Running a veterinary practice can be a very stressful job. Managing staff, providing the best animal care and making sure you have the right policies and procedures in place, it’s a lot. One thing we have noticed often gets neglected is communication. Whilst it might not seem like the top priority for a veterinary practice, without a reliable phone system, communicating with clients, arranging appointments and talking internally can be a challenge. Gone are the days where phone systems are simply a tool that can make and receive calls. A new business phone system is capable of so much more. So, in this post, we’re going to outline 7 ways that business phone systems can help vets increase their success…
7 Ways Business Phone Systems Help Vets Succeed
1. See All Missed Calls, Call Back & Increase Your Revenue
Ensure your practice never misses another opportunity again with Missed Call Tracking. See not only when you have missed a call but who the call was from. Just like on a mobile, see all of your missed calls in a list and click them to call them back. If you miss a call from an existing client you will then be able to call them back, greet them with their name, and ask if their pet(s) is well. Should the call be from a prospective client, call them back before they’ve googled other veterinary practices in your area for their beloved pet and spoken to one of your competitors.
2. Improve The Communication Skills Of Your Reception Team
When a client or potential client calls into your practice, it’s crucial that your team delivers an excellent customer service. But, without physically waiting around your reception team and listening to their call handling, how can you know what level of service they are providing? This is where our cloud-based call recording becomes extremely valuable. It enables you to review any interactions your staff have had with clients, from anywhere in the world, at any time. These recordings can then be used as part of staff training. Use them to identify areas that need improvement as well as using great examples of calls to show your team how best to handle client queries.
3. Save Time When Existing Clients Call With Automatic File Pull Up
Rather than ask each caller for their name and other confirmation details, have their file automatically on your computer screen before you’ve even picked up the phone. This will allow you to greet each caller by name and get straight to dealing with their enquiry, rather than spending 20-30 seconds each call confirming who’s calling. Save your staff and your clients’ time, whilst also providing an excellent customer service experience.
4. Get More Emergency Bookings With A Professional Out-of-Hours Voicemail
One way to increase your business’ revenue is to start offering emergency appointments out of hours. According to debt.org, clients are willing to spend up to 6 times the normal price for emergency work. With a traditional phone system, businesses won’t hear their voicemails until they’re back on site, meaning clients will find another emergency practice to help with their sick pet. However, with our Professional Out-Of-Hours Voicemail, you can:
01. Instantly get all your voicemail messages emailed to you – enabling you to take action right away, even when your reception team are away from the desk.
02. Give clients the option to press a button to be connected to the practice owner or vet for emergency help.
5. Promote Services To Clients While They Are On Hold
Putting callers on hold is often unavoidable. Don’t make your clients sit in silence, or worse listen to the dreaded beeps, whilst waiting to have their query answered. Research by Cellular Marketing Magazine has found that over 85% of callers prefer on-hold messages over silence.
Hold times are a great opportunity for you to promote and educate clients on the services that you offer. Here at Yo, we professionally record all of your business’ audio branding to ensure that the messages are perfectly aligned with your business’ goals. One of our clients, Kings Road Vets, used on-hold marketing to promote their Pet Care Plan and doubled their monthly sign ups just by making their callers aware that they offer this plan.
6. Say Goodbye To The Dreaded Engaged Tone Once And For All
Traditional analogue lines can only make or receive one call at any given time. So, when you’re busy on the phone talking to a client, your line will be engaged. Not only is this frustrating for the client trying to get through to you, but it’s also frustrating for you as a business as you don’t want to be missing out on new clients. With the Yo Telecom vet phone system you can choose the number of inbound lines available on your main phone number. For smaller practices, this might be two, but it could be as many as 6+. So, instead of your clients hearing engaged tones while you’re busy, they’ll hear a professional message letting them know you’re busy on the line and will be with them soon.
7. Use Your Cordless Phones From Anywhere At Your Practice
Cordless phones don’t need to mean crackly, quiet calls. All of Yo’s cordless phones come with a 100% coverage guarantee. This means you can handle client calls from anywhere on your site without having to worry about the call dropping out. Your receptionist can take a cordless handset to a vet working in a back room to answer a clients call without needing to put the client on hold or have the call cut out.
So, there we have it, 7 ways a business phone system helps vets succeed. Interested in getting a new phone system for vets put in place at your practice? All of the features mentioned in this post are available on Yo Telecom business phone systems! Just drop your details in the form below and a member of the team will be in touch to answer any questions you might have and provide a free no-obligation demo…
Find out how we’ve helped other practices, directly from one of our existing Veterinary clients here.
