with discord, foul ups, contention, hazing…it’s truly astonishing some of the stories you hear.

It’s not a reflection on our capabilities, so much as a fall out from a long list of goals and expectations we’ve heaped upon ourselves.  Think for a second what nearly every one of our practices is trying to be:

A veterinary care center for a diversity of species

A one-stop shop for surgery, pain management, orthopedics, rehab and well care

A laboratory

A pharmacy

A hospital

A kennel

A pet food and supply retail store

A grief center

A switchboard

An education facility

A community advocacy group

A rescue organization and shelter

An animal training ground.

That’s the short list.  I’m sure you could add a couple of bullets on your own (feel free), but probably just as critical we are trying to do it with little to no business management education, insufficient training for paraprofessionals, AND we’re trying to do it in a high-stakes, life-and-death setting.

Working collectively and synergistically is not intuitive.  On the most rudimentary level, people work in teams to get a ball through a hoop, four bases run, or a baton speedily passed around a track field.  In order to accomplish that, they spend weeks, if not months practicing.  Additionally, no individual on those teams stands by and watches passively. In order to succeed, everyone embraces their responsibilities and ‘owns’ the problem.  Even watching from the sidelines is anything but passive.  It is constant observation, cheering and a strong desire to jump in and help.  Imagine now how much work and leadership our efforts need.

If I didn’t see you at these management lectures, I want to see you at future ones.  For the sake of your commitment to the well being of animals and the humans in their lives, those of us in veterinary medicine must contribute to veterinary medical management.  It’s simply too challenging to do it without your help.  Simply put, your participation is essential to our success.

The good news is that your journey towards helping all of us succeed at our slightly-nutty, but wholly heartfelt and worthwhile list of practice goals will enrich your life.  For no leader is ever born great, but made so after years of whittling away at their own personal shortcomings.  In their quest to find solutions, they discover how they contribute to the problem.  Be a part of a solution that will make you a better person and our practices great centers for care.

(Interested in becoming a leader?  The VHMA is an excellent source of continuing education and peer support.)

We Want YOU!!!

I’m doing a couple of management lectures at the upcoming CVC in Washington, DC.  I’m picturing the room.  The last time I did a management lecture to a bunch of technicians, there were eight people in the room.   A lively, interested group, but still there were just 8 bodies in one big room with lots of chairs to spare.

Many veterinary technicians don’t believe that their roles and leadership/management mix.  Their role is patient/client care and that’s where their responsibilities end.  Many are thrilled with the border.

But truth be told, licensed veterinary technicians (just like associate veterinarians ) will be asked to lead not just once, but many times during their career and it’s a responsibility they should embrace.

Working collectively under one roof, dovetailing the efforts of say 8-60…in some case 100-200… veterinary-health-care professionals into one collective, successful effort at great patient and client care is extremely challenging.  We fail at delivering the kind of consistent, mistake-free service we hope to provide, not because members of our team our uninterested, but because a lack of organization and leadership have all of us well-intended people at cross purposes and getting in each other’s way.

Leadership is not just telling people what to do and it’s not being the bad guy.  It’s keeping your eye on the goals and moving a group of individuals towards those goals.  The most successful leaders don’t make enemies in the process, but end up making people feel great about their efforts and encourage individuals to learn and stretch.  They give them an opportunity to top their past accomplishments.

Successful leaders have also spent time being self reflective, because accomplishing the above is a tall, tall order.  You can’t do it unless you’ve reviewed your own behavior and idiosyncrasies to discover what aspects of your own personality might be thwarting the group’s efforts.  Successful leaders work as much on themselves as they do on their group’s goals.

Successful leaders can chart progress not just in their practice’s goals, but in their life’s goals as well, because successful leadership skills bleed into one’s personal life.  Finances improve, relationships improve, old habits get trod down, better and new beginnings awake. 

Yes, there are spreadsheets involved.  Unfortunately you may have to bring a calculator and it’s very likely that you’ll have to remember an employment law or two, but if I’m at the head of the class, I promise you a good time.  And if you embark on the journey by yourself, for whatever reason miss this year’s CVC,  then you can always spot Debbie Hill or Brian Conrad or any of the other fine CVPMs out there at another conference who will be able to give you a helping hand with flourish.   I look forward to meeting all of you at the end of the week!

(Can’t attend the CVC?…check out other upcoming lectures by Halow Consulting)

The Social Media Workshop Express

I’m sitting with Brenda Tassava, CVPM and author of Social Media for the Veterinary Professional, having coffee, reflecting on three whirl wind days of education in Social Media.

For those of you that did not attend, this workshop was an intensive learning session. Our speakers, Brenda, Phillip Barnes and Brie Messier, both of North Star VETS gave all students a thorough immersion into the world of Google Plus, Twitter, Facebook, Youtube and Blogging.

The BAVMA group listening to Brenda Tassava's Key Note Speech

Aliza Dubois, Phillip Barnes, Brie Messier and Dr. Jen Tsung

Dr Sally Haddock of St. Mark's Veterinary listens in

Each session was part of a partnership with a State’s practice management association.  In New York we coupled with the Big Apple Veterinary Managers Association a group that boast some 60 interested members, though it is still under one year old.  We met at Pace University’s modern Small Business Development Center, next to the quickly rising Freedom Tower in lower Manhattan.  In New Jersey, we were at Northstar VETS, a truly remarkable veterinary facility and winner of the 2012 Veterinary Economic Best Referral/Emergency Practice Award.  Here we collaborated with the New Jersey Veterinary Hospital Managers Association, a group  I started some 4 years ago and which has grown robustly since.  Some 160 practice managers in the State of New Jersey are now associated with this dynamic organization and attend its quarterly state-wide meetings.

Lee Coudrai of Winslow Animal Hospital, Dan McCann of Marne and Lisa Brezecki all the way from Pa and Newtown Veterinary!

Jerry Rouvrais of Middletown Veterinary and Candi Pisano of  Seagirt

Lastly, we dropped by the Ron and Carlos Hodges’ practice, Valley Central Veterinary Referral in Whitehall, Pa.  Anyone who has not had the pleasure of meeting these two gifted and caring veterinarians needs to make a pilgrimage soon.  They both embody sincere, loving care of animals and a great, happy regard for all of their clients.  They, along with their tireless Administrator, Allyson Tolliver, are a paradigm of what all of us strive to be in this profession.

The good folks of Bloomsburg and Whitehaven Veterinary enjoy coffee before the start of the lecture

Charlene Wandzilak and Christine Britton of the PVMA take notes and listen in

The discussion Brenda and I share is about the education we provided, about the success of each round table, about the prospects of doing another class… but mostly it is about the joy we had in learning this material with all of the attendees…the fun they had…the laughs…the total satisfaction of working with each other to figure something out, making friends along the way and turning a day of work, into an extremely fun (albeit exhausting!) productive day of education.

Charlene Wandzilak, executive director of the Pennsylvania Veterinary Medical Association, was on hand to discuss the new non-dvm membership category of their prestigious organization.  During the lunch break, all of us hung out with Charlene and talked about her ‘sky’s the limit’ vision for the PVMA…no longer just an association of doctors, but of all veterinary team members… doctors, technicians, client care reps, assistants, kennel attendees and groomers… eager to lift the entire profession to higher and higher levels.  Here’s to all of you who pushed us a little closer to Charlene’s vision.  Here’s hoping that you and Halow Consulting can make many more of these great opportunities happen soon.  Thank you NYC, NJ and PA for a great three days!  You’re Tweet…(sorry)

Is there an easy way to get to Success from Wyalusing?

Is it me?  Did I buy the wrong map?  I’m looking at the cover now.  It says ‘Success.  Scenic and interstate throughways with a driver’s guide to vacation spots, parks and rest areas’.  Hold on, I’m going to check the publication date…over here on the back…nope, 2010 publication date.  That’s got to be current enough.   Let’s reassess my position on the map.  I’m in Wyalusing, Pa. That’s G34.  G34…okay there’s G; there’s 34.  Yep! I’m on the map!  Now let’s just take a look and see if there’s any way out of here to the city of Success that isn’t a pain in the neck.   Here’s a route from my town to Success that will take me through Meaningful Relationship and the town of Fitness, but see no, that part of the road to Meaningful Relationship is practically a sheer-faced wall.   What if I were to go from here, through Fitness and take this back road to Self Awareness?…no, that looks like it’s closed down due to an overflow from Drinking Springs.  I guess if I want to get to Success, I’m going to have to take the long route that runs me past Night School, travels south to Patience, Pa. and then wraps its way up the long, icy, mountainous range of Repeated Failure.  I’m just so not in the mood for a trip up to Repeated Failure.  You ever see the potholes on that road?  Makes you wonder where your tax dollars go, I’ll tell you that.

Of course the other problem with a journey to Success is the cost of gas to get there.  It seems like the needle is always on E and every time you pull over for a refuel, its a couple more cents a gallon and a dirty bathroom. 

I’m trying to think of the last time I made it out of here and got over to Success.  I want to say it was way-more than a year ago.  I wanted to stay, but you know, it’s expensive as hell to stay there and that’s if you can find a room at all.  But the first thing I always do when I get to Success is take a stroll down that bustling boulevard they got.   I love the old-timey feel of it:  the original gas lamps, the stately Victorian homes.  Who are these people that live in these homes?!  And have you ever been there for Christmas?  I think its so cute how all the streets are decked with real pine garlands and all white lights.  Seems like every front yard has a perfect snowman with a carrot for a nose and real coal eyes.  A top hat!  A scarf blowing in the expectant, December air.  There’s also a diner I like to go to that’s frequented by a bunch of writers and artists and a couple of the town’s big shots.  Everybody knows everybody they should know in the town of Success and whenever I get there, I imagine what it would be like to live there full-time and mingle with these almost-celebrities.  At the diner…you can Google it…it’s called the Blue Bird Diner.  I know that seems cloying, but it’s actually quite unassuming.  That is till you get inside and you immediately know that you’re in a diner in a town called Success.  It has the right guests, it has the right wait staff (I mean they’re waiters and waitresses for god sakes, and even they just belong, you know?  How do they always get their hair to fall just so in front of their eyes?  Oh to be one of them, leaning on the breakfast counter and remarking on each other’s tattoos).  It even has the right menu.  Everything has a cilantro this in it or a lime-chipotle that.  You won’t see your plate garnished with a slice of orange and sprig of parsley here.  Each plate comes dressed with an enormous, fresh, California strawberry carved into the shape of a swimming swan. Order the coffee, and honestly, you wish you never had to leave.

Anyway, it’s bright today, so, map in hand, I’m going to load up the truck and see if I can’t get myself over there again.  I’m going to take the dog, a big bottle of water, a sandwich and my camera.  And if I get there, I’m going to spend the night…you know if their hotel isn’t sold out…and I’m going to buy a paper and see if there’s anything in the classifieds about an apartment to rent. Doesn’t have to be anything fancy, but you know if it turns out its a room in one of those Victorians on the boulevard…oh my god, that would be so great!

I haven’t any idea how I’ll support myself once I’m there.  You know that’s the thing about Success…it’s not the most affordable place to retire to.  I guess what I’m hoping is that just interacting with those folks for a day or two, just walking down those streets, that I’ll capture enough of the essence of the joint to tide me over past my inevitable return to solitary and ordinary, Wyalusing.  Of course, I don’t think anything would be better than living there full time, but for the present, I’m going to try to get there today and just see what happens. 

Thank you Dr. S

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! ;)

Oh My God, I think this Social Media stuff is actually working!!!!

In case you didn't think that Social Media worked,  have I got a story for you...  My client Dr. Howard Gittelman posted a short article on his blog about a new endoscopic procedure he perfected at his practice.  TV star Betty White found it and referred it to her friends who work at the Gorilla Foundation, the folks that take care of Koko.  Koko, you may remember, is the ape that can communicate with sign language.  Koko had a piece of plastic stuck in her stomach and Dr. Gittelman was flown to Palo Alto to assist a rather large medical team in the endoscopic procedure that successfully removed it.  This has been the THIRD attempt that the medical team had made, but interestingly enough, this was the first team that had solicited the help of veterinarians.  The first two attempts only had human doctors on board.  But evidently vets on board and three's-the- charm worked, cause Koko is recovering great!

I was with Dr. Gittleman yesterday and the stories of Koko's 'compound', her abilities, her trainer/teacher/handler Dr. Penny and the efforts of the Gorilla Foundation were fascinating.

ANY-WAY the moral of the story is that you never know what blog post, what Facebook page, might be the bottle thrown into the sea that actually washes up on shore.

To that end, I certainly hope that everyone in the Tri-state area (that's NY, PA and NJ) is planning on attending the Social Media Workshop that we are hosting along with each state's respective veterinary manager's group.  Vetstreet and Merial have generously agreed to shoulder some of the cost so we're able to bring our industry's top Social Media and Marketing experts to you to provide HANDS ON help with understanding Social Media in general, the various applications that are out there and how to begin a Social Media Marketing campaign at your practice.

And who are these Internet experts?  What???  You didn't get the Tweet?   What's a-matter, your Facebook page is down?  Oh, I know, your Google Plus Circle isn't working....I see.  Then just click here.