Tag: veterinary team

Why do my veterinary clients do less when I talk more?

by easyDVM

Starting a new veterinary practice involves lots of decisions and lots of work. What type of building is best? Which location is perfect? Is cloud veterinary software better than a program on your own server? One of the most time-consuming but critical elements to creating a successful practice is forming sold veterinarian/client/patient relationships. These relationships are key to the best care for your patients, as well as follow through on the part of their owners.

While most veterinary doctors think that lengthy explanations spur their clients to follow through on their guidance, research tells us that is not the case at all. In fact, research has shown that the more a veterinarian talks, the less likely compliance will follow. Specifically, the more we deliberate about a decision, the less likely we are to make a decision at all.  Decisions are made emotionally. So, how do you ensure that your clients follow through for healthier pets?

How do People Make Veterinary Decisions?

Knowing what we do about clients tuning out long-winded veterinarian guidance, it points out that their decision-making process differs from what is expected. In fact, most people make decisions about their pets based on emotions rather than logic. Given how much people love their pets, this is likely understandable.

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So, veterinary practices need to be cognizant of emotional elements of the veterinary-client relationship, like these:

  • First impressions – The initial meeting of a client is crucial. While you are examining their beloved pet, they are sizing you up at the same time. Your bedside manner cannot be understated in terms of importance.
  • Comfort level – When clients are comfortable with your care and your advice, they will listen to your guidance. Building that trust level is a key point.
  • Appreciation – Clients should be appreciated and thanked for their business.
  • Compliments – When a client follows the veterinary advice that your practice gives them, they should be complimented for the follow through and taking such great care of their pets.

How Can You Improve Compliance?

Improving compliance is central to growing your veterinary practice. The more clients comply with your advice, the healthier their pets will be. This will certainly lead to better relationships between the practice and the clients. And, great relationships lead to greater loyalty and more referral patients. Luckily, user-friendly web based veterinary practice management software can enhance compliance, solidify relationships, and boost your veterinary practice.

Here are some far-reaching measures that your practice can set up using veterinary software to ensure maximum compliance and client happiness:

  • Take an assessment of current compliance: Don’t estimate, as you’ll often guess that the level is higher than it really is. Communicate with the client and ask!
  • Get the whole team involved: Established follow up procedures on veterinary guidance free up your time to focus on patients in front of you.
  • Set improvement goals: Decide as a team on goals for compliance and put one of the team members in charge of the process improvements.
  • Measure results: Using web-based veterinary software makes it simpler for the team to track communications with clients and track results in better compliance. Sometimes, clients just need a reminder!
  • Celebrate: When compliance increases due to the work of the team, it’s time to celebrate! Maybe order lunch for the office or buy them each a small gift to motivate continued focus on the health and happiness of patients.

Successful veterinary practices are a combination of animal loving doctors and support staffs that want the best for their patients. To make sure that your practice builds great relationships with client pet owners and grows financially, you need great veterinary software that is user friendly.

When the Veterinary Client is Stressed

by Sam D Meisler DVM

In veterinary practices, we deal with a multitude of situations in which the client is stressed.  How we deal with this anxious client up front often determines whether the overall experience for both the client and the pet is a happy one.  In the October 2015 Harvard Business Review article, When The Customer Is Stressed, authors Leonard L. Berry, Scott W. Davis, and Jody Wilmet, use the example of the human oncology patient as their subject in looking at this situation.  They explain that in dealing with “high-emotion services” — those services related to major life events like birth, death, health care issues, airline travel, etc — intense feelings are elicited for a variety of reasons.  In the veterinary practice, those reasons include a lack of familiarity with our services, a lack of control over how those services are delivered, major consequences if the services are performed incorrectly, the complexity of the service, and sometimes in cases of chronic illness, the long duration of the services to be performed.

How we deal with the stressed veterinary client will ultimately govern the outcome of our patient’s care and well-being.  According to the authors, the first step is to identify emotional triggers.  In veterinary practice, this could be the discussion of finances in the exam room, the point where the pet is taken to the back and left at the practice for work-up procedures, or even when the pet is sent home with vague instructions on what to do next.  The important point here is to ask your clients about their worst fears and worst experiences in a veterinary hospital.

The second step is to prepare the client for what will happen before these emotional triggers occur.  Before you take the pet out of the exam room for diagnostics, explain to the client what you will be doing.  For long term conditions like skin allergies, go over with the client what to expect in the future.  Is your treatment a cure or is it maintenance treatment for allergies? Go over long term treatment plans.  Prior to the dental or surgery procedure, go over with the client all the steps that will occur. Even better, show them where it will happen.  Tell them that you will go over finances before committing them to any services.

And communicate with care.  Most of our communication as human beings is through primarily what our body language is showing, followed by our tonality and lastly by our actual word content. Make sure your body language and voice tone are nurturing, compassionate and unhurried.  Monitor the client for those unexpected emotional or anxiety triggers by asking them if things are going ok.  Don’t assume that all is well, ask.

Step three is to enhance the veterinary client’s control.  Involve the client in any and all decision-making about their pet.  When the pet is discharged, the client should not feel abandoned by their veterinary team.  Discharge instructions must be very clear on what to do if complications arise or if things do not go as expected.  Would it really hurt to give out your cell phone number?   Call clients with results from diagnostics as soon as possible; and do not ever over-promise and under-deliver.  As the gap increases between when you said you were going to call and when you actually call about results, anxiety will rise exponentially.

And finally, hire the right people and teach them well.  You need empathetic, non-domineering, nurturing individuals who can communicate well.  Teach your veterinary team how to listen, how to make a client feel in control, how to hold a client’s hand through the process of diagnosing and treating their ill pet.   The Cleveland Clinic has two videos about empathy: Empathy: The Human Connection to Patient Care and Patients: Afraid and Vulnerable.  Model the behavior you expect from your team. Show them what you expect. Meet regularly.  Go over client complaints as a group.  Complaints are a well of anxiety or emotional triggers gone awry.  Ask how could we have done better and not who is responsible for this fiasco.