November 15, 2010

When Sales Is Also Customer Service

New to the area, I selected a new dentist this April and went for a cleaning. As I was checking out, they had me address a postcard to myself that they would send in six months to remind me to call for an appointment, a common practice. All they then needed to do was correctly file the postcard and mail as scheduled.

I received the postcard, and kept intending to call for that appointment. I've done that before, and eventually I do call and make the appointment, but it could be a month or more late, despite my intentions to stay on a six month schedule.

This time something new happened. A week after I received the card, the dentist's office called and asked if I'd like to make an appointment. I was grateful they did, and made the appointment.

Perhaps it's always been the practice at this office, or perhaps business is slow. But they provided a service by reaching out to me, and made a sale at the same time.

What can you do to increase sales and leave your customers thanking you for doing so?

1 comment:

Marissa said...

I think your example demonstrates the importance of presenting customers with recommendations that are relevant to them: you wanted to stay on a 6-month cleaning schedule and your dentist's office was simply suggesting that you did so. They knew what you wanted and aggressively sought a way to give it to you, even though you weren't ready to seek it out for yourself. So, how can one increase sales while leaving the customers thankful? Interpret, intuit, and just plain be one step ahead of them! Apparently, they will thank you for it later. :-)

-Marissa