Never underestimate power of perception! Perception plays a major part in what is actually said -vs- how it is heard. And to patients...perception is reality!

For example, lets look at broken appointments, one of biggest problems in your practice. Last minute changes and no show appointments account for thousands of dollars a month in lost revenue for practice!

Are you sending signals to your patients that it's all right to break appointments?

When patient calls and says they "Forgot" or "Have a meeting." or "Just want to reschedule." Is your response "That's OK.", "Sure, that's no problem." or simply..."How soon do you want to come back?" And then schedule them right back at 1st available opening?

A well established practice with a scheduling coordinator who knows patients well has a sense of "offending" patient if they remind them of dilemma this last minute change will make.

Nothing could be further from truth or more harmful to practice!

An unusually high number of broken appointments generally translates into a lack of respect concerning your practice and appointments time and "time is money."

Generally patients simply are not aware of problems associated with last minute changes because they have been "trained" (they hear) it's so easy to change appointment.

Often before we can "train" patient, front office must first "re-train" their response to these last minute calls.

Regardless of what business you are in - you are really in business of satisfying customers. The degree of customer satisfaction you deliver determines level of long-term success you will achieve in business.

Make Customer Satisfaction Your Top Priority

Don't just make sales. Create customers - satisfied customers. In addition to immediate profit they provide on first sale, satisfied customers help you build your business in 2 other important ways:

1. They become a reservoir of repeat buyers. For some businesses that means repeat buyers for more of same product or service. For every business, it means buyers for additional products and services.

2. They automatically refer more business to you from their friends and business contacts. This is highly profitable business for you because it doesn't cost you any time or money to get it.

Never Promise More Than You Deliver

Never make any promises you can't (or won't) keep. Nothing alienates customers faster than getting something less than they expect from a business transaction. They won't do business with you again. And they will tell everybody they know about their unhappy experience - causing you to lose future customers.

Tip: Handle customer complaints quickly and with a positive attitude. Strive to preserve your relationship with complaining customer instead of your immediate profit from them. They will reward you later with more sales and referrals.

Always Give Customers More Than They Expect