Problems. We all have them.

We’re in process of moving house. They say it is a stressful life event and I can believe them.

During the process you need to deal with many different organisations all of whom would probably claim to be “customer friendly” or “customer focussed”. The thing I’ve discovered is that you only find out if they are “customer friendly” when you have a problem and need it fixed.

For example I have problem with a company who I won’t identify. So far I have spent 2 hours on the phone explaining the problem to three different people. The first two people did nothing at all. The third person asked me to send an email detailing the problem. I did that. Then I got a follow up from a different person asking further questions which I replied to. Then I got an email from a new person asking “what’s going on?”

Zero progress. The new person (the fifth I’ve dealt with about this problem!) had no idea what had gone previously and had neither talked with his colleagues nor read the emails. So annoying.

My point is this. From time to time, you will have problems in your dental office. How you handle them will either cement your relationship with the patient or cause them to look for a new dentist.

Do you have a solid process for handling problems? For example:

• Does the first person listen carefully and get all the details?

• Do they act on the problem promptly?

• Do they tell the person a time to get back to them?

• Do they get back to them at that time?

• Do they make sure the problem is resolved?

If you can answer “yes” to all those questions then you have a solid system and will most likely retain the patient.

If you can’t answer “yes” then you will lose the patient and may even have them escalate the problem to AHPRA. Not a nice alternative!