A Story of Front Desk Failure

 The other day, I visited a local business.  I wasn’t in a hurry, but I wasn’t planning on waiting for hours either.
 
When I walked in, the receptionist said, “Just grab a seat anywhere.” I dutifully complied. 
 
After waiting for 3-4 minutes, I noticed that a family of 4 got up and left.  They said, “The wait is 30 minutes, and I’m freezing.  Let’s go. I’m never coming back to this place.”  So they left, and the receptionist said a meager, “I’m sorry,” on their way out the door.
 
Soon, another person came in, and they were addressed and cared for immediately by the receptionist.  After about 10 minutes of waiting, I finally got her attention and explained that I had been ignored. 
 
Ultimately, the receptionist brought me up, and after a total of 25 or so minutes waiting, I was cared for. 
 
How many problems can you find in this scenario?
 
My greeting was not warm.
The family was not addressed during their wait, and their wait was too long.
I wasn’t cared for until I got the receptionist attention.
And on and on.
 
Business owners, training your receptionists/front desk to be warm and helpful is a small investment with a big payout.  Their friendliness costs nothing and is often the difference between a customer/patient for life or one that tells the community how awful your business is.
 
Don’t let your front desk/receptionist kill your business.  Enable them to be the promoters of your business and customer care.  Don’t assume it will happen, and hold those up front accountable to do a good job.
 
If not, you may lose more than just a single customer/patient.  You may lose your reputation.
 
If you would like help with training your front desk/receptionist, Prosight has a successful, custom fit training program called the Front Desk Academy.  We find out what your needs are, call in and train twice a month, and help you create the best front desk environment possible.  Just let us know how we can help.
 
Gordon Duncan
 
Front Desk Academy
www.prosightsuccess.coom
www.prosightsuccessblog.com
www.prosightworkbook.com
 
 
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