How to Better Connect with Clients

We all know that emotions can drive customer behavior. How do we as an industry better connect with clients to motivate their behavior and keep these customers for the life of their pet?

Given the enormous opportunity we have to turn each new pet exam into a client for life, we should pursue emotional connections with the pet owner as a science as well as a strategy. There is research that makes this easier than it sounds. Emotional motivators drive client behavior. These provide a good gauge of the client’s future value to a clinic – perhaps better than any other metric.

Identifying and measuring emotional motivators can be complicated, as clients themselves are unsure of how to articulate them.

Whether it’s feeling a sense of belonging or feeling secure, we need to set up a time to connect with clients from the first visit to allow these emotional connections to deepen.

This involves setting up expectations from the first visit from both sides of the exam table. You need to schedule for success to allow the relationship to deepen so neither side feels rushed. This will also allow both sides to share stories and feel heard and strengthen the doctor-client relationship. Uninterrupted time in the room will also allow both you and your staff to educate the client and allow the client to feel involved in the decision-making process with their pet.

By identifying the most critical emotional motivators of your primary customer segment, you can design marketing campaigns and other strategies to leverage those motivators, giving you and your clinic a new source of competitive advantage and growth.