Listen to ME, your customer!

When you want to make an impression on customers (and subsequently get them to listen to your ideas) don't underestimate the value of a personal touch. It's quick and powerful.

Take my dental surgery office for example. I went in this morning to have my two bottom wisdom teeth taken out. I have to admit that I was absolutely freaking out. I was scared to death that for some reason they weren't going to give me enough medicine to knock me out and I would wake up in the middle of the procedure.

I cried tears of terror in the waiting room (yes, I know I am a giant weenie). When the nurse called my name to take me back to the operating room, I pulled myself together. Then, unfortunately, when we got to the room, she made the mistake of asking how I was. More tears.

"I'm actually a nervous wreck," I said. Prepping the surgical equipment in a business like fashion, the nurse barely paused to tell me that it would be no problem. I'd fall asleep and wake up in the recovery room. Then she walked out.

A few minutes later, the doctor and friends came back in, and continued prep. They hooked me up to some monitors, started my IV, put on a blood pressure cuff. More terror tears from me. They strapped my arms to the chair (eek!). At this point, I am really trying not to go into full blown sobs. I turned to them and begged, "You promise that I will not wake up in the middle of this? Please?" I got a barely discernible nod.

Let me pause at this point to acknowledge a few truths:

• I do know that wisdom teeth extraction is a low risk, routine procedure.
• I'm sure that my doctor and his staff have performed hundreds, if not thousands of these.
• They probably had many more scheduled for the very same day and were very busy.
• My fear of this situation was completely irrational.

Unfortunately, none of the above made me feel any better at all.

What would have made me feel better? If one of them would have taken 30 (or dare I suggest 60?) seconds to stop what they were doing, take my hand, look me in the eye, smile reassuringly, and tell me that they would take good care of me and everything would be just fine.

A small gesture like this would have made all the difference in how I will talk about them and their practice to potential patients in the future.

What 30 - 60 second personal touch can you add to make an impression on your customers?