1. Veterinary TIMES
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Q&A
QHow long have you
worked at Zoetis and
what is your background?
AI joined Pfizer in 1997 as
a medical representative
on the human health side of
the business. My journey to
this point was an interest-
ing one. After graduating in
biological sciences, I thought
I wanted to be a university
lecturer, so I started a PhD at
the University of Aberdeen
School of Medicine, work-
ing as a research student
with Hugh Pennington.
Within the first two months
I knew it was a bad deci-
sion. The laboratory envi-
ronment didn’t suit me and
I knew this was not a path
to the future I had in mind.
As I was contemplating this,
I was visited by a scientific
sales representative. She
drove a company car, wore
great clothes and agreed
laboratory research was not
for me. I decided to look at
human pharmaceuticals and
got a job as a medical repre-
sentative for Pfizer cover-
ing the Glasgow area. It’s a
huge company with multiple
career options so when some
field trainers came to coach
me one day I liked the look
of their job and knew which
new career path to follow.
When a training man-
ager role became available
in Edinburgh, I applied and
was successful. This role
exposed me to training in
leadership development and I
achieved my CIPD certificate.
A job then came up to move
from human to animal health
and I realised the vet world is
AS someone whose driving
focus is in the ability to stay
on the ball with changing
trends in the veterinary
industry, Nick Steele’s role
at Zoetis is both challeng-
ing yet crucial to his practice
clients, as he explains.
a much nicer environment to
work in, so I was hooked from
that moment on. I was looking
to move back into a business-
type role and the national
consulting manager oppor-
tunity came up in 2011. The
rest, as they say, is history.
QHow would you say the
business has evolved
during your time with Zoetis?
AIn many ways the ani-
mal health industry has
mirrored what the human
pharmaceutical business
went through. The environ-
ment has become increas-
ingly challenging for different
reasons. You can no longer
just sell drugs and vaccines
to vet practices – you have
to work collaboratively.
Customers have their own
agendas, challenges and
needs and we at Zoetis have
realised we need to have a
shared agenda with custom-
ers so we can work collabora-
tively and build a sustainable
business in partnership with
our veterinary practice clients.
QWhat are the biggest
challenges you face
as national consulting
manager and what skills
do you possess to meet
those challenges?
ASome of the biggest chal-
lenges I face are to make
sure the services I develop
are pertinent to veterinary
practices, as well as predicting
their needs and staying ahead
of the change curve. This is
why we have been investing
in upscaling our team and in
digital marketing to produce
tools such as PetDialog, which
we believe will be vital in
enhancing client relationships
and touchpoints for practices.
I need to have the curiosity
to look for the next big thing,
so I am constantly researching
and drawing from other sec-
tors and predicting the needs
of our veterinary clients.
QYou have played a key
role in a number of prac-
tice management-type initia-
tives, including the Effective
Leadership Programme and
now Profit Solver. How impor-
tant is it firms such as Zoetis
offer this kind of service?
AConcepts like the Effec-
tive Leadership Pro-
gramme and Profit Solver are
extremely expensive to bring
to market, so represent a sig-
nificant investment. It’s only
really companies like Zoetis
that have both the resources
and foresight to see how
important these sort of ser-
vices are and to realise we’ll
be successful if our veterinary
practice clients are successful.
QCan you explain what
kind of impact you
expect Profit Solver to have
on the way the profession
and those within it operate?
AWe are constantly looking
to practices to see what
they want and the two areas
of our consultancy in most
demand are people manage-
ment skills and financial skills.
We’ve produced a lot of
programmes that explore
every different aspect of peo-
ple management, so finance
was the next topic to tackle.
Veterinary practices have
tended to face historical,
unresolved problems where
finances are concerned. They
have no standard method
for pricing their services,
profit levels are low for
many practices, they are
unable to clearly see which
services make money and
which don’t, and this ham-
pers their ability to accu-
rately value the business.
Our new Profit Solver soft-
ware is an evidence-based
tool that will provide the
solution to all these financial
issues. It uses the practice’s
actual data – not benchmarks
or accepted norms – to ena-
ble the practice to manage
costs, set prices and gain
return from investments.
By using a collection of data
such as practice costs, which
staff perform what elements
of the procedure, how long
the procedure takes and what
equipment and materials are
used, Profit Solver calculates
the price necessary to cover
cost and deliver a prede-
termined profit margin.
Profit Solver helps prac-
tices to understand how the
overall practice profit is being
generated. With this tool, if
a practice is in a very price
sensitive area, it can match
its prices with the competi-
tion on items and procedures
where clients are likely to
shop around, but maintain its
profit margins as a business
by increasing the price in other
less price-sensitive areas.
Profit Solver is a complete
game changer. It has been
going in the United States
QUALIFICATIONS: BSc(Hons) Biological Sciences, CIPD Certificate in
Learning and Development.
POSITION: National consulting manager, Zoetis.
JOB DESCRIPTION: Leading a team of 10 business consultants to provide
consultancy support to veterinary practices across the UK, driving business
growth for both the practice and Zoetis. Identifying new business service
needs for practices, designing the solutions and developing the skills and
knowledge of the team to deliver the service to practices.
BRIEF CV: After graduating from university, I studied for a PhD in molecular
genetics before joining the human pharmaceutical industry as a Pfizer
medical representative for nine years. My passion for training and
development began in 2004 when I became training manager for Pfizer in
Scotland. I then moved from human health to animal health in 2008 and
took on my current role in 2011.
HOBBIES: Business life doesn’t leave much time for hobbies, but I’ve
recently moved to the Helensburgh area in Argyll and enjoy exploring the
area and village life at the weekend. I have three cats and plan to add a
couple of standard poodles to the clan later in the year.
LITTLE KNOWN FACT: There are three – I am a published poet, played
piano up to Grade 9 and have been shoe shopping with Boyzone.
NAME: Nick Steele
for the past two years and
has delivered an average
of $154,000 (£104,000)
extra profit to practices
and when we piloted it
here, the tool identified 15
per cent extra revenue for
the practice in question.
QWhat do you think will
be the major business
trends in the profession
over the next few years?
AI think harnessing and
using data will be a
major business trend. Devel-
oping tools around using
data to enhance both the
clinical aspects of veteri-
nary practices and the way
a practice communicates
and engages with its cli-
ents will be important.
More and more prac-
tices are realising this and
becoming increasingly savvy
with using digital market-
ing and tools such as our
PetDialog app and its new
quality of life assessment.
‘I was visited by a scientific sales
representative. She drove a company
car, wore great clothes and agreed
laboratory research was not for me.
’
‘I need to have the curiosity to look for the
next big thing, so I am constantly researching
and drawing from other sectors and predicting
the needs of our veterinary clients.
’
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