What’s The Benefit To You Of Pretending To Be Invisible?

Some of you, my followers, may have noticed that I’ve been house-sitting up in suburban Sydney in recent times.

The reason I’ve been doing this is because I want to see a bit more of my dad [who is 91 and struggling with his memory], as well as be able to spend some time with my two children.

Last month I house sat for ten days in Lavender Bay which allowed me to see my Dad six times, and this month I’m currently doing a four-week sit in St Ives and I’ve seen him three times already.

Because of these temporary relocations and the new “digs”, I’ve had to explore new routes for my morning 10km walks. And at present, as I said, I’m in leafy St Ives, which is not too far from where Jayne and I used to live in Sydney before we moved full time to the country.

Interestingly here in St Ives, the phenomenon of city folks pretending to be invisible has expanded more to pandemic proportions since I wrote about it ten years ago… let me explain.

When I walk at home, down near the farm, in the country, I rarely see another person on an early morning walk. Or only a handful.

In the country, I greet every fellow walker. It’s just common courtesy.

But down in the city it’s always been different. And in 2024, it’s getting more and more different.

Even in this little leafy enclave community of St Ives, there’s a noticeable shift towards non-wavers, and non-smilers.

Which I just don’t understand.

Because what does that non-waver do when they see that other person [who they pretended not to see] walking the next week? Or the next day? Or in my case, often, on the next street?

It just makes no sense.

Yet there are people who go out of their way to deliberately non-acknowledge.

To ignore.

To pretend that they are invisible.

Or pretend that you don’t exist….

Again, I’m not sure of the logic or the mechanism or the processes that go on in the minds of the deliberate non-acknowledgers.

So by failing to stick their hand up, they are actually sticking your hands up…

Because failing to acknowledge is rude.

It’s the same at your dental practice…

Are you implementing “The Ten Foot Rule” at your dental practice?

Put simply, THE TEN FOOT RULE means that whenever another living breathing human being is within ten feet of any of us, we must acknowledge their presence.

Every time.

With either a smile, or a wave, or a “Hello”.

No exceptions.

There are many reasons for this.

The first reason is to simply acknowledge the presence of the other person.

The fact that they are there. And you have seen them.

It’s a simple common courtesy.

The process of acknowledgement, of recognition of the fact that they are there, is an opportunity to bring some joy to that other person.

I’ve often said that when we meet someone we don’t know what’s been going on in their day.

So what gives us the right to do anything but be nice to them?

And that’s what a smile, or a wave, or a “Hello” is.

It’s a chance to be nice.

The reason I demand this behaviour in my staff and in the staff and team members of my clients is because you never know who’s watching and observing…

Think about it….

Two team members, in too much of a hurry, walk past each other in the dental office corridor as if the other person isn’t even there.

Sure, they may both be on a mission…. but what if a patient or client observes this behaviour?

What would that client think of each team member?

What would that client think of that dental practice?

If we were to flip that scenario over…. a patient observes two team members passing in the corridor…

The patient sees the team members smile, and each raise a hand to wave.

The patient sees a wave back, and a return smile.

What do you think the patient thinks about that dental practice now?

It’s pretty obvious there is a difference to be seen, and the benefits to the business of having the more courteous behaviour seen are significant.

Similarly, the patient’s spirits get uplifted just from the act of observing this courteous behaviour.

Why would you not just simply wave and smile in acknowledgement, as you pass?

You never know whose day you might impact for the better….

*****

Need your phones monitored?

Are you concerned about the number of calls that are not being answered as best they can be?

You need Call Tracking Excellence.

For the cost of a less than one cleaning per week, you could have your phones being answered much much better….

Convert more calls into appointments…Click the link: http://www.calltrackingexcellence.com

Call Jayne on 1300 378 044 or email Jayne@theDPE.com for more details.

*****

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.