The VHMA files: Connect with veterinary clients

If anyone's ever told you, "What you don't know can't hurt you," let me say, "They're wrong." Feedback can sometimes sting. But it also can be enormously helpful. Those of us in veterinary medicine—essentially a service industry—know that. Once we fail to offer services in a way that satisfies our clients and ensures the well-being of our patients, we're headed for failure. And those who can most effectively evaluate our services are those who use our services.

That means, as competition within the veterinary field increases, practices must do their best to not only treat their patients but also to ensure their clients are satisfied with the overall patient experience. How will you figure out how best to satisfy? Designing and implementing a good survey is one of the most effective strategies to obtain performance information and identify areas where we can change and improve.

Listen up

When managers ask, "Why should I survey?" I respond, "Consider the alternative!" When clients have a great experience, they want to tell others about it. When clients have a bad experience, they want to tell the world.

When we're angry and upset, we want to vent. And one way to ensure your complaints are heard is to post on social media. A poorly written but venomously negative review can be more entertaining and reach a wider audience than the kind words a client posts. A survey can help. Surveys provide a forum for venting disappointment and dissatisfaction. Clients benefit by getting the complaints off their chest, and the practice benefits by understanding any issues with service or care and taking steps to rectify the situation.

The first step

Practices that earn a strong, loyal client base often do so by measuring client satisfaction in an organized manner regularly. When you ask clients to share their opinions and evaluate their pet's care, your practice sends a strong message: We care about what you think and will re-evaluate our way of doing things to create a pleasant experience.

Surveys can come in many forms, so it's important to choose one that works best for your clientele. The options include face-to-face interviews, phone interviews, mailed questionnaires, emailed questionnaires and even paper-and-pencil surveys at checkout. To choose the best survey format, examine your budget and staff availability. For example, do your team members have time to administer a face-to-face survey after an appointment, or would a low-cost, low-manpower survey as the client leaves the office fit the bill?

Some practices email surveys after a visit. Others are experimenting with putting QR-code-activated materials in examination rooms that point clients to online surveys. Another strategy is to attach a brochure-sized survey card and postage-paid envelope to the invoice at discharge. The goal is to put the survey in the hands of clients as soon as possible to give them a way to immediately air their comments.

Ask the right Qs

Tailor your questions to issues that are specific to your practice: satisfaction related to services, costs and products; staff evaluations; or general perceptions of the hospital or practice. Be sure to focus on loyalty: Would you return to this practice?

Whether the response is positive or negative, encourage respondents to elaborate. While some demographic information can be helpful, decide which information is essential to improving services. If you can't use the information, don't ask the question.

How you structure your survey questions is important. Closed questions allow respondents to choose from several responses. These questions can be true or false, multiple choice, ordered by rank, or rated. On the other hand, open-ended questions encourage the respondent to craft a personal response. When constructing the survey, keep in mind that it shouldn't be too long or complicated. If the respondent struggles to decipher questions and the time to complete the survey expands, the response rate will most likely suffer. Keep it short and simple.

Have a goal

Deciding how the practice will use survey results is critical. Tabulate the responses as they are received and share positive responses with your team. They're a great morale booster. Deal with negative comments discreetly and efficiently without involving the entire practice, unless the issue affects the whole practice. Make time to discuss the results at a team meeting and decide what specific changes, if any, you'll make to address issues that clients raise.

A client survey can provide a valuable snapshot of how well you're serving clients, offering an accurate measurement of current client satisfaction levels as well as a rating of the importance of each aspect of your practice to your clients.

Christine Shupe is the executive director of the Veterinary Hospital Managers Association. The association is dedicated to serving professionals in veterinary management through education, certification and networking.