{"id":1097,"date":"2013-02-28T07:22:11","date_gmt":"2013-02-28T01:22:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.jodena.com\/?p=1097"},"modified":"2017-12-12T17:28:20","modified_gmt":"2017-12-12T17:28:20","slug":"a-fish-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jodena.com\/blog\/a-fish-story\/","title":{"rendered":"A Fish Story"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Screen<\/p>\n

My wife and I and two other couples recently went out for dinner. The dining experience was horrendous. 7:30 reservation\u2013seated at 7:50. Another 15 minutes before we got drinks. Our server finally takes our order. We obviously had plenty of time to study the menu! Someone requested \u00a0swordfish blackened. The waiter says \u201cnot possible.\u201d But right above the swordfish on the menu, there is a selection of mackerel blackened. \u201cSorry\u2013that is the way the chef serves it.\u201d I wanted garlic mashed with my tuna rare. Sorry\u2013there is no replacement for the fries which come with the tuna, even though mashed are clearly available with other selections. You get the picture.\u00a0 No one ordered an appetizer, yet our meals were not served until 9 PM! At that point, nobody enjoyed the meal. The food was decent, but nothing to write home about.<\/p>\n

The manager finally came over to apologize as we were eating, and offered all kinds of excuses. We certainly expected some kind of courtesy discount on the bill to mollify our obvious displeasure with the restaurant. Unfortunately, that was the next disappointment. On the way out of the restaurant we saw the manager, and let him know in no uncertain terms that we would never return because he had missed his opportunity to at least do some kind of damage control\u2013some complimentary offer to get us to come back\u2013to show off his restaurant in a more favorable light. Later that night I wrote a blistering Yelp review\u2013it was all true.<\/p>\n

What has this story got to do with dentistry? Hopefully a great deal. This restaurant failed miserably to make me feel special. The customer service was abysmal. Hopefully your dental practice never has a bad day like this. But in my consulting experience, I often see so many examples of behavior that are guaranteed to turn patients off:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. A potential new patient calls asking for an appointment for a teeth cleaning, and finds out that they must come in first for a separate appointment to see the doctor before they can make the cleaning visit. Why not give the patient what they requested?<\/li>\n
  2. \u00a0The phone is not answered over lunch. Why not rotate staff so the phone is always answered during the business day? For many people, lunch time may be their only opportunity to call.<\/li>\n
  3. \u00a0The phone is not answered by a person but by a very complicated message machine\u2013press one\u2013then press two, etc. So it takes you forever to get to speak to a real person. Very frustrating \u2013 very impersonal.<\/li>\n
  4. \u00a0There is a \u00a0lack of\u00a0 customer friendly business hours. 8:30 to 5 \u2013 Monday through Thursday \u2013 just won\u2019t work for a big part of the population.<\/li>\n
  5. \u00a0There are very rigid financial arrangements. If you wish to do more comprehensive dental treatment plans, you need to offer user friendly payment options.<\/li>\n
  6. \u00a0The doctor runs behind schedule on a regular basis. This is flat out unacceptable. Patients will respect your time in direct proportion to the way you respect theirs.\u00a0 If you are running late, at least do something concrete to apologize \u2013 like free movie tickets or a Starbucks card.<\/li>\n
  7. \u00a0The \u201cwrong\u201d person is answering your telephone. She doesn\u2019t smile\u2013often says \u201cno\u201d to requests\u2013and may actually even be uninformed and certainly not helpful. The person answering your telephone is the \u201cface\u201d of your practice \u2013 and may in fact be the most important person in your employ.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    People today tend to be more demanding, so you have to be up to the test and the task. But if treated with exemplary, consistent, over the top \u201cthe customer is always right\u201d service,\u00a0 people will really respond and make it a point to go out of their way to tell others about their positive experience. And that, of course, \u00a0is what you want to happen. Motto -do everything possible to avoid fish stories.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    My wife and I and two other couples recently went out for dinner. The dining experience was horrendous. 7:30 reservation\u2013seated at 7:50. Another 15 minutes before we got drinks. Our server finally takes our order. We obviously had plenty of time to study the menu! Someone requested \u00a0swordfish blackened. 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