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Sometimes the act of making a mistake with our product and service can present our business with an incredible opportunity of *making things better*.

So much so, that the act of rectification immediately overshadows our original defect in such a way, that the customer is in awe of our business because of the way that we seamlessly switch into recovery mode.

It’s a process called *Service Recovery*.

While ever I teach and lecture about Service Recovery in the Dental Office I am consistently horrified that as Business Owners most dentists do not have Service Recovery protocols for all of the defects that can go wrong in their office and for those defects that can create poor and negative customer experiences for their valued patients.

Traditionally what happens in most Dental practices out there is that the complaint or defect is treated as if it is a hot potato.

By this I mean that the defect, or potato, is rarely held or embraced by a team member for any reasonable period of time.

In fact, to the contrary, the defect is simply passed quickly to another team member and in so doing the first team member immediately washes her hands of the responsibility.

“Oh yes, I told her that I’d get Dr. Jones to call her about it…”

And of course now the problem belongs to Dr Jones, despite the fact that he may have an agenda full of other items, and despite the fact that his receptionist could easily have been empowered to resolve the original service defect without it ever needing to involve Dr Jones…

But we see it time and time again.

Poor systems involving processes lead to even poorer systems involving defects and even poorer protocols for Service Recovery.

What if you were able to empower your dental team members to know the various places in your Customer Experience Cycles where defects could possibly occur?

And what if as business owners we were able to train our valued team members to make calculated decisions that alleviated the patient’s situation with such certainty that the patient left our dental office relieved and appreciated, rather than angry and frustrated?

You see, Service Recovery is by definition the ability of your Office to rectify any Service Defects that occur throughout your day.

Service Defects therefore are defined as any Obstacles and Challenges that can occur at any stage of the Customer Experience Cycle that have the potential of ruining the Customer’s experience.

Our Dental Office’s Service Recovery systems and processes and the way we seamlessly swing them into action are what defines us as a business that cares unconditionally about our customers.

While these customers that experience a service defect may complain about that defect that has just happened, they will be in awe at the way our business handles their defect through its service recovery processes….

So here’s what we need to strive to achieve in our practices…

We need to create a culture of *Zero Risk* throughout our business.

A Zero Risk philosophy is essential in order to create even more WOW Experiences for your customers and patients.

As a patient of our World Class Dental Practice our clients and customers have a sense of security when they deal with us so that should ever any little thing not go to plan, then we as their Dental Office will make it right regardless.

Zero Risk for your Dental Office is having all your team members fully aware of the potential common service defects that can arise at any stage in the Patient Cycles and visits to your Office, and having the team trained and empowered to provide World Class Service Recovery if and when any defects do arise.

So that they never have to play hot potato….

And your Dental Office becomes known as Zero Risk to do business with…and that’s a really nice way to be known in your community.

Remember that Zero Risk addresses an intimidating array of issues in your practice that can potentially produce unhappy customers, yet those issues may not always be the fault of our Office.

Having a seamless contingency plan and empowering your team to take action is what makes your Dental Office an absolute pleasure to do business with.

And that will make you World Class within your community….

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My upcoming in depth two day workshops will be held in London in August.

You can reserve your places here: Click Link To Order 

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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

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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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