Did everyone memorize their lines?

Do you have scripts written down for your Team? Are all new staff members trained on how YOUR clinic presents information? Perhaps one of the most important tools in any business is a uniform message, which translates into great client service.

There are several touch points in which your Team should speak to clients:
1. Initial phone call

2. Booking the appointment

3. Calling to confirm the appointment

4. Surgery and Dental pre-registration

5. Follow up phone calls

6. Scheduling medical progress exams and followup consultations

The initial phone call sets the tone for all future visits. This initial phone call is often a potential client price shopping. This is your time to shine. This is your time to explain your services and win the client over with your education, knowledge and friendly service. Placing a client on hold for too long can prevent the relationship from even beginning. Your initial conversation should explain your wellness services, explain other services your clinic offers and should provide the client with an understanding of basic animal care. This phone call should be geared around your services rather than the price. Of course, you have to give the client the price, but you should provide the reason behind the service and tell them how it helps protect their pet...then give the fee.

Sample Script: "Thank you for calling the Animal Care Hospital, this is Christen, how may I help you? Oh sure, Mrs. Jones-I can give you the price of a new puppy visit. Your first puppy appointment will be scheduled for 1 hour, to allow you plenty of time to address any questions or concerns you may be having with the nurse or doctor. The doctor will perform a head to tail exam to check the eyes, ears, oral cavity/teeth, lumps/bumps, listen to lung sounds and address any abnormalities. Secondly, we will tailor a vaccination protocol for your specific pet. Often times the doctor likes to split up the vaccines and boosters into a few different appointments for the safety of your pet. Finally, we will perform an intestinal parasite exam to ensure that your puppy has not contracted any worms or intestinal parasites. We usually send out this stool sample and send you home with a prophylactic dewormer. Our initial exam is $60.00, our intestinal parasite exam is $28.00 and our vaccinations range from $12-$20 depending on which vaccinations the doctor chooses to give today. I have a 6pm appointment available on Tuesday or would you prefer a morning appointment?"

There are several things that a detailed phone script can do for your staff. Other than giving them a comfort level on what to say to the client, they are presenting the information in a way that will set the client up for success. We are explaining to them the services before giving the prices. We are providing knowledge and information. We are letting the client know how long to expect to be at the clinic for their first appointment. We are letting them know to come with questions. We have told them an estimated price. We have provided an appointment suggestion without a yes or no. You never want to say "Did you want to go ahead and schedule an appointment?" Never present questions with a yes or no response. If you do, be prepared for the response to be 'no'.

When you book the appointment, you should discuss with the client information that will prepare them for their appointment. I would recommend obtaining at least 2 phone numbers and an email address. Send the client a welcome letter via email before their appointment. Let them know you will be sending them their new client paperwork via email prior to the appointment. Let the client know that bringing this paperwork with them to the appointment will ensure that they are able to spend as much time as possible with the doctor. This helps your clinic because you will not get as behind on appointments as you do when a new client spends 15 minutes of their 60 minute appointment filling out paperwork in the lobby. You should ask the client what number and time is best to reach them for their appointment reminder.

Calling to confirm the appointment is a must. Clients get busy and do not always remember their appointment times. A missed appointment causes a lull in your day where you would have been able to assist another client. When your staff calls to confirm the appointment, I recommend calling during lunch or in the evening. Calling a clients home number between the hours of 9-5 presents a problem, since many of them will be at work. If the client provided a work number, you should call this number to remind them of their appointment.

Sample Call and Confirm Script: Hello Mrs. Jones, this is Christen calling from the Animal Specialty Hospital. I wanted to remind you of Chloe's appointment with us tomorrow at 9:30am with Dr. Smith. Chloe is due for her physical exam, rabies vaccination, lepto vaccination, heartworm test, annual labwork and intestinal parasite exam. Please bring with you a teaspoon size stool sample and remove food from Chloe after midnight so that she is fasted for her labwork. If you have any questions or concerns or need to reschedule Chloe's appointment, please call us at XXX-XXX-XXXX. Thank you and we look forward to seeing you and Chloe tomorrow morning at 9:30".

In this script I have reminded the owner of the appointment time, I have set the stage for the items that are due (notice I didn't ask her at any point WHAT she wants to update..only what the doctor recommends) and have asked her to bring stool and fast the patient.

I highly recommend a nurse calling clients prior to their appointments for dentals and surgeries to discuss the procedure and answer any questions the client may have. This will cut down on the time spent at drop off since we are often very busy in the morning with other checkins and clients are usually rushing to get to work. I recommend a nurse calling and not a CSR because it provides the owner a time to speak to the nurse that has answers to more of their questions. I highly recommend the nurse calling the client to be the nurse that is going to be assisting with the procedure the next day. This puts the client at ease and gives a face/name to the person that will be handling the pet.

Another recommendation is that you call each client the day after they have been at your hospital. Kennel assistants should call clients to see how their pet is adjusting to being back home from boarding stays. The CSR should call to see how clients liked their grooms, how they are feeling after exam/vaccines, and see if they are eating a new diet prescribed by the doctor. Nurses should call back clients with sick pets and check in on how the pet is eating, drinking, taking medication, etc. It is preferable that the nurse that assisted with the appointment the day before be the one to call the client. This makes the client understand how much you personally care about their pet. I believe it is important for the nurses to follow up on sick appointments to avoid the CSR having to put the client on hold and go find someone to answer the medical questions that are likely to come up. The nurse should check on the patient, ask the client if they are having any difficulties giving medications and provide support and guidance for any concerns the client might have. At this time, the nurse could schedule the follow up appointment if it had not been done so by the CSR at check out.

Finally, the CSR should be scheduling medical progress exams/follow up visits at the time of check out. Again, a yes or no question should not be asked (would you like to schedule your follow up visit now? "No".) Instead, "Mrs. Jones, Dr. Smith has requested that I schedule Chloe a follow up exam in 14 days which will be June 7. Would you prefer a morning or afternoon appointment on June 7?" We like to call a "recheck" either a medical progress exam or a follow up consultation because recheck can sound free...whereas a follow up exam sounds like there is a fee attached.

You can provide scripts to your CSRs for so many different topics: check in, check out, euthanasia, collecting money from clients, new client appointments, surgery follow up, etc. Do you use scripts? Are they typed up for your staff to reference? Do you quiz staff over how to handle certain phone calls?

You can provide scripts to your Nurses for many topics as well: kitten talks, puppy talks, reasons behind heartworm testing, physical exams, annual labwork, senior panels, IPEs, heartworm prevention, etc. Again, having a uniform message for clients is so important and having a script and training on the reason behind WHY you do certain tests can give your staff that added confidence they need to provide confident, reliable, courteous client service.

Please feel free to share sample scripts you use at your business and share additional "touch points" where you call your clients. Lets come up with the perfect scripts together!

"For every sale you miss because you're too enthusiastic, you will miss a hundred because you're not enthusiastic enough"--Zig Ziglar