Equine & Livestock Product & Promotions Guide

7 September 2022 | Product and Promotions Guide The burden of guilt Panelists for the aforementioned 2021 CareCredit veterinary industry roundtable agreed that horse owners sometimes try to make veterinarians feel guilty when it comes to paying for their animals' care … and it's not really that hard! "Veterinarians really need to do a little soul searching and realize that most of them have a hard time talking about money," said Grice. "It makes them feel kind of squeamish, like they don't deserve to receive payment for taking care of somebody's horse. It's almost like they feel it's wrong to profit from somebody else's misfortune." However, Grice said that most horse owners value the services provided by veterinarians, and it is the veterinarians who do themselves a disservice when they feel guilty about the hard work they do every day and getting paid for providing those services. "I think removing that guilt factor is huge," said Wendy Krebs, DVM, a partner and co-owner at Bend Equine Medical Center in Oregon. "We all want to be guilty; that's just our personalities as helpers—but get rid of it!" Krebs went on to say, "Veterinarians spend a lot of emotional energy on that 5% or 10% of clients that give them trouble, and I think we can free ourselves of that guilt, let them go, and focus on the good clients that don't give us trouble." Kelly Zeytoonian, DVM, MBA, owner of Starwood Equine Veterinary Services and Starwood Veterinary Consulting in California, stated it succinctly: "It is not our job to subsidize somebody's hobby." When a veterinarian gives reactionary discounts to clients who bully him or her by complaining about prices, services or skill, that veterinarian is doing a huge disservice to those loyal clients who are grateful for that veterinarian's quality of care. It can be hard to have those difficult conversations with unpleasant people, and sometimes it seems easier just to give in. But remember: "You train what you tolerate," noted Grice. Discounting is bad for business Discounting also can complicate business systems. Imagine a large breeding farm that insists on discounted service prices, or they'll go to another practice for veterinary work. When a discount is given to one farm, but not to another, the practice is suddenly invoicing under different price structures for the same level of service. Imagine if another farm's manager hears of the discount. Chances are that manager will not only feel disgruntled, he or she will likely want the practice to give an identical discount or the farm will switch providers. A series of different computer software codes for the same service at different prices for different clients can create internal chaos and administrative nightmares, especially in practices with multiple veterinarians. Communicate with clients One important step in avoiding the problem of clients asking for discounts is by being up-front about what services will cost. "If clients can anticipate what they're going to need to budget for, that will be less stressful for them—and it will be less stressful for you and the veterinarian-client relationship," said Charlotte Hansen, MS, the assistant director of statistical analysis at the AVMA in the Veterinary Economics Division. Take-home message Veterinarians need to communicate the value of the services they provide to horse owners while also being honest about the cost of those services. They need to set fair prices that allow practices to pay living wages to staff and doctors. And they should avoid (i.e., fire) clients who make them feel guilty about getting paid for doing a good job. Those are the important steps in avoiding discounting in veterinary practice.

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