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Word of mouth referrals and discounting

Are you monitoring how many clients your practice receives from word of mouth referrals, or more importantly what procedures do you have in place to ensure your practice is worthy of word of mouth referrals? Your A class clients are your referrers so by making more A class clients you will in turn create more word of mouth referrals.

Bribing VS Recognising

What is bribing and recognising? Bribing a client is offering a discount as an incentive to use your practice eg: not charging for hospitalisation in the hope that this will impress your client. Sadly, most practices use this method but by cutting prices, you only create more work for you and your staff while doing very little to increase profitability.

It makes me cringe when vets give out discounts to clients because ‘they are a good client’.  Don’t do this! Rather than discount your service to good clients, recognise them. It’s so simple, yet few practices do it. Don’t have enough time for this right? Could it be that you or your staff is so busy completing low pay off activities that you are completely forgetting to do the highest pay off activity of all and that’s to keep existing clients jumping for joy with your practice?

What would happen if instead of not charging your ‘good client’ a re-visit fee after an expensive surgery, you sent this client a gift and said ‘thank you’? Both the discount and the gift will cost the practice money but which one do you think will hold more weight with the client? Not being charged for something or receiving a thank you gift in the mail to recognise them as valued clients?

Consider the potential pitfalls of discounting:

1. The client will only want to see the vet who gives them discount to ensure they get a good deal
2. This makes it even more difficult to encourage the client to see one of the other vets because ‘They won’t give me my discount’.
3. The client can get the impression that the fees are over-inflated and this particular only charges what ‘is right’
4. Clients can expect discount all the time making remaining staff feel uncomfortable when asked
5. These clients won’t refer as many friends because they doubt the ‘special discount’ will be extended to their friends

What’s worse is your practice has paid for a client like this! Crazy isn’t it? Yet so many practices still do it.

Now consider the benefits of spending the same amount as a thankyou

1.      Client is surprised to receive a gift. The shock factor alone will speak in volumes

2.      Client will know the practice values it’s clients and will be more likely to recommend the practice not just the veterinarian to their friends

3.      Much easier to persuade this client to see other vets in the absence of their favourite vet. After all, all the vets at the practice will charge the same price

4.      Client has faith in the pricing as all staff are comfortable to charge them

5.      Reception staff won’t have to hear this very common statement ‘does that include my discount?’ What a glorious day that would be!

Think carefully about how you’re spending practice profits. Is discounting buying you an A class client that refers often? Does discounting create a client loyal to the practice and not just one veterinarian? No? Then stop bribing your A class clients and start rewarding them. By recognising clients you will create more A class clients and therefore more word of mouth referrals.

Marianne’s tip:

Try something different. Pitch this win, win situation to your local coffee shop. Tell them that you are prepared to purchase 50 gift vouchers for a free cup of coffee at their store if you can purchase them for half the normal price. This will create further exposure to their coffee shop and will be a great reward for your clients.

How will your client feel when they receive a voucher for two free cups of coffee as a thank you for using your practice? Shocked? How many vets send out gifts? Not many! Stand out from the crowd. Remember that this is also a tax deduction for the practice!