The sweet smell of success - N G Marketing...service professional can help you. You will be amazed at what is reported back. The Sweet Smell of Success … or Not! Relative Odour worlds

When taking a look around thepractice and reflecting on whatworks and doesn’t we often missthe obvious.

As we all become technologicallymore competent, and life getsmore complex, we tend to neglectthose instincts, which tell uswhether events, things and peopleare good, bad or dangerous –instinctive responses which over-ride the thought processes whichmay follow. Practices arecontinually striving to educateowners that their pets are animalsand as such, may bite and scratch;that dogs and cats will sometimesbehave like wolves and wildcatson an instinctive basis. It’s worthreminding ourselves that we arenot so very different.

Taking a closer look at our senseof smell, the diagram below is ahypothesis resulting from researchinto the relative strengths ofdifferent species senses.

The hypothetical ‘Odourwheel’

This diagram represents andcompares the odour worlds ofmouse and human. (see figure 1)The inner part represents thedifferent categories of odoursexperienced by the mouse. Therelative importance of eachcategory for the mouse smell-independent behaviour isindicated by the area of eachwedge.

The outer part represents thesame categories for the human;the importance of each categoryfor human smell - independentbehaviour compared with themouse is indicated by the area ofeach wedge. Note the greaterimportance of food odours for thehuman. Note also the retention ofsome sensitivity to social andother odours prominent inrodents, though in many cases tostill undermined degrees.

What is my point?

It is this: give your practice thesenses test, see what’s going on,touch the surfaces, make aconscious note of the smell indifferent areas and hear thegeneral practice malaise.

The resultant changes could elicitthe sweet smell of success!

Ideally get someone who’s notinvolved with the practice to dothis. An experienced customerservice professional can help you.You will be amazed at what isreported back.

The Sweet Smell of Success… or Not!

Relative Odour worlds ofmouse and human foods

Floral

Isn’t it time we came to our senses… or are we all so involved withthe practice that we’re missing what our basic senses are telling us?

Social

Survival

Ref: The Human Sense of Smell: Are We Better Than We Think? PLoS Biol 2(5): e146.doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0020146

won’t be seeing me or dealingwith any aspect of my pet’shealth.

I notice an information board,which carries a display onfireworks and safety tips forNovember the 5th

It’s now April.

This is an accumulation ofexperiences but I have comeacross all of them recently.

Most of these problems arerelatively easy and inexpensive tofix. Doing so would make theexperience of your clients somuch better and would put themmore at ease.

� Fix the fence. You couldprobably do it yourself - it wasonly a loose board.

� Ease the door opening –perhaps get a carpenter in forthe morning.

� Wash the mat at least once aweek. Dependant on footfalland incidents.

� Ensure that your Receptionistonly has coffee when morningappointments are over orwhen she’s away from thedesk.

� Have seats that aren’tcovered in cloth and so areeasy to clean – after all youare in a potentially messybusiness.

� Encourage staff to comestraight to an appropriatepartner or practice managerwith a grumble. Theywouldn’t like their

Consider the followingscenario 1.

I park the car in the car park; Inotice that the fence needsrepairing; I look for a sign thattells me where I’m supposed togo. I open the door, the doorhandle feels cold and is stiff toopen - are they shut? I lookaround and see other peopleinside and so assume not and givethe door a shove. It makes menervous just in case they havelocked the door for a reason andI’m about to wreck the door orend up with handle in my handwhilst at reception! I enter andshut it behind me and I notice asmell when I enter - now what isit? Mmm, something like wetsmelly dog with a dash of … notsure but something unpleasant,maybe it’s the mat. I’ve justwalked across it did feel a slightstickiness underfoot now I thinkabout it. I register at receptionand am acknowledged, betweenmouthfuls, whilst the receptionistdrinks her coffee, which doessmell nice after the initial wet dogwaft on entry! I think what agood idea - I could just do with acoffee now. I can almost taste thecoffee, it smells so good. But nochance of getting one until I’mback at home.

I take a seat, I look to choose theone with the least pet hair on butit still sets my mind wonderingwhat was wrong with the pet thatcame in previously. Lice, mites,fleas? Something that could betransferred to my pooch here orat home? My mind becomesdistracted as I hear a conversationbetween the receptionist and oneof the nurses. These two arerevealing the inadequacies ofanother member of staff in adisparaging way. My thoughtsthen turn to who this personmight be and the hope that they

shortcomings to be discussed inpublic would they?

Don’t expect clients to enter thepractice with a “hear no evil, seeno evil, speak no evil and forpity’s sake don’t touch anythingattitude”; they’re too caught upwith anxiety about their best pal.

Their instincts however will givethem an emotional impression oftheir visit that will leave them witha sense of whether or not thepractice is a good one.

Take note of the following extractand think of the last time youwent somewhere and didn’t go inbecause it just didn’t feel right!

Emotion

The perception of smell consistsnot only of the sensation of theodours themselves but of theexperiences and emotionsassociated with these sensations.Smells can evoke strong emotionalreactions. Surveys on reactions toodours show that many of ourolfactory likes and dislikes arebased purely on emotionalassociations.* Ref : Social IssuesResearch Centre- Smell report

Our sense of touch is our way offeeling the world around us,whether it’s a handshake orpetting man’s best friends. It’s ourfirst form of communication:studies have shown that anembryo has acquired a sense oftouch by the eighth week of itsdevelopment.

How would your practicescore?

See page 3 for scoring for scenario

Veterinary practice is an emotionexperience business. Sometimes it’sthe little things that give us thegood feelings about a place.

Think of some of our commonsayings: to smell a rat, the sweetsmell of success, gut feeling, wakeup - smell the coffee, to loose one’stouch, unable to hear oneself think.All these are directly related to oursenses and to the importance oftaking action.

The things that go unnoticedbecause you see them every daycould be the reasons for a clientchoosing another practice. Theshabby look of the paintworkoutside, hairs on the seats (aprofessional hazard, I hear you cry)but not noticed in all practicesbecause they have seating thatdoesn’t hold hair. Sitting on hairyseats will be a turn off for some ofyour clients and not for others.

Think about Mrs Jones a poodlebreeder: it would be an issue for herbecause she prides herself withbeing as immaculately turned out asher dogs. John the Bricky probablywouldn’t notice when he comes inwith his Staffy, Helga. When Helgahad puppies she chose to do it inthe cab of John’s truck. He wasn’tbothered and she was happy. Butput it right and none of your clientswill complain. *

I leave you with the thought thatit’s the little things in life that cansometimes make all the difference.Realise what your instincts aretelling you and take action.

The table below shows how the scenario would rate

(1 being bad, 2 poor, 3 average, 4 good, 5 very good)

Activity Hear See Touch Smell CommentsParking the car 2 3 Broken fence

Outside the practice 2 3 3 Mostly OK, but had to look for reception sign, which was notobvious. Building work next-door, noise irritating, scared mydog. Paintwork a bit shabby on door.

Entry 3 4 2 2 Registration desk obvious, door handle stiff, felt awkward,smell of wet dog, yuk.

Reception 3 2 3 4 No undue noise, receptionist drining coffee, reception deskclean, nothing nasty to touch, coffee smell good but left mefeeling of regret at not being able to have one.

Seating 3 2 2 3 No undue noise, hairs on the seats, hairs on hands aftersitting on the seat, smell of wet dog and coffee not the bestof smells

Waiting 1 2 2 3 Disparaging conversation between staff, wonder what theysay about their clients? Display out of date, nothing new tohelp my pet, still feeling uncomfortable.

*Note: Any people and pets named in this article are fictitious and used to demonstrate attitudes and customer behaviour.

Nicki is known in the Veterinary pharmaceutical arena for introducing practice development programmes, and launching alicensed product via a consumer TV campaign (Both firsts in this Industry at the time). She negotiated co-promotions withleading names such as Sony, and developed other innovative award winning ideas, gaining market shares, profitable sales, andelevating corporate visibility.Since launching NGM, she has worked with new businesses as well as large multi national companies throughout a diverserange of sectors from Veterinary Pharmaceuticals , IT, Furniture manufacturing and retail to Dating agencies, giving her anincreased breadth of business acumen used to assess the market needs of a myriad of areas.Her creative ability, imaginative thinking and customer focus has successfully marketed products and services in global and localmarkets to businesses and consumers.

Further information on this article and other NGM marketing and management projects contact us on:Email: [email protected],uk; Tel: +44 (0)1638 578980. Website: www.ngmarketing.co.uk

Copyright © 2012 Nicki Glen All Rights Reserved.