Great space, great service, or both?
Great space, great service, or both?
Published on February 2nd, 2012 @ 02:03:00 pm , using 374 words, 939 views
A few years ago I went to visit a friend of my in northern California (identity and town to remain unnamed). An early adopter of Chinese medicine, he'd had a practice for many years and was quite successful, with plenty of patients, a couple of apprentices who rented space and copied his style, a lovely reception person, and a good location in the center of town.
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Walking in, the waiting area was cozy, with nice retail displays, hot tea, articles and books to read, and a friendly greeting. But I notice immediately, and even moreso when I got a treatment, that around the "edges" things were a little shabby. The carpets really needed cleaning, the lamps needed replacing, the waiting room chairs did not match, the bathroom was only barely acceptable, and a new coat of paint would not have gone amiss. Still, with a full appointment book for as many people as he wanted to treat, it was difficult to argue with his formula for success.
This morning I was reading the blog of another business success blogger, John Heckers, of Colorado Business Magazine.
His blog for today was about the seven deadly sins of small businesses. Here's a quote:
Don't spend money on the flash or the office space. Spend money, time and care on the customer. While you have to have an office that is appropriate for the business you do, I've found that most customers care more about the service they receive than how pretty the office is. Beautiful offices are mainly for the egos of those who have the business.
This quote made me remember that visit and how, despite the slightly shabby nature of his office, this man made each patient feel so cared for and loved. I expect that many of his regular clients neither cared nor noticed much about the office space in light of his wonderful touch and bedside manner, lovely receptionist, and generally friendly, down-home feel of the overall experience.
Of course, my advice would be that a squeaky clean and pleasant, well-designed office space is almost as mandatory as a great practitioner attitude and bedside manner. But that's just me. Does anyone else have experience with these issues? I'd love to get your comments.
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I vote for both, Honora. Having been on the receiving end of competent care in a dirty office by my first acupuncturist, I only returned out of sheer necessity. Once I found someone who could provide effective care in a clean office, I was outta there. Feedback from my own clients is that my office is like a spa so they feel relaxed as soon as they enter. Then I provide loving, caring acupuncture treatment. My first profession is massage therapy so the comfort factor is first and foremost to set the tone for needling. Interestingly I once read an article where a study showed that people's perceptions are influenced by exposure to soft vs. hard surfaces and warm vs. cool surfaces. Test subjects rated their experience of a woman in an elevator who asked them to hold a cold drink or a hot drink while she wrote on a clipboard, or similarly, a hard object or a soft object. Their ratings corresponded to the quality of the surface they touched. The woman with the clipboard was perceived as warm and friendly by test subjects who were asked to hold a warm drink or a soft object. Food for thought! 
You don't need to spend a lot of money on flash. The people who come to my office see a spare but lovely space. The colors I chose for the space have elicited a lot of comments about how wonderful it feels to just be there. It was my "intention" to set up an atmosphere that I spent a lot of time and attention on (not money) and that intention is felt by all who come in that space, relax and open up very easily on their very first acupuncture consultations. I believe hospitality makes a wonderful first impression and part of that is when some time and attention is devoted to the space to create a welcoming, hospitable atmosphere. While everyone may not notice the cleanliness or lack thereof, it never hurts to be clean, especially the bathroom! 
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