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I write about customer service.

Often I write about the benefits of travelling in the premium cabins when flying and the differences in service provided in those cabins.

I also write regularly about failings that airlines have when the premium service falls below the expected bar.

And I get pulled up occasionally by readers who feel that sometimes I am being too precious when I broach this subject.

In fact, after last week’s article, I received a personal email from a reader letting me know that they had recently travelled “down the back” on a long haul flight with two world renowned cancer surgeons who as the reader said, “seemed very happy”.

But did anybody on that flight say:

“Hey Charlie, what are you doing down the back here when you should be up the front?”

Would anyone have asked a similar question if they saw Charlie jumping out of an early model second hand used car as he raced into theatre to save a patient’s life?

Life is full of choices.

It seems to me with airline travel, that there are plenty of people who choose to travel down the back, but are happy to take a “Free Upgrade” when it is offered.

Do those people ever reject their free upgrades?

When they check into a hotel, and get given a free upgrade, do those people ever say:

“No. I was looking forward to the parking lot view.”

Put a ladder in front of a man and he’ll always want to climb it.

It is a common human trait to aspire to improvement.

That’s why we jump on the scales each morning.

And given the chance of having a little more comfort, most people will take up that chance.

And some of those people will also pay for that privilege.

And that’s why you should always have a premium product to offer.

Because some of your clients who you believe are happy with your base product are actually “internally screaming out” for something better.

So that when that something better comes along, but is offered by another entity, those seemingly “happy customers” depart from your business in droves.

Like when Uber came along. And taxis.

And drive thrus. And fast foods restaurants.

Having mobile order takers with IPad was a game changer at fast food drive thrus.

Complacency is a killer.

Linda Miles once told a colleague of mine:

“If you don’t change you won’t grow”

One of the reasons I draw my readers’ attention to the successes and failings of other businesses outside of dentistry is because we can all learn so much from looking around at other industries and other things and imagine what could be within our own industry.

And sometimes our own customers do not know what is possible until it is made possible

As Henry Ford said:

“If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.”

And faster horses was not the answer.

Sometimes our customers don’t know what they want.

But often our customers do not want less.

And they do not want less than they have been used to.

Even if what they have been used to is a premium product.

So, when something better comes along, being offered by someone else, you had better be ready with your own version of better.

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Linda Miles is coming to Australia in August.

Don’t miss this once in a life-time opportunity to see and hear Linda speak first hand…

Book your tickets HERE.

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Make sure you subscribe to my monthly Dental Water Cooler Podcast Series…. “The Ultimate Patient Experience”

Click on this link for all details

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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