Message on-hold programs are somewhat underrated as marketing tools when compared to websites, videos, Google Ads, social media, and more. They’re not flashy or particularly exciting, but they play an important role in promoting your practice and helping you communicate your services, policies, and more to your clients. But message on-hold doesn’t only benefit your callers–it also benefits your team, and can help improve morale.
Below, we focus on some of the key ways on-hold messaging can help you keep your clients more informed, so you can ensure they treat your staff with more patience, kindness, and understanding.
Why High Morale is So Important
Vet teams everywhere deal with stress, frustration, and fatigue. Low morale is a big problem in the industry. Nurturing your team and working to improve their morale will make them happier first and foremost, but this will also translate into how they care for their patients and clients. With message on-hold, your practice can communicate information in a way that reduces your team’s workload, keeps pet owners informed, and improves client-staff interactions so that everyone feels less confused and stressed out. When your team is happy and healthy, your patients and clients will be happier, too.
Answering frequently-asked questions frees up your staff to answer more important calls
Your message on-hold (MOH) program is the perfect tool for answering frequently-asked questions you get from pet owners. Providing this information in a message on-hold format means your staff can spend less time on the phone answering these questions, and more time focusing on the clients and patients in front of them. They’ll also have more time to schedule appointments and address other, more urgent phone calls. It’s a win-win; your staff has more time to get things done, which creates a less stressful work environment for them, while also creating a better experience for the person who is on hold. This is especially relevant in today’s COVID climate, with many vet practices seeing a major uptick in phone calls and appointments.
Making in-person client interactions less hectic
A harried staff will struggle to balance a high volume of phone calls with clients and patients waiting to be checked in or out. Message on-hold can help to pick up the slack in these situations as well, so that your staff can handle in-person interactions with clients with less chance of an interruption. This will make clients feel more valued, and they’re likely to be much happier and friendlier when communicating with your team. This in turn will make your staff feel happier and more confident about the service they’re providing.
Establish client expectations and reduce uncertainty
Message on-hold is also a great way to communicate your services, COVID policies, changes in business hours, new procedures, and more. The more informed and comfortable your clients are, the happier they’ll be with your staff. You can use your messages to direct pet owners to your website for more information or to fill out online forms prior to their appointment. Giving new and current clients a clear idea of what to expect at their first or next visit can help to answer some questions they might have and give them a greater sense of confidence and trust in your practice.
Point your clients to helpful information and resources
As a vet practice, you’re dedicated to helping pets and people, and that includes providing pet owners with all the information and resources they need to care for their four-legged family members. If your website has any of the resources listed below, you’ll want to direct pet owners to them in your message on-hold program.
- Links to reputable sources
- Information about your practice policies and what to expect
- A free, downloadable app
- Pet care tips
- A regularly-updated blog
- Digital forms that people can fill out any time
Bringing attention to these resources can help to resolve some chronic pain points at your practice, such as people forgetting to fill out paperwork or a large volume of callers asking similar questions about your COVID policies. With COVID still lurking, it’s more important than ever to communicate your COVID policies and make it as easy as possible for pet owners to make appointments and have a stress-free experience at your practice. This will make your team’s experience much less stressful as well, and less stress equals higher morale.
Build trust and authority with pet owners
When your clients and patients trust your team, this means you have a strong working relationship with them, and they’re more likely to follow your advice and be proactive with their pets’ treatment. This ensures that their pets are healthier and happier in the long run, and this will make the clients happier, too. When you have the trust of your clients, you can do your job more effectively and help more pets lead longer, healthier lives.
On-hold messaging that gives pet owners some insight into their pets’ health and a gentle reminder to be observant can give them the information they need to make better health care decisions for their pets. This can help them feel more trust and appreciation for your team.
How Does Your Practice Use On-Hold Messaging?
If you’re not sure how to structure your on-hold programs in a way that can improve morale in your practice, talk to us! We’ll guide you using the best practices we’ve honed over the last 25+ years with thousands of veterinary practices. With over 15,000 custom veterinary message on-hold programs under our belts, we’ve got the expertise to help you achieve any goal with your messaging – from improving employee morale to motivating clients to make appointments for your highest-value services.
We understand this industry, and we know how to communicate with those who don’t speak fluent veterinary medicine. If you’re not sure how to start optimizing your on-hold messaging, let us help. We’ll guide you to the best solution and help lighten the load for your front desk, educate clients so your practice runs more efficiently, and ensure your staff is happy and motivated to deliver the best service. If you have questions, please get InTouch by calling us at (800) 493-9003.