Earlier this month, Shawn Wilkie of Talkatoo and Dr. Ivan “Zak” Zakharenkov hosted Next In Line’s CEO, Nick Kurgansky, on their Veterinary Innovation Podcast.
As successful entrepreneurs themselves, Shawn and Ivan engage with other entrepreneurs in the veterinary industry. The podcast covers current industry trends, challenges, and platforms that aim to address these problems for veterinary practices. Earlier episodes have discussed industry burnout, mentorship, and telemedicine, among other topics.
During the 16th episode, Nick, Ivan, and Shawn discussed how veterinary practices are spending countless hours per week on scheduling, having clients fill out paper forms, and responding to emailed appointment requests.
The concept of online booking has been around for a while, most notably for airlines, salons, hotels, and spa services. However, it has not yet been readily adopted in the veterinary industry, and many vets still don’t know this functionality exists.
One of the main differences between current operations for clinics and what Next In Line offers is the wait time for pet owners, and confirmation step required. With website contact forms, pet parents provide their name, email, phone number, and a message about why they want to see the vet. After this form is submitted, it will sit in a clinic’s email queue sometimes for hours or days. By the time they see the request and respond to clients, the client may have already booked with another clinic, or the pet’s issue could have subsided.
Next In Line removes this long potential wait by knowing when each vet is actually available. Through integrations with many of the leading practice management systems, Next In Line can read each staff’s calendar. Once a client finds the date and time that works best for their schedule, they can instantly reserve that open time slot. This provides a better experience for pet owners and converts that prospective client into a booked appointment.
Overall, it was an enlightening and comprehensive discussion between Shawn, Ivan, and Nick. They dived into other challenges for entrepreneurs, as well as making sure to not be everything to everyone. If you try to do too much and meet every different need, you will get spread thin, and the quality of service will suffer. It’s essential to keep focused on your primary mission and know your limitations to avoid over-promising and under-delivering to clients.
Click here to listen to the full episode and discussion, or listen below!
