How Does Your Customer Service Look to Your Clients?

Dr. Andy Clark is a consultant whose posts we follow. Several recent ones we especially appreciated as BVEH is committed to surpassing your needs and expectations. If you are not "Wowed" leaving our office, we want to know it. Our loyal clients are the engine that drives the business and we are thankful for your repeat service. What can BVEH do to WOW you today?

How Does Your Customer Service Look to Your Clients?:
In veterinary practices I try to teach doctors and staff to  focus on two outcomes; the patient outcome and the client outcome.  Not all the patients have a good outcome no matter who’s the vet.  However, I truly believe that in nearly all cases it is possible, although not easy, to have a good client outcome.  I am absolutely certain that clients value good client outcome and will be loyal to the veterinarian who provides it.  Good customer service, client outcome, is low hanging fruit in our profession.
Last Friday I had two totally unrelated great experiences with businesses that both left me with a definite WOW .  Friday morning I needed to have a horse somewhere at 11.  It takes an hour to get there.  At 9 AM I discovered that through some unexplainable event, my gooseneck trailer hitch pin was bent and the hitch could only be partially secured to the ball. I was definitely not putting a horse in that trailer.  Winners Circle Trailers is 20 minutes away.  When I arrived there was a lot going on and it actually looked like a busy equine clinic. Without realizing it, I behaved exactly like a pushy horse owner.  I walked into Cory’s office and said, I really need your help Cory, I have a hitch emergency.   Yes,

you get the picture; I defined a routine problem as an emergency on a Friday and expected a fix.   It would have been perfectly reasonable to tell me, “Sorry, the shop is full.  Leave the trailer and we’ll get it back to you Monday.”  That’s not what he did.  He stopped everything, replaced the hitch and had me on the road in 20 minutes.  I drove home picked up the horse and made it to the 11 O’clock on time.  Wow number one for the day!
I buy almost everything except groceries on line.  When I lived in the San Francisco Bay Area, I could order groceries on line too.  At any rate, I buy shirts on line from a company called Paul Fredrick.  Recently, I needed a pink shirt to wear to a cancer fund raiser and in an effort to be uber efficient, I ordered the shirt on my iPhone while in an airport security line.  When the shirt arrived it was GIANT, imagine a small pink tent.  I had ordered the neck 2 inches too large.  I checked my ‘out box’ to learn that I had, in fact, ordered the wrong size.  Ok fine, the shirt is hanging in the closet as a reminder to be careful multi-tasking while ordering stuff on the iPhone.  Friday afternoon, someone from Paul Fredrick contacted me as a follow up to the purchase.  I admitted my mistake and said I can’t wear the shirt but I know it’s my own fault.  It would have been perfectly reasonable to tell me “sorry for the mistake but we are very clear that custom orders can’t be returned”   Now for the WOW; what I was told was this “I appreciate your honesty but we want you to have that shirt in the right size, we’ll send one Monday.  WOW!!
Both businesses could have been perfectly reasonable and I would not have thought less of them because I value the service they provide.  However, both provided a WOW moment, a great client outcome.  Winners Circle Trailers fouled up their Friday service schedule and Paul Fredrick is out the cost of a shirt.  Now, not only do I value their service but I’m LOYAL!
In your business, look every day for opportunities to provide a WOW moment for your clients.  We all need LOYAL clients.