Animal hospital answering service.

Lions and tigers and bears – oh my!

Unless your animal hospital treats exotic wildlife, then realistically speaking you probably tend to cats and dogs and rabbits – oh my! No matter what the animal, SAS understands that pets are an extension of the family and deserve the same care as us humans. That is why you can find amazing, 24 hour live answering service and virtual receptionist support with us for all of your patients’ needs, whether they are big, small, furry, scaly or somewhere in between.

Specialty is a 24/7 answering service that helps veterinary animal hospitals maintain great customer service while strengthening your reputation.

SASThe Best Animal Hospital Answering Service

What We Can Do.

When people think of the word “hospital” they tend to think the worst. However, veterinarians working in animal hospitals often times offer much more than just emergency veterinary services. For example, your animal hospital may offer doggy day care, boarding, grooming, etc. In addition to that, animal hospitals may also make house calls to larger animals that are too big to fit on the exam table, like horses (equine), livestock, or other large animals (like bears!). No matter what your practice offers, SAS is here to help!

• Appointment Scheduling:  If you’re manning the phones at an animal hospital, there’s no question that you’re scheduling appointments daily. Those appointments could be for examinations, boarding, grooming, etc. If you’re already using Google Calendar for scheduling, you can add configure our Google Calendar app so that we can schedule appointments for all of the services you offer with a few easy clicks. Since the calendar links directly to your actual Google Calendar, whatever appointments you set on your side will automatically show up for our operators, and vice versa. Not using Google Calendar to schedule? No problem! As long as your scheduling system or CRM (like eVetPractice, ezyVet, or Hippo Manager) has open API access, we can often push call data or scheduling information right into systems you already use. Working together has never been so easy.
• Emergency Dispatching: We understand that animal hospitals have to deal with emergency scenarios quite often. Maybe a new puppy got into some chocolate, or perhaps a curious cat fell off a ledge and broke her leg. Whatever the issue is, you’re there to make the animal feel better, and we’re there to make sure you get the call. By using our flexible on-call scheduler, you can customize the protocol that we use to reach out to the appropriate veterinarian on-call to insure that no animal goes untreated – and the correct veterinarian gets called.
• Screening Callers: If you’re an animal hospital that also offers boarding, grooming or day care services, then you’re going to want your answering service to field those calls differently. With SAS, you can add specific call options in your script to get the most accurate information from your callers. If someone’s calling to board their pet, we can ask them questions that pertain to that specific call option. For example, we can gather the pet’s name, breed, age, the duration that they’ll be staying, if the animal requires specific food/treats/medication and even how much play/walk time they should get daily. That way if we are not scheduling these services for you, you’ll have all of the necessary information at your disposal when you call the client back. Sounds like a piece of (vanilla) cake!
• Refer to Other Hospitals: Maybe you’re a small practice that only works with certain types of animals, or perhaps you aren’t able to provide emergency services. For these calls, we can also screen callers to see what type of animal they have and what the issue is. If the animal is outside of your specialty, or if they need urgent care, we can refer them to other hospitals that you partner with.
• Add Different Protocols for Specific Days: If your animal hospital schedules surgeries on specific days, or if your main vet performs house calls a few days a week, SAS can set up various protocols to help accommodate your needs. For example, our software can be programmed to determine what day it is, and provide the operator with the correct protocol for that specific day. This helps insure that whiskers do not get crossed, and your business can continue running smoothly.
• See if Patients are in your Service Area: If your practice specializes in treating animals that are too big to come into the office, then chances are you spend a decent chunk of time researching if the animal is close enough to drive to.  With SAS, you can integrate with our Google Maps app and set up a particular radius. Then, when new leads call we can plug in the caller’s address to determine if they are in your service area or not.

The Benefits.

With SAS, not only are you getting  an answering service that cares about you and your business, but you are also getting a service that cares about the 4 legged (or 3 legged) patients that you take care of on a day to day basis.

• 24/7 Live Answering Coverage for Amazing Customer Service: Murphy’s Law states that anything that can go wrong, will go wrong, and let’s face it – things normally go wrong at the worst time. It’s almost like pets purposely wait until your office closes to get hurt or sick. However, with Specialty’s answering service for animal hospitals, you never have to worry about missing another call, and your clients don’t have to worry about waiting until the morning. Our 300+ operators are ready to handle your callers’ needs any day or time.
• A Close Second To Your Own Receptionist: If you have an in office receptionist, you’re going to want them to know as much as they can about your business. With SAS, you can customize your Frequently Asked Questions which are readily available for the operators anytime throughout the duration of a phone call. Standard FAQs would include location, website information and business hours, but you can include as much or as little information as you want. In addition, you can even break them down into sections for the operators to easily locate. Some examples would include information about pricing or the various services you may or may not offer. Just another step in making your caller’s experience as seamless as possible.
• Efficient Messaging To Keep You In The Loop: With SAS, you don’t have to worry about not receiving your messages in a timely fashion. All emails and texts get sent automatically in real time as soon as the call ends, so you’ll always be on top of any patient issues as they happen.
• Free Mobile App For On The Go Vets: We understand that running an animal hospital requires you to be on the go for hours. In addition to that, you may also treat farm animals which would require you to be away from the office. With SAS, that’s not a problem. Download our mobile app for iPhone or Android, and stay up to date with your patients all day long. Our mobile app gives you the ability to send texts and return calls directly, which is a huge time saver, especially when you’re elbow deep in a pregnant horse.
• More Money For Your Animal Hospital: If you’ve got things covered during the day or have low call volume, sign up for our Economy Plan so that we can take your calls after hours and on weekends. Only paying for what you need means more money for you to re-invest in your business.

While pets bring joy and love to families all around the world, they are not always easy to care for. Since we are can’t always communicate with them effectively, we may not always know what’s wrong. That is why millions of people trust in veterinarians to figure out what’s going on with their pet, and to hopefully fix the problem. Specialty Answering Service is here to make the job of running your animal hospital easier, so that you can continue helping as many furry friends as possible.