Boomerang clients – keep them coming back

You’ve made a great recommendation for a product that pet owners love and it’s really helping to keep their pet healthy. But they haven’t come back to the practice to repurchase. How can you make sure your expert recommendation keeps clients coming back for their pet healthcare products?

When you’ve made a recommendation and the client reports how pleased they are with the result, it’s a great feeling. But how many continue to buy from the practice? If you can turn your recommendation into repeated long term or even lifetime sales, it can have a big impact on the wages your practice can pay, the equipment they can buy and the training they support.  Just imagine if every recommendation you made turned into one of those lifetime purchases – what could that mean for your future and the future of the practice?

We have some ideas about how you can make the most of your expertise and successful recommendations.

• Remember that front of house staff and the veterinary team can make tailored recommendations that are specific to the pet – that’s something that isn’t available online so make the most of it!
• Follow up your recommendations. A call to find out how the pet is doing on the new product is the perfect starting point. Could you offer a discount or special promotion for their next re-purchase? Early intervention is a good way to get clients in the habit of buying from the practice every time.
• If you offer a pet health plan remind the client if it gives them any additional discount on their purchase, either at the point of recommendation or at follow up.
• Price match: check regularly online to find current selling prices of products. You might not be able to match the best price but you can ensure there is not too much space between the best price online and the price at the practice. Using discounts offered through the pet health plan may be one way of offering repeat purchases at the best prices to loyal clients.
• Think about offering high quality vet exclusive products, like YuMOVE ADVANCE 360, clients can’t source from other outlets.
• Remember that clients might be prepared to pay extra for the convenience of local collection or home delivery, or scheduled delivery that takes away the need to re-order, or linked promotions across different products and services. Think about other benefits buying from the practice could offer. For instance, when products offer a money back guarantee it offers an opportunity for you to make a no-risk recommendation. It means you can be confident about making the recommendation and your client can feel confident about trying something new.
• Another way to reward loyal clients is through a loyalty scheme.  Each purchase is recorded and the client ‘earns’ additional product for their loyalty. It brings the overall purchase price down and is a good way to make the practice price competitive with other outlets. You can request Lintbells Loyalty cards for dogs, cats and horses (and many more waiting room goodies) here.