The days of being average and ordinary are gone.
The bar has been raised and all those who wish to build a practice that lasts for generations to come must constantly look for ways to serve their clients better than their competition.
Our goal as Zappos so famously put it, is to WOW the customer. From the moment they visit your website to when they pick up the phone to call you to the moment they arrive at your office, your goal is to identify ways you can create a memorable experience.
There are so many ways to accomplish this task but one of the most simple and yet cost effective is to create a personal experience for the prospect when they first come to visit your office. The fastest way to personalize any office visit is to greet your prospect by name. You can do that by training your staff about the right way to greet everyone who walks through the door. But can you find a way to greet your staff before they walk in the door? Well, my son’s orthodontist did.
As with many teenagers, the rite of passage for my oldest son Michael was his first trip to the orthodontist. My wife received a referral from our dentist (there is a marketing lesson there too…) and she scheduled an appointment. Surprisingly the appointment was booked 2 weeks away. We were sent a shock and awe package, and we received an email, phone and text message confirmation, I’ll break all this down for you in a later post, but what I thought was the best idea was the way they personalized the appointment.
When Maria and Michael arrived to the location they found, in the front of the building, a parking spot with Michael’s name on it. Thankfully, my family is trained to now spot excellent marketing and capture the moment with their phone. Michael sent me this picture with the note: this place really gets marketing. (I love that my 14-year-old can spot this welcome message and can spot that this is truly advanced marketing.)
The reality is, this project doesn’t take much effort or expense. They purchased a sign from a local sign shop, and each day they print out custom name plates that they rotate with every new appointment. It’s a job assigned to the receptionist–a role that can, admittedly, screw this up–but I’d guess more often than not this is executed daily. Total cost per new client–pennies. Total value towards creating ‘glue’ that ensures we’ll use this firm over any other firm–priceless.
By the way, if you're thinking, which I know some of you are, that this works just fine for them because it's an orthodontist office but my clients are different.
Please stop.
Stop looking for all the reasons this won’t work and try to find ways you can implement it in your practice. I’ve known attorneys to do this by putting names on the conference room doors. Funeral homes do these kinds of tactics all of the time. You can do something extraordinary for your clients too! We'd love to hear what you come up with!
Building a better business, one great customer service experience at a time…
