Practice Manager

Q. What's appropriate attire for a receptionist?

How you deliver information may be overriding your message-and preventing colleagues and clients from taking you seriously. Learn how to improve your presentation and earn their respect.

Q. In the past, I occasionally gave discounts to friends and family. Now they expect the same generosity every time they visit. What do I do?

Q How do we help our practice owner see our revenue is increasing even though practice traffic seems slower?

Mary's a customer service guru and a gossip. Lisa's a whiz with lab work, but she tends to grouch when she's pressed and running behind. These are the perfect set-ups for little betrayals.

Q When the phone is ringing, there's a client to be checked out, and a technician has a question, how do I prioritize?

Most of us aren't very comfortable talking about ourselves. It's a hard skill to master, and too often it feels like you're bragging. But if you're not talking about what you do well, how will others know? If you're waiting for them to catch you in the act, you may have a long wait.

Q What can we do to gently handle pets with possible pain issues?

You'd much rather be working with clients and pets than thumb-twiddling or standing around dreaming about services you could be rendering. So use these tips to cut back on no-shows and get back to business.

You can safeguard the lives of pets and their families by discussing zoonotic diseases and prevention.

List of Tax Strategies stories in January through December of Veterinary Economics.

List of Personal Growth stories in January through December of Veterinary Economics.

List of Practice Finances stories in January through December of Veterinary Economics.

List of You Do What Else? columns in January through December of Veterinary Economics.

List of stories written by authors whose last name starts with K-K in January through December of Veterinary Economics.

List of Life Balance stories in January through December of Veterinary Economics.

I recently discovered I'm pregnant. How do I protect myself and my baby from work-related hazards?

Feeling sapped? Rundown, tired, out of sorts? Oh yeah. It's so easy to give and so hard to say no. You do it all the time. It's the 15 minutes at the end of the day you spend making a comfy bed for a sick pet or the extra walk you sneak in for your favorite boarder. Or maybe you volunteer to stay late to finish filing or clear the clutter from the reception area. The truth is, you do a lot.

You're the head technician at a flourishing practice. The hands-on owner is struggling to keep up with his rapidly expanding client base, and he often fails to delegate tasks to his team. Firstline Editorial Advisory Board member Sheila Grosdidier, BS, RVT, a partner with VMC Inc. in Evergreen, Colo., offers this script for addressing the owner, Dr. Committed

Fee Setting 101

For the first few months after I gave birth to my son, I was pretty sure I wanted to quit my job. I loved my work, but those 12 weeks I'd spent at home getting to know this interesting little person weren't enough. Every morning, when I sent him off to day care, the guilt crept in. By mid-morning, it was an ache. And by 3:30 p.m., I could only think about rushing home for a few minutes with my son before bedtime.

Before you punt the ball on your relationship with your boss, consider whether you can gain ground with a little coaching. Then tackle any sore spots with these six strategies.

Page 100-104

Check out the answers to your questions about your salary and benefits, how to handle team conflict, what clients want, who owns pets, and data on 11 other critical trends.

More medicine, less management

Pick the right region, check your salary. Too bad it's not that easy. While the regional wage data by title may reveal trends in your pay, it won't tell you what you should be making. Why not?

Art batch for August 2007

Shawn McVey gives insights on changing your work culture.

Shawn McVey explains emotional intelligence.

There are some topics you just don't feel comfortable talking about, not even with your closest friends. So imagine opening up and sharing your deepest, darkest secrets with 40,000 complete strangers. That takes a lot of courage, doesn't it? That's just what authors Shawn McVey and Joanne Light have done this month. They're sharing their own intensely personal experiences with the hope that they can help others.