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Is your wellness plan strategy ailing?
If talking wellness plans makes you yawn or cringe, just imagine how your clients feel! Freshen your approachand your marketingto help more patients receive high-quality veterinary care.
I know health plans are just one item on a long list of important topics you discuss during client visits. And it's easy to feel discouraged after hearing clients tell you they've “already heard it” or they aren't interested. It's also easy to lose momentum on any project without an end date.
With these challenges in mind, here are some simple ways to put the “well” back in wellness plans:
From personal to communal: When you discuss your success stories at a teaming meeting, a single encounter becomes a shared experience to rejuvenate the team's interest-especially if you can offer useful conversation tips and tactics.
Keep it fresh: Since wellness plans need to be evaluated annually to keep pace with fee changes, why not look at other possible tweaks at the same time? Incorporate client and team member feedback. Perhaps you could add a plan that includes a dental cleaning or one that provides rehabilitation services for senior pets. Being flexible and responsive to the needs of your clients and your team members keeps your plan fresh and relevant.
Timing is everything: Consider increasing your marketing initiatives, internally or on social media, towards the end of the calendar year to encourage enrollments at a time when you may have open appointments or could benefit from increased cash flow. You could also promote health plan incentives that coincide with special pet health months. For example, during the month of October (Pet Wellness Month), try a one-time offer to waive enrollment fees (see example below).
Timely promotion posts are a great way to generate interest in wellness plans. (Getty Images)In the end, wellness plans make it easier for clients to agree to our recommendations. Our patients get the care they need, and we look like heroes. In other words, keep talking about wellness plans!
Kelly Capasso is the practice manager at Bigger Road Veterinary Clinic in Kettering, Ohio. She shares her home with one dog, two cats and an Amazon parrot named Augustus Pepperman.
