The month you keep having, and where it leaks.
Nobody schedules the follow-up on a recommended dental. Nobody holds a surgery slot with a verbal yes. This page is the checklist, the phone script and the leak table we would use if we ran your front desk. Plus, honestly, where our product fits.
- 81%
- of veterinarians say clients are more cost-sensitive than a year ago (AVMA, 2025)
- −3%
- visits in 2025, after −2.3% in 2024
- $150-1,500
- value of one recommended procedure that never gets booked
Four weeks, one problem, no villain.
None of this is anybody's fault. It is what happens when the step that turns a recommendation into a booking is a phone call somebody has to remember to make.
- 01
Week one: the recommendations
Twelve dentals and four surgeries get recommended. Everyone means it. The estimates are printed, the folders go home, and the recall list quietly grows by sixteen names nobody has time to call.
- 02
Week two: the follow-up that does not happen
Between the phones, the drug order and a receptionist off sick, chasing an estimate is the first task to fall off the list. It is also the only task on the list that brings money in.
- 03
Week three: the gaps
Two surgery slots open up on the Thursday morning because a client changed their mind and another simply did not come. Filling a theatre slot at 48 hours' notice is close to impossible.
- 04
Week four: the numbers meeting
Production is down and nobody can say exactly why, because the thing you would need to measure (how many recommended procedures were never booked) was never written down anywhere.
Before the appointment
Six lines. If you can tick all six today, you do not need us. You need to keep doing exactly what you are doing.
Every scheduled procedure has a written estimate the client has seen, not just a number said out loud.
The estimate separates what is included from what is recommended and what is optional, with a price on each line.
The estimate has a validity date and one sentence about what happens if the plan changes mid-procedure.
The deposit rule is written, published and identical for every client. Not decided at the counter.
Somebody owns the follow-up, or the follow-up is automatic. Both work; "we'll get to it" does not.
You can answer, at the end of any week, how many recommended procedures were accepted and how many were not.
Five leaks, and the change that closes each one.
None of these are exotic. They are the five places every independent practice loses money between a recommendation and an invoice.
| The leak | What it looks like | What it costs | What to change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Recommended, never booked | The estimate went home in a folder and nobody called | The full value of the procedure, every time | Send it as a link and let the reminder do the calling |
| Booked, then cancelled late | A verbal yes with nothing holding the slot | An empty theatre morning you cannot refill | Take a deposit at signature and publish the notice period |
| Trimmed at the counter | Diagnostics declined because the price arrived at the worst moment | The second visit that never gets scheduled | Price the workup the day before, not on arrival |
| Disputed at discharge | "Nobody told me it would be that much" | Twenty minutes of front-desk time and a discount | A signed plan with a timestamp and the client's own choices on it |
| Invisible in the numbers | No record of what was recommended versus what was accepted | You cannot fix what you cannot see | One dashboard line: sent, opened, signed, paid, expired |
Context figures from AVMA 2025 (81% of veterinarians report more cost-sensitive clients; visits down about 3% in 2025 after 2.3% in 2024). The $150-1,500 range is the value of a single recommended dental, surgery or imaging workup, not a claim about your practice. Run the arithmetic on your own acceptance numbers before believing anybody, including us.
Five lines, said the same way every time.
Put this in the practice manual and change the names. What matters is not the wording. It is that everyone at the counter says the same thing, so no client gets a different version of your policy.
- 1
"Dr. Lewis has recommended a dental for Milo. I am emailing you the full plan right now."
- 2
"It shows what is always included, what we recommend, and what is optional. You tick what you want and the total updates."
- 3
"Nothing to install. It opens on your phone and takes about twenty seconds."
- 4
"To hold a surgery morning we take a deposit when you sign, and it comes off the final bill."
- 5
"Have a look tonight. If we have not heard back by Thursday you will get a reminder, and I will call you Friday."
One link, and one number to read on Friday.
VetApprove is not a practice management system and never will be. It sends the priced plan, gets it approved and signed, collects the deposit into your clinic's own Stripe account, and chases what is unsigned on day 1 and day 3.
$99 per month for the whole clinic, no setup fee, no contract, nothing taken on deposits beyond Stripe's usual card fees. If the checklist above is already ticked at your practice, you do not need it.
Set it up once
Templates, deposit rules and reminder timing are configured by you, not decided at the counter.
Two minutes per plan
Pick a template, adjust the lines, send. The client needs no account and no app.
Money to your account
Stripe Connect, direct payments. Your clinic is the merchant; we take nothing.
One weekly number
Sent, opened, signed, deposit received, expired. The thing you could never measure before.
What managers ask us first.
What does a practice manager actually do with this?
Two things. Set the templates and the deposit rules once, so the front desk stops improvising. Then read one number every week: how many plans were sent, and how many came back signed and paid.
Will the front desk use it?
The job is: pick a template, adjust a few lines, press send. About two minutes. The part that needs no training is the client's, because they just tap a link.
Do I need to change our practice software?
No, and that is the point. VetApprove sits beside ezyVet, Provet Cloud, Digitail, IDEXX Neo, Shepherd, AVImark, Cornerstone, Covetrus Pulse, Vetspire, or paper. There is no integration to install and nothing for a vendor to approve.
How do I justify $99 a month?
One recommended procedure that gets booked instead of forgotten. A single dental or an imaging workup covers the year; we would rather you check that arithmetic against your own numbers than trust ours.
Who owns the deposit money?
Your clinic. Deposits go into your own Stripe account through Stripe Connect with direct charges. VetApprove is not a payment processor: we take nothing on the deposit, Stripe's fees apply.
What do we have to write ourselves?
Your prices, your deposit terms and your cancellation notice. We give you free templates for the deposit policy and the financial policy; the words are yours and should be read once by your counsel.
Start with the paperwork
The templates below are free, built in your browser, and ask for no email. Write them once and the front-desk conversation gets much shorter. See all templates.
Templates and situations
Ten clinics. Then we close the door for a while.
We are onboarding the first cohort by hand, one clinic at a time, to get the templates right for your species and procedures. Tell us where you are and we'll send the payment link and a 15-minute slot.