The Mary Celeste syndrome

On December 4, 1872 the merchant ship, Mary Celeste, was found adrift and deserted in the Atlantic Ocean.

The ship was seaworthy and fully-provisioned but completely deserted. No trace of the crew has ever been found and what happened to them remains a mystery.

The story of the Mary Celeste is so typical of what I find in many businesses, including dental practices. I call it the Mary Celeste syndrome.

It’s when a patient enters a practice and is not greeted by a staff member immediately. Instead the patient stands around feeling ignored and wondering what to do next.

“Where is everyone? Why is there no one to greet me?”

Let me tell you about two recent Mary Celeste syndrome experiences, one from a business and one from a medical practice:

I went into a department store to buy jeans. I was in the store for 20 minutes including a trip to the changing rooms. In that time no staff approached me. The only staff person I saw was in a corner counting coat hangers. I walked out without finding what I wanted and bought the jeans online.

or…

I went to a medical specialist’s office recently. The two staff behind the reception desk were making phone calls and typing on the computer. I stood there for six minutes before one of them finally looked up and acknowledged my presence.

Every customer or patient wants to be made to feel special particularly when they first walk in. A business that does that has a competitive advantage.

We simply can’t afford to ignore our customers.

In my practice we had a rule that every patient had to be acknowledged within 5 seconds of entering the office.

Even if the front desk person is on a phone call, it is so easy to look up, nod and smile at the person who just entered the practice. It takes no time at all and makes the patient feel good.

Are patients greeted promptly when they enter your practice, or does you office suffer from the Mary Celeste syndrome?