Guide to managing difficult clients

There is no way of avoiding difficult clients in veterinary practice and in some cases these particular clients cannot be satisfied. However, difficult clients can have a profound negative impact on veterinary team members with 77.2% of veterinarians reporting that it affected their job satisfaction [1] and difficult clients cited as a top cause for burnout. For this reason, it is important to be able to identify potential difficult clients early on, implement techniques to diffuse these situations and avoid further conflict.

1. Common types of difficult clients

2. Steps to managing a difficult client

3. Techniques to prevent difficult client situations

1. Common types of difficult clients

THE ANGRY CLIENT

Anger usually stems from fear, defense or resistance to their environment. In these situations, it is important to step back and try to identify what is really going on. Although an extended wait time could trigger the anger, the real issue could be their concern for their pets health or fear that their pet could die. Ask open ended questions to try and get to the root of their anger and discuss possible solutions with them. For example, this could mean organising a nurse to meet with the client in a consultation room to listen to their concerns, help answer any questions about their pet’s health and take initial vital signs.

MANIPULATIVE CLIENT

These types of clients use threats, outbursts and yelling to try to get their way. There is no reasoning with these clients. They want a platform to yell and are actively looking for the next person to yell at. These clients are the ones that will demand prescription refill without seeing the vet or demand a special payment plan. It is important to remain calm and stick to the practice’s policies. Sharing practice information sheets on repeat prescription policies for pets on long term prescriptions or payment options to clients will help avoid these situations.

SILENT CLIENT

These clients say very little but have huge expectations. It is important to identify these clients so that you can ask open ended questions to ensure that you understand what their expectations are and be able to educate them on what to expect. Managing expectations early on with regard to treatment duration, additional costs, potential outcomes will help prevent clients from claiming that they were never told. 

COMPLAINING CLIENT

This type of client complains about everything. “Everything’s wrong”, “Nothing’s working”, “You never told me that”. These clients may complain that the waiting room is dirty, noisy or smelly, the team is uncaring, felt rushed in the consultation and now they want to speak to the manager. In these situations it is important to apologise, avoid excuses and handle the situation immediately without the need to escalate to the manager. For example, recommend a different area to wait, offer the client to wait in the car, explain the wait is due to an emergency and clean the dirty area immediately. These situations can be avoided by ensuring there is nothing for these clients to get upset about e.g. keeping the waiting room clean, ensuring your reception staff can handle enquiries or refer to other team mates or notifying clients before they arrive of a potential wait due to an emergency.

KNOW-IT-ALL CLIENT

This client has already done their research on the internet or heard it from their breeder and doesn’t need health advice from you. It’s important to make these clients feel valued as a proactive pet owner trying to do what’s best for their pet. Point out information that is correct but avoid complimenting blindly. Suggest alternative healthcare methods where needed and offer high quality advice. Demonstrate your expertise and share practice-branded health communications where it is then up to the client to take it or not. The internet is not going away as it is a convenient way of looking up health information, correct or not. But, by improving the ease of health knowledge from your practice, you may convert this client and become their new go to for pet health information.

CHEAP CLIENT

These clients love their pets but are afraid to spend money on unnecessary healthcare. Decisions are made purely on price and they are willing to sacrifice quality, value and time for short-term savings. However, these clients still have the same goals of keeping a happy, healthy pet. It’s important to appeal to their cost savings by outlining how prevention is cheaper than cure. Be clear with estimates and ensure clients understand the reasons for your recommendations before proceeding with treatment. Breakdown costs in a different way such as bundles that offer so much more value e.g. the dental bundle which includes the dental procedure, pain relief, revisits and homecare for a month. Frame the treatment as “preventing severe pain and the potential for heart and kidney disease down the track if left untreated”.

2. Steps to managing a difficult client

1. Stay calm
2. Listen to their concerns and do not interrupt
3. Acknowledge that you have taken in their concerns by repeating the problem back to the client
4. Speak assertively but do not raise your voice
5. Always empathize, even if you’re having a bad day
6. Use non-confrontational statements such as “May I suggest”, “An option available to you is”
7. Maintain eye contact but do not stare
8. Keep your arms relaxed in front but do not cross your arms.
9. Do not stand too close
10. Deliver a prompt solution - the longer you make a person wait, the angrier they will get
11. Apologise for any misunderstanding or mistake. Dr. Elkins of the VCA Veterinary Specialty Center in Indianapolis says that “data shows that the likelihood of a lawsuit falls by 50% if the healthcare professional offers an apology to a medical error immediately.”
12. Detail the practice policy to the client again
13. Re-iterate what the client should expect moving forward
14. Offer written summary of the discussion
15. Give the client options e.g. Would they prefer an email, phone call or SMS as their preferred method of communication. This will help the client feel that you want to work with them.
16. Review why the client was upset
    • Why did the problem occur in the first place?
    • How can the client have such unrealistic demands?
    • At what stage of the visit did this problem occur?
    • How can you prevent it?
    • What further information does the client need?
17. Modify your policy or procedures to prevent these situations from happening again
18. Cut your losses
• Your professional reputation is at stake so cutting your losses should be a last resort. But, sometimes, you just cannot come to a resolution and you have to terminate the client. Never blame the client, blame it on the unfortunate situation and agree to move on.

3. Techniques to prevent difficult client situations

Top 2 causes for client grievances:

1. Communication breakdown
2. The client’s expectations were not met

Often you can turn a difficult client into a loyal practice advocate with a few practice adjustments to improve client communication and the client’s experience.

IMPROVED COMMUNICATION

Many causes for communication breakdown involves costs, negative outcomes, prolonged treatment duration, misdiagnosis or misunderstanding of practice policies. Common examples include the client’s desire for a prescription refill without seeing the vet, conflicting information about vaccination schedule or age of desexing and that the chronic condition was not fixed in one visit.

Many of these cases can be prevented with clear communication about the pet’s health condition and the practice’s policies. Sharing health information that details the health condition, diagnostics, duration of treatment, ongoing care and potential negative outcomes helps to ensure the client has all the information they need. Sharing your practice’s policy on prescription refills to pet’s with chronic conditions will ensure the client is on board from the start.

Veterinary practice welcome packs for new clients can help detail what to expect with a visit, consultation times, costs and payment methods. Itemised estimates will demonstrate the treatment required and the value offered with each service.

Communication breakdowns can occur over the phone, during consultations or at reception. Being time poor and often multi-tasking means that we can easily be distracted and lose focus on client needs. Sharing visit summaries can help clarify and re-iterate verbal recommendations. Sharing health information over the phone can help clients with home care. Automating communications through your practice management system can also save you time but ensure the clients leave with all the information they need.

ARTICLE: Why Good Communication Makes Good Practice

ARTICLE: 10 Steps to Reducing Complaints

IMRPOVED CLIENT EXPERIENCE

Practices work best when they work as a team. Happy teams make clients feel cared for. Wait times are commonly mentioned in bad reviews.

Keep wait time to less than 15 minutes where possible or notify clients before they arrive or the potential extended wait time. 70% of people will start getting irritated if they have to wait more than 15 minutes.

Always answer your phone within 3 rings and never leave someone on hold for more than 3 minutes. If you are busy, explain to the client that there is an emergency and grab the clients number and a time to call them back.

ARTICLE: How to get 5 star reviews every time

References

[1] Vet Girl On The Run Survey - The Effect of Complaints on Veterinary Internists.