Everything I ever need to know about customer service, I learned from my dentist! (Part Four, The END)

In Parts One, Two and Three, I gave the background to this story of exceptional customer service.

There are quite a few dentists in my community, but plenty of business to go around. Somehow I'd found this magical man who was able to work on my teeth. I was no longer afraid of him. I'm still afraid of the needle, but we found a way to work around that. Now I'm all caught up on the dental work, and still get cleanings four times a year. The sensitivity is gone thanks to additional fluoride and other treatments I can do at home. We are now even talking cosmetic work!

Believe it or not, I once let him work on a tooth with no anesthetic. I just couldn't stop long enough to take a day off so I just let him fix the tooth. That would have never happened before!

So, it's time to wrap this up and explain just what this has to do with customer service.

He took time to listen, really listen to what I had to say. He took the time to understand my fears and concerns. Even the setting of our first meeting was changed to make me feel more comfortable with the process. (Like meeting in a client's home)

He made me feel like I was his only patient (client). He had the office hold his calls while we were talking. He asked for my trust and had empathy for my prior experiences with others in his industry.

The office personnel were trained extremely well. Extra steps had been taken to ensure my comfort. Even when the hygienist saw serious concerns, she kept everything pleasant. This is like having fresh coffee, water, clean cups, and a place to sit at least.

The employees and the dentist let me see them as real people, with families and interests outside of the business by having the personal photographs and the posters of magicians. Turns out the dentist does fancy himself as an amateur magician.

The dentist showed me, very subtly, that he had a handle on the latest technology tools and was comfortable using them. When giving me the bad news, he kept his tone very matter-of-fact, and didn't alarm me to danger or give me cause to believe he'd never seen this before.

Once it was time for the serious work, he had taken all the steps necessary to ensure I was comfortable with the process, had trust in him and his team members, to do the job. He followed up "after the sale" to make sure I was happy.

I really thought that was special... until he called and checked on my husband after an appointment. Turns out he calls every patient, every night, to make sure they are okay.

Dr. Richard Cook, DDS in Juneau, Alaska, you are my dentist, and I consider you a friend. Now hopefully when he reads this I can put HIS photo in the blog!

Yippee! Dr. Cook read this and emailed me a photo of him with his grandson. Merry Christmas, Dr. Cook. You are the best and I am so glad you liked this blog.