Marcum Barkin'
By Dr. Todd Marcum
Building benches isn’t James Warren’s job. He started building them, however, when he noticed a woman in Denver sitting in the dirt while waiting for a bus. That’s “undignified,” Warren worried. So, the twenty-eight-year-old workforce consultant found some scrap wood, built a bench, and placed it at the bus stop. It quickly got used. Realizing many of the nine thousand bus stops in his city lacked seating, he made another bench, then several more, inscribing “Be Kind” on each one. His goal? “To make people’s lives just a little bit better in any way I can,” Warren said.
Compassion is another way of describing such action. Compassion is a feeling so strong that it leads us to take action to meet another’s needs.
None of us struggle to deliver Fear Free compassionate care to pets. However, we occasionally fall short of treating the people we work with daily with kindness and compassion.
There is a reason that "People First" is at the top of the list of how we live our brand. A culture of kindness and compassion wins every time. Join me in putting these two words on my "to-do" list every morning. I promise it will feel good inside.
Click to Text is Back
We relaunched Click to Text at the beginning of August, allowing pet parents to text us from our website. This was a feature we had with our previous text provider but then lost when we transitioned to Text Request. Thanks to a relentless effort by our amazing Website Lead (Jacqui Monahan), we were able to relaunch this feature. The program was almost an overnight success, with hundreds of pet parents participating.
We quickly ran into a snag - how best to connect the pet parent to their desired hospital.
Initially, we tried to serve up the correct number using geotargeting - this resulted in only 40% of pet parents getting to the right hospital.
We then implemented a general line supported by Ashley Egan, Paige Shinkle, and the entire Hyde Park team. These members were scheduling the appointments for all hospitals.
Based on feedback, we tested having the general line forward requests to the hospital team for scheduling and saw conversion drop from 60% to 40%.
We had partner calls earlier this month to gather feedback on the program - thank you all who attended. We plan to transition back to having the general line team schedule appointments with some additional guardrails in place. More to come.
Ultimately, we hope to have a solution that connects the pet parent directly to the right hospital. The solution is most likely a few years out as it will require different technology.
Bringing the PetVet365 Sparkle to Texas
Andrea, Tasha (Lexington), and Andrew (Pittsburgh) recently traveled to San Antonio for the annual Southwest Veterinary Symposium. They did an AMAZING job introducing over 200 doctors to PetVet365 while leaving each with a piece of our beloved swag.
Developing Local Partnerships
Referrals from local partners are a key driver of new pets - we’ve attributed over 850 new pets to referrals in 2023. Google is the only other channel to have driven as many new pets.
We’ve seen several different types of partnerships work super effectively.
Recommendations from a nearby emergency hospital have helped drive hundreds of new pets across the company
Local veterinarians have sent over 150 overflow pets to Dr. Morse (North Fayette)
Dr. Davis (Richmond Road) found great success by partnering with a local Petland (pet store) to increase VIPs by seeing all their newly purchased pets and then thrilling those pet parents with a FearFree experience of bacon and belly rubs!!
Dr. Mills & Dr. Brooks (Jefferson Ridge) hosted over 50 local partners before opening to help drive buzz for their opening
Dr. Click partners with their next-door neighbor, Woof Gang Bakery, as part of an effort that drove over 30 pets referred to us in the first 5 weeks of opening
We are developing a toolkit of best practices to help everyone get the most out of local partnerships. Reach out to Marketing@PetVet365.com to learn more.
Fear Free Tip of the Month
Have the technician ready to take a picture of the pet's teeth when the doctor exposes the gumline of the back molars and premolars. This way, the client can take their time to see what we know is there without trying to aggravate the pet by trying to expose the back of the mouth. [Thanks, Dr. Pinkston!]
Head to Tails
Laura Bork
Laura Bork is very excited to join the PetVet365 Family as an Associate Veterinarian at PetVet365 Clermont, Florida! Laura is originally from Buffalo, New York. Go Bills! Sick of the cold and snow, Laura moved to Florida after graduating from Cornell Vet School. Laura enjoys Internal Medicine /Clinical Pathology and looks forward to continuing to hone her skills at Petvet365!
Laura is an avid theme park enthusiast and visits Disney/Universal routinely. She is also a die-hard Britney Spears fan and has met Britney several times!
Olivia Walker
Role: Veterinarian/Owner
Tell us about your pets: I have a border collie named Rowan, a retired racing Greyhound named Camina, and a Heinz 57 named Rocinante. My three cats are Dennis, Handsome, and Dr. Flowers Ubuntu. I also have a 4-year-old retired thoroughbred named Charm.
Best Thing about PetVet365: The community of doctors! I love getting to bounce ideas, questions, or concerns about patients/cases and get so many knowledgeable suggestions.
What do you do daily that brings you joy: Making time in the busy day to sit down with my partner and discuss our day with one another.
Favorite indulgence: The Office and The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
What do you want people to know about you: Whales are my favorite animal!
Something you would like to give to others: Good vibes, comfort, and reassurance that their pets are in good hands.
Open Forums
Don’t forget about our Monthly Open Forums. These are 30-minute calls scheduled every month for you to ask all of your questions and provide feedback. Upcoming Topics:
October: Marketing
November: Recruiting
December: Training
Celebrations
We've added 3 new hospitals since our last edition - our network has grown to 19 hospitals!
JEFFERSON RIDGE
Dr. Jeffrey Mills & Dr. Amanda Brooks
CLERMONT
Dr. Laura Click & Dr. Lori Gifford
McFARLAND
Dr. Pam Hale & Dr. Tim Cox & Dr. Iheoma Ehie
Quote of the Month
