Just showing up

There’s an old saying that “half the secret to success is just showing up.” I can believe it.

I’m looking to get some landscape gardening done. A week ago I contacted four local firms to ask about the services they offer. Two have not got back to me at all. One replied via email saying they would get back to me, and didn’t. One called me and said they would ring back yesterday, and didn’t.

All in all a pretty pathetic effort by the four firms. Interestingly, the two firms who did not respond are paying Google for clicks — their ads were sponsored ads.

Time and again I’ve heard dentists complain that they aren’t getting value for the advertising dollars. I wonder if that is true or if, the follow up is poor just like with these landscaping firms.

To use a gardening analogy, an enquiry you get from advertising is like a very young tender plant. It only takes a tiny bit of inattention or carelessness to kill it off.

I’ve been in a dental office when a new patient rang to find out how much a filling was. The receptionist said:

“I can’t say over the phone. It depends. OK?”

Then hung up.

How’s your follow up for new patient enquiries? Is it timely? Is it helpful?