How far can I move without losing my clients?
Q. After 23 years in the same location, my veterinary practice is landlocked. Parking space is almost nonexistent, and traffic is so heavy clients sometimes struggle to even enter the lot. My wife suggested we move into an area where housing is booming. But our practice is still growing where we are, and I don't want to move too far from this location. In a city with 80,000 people and nine other clinics, how far can I move without losing my client base?
By Sarah A. Chadwick, associate editor
Q. After 23 years in the same location, my veterinary practice is landlocked. Parking space is almost nonexistent, and traffic is so heavy clients sometimes struggle to even enter the lot. My wife suggested we move into an area where housing is booming. But our practice is still growing where we are, and I don't want to move too far from this location. In a city with 80,000 people and nine other clinics, how far can I move without losing my client base?
A. A maximum of two miles is the general rule if you want to maintain your current client base, says E. John Knapp, AIA, an architect and analyst in Eagan, Minn., and a Veterinary Economics Editorial Advisory Board member. Of course, you could choose to move your veterinary practice further and develop a new client base. To decide whether a new location could offer enough benefits to justify losing clients, buy a copy of your city map and circle a two-mile radius around all nine competing practices. Then circle your practice in red. "This easy exercise shows you where your competition is and where there may be a hole in the marketplace for you," Knapp says.
December 2000 Veterinary Economics
