How do you handle service after the manufacturer’s warranty has expired on instruments that you have sold? Do you follow the old Dispenser model and provide free service until such time as the instrument needs repair? Do you charge for each office visit? Do you offer an in-office service warranty or even an all-inclusive yearly warranty? There any many different ways of handling continuing service. What you do or don’t offer can result in business won or lost. How you present your service, whatever it is, can have a greater impact on your bottom line than what you charge for it.
About a month ago I was asked by an acquaintance to look at a card he recently received from the office where he purchased his instruments. The instruments were about to reach the end of the manufacturer’s warranty. It was a one line postcard stating that for a specific fee of several hundred dollars each, service of his instruments would be covered for another year. The card did not provide any details regarding what kind of service would be provided. My friend’s first question to me was, “What does this cover? It seems like a lot of money to get my instruments cleaned.”
My answer was simply, “I don’t know.” The card was intended to get a patient to return to the office and initiate a new service agreement. However, the lack of information made it appear to be a sales generating product. Instead of the card providing my friend with a clearly worded incentive to return to the office and possibly create a sales opportunity for the dispensing office or a genuine opportunity to provide continuing service, it became a reason for this patient to become distrustful of the person he had been seeing for a number of years.
We have all experienced the situation where, something we have written did not convey what we meant. A person writing a card or letter knows what he is trying to say but will the recipient interpret the words correctly? When you communicate with your clients, why not have someone else, possibly a long term client, read the material and give you some feedback. I suggest that what you send out should meet the “who, what, why, when, how” test. Brevity is always appreciated as long as you don’t sacrifice clarity, since a poorly worded form card/letter can achieve a negative result.
My friend was unaware of the fact that his warranty was about to expire. The postcard, instead of creating a reason for my friend to return to the office where the aids were bought, appeared, in his eyes, to be a thinly veiled attempt at a sales pitch. Would it have been better for that office to send a well drafted letter detailing just what services were included for the desired fee? Possibly my friend would have thought the service worth the price, but even if he did not, he would probably have had positive thoughts about the office and the service it provided. By sending out a postcard, with little information on it other than the fee, the professional was asking for problems. In my mind, that office was being pound wise and penny foolish. What do you think?
