When you don't expect anything...

I have had the same dentist for 20 years. I discovered him quite by chance when I had just moved into my first condo in Montreal, fresh out of the family nest. I made an appointment with no expectations, thinking that no dentist could be worse than the one my parents had taken me to since I was very young. I figured that if I was going to be played with in my mouth without regard to my sensitivity, I might as well be within walking distance of my new home...

That's how I made THE discovery! Why is it that when you don't expect anything, you are most pleasantly surprised? Unlike the dentist I had known before, Dr. Lee was nothing but efficient, gentle and professional. Not only that, he had beautiful eyes. Since that day, I have never complained of any pain during a visit to the dentist.

Over the years, I got married, moved several times, had children... It would never have occurred to me to change dentists, nor to anyone around me, because over the years I have brought family, friends, colleagues... It is so obvious that the astonished reaction of people surprises me every time: "You cross the bridge to go to your dentist? "Yes, why not?

That's what you get when you put the client at the heart of your concerns, and that's what Dr. Lee has understood.

Beyond expectations

Same period of my life, newly moved into the condo I had bought with my sister. A colleague praised the babysitter of her children who also cleaned houses in the neighborhood. In my early twenties, working long hours at the office, the weekend came and we wanted to do the party, not the cleaning! Great, so we hired Desiree for a trial run. When we came back after work, we had never seen such a clean interior... We would have eaten on the floor!... The agreement was for the cleaning, well every time we came back, the whole laundry was done, the sheets changed, the panties folded. Desiree moved to Ontario after two years. That was over twenty years ago, and to this day, we sometimes mention Desiree, always with the greatest nostalgia, at our friends' dinners... because of course Desiree was later hired by ALL our friends.

That's what we call being in tune with the needs of our customers, and that's what Desiree understood.

When I go to a store and wait to be served and there are three of them behind the counter doing everything but asking me how I can be helped, I wonder where this sense of customer service is lost in the process? A simple "hello, it won't take long" accompanied by a nice smile, has it become too much to ask?

Maybe, but in the meantime, I still believe that efficiency, courtesy and a real concern for the needs of the customer are the best assets for anyone who wants to make their business prosper. Customers see the difference and will value this business relationship more than any offer they receive... well, I hope so!

I'm off to my dentist appointment!