Alright veterinarians, vet techs, practice managers, and pet health professionals of all sorts, are you ready for a mind-blowing statistic?  Take a seat for this one, it’s a doozy.

The average veterinary clinic is missing out on $123,000 of gross revenue due to inefficiencies in phone-based customer service.

We’re talking boatloads of annoyed or impatient folks giving up on attempts to contact your practice, not because the front desk is struggling, but because it’s just impossible to provide pet owners with the instantaneous gratification they expect - a sisyphean task even for the most experienced front desk administrators.

Just take a look at a few of the results from VitusVet’s recent calling study:

Working at the front desk at a veterinary practice is no walk in the park. Phones are ringing, faxes need to be sent, records need to be filed, clients are walking in and asking questions; it could take you all morning just to finish one simple task. Sometimes putting people on hold feels necessary, but have you ever thought about how much damage putting a person on hold is causing?

Learn why putting callers on hold can negatively affect your business and the solutions to fix them.

As technology continues to change virtually everything consumers do, it’s not surprising that a small but growing number of companies are offering online veterinary consults directly to pet owners.  Their business models vary and some are an outgrowth of what’s happening in human medicine. where the desire to minimize costs leads to a strong preference to keep people OUT of the doctor’s office.  For example, the average ER visit for a diabetic human costs about $15,000, so it’s not surprising that doctors and insurance companies are looking for ways to minimize these expensive, frequently avoidable visits.