Business

This sample phone script shows the kind of professional, accurate answers you can develop for team members to use in all their interactions with clients. (PDF)

When you conduct regular performance reviews, you build better understanding with your employees, clarify your mutual goals, and give employees feedback about where they excel and could improve. Use this form to get started. (PDF)

What does your receptionist say to a client who claims to have forgotten his or her checkbook? Or how does your technician respond to an angry client? In such cases, is everyone following a similar script? Is what they're saying the best response? If not, role-playing may help.

Last month, we discussed the power of crafting a compelling practice vision. The next step: putting your vision in writing. As you're writing, see your vision as an already-accomplished reality, not merely as something you hope will happen. Write in the first person and present tense, creating a vivid mental image with as much detail as possible to bring your vision to life. Use all your senses—sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste—to develop your description.

I'm a solo practitioner with only three employees. Are exit interviews really necessary?

It's difficult to really know what a job offers until you've been there a while (Catch-22!), but a little astute questioning can help. Use these questions as aids. Don't read them to prospective employers as a list of demands—gently work them into interviews when appropriate.

North Central Veterinary Center, a collaboration between a university veterinary school and private practitioners, proves there's strength in numbers--and frees local veterinarians from late-night emergencies

As different as associates' experiences are, they generally enter practice with four concerns. Dr. Philip VanVranken, the managing partner at Dickman Road Veterinary Clinic, a seven-doctor practice in Battle Creek, Mich., offers his insight from 30 years of experience and provides some quick mentoring. Here are his answers to four common questions.

It's 7 a.m. on a Tuesday morning, and our house is in its usual state of controlled chaos. Breakfast bowls are clinking, backpacks are zipping, and comments are flying around the kitchen faster than a budgie on a beak-trim breakaway. Unfortunately, every sentence seems to start with my name.

Your team members may find it takes some practice to stay calm and collected when unexpected situations arise. According to Ethics4Everyone, by Eric Harvey and Scott Airitam (Performance Systems Corp., 2002), it's best to prepare staff members for difficult events by playing the "what if" game.

Expect health insurance to cost about 10 percent more this year, marking five years of double-digit increases, according to The Washington Post.

They're here to stay. And the sites that target consumers are making heavy-duty media buys. Are you often doing enough to explain why clients should buy medications from you?

If a management vacuum occurs in the practice, then someone will fill it.

You're enjoying practice, and your clients and team members are happy. But don't let complacency take hold. These common pitfalls can bump you off track.

Make Yourself More Valuable/Practice Management

A Pennsylvania veterinarian's public reprimand by the State Board of Veterinary Medicine was overturned by a Commonwealth Court panel, according to the Associated Press.

I'm the sole owner of a two-doctor practice. I have a great associate. She loves it here, I pay her well, and she knows she's appreciated.

Think your practice could benefit from some expert help? A consultant may be the way to go. But it's not enough to just hire help. You must know what you want to accomplish, pick the best-qualified consultant to help, and act on his or her advice.

One hospital and its clients help a family stunned by tragedy pick up the pieces and begin a new life.

Many practices are set up as S corporations for tax reporting purposes, enabling owners to receive dividend payments that aren't subject to Social Security tax. Doctors usually receive these payments when the practice pays for veterinary services and management.

Any practice that modifies, adapts or adds to the business premises will qualify for a write-off period.

"Happiness is not the absence of conflict but the ability to cope with it."

Buying into a practice could bring great opportunities or heartache. The key: Know what you're getting into.

Remember, most clients won't appreciate the seriousness of periodontal isease until they see it.

Dividing medical and ancillary services into two separate-but-connected buildings allows the team at Intermountain Pet Hospital and Pet Lodge to focus on the tasks at hand and project a more professional image.

I tried to explain that six years and 60 pounds alters a lot of things. He was not in agreement.

News travels fast in my clinic. How can I keep information private until I'm ready to disclose it to my staff?

What message does the appearance of your clinic send? And what message do the doctors, technicians, and support staff members send when they interact with clients? For a real eye opener, ask your clients these questions, using surveys, focus groups, and casual conversations during appointments. And don't forget to ask new clients and staff members why they chose your clinic. Their fresh eyes can offer valuable insights into the first impressions your practice makes.

Our long-time office manager isn't keeping up with our growing practice. She did an excellent job for almost 10 years, but during the past few years, she's lost the practice money because she can't manage the increased patient and billing load. How should my partners and I approach her? How much severance should we offer her?

I know that an associate veterinarian who's juggling a hectic schedule, a crazy personal life, and pressure-packed workdays can easily get lost in the minutia of the moment. Before you realize it, weeks, months, and even years can float by. At the same time, critical decisions?about your career, your cash flow, and your potential?can get pushed to the back burner, or worse, never even considered.