Catching the other point of view

28.01.2015 It is so rewarding to actually stop and listen what people are saying. Even if the topic is around your expertise and you believe you know quite a bit about the thing already. The importance of everyday issues is sometimes forgotten in our busy lives. This I realize again in Barcelona @SEVC 15-17th October. In the seminars of Practice Management we heard Dr. Steve Kirton (so-you-think-and-know-what-your-clients-want..) pointing out how it is important to follow trends in the market – such as having Facebook or company web pages. Dr. Kirton estimated 30% of the contacts coming from mobile services, which means people are contacting his clinic while on the go. Dr. Kirton reminded us on why it is important to keep our clients happy “Our current clients are the biggest opportunity for the company, they are coming to our practice and they are talking and recommending us if happy.” Further, Dr. Brian Faulkner (client-satisfaction-part-i) set the client satisfaction in the core of veterinary practice success: ”The client satisfaction is the right thing for a fair price.”, where the right thing refers to process – efficiently and effectively doing the RIGHT thing. Fair price does not need to be the lowest price, it should reflect the value of your service. Dr. Ernie Ward (The-5-most-important-practice-management-duties) urged veterinary clinics to check their income and expenses regularly, follow what the competitors are doing and keep eye on the client figures: ”There are three kinds of clients: Active, New and Lost Clients. They are all important.” Furthermore, Dr. Gomez (Veterinary-practice-management-using-indicators) emphasized the importance of measuring results “What is not measured is not done. What cannot be measured does not exist. The measurement improves the ratios.” With Provet Cloud we worked on many issues touching these points: Online booking offers clients of the veterinary practices an alternative solution to make an appointment – even when the clinic is closed. This helps clients who are busy and on the go to take a moment when it best suits their schedules and book a time for their pet’s health care. Client communication is emphasized in Provet Cloud through transparent invoicing and home care instructions sending by e-mail. Appointment confirmations and vaccination reminders may be set automatic and done by text messages to the client. You may even ask feedback from your clients about how they feel about your service. It’s good to hear you are on the right track if your clients are happy and if not, it is possible to contact them and make the possible corrective actions. We encourage systematic working style for equal quality care by enabling use of templates where you can pre-set the processes in use such as treatment procedure workflows with recommended medication (Estimate-template, home-care instructions, clinical notes). Keeping the language and records standardized will help you measure your performance and when continuously followed and analyzed helps to improve your client satisfaction, quality of care and manage the progress of your business.