With the COVID-19 pandemic and staff working remotely, together with the incapability to know the future, the stress level can increase for business owners, employees, and clients. Pet owners have a strong emotional bond with their animals. When communication is most challenging in your business, that is when your customers most require to feel understood and heard and have their worries addressed. When your workers and clients are confused or worried, they will depend on you for stability, assurance, and answers. Any lack of communication will make your employees quit, and clients look elsewhere. That is where a proficient answering service like Best Call Center comes in. 

Make the Most of Your Staff With a Call Answering Service

When you are managing a business, your staff are valuable resources. Nevertheless, most entrepreneurs misuse this asset by having employees focus on roles that are as essential as the success of their business or roles that aren't in their area of expertise. One of the methods of getting your staff to refocus on what is vital is engaging a call answering service.

Often, your workers are not professional in receiving calls. And even when they are, the chances are that a call answering service provider can offer the task at a pocket-friendly cost, allowing your employees to do what they do best. In your company, you have experts in various departments. All these people are skilled in their field, and when they are answering calls, you aren't maximizing their potential.

Moreover, answering a call while in the middle of another task makes it hard to recall all the conversation details. Answering agents pay attention to taking and conveying messages and make sure nothing is missed. Their efficiency goes beyond scribbling notes of calls while you're busy performing other tasks.

Also, your outsourced call answering service can save you a significant amount of time. Clients do not want to be kept waiting. With the call agents, your company can stand out by making sure pet owners are never stuck on hold.

How Veterinary Call Answering Service Works

We offer our call answering services to veterinarians at different levels, from small businesses that focus on cats and dogs, animal hospitals, and veterinary colleges and schools. Through many years of practice, we've developed a practice that permits us to provide customized solutions and meet your business needs.

Whether you are a small vet clinic or a full-service animal hospital, there are days when you cannot answer your phone. Ensuring your calls are answered is an essential part of making sure your clients' needs are satisfied.

Our call answering service will answer your calls, offer world-class customer service, and treat clients with compassion and respect. That way, you can pay attention to exceptional veterinary care and attention while the answering service is handling message delivery and appointment scheduling, among other services discussed below.

Call Scripts

Hiring a call answering services is about maximizing business outcomes at a minimal cost. Part of the ability comes with call scripts.

An ideal answering service script should contain the following basics:

  • Short greeting: Short greetings are essential so that your clients do not feel like they have to wait long before speaking to you. Extended greetings are boring and annoying for callers who might decide to hang up in the middle of the calls.
  • Your veterinary business name and operator details: When the operators answer calls with a phrase like "veterinarian's office," it might be confusing for your callers, mainly if it is the first time they are calling you. The call agents will clearly state the name of your company and the operator's name during the greeting.
  • Caller acknowledgment: Despite what a caller says, politeness is key to your business. Your call agents will thank your clients for their call and time.
  • The answering agents will collect adequate details such as the caller's name, message, and return the phone. The caller should also describe their pet's problem in detail to determine if it is an emergency.

Customized Call Answering Services

Setting up the answering services with a veterinary answering service is very seamless. The services are designed to satisfy your business needs. Your calls are screened, and action is taken depending on:

  • Types of the calls
  • Individuals making the phone calls

From that point, you can use the details collected to diagnose or treat the pet.

For instance, if your caller has an emergency, they will be patched directly to the on-call veterinarian on staff. Assume the call is routine or administrative, like medication refills or setting up an annual check-up. In that case, the call agents will email you the messages to be addressed during business hours. The call center agents will screen all calls depending on priority and ensure you receive the message timely.

Appointment Scheduling

Appointment scheduling services can be used for straightforward scheduling purposes that assist reduce your workload. It also allows you to become more productive.

It is simple to set up your call answering and appointment scheduling service. All you require is telling your virtual receptionists how you like your appointments scheduled and the format you expect to receive the confirmed appointments.

For instance, if there are times or days you require blocked off, your experienced call answering service providers will mark that in their appointment booking software.

Now that you've appointments from your client, you require a method to access the schedule in real-time. Fortunately, you can access your calendar at any time. Also, to improve efficiency, you can give your employees access.

If you want to want changes to your appointments the virtual receptionists have made, you can reschedule, book, or cancel the appointments with ease.

Scheduling appointments is only valid if the clients remember they made the appointments and when they kick-off. That is why an experienced call answering service provider should send out appointment reminders.

The appointment reminder can be customized and branded with your business logo. Moreover, it can have a calendar invite that allows your clients to add their appointment to their calendar.

It is advisable to use automated reminders with more information to help you during the appointment to maximize time with your client. Details to add to the appointment reminders include:

  • Direction to your office
  • Links to forms that should be downloaded and filled
  • Answers to FAQs

Methods of sending appointment reminders include:

  • Text message reminders: Some people prefer booking appointments through text messages. Therefore, conveying your practice messages according to the clients' preferences generates better and quicker confirmation outcomes.
  • Email reminders: Your clients can confirm their appointment by clicking links in their emails, and their confirmation is updated in your web portal.
  • Telephone reminders: Offer clear and customized recorded messages to your clients. Your veterinary answering service provider can record messages in different languages to suit your client's needs.

How After-Hours Answering Services Could Improve Your Business

Are you a veterinarian who puts your soul and heart into managing your enterprises and making your clients happy? Do you start your day early and work late into the evening to plan for the following day and answer all your clients' after-hour calls? Soon you will begin to burn out, and your life will spiral out of control. Also, your employees, family, and clients will feel the effect.

Fortunately, after-hour call answering services is a solution that can change your business.

Once you sign up for a virtual reception service, you can forward the incoming calls to the service provider whenever you cannot answer them. It could be during a busy day or in the evening when you are at home having fun with your loved ones.

When you hire a seasoned call center, you will be given a unique phone number. You can divert all the incoming calls to the number whenever you cannot pick them.

After you have the telephone number, you should tell the call agents what you want to be said when they answer the calls. The greeting could be unique to your veterinary business. You can also change the greetings anytime in the comfort of your office. That means you can always send your customers seasonal greetings.

The next step involves telling the call agents how you want messages delivered. It could be through a text or email.

Most veterinarians engage after-hours call agents for numerous reasons, including:

24/7 Live Customer Support

Today, pet enthusiasts expect more from their veterinarians, and their calls do not stop even after the doors of your office closes for the day. Your call agents should understand the situation at hand and assist your clients in connecting with you during emergencies. Consequently, this results in client loyalty and customer retention.

Exceptional Customer Service

The worth of client service is powerful. It can make or break your business. Working fewer hours increases your productivity, and time taken away from work might be therapeutic. Do not forget how hard it can be to smile through your phone late at night.  After-hours service helps you respond to your clients' concerns quickly, which prevents clients from considering your direct competitors. Customer service also allows you to avoid issues that can result in losing clients.

Call Recording

In your practice, chances are a lot of information and details are exchanged in every single telephone conversation between the answering service provider and callers. With the call recording service, you can record, access, and store calls.

For veterinary practice, call recording service is an investment you cannot afford to miss. You will know what types of calls you are getting and the issues or questions from current or prospective clients. For instance, you might notice that a specific amount of time was used, but you did not receive any message. After listening to calls, you can tell this is due to picking emergency calls after hours and putting other callers on hold. With the knowledge that clients who call after hours are not helped, you can decide to make changes by improving how the calls are handled or reducing the calls.

You can also monitor your staff for training and quality control purposes. Additionally, you can monitor the call center agents to ensure you are getting quality services.

Moreover, you can use the information collected to improve your operation.

Email Answering

While emails are convenient, they are, at times, intrusive. You can spend the entire day sorting through and answering emails. It can be distracting, and the volume could get out of control if you are multitasking. Instead of rolling away, allow call answering agents to simplify your life by:

  • Responding to your emails 24/7
  • Come up with concise and clear responses which you have approved
  • Maintain the voice and integrity of the business
  • Ensure the specific concerns, opportunities, and questions are directed to the correct personnel in the company
  • Respond to emails accurately and quickly
  • Offer bilingual email responses

Your call center can also assist with help desk ticket creation if you love responding to pet owners personally. Your call center can direct messages to your helpdesk system and then:

  • follow up by calling your customers directly,
  • alerting them that their request has been received, and
  • informing them that a representative from your company will contact them shortly.

Offer Various Message Delivery Options

Every business has its preference as to how they want their message communicated. As a result, any experienced virtual receptionists offer various messaging services, including:

  • Text messaging: It is a reliable and fast method that delivers messages directly to your mobile phone. The information is delivered in an encrypted format.
  • Encrypted and standard email: The answering service provider can email your messages either in batches or immediately. The emails are encrypted, giving you peace of mind that the information is secure.
  • Telephone: The call agent can call you to convey information by phone. Your call center can offer a unique caller ID.
  • Voice mail: You can listen to voicemail messages or have an audio copy emailed to you. Moreover, you can receive a page or text once a new message is received.
  • Faxing: If you prefer getting a hard copy for your calls, a fax delivery option has got you covered. The messages can be faxed as sent or received when it is convenient for you.

Offer Bilingual Services

Do your workers speak one language? If you only have English-speaking workers, you are missing out on business from significant demographics. If you cannot afford to hire new employees, you should consider a veterinary answering service.

With the bilingual answering service, the bilingual clients will see how committed you are to their satisfaction. Even when the customers can speak English, offering them the opportunity to express themselves in their first language could convince them to seek your vet services. There is no greater experience you can offer your clients or prospects than to help them feel valued or understood. For instance, when a Spanish-speaking caller calls and hears a Spanish-speaking answer on the other end, they are more likely to seek your services hence boosting your conversion rates.

Your customers should not hide who they are to get exceptional services. They should be in a position to perform primary responsibilities using their native language. That means the language barrier does not stand in the way of your business, and prospects can call the business to:

  • Book appointments
  • Leave messages
  • Ask questions

Additionally, veterinarians who want to be around in the future should embrace diversity. Using a bilingual call answering service provider speaks a lot of you beyond the appeal to customers. Clients take business to businesses where they feel appreciated and know they are perceived as more than a method of earning money.

Call Routing

Call routing permits you to run your business without worrying about the massive number of calls that should be picked. If your veterinary business has few employees or needs help to alleviate pressure, call routing services is what you require.

Your call center will answer your calls in a personal and professional manner. Whatever type of help the caller needs, your virtual receptionists will transfer their calls to either you, your workers, or the right department according to your preference. It creates a virtual switchboard for the business.

What are the Advantages of Call Routing?

There are many advantages of call routing, particularly if you are experiencing an increase in calls. The vet business is growing, and it's essential to prepare accordingly. Here are the benefits of call routing:

  • Reduces stress: One of the benefits of call routing services is that it permits you to take a break and commit time to other essential things. As a result, you will reduce stress on a personal level and in your business. You'll have more time and motivation to work on aspects that push your vet business forward that you couldn't before.
  • Reduce hold times: It is terrible for your business to hold customers, leave voicemails, or call back later. Any skilled veterinarian answering service provider has experts who handle excess calls according to your instructions when the need arises. Instead of asking callers to wait, the excess calls are routed to live operators ready to help. Fast customer service increases customer satisfaction.
  • Maximize business productivity: This is a distinct advantage. By relieving the pressure that comes with answering numerous business calls, you can focus on more critical tasks. For instance, you cannot answer phone calls during a meeting with your business investors.
  • Eliminate repeat calls: Overflow answering service offers information about your business even when you cannot answer the call. As a result, the service reduces the number of callers who planned to call back to arrive at a resolution.
  • Avoid losing business as a result of missed calls
  • Acts as your office extension

Caller Follow Up Through Email

Following your callers (clients, pet owners, and prospects) through email after they hang up their phone is an effective strategy to maintain a mutually beneficial marketing and productive relationship. After the call agent hangs up the call, an email is generated and sent to the email address collected on the phone call.

Usually, the email contains information such as:

  • Link to how-to- articles and videos
  • Discount codes
  • Business information like operation hours, customer care email address, business location, and fax number
  • After-call survey about the service offered
  • Registration or appointment confirmation
  • Marketing messages about the service, products, or upcoming events
  • A list of frequently asked questions

Email marketing allows you to communicate with your callers further. You can also send emails to several groups based on your call script. That way, all content is personalized and fits the type of caller and call.

Handle Emergency Calls

Pets get injured or sick, and it is not always during business hours. Receiving emergency calls from worried pet owners on weekends at night is part of your job as a veterinarian.

If one of your patients has an emergency, forcing the owners to leave you a voicemail or wait for a call is the worst thing you can do. According to an article published on LinkedIn, ninety-one percent of unsatisfied customers claimed they were unwilling to transact with an organization after poor customer service experience. Therefore, you must be there when your clients need your expertise most.  

Moreover, it protects your time and privacy. After-hours is time to relax and connect with your loved ones. Unfortunately, nobody controls the timing of an emergency. With an answering service, pet owners can talk to trained professionals 24/7. The live operators analyze all calls, transfer the urgent calls to you, and offer support for issues they can solve. You can protect your phone number, allowing you to enjoy your leisure time without neglecting your patients in a time of need.

Find an Experienced Call Answering Service Provider Near Me

From simple questions to emergency solutions when an accident happens, or an object is swallowed, there are several reasons why pet owners might contact you. Missing calls could mean losing new prospects to your direct competitors or losing trust that the clients have in you. However, by using a call answering service like Best Call Center, you will enjoy professional representation, categorized calls based on urgency, and call patching. Contact us today at 800-385-4656 to learn how we can help you to run your veterinary business and capture all leads smoothly.