Be an effective communicator during exams
Your veterinary team may provide the highest quality medicine, but if your communication skills don't match your medicine, you won't be able to deliver care to patients. Communication skills are learned, practiced, and ultimately, must become part of your team's systems and routines. Here are strategies to enhance your verbal and nonverbal communication skills during exams:
Look like a professional. Clients will judge the quality of care based on their entire experience, including how the team is dressed. If you have stains, tears or pet hair on your uniform, this communicates you don't pay attention to details--including patient care.
Use positive, confident words. Don't say, "I recommend your pet gets a heartworm/tick test each year," which makes this necessary diagnostic sound optional. Instead, say, "Your pet needs a heartworm/tick test today."
Replace "wellness exam" with "preventive care exam." I have two young indoor cats. If I get a reminder for their wellness exams, I assume this service is optional for my healthy cats. The term "preventive care exam" lets you effectively communicate value for exams--and is actionable--not optional.
Show value for exams. Veterinarians should give play-by-play descriptions of what you're doing during exams. This helps clients understand the importance of regular preventive care exams.
Remove physical barriers. Don't stand behind the exam table. Stand shoulder-to-shoulder or at the end of the exam table, creating L-shaped body language between you and the client.
Learn how to be a better communicator in our Oct. 8 webinar on "Best Practices: Exam Communication." Designed for the entire team, this webinar will teach you how to:
- Project a confident, professional image
- Ask history questions to assess and encourage compliance
- Turn medical jargon into client understanding with word makeovers
- Get clients to say "YES!" to your recommendations
Join us Tuesday, Oct. 8 at 12 or 3 p.m. Eastern time for our webinar on "Best Practices: Exam Communication." For $99 per hospital, your webinar includes a handout, 1 hour of CE credit, a CE certificate, and unlimited playback of the recorded webinar following the event. If your team isn't available on Oct. 8, you may purchase access to the on-demand session for the same price of $99, allowing you to then set your staff meeting around your schedule.
To enroll, call us at 720-344-2347 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Mountain time. For our 2013 topics, visit www.csvets.com/webinars.
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Did you slap a client today?
You probably did without realizing it. Let me share a story from a practice consultation. A new client visited with her 6-year-old dog for preventive care. Maggie needed an exam, vaccines, intestinal parasite screen, heartworm/tick test, and refills on flea/tick and heartworm preventatives. During the exam, the veterinarian also diagnosed a skin infection. Delighted with the quality of care, the client walked to the front desk to checkout and got slapped.
The client care coordinator said, "That will be $302 today," slapping the client with sticker shock. The client exclaimed, "Wow! That's as much as my car payment." Most clients don't budget for pets' preventive care--they think their pets are due for "shots."
This client got a dozen services and products but just heard a collective price at checkout--$302. Instead of slapping the client with the total, the receptionist should have read the list of services and products off the computer screen and said, "Today your dog had a preventive care exam, vaccines, an intestinal parasite screen, heartworm/tick test, and skin cytology. You have medication for his skin infection and 12 months of heartworm, flea and tick prevention. Your total is $302. Which payment method will you be using today?"
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Video tip: Give a great greeting
when answering the phone
Whether you're answering a call from a phone shopper or a favorite client, you need to make a great first impression. Get tips on how your veterinary team can use the right words and a friendly attitude when answering the phone. Watch this short video, which is sponsored by Animal Care Technologies.
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Script of the month:
Tell clients why they should buy drugs from your hospital
Today veterinarians sell two-thirds of all animal medications, including OTC and prescription drugs. Retail and Internet pharmacies are nipping at our heels. Let clients know why they should buy drugs from your hospital, a trusted pharmacy.
"Our veterinarians want to protect Max with safe, high-quality drugs. That's why we have an in-clinic pharmacy with drugs approved by the FDA for animal use. We guarantee our heartworm preventatives. If you bought heartworm prevention from a veterinary clinic and your dog gets heartworms, the drug maker will pay for treatment--which could be $1,000. We personally know our drug representatives, have their cell phone numbers, and get regular training on animal drugs. Best of all, our hospital offers competitive prices. Let me tell you about our savings for 12 months of protection and rebates..."
Get more advice on protecting your pharmacy in our Nov. 14 webinar at 12 and 3 p.m. ET.
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Upcoming Seminars
October 6, 2013
Phone: 800-255-6864, ext. 3876
October 8, 2013
CSVets webinar: "Best Practices: Exam Communication,"
12 and 3 p.m. ET
Website: www.csvets.com/webinars
Phone: 720-344-2347
October 13, 2013 Redwood Empire Veterinary Medical Association Sonoma County, CA Website:Click here Phone: 707-544-9193 October 15, 2013 Starting kittens on a lifetime of quality health care Toronto, Canada Phone: 888-943-3993 October 16, 2013 Recapturing Adult Feline Preventive Care Vancouver, Canada Website: www.idexxlearningcenter.com Phone: 888-943-3993 October 24-25, 2013 Ralph Lee's Great Smokies Veterinary Conference Asheville, NC Website: www.vetmeetings.com Phone: 252-747-8180 October 27, 2013 Purina Symposium Toronto, Canada Website: Click here Phone: 800-255-6864, ext. 3876 October 29, 2013 Webinar: Strategies to Get Cats Back, 12 and 3 p.m. ET Website: www.idexxlearningcenter.com Phone: 888-943-3993
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