Want to know how to increase sales, breed loyalty, and save money on expensive marketing? You would think everyone would. Even if you are not a business owner, or manager, you must realize that if you deal with clients it is in your interest to increase sales, breed loyalty, and save money on marketing.
However…
It never fails to amaze me how many businesses just throw it all away by forgetting the very basics of being in business. I hate buying anything – not because I don’t want to part with the money, I just want to make the process as simple as possible. I can’t be alone in this. Why does me – giving you my money – have to be so complicated?
The Basics:
1: Answer the G.D. phone!
Here is a revelation. If your phone is ringing, and it is going unanswered, then by definition you are not answering the most basic needs of your customers. They actually WANT to talk to you – the least you can do is answer. Please note: voice-mail is not answering a phone call. If you are paying a receptionist to put calls through to your voice-mail all day, why not just get a automated phone tree to do it for you! People really hate those, but at least you’ll save some money on the receptionist, and clients will appreciate the honesty of you not wanting to talk to them.
2: Answer Emails!
See all the above, and…
Email is easy! I’m not expecting an instant response. I have not tied you up on the phone for a couple of minutes trying to give you my money. I am all but inviting you to make me wait. You don’t even have to read my terrible handwriting – I’ve typed everything out for you! But please have the courtesy to at least think about answering my email with 24 hours (I’ll even give you more time if it is a holiday or a weekend). To be honest, there is not a lot of excuse for not answering within a couple of hours – but I understand, who needs customers!
3: Don’t insist that I use your website if a: has the wrong information on it, b: has out of date information on it, or c: has no information on it at all.
4: Don’t ignore me in person…
You know, I hate pushy sales people just as much as the next person; but there has to be a happy medium between being accosted every few feet in a store and being unable to find anyone or feeling you are interrupting a social event with your pesky request to give them money.
5: The Tyranny of Choice:
“I’d like to buy a widget to fix my whatsit”
“What kind of widget?”
“Don’t really care as long as it fixes my whatsit!”
“What color of widget would sir like?”
“Eh, red I guess…”
“We don’t have any red widgets sir.”
“Well I don’t really mind what color it is I only want to fix my whatsit – what colors do you have?”
“*sighs* I’ll go look for you. We have X widgets in green or blue, Y widgets in blue or black, and a Z widgets in green and black.”
“What is the difference between an X, Y, or Z widget?”
“Well they come in different colors and the prices are different.”
“Is that it?!”
“I’ll have to get Terry from technical Support to talk to you about that, please hold…”
“But…”
“This is Terry, I’m sorry I can’t get to the phone but please leave your message after the beep and I’ll get back to you as soon as I feel like it… maybe.”
*click*
As I explored in the post Marketing from the Ground Up, what a business sells and what their customers buy are not necessarily the same thing. The staff member in the above example is selling (and I use that term in its loosest possible sense) widgets; but the customer is trying to buy a fix for his whatsit If the business aligned its goals with that of the customer the interaction would have been over in seconds.
6: Just sucking in general.
Do I really have to call / email you 2 -3 times to get anything done? Could you at least pretend like you are pleased to see me when I walk through the door? How about sweeping or mopping the floor once in a while? If you know you are about to screw up – how about a little warning? And if you are really feeling like pushing the boat out – how about an apology for the screw ups when they happen!
You know, the customer is not always right but the basic concept of a customer can’t be wrong all the time.
For your viewing pleasure, Monty Python open a cheese shop and get a customer!
Mike Falconer 
Mike,
It saddens me that you have hit the nail on the head with this post. Of course, it holds true for almost all industries, but that is no excuse!
I hear horror stories all the time about practices that can’t seem to accomplish the simplest things – makes people a little leery of the skill of the surgeon.
Here is the really sad part – I did not even have veterinarians in mind when I wrote this. You are, of course, right; we see this kind of thing everywhere. With my upcoming move I’ve been dealing with realtors, movers, department stores (long story), landscapers, and numerous others. It is not the ones that are great that stand out, it it the ones who suck least.
Every now and again you come across great service, and I make a point to write them a review, but the standard is pretty low.
Thanks for reading and the feedback!
Mike
Oh dear – now I’m worried. I was always led to believe that service in the USA was great! I was certainly impressed during a holiday in Hawaii & was told the mainland was the same. Now either your standards of service have dropped or you would be truly horrified if you visited our sunny shores … & although I hate to say it …. especially the Gold Coast in Queensland. I’m impressed if I get a smile & a genuine greeting – sad I know 😦
It is probably that the bar is set so low Judy – but that is where the opportunity lies! I was pretty horrified upon my recent trip to the UK I have to admit. The thing that gets me is that it is not that hard at an individual level to do this. Trying to get large numbers of people to do it is a different story.
Mike
Find the manager at the Days Inn in the Inner Harbor in Baltimore MD and clone him.
Truly the best service we have ever had in a hotel. From Gerald’s welcome to the the tech who got us a new (upgraded) room because our air conditioner wasn’t cooling our room fast enough. They accept pets (under 20lbs) and were informed that they love their guests with pets. She was even welcome at the pool area (as long as she behaved herself). So refreshing. I went back to my job and redoubled my efforts to see our (guests) get the best we can offer. It feels so good!
Hi Barbara,
Thanks for sharing the great service experience! Only goes to show that service trumps everything!
Mike
Superb post Mike! And too bloody true far too often! I have walked into many a practice and been completely ignored by reception for a good few minutes whilst they stare a a computer screen, or worse, talk to each other. And don’t get me started on the phone answering! Obviously it’s not limited to the vet industry, but I have now started to refuse to give my money to companies who can’t get even the basics right. With social media giving people such a massive platform to shout about both the good and the bad, businesses need to realise that the bar is now set far higher, and that they are not doing us a favour by taking our money 🙂 Ali-B
Thank you for the kind words Ali.
Me too! Bad service = I’ll take my money elsewhere!
Mike
Great ! Challenge we have is vets / Drs rarely see or feel or hear the customer care bit – phones , face to face and email …….
So as it isnt front of their minds it isnt important
We need to measure the customer experience …if you measure it….it is a KPI …it gets better
Simples !!!!
Yes it is that easy …but only 10 % of vet sites get it !
Rock on the 10 %
Alison……
I think you are right Alison. I am a big advocate of surveying for this reason and then sharing and addressing issues that come up. It also gives the whole team a boost when we get great feedback.
Mike
Mike, I loved this post. It is basic and yet so far off the radar screen in some practices. It all seems to go back to the issue of: do you want to have a successful business or do you simply want a job when you own your own practice? Often times it’s easy to forget that you are not your customers and what may feel like acceptable behavior to you (not answering the phone, not responding to emails, etc) just screams ‘We don’t care” to your real customers.
Hi Jan,
Glad you liked the post. I think for a lot of businesses the customer is almost the enemy. They are what makes like hard, they are what makes life difficult. Of course, they are also what makes any job possible and if they go away so do the jobs.
I think you are right about business / career vs. a job. I certainly feel that that to stand still is not consistency it is stagnation and is one step away from contraction.
Thanks for commenting!
Mike
[…] All businesses are ultimately about clients. You can have the best veterinary practice in the world but without client’s you’ll close. Ensuring that they are looked after and that they have a great experience at your facility is outside the remit of this post; however, it is part of yours as manager. If you want a starting point take a look at this earlier post of mine about getting the basics right. […]