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Veterinary Clinic Business Plan
Start your own veterinary clinic business plan
Southwest Veterinary Clinic
Executive summary executive summary is a brief introduction to your business plan. it describes your business, the problem that it solves, your target market, and financial highlights.">.
The Southwest Veterinary Clinic will be located in southwest Richmond. The clinic will offer a full range of medical services to the area’s pet owners. Southwest Richmond is a mixture of industrial and residential property. There are approximately 20,000 moderate-income residents in the area. Many of these residents are elderly with multiple pets.
Currently, the three closest veterinary clinics are a fifteen minute drive for most southwest Richmond residents. Southwest Veterinary Clinic will be a five minute drive from most locations in southwest Richmond.
Edward Anderson, DVM, and Michelle Johnson, DVD, have seven years of veterinary experience. Edward has four years of experience with the Richmond Emergency Veterinary Hospital. Michelle has been a staff veterinarian at Blue Cross Hospital for three years.
Both Richmond Emergency and Blue Cross Hospitals serve residents in southwest Richmond. Edward and Michelle have treated numerous pets from the southwest section of town over the years. Most of these customers praised the service they received. Thirty customers have already confirmed that they will be using the new hospital services.
1.1 Mission
Our goal is to help customers’ pets live long, happy and healthy lives. We believe that a key element to a healthy pet is a great relationship with your veterinarian. Everyone at Southwest Veterinary Clinic is committed to professional, caring, personalized service. Southwest Veterinary Clinic takes pride in our dedication to the highest standards in veterinary medicine. We have a full service clinic offering state-of-the-art veterinary medical technology.
1.2 Keys to Success
- We treat our patients as if they were our own pets and try to offer customers the service that they desire and deserve.
- We take an individualized approach to the long-term care of each of our patients and are dedicated to providing our clients with enough information to make appropriate decisions concerning the health care of their animal companions.
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Veterinary Clinic Business Plan Template
Written by Dave Lavinsky
Veterinary Clinic Business Plan
Over the past 20+ years, we have helped over 1,000 entrepreneurs and business owners create business plans to start and grow their veterinary clinics. On this page, we will first give you some background information with regards to the importance of business planning. We will then go through a veterinary clinic business plan template step-by-step so you can create your plan today.
Download our Ultimate Business Plan Template here >
What Is a Business Plan?
A business plan provides a snapshot of your veterinary clinic as it stands today, and lays out your growth plan for the next five years. It explains your business goals and your strategy for reaching them. It also includes market research to support your plans.
Why You Need a Business Plan
If you’re looking to start a veterinary clinic, or grow your existing veterinary clinic, you need a business plan. A business plan will help you raise funding, if needed, and plan out the growth of your veterinary clinic in order to improve your chances of success. Your business plan is a living document that should be updated annually as your company grows and changes.
Sources of Funding for Veterinary Clinic Businesses
With regards to funding, the main sources of funding for a veterinary clinic are personal savings, credit cards, bank loans and angel investors. With regards to bank loans, banks will want to review your business plan and gain confidence that you will be able to repay your loan and interest. To acquire this confidence, the loan officer will not only want to confirm that your financials are reasonable, but they will also want to see a professional plan. Such a plan will give them the confidence that you can successfully and professionally operate a business.Personal savings is the other most common form of funding for a veterinary clinic. With that said, personal savings and bank loans are the most common funding paths for veterinary clinics.
How to Write a Business Plan for a Veterinary Clinic
If you want to start a veterinary clinic or expand your current one, you need a business plan. Below we detail what should be included in each section of a traditional business plan for a veterinary practice.
Executive Summary
Your executive summary provides an introduction to your business plan, but it is normally the last section you write because it provides a summary of each key section of your plan.
The goal of your Executive Summary is to quickly engage the reader. Explain to them the type of veterinary clinic or practice you are operating and the status. For example, are you a startup, do you have a veterinary clinic that you would like to grow, or are you operating a chain of veterinary clinics?
Next, provide an overview of each of the subsequent sections of your plan. For example, give a brief overview of the veterinary clinic industry. Discuss the type of veterinary business you are operating. Detail your direct competitors. Give an overview of your target customers. Provide a snapshot of your marketing plan. Identify the key members of your team. And offer an overview of your financial plan.
Company Analysis
In your company analysis, you will detail the type of veterinary business you are operating.
For example, you might operate one of the following types of veterinary clinics:
- Small Animal Practice : this type of veterinary clinic focuses on treating small animals, or companion pets, such as cats and dogs.
- Large Animal Practice: this type of veterinary clinic treats larger animals such as horses, cows and other livestock.
- Emergency Veterinary Clinic: this type of veterinary clinic treats animals in emergency situations, such as after-hours illnesses, injuries or allergic reactions.
In addition to explaining the type of you will operate, the Company Analysis section of your business plan needs to provide background on the business.
Include answers to question such as:
- When and why did you start the business?
- What milestones have you achieved to date? Milestones could include the number of customers served, number of positive reviews, total number of animals treated, etc.
- Your legal structure. Are you incorporated as an S-Corp? An LLC? A sole proprietorship? Explain your legal structure here.
Industry Analysis
In your industry analysis, you need to provide an overview of the veterinary clinic industry.
While this may seem unnecessary, it serves multiple purposes.
First, researching the veterinary clinic industry educates you. It helps you understand the market in which you are operating.
Secondly, market research can improve your strategy, particularly if your research identifies market trends.
The third reason for market research is to prove to readers that you are an expert in your industry. By conducting the research and presenting it in your plan, you achieve just that.
The following questions should be answered in the industry analysis section:
- How big is the veterinary clinic industry (in dollars)?
- Is the market declining or increasing?
- Who are the key competitors in the market?
- Who are the key suppliers in the market?
- What trends are affecting the industry?
- What is the industry’s growth forecast over the next 5 – 10 years?
- What is the relevant market size? That is, how big is the potential market for your veterinary practice? You can extrapolate such a figure by assessing the size of the market in the entire country and then applying that figure to your local population.
Customer Analysis
The customer analysis section must detail the customers you serve and/or expect to serve.
The following are examples of customer segments: pet owners, livestock owners such as farmers and ranchers, and horse owners.
As you can imagine, the customer segment(s) you choose will have a great impact on the type of veterinary clinic you operate. Clearly, dog and cat owners would respond to different marketing promotions than ranchers, for example.
Try to break out your target customers in terms of their demographic and psychographic profiles. With regards to demographics, include a discussion of the ages, genders, locations and income levels of the customers you seek to serve. Because most veterinary clinics primarily serve customers living in their same city or town, such demographic information is easy to find on government websites.
Psychographic profiles explain the wants and needs of your target customers. The more you can understand and define these needs, the better you will do in attracting and retaining your customers.
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Competitive Analysis
Your competitive analysis should identify the indirect and direct competitors your business faces and then focus on the latter.
Direct competitors are other veterinary clinics.
Indirect competitors are other options that customers have to purchase from that aren’t direct competitors. This includes virtual veterinarians or pet telemedicine. You need to mention such competition as well.
With regards to direct competition, you want to describe the other veterinary clinics with which you compete. Most likely, your direct competitors will be veterinary clinics located very close to your location.
For each such competitor, provide an overview of their businesses and document their strengths and weaknesses. Unless you once worked at your competitors’ businesses, it will be impossible to know everything about them. But you should be able to find out key things about them such as:
- What types of animals do they treat?
- What types of treatments do they offer?
- What is their pricing (premium, low, etc.)?
- What are they good at?
- What are their weaknesses?
With regards to the last two questions, think about your answers from the customers’ perspective. And don’t be afraid to ask your competitors’ customers what they like most and least about them.
The final part of your competitive analysis section is to document your areas of competitive advantage. For example:
- Will you provide better animal treatments?
- Will you provide services that your competitors don’t offer?
- Will you provide better customer service?
- Will you offer better pricing?
Think about ways you will outperform your competition and document them in this section of your plan.
Marketing Plan
Traditionally, a marketing plan includes the four P’s: Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. For a veterinary practice, your marketing plan should include the following:
Product : In the product section, you should reiterate the type of veterinary clinic company that you documented in your Company Analysis. Then, detail the specific products you will be offering. For example, in addition to operating as a veterinary clinic, will you provide dental services or grooming services?
Price : Document the prices you will offer and how they compare to your competitors. Essentially in the product and price sub-sections of your marketing plan, you are presenting the services you offer and their prices.
Place : Place refers to the location of your veterinary clinic company. Document your location and mention how the location will impact your success. For example, is your veterinary clinic located in a busy retail district, in an agricultural district, etc. Discuss how your location might be the ideal location for your customers.
Promotions : The final part of your veterinary clinic marketing plan is the promotions section. Here you will document how you will drive customers to your location(s). The following are some promotional methods you might consider:
- Advertising in local papers and magazines
- Reaching out to local websites
- Social media marketing
- Local radio advertising
Operations Plan
While the earlier sections of your business plan explained your goals, your operations plan describes how you will meet them. Your operations plan should have two distinct sections as follows.
Everyday short-term processes include all of the tasks involved in running your , including scheduling appointments, marketing tasks, meeting with owners, treating animals and billing.
Long-term goals are the milestones you hope to achieve. These could include the dates when you expect to treat your 1,000th animal, or when you hope to reach $X in revenue. It could also be when you expect to expand your veterinary clinic to a new or larger location.
Management Team
To demonstrate your veterinary clinic’s ability to succeed, a strong management team is essential. Highlight your key players’ backgrounds, emphasizing those skills and experiences that prove their ability to grow a company.
Ideally you and/or your team members have direct experience in managing veterinary clinics. If so, highlight this experience and expertise. But also highlight any experience that you think will help your business succeed.
If your team is lacking, consider assembling an advisory board. An advisory board would include 2 to 8 individuals who would act like mentors to your business. They would help answer questions and provide strategic guidance. If needed, look for advisory board members with experience in managing veterinary clinics or successfully running small businesses.
Financial Plan
Your financial plan should include your 5-year financial statement broken out both monthly or quarterly for the first year and then annually. Your financial statements include your income statement, balance sheet and cash flow statements.
Income Statement : an income statement is more commonly called a Profit and Loss statement or P&L. It shows your revenues and then subtracts your costs to show whether you turned a profit or not.
In developing your income statement, you need to devise assumptions. For example, will you treat 50 animals per day or per week? And will sales grow by 2% or 10% per year? As you can imagine, your choice of assumptions will greatly impact the financial forecasts for your business. As much as possible, conduct research to try to root your assumptions in reality.
Balance Sheets : Balance sheets show your assets and liabilities. While balance sheets can include much information, try to simplify them to the key items you need to know about. For instance, if you spend $50,000 on building out your veterinary clinic business, this will not give you immediate profits. Rather it is an asset that will hopefully help you generate profits for years to come. Likewise, if a bank writes you a check for $50,000, you don’t need to pay it back immediately. Rather, that is a liability you will pay back over time.
Cash Flow Statement : Your cash flow statement will help determine how much money you need to start or grow your business, and make sure you never run out of money. What most entrepreneurs and business owners don’t realize is that you can turn a profit but run out of money and go bankrupt.
In developing your Income Statement and Balance Sheets be sure to include several of the key costs needed in starting or growing a veterinary clinic business:
- Location build-out including design fees, construction, etc.
- Cost of equipment and supplies
- Payroll or salaries paid to staff
- Business insurance
- Taxes and permits
- Legal expenses
Attach your full financial projections in the appendix of your plan along with any supporting documents that make your plan more compelling. For example, you might include your clinic location lease or descriptions of animal treatments you are conducting.
Putting together a business plan for your veterinary clinic is a worthwhile endeavor. If you follow the template above, by the time you are done, you will truly be an expert. You will really understand the veterinary clinic industry, your competition, and your customers. You will have developed a marketing plan and will really understand what it takes to launch and grow a successful veterinary clinic business.
Veterinary Clinic Business Plan FAQs
What is the easiest way to complete my veterinary clinic business plan.
Growthink's Ultimate Business Plan Template allows you to quickly and easily complete a business plan for a veterinary practice.
What is the Goal of a Business Plan's Executive Summary?
The goal of your Executive Summary is to quickly engage the reader. Explain to them the type of veterinary clinic you are operating and the status; for example, are you a startup, do you have a veterinary clinic that you would like to grow, or are you operating a chain of veterinary clinics?
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Veterinary Clinic Business Plan Sample
MAR.14, 2022
Veterinary clinic business plan for starting your own
Veterinary clinics exist to serve the medical needs of various animals such as dogs, cats, birds, fish, etc. According to the American Pets association statistics, there are more than 300 million pets in America. These pets at one time or the other require medical services and therefore, they are usually taken to veterinary clinics. If you have medical expertise and you are passionate about animals, a business plan for a veterinary clinic might be something that interests you.
If you are unsure about how to open your own veterinary clinic, you can start by drafting a business plan that will give you an insight into the market. Here we have a business plan for Focused Pet Care. It is articulated by best business plan experts in the United States, hence it can help you get a head start.
Executive Summary
2.1 the business.
Focus Pet Care is a standard veterinary clinic located in New York, USA. We intend to offer standard medical services such as medical examination, diagnosis, treatment, and surgery to pets such as cats, dogs, birds, iguanas, and other animals. We intend to also offer consultancy and advisory services to our clients regarding their pets.
2.2 Management of veterinary clinic
While starting a vet clinic, it is essential to ensure that all aspects of the business are coherent. Hence, you must prepare a unique veterinary business plan before launching your business.
A veterinary practice business plan will be somewhat like a business plan for dog kennel . You can read a few business plans and develop a management strategy for your startup but it is not considered a good approach. It is recommended to hire professionals and get a customized business plan in line with your resources and objectives for your startup.
2.3 Customers of the veterinary clinic
Even when you hire business planning services to get a business plan written, you still need to do some work yourself. You need to find out which groups can be your potential customers and whether they are the same customer groups that you want to attract. Although Focused Pet Care will offer services to everyone with pets, running a veterinary practice in New York will particularly interest the following customer groups:
- Young, Single Adults
- Corporate Executives
2.4 Business Target
Starting a veterinary practice from scratch can be challenging. it requires streamlining of long-term objectives and goals. our vision is to be recognized for the standard medical practices we offer and be the go-to clinic for all pet owners residing here in the vicinity..
Company Summary
3.1 company owner.
Edward Miller is a veterinary doctor who has worked in several veterinary hospitals in New York and has garnered administrative and practical experiences in surgery, dental care, reproductive issues, and skin disorders in animals.
3.2 Why the veterinary clinic is being started
Edward Miller noticed an increasing gap between the demand and supply of veterinary care in New York City. This wedge resulted in high prices charged by vets and they offered substandard services in return. To provide quality healthcare to animals in the vicinity, Edward decided to open a clinic of his own. Focused Pet Care is his first-ever veterinary practice start up.
3.3 How the veterinary clinic will be started
Step1: Planning the Business
Opening a veterinary practice start up can be a challenging task and requires proper planning that needs to be done ahead of time. A comprehensive business plan can help you analyze different strategies that suit your startup. It also enables you to do a cost-benefit analysis.
Step2: Branding
The next step is to define your business’s services and values to get recognized. Having the proper business structure is very important to brand your startup. At Focused Pet Care, we aim to base our company on customer-centric lines. To ensure smooth business operations and to deliver the best possible services, we hired the best employees who are competent and have the right experience.
Step3: Find a Physical Space
Since running a veterinary clinic requires constant supervision and monitoring, Edward decided to have his corporate office in the same building as Focused Pet Care. This can help him visit the clinics at any time and keep a strict check on business operations.
Step4: Online Presence
Living in an age of social media and digitalization, having a web presence is imperative for a company’s success. Having an online website would help potential customers understand the services offered by your business. In addition, they would also be able to book appointments accordingly.
Step5: Promote and Market
When you start working on your vet clinic business plan, you get an idea of how much it costs to open a vet clinic. The costs are similar to those in horse boarding business plan . To meet these costs and earn a profit, you must employ effective marketing strategies that align with your long-term goals
Services of veterinary clinic
Starting your own veterinary practice can be daunting and confusing. The key behind building a successful veterinary practice is to identify your target market and understand their needs thoroughly. In this way, you will be able to decide which services to offer. In this business plan veterinary clinic, we are listing the services offered by Focused Pet Care:
- General Examination
During a routine wellness examination, vets at Focused Pet Care will ask you questions about your pet’s diet, exercise, breathing, behavior, habits, elimination patterns (i.e., bowel movements and urination), lifestyle, and general health. Based on your pet’s history and physical examination, your veterinarian will then make recommendations for specific preventive medicine treatments such as vaccination, parasite control, nutrition, and skin and coat care.
- Surgical Facilities
Our state-of-the-art surgical suite will offer various surgical procedures such as fracture repair, exploratory procedures, and routine surgeries such as spays and neuters.
- Internal Medicine
We will offer complete in-hospital diagnostic procedures, including blood work, endoscopic capabilities, and ultrasound. Consultation with specialists nationwide can be arranged too if needed.
- Grooming Kits
Pet owners who are particular about what shampoos, wipes, and combs to use for their pets are cared for at Focused Pet Care. Our experienced vets offer consultancy services to pet owners and offer them customized grooming kits for their cats and dogs.
While working on your business plan for a mobile veterinary clinic, you will get an idea of how much it costs to buy a veterinary practice and hence, can arrange for funding accordingly.
Marketing Analysis of veterinary clinic
5.1 market trends, excellent work.
excellent work, competent advice. Alex is very friendly, great communication. 100% I recommend CGS capital. Thank you so much for your hard work!
The veterinary services industry’s life cycle has been described as being in its growth phase. The Industry Value Added (IVA), which is used to indicate the industry’s contribution to the economy, has been pegged to grow at 2.9% between 2011 and 2022. The U.S economy, in comparison, is expected to grow at 2.2% in the same period.
The advent of new technologies has seen many professionals in the human healthcare sector migrate to veterinary medicine, as the industry continues to grow due to other factors such as pet ownership, availability of advanced diagnostic and surgical procedures, as well as the increasing awareness of animal health issues. Hence if you have some unique vet clinic ideas, this would be the right time for starting a veterinary business.
5.2 Marketing Segmentation
Defining your target market is essential before starting your own veterinary practice. In this sample business plan for veterinary clinic, the following are the customer groups catered by Focused Pet Care:
5.2.1 Households
Households with pets are the recurring customers of Focused Pet Care. Since pets are like family members of a household, they deserve the best possible care. At Focused Pet Care, they are entitled to get it from us.
5.2.2 Elderly
This group is pivotal to the success of the clinic. They are the most proactive regarding the health of their pets and demand a strong relationship with their pet’s veterinarian. In return, they will become loyal customers who will refer both friends and neighbors.
5.2.3 Young single adults
This group is primarily reactive to the health of their pets and will usually only visit the clinic for emergencies, reproduction services, and shots. This group will not visit us often but is still expected to be a significant source of customers from the community.
5.2.4 Working people
Due to their tiring jobs, working people are heavily dependent on veterinary clinics for all sorts of health-related concerns related to their pets. They might not spend a lot of time with their pets and hence might not notice any changes in their health until it worsens. The corporate lifestyle is quite mainstream in NYC. Therefore opening a veterinary clinic will be a good business opportunity for Focused Pet Care.
5.3 Business Target
- Running a veterinary practice with profit margins of 25% after the first year of business.
- Incorporating a dog daycare business plan in the operations of the veterinary clinic to expand the scope of services.
- Capturing a market share of 30% in the next three years of operations.
- Having a customer satisfaction score of 98%.
5.4 Product Pricing
Under this sample veterinary business plan, Focused Pet Care intends to lower its rates in the first 6 months of business. This will be seen as part of our promotion strategy to increase awareness about our veterinary clinic amongst potential customers.
Marketing Strategy of veterinary clinic
In this veterinary clinic business plan pdf, you will find a veterinary marketing plan used by Focused Pet Care. Marketing for any business is vital as it ensures that the company gains publicity and generates money. To have effective marketing strategies, we intend to conduct a market survey that will help us understand the market we are going into and figure out how best to penetrate this market.
Provided that this veterinary business plan template is quite detailed, you can refer to the marketing strategies used by Focused Pet Care and see if any of them resonates with your business idea.
6.1 Competitive Analysis
- The services at Focused Pet Care would be offered by professional vets who have practice worth 7+ years.
- Building a veterinary clinic that has state-of-the-art and standardized medical facilities for our various customers.
- On-the-job training will be provided to most of the employees at the clinic to ensure that your pet is in safe hands.
- The introductory prices offered by Focused Pet Care Clinic would be lower than the market rates without any compromise on the quality of services.
6.2 Sales Strategy
- Ensure that Focused Pet Care is enlisted on offline and online directories
- Make use of social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter
- Engage in direct marketing
- Use direct word-of-mouth marketing
6.3 Sales Monthly
6.4 Sales Yearly
6.5 Sales Forecast
Personnel plan of veterinary clinic
The average cost of executing veterinary business ideas is in almost the same range as mentioned in business plan of a dog training center . It is important to account for different kinds of costs to forecast financial returns accordingly. In this business plan for veterinary clinic, we are taking down the average salaries of employees at pet hotels.
7.1 Company Staff
As per this veterinary clinic business plan sample pdf, Little Paws will hire for the following positions:
- 1 Managing Director
- 2 Veterinary Doctors
- 4 Veterinary Assistants
- 1 Accountant
- 1 Purchasing Manager
7.2 Average Salary of Employees
Financial plan of veterinary clinic.
A sole focus on increasing sales does not ensure that your business has become successful and will yield profits. It would help if you did a thorough analysis of the veterinary clinic start up costs and estimated the operations’ capacity for your business accordingly.
In your financial plan, you must identify when and how to cover your investment amount with the earned profits. Moreover, it would help analyze your yearly expenses to determine the possibilities of reaching an economy of scale. A veterinary clinic business plan should also include an in-depth financial analysis which gives an idea of how much it costs to start a veterinary clinic and how much you need to earn to sustain the business.
While analyzing how much it costs to open a veterinary clinic , you must familiarize yourself with different business models such as a pet photography business plan . It will help you understand the industry better.
Here we’re providing a business plan used by Focused Pet Care for you to use as a reference.
8.1 Important Assumptions
8.2 break-even analysis.
8.3 Projected Profit and Loss
8.3.2 Profit Yearly
8.3.3 Gross Margin Monthly
8.3.4 Gross Margin Yearly
8.4 Projected Cash Flow
8.5 Projected Balance Sheet
8.6 business ratios.
- Are veterinary clinics profitable?
If you open vet clinics, you can typically generate a profit of $50k per month by the second or third year. However, it is only possible when you efficiently manage the business.
- How do I set up a vet business plan?
To have a veterinarian business plan of your own, you need to:
- Research how your competitors are doing the business
- Explore services that can be offered
- Decide the audience you want to serve
- Plan your veterinary practice
- Form your veterinary practice into a legal entity
- Register your veterinary practice for taxes
- Open a business bank account & credit card
- Set up accounts for your veterinary practice
- Get the necessary permits & licenses for your veterinary practice
- Get veterinary practice insurance
- Define your veterinary practice brand
- Create your veterinary practice website
- Set up your business phone system
- How much money do you need to start a veterinary clinic?
For an average price of $1,000,000, you’ll be able to open a small animal clinic from the ground up. At $250,000, the cost of starting a mobile veterinary practice is much more affordable. It depends on what business plan veterinary clinic you follow.
- Is a vet clinic a good investment?
To make an investment profitable, you need to have a strong veterinary clinic marketing plan. The investment required to set up a clinic is similar to that mentioned in a business plan for dog walking . A vet clinic is certainly a great investment as it has high returns. The average full-time equivalent (FTE) veterinarian produces roughly $550,000 to $600,000 a year.
Download Veterinary Clinic Business Plan Sample in pdf
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How to write a Veterinary Clinic Business Plan: Complete Guide
- August 25, 2022
Whether you’re looking to raise funding from private investors or to get a loan from a bank (like a SBA loan) to start your veterinary clinic , you will first need to prepare a solid business plan.
In this article we go through, step-by-step, all the different sections you need in the business plan of your veterinary clinic. Use this template to create a complete, clear and solid business plan that get you funded.
1. Veterinary Clinic Executive Summary
The executive summary of a business plan gives a sneak peek of the information about your business plan to lenders and/or investors.
Though the executive summary is the first and the most important section, it should normally be the last section you write because it will have the summary of different sections included in the entire plan.
Why do you need a business plan for a veterinary clinic?
The purpose of a business plan is to secure funding through one of the following channels:
- Obtain bank financing or secure a loan from other lenders (such as a SBA loan )
- Obtain private investments from investment funds, angel investors, etc.
- Obtain a public or a private grant
How to write your veterinary clinic’s executive summary?
Provide a precise and high-level summary of every section that you have included in the business plan of your veterinary clinic. The information and the data you include in this segment should grab the attention of potential investors and lenders immediately.
Also make sure that the executive summary doesn’t exceed 2 pages in total: it’s supposed to be a summary for investors and lenders who don’t have time to scroll through 40-50 pages, so keep it short and brief.
The executive summary usually consists of 5 major sub-sections:
- Business overview : start by introducing your veterinary clinic, where it is located, how big it is (space and number of veterinary doctors). Also mention the services and treatments you offer (for example if you specialise in livestock e.g. cattle, horses, etc.) and their average prices
- Market analysis : summarise the market where you will operate and provide a brief about your target audience (what type of animals – pets vs. livestock vs. exotic animals – and their owners – age, demographics), market size , competitors, etc.
- People : hiring goes beyond the medical staff for a veterinary clinic. Indeed, if you open a private practice, you may also need a receptionist, a cleaner, and other support staff members. And if you are partnering with other doctors to form a joint partnership, mention every partner’s role in the setup as well as their experience
- Financial plan : how much profit and revenue do you expect in the next 5 years? When will you reach the break-even point and start making profits? You can include here a chart with your key financials (revenue, gross profit, net profit)
- Funding ask : what loan/investment/grant are you seeking? How much do you need? How long will this last?
Download the Vet Clinic financial model
2. Veterinary Clinic Business Overview
In the business overview section of your business plan, you should explain in detail what clinic you plan to open. A few questions you will need to answer here are:
- Why are you starting a veterinary clinic today?
- Where exactly is your veterinary clinic located? Why did you choose that location?
- What type of veterinary clinic are you opening (franchise vs. independent)?
- Which veterinary services will you provide? For whom / what?
- What will be your operating hours / days?
- What is the capacity of your veterinary clinic (how many doctors will be working in your clinic)?
- What will be the legal structure of your company (partnership, corporation)?
a) History of the Project
Any business overview must start with explaining the history of the project. There are 2 components here:
- Passion & experience of the business owner
- Rationale behind starting a veterinary clinic today
Passion & experience
You may or may not have prior experience working in the veterinary industry. So, make it clear in this section to help clients understand what to expect from your clinic. Of course, prior experience gives you an edge over your competitors, showing the clients why they should choose your practice over the rest.
Most often, veterinary doctors working in clinics eventually decide to start their own clinic. Yet it isn’t always the case: if you have entrepreneurial experience and a background in the industry (but you’re not necessarily a licensed doctor), you may want to start a veterinary clinic. If the latter though, you will likely start either a franchise or a large clinic (as you may struggle to cover you own salary with a small independent clinic).
With passion and experience comes more responsibility. And after proving that you have what it takes to run a successful facility, the next step is to explain why you think opening a veterinary clinic in that region is the right decision.
For instance, if there may be a shortage of veterinarians to treat livestock like cattle and horses. With the right specialisation and knowledge, you could fill that gap.
b) Business Model
Now, you must explain which business model you selected for your veterinary clinic. First, you must choose between independent practice and purchasing an established franchise.
Yet, that’s not all, you should choose the type of clinic you want to run, and for that you must answer the following questions:
- Will you target a specific category of animals or treat all groups (for instance, livestock vs. exotic animals vs. pets)?
- Will you provide special services (e.g. surgery, re-education, physical therapy) or simply routine care treatments and checkups?
- Will you provide mobile services or work within your premises (home visits vs. clinic)?
What are the different types of veterinary clinics?
Here are a few business models commonly adopted by many veterinarians:
- Companion Animal Clinics : veterinarians treat and look after small animals like pocket pets, cats, and dogs. This is the most popular type of veterinary practice managed by general practitioners. Veterinarians in this setup are qualified to handle basic procedures like surgery, diagnosis, and treatments
- Exotic Animal Clinics : such veterinarians specialize in caring for exotic animals like birds, amphibians, reptiles, and pocket pets
- Livestock and Large Animal Clinics : these professionals care for livestock and large animals like cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, and horses
- Laboratory Veterinarians : these are lesser-known veterinarians specializing in different fields such as pathology, infectious disease management, and pharmacology research, among the rest
- Veterinary Specialists : veterinary specialists specialize in popular fields like dentistry, cardiology, and anesthesiology
c) Products & Services
It’s important to tailor your veterinary services according to the market needs. That means everything depends on the location and the type of veterinary clinic. There’s no doubt that the nature and type of veterinary services will also influence your sales and profitability .
Generally, veterinary services fall into four categories: clinical services, preventive, drugs and vaccines, and human health protection.
For example, a full-service veterinary clinic will probably specialize in one or more of the following services;
- Spraying and neutering
- Examinations and diagnosis (coat, skin, teeth, temperature, etc.)
- Emergency care
- Medicinal treatments
- Weight management
- Veterinary surgery
- Dental treatments
- Laboratory services
- End-of-life services
What about products?
It may be a great idea to add merchandising to your veterinary clinic revenue streams. For example, you can showcase in your clinic (or even better, online) curated partners’ products for pets and animals.
Whilst it can easily take some of your time to sell these products (negotiation with vendors and sales to your customers), it can add a significant chunk of revenue and maximise your profits .
d) Pricing Strategy
Lenders and investors need a clear picture of your pricing structure. And that’s exactly what you should mention here. Get the average cost of veterinary services in the area you want to operate and use it as an inspiration when making your pricing list.
Going with fixed rates isn’t always the best decision. Instead, give price ranges depending on your research and proper analysis of the veterinary industry in the region.
When preparing your pricing list, make sure to take into considerations regulation (threshold, maximums if any) as well as whether the treatments and services are usually reimbursed by the most common insurance policies, and to what extent.
e) Legal Structure
Finally, your business overview section should specify what type of business structure you want. Is this a corporation or a partnership (LLC)? Who are the investors? How much equity percentage do they own? Is there a Board of Directors? If so, whom? Do they have experience in the industry?
3. Veterinary Clinic Market Overview
You must understand the market you wish to operate. For instance, specialising in farm animal care may not be your priority in an affluent area where most individuals own domestic pets.
To help you make the right decision when assessing the market, your analysis should focus on the following:
- Veterinary industry status quo : how big is the veterinary industry in your region? What is the growth rate? And what are the factors influencing its growth or decline in the region?
- Competition overview : how many veterinary clinics are in the region? How do they compare to your setup? How can you differentiate yourself from them?
- Customer analysis : who exactly is your target audience (your customers and their pets / animals)? What type of veterinary services do they need? How often do they need veterinary services? How much are they willing to spend on veterinary treatments on average? Do they have any insurance policies for their pets / animals?
a) Veterinary Industry Status Quo
How big is the veterinary industry in the us.
The veterinary industry in the US is estimated to be worth about $11 billion in 2022 . This is attributed to the increasing number of pets in recent years and the subsequent demand for veterinary services.
How many veterinary clinics are there in the US ?
In a 2017 report , the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) estimated there were about 28,000 to 30,000 veterinary practices in the US, catering primarily to companion animals (cats and dogs).
Most of these practices are owned by veterinary doctors themselves, of partnerships of doctors. Indeed, only 10-12% of these clinics were owner by corporations instead.
Although there is no recent figure publicly available online, it’s safe to assume the number of veterinary clinics has increased in line with the total market growth rate of 4.8% per year during the same period (2017-22).
This means there are around 35,000 to 40,000 veterinary clinics in the US in 2022.
In terms of revenue, veterinary clinics generate each an average turnover of $275,000 to $325,000.
How big is the veterinary industry in your area?
After getting a clear picture of the dental industry in the US as a whole, narrow down to your location. It’s very likely that you won’t find the number anywhere (at least not for free).
In that case, you can use our guide to estimate the TAM, SAM, and SOM for your business. Here is an example of how to do it:
For example, we know that each veterinary clinic gross on average $275,000 to $325,000 in sales per year.
So, if there are 20 veterinary clinics in the area you plan to open yours, you can safely assume that the veterinary industry in your area is valued at around $5,500,000 to $6,500,000.
How fast is the veterinary industry growing in your city?
Looking at publicly available reports online, we know that the average annual growth of the industry was 4.8% from 2017 to 2022 and is expected to accelerate to 8.7% per year from 2022 to 2030.
What about where you live? US national averages can be a great addition to your business plan, yet they don’t necessarily help to assess the veterinary industry where you plan to operate. For example, the industry might be growing in the US, but declining in your region for a number of reasons (decreasing population or disposable income, etc.).
As you likely won’t find this information online, you can instead rely on the number of clinics to calculate the average growth rate of the industry in your area.
For example, if the region had only 15 veterinary clinics in 2016, which increased to 20 in 2022, you can assume that the average annual growth rate of the veterinary industry in the region is around 5%, in line with the US average.
b) Competition Overview
Take some time to assess the level of competition in the area you want to open your clinic. While doing so, evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of your biggest competitors, their marketing strategies, and services.
This will help you assess the challenges you will face to compete with them as a new business, but also to form effective marketing strategies to attract new customers.
It’s always a good idea to do some research and create a comparative table summarizing your competitors’ services, marketing strategies, target audience, etc.
Here is a sample table that you can use:
c) Customer Analysis
Use this section to describe your target customers: the animals (pets, livestock, etc.) and their owners (age, demographics, disposable income, etc.).
In order to carefully assess your target market where you plan to operate, you can consult pet owners in the region to get the following details:
- Their average expenses on veterinary services
- Frequency of seeking veterinary services
- Average spending on veterinary services (per year)
- The most popular veterinary service
- Their opinion on the existing veterinary clinics (what they like and dislike about the existing clinics)
4. Sales & Marketing
This section of the veterinary clinic business plan summarizes your strategy for acquiring and retaining new clients.
To treat someone’s pet, you must first win their trust, especially if you’re a new business trying to attract customers from existing clinics.
So, here are a few questions to help you stand out when shaping your marketing strategy:
- What are the different marketing strategies you will use?
- How do you intend to track the success of your marketing strategy?
- What is your customer acquisition cost (CAC) ?
- What is your marketing budget?
What are your Unique Selling Points (USPs)?
- What introductory promos and offers do you intend to provide for attracting new customers?
What marketing channels do veterinary clinics typically use?
A few marketing channels used by veterinary clinics include;
- Signage (especially if you’re close to a busy street)
- Word-of-mouth, recommendations
- Online local listing (Google Business)
- PPC ads, Facebook ads, etc.
- Email, SMS marketing (to remind existing customers of regular checkups for example)
- Content marketing on social media and blogs
In other words, how do you differentiate yourself vs. competitors? This is very important as you might need to win customers from competitors in the early days.
A few examples of USPs for veterinary clinics are:
- Specialization : you may be the best veterinary out there specialising on companion animals’ muscle re-education, rehabilitation and physical therapy
- Location : your clinic may be located closer to your target audience and/or closer to a busy street where new potential customers can see your signage
- Price : your services may be cheaper vs. competitors
- Referrals and partnerships : you could partner with well-known veterinary brands (and resell their products) that would refer you to their customers via email or SMS marketing
- Offers and promos : you may offer discount rates on subsequent visits
5. Management & People
You must address 2 things here:
- The management team and their experience/track record
- The organizational structure : different team members and who reports to whom?
a) Management
Small businesses often fail because of managerial weaknesses. Thus, having a strong management team is vital. Highlight the experience and education of the other veterinary doctors that you intend to hire to oversee your veterinary clinic.
For the veterinary doctors and general partners, describe their duties, responsibilities, and roles. Also, highlight their previous experience and track record.
For the receptionists, personal assistants, office managers, veterinary assistants, etc. no need to go into a lot of detail, especially as it’s likely you won’t have hired them yet before you get the funding you need, which is the objective of this business plan.
b) Organization Structure
Even if you haven’t already hired anyone yet, you must provide a chart of the organizational structure defining the hierarchy of reporting.
6. Veterinary Clinic Financial Plan
The financial plan is perhaps, with the executive summary, the most important section of any business plan for a veterinary clinic.
Indeed, a solid financial plan tells lenders that your business is viable and can repay the loan you need from them. If you’re looking to raise equity from private investors, a solid financial plan will prove them your veterinary clinic is an attractive investment.
There should be 2 sections to your financial plan section:
- The startup costs of your veterinary clinic
- The 5-year financial projections
a) Startup Costs
Before we expand on 5-year financial projections in the following section, it’s always best practice to start with listing the startup costs of your project. For a veterinary clinic, startup costs are all the expenses you incur before you open your veterinary clinic .
These expenses typically are: the lease for the space, the renovation costs, the equipment and furniture.
Logically, the startup costs vary depending on the size of your clinic, the treatments you will offer (and therefore the equipment you need), the quality of the equipment and furniture, whether you buy the real estate or rent a commercial space, etc.
On average, it costs $467,500 to $839,500 to start a veterinary clinic with 2 veterinary doctors in the US.
Note that these costs are for illustrative purposes and may not be fully relevant for your business.
b) Financial Projections
In addition to startup costs, you will now need to build a solid 5-year financial model for your veterinary clinic.
Your financial projections should be built using a spreadsheet (e.g. Excel or Google Sheets) and presented in the form of tables and charts in the business plan of your veterinary clinic.
As usual, keep it concise here and save details (for example detailed financial statements, financial metrics, key assumptions used for the projections) for the appendix instead.
Your financial projections should answer at least the following questions:
- How much revenue do you expect to generate over the next 5 years?
- When do you expect to break even?
- How much cash will you burn until you get there ( cash burn )?
- What’s the impact of a change in pricing (say 15%) on your margins?
- What is your average customer acquisition cost?
You should include here your 3 financial statements (income statement, balance sheet and cash flow statement). This means you must forecast:
- The number of pets / animals you can treat in a day or in a week;
- Your expected revenue ;
- Operating costs to run the business ;
- Any other cash flow items (e.g. capex, debt repayment, etc.).
When projecting your revenue, make sure to sensitize pricing (prices of treatments and services) and your sales volume (number of customers). Indeed, a small change in these assumptions may have a significant impact on your revenues and profits.
7. Use of Funds
This is the last section of the business plan of your veterinary clinic. Now that we have explained what your veterinary clinic’s business model and services are, your marketing strategy, etc., this section must now answer the following questions:
- How much funding do you need ?
- What financial instrument(s) do you need: is this equity or debt, or even a free-money public grant?
- How long will this funding last?
- Where else does the money come from? If you apply for a SBA loan for example, where does the other part of the investment come from (your own capital, private investors?)
Use of Funds
Any veterinary clinic business plan should include a clear use of funds section. This is where you explain how the money will be spent.
Will you spend most of the loan / investment in paying your employees’ salaries? Or will it cover mostly the cost for the lease deposit for the space, the renovation and equipment?
Those are very important questions you should be able to answer in the blink of an eye. Don’t worry, this should come straight from your financial projections. If you’ve built solid projections like in our veterinary clinic financial model template , you won’t have any issues answering these questions.
For the use of funds, we also recommend using a pie chart like the one we have in our financial model template where we outline the main expenses categories as shown below.
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Companion Animal Wellness Clinic - Business Plan
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Business Plan - June 20, 2011
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Vet clinic business plan
Introduction
How to open a veterinary clinic in 2022
How to make a vet practice profitable
Starting a vet clinic: initial expenses
How to choose the best veterinary practice software
Conclusions
#1 Introduction
Most people treat their pets like kids. Cats and dogs have become a part of our life and family. Same as us, they need treatment. It happens that pets get sick, and their owners have to do something about it.
Vet practices have escalated pretty fast. They are popular, thanks to the crazy demand. Many vet clinics treat pets and care about their mental health, appearance , and well-being.
Starting a vet clinic in the upcoming year may be an excellent idea for those who like animals. This way, you will benefit from helping the beloved ones. Launching such a startup requires similar steps as starting any other business .
If you have already started a pet store, consider opening a vet practice corner. There are many chances to succeed in this investment. The more quality services an entrepreneur offers, the more (s)he earns.
Yes, you do. Obtaining a veterinary license is compulsory in all states. If you don't have the document, think about starting a pet store that you can open without any special medical licenses.
Opening a veterinary business requires roughly $700 000. It is a considerable investment. However, the ROI is fast. An average vet clinic makes up to $500 000 yearly. We may see that the investment will come back in approximately 14 months, which is pretty adequate for the medical business.
It isn't. However, you'll benefit from making it multifunctional. Mostly, clients are eager to get simple veterinary services. But it happens that they need special treatment or unique equipment. So there are two ways. A business person can offer a wide range of simple but popular services. Or he can also invest in rare equipment to attract those who require such solutions.
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How to Create a Veterinary Practice Business Plan
A well-thought out business plan is essential for any veterinarian running or looking to run a practice.
As Steve Covey (American businessman and author) highlights in his book ‘The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People ’, it is imperative as a business owner to begin with the end in mind.
What this means is that it’s important to continually work towards a target, something that keeps you on track and in check. This is where an effective veterinary practice business plan comes in.
Whilst creating a business plan might not be the top of your priorities, a good strategy linked to a set of tactics to execute is key to working smarter- not harder.
Not only can a business plan help you set and stay on track with your practice goals, but it can also help you stay on top of changing trends that may be impacting your practice (see the top four trends that are shaping the future of your practice here ).
In this article, we outline how to create a veterinary practice business plan, which is not only effective- but easy to implement.
Outline Your Core Values
Whilst you may think that the concept of ‘practice values’ might seem a little abstract, this step will underpin everything you do (so don’t skip it!).
When we refer to ‘core values’, what we’re referring to is the core principles you have in your practice which you would like to emulate to your staff and your clients.
Whether you actively have a written list of practice values or not, odds are you already have a set of values that you abide by.
For example, if the wellbeing of your staff is a priority- you’re probably already implementing actions which promote staff wellbeing without thinking about it much.
The benefit of listing these values however is that it keeps you accountable and makes it clear to those around you what the rules of the game are in your practice.
Once articulated, the values and the behaviours that flow from them form the foundation of your culture.
The problem is that it’s easy to put aside values when we are busy (and if you’re a veterinarian that’s all the time!) so intentionally capturing and building them into your business plan is important for effective implementation.
See here how to incorporate your values into your practice.
List a Set of Business Goals
Now you’ve created a base for your business plan (your core values), your next move is to build some solid foundations.
This is where your goals come in. Based on your values, what long-term and short-term goals do you want to achieve?
Examples of goals are:
– I would like to streamline my booking services
– I would like to expand my team
– I would like to improve my team’s communication skills
At this point, it’s ok to keep it vague (we’ll get more specific later!). What’s important is that you outline a set of say 3-5 goals (don’t overcomplicate them) which align with your core values and are measurable, attainable and relevant.
Once you have a list of your values and goals, it’s time to get technical.
Market Research
Don’t panic-you don’t need to write a thesis.
But as any good veterinarian knows, evidence is key. By taking the time to really understand your market (and any gaps you can capitalize on!) you can save yourself heaps of time and money.
Think about it like this. If you were asked to buy a gift for a friend, you could spend half a day perusing the shops trying to find something you think they’ll like, or, you could spend a couple of minutes looking at the person’s amazon wishlist and order something you know they’ll love.
The point is, market research helps you concentrate your efforts into strategies that you know are more likely to pay-off.
When conducting market research ask yourself these questions:
– What’s the level of demand for my services?
– What are my competitors doing – and can I do it better?
– What are my clients ‘pain points’ aka what are my client’s problems, and how can I solve them?
– What are the trends in this market
– What are my strengths and how do these map to the market?
If you are a current practice owner, getting feedback from clients is a fantastic way to get market data – as is attending conferences and hearing what is happening in other practices and indeed other countries!
Encourage your clients to fill out a feedback form after service, or send out a survey in your next newsletter (try using google forms for creating surveys – it’s easy to use and most importantly free).
Regardless of how you conduct your market research, this stage arguably is one of the most important parts of a business plan – so take all the time you need.
Not sure what strategy to use for market research? Click here.
Create Customer Profiles
Now you’ve built the foundation – its time to put the floors in.
Once you’ve got a gauge for your market, it’s time to create some customer profiles.
Customer profiles are essentially a list of general personas which you wish to target at your practice.
It’s important to create these because having a good understanding of who your client is and (and more importantly what they want) can help direct your efforts into the right places.
Here is a fantastic resource that you can use to guide you through the process of creating a customer profile in 6-easy steps.
We cannot overemphasise this step. Right now vets around the world are being overrun with clients due to the pandemic driven increase in pet ownership.
Traditionally, vets have tried to help all clients do all things at all times. But this attitude is at the heart of the discontent and burnout we face as a profession. Better to select your clients very carefully and build a service around their needs.
Once you have done this – it’s time for the next step.
Time to Strategize
You’ve created your values, listed your goals, done your homework and penned your profiles. So what now?
Now it’s time for action.
Now you have an understanding of what you want to achieve and where you want to focus your efforts, you need to outline how you’re going to do this.
Go back to your goals. Using the knowledge that you have now, you need to outline how you’re going to get from point A to B.
The start point for this is to sharpen up those early goals so they are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and timed (SMART). Meeting this framework allows you to clearly articulate what it is you are trying to achieve and by when.
For example, if you want to increase your revenue – be specific, by how much would you like to increase it by? How are you going to measure your success? Is your goal realistic? Is it important to the overall functioning of your practice?
Once you have made your goal specific, measurable, attainable and relevant, create a timeline. Determine who in your team is going to be responsible for what, and make your goals clear to everyone.
It’s important to note that if you are working in a team, getting others on the same page is essential.
Going back to an earlier point – this strategy needs to be realistic – and realistically you’re not going to be able to do it alone. So designate tasks accordingly, and keep others (and yourself) accountable with team business reviews (more on this in a minute).
Use calendar tools such as Asana to set specific priorities and deadlines. This will help hold everyone to account and help get work done.
Review
Congratulations! You’ve created a basic business plan and are now in a position to work in a very organised way towards your goals.
Now what?
Now it’s time to review everything you’ve achieved. Having a specific time frame whereby the team sits down to evaluate whether the practice has reached its goals is key to keeping up accountability.
Evaluating your performance (and reviewing aspects of the plan that fell through/didn’t go to plan) can further help you figure out what to include in your next period of work. Typically these are broken down into business quarters.
Don’t take the setbacks too hard – it’s almost impossible to adhere to a business plan perfectly, and those setbacks are key to creating an even better plan for the future! There are rich lessons for you as a leader and your team to be gained.
Final Remarks
Although creating a veterinary practice business plan can be time-consuming, it is nonetheless incredibly important.
As you probably have now worked out, implementing a strategic business plan is an ongoing process which you should try to repeat at least annually with quarterly way points to reflect, reorganise and course correct.
Although it can seem arduous, taking the time to create a good veterinary practice business plan is likely to be the difference between a successful one – or a bad one. So take the time to invest in yourself and your business and start planning now.
Want to learn more about how to run your business without the drama?
Check out our 60-minute complimentary masterclass for veterinary leaders, teaching you how to be the best practice owner you can be here.
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12 keys to a great business plan
Implement a plan now to help you three years from now - even in a recession.
Rest assured, the next 10 years will be very different from the last decade for small businesses.
A veterinary practice is a quintessential small business and must make some adjustments if it is to remain successful.
It's true the economy has some people spooked, but for those of us who have been through some challenging times this is just another chapter in the book of "When the going gets tough, the tough get going."
We do not want to get caught sleeping like the Big Three automakers did in Detroit.
It is possible to thrive during a down economy. The key is to pay attention and not take success as a given right; instead, we must do the right things.
All things run in cycles. Business cycles generally have a lifespan of three to five years, which means that about every three years we need to re-address our business plan, mission and direction.
If you are successful and thriving today, it is because of the last three years. But what you are currently doing — even if you are successful today — does not assure your success in the next three to five years.
If we address and tune up our business plan annually, we are unlikely to be surprised with our success as we pass through these cycles.
Start with a self-assessment.
That means, in a sense, "fire" yourself. Yes, take a deep breath, then promise to rehire yourself after you answer the question: When you come back, what will you do differently?
This is a nice mental exercise to stimulate thinking and analysis of the current business plan.
Hard as it might be to consider, about 95 percent of our activities each day are rote.
Change that by examining your daily routine, and try to see where you can improve your professional skills.
Next, take a fresh look at where you are, where you're headed and whether you are on the track you want to be.
Determine where you want to be five, 10 and 20 years down the road, and put that in writing.
For any business plan, there are essential elements.
In clinical veterinary medicine, there are 12 essential elements, and things work best when all of them are in synch.
Let's walk through the essential 12 areas of the practice business plan:
The practice format
The format covers four areas: services offered (outpatient, inpatient, ancillary); means of conveying services (traditional clinic, outpatient, house call, specialty, central hospital referral); styles of fees (discount, middle market or premium); and the type of clients you want to attract (diligent, accepting, annoyed).
Now ask: What could you be doing differently with your practice format?
Outpatient services
These services are offered in a house call; at a specific outpatient facility that might have a basic waiting room, examination room, plus or minus a treatment room; or at a full-service veterinary clinic. The typical practice generates 70 percent of its revenue from the outpatient zone.
Now ask: What outpatient services could you add, which need more compliance and which needs to improve in market share?
Inpatient services
These services take place within the inpatient zone — the operating room, the radiology department, the wards, the dental area, the isolation ward, the critical care area, the laboratory.
Question: Which of them need further development? Which need greater client compliance?
Ancillary services
Ancillary services include boarding, grooming and over-the-counter sales. A question that often arises when times are soft is, "Should we add to or develop these areas?" That's because, once started, they are somewhat difficult to discontinue.
Question: Are ancillary services something you wish to develop or delete?
Client services
This area involves the "packaging" of offered veterinary services. It includes billing policy, hours, appointment policy, emergency services, follow-up services, walk-in services, urgent care, telephone services, Web sites, ethics and the all-important euthanasia service. The cleanliness of the facility is a client service.
Ask yourself: What will you do to improve customer service, aka client services?
Veterinary practices are "destination" businesses, wherein customers "set out to go to the vet," as opposed to "top-of-the-mind" businesses, which rely on impulsive buying of their products and services.
In a "destination" business, clients must be informed of services being offered. Many of us believe the public already knows all that we offer. This may be true with spaying and vaccinations, but not so with more complex veterinary issues.
Advertising is generically considered marketing, but there is only a small bit of truth to the myth. Marketing is the entire spectrum of what we will call "client education" to inform potential purchasers of our services. Point-of-sale messages are essential.
Question: What will you do to improve consumer education about the services you offer?
Personnel management
First, do not lay off people. Remember that customer (client, guest) service begins with excellent support staff. Income is linear with support staff, so decreasing staff poses a danger.
Excellent service during the downturn pays dividends, because "winter is followed by spring."
Look to the ratio of staff to veterinarians. The national average is about four per veterinarian. Efficiency improves at eight staff members per veterinarian.
Look at front-office and soft-labor time vs. hands-on duty time. The personnel need to be in a ratio of about 1:1 to ensure a smooth-running practice.
Question: What will you do to improve personnel skills?
These are duties almost never seen by the client, but clients do see the results of poor operations.
Operations management is that part of the business plan that specifically addresses "how" things get accomplished.
It involves worksheets, patient-care protocols, credit policies and duty protocols, but these are only an introduction to operations management.
Question: What will you do to improve the operations of your practice?
Financial management
We tend to think of finances as expense analysis, but it is really income and expense analysis.
Despite the huge amount of information out there, veterinarians generally have a poor understanding of fixed expenses, variable expenses, veterinary salaries and gross profit from net profit.
A down economy is an excellent time to study these issues.
Ask yourself: What will you do to control fixed expenses and address restructuring debt to decrease the short-term burden on your practice?
Decades pass by, data are published, yet who among us has really considered the cost to produce an inpatient service vs. an outpatient service?
How much of a subsidy does the inpatient zone take from the outpatient profits?
In general, 70 percent of our income is from the outpatient zone, while 70 percent of overhead typically is in the inpatient zone. This is upside-down, and it's a practice killer at every level.
Challenge: Get a stop watch and start tracking the cost of labor to produce the 10 most common outpatient and 10 most common inpatient services. Then reset fees according to the cost of labor
Infrastructure
The infrastructure of a practice includes the basic components of sanitation, maintenance and inventory.
When neglected, this area manifests itself in offending smells, peeling paint, poor landscaping and traumas from malfunctioning equipment and bloated inventory.
Ask: What will you do to improve the infrastructure management of your practice?
Quality control
Whoever heard of quality-control management in a practice?
The quality-control area of hospital management addresses medical and customer-service issues.
The concept behind quality control is, "That which is monitored is addressed."
Therefore, monitor medical records, worksheets, follow-up appointments, differentials, treatment-care plans, fee collections.
Yes, monitor monitor monitor. Many times just monitoring an issue is enough to correct it.
Question: What do you think is currently the weakest part of your practice?
When you decide, then set up a monitoring system to address it.
These 12 essential elements are the first 12 chapters of the two-volume set: Management for Results & More Management for Results. If you have a copy, get it out and follow along.
Next month: 10 specific steps to take during a down economy.
Dr. Riegger, Dipl. ABVP, is the chief medical officer at Northwest Animal Clinic Hospital and Specialty Practice. Contact him by telephone or fax (505) 898-0407, [email protected] , or www.northwestanimalclinic.com . Find him on AVMA's NOAH as the practice management moderator. Order his books "Management for Results" and "More Management for Results" by calling (505) 898-1491.
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Creating a Business Plan for Your Vet Clinic
- Post author: razorrank
- Post published:
- Post category: vet life
Whether you are pitching investors, or securing a loan, having a solid business plan in place can position your veterinary practice for success.
What goes into a vet clinic business plan?
A well-researched and organized business plan will give you and your partners a step-by-step roadmap on how you will run, operate, and grow your business.
Make sure to cover these areas in your veterinarian business plan:
Business Overview: Start with the basics— who are you? And what do you do? This section should include your business name, mission statement, business philosophy, the services you offer, etc.
Market Research: Next, you’ll need to dig deep and present why your business is relevant and necessary in today’s market. This lengthy section should include economy trends, information on industry growth, an overview of the competition and how you will compete, etc. Don’t just make blind assumptions, provide solid facts and educated estimates.
Goals: Define success for your business by outlining goals and milestones, and detailed steps on how you plan to reach them.
Management: Introduce the key players involved in your veterinary clinic. It might include owners, managers, and veterinarians. Each person should have a short bio that introduces their experience, history, and qualifications.
Target Audience: Research your ideal target audience and provide details (income, location, sex, age, tendencies, expectations, the average number of pets, types of pets, services needed, etc.). You should also consider including a marketing strategy, outlining how you will reach your audience and transition them into clients.
Startup costs: If you are building a new veterinary clinic (or upgrading your current one), you will need to know how much it all costs. In this section, you should outline all of the items you’ll need and their associated cost, from rent and marketing materials to vet s c ales , veterinary exam tables , and veterinary wet table . You may even include a planned layout and design features.
Finances: From startup costs to income, you’ll want to outline a budget that will let you know exactly how much you need to get started, and what metrics you will need to meet to create a profit. It also informs investors on how quickly they can expect to see a return and serves as a built-in alarm system that will let you know if you aren’t hitting the numbers you need to or if your business is doing well enough to expand.
Plan for Success in the Short and Long Term
Once you have completed a comprehensive business plan for your veterinary practice, you’ll have the confidence of knowing precisely what you need to get your clinic up and running, and where you are heading in the short and long term.
When you’re ready to start building the vet clinic of your dreams, visit TriStar Vet for affordable, high-quality vet scales , veterinary exam tables , and veterinary wet table that will last the lifetime of your clinic.
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Home » Business Plans » Pet Sector
How to Write a Veterinary Clinic Business Plan [Sample Template]
Are you about starting a veterinary clinic? If YES, here is a complete sample veterinary clinic business plan template & feasibility report you can use for FREE . Okay, so we have considered all the requirements for starting a veterinary clinic. We also took it further by analyzing and drafting a sample veterinary clinic marketing plan template backed up by actionable guerrilla marketing ideas for veterinary clinics. So let’s proceed to the business planning section.
Why Start a Veterinary Clinic?
Veterinary clinics exist to serve the medical needs for various animals such as dogs, cats, birds, fish, iguanas and so on. According to statistics from the American Pets association, there are more than 300 million pets in America, and these pets at one time or the other require medical services which are usually provided for them by their owners who take them to veterinary clinics.
This means that the veterinary clinic is a very lucrative business as there will always be pets to care for. To start this business however, you would need to have some sort of experience at previous veterinary clinics so that the experience of running your own business and caring for animals would not be totally overwhelming.
If you are serious about starting this business, you would need to hire the services of a reputable business consultant who is very knowledgeable in this field, so that they could run a critical analysis on your business concept using various factors to determine if this is a business that would be worth going into. Allowing a business consultant handle this aspect would free you up considerably and allow you focus on other aspects that would be needed to successfully start and run the business.
Regardless of whatever line you are from, as soon as you intend to start a business, you would require a business plan. Below is a sample veterinary business plan;
A Sample Veterinary Clinic Business Plan Template
1. industry overview.
This industry is one that includes establishments of licensed veterinary practitioners who do not only provide medical care but also dental and surgical treatments for pets or animals. This industry also includes establishments such as laboratories that provide diagnostic testing services for the establishments of veterinary practitioners.
The veterinary services industry is one according to IBISWorld that has remained resilient from the period of 2005 – 2010, and this was largely due to the fact that pet owners started viewing the expenditures on their pets as of great importance, a view which helped to greatly boost the veterinary service industry in the united states of America.
The veterinary services industry is one that has an annual revenue of $35 billion and had a projected annual growth of 2.9% for the periods between 2011 and 2016. There are more than 48,000 veterinary clinics in the United States of America, employing more than 345,000 people. The market is not really dominated by any major company, as veterinary clinics mainly focused on their regions.
It has been projected that in the coming years, more pet owners will be able to afford costly procedures such as surgery for their pets especially as more pet owners were purchasing pet health insurance. Also, veterinary clinics are likely to receive a boost as pets are starting to live longer which means more trips to the clinics.
According to research from Freedonia, in 2014, the rate at which consumers spent on their pets in the United States reached $33 million, this increase has led to veterinary clinics looking to hire more veterinary technicians to be able to handle the demands.
The growing need by pet owners to treat their pets as companions or family members has seen the industry fare well through the economic recession as compared to other industries.
The veterinary services industry life cycle has been described as being in its growth phase. The Industry Value Added (IVA) which is used as a measure to indicate industry’s contribution to the economy has been pegged to grow at 2.9% between the period of 2011 and 2022. The U.S economy in comparison is expected to grow at 2.2% in the same period.
The advent of new technologies has seen many of the professionals in the human healthcare sector to migrate to veterinary medicine, as the industry continues to grow due to other factors such as pet ownership, availability of advanced diagnostic and surgical procedures as well as the increasing awareness of animal health issues.
2. Executive Summary
Little Haven Veterinary Clinic is a standard veterinary clinic located in Syracuse – New York, USA. We intend to offer standard medical services such as medical examination, diagnosis, treatment and surgery to pets such as cats, dogs, birds, iguanas and other such pets and animals. We intend to offer consultancy and advisory services to our clients as regards their pets.
Our vision is to be recognized for the standard medical practices which we offer and be the go-to clinic for all pet owners residing here in Syracuse, and also around the whole of New York as well.
We are also in business to not only care for pets and generate revenue whilst doing so but to also compete favorably against our competitors. To attain this, we have drafted publicity strategies aimed at ensuring that we have an edge over our competitors.
In order to ensure that we attain our vision as a veterinary clinic we intend to create an enabling environment and also source for and hire competent employees that understand the industry, love pets and are attuned to the company’s vision. Our employees are the best in the field and are fully committed professionals. Hiring the best employees for us is necessary as we intend to ensure that we get our business structure right so as to have a solid foundation.
Asides from ensuring that our employees work in an enabling or conducive environment, we will also ensure that they are well paid, and also continually train them and carry out periodic performance appraisals that will enhance their skills and increase their productivity for Little Haven Veterinary Clinic.
Our location in Syracuse – New York is very strategic as there are a high number of pet owners living in and around our location. Also our location is very easy to access for our customers both potential and new, as it is located close to a major road.
Most of our employees are well trained in animal behaviour and know how to restrain difficult pets with no harm to themselves, property or the pets themselves.
Finally, our owners Elena Johansen, DVM and John Edwards, DVM are two experienced veterinary doctors who have worked in several veterinary hospitals here in New York and have therefore garnered administrative and practical experiences in surgery, dental care, reproductive issues as well as skin disorders amongst others, necessary to run their own practice. Elena has been practicing for over 15 years, while John has been practicing for over 10 years.
3. Our Products and Services
At Little Haven Veterinary Clinic, we intend to offer a full range of medical services to our customers – the pet owners and their pets. Our location in New York, where there are a high number of pet owners, will see us having no problem in generating the required revenue from the different services we intend to offer.
Our aim at not only concentrating on our core services but offering additional services is so as to be able to attract more of the target market into coming to our veterinary clinic. Asides the fact that we would be attracting a whole lot of customers, we also would be boosting our revenue base, and ensure that we have a robust bottom line.
We however would offer services that are fully in line with the laws in the medical industry for pets as well as legal laws of the United States of America. Some of the services that we intend to offer at Little Haven Veterinary Clinic are;
- General Examination
- Internal medicine and surgery
- Reproductive Services
- Orthopedics
- Skin Disorders
- Dental Care
- Geriatric Care
- Consultancy Service and Trainings
4. Our Mission and Vision Statement
- Our vision is to ensure that we are recognized by our offering of a full range of medical services to pets in this area, and providing the highest standards in veterinary medicine.
- In order to fulfill our vision, we intend to ensure that we hire professional and caring staff that would provide personalized services to our customers – the pet owners and the pets themselves.
Our Business Structure
Because we intend to run a veterinary clinic that would ensure that we provide standardized services at all times, we therefore know how important it is for us to ensure that we get our business structure right from the beginning, as this would ensure that we have a solid foundation with which to run our business.
Right from our owners to our management staff and other staff, we intend to ensure that we are all attuned to the vision of the company and that we are willing to work hard in ensuring that we attain the goals and objectives of the business. This is why we would also ensure that we source and recruit only those that are right for our business, and are committed to keeping our corporate culture.
On our part, we intend to ensure that we pay our staff well and that they have a welfare package that is comparable to other similar start-up businesses in the industry. We would also ensure that our employees work in an enabling and conducive environment and that they are continuously undergo training to enhance their professional skills, thereby resulting to higher productivity for the company.
The business structure which we intend building at Little Haven Veterinary Clinic is;
Managing Director
Veterinary Doctor
Admin and Human Resources Manager
Purchasing Manager
Accountants
Marketing Team
Customer Executive Officer
Security Guard
5. Job Roles and Responsibilities
- In charge of making strategic decisions on behalf of the clinic
- Drafts the budget to be used by the clinic with the aid of the accountant
- Ensures that all policies are effectively adhered to by all the employees
- Checks and examine all pets that are brought into the clinic
- Writes out diagnosis and administers necessary drugs to ailing pets
- Carries out surgery and other specialized care on pets
- Sources for and recruits competent employees on behalf of the clinic
- Ensures that employees are adequately trained and paid
- Carries out other administrative functions that ensures that the clinic runs smoothly
- Procures all the necessary equipment for the veterinary clinic
- Sources for reliable vendors and distributors of pet medical equipment
- Drafts and reviews purchasing contract for vendors and distributors
- Balances all the books pertaining to the organization and ensures that they reconcile with that of the bank
- Prepares tax documents on behalf of the clinic and submits to tax authorities
- Drafts clinic’s budgets together with the owners of the company
- Conducts a thorough market research to find out new possible target markets for the clinic
- Carries out direct marketing on behalf of the clinic
- Drafts, reviews and modifies marketing strategies on behalf of the clinic
- In charge of answering inquiries from customers as well as resolving issues promptly
- Keeps an accurate customer database on behalf of the clinic
- Carries out any other duties as might be assigned by the admin manager
- Ensures that the premises is always secured during and after work hours
- Checks security gadgets and ensure that they are in working order
- Reviews security tips and ensures that the employees are duly informed of new security issues
- Drives veterinary doctors for house calls
- Ensures that the medical equipment in the vehicle are always in place
- Carries out light repairs and general maintenance on the vehicle
- Ensure the premises is kept clean before work resumes
- Uses the right cleaning solutions in cleaning surgery and lab rooms
- Stock up on cleaning supplies and carries out any other duties as assigned by the admin manager
6. SWOT Analysis
The veterinary clinic we intend to run is intended to be a standard one, and to ensure that we achieve this standard, we have hired a business consultant to help us look into our Business model and determine if we are likely to make it in this industry and what our chances at competing with others as well as generating revenue were.
The business consultant in carrying out a critical evaluation of our business concept made use of the SWOT ( Strength, Weakness, Opportunities and Strength ) analysis so as to be able to give us an objective report. Below is the report from the SWOT analysis that was conducted on behalf of Little Haven Veterinary Clinic;
There are several strengths that are available in this market such as the high growth rate of this industry, especially as we are still in the growth phase of the industry’s life cycle. Other strengths are the professionals we intend to recruit who are very competent and also experienced and knows what it takes to handle pets as well as ensure that the clinic reaches its desired goals and objectives.
Also our owners, Elena Johansen, DVM and John Edwards, DVM both have a collective long years of practice in this industry and will bring their experience and expertise to bear for the clinic.
The only weakness that is in this market is that we are likely in a saturated market which will make us have to aggressively compete to gain the attention of our potential customers. We however have the strategies in place to be able to assure that we stand out from other veterinary clinics.
- Opportunities
There are several opportunities that are available to us in this market, such as a growing demand for medical services from pet owners who see such expenses as vital for their pets, a growing economy which will allow more people to be able to afford to pay for advanced medical services for their pets.
The threats we are likely to face while starting or running our veterinary clinic will stem from government regulations, which might infringe on how we run our practice here in New York. Another threat we are likely to face are technological problems that might stem from our equipment. Since we have the experience from working in veterinary clinics, we know that we can easily combat these threats whenever they surface.
7. MARKET ANALYSIS
- Market Trends
There has been a general increase in the way American care for their pets. According to a statistical survey that was carried out by the American Pet Association (APA) in 2015, more than 65% of Americans owned at least one pet, which meant there were about 300 million pets existing in the Whole United States of America.
Also according to further research, cities such as California and New York had the highest number of pet owners, which has made the two cities a thriving place to run a veterinary clinic business. The medical services provided for pets are seen as a way to keep them alive, healthy and happy.
Veterinary clinics often have strict laws guiding the practice as factors such as zoning laws and laws on the facilities used in the clinic (such as light lumens, surgery suite, ventilation systems and non-porous surfaces) that would need to be put into consideration. This is why almost no one turns their home into a veterinary clinic.
The veterinary clinic business is also not one that favors house calls as a number of things can go wrong during house calls like limited supplies in handling whatever problems might occur and a liability suit, which might come from damage by the affected pet to the owner’s property or the owners.
There are basic equipment that every veterinary clinic must own either those working from home or leasing a facility. The medical and diagnostic equipment are blood pressure monitor, digital scale, traveling centrifuge, portable digital X-ray, portable ultrasound machine and thermography camera.
Also most veterinary clinics now own their own in-house blood analyzers. Asides, from the above equipment, technology has also come to bear a lot in the veterinary practice as most clinics are able to offer high standardized and state-of-the-art service due largely to medical technology.
8. Our Target Market
When it comes to taking care of their pets, Americans have been known to go all the way, which is why owning and running a veterinary clinic is one way at not only caring for pets but also generating revenue from the care. Our location here in Syracuse – New York is strategic because we are very close to the suburbs, where almost everyone who lives there owns one sort of pets, which is our major target market will be the households.
However to be sure that we are right on our target market, we have decided to conduct a market survey that will help us truly determine who our target markets are, how to understand their needs and what they expected from us. From the results of the survey, it would seem that we are in the business to provide veterinary services to the following groups of people;
- Business People
- Corporate Executives
- Celebrities of all sorts
- Sports men and women
- Dog walkers and trainers
- Kennel Stores
Our competitive advantage
Even though our aim of starting a veterinary clinic is to ensure that we help keep pets alive, healthy and extend their lives, we are also in business to favorably compete against our competitors in the marketplace, and for this we have several competitive strategies to ensure we have and maintain an edge over our competitors.
The first thing we intend to do is ensure we provide a state-of-the-art and standardized medical facilities for our various customers – the pet owners, and this will make us the go-to veterinary clinic here in Syracuse – New York.
We will ensure that we hire only competent employees especially those with vast experience to work at our veterinary clinic, because not only will they understand the business but they will also use their expertise in ensuring that we attain our intended goals and objectives as a clinic.
We also intend to offer a wide variety of services so as not only to boost our revenue base but also attract more customers from our target market, thereby giving us an edge over other competitors.
Lastly, as we intend to hire competent and experienced employees, we will ensure that they are paid well and are working in an enabling and conducive environment. We will also see to it that they are adequately trained to enhance their skills and increase productivity for the company.
9. SALES AND MARKETING STRATEGY
- Sources of Income
Little Haven Veterinary Clinic has been established with the aim of generating revenue and also maximizing profit in the pets/medical industry in the United States of America. In generating maximum revenue for our business, we intend to offer different services that will shore up our revenue base.
Therefore below are the following areas where we intend to generate revenue from at Little Haven Veterinary Clinic;
10. Sales Forecast
The fact that there are more than enough pet owners in the United States of America, with more than half of the owners caring for their pets means there will always be a surge in demand for medical services from pet owners for their pets.
Our strategic location in New York has us quite optimistic in not only meeting our revenue target but exceeding it in the second year of business; this is especially as New York has been recognized as one of the two top cities where pet owners are densely located.
However in order to ensure that our sales projections were realistic enough, we conducted a critical examination of this industry in order to analyze our chances of success, which led us into the verifiable data presented below. It should be noted that the data for our sales projections were gathered particularly based on similar start-ups in Syracuse – New York.
Below is the projected sales revenue for Little Haven Veterinary Clinic based in Syracuse – New York;
- First Fiscal Year-: $450,000
- Second Fiscal Year-: $900,000
- Third Fiscal Year-: $1,800,000
N.B: The above sales projections were done based on verifiable and accurate data that was obtained from the pet industry. As at the time of conducting the analysis, certain assumptions such as location of the veterinary clinic, lack of any major competitor offering same service in same location, and the state of the economy were taken into consideration.
Should there be a change in the listed assumptions, there would likely be an impact on the sales projections, which could cause the figures to increase or decrease.
- Marketing Strategy and Sales Strategy
Marketing for any business is very vital as it not only generates money but also ensures that the company gains publicity while making money. To however have effective marketing strategies, we intend to conduct a market survey that will help us understand the market we are going into and how best to penetrate this market.
We used reliable data in carrying out this market survey as we wanted to ensure that we get an accurate result that will have an impact on our strategies.
Because we wanted to be able to concentrate on other parts of the business, we consulted with a reputable marketing consultant who not only has a good knowledge of the market and our industry, but also understands certain peculiarities that will allow for effective marketing strategies for Little Haven Veterinary Clinic.
Our marketing teams have also been empowered to ensure that strategies that are drafted are in line with our vision as a company. They have been also empowered to modify or review strategies that aren’t working and tweak them for the overall benefit of Little Haven Veterinary Clinic.
We are inducting technology into our marketing techniques and so will deploy our social media platforms, our websites and several other forums so as to be able to adequately market our services to our target market. Below are the marketing strategies we intend to adopt at Little Haven Veterinary Clinic;
- Place adverts in local newspapers, pets and lifestyle magazines as well as on radio and television stations
- Print and distribute fliers in target areas where there are a large number of pet owners and lovers
- Use direct word of mouth marketing
- Launch an interactive web site to interact with and inform customers of our services
- Use our social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to market our services
- Ask loyal customers to refer us and offer them incentives in return
11. Publicity and Advertising Strategy
Publicity is very important for every business that intends to favorably compete with its competitors in the market place. Publicity is not only a means of generating awareness about a business or its products and services; it also helps the business through the increased promotional activities to generate more income for itself, thereby boosting its bottom line.
At Little Haven Veterinary Clinic, we intend to ensure that we draft effective strategies that will help us thoroughly promote and advertise our business.
Because we intend to fully focus on caring for pets, we would hire a reputable brand consultant here in New York that would help us draft effective publicity and advertising strategies that we would use in attaining our vision and objectives here in Syracuse – New York.
Also, these publicity and advertising strategies will be used to positively communicate our brand to our various customers. Listed below are some of the publicity and advertising strategies we intend to use at Little Haven Veterinary Clinic;
- Using social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to promote our veterinary clinic
- Ensure that we paste our fliers and also distribute our handbills in various strategic locations
- Place adverts for our veterinary clinic in local newspapers and pet and lifestyle magazines, as well as on radio and television stations
- Sponsor pet related events and programs in our local community
- Place attractive billboards about pets in strategic locations all around New York City
- Attend pet events and trade fairs to network and increase awareness about Little Haven Veterinary Clinic
12. Our Pricing Strategy
Setting the right rates for our services is very important to us because not only do we want to give our customers fair rates that would make them come back to our clinic time and time again, we would also have to ensure that the rates we fix have covered our overhead and running expenses so that we do not run at a loss. Also, in fixing our prices, we would endeavor to make them fall within the ranges of what our competitors around us were offering their clients.
In order to attract more customers to our veterinary clinic here in Syracuse – New York, we intend to lower our rates in the first 3 – 6 months of business. This will be seen as part of our promotion strategy aimed to also increase awareness about our veterinary clinic even to potential customers. Therefore strategies are underway to ensure that our low rates for these periods will not cause our business to run at a loss.
- Payment Options
Little Haven Veterinary Clinic is aware of the fact that our different customers due to their preferences will prefer different payment options to be made available to them. Therefore the payment options that will be made available to all our different customers are;
- Payment via cash
- Payment via check
- Payment via Credit Card
- Payment via Point of Sale (POS) Machine
- Payment via bank draft
- Payment via online payment portal
The above payment platforms were carefully chosen for us by our banker who has assured us that these platforms will not only be convenient for our customers but will run without hitches.
13. Startup Expenditure (Budget)
The capital used in starting a veterinary clinic depends on what scale the owner intends to start off with, this means that capital might be high for some and low for others. Regards on what scale you intend to start a veterinary clinic, getting standard equipment, leasing a place and paying employee salaries are what generally takes a bulk of the capital.
Other factors like the location and how many staff you intend to get might vary depending on your budget. Therefore, the key areas where we intend to spend the bulk of our capital on are;
- Total fee for registering the business in the United States of America – $750
- Licenses, permits, accounting services as well as other legal expenses – $4,250
- Cost of hiring a business consultant – $2,000
- Insurance coverage ( general liability, property insurance and workers’ compensation ) – $2,000
- Cost of acquiring medical and surgical equipment – $150,000
- Cost of procuring lab equipment – $40,000
- Cost of leasing and renovating a facility for at least 1 year – $50,000
- Cost of setting up a waiting/examination room for pets – $30,000
- Cost of getting kennel equipment – $14,000
- Marketing promotions expenses (Promotion expenses for grand launch and general promotion and marketing expenses) – $6,000
- Operational cost for the first 3 months (salaries of employees, utility bill payments) – $150,000
- Other start-up expenses (stationeries, phones, computers, furniture) – $5,000
- Cost of purchasing a medical mobile van – $30,000
- Cost of launching a website – $1,000
- Cost of throwing a party to launch our business – $5,000
- Miscellaneous – $10,000
From the above breakdown, we would need an estimate of $500,000 in order to successfully start and run our veterinary clinic here in Syracuse – New York. The above stated amount will cover leasing, set-up of the veterinary clinic as well as pay employees and utility bills for a period of 3 months, when the business would have made enough revenue to sustain itself and its operations.
Generating Funding / Startup Capital for Little Haven Vet Clinic Business
Little Haven Veterinary Clinic is a business owned and run by two very experienced veterinary doctors; Elena Johansen, DVM and John Edwards, DVM. Both have worked in different veterinary hospitals before here in New York and so are gearing to run their own practice.
We do not intend to seek for an external investor, which is why we have decided to restrict the sourcing of their capital to 4 sources. The 4 areas where we intend to generate our start-up capital from are;
- From personal savings
- Soft loans from friends and family members
- Loan from SBA
- Loan from commercial bank
N.B: From the above four sources we were able to generate the following amount; $50,000 from personal savings, $50,000 soft loan from family members and friends, 0,000 loan from SBA, and $300,000 loan from the bank. All the monies are already in our account and as soon as we tie up a full loose ends we would hit the ground running.
14. Sustainability and Expansion Strategy
We have drafted effective sustainability and expansion strategies to ensure that we not only make profit and compete favorably with our competitors, but that our bottom line is healthy so as to sustain us in such a way that we can grow and expand at the pace we want.
The strategies we intend to use in sustaining and expanding our business are; ensuring that we hire competent employees, innovating and expanding our services so as to have a competitive advantage as well as ensuring we retain a huge number of our customers.
As a business that believes in having the right business structure, we know how important this is especially if we intend to sustain our business. It is therefore not out of place for us to source for only competent employees that we are sure understand our core values and are willing to work hard in ensuring that we attain our objectives as a company.
Even though we intend to offer core medical services in our veterinary clinic, we also intend to other services as well to our target market. This will not only bring in increased customers and revenue to our business but it will also ensure that we have a competitive advantage over our competitors in the same industry.
Finally, we know how important customers are to a business, for without customers our business is going to die, which is why we intend to treat our customers fairly, which extends to their pets as well. Our customer care executives have been trained to handle agitated pet owners and pets effectively and our veterinary doctors as well as other staff understand the need of treating the customers right always.
Check List / Milestone
- Business Name Availability Check: Completed
- Business Registration: Completed
- Opening of Corporate Bank Accounts: Completed
- Securing Point of Sales (POS) Machines: Completed
- Opening Mobile Money Accounts: Completed
- Opening Online Payment Platforms: Completed
- Application and Obtaining Tax Payer’s ID: In Progress
- Application for business license and permit: Completed
- Purchase of Insurance for the Business: Completed
- Conducting feasibility studies: Completed
- Generating capital from family members: Completed
- Applications for Loan from the bank: In Progress
- Writing of Business Plan: Completed
- Drafting of Employee’s Handbook: Completed
- Drafting of Contract Documents and other relevant Legal Documents: In Progress
- Design of The Company’s Logo: Completed
- Graphic Designs and Printing of Packaging Marketing / Promotional Materials: In Progress
- Recruitment of employees: In Progress
- Creating Official Website for the Company: In Progress
- Creating Awareness for the business both online and around the community: In Progress
- Health and Safety and Fire Safety Arrangement (License): Secured
- Opening party / launching party planning: In Progress
- Establishing business relationship with vendors – wholesale suppliers / merchants: In Progress
- Purchase of trucks: Completed
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