She describes how key features within the solution transformed her business and helped her manage a large and growing client base, while simultaneously developing strong client relationships.
Claire understands that the modern veterinary industry is full of challenges and it’s becoming increasingly difficult for independent practices like hers to become, and remain, successful. Tighter profit margins, increased competition and higher client expectations are just some of the pressures that face veterinarians these days.
Despite having a very busy daily practice life, Claire is realising the benefits of improved financial control and stronger business processes through VisionVPM™, which allows her to focus on providing the best patient care. The solution allows her to run an efficient and profitable practice by simplifying the management of her business and gives her peace mind.
She highlights the user-friendliness of VisionVPM as a major strength. For example, it’s quick and easy for her to produce client reports using examination templates and generate invoices at least three times quicker than her previous manual system.
This improved client and patient management saves time and improves her practice workflow by recording detailed client and patient progress and she can store documents and images on the patient record. She also saves time and money using VisionVPM’s comprehensive reporting. She can quickly run reports at any time of the month to see how much she owes suppliers, and then easily pay them.
“VisionVPM is very user-friendly and functions can be done very quickly,” she explains. “I can finalise a report for a client – including a wordy rehabilitation plan – generate an invoice and email it all to a client within 5-10 minutes of a visit.
“When I was doing Word reports and invoices in Excel it could take me hours to do the same. Instead of writing up my report, spell checking it, double checking it and emailing it off, VisionVPM now takes care of this all for me. I just write up my veterinarian notes and VisionVPM emails it as a comprehensive report. I also don’t have to worry about manually entering reminder dates into my calendar, as it does this for me too. The time taken has gone from 30 minutes per client to an average of five to ten minutes,” she says.
And emphasising the significant time efficiencies that VisionVPM has introduced, Claire says she’s achieved these gains despite having grown her practice from around 30 clients to 120 in less than 12 months. “The time savings have been huge,” she says.
So much so that before Claire spoke to the solution sales consultant, she’d already considered the need to recruit a reception person to help manage her business administration. Once she’d talked to the solutions consultant about the features and benefits of VisionVPM with Rapport scheduling, she realised she no longer needed to hire a support staff member – which was a significant financial saving.
VisionVPM’s automated reminders and recalls help build compliance, strengthen client bonds and add value through better communication. And its powerful reminder system allows Claire to send SMS or email, or post reminders to her clients. Daily, weekly or monthly reminders also help her to streamline follow-ups. Reminders are automatically generated on invoicing and reminders are removed when you record a patient as inactive or deceased.
But these advantages of VisionVPM aren’t only being experienced in Claire’s business operations – she says her customers enjoy the functionality of the solution too.
“My clients love the fact that they get a consult report with every visit. I write up my case notes, including any referrals, and it all gets sent to them right after the visit. This gives them an ‘electronic library’ of all my visits, which they can refer to if they want to check the progress of their animal.
“If I am referring them to another veterinary professional, I just email that report on. It’s so much easier; they don’t need to contact me or get a referral letter, which streamlines the process.
Claire says she doesn’t have to write up a consent form for each new client either. “I don’t have to add any data – it’s a one button press, and everything is done online,” she says.
As this is her first year of operation using VisionVPM, Claire has yet to experience the full benefit of VisionVPM’s reporting tools. However, she says she has used the online Help to navigate her way around the system.
“It’s very consistent and logical,” she says. “What’s in the Help menu mirrors what’s in the actual programme, so the navigation is clear and mostly up-to-date. This has helped me easily work out what reports I want – all I have to do is ask my accountant what she needs and it’s simple to create.”
In particular, Claire enjoys how the General Ledger splits reporting by species. “As I get older, I want to do less horse work,” she explains. “I love how – at the touch of a button – I can see how much money the horse work generates, compared with companion animals. So, year by year, I can tell if I am able to start working less with horses. The reporting is actually going to help me decide my career path – it’s not just an accounting decision.”
Another game-changer for Claire has been the online booking functionality through Rapport Scheduling. This module is designed to offer clients the convenience of making appointments at a time that suits them – even outside business hours.
The initial take-up of online booking by her clients was as low as 10 percent, but now it’s closer to 80 percent. “Because I’m often on the road I am often too busy to schedule appointments over the phone, so I direct my clients to my website to make an appointment online using Rapport,” she says. As she is on the road a lot, covering a very large geographic area, Claire also finds the remote access features of VisionVPM invaluable.
She confirms that the biggest business benefit since implementing VisionVPM has been the significant time-saving. She says the software has lifted her professional brand too.
“I work in the highly competitive area of animal body work, but I am the only practitioner who is veterinary qualified that provides a written report for every animal. It means that I can, and I do charge more, as my clients know they have a highly professional, consistent service.
“They know they can expect a full report after every visit, with the same format and layout. This is great for building strong client relationships,” she says.
Claire doesn’t hesitate to recommend VisionVPM. “I regularly recommend it to other professionals,” she says. “If you’re a new business, or you’re thinking of changing your software, you must consider VisionVPM first.“I haven’t misspent a single penny with the VisionVPM solution – it’s been well worth the investment. I haven’t looked back; the software has helped me save a lot of time and grow my business,” she concludes.
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