Choosing the thrive, not just survive-Maximizing client care (Part 1) (Proceedings)

Irving Townsend - - "We who choose to surround ourselves with lives even more temporary than our own live within a fragile circle, easily and often breached. Yet, we still would live no other way."

Recent studies consistently report that 75 - 80% of pet owners think of their pets as children

      Where dogs stand in the household

          • Member of the family - - 76%

          • Dog is one of most important things in life - - 67%

          • Dog is better companion than other family members - - 53%

          • Health of dog equal to own - - 49%

          • Dog's death equal to that of friend or relative - - 60%

It's about culture, not service - - culture is what you think and do without thinking about it...

          • Client/Patient-Focused Care (SHARE)

          • Sense people's needs before they ask (initiative)

          • Help each other out (teamwork)

          • Acknowledge people's feelings (empathy)

          • Respect the dignity and privacy of everyone (courtesy)

          • Explain what's happening (communication)

Terrance Rynn - - "Selling is trying to get people to want what you have. Marketing is trying to have what people want. When you have what people want, it makes selling unnecessary."

Look to the compliance study to understand what people (pet owners) want

          • Move your practice toward having/doing what pet owners want

          • Stop defending "our way or no way"

"If Disney Ran Your Hospital: 9½ Things You Would Do Differently - - Cultural Insights From a Hospital Executive Who Became a Disney Cast Member" by Fred Lee

      If Disney ran your hospital, you would

      1. Redefine your competition and focus on what can't be measured (values, perceptions...)

          • a. Our competition is anyone our clients compare us to. We need to manage perceptions.

      Our moral imperative is to advocate on behalf of a being that cannot advocate for itself.

          • Decide what is important

                - What are the core values of the practice?

                - What are the core team values?

                - What mutual values are shared by the team?

                - Values create culture as they are always on display

          • Decide where the practice is going

                - First define values, then define vision

                - Without a vision there can be no focus...

          • Decide what the practice stands for

                - Your vision is in your head...

                - Your vision statement is on paper...

                - Any vision is intangible and must be translated into an emotional message...

                - Inspire your people to be believers!

                - The team walks in the shadow of the leader. Your team will mirror and then adopt your commitments as they see you living them.

          • Each of us is the "CEO of me"

                - Every leader is telling a story about what he or she values

                - What is the title of YOUR story?

                - Performance Excellence – Ask the following questions

                     o What is our vision?

                     o What are our values?

                     o What are our goals?

                     o What is our behavior?

                - Then ask these next questions

                     o Do we do the wrong things wrong?

                     o Do we do the wrong things right?

                     o Do we do the right things wrong?

                     o Do we do the right things right?

          • Leon Bernard - - "Medicine should be practiced as a form of friendship."

If Disney ran your hospital, you would

      2. Make courtesy more important than efficiency

           a. The enemy of courtesy is not rudeness... it is avoidance...

           b. A client's perception is his or her reality

           c. You never get a second chance to make a first impression

           d. Outcomes are delivered by teams... Impressions are delivered by individuals

Erma Bombeck - -"Never go to a physician whose office plants have died."

People act in the manner in which they've been trained to act

          • Strive for perfection... Settle for excellence...

          • Have a high tolerance for mistakes, low tolerance for repeated mistakes, and zero tolerance for anything that hinders the team

          • How can you encourage entrepreneurial thinking within your team?

          • Are you getting in the way of team members' efforts to institute and facilitate change?

          • Allow improving compliance to be the catalyst for courtesy vs. efficiency

Walt Disney - - "Leadership implies a strong faith or belief in something. It may be a cause, an institution, a political or business operation in which a man takes active direction by virtue of his faith and self-assurance."

If Disney ran your hospital, you would

      3. Regard client satisfaction as fool's gold

           a. Satisfied clients are not necessarily loyal

           b. Focus on client "success"

           c. When you can't remember anything, you are satisfied

           d. Loyalty is generated by memorable things that happen that we didn't expect

           e. A satisfied person has no story to tell

           f. Give your clients stories to tell

Building loyalty means building repeat business

          • According to the AAHA Compliance Study pet owners want their veterinary healthcare teams to do more for the pet

Build repeat business by doing more for the patients you have

          • It takes just one person from your team, during one visit, becoming personally involved

          • Loyalty must be earned, and it is earned by showing more than simple courtesy

          • The key is demonstrating compassion

Employee loyalty is important as well - cost of turnover

          • Replacement - - @30% of annual salary

          • Strain on employees

          • Loss to a competitor

          • Potential loss of connection with clients

Why do clients/customers leave a business?

          • 68% perception of employee indifference

          • 14% dissatisfaction

          • 9% lured by competition

          • 5% influenced by friends

          • 4% moved away/other

Why do employees leave a job (internal loyalty)?

          • Quality of leader relationship

          • Ability to balance work/home

          • Amount of meaningful work

          • Level of co-worker cooperation

          • Level of workplace trust

If Disney ran your hospital, you would

      4. Measure to improve, not impress

           a. You can overtrain for a marathon, but you cannot overtrain a team's ability to communicate

           b. Strive for high tech, high touch, and high show

           c. Think "State of the Art, State of the Heart"

           d. Build emotion into the experiences your clients have with your practice - - create "magical moments"

Answer the question: "How do we do things here?"

          • Protocols create consistency of experience

Then answer the question: "How do we talk about how we do things here?"

          • The entire veterinary healthcare team needs to speak with "one voice"

          • This creates a consistent experience for the client and patient

Bob Boylan - - "Weed out the non-believers - - they are neither wrong nor dumb if they don't agree with you. They're just on the wrong boat going in the wrong direction."

All patients need and deserve a specific nutritional recommendation - - over half the clients who receive a specific nutritional recommendation will remain compliant

          • Pet owners want to know what to feed a pet when it is ill as well as when it is healthy

          • Every one of your patients needs and deserves an appropriate laboratory workup before general anaesthesia

          • 75% of clients want a follow-up call when their pet has been sick

          • 90% of clients want to be reminded when their animal is due for an examination, medicine refill, etc.

Walt Disney - - "You can dream, create, design, and build the most wonderful place in the world, but it requires people to make the dream a reality."

Walt Disney - - "I have a blind faith in the policy that quality, tempered with good judgment and showmanship, will win out against all odds."