Q&A: Help your team help your practice

For marketing initiatives to be successful, team members should be involved in both the planning and implementation phase, says Dr. Amanda Donnelly, MBA, owner of ALD Veterinary Consulting in Rockledge, Fla. Team members often have excellent ideas and are generally more engaged when practice owners and managers ask for their feedback.

One of the best marketing projects for team members is to ask them to work together to improve client compliance for wellness services. Start by calculating your current levels of compliance and setting target goals for the entire team. Then assign job duties related to client education—a.k.a. marketing—for each position in the practice. For example, to improve fecal compliance, the front office team can be responsible for reminding all pet owners to bring in a stool sample to be tested for parasites. The technical team can be responsible for sending clients home with a prepaid fecalizer container if they don't bring in the sample.

Another marketing project well-suited to team members is organizing and participating in a community event where they set up a table or booth display to promote the practice. Ask the team to focus on a theme, such as senior care, early detection testing, feline wellness care, or dental care. Then they should prepare packets for pet owners that include educational brochures, information about the practice, and giveaway items like magnets, pens, bandanas, or dog and cat treats.

In addition, encourage them to display a sign-up sheet for people to enter a gift-basket giveaway by providing their e-mail addresses. You can then send out an e-newsletter or follow-up information about the practice, which can help attract new clients—and keep current ones coming back.