Power of a greeting

I visited a new medical practice today.

Normally you walk in, say “Hi” to the reception person and then take a seat. Pretty standard stuff.

But the place today was something quite different.

The person out front was very warm in their greeting: “Good to see you, just go down the hall and turn left.”

As I walked down the hall I went past two other staff members both of whom looked up from what they were doing, smiled, made eye contact and nodded “Hello”.

Two different staff members (one of them the doctor, I later fond out) happened to walk through the waiting room. Both smiled and greeted me.

So, by the time I was finally seen by the doctor I’d been greeted by 5 different staff members. No one had passed me without saying hello. It made a very powerful positive impression on me.

In our modern society we get very used to being ignored — when we go into a bank, a department store, council offices, a clothing store, a pharmacy, a post office and so on.

That’s why greeting people well is so unusual and effective. It differentiates you from other practices. Yet it is so easy to do and costs you absolutely nothing.

Do people in your office greet patients warmly and immediately or do they walk on by without saying “Hello” as is so common?