In the United States, 95% of pet owners consider their pets to be part of the family. They often go to great lengths to make sure their pets have the best when it comes to food, treats, and veterinary care. Pet owners are willing to spend more money on premium products and services, all in the name of keeping their animals happy and healthy.
As a veterinarian, these pet owners need to know that they can count on you to take care of their fur babies. To provide the best customer care possible, many veterinarians partner with an answering service. A veterinarian answering service shows pet owners that you care by being there for them in their time of need. With live agents ready to answer your phones at any hour, fewer customers will be forced to leave a voicemail. This results in happier customers, as well as less miscommunications that can cost your practice time and money.
Here, we will explain three ways that a veterinarian answering service improves customer care:
An answering service helps veterinarians prioritize calls
The phones at a veterinary office ring often throughout the day. A majority of these calls are simply people asking questions or trying to schedule an appointment. But sadly, some are calling because there is an emergency. It is important that these callers are not put on hold, or asked to leave a voicemail, as their pet’s life might depend on it.
Unless you have multiple people handling your practice’s incoming phone calls, it might be time to consider partnering with a veterinary answering service. The live agents can not only help prioritize which callers to respond to first, but they can also handle tasks like appointment setting and answering general questions. This will free up your staff to assist the more urgent callers who have true emergencies.
A veterinarian answering service helps you be there for your patients after hours
Unfortunately, pets get sick and injured, and it’s not always during business hours. Receiving frantic calls from panicked pet owners late at night, or on the weekends is part of a veterinarian’s job.
If one of your furry patients has an emergency, forcing their owner to leave a voicemail and wait for a call back is the worst thing that you can do. With 91% of unhappy customers saying that they will not willingly do business with your organization again after a bad customer service experience, it is vital that you are there for your patients when they need you most.
A veterinarian answering service eliminates the need to hire additional in-house employees to handle your phones after hours, while also ensuring that emergency callers are quickly assisted by a live person. Our live agents are trained to ask the right questions to determine which callers need immediate help. They can provide instructions for issues that require an emergency visit, and they can also directly connect you with the patient or relay a message.
More efficient communication results in fewer missed appointments
One of the most common reasons that people call veterinary offices is to schedule, change or cancel appointments. A voicemail may get lost in the shuffle or forgotten, and more missed appointments can occur as a result.
