Client Relations & Marketing

Schaumburg, Ill. - 9/15/07 - Recent reports and studies linking microchip identification implants, commonly used in dogs and cats, to cancer in dogs and laboratory animals need to be researched further, says the American Veterinary Medical Association in a statement released this week.

We talk all the time about first impressions. You doctors may never get a chance to make a first impression if your team suffers a misstep with a potential client along the way.

See how Well-Managed Practices turn their core values into financial success.

Videotaping in the exam room may make everyone nervous at first. But strong communication skills get clients on board with the best care. And this tool can help.

Send follow-up cards after pets' passing.

In this weight loss competition, being a big loser is a good thing.

Owning a pet is a lifelong journey. Help set clients' direction by offering strong care recommendations on nine critical topics.

Play a game to remember pet and client names.

Changing guidelines, research findings, and product choices can create a muddle of confusion. Sort through it and offer clients the best protection for their pets.

A trip to the optometrist's office reminded this veterinarian that clients are willing to pay for quality care-especially if it prevents hassles in the long run.

Get your facts straight with ethically clear and ethically ambiguous situations.

Veterinary behaviorist Dr. Melissa Bain has basic knowledge you can share on pet training with new or newly exasperated owners.

Dr. Jay Stewart, owner of Aumsville Animal Clinic in Aumsville, Ore., and a CAPC member, offers these tips to help your clients bridge the gap between awareness and action.

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Unfortunately, you can't read clients' minds and predict the information, products, and services they want. But you can take a good guess through a revolutionary process called listening.

"No. Here's why a strong recommendation for the care you believe in is the best marketing tool you possess."

Are you informal about informing, easygoing about educating, casual about coaching clients about their animals? See how more structure benefits your practice, pet owners, and patients.

It's probably more than you think. For example, a typical dog owner spends $219 a year on routine veterinary care, while a cat owner spends $175, according to the 2007-2008 APPMA National Pet Owners Survey (see Figure 1).

Months into the pet food recall, the veterinary world is out of sorts, with some dry and wet food varieties still off the shelves. But amid the frustrations, there's some good news: The recall has shifted clients' focus from cost to quality of their pets' diets.

The number of pet-owning households continues to grow, according to the 2007-2008 APPMA National Pet Owners Survey. About 63 percent of households own pets today, a 7 percent increase from 1988.

Yes. But oddly enough, few pet owners take the right steps to protect their pets, their families, and themselves from infestations (see Figure 1)

Where does Rover sleep? How much do pet owners spend every year? For answers to these questions and more, explore this list of fun facts about pets and the people who love them.

The dogs, cats, birds, fish, gerbils, and hamsters you see today might look like the same animals that walked into your practice 10 years ago, but they're different. A sign of their status change might be the number of companies that cater to four-legged consumers, including Old Navy, Harley-Davidson, Origins, and Paul Mitchell, just to name a few. You can also look to what their human companions are spending on these and other products-an estimated $40.8 billion in 2007.

University Park, Penn. - 7/24/2007 - The Penn State Equine Identification Program, to be held over the next year, will assess the the impact of microchipping horses for identification and tracking for the National Animal Identification System (NAIS).

A breakdown of communications step by step at a clinic.

Blogging can help bring back that loving feeling-in your work life.

A client handout on the benefits of microchipping

After the death of two wonderful dogs over the past several years, my family decided to take a few years off from being dog owners. Well, we're back in action now, puppy classes and all.

Feeling your blood start to boil? Avoid scalding yourself and others when you're faced with fiery flare-ups from clients or co-workers.

Quick identification of a "stray" can lead to a happy reunion when pets go missing. The other possible outcomes are not quite so cheerful.