Without a doubt, many of the vets I know set up their own veterinary clinic, or it is one of their main goals when they finish their degree, so a vet, man or woman, has a high chance of becoming a business owner.
I’m going to tell you about my pets’ vet, David Heredero, as I have known him for more than 15 years and he is definitely business-owner material.
To begin with, setting up a veterinary clinic can be even more expensive than setting up a bar, because of all the technical equipment it requires, at least if you want to perform surgery and have an operating theatre.
All in all – finding and fitting out premises, monthly rent, accountants and advisers, the project, health permits, insurance and then the equipment and instruments – we are looking at almost €100,000 to get started.
I met David when I had my first cat. At the time he had a modest clinic of no more than 80 square metres in the Hortaleza district of Madrid, which he founded in 1994. The business started to go well and he had to hire someone to help him.
Winning customers
He may not have done a master’s in marketing, but practically the whole neighbourhood knows him, not just through traditional advertising in the local media but through word of mouth, with people recommending him.
He has a CRM!! Yes, I’m not joking. Something many SMEs still don’t know what it is, and some big companies also ignore or don’t use well.
Every year, right on time, a personalised postcard addressed to my pets arrives at my home to remind their owner about deworming or vaccinations. Well, lately it’s an SMS or a WhatsApp message instead.
How easy it is to build a good customer database and communicate with them regularly – and there are medium-sized and large companies that still haven’t caught on…
David wasn’t content with his small clinic, so he spent time training at a larger clinic and, a few years later, opened a much bigger one, multiplying his capacity fivefold.
He currently has 5 people on his staff, so we have to thank him for creating jobs with such a basic business and in a neighbourhood where there is no shortage of competition, even though more and more of us have a pet.
Why is he an entrepreneur?
- He went solo with his first clinic soon after starting out
- Ongoing training to be a better professional. Here is a professional summary
- He is constantly looking for ways to improve the service and offer new services
- He knows his customers well, by name and by their history
- He is ambitious and wants to grow his business steadily
- He invests in technology to improve his business
- He creates jobs
Something he has done well on the marketing front is his brand, “Clínica Veterinaria Hortaleza”, so if you search on Google he always comes up first 😉
This is by no means an easy business, as it is almost like being a doctor: sometimes they have to save lives – it’s not all vaccinating and washing pets – so all my respect to this profession.
If you feel like starting a business in this field, prepare yourself as thoroughly as David has and, above all, don’t forget to focus on the customer, with the right tools to give them good service.
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