I’m always amazed at how many of today’s dentists live in the Dark Ages when it comes to service.
“Yeah, we do Customer Service”
is what I hear them say.
But they don’t.
Maybe they’re nice to their patients.
Some of the time.
But they’re not consistent.
And that’s the big difference.
At my local OfficeWorks store, I’m now greeted by not one but many employees as I walk through the front door.
They recognise that I’ve only just arrived in their store, and they go out of their way, while still doing what they’re doing, to acknowledge my arrival.
It’s a really great touch, and the reason it is, is because at most other stores that we all frequent, there is no greeting.
Think about it for a minute. At most other places where there’s a multitude of products or shelves or both, there is rarely someone if at all anyone there by the front door acknowledging your arrival and welcoming you to the store.
Usually, in most cases, you walk in with a worried look on your face and ask yourself the question of “where do I find the [blank]?”
And nobody, at most places, is there to greet you.
And how nice does it feel to be greeted and assisted?
It’s a heck of a lot nicer than feeling ignored.
And yet ignored is what happens a lot at most Dental Offices when patients arrive for their appointment.
Well sure we acknowledge their presence, sometimes, but for the most part, after that we tell them:
“Won’t be too long. Just take a seat”
with such monotonous regularity that we could almost install a tripwire to trigger a recording to do the same thing.
And then our receptionist, who is often doing anything but receptioning, just buries her head back into her monitor and ignores our valued patients.
As if they’re not even there.
And sometimes its one patient and sometimes its several.
Sometimes it’s a room full of patients sitting there on their molded chairs being ignored by our staff and ignoring each other.
Being entertained by a pile of old magazines and sometimes if we’re lucky, a fish tank, until it’s time to be called for their turn to meet the executioner.
How uninviting is that?
How much nicer would it be to have a designated person employed to concierge and greet and spend time in your client lounge with your patient prior to their clinical time in your office?
Where the concierge serves warm or cold beverages and warm or cold towels, and sits with the guests and really visits with them and connects?
So that time before the treatment passes so quickly?
Like a visit with an old dear friend?
Rather than a queue for the gallows?
Wouldn’t that be better?
The simple fact is that treating an arriving client in a warm and friendly manner has been scientifically proven to heighten the client’s perception of their experience, and in so doing makes them more receptive to do more business with you.
It’s two of Cialdini’s Principles of Influence in action.
Using these Principles, as opposed to ignoring them, helps to create a sizeable advantage and point of difference for our business compared to not just other Dental Offices, but to most other businesses out there.
First of all we’re applying the Principle of Liking.
By spending time with our clients before they’re called for their treatment we are showing them that we like them. And people will say yes to us more when they know we genuinely like them.
And the opposite is true.
People are less likely to do business with us if they feel ignored or taken for granted.
And that’s the feeling that the traditional “waiting room” environment creates and promotes.
The second principle in play is the Principle of Reciprocity.
People feel obligated to give back to you when you have given to them first.
And the gifts of time and attention are very powerful reciprocating gifts.
People notice when you give time. And they notice when you do not.
The cost of employing someone to be a designated concierge and friend to your anxious waiting patients is overshadowed by the returns that you receive with those patients feeling liked and cared for and appreciated, and as a result then accepting and making and keeping their ongoing appointments for treatment.
People love doing business with people they like and who like them.
And it all starts at the start.
And sadly, most dentists don’t get this…
******
My Two-Day Workshop in Las Vegas on September 25 and 26 was a huge success. At that workshop I explained the COMPLETE Ultimate Patient Experience process in detail, covering in greater depth how to address simple changes that create BIG RESULTS.
Sorry you missed it.
If you are interested in purchasing a recording of a part or all of the this magnificent workshop then email me: david@theUPE.com
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.
Did you like this blog article? If you did then hit the share buttons below and share it with your friends and colleagues. Share it via email, Facebook and twitter!!
The purpose of being in business is to be in business.
A healthy business runs at a healthy profit.
A healthy business employs people.
A healthy business stays around.
There’s no point in being in business if your business is not healthy.
What’s the point of living hand to mouth?
It worries staff. It worries customers.
A profitable business reinvests in itself, spending money on capital expenses.
A healthy business makes a profit, and pays taxes on those profits.
A healthy business pays dividends to its shareholders, who pay tax on those dividends.
Our government can use those taxes from the business, and the taxes from employee salaries, for welfare and health.
So why is there now an increasing supply of dentists in the USA and in Australia?
Why is dentistry, as an industry, now creating an oversupply, and with that oversupply, creating narrow margins for those trying to make a living?
And make a living after investing big time in their own education and investing even bigger time in acquiring a Dental Office or building a start up Dental Office.
Why is there now such an oversupply that is causing our educated Dentists to start competing against each other on price?
And price alone?
It’s crazy to think that a price war in Dentistry is going to be good for the population in general.
With most of the population not going to the dentist on a regular basis, you’d have to wonder what the rationale is for creating a massive oversupply?
If it was simply that the population can’t get in to see a dentist because there’s not enough of them then giving the world more dentists should be the answer?
I don’t think so.
Most of the population do not go to the dentist because of fear, followed by perceived lack of need, or apathy.
I’ve yet to hear the reason for underutilization of dentists being because the population don’t know where the dentists are because there’s so few of them.
So putting more dentists on each street corner isn’t going to make the public go to the dentist more just because there are more of them about.
Dentists outnumber Starbucks stores in the USA by more than 14:1
So if there are already a truckload of dentists out there already, and the powers that be seem to feel that we need more dentists, then how can we as business owners survive in this world of ever increasing oversupply?
Well that’s easy.
You need to create a differential so powerful that customers and patients are going to beat a path to your door.
Dentistry doesn’t have to be an all out price war that everybody joins in to.
There are still expensive automobiles out there.
There are still expensive restaurants to dine at.
Not everybody is riding a bicycle.
Not everybody is eating take-out.
The Ritz Carlton is still open for business?
There will always be a demand for quality and service.
There will always be a discerning population who value quality and service even at the Dentist.
It’s your role, as a service provider to stand out from the masses of price fighting dentists competing against each other with no differential.
Because there will be a general public out there looking for what you should be offering.
It’s just going to be more difficult for them to find you amongst a sea of discounting dentists.
But the quality conscious will find you.
And when you give them great service, world-class service, they will keep coming back top see you.
Again and again and again.
How do I know?
Because this is what I did in my practice.
I provided an exceptional environment of world-class service in an average part of Sydney, and consumers seeking this differential beat a path to my door.
It’s a given that there will always be consumers in every market, who will seek out quality and service over “best price”.
And when they do, in dentistry, you need to be ready for them….
******
My Two-Day Workshop in Las Vegas on September 25 and 26 was a huge success. At that workshop I explained the COMPLETE Ultimate Patient Experience process in detail, covering in greater depth how to address simple changes that create BIG RESULTS.
Sorry you missed it.
If you are interested in purchasing a recording of a part or all of the this magnificent workshop then email me: david@theUPE.com
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.
Did you like this blog article? If you did then hit the share buttons below and share it with your friends and colleagues. Share it via email, Facebook and twitter!!
I was honoured last week to receive an award at the Secret Service Summit in Cleveland Ohio.
I’m a certified Secret Service Agent.
Twice qualified.
2010 and 2011.
And this year, at the annual Summit I was awarded Agent of the Year for 2015.
It was a humbling experience to be honoured in front of more than 650 attendees whose major goal in business is to exceed customers’ expectations consistently.
I am deeply honoured to be the recipient of this award.
One of the presentations at this prestigious annual two-day summit, by John DiJulius, had attendees asking the question:
“How Do I Make Price Irrelevant?”
And the answer is simple.
According to DiJulius, when your service, when the experience you provide to your customers is of such a high level, your customers have no idea what your competition charges.
Because you are providing an EXPERIENCE that they can only receive from you. They are not purchasing a commodity.
He urged attendees to resist competing on price wars and to rather compete on experience wars.
And This Is Exactly What I Did.
In a working class suburb in Sydney Australia I provided my clients with an experience that was unlike any other Dentist they had ever been to.
In an area where people earned average incomes and drove average cars and lived in average homes.
I was able to provide an exceptional experience that kept clients and customers and patients returning because of the experience.
It can be done.
So long as you back up your product with a world class experience.
Each and every time.
DiJulius pointed out that Starbucks employees used to think the coffee they sold there was too expensive.
Until they realised that they were not selling coffee they were selling an EXPERIENCE.
Starbucks, as you know, is marketed as “your third place”.
It’s not just coffee. It’s the place you go, when you’re not at work or at home.
It’s beyond being about the coffee.
It’s much much more.
And it’s the same at Disney.
As amusement park go, there’s more excitement at other parks than there is at Walt Disney World.
But Disney is not selling rides. They’re selling a total experience.
Disney is selling an experience from the moment you purchase your vacation, to the moment you rebook to return.
It’s not about the rides. It’s about the whole place.
It’s about the Disney Culture.
DiJulius asked how can we be the brand our customers cannot live without?
He said there were six things that transform your brand into being one of those brands that your customers cannot live without.
• Great Products or Service
It’s very difficult to become legendary with an inferior product.
• Consistency
Your organisation must have systems in place that make doing business with you a pleasure because the experience is consistently good.
Not haphazard and random.
• Ease of Doing Business
Customers should always feel that it is a pleasure to do business with you, and never a chore.
Calling your business and making a purchase or enquiry should always be a welcoming, convenient experience. Customers should never feel that they are an inconvenient interruption.
• Educate vs. Sell
Our processes should enable us to inform our clients into making the best decision for them, as opposed to manipulating them into a situation where they feel they’ve been cornered.
• Employee Evangelists
Our employees must be dedicated to the cause. They too must believe that our business is the best of its type in town, and that anything else for our customers would indeed be second best. Or worse.
• Genuine Hospitality
Our staff must walk the walk. It’s a culture. A way of life. It’s our passion. To be the best we can be.
Always.
Always for our customers.
You need to make the process of doing business with you a MEMORABLE EXPERIENCE.
Not vanilla.
Memorable.
And it can be done.
DiJulius pointed out that that we need to create Experiential Interactions.
With consistency.
We need to turn our Dental Offices into a Unique Memorable Moment.
We need to turn a visit to our practice into becoming an EXPERIENCE.
What was once a mundane transaction now becomes a unique memorable moment for our customers and patients.
We must turn all of our Simple Interactions into Experiences.
We must build our experiential moments in our Office and Connect with our customers…..
Because nobody else is!!
The public are willing to exchange dollars for energy.
Are you doing what it takes, at your Dental Office, to stand out above your competitors?
******
My Two-Day Workshop in Las Vegas on September 25 and 26 was a huge success. At that workshop I explained the COMPLETE Ultimate Patient Experience process in detail, covering in greater depth how to address simple changes that create BIG RESULTS.
Sorry you missed it.
If you are interested in purchasing a recording of a part or all of the this magnificent workshop then email me: david@theUPE.com
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.
Did you like this blog article? If you did then hit the share buttons below and share it with your friends and colleagues. Share it via email, Facebook and twitter!!
Dr Matthew Hopcraft is a dentist from Melbourne Australia who mixed it with the best on TV cook show “Master Chef”.
I marvel at the talent of people with a passion for cooking like a chef, and mixing it with the best as Matthew did and going almost the whole nine yards.
I take my hat off to anyone who can cook, and learns to cook with the best.
It is not something that comes naturally.
I think it is a talent and a passion that is nurtured and grown.
If I wanted to start cooking like a chef I could go about it by doing one of a number of things.
I could just try and wing it and see how I go….
I could begin by purchasing or referencing a number of recipes of the greats and by following their instructions I could try and do it myself….
Or I could simply acquire a list of ingredients of a Master Chef cooked meal and then toss them in a pot, try to cook them myself, and see how I went?
I could buy a Master Chef’s cookbook, put it on the shelf and leave it there and hope that somehow by magic the recipes would simply just appear on plates in my kitchen?
I could assemble all the ingredients ready to go on my kitchen bench and then not turn on the oven?
Are you getting the picture?
To achieve culinary success the planets need to line up.
It’s not simply a matter of hoping that things come together. It’s not a matter of wishing for success.
For success in the kitchen to result you need to have everything lined up and you need to have an unbridled desire to succeed.
Hope is a poor strategy.
A really poor strategy.
Yet in a Dental Practice I see this sort of rubbish all the time.
I see Dentists who want a better practice but won’t commit to what it takes.
I see Dentists who think that a $20.00 cookbook will be the answer to all their practice inadequacies.
Worse still, I see dentists who believe they can create Master Dental Offices on their own with one or two key tips they pick up at seminars and on Dentaltown.
Hardy ha ha.
You can do that and create a successful dental office just the same way that I can build a sensational golf swing by reading Golf Digest.
Will. Not. Happen.
Really?
If it were that simple then every dentist would be uber-successful.
Sadly, they are not.
Sadly, as Dr Omer Reed told me five years ago, ninety five percent of dentists reaching the age of sixty-five will not be able to afford to retire.
They’ll still be stuck on the end of their handpieces.
I’ll bet ninety five percent of dentists out there are trying to figure the meaning of life out on their own….
And there’s the corollary.
I cannot work out how to cook on my own.
Sure I can cook and practice and maybe I can get my family to eat it.
Maybe I can get my brothers and sisters and father to eat it?
But do it for a living?
I smell failure.
I smell very limited success.
Why would I think I could cook like the greats?
Without putting in the really hard yards?
It’s not going to happen.
The good thing about cooking is that even if I am really bad at it, if worst comes to worst I can always go buy a meal.
But with my Dental Office I’m on my own.
Every year that you fail to maximize your true potential as a Dentist is a year that you fail. It’s another year you need to keep working to make up for your own inadequacies.
In 1996 when I realised this, and that I needed help, this was the moment that I turned my Dental Practice around.
By 2002 I had tripled my collections.
And I put that improvement down to getting help.
The right help.
And not trying to do it on my own.
And not hoping
So….
“How you doin’?”
Are you a natural born Master chef?
Or are you kidding yourself?
And your dental family…..
******
My Two-Day Workshop in Las Vegas on September 25 and 26 was a huge success. At that workshop I explained the COMPLETE Ultimate Patient Experience process in detail, covering in greater depth how to address simple changes that create BIG RESULTS.
Sorry you missed it.
If you are interested in purchasing a recording of a part or all of the this magnificent workshop then email me: david@theUPE.com
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.
Did you like this blog article? If you did then hit the share buttons below and share it with your friends and colleagues. Share it via email, Facebook and twitter!!
