Take control of patient protection with a once-a-year injectable

Busy lives, pet resistance, and forgetfulness are among the top reasons given by clients who have the best of intentions yet often fail to comply with veterinary recommendations about parasite protection.

Your practice has the power to achieve 100% preventative compliance with a once-a-year injectable like ProHeart^® 12 (moxidectin). With a year-round offering, clients no longer have to worry about monthly visits to pick up a dose, or missed doses, yet their canine companions will be protected for an entire year.

You may be thinking that taking away the need for clients to pick up a heartworm disease preventive each month may reduce client visits and, as a result, potentially reduce retail profits. As client compliance typically averages around 30%, a quick crunch of the numbers reveals that the benefits of year-round compliance far outweigh this concern. You don’t need to obsess over the client visiting the practice every month. Instead, aim for the goal of protecting the 70% of dogs that are not receiving any prevention. It’s a win-win for both parties. The client has protected their dog for 12 months even before setting foot outside your practice and, in turn, they aren’t stopping by your practice taking up valuable staff time, asking them to order their prevention online or administer their purchased doses every month. Your practice then realizes the revenue that would otherwise never have been seen.

TEAM BUY-IN

By training the members of your team to see ProHeart 12 as a valuable service, they are not only educating the client on the benefits of a once-a-year preventive, but also ensuring compliance and healthier outcomes.

IMPLEMENTATION TIPS

Your team will be on board for this, and successful implementation can be accomplished using these tools.

Reference guides

Provide quick reference guides on pricing. These guides need to include comparisons of popular heartworm preventives both stocked in-house and online (don’t forget the Zoetis rebates).

Team challenge

One of my favorite ways to implement new ideas or products is with team challenges. A little healthy competition is good for everyone!

• Run the challenge for 90 days. We can do anything for 30 days, but it becomes a habit after 90 days.
• Think outside the box. Your team may be used to lunches and Yeti cups as coveted prizes. Add new perks to show that the profits from ProHeart 12 can also offer added value for them, while meeting everyone’s goal of protected patients. Some fresh ideas would be profit sharing, extra continuing education opportunities, or tuition reimbursement.

PRICING TO MAXIMIZE PROFITS

It may be time to rethink the standard percentage markup across the board and move toward margin pricing. Commonly, the preventives that adorn your shelves are sold in single doses, and in 6- and 12-month supplies. They are probably marked up by a percentage based on the quantity of months sold. This is a standard industry pricing strategy, but ProHeart 12 can make way for a new pricing strategy. Margin pricing allows you to create a target price based on weight ranges, which keeps ProHeart 12 affordable. If you shift your thinking from ProHeart 12 being a product to being a service, it should be priced and treated as such. You’re no longer buying a product to mark up and resell. Instead, you’re providing a convenient, affordable service for your clients.

Clients may be more price-savvy than ever before, with pricing available to them through online giants offering free shipping and coupons, but by following some simple steps to achieve the right pricing structure, you can come in well below the online retailers, while securing a healthy profit for your practice.

Step 1: Create weight ranges

• 0-26 lb
• 26.1-50 lb
• 50.1-75 lb
• 75.1-100 lb
• 100.1 and up

Step 2: Prepare to implement

• Compare prices on your current preventives with those of popular online pharmacies.
• Determine your target price and desired profit.

Step 3: Train the team

Train and educate your staff so that they are comfortable with explaining the pricing structure and benefits to clients.

The result? Heartworm prevention for which you've been profiting 75% or less can now easily and significantly increase your profits.

MAINTAIN PHARMACY REVENUE

Times have changed, and some of your pharmacy revenue may have decreased over the years. We have all tried to think up ways to keep pharmacy revenue within the walls of our practice while maintaining a strong bond with our clients. Even with our best efforts, it can still turn sour if you are declining prescription requests or charging to approve a prescription request. Time to pivot! Evaluate and provide what your clients expect: easy, convenient, affordable care and services.

ProHeart 12 checks all of those boxes and can change the landscape of your current pharmacy and client woes.

DECREASE THE PHYSICAL AND FINANCIAL FOOTPRINT

When was the last time you evaluated the footprint of the heartworm disease preventives currently on the shelf or shoved in random cabinets and drawers? It may be time.

First, footprint isn’t just about space, it’s financial as well. Profitability should be considered when you are streamlining the products you stock. Are you considering the profitability of your current stock of heartworm disease prevention, along with the time it takes the team to manage it? Putting in the effort to run the numbers so that you can effectively reorganize your heartworm disease preventives will help your practice soar to financial pharmacy success. A good starting point would be bringing in ProHeart 12 and moving out the products that end up expiring before you finish a carton. Plus, there are added benefits your clients don’t think of until it is time to shove a pill down their pet’s throat or realize that they forgot last month. Pair this with pricing strategies that are not only favorable to the practice but also the client, and this can strengthen the bond you try so hard to keep with your clients.

A CHANGE WORTH ITS WEIGHT IN GOLD

Although change can be difficult, don’t let the fear of change stop you from doing something great for your practice, your team, your clients and, most importantly, their canine companions. After all, increased compliance, boosted revenue for your practice, and healthier pets are what your team shows up for every day.

IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION: Use PROHEART 12 in dogs 12 months of age or older. Do not administer to dogs that are sick, debilitated, underweight, have a history of weight loss, or to those previously found to be hypersensitive to the drug. Hypersensitivity reactions may occur in some dogs when PROHEART is administered alone or with vaccines. Anaphylactic and anaphylactoid reactions can result in death and should be treated immediately with the same measures used to treat hypersensitivity reactions to vaccines and other injectable products. Reported side effects in clinical trials included vomiting, lethargy, diarrhea, anorexia, and hypersensitivity reactions. People should avoid inhalation, contact with eyes, or accidental self-injection. Certification is required before veterinarians and staff administer these products. See full Prescribing Information in attached PDF.

This article is sponsored by Zoetis PetCare, maker of ProHeart 12. To download, click the PDF below.

All trademarks are the property of Zoetis Services LLC or a related company or a licensor unless otherwise noted. © 2020 Zoetis Services LLC. All rights reserved. PHT-00246