New clients are the lifeblood of any Veterinary practice, injecting vitality into your schedule, keeping your veterinarians and staff engaged, and ensuring financial stability. Whether you’re running a bustling corporate practice or a community-focused private clinic, attracting a steady stream of new clients is critical to offset natural attrition—pet loss, clients relocating, or switching to competitors.
Achieve the right number of new clients each month, paired with robust forward booking, and you’ll maintain an optimal transaction volume that supports profitability without overworking your team. Fall short, and you risk dipping below sustainable levels, potentially forcing fee increases beyond the “Goldilocks Zone”—the sweet spot of pricing that feels fair to clients and avoids the reputation of being “too expensive.”
The solution lies in a strategic approach: an intelligent external marketing program to draw clients in, paired with skilled client service representatives (CSRs) and user-friendly self-scheduling systems to convert inquiries into loyal clients.
How Many New Clients Are Enough?
For a thriving practice, aim for 30–40 new clients per month per full-time veterinarian. This target supports approximately 450 transactions per DVM, a benchmark that balances revenue with manageable workloads. Too few new clients and your practice may struggle to cover overhead, leading to reduced hours, staff cuts, or price hikes that alienate clients. Too many and you risk overwhelming your team, compromising service quality. Achieving this balance requires a dance between external marketing to attract new faces and internal efforts to ensure they return.
To stay on track, use your practice management software to monitor new client numbers. For deeper insight, create a Google Sheet to log and graph monthly totals, highlighting trends and seasonal fluctuations. For example, a dip in new clients during winter months might signal the need for a targeted campaign, such as a “Winter Wellness Check” promotion. Regularly reviewing these metrics allows you to adjust your strategies proactively, ensuring your practice remains in the Goldilocks Zone of growth and profitability.
Outflow = Inflow; Building an Intelligent Marketing Program
An “intelligent” marketing program goes beyond generic ads featuring stock puppy photos or bland discount offers. It’s about understanding your community’s unique needs and crafting promotions that resonate emotionally and prompt action. For instance, a multi-doctor corporate practice in a suburban area might create a social media campaign featuring a local pet with the caption, “Is Fido’s smile ready for summer? Book a free dental check today!” A private practice in a rural community might mail postcards offering “Free Flea & Tick Prevention Consults” to address a common local concern. These targeted messages connect with clients, encouraging them to call or book online, creating a closed loop of outreach and response.
Consider the case of Pine Valley Veterinary Clinic, a mid-sized practice that boosted new client numbers by 25% in six months. Their strategy? A campaign promoting “Puppy Playdate” events, advertised through Instagram reels showcasing happy pets and owners mingling at the clinic. The posts included a clear call to action: “Sign up for our next playdate and get a free wellness exam!” This resonated with young pet owners, driving 50 new appointments in the first month alone. The key was aligning the campaign with the community’s love for social pet activities, proving that tailored marketing outperforms generic efforts.
To maximize impact, focus on three elements:
- Compelling Visuals: Use high-quality, local images (e.g., a client’s pet at your clinic) to grab attention.
- Clear Messaging: Highlight a specific service or offer with a direct call to action, like “Book now!”
- Right Channels: Choose platforms your clients use—Instagram and Facebook for younger audiences, postcards or local newspaper ads for older demographics.
Surveys: The Foundation of Smart Marketing
The first step to an intelligent marketing program is understanding what your clients want. Surveys are your tool for this, defined as examining and recording data to create a map of your community’s needs. Simple methods include:
- Client Feedback Forms: Place forms in your waiting room or email them post-visit, asking about preferred services, hours, or products.
- Community Observation: Spend a morning (6–8 a.m.) outside your practice counting cars or noting client behavior. In commuter-heavy areas, you might discover a demand for early drop-off hours, leading to a campaign like “Drop off at 7 a.m., pick up after work!”
- Social Media Polls: Post quick polls on Instagram or Facebook, asking, “Would you prefer evening hours or weekend appointments?”
- Local Events: Attend community events like farmers’ markets to chat with pet owners and gauge their needs.
For example, a private practice in a bedroom community used a survey to discover clients wanted extended evening hours for working professionals. They launched a “Twilight Pet Check” campaign, promoting 7 p.m. appointments with a humorous video of a dog “waiting for its owner to get home.” This led to a 15% increase in new client bookings over three months. Surveys ensure your marketing dollars are spent wisely, targeting services and hours that drive client response.
Your “Point Guard”: The New Client Concierge
Your marketing efforts generate inquiries, but converting those into appointments requires a skilled, friendly CSR—your “New Client Concierge.” Think of them as the point guard on a basketball team, the one who reliably scores by turning opportunities into results. Not every staff member is suited for this role. Some excel in technical tasks, but may be shy or less comfortable with client interactions. Identify your most outgoing, personable team member—someone who naturally enjoys chatting with clients—and make them your front-line star.
Train your New Client Concierge to use “Questions of Concern” to build rapport, such as:
- “What’s your pet’s name?”
- “When did you adopt them?”
- “You are such a great pet parent!”
These questions create a warm, welcoming experience, encouraging clients to book a complimentary “Meet & Greet” appointment. A well-trained Concierge can convert over 85% of inquiries into bookings, making them a critical asset. For corporate practices with larger teams, consider rotating this role among multiple trained CSRs to maintain consistency. Private practices might rely on one or two key staff members, making selection and training even more crucial.
The 2021 Mystery Call Study: A Wake-Up Call
In 2021, my team conducted a Mystery Call Study, contacting 564 Veterinary practices posing as pet owners inquiring about a spay for a six-month-old Yorkie. We used a 1–10 grading scale, awarding points for positive actions (e.g., answering before the third ring, asking engaging questions) and deducting for errors (e.g., quoting prices abruptly or sounding disinterested). The results were sobering: the average practice scored 3–4 out of 10, with only 3% scoring above 8. The top performers stood out with warm, interested CSRs who asked questions like, “What’s your Yorkie’s personality like?” One practice even followed up with a personalized video from a veterinarian, earning an extra point for exceptional service.
The takeaway? Don’t lose clients at “Hello, that’s $400.” A friendly, trained New Client Concierge is your first line of defense. Equip them with scripts for common inquiries, practice role-playing scenarios, and monitor calls using systems like Weave to ensure consistency. This approach transforms inquiries into loyal clients, boosting your practice’s growth.
User Friendly Self-Scheduling Systems
One of the most productive tools that have been developed and now in use are Self-Scheduling Systems such as you find with Chckvet (www.chckvet.app). Communication systems like this allow new clients to check you out online and then book their first appointment, bypassing the need to speak with a practice front-end person.
While it sounds great and can work great for regular returning clients, I still struggle with abdicating that first new client interaction to a tech scheduling platform. Remember that a new canine client can bring in potentially over $18,000 during its lifetime. Myself? I’d rather take that first call and skillfully guide them into the practice. Let’s use AI technology not to replace people at critical flow points, but to free them up for more intimate and genuine human-to-human interactions.
Overcoming Common Barriers
Several obstacles can derail your new client efforts:
- Untrained Staff: Without training, even friendly CSRs may mishandle calls. Invest in regular training sessions, focusing on empathy, active listening, and booking strategies.
- Inconsistent Tracking: Failing to monitor new client numbers can leave you blind to trends. Set up automated reports in your practice management software to streamline tracking.
- Generic Marketing: Broad, uninspired campaigns fail to connect. Use survey data to create hyper-local, emotionally engaging promotions.
- Limited Hours: If your hours don’t align with client needs, you’ll miss opportunities. Use surveys to adjust schedules, like adding early or late appointments.
Addressing these barriers ensures your practice maximizes its new client potential, keeping your team busy and your bottom line healthy.
Action Items for Immediate Impact
- Track New Clients: Log and graph monthly new client numbers in a Google Sheet to identify trends (hint: Up is good! Down is…).
- Develop Targeted Promotions: Create one campaign with a compelling image (e.g., a local pet) and a clear call to action, like “Book your free wellness exam today!” Track the response (always).
- Select Your New Client Concierge: Choose your friendliest staff member and train them on Questions of Concern.
- Monitor Conversions: Use phone systems like Weave to track front desk performance and identify areas for improvement.
- Personalize Follow-Ups: Send a “We’re excited to meet you!” video or text from the practice owner to new clients, reinforcing your welcoming culture.
- Self-scheduling Systems: Find a good system that’s easy to use for your existing clients to easily schedule their visits to your practice and avoid taking up valuable CSR time.
Unlock Your Practice’s Full Potential
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