Greater Compliance is a win-win-win.

During the last fifteen years I have been amazed at the sincerity and dedication of virtually all veterinarians. You are truly committed to the health and well being of your patients. I think the same can be said of the vast majority of pet owners. Despite the concern of both veterinarians and pet owners, pets are nowhere near receiving the best possible care.

Research by AAHA revealed that only about 25% of recommended cats and dogs receive dental prophylaxis. Only 32% of aging dogs and 35% of aging cats receive senior screening. Less than 20% of cats and dogs are receiving recommended therapeutic diets!

Another national study showed that 71% of pet owners follow recommendations when they receive a thorough explanation of of the doctor's treatment plan vs 51% who felt they did not understand the treatment plan.

What's the bottom line? You need to do a better job of communicating with your clients! Direct communication with your clients is an essential part of your marketing and is essential to improving compliance rates. Take time to talk and everyone wins: the client learns how to be a better pet owner, the pet receives better care and you get to deliver better care and increase your bottom line. It's a win-win-win.

Lagniappe: A word worth traveling for.

In my previous post, I suggested that you give each client a little something extra. In Louisianna and other parts of the south, this extra something is called lagniappe. Mark Twain writes about the word in a chapter on New Orleans in Life on the Mississippi (1883). He called it "a word worth travelling to New Orleans to get":

We picked up one excellent word — a word worth travelling to New Orleans to get; a nice limber, expressive, handy word — "lagniappe." They pronounce it lanny-yap. It is Spanish — so they said. We discovered it at the head of a column of odds and ends in the Picayune, the first day; heard twenty people use it the second; inquired what it meant the third; adopted it and got facility in swinging it the fourth. It has a restricted meaning, but I think the people spread it out a little when they choose. It is the equivalent of the thirteenth roll in a "baker's dozen." It is something thrown in, gratis, for good measure. "

Lagniappe is foolproof way of making your clients feel good. My friend of many years, Vic Wolf, is the owner of a hair salon in Portland. Every once in a while he will give his clients a free bottle of shampoo or a hair brush or other grooming accessory. This giving is returned to him many times over in the form of incredibly loyal customers who are generous with their tips. Those who go to other salons may feel they got their money's worth but those who leave Vic's salon leave feeling they got more than their money's worth. How would you like your clients to feel?

Give great service. Then give a little something extra, a little lagniappe!

Give a little more during tough times

There is no doubt that almost all Americans are feeling the economic squeeze. Times are tough. Our clients are feeling the squeeze and cutting back on their treats and luxuries. She is down-scaling her expectations. As a marketer you have to ask yourself, how does this make her feel? Indulging in small and large treats is one of the ways she builds self esteem. 

As Faith Popcorn wrote during the last recession: "The good news for marketers: the worse it gets, the more we need them, these little life-enhancing, get-us-through-the-tough-time-lifts."

Right now our client needs those little extras to make her feel better about the tough times and to feel good about herself and more hopeful for the future.

What might these extra lifts look like? We have talked about them in earlier blogs: fresh brewed coffee and warm chocolate chip are enough to lift the spirits of any client. Some of my clients have added the TGIF wine and cheese on friday afternoons. Bring in a masseuse once a month and have her give clients a neck and shoulders massage while the are waiting. There are also advertising specialties that are inexpensive, yet do a nice job of branding: pen and notepads for her shopping lists, squeeze balls to relieve stress and increase fitness, cool drink holders, etc etc.

Even the extra effort to put out fresh flowers and upbeat music will help.

Those little extras can make all the difference in your client's outlook as she navigates her way around the difficulties we all face today.

It tastes like chicken

I have just returned from the Australian Veterinary Conference where my lectures on veterinary brand marketing were received with much enthusiasm. The Australians are open and warm and generous in praise. Their cuisine is heavy on protein but light on vegetables. I tried all the local delicacies I could lay my hands on:

Kangaroo––tastes almost like beef with the grainy muscle texture of venison. Crocodile––tastes like chicken (what else is new?) but with a rubbery texture like raw squid. Mud crab––tastes like crab. Not as delicate and sweet as local dungeness crab and with shells tough as nails. Darwin bugs are not bugs but tiny lobsters or big crawfish––tastes like small lobsters.The local fish, Barramundi, which is now farmed is a must and makes absolutely great fish and chips. 

The local meat pies are also a must experience. I had a braised lamb shank pie complete with bone and it was good, indeed, though they seem to have a fondness for small gristly bits swimming about in it that I could do without. In a Sydney Irish pub I had lamb shank that had been slowly and darkly braised in Guiness Stout that was to do for. Vegemite is a dark brown goo that is made from the spent brewer's yeast. I was given a bottle and will open it tomorrow. You are supposed to spread a little on a piece of warm, buttered toast. What the heck, I've put worse things in my mouth.

Did not have a Darwin Stubbie (1.25 liters of beer!). They used to measure the distance from Darwin to destinations in the Outback by the number of stubbies it took to get there. I find the Australian red wines fat and jammy with fruit which is not to my palate's preferences but the crisp, metallic Sauvignon Blanc chilled whites are great on a hot Darwin day!

They really do say "G'day, mate" but would prefer that you speak American or whatever. Instead of "You're welcome" they say "No worries, mate."

It looks like I will be returning for more lectures and to meet with new clients down under so I will be able to give an even fuller report in the future.

G'day, Mate!

Soon I leave for a week of teaching in Darwin, Australia. I am looking forward to the response of the hospital owners there. Judging from their websites (those who have a website), I can see that they struggle with message as much as veterinarians here. It seems to be almost impossible for veterinarians to avoid certain defaults: "quality", "friendly", "treat your pet as family". A popular word in Australia is "professional"––like, you have to tell us, Doctor, that you are a professional? And that you are friendly and do good work? Really?

The last generation of branding was product benefit based and very simple at its best: Volvo=safety,  Crest=cavities, Prego=thick, Obama=change. As branding shifted from product benefit to client lifestyle, so did the branding messages: Nike=just do it, Oprah=go for it, Martha Stewart=be true to your nature. While lifestyle marketing is still king, the tide seems to be shifting to experience marketing, where the marketing itself is part of the experience and directs the client to new experiences: iPhone=experience the difference. 

For my lectures in Australia, I spent considerable time learning about the language, slang and Aussie lifestyle so I could speak to them in a meaningful way. Information that has no meaning is mental garbage. Client communication that has no meaning to the client, is garbage. It may have meaning for you the doctor, but it must have meaning for the client.

In the spirit of Nike or Oprah, for instance, "Yes you can!" has meaning for the client. It is an encouragement and an affirmation. It makes her feel good. Now that is meaning at the deepest level! It touches on the experience of living itself.

As you reach out to communicate with clients and potential clients, reach out and touch her, her life, her emotions, her hopes and aspirations, her needs, her fears etc.

Harder to do that mouthing meaningless phrases about yourself like quality, friendly and family. Harder, yes, but not impossible: just do it! Go for it! Yes you can! Or, as they say down under, 'Av a go, mate!

Tweet, twitter, twuffer

Social, network marketing is part of the future and the future is here. Veterinary owners should consider trying to develop a twitter following. You don't have to twitter mindless nonsense all day long and stay glued to your computer or ipod. Major agencies are helping clients learn to twitter effectively. My friend and owner of Grady-Britton Advertising and his firm have developed a piece of open source software called Twuffer that will allow you to write a bunch of tweets at the same time and program them for sending out later in a prearranged time frame.

The internet offers unparalleled opportunity for communication with clients and potential clients and a lot of it is absolutely free. 

Don't underestimate the power of connectivity. It is a powerful way to help build brand.

By the Way: my kudos to blog follower Jeff Logas who actually seems to follow this blog and to share his hospital experiences with others. I hope more of you will jump in with your experiences and stories.