In business for yourself?

I spent yesterday morning in a dentist chair with people I hardly knew staring down at me and wielding implements of terror. Well, in my mind that is how a trip to the dentist is usually. But not yesterday. Dr. Babitz and his staff have a totally friendly, customer centric approach to the business. Immediately upon entering a very lovely lady greets you and engages you in some relaxing conversation. The staff is courteous, interested in you and seem genuinely happy that you are there. Really. They know that going to a dentist is frought with fears - some real, most imagined - and that alleviating a bit of stress is important for the patient.

In fact, they were so engaging and 'comfortable' when I went in for the first exam that I had no morning nervousness about going in for the actual work. I made a mental note of how 'customer centric' they were.

Later in the morning I was meeting with Peter at Mighty Imaging and we were discussing how to get the community talking about ways to get the community charged. One of the things that Peter prides himself in is the customer centric way he and Stephanie run the business. It is different than most labs, where the customer interacts with employees who may or may not have a 'stake' in the business. At Peter's lab, the customers interact with the owners.

He said something that I really liked. "Customer service is not a department, it is an attitude." So true. The dentist office was a place totally devoted to customer service, and you never felt that it was pushed or phony. This attention to the customer sets his lab apart from so many others. Chromatics in Nashville is like that... totally devoted to the customer's needs and finding ways to make the customers job easier. There is a Safeway near my home that has that same all encompassing aura of customer service. Being there makes you important to them.

When we look at our businesses in this light, we should take some measurement on how customer oriented we are. Do we publish information that the clients need? Do we keep them informed about changes or new offerings? Are we constantly focused on what they need to make their business or lives better? Are we in business for ourselves or our clients?