“What do you love or hate about a visit to your dentist?”
That’s a question I often asked when developing dental centres. While informal surveys may seem simplistic, they can provide profound insight that goes right to the core of your business model.
It doesn't take long before you are able to discern three key things that people love – or conversely, hate – about your industry and your competitors. Deliberately design and differentiate your business around Disney-like delivery of the ‘love’ factors, purposefully eliminate the ‘hate’ factors, and you may just be on to something!
In dentistry, we discovered that people love to be seen on time, and hate to be kept waiting. They love to be remembered as a person, and hate to be treated as a number. And, they hate paying the bill – especially when it seems so expensive, but appreciate choices that are clearly communicated.
We found these three things so consistently true that the concepts became imbedded in our culture. Treating people in a timely and caring manner, and using plain language to communicate cost-effective services showed up in our values, daily activities, peer reviews and evaluations, bonuses, on comment cards, and was celebrated at staff meetings.
We built an extraordinarily successful business around the answers to one simple question.
So, what three things do people love or hate about your business?
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