Well that’s what the “do unto others as you would have them do unto you” maxim is called.
And I reckon that it’s a good one for anyone working in a service situation to remember. Let me explain.
I had an appointment on Friday to see a medical specialist. As I hate being late, I busted my gut to be there early, 10 minutes early in fact.
Yep, you’re ahead of me aren’t you?
On my arrival the receptionist cheerfully told me, “Oh he’s running 20 to 30 minutes late.”
Now I don’t mind him running late coz he might have been delayed saving a life coz, after all, he saved mine.
The “how’s things?” call is one of those techniques every businessperson should use.
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What peed me off, as I explained to the receptionist, was that she could have given me a quick phone call to let me know. That way I wouldn’t have been sitting there wasting the same amount of time reading an ancient National Geographic magazine. (Actually I wasn’t… I spent some of the time tapping this out on my iPhone to get it off my chest.)
It seems that people in reception roles never think of what a delay does to the client, customer or patient. If they did they’d surely give them a quick call as a matter of course to update them.
They’d do unto others as they would like done unto them!
Winno
Absolutely agree – I had the same experience, on a day when I was pretty busy – so had rung ahead to check if the doctor was on schedule, only to arrive and find that my guy was running 45 minutes behind. So I immediately rescheduled my (not urgent) appointment and left.
The specialist lost out and I, admittedly had to come back, but on a day when I had more time.
You can bet that the receptionist called me when the next occasion came around when the doctor was running late.
Great strategy Richard!