DYNAMIC DATA NEWSLETTER tm Jan 2002

A complimentary e-newsletter from Linda Miles for the professional dental community.

For subscription (or unsubscribe) details, as well as Miles & Associates contact information, please see the end of this newsletter.

Miles & Associates P.O. Box 6249 Virginia Beach, VA 23456 757.721.3332 757.721.2892 (Fax) 800.922.0866 Toll-free www.DentalManagementU.com

DYNAMIC DATA

January 2002

Dear Doctors and Staff,

The New Year started with ten inches of snow for the Virginia Beach area. This is a huge surprise as the Atlantic Ocean usually keeps the snowfall west and north of our region. Being snowed in for three days can actually be a good omen, as all the creative and organizational chores one puts off for a rainy day can become snow day priorities. As you look at the year before you, mostly a rather clear calendar of events at this time, make a list of all the fun things you'd like to do that have been postponed for one reason or another. My advice, especially after the 9-11 attacks on America, is to break your professional and personal lives into colors. Just as we recommend color coding your treatment appointments, color-code your life. At our annual Speaking/Consulting Network for new or experienced speakers, consultants and writers, one of the best pieces of advice I have given my colleagues is to look at the year ahead and mark the days in blue you are available to consult, red indicates the lecture dates, green is for marketing and business management, yellow is for creative time such as articles, course preparation, ad designs, client reports, etc. Then I ask each network member to also add purple which is the 3-4 days break they will take every six weeks for fun, family and relaxation breaks. The business of speaking and consulting is very much like dentistry. You constantly strive for perfection and think of others daily. Even when you are not working, you are thinking of work! The 9-11 events make us realize that we are often so focused on making a living, we have forgotten how to live. Most of my clients have had a fabulous year in 2001. The report I hear most often is, "you told us that taking more time off was actually part of growth and success. Look at these numbers and know that we FINALLY believe you." The reason for short breaks being so important is that while you rest; you sharpen your axe! You and your staff will become slaves to your patients and the practice as a business. You will burn out, and the cracks of the foundation will eventually crumble. This business of dentistry is tremendously seductive and will drain every ounce of your fun and family time if you allow it. Sit down with your staff and family and design some "purple time" on your 2002 calendar of events. Plan staff CE and a fun outing each quarter. If you, (the owner of the practice), are not a socially creative person, bestow this fun task on the team and see what they can come up with for office "purple time". Sit down with your spouse and family and have them assist you with planning exciting and fun things to do every six weeks. It doesn't have to be elaborate and expensive. Otherwise, 2002 will be just another year of working to live, not living.

Our Client of the Year for 2001, is Dr. Chris Cooley and his team of top professionals from the Memphis, TN area. Dr Cooley has been a client of LLM&A since the mid 80's. Linda last visited their practice two years ago and they attended the LLM&A Caribbean Cruise last year. Linda is slated to revisit their practice for a one day focused seminar in April 2002. If Linda searched for the words "perfect client office" on the Internet, Dr. Cooley's practice would be there. Besides high quality, comprehensive dentistry, Dr. Cooley's new office is state of the art. He also has a very caring, dependable team of highly skilled professionals, which make his practice rank in the top 1 percent of solo practices worldwide. We have so many "model" practices that we are privileged to work with, it was difficult to select only one. While I have slowed down my consulting assignments and acceptance of lectures by design, (purple alert), we at LLM&A continue to follow the trends and the trendsetters like Dr. Cooley.

Watch for my new article in Dental Economics starting in January entitled "Positive Resolutions". It's all about the little issues in a practice that can start off small and escalate into serious morale destroying episodes. Your feedback to Joe Blaes, Editor and me personally will be greatly appreciated. Have an issue you'd like addressed? Just send it to Pennwell and it will appear anonymously in a future article.

Many of you often ask where I get my inspiration, who are my mentors? One of them is my National Speaking Association buddy, Dr. Alan Zimmerman. It is amazing how "on target" this young man is about life in general. With that, I will attach Alan's New Year's Day Tuesday Message from last week. If your study club or association is in need of a speaker, do your group a favor and talk to Alan. Also please turn to our LLM&A Speakers' Bureau listing of speakers for your next meeting. I am privileged, through my SCN annual meeting, to meet and work with the upcoming stars of this business. Visit them on our web-site at www.DentalManagementU.com

Our March 22,23 two day Dental Business Conference is filling quickly. If you wish to bring or send your team, call today to register at 888-507-8757 (PMG Management). Pauline Grabowski, Owner of PMG, Annie Seela, Lee Tarvin and I look forward to having you with us at the Virginia Beach Resort Hotel right on the Chesapeake Bay. I will be presenting most of the two day class with Pauline and several guest speakers presenting break-outs on computers, the exceptional dental assistant, assisted hygiene, time management, staff: your greatest asset, and leadership. This course is second in value to our One Year Practice Enhancement Program. Call today for a free brochure or more information.

Our team of consultants stand by to assist you and your staff with practice obstacles that can rob you of the joys of practicing in a stress-less work environment. Call Lee Tarvin, (800-922-0866) 9-Noon Monday through Thursday EST if we can be of service or write to me personally at lindamiles@cox.net. Have a Happy New Year. With more "purple" the best is yet to come! Sincerely, Linda Miles, CEO, CSP, CMC For a sample of feedback questions to go along with Alan's message on customer feedback, include these questions.

1. Do you feel you were well treated personally and professionally in our office on past visits? ____________________________________

2. What do you enjoy most about being a patient of record?______________________

3. What do you enjoy least about our practice? (We can only improve with honest feed-back.) __________________________________________

4. How do you feel about our staff? Is there any one on our staff that stands out most in your mind? Good, bad and why?_____________________________________

5. How would you rate our communication? Telephone______________, chairside patient education_____________, and regarding your financial obligations_______.

6. Do you recall the names of patients you have referred to us in the past?_________________________. When you tell others about our practice, how do you describe us?_______________________________________

***********Tuesday's Tip with Dr. Zimmerman************

#81

January 1, 2002

Tip:

Business goes where it is asked and stays where it is thanked.

Dr. Alan Zimmerman's Comment:

The famous singer, Roger Williams, was on tour and stopped by a nursing home to visit his mother. Unfortunately, he got lost looking for her room and was wandering around somewhat confused. It was at that point that an elderly woman came up to him and looked at him with an intensely curious, but recognizing, stare.

After a moment, he broke the awkward silence by asking; "Do you know who I am?" Surveying him from head to toe, she replied, "No, but if you go to the front desk, they can tell you."

Roger Williams asked a great question. In fact you should be asking a similar question when it comes to your business and your customer service. Do your customers know who you are?

The answer to this question will make or break your business. And the answer isn't so difficult to get. As the elderly lady said, just go up to the front desk and ask. Or in the case of your business, just go out and ask your customers for some feedback.

The problem is, SOME BUSINESSES DON'T ASK THEIR CUSTOMERS FOR NEARLY ENOUGH FEEDBACK. OTHER BUSINESSES DON'T BELIEVE IT OR HEAR IT. And any one of those mistakes can seriously affect the success of your business.

Some businesses "don't ask" for the feedback until it's too late. An important customer jumps ship, and all of a sudden, the business is calling that customer, groveling, asking for another chance, wanting to know what it would take to get back their loyalty. Good luck. It seldom works.

Other businesses "don't believe" it. In other words, they don't believe there's any adverse feedback to collect from customers. Afterall, if there was any negative feedback, they figure they would know about it.

Wrong! Research has repeatedly shown that for every 100 unhappy customers a business has, only 4 will ever tell that business. Most people don't say anything because they don't think it would be worth the hassle.

So be careful. Just because you're not hearing a lot of negative customer feedback, don't assume there isn't any. Smart businesses, prosperous businesses beg their customers for complaints.

Still other businesses "don't hear" it. Oh, they may ask their customers for feedback. But the business doesn't get it. They don't really hear it. They don't hear all that is being said or left unsaid by the customer.

It's like the man who conducted an experiment to find out whether people really listen to one another. Whenever he got a phone call, he responded to the standard question of "How are you?" with a simple, "Oh, feeling."

Then he kept score of what people said back. The responses were, "Good...Great...or...That's nice." Nobody paid any attention to what he said, except once. The fellow at the other end perked right up. "Oh!" he exclaimed with interest. "Anybody I know?"

So what should you do? You should find out what your customer needs, meet those needs as best you can, and then ask for feedback on how well you delivered.

To do that, you need to ask two kinds of questions, preventative and inventive. Preventative questions focus on preventing wrong. In other words, they gather information from your customers on what you have to do so you don't accidentally screw up or turn off your customers. They gather information about your customer's likes and dislikes.

The two most common preventative questions you should be asking your customers are: "What did you like about our products and services? And what didn't you like about our products and services?"

In essence you're trying to figure out why your customers keep buying from you. You're trying to prevent some things that would make your customers stop buying from you.

As telesales trainer Art Sobczak says, "This is so incredibly simple, yet it's rarely used by companies." You may think your product or service offers a particularly wonderful benefit for your customer, but that "benefit" may not mean anything to your customer. He or she might buy for a totally unrelated reason.

For example, my financial planner might like to believe that he gets my business because of all the superb economic analyses he does for me. The truth is, I've stayed with him simply because he calls more often than the other financial planners I've used. Of course, he may not know this because he's never asked why I do business with him.

Ask your customers why they keep buying from you. Try something like, "Betty, I want to make sure we're providing you with what you want. So please, tell me why you keep doing business with us?"

Then ask your customers some inventive questions. Unlike preventative questions that help you prevent wrong, inventive questions help you invent right. Ask such questions as, "What would you like from us in the way of products and services?" and "What should we do differently?" Whether you use customer score cards, telephone calls, focus groups, or just ask your customers informally, face to face, you'll get a gold mine of good ideas.

When you ask for customer feedback, you'll also get a few complaints. So you may think it's better to not ask for any customer feedback. You may think it's better to leave well enough alone rather than encourage customers to vent.

Not so! Most research says that customer satisfaction actually goes up if you "respond" to customer complaints in 24 to 48 hours. Mind you, I said "respond," not "resolve." Customers don't expect you to resolve all their problems immediately, but they are delighted if you take some action and get back to them as quickly as possible.

Today's tip says, "Business goes where it is asked and stays where it is thanked." I've been writing about the first part. You've got to ask for customer feedback. But you've also got to show appreciation.

To show appreciation, I would suggest you follow the advice given in the famous poem, "And Then Some."

And Then Some

"These three little words are the secrets to success. They are the difference between average people and top people in most companies. The top people always do what's expected...and then some. They are thoughtful of others. They are considerate and kind...and then some. They meet their obligations and responsibilities fairly and squarely...and then some. They are good friends and helpful neighbors... and then some. They can be counted on in an emergency... and then some. I am thankful for people like this, for they make the world more livable. Their spirit of service is summed up in these little words...and then some."

Action:

Select three of your customers and ask each of them a couple of preventative and inventive customer service questions. Really listen to what they are saying, and then take one action that will exceed your customers' expectations. In other words, use the feedback.

Have a fantastic week! Dr. Alan Zimmerman

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========CREATING CUSTOMER SERVICE CHAMPIONS===========

If you want to get serious about getting and using customer feedback, get a copy of Dr. Zimmerman's book on "Creating Customer Service Champions." It's a massive, 3-ring, 275 page training manual that has an entire section on just this topic.

It's an expensive $295 training system, but just this one section on customer feedback will pay for itself in a matter of hours. Click here http://drzimmerman.com/products_ccsc.htm or cut and paste this address into your web browser for a complete outline of everything in this manual and information on how to order your copy.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dr. Alan Zimmerman is a full-time professional speaker, who has given more than 3000 keynote, half, and full day programs across the country and around the world. His high energy, high content, high involvement programs help: 1) create more positive work environments, 2) where people are motivated to give their very best, 3) while working with colleagues and customers as a team.

When you hire Dr. Zimmerman, you will receive an outstanding program that your participants will love. They will learn skills they can use immediately - on and off the job - to get better results immediately. And they will have fun in the learning process.

Click here http://drzimmerman.com/programs.htm or cut and paste this address into your web browser for Dr. Zimmerman's complete list of programs.

Feel free to call Dr. Zimmerman or his staff to discuss your program needs or e-mail any questions you might have. He would be happy to respond.

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CONTACT INFORMATION

Dr. Alan R. Zimmerman, CSP Tel: 952-492-3888 Fax: 952-492-5888 E-mail: Alan@DrZimmerman.com

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============PLEASE FORWARD THIS ISSUE=====================

If you enjoy these Tuesday Tips, would you do me, and a few friends a favor? Please forward this issue to several people in your address book -- co-workers, vendors, friends, anyone who could benefit.

Better yet, tell them they can sign up for their own subscription. All they have to do is go to my web site to sign up.

Your goal, like mine, is to make a positive difference in the lives of as many people as possible. They'll thank you for it, and so will I.

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==============COPYRIGHT AND REPRINTS=====================

Reprint permission is granted when the following credit appears: "© Dr. Alan R. Zimmerman, CSP, 2001. Reprinted with permission from 'Dr. Zimmerman's Tuesday Tip,' a weekly internet newsletter. For your own personal subscription, go to www.DrZimmerman.com"

LLMiles and Associates P.O. Box 6249 Virginia Beach, VA 23456 800.922.0866

Visit us at www.DentalManagementU.com

Please keep in mind this newsletter is being offered complimentary in response to the many requests to stay in touch with our clients and followers. If you wish to unsubscribe to Dynamic Data please send an e-mail message to lindamiles@cox.net to let us know.

Miles & Associates' corporate headquarters may be reached at 800.922.0866. Fax us at 757.721.2892. On the web at www.DentalManagementU.com, or via email at lindamiles@cox.net.

Miles & Associates - Jan 2002

Miles & Associates Linda L Miles & Associates P.O. Box 6249 Virginia Beach, VA 23456-0249 Phone: 757.721.3332 FAX: 757.721.2892 800.922.0866 Toll-free