Category Archives: Client Communications

Cut Excuses To The Core; Collect On Past Due Accounts

Dealing with patients can be extremely rewarding, but it can also present some challenges, too. In Cut Excuses To The Core, Pam offers advice on how to work with clients who are less than forthcoming with the real reason behind their words. In A Dun Deal: Collect On Past Due Accounts, Pam gives tips on […]

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One Appointment, Three Pets; How To Overcome 4 Common Client Excuses

Sometimes patients make appointments for one pet, then bring the rest of their pets along with. When this happens, what do you do? In this One Appointment, Three Pets, Pam answers this question. And what do you do with common client excuses? In How To Overcome 4 Common Client Excuses, Pam helps answer questions from […]

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Stop Judging Clients

Some clients are difficult, but labeling them as such and guessing who will comply doesn’t help anyone, especially pets. Take a gavel to judgmental thinking and you’ll soon be letting clients—even the “bad” ones—off for good behavior. He approaches the front desk with a groan. Slowly bending down to pick up his toy poodle, the […]

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When Should You Act As The Jury?

Never. Because, as this real-life example illustrates, most judgments don’t involve open-and-shut cases. Every practice has one—or two, or three, or four: A client who just doesn’t get it. This type of pet owner declines recommendations for flea and tick preventives because the dog only goes outside to go to the bathroom. Judging clients like […]

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Payment Procrastinators

Q. What do you do when clients say at checkout they want to pay later? First, establish, communicate, and enforce protocol for collecting payment for services and products, says Pam Stevenson, CVPM, a consultant with Veterinary Results Management in Durham, N.C. Then consider the situation. Is this a new client? Has she visited at least […]

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Great Expectations

Q. In the past, I occasionally gave discounts to friends and family. Now they expect the same generosity every time they visit. What do I do? Some veterinary practices do offer their team members a discount on veterinary products and services. “And it’s wonderful when we can extend that discount to family and friends,” says […]

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One Appointment, Three Pets

Q: Clients sometimes schedule an appointment for one pet and show up with several. What should we do? “It depends,” says Karen Sabatini, a Firstline Editorial Advisory Board member and a receptionist at Ardmore Animal Hospital in Ardmore, Pa. “We usually handle these clients as we would drop-ins. Unless it’s an emergency, we try to schedule an […]

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