You don’t have to answer the phone…
The days are long and busy in a practice for vet nurses, often tending to the care of more than one animal at a time.
They are passionate about the pets they look after and are keen to give as much comfort and attention to their furry and scaley patients as they can.
They are also often the ones on the front desk, answering the phone when it rings. Depending on how busy they are when patients call, they may pick up sounding distracted, deflated or even dismissive – when the reality couldn’t be farther from the truth.
While customer care training is an important part of improving the phone manner and overall customer experience provided by practice staff, sometimes a little more help is required.
This is where outsourcing inbound and outbound call management can assist by enabling your practice to grow its business and provide a better client experience, without even having to pick up the phone when it rings.
Tracy Kamens, Head Practice Coach with Veterinary Growth Partners (VGP) explains how.
“I won’t lie – I was initially pretty hesitant about the idea of programs that outsource inbound and outbound calls because there was that concern that the people taking the calls aren’t in the practice and don’t know what’s going on.
“But then I compare that to my experiences as a vet practice owner and manager, we would often get so busy looking after patients that no one was even able to get the phone or would be picking up the phone frantically anyways.
“During these times we know that the quality of calls isn’t the best because we’re stressed, thinking about other things we’re doing and then sometimes we leave those calls feeling guilty that we didn’t deliver a good experience for the customer.
“Now I really am an advocate for inbound and outbound call management programs because I’ve spoken to a number of VGP’s own clients and actually made a few calls to practices myself.
“I can say confidently that it is seamless and having someone customer focused without all the distractions of the day to day practice environment picking up the phone does make a difference.
“It brings a better experience not only for the prospective customer on the line, but also for the team culture of the vet practice as staff don’t have to juggle the phone all day – often they even have time now for a lunch break!
“Even 1-2 hours a day of outsourcing calls can really change things for a practice,” says Tracy.
Interested in trialling a high-quality inbound and outbound call management solution? Enquire about V-Care with VetCX today.
Our V-Care program is a simple extension of your customer care team, where calls are answered remotely by our customer-focused team. Vet CX’s technology platform allows your virtual customer care team member to safely and securely access your Practice Management System, follow your processes and ensure a seamless client experience.