1 Aug 2023
Harrison Family Vets in Kingswinford may look like any one of hundreds of newly built veterinary clinics from the outside. But on the inside, things really are rather different, as VBJ discovered when we paid a visit to the West Midlands last month…
Harrison Family Vets, Kingswinford, Dudley
Staff: full-time vets 2 • registered veterinary nurses 4 • support staff 3
Fees: initial consult £39 • follow-up £35
It would be fair to say that Tim Harrison knows a thing or two about opening and running successful veterinary practices.
A co-founder of Vets4Pets who also headed the mighty Mars-owned Banfield International, Tim – along with dad Craig – was also the driver behind the growth of the White Cross Vets group.
So, when he announced his return to the fray by launching a new practice group along with former colleague and now operations director Kristie Faulkner – just three years after selling the 20-site White Cross Vets business to IVC in 2018 – the news sparked widespread interest.
So, a good deal of publicity was generated when the first Harrison Family Vets clinic opened in Reading, and since then three more sites have been launched in Manchester, Kingswinford in Dudley and Stockton-on-Tees.
It was at the Dudley clinic where VBJ caught up with Tim and clinical director James Harris to discuss the creation of the Harrison Family Vets brand.
Opened in February last year and located in an area of mixed retail on one of the main routes through Kingswinford, the new 2,400 sq ft practice has – like the other three practices opened by the group – got off to something of a flyer.
Harrison Family Vets in Kingswinford is already generating annual turnover of around £900,000 from the 2,500 registered clients on the books.
In fact, so spectacular has been the start to life for this four consult-roomed first opinion practice that it has surprised even Tim, despite his storied track record in the sector.
But this is not a man motivated by money, so what has brought him back to the sector after the successful sale of White Cross Vets and subsequent absence from the industry for three years?
Tim said: “I am back because I want more of the ride and more of the people and the teams I work with to do it.
“I just love doing this; taking a new or small business and growing it – particularly in this sector. It is super exciting. Especially doing that with people you know and trust who you have worked with for years.
“It is about being involved in something and creating an amazing culture and growing a fantastic business. My hope is that we can have 40 Harrison Family Vets practices across the country by the end of the decade, and being at the start of that journey excites me.
“But we didn’t just want to roll out another veterinary group; none of us would have any interest in that. We didn’t just want this to be White Cross 2.0 – we wanted to do something that everyone involved could have a real passion for; something exciting, creative and different.”
The most obvious difference between this clinic and most others is the waiting area where, instead of queuing at a reception desk, clients are met at the door by a care coordinator before being seated in one of six waiting pods.
Each of the bespoke pods is fitted with comfortable seating, high privacy screens, and its own infotainment screen playing generic selling messages and infotainment sequences. These sequences include interesting facts about all animals – not just those likely to be seen in small animal practice. Who knew crocodiles can’t stick their tongues out?
Tim hopes these screens will soon be able to play content specific to each individual client and their pet to further enhance the bespoke service the practice aspires to provide.
Each pod is spaced so that owners and their pets are at least 2m from one another as they wait for appointments in a space featuring abundance of soft wood finishes and other nice touches designed to showcase the Harrison Family Vets brand values.
He added: “From a brand perspective, there are two brands in the US that I really like. Mayo Clinics is one and the other brand – a restaurant chain called Cracker Barrel – and I wanted us to be a combination of the two.
“On the one hand, a trusted, high-quality medical facility and on the other we wanted the soft, warm and welcoming aspect that you would see at Cracker Barrel.
“We brought in whites and greys as the main brand colours, but then we also brought in wood panelling and using the heart logo on the doors helps soften the decor, and promotes our care of clients and their pets.”
The practice is cashless, while most appointments are made using the PetsApp system, which clinical director James Harris estimates reduces the number of telephone calls coming into the office by between 20 and 40 per day.
All this makes the reception area a less frantic place for clients and – most importantly – their pets, and this is where the real difference lies. Because, while the client journey has clearly been a big priority, the practice has been designed and is run in a way that prioritises the welfare of pets at every stage of their interaction with the service.
This is because Harrison Family Vets is hoping to become the first certified Fear Free practice in the UK. Currently, around 350 veterinary professionals are certified by the US initiative, but no certified practices – and this is something James Harris is determined to change.
He said: “We are not practising Fear Free veterinary care just to be different; we are doing it because we think it is the right thing.
“It does take time to get everything in place for Fear Free; the process is a long one and it is not easy.
“Fear Free means we consider the emotional health of every pet from before they leave the house to when they have left the clinic. Everything is subtly different, with distraction and gentle handling rather than restraint. The pets are so much more comfortable and getting a realistic blood pressure, heart rate or even cortisol level is much easier.
“Taking stress out of the equation makes us better vets, plus stress can impact on healing, immunity and efficacy of vaccines, for instance.
“We need to stop just focusing on pets’ physical well-being and start focusing on their emotional well-being too, and by doing that you have happier, healthier pets, happier owners and happier team members – it really is win, win.
“The profession is ready for this and I think it will really take off soon and the floodgates will open as this is the best way to work for everyone.
“Vets are coming to us now as they have heard we are in that process and will be pushing for that practice-level accreditation.”
The clinic may still be working through the process to apply for official Fear Free status, but much of the work at practice level has already been done.
The use of perfumed cleaning products that can induce “nose blindness” in pets has been eliminated, with units emitting calming pheromones and valerian used throughout the practice. White noise machines make a visit to the vet as tranquil as possible for all concerned.
It is an approach that certainly appeals to the clients, but as Tim explained, Fear Free is also a powerful tool for attracting top talent to the business.
He said: “My whole career has been about marketing and trying to stimulate demand; about acquiring new clients, but that has all changed.
“The biggest challenge is not about demand, as that will be there for many years. It is now all about supply. So, it is about looking after your teams, building the teams in the right way and getting the people you need to meet that supply.
“So, it has changed from being demand led – which is what I have been doing for 20-odd years – and it is now about being supply led, so we don’t spend huge amounts on marketing for clients; we spend on trying to attract the right people to our business by telling them what we are doing.
“And having that Fear Free approach really helps us with that because veterinary professionals want to work Fear Free – who wouldn’t?”
Of course, building a successful veterinary business – especially in the current climate – must always be a two-pronged approach, where the needs of clients and pets are balanced by those of the clinical teams and support staff.
This is why fostering a positive working culture has long been a central pillar of Tim’s business model – a point underlined by the fact White Cross Vets was named in The Sunday Times Top 100 Best Places to Work list seven years in a row.
Of course, this is a new business with a new culture, but the building blocks of success remain the same, as Tim explained. He said: “We pay our staff very well and we would say our package is industry leading – especially as we’ve just added private medical cover – and the plan is to add more and more.
“We try to have fun with our teams; we have the leadership team going out to Monaco in September and we have family barbecues and regular team events and gatherings.
“Plus, we have just drawn 10 names out of a hat and are taking them to the North American conference in Orlando for a week in January. We know how to build a successful business and that absolutely depends on looking after our people properly.”
James added: “Recruitment is a challenge like it is for everyone and that makes retention the key thing. I think in the past 12 months we have only had one person leave the entire practice.
“I think as our reputation builds and our group grows then that side of things will improve, too, as we had a fantastic reputation for looking after our teams at White Cross and that is what we are striving to do with Harrison Family Vets.”
