Lec 4

• Veterinary medicine


  A profession in the service industry, just like hotels, airlines, and restaurants
• Client service


  The service provided by veterinary hospitals, as opposed to customer service provided by other service organizations
• Client-veterinary relationship


  A long-term, personal relationship that can span the lifetime of multiple pets
• Characteristics of services


  • Cannot be stored for future use
  • Gone once the service is provided
  • Consumed immediately
  • Clients participate in the service process
  • Employees are responsible for providing service
  • Labor intensive
  • Variable
  • Intangible and difficult to measure
• Consistency in client service

  Clients want consistent service from different team members and on different visits
• Clients want to feel


  • Special
  • That the veterinarian and staff care about their pet
• Service experience


  Clients should want to come back and look forward to their visits
• Every client has different needs and desires
• Veterinarian and client perceptions may differ, e.g. veterinarian focused on diagnostics while client wants discussion on euthanasia
• Establishing a foundation for client service


  • Owners must emphasize and model importance of quality service
  • Client service should be part of strategic planning and reflected in mission, vision, and values
  • Management team must believe in importance of client service
  • Practice culture must be dedicated to excellent client service, starting with hiring the right people
  • Employees must feel treated fairly, validated, and appreciated
  • Written client service policies and procedures provided to all staff
• Meeting client needs


  • Patient care: flexibility, patient advocacy, compassion, high-quality care, wide range of services, information on all aspects of care, open-minded to alternative medicine, euthanasia
  • Building the relationship: valuing relationships with different employees, celebrating human-animal bond, treating clients with respect, providing honest and realistic information, communicating professionally and caring, listening, being responsive, giving individualized attention
  • Perceived value: timely service, clean and attractive hospital, educational tools, seeking client feedback, making clients feel part of the practice, offering comprehensive pet healthcare
• Staff education and training on client service


  • Facilitating dialogue with team members to get feedback
  • Empowering team members
  • Including client service protocols and policies
  • Focusing on telephone skills and communication skills (dealing with difficult clients, handling emotional clients, nonverbal communication, grief counseling)
• Client service strategies


  Defining what good and bad service is, understanding the path to improving service, becoming a catalyst for change within the organization (research, brainstorm, discuss, decide, implement, sustain)
• Exceptional client service


  • More than just exceeding expectations, requires a systematic approach, selective hiring and continuous training, part of the company ethos
• Characteristics of companies that have mastered exceptional client service


  • Built a culture of trust
  • Clear sense of who they are and what they stand for
  • Extremely selective in hiring
  • Never stop training
• Determining client expectations


  Using surveys to understand if expectations are being met and if clients would promote the practice
• Clear communication


  Ensuring consistent messaging from all staff and resources, improving communication skills (speaking professionally, making clear recommendations, using language clients understand, engaging clients, body language)
• Value delivery and affordability


  Clients are value shoppers, look for ultimate value rather than just price, veterinary services should not be seen as commodities, clients will pay a premium for perceived value, offering payment plans and health plans
• Client advocacy


  Clients want to be confident recommendations are evidence-based, in their pet's best interest, fairly priced, and not profit-motivated
• What clients expect from their veterinarian


  • Incorporate new ways of thinking to satisfy "pet parent" clients, provide more wellness education, connect with clients more frequently in their preferred manner
• Meeting the needs of pet parents


  • Dramatic change in how companion animals are viewed, insatiable appetite for technology and staying connected to pets, Baby Boomers as a large pet owner demographic, powerful human-animal bond and humanization of pets, need to understand and cater to the needs and expectations of "pet parent" clients
• The last decade has seen a dramatic change in how we view companion animals
• Spending on pets continues to grow
• We have an insatiable appetite for technology, and people want to stay connected to their pets
• Baby Boomers are the second largest population of pet owners after Millennials. As empty nesters, they have the time and resources to care for a pet
• Humanization of pets


  More pet owners now view their animals as members of the family
• When providing products or services to these dedicated pet owners, it is important to understand that their needs and expectations differ from those of people who hold a more traditional view of animals
• Pet "parents"


  People who see their pets as family members
• The humanization of pets requires veterinary practices to incorporate new ways of thinking to satisfy pet owners who deem themselves "parents"
• Pet owners actively search for resources and information to help them best care for their pets and often obtain advice from nonveterinary professionals
• If veterinarians want to keep their clients and maintain a trusted relationship, it is necessary for them to provide much more wellness education
• Connecting with clients more frequently, in the manner they prefer, is also essential
• If you do not make it easy for them to see you as the optimal resource, you can bet they will find the advice they are looking for elsewhere
• Be open to change and be willing to adapt a lot faster than in previous decades. Your profession is counting on it, and so are the pets
• Technical or medical excellence is not enough. We must earn our client's trust, help them learn about their animal's health, and work with them to keep their pets well
• This means


  • Listening to clients
  • Giving clients what they want
  • Helping clients learn what their pets need and how you can deliver it
  • Building a relationship with clients so they trust you to care for their family pets
• Know, like, and trust you and your practice

  What clients need to do to build a strong, successful, and well-regarded practice
• View you as someone with expert knowledge who is there to help them


  What clients need to do to build a strong, successful, and well-regarded practice
• Consider you a trusted advisor or partner in pet care, rather than a provider of a commodity product or service


  What clients need to do to build a strong, successful, and well-regarded practice
• Feel connected to your practice and willing to recommend you to others

  What clients need to do to build a strong, successful, and well-regarded practice