It’s been well documented how important the initial phone greetings is for a front desk team’s success. If the initial greeting goes poorly, there is little chance that the call will result in a booked appointment. Simply put, receptionist phone greetings serve as your veterinary practice’s first impression on customers.

Make no mistake: your front-desk team is critical to the functionality and success of your entire veterinary practice. And it boils down to their actions on a day-to-day basis. That’s why looking for the right receptionist skills and qualities during the hiring process is so important.

It’s a situation that many veterinary practices come across: hiring receptionists who don’t have previous experience in the field. It’s usually not a huge problem, but there are a few tips and tricks to follow to make sure things go smoothly. Here are four principles to follow on veterinary receptionist training for hires with no veterinary experience:

Everyone knows that the efforts of your receptionist team make a huge difference in the day-to-day functionality of your business. But how exactly do receptionist responsibilities impact your overall revenue and profit? You might be surprised to learn that the front-desk team has a major impact on your veterinary clinic’s bottom line.

Are you working on building a receptionist training manual? It’s one of the best tools your veterinary clinic can have, both for incoming team members and foundations for maintaining skills training for your existing receptionist team.

The need for continuing education and advanced training has been proven in the veterinary industry time and time again. From your kennel staff to your veterinarians themselves, learning and growing is an indispensable part of your success. The same is true for receptionists, and the way they can improve is through receptionist courses.

Whether you’re a receptionist about to start a new job in the veterinary sector, or you’re a practice manager putting together a job description for front-desk staff, it’s important to realize that reception duty and responsibilities go far beyond the basics. Yes, answering phones, checking patients in and out, and managing records are part of it… but there’s also a lot more that you might not have considered.

Consider for a moment the arc of an average client’s interaction with your practice's. The arc begins with the customer’s need. To start getting that need solved, they call your practice's. The voice of the receptionist is the first thing they hear — that’s why receptionist phone greetings are so important. Let’s take a look at four easy ways to improve your veterinary clinic’s greetings at the front desk:

It goes without saying that your new front-desk team members need basic training to know how to perform the fundamental functions of the job. But a proper receptionist training program goes far above and beyond that — the best front-desk staff members engage with the client, each and every time, in order to nail down that appointment.

The great benefit of a receptionist greeting script is that it provides each and every one of your customers with the same quality experience when they call your business. Do it right, and your practice’s front desk will work like a well-oiled machine, bringing in a steady stream of new customers that does wonders for your revenue numbers.