Last month I had the honour of being invited to see the behind the scenes operations at Chick-Fil-A Headquarters in Atlanta Georgia.
That’s a long way from home for an Aussie from the Land Down Under.
What may be more interesting is the fact that I do not eat chicken.
Or, well, I have chosen not to eat chicken since 1994.
Nor meat, namely red meat, for that matter.
I was invited to visit Chick-Fil-A Headquarters privately by someone who leads their innovations team, so that I could observe their corporate culture first hand.
A corporate culture that Chick-Fil-A has become famous for.
Here are a couple of things that I saw:
- An atmosphere of benevolence.Throughout the corporation campus, which spread over several acres, I was impressed with the upbeat nature of goodwill that employees showed to each other.In the corridors, in the cafeterias, on the shuttle buses from one building to another, in the car parks, everybody was upbeat and genuinely concerned for their fellow co-workers’ well-beings.
- The Ten Foot Rule.Coupled with the benevolence, no two employees ever passed each other without acknowledgement.Genuine acknowledgement.
Lack of benevolence and the absence of the ten foot rule, are sadly very commonplace in businesses today, from high end corporates right down to small mum and pop businesses like Dental Offices.
Do your employees really have a genuine interest in all of their co-workers as well as all of their customers?
Or are your employees just waiting for the five o’clock whistle to blow?
And when two people pass in your dental office, do they smile and say hello to each other, or do they look down or sideways?
Even if the person they are approaching is a patient?
My hairdresser had a difficult time training his cutters to stop and greet any person who entered the salon.
Employees would look up at the entering guest and then look straight back down at the head they were cutting.
When he asked what this was about, the common answer would be:
“Oh, it’s not *my* next client.”
It took him a while to get the message across that it is someone else in the salons next client, or a possible new client, and as such, that entering guest deserves and commands acknowledgement and recognition.
In life, as customers elsewhere, don’t we just hate it when we’re made to feel like we are invisible?
If I was walking into a restaurant to spend two hundred dollars or more on a meal, I’d expect to be greeted promptly and pleasantly.
Throughout the evening.
And so why shouldn’t our patients, who are spending similar amounts, and more, be treated and greeted and addressed as well and as often as they would be at a fine dining restaurant?
Sometimes our Dental Office gets so far into itself about its magnificent glazing and CAD CAMs and lasers, that we forget that there’s a real human being there who is begging for as much recognition and acknowledgement as they can possibly receive.
And not just the bare minimum…
******
My upcoming in depth two day workshops will be held in London in August.
You can reserve your places right here
I will also be holding my celebrated one day workshop in Melbourne in June and in Auckland New Zealand in July.
You can reserve your seats for Melbourne here.
You can reserve your seats for Auckland New Zealand here.
*****
Have you read my book , How To Build The Dental Practice of Your Dreams [Without Killing Yourself!] In Less Than Sixty Days.
You can order your copy here: Click Link To Order
*****
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
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!!