Oftentimes, stories will break related to the safety of products or procedures, etc,… and you will want to ensure that you have a statement prepared and communicated to your clients through multiple channels. As each practice is different in what products it carries, or what the focus of the practice is, it will be imperative that your clients ‘hear’ from you – as to what what they should or should not be concerned about with regards to these issues. For example, when the problems with Diamond Dog food began to take front and center in the national news, even if your practice doesn’t specifically carry that product, your clients will undoubtedly be looking for someone sort of response from their doctor and trusted pet care partner. If you are caught unprepared, or unaware, then your practice will suffer on multiple levels. Initially, you lose out on the opportunity to provide a unified statement from your practice on the issue. That leaves your clients fending for themselves, often relying on Dr. Google or worse – message boards – rife with users who are not educated enough on the subject matter to truly make a statement. However, without a direct, concise communication from your practice, clients will defer to the old adage “If it’s on the internet, it must be true’.
You will then likely be dealing with the fall out of your clients reading and hearing things and panicking about what to do. Calls to your practice may increase and if not prepared to provide a consistent and effective statement to your clients, your staff will likely provide answers based on their own knowledge and understanding, which may be inconsistent, or inaccurate, making your problem worse. Gone are the days when these issues were dealt with one on one in the exam room with each client. As of May 2013, nearly 56% of adults have smartphones, it’s imperative to realize that we are now fully living in the information age. With Google Now, or Siri, or a host of other apps, these clients now possess the capability – at 4g speeds – to pull up questions, or blogs, etc,… and have full access to a wide range of information, regardless of how accurate it may be. The role of the veterinarian, on a routine basis, as well as during times of crisis for their pet owning clients, is to stay out in front of the issue and provide a simple, consistent message and updates to their client base. There are a number of platforms available these days that can be deployed contiguously with your veterinary patient management software to contact clients and provide that information. Your goal should be to stay as the primary trusted source of information to your clients.
We have multiple strategies to address these difficulties and others here at VMTSG. We leverage the power of the media, work with you on a budget defined by you, and can either handle the management of these crisis scenarios directly, or work to implement a strategy incorporating outsource partners and software and the development of training for your staff to handle it on their own. Most often, there are not very many staff qualified or allocated with enough time within a practice environment to handle what can be delicate and sensitive matters such as these.
Veterinary Management Technology Solutions Group 