February, 21, 2002

Phyllis: I wanted to talk about making a good first impression. A lot of times the client's first impression of the clinic may be there last. What do we do when the phone shopper calls in? What do you do to try to encourage them to make an appointment? Do you say a cat neuter will be $50, good-bye?

Melissa: if a phone shopper calls for an estimate for surgery, we explain all of the charges involved
Margaret: Same here, only it's not really.

Phyllis: Do you ask them questions about there pet?

Melissa: we will ask age, vax status if it's a female, we will ask if there has been a heat cycle
Debbie: yes, age , vacc status we also explain pre anesthetic blood work
Melissa: same here, and catheter, pain management

Phyllis: So, we all ask more information, than just stating a price?

Margaret: mostly I just explain why we have to charge a fee
Phyllis: If we explain all the various options, we are creating more value to our services.
Debbie: Margaret, by "why" do you mean what services make up that fee?
Margaret: That too, but since I work at the poison control center, I also have explain why we have to charge a fee.
Debbie: oh, sorry, I didn't realize where you work.
Margaret: That's ok. Sometimes it's hard to keep everyone straight. I know I can't do it.

Phyllis: The brings up a good point, how do you respond to the client who says, well clinic xyz just quoted me for a surgery and it didn't include all that other stuff.

Melissa: Margaret- how do you collect your fees?
Margaret: By credit card or by 900 call. Sometimes the manufacturer will pay for the consultation. For clinics we do billing, but not for people.
Melissa: we call it reverse education- educating the client on what is involved in surgeries (surgeries in our hospital, anyway)
Debbie: I usually suggest calling that clinic back and if they also require the patient be current on vacccines, etc, we all do, but not everyone informs them before they come in.

Phyllis: Do any of you send out a welcome to the clinic packet of any type?

Melissa: for new clients, we send a "thank you" card

Phyllis: What do you say in your thank you card?

Melissa: "thank you for choosing our hospital for your pets health care..." A little overview- they usually get a hospital brochure during their first visit

Debbie: Do you send the thank you card to the new client or the referring client? That is how our new patient registration begins.

Melissa: both, our referring clients get a separate card
Phyllis: do you include any information about the hospital? We send our new clients a letter about week after they were here. The referring client gets a $5 off their next visit postcard. Something I read recently suggested sending out a welcome packet that included a letter talking about clinic policies and procedures and also provided a map to the clinic. I know a lot of the time, our new clients appointments are made for today or the following. We don't too often have time to send something out a head of time.
Melissa: true
Phyllis: I got a wonderful packet from my son's orthodontist - and wished we had time to send that out to our clients.
Melissa: what did it include?
Phyllis: It talked about the hours, a blurb about the doctor and the staff, mission statement. Also, included a postcard we could put in a fishbowl for the monthly drawing for movie tickets. This packet also had a hand written card from the doctor welcoming my son to the practice. The office had taken a Polaroid picture of their new clients and had them posted on the wall. Of course, he couldn't read it but it made me feel good.

Debbie: I definitely think it should cover the payment options. Could include hours, what services you provide, etc.
Melissa: I like the idea of adding the mission statement- and the drawing
Phyllis: We could all probably do something like that.
Debbie: What type of policies? Payment at time of service of course, but what else?

Phyllis: Back to the payment, do any of you mention payment types on the phone to a new client?

Debbie: not very often, usually after being asked. I think we will work on adding that
Melissa: since most people are in shell shock when they hear our prices, we do tell them what payment options we accept

Phyllis: Do you ever have anybody just show up expecting you to bill out?

Melissa: many people

Phyllis: How do you handle those types of people?

Melissa: we tell them payment is due when services are rendered and explain the types of payment we accept
Debbie: luckily not very many. WE have a statement about payment at time of service that new client must sign

Phyllis: That's good Debbie. Do you have a blank for them to check what type of payment they will be using today? That is one thing we should do at our clinic.

Debbie: yes, it lists the types, asking them to circle their choice. We just added this line to our surgery consent forms.

Phyllis: Another thing about the first impression, what does the hospital look like? I know Debbie and Melissa, you both have recently redecorated.

Debbie: the lobby needs a paint job and I want a new floor. DVM and I are going rounds.
Melissa: yes. our hospital is a converted house. We are planning a big garden in the front once the snow melts
Phyllis: The garden sounds nice. One of the clinics I worked at in the past, had a fishpond in front. We are in a strip mall on a busy street. We have a grassy spot but most clients are afraid to walk there because of the traffic.
Debbie: ooh, I would love a garden. we are in a business complex and only have one small patch of grass, with a juniper bush in the middle of it.
Melissa: I'd like to add a small pond- no fish though....
Debbie: And while I hate the smell of juniper, it is very useful in getting free catch urine samples. LOL

Phyllis: Do any of you have separate waiting areas for cats and dogs?

Melissa: no
Debbie: no. My last clinic did. WE don't have too much of a problem....

Phyllis: Do you have a lot of 'campers' in the waiting area or do you get people into the exam room?

Debbie: If owners don't bring their cat (or small dog ) in a carrier, we offer to put the cat in cage in back or bring up a loaner carrier so the pet can be with the owner. We only have one exam room, so we have to have people wait in the lobby while we do treatments, take x-rays and the doc sees the next patient
Phyllis: We don't have separate areas but we do not let people sit in the waiting area if we can help it.
Melissa: we try and get them back as soon as we can. We only have 1 exam room so we will use the treatment area if needed

Phyllis: That's a good idea Debbie. Do any of you sit in the waiting area to see what it is like from the client's perspective?

Melissa: no, but I'd like to

Debbie: Does anyone else have toys in the lobby for kids?

Phyllis: I have thought about a kid's area with toys but space is an issue. We do have coloring sheets and colored pencils that we have in the lobby and the exam rooms for the kids.
Melissa: same here
Debbie: We don't have a space designated for them, just a box with toys ... most of the time we don't even have to direct the kids to it , they find it themselves.
Phyllis: Do you have veterinarian type toys? I have seen those vet kits with a stuffed animals and a carrier and thought those were neat. Do the toys go home with the kids by accident?
Debbie: Nope, most are happy meal toys or small toys culled from my niece's toy box
Phyllis: Well, I have a big bag of those - I should send you some.
Melissa: that's a great way to clean out my kid's toy boxes.....
Debbie: Occasionally, but I garage sale every summer and replace them cheaply (like 10 or 25 cents per toy). We also have a big box of crayons and the free coloring books from Purina. We dole these out rather than have them out, because I don't want little ones eating the crayons.
Phyllis: That would be my luck the kids would eat them.
Melissa: or writing on the walls.....
Debbie: I look at it this way, the walls are washable and as long as I ask the parents first, I haven't had a problem with the kids eating them

Phyllis: Do any of you take new clients on a tour of the hospital?

Melissa: We have an "open house" every 6 months clients are invited to tour the hospital and give us feedback

Phyllis: What all do you do during your open house?

Melissa: eat! LOL, we always have a buffet set up and we just sit and talk this year we are planning a big BBQ
Debbie: sounds good to me

Phyllis: How many people on the average show up? Do you try to have specials or have drug reps come in?

Melissa: anywhere from 10 - 30. Well, most of our reps are not in our area so they will sometimes send us stuff not very often, though

Phyllis: I liked your idea at Christmas about the gift certificates on the tree.
Melissa: they went like hot cakes

Phyllis: Debbie do you do anything like this for your clients?

Debbie: unfortunately no, my DVM needs to work on his finances more before I hit him with something like this.

Phyllis: Do any of you do something special for pet's birthdays?

Melissa: no
Debbie: no
Phyllis: We send out birthday postcards during their month of their birth. The dog owners can bring their card back in for a box of free biscuits. Cat owners get a free cat toy with catnip inside. The dogs use to get a free nail trim. We just started the biscuits. It hasn't been long enough to see anybody comes back to buy the biscuits after their free box.
Melissa: that's a good idea

Debbie: those are great ideas. I'd like to get my client hooked on brushing, maybe toothpaste would work. Speaking of, how has dental month been going for everyone?
Phyllis: or a free toothbrush. They can pick out what color toothbrush they want.
Debbie: we don't do dental month. We promote year round.
Phyllis: I think dental month has been slower than other years. But, I think we are doing a better job of recommending dentals all year round.
Debbie: especially if you get the toothbrush hot stamped with the clinic name
Melissa: Feb is always so slow for us
Phyllis: I like the clinic name on the toothbrush idea.
Melissa: me too. I think medical arts sells them
Debbie: So does smart practice. We didn't slow down this year. Jan and Feb. have been extremely busy. we are scheduling anesthetic procedures 1 month out.
Melissa: wow, we have definitely slowed down
Debbie: our clients didn't get that memo. we have been slammed. which is good profit wise, but I am feeling a bit overwhelmed.
Phyllis: Its great to be busy but it is also nice to have a slow day to catch up.

Melissa: Does anyone send out estimates for procedures that were recommended at the pet's last visit?
Phyllis: Do you mean for surgeries?
Melissa: yes, and maybe diagnostics (blood work, rads). We do recalls but often times we get no response

Debbie: estimates no, but reminder cards yes. Especially when the doc/tech recommend dentals ... our reminder warns of all the health problems associated with poor teeth.
Phyllis: We haven't got it set up yet, but our planning a one-page sheet that will go home with clients that we recommend a dental to. It will list all the health hazards of not doing a dental and describe what we do during a dental procedure. Our system is set up to send a dental reminder if they do not make an appointment.
Debbie: we send home the pets have teeth too brochure at the appt , then follow up with a dental reminder 6 weeks later.

Phyllis: Do you all get "I don't want to put my pet under anesthesia" is the reason they do not do a dental.?

Melissa: not too often
Debbie: my tech is currently working on a handout about our dental procedure for client to review prior to the actual cleaning, I may revamp it , to send home like Phyllis was talking about and to answer that question way too often
Melissa: most people are concerned about the price

***** Logging stopped: 2/21/02 11:08:21 PM

Participants: Debbie, Margaret, Melissa, Phyllis