Sometimes, despite our best intentions, things go wrong during the day-to-day operations of running a Dental Office.
How we deal with events that do not go to plan is what makes or breaks us as to whether or not our Dental Office is truly World Class or not.
In these situations, the way we make amends for things that have not gone as planned will often stick in the minds of our clients and customers and patients for a far longer period of time than when things do go to plan.
And rest assured, despite our best intentions, there will always be events that occur with our patients that in hindsight, we wish we could have handled in a better manner.
Having an office plan, or protocol, for when things do not go to plan is paramount if we want our business to be held in high regards by our customers and patients.
Looking thoroughly through the processes and stages that each patient experiences during each of their visits to your office, and anticipating where things can or could unravel, goes a long way towards creating *Service Recovery* Moments that Wow your patients and get them talking about your office’s World Class Customer Service.
How your team responds when things go awry will be remembered by your patients far longer than days when everything runs like clockwork.
Anticipating points of challenge, and knowing how to deal with those challenges ahead of time is the key to creating a Magical Moment out of a Service Defect.
But it’s not just identifying the main areas where things can go pear shaped.
It’s about identifying every possible place where the wheels might fall off…..
Because smooth, seamless, Service Recovery is your office’s “Priceless” moment.
That’s what you want your patients telling their friends about.
For example, you’d rather have your patients saying:
“My dentist sometimes runs late, and keeps me waiting past my appointment time, but when he does, he always sends me flowers/movie tickets/a small gift etc. with a hand written thank you card that thanks me for my understanding, that sometimes, some days, things occur at the dental office that throw him behind….
How much nicer does that sound, compared to something like:
“My dentist always runs behind, and when I finally get to see him he’s always in a rush….. and there’s never an apology…. from anyone at his office….”
It is said that the number one reason that patients leave our dental offices and seek treatment elsewhere is apathy, and perceived apathy from our staff and team members towards those valued clients.
I believe that the major reason for that perceived apathy is lack of training and lack of planning and anticipation.
How on earth can we expect to create a Magical Moment out of a Service Defect if we haven’t trained and planned what to do at those moments when things can go differently to how we would like them?
Because World Class Service Recovery never happens by chance.
It is anticipated, and is ready to be implemented at every opportunity that it is needed.
Does your office have a scripted contingency plan for when a patient arrives for an appointment that is scheduled for another day?
Or do your team just bumble around, making the poor patient feel embarrassed for turning up on the wrong day, or at the wrong time…
Or worse still, what is your office’s Service Recovery plan for when a patient arrives for an appointment that our team has failed to record correctly in our appointment book?
It is these small but important make or break moments, and how we deal with them, that really make the difference to our valued clients and customers.
One small error, or moment of apathy or perceived apathy, can go a long way toward instantly unraveling years and years of built up trust and care.
You must have a plan.
A thorough and complete plan.
Because things do happen. And will happen.
And when they do, we must be ready.
Ready to Wow!
And not be full of excuses. And blame.
Preparation is the key.
And you will be prepared, thoroughly prepared, if you truly care.
Having a contingency plan, a strategy for when things go wrong, speaks volumes to your customers and patients that your Dental Office really does care.
And patients really do feel that care….
Creating World Class Service Recovery is just one part of The Ultimate Patient Experience, a simple to build complete Customer Service system in itself that I developed that allowed me to create an extraordinary dental office in an ordinary Sydney suburb. If you’d like to know more, ask me about my free special report.
Email me at david@theupe.com
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This is the simple message that one of my mentors keeps reminding me about again and again and again.
Similarly, he says, another way of guaranteeing success is to see what all your competitors are doing, and then do the opposite.
These two statements illuminate and support the fact that most businesses either fail or just get by, while only a select few truly succeed.
When I say, copy success, what that usually means is seeking out a select few businesses that are successful, yet may or may not be in your industry.
And copying those businesses.
Because they have been successful.
Mirroring success is the best way of building a successful business.
This week, I’ve been attending a golf tournament.
But not just any old golf tournament. I’ve been attending The Masters.
The Masters.
At Augusta National Golf Club.
In Augusta GA.
Now I’ve been to several golf tournaments before.
Like the Australian Open, the Australian Masters, NSW Ladies Open, the Open Championship in England, amongst others.
But none has been like this one.
None has even come close to the *Experience* of The Masters.
The similarities between The Masters Experience, and a Disney Experience, are uncanny.
The entry gates are like those at Disney.
The security and check in processes are like Disney. As are the happy and friendly team members there at The Masters who are there to make sure that your visit to Augusta National is a memorable one.
Merchandising, crowd movements, clean rest rooms, all handled with precision.
Food, tidying up, all looked after extremely well.
Security is there, and is strict, but is also friendly.
I see why people come back again and again to Augusta and The Masters.
Because it is, by far, the Ultimate Golf Tournament.
As dentists, we can learn from Augusta National and The Masters, and how they create their Experience.
We can learn, that a visit to Augusta National, is like a visit to no other place.
Firstly, there are no broken windows. Nothing is left to chance. Everything is covered, and looked after.
The course the buildings, the facilities are all in superb condition.
Much like at Disney.
Secondly, all the volunteers and paid staff are happy and friendly.
They are also happy to engage with patrons if need be. And they do so willingly.
Nothing is ever a bother to these employees and volunteers.
Nobody looks or acts like they would rather be elsewhere.
And for patrons, or customers, nobody looks like or feels that they’ve spent too much money in getting there. Or spent too much money there at The Masters.
Which brings me to my point.
And that is that nobody puts on a golf event like Augusta National does.
And they do so because they’ve modeled success from outside of their industry.
The quantum difference is measurable and palpable.
If you want to be successful, you need to think outside the box.
Think outside your industry.
Find other successes. Put your radars up.
Take note. And implement.
It’s all out there. You just need to find it and copy it.
Seek it. Copy it.
If you want to stand head and shoulders above your competitors.
In the same way that a visit to Augusta National is like no other Golf Tournament, a visit to your Dental Office can be so different to any other Dental Office around…
The Ultimate Patient Experience is built from successful practices taken from other industries. It is a simple easy to implement system that I developed that allowed me to build an extraordinary dental office in an ordinary Sydney suburb. If you’d like to know more, ask me about my free special report.
Email me: david@theUPE.com
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One of the key factors that elevates a Dental Office to being truly exceptional and World Class is the ability of the people working in that office to *connect*, and connect well and connect quickly, with the clients and customers and patients that visit that office.
And connect appropriately.
And that goes for all businesses. Not just dental offices.
I am constantly reminding my team to never assume and never suppose when it comes to dealing and conversing with clients and customers at our dental office.
The best principle to follow to uphold this mantra is to always be asking questions and never to be offering statements or opinions.
In so doing, by asking questions, it allows the question asker to control the direction of the conversation.
For example, on occasions, a valued patient may arrive late for their scheduled appointment.
When they do, we tend to guide them to a comfortable chair to rest a short while, and offer them a cold drink.
And we greet them with a pleasant enquiry, such as:
“Oh Mrs. Smith, we were starting to worry about you…is everything OK?”
Now we don’t know whether Mrs. Smith has been delayed in arriving to her appointment with us because of traffic jams, or traffic accidents?
We don’t know whether she’s had work issues that have held her up, or whether there’s a family or personal matter that’s been occupying her time?
We just don’t know….
Yet I’ve heard of team members who have greeted their late arriving patients with a short:
“You know you’re late”.
Which is just so wrong.
Because we sometimes have no idea whatsoever about what has been going on in Mrs. Smith’s world, and how much of an effort she’s made to get to our office at all….
So we should never suppose, nor assume.
It’s interesting, because this week I’m on an organised tour, in Southern USA to play some golf and watch some golf.
There are over one hundred and twenty people on this tour, which involves various levels of accommodation and various modes of transport.
And there’s one couple who have taken a VIP package, which includes their own private transportation as opposed to group bus or coach transport.
Well yesterday, I walked around with a friend of mine while he played golf, and that couple were in the group. She watching, with an injured foot, and him playing.
Me, I’m not playing due to my shoulder.
Anyway, it’s apparent that there are no airs and graces to her. And he’s a little on the quiet side.
Long story short, I’m chatting with him on about hole number five, and he tells me that he was a train driver….
And then he tells me the worst.
That he’s not worked for two years since someone jumped in front of his train….
And another two incidences in quick succession…
And my heart just sank.
Because there’s no way I could imagine living in his head, and how bad that could be.
Except to know that what ever I imagine it’s like, it’s got to be several orders of magnitude worse.
And I’d never ever want to be there….
But you never know.
And you should never assume.
On a lighter note, in a second story, last night I was booked to dine at a fine dining restaurant. And I was told that this restaurant had dress regulations. And I had enquired at my hotel, and been told, that jeans were OK as long as they were not torn.
Well upon my arrival at the restaurant, despite the fact that I was wearing a jacket, I was asked to return to my hotel room and change my jeans.
Which I did.
I changed out of a $150.00 pair of jeans into a $40.00 pair of golf slacks.
Which were deemed more suitable.
Now, except for the time that I visited the men’s room, my trousers were out of sight and under my table the whole evening.
So I really could have worn the jeans….
Now I tell this story because at no time was I ever asked about the watch that I wore nor the credit card that I carried.
And really, my greenbacks are the same as everyone else’s, and in reality, the food all ends up in the same place in twenty-four hours no matter who eats it…
And that’s my point.
The chap at the restaurant, with the rigid dress rules, had no idea who his customer was, from one day to another.
Because of his rigid adherence to antiquated dress regulations.
And in so doing, he missed a whole opportunity to connect, connect well and connect quickly, with his customer.
Who knows how many customers he offends with this policy?
The shuttle driver, who transported me from the restaurant back to my hotel room, and back, told me that he had stopped counting at one hundred, the number of people who shared my experience.
And he only worked driving the shuttle on weekends!!
When I compare this maître de’s behaviour with the relationships that my wife and I have with the wait staff and owners where we dine out in Sydney, here in rural North Carolina policy has certainly created opportunity lost?
And at what future cost?
Because it really doesn’t take much extra thought to get it right…
But it does take the right thought.
And that’s what makes some places World Class, and others not.
The Ultimate Patient Experience is a simple to build complete Customer Service system in itself that I developed that allowed me to create an extraordinary dental office in an ordinary Sydney suburb. If you’d like to know more, ask me about my free special report.
Email me at david@theupe.com
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There’s nothing worse than looking at potential gone wasted.
Have you ever seen it?
Someone with opportunity who has let that opportunity pass.
Do you know someone? Someone who has not progressed as they should have? Someone who seems to be marking time?
For many years I had a print hanging on my office wall:
“You’ll Always Miss 100% of the Shots You Never Take”
I believe it may be a variation on a quote from US Hockey great Wayne Gretzky.
And it has been my mantra.
In life.
And in business.
You see, I was fortunate enough to benefit from the Real Estate Boom of 1987 in Sydney.
In September ’87, a friend came to me and said that he was thinking of buying a unit to live in, and had been looking around.
Me? Well I had just begun my Dental Practice ownership, and had borrowed significantly for that purchase.
But I did have cash flow…..
Anyway, long story short, by chance, two weeks later, I had walked past a real estate window and with time up my sleeve one afternoon, went off to inspect two units.
I bought the second one of those two.
On that day.
And lived in it for twelve months….
And sold it at the height of the bubble for 85% profit twelve months later.
My friend, who made the suggestion?
He never bought.
He did not enter the market.
And he later regretted, saying that even though he did not purchase when I did, he still would have benefitted had he bought something, some months after my purchase.
Now I’m not telling this story to boast. I’m only telling it to show, or demonstrate, that one opportunity taken, can change your destiny.
I feel that maybe that purchase became the catalyst for me to take more risks, more calculated risks, that later came across my desk.
And maybe “risks” is the right word, or maybe the word “opportunity” might be a better word to use.
“Opportunity knocks”.
We know it.
And when it does come knocking, you’d better be ready to take it.
Like I said, it is so disappointing to see people who have not taken action when the opportunity has presented itself.
People who have failed to pick up the ball and run with it.
And they’ve been left behind…
And sometimes, often times, it’s not even opportunity that presents.
Sometimes it’s like a no brainer.
And yet they still do not act.
Like my friend…
In marketing, in advertising, in telling the world about your great business, there is opportunity.
Opportunity to tell the world how good your service is, and why the world, the people, should choose you, choose your product, choose your business.
Ahead of any other.
And to do that we may have to invest in an ad.
Or a medium.
Before it pays.
Or before it pays well.
And that can be risky.
So we don’t.
Don’t do anything…..
And the world just seems to pass us by…
Now there’s a whole other topic to explore in future blogs… About advertising. And why. And why you should. And whether you should.
But truth be told, I’ve seen too many great dentists *NOT* be successful in business, with their practices, because they failed to tell the world how good they really were, and the world passed them by.
And that’s sad.
The rewards from taking calculated risk, measured risk, are very gratifying.
And there are enough rewards out there for everyone..
What if Columbus had never sailed?
What if Armstrong had never gone to the moon?
What if you’d never bought that property?
Or run that advert?
Or taken that course of action?
And what if you had?
Would your life be different?
Would your life be better….
The two words go hand in hand, don’t they?
“Risk? ….. And Reward”…..
“Carpe Diem.” …. Seize the day….
Or as Robin Williams said:
“Carpe Dentum. Seize the teeth” …..
Last night, at a small dinner meeting, we masterminded.
And the final question we were all asked was:
“What is the *ONE* thing you have done recently that has had the biggest impact on your life?”
This is a great question, and we heard some great answers.
And a much better question than:
“What’s your biggest regret? What opportunity do you wish you’d taken, but didn’t?”
The Ultimate Patient Experience is a simple easy to implement system that I developed that allowed me to build an extraordinary dental office in an ordinary Sydney suburb. If you’d like to know more, ask me about my free special report.
Email me: david@theUPE.com
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