AT THE VETERINARY FRONT DESK: TELEPHONE COURTESY AND CLIENT SERVICE
| VHMA Approved for CVPM's |
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This course is applicable for 5 CE credits toward the continuing education requirement for the Certified Veterinary Practice Manager program offered by the Veterinary Hospital Managers Association (VHMA).
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| Course Focus - Learning Objectives - Completion Requirements |
At The Veterinary Front Desk: Telephone Courtesy and Client Service is beneficial for veterinary practice team members who are on the front lines of the practice, making critical impressions to potential and existing clients via the telephone.
Upon completion of the course, the student will be able to:
- utilize the telephone in a professional manner to deliver excellent client service
- recognize proper telephone etiquette and techniques
- determine client needs and concerns through listening and asking appropriate question
- demonstrate appropriate communication during difficult and emotional situations over the telephone
- convey how the appropriate attitude over the phone can affect client relations
- recognize styles of communication and address areas in need of improvement
Completion requirements:
Instructor Graded Interactive Critical Thinking and Case Study Assignments: Designed to help the participant apply the newly learned skills and knowledge via implementation focused and patient based scenarios
Examination Must be submitted with a score of 80% or better, multiple attempts
Course Survey
A certificate of completion is provided.
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| How Does the Enrollment Process Work? |
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This course is designed to be as schedule friendly as possible as we understand it can be hard to fit interactive CE into an already busy life. Open enrollment allows students to enroll in this course at any time.
Once the course payment transaction has been submitted, we will receive a notification of enrollment. In addition, the student will be sent a couple of "heads up" emails. The payment receipt will be sent to the email address
designated
in the payment page of the shopping cart, by the person who paid.
There is a post-payment manual process we must complete in order to add the new student to the course.
Completing enrollments as quickly as
possible is a priority but it can take a full 24 hours, especially on weekends and holidays. Once fully enrolled. the student will be sent a course welcome email containing important information, including how to access and log into the course.
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| Personal Completion Deadline |
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This is an asynchronous course. Students are not expected to be logged into the course at any specific times as there are no real time lectures or requirements.
Students have 5 weeks from the date of payment to meet all completion requirements. The course welcome email will specify the student's personal completion deadline. If the student has not met the completion requirements by the deadline, they will be processed out of the course and graded as incomplete.
But What If Something Comes Up?
There are times when unforeseen situations interfere with a student's ability to complete by the deadline. In that case, an email to VetMedTeam, as soon as such a situation arises, will allow us to offer the best possible options.
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| Technology Requirements |
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Reading content within the course is provided via PDF therefore the ability to download files and open PDFs is required.
It is recommended that participants utilize a program such as MS Word to create, and save, their assignment submission to their computer. Then the information can be pasted into the assignment submission area.
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| Participant Feedback |
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When asked what aspects of the course liked best some responses were:
...Once I got started, I enjoyed reading the material. It's always refreshing to have information reviewed, to recharge yourself, information that was given was nice to know that a lot of the things we do we're doing well, and any of the new info. I got will be greatly appreciated from my fellow team members.
...I enjoyed learning how to handle different types of clients i.e how to react to an irate client. I also found it beneficial to better understand what questions to ask and what the clients perception of me on the phone is and how I can make the perception a good one.
..I love the entire course and the handbook was fantastic. I feel like I will be a better receptionist after this class. Thank you..
...I like that you can print out the material to have on hand. I also like the fact that we were asked to complete a training document, just that alone helped me to realize where I/we are lacking and what we have excelled at.
...The aspects of the course that I liked the best that I found most beneficial was the reading of the Telephone Courtesy and Client Service pages and the modules.
...It was helpful to have examples of situations played out as conversations. The layout of the information, headings, indentations, and highlight helped focus attention on major points. The information was over all helpful by causing me to reflect on my performance and giving me opportunity to improve.
...I enjoyed the section "The Service Follow-up Call, it explained why we should be following up with clients and why.
...learning how best to handle client situations via telephone and in-person. Additionally, I have figured out what steps I could take to be more prepared in multiple types of situations.
...I felt that the information was very straight forward and easy to understand.
...I like the assignments that were realistic to my everyday work such as attitude and knowing how to handle clients perception
...Good insight on gaining perspective of what people are projecting and how to manage it.
...The reading content of the course was very thorough and informative. The assignments were very thought provoking. They allowed me to see my own deficits and reflect on ways that I could improve my customer service skills.
...The case studies were the most beneficial as they provided the opportunity to apply concepts taught in the course and to reflect on my past and future performance of my career
...There were the hand outs or assessments that I could print off and view at any time, those were very helpful.
...Giving another outside opinion on proper client service technique and how to coach staff to talk on the phones.
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| Course Instructor |
 Erin Macdonald, CVT, BAS, CVPM, CVBL
Erin Macdonald was the Hospital Administrator and managed a busy five doctor practice in St. Petersburg, FL for twenty one years. in 2020, she built, opened, and grew a brand new practice in downtown St. Petersburg, Florida. She recently left both practices to pursue veterinary consulting. She has worked in the veterinary field since 1999, her first position as a receptionist.
In 2006, she received an Associate in Arts Degree in General Studies and an Associate's in Science Degree in Veterinary Technology from St. Petersburg College. That year, she became a Certified Veterinary Technician. After receiving a Certificate in Hospital Management and a Bachelor's Degree in Veterinary Technology Management, she achieved the designation of Certified Veterinary Practice Manager in 2009. In 2022, she completed and passed the exam to become a Certified Veterinary Business Leader. She is level two and Elite Fear Free Certified.
Erin is a member of both the Florida Veterinary Technician Association and the National Association of Veterinary Technicians in America. Erin lives in Palm Harbor, Florida with her fiance and their three sons, Kingston, Isaac, and Jordan. They also share their home with their dog, Gemma and cat, Roxanne.
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| Pricing |
Price: $69.00 USD
Practices may enroll individual team members. To learn how to assign a specific team member to a course, please visit the Assigning Students page.
Please use this link to view the Withdrawal Policy for this course.
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