“They may forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel.” Carl W. Buechner

This is so true. Think about it. Wherever  you go, your impression on that particular place of business is directly based on how they made you feel. Crappy service at the dry cleaners? They did a fine job on your clothes but the staff was rude, didn’t talk (or use your name) and didn’t thank you sincerely for your business. What do you go out feeling? Unappreciated, like you didn’t matter. It doesn’t matter that they did the actual “job” you expected them to by delivering your clothes clean, pressed and neatly packaged. You’ll go out thinking, and saying “That dry cleaners has the worst customer service ever!”. (more…)

“Most of us spend too much time on what is urgent and not enough time on what is important.”   Stephen R. Covey

In a dental office, this quote is sooo true. Urgency is the walk in emergency patient and no treatment rooms available.  The phone that is ringing off the hook. The overbooked schedule, no clean instruments and no clean rooms.  The 3 holes in the schedule from no-shows and the quick scrambling trying to fill them last-minute. We need to be always prepared for the urgent while maintaining focus on the important. Continual adjustments, shifts in our behaviors and systems to make accommodations for life. Yet the structure, and expectations, remain the same. (more…)