Have you ever been in a situation where you’ve been pre-judged?
Or worse, have you ever been the pre-judger?
It’s awkward.
When you are the pre-judger, all you want to do is remove your feet quickly from your mouth and run away as fast as you can, hoping that your poor victim suffers an instant momentary attack of amnesia that erases the image of your face and the memory of your poorly chosen words from their mind forever.
Yet you know that’s never going to happen.
Or you simply try to dig your way out of the hole that you just put yourself in, hoping that your customer throws you a lifeline rope of restitution for your ridiculously stupid comment?
And that rarely happens either.
Last Saturday my wife was invited to speak at an event in Sydney.
By coincidence, the Hyatt Hotel group had notified me that I had some reward points expiring, so I cashed in those points and booked a room for her to spend the night in town the Friday night before her presentation.
Now I had decided to not stay with her, but because of a poor weather forecast for the Saturday, I changed my plans and arranged to join her at the hotel after I had attended a previously organised engagement.
So picture this…..
Its 11:15pm Friday night…..I drive into the hotel driveway in my ten year old, but well kept, European RV, and the hotel attendant greets me with:
“Uber pick-up?”
Now, maybe it was the fact that my German car did bear a sticker for my football team on the back window, and maybe because I was wearing a black hoodie and a hat….and maybe guests don’t arrive so late for a check-in there…
But really?
So I said:
“No. I’m joining my wife, who’s already checked in. And I’m valeting the car.”
Funny, I didn’t think that Uber drivers drove European RVs?
It reminded me of the time in my dental office one Monday morning when a very averagely dressed chap who did not have an appointment walked in and sat in my client lounge, and asked if we could see him.
Well, on this morning I did have time available around that time and so he waited a short while and I was able to see him.
He was wearing an old worn full upper denture and had most of his lower teeth, though they were discoloured and worn. Some were missing.
He asked what I could do for him.
Fast forward a few minutes further into the appointment and this man revealed that he had just won $10Million on OZ-Lotto.
And the reason that he was in my building was because his first thought was to have some hair replacement treatment at a well-known facility located on the floor below my office.
To cut a long story short, I ended up transforming this patient’s mouth with significant crown and bridgework.
Can you imagine how this story could have ended differently if anyone in my office had pre-judged this patient based on his looks and his attire?
You know, it’s impossible to see what’s inside a refrigerator without opening the door.
Nor can you guess what treasure lies beneath the wrapping paper of a well thought out gift.
In the same way, it’s important to NEVER EVER pre-judge a person in front of you.
How do we avoid prejudging?
That’s simple.
We ask clarifying questions.
Sometimes more than one….
“Welcome to the Park Hyatt Sir. Are you checking in?”
“Welcome to the Park Hyatt Sir. Can I assist you with your luggage?”
That kind of covers it better, don’t you think?
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My next public speaking presentation showing Dentists how to grow their Dental practices will be in London England on Saturday 4 August 2018 with Jayne Bandy.
For more information and to secure your seat click this link here.
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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.
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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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