We hear so much these days about First Impressions being so important when a new clients comes to your practice.
Equally important is EVERY client’s Last Impression.Are you creating a WOW last impression, one which is memorable, leaves them with great feelings, one which has them wanting to come back again and one which they are going to rave to their friends about?
If you say “YES” to that question – then let me ask you – does it happen EVERY time?Today’s blog is about how you can create a great Last Impression EVERY TIME.Enjoy – and please make sure to implement this top tip in your practice.
Click Here to listen to the Podcast
See below to read the Transcription
TRANSCRIPTION:
Hi, it’s Diederik Gelderman here.
What I’d like to talk about today is impressions, specifically first impression and last impression.
Now, for first impression, please go back and see my video on Thin Slicing, and it’ll show you how to make a brilliant and awesome first impression with your client.
So today, it’s all about last impressions. Why am I talking about first impressions and last impression? Well, people remember their first impression and people remember their last impression. First impression, when they drive in the car park; first impression, when they meet the vet; first impression, when they meet the admitting nurse; and then let’s reverse that order as well. And so, typically, the last person to see that client is the receptionist before that client moves out of the car park.
So, let’s talk about how we make that last impression so memorable that the client remembers it as a highlight of the visit and that it becomes just ‘wow’ and that they’ll talk to their friend about. So, this involves last impression and it involves systems. So, I’m all about making things in practices happen by a system so that it happens consistently, and this for me is a ‘system’ for the unexpected. So, that might sound like a little bit of a contrary type of thing—how do you have a system for the unexpected? Well, we do, and I’ll give you two systems for the unexpected that will an awesome last impression that your client will remember for a long time and talk to their friends about.
So, the first one—and I have many, many practice that have these systems in place. It doesn’t matter who’s at reception, this system will work ‘cause those team members have been trained in the system. So, the first system depends on a trigger point on an invoice. What do I mean by that? So, let’s assume that you’ve decided in your team that you’re have this system for the unexpected to farewell the client in a manner that they love, well, the trigger point you would say, “okay, we’re gonna have a trigger point on an invoice,” and that means that whenever a client has spent more than $200 say—let’s make a nice low trigger point; you can make it whatever you want, but I’m gonna suggest that you want this to happen with most clients so that everyone gets an awesome farewell so that you keep the trigger point on the invoice low. So, the trigger point is the $200 invoice, so, if a client or when a client spends $200, the invoice spits out of the printer and the receptionist is, “Hey Mrs. Smith. It’s $205 today,” then that $205 triggers this process in the mind of the receptionist. So, the process is to give something to the client for the pet. So, the nurse Rebecca would say, “It’s $205 Mrs. Smith. By the way, we’ve got some fantastic new dog treats in and I’d love to give one to Rover with my complements. Is that alright?” and then she hands Rover a dog treats or gives it to Mrs. Smith to take home. And, maybe the system becomes that if the invoice is $350, it’s 2 dog treats, one to give Rover now and one to take home; whatever the system happens to be. Obviously, you’d have something similar for cats, maybe greenies, maybe a cat toy, cat bell; there’s all sorts of things that you can think of that are cheap to you, high perceived value to the client and make you look awesome in the eyes of the clients and something they’re gonna tell all their friends about. So that’s one system for the unexpected.
Let me give you a second system for the unexpected—and again, I can point you at many practices that have this system in place. So, the trigger point in this system, and you can have both systems running simultaneously, and I believe you should. So, the second system is based on a trigger point which is a bag of dog food, and by ‘bag of dog food’ I mean a certain size; let’s assume it’s 3 ½ kilo—7 1/2, 8lb. So. Mrs. Smith comes up, she’s gone to the shelf, picked up the 3 ½ kilo bag of food, she puts it on the counter, the receptionist rings up the sale. The receptionist knows that 3 ½ kilo bag, or 3 ½ kilo of anything—but in this case, it’s 3 ½ kilo bag of dog food is the trigger point—so, she says, “Mrs. Smith, let me carry that to the car for you.” Now, notice I didn’t say, “Mrs. Smith, would you like me to carry that to the car for you?” I said, “Mrs. Smith, let me carry that to the car for you.” Two things here: “Mrs. Smith, let me carry that to the car for you [?]” has an upward inflection which intonates a question; but if I’m saying, “Mrs. Smith, let me carry that to the car for you,” it’s a flat statement, it is not a question, it says ‘I’m going to do this.” The other thing that I’m not saying is, “Mrs. Smith, would like me to carry that to the car for you [?],” again, upward intonation, and I’m phrasing it as a question as well. So, this is a statement, “Mrs. Smith, let me carry that to the car for you,” boom; so, it say’s I’m gonna do that. Rebecca is telling her client she’s gonna carry it to the car. Should Rebecca do this if it’s a 6-foot 5 rugby player? Absolutely, you can’t discriminate; it’s not the right thing to do. The rugby player is probably gonna say, “Hahaha! Don’t be silly. I’m 6-foot 5, you’re a 5-foot 5, of course I can carry it to the car. It’s the thought behind it that counts, and it’s also the other people in the reception area seeing Rebecca making that offer.
So, that’s the second system, and I’m gonna add one little caveat to this, and we actually do this in some practices. So, let’s assuming it’s raining, Rebecca is taking Mrs. Smith to the car, it’s raining. Mrs. Smith doesn’t have an umbrella with her, but there’s an umbrella stand at the front door. Rebecca picks up an umbrella out of the umbrella stand, and it’s a nice big golf umbrella; it’s not one of those scuzzy little things that turns inside out when you go [wind blowing] at the umbrella, this is a nice, big golf umbrella; and branded on the golf umbrella is the practice name. So, this looks—this is impressive. So, Rebecca escorts Mrs. Smith to the car with the golf umbrella, she’s carrying the 3 ½ kilo of food [etc.]. She escorts Mrs. Smith, Mrs. Smith to the car, and then Rebecca says, “Look, it’s raining here today, you’re probably got other things to do. I notice you haven’t got an umbrella, let me give you this one.” Mrs. Smith will probably say, “Oh, no. It’s not necessary,” and Rebecca says, “I insist. It’s my pleasure.” And then she puts the umbrella on the front seat next the dog food or wherever, she gives it to Mrs. Smith. Now, that golf umbrella is gonna go around town for the next one or two or three years as an advertising sign advertising the practice. Whenever it’s raining, Mrs. Smith is gonna have it there, it’s gonna be her favourite umbrella; and she’s going to tell all her friends about this experience as well.
Now, that system is actually in places in quite a few practices; and in quite a few practices in which we’ve done that, we get this big golf umbrellas. We’ll get this through marketing sources, [etc.], and a lot of cases, you can get them sponsored by affiliated companies that wanna have their logo or something on the umbrellas as well. So, you can typically get these umbrellas for very, very cheaply or no cost at all. Now, it’s okay if someone else has some branding on the umbrella, as long as ‘my veterinary practice’ has by far in a way the biggest prominent space.
So, that’s last impressions and that’s two systems to make a brilliant last impression on your clients.
See you on the next video.