Experiencing problems is normal in any business. So if you do encounter some in your practice don’t worry! Know that it is common and most importantly, that there are ways to overcome or avoid these problems!
Here are common problems that you can experience in your veterinary practice.
- Clients are missing scheduled appointments
This is common and it can happen because of multiple reasons but there is a way to reduce the chances of this happening. You can contact your clients, with their permission of course, to remind them about their appointment. If they have already missed the appointment and they did not provide any notice. Contact them to ask for updates on their pets. Doing this can remind them that it is a must to bring their pet to the clinic or so that you are informed if their pet is feeling better and doesn’t need a visit to your vet clinic anymore.
- Clients ask for medication refills in the last minute
There can be times that you are out of the medication they need. You can solve this by providing them with your contact details, as well as your office hours so that they can inform you before they visit the clinic and before they run out of medication. This is extremely helpful in both the vet and the clients part.
- No new clients
If you find yourself short of clients, marketing will help you. Put your practice out there. Let more people in your community or city know about your vet clinic. Advertise yourself online and establish your online presence. For more information on marketing check out imatrix.com/veterinary-marketing/.
- You’re losing clients
Always improve yourself. Don’t wait for a negative review to change something in your practice for the better. If you don’t know where to start, a good way to get an idea is to request a survey from your clients. Know about their satisfaction level and how they would rate your service. Improve on what you think will make them happy with your practice and maintain the things that make them very satisfied.
- Too much surgery or back to back surgery
Proper scheduling is key in fixing this. Don’t perform surgerys one after the other. Allow at least 30 minutes in between surgeries for monitoring, to cover complications after the surgery, or to allot a time for emergencies. For a much more efficient day at the clinic, allow vet team members to do the prep work for the next surgery for you.
- Not having time to do management tasks during regular business hours
No one wants to take their work to home so doing everything during business hours is ideal. But how can you do management tasks if your day is filled with check ups and surgeries? Again scheduling is key. What you can do is allot 2 hours in your office hours so that you can give yourself some time to catch up on office work.
These are just some of the problems but should help you overcome the common problems you might encounter.
