The heartbeat of a successful veterinary practice is a well-run front desk. It establishes the tone for every client interaction, ensures smooth operations and builds trust with pet owners. However, service breaks down when receptionists step away, ignore phone calls, or fail to manage emails and voicemails. Hospital leaders are responsible for setting standards, reinforcing expectations and fostering a culture of accountability, but trouble ensues when team members aren’t focused and engaged.
Here is how to establish and sustain a superb receptionist team.
Establish Clear Expectations and Nonnegotiables
Your veterinary practice should have a client experience mission statement. It’s more than a guideline; it embodies a way of life to ensure exceptional client service is the highest priority.
Start with precise job descriptions that specify the receptionist team’s key priorities, such as greeting clients, answering calls and managing communications.
Also, remember that a ringing phone isn’t an interruption; it’s part of the mission. Every missed call represents a lost opportunity to serve a client and care for the owner’s pet.
Your responsibility as a leader: Write down all the expectations, refer to them when making hiring decisions, discuss them during team meetings, and reiterate them during coaching sessions and performance reviews. Ensure everyone understands that client service is the top priority.
Hire the Right People
Typically, hospital managers leave the hiring of receptionists to chance. Too many practices employ unqualified individuals, offer low wages and train poorly. It’s time to end the madness by doing the following:
- Seek and hire people who genuinely enjoy interacting with others. Receptionists are a crucial asset in enhancing the client experience. They greet clients, alleviate pet owner concerns, entertain them during appointment delays, and provide the warm service everyone loves to rave about. They also create first and last impressions. Select the right people to fulfill this mission.
- Low wages often lead to low output. Therefore, pay more for innate people skills.
- When a receptionist genuinely cares for people, the onboarding is easy. A practice manager can effortlessly teach veterinary skills, but the softer interpersonal skills can be difficult to perfect.
Your responsibility as a leader: Identify the type of person best suited for a front-desk role. Create a compelling help-wanted ad that outlines the successful behaviors. Peruse job ads to understand the wages for similar positions, ensuring the compensation you offer meets or exceeds the average. Finally, candidate interviews should focus on the behaviors and interpersonal skills you desire. Be sure to extend a competitive offer to attract candidates who will thrive as a receptionist.
Develop a Training Plan
The days of placing people in a job and hoping they succeed with little to no preparation are over. While on-the-job training has value, a foundational instructional period is necessary to help team members feel comfortable and eager to take on new tasks.
Start with a list of front-desk responsibilities in the context of your mission statement. New team members must understand how their actions contribute to your practice’s overall purpose. Linking goals to the mission helps employees comprehend the “why” and “what” of their daily tasks, establishing a foundation for decision-making that supports the client experience.
Prioritize the responsibilities list and divide it into phases, allowing team members to master the initial stage before progressing to other tasks. A strong foundation makes advanced training more efficient and effective.
Your responsibility as a leader: While another team member might conduct the training, you should check in weekly with a new hire to ensure the person’s needs and expectations are met. Questions such as “How are you feeling?”, “What is your favorite part of this job?”, “Which concepts do you find challenging?” and “What difficulties do you need help with?” can provide critical insight. Be authentic in check-ins because employee loyalty is built within the first 60 days.
Support a Front-Desk-First Culture
A thriving veterinary practice operates with intention, beginning at the door. Pet owners should never enter a practice without a receptionist ready to greet them or acknowledge their presence. At least one front-desk team member must be present at all times. Leaving the desk unattended is never an option. If someone needs to step away, make sure you have a coverage plan.
Also, consider rotating responsibilities. For instance, one receptionist might manage check-ins, another takes calls, and a third concentrates on emails and voicemails.
Finally, if space allows, consider setting aside a phone room for handling high-volume calls with care, compassion and privacy.
Your responsibility as a leader: You do more than establish rules. You also need to motivate people to embrace their responsibilities. Regularly check in with your receptionists — not to micromanage but to support them. Remind them how their contributions help pets and clients. Celebrate accomplishments, such as excellent interaction with a client, a day with no missed phone calls or outstanding teamwork.
Accountability
Expectations mean nothing without enforcement. If your receptionists don’t live up to the mission statement, it’s time for a serious conversation. Leaders often let team members down in this area. Instead of engaging in conversations to help people grow to greatness, leaders sometimes avoid discussions, leading to failure.
Here’s how to do it properly:
- Direct coaching: Remind your receptionists of their role and impact. They must understand what impresses you and the areas needing improvement. They probably won’t realize they fell short of expectations if nobody informs them. For example, ask, “What barriers prevent you from fulfilling our mission for clients?” Approach this step with a mindset of understanding instead of assumptions so you can identify and address root causes.
- Written warning: If undesired behavior continues, document it. Specify the due date for necessary corrections and the consequences for not achieving them. You don’t want to lead a veterinary practice where team members think, “Nothing really happens when you are written up.”
- Staffing changes: Retaining underperforming employees harms the entire veterinary team and the client and patient experience.
Your responsibility as a leader: Stay visible and engaged. Walk up front, observe and provide real-time feedback. When your receptionists see leadership invested in their success, they take more pride in their work.
When your front desk employees embrace their roles, everything operates more smoothly in your practice, and your clients and the entire team will notice.
ETIQUETTE TIPS
The customer communication company Ruby says receptionists should avoid uttering these five phrases:
- “I can’t.”
- “I don’t know.”
- “They are on the other line.”
- “Hold, please.”
- “Just a sec.”
Visit bit.ly/41lr02Y to learn better responses.