69. Is Every Customer The King? --- The veterinary staff is badmouthing the pet shop?

"I am not happy with one of your veterinary staff," the pet shop girl phoned me. "He told my client that my shop has many puppies dying of parvovirus. My client's friend wanted to return the puppy and the puppy had been with her for 2 weeks! I had a big row with my client."

I said, "It is best to get your client, my staff and you together to know what has been alleged. In this way, you get to hear all sides of the story."

The pet shop girl did not accept this method of resolution.

"How can I refer my clients to your Surgery if your staff bad-mouths my business?" the pet shop girl throws down the gauntlet. "So, are you going to tell your employee or not?" the pet shop girl's tone went up a notch, impatiently and demandingly. Her shop had "The Customer is King" reminder to employees on a list of duties and I could understand her apprehension.

"I will talk to Mark urgently by phone as he is not around," I said, not wanting to add oil to the fire of anger. "In my experiences, there are a few customers who twist and turn, leading to conflicts and tension between the veterinary staff and the pet shop."

Pet shop operators are quite demanding. They are seldom loyal to the veterinarian in my experience and so this threat of cutting off referrals did not cut ice with me.

When I went to the pet shop for vaccination on the same day, the pet shop girl did not bring up the subject and I did not pursue the matter. Since there was no need to drag up the dirt and accusations of bad-mouthing, let sleeping dogs lie.

Mark must have had contacted her client who had denied any badmouthing. Mark was angry at being accused of this matter. The client must have had spoken to the pet shop girl.

As for me, I said to the pet shop operator when I saw her, "I have stopped going to many breeders and pet shops for vaccinations nowadays due to such conflicts and conflicts of interests."

I was brutally frank, "I have had terminated my services to your competitor who has ten times more dogs than you for me to vaccinate. It was a large loss of potential source of doggy clients to me. But I had to do it."




"Why?" the pet shop girl asked.

"According to one client from your competitor, the competitor told the puppy owner that she she ought to come to me to use the free vaccination voucher given by the pet shop on purchase of the puppy. But the puppy owner must go another veterinarian for all consultations."

With such a silly advice, the puppy buyer gave us the feedback. The buyer felt that there was some dubious inexplicable behaviour on the part of the seller and expressed her feelings to my staff. Why would the seller recommend her to come to me for free vaccination and not for other services? This was a case of a pet shop seller bad-mouthing a veterinarian and yet using her extension service to vaccinate his puppies? Was there really something wrong with the veterinarian? Human behaviour is hard to explain in many circumstance.

I said in a lecturer's voice to the pet shop girl, "Now, whether the puppy buyer was twisting and turning in her comments to my staff, I don't know. It was an odd behaviour of the pet shop puppy seller. I do not just confront the pet shop operator to demand an explanation. I just stop doing business with him."

To make her appreciate that I don't really need her business if she becomes unpleasant and awkward, I said, "Your competitor has many more puppy vaccinations for me than you!"

The pet shop girl was silent.

In fact, this pet shop operator has notices of other veterinarians except mine on her notice board. I did not want to tell her to include my name on the board too. She has her right to do what she wants with her shop's notice board. A clever pet shop operator would do the necessary to promote the veterinarian's business or at least not to put up notices of other veterinarians.

I do not enjoy being brutally frank in business, but sometimes this is the best way to handle pet shop operators and breeders. A veterinarian going to the pet shop to vaccinate their puppies is "perceived" as being "desperate".

Many pet shop operators and breeders look down on such veterinarians. It is a sad fact of life. They think, "After all, if the vet is that good, he would have a heavy caseload. Why spend time driving to a pet shop to vaccinate one or two puppies?"

Time is money. Is it worth the trouble if you are really a good veterinarian? Is the quality of such clients really up to par when they press the vet for cheap services and get free consultations? I doubt it and am taking pet shop services only where both parties are happy to see each other. I will stop my vets providing such services when necessary. Sometimes, it is best to serve with happiness. The Customer is not always the King. Many behave rudely and are no better than peasants. Peasants are uneducated but such boorish customers and tried to get fake quotations said to be offered by my staff in order to obtain cheap services or run away without payment!