Sometimes I get tagged into online chat discussions.
I guess, as an advocate and evangelist for World Class Customer Service, and in particular, World Class Dental Customer Service, I’m thrown into discussions that have, and are heading, in various shall I say “different” directions…..
Just last week I was honoured to be mentioned by several contributors in a Facebook group that was discussing various tips and techniques for Customer Service.
As is my way, I like to, and I did, take the opportunity to clarify and explain that there is no Magic Bullet when it comes to Customer Service.
And there isn’t…. though people wish that there is…
Sadly, I hear it day in and day out.
And not just in dentistry.
I hear it in all sorts of business.
“Yes, we do Customer Service.”
Well guess what?
Surprise Surprise!
Most businesses don’t.
What most businesses are doing is just a tiny, weeny, little bit of customer service.
What they’re doing is doing one or two things *ONLY* as improvements in what really is a multi-multi-multi step process… The Customer *Experience*…
Most businesses out there that think they are doing Customer Service are usually only really giving a pretty poor, fairly piece-meal attempt at trying to provide to their customers what should be a World Class Customer Experience.
And therein lies the answer….
Most businesses think it’s easy.
They think that Customer Service is just a magic pill that they swallow and “Vwallah!!”
All is fixed.
Well wrong wrong wrong.
If it was that easy then everyone would be doing it and everyone would be providing World Class Customer Service.
And when you look around out there you know the answer…..
They Are NOT!!
World Class is not happening out there…
No! No! No!
It’s M.I.A.. Missing In Action!!!
Yes it is…
You should have seen this Dental thread…. seriously….
I suggested that World Class Customer Service had its standard bearers. Its Icons. Its businesses to look up to….
And I was questioned. Questioned as to whether. Questioned as to why bother….
The reason we hold Disney and Four Seasons up there as standards in systems, in delivery, is because they have stood the test of time.
Disney.
The Happiest Place on Earth.
Who’s second?
Who cares?
Four Seasons? Head and shoulders above other hotel chains…. truly World Class…
And even McDonalds?
We’re not talking McDowell’s here. It’s not Coming To America.
The reason that Disney, the reason that Four Seasons and McDonalds are World Class is the reason why we are talking about them now.
Because they have systems.
S.Y.S.T.E.M.S.
Systems.
And that’s the difference…
That’s the difference between “trying” Customer Service, and delivering it.
Because Customer Service isn’t just a “thing”, that you do.
It’s not a thing, period.
It’s a way of life.
Customer Service is a system of doing business.
It’s not a thing. It’s a process.
A systematic, systemized process..
And if you think it’s just a few steps, a few things, well that’s like thinking that automobile assembly is just a few steps, a few things….
Or brain surgery is just a few steps, or a few things….
You see, World Class Customer Service has to be a systemized, organised sequential programme of well thought out and integrated steps that are in harmony and congruent with each other to create an experience.
Not just a nice feeling….
Because if its not done right, if its not done correctly, then all you really have is a house of cards.
A house of cards teetering on a handful of “nice” steps, as opposed to an integrated well thought out system.
In a system, everyone has a role to play.
In anything else, and this is what I see in dentistry, they rely on one or sometimes two key people to deliver the customer service. And everyone else is a left as a bit player.
Well let me tell you that doesn’t work.
Your clients and customers and patients know it, and they know World Class when they receive it.
And when they do receive it, they know they’ve found it.
Because hardly anyone else out there is doing it…
So, if you want to take that step up, that leap up, then make the commitment….
Make the Commitment to Yourself, to your Team, to your Co-workers, to your Customers…..
Make the Commitment to be truly World Class….
Not just bits.
Be complete. Be total…
Be committed!!
It’s how we live.
It’s how we do things around here.
It’s *THE WAY* we do things around here!!
It’s a culture.
And culture’s just aren’t given, or obtained.
Cultures are grown.
Cultures take time.
Cultures need nurturing…
Sadly, in marketing my services, I come across Dental Offices that are in need of a serious fix.
Not just a quick fix.
They need a fix period.
They like my material.
They like my story.
They like my style.
But they want it like fixed today.
Like now…..
And sadly that’s not going to happen…..
It takes time to repair broken systems.
It takes time to fix cemented attitudes…
It just doesn’t happen overnight…
It can take months, years, to undo bad habits, bad attitude, bad systems…
Rudolph Giuliani did not fix New York overnight.
He didn’t fix it in a month. He didn’t fix it in one year.
But he fixed it.
He repaired a broken culture. He restored a great icon.
As Rachel Hunter used to say in a shampoo advert down here:
“It won’t happen overnight. But it will happen”
You have to give it time.
Disney wasn’t built in a day.
But it was built.
And it was built on systems. And culture.
Disney was built on the principle of being the best and doing the best.
Always.
Not just piece-meal.
But always.
And that’s what Customer Service is all about.
It’s NOT just one person, one dentist, saying stuff.
It’s not just part of the team working on it.
It’s the whole team. The whole business, the whole product.
And it takes time.
It’s not just one magic phrase.
It’s not just like one pearl.
It’s like everything.
It’s a mantra. It’s away of life….
And it won’t just happen.
It’s a journey. It’s a process. It’s a culture.
It’s not what you do.
It’s what you become.
World Class Customer Service is about who you become.
It’s about where you end up.
It’s not about instant gratification.
And what it is about is that it is about process.
It is about posture. It is about the who…
It’s about the who of you…it’s about the who you are…
The best you can be…
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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