Estimates and pricing - who does them at your clinic?

RE: Estimates and pricing - who does them at your clinic?

Julie Innes — Thu, 05 Dec 2019 12:08:24 GMT

Also should say- I am the most guilty in the team of undercharging . The rest of the staff charge properly and give me a row if they think I have quoted too cheaply, so I have definitely gotten better!

RE: Estimates and pricing - who does them at your clinic?

Julie Innes — Thu, 05 Dec 2019 12:06:11 GMT

For routine ops, we have a price on computer, anyone can give. For anything else nurse usually leaves a message for vet to call back with estimate. We recently introduced a set price for common things (pyo/ C-section etc) so that everyone is singing from the same hymn sheet. If we estimate we note what we have said and how we priced it on the record (eg Q £XX for GA + 20 mins) so that the vet who does it understands where we got the figure. We try to keep as close to the estimate as possible, so we generally over-estimate if anything, so the client gets a pleasant surprise when they come to pay

RE: Estimates and pricing - who does them at your clinic?

Joyce Whitehead — Thu, 05 Dec 2019 08:40:29 GMT

Much like James, whoever answers the phone can give a price for a routine, for instance, neutering, but vets do anything else, as generally clients will ask during consultation anyway. The computer system has an estimate facility as well as a quick look up price. We will always caveat that things may change a bit with any complications/extra drugs etc.

I don’t see how this new system of yours can work Elenor if you get, for instance, a Caesarian on a saturday? Surely you need an instant quote then.

RE: Estimates and pricing - who does them at your clinic?

James Dunne — Thu, 05 Dec 2019 08:39:53 GMT

Hi Elenor. A loaded question! This is only our way, others may have differing views! We just openly discuss this issue with our colleagues and try to reduce errors over time. No-one is perfect, but most vets are conscientious and realise that leaving things out of the estimate reduces the pot for pay/investment/CPD etc. We spend a good bit of time over a number of weeks with people when they start with us and encourage them to ask their colleagues and senior staff [where practical and within reason!] to cast an eye over things before handing it out. After that, then there really should be no issues since doing things right becomes a habit. If someone seems incapable of estimating correctly having been with us a number of months, we try to identify the root cause since some vets do have difficulty valuing themselves, despite being very good at their jobs. Others have little understanding of where money goes in a practice and need to have this explained in detail. There is still a perception among occasional others that the business owners trouser the lot. Others still get manipulated by clients and have no real world experience of dealing with the transactional side of work [hence separating client from vet when estimating]. Not sure whether any of this would work for your own practice - if it is particularly large, then this may not apply. I'd ask your line manager whether the rules are temporary until they trust you, or is it a permanent thing and if it's permanent, are they happy to be contacted any hour of the day or day of the week to okay your judgement? Either they are, or you should receive the support and training needed.

RE: Estimates and pricing - who does them at your clinic?

Elenor Walsh — Thu, 05 Dec 2019 07:39:13 GMT

Thanks for your reply James. I agree that better training would be a good antidote to this situation. How does your clinic handle vets who make errors in estimates or pricing?

RE: Estimates and pricing - who does them at your clinic?

James Dunne — Thu, 05 Dec 2019 07:29:29 GMT

Hi Elenor

Apart from very routine conditions in which case our reception staff, nurses and admin can give estimates, then vets give the estimates. We encourage vets to take their time, ask the owners to have a seat and that the estimate will print out at reception; we have found that clients looking over people's shoulders tends to interfere with accurate fee estimation. Broad estimates are best and always to indicate that it is an estimate, not a quote. If vets have been trained correctly in estimating fees, then the practice shouldn't be losing so much income that the measures you mention have to be used. Many computer programmes now have an 'estimate' tab so it can be billed up and printed with a prepopulated note on the bottom stating that there may be variance up or down of up to so much %. Giving ballparks off the top of one's head is something we are all stopping from the top down because it is too easy to get it wrong and forget things totting up mentally when you are busy. The situation you describe sounds crazy and is not appropriate for urgent conditions.