Research by AAHA revealed that only about 25% of recommended cats and dogs receive dental prophylaxis. Only 32% of aging dogs and 35% of aging cats receive senior screening. Less than 20% of cats and dogs are receiving recommended therapeutic diets!
Another national study showed that 71% of pet owners follow recommendations when they receive a thorough explanation of of the doctor's treatment plan vs 51% who felt they did not understand the treatment plan.
What's the bottom line? You need to do a better job of communicating with your clients! Direct communication with your clients is an essential part of your marketing and is essential to improving compliance rates. Take time to talk and everyone wins: the client learns how to be a better pet owner, the pet receives better care and you get to deliver better care and increase your bottom line. It's a win-win-win.
Absolutely! Communication is the key. Clients need to hear a consistent message from every member of the team with whom they have contact every year. It is a large task to turn clients from being non-compliant to compliant on dental prophylaxis and senior health screening.
ReplyDeleteWait, let's examine that last sentence. Actually, owners were compliant for the last 25 years as the veterinarian made no recommendation for a dental prophylaxis or a senior wellness screening; they followed that advice and did nothing. Imagine being a pet owner for 25 years or more who has taken the family pets to the veterinarian faithfully all those years. Now, the veterinarian starts recommending a dental prophylaxis for Buffy. After 25 years of no recommendation for a dental prophylaxis for the client's pets, the client is incredulous at hearing about it the first time. There are still a significant number of people who do not go to the dentist for an annual prophylaxis. Senior screening is even less common for people than is dental prophylaxis.
It strengthens the case in the client's mind for Buffy to get a teeth cleaning if she hears the message from the doctor who does the examination, the technician who presents the treatment plan and the receptionist who asks the client to schedule an appointment for Buffy's dental prophylaxis. Our written communication (such as newsletter articles, our website, reminder cards and notices on invoices) to the client needs to bear the same message. This scenario may need to be repeated over a few years before the client buys into the benefits of better medicine for her pets. Our staff (doctors, technicians, assistants and receptionists) must also be compliant. It is hard to give sincere and believable recommendations for treatments we do not have completed on our own pets.
Remember, the message needs to be consistent from all staff members and consistent from one year to the next. We bought our practice in 1992 from a solo veterinarian who was mostly retired but dabbled for five or ten hours per week in the clinic. I snickered to myself when I heard our owner-veterinarian educate clients, who wanted only a rabies vaccination, about distemper vaccination, heartworm testing and dental prophylaxis. A number were convinced to vaccinate for distemper at the same visit. Where I was surprised was that the next year they decided to have their dog tested for heartworms and purchased heartworm prevention. I was astonished when the same clients opted to have a dental prophylaxis performed on their pet in the appointment two years after the original appointment.
In summary, compliance can be improved year after year through systematic education of the client. Every staff member must be compliant themselves and the team must make consistent recommendations. The results may not be remarkable in the first year. If you work at this for three years, I think you too will be amazed at the increase in owner compliance.