Rick's Business of Audiology Blog

JFK Announcement: Customer Service Blunder

I read today that one of the runways at John F. Kennedy International Airport will close Monday.

Three concepts of importance jumped out that are important to you.

First: it is good to make internal problems invisible to your customers. Your customers don't really care if your equipment needs calibration, your vendor is on the phone, or your office expansion is on schedule or not. What they do care about is how you serve them. So if it doesn't create perceived value to your customer it is best kept invisible to them. If it does create perceived value then by all means make sure they know.

Second: Goals that aren't believable are harmful goals. A spokesman for the airport management tells reporters: "The aim is to have {the construction] be invisible to the traveler."

Now having a construction project invisible to the traveler sounds nice at some level, and I am sure the person says this to be reassuring, but when you read this, even if you don't think it out loud, something inside of you will automatically reduce your confidence in everything this organization says. Because you know there is no way rebuilding the biggest runway at a major airport and having the runway closed for a planned 4 months is going to be invisible to anyone in the area.

Setting this as an implied goal, by using the word aim, is a fundamental flaw making the statement worse than useless. It is actually harmful!

Why?

First as a goal it is not believable: A goal that isn't believable is almost always harmful. It means people involved will not really try to make it happen, it sets up false expectations, and it reduces overall credibility in the organization, and it means everyone will fail. It also means people will fail to take the time to set useful goals for the project.

In this case the goal is to reduce future delays by 10,500 hours per year (as stated in the article). This would be more valuable if they equated this to fuel saved, or average time saved per flight or something like that.  10,500 flight hours saved a year is a whole lot of aviation fuel!

When setting goals, yes even when they are implied, make them believable.

Third: Public Credibility and maintaining the value of your brand.

Doublethink: When I was a kid we were required to read a book that I thought at the time was just too farfetched to be believable; George Orwell's 1984. In this book the concept of doublethink is used. The concept is that a person can believe two things that are impossible to both be true, and even though the person knows they cannot both be true they are willing to believe them both. As a young person I thought this was just a dumb idea. Certainly if someone was told two things and the person knew both were not possible then they would reject one, the other, or most likely both. And the person telling them would be discredited.

The airport spokesperson says: "The aim is to have {the construction] be invisible to the traveler." Then he also says the biggest airline using the airport will voluntarily reduce flights by 10%. Now, if anyone actually uses those flights, or those flights were important, then by his own statement obviously the project won't be invisible.

The CNN reporter then follows his comments with a statement that one of the other major airlines isn't going ahead with planned flight increases for the summer, and the reporter also has a comment from an air traffic controller from the airport saying he the impact won't be minimal.

The airport spokesperson discredits themselves by those completely contradictory statements.

Then the reporter discredits themselves by reporting two contradictory positions as if both are somehow credible.

As I read this I think the airport management either is incompetent or deceitful, or perhaps both. I also think why waste my time with CNN.

As a business owner try never to have people in your organization say things to your customers that your customers know are not possible. Often people cannot or won't articulate why they have less trust in one organization or another, but little things like this will create discord and make it harder for your customers to really trust you and your business

Here is a link to the article:

http://www.cnn.com/2010/TRAVEL/02/26/jfk.runway.closing/index.html?hpt=T2

 

You are invited to have some fun while we learn!

Your Invitation is here!

Learning can be fun, or a chore. Let's make it fun. If you are an Independent Audiologist, or want to be one, then this invitation is for you.

If it is fun, and also FREE, then why not? If it is fun, FREE, and worthwhile, then that is even better. One of my mottos is: "If it isn't going to be fun, then it has better be really really useful." I am so confident you will find this fun, free, and really really useful I am willing to be the person who invites you to the playground to play.

This will give you an opportunity to experientially learn about some financial concepts including things like active vs. passive income. Some team building concepts including the difference between, accidental team members, intentional team members, and detrimental team members.

And perhaps most importantly how you define your purpose and others define their purpose, as you see it played out on your screen.

You will learn how to use online tools, like Facebook, to improve your ability to achieve your personal and professional purposes.

It will give you a forum to meet some other Independent Audiologists in other parts of the country and add them to your support team network.

It will give you the opportunity to pick my brain on topics of interest to you without paying me! (Yes, my purpose is to help you succeed and this is like an invitation into my virtual office.)

It is completely self paced and you can participate or quit at any time.

We will use a Free online business building game called Farmville on Facebook.

Please send me a friend request using Facebook. (In you aren't sure how, and at one time we all weren't sure how, then send me an e-mail or call and I will walk you through the process rick@thrivingaudiology.com or 1-866-737-6243. If you aren't a Facebook user expect it to take about 5-10 minutes.)

Then start the online game Farmville by entering Farmville in the search box on the top of the page and most likely the top search result will be Farmville with a mini green headed duck on the box logo and some 80+ million monthly active users.

I will send you an invitation to a group on Facebook where we can interact and learn about Facebook groups.

All of this for perhaps 10-30 minutes a day, on the days when you can participate.

Rick

If you have any questions please give me a call or send an e-mail.

1-866-737-6243

rick@thrivingaudiology.com

Everyone Keeps Score: The question is what are they measuring?

Everyone keeps score. The question is how? All you need is two kids and two bowls of ice-cream to see this in action. Which is biggest?

If your staff is getting ready to leave on a Friday when you are wondering about the work getting done then they are just keeping score differently.

They are keeping score based on leaving on time, or perhaps they will "win" and leave a little early.

You are keeping score on sales, or patients served, or reports being completed, or …… who knows what.

Just as a plant will turn its leaves to the light, employees will turn their actions in the direction they are keeping score.

Rick

Making Outbound Calls: Simple Start Etiquette!

The phone rings, we pick it up, and someone interrupts our day with "Hi, is this Mr. Podalie?" OK, Poage isn't as easy to pronounce as Smith, but the problem is the same. By the time they have done this they have completely wasted their time and mine. Unless of course I am interested in annoying them back; which can be fun for me but probably still counts as a waste of time.

If they are initiating the all they ought to do the id first; the same for you and your office.

When someone is making outbound calls from your office have them treat the caller with respect and identify themselves first. Specific examples can be found on my Facebook Private Audiology Group.

Rick

 

Public Friends

If you have ever been to a Rotary function, or a wedding, or a pick up basketball game you have interacted with people you don't know well.

Some may have become long term good friends, some never pass your view again.

Online you can do the same.

Just as you don't post your credit card information on your forehead when at a wedding, you don't do so online.

However you might sit next to someone at your kids ballgame and talk to them enjoyably for an hour learning about kids, your community, school functions, or their business, or tell them about yours, without worry. Allow yourself to do the same online.

You are spending thousands of dollars to send messages to people who haven't told you they are interested, online you can send messages to people who have said they are interested for free. Don't let your fears get in the way!

As Facebook seems to be the dominant player it would be a good place to go, a good tool to use.

Don't be afraid to give it a try!

Rick

What’s in a name?

Product names provide many advantages for both the consumer and the business owner.

If you aren't sure if a name is important then think about bird feeders. There are a zillion and most of you probably cannot think of one brand name; until now.  I am told it uses a little battery powered motor so when the squirrel grabs on it does it's thing.....

Twirl a Squirrel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NocRG3r2zBw&feature=fvw

Cost per Patient Decrease!

It has been a great week as I have been reviewing numbers from clients.

Several have managed to decrease their cost per patient significantly and the funds have migrated to the bottom line.

What a wonderful progression!

Less dollars spent on advertizing and more dollars to pay taxes on.

In this case paying taxes is a good thing!

Rick

Financial Accounting vs. Managerial Accounting

Financial Accounting is what your book keeper and accountant do. It is to compute your tax liability. It is first and foremost for others. It is based upon standards (GAAP) and it is important to get the math right down to the dollar. It is based on what happened in the past and is calculated after what has happened has happened. Items like net income and book value are financial accounting concepts.

Managerial Accounting is what you (or your book keeper) do for you to assist in managing your business. There are no industry or national standards, you set your own. Often managerial accounting is most important when calculated in round numbers. Cost per new patient, overhead per hearing aid sold, sales and expense projections are managerial accounting concepts.

CPA's live in a world of financial accounting. This is a good thing as our government requires us to keep these records and report them in a standard way.

I know this will cause many of you to think.

Rick

Throwing New Money at Old Problems?

Sunk Costs can Float Your Boat!

A sunk cost is an accounting term for funds already expended or committed. It may sound like wasted money when they call it sunk, but that is just accountant talk. Sunk costs are probably around your office right now ready to help you. They may now be assets!

How to Measure Advertizing Effectiveness

I am often asked this question, but people who cannot tell me exactly what they wanted their advertizing to do.

Brand awareness? Business awareness? Professional Improvement? Value message penetration? Phone calls to the office? Tests performed?

But that is a question for another day.

Example:

Sheryl Crow Business Lesson?

There is a line in a Sheryl Crow song that I love about success: "It's not having what you want, it's wanting what you've got." I have no idea if this is actually what she meant when she wrote it. But it resonates with me this way.

There is a lesson here for all professionals in business:

Success often isn't about having all the resources, patients, staff, materials, vendor support, that you might have, or that someone else has.

Government Limits Care Options

If the government controls our health care dollars then politicians will control the procedures that we have available to us.  Example: Medicare hasn't been good for hearing aid funding.  

I know Sarah Palin has been criticized for her "Death Squad" comment. It probably won't have that official title. In fact I expect the politicians will manage to make it difficult to determine who is making the decisions.  But the decisions will be being made.

Ethics and “Free” Stuff

ASHA, AAA, and ADA, all have code of ethics that include sections that discourage, or prohibit, depending upon how one reads them participation in activities that constitute a conflict of interest. Most third party payers have items in their contracts prohibiting kickbacks, bribes, or other similar inducements.

Medicare has career limiting penalties for violations.

Free trips, marketing allowances, advertizing placement and mailing services, business services, and other "free" stuff offered by some of the companies selling you hearing aids most likely fall into this prohibited category. If you are caught, the price you may pay for the "free" stuff will be very high for you. They will be onto the next sale.

Are your sales reps really on your side?

This was a section grabbed from a published job opportunity for a hearing aid company sales representative. You know, the people who sell hearing aids to your business.  These are the people that want you to believe they are on your team first.  They want you to think they are really focused on getting you the best deal possible for you and your patients.

Notice the first thing they are responsible to do.

Cost Per New Patient

What does it cost to bring in a new patient? If you want your business to grow this might be the single most important number for you to know.

Why? Because if you want to sell an additional 20 hearing aids per month you will typically need to attract an additional 10-40 new patients depending upon the kind of patients you attract.