Elevating Veterinary Practice Performance Through Marketing, Technology, Team Productivity, and Financial Resilience

So good evening everyone, and welcome to the Veterinary Business Institute's monthly webinar series. And tonight's session is titled "Elevating Veterinary Practice Performance Through Marketing, Technology, Team Productivity, and Financial Resilience." I'm your moderator for this session, Dan Nadisha, and I want to start by saying this. If you showed up tonight feeling the weight of modern veterinary practice, the staffing pressures, the marketing questions, the financial decisions, and even the team dynamics, you're exactly who this webinar was built for. We have four extraordinary panelists here tonight, and over the next 90 minutes, due to high demand, we are going to get practical, specific, and direct about what it actually takes to build a practice that thrives and not just survives.

A few housekeeping notes to help you get the most of this session. First, we are recording, so you will receive a replay link after the event so you can re-watch and share with your partners. However, do not let that make you passive. The real value is happening right now, live. To make the best use of your time, engage with us. Use the Q&A button right at the bottom of screen for specific questions you want me to ask the panelists, and use the chat to share your thoughts with your colleagues here. I have my eye on both the feeds. I'll do my best to weave your questions into the conversation as we go along, or we will tackle them a bit during the Q&A session midway through this event.

All right. Before we get fully underway, I want to take a moment to acknowledge the Veterinary Business Institute and the Veterinary Business Podcast. So new episodes drop every Thursday at 6:00 a.m. Eastern, so the conversation doesn't have to end with this session. And they're available everywhere you get your podcasts. And we cover everything from driving practice profitability, attracting better clients, to even leveraging clinical innovation, optimizing operations, and developing high-performing veterinary teams. So if you're not already subscribed, tonight's conversation is a great preview of the quality of insight you'll get every week.

Pull it up on your way home from the clinic, or well, your commute will never be the same. Right. Now, before we dive into things, a quick message on behalf of the Veterinary Business Institute. What if the biggest opportunity in your practice isn't doing more? What if it's knowing what needs to happen first? The fastest growing practices are not always the ones spending more. They're the ones making smarter moves in the right order. Because when marketing, operations, team productivity, and financial performances are out of sync, every dollar has to work harder than it should. But when the sequence is right, growth gets easier. Today, we are going to show you how to spot that, and of course, before we are done, we'll also share a free resource designed to help practices pinpoint exactly where to start.

Now, let's look at our key points of discussion here tonight. First, marketing that actually works. Helping the right clients find you and choose you without adding more work to your team. Second, technology that earns its place using tools that save time and reduce errors so your team can focus on patient care. Thirdly, a team that can keep performing. Fixing daily slowdowns and sharing the workload so your people don't burn out. And fourth, last but not least, financial stability as the base. Making smart choices on pricing and costs so the practice can grow without stress. These are not four separate conversations, they are one. And tonight's panelists will work right at the center of all of them. Let me introduce them to you now.

There's a paradox at the heart of veterinary technology. Practices need better tools, but most technology projects fail to deliver on their promise. Adam Visocky has spent three decades building and leading software organizations, including serving as the CEO of Vitis Vet, before asking a deceptively simple question. Why don't veterinary practices have an independent place to compare and choose the right software? The answer became Vet Software Hub, now the largest independent resource for veterinary software in the profession. Tonight, Adam is here to help you cut through the noise so that every technology decision you make actually moves your practice forward.

Adam, welcome to the panel. Thanks for having me. Absolutely. Thanks for being here. Right. She went to veterinary school to heal animals. What she discovered is that healing the team around those animals is just as important. Dr. Kate Boatwright has spent more than a decade in the daily reality of small animal practice across general and emergency settings. Through surgeries, triage, and the difficult conversations that never appear in textbooksRather than simply absorb all those lessons, she founded KMB Veterinary Media to create space where veterinary teams can learn, reflect, and lead better. She is a practicing clinician, an educator, and a writer. Tonight, she brings both the clinical truth and the human truth to our conversation.

Welcome, Dr. Boatwright, to the panel. Thanks for having me. Absolutely. Thank you for being here, Doctor. Now, in marketing, the gap between strategy and impact can be wide and expensive. Lester De Alves has built his career closing that gap for veterinary organizations. As marketing manager at EquiMarketing, Lester works at the intersection of data and story, helping practices grow their visibility, building stronger audience connections, and attracting the clients that they actually want to serve. What makes his perspective uniquely valuable tonight is this: he sees what's working across an entire portfolio of veterinary practices simultaneously. That pattern recognition is something no single practice owner can develop on their own. And tonight, he's going to share it with us.

So welcome, Lester, to the panel. Thank you, Don. Excited to be here. Great to have you here, Lester. And now, for 20 years, Bree Sylvia has seen the financial story behind the practice story, the spreadsheets beneath the mission, the cash flow behind the compassion. As a national specialty lender at Live Oak Bank, she has helped veterinary entrepreneurs at every stage, startup, expansion, acquisition, and recovery, find the capital structure that actually supports their goals. But what truly sets Bree apart isn't the financing she provides, it's the financial clarity she insists on before she structures even a single deal. Tonight, she'll help you see your practice the way a lender sees it, and understand how to use financing as a strategic growth tool rather than a last resort.

Bree, welcome to the panel. Thank you. Great to be here. Great to have you here, Bree. Right. Now, we have done our introductions. I've introduced the panelists, but that's not all who are in this room right now. I think we should also get to know our audience members. So, dear audience members, if you do not mind, please open up the chat box and drop in two things for me. Where are you tuning in from, and what are you most excited to hear about tonight? Is it financing? Is it marketing? About technology or team building? Go ahead and find that chat and let us know, because we can align the answers accordingly. Okay. We got Catherine from North Carolina. Welcome, Catherine.

And Catherine is looking forward to hearing a lot more about technology. And we got Lipika from Virginia. Thanks, Lipika, for joining in. Okay. It's great to have you here. And then we got Helen from New Zealand. Very interesting. Welcome, Helen. Thanks for joining us all the way from New Zealand. And Helen likes to know a little bit more about pricing strategy. I think we'll get a lot more about pricing strategy from various angles here tonight. And we got Ruby from Austin, Texas. Ruby would like to hear more about technology and financing. Great to have you all here. Janet from Connecticut. Fantastic. I love it. Everyone is finding the chat box here, and that's how it should be.

Let's keep this energy going throughout this event. It'll be great for you all to really get the most value out of this hour. So welcome, everyone, and thank you so much for participating. And Kyla from Alaska. I got to shout out Kyla. Benefits and downsides of AI and team building. Well, that's an interesting one. I hope we do get a little bit into that as well. Welcome, Kyla. Thanks so much for being here. So, thanks, everyone, for joining in on the engagement. Let's keep it going as we move along the panel. Now, my first question is to you, Adam. Where does technology most often fail to improve daily work in a practice, and why does that matter?

Yeah, that's a great question. And I think that where I see it most often fail is when a new technology is adopted without intentionality. I think very often practices read about a new tool or AI certainly has been all the rage as of late. And they want to try it, but they don't step back and take a minute to think about how is this going to fit into our existing workflows, and then how are we going to measure success? If you don't have a bar for measuring whether or not it's going to be helpful for your practice, you might try it, and then everybody's like, "Well, what did that do?" And you kind of keep using it out of an obligation because you brought this thing in. So it's very important before you bring in any new technology, whether that's a client communications tool or an AI scribe, or some people are now looking at AI reception, is to un-Quickly define the workflows that this tool is going to impact, and then define what success looks like.

You're bringing it in for a reason. Is it to speed up a process because you think you're inefficient? Is it to generate more revenue? Is it to take workload off of overworked CSRs at the front desk? So, be intentional about that and write that down and say, "After 30 days of using this new tool," or 60 days or 90 days or whatever you feel comfortable with, "I want to see this." Right? And then try it. And then at that checkpoint, did you get there? Am I more caught up with my medical records than I was before I started? Are we having more compliance in our practice? Are we seeing more open appointment slots filled with this tool? And if you're not, then you're just paying for something because you thought it was neat, or you heard about it from another practice, or you saw it at a conference, but it's not really helping you. And you can kind of get rid of it or you can try something else.

So I think that intentionality and then the measurement around it are the two most important things. Otherwise, you just have a bunch of stuff sitting around that you're paying subscriptions for that really aren't helping your hospital. Mm-hmm. And this intentionality, can we open it up a little bit, Adam? What do you think is-- When is intentionality sufficient? Well, I think that it's a requirement for evaluating anything new that you're going to bring in, right? I think it's very easy to get attracted to the buzz that you read online or you see on the news, or the conference you were just at. But with technology, certainly, you should be intentional about every decision you make bringing a new tool into your practice because it's initially going to slow things down while you learn how to use it and adapt to it, right?

So if things aren't getting better from bringing that in, then what is the point of actually doing it in the first place? So you have to be really intentional in these decisions, understand where you're going to use it, how you're going to use it, and what you hope the outcome to be. Otherwise, what are you doing with it? Mm-hmm. Thank you very much, Adam, for opening up with that. I think we're going to come back on to intentionality as we go along and figure out a little bit more on how we can be intentional, even when it comes to intentionality. Right. Let's keep it moving. So my next question is to you, Lester. What has changed in how pet owners choose a clinic, and how is that affecting a practice's growth?

Thank you, Don. A very good question, and I think a lot has changed with marketing and how patients choose clinics. So let me start with something most practice owners haven't fully understood or haven't fully grasped what they need to be doing. So as you know, the decision is made before the phone rings. So as a pet owner searches a vet near me, they see what comes up, and they read two or three reviews. They spend about maybe 20 seconds on your website, and right there before they've spoken to a single person on your team, they've already decided whether they trust you or not. So I would say if you're looking at marketing, if you're looking at a marketing angle, your marketing should work in a way that your patients or your pet owners should be able to find you, and they should be able to choose you. So finding you and choosing you.

So the reality is Google handles over 30 billion searches every single day, and in North America, Google handles over or holds over 90% of the search market, and 92% of people are looking for a vet, start a vet, and that they search on, basically, they search on Google. And it's not a trend. It's basically how things are right now. Maybe 5 years ago or 10 years ago, it was not the case. Everything came from word of mouth. But things have been changed, and now we are looking at a very different aspect. So, as you know, AI is now there. AI is now built directly into those search results, and clients are getting your phone number, your hours, and your reviews right on that page. So without ever clicking through to your website, the decision gets made even faster than before.

So the thing is, your patients have free choice to make. Nobody's forcing them to pick your clinic. So which means trust is the only currency that matters. So not how many posts you made this week, not your logo, not your beautiful website. You can be a complete stranger to them in the beginning, in the first 20 seconds. So for them to trust you, you need to have your marketing done well. So, the misalignment I see most often is that practices are doing marketing. They're doing a lot of marketing. I think they're just involved in a lot of things, because there's a lot of messages going around, and they're trying to stick to the trends, which is totally normal.

So they're posting, they're running ads, they're sending emails, but they've never stopped and looked at their own practice, so the way a new client would. So when you do that exercise, what you find often doesn't match the quality of care being delivered inside those walls. So that is the misalignment that we see, and that gap is where the growth quietly gets limited, and it just becomes consist-- That gap just turns to be consistent and then ... the misalignment continues to grow. Okay. So what I'm understanding there is, well, more than ever, trust is important. Trust has always been important, truly. But what has really changed is how we show up online and getting back to the foundations and ensuring those things are what's important.

Right. So my next question is over to you, Dr. Boatwright. How are staff shortages affecting daily care and team morale in a typical practice? So I think that's a great question. I can tell you in the practice I work, we've been trying to hire a third doctor for a couple of years now. We actually just hired a new grad, which I'm thrilled about since I love mentorship. So looking forward to having her start here in another couple of months. But it does take a toll. Depending on where your shortages are, whether that's in your support staff, then either the doctors are finding themselves doing more things, doing some extra technical things, which we absolutely are not above doing, but when we're running our practices efficiently, we want to be delegating as much as we can to our team members.

So when we don't have enough team members to delegate to, it can certainly affect the way that we care for our patients and the time that we're able to spend with our patients. And Lester mentioned the importance of trust, and that is absolutely, we build that trust in the exam room. And the more time that we can spend with our patients, and that's not just with the doctors, that is also with our technician staff and our CSRs. All members of our team work to build that trust with the clinic. And so I think that's one of the really important things to think about. I think, on the team morale side, certainly when we're short-staffed, things get tougher, where people are working longer hours.

We know that there's a lot of factors that kind of can contribute to burnout when we have too much work, not enough autonomy in our roles, not being able to do the things that maybe we find that we're most successful at because we're having to do extra tasks. And so certainly trying to make sure that we're keeping good amounts of support staff as well as good amounts of doctors in the building ultimately is going to benefit our patient care. Okay. So very interesting points you mentioned over there with regards to trust and how those multiple touchpoints within the clinic system really goes along. Now, you mentioned something way earlier on that you have taken a new grad.

Tell me about how does it feel knowing that 40% of recent graduates are coming out with a 200K debt, right? So according to the AVMA. Mm-hmm. How does that really look like on a first day for a new grad working with you in the clinic? Do they have that pressure on them? Have you seen that? Yeah. So, I think ultimately, the most important thing, and when we also data from the AVMA, when we ask graduating seniors why they chose their first job, for the last five years, the number one answer has been mentorship. Mm-hmm. And the one thing that I tell clinics, if you are trying to attract a new grad, I see it all the time. Everyone says, "We offer mentorship." But they can't always answer what does that actually look like in your clinic.

Because mentorship can come in many different varieties. And the number one reason new grads leave their first practice within 12 to 18 months, depending on the study, I've seen anywhere from 30% to 45% will leave within that first 12 to 18 months. The number one reason they list is lack of mentorship. And then we have practice owners who say, "But we offered mentorship." And I think that it's not so much that they didn't offer mentorship, but that there was a mismatch in the expectation of what that was going to look like. And so it is about setting those expectations with your new grad, making sure that what they expect to get from you and what you're able to deliver are in alignment.

Amazing. Thank you very much, Dr. Boatwright. Now, moving on to Bree. Actually, before I move on to Bree, there was a really wonderful comment here we had received earlier on from Kirsten from South Carolina. Kirsten, really appreciate you being here, first of all. And Kirsten mentioned that they're interested in specifically learning how to select and utilize the right technologies, including automation tools, client communication platforms, and practice management enhancements to reduce workload and improve accuracy. Kirsten, you are in the right place because we are going to get, I think, if not all, most of that covered within this session.

So thanks, Kirsten, for that wonderful message. Now, Bree, what warning signs show a practice is under financial stress, and why should leaders act early? Sure. So, well, I think what we're probably seeing whenever I'm looking at financials, financials only tell a certain piece of the story. We're probably seeing a little bit of a price-driven illusion growth. Top line revenue really looks good on the income statement, but it may perhaps bemasking some underlying operational stress. Many practices are not seeing more patients, but they are charging more. Going into 2026, recent data like the AVMA economic report, which I know Dr. Boatwright has cited, shows that practice revenues are up two and a half percent.

But actual patient visits have declined 3%. So the cost of delivering medicine is certainly outpaced general inflation. And it's mainly due to just massive labor costs, pharmaceuticals, et cetera. Some of the stressors really are, I see a lot in labor, and I see a lot in cost of goods sold. Typically, for a GP practice, I won't speak to specialty or ER, but for a GP practice, we want to target 18% to 23% in COGS. We're looking at some of the data. though, if I can stress to anyone here on the call, it's really critical to use the AHA or the VMG chart of accounts. I really like that. It's a uniform standard, gives me a lot of detail, a lot of information. It's an apples to apples comparison. It's a benchmark.

And I'm really able to dive in and I can see where personal expenses are, if there's any kind of discretionary expenses, and really where the fat is and where the fat can be trimmed. Sometimes that's really hard to tell when you're looking at financials. And like I said, financials, they can lead you to assumptions that may not be right. So I think for starters, that's a good point. And to piggyback, what I always try to tell our clients is to- Mm-hmm ... the best thing you can do today is utilize and improve your staff utilization. The research has shown that when you allow CVTs to fully perform their tasks that they should be doing, that the practice generates 35% higher revenues.

The same principle applies to non-credentialed staff members, to CSRs that are face-to-face. They're the first impression of the practice, at least face-to-face impression of the practice. So I would review and assess staff usage. I strongly recommend writing protocols for each job family. And also, professional development, transparency internally within your organization, all of that leads to morale, which strangely enough, leads to the financials of the practice. And it's no different in my line of business. We talk about efficiency all the time. Efficiency exists in any business, any company. Efficiency ratio is in banking. But efficiency exists.

This is what many of the leaders are doing now, especially in the private equity world and corporate world of veterinary medicine. And what they're doing is they are developing their people. You have to develop your people, and you have to pay very close attention. Two critical ones, inventory, cost of goods. And if you're not doing that today, then you're probably bleeding money out the door that you don't realize. And I personally, as a lender and as a veterinary lender, don't always see that through the numbers. You almost have to go into the practice or an individual practice to understand the culture and really get to know that individual doctor.

That's a really interesting point, Bree. Oh, we're just out of time. But I want to ask why. Why do you not see it in the numbers, inventory and COGS? They are pretty... They can be tracked. Right. Well, COGS is a pretty easy one, and that typically stands out. Sometimes we'll see they're not using the standard chart of accounts, and lab fees are embedded somewhere else, and COGS looks small, but we know all that and can see that. But in other areas, you might not see it just because the bookkeeping is sloppy, or I could see a profitable practice, but it could probably be it's not a low-performing, no low practice, but it could very much be a better, well-managed practice if there were a few tweaks, and I don't see it. Maybe there's shrinkage in inventory, expiration in pharmaceuticals that they could be returned, or rebates.

Typically, for every veterinarian that you hire, you need around $12,000 to $18,000 worth of inventory. We're seeing inventory out the door and expire. There's so many other areas where- Mm-hmm ... a practice, if you are a $2 million practice, every one or two percentage points to the bottom line matters. And so- Absolutely ... I could sit back and assess and make an assumption, but until you have one-on-one time with the doctor, you don't always know. Got it. Sloppy bookkeeping is absolutely a horrendous contributor to this issue. Got it. So Adam, how should leaders think about the role of technology when staffing is tight? Yeah, great question. I think that technology definitely brings operational efficiency when used correctly.

Mm-hmm. I think that being able to... Communications is a great place, right? Where we can start. When your staff is tight, especially CSRs, a lot of turnover, a lot of training involved. You want to make sure you're utilizing technology effectively there. And we look back at how technology's changed on the front desk, where six, seven years ago, all you ever heard about was how the phones just never stop ringingAnd then we brought in text messaging, and now so much business is done with hospitals over two-way texting. And that is a technology that has added a great deal of grace, I think, to front desks because it's an asynchronous communication. You don't have to be sitting constantly like you are on a phone.

You can have text messages coming in and deal with them as you can. And I think also what we're seeing now technology-wise around efficiency and staffing for the front desk specifically is some AI tools around reception. And I think the AI that's answering phones now still has some work to do. I don't think it's all the way there for prime time, but what I really love is AI for voicemail box transcription. If you've been in a hospital on a Monday morning right before opening, you have a CSR sitting sometimes for 45 minutes listening to voicemails, jotting down notes, putting in appointment requests. There is really time savings to be had with AI tools that are listening to voicemails and transcribing them and throwing them even into your PIMS for you and making it really easy to book appointments and take refill requests.

So that's a great opportunity. I think for doctors, everybody is aware of the power of AI scribes and scribing technology. My own personal veterinarian made an offhanded comment to me that she was three months behind in her records, and I said, "Oh, doctor, we have to get you a scribe." And every time I see her now, she high-fives me, and she's caught up constantly. She's not sitting on her couch on a Friday night with paperwork and her laptop. So, that is a great place to help with efficiency. And I think that the PIMS now are starting to do a really good job with making the efficiency of the workflows a lot easier. It's not 30 clicks and two Control + Zs and a space bar to get to something. The screens are very, if we go back to intentionality, they're very intentional to the workflows. The SOAPs are very easy to navigate now and complete.

Capturing charges is a lot simpler now, from estimate to invoice to payment is super easy. So, some of these older systems that aren't taking advantage of new technologies, I think it's a great place for hospitals that are understaffed to look at their technology and say, "Hey, listen, hiring is difficult right now. Are there investments we can make in technology where we can take our one or two staff member shortage and compensate for that by upgrading a PIMS or adding some scribing or bringing in some tools on the front desk to help with client communication?" Love this answer, Adam. And I think we got to that point of how you can be intentional. I just wanted to wonder, so when you're looking at where we can bring in technology, when we are evaluating the options, what's your recommendation on how to go about doing that?

Yeah. Again, I'll go back to, and it always starts with before you do a demo, before you even think about the demo, think, the demo is the midway point of that process. And the first thing you have to do is really define what your workflows are. And just like you would have a standard operating procedure for a CSR or a tech, or an inventory manager, write down your workflows for the different areas of your hospital, and start there. And then as you evaluate products, it's okay to reach out to a vendor and say, "Hey, this is how we check in clients at the front desk. This is how we bring clients and patients into exam rooms, and it starts with a vet tech.

Our doctors have maybe five minutes in between exam rooms to review notes. How does your tool help me?" Before you even waste time on a 30-minute or 60-minute or 90-minute demo, ask those questions up front. There are really helpful people at all of these software companies. They're not scary nerds with propellers on their heads. Most of them have worked in practice, so they understand your pain. And start that dialogue. And then go into the demo really informed and ready to see your workflows presented with those tools. And I think that's where the magic starts to happen, where you can quickly say, "Hey, it looks like a great tool, but it's not going to fit how we do this or how we do that."

As opposed to another one might come up and you go, "Oh, yeah, I can definitely see myself checking in a client or taking a subjective very simply." And that's a great way to start. Amazing. Thank you very much for that clarification, Adam. So going into demos with pre-informed expectations of how that particular product may increase your efficiency. Yeah, how it fits in your hospital instead of the vendor just showing you the features of the product, which are great, and some of them are really incredible, but if it's not getting to how you do this or how you do that, you won't know until you actually have it installed, and then it's too late sometimes. So, use the demo to understand how it's going to look when you're using it.

Check how it really aligns with your current workflow and amplifies that. Now, I do want to remind our attendees here, in a little bit, we will get into a live Q&A session with you all. So, if you do have any questions, just put them in the-Q&A session over here. You can find that button down on your Zoom settings. If not, I would like to try and give you the mic. So if you raise your hand up, I don't mind unmuting you real quickly, for you to get your question in. I think that'll create for a great session. So, we'll get to that in a little bit. Just get things ready, get those questions out, and yeah, we'll have a great time. So Lester, my next question is over to you. Can you share one example where fixing marketing changed the type of clients a practice attracted?

Yeah, of course. A great question again. I'll share a real example, with one of the wet practices that we are currently working with. So, we worked with a clinic which was getting solid call volumes. On paper, things looked very amazing. But a large percentage of those calls were people asking, or patients asking, "What's your cheapest option?" "What are the other options?" Except for the care that they were recommending. But the patients were asking something else, which is basically, "What's your cheapest option?" So, and that one question was creating a chain reaction through the whole practice. So the front desk, the people who set the tone for every client relationship, were burning hours on inquiries that went nowhere.

The doctors were stuck in cost conversations instead of care conversations, and the schedule looked full, but revenue didn't match the effort going in. So when we looked at their marketing, they show us one thing. Just like I said earlier, it was the trust. wasn't built before the call. And the reviews, there were reviews, of course, they had a lot of reviews. Their reviews were mostly one-liners and great like, for example, people are like, "Great service, five stars." So reviews like that. And so here's the thing about reviews, and I think, Don, you must have heard about when we talk about reviews, there's a specific term we talk and that's called love letter reviews.

So we recommend practices aim for at least 10 new reviews every single month, and those reviews need to be like love letter reviews. So again, what actually moves a new client is a review that tells a story. So that is why we call a love letter review. So a love letter review has a story in it which will basically tell another new patient of how the experience was. So, a real client will, if you did everything well with this client or with this new patient, they will go on to describe what was wrong with their pet, what the team did, how they felt, walking out. That kind of review builds trust before anyone picks up the phone. And this clinic didn't have those.

So again, their website, talking about their website, that was also not doing the job. Like 75% of searches happen on mobile. Everyone has a mobile phone now, so if they want to search for a practice, they always take their phone and they search their practice. So, we looked at the site on a phone and, it was slow to load. There was unclear messaging, no easy way to call, and, again, if it was me or if it was another stranger, they had no reason to choose you. So like I said before, they should be able to find you and then they should be able to choose you. So that basically is the part that they were missing. So, we didn't do more marketing for them.

That means we didn't go and add new things onto them. We basically fixed those foundations, better local search positioning, a few things that we did, and a faster, clearer website. A review strategy built around real client stories. And also we tracked call conversations, the key metrics, when it comes to call conversations, the new client calls by sources and pushed a rank to over 100 local keywords that they are offering, in terms of services. So a few months later, everything shifted. The front desk had better conversations. Doctors talked about care, not cost, and revenue became consistent. And because the right clients were booking and everything was following through, everything seems to be in the right place now.

So again, same clinic, same team, same prices, just better trust built before the first call. So I think trust is the main factor when it comes to a lot of things. Okay, check. I really appreciate that answer, Lester, because that painted the perfect picture of what it really looks like when done correctly. Right. My next question is to you, Dr. Boatwright. What does sustainable leadership look like for a veterinarian today? Yeah, I think it looks different for different people. I think it's finding what motivates your team. Working on building a practice culture that is sustainable. And I don't think it should just be a single veterinarian at the leadership role.

All of our team members need to take on some of that leadership. And I think it's important, again, we talked about utilization of our technician staff, I think empowering our team members to work at the full ability that they have, the full ability of their training, and then also nurturing them to be able to pursue the things that they enjoy. So, for instance, if we have a technicianWho's really interested in dentistry. Let's get them some extra CE on taking dental radiographs. Let's invest that time, and a little bit of a financial investment to get them that training, build them up, and then let them take a leadership role in promoting dentistry in the practice.

I can delegate that conversation for that patient that needs a dental procedure, and I can say, "Hey, you know what? I'm going to have one of our technicians come in, who does a lot of our dentistry, and talk to you in more detail about what that procedure's going to look like." So I really think the most important thing about sustainability is creating opportunities within our team. And I think it's also important that we're not going along with delegating, that we're not trying to do it all, that we are taking the time to invest in ways that we can support ourselves. Building our lives outside of the clinic is certainly an important aspect. And, I can speak from experience, having an AI scribe has been phenomenal.

But even at the beginning, I was still running behind on records because it wasn't until I really tweaked the templates and I got it where I wanted it to that I wasn't spending five to 10 minutes updating every single record. Now it moves pretty smoothly because I've done a lot of tweaking and personalization. So I think, using technology, I think intentional seems to be the word of the night- ... to help support us. And then just making sure that we are having that balance, and finding out, just having conversations with your team. What are you doing this weekend? What are you doing to kind of get some space away from the clinic? And finally, I think the last part of sustainable practice is about really embracing spectrum of care and talking to clients, approaching them with a range of options. And, yes, talking about money is stressful, but clients want to hear those conversations.

They want us to be transparent about that. And we have to work with our clients, find out what their goals are, find out what their resources are, whether that's finances, their emotional capacity, their schedule, and talk to them. And we're going to have better outcomes, better bonding with our clients when we do that. And that is what creates sustainable practice, is when we can have those sustainable relationships. Hey, amazing. Thank you very much, Dr. Boatwright. I just checked the timer, and I didn't want to add on. I have been doing, as I have been doing previously. But thank you so much, Dr. Boatwright. That was a very comprehensive answer.

And, yeah, creating opportunities really turns into a much more sustainable environment within the team itself. Now, Bree, what is the biggest financial risk owners miss when planning to grow a practice? That's a great question, and it's one I spend a lot of time working through with practice owners. When I talk about growth or whether they're, I don't know, putting an addition on their current hospital, they're acquiring a practice or buying a building, constructing a new animal hospital building, whatever it is the doctor's doing, I would say the most dangerous financial assumption an owner can make is projecting historical volume growth on today's market.

And I guess what I mean by that is we all know we had a big pandemic boom. We saw explosive growth in visits. But today, not for all practices, let me just preface this, not for all. The data shows whether I'm looking at AVMA, or financial pulse points or talking to other colleagues or consultants. I just want the audience to know where I'm getting my data. Even clients. We're operating flat in some areas, declining visit market. So if your pro forma assumes that, hey, if I build it, they'll show up, you're setting yourself up for massive cash flow squeeze. I would say the second major vulnerability I see is underestimating the timeline of labor.

I can't tell you how many doctors are going to add two or three exam rooms, and they're going to hire an associate. There's no doubt they will hire an associate. But if you plan to hire associate the month you move into your building or month three, and now all of a sudden you don't actually hire that associate until month nine, and those rooms are more vacant than or sit empty more so than you realize, all of a sudden you're in a cash crunch. So, I would say assuming immediate cash flow for that new addition while a room sits empty is pretty tough pill to swallow. So how do leaders evaluate risk before moving forward? It starts with an aggressive internal audit. Before you ever sign a contract, and you take out a loan with a lender, you have to ask yourself, have you truly maxed out your current footprint?

Could you move to four 10-hour shifts or extend your operating hours? Could you utilize telehealth for routine post-op checks? Could you free up exam rooms now because you have telehealth, you could now free up those exam rooms for complex cases? I don't know. What about your workflow? If you've done all that and expansion is still the right move or whatever it is you're trying to do, then you have to evaluateyour personal and your business liquidity. And I always say cash is king. You need to look hard at your personal balance sheet, how much you have in cash, and at your business balance sheet, and how much you actually have in cash reserves.

And just as important is how much cash do I have? How much is a lender going to require that I put down? This is where having the right financial partner makes or breaks a project. I can't emphasize enough the importance to at least talk to an industry specific advisor. I would say, for the most part, with all due respect to any lender out there, a typical general commercial lender simply doesn't understand the nuances of veterinary cash flow cycles. They might look at a spreadsheet, but they don't know the industry. So you need to specialize with a lending partner that works, that is niche as you are, and can actually stress test your numbers and challenge you, versus accept everything that's provided.

And one of the questions that I always like to ask is, "Well, what if you can't cover the debt? What if visits drop 10%? What's your backup plan if construction's delayed?" Evaluating, admit it, do you have enough operating capital? Do we understand potential hurdles that could arise and are we okay? Is there a backstop? So you kind of have to play devil's advocate in many respects. It's not that it's Chicken Little and the world is falling, but it's just there's a circle you can control and there's a circle you can't control. And oftentimes when you're expanding, you're starting, and you're acquiring, there's so many other areas that are outside of your control.

There we go. What an amazing answer that was, Bree. I really appreciate that. Gosh, this timer. I have so much questions. But we have to keep things moving. So yeah, before we dive into the next question here, I really do want to get to some of our registrant questions, which we had here. As well as our audience members, please take this time to ask your own questions, or else just raise your hand and I will unmute and then you can ask away. I'm going to open this for the panel, really. But okay, this is an interesting one. I think we can start with that. A veterinarian from Canada has asked us, "Will AI eventually result in lower need for veterinarians?"

Oh, I don't think so at all. I think AI will actually increase the demand for veterinarians. One of the really powerful things that I've seen, that not a lot of people are talking about yet, is in AI radiology. And I know that there is a company that spun out of South America with a couple of people from Google who have built an AI radiology technology based on a radiologist working in South America. And he was a single doctor doing radiology for a few practices in the area, and with this AI technology, he's growing his business, and he's actually hiring additional radiologists. The practices that he works with are hiring additional doctors because the radiology is becoming more affordable and more people are opting in to imaging as part of their care plans. So AI is making those services, and I think a lot of the diagnostic services, are going to become way more affordable in the future.

Not that AI is going to replace a human doing diagnostics, and I always caveat that. But it is a tool that will work side by side in veterinary medicine that will bring price down, and increase care and options for people who would normally opt out of an annual X-ray and blood panel at a wellness exam. Right? So good to have those baselines tracked and on record, but a lot of people, "Eh, I'm not going to pay that. I don't need it. Everything looks great." Right? AI is going to make those technologies, the equipment, the in-house lab analyzers, are going to become cheaper and more affordable. And I think that's going to lead to more personalized care for animals and more demand from pet owners bringing that to an affordable price point.

So absolutely, I think we could see, and it's a little terrifying because we know now we don't have enough veterinarians, right? And for me to say, "Hey, AI is going to make us need more," I just think it brings more opportunity for more medicine and better care for these patients. That's amazing. I actually- More affordable-- Go ahead. I was going to say, it doesn't replace the human at all, the human conversation, the trust. But I actually had just seen a post from a colleague yesterday that shared an article that in human healthcare, so there was a study that was done at people who had talked to ChatGPT about their health issues, and 52% of the cases that doctors thought should have gone to the ER were not recommended to go to the ER by AI.

So I think absolutely, there's a human discernment that is not going to be replaced. And I think 12 years ago, my friends that were veterinarians were, you know, Dr. Google was the big bad monster in the room, right? And we've seen incredible growth in veterinary medicine. And I think AI now kind of feels like that, but I think the best comparison I can give as the impact of AI is I grew up, my father was a carpenter. He put roofs on houses, and he had a hammer and a nail bag. And now carpenters have pneumatic nail guns, and they do three times as many roofs in a morning than my father did in a single day by hand. And that's how you think, AI is just that pneumatic nail gun that's making that job so much easier and more efficient. You still need people on those roofs.

I'm sure one day there'll be robots that are raised up there and do it, and I would never bring my dog or cats to a robot doctor. But AI definitely as a tool in that doctor's quiver to provide that care is really going to be, I think, an incredible gift to pet owners. Okay. Amazing. Absolutely. I think the key takeaway is AI making care much more affordable, allowing more pet parents to come in, and therefore, of course, driving up the demand. But of course, as Dr. Boatright mentioned over there, ChatGPT, or any other AI platform cannot diagnose the care that... Yeah, go ahead, Adam. Yeah, and I think a lot of pet owners see through that. I think the Dr. Google scare was legit for a little while, but I think we really saw, in hospitals, people coming in and say, "Well, on Google it says..." And- Exactly ... unfortunately for doctors, I think they're going to get a lot of, "Well, on ChatGPT it says..." And you know- We're already there ... we're going to roll our eyes and say, "Well, it's not a doctor."

But I think people are still going to come in for that care, and I'd be surprised if there was any... I'm sure it will happen. I won't say it won't happen, but any massive negative impact to animal care because of ChatGPT or some of these LLMs that are out there. Yeah. There have been interesting cases where people do tend to stay with the ChatGPT or whatnot because they feel like ChatGPT is there for them all this time, whereas if you were to go to visit a doctor or someone, they only have, what? Five minutes max. They're all in a rush. It's, "Let's get it done," but ChatGPT is there, walking you through everything, completely hallucinating. Yeah.

But, yeah, people kind of appreciate that tech. And I think that probably says more about how doctors are building relationships with their clients than AI in general. I know that my doctor's busy. I never feel rushed in the exam room, right? Yeah. And that I think, to go back to intentionality, she's very intentional a- about that. Mm-hmm. Yes, she was months behind in her records, and I'm sure that's part of the reason, but the doctors that are pushing people out very quickly aren't going to retain those clients anyway. Exactly. Now I have a question over here from another veterinarian, again, from Canada. "How do we compete with nearby practice that has prices about 25% lower than ours besides just focusing on value?" Bree, would you like to take a crack at this?

Sure. I'll take a crack. Well, I would say education is selling, okay? I think you have to educate. I think you have to have... My dear friend Robin, who is in marketing as well, I'll never forget the lovely story she told. When she walked in, she took her dog in for an exam, and they already knew she was coming. They knew what her dog looked like, and they greeted her, and they greeted her dog. And the front desk office took her in the back and said, "We are going to introduce her to the nurse tech," and explained to her what's going to happen next. And everyone just held her by the hand, greeted her. They were expecting her. And it's about how you make people feel.

Mm-hmm. And so it's crazy when you... And that's probably any service. Think about it. We always talk about a car or anything. People will spend fortune on a car or go to a certain dealership, and it's the service. It's how they feel. It's they know them. They get to know them. So I think education is selling, and I think you have to invest in your staff. I'm really big on culture and staff because it says a lot about a doctor, and it says a lot about a practice. When I go into a practice and travel all over the United States, and when I'm touring a practice and I meet the practice manager, or I meet the veterinary assistant, "How long have you been here?"

Doctor has been there 13 years, and no one in the practice has been there more than two. Yeah. That tells me who I'm dealing with, okay? That says a lot. So I think what you have to do, it does start at the front. Yes, I agree with what Lester says. Yes, it probably does start at your website. People are going to Google. But the moment they walk in and they see your face, it starts at the front desk, and immediately you're educating. And in some respects- Mm ... aren't we all kind of selling? Educating is selling. In some respects, you're educating them to provide them a-... comprehensive plan or care. The operative word, I never say fee. I don't like the word fee.

I don't like parking fee, I don't like handling fee. I don't like anything with the word fee, so don't use fee in a practice. This is Charlie's treatment plan, or this is how we get Charlie back to healthy. But at the end of the day, it all comes down to people. Most everything what we do is a people business. And I think if you have a staff and you are providing value and you're educating, and not only that, you're genuine. It's not fake, it's who you are. entrenched in your community, and you truly care about providing the gold standard, which every doctor- Mm-hmm ... pledges an oath to, the gold standard of care. I don't know, I believe that the universe talks, and it will come back, and you will be just fine. I truly believe that. Okay?

That's a first for me to hear that from a banker. I don't know. Absolutely. And we'll take that, definitely. I mean- I don't think you can pass on charges. You have to make sure what you're charging is going to pass to the front. You have to understand this is a service business, okay? Mm-hmm. Pharmaceuticals are very expensive. The staff deserves to make a living as well, and they have families. And we all do, and that's in any profession. And as much as, and we've talked about this time and time again, I find the majority of the clients I work with, I find many of them are, yes, very business savvy. I think they're savvy. I would say join a cooperative group or a purchasing power group.

That's very, very critical, so you can bounce ideas off of colleagues and be a better operator. But there's not a whole lot of business classes in veterinary school, and many of them are people pleasers, and it's for the love of the pet. And they probably pass on services, or they don't think someone can afford this, so they work something out, and I don't think you can do that. I think you should be proud of the profession you're in, proud of what you do. You guys are rainmakers. Science is not my thing. I don't get it, don't understand it, but you are providing a service and you should charge appropriately for it. Yeah. Adam, you wanted to add something in there?

Yeah, I did. I think the other thing that I would add is on the technology side, if somebody down the street is undercutting you by 25%, you better make sure that you're making that client experience A plus. Right? And you can do that with technology. Are you offering two-way texting to communicate? Are you offering them a mobile app to request appointments and refills and see their pet's records? Are they getting a customized treatment summary in human speak and not doctor speak automatically as they're walking out to their car, right on their cellphone? And technology can do all those things to elevate that experience. So, it's the difference, like if you're going to a Mercedes dealership to have your car serviced versus the guy down the street that has a credit card processor with the carbon in it and slides the little thing.

That makes a difference to people, and people will pay for that experience. They want to be treated like gold. That gold star treatment goes to the client service as well as the patient care. And think about how many of us right now, I cannot tell you how much business I conduct after business hours. And if I can't book a hotel, book a flight, do something after hours, if I had to talk to a human being and call a 1-800 number or a direct line, I probably would not call that business. So the ability to conduct business while you're sleeping and make it easy- Mm ... for your client, I mean, that is the way of the world, especially for the alpha generation and the generations coming up behind us.

That is how they operate. If it's not through their phone, they won't do it. And doctors will say to me, "Oh, I have voicemail. They can leave a voicemail and request an appointment." Well, when I do that, I don't know if I'm actually getting that appointment. I can't put it on my calendar, right? Mm. So that's a waste of time for me to leave a message and hopefully I get the time and day. I know I won't, though. But if I can book it through an app and I see a calendar and I go, "Oh, that works for me," and it's booked. I get a confirmation. That is an elevated experience. That is something that I would pay more for, for sure. Right. Fantastic. Now- And I think- Dr. Boertje? Yes.

Yeah, I was going to say, I think it ultimately comes down to communicating the value that comes with our services. And the PetSmart Charities data that came out last year that looked at the financial and affordability barriers to care, one of the things that I took away from that study was that, yes, there were clients in all income brackets who had financial barriers. But they broke it down further and said, "Was it truly that you could not afford it, or was it that you didn't see the value in the service?" And as the income brackets went up, a higher proportion of people were saying, "Yeah, we were declining services because we didn't see the value." And it is.

It's that communication, that education where maybe, yeah, we are more expensive than the practice up the road. That's okay, because our clients know what experience they're getting, and we explain the value of the services that we're offering. That's a key point. Now, I do want to move on from this question because there are some amazing questions that our attendees have asked that I want to get to here. Let's see, where was that question?No, I pulled down over here. Yeah. One of our attendees had asked a while back, what determines whether a new screening tool actually gets adapted into your daily workflow? Adam, I think that's right for you.

What determines if a new screening tool? Yeah, actually gets adapted into your daily workflow. I don't know what they mean by screening tool, but I think that any tool that you evaluate against your daily workflows, like I said in the beginning, is when you evaluate something, what is your expected outcome? Define a goal. Am I saving time? Am I saving money? Am I elevating the staff morale? It's just better to work here using that tool. So, run a pilot internally for 30 days. If you get an evaluation period, set a goal. At the end of 30 days, we want to see this. Get to the end of 30 days, and are you there? Did you see it? Okay, maybe you didn't see it, but did you get closer to it, and do you think if you had more time, you could get there?

You have to define what success looks like when you're evaluating anything. I think a lot of people, when they evaluate tools, especially technology tools, is they evaluate them like, "Do we like it?" Okay, well, there's a lot of things that I like, but am I going to change the way I work and pay for something that doesn't have a measurable positive outcome? And you might find that the tool actually, like Dr. Boatwright was saying initially with the AI scribe, there was still work to be done until you tweak- Yeah ... and understand and customize that platform. So it's really important to do that evaluation and then measure, and then decide. Mm-hmm. Dr. Boatwright, I was also curious, what is your take on this?

On bringing a new tool in? Specifically, this attendee has asked, how would you determine whether a new screening tool actually gets adapted into your daily workflow? When I hear that question, I think of a screening test, medically. Mm-hmm. I think for me, a lot of it comes down to, I look at the data. How reliable is it? We brought-- They've changed the name. I think it's Vista IQ now, in which uses an AI algorithm to scan subcutaneous and dermal masses and gives a cancer risk score. And that was something that we adopted fairly early on. I ran into them at a conference. But I read the studies. I'm the nerd where the reps come in, and they're talking about a new product, and I'm like, "Can you send me the data? Because I want to actually read the study.

I don't want to just hear it from you before I'm going to recommend it to my clients." And so for me, it really comes down to, is this something that's a value add to my clients? Is how I look at it. Right. Just a quick question from Kayla as well. Are there any legal ramifications of using an AI scribe like the ones that record and translate in rooms? Yeah. So one, you have to know, at least I'm going to speak from a US perspective, and I'm going to caveat this- Yeah ... with I am not a lawyer. But you have to know the recording laws in your state. So are you a two-party consent state? Are you a one-party consent state? So in Pennsylvania, we're a two-party consent state for recording, so we have a form that all clients are given with their new client paperwork, and when we first brought in an AI scribe, we gave it to all of our existing clients, and then that sign authorizing us to record.

And then we also have posts in the exam room, that say that recording is in progress. And we occasionally have clients who say, "I don't want to be recorded." Mm-hmm. I get a little annoyed with that because I'm like, "Man, I'm going to have to write these old school." But no, I just walk back to my office and dictate out what we talked about and summarize it. -huh. But it's still, it's like, oh, that extra 30 seconds that I have to do now. But the vast majority of our clients have had no problem. And I've seen even in my own medical appointments and my child's medical appointments, a lot of human MDs are using scribes now, too. So I think it's becoming very commonplace.

Mm-hmm. From a regulatory and malpractice perspective, the jury is still out. There was a white paper that was published by Beth Bennett and AAVSB. I have to admit, I have not read the whole thing, so I can't tell you the conclusions, but I know it's out there. But basically, as it stands now, the medical record, that is our best defense in the event that a board complaint or a malpractice suit comes up. And you are responsible for what's in there. So if you use a scribe, you need to review what's in there, edit it for accuracy, make any adjustments that you need to. Don't just trust it blindly and copy and paste in. And to my knowledge right now, the actual recordings are not necessarily, like the transcripts of recordings aren't necessarily used legally, but I don't know where that stands or what might change.

Checked. All right. Amazing. I think we had a great live Q&A session here. I know there is a question for Bree. I will try to put that in a little bit as we go along. But yeah, thank you so much for joining in on the live Q&A to our attendees. Really appreciate that. And yeah, that made it so much more better. Now, Adam, it-We're getting to the end bit over here, and we're looking at the future commitments we got to think about. So if a practice could fix one thing with technology in the next 90 days, what should it be? Ooh. Wow. There's a huge list. I think it depends on what the practice's current software configuration is. I think if they're not using AI Scribe anywhere in the practice, and about half of the practices I talk to aren't yet, I think that they should at least understand the options that are out there.

Visit the websites, do some research, learn what they're all about because they really are a powerful tool, I think, for time savings and just, a relief of mental and stress, mental stress and even physical stress. I've seen so many positive outcomes from them. If the practice is still on an on-prem server practice management software, start thinking about the future. I think that those platforms like Avamarck and Cornerstone, they're not going to be supported forever. I know everybody hopes that they are, because the practices that are still on them, but, five years from now, with the way that AI is progressing, it's going to be very hard for the large companies that are supporting those PIMs to justify spending on that software.

So, you're not going to switch PIMs in the next 90 days, but I think this is a really good time to evaluate where you're at, understand what's out there, and then maybe start coming up with a plan for the future, at your own comfort level. But if you believe that in 10 years you're still going to be on-prem PIMs, it's just not going to happen. And then I would also look into and start getting familiar with AI diagnostics, AI radiology tools. What is out there to help your staff? Even if you have techs doing X-rays in the back and you use an AI radiology tool to just let them know if it was a good or bad X-ray, to help them just validate that it's a good image versus something that needs to be retaken. It's a huge benefit to the practice, and they're very affordable.

So definitely don't use them as the answer. But just like that nail gun example, it's just a tool to help get things done more efficiently. Okay. Now, if I'm a practice owner, and I've decided to act on some of the recommendations here, what happens in one week, or rather week one, month one, and then day 90? Yeah. So I think with some of the things like the scribes, they're very easy. You download them on your phone, you can start trying them right away. Some of them are a little more sophisticated. So, like Dr. Boatright was saying, you can create templates. Yeah. You can create discharge instructions from them that are really beneficial. So, day one, get it on your phone, just play with it and get familiar with the interface.

Week one, maybe making a little bit of a customization. You're trying out with some of your cases. Thirty days in, hopefully it's part of your workflow and it is helping you get caught up on those records and saving you a lot of time during and at the end of those exams. So that's a great example. On the practice management software side, there's no good outcome in 30 days. It's just get familiar with what's out there. Use your network to see what people are using, what they like, what they don't like. If you're going to attend a trade show during the year, be intentional about stopping by some of the booths and seeing the products in the booths and asking questions of the staff that's there.

Obviously, if you're on an on-prem PIMs, there's no rush. You're comfortable there. Mm-hmm. But knowledge is power and the more you start immersing yourself in what's out there, the less scary it's going to be as you make that transition in the future. Check. Thank you, Adam. Now, Lester, how can a practice figure out what is actually holding back their growth? Question, Don. I think a very timed question again. So, yes, as we know, we get very busy with a lot of things, because when you talk about growth, it's all about being successful. So, if you're looking at a practice perspective, so let's say I'm a veterinarian. I'm running a busy practice.

The team is working hard, and they're almost always there to, three to five specific gaps in your search visibility and how your website reads and in how your reviews look to a stranger. So what I was explaining before. And they are also quietly costing you good clients every single week. So, and they're nearly impossible to spot without an outside view. So you will look this in a way that you think everything works fine, but when somebody outside sees this, they can understand there are gaps, there are three to five gaps that needs to be addressed. So, that's also something urgent that you need to put your attention to while you're getting busy at your practice trying to treat your treat or-Give the care for your patients. So, as you know, AI has changed how pet owners find clinics, as we were speaking about this earlier as well. So Google now surfaces reviews, contact details, and recommendations, and directly on the search page.

And before anyone clicks anything, these are called zero click searches, where they're now the norm, and the practices that aren't optimized for how Google evaluates and ranks local businesses are already slipping. So, they're missing the reach or the traffic. So organic leads are going down, that means you're going to spend on ads, and that means your ad cost is going to go up to compensate that. And the owner has no idea why, because from the inside nothing looks different, everything looks fine, but nothing comes in through. So, this is not something that... It's already happening. So, the most practical step is to get a clear, specific picture of where you actually stand. Again, not a guess, not a gut feeling.

It's a real analysis. So that's why we at Echo Marketing, we built something called a marketing strategy meeting. Because before the session, our team of over 250 marketing specialists analyzes your practices thoroughly, your search visibility, your website, your reviews, and how you compare to competitors in your area. And in the meeting, you get a clear roadmap of it, a clear plan what to fix first and why, and no more guessing and no more doing the same things and expecting different results. So, we work with practices across North America and maintain a client retention rate of over 95%. We've seen this process works, and so we've been there for more than 17 plus years, offering these services.

So again, this marketing strategy meeting is a complimentary session that we're offering for the Veterinary Business Institute, and you can book your session at the veterinarybusinessinstitute.com/msm. And we are open to hear your-- to see, to analyze your practice, and also understand how we can help you get to the next step. Right. So Lester, thank you very much for that sharing. So for our attendees, as Lester mentioned, you have unlocked an exclusive gift from Echo Marketing. is also the organization behind the Veterinary Business Institute. They both share the same founder, Naren Raja. And, yeah, please do make the best use out of it. They do real research into your local market to ensure and to find out where you are leaving out that potential revenue.

And more than that, I think one of the most important aspects is finding the right client. That really in turn builds great morale within the team, being able to service those that you are really passionate in serving. So figure out how to attract them, and they do give out a complimentary roadmap for the next six months as well. So, real good stuff there. Book your session. They do fill out. But yeah, grab the slot while you can. It'll be well worth your time. Now, my next question here is to you, Dr. Boatright, and this is an interesting one. What is one leadership habit that protects clinician well-being? Yeah, I think that's a great question.

I think ultimately, again, it's going to be different for different people, but I think ultimately it's really developing something outside of the clinic. And from that being a leadership strategy, it's being able to talk with your team about the things you're doing outside of the clinic and encouraging them to develop their own strategies as well. I'm someone who I love reading. I listen to a ton of audiobooks. I'm always telling my team about what crazy audiobook I'm reading now. When we're in surgery, I'm talking about it. I'm starting to train for a marathon, because I didn't have enough things to do in my life. But whatever it is that brings you joy outside of the practice, doing that and really strengthening the person as a whole. And I think a lot of us as veterinarians, and I did for a long time. When someone had asked me, "Oh, tell me about yourself." It's, "I'm a veterinarian." And that was my whole identity.

And so it's really about making sure that you remember that you are also a person, and that you enrich that outside of the clinic, so that when you are in the clinic, you can be wholly present there. Is this something that is intentionally set out by the leadership team, or is it something more so that kind of depends on an individual preference? I think it ultimately comes down to individual preference, but I think the leadership team can set the tone Of- Okay ... we encourage you to do things outside of work. We're going to have a clinic where if we say we're closing at 7:00, we're actually going to have you out the door around that time so that you can plan things with your family.

Having some flexibility in hours. I am very fortunate to work at a clinic that has been very flexible where, hey, my kid has a school event tonight, it's normally in a night I see appointments late, can we flex the schedule a little bit to make that work? And so it's just being humans, and actually letting our team members have a life outside of the practice and not expecting the practice to be their life. Check. Thank you very much, Dr. Boatwright, for that critical wellness check. And a reminder that there is a life beyond the clinic. And that's critically important to the work in the clinic as well. Now, my, well, next question is to you, Bree. And this one is, what financial priorities should leaders focus on now to stay stable in the next year?

That's a good one. And I love that advice, Dr. Boatwright. I think that applies to everyone, no matter what industry you're in. My primary advice to practice leaders is control the controllables. Okay. Protect your margins, and maximize the talent that you already have. Those are probably my top two. I would say I've already stressed this first and foremost, but first priority is to absolutely gain clarity in your numbers. And to do that, you need a standardized chart of accounts. You have to have a benchmark and to be able to benchmark for success, you have to standardize your expenses. And to be able to do that, I'm a big believer in the AHA or VMG chart of accounts. And then once you have clarity, leaders then, they're able to ruthlessly manage cost of goods sold or whatever it is they want to manage.

Another thing I would do is join a co-op. I don't care if it's- Mm-hmm ... TBC, PSI, VMG, TPG, VHA. There's a slew of them. I could go on and on. I know I'm leaving many of them out. But if you're an independent owner, joining a group is the best way to level the playing field for corporate. Who's massive- Mm ... massive purchasing power by these corporate-owned practices. So why not join a co-op or purchasing group where it's kind of like you can play with the big boys. The second one is probably revamping on how you view pricing. We have to- Mm ... we have to stop being lazy, and I'm not saying all practices do this, but there are practices say, "We just went and did a 7% increase across the board."

I would say- Right ... consumers are way too savvy. They're way too sensitive right now. And instead, you have to review your pricing strategy strategically. Some are doing it every quarter, some are doing it twice a year. I don't really know what the right answer is. You have to know your local- Mm-hmm ... community and where you are in competition and your socioeconomic demographics. Every area is different wherever you are in the world. But- Mm-hmm ... here's the reality check. Before you ever raise a fee, you need to plug the holes in your current bucket. You have to ensure that the medical service you're providing is actually being charged. You cannot- Mm-hmm ... just have holes where you're not charging for the services that you're providing, or it's going to kill your margins.

And then, of course, I'd say the third area is, I'm a fierce believer in protecting your cash reserves. Right now, I would say avoid pulling out cash that's a non-essential distribution. Cash is king. Mm. It's a shock absorber. Any time there is a downward turn, anyone that has cash is going to sleep a lot better. The clients- Mm-hmm ... that are sitting on a few hundred thousand in the bank versus the clients that have $20,000 in the bank, I assure you, they're sleeping better at night and performing better at night. And then part of protecting that cash is prioritizing retention over recruitment. We all know- Mm ... it is so much less expensive and cheaper to maintain the talent that you have than to have to hire new.

Now, unless you have cancer within your culture and organization, that's a completely different topic that probably a consultant or someone better qualified than me can talk about. But I'm- Right ... a big believer in that culture is not just some AR buzzword. It's retaining your team is a core financial defense strategy. Check. Amazing. Yeah. Bree, I'm just going to ask you one last follow-up question. I would like to request for you to keep it brief as possible. I know I'm asking a lot because this follow-up question it's from one of our attendees here, and it just flows amazingly with what you said. So, Ruby asks, what would you recommend when doctors are considering using their cash reserves to open a practice, or do you think it's smarter to avoid using cash and instead finance the startup?

I'm a big believer in financing because you can always pay it down, and you can't un-pay a down payment.You're not getting it back. And again, I always say that rate is vanity, structure is sanity. Structure, structure, structure is king. And if you end up doing extremely well, you have more cash reserves, patients than you can imagine, now you have options. There's not one bank in the United States that won't want to finance, one, a doctor, much less a profitable doctor. You can always refinance, you can always pay the debt down. Mm-hmm. But hold onto your cash. And by the way, money is fairly cheap today. There we go. Amazing. Thank you so much, Bree.

Thank you so much for keeping it brief, and succinct as well. Ruby, I hope you got an answer you were looking for, or at least a starting place for you to really think about your options. Now, we are here at the end. I was actually pretty surprised that we made it here. It felt pretty quick, although it has been an hour and a half. Just a final lightning round. If there's something anyone in our audience can do tomorrow differently, what is it? I'll go around in order. Adam, then Dr. Boatwright, Lester, Bree. Adam, what is it? Yeah, I think that if you're not doing it today, get into ChatGPT and Claude or Google Gemini, your tool of choice, and ask some questions.

Do some searches like you would do on Google. Get very familiar with that interface because it's coming. It's going to be in your phone. It's going to be on your TV. It's going to be in the refrigerator. It's going to be everywhere. So have those conversations. It is going to be the new normal, and the sooner you become at least mildly expert in doing that, the better you are positioned for the future. Amazing. The AI of everything, it seems like. It's going to be in everything, I promise. Right on. Dr. Boatwright? Yeah. I'm sorry, I'm still hung up on the AI in my refrigerator. So, yeah, I think the biggest thing is just building those relationships among your team, with your clients.

Keeping the human aspect, and it all goes back to, as leaders, making sure that we're setting the example that we want the rest of our team to follow. Mm-hmm. Be the example. That's a great reminder, Dr. Boatwright. Be the change that you want to see in the world, and also lead by example. Never a bad takeaway and a reminder. Lester, how about you? Yes. So, just like what Adam was mentioning, I would just ask or basically give this one takeaway, is that after this session or later sometime, Google yourself right now the way a new client would or a new patient would, and ask honestly. You can ask yourself, would you call you? When you see your Google business profile or if your name ever pops up on Google, would you pick up the phone and call yourself if you were the patient? So ask that question and see if your marketing or if anything that you have put online does the justice for you.

Fantastic. And I think you shouldn't stop at Google. Like Adam said, ChatGPT, try it out, see how it goes. Yeah. Thanks, Lester. Bree, what are we doing tomorrow morning? I would say if you have a practice, I hope you have a fantastic team and colleagues, but you need to also have a fantastic advisory team. Mm-hmm. And that could be your local, I don't know, VMG whatever group. That could be your CPA. But I'm referring to someone that is within the veterinary field, colleagues. Talk to your other doctors and colleagues. And not everybody needs financing. I would say at one point or another, you probably do. But if you do, there's a lot of good veterinary lenders out there that are very niche. But surround yourself around those that are dedicated in the industry. And more than anything, my last takeaway would be, you don't have to take their advice, but always listen.

That's what I try to do. I listen. I may not always take their advice, but I do listen. Absolutely. Amazing. I love that, Bree. Thank you so much for a wonderful takeaway. I cannot agree more, because you get to know what everyone else is thinking and then make your own judgements. With that being said, I do want to make a quick final reminder on behalf of the Veterinary Business Institute to our attendees here as we wrap up. The marketing strategy meeting that you have unlocked, completely complimentary, as Lester mentioned, and as well as Bree mentioned. Have the advisor, just someone to really look at how things are going and working out for you. When it comes to marketing, this is a great place to start.

So, book that meeting and make sure if a pet owner in your city is searching for the services that you offer, you're the practice that is found and chosen. So completely complimentary, no obligations. And of course, if you don't book the meeting, you might be missing out on something that could really help you elevate your growth in 2026. Now, with that being said, truly, Adam, Dr. Boatwright, Bree, Lester, on behalf of every single person here who joined us tonight, thank you so much for your expertise and more importantly, your commitment to the profession. I feel like that was really communicated throughout this session. And to our attendees, as you exit the Zoom session, a feedback survey will pop up on a new browser tab.

It'll take less than a minute to fill out. Please, if you can fill out, that'll be great. It'll help us bring even better events for you. And, of course, our audience members, the fact that you took 90 minutes out of your evening really to invest in your practice really says something about the kind of leader you are. So you're not waiting for things to get easier. You are truly building the capacity to make them better. I'm Dan Adisha, and on behalf of the VBI, Veterinary Business Institute family and our extraordinary panel, take care of your teams, take care of your finances, build something that lasts, and we will see you on the next one. Good night, everyone. Take care.