Over the past two years, more and more practice leaders have asked me to help improve their teams’ client communication and telephone skills, especially at the front desk. Some received pet owner complaints that their client service representatives weren’t friendly or caring. Others reported that their teams had trouble handling angry clients. And I regularly hear from frustrated managers whose CSRs don’t deliver exceptional service like they used to.
Given that industry reports show a decline in new patients and visits, attracting and retaining clients should be a priority for veterinary practices.
Let’s look at how to improve training so your front office team cultivates meaningful relationships with pet owners and builds client loyalty.
A Look Back
I’ve noticed that many CSRs tend to be more task-oriented than focused on making client connections. I should note that the decline in client service started during the pandemic at many hospitals. Curbside care and high caseloads made catering to pet owners’ needs difficult. Employee orientation and onboarding during the COVID era might not have included how to deliver exceptional client care. While the pandemic is over, challenges remain as practices grapple with finding talented team members motivated to be service-oriented.
What Doesn’t Work
I often discover ineffective strategies when I ask practice managers what they’ve done to improve client service. These three approaches don’t work:
- Nagging. This misstep happens when you talk “at” employees rather than “with” them. When team members don’t know how to improve client interactions or when they resist change, constant reminders to “Be more friendly” or “Be more helpful” tend to fall on deaf ears.
- Not scheduling training sessions. One of the most common complaints that I hear is team members aren’t well-trained. Yet, practice leaders continue to say they don’t have time for training. Not committing sufficient time to learning and guidance typically results in lower levels of client service.
- Passive training. Online courses, webinars and handouts can assist with client service training, but their effectiveness is limited when a practice doesn’t follow through and help team members implement what they learned.
Better Solutions
If you want team members to feel more passionate about helping pet owners, I encourage you to implement a new training plan. These five steps will get your CSR team to enhance the pet owner experience:
1. Evaluate job performances and consider whether each employee is a good fit. Here are a few good questions to ask to help you put the right solutions in place.
- Why does someone want to be at my hospital?
- Is everyone passionate about helping people, or do they simply think working at an animal hospital is cool?
- Do they care deeply about and understand the human-pet bond?
- Is accountability an issue, or do we have cultural challenges?
- Do team members blame clients and see them as the bad guys?
No amount of training can turn around a team member who is a poor fit. Likewise, training might not be the answer for someone who lacks accountability and is stuck in a negative mindset regarding clients.
2. Improve employee orientation. New hires learn their job duties, such as using the computer system and scheduling appointments, but they often don’t hear about your hospital’s philosophy, mission and vision. The first week of orientation should include sessions on a CSR’s crucial role in promoting the human-animal bond. Orientation is also the time to review what exemplary service looks like and which job expectations team members must adhere to.
3. Solicit regular feedback to uncover barriers hindering a team member’s success and why someone is struggling in a job. Ask questions to avoid nagging, and ensure your team members feel heard. Feedback sessions are more effective when you ask employees for ideas about solving problems, creating better systems and improving the training process.
4. Implement laser-focused training. A monthly staff meeting might not allow sufficient time for training, plus positive change takes too long if the only instructional period you set aside occurs then. A more practical solution is to schedule twice-weekly, 15- to 30-minute sessions with one or just a few team members to discuss a single training topic. For example, you might talk about how to use questions to engage with pet owners or how to respond to angry clients. Enhance the learning with quizzes and interactive exercises such as role-playing.
5. Focus on basic skills first. You’ve probably heard the phrase “Doing the common uncommonly well.” That line is the foundation for delivering outstanding service. To help your team excel, you can create guidelines for properly greeting clients and conveying a desire to help. For example, you might implement a standard to make eye contact, smile and use a friendly greeting whenever a pet owner approaches the front desk.
Start Slowly
Your team members should initially focus on a few actions at a time so that the skills become habits. A good starting point is always addressing clients by name, saying, “I’d be happy to help you,” upon a pet owner’s request, and complimenting them during the visit. For example, a basic standard when a client leaves is to politely say, “Have a nice day.” A better greeting might be, “Ms. Taylor, it was so wonderful to see you and Bella today. I hope you have a great evening. Please call us with any questions or concerns.” Those statements show genuine interest and are more memorable.
Once your team members excel with basic skills, you can add additional standards and training to achieve advanced communication competencies.
Devoting time to service training is well worth the effort. Front office teams can help your veterinary practice increase pet visits, client compliance and loyalty. And most importantly, by helping pet owners, your staff helps more pets get the care they deserve.