By MICK HOLIEN
No matter what the dilemma there is always a way to make things right or at the very least improve a poor situation.
And how a scenario is dealt with often determines whether that customer continues to do business with you.
It always is surprising and quite frankly disappointing to see how much a business spend to acquire a customer only to have a poor experience with an actually well meaning employee prompting the loss of business.
But there are better ways to make of poor judgment.
I sure have learned in the time I have lived in the Mission Valley that try as I may to concentrate my business locally sometimes my preferences takes me either to the north or south on Highway 93.
I’ve been quite confidently seeing a Polson-area eye doctor for the dozen or so years I have lived here but recent vision challenges prompted me to go back to the Missoula Doc who previously performed some surgery on my left eye.
We can all relate that one can never be certain just how long a trip to Missoula takes and in my case it took an inordinate time that got me to my appointment 25 minutes late.
I was told there was a strict policy that I had violated but she would check I assume with the Doctor. Returning she said I would have to reschedule.
My first inclination was to whine about the distance, then cancel completely but I instead asked for a different Doc who also was a friend.
She scheduled me for mid-day the following day, an appointment I arrived about 80 minutes early for only to be met by who I assume was the office manager who assured me I would be next.
Another receptionist smiled and thanked me for returning and when I got into the examination room the Doc immediately apologized, with no explanation required, and said “that should never happen.”
He added whenever I needed an appointment to contact him personally.
The point is the clinic didn’t lost a 20-year customer but more importantly the way it was handled put a personal face on medicine, a required service, which is the key.
Businesses certainly should learn from the way I was ultimately handled.
Just say’n
