Communications Handlings for Urgent v/s Routine matters
Guidelines for when to call your manager or Dr. Annie outside of regular hours.
We are fortunate to have a dedicated, hard working ED who is willing to be contacted outside of hours if you need help. However, I want to make sure that this is not being abused and that she is not being contacted for non-urgent matters.
I want to establish a guideline for what circumstances genuinely call for pulling her out of her personal time to handle work related matters.
The main guideline is that you do not contact her unless it is urgent.
Examples of urgent things:
The phones are not working.
Something happened to our doctor.
A new situation arises which is NOT covered in our HPESC Policies and which requires immediate attention.
We have a possible call outside of our regular travel area (>50 miles) and you don’t know how much to charge for this and the doctor on call is willing to go that far. In this case, you can also try to reach Dr. Annie)
A potential client appears to be more trouble than he’s worth and you are not sure if you should close it or tell him to call a different service.
Something is not working on the website or the website appears to be non-responsive.
You can’t reach our doctor on call.
You are sick and are supposed to be on post.
You are genuinely distressed about something and your degree of upset prevents you from being productive. In this case, you can contact Tracy or Dr. Annie.
An officer of the law calls inquiring about a situation that could potentially affect our legal standing. Please note that Animal Control officers are Officers of the Law.
Also, any situation which could endanger us legally.
There are many other possible situation but bottom line, it is a situation which requires immediate attention and if not handled, will hinder PRODUCTION or will endanger us. For any of those situations, you can call Dr. Annie or Todd if you are not able to reach Tracy.
For anything else, you will write an email to the appropriate person per our communications policy or you will email our ED (Tracy) with the details of the query or of the situation and she will handle it on her next working morning. DO NOT USE TEXT MESSAGES. Text messages are to be used only for the same reasons as urgent matters as described above.
Examples of situation for which you will NOT call Tracy or Dr. Annie:
Client calls and wants to know where his urn is.
Client calls and has a complaint about something that happened during his/her visit.
Client calls and wants to know about some unusual request and the visit is not going to happen for several days or weeks.
You have a question about something which is in our policy (in this case, you just need to find and read the applicable policy).
You want time off next week (write a written request, including a solution to have your post covered).
You have a query or dispute about whose a close is.
A marketer calls and wants to speak to the manager.
Somebody calls and wants to know if we are hiring.
I have not listed all possible scenarios, but basically use your judgement and ask yourself if the situation requires handling RIGHT NOW.
In cases where a client calls with an upset or a query about where his/her paw print or urn or some other item is, here is the patter you will use to make sure you do not upset the client and that the client does not feel brushed off:
Client calls at 7:30PM: “I would like to know how long it will take for me to get my baby’s ashes back.”
Client care specialist: “Oh my… I totally understand how anxious you must be to get your baby’s ashes back. Unfortunately, it is after hours and the crematory (or office) is closed right now. I will forward the message to the person who takes care of ashes (or paw print or hair clipping or paperwork, etc…) and I will make sure that you are called back. How have you been doing since you lost Fifi?” (establish good, caring communication).
Then email the Aftercare I/C and CC Tracy who will take it from there.
Example: Upset client calls at 6PM. Tells that the visit did not go well, etc… You use the patter I sent you entitled “How to handle dissatisfied clients”.
What to say when a client expresses concerns regarding how their pet’s euthanasia went:
“I’m so sorry to hear that things didn’t go as you hoped it would. I don’t know what happened as I wasn’t there and I’m not the doctor, but I do know that when we are dealing with pets who are at the end of their life, it can be a challenge to (find a vein) (or whatever the issue is). Even our best doctor who has done thousands of euthanasias sometimes gets a challenging euthanasia. We always hope that things will go smoothly and I know how difficult it can be for the family when things don’t go as expected. This said, Dr. Annie (or our manager) will be happy to hear what you have to say and I will let her know that you would like to speak with her if you’d like.”
Maintain good communication with the client. Never look rattled or uncertain or upset. Listen to what they have to say and acknowledge them without saying anything that may be construed like you “agree” with them or that you “disagree” with them. Just listen and acknowledge and repeat the above or part of the above as necessary. Let them know that we care about them and how things went for them.
Then email Tracy and CC Dr. Annie all the information: - What the client said - All the data of the appointment (data in the ical) - Who the doctor was - The client’s name, email and phone number
- The time and day when the client called with the concern.
Tracy will then filter the information and judge if I should be calling the client if it relates to a technical matter or if she will handle herself if it is an administrative issue.
In conclusion, the intention is not to stop communication or to make you feel like you cannot reach out if you need help. However, it is important to be respectful of your seniors’ personal time and to be able to differentiate which situation require immediate attention and which situation can wait until matters can be taken care of during regular business hours.