How I Motivate and Communicate with Clients in My Practice

Abstract

When I look at communication in the food animal industry, I am reminded that sometime ago, in 1976, two sociologists named Bryant and Snoozick wrote, "the food animal practitioner faces, at best, a frustrated owner who is concerned about profit margin and, at worst, a hostile individual who may even perceive economic exploitation. The owner often believes himself wise in the ways of animal illness and infirmity and may monitor the veterinarian's treatment with critical scrutiny and, on occasion, may even find fault with what is, perhaps, the most appropriate treatment." You know we've all got some clients like that, right? Some of these guys that could mess up anything. They could mess up a one car funeral, among other things. That kind of client. Thus, the food animal practitioner sometimes must play a kind of defensive professional role in which a considerable amount of interactional strain exists. Did you know that 70 to 80 percent of the people in agriculture are introverts? That's one of the reasons we have such a challenge in communicating from time to time. These two fellows also wrote that a profession requires three things to function: cruciality, mystique, and the power of intimidation. Well as a food animal practitioner, let's take a look at these.