Veterinarians lie to themselves, according to Dr. Andy Roark. He says, “There’s one particular lie that undermines the way we practice, communicate and provide patient care. It affects how we educate veterinarians and how we operate our clinics.” Here’s the lie: If we just tell average pet owners what’s best for their pets, they’ll do it.
Source: Dr. Andy Roark, August 27, 2016.
For years, I believed that if we just sat down and explained things to pet owners, they would do what was best for their pets. I’m sorry to say that I don’t believe this anymore. While this idea is comforting and makes it easier for us to shake it off when we make recommendations people decide not to follow, it’s simply not true. If we can come to grips with that, I think we can modify our approach in two ways to fix the problem:
- Innovate to communicate
- Stop abdicating our position
INSIGHTS – Dr. Roark’s assertions constitute a call to action. In a previous post, Make slow times profitable with callbacks, Wendy Myers shares the importance of calling clients as follow-up. As humans, we know reminders help us remain compliant.