How to bring back lapsed clients and fill every doctor's schedule
The waiting room is full and the phones don't stop. Then you look at the doctors' calendars for next week and see the gaps.
When that happens, most clinics go looking for new pet owners. More ads, more posts, maybe a new website. It makes sense, but it's the slowest and most expensive place to start. I'd start with the people who already know you.
Fill the schedule from the inside out
I think about filling a schedule in three layers:
- Clients you already have, including the ones who stopped coming in.
- Clients trying to book with you right now.
- Pet owners who don't know you yet.
Most clinics start with layer 3. I'd start with layer 1, and that's what this post is about.
Every clinic has a list of clients who used to come in and then stopped. Usually there's no bad blood. Life got busy, a reminder went to an old email address, or they meant to call and forgot. Across clinics using Oliver this year, the average clinic has about 1,700 clients last seen 14 to 36 months ago.
When the schedule is light, it's natural to assume you need more clients. Most of the time you already HAVE them. You just haven't seen them in a while. They know your doctors, they live nearby, and nobody has to sell them on your clinic.
Find your number
- Pull a report from your PIMS of clients who haven't been in for a year or so but came in before that.
- Take out deceased pets and clients who've moved away.
- Multiply what's left by your average visit.
For example, 1,700 lapsed clients times a $200 average visit is $340,000 sitting in your client list. You won't get all of it back (nobody does), but even a small slice fills a lot of appointments.
There's nothing magic about the window. We used 14 to 36 months for that average, but pick whatever fits your clinic. You're looking for people who used to come in and then stopped.
Why reminders don't bring them back
Reminders, postcards and emails do a great job of keeping regular clients on track. A client who hasn't been in for a year or more has usually seen a few of those already, and didn't book. One more of the same message tends to get the same result.
What tends to bring them back is a personal text that asks one easy question. Here's the difference.
A reminder: "Hi Sarah, Max is due for his annual exam and vaccines. Book online at [link] or reply to this text to schedule."
A check-in: "Hi Sarah, it's Jenna at [Your Clinic]. We haven't seen Max in a while and wanted to check in. Want me to find a time for his checkup? I have openings Thursday."
The check-in uses the pet's name, comes from a person, asks one easy question and offers a real time. "I have openings Thursday" is a lot easier to say yes to than "let us know what works for you."
Try it this week
You don't need new software to test this. Have your front desk text 20 lapsed clients a day for two weeks, and keep a tally of who replies and who books. A sticky note on the monitor is plenty.
Before you start, take a few people off the list: anyone with an appointment already booked and anyone you've texted in the last month. If someone doesn't reply, one follow-up a few days later is plenty.
Twenty a day is small on purpose. Every reply is a conversation someone has to handle, and you want your team booking appointments, not buried in texts. After 10 workdays you'll have about 200 texts out and a real reply rate for your own clinic. If you try it, I'd love to hear how it goes.
What happened when one clinic did this
One clinic using Oliver sent check-in texts like these to its lapsed clients. Here's how it went:
- 1,064 lapsed clients texted
- 304 wrote back (29%)
- 38 appointments booked
That's one booked appointment for about every 28 texts. At that pace, the 200 texts from your two-week test would put about 7 appointments on the books. Run it on your own list and see how you compare.
We go into more detail in this guide
This post covers layer 1. The free guide, How to Fully Book Every Doctor in Your Vet Clinic, walks through all three layers in the order I'd tackle them. It's 10 pages, written for practice managers, and includes:
- The 4-question check for how easy it is to book with you
- Three ways to keep the appointments you already booked, including how one clinic backfilled 53 cancellations in a single quarter
- What to have in place before you spend a dollar on ads
- A 10-minute Friday scorecard to see which layer needs the most attention
Grab your free copy below.