Communication Solutions
Could a bad phone call
cost your clinic $13,000?
By Wendy S. Myers, President, Communication Solutions for Veterinarians
On a busy Saturday morning, a price shopper
calls your veterinary clinic and asks, “How much
are shots for a new puppy?” With three clients
already holding, the frazzled receptionist says,
“We’re really busy right now. Can I call you back
in 10 minutes?” The price shopper responds, “No
thanks, I’ll try another animal hospital.”
The caller phones a neighboring veterinary hospital with a friendly
receptionist who answers questions and books the puppy’s first
exam. Quick and welcoming service earned the second hospital
more than $13,000 in lifetime preventive care for the puppy—and
the new client has three dogs.
A new client who visits today with an 8-week-old puppy and returns
for preventive care over the dog’s 12-year lifespan will spend
thousands with your practice. Based on average fees from the
AAHA Veterinary Fee Reference, 9th edition, here is an overview of
preventive care spending for one new canine patient:1
24 | Henry Schein Animal Health
Preventive care
services
Average
# of times
paid per
delivered
visit
Subtotal
Puppy, age 8, 12 and
16 weeks
$121
3
$363
Adult, age 1 to 6
$107
6
$642
Senior, age 7 to 12
$601
6
$3,606
Dental treatments
$511
10
$5,110
Heartworm and flea/tick
preventatives annual cost
(Average of $25 per month)
$300
12
$3,600
TOTAL
$13,321
ph: (855) SCHEIN1 (724-3461) | fx: (888) 329-3861 | www.henryscheinvet.com
When interested pet owners contact your hospital, you need well-trained employees
who can respond with friendly attitudes and book more new client exams.
The practice would receive additional income if the dog needed
additional care for emergencies, a therapeutic diet, long-term drugs,
ear infections, spay/neuter, illness or chronic conditions. According
to the American Veterinary Medical Association’s (AVMA) U.S. Pet
Ownership Statistics, 37% of households own dogs while 30% own
cats.2 Dog owners average 1.6 dogs while cat owners have 2.1. You
can estimate the number of pet owning households and number of
pets in your community with the AVMA’s pet ownership calculator at
www.avma.org/KB/Resources/Statistics/Pages/US-pet-ownershipcalculator.aspx.
This receptionist’s failure to welcome a new client may have resulted
in lost medical care for multiple pets. Practice owners and managers
need to invest in telephone training so receptionists can confidently
respond to price shoppers, no matter how busy the day gets. Here’s
how to handle shopper calls during peak call volume times:
1. Ask if the caller can hold. Price shoppers often call before
or after work, during lunch breaks and on Saturdays—so you will
always be busy when potential new clients contact your hospital.
Never offer to call the price shopper later. Even if you return the call
within 10 minutes, she will call another clinic. Say, “Are you able to
hold for a moment? We’d love to share information on what your
new puppy will need.”
2. Cross-train your entire team. If the front desk is flooded with
a tsunami of calls, they need to reach out to managers, technicians
and assistants who can pitch in for 5 to 10 minutes until the wave
of calls passes.
Designate a staff member as a floater who can work at the front desk
as well as assist in exam rooms. Because the floater is cross-trained,
she can float between the areas of the hospital where demand is
the greatest. For example, the floater might help manage calls when
one receptionist takes her lunch break and then assist with evening
surgical and dental discharges when patient pickup volume is high.
Cross-train receptionists, technicians and managers on how to
convert phone shoppers into new clients and provide sample scripts
and scenarios. Our webinar on “4 Easy Steps to Turn Price Shoppers
Into New Clients” teaches teams how to build rapport with callers,
ask questions to determine the patient’s needs, explain services
before prices and ask for the appointment (www.csvets.com/cart/
webinars/4-easy-steps-to-turn-price-shoppers-into-new-clients/).
Our Phone Shopper Flash Cards are a customized set of three quick
reference guides with questions to ask phone shoppers, scripts to
describe services, and list of your prices (www.csvets.com/cart/
books-and-cds/phone-shopper-flash-cards-set-of-3/). Keep two
Phone Shopper Flash Cards at the front desk for receptionists to
use and the third book in the treatment area where technicians and
assistants can pick up overflow calls.
3. Install a wireless doorbell for front-desk staff to holler,
“HELP!” Animal Hospital of Richboro in Richboro, Penn., has a
wireless doorbell at the front desk with a chime in the treatment area.
When receptionists get a tsunami of calls, they ring the doorbell to
alert technicians that they need an extra set of hands. Having an
assistant or technician pitch in for five or 10 minutes lets clients
experience prompt service and relives stress on the front-desk team.
Buy wireless doorbells from hardware or home-improvement stores
for $20 to $60.
To sustain a growing practice, a small animal hospital needs 25
new clients per full-time-equivalent veterinarian each month.3 A
two-doctor practice should target 50 new clients per month or 600
annually. The practice manager should monitor new client numbers
monthly to identify trends.
If your hospital is not achieving the benchmark of 25 new clients
per doctor per month, you need to provide phone-shopper training
and evaluate marketing programs. Track the source of new clients in
your practice-management software so you know which marketing
programs are delivering results. If most of your new clients are coming
from Internet searches, invest more dollars in search engine optimization
to get top Google rankings as well as positive online reviews.
When interested pet owners contact your hospital, you need welltrained employees who can respond with friendly attitudes and book
more new client exams. Price shoppers are not checking prices—
they are looking for long-term relationships. Shoppers are seeking a
veterinarian who they can trust whether their pets need preventive
care, are sick or require emergency care. Pet owners stay with a
veterinary hospital an average of five years, according to the WellManaged Practice Study from Wutchiett Tumblin Associates.4
Look beyond one price shopper call. What will you do to welcome
more new clients who will seek at least five years or perhaps a
lifetime of care from your practice?
About the Author Wendy S. Myers owns Communication
Solutions for Veterinarians in Denver. She helps teams improve client
service, communication skills and compliance through consulting,
seminars and webinars. Her new book is 101 Communication
Skills for Veterinary Teams and new DVD is “Become a Client
Communication Star.” Wendy is an instructor for the American
Animal Hospital Association’s Veterinary Management School. You
can reach her at [email protected] or www.csvets.com.
Reference:
1. AAHA Veterinary Fee Reference, 9th edition, AAHA Press 2015; pp. 62, 61, 60, 300,
302, 297 and 299.
2. U.S. Pet Ownership Statistics, accessed 12-08-15 at www.avma.org/KB/Resources/
Statistics/Pages/Market-research-statistics-US-pet-ownership.aspx.
3. Glassman, G. Q&A: When to add an associate to your team. Veterinary Economics:
March 2010. Accessed at http://veterinarybusiness.dvm360.com/vetec/article/articleDetail.
jsp?id=660456 on 06-09-14.
4. Tumblin D. Benchmarks 2009: A Study of Well-Managed Practices. Veterinary Economics,
December 2009. Accessed 06-16-14 at http://veterinarybusiness.dvm360.com/vetec/data/
articlestandard//vetec/472009/643064/article.pdf.
January 2016 | ahs | 25
Phone Skills
Training
for your entire
veterinary team
Did you know that 53% of veterinary staff fail to ask price shoppers to become
new clients? This mistake could cost your veterinary hospital $6,000 per month in
lost opportunity. Let us coach your team so you welcome more new clients and
provide five-star service to every caller. Choose from two programs:
OPTION 1: Phone
Skills Coach
✔Year-lONg PrOgram
✔20 reCOrded mYsTerY PhONe
shOPPer Calls to your clinic
(5 per quarter)
✔4 lIve webINars
that will be recorded
for unlimited playback
✔20 Call rePOrTs with suggested
improvements (5 per quarter)
✔4 hOurs Of Ce CredIT
OPTION 2: Convert
720-344-2347
✔New! QuarTerlY COaChINg
CONfereNCe Calls
with a professional trainer
Callers Into New Clients Course
✔uNlImITed PlaYbaCk of
webinar on 4 easy steps to turn
price shoppers into new clients
✔1 hOur Of Ce CredIT
✔QuarTerlY ClINIC sCOreCard
of team’s results
✔4 reCOrded mYsTerY PhONe
shOPPer Calls to your clinic
✔4 Call rePOrTs with
suggested improvements
www.csvets.com
✔ClINIC sCOreCard of team’s results
✔New! COaChINg CONfereNCe
Call with a professional trainer