“Giving discounts on the fly can backfire,” asserts Andy Roark, DVM. “Time and time again, it’s a habit that gets DVMs into trouble. Worse, it’s a practice that’s strangling struggling vet practices and damaging our profession as a whole.”
Source: Dr. Andy Roark, May 21, 2016.
Most vets understand that giving away products or services means the clinic makes less money. That’s not a hard concept to grasp, and honestly, most of us are OK with that, to a degree. But I’m convinced that we vets — and I count myself as guilty of this — are generally pretty dumb about when and how we discount. We make assumptions about people and what they can pay. We reduce prices for good clients who have spent a lot of money at our practice even if they haven’t indicated that they need assistance. We decide that services aren’t really worth their normal price if they are happening along with a lot of other services and the overall bill is getting high. We use this logic to override our regular pricing system, and in the moment, it seems to make sense … sort of.
INSIGHTS: Developing a plan for discounts or free goods and training the entire staff on it is a solid idea. Loyalty or reward programs, in addition to pet insurance, offer animal owners options, as well.