Keep ‘Em Coming! 5 Ways to Get More Referrals for Your Veterinary Practice

It takes dedication to be a veterinarian. Much like doctors, vets take an oath when they finish their education. It’s similar to a Hippocratic oath because they promise to provide the best, most ethical treatments possible while doing what they can to advance the scientific community and human community in general.

It’s much easier to have an impact on the community if more of them know who you are. How do you make that happen, though? How do you attract more customers? How do you get customer referrals? We’ll do our best to answer these questions in the paragraphs below.

 1. Connect with the Right People

The key phrase here is the right people. Basically, we’re talking about other people in the veterinary industry. The good news is that a lot of veterinarians, like doctors, choose to pursue additional education so that they can list themselves as a specialist in some area.

With this in mind, it might be a good idea to cultivate a relationship with those who have a different specialty than you. That way, any case they come across that they’re not qualified to handle, they may refer to you.

2. Offer a Rewards Program

There’s no such thing as a free lunch, or so goes the saying. This is as true for veterinary medicine as it is for anything else. That’s why a lot of companies offer rewards programs.

Those who recommend a friend might receive a price reduction on an appointment or perhaps they get an electric toothbrush on their next visit instead of a manual one.

3. Always Be Improving

Anytime you talk to a customer about their experience, ask them what they liked about it and what you could’ve done better. See if they have any suggestions about how to make things better.

You can even read reviews online and see what they have to say.

4. Show That You Care

A great way to attract and keep customers is to let them know that you care about something other than referrals. Is there a cause you care about? Is there a cause they care about?

It’s a good idea to do some charity work, whether you advertise it or not. This can mean donations or volunteering or any number of other things.

You might research charities and talk about another on your blog every once in a while. You might even benefit from posting charities on Instagram.

5. Treat Everyone Well

This probably goes without saying, but a business is more than just customers. There are suppliers, assistants, even other veterinarians that you tend to work with a lot.

All of these people have a stake in your business, so you should treat them that way. They’re not just coworkers, they’re like-minded individuals working towards a common cause.