Monday, October 29, 2012

CPAs and Dentists: Building Brand Loyalty is Not Like Pulling Teeth

After an unfortunate encounter with a hardened tortilla chip that managed to crack parts of two adjoining teeth, I spent an hour in my dentist’s chair this morning getting it repaired.

White waiting for a double shot of Novocain to kick in before the dental fracking began, I realized that I had been going to Dr. Jeff since 1993, and thought about the reasons behind my 19-year loyalty.

Dr. Jeff’s  practice is three blocks from Grand Central Terminal, where I arrived each workday morning when I worked in Manhattan, so I would try and finagle his earliest time slot, which is 8 a.m., and then subway down to my office for the remainder of the day.

Now that I work from home, I continue to see him and make the 45-minute trek into New York City, paying for both the train ticket and the station parking.

Why?

Because I like and feel comfortable with him.

Dr. Jeff makes you feel relaxed and chats just enough to relieve any anxiety. He will also clear his calendar for an emergency (like a fossilized chip sectioning off part of two teeth) and if you’ll pardon the obvious pun, it doesn’t hurt that he’s virtually painless.

Come to think of it, patients choose and remain with dentists much the way clients do their CPAs.  They often go as a result of a referral and if the services provided meet or exceed their expectations, they eventually become a client for the long term.

Because whether in need of a root canal or a tax return, no one likes change. Change is often an anathema to CPAs, but it is as well for clients. Who wants to look for a new accountant in the middle of December? Along the theme of the psychology behind change or lack thereof, I’ve had the same accountant — Rocco — since 1990, even longer than I’ve been sitting in Dr. Jeff’s state-of-the-art treatment chair.

But in an emergency (like the time New York State sent me a notice claiming $2,500 in back taxes), Rocco came over on a weekend to help me straighten out what could have been a very expensive situation.

So I’ve been loyal to both for roughly two decades and will continue to do so. Sure clients and patients occasionally do leave over price, but if they get service like I do from Dr. Jeff and Rocco, the chances of their exiting wanes exponentially.

Now if I can just avoid hardened snacks. After all, I love Dr. Jeff but that doesn’t mean I want to create an excuse to see him.

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