Volume 3, Issue 1

Each issue of Veterinary Marketing Tips provides suggestions for reaching out to clients and prospects with marketing and communications strategies and tactics. Please feel free to email us at Lindaw@lwmarketworks.com if you have questions or would like to find out more about our marketing services. – Linda Wasche/LW Marketworks, inc.

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TIP: While you may be planning a special evening for your special someone this Valentine’s Day, make it a time that you also stop and think about how your clients feel about your practice. In other words, how much do they LOVE you? The truth is, if they are not feeling the love, it’s going to be easy for them to find someone to replace you!

HOW:  Practices need to stay on top of how clients feel about the practice, its veterinarians and staff, and service delivery. There are multiple ways to gather client feedback. One quick and inexpensive way is to make sure that you are making it EASY for clients to share their thoughts and concerns with you. Any marketer will tell you that dissatisfied customers/clients typically don’t complain; they just go someplace else. By making it EASY for clients to communicate their likes and dislikes, you are increasing the odds that clients will voice any dissatisfaction before calling it quits. Consider these quick and easy ways to hear what your clients think:

• Add a comments or suggestion area link to your website home page. The link takes the visitor to a form with some simple questions and a place for them to fill in their comments along with an automatic email back to the practice. (Make sure that comments are monitored closely; there is nothing worse than voicing your concerns and not hearing back!)

• Put a suggestion box in your lobby inviting clients to “tell us what we can do better.” This will give clients something to do if they have to wait for an appointment. It also captures their feelings at the moment of service delivery.

• Add a message to statements and discharge instructions inviting clients to share their comments. Provide an email address to someone who can address their concerns.

• Consider rewarding clients for suggestions that are used at the practice. Rewards could be as simple as pet food or treats, or discounts off of future exams or services.

IDEA: Make providing feedback fun for clients. One of our practices uses a litter box in their lobby with forms next to it for clients to fill out. The sign on the box: “Give us the poop!”

Veterinary Marketing Tips is published by LW Marketworks, inc. Copyright © 2012
2222 Pontiac Drive, Sylvan Lake, MI 48320
248-253-0300 / LWmarketworks.com