In business, in your business, do you know all your customers?
And does your business have the systems in place to truly recognise your customers when they pop up unexpectedly in different places than they normally do?
In a dental office, sometimes your regular and consistent A type patients are going to pop up in places where you aren’t going to expect them?
And do you have the protocols in place in your office to make their visit special for them, although it’s not their regular visit?
Last week, I needed to change my travel arrangements to return home early to care for a loved one.
And although I had rung and organised my travel accordingly, on the day of my travel, the airlines had an issue that could have way-laid my plans.
You see, I had to fly from Philadelphia to Dallas and then back to Sydney.
And on the way to the airport in Philadelphia, I saw onlinethat my flight from Phili to DFWhad been delayed ninety minutes, which was going to mean that I would not make my connection at Dallas.
Luckily for me, I had arrived at the airport with plenty of time up my sleeve, in fact so much time, that I was able to change my flight out of Phili to an earlier flight.
Except that taking the earlier flight meant that I had to travel in coach, instead of in First Class.
But at least I was going to make my connection.
And so I was feeling bitter sweet.
Onthe one hand I was going to be travelling in a little less style, but on the other hand I was going to be getting home for sure to care for my loved one.
What was really interesting….
What was really interesting was the Secret Service that the airline had done, or that they had in place, to make my commute as enjoyable as possible.
Yousee, as I remembered, when you travel down the back you have to pay for meals and you have to pay for adult beverages.
But, and it’s a big but….
The flight attendant on this flight serving me down the back told me that they knew that I was a premium platinum flyer.
And because they knew this, my meal, and my beverages were complimentary.
In fact, she even wentso far as to show me her electronic seating chart, that clearly indicated to her that they had a VIP seated down back in seat 15D.
And as such, I was treated like royalty.
Now, to me it was a short flight.
And although I had indeed paid for a First Class seat, the ability to change my flight had meant more to me than the comfort of my flight.
Because I needed to get home.
What I loved about the whole process was how seamlessly the cabin crew had implemented their whole Service Recovery processes to make my flight down back as comfortable as possible.
What systems do you have in place to make your valued customers feel special when emergency changes of plan occur?
It is your seamless service recovery processes that set your business apart as a business that cares about its clients, rather than a business that operates on a nickel and dime basis.
What processes do you have in plan at your practice that separates your practice from your competitors in the eyes of your customers?
Every one of your clients is walking around with an invisible sign around their neck that reads:
“Make me feel important.”
Are you making each of your clients feel important in each and every visit to your dental office?
And in what ways are you doing this?
When your clients are made to feel special and important, then you and your business will also feel that importance.
To convey that importance you do need to know your customers deeply.
And not superficially.
Is your dental practice making every one of your clients feel as important as they possibly can be?
*****
Linda Miles is coming to Australia in August.
Don’t miss this once in a life-time opportunity to see and hear Linda speak first hand…
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.
Have you ever had one of those experiences where you know right from the get-go that things are destined to end up pear shaped?
One of those times where you’ve booked some accommodation online and then when you arrive at the hotel, it looks more like the Bates Motel than the luxurious resort that you thought you were meant to be staying at?
Or you book a romantic night out for your wife and you for that special occasion, only to find that the restaurant you’ve chosen is out in the boon docks and way, way less romantic than you thought you were going to be getting?
And as much as you hope that things are going to get better, more often than not things just keep onheading further and further south despite your prayers and best intentions.
And no matter how hard you try, the event that you have planned out so well just does not fly.
It just goes down like a lead Zeppelin.
Last weekend three of my friends and I experienced one of those events.
My three friends and I had been staying away out of town.
Another friend [who was not with us] had done some research and had booked my three friends and I in for a dinner meal while were travelling.
Now my friend, the booker, had done all his homework and read the online reviews before deciding to choose a well rated, very trendy eatery.
The trouble was, the eatery was not for us.
It was not for me and my three friends….
What we ended up with was a total mismatch between product and customer.
Don’t get me wrong, the restaurant was probably a rave, well reviewed restaurant.
But for four hungry travelers, all we really wanted was a good old-fashioned steakhouse.
So what went wrong on the night?
Well, firstly, the menu descriptions of the dishes did not match the food that was served.
And nor did it match the food that was requested either.
One of our party ordered a grilled piece of fish to be served on the rare side, but when the dish arrived, the fish was overdone and was way more on the dry side.
In fact very dry.
Very very dry…..
The floor manager apologised and explained that this was the way the chef liked to prepare this dish.
Hmmm.
Wrong answer?
Possibly….
Others in our party chose the steak.
And again, the steak was served up sliced into small pieces that had been marinated so richly, that those who chose this dish were extremely disappointed that they just didn’t get a simple piece of steak.
And the potatoes and greens that came with the steak?
Well they were an amalgamation, that looked like a green thing, that did not look like a potato nor did it look like a vegetable.
Again we were told that this is how they did this at this restaurant.
It appeared to us that the food being served was created moreto look a particular way, rather than to taste a certain way.
It wasn’t that we wanted anything fancy at this restaurant.
It was more that we were hoping for good old-fashioned cooking and we were being given something fancy instead.
Hence the mismatch.
What was really interesting, upon our departure from the restaurant, was that when we looked at the floor plan layout of the restaurant, there seemed to be more kitchen [in an open plan kitchen style] than there was actual dining seating.
And when I asked the floor manager this question, he said that the chef was indeed a shareholder in the business.
And to me, that explained EXACTLY why there was more stage than audience in this culinary theatre.
It was all to satisfy ego and not to satisfy customer.
Which is fine, so long as you are able to attract enough customers to fill your smallaudience [restaurant] each night.
Sadly, on this Sunday night, this restaurant was only one quarter full.
But maybe one quarter full is all that they need to turn a profit on any Sunday night?
We all know that in business you cannot please all of the people all of the time.
And maybe this restaurant was out there pleasing another market that was NOT the market that included me and my three friends…
And if that was the case, well the market they were trying to please was not certainly dining outat this rated restaurant on this Sunday night.
Andas Yoda might say:
“Buzzing this place was not.”
What is the lesson here?
In the dental profession, I see dentists who perch their business model way out on a limb away from the mainstream of what the public really want.
And that might be fine for their way out egos and eccentricities.
But, if the section of the market they seek to attract is too small, their ego is only going to send them to the poor house.
And nowhere else.
In this day and age where there is a dentist on every corner of every intersection of every town in your country [and who do we need to thank for that?], sometimes you can’t be holding yourself and your business so far OUT THERE because out there is too far out there.
And out thereyou won’t find enough business to stay in business.
Sometimes your business needs to be able to satisfy the meat and two vegtype of people who just want a good feed.
And nothing real fancy.
Because sometimes plain Jane is all they want.
And if you are trying to carve off a piece of the market that is so thin, and be king of that sliver of your market at the expense of survival, well, survival may be what you are going to need to be concentrating on.
And not business.
And is that good?
I don’t think so….
*****
Linda Miles is coming to Australia in August.
Don’t miss this once in a life-time opportunity to see and hear Linda speak first hand…
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.
There is no point being king of your own sandpit when everyone else is playing in a different sandpit.
Although the solitude can be soothing, sooner or later you will need others to interact with to maintain your own sanity.
And although it may be your sandpit, those that you invite will have the choice of your sandpit, and others that they can choose to play in.
Negotiation of these relationships is then the key to moving forward.
It’s the same in business.
Although the soup Nazi did run a successful business, there would come a time when treating customers rudely would not be good for business.
And it’s the same for medical specialists.
Recently a very close and dear friend of mine was scheduled to have a minor procedure in hospital.
The first hiccup came in the doctor’s rooms delaying, or not telling the time of admittance to my friend until very late in the evening the day before admission.
All people need as patients is a clarity as to what they have to do next.
And giving a patient less than 12 hours notice overnight before admission is to me unacceptable…
When was my friend to start fasting from?
What were her pre-admission protocols?
It almost felt as if my friend was amongst a giant pool of waiting patients who, if they were lucky, would become the chosen ones to be healed by the almighty surgeon.
In dentistry, in my practice, we painstakingly went over our CLEAR. NEXT. STEP. with every patient so there was only total clarity for them about what they needed to do.
There was no confusion or dissention.
We found that what our patients wanted to know was when do they come back, what will you be fixing, the immediacy and urgency of the treatment, and what will happen if they do not have the procedure performed during the recommended time frame.
When our team followed these guidelines we found our appointments were being made, and being kept, at much greater completion rates than when we previously failed to follow any protocols or systems.
So all patients ended up winning because of this.
If you treat your patients like fools they will act like fools and you will end up looking foolish.
Create clarity.
Otherwise you will soon be playing in your own sandpit on your own…
*****
Linda Miles is coming to Australia in August.
Don’t miss this once in a life-time opportunity to see and hear Linda speak first hand…
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.
Click on this link for all details
