Customer Story
Pennard Vets Group save 37 hours in a single month with Vetstoria
Customer Story
Pennard Vets Group save 37 hours in a single month with Vetstoria
8856
appointments booked online
*since September 2022
40%
out-of hours bookings
93%
pet owner satisfaction
*data from 292 responses received in 2023
Practice Type
Independent
PRACTICE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
Key Features Used
✅ Real-time Online Booking
About Pennard Vets
Pennard Vet Group is the world’s largest employee-owned group.
They have practices in Allington, Borough Green, Langley Park, Maidstone, Sevenoaks, Tonbridge, and West Malling and go above and beyond to provide the highest possible levels of care while making a positive difference to their communities.
They reinvest their profits to ensure that their team has access to the best facilities, equipment, and training and embrace the future, leading the way with the use of technology.
‘We have saved almost 37 hours in February 2024’
According to calculations from Pennard Vets, an average phone call takes about 3 minutes. Last month, when the clinics booked around 750 appointments online, they saved a huge amount of time!
“Last month, we managed to save around 37 hours, effectively adding an extra week’s worth of productivity to our team. That’s a significant boost!”
‘Our main goal has always been customer satisfaction’
Balint Hamvas, Digital Marketing Coordinator for Pennard Vets, joined the Pennard Vets Group three years ago and immediately realised the need for an online booking offering. What drove him to get Vetstoria was simply to have a smooth customer experience within the clinics—a must in this day and age!
“I personally hate making phone calls. If I want to book an appointment, I like to book it online. Having an online scheduling software not only makes the client experience a lot better but also has the extra benefit of allowing people to book appointments outside of business hours.”
– Balint Hamvas, Digital Marketing Coordinator for Pennard Vets
‘The customisations with Vetstoria are very handy’
Vetstoria is a customisable tool, and Pennard Vets can vouch for that. When they initially implemented the platform, they weren’t aware of all the tweaks Vetstoria could make. They were pleasantly surprised and relieved to be able to have Vetstoria whilst maintaining full control of their diary.
“Customisations that Vetstoria offered the clinic were exactly what we needed. It was great to see that we could divert all exotic animal appointments to a particular exotic animal specialist veterinarian and that helped streamline workflows within the clinic”
— Balint Hamvas, Digital Marketing Coordinator for Pennard Vets
‘The staff love to talk to customers’
Pennard Vets has staff who love talking to customers and initially felt that Vetstoria might prevent them from being able to do so. However, with the introduction of Vetstoria, the staff quickly realised its benefits within the clinic – noting that it did not hinder their interactions with customers.
“I have always said that Vetstoria is not going to reduce their conversations but give them more time to meaningfully interact with those coming in and who need their attention. And those, who still prefer to call to book appointments, will always be there to chat with.”
– Balint Hamvas, Digital Marketing Coordinator for Pennard Vets
‘12% of the appointments have been booked online and 40-45% were booked out of hours’
Balint looks at implementing Vetstoria as clearing a big outstanding debt to client experience. It has brought them closer to offering a better service again, especially with the option of booking outside of business hours.
Balint has heard nothing but good things about the online booking tool, especially as 45-50% of the core bookings happen out of hours.
“I often go to practices and get positive feedback from colleagues saying that people love the online booking and I believe this is helping us with client retention. I have also heard clients tell the care team about how easy it was to book an appointment and it has been super helpful.”
— Balint Hamvas, Digital Marketing Coordinator for Pennard Vets
‘Staff have more time to reach out to clients’
With Vetstoria’s implementation, Pennard Vets’ client care team has had more time to proactively reach out to clients. The team are now able to give courtesy calls to pet owners who, for example, had not booked a dental treatment even after being sent an offer.
“Usually, the team is quite overwhelmed and don’t have the time to follow up with customers but with Vetstoria, two or three clinics from Pennard Vet Group, have had more time to do this.”
— Balint Hamvas, Digital Marketing Coordinator for Pennard Vets
Interestingly, Balint tells us about one clinic from the group that experienced significant growth, largely due to the receptionist’s positive response and effective use of Vetstoria.
“One of our clinics in Borough Green is a small clinic with just one receptionist, who has been one of the most vocal supporters of Vetstoria from day one. They have seen amazing numbers compared to how tiny the clinic is. The receptionist loves it because all the straightforward booking inquiries go to Vetstoria and this frees up her time so she can talk to the clients in-clinic and spend less time on the phone. They were the first clinic where the number of online bookings reached 20%.”
– Balint Hamvas, Digital Marketing Coordinator for Pennard Vets
‘For any query, the Vetstoria team gets back to us really quickly’
Onboarding with Vetstoria was pretty straightforward. Anytime any clinic encountered an issue or needed guidance for setting up the tool, the team would get a response very quickly.
“We needed a bit of help getting started with Vetstoria but the onboarding team was always ready to offer guidance and help us get comfortable with the platform.”
— Balint Hamvas, Digital Marketing Coordinator for Pennard Vets
‘We recommend Vetstoria’
“I think a lot of people fear tech. But with Vetstoria, the support has been so good that everything was set up perfectly. I like to fiddle with technology and the backend of things and if I wanted more customisations or had questions, I would get help straight away. I think this helps ease the fear people have. We have a system that is ready and functioning at full capacity and we absolutely recommend it.”
– Balint Hamvas, Digital Marketing Coordinator for Pennard Vets
Vetstoria’s real-time online booking drastically reduces phone calls and keeps you in control.
Book a free demo with us today and see how we can help you grow!
Pennard Vets is world’s largest employee-owned veterinary group. With practices across Kent, team members at Pennard Vets go above and beyond to provide the highest possible levels of care, while making a positive difference to our communities.
They reinvest their profits to ensure that their team has access to the best facilities, equipment, and training and embrace the future, leading the way with technology.
Balint Hamvas is the Digital Marketing Executive at Pennard Vets, he looks after the branding, the website, all photography and videography – and Vetstoria, of course.
– Balint Hamvas, Digital Marketing Coordinator for Pennard Vets
