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After launching its first Veterinary Receptionist of the Year award, earlier this year, the British Veterinary Receptionist Association (BVRA) received over 100 nominations from veterinary staff and clients alike. On Saturday 16th March at the Association’s second annual congress at the Belfry Hotel in Sutton Coldfield, founders Brian Faulkner and Kay Watson-Bray announced the winner – Kendall Clee of Blacks Vets in Dudley.
Runners-up were Laurie Williams from Vets4Pets, Hereford, in second place and Kristin Hardin from Maven Vets in North Cheam, Surrey, in third place.
Andrew Fullerton, Technical Manager for Feliway® and Adaptil® was delighted to present the winners with their awards on behalf of the sponsors. He said, “I know from my ten years in practice the skill it takes to be a veterinary receptionist and also know how many go above and beyond what the role entails. Now we have an official award to highlight this!”
All three winners received an award, certificate and vouchers.
Kendall Clee said, “It’s absolutely amazing to win. Everyone at my practice is a joy to work with, so they’ve played a part in this too, as they make my job easier.”
The winners were chosen by an independent judging panel who, despite the high standard of entries, all chose the same top three finalists.
Kay says she was delighted for the winners, “We’ve had such a fantastic response from colleagues and clients wanting to recognise the efforts of their veterinary receptionists. The stories they shared were really heart-warming and it was clear that not only are veterinary receptionists appreciated, they make a considerable contribution to practice success. We’ll be sending everyone nominated a certificate to mark their achievements and would like to extend our thanks to anyone who took the time to nominate their favourite veterinary receptionist.”
Comments made about Kendall included
“The unflappable Mrs Clee is a consistently reliable source of positivity and energy and is adored by colleagues and clients alike.”
“queen of multitasking”
“will treat each and every client as though they are the only one”
“able to conjure time out of thin air; no matter how much she has on her plate, she will never fail to find a moment to fuss every one of our furry visitors.”
“..ability to divide her attention in every conceivable direction, whilst still making every client feel valued and delivering on every promise that she makes to them.”
The awards were the icing on the cake of a successful congress which almost 200 delegates attended – more than double the numbers who attended the first congress in 2018. The 2019 programme included sessions on dealing with the angry client and communication, delivered by Brian Faulkner. Doug Muir of Compassion Understood talked about pet bereavement and clients.
All delegates also received a free DiSC personality profile and could bring their results along to a talk by coach Carolyne Crowe as she discussed ways to improve performance based on an individual’s personality traits. Keynote speaker Benjamin Mee, zoo owner and author of ‘We bought a zoo’ also gave a fantastic and inspirational lecture that was very warmly received by delegates.
Brian commented, “We’ve experienced fantastic growth over the last year and it’s great to see so many receptionists together networking, learning and sharing ideas and experiences. It can only benefit the profession when front of house teams are able to access high quality CPD and improve their knowledge and skills as a result.”
The Association has also recently celebrated the graduation of its first fully accredited veterinary receptionists, with 11 members having completed the highest level Gold award which launched in February.
Find out more about practice membership and upcoming BVRA Bootcamps at www.bvra.co.uk
Photo at top shows Left to right: Andrew Fullerton (CEVA), Kendall Clee (Vet Receptionist of the Year), Brian Faulkner & Kay Watson-Bray, founders of BVRA.