Ep. 17 | World of Possibilities for Inventory Managers with Kimberly Shaffer, LVT

In this episode of the Inventory Nation Podcast, I’m delighted to be joined by Kimberly Shaffer, LVT. Kimberly is an Area Manager for PSIvet which is a GPO that offers consulting and training. She hs worked as a manager in a five veterinarian practice for 20 years in Northern VA ad has been with PSIvet for over two years now.

Here’s what Kimberly has to say about her background; ”

I started in veterinary medicine for a 50 cent raise from working at a video store. That extra 50 cents transformed my life. I had the opportunity to work in a family-oriented, fast-paced 5 doctor practice in northern Virginia, with additional experiences with emergency and internal medicine. In the 20 years in practice, I graduated high school, had a child, finished tech school and became licensed, got married, had my second child, and began helping to manage that successful practice.
I have always had a passion for continuing education and am a self-proclaimed “CE junkie”. I mentored several veterinary technician students and have always been motivated by people getting excited about what they do for a living.
I now work for a veterinary group purchasing organization called PSIvet (Professional Services for the Independent Veterinarian) and have the opportunity to consult with and help over 200 independent veterinary hospital owners and practice managers. That keeps me motivated!
When I am not helping my members, I enjoy spending time with my family, including my 11-year-old “puppy” Gator, and my 3-year-old, weird cat Lola. She really is very strange.”

KIMBERLY’S ADVICE FOR OTHER INVENTORY MANAGERS

During our conversation, Kimberly shares her advice with other inventory managers interested in moving out of private practice: “Don’t lose hope! It’s not a fast thing to do and it can take a long time. If you’re considering coming out of practice on the other side of our industry, network. Network with everyone you know, network with your trainers, network with your reps. Be active on social media. Listen to the different speakers and get CE. Get yourself educated as much as you can and network so you impress people. Sometimes they’ll look at a technician and say, oh they don’t have any sales experience. They’ve never done any consulting. Honestly, use your experience you have and translate that into an industry side. If you go move from being a technician to working for a manufacturer, for example, they don’t care how fast you can put a catheter in for. They don’t. That might be something that’s your gold star, but they don’t care. They want to know how you were able to talk to a client and get them to understand how important a vaccine was, and your knowledge behind that. How are you closing that deal? From a consulting side, you’re not always right. You are going to learn things that are different than what you expected. Being open to that will help you be more well-rounded so you can use those experiences.”

LINKS + RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THE EPISODE

  • PSIvet – https://psivet.com/about-psivet/
  • Let’s Talk from PSIvet – https://psivet.com/letstalk/

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