Customer Service (or lack thereof)

I have been seeing an orthodontist for my wife. One of the the wires broke while brushing her teeth and began to bruise her lip. We called the good doctor up to let him know that we needed to see him soon. He didn't pick up. This was thursday evening. We then sent him an SMS. No response.

I called him again on Friday and he picked up. I told him that we would like to set up and appointment the next day if possible. He said sure, he will call us tomorrow and confirm a time for the same day. Saturday came along and he never called.

The orthodontist is good at what he does. He has a good understanding of his field and knows what he's doing. What he lacks severely is organizational and customer service skills. When he failed to call to confirm an appointment, I decided to find another orthodontist who can. We are now dropping him altogether for someone else to carry on the rest of the treatment.

This was not the first incident that he displayed a complete lack of understanding for customer service. I gave him a long lecture on why communication is important and that even if he were unable to make an appointment, at the very least letting us know in advance would be fine. It seems that my pleas fell on deaf ears. His rationale is, this is Dubai and besides, his profession is a 'relaxed' one.

Right. It's not acceptable to drop the ball on your customers, regardless of what your 'profession' of choice is. I seriously don't understand why such a simple problem is so hard for people to appreciate. It makes the difference between keeping or losing your customer. It also has a rather marginal (if any) cost. So, what gives? Can anyone shed light to this?

Acknowledging the Client

Today, I gave our client services team an earful. I don't like doing it, although I know some would swear that it is one of my most enjoyable things to do. This seems to be a problem a lot of people can't quite grasp.

The client calls/emails with a complaint/request. You see it. You know you can't do anything about it immediately. You wait until you are able to do something about it. The wait is about 2 days. Two days later, you do it.

The client may even expect this task to take a week. "I've done a great job!", you think to yourself. Wrong! You have done a terrible terrible job!

The first thing to do is to acknowledge the client's request. You may not have an answer or anything worth saying. It doesn't matter! You MUST, ALWAYS and CONSISTENTLY acknowledge that you are aware of the issue. If you don't, the client thinks you are ignoring him/her for the two days you spent working very hard getting the job done.

Imagine having a conversation with a friend. "So, what do you think the rent around the Greens costs these days?", you say. Your friend looks into the distance. Says nothing. Nothing. He remains silent the entire time you are together. He goes home and calls you back two days later giving you a well-researched answer. How would you feel about that? I know I would think my friend is crazy.

A simple, "Thank you for your request. I will look into it and get back to you tomorrow afternoon." will suffice.

So, please please, fellow entrepreneurs, do make sure the people who deal with your clients always acknowledge the client. It could potentially cost you the business.