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Stress Heads and Dragons Scupper Sales

Author: Dave Nicol
Website: http://www.davenicol.com/
Posted: Wednesday 10th March, 2010

Shocking. The only word for the results of a recent mystery shopping survey I conducted.

Five practices in the best demographic Sydney, and quite possibly Australia, were surveyed. You’d expect them to be aiming high in terms of client service this, after all, is where all the professionals, CEOs, actors and actresses live.

The Test

The scenario, ‘A mystery shopper had a new puppy and wanted to know the price of vaccinations’.

The practices were scored on:

1. Timely answer of phone.
2. Product knowledge.
3. Rapport building.
4. Conversion into appointment.

Results

All answered the phone quickly, which was good. But only two of the five practices surveyed had sufficient depth of knowledge to be able to answer basic questions. Again only two of the five showed any interest in what kind of puppy the caller had gotten and made any effort to build rapport. And shockingly (in parallel with UK surveys of this kind) not one actually tried to convert the call into a beneficial action for the practice by offering an appointment.

Stress Heads and Dragons

There were two absolute bloopers. The first (in the most expensive practice) was the incredible lack of knowledge, shown by whoever answered the phone. She couldn’t even tell us the price and claimed not to be from “out the front”, was “too busy” to talk. But she did promise the vet would call us back later. Evidently she was too stressed to even get the vet to do that, as we received no call.

The second was a tirade of near abuse dished out by a receptionist (I’d call her a dragon) who was very, very knowledgeable about every expense item puppy ownership would incur. She seemed to be implying that we were highly irresponsible in getting a new puppy at all. My mystery shopper was left feeling quite shocked, guilty and deflated about her new pet.

From this one can only conclude that the practices concerned have given their people insufficient training on the most fundamental of skills, client care. Or they have the wrong people.

Dave’s Tuppence-worth

The new puppy/kitten call is (along with euthanasia) one of the most sensitive interactions a practice will ever handle. That it clearly is so badly serviced, even in today’s market, is a poor reflection on our industry. Though the sample size in this survey was small, the parallel with other larger surveys is worrying.

Practices that aren’t trying will be in real trouble if times get tougher. Take time to listen to your team on the phone today. I’m sure you’ll learn something useful. Then (more importantly) take time out to direct, or coach them if they get it wrong.


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