CASE STUDY: PHONE SCRIPTS COMMUNICATE VALUE IN EVERY CALL
By Tracy Dowdy, CVPM
“Phone scripts help receptionists educate new clients before they enter the practice,” says Tracy Dowdy, CVPM, a consultant with Brakke Consulting in Dallas. In her consulting work, Dowdy introduces phone scripts that emphasize the value of basic services into practices across the country.
These phone scripts guide receptionists in talking about such wellness protocols as annual exams, vaccinations, heartworm prevention, fecal testing, spaying and neutering, pain management, dentistry, and preanesthetic testing. Dowdy trains receptionists to ask the names of the caller and pet, to explain the importance of wellness protocols before providing prices, and to use such professional phrases as “certainly” and “my pleasure” instead of “yeah” or “ok.” As team members become familiar with the scripts, she says they often add personal expressions that enhance the bond with callers.
Advanced Animal Care Centre in Bedford, Texas, has used Dowdy’s scripts for six years. Owner Dr. Tom Bradford credits the program for helping the team bring in 95 new clients a month at an average transaction charge of $115. That’s 456 new clients bringing in $52,440 in additional revenue per doctor each year.
The first step toward developing a personalized script for your practice is to standardize wellness recommendations. “Then you can begin the script-writing process by listing simple statements that capture the value these services provide,” says Dowdy. “To get started, think of questions callers commonly ask and write down the best answers.” (Visit http://www.vetmedpub.com/ve/gbscript.pdf to see Dowdy’s sample script.) Dowdy says that fully implementing phone scripts will take about three months. In that time you’ll: write the phone scripts, train your front office team members to use the scripts. (Dowdy suggests role-playing), and check team members’ effectiveness by hiring secret shoppers.
Some final words of advice to owners: “Don’t be afraid to empower your receptionists to speak with authority,” says Dowdy. “When you train receptionists to communicate knowledgeably about routine services, they establish their own relationships with clients, which leads to practice growth.”
Copyright (c) 2004 Advanstar Veterinary Healthcare Communications. All rights reserved.
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