Marketing missing in veterinary practices, survey shows

Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.-The average practice does not know how to improve the incremental fees charged per client/patient beyond $84.20, a new survey reveals.

Conducted by TR Cutler, Inc. marketing firm in Fort Lauderdale, the survey polled 631 veterinary practices throughout the United States. All practices were in business at least one year.

Other findings include:

• The average practice experienced a plateau in new client/patient acquisition past 3,000 base clients. In fact, 69 percent of respondents say the balance of patient/visit attrition and acquisition remained neutral past 3,000.

• The average practice did not know how to improve the incremental visits per client/patient beyond 1.125 visits per year. Ninety-two percent of the veterinarians and/or office managers agreed that if they could incrementally increase every client/patient to three visits per year, revenue stream and profitability would be significantly or very significantly improved.

• When a series of marketing approaches or methods were reviewed, less than 2 percent of the veterinary practices interviewed had tried all the concepts, and less than 12 percent had tried more than three of the techniques. Examples of marketing methods include: target direct mailing, customer retention through variable data reminders, geographic advertising placement, telemarketing to existing customer base and referral request reward strategies.

• When asked if they had wasted money on advertising, direct mail or other marketing outreach programs, 91 percent of those polled said yes. Of note, 98 percent of the respondents reported they were somewhat or very disappointed with at least one of their marketing campaigns/efforts in 2003. When asked what approach they planned for 2004, 78 percent said "don't know."

The marketing firm notes, "If people have been trained to get their automobile oil changed every three months or 3,000 miles, it is the same conditioning that will establish a similar frequency for veterinary visits."

Summarizing the data, the marketing firm suggests that veterinary practices with a client base of at least 1,000 clients/patients must use effective variable data outreach marketing to increase the number of visits (and revenue generation per visit) among the existing base. The firm also encourages practices to foster new frequency visitation patterns among existing clients, an effort that could potentially double the revenue base within 12 months.

For more survey details, e-mail trcutler@trcutler.com or call (888) 902-0300.