Find more fans

We All Want To Fill Our Appointments with folks who love us, pat us on the back, and give us a big hug when they leave. We want clients who love us so much that they tout us to all their friends and fill our clinic with other clients who rave about us even more.

But providing for these enthusiastic clients is a conundrum for us. We have staff meetings; attend seminars; conduct surveys; and invest a lot of time, money, and effort in pleasing our clients. But often our approach to customer satisfaction is still fairly haphazard. And despite our effort, we end up frustrated because clients aren't as satisfied as we wish they were.

So let's look at client care from the basics up, and see how we can be more efficient. First, why should we care about what clients want? If they want their pets healthy, I guess they'll have to come in when we want and pretty much do as we say, right? Who's the doctor here, anyway?

Unfortunately the days of hanging out a shingle and having folks flock to the practice are gone. Or fortunately, perhaps. Competition is now the norm for us, as it is for most other professions. We must be as good as our colleagues just to survive, and to thrive we have to exceed whatever they're offering. So we do need to work at treating clients right—because if we don't, they'll find a team that does.

There are advantages to competition. With more than one practice to choose from, clients can pick a clinic that offers the level of care they want, a convenient location, workable hours of operation, and so on. And competition lets us make choices, too. We can choose our hours, the level of medicine we practice, and the type of clients we want—and fill our clinic with people who agree. People who don't like our approach will go elsewhere, to our mutual satisfaction.

Decide what great service means to you

To develop a bigger fan club, start thinking about your priorities for service. This seems a bit out of touch from what we are constantly told—"ask the client what they want." But, really, you can only be enthusiastic about services that you believe in.

The golden rules

For example, let's say your clients want cat ovariohysterectomies done at midnight on Saturday. That doesn't mean you should do them then. So first you must decide what your clinic will provide for clients, and then provide that client care enthusiastically—and better than anyone else.

Ideally, an owner would do this before the practice ever opens. You'd lay out in great detail those things you believe in and are willing and happy to do every day. You'd write them down and hang a copy on the wall at work. Bet that's not part of your decor.

So your first mission is to develop such a list. To get started, check out the abbreviated example on page 78. It's divided into three sections: one for patients, staff members, and clients.

It's surprisingly easy to make a list of golden rules. You probably have a pretty good idea of what your rules are, even if these critical guidelines aren't yet part of the orientation training. Hold one short staff meeting, discuss them, and write your rules down. Keep in mind, golden rules aren't constant; they change as the practice grows. So review them periodically.

But don't get me wrong; golden rules should be inviolate. They're really value statements, reflections of deeply held beliefs, so they can't be ignored or sidestepped by anyone at anytime. If a rule's on the list, it always applies and must be enforced and supported vigorously.

Itemize the steps you'll take

Once you have a set of rules that governs your practice, you can begin to convert your clients into fans. Start by looking at the rules. For instance, your rules might state that clients "deserve timely answers to their questions."

6 ways to test your success with clients

If so, examine all your question-answering procedures, from phone triage, to handouts, to Web site referrals. How can you make the experience better for the clients without violating any of your golden rules for employees? Do you need more phone lines? More team members?

At each staff meeting, take up one or two of the rules. Dissect them and see that from the first to the last contact the client has with your clinic the rules are upheld. When you start really focusing on your rules, you'll find the atmosphere at your clinic vastly improves—clients leave happier and you feel more satisfied.

Keeping score grows your fan base

When you implement a rule, you and your team must work diligently to provide that care at the highest level and to do it better than any client ever expected. When you exceed clients' expectations, you give them reason to return and to tell all their friends about you—a reason to become a real fan.

Take a look at the scorecard below for a detailed look at implementation. And use the examples I've given there to develop methods for continual growth in client care.

Do the extra 1 percent

Once you feel you're providing great client care (in other words, you're at least as good as the rest of us), you need to exceed your past performance and reach out into new areas to thrive. Constant improvement is what sets great clinics apart from the merely good ones.

If you're already doing a pretty good job, this doesn't have to be an all-out assault. In fact, just 1 percent a month is a good thing. If you can improve your client care by about 1 percent a month, in a year you'll increase the care your clients get by 12 percent, and in a decade you'll have doubled the level of service you offer.

Client care is never-ending, and it's a necessary effort from the newest staff member to the senior doctors. It must be made a part of the clinic culture. Discuss it at staff meetings, ask your clients and staff, and see what other clinics and businesses do right for their clients.

Having a fantastic clinic filled with fans is personally satisfying and professionally fulfilling. It's a great way to improve your level of medical care and retain your valuable team members. Heck, maybe your car will get better mileage, too. Who knows? So search your soul, list your golden rules, and turn those ordinary clients into fans!

Dr. Craig Woloshyn

Dr. Craig Woloshyn, a Veterinary Economics Editorial Advisory Board member, finds fantastic fans at the Animal Medical Clinic in Spring Hill, Fla., which he owns, along with Sun Dog Veterinary Consulting. Please send questions and comments to ve@advanstar.com.