Last month, we featured an article by Dr. Andy Rourk in which he posits, “Stop abdicating our (DVM) position.” One of the main tenets of the principles of influence is authority. As a DVM or vet tech, you are the authority and it is time to start using it and the other principles to influence your customers and increase your hospital’s patients’ levels of compliance. Source: … [Read more...]
“Why Stay?” Important conversations.
Most years, an average of 14 percent of your hospital clients will move. One percent will die and one percent will get seriously ill. Job loss will hit another 1.25 percent and 1.5 percent will divorce. Combined with a natural, annual attrition rate of almost 20 percent, it is important to prioritize how you will attract new customers. Unfortunately, that attention to new … [Read more...]
Manage the pressure to discount
A longtime, good customer you cannot afford to lose suddenly asks, “Can you get me a better price?” Now what do you do. In our experience, price discussions are really about value. This customer doesn’t perceive the value equals the price you are asking, has forgotten the value he’s already getting or has read the latest book about negation. Source: Harvard Business … [Read more...]
Real empathy is not about you
In our self-centered society, empathy seems like an outdated concept. Even caring individuals often get it wrong when trying to be empathetic to another’s situation. Genuine empathy is difficult because it is all about the other person – not you. Source: Gordon Tredgold, August 1, 2016. This is something that I still struggle with because as a confident person when I put … [Read more...]
Find the right job culture fit
Whether you are a receptionist, vet tech or DVM, the culture of your workplace is an important component of your individual or business success. While this article is written for prospective employees, it also provides a checklist for practice owners to increase their hospital’s profitability. Source: Pulse, August 24, 2016. We all hope to work for a company that’s clear, … [Read more...]
Create a common goal
In last week’s Bulletin, we shared nine common mistakes leaders make when starting difficult or important conversations. We promised you a better way this week. Consider that your listener is there to make a decision. If you are there to get a decision, you both have something in common before the first word is spoken. Source: evancarmichael.com, February 6, 2012. When the … [Read more...]
First impressions count
Conversations designed to influence others often fail because of the way they begin. How you open the interaction, especially a potentially difficult or important one, has everything to do with how the other person responds. So, it is important to consider some of the mistakes leaders make when they attempt to gain buy-in and commitment. Source: Dialogue Works, August 28, … [Read more...]
Engaged employees are more productive
When employees are engaged with their work they are more productive and make positive contributions to their organizations. So it is disturbing to learn that worldwide only one in every eight employees is actively engaged. While engagement rates were the highest in Canada and the United States, the level of disengagement was still in excess of 50 percent. So, David and Arthur … [Read more...]
Are you really listening?
“They’re not listening to me.” This is one of the more common complaints I hear when working with individuals and groups to enhance their communication and leadership skills. Listening to be polite, listening to respond or listening just to let them vent, are just a few of the reasons for the breakdown in communication today. Source: Vet Advantage: June, 2016. Respecting … [Read more...]
Self-awareness key to improvement
Working in the leadership development industry for more than 25 years, I have found that unconscious incompetence is the starting point for most positive interventions. We often get in our own way and have no idea that we are the problem. So, this article attracted my attention. Source: Source: LinkedIn Pulse, July 20, 2016. Self-awareness, one of the four key components of … [Read more...]
Is humility a virtue in business?
Humility is a characteristic that most people will agree is in short supply. But, most of us still admire it when we see it. Little in our culture today encourages a humble disposition and I believe this is a relatively new development. More than ever it seems that loudest, boldest and most obnoxious voices often garner our attention. Source: Mark’s Daily Apple, May 26, … [Read more...]
Be tough, but fair
Some days it seems the business world has things upside down. Kindness is viewed as weakness. Empathy has no place in the business world. Ruthlessness is essential for success. Why, there are even training programs to help you go “from bud to boss.” Now, research that proves nice bosses can and do finish first. Source: LinkedIn Pulse, July 17, 2016. The thing is, nice … [Read more...]
Expect success
Strategy, skill and execution are important factors in achieving success in most businesses. However, too often the mental side of the challenge is overlooked in leading your team to the ultimate goal and success. There are some things you can do to help your business team prepare mentally to reach and exceed expectations. Source: Harvard Business Review June 9, … [Read more...]
Communication and Leadership
Most breakdowns in communication within a business initially seem like success to the communicator. They get their perception of the facts and come up with solutions that make sense to them. The problem is they didn’t get the other person’s perception of the facts. Thus solutions are not sensible to the person receiving the communication. Source: Finance Global Info, May 29, … [Read more...]
Help your team succeed
Avoid procrastinating For many people, procrastination is a strong and mysterious force that keeps them from completing the most urgent and important tasks with the same strength as trying to bring like poles of magnets together. It's also a potentially dangerous force, causing victims to fail out of school, perform poorly at work, put off medical treatment or delay saving … [Read more...]
Help your team succeed
Strategy, skill and execution are important to achieve success in most veterinary hospitals and practices. However, the mental side of the challenge is too often overlooked in leading the practice team to ultimate goals and successes. There are things you can do to help your hospital team mentally prepare to reach and exceed expectations. Source: Harvard Business Review, … [Read more...]
Get up again
In case you haven’t noticed, life in the real world is a series of ups and downs. Life in a veterinary practice is a microcosm of the world around us. It too, has a series of good days and others we would just as soon forget. Most of us handle the good days with grace and thankfulness. The real test is how we react on the really bad days. Source: Laurie Joyce, LinkedIn, June … [Read more...]
The cost of avoiding conflict
Managing conflict is not something most people look forward to dealing with in the workplace. Yet, conflict is a sign that your hospital is pushing boundaries and growing. Given that business is constantly changing means that if you are not growing, your business is dying. There is no status quo in our industry, so managing conflict correctly become a key performance indicator … [Read more...]
Position yourself for success
The internal messages you send yourself regarding your role in the hospital, the distribution company or the manufacturer largely determine your success with your clients, your practices or your customers and therefore within your respective organization. Consistent high performers in the veterinary industry have a very clear image of their role in every interaction. Source: … [Read more...]
Improve Compliance Messaging
For more years than I can count, compliance has ranked as one of the top challenges facing the veterinary industry. When I saw this article on resiliency I thought it could easily be retitled, “Five Ways to improve your Compliance Messaging.” But, this only applies if everyone from the front desk, to the technicians, to the practice managers, to the DVMs, to the owners, to the … [Read more...]
First impressions matter
Whether you are a sales rep, on hospital staff or a DVM, there is never a second chance to make a first impression. Some people seem to have a knack for creating a positive first impression with everyone they meet. Just like there are no overnight successes, no one is born with this ability. They work at it. And these people who create positive first impressions aren’t just … [Read more...]
The skill to make something happen
While industry and product knowledge is important to success, there is too much emphasis placed on being all-knowing in those areas. The skill to influence and produce a result is more critical. Yet, we spend hours developing a killer strategy and when it comes time to implement it we wing it. Then, we cannot understand why everyone isn’t buying our carefully crafted plan and … [Read more...]
Story telling as a Sales Skill
Almost every sales expert will extol the virtues of storytelling in the sales process. But, not every story is effective. It must be relevant to the listener. (Answer the question “why should I care?” in your opening.) It must connect emotionally with the listener first, then analytically with a payoff that describes what the listener will have as a result of your … [Read more...]