Warning! The “4th-Quarter-Slide” is almost upon you!
Don’t get caught...
Fact: Whether you want to confront or just pretend it’s not going to happen again this year, 80% of practices will experience a drastic drop-off in business starting on the September long weekend. How long does this drop last? Left to its own devices, this slide typically lasts a good 3-4 months, finally picking up again in early to mid-spring. The result: Untold lost thousands of dollars of income and a practice that may have to dig into reserves and credit lines to pay suppliers and make payroll. Stressful? You bet.
What can be done about it? Lots!
1. Take a positive pro-active approach to promoting high standards of pet care to your community. You will need to take on a professional marketing approach to your practice and reach out to clients where you may not have in the past. Unprofessional? Sure, if done unprofessional, but don’t do that! Your marketing reflects who and what you are. So everything that goes out to your community must be as professional as you are. Hire a professional marketing firm if you need to.
2. Start promoting NOW. It typically can take up to 6-weeks to see a response to your marketing. Don’t expect instantaneous increase in clients coming in.
3. Make a marketing plan. The old business adage “If you fail to plan - you plan to fail” is never more true than in the next coming months. Make a marketing plan that includes promotions to both new and existing clients and something that focuses on your profitable back-end services such as dental exams and cleaning, geriatric pet wellness work ups, etc…
4. Activate your existing clients by scanning your data base for any client who has not been in within the last 12 months, create a script, and call them up!
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