By Amy Morgan, CEO, Pride Institute

"When the economy becomes a factor and people get nervous about investing in their health, it is customer service and relationships alone that transcend the obstacles."

When a dentist becomes skittish due to her perception of a down-trending economy, it is easy to look at aggressive solutions like cutting expenses, reducing production goals, or investing in more external marketing. The truth is, in any economic cycle, most dental patients will continue to strive for ideal care, invest in their health, and pay any fees if:

a) They like you.
b) They value their experience.
c) They are committed to a lifetime of dental care.
d) The office can make it affordable.

Enhanced customer service creates strong relationships that fulfill the outcomes listed in a through d. Providing patients with an experience that exceeds expectations may feel like "fiddling while Rome is burning" to a dentist and team who have any feelings of scarcity. We woefully undervalue what it means to provide an ever-increasing level of service to our patients because we assume that if we are good people and provide excellent dentistry, the rest will take care of itself. That is just not the case! Any customer, whether it is a patient or a patron of the latest restaurant, will judge the quality of that product or service based upon his or her very latest experience. I have a favorite little neighborhood Italian restaurant that treats me like family and serves food that has been excellent for the last seven years. The last time I went in for dinner, the service was less friendly and familial and the recipes had been changed ... slightly. The interesting point is — I have had no desire to go back. So, the seven years of excellence could not compete with one night of mediocrity. The same thing happens in your dental office.

Customer service goes beyond being mannerly and providing a needed and wanted service; you must surprise and delight! As a woman dentist, there is definitely an advantage when it comes to customer service because the natural social skills that we have developed by nature and nurture are conducive to deeper relationships. That doesn't mean the female dentist takes advantage of her natural capabilities. It's easy to get stuck and focus on the clinical aspects of care, forgetting the very important "human agenda" that goes with that care. It is always appropriate to start any strategic plan with a long, hard look at your customer service. Customer service, in theory and in practice, is comprised of four basic elements:

1. Designing expectations for a level of service.
2. Exceeding those expectations
3. Providing feedback opportunities, so that the customer can focus on the positives of his/her experience
4. Never resting on your laurels

How would I begin to proactively plan to handle a potential economic downturn or a concern about my practice's profitability? I would pour the coals on all four of the above customer service elements. Let's look closer at these four elements, so that you can flourish by providing ideal dentistry and care in the most challenging circumstances.

#1. Designing expectations: I am probably preaching to the choir, but have any of you lovely dentists ever walked into a Nordstrom's or a Ritz Carlton and not expected to have an ultimate customer service experience? The real question is, even if you had never set foot in either a Nordstrom's or a Ritz Carlton, how are you already aware that both organizations are known to be special? It's because both organizations are committed to the theory of "total quality management." They have created marketing plans that provide focus for new customers' expectations before they ever walk through the door. If you heard from a friend that the Ritz Carlton high tea is something to experience, you walk into your first tea already excited about the possibilities of that service. If you have a new patient who was referred by a long-term patient of record who excitedly shared that you and your team are timely, friendly, focused on the patients' concerns, and always go the extra mile, that new patient's expectations has already been focused on what makes your practice unique. The cross to bear when it comes to designing expectations is: If that new patient walks through the door and doesn't have the same experience as the patient of record (he or she winds up waiting an extra five minutes in the reception area), the patient will judge the service glitch much more harshly. The trick to customer service is: If you are going to set the bar high, the doctor and team must be hyper-vigilant about always going above and beyond expectations. This leads us to our second element of service.

#2. Exceeding expectations: There is a basic tenet of marketing that if you set expectations for a customer service experience and the first interaction measures up to those expectations, the customer will categorize that first experience as average and will tell no one. If you set expectations and the experience is even better than the expectation, a patient will mark that interaction as excellent and on average will tell 25 other people. That's the great news. The bad news is that if you set expectations and the experience falls below those expectations (as per my example above), the patient will mark that experience as poor and tell on average, 50 other people about the lack of success. This customer service game can be a double-edged sword. In a long-term practice with consistent staff, the danger can be to consider the practice at its peak when it comes to exceeding expectations. For example, if the practice adopts a customer service initiative of giving patients a jar of homemade soup after comprehensive dentistry, after the first time that patient gets the soup, you are no longer exceeding his or her expectations by continuing that initiative. That doesn't mean that soup isn't nice, it's just not exceeding expectations. The trick is to have an ever-evolving "can you top this" approach to your service. So while the soup can stay, what else can be done to exceed that patient's expectations the next time that patient requires comprehensive care? How you know that you are continuously exceeding expectations leads us to element number three.

#3. Providing feedback opportunities to the customer: To manage customer service, it is absolutely essential to have models and methods for formal and informal feedback that will keep your patients focused on what is very, very right about your practice. Informal feedback can be as simple as letting a new patient know that at the end of the exam you'll ask the patient if the experience met or exceeded his or her desired outcomes. That old show-time saying: "Leave them wanting more" means that focusing the patient on the positives of his or her most recent interaction will result in the patient desiring more positive interactions. Even if, in a downward economy, a patient has to leave your practice because of changes in insurance or financial concerns, a customer service exit interview that includes telling the patient that "You will be glad to hear that many of our patients who left the practice because of changes in their benefits found that they missed us and the quality of our care and service and have come back ... the door is always open; we always welcome back patients who are part of our family." As that patient walks through the door of a new office that accepts his or her insurance, the patient will be carrying the filter of how much he or she appreciated the prior dental practice. This creates a huge impact, because if the new office can't measure up, the patient will return.

Formal feedback can include surveys, evaluations, and suggestion boxes. Anything that says: "Customer service is important and we want to know what means most to you" is a customer service initiative unto itself. If you are willing to get feedback, then you have to act on the feedback, and that leads us to our final element.

#4. Never resting on your laurels: As good as your service has been, the challenge will always be, what about next week? Ritz Carlton, in the past several years, has not received the highest awards and has struggled with their service. To me, service is like brushing and flossing teeth: it can become such a part of a normal, boring routine that it becomes rote and you miss new signs of calculus and plaque buildup. Believe me; I have seen a lot of customer service actions where the team is just going through the motions. An ever-evolving, continuously improving practice in the best and worst of economic times must always have as a core service strategy a plan to continuously surprise and delight their customers. Patients who are raving fans get that way because of your care and service. There is no better secret to survive any and all economic twists than to enhance your customer service. Like Emeril Lagasse, I am asking you to "take it up a notch!"

Amy Morgan is CEO of Pride Institute, dentistry's most-respected practice management firm. For more than 30 years, Pride's team of dental, business, and financial experts have helped dentists at all stages of their careers achieve the practices of their dreams. If you are ready and willing to take your customer service up a notch, there are many opportunities within Pride Institute. For specific course dates or further information on individual consulting service, other continuing education seminars, and training products, please call (800) 925-2600 or visit www.prideinstitute.com.