The Highest Quality Telephone Answering Service in the United States

Centratel

Telephone Answering Service

A mobile veterinary clinic utilizing Centratel’s Veterinary Answering Service to run their business

Is a mobile veterinary clinic the right business for you?

June 14, 2018
Veterinary
By Centratel

As a veterinarian, you want to be able to care for and treat as many pets as possible. Many veterinarians starting their own practice will open up a practice in an office. According to an article published in Veterinary Practice News, this can cost around $1,000,000. Also, the overhead cost to run the practice is high. Another problem with opening up an office is that you won’t be able to reach certain patients such as farm animals. Most farmers rely on mobile veterinarians to care for their animals. If you were to start a mobile veterinary clinic, it can cost an average of $250,000, the overhead is low and you would be able to reach all animals. This can greatly improve your practice. If you are thinking about opening a mobile veterinary clinic, there are a few things that you should consider.

Business Considerations

As a mobile practitioner, you would need to be a licensed veterinarian in the state you intend to practice. If are based close to the border of your state and you intend to cross state lines to treat patients, you would need to be licensed in that state as well. The regulations for mobile clinics vary from state to state, therefore, you would need to research the rules and regulations for your state on the American Association of Mobile Veterinary Practitioners website. You will also need the necessary permits, insurance and licenses to run your practice.

The Vehicle and Equipment

In order to make house calls and farm calls, you are going to need a vehicle with medical and surgical equipment on board. It is important that you have everything that you need on the truck. If you don’t have the necessary equipment, you would need to refer the animal to another facility which will result in you losing a patient. A van or a truck that is between 18 and 30 feet long will do.

Staffing

You are going to need a veterinary tech to travel along with you. The tech would be responsible for assisting with medical procedures, scheduling appointments, and taking phone calls. You should hire a tech who is licensed. Also, you need someone with strong people skills and excellent customer service skills.

Define Your Service Area

You are going to need to figure out what areas you plan to serve. You can choose an entire town, areas across state lines, or certain areas of a large city. When defining your service area you want to be sure that you can reach as many patients as possible. This means including areas with apartment complexes, assisted living homes, farms, and animal shelters. The more patients you are able to reach, the more successful your practice will be.

Coordinate With a Stationary Clinic

There are many states that require you to coordinate with a stationary clinic. Even if yours doesn’t you should still do so. If an animal needs to be hospitalized due to an illness or after a surgery, you cannot travel around with them. You will need a stationary clinic who is willing to work with you to care for the animal.

Advertising and Marketing

Your vehicle is the best form of advertising that you can have. You can have the name of your business, the phone number, your website listed on the side of the truck. Essentially, it is a mobile billboard. While you are driving around to see patients, people will see your truck. It is also a good idea to advertise through social media. This is a great way to reach various demographics. Also, it is a good idea to leave flyers at local pet stores, groomers and feed stores. You should also consider joining the American Association of Mobile Veterinary Practitioners. When you do, your business would be listed in their public database which will help people find you.

Work With an Answering Service

Pets can become ill or injured after hours. Because of this, you are going to need to work with a quality veterinary answering service. If you are going to be successful, you are going to need to offer your patients and their owners the best customer service possible. The answering system will also be important if both you and your vet tech are tied up taking care of a pet. You won’t want to stop in the middle of an exam to take calls. Not only is this unprofessional, it will make the owner feel as though their animal is not important. When you work with a reputable answering service, you can be available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
If you are considering opening your own veterinary practice, you should consider a mobile veterinary clinic. It is cheaper to start than a stationary office, you can see more clients, and best of all, your truck can do all of your advertising for you.

A Telephone Answering Service Representative taking calls at Centratel

Centratel is an elite national telephone answering service located in Bend, Oregon. Centratel’s Veterinary Answering Service assists hundreds of veterinary businesses during and after-hours, throughout the United States and is, by a variety of statistics, the highest quality answering service available among the approximately 800 services nationwide.

Taking the Next Step

For more specifics on cost, to start the onboarding process, or to just talk to us, fill out this form with your basic information and if it’s during regular working hours (M-F 8am to 8pm EST or 5am to 5pm PST), we’ll get back to you within minutes. Or, during the above hours, you can simply call us at 800-664-7159 or send us an email to inquiry@centratel.com.

(And note: for a quick orientation on how we operate, take a moment to review one or more of the key points listed below.)

For more specifics on cost, to start the onboarding process, or to just talk to us, fill out this form with your basic information and if it’s during regular working hours (M-F 8am to 8pm EST or 5am to 5pm PST), we’ll get back to you within minutes. Or, during the above hours, you can simply call us at 800-664-7159 or send us an email to inquiry@centratel.com.

(And note: for a quick orientation on how we operate, take a moment to review one or more of the key points listed on the right.)

Terms of Service

Why Choose Centratel

BY SAM CARPENTER
October 1, 2024

1.CENTRATEL’S UNIQUE 30-DAY FREE TRIAL

Why is this important? Because it will provide you a truly accurate estimate of cost (we bill monthly), it will demonstrate our quality, and it gives both sides of this equation—you and Centratel—the necessary time to refine and perfect operational details.

Here’s a testimonial from a new medical client that had just finished their 30-day trial: “Of course, I love the cost as it is close to the amount I was allowed by the president of the company. I told him that if we did not continue with Centratel, I would resign as the Director of Customer Service, and I meant it. It’s a great fit. We have had NOT ONE complaint from a patient or in-house which, as you know, we received daily with our former answering service. I love you, Centratel, and the price. I’m ready to sign whatever documents you require. Thanks for the great service, and the free month! To a great partnership! -KB, Phoenix“

2.STATISTICALLY, THE BEST IN THE U.S.?

Answering service quality is 100% dependent on human action and reaction, and in the course of a single day a multitude of human decisions are made by the people who process the calls: Telephone Service Representatives, or TSRs. (Some answering services refer to them as “agents.” Others, “operators.”)

Like any other answering service, at Centratel we’re dealing with real live human beings and so human errors occur. But within this labor intensive service industry that is historically known for marginal quality, Centratel’s error rate is light years ahead of established standards. Our most recent Customer Reported Error Rate (July through September, 2024) was 1 customer-reported error for every 6,077 message transactions processed. That statistic is unmatched.

There’s no artificial intelligence manipulation, we do not offshore calls, and we were founded and have always operated within the United States. (Note that since early 2020, the COVID six-foot social distancing mandate drove thousands of small-to-medium sized answering services out of business. Large, foreign-owned multi-nationals, often disguised by the name of the local answering services they acquired, now thoroughly dominate the industry. Hence, an even further decline in general service quality. See this analysis.)

3.CUSTOMER SERVICE EXTRAORDINAIRE

Your concerns and requests will be instantly acted upon. It’s a work ethic that stands out in stark contrast from the general quality decline in human-to-human business-customer communications. You’ve seen it yourself, all around. At Centratel you will know the customer service people you’re working with by name, appreciating their special listening abilities as well as their take-action-now comportments i.e. see the testimonial in point #1 above. ‘Nuff said!

4.GETTING STARTED: IT’S SIMPLE AND FAST

Getting your new Centratel answering service 30-day free trial started is accomplished within 24-48 hours. From the start, your “onboarding” customer service representative will be with you every step of the way, listening carefully to your concerns, answering questions, and offering suggestions.

5.NEW TO USING AN ANSWERING SERVICE?

A majority of our current answering service accounts switched to us from another service because of quality problems. However, if you have not used a service before, you are not familiar with the options, benefits, and pitfalls. As noted, our 30-day free trial provides you—and us—plenty of time to precisely refine your desired message-taking and delivery protocols; to get things exactly the way you want them to be without any financial risk, undue pressure, or obligation. 

6.PRICING

Starting at $89 per month, our rates rank in the mid-range of the industry. For call processing, we charge by the “transaction unit” rather than the duration of time spent handling calls. Large “mega-services” operating in the U.S. prefer time billing because it ensures the company is compensated for lower-paid/high-turnover — and thus slower — agents. No matter the quality or how long they keep your callers on hold, they still make a profit. And yes, it can get expensive.

In any answering service, it takes a long time for a new agent to become fast, efficient, and stable. At Centratel, we pamper and reward experienced agents (via higher pay and great benefits) and therefore have extremely low staff turnover. Needless to say, experienced agents make fewer errors than trainees who learn on-the-job.

7.ACCURATELY COMPARING ANSWERING SERVICE PRICING IS COMPLICATED

It’s apples and oranges. There isn’t an industry standard for billing, and each answering service has its own formula. Also, as noted above, some services charge by agent “time” while others charge by “work units.” Some others combine the two. At Centratel, we charge for the work we do, not by the time we spend. The raw truth is that the only reliable way to determine monthly cost for a new service is to use that service for a solid month. Most answering services offer a 7-day free trial or no trial at all.

8.BEWARE: MONTHLY OR 28-DAY BILLING?

Important! At Centratel, we use a “monthly” billing cycle in which invoices are compiled from the first day of a month to the last day of that month. When soliciting quotes from other services, be sure to ask if the base-rate charges are billed monthly or on a “28-day billing cycle.” There is no good reason for a 28-day billing cycle! It’s bait-and-switch: customers billed on a 28-day cycle actually receive thirteen billings per year and therefore the overall cost is higher.

9.NO CONTRACT AND SIMPLE TERMS OF SERVICE

We do not require a yearly contract for service because we believe you should have the opportunity to evaluate us real-time, without restraint. Our terms of service are simple and straight-forward.

10.VALUABLE FREE GIFT FOR CONTACTING US

If you take the time to discuss answering service with us, on the same day we will ship you a hardcover copy of Sam Carpenter’s bestselling book, Work The System: The Simple Mechanics of Making More and Working Less, now in its 5th edition. We’ll send you a copy just for contacting us. (Sam is the founder and President of Centratel. December 1st 2024 marks his fortieth year of ownership.)