Optimizing Your Team to Improve Client Care
By Louise Dunn
n today’s rapidly evolving veterinary landscape, client service has emerged as a cornerstone of successful practice management. Yet, there’s often a disconnect between how veterinary professionals perceive their level of client service and the reality experienced by pet owners. Bridging this gap is essential to not only strengthen client relationships, but to also ensure better patient outcomes and business sustainability.
But what do clients say? Herein lies the crux of the matter—perception versus reality—and the lack of information. An article in Vetsource on what clients want stated that there is “limited data on what pet owners want specifically in terms of the client experience,” but there is data from surveys of U.S. consumers, and the key factors are:1
- Speed
- Convenience
- Helpful employees
- Friendly service
Our clients are consumers, yet our internal perception is shaped by good intentions and professional standards. Many clinics offer extended hours, follow-up calls, modern equipment and continuing education to ensure high medical quality. From this perspective, client care appears robust and attentive. However, our client’s perspective is not always so rosy. Long wait times, brief consultations, lack of communication or confusion around treatment plans can all erode a client’s trust—even if the medical care is top-tier.
The right team, in the right roles, with the right support, can make or break the client journey. Yet many veterinary practices struggle to connect how staffing directly influences the perceived and actual level of care clients receive. A poorly trained team can lead to miscommunication, longer wait times and inconsistent service, leaving clients feeling frustrated, undervalued and less confident in the care their pets receive.
In addition, understaffing can be just as harmful as poorly trained or poorly leveraged staff. Understaffing leads to overworked employees, which leads to overlooked clients. Even the most skilled and compassionate team members can’t deliver gold-standard care if they’re running on fumes.
Staffing solutions that improve client care and experience may include one or all of the following:
- Invest in Support Roles: Hire or train client care coordinators or follow-up specialists to manage post-visit communication and client touchpoints. This support role can allow for more thoughtful, attentive care by the team, and can lead to a more relaxed and personalized client experience.
- Leverage Technicians and Assistants Fully: Empower techs to educate, communicate and manage more of the client interaction, thus freeing veterinarians to focus on medical decision-making.
- Cross-Train to Create Flexibility: Cross-training staff allows for better coverage during busy times and reduces bottlenecks in front desk or phone management.
- Optimize Scheduling: Avoid overbooking. Buffer times allow for meaningful client interaction and reduce the perception of being rushed.
- Monitor Workload and Burnout: Happy, healthy teams provide better care. Regular check-ins, flexible scheduling, and mental health support improve morale and client service.
- Listen to Feedback: Your team knows where the pain points are. Include them in problem-solving and decision-making to build sustainable solutions.
- Monitor Ease of Doing Business With You: Ask your clients how easy it is to do business with your practice, and then take action to reduce roadblocks and improve convenience.
A well-structured, well-leveraged team creates a seamless experience that respects clients’ time and needs, reinforcing trust and encouraging long-term loyalty. Additionally, other forms of convenience can help your team deliver award-winning client care.
- Online Appointment Scheduling: Implement an online booking system that allows pet owners to schedule appointments easily through the veterinary office’s website or a mobile app.
- Subscription Models: Today’s clients are used to subscription-based services, and veterinary practices can do the same. By offering predictable monthly payments for essential services, receptionists are empowered to have more positive, solution-focused conversations.
- Telemedicine Services: Offer telemedicine consultations for non-emergency issues. Virtual appointments can save clients time and reduce the stress of transporting their pets. They can also help the team with scheduling, and even offer the benefit of remote work.
- Automation and Technology: The convenience economy heavily relies on automation and technology to streamline processes. For the team, it can reduce repetitive tasks, minimize errors and free up time for more meaningful client interactions.
- Mobile Apps and Patient Portals: Mobile apps and patient portals allow clients to access their pet’s medical records and health metrics, schedule appointments, request prescription refills, receive reminders and more. This level of accessibility reduces the need for phone calls, minimizes wait times for information, streamlines workflows, improves follow-through, and strengthens the overall perception of professionalism and responsiveness.
- Digital Communication: Texts, emails, social media and messaging apps keep clients informed about clinic updates, pet health needs and promotions, while also helping the team with efficiency and better organization of tasks.
- E-Commerce and Online Prescription Refills: Enable clients to request prescription refills online and offer a mail or delivery service for medications and pet supplies, which can be a real time-saver for clients and team members.
- Curbside Service: This service was beneficial during the COVID-19 pandemic, and many want it to continue. Implement a system where clients can check in, communicate with staff and receive their pet’s care without leaving their vehicles.
- Extended and Flexible Hours: Consider extending your clinic’s hours, including evenings and weekends, to accommodate clients with busy schedules via your team or a third-party provider. Using a third-party provider can reduce team burnout, improve morale and increase team retention.
- Payment Options: To streamline the billing and payment process, offer multiple payment options, including online and contactless payment processing. Options can take some pressure off sensitive financial discussions and reduce the time spent following up on overdue accounts.
- Home Visits: Offer home visit services for pets that require medical attention but may have difficulty traveling. Home visits can allow for optimization of in-clinic team members and free up clinic space for more complex or urgent cases. Check your locale for third-party providers of this service.
- Education and Resources: Provide online resources, articles, and videos on pet care and common health issues. Removing the need to wait for office hours or a call back to get answers can improve client compliance because care is clearly laid out with visuals and printable PDFs. In addition, pre-visit forms, links to home-care guides and instructional videos can save time while still allowing the team to deliver high-quality care.
- Loyalty Programs: Implement loyalty programs that reward clients for their continued patronage and referrals. Automatic rewards, easy digital access to savings and reminders, and streamlined checkouts encourage routine vet visits and make the process of doing business with your veterinary practice more efficient and financially predictable.
- Personalization: Leverage data and algorithms to personalize your products and services to enhance convenience and make the care clients’ pets receive feel more relevant. Even the team benefits because personalization can reduce guesswork, improve workflow and standardize care protocols.
Take the steps to implement the best staffing solutions for your team. By strategically aligning roles, strengths and schedules, practices can ensure they have the right mix of people to handle daily operations efficiently while staying responsive to client and patient needs. When team members are supported, empowered and adequately staffed, they can deliver the kind of care that clients remember—for all the right reasons.
- 2023 Trends in Veterinary Client Experience and Customer Service. https://vetsource.com/blog/2023-trends-in-veterinary-client-experience-and-customer-service/
