The Highest Quality Telephone Answering Service in the United States

Centratel

Telephone Answering Service

Veterinarian smiling to a dog rescued after been reported by her veterinary answering service

Using Social Media to Grow Your Veterinary Practice

December 13, 2018
Veterinary
By Centratel

If you are a business owner, you had better know that in today’s busy society, social media is an essential marketing tool for any businesses. Throughout the globe there are nearly 1.5 billion social media users. I know what you are asking, what good does that do me as the owner of a veterinary practice here in small-town USA? The fact is that the abundance of online users constitutes an unlimited marketing audience. Of course, based on your location, you may have a limited population of people that require your services but using social media and targeting certain demographics will allow you to maximize your marketing efforts in a way that you never thought possible.

Because of the power of social media, many large companies now allocate about 7 percent of their marketing funds to different social networking platforms. If you would like to grow your clientele and boost profits for your veterinary practice with the help of social media, you will first need to consider many critical concepts pulled from different business aspects such as customer service, traditional marketing and sales to create a social marketing plan. Once a social media sales plan has been formed, you should then consider using these useful marketing tips.

Leverage Quality Content

For optimal consumer engagement, effective marketers know that they have to seed their quality content throughout targeted social networks. Here are some general guidelines.

Facebook: Since this platform has been proven to be valuable for the “purchasing stage” of a sale, you’ll need to post high-quality videos and curated content to get followers interested in your veterinary practice and the services that you offer. Do you specialize in small animal, large animal, equine, bovine, exotics? Share stories that captivate your audience and give the reader a sense of who you are and what your practice is about.

LinkedIn: A LinkedIn profile can help you build brand awareness and generate leads. The users on LinkedIn will be most interested in company news and other professional content. It is a good way to display the credentials of you and your staff and show that you keep up with industry news and follow industry leaders.

Twitter: Twitter is best used as a way to announce the release of new products/ services and deliver important messages to your followers. Twitter can result in Increased Profit when used correctly. The best tweets are ones that inform users of service offerings and product specifications, perhaps you have added a new Doctor to your staff or just performed a lifesaving operation. To keep things interesting, you should mix it up and occasionally keep it light tweeting about a social contest or weather updates.

Pinterest: One of the best platforms for driving sales and purchasing decisions by consumers. More than 90 percent of users now plan purchases using Pinterest. People who use Pinterest want to see how your veterinary services can be embedded into their current lifestyle. As such, focus on posting unique infographics and step-by-step photo guides. Maybe you have tips on grooming or general pet care. This familiarity with you and your practice will influence the prospective client to call on you for their veterinary and pet care needs when the time comes.

Instagram: Most businesses use Instagram to increase product sales, drive traffic to their website, establish relationships with influencers, and enhance brand awareness. If you want to experience Increased Profit with Instagram, make sure that you post high resolution photos and videos with captivating quotes and interesting stories. People love their pets and relate their love of their own pet with good quality photos that you may post. This can influence a person to use your services rather than your competitor.

Connect With Users

The most successful marketers in any industry understand that selling via social media cannot be accomplished without building strong relationships. Contrary to traditional advertising, the uniqueness of social media lies in the ability to engage in real-time conversations with online prospects and customers from anywhere in the world. To connect with your targeted audience like never before, comments and questions on these platforms should be responded to as soon as possible. Another way to establish trust among your followers is to tag users who frequently share your content.

Target Consumers’ Lifestyle

Most companies understand the basics of establishing relationships on social media, but few understand that to connect deeper they must target the consumer’s lifestyle. Instead of focusing your research on the “who,” such as names and contact information, seek out the “what” – people’s motivating likes and dislikes. After determining this important information, create posts that integrate your brand into that lifestyle. For example, consider producing content with the underlying message that your followers love their pets, they are part of the family and therefore they should be using a DVM that treats them like a member of the family too. Remember that social selling is “un-selling” – listening to people online discuss their wants and needs.

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 if you have questions, 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
December 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.)