In any veterinary practice, providing excellent care and competitive prices must happen, but in the flurry of day-to-day fire-killing, what is too-often overlooked are simple mechanical human-to-human communication mechanics.
These are quiet mechanics that add calm to an operation while enhancing the bottom-line.
There will always be the brand-new veterinarian, just out of vet school and creating a practice, who is overflowing with enthusiasm and therefore willing to work long, long hours with cut-rate pricing. How does one compete?
It can be a simple thing, really. As these oh-so-young and new-to-business professionals dig in to their new practices, and no matter their abilities and pricing, internal chaos often ensues and quality customer service – during business office hours and after-hours – comes crashing down. In your own market, my bet is you’ve witnessed it yourself. (And of course this scenario is not limited to veterinary practices).
And it’s my guess you’ve seen this too: some long-established veterinary operations continue to survive despite their own imbedded semi-dysfunctional customer service. Perhaps this is you? The classic example? It’s a complex voice mail menu that frustrates callers and silently drives them to the competition.
Yes, voicemail is cheap, but it’s expensive in the long-run.
Know this for sure: because of it, it’s impossible to measure the number of potential clients one never gets.
And what’s worse than voice mail? It’s a surly voice greeting the caller, obviously annoyed at yet another inquiry.
The simple solution to these communications dilemmas is to employ an elite-quality 24/7/365 veterinary answering service that, after-hours, expertly and empathetically captures calls, immediately identifying those with immediate needs, while processing office inquiries that will be handled later. This same service can expertly handle daytime office-hours overflow calls, too.
Where do you find this kind of super-answering service that has long-term experience in veterinary practices? In a churning and Covid-distracted world, and within an answering service industry that has historically not been known for reliable and cost-effective service, it’s not easy.
But, when your quality-of-doctor care and prices are already competitive, an elite answering service IS a potent counter-measure to burgeoning competition that is not paying attention . Truth is, a large percentage of veterinarians miss this, scrimping in the after-hours and even during office hours, creating road-blocks for customers and potential customers.
And it’s an easy step for improving that ongoing gross-revenue problem on the P&L statement.
Yes, this actually is an easy step once you find a veterinary answering service that is of premier quality. Get help now and watch your practice jump ahead!
