"If you're a pet owner, undoubtedly you've gone through the process of trying to load your pet in the car and taking it to the vet. If your pet doesn't like cars or the travel cage you might be using, that can be an ordeal, to say the least. Also, your pet probably didn't think highly of the vet's office, particularly because of all the other dogs and cats there and the obvious noises. But it's part of being a pet owner, and you simply put up with it.
There is, however, an alternative to that which is, in a way, a return to older times — the house call. While large animal vets have to go to where the animal is, that hasn't been a common practice for small animals.
But Tim Gravatte, DVM, owner of The Mobile Vet Waggin', does just that. His office is a more than 20-foot van specifically designed to be a mobile veterinary office by a company that also designs vans for mobile command centers and mobile dental offices. Tim's mobile office has everything you might expect a vet to have, including an X-ray machine and processing, a stocked pharmacy and a separate surgical suite.
He can provide almost any service that an office-based vet clinic can, including surgery such as growth removal and teeth cleaning, in addition to the standard services.
You can quickly understand why owners and their pets value such a service. While it is certainly less stressful on both the pets and their owners, it provides a convenience factor as well. If you have multiple pets, you can have them all checked in one visit, rather than have to make multiple trips to the vet's office. It also is important for those who have physical limitations that make it difficult to get their pets to an office. When it unfortunately comes time to euthanize a pet, many prefer having that done at home rather than in an office. In familiar and private surroundings, this can be less stressful for both the pet and the owner.
From Tim's perspective, home visits mean that he can see the home environment, which can help in developing the history of the animal and in diagnoses. In addition, seeing the animals in their environment means they are under less stress and calmer.
My initial reaction was that this service would be more expensive than the traditional vet's office, but I was surprised to learn that his services are generally the same as, or sometimes lower, than the traditional office.
With travel time built into the day, he can make perhaps eight home visits daily — far less that the traditional office. However, there are several key reasons why Tim's system works. While he had to invest in the vehicle itself, the medical necessities are little different than he would have in an office. So while he does have vehicle maintenance and travel costs, they are significantly less than owning or renting an office, paying utilities, and having the additional cost of office staff. The only limitations to this are that Tim can't hospitalize an animal overnight or keep it for a period of time to do diagnostic tests. In the future, he hopes to be able to combine his mobile facility with a fixed base facility so he can provide those services as well.
While Tim points out that mobile operations like this have been around for many years, they have just recently begun to show significant growth. Interestingly, this new trend harkens back to the olden days when human doctors made house calls, rather than have you go to them. While Tim provides the same level of service that you would expect from any medical professional, what sets his practice apart from the others is the overall convenience factor, making the whole process easier on both the pet and the owner.
That adds a new value to an expected service. Now if you own a plumbing business, you might point out that you and every other plumber already does that. But no matter what your business, is there a way you can make your service more convenient to the customer or add value in some way? Can you change your hours to better accommodate households where both adults work full time during the day? Is there an added service that you can provide that not only is of value to your customer, but is something your competition doesn't offer? If there is some level of stress involved with your customers' situation, can you develop some way to lessen it?
Tim and his Mobile Vet Waggin' have been successful by "going to the dogs." Find a way to set yourself apart so your business won't.
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