Making Sense of a Great Client Visit

CLIENT SERVICES

Making Sense of a Great Client Visit typography

By Kathryn Primm, DVM

e all have wonderful clients that make our days brighter; clients that take our advice and do their best to take excellent care of their pets. These are the names that make us happy when we see them on our schedule. These are the clients that make us cookies and send us Christmas cards. Wouldn’t it be great if all of our clients would be like our favorite ones?

Now, people are people and they are all different, so making 100% of clients happy 100% of the time is never going to be possible. But, we can make more of our clients happy more of the time, and it is not hard. It boils down to addressing all of the ways in which clients perceive us. Let’s examine this closer…

We all have five senses that we use to gain information about our world: Sight, Smell, Hearing, Touch and Taste. Here are some ways that we can leverage all our clients’ senses to take in the positive messages that we want to spread:

Love at First Sight

Walk through your clinic with the eyes of a client. Even conscript a family member or friend to come along. We know that people make judgements quickly based on visual perception, which is a phenomenon called the “Halo Effect.” According to Psychology Today, the Halo Effect is “cognitive bias that occurs when an initial positive judgment about a person unconsciously colors the perception of the individual as a whole.” We can use this bias to help make sure that our clients view us in the best possible light.

Do you have a front sign with a message board? Could you show your personality on the board with regular messages? People will start to associate you with a smile and will see that you love your job. Human beings are drawn to others who are happy and fun. For the most part, veterinary professionals are fun and our patients bring out the best in us, so let people know! Be a place that people walking into and driving by will feel good vibes about.

Is your parking lot ample and clean? Is there something that you could do that would be easy and affordable that would make your parking lot better? A poop bag dispenser? A cute outdoor sign welcoming clients and listing which species you treat might be a nice addition. An easel with a chalkboard could be easily changed by your team with a personal message. A personal touch goes a long way, and veterinary teams are jam-packed with creative and artistic people that are happy to share their talent.

When clients (or potential clients) come in your door, they should see friendly, happy, confident people. Train your team to smile even when they are answering the phone (people can tell). Write scripts that you like to answer your most frequent phone questions and go over them at team meetings. Ask your team for input. When the team helps write the script, it is more authentic and from the heart (and easier to remember). Some areas that might be addressed include questions about price or product recommendations. Make sure your team feels confident in your pricing strategy so they can explain things well.

What about the items they see? Make sure that pictures and posters are framed and hanging straight. Any retail items should be displayed in a pleasing, symmetrical way. Remove any expired products. Clients might think that you don’t care if they see expired, damaged or dust-covered products in your clinic. (And we all know that veterinary professionals do care. We are just very busy and might overlook something.)

Learn More

nose profile icon What is That Smell?

We may not think about it very much, but smell is an important sense. Venkatesh Murthy, PhD, studies smell (or olfaction) and he believes that smell and memory are closely related. He believes that the direct link between what we smell and how we feel relates to the anatomy of our brain. He says that odor is processed by our olfactory bulb which lies at the front of our brains so the signals can go directly to the amygdala and hippocampus (emotion and memory).

According to Feng Shui for Real Life :

Vanilla scent is great for your front door, as it evokes a sense of well-being.

Lavender scent is also a good choice because it has been suggested for relaxation.

There are definitely odors associated with our work, and they are usually noteworthy. Anal glands or disinfectant smells can certainly evoke emotion in all of us. Make sure that the smells your clients perceive when they step through your door are the ones you want them to. If there is an odor accident, remove it quickly. You can also take advantage of the Halo Effect here. Consider adding a positive scent to your environment. According to Feng Shui for Real Life, vanilla scent is great for your front door, as it evokes a sense of well-being. Lavender scent is also a good choice because it has been suggested for relaxation (and according to Fear Free™ tenets, it relaxes pets too).

ear icon The Sound of Silence

We know that silence is not possible in a veterinary hospital, but we can address those sounds that evoke negative emotions (like the crying dog recovering from surgery) and we can replace or lessen them by adding better sounds of our choosing. Obviously we want to address the reasons for the negative sounds—perhaps considering a recovery protocol of anesthetic drugs to dampen the excitement phase or eliminate post-operative pain/anxiety—but we can also proactively add better sounds.

A study published in 2021 by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences looked at the health benefits of natural sounds, like birds and running water, on human beings. The scientists found that natural sounds reduced blood pressure, decreased pain and improved cognitive performance.¹ Although this study was based on findings in national parks, we can use what they learned to create a better experience for our clients. It is fairly easy and inexpensive to install small speakers around our clinic to project nature sounds. Science tells us that it will create a better experience for the people and the pets.

hand icon Magic Touch

Touch is a harder sense to address with our clients, but with a little creativity, we can consider this sense as well. Psychologist Sidney Jourard published a pilot study in which he found that people in the U.S. and the UK were more likely to experience touch alienation.² Even without physically touching our clients, we can still address the sense of touch by expanding our definition of touch to encompass how our clients feel when they are with us.

According to the principles of Feng Shui, our feelings are impacted by the things around us. If our clients can sit in comfortable chairs, it improves their impressions and feelings about us. The artwork on the walls should depict happy people and loveable pets to evoke positive feelings. All the furnishings should be in good repair, because shabbiness can send the wrong message and imply that you don’t provide the highest standard of care.

mouth icon Taste of Success

While veterinary clinics are not generally associated with human food, we can garner inspiration from those favorite clients of ours who bring us goodies. Why not spread that good cheer in return? Keep it simple by offering a self-serve coffee station and maybe some locally made (human) treats, but be sure it is clearly noted they are not for pet consumption, and avoid stocking any that contain ingredients that may be toxic to pets. Of course it’s a good idea to have some treats out for pets, too!

Creating a more pleasant veterinary visit starts with a walkthrough of your clinic with new eyes. See, smell, hear, touch and taste what your clients do, and then take it all to the next level. And don’t forget, your team and your patients will also benefit from these changes!

References

Buxton RT, Pearson AL, Allou C, et. al. (2021, April 6). A synthesis of health benefits of natural sounds and their distribution in national parks. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 118(14): e2013097118. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2013097118. PMID: 33753555; PMCID: PMC8040792.
Jourard, S. M., & Rubin, J. E. (1968). Self-Disclosure and Touching: A Study of Two Modes of Interpersonal Encounter and Their Inter-Relation. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 8(1), 39–48. https://doi.org/10.1177/002216786800800104

Kathryn Primm, DVM, CVPM is the owner and founder of Applebrook Animal Hospital in Ooltewah, Tennessee. She sees patients, manages a busy small animal practice, and enjoys writing for and speaking to veterinary professionals and pet lovers. She has written and contributed content to many outlets, including magazines like Woman’s Day, Prevention and Health as well as veterinary-focused press.

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