Telephone protocol varies from practice to practice, but as a general rule you should:

• Always strive to answer the telephone in the shortest possible time. Within three rings will impress the caller. Within five rings is acceptable in a busy practice. Every ring more than that is progressively more annoying for the caller, until they give up.
   
• Make the caller feel welcome, and identify yourself. "Good morning, WellPet Veterinary Practice, Linda speaking", is a suitable greeting.
   
• Enunciate your words clearly and speak directly into the mouthpiece. Time spent confirming that the caller has got through to the veterinary practice, or who they are talking to, is time wasted.
   
• Get the details. In all cases, note down the name of the caller, the type of pet, its name, and the reason for the call. Ideally you should always ask for a telephone number you can call back on (in case you get disconnected), and read it back. This might not be appropriate in an extreme emergency, when a client will expect immediate action, and may be upset by being asked for what they consider to be non-essential information.
   
• Prioritise telephone calls and waiting clients. Most callers will quickly give you the reason for their call. Some, on the other hand, will want to give you "little Herbert's" life story!
   
• If they do, politely try ask the client the nature of the problem before they have a chance to launch into a lengthy spiel about other matters.
   
• If it isn't urgent, offer to call back at a quieter time so you can discuss "little Herbert" in greater depth (but without having an audience of 10 angry pairs of eyes glaring at you over the reception desk, all willing you to hurry up!).
   
• Be very, very careful not to appear dismissive in any way. You may not consider "Herbert's" dicky tummy to be an emergency, but Mrs Crotchet most certainly will. If you appear not to take a client's concerns as seriously as they do, you will risk causing a major upset.
   
• If a client doesn't seem to understand your advice or instructions, offer to email/fax/post information and then follow this up with a phone call at a time convenient for you.
   
• Clients in the waiting room initially take priority over the telephone. It only takes seconds just to acknowledge everyone and explain that you will be as quick as you can, before picking up the phone. On the other hand, it is almost impossible to concentrate if a phone is ringing whilst you are trying to impart important information. You will need to ascertain quickly whether the call is more crucial than your waiting customers. If the call is a routine booking, offer to ring back in 10 minutes. Alternatively, if colleagues are available, transfer the call to another member of staff.
   
• Of course, clients telephoning to report an emergency should be given absolute priority.
   
• Manage the caller's expectations. If you are going to put someone on hold, always give them an idea of how long they might expect to wait, and never allow them to hold for more than 30 seconds without returning to give them an ‘update'. This is particularly important if your system is not one of those which plays music, or a recorded message whilst the caller waits. These do at least give some reassurance that the call is still holding and the line hasn't simply been dropped.
   
• Never give out the personal telephone numbers of members of staff.
   
• If an answering machine is used to relay a message when the surgery is closed, it is essential that an emergency number is given out. All veterinary practices are required by law to provide a 24 hour emergency service. It is also useful to state the time at which the surgery re-opens for routine enquiries. If call divert is used, then the receptionist should state the location of the surgery since the client may not initially be aware that he or she has been put through to another branch.