Another question we are frequently asked about growing your veterinary business is:

What can I do to sell more products in my reception area?

Our point of view is this:

Finding ways to increase the sales of the products you sell within the reception area of ​​your veterinary practice is an excellent idea, as it is a way to increase the average transaction value of your customers.

Here are three strategies you can immediately start implementing that will increase product sales within your reception area:

1. Provide your staff with cross-sell scripts

Did you know that when McDonald’s introduced the phrase “Would you like fries with that?” doubled their worldwide earnings? This sentence is the perfect example of a cross-sell script – in other words, a script that your staff can learn and that you use to get customers to buy something different than what they originally came into practice with.

McDonald’s also introduced the other phrase “Would you like to enlarge that?” which is an example of a top sale script, in other words a script your staff can use to get your customers to buy a more expensive version of what originally came.

So how can you use them in your practice?

Well, you can use generic scripts and product specific scripts.

A generic script could be a simple script that reception staff can use when receiving a payment from a customer, such as:

“Rocky’s been a good boy today, would you like to reward him with a tasty chew? It’s only a dollar and I can add it to your account if you want.”

An example of a product specific script could be used when a customer purchases an external flea treatment like

“We really recommend a shampoo that won’t peel off with that flea treatment. May I suggest this one?”

Or if a customer has bought a small bag of dog food, it could have a script like:

“Did you know the 17.6 pound bags are better value for money? We can bring them to your car for you if you are concerned about weight.”

Think about which products have top-selling opportunities and which ones have cross-selling opportunities. Then create simple scripts that your front desk staff can use, but don’t enter too many at once or you’ll just confuse them.

2. Increase the number of coatings.

It has been shown in many veterinary practices that if you have two product coatings and you increase that to three product coatings, you should increase your sales of those products by 50%. If you have the space to do it, do it!

3. Better signage on the shelves

Many practices have very poor shelf signage or worse, no signage. Instead of assuming your customers will know that stacked paper bags are dog food, why not make them think about buying some? For example, on top of diet food, place a sign that is large enough to be seen from all points in the waiting room with the words “Does your dog need to lose weight?” or above dental chews “Does your dog’s breath smell?” or on top of the shampoo “Does your dog itch?” When you make your customers think they will engage with your products instead of ignoring them!

These are very practical things that you can implement, you just have to take action and do it!