Could pet wellness plans save your practice?

Dr. Karl Salzsieder introduced a wellness plan five years ago at Yelm Veterinary Hospital in Yelm, Wash. The practice's wellness plan offers different tiers of veterinary medical care according to monthly cost.

When Dr. Salzsieder introduced the plan, some team members panicked and grumbled—and you can imagine why. They worried they'd stop being medical personnel and start sounding like salespeople: Do you want to join our plan? It costs you money every month, but it's great. Really. "The receptionists especially didn't want to feel like used car salesmen," says Yelm Hospital Director Lyn Mitchell.

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Big benefit to the smallest pets

Dr. Karl Salzsieder was inspired to start the annual wellness plan in part because of pet owners who were scared away from the care necessary for some of the most vulnerable pets: puppies and kittens.

"We wanted to encourage compliance with our recommendations for frequent visits, spays and neuters, and vaccinations," Dr. Salzsieder says. "But some new pet owners seemed to experience sticker shock after the first visit and wouldn't finish their vaccination series. The office-call barrier was too much."

Dr. Salzsieder says the annual wellness plan is a client education tool as much as a tool to help clients spread out payments and encourage them to come in. "We're telling the owner this is what our veterinarians recommend you need every year," he says. "Do this, and you're doing the necessary minimum."

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Keep your promotion subtle

"Our doctors and team members are instructed not to 'sell' the wellness plans," Dr. Karl Salzsieder says. "Every client would think every time they came in they were getting hit with a sales pitch." Instead, posters and brochures explaining the plan appear in exam rooms, and team members and doctors explain the plan when clients ask.

Mitchell and Dr. Salzsieder were firm about avoiding the hard sell: The plan wouldn't come to the customers, the customers would come to the plan. Just six clients in five years have complained about being pitched on the plan, Mitchell says.

One problem that Mitchell says did arise: An excited team member getting too many clients to sign up. One receptionist, in love with the plan's free office calls, pitched it to everyone. Dr. Salzsieder complimented her on the enthusiasm and told her to tone down the pitches.

So would a plan like this work at your practice? The practice owner or practice manager would make the final decision. Not a manager? You could still broach the subject. You might just get help to propel your practice to the leading edge of a trend that encourages client visits and preventive care. And that's healthy for pets and veterinary practices.

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