A Practice Manager's "First Move" at
Four Practices!
Cherish Foy, Churchland Animal Clinic 
Portsmouth, VA & North Suffolk Animal Clinic, Suffolk VA
"Don't wait for a moment! Pet Portals are the number one step I've taken in all the clinics where I've been hired to do the marketing," says Cherish Foy, who is currently the practice manager and director of marketing at two hospitals located in growing suburbs in the Tidewater Virginia region.
Cherish speaks from a wealth of experience: In the past few years, following a career trajectory as a roving practice manager/marketing director and all-around troubleshooter, she has worked at a grand total of four clinics that have started using Vetstreet. "The first move I make in any new clinic I go to is to get websites and Pet Portals," says Cherish.
"These days, pet owners respond better to emails than they do phone calls," Cherish explains. What's more, clients really appreciate having "online access to their pets' information from anywhere."
Not surprisingly, Cherish is an old hand at showing practice owners and management that getting Vetstreet is a smart business move.
"The biggest resistance I've gotten is from the doctors" who are worried they'll spend too much time on the Vet Portal responding to Ask-a-Vet messages.
Cherish's simple solution? "Our reception team fields the Ask-a-Vet questions, not the veterinarians." And unlike regular email, with the Pet Portal Mail tool it's easy for Cherish to make sure that pet owners can never contact the doctors directly.
Time and again, Cherish has seen Vetstreet have a huge impact on compliance. Back when she was showing the service to the management team at the second practice she worked at, Cherish still had permission to access the Vet Portal at her first Pet Portals clinic. "I logged in and showed [the clinic's director] reports showing how compliance increased from 13% to 56% with Pet Portals."
After launching the service at four different practices, Cherish knows to expect a great client response, right from the get-go. "We just took our Pet Portals live in our five-doctor practice, and in the first night we had nine different requests and five emails back from clients saying 'this is really cool!'"
Time and again, Cherish has found that Pet Portal communication is just plain more efficient. "If you can email clients back you can get things done quickly, without a lot of back and forth over the phone."
"The client satisfaction survey is a huge benefit," says Cherish. "In our first week [of Pet Portals], we had five clients log in and fill out the survey, and we were able to make some immediate improvements at the practice, thanks to their comments."
"Anyone who calls me for tips on practice management, I tell them 'Get a website and get Vetstreet. These are two things you need to do now!'"