As seen in the Dayton Daily News on February 1, 2015.
I’m an avid reader. I carry a book or magazine with me in case I can sneak in some reading during down times in my day.
You can find me reading in waiting rooms at the doctors’ offices, while waiting for my child’s soccer game to start and when I eat lunch alone.
There is one medical office that refuses to let me read in their waiting room. Let me explain.
Focusing on my health is a 2015 new year’s resolution of mine. I have started the year by being proactive. I had an appointment last week for my mammogram at the Kettering Breast Evaluation Center located within the Sycamore Hospital.
When I entered their office, there was a woman in line ahead of me at the reception desk. Once she was checked in, she took off her coat, put her belongings on the chair next to her and opened her book.
While finding my own seat, I smiled thinking, “This woman must be a new patient. She is making a rookie mistake by getting that comfortable.”
And sure enough, just as she got settled, they called her name. Like all new patients at the Center, she had that surprised look on her face. She wasn’t expecting to be called so quickly. As she was fumbling to gather all her belongings back together, I said, “You’ll learn, they don’t let you read around here.”
I knew better than to take off my coat and put my purse to the side. Since she had just been called, I thought I might get to sneak in a few pages.
I was wrong. Just as soon as I opened my book, they called my name.
I have been coming to KBEC yearly since 2005 for my mammograms. I have never gotten to finish a page in a book while waiting.
Consistently, they provide the same amazing customer experience year after year. They have it figured out; it is easier and less expensive to retain the current customers they have than it is to find new ones.
If you own a company, are CEO or a manger, it’s time to observe how efficiently things are running under your watch. Your customers are noticing how proficient your company is being managed, and they are talking.
Consider yourself lucky, if you provide good service and your customer tells just one person. Provide bad service, and I guarantee you they will tell many.
How organized your business is affects how efficiently your team can operate.
Look around your office. Are offices filled with clutter and outdated paperwork that prevent staff from finding things fast? Do they have the supplies they need at their fingertips? Have they had training to help reduce office interruptions and lead productive meetings?
Disorganization affects customer service, production and the company’s bottom dollar.
It’s time you experience your company as your customers do. Walk through your office. What do they see? What are their experiences like? What can you do differently to keep them coming back?
Include the spaces your customers don’t see, as they too will affect customer service.
As an efficiency expert, I can only have one suggestion for the staff at KBEC: Stop wasting money providing reading materials in your waiting room.