Dr. Felsted is a CPA as well as a veterinarian and has spent the last 15 years working as a financial and operational consultant to veterinary practices and the animal health industry.  She also spent three years with the National Commission on Veterinary Economic Issues as CEO.  She has written an extensive number of articles for a wide range of veterinary publications and speaks regularly at national and international veterinary meetings.  She is the current treasurer of VetPartners, a member of the Veterinary Economics Editorial Advisory Board, a member of the CVPM board of directors and the current treasurer of the CATalyst Council.  In 2011, she was awarded the Western Veterinary Conference Practice Management Continuing Educator of the Year and in 2014, the VetPartners Distinguished Life Member Award.Dr. Felsted enjoys exotic international travel, and when the dvm360 team last heard from her, she was headed to the Galapagos.

Q: In today's economy, are discounts a sensible way to attract new clients?

"No," says Dr. Karen Felsted, CPA, MS, CVPM, and CEO of the National Commission on Veterinary Economic Issues. "Once you start walking down the discount path, you're going to be sorry when the economy picks up." That's because clients who were receiving discounts will still expect your gold-standard service at a silver price, she says. Instead of luring in pet owners with deals your practice won't be able to sustain, retain clients—and nab a few new ones—by communicating the value of the services your practice provides.  

Apply this to your regular clientele, too, Felsted says. Why? Because if you consistently start giving discounts on services like nail trims, clients will begin to think they weren't appropriately priced in the first place, she says. And just try getting Ms. Saver to pay full price for the sixth nail trim, after receiving five at half the price.  

The dish on discounts

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