Tips to tailor your message

Perhaps you possess a pattern for conversations you use when you meet clients in the exam room or across the reception desk. This form helps keep the conversation on track, but it also must be flexible. After all, your practice might require preanesthetic blood work, but the explanation that fits your concerns for a 6-month-old pug may not fit for a 13-year-old Shetland sheepdog.

While it's essential to offer high-quality medicine, you're only successful if you can explain the care to pet owners and offer strong, specific recommendations for their pets. So for a client with a puppy, you might explain young animals can suffer from hidden illnesses, like liver or glucose problems. Or if you're facing a cat owner, you might share your concern that an older kitty might have hyperthyroidism. The key to effective recommendations is learning more about the fabric of clients' and pets' lives and stitching together personalized advice for the client and patient in front of you.

Illustrated by Jennifer Taylor

Who are you talking about?

Some things never change in veterinary medicine. For example, sick dogs likely need blood work. But pets have different wellness care needs and their owners' concerns vary. So your most important client communication skill is the ability to tailor your message.

Start by asking questions. For example, what is the dog's lifestyle? Does he enjoy hiking in the woods? Or does he live on a third-floor apartment next to an elderly couple? Find out about his life and you can offer stronger, more specific recommendations.

Who are you talking to?

You'll be more effective if you know your clients' background and choose examples from their lives to help explain their pets' healthcare needs.

For example, if your client is a human doctor, you probably won't need to provide much detail about how intestinal parasites affect the body. And if you want to discuss canine preventive health care with a client who's a dental hygienist, use dental care as your example to pique her interest. Spend a minute or two explaining how you perform dental prophys and address clients' common fears about dental care. When you explain why you sedate patients to clean their teeth, you'll share how you make it as safe as possible, including using preanesthetic blood work to identify potential problems.

Timing is everything

Have you ever visited your human doctor and felt the team rushed you out the door? Did you wonder whether they even heard your concerns and considered your symptoms? Or have you ever hurried to finish your medical appointment and felt the doctor was moving too slow? Both situations show why timing is your friend.

So watch for the signals clients offer during visits. For example, parents with young children may be distracted and fail to tune in to your diet and exercise recommendations. A coloring book and a box of crayons may help more than any words you choose. Once you gain clients' attention, get to the point.

The patient: why we're here

So we know how to talk to clients. Now we have important issues to cover and not much time. So keep your message brief and to-the-point.

We all know each breed and species has its own health risks. And most of us make a mental checklist of those issues the second we see patients' medical charts. For example, you might think, "It's a dachshund. I wonder if he's had any back problems?" Here's our mistake: We often keep that information to ourselves. You may know older dogs require a different vaccine protocol, but your clients won't know that unless you tell them. Here's a list of topics you should address with clients:

• The patient's size. Many small dog breeds tend toward dental disease. Large breed dogs tend toward hip and other joint problems. Sharing this information with pet owners while there's still time for preventive care is preferred over telling Mr. Wagsntail the veterinarian will probably need to pull all of his 10-year-old miniature poodle's teeth.

• The patient's age. Young animals' needs include deworming and reproductive surgery. Older patients may suffer dental problems and arthritis, and they're more likely to take medications, which need more monitoring. You'll also consider this information when tailoring your wellness plan for each pet.

• Preventive care. Many of us fear discussing obesity with clients. It's hard for us to acknowledge weight issues as a primary medical condition. But think about this: When that severely overweight basset hound visits with a sore back or an injured knee, won't you wonder whether you could have helped to prevent the pet's suffering with a strong recommendation? As healthcare providers, it's our job to help pet owners make informed decisions about their pets' health. While it's never appropriate to poke fun or pass judgment, we need to address our patients' needs, even when it's uncomfortable for us. And just for the record, these difficult conversations get easier with practice.

• Your vaccination schedule. This gets tricky when you factor in the numerous studies that exist. But one thing's for sure: Young critters need vaccinations much more than geriatric ones. This conversation is most effective when you know the why behind your clinic's vaccination protocol and explain that logic to pet owners.

When you know your clients' concerns, you patients' needs, and your practice's protocols, you possess the tools to lock in client compliance. Just remember to take a measure of each client and patient to tailor a fitted message that's easy to follow.

Caitlin Rivers, a Firstline Editorial Advisory Board member, is a veterinary assistant and technician supervisor at Metzger Animal Hospital in State College, Pa. She's owned by five dogs and five cats and spends most of her free time practicing tae kwon do. Please send questions or comments to firstline@advanstar.com

Caitlin Rivers