Client Relations & Marketing

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Dr. Doug Clarke at Pet Veterinary Clinic in Grandville, Mich., says it used to send chills up his spine when clients said they'd been looking up medical information on the Internet.

Use these strategies to promote dental health year-round.

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"We have a sign in front of our clinic, and we run out of things to say. Do you have any suggestions?"

Should the doctor know the prices for procedures and services?

OK, folks, it's time to step up and help put a stop to animal cruelty.

Just because Pet Dental month has passed doesn't mean you should stop pushing good dental care for patients.

You know how important heartworm preventive is and likely prefer clients buy 12 months worth of preventive at once, so they don't delay when they need more and risk the pet's health. After sending a practice manager to an AAHA pilot program on compliance in 2003, Suburban Animal Clinic in Columbus, Ohio, implemented a few changes to increase 12-month heartworm preventive compliance.

Making sure you're on the same page with clients is the best way to avoid malpractice claims. Use these strategies to refine your approach and avoid potential trouble spots.

Your clients didn't go to veterinary school. You did. So why ask your clients, who have no training or expertise, to make medical decisions about the care of their pets?

Veterinary consultant Jim Wilson, DVM, JD, produced a spreadsheet that potential owners can use to calculate the lifetime costs of their new pets. The goal is to ensure they're prepared for the expenses of adequate care.

Send your clients home with clear, concrete instructions?and take the opportunity to show them how much you care.

We have a sign out front that we put messages and sayings on. But we struggle to come up with something to put on it. Any suggestions?

A birthday wish in the mail is nice, but such kind gestures only work if you deliver a similar message in person.

Discussing money with clients can be downright scary. Learning to present an estimate with poise takes the fear out of this critical task?and improves the odds that clients will say yes to your treatment plan.

Impact Boosters Tip

Some clients view an office visit as an opportunity to catch up on an assortment of neglected pet health problems. Use these techniques to stay on topic and on schedule.

Reminders and increased client education lead to improved care at this Florida practice.

Forty percent of referrals to Deer Creek Animal Hospital in Littleton, Colo., come from pet stores, breeders, shelters, and rescue groups?that's 140 new clients a month.

The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals released a list of the 10 most common poisonous plants and their possible effects.

At Carver Lake Veterinary Center in Woodbury, Minn., doctors and team members feel that learning the names of clients and pets helps them provide better service, but remembering all those names isn't easy.

When a young couple brought their guinea pig to see this doctor, she gave them another year with Daisy. And they reminded her that every pet?no matter how big or small?deserves high-quality care.

Use American Humane's Tag Day, April 1, as an opportunity to regroup and refresh your efforts to promote tags and microchips.

Valley Animal Hospital in Roanoke, Va., helped people looking for love as well as abused animals by hosting a "Speed-Dating for Pet Lovers" night. The fundraiser was for the clinic's SPIRIT fund, which defrays veterinary care expenses for abused animals. "We hosted it as a typical speed-dating setup but participants had to have a pet, and the admittance picture had to be of the owner and pet together," says owner Dr. James Poage.

Take one IV bag, stir in a concerned client, and add a dash of helpful team member.

How one practice successfully promotes dental care.

In November, President Bush signed into law an addition to the Agriculture Appropriations Bill that supports the development of open technology so all scanners can read all microchips.