Price-based costing, activity-based costing, cost-based pricing, fixed costs and turnkey costs are all terms that perplex most practitioners and practice managers. It might be said that pricing is a major cause of follicle stress and pattern baldness in veterinary hospital managers. Jokes aside, forming a strategy is critical to pricing for competitiveness and reasonable profits. This article contains solid references, thoughtful quotes and a multiple resources to help veterinary hospital management teams develop effective pricing strategies for services and dispensed products.
Source: AAHA Trends, December 2015, page 31. (direct link unavailable)
How to be fair and competitive when dispensing products is a challenge for practices that find their clients shopping for pharmaceuticals and food items online or at discount outlets. Some veterinarians refuse to worry, saying their practice is not a dispensary, and any income from that stream is just icing on the cake. Others want to offer convenience to their clients and need to know how to price their items in order to meet their costs.
INSIGHTS: Sales reps working with customers struggling to price items for dispensing will find the Consumer Price Index from Vet Advantage to be a valuable resource. It is especially helpful to understand the competitive market situation on several key products routinely dispensed by veterinary hospitals.