3 ways to make sure your veterinary recommendations hold water

1. Clarify your recommendation

If you aren't sure, don't make the client decide among a long list of options! Hold doctor and team meetings to discuss your standard of care and narrow down what you and your team believe are the very best options for conditions and diseases. (And make sure your meeting doesn't wind up like one of these debacles in Firstline magazine's “Top 10 ways to hold a disastrous team meeting”).

2. Be aware of conflicts of interest

All veterinarians and team members face conflicts of interest as they try to satisfy clients, keep costs down and revenue up and continue to act as strong healthcare advocates using medical evidence for decisions. To reduce conflicts of interest, focus on your role. You have the medical expertise to give a good recommendation. Need a pep talk? Check out dvm360 magazine's Dr. Mike Paul on the importance of your recommending-and clients paying for-preventive healthcare.

3. Focus on value to the pet

Clients all want to know they're getting value for their money, but value to the pet and value to the client are different:

> Value to the pet: “Here's how much time and technology we're using for your pet.”

> Value to the client: “What is good for my pet? What's the reason for using that time and technology?”

When communicating with clients, focus on what will be better (no more worrying about fleas, no more scratching, no more limping) not just what mightmaybecould happen.