I like to provide the best possible service in my office.  We are not perfect—no one is—but it is always interesting to study customer service in our office as well as in other businesses to help us improve.

We work with a specialist’s office that is very conscientious in their marketing and in their service.  They frequently send out cookies and gift baskets, they schedule lunches and dinners, and they even provide continuing education opportunities. 

We recently had an experience with one of their associates that was a complete disconnect between the service they are marketing and the reality of dentistry with this associate.  Our patient is a dental phobic who wanted sedation and she came to my office specifically because we provide sedation dentistry.  During a long procedure in my office, she required the services of a specialist right away.  We selected this particular specialty office because they also provide sedation.  We drove her over as the sedative we gave her was wearing off.  When we arrived at the specialist’s office, their marketing person was out delivering cookies to generate referrals.  When we explained to the specialist that the sedative was wearing off and that she would need more, his response was, “Oh, she won’t need that.”  Really?  This patient was a severe dental phobic! 

Referral relationships are delicate.  What’s the point of sending out cookies to generate referrals when one foolish decision at “crunch time” can destroy all future referrals from a great referral source?