I had this conversation with a friend of mine last week. He owns a local dog training company. No, that’s an understatement. He owns and operates the largest dog training company in the New York Tri-State area. Since the collapse of the economy, his business has suffered –not because dog don’t need to be trained, but because dog owners simply don’t want to spend money for “premium” dog training.
While most dog trainers will charge by the hour or by the lesson, his company charges one price for the life of the dog. If everything I ever need to know I learned in kindergarten …even kindergarten lasted for more than a handful of 30 minute lessons. Same thing applies to dogs. And yet dog owners continue to attempt to rehabilitate their humping, jumping, runaway canines in 4-lessons-for-$150. But what about the well behaved pooch who just needs some finishing work? Maybe those dogs and their owners really do only need a handful of lessons to get the ball rolling. So can a premium dog training company offer that as an option without diluting their brand or contradicting the values they preach to their premium training clients?
After our conversation, we agreed it could be done, as long as it was marketed smartly and tactfully. It worked for other companies: Nobu has Nobu Next Door. Georgio Armani has Armani Exchange. Saks Fifth Avenue has Saks Off 5th. Even Porsche once sold the 924.
Could that model ever work for a veterinary hospital? I sure hope not. Low-cost veterinary care –unless subsidized by some sort of private or public funding –is often low-quality veterinary care. Ask any doctor if they can maintain their level of patient care if their operating budget is slashed by 50%. High profit medical care is only sustainable if there are profits to support it. Even if doctors donated their time, there are still many other costs to consider: experienced (and well-paid) support staff, medications, laboratory testing, patient monitoring equipment, needles, syringes, fluids, etc…
Let’s look at a simple example of two different veterinarians in the same town who are charging vastly different prices to spay your cat. One may charge upwards of $275 and the other may quote less than $75. (These numbers are not entirely made up –I’ve seen this in both the San Francisco Bay are and the New York City Metro area.) For argument’s sake, let’s assume that both doctors possess the same surgical experience and skills. What then makes up for the difference? Can the cheaper veterinarian offer pre-anesthetic blood testing, intravenous fluids, and pain killers at that price? Is the less expensive hospital utilizing the same level of patient monitors, and are they paying an experienced anesthetist to monitor the cat while the doctor has his hands inside? On the flip side, how can you know that the more expensive doctor is doing all these things? The best you can do is ask.
There is indeed a minimum standard of care that every doctor should be providing. Unfortunately, not everyone agrees on what this minimum level is –and either way, many veterinarians out there don’t make the grade. Some just don’t care and the rest can’t afford to because they’re not charging enough.
January 15th, 2010 - 9:49 pm
What are you willing to do about the one’s charging enough but not delivering the quality or standard of care?
January 16th, 2010 - 6:37 am
willing to do? burn them to the ground? hahaha! unfortunately, the best you can do is expose them for what they are and boycott their practices.
January 21st, 2010 - 6:47 pm
Dr. Leon: Boycott, yes—but expose? How is the average client supposed to accomplish that? (Not me, of course, since I graduated beyond average).
It is peer pressure from WITHIN, that will drive change and force the bad bunch out.
Don’t you think in my teensy tiny state of NH consisting of 550 practicing veterinarians—that more than say one or two was privy to the abhorrent practice of non-DEA licensed clinic(s)?
Where were they THEN and now, after someone came forward to denounce the lowest of care for a dying pet?
More importantly, where were they for the last decade?
Unless of course, you believe that this case could be some isolated mistake—
January 21st, 2010 - 8:14 pm
i’m not sure i totally agree with you that pressure from within will drive the bad ones out. if a doctor is doing something illegal, all that needs to be done is reporting their behavior to the right authorities. would i rat out a neighboring veterinarian doing something against the law (e.g., operating without a license)? sure i would, but i can’t speak for anyone else out there.
if the “bad bunch” is just being unethical …they will continue to do so until they can’t make a living doing that anymore. period. they clearly don’t care what high standard of practice the rest of us have set. they just need to fund their retirements.
i just got back from the north american veterinary conference -more than 5000 veterinarians from around the world were in attendance in order to further their education. i learned three things there (well, not just three things, but two things relevant to this discussion):
1) a colleague of mine from school once worked at a hospital located in NY where the business model was based on price gouging every client. they never expected repeat business, so they would milk everyone dry the first time around.
2) AAHA (the american animal hospital association) is launching a $1M advertising campaign on animal planet to educate owners on the importance of finding a veterinary facility that is inspected/accredited by them. while this is a good start, i can think of a few hospitals that are accredited, but still very sketchy.
3) the veterinarians who most need to be attending continuing education don’t go to these sort of conferences.
January 26th, 2010 - 6:27 pm
I responded with a long post & lost it (of course)
no #: yes, you should report the illegal
#1: I believe that also qualifies as illegal, not to mention unethical
#2 : I support the premise if and if they put meat behind it—meaning imposed public sanctions
#3 : how can I argue that? Of course if a nifty course as to “how to make the most $$$ by deceiving your clients isn’t offered—who would attend with an ulterior motive?
Oh, thanks, Joey for the timely on topic! (I needed reminder!)