Does Your Clinic Have Veterinary Technician Appointments?
Are you so busy that you routinely skip lunch or remain at the office long after closing to catch up on paperwork? Delegating some of your workload to your staff by offering veterinary technician appointments can help you create a better work/life balance and increase revenue.
What Would the Veterinary Technicians Do?
You’ll need to consider your techs’ training, abilities and interests before you decide which tasks they’ll handle. In some veterinary practices, technicians handle:
- Microchipping
- Anal gland expression
- Subcutaneous fluid administration
- Surgery admissions
- Nail trims
- Booster shots (make sure your state allows technicians to give these injections)
- Weight management
- Dental exams
- Behavioral consults
- Puppy and kitten care
Veterinary Technician Appointments Offer Important Benefits
When your veterinary technicians handle routine tasks, you’re free to focus on more complex cases and surgeries. Best of all, you might finally have time to take a lunch break. Technician appointments offer other important advantages for your practice, including:
A Lower Cost Option for Clients
Practices that offer veterinary technician appointments usually charge less for these visits. Providing a less expensive option lets clients know that you’ve listened to their concerns about costs and made changes to ensure that care remains affordable for basic services.
Client Loyalty
The more employees your clients know in your practice, the better. If a veterinarian leaves the practice, clients may still remain if they’ve developed a strong relationship with the veterinary technicians, according to a DVM360 article.
Convenience
Do your clients usually have to wait a few days for appointments? When you offer veterinary technician appointments, same-day or walk-in appointments for basic services may be possible. Clients may be more likely to return more often if you make visits to your office as convenient as possible.
Improved Job Satisfaction
Offering more responsibility (and a bump in pay) can increase employee engagement. Gallup reports that 71 percent of people who are actively disengaged at work are looking for new jobs. Providing veterinary technicians with new opportunities can help you improve job satisfaction and lower turnover.
Higher Sales
Would you like to boost your sales of specialty foods and products? During a discussion about weight management, it’s only natural for your technician to mention the advantages of the weight loss food you sell. When your veterinary technicians share information about the benefits of flea control or other products, you might just see a bump in sales.
Increased Revenue
Raising fees increases revenue, but you risk losing clients if you raise your fees too often or by too much. Adding technician appointments add a new revenue stream and allow you to keep overall fees lower.
Veterinary technician appointments provide a simple way to improve efficiency, engagement, and productivity and keep your clients happy. Offering the appointments gives you an important competitive advantage and may help you retain current clients and attract new ones. Are veterinary technician appointments the right choice for your veterinary practice?
