Your new practice is up and running, your team have settled in, clients are coming through the doors, and you’re actually living your vision. The next 6 to 12 months are crucial in establishing your business and building towards profitability, and many new practice owners welcome a bit of extra support in this phase.
Practice owners are likely to be investing huge amounts of their available time into building their business and learning new skills, which can feel a bit overwhelming. The New Practice Academy, launched as a session at London Vet Show 2023 and supported by the NVS Group, is a resource that can support individuals in their journey to open a new practice and inspired this series of articles.
The first three articles were based on the live panel discussion at LVS 2023 and examined the changing veterinary landscape, the need to support new practices and what is useful to know about leadership and management in the early days of your new practice. This article looks at the challenges that newly opened practices may encounter, how to overcome them and the support that can help.
This article looks at the challenges that newly opened practices may encounter, how to overcome them and the support that can help
Getting to grips with practice processes
A common challenge faced by new practice owners is working out some of the routine operational processes involving their wholesaler, external laboratory services or practice management system (PMS). Vets who have become new practice owners are often busy with clinical work as well as management tasks and may have limited experience in dealing with order protocols or stock control. In previous practices, it may have been the practice manager or nursing staff who ensured that drugs arrived daily, samples were sent off and the results were reported back. Managing these processes well helps the practice to run efficiently and effectively, increases profitability and takes pressure off the team.
Practices that have successfully addressed these issues have dedicated time to establishing good processes for ordering and stock control from day one, taking expert advice from their suppliers and building good habits.
“Make sure you work with supportive suppliers and ask them for help,” says David Charvill (Figure 1), director of laboratory services at NationWide Laboratories. “Within the NVS Group, we have a whole team of specialists, from pathologists to technical account managers, who can offer support on stock control, lab profiles or tracking samples, PMS reports, social media marketing, pet retail and lots more in between. Ask the questions, and lean on your territory manager for support.”
Suppliers’ territory managers will commonly arrange regular reviews with new practices to evaluate purchasing data, show them tools that can streamline processes, and spot any gaps or issues to prevent these from snowballing. Investing the time early on to set up and check your processes can help your practice grow faster and more smoothly.
Investing the time early on to set up and check your processes can help your practice grow faster and more smoothly
Focus on financials
Another area of challenge can be getting to grips with the financials of pricing, rebates and markups. Time is precious when setting up a new practice, and many new practice owners find they may not have fully investigated these aspects in advance.
In a newly operational practice, it can be a shock to see the size of the orders being placed and how much is being spent each month. It can also be a challenge to tie up the rebates over the months to keep on top of cash flow and check that credit terms are favourable.
Our team is hugely experienced and can provide valuable advice about where to make savings, how to get beneficial processes in place and to provide key information to monitor to guide business decisions
Suppliers can help new practices to look in more detail at their financial operations. Assistance to go through order statements in depth may offer reassurance that the level of expenditure is just due to natural growth, but suppliers can also offer practical advice on whether the ordering process can be streamlined or if stock control can be improved to prevent stock sitting on the shelves unnecessarily.
They can also assist with aspects such as ensuring that the charges for lab services are competitive and transparent, or whether using an external service with support from the lab team may be more cost-effective than in-house testing.
Martin Riley (Figure 2), managing director of the NVS Group, comments, “Our team is hugely experienced and can provide valuable advice about where to make savings, how to get beneficial processes in place and to provide key information to monitor to guide business decisions.
“We develop long-term relationships with our customers which enables us to understand how to support an individual business and the people within it and who in our team is best placed to help.”
Smart use of tech
Many new practice owners find that initially maintaining work–life balance can be a struggle. Between the clinical, managerial and leadership tasks, any support or technology that can streamline and manage the working day efficiently can lighten the load – not just for the practice owner, but for the whole team.
Effective support in using the PMS is invaluable. Functionality such as integrations with labs, wholesale ordering, stock control and price updates can be set up to save huge amounts of time.
“Ask for help from your PMS supplier to really utilise the functionality effectively,” says Tony Houghton (Figure 3), managing director of VET IT. “Technical account managers can help you with information on what reports are available and how to apply them to your individual business.
“They can also drill down into data in detail and provide step-by-step guidance to help grow your profits while you focus on serving your clients. Investing some time to get your system well set up and running smoothly can make a huge difference to staff time and well-being.”
Practice development
You can lean on your suppliers to support your new practice in other ways, too. Many offer training in non-clinical areas which can add to staff development opportunities, and can provide assistance or resources for practice activities such as setting up pet health clinics, nursing initiatives or pet owner education events. Suppliers can also be a source of clinical CPD for your vets and nurses, often offering online resources or webinars that can be accessed at times that are convenient to your team.
Marketing and pet retail are other areas where suppliers can offer support, providing advice on product categories and best sellers, display and point of sale, information for pet owners which may even be able to be tailored to your practice, and social media and newsletter content or advice to help you market your practice effectively to both existing and new clients.
“Work with your suppliers and don’t be hesitant to ask questions,” Martin concludes. “The NVS Group aims to support veterinary practitioners with everything they need to run an efficient practice, and we recognise the specific challenges of launching a new practice.”
The Modern Vet’s Guide to Opening a New Practice is a resource from the NVS Group specifically designed to support new practice owners. It offers a deep insight into the elements to consider when opening a new practice, covering all the topics discussed here and more.
The free guide can be accessed at the NVS website.
