Client Relations & Marketing

Ninety-six percent of team members say they tailor their client education message based on the pet or client. Here's a breakdown of the criteria they use to customize their education message to pet owners.

And her veterinarian explains how he does it.

One size doesn't fit all in critical discussions with clients about their pets' health. Learn how to weave the threads of your conversation to match the needs of the pet in front of you.

Use this checklist to make sure you discuss necessary care recommendations with clients during visits.

When some clients brush off our post-surgery care instructions, they end up paying for it-twice.

How we communicate with clients can be a source of mutual understanding and positive action, leading to highly effective patient care, or a source of misunderstanding and frustration.

A few tweaks to your paperwork and front desk, and refill annoyances will be a thing of the past.

Some remarks from clients and colleagues can deflate your enthusiasm. Here's how to respond the next time their words make you ready to pop.

Dr. Melisa Hicks and her team at Blue Cross Veterinary Hospital in Long Beach, Calif., improve compliance by encouraging clients to prepay for fecal tests.

Here in the Midwest, it's been a stormy season. Some states have seen record numbers of twisters, and we've had to kennel our dog during thunderstorms so many times this year we've stopped counting. If you've ever lived in an area where tornadoes are common, you know the chill the tornado siren sends when it starts to moan.

"The waiting area smelled of urine and pet odors." "The surroundings were dirty and depressing." Don't let these comments be from your clients.

Sandy scratches. A lot. When her leg gets going, it makes a sound against the floor like a hammer driving a nail. My mother-in-law, Jane, first noticed Sandy's behavior a few months ago. When Jane took Sandy, a mid-sized 13-year-old mixed-breed pooch, to the veterinarian, he suggested a diet change to curb the scratching that makes her so uncomfortable.

Q. What do you do when clients say at checkout they want to pay later?

A refurbished ambulance transfers referral patients between WestVet Emergency Center in Meridian, Idaho, and nearby practices.

Why do clients pretend they gave medication, swear their pup stays on a leash, or claim their cat never goes outside?

"Pet owners don't want their pets to suffer, so we rarely encounter resistance to our pain management recommendations," says Robin Downing, DVM, Dipl. AAPM, owner of Windsor Veterinary Clinic and The Downing Center for Animal Pain Management in Windsor, Colo.

Do you ever get frustrated or annoyed when clients come to your practice loaded with medical information they found on the Internet-especially when it's wrong? Do you find yourself grumbling about the misinformation the client is spewing? Who's the doctor here, anyway? Heck, if people can find instructions for building a bomb online, maybe your clients can just whip up some Otomax or Tresaderm too. Then they can buy themselves an ultrasound machine and a textbook. Who needs a veterinarian?

The tales clients tell can poison or profit your practice.

Clients just might feel spoiled with the attention they receive during Client Appreciation Week at VCA University Veterinary Clinic in Fairfax, Va.

Do you yearn to learn and enlighten clients with your know-how? If you're passionate about client education, consider hosting educational classes for clients.

He's watching you. You can't concentrate, you're afraid to be alone with him, and the comments won't stop. Sexual harassment can be relentless, consuming your work and your life. It happened to these women-and it could happen to you. Here's what every woman (and man) should know about sexual harassment.

Q. How should we handle a client who seems obsessed with repeating diagnostic tests?

"For everything there is an appointed time. ... A time to listen and a time to speak."

Use this form to answer clients' most common questions about the disease.

Communication is the key to working smarter, and not harder.

Your customer is the most important asset to your practice and likewise it is important for you to measure, manage and maximize the use of this asset.

In-clinic testing was cutting edge in the 1990's but today it is commonplace.

Step One: Know yourself.