Pet owners call your practice, make an appointment, drive to your hospital and wait in the lobby. We see them once a year if we’re lucky. By some estimates, half the pets in the U.S. won’t see a veterinarian this year. We then have maybe 20 minutes to address the presenting complaint and hopefully squeeze in a few minutes to educate on immunizations, dental care, parasites, nutrition and behavior. An entire year of care compressed into 20 minutes.
Of course, the client tuned you out shortly after the presenting complaint was addressed. In the client’s defense, how could she possibly absorb all the information required to be the great pet owner she aspires to be in one brief annual visit?
Remarkably, we’ve built a hugely successful profession on this model. A model that calls for one visit, once a year, over a matter of minutes, in one brick-and-mortar facility.