Be Excellent - Small Actions Make A Big Difference

“If you always do what you always did, you will always get what you always got”.

Albert Einstein.

When was the last time you thought to yourself, “ah, what a thoughtful touch”? And how did it make you feel?

My last “ah” moment was when we received lunch from one of our favourite cafes to enjoy at the end of our quarterly team meeting.

They put together amazing Italian inspired salads which are so fresh and tasty, and the quality is always excellent, so it was a no brainer to order from them. They always go above and beyond, and on this occasion they delivered our lovely salads, but they also delivered water in nice glass bottles, a handmade sweet treat and all the crockery too!

Did this make me love them even more? Yes! Did it make our lunch run smoother and more enjoyable? Yes! Will I be singing their praises and more likely to refer to them? Yep!

This is what I call the extra 1%. It’s the things businesses don’t have to do, but they do it because they care, and when they do, it makes a huge difference. It’s the above and beyond, and it’s the reason why I will happily continue to do business with them and share their business with others.

Don’t you want to fall into this category? I certainly do.

Running a chiropractic practice is no different. People are paying for our services, and whether you are seeing patients from home, via Zoom, or have a practice where you work from, we have an opportunity to be the “ah” in that persons life and really show that we care.

A 1% action can be in a variety of forms. They are the small changes or actions that make you unique and make the patients journey with you memorable and enjoyable.

To get your brains whirring, here are a few examples of some of the 1% actions we have taken in our practice over time…

- Replaced our standard shop bought hand soap to an ecofriendly non toxic soap which smells amazing (you would be amazed at how many people comment on this).
- Replaced our average looking cheap bins in the toilets to high quality and colour coordinated bins.
- Replaced our cheap toilet brushes to high quality and aesthetically pleasing toilet brushes. (Yes, I am talking about toilet brushes!!)
- Provide complimentary nappies, wipes and sanitary items in our baby changing toilet.
- Provide wooden high quality shoe horns which are placed in a basket in the area where patients take off their shoes.
- Call patients following their first adjustment to check in with them and see how they are doing.
- Hand patients their glasses following their adjustment and clean their lenses if needed (thank you Tim Young for this one).
- Offer patients fruit infused water at each visit and a bowl of fruit for people to enjoy (this has temporarily paused due to covid, but we can’t wait for this to return! Our community loved it and it forms a great topic of conversation).
- Post handwritten cards for birthdays and special occasions, send flowers for key events/birthdays, present a gift on their birthday if they have a visit on that day and acknowledge and celebrate milestone visits such as 30th, 50th, 100th visit etc.

I could go on, as this is something that we frequently reflect on so we are always trying to add little extras and keep the way we practice fresh.

You can see from my examples that the tweaks we have made really don’t cost a lot. And yes, I talked about our toilets a lot! (If your toilet facilities are dirty and unkept, I promise you people will remember this).

Some of the 1% actions take time and organisation, but once you have created a system so it happens consistently, ie: celebrating events and milestones, it just becomes routine.

So my challenge for you is to stop what you are doing, take out a note book and pen, and allow yourself 5 minutes. Close your eyes and think about everything in your practice and the interactions your patient has when visiting you. Write down a list of 1% ideas, whether they are grand ideas like sending gifts or simple changes to your toilets, write it down!

Once you have created a list, pick out 3 things that you can implement today. You may have a list of 20+ things and that is great, but for now pick out 3 key things you can implement. Now take action.

Your list will be ever evolving and you can work through it week by week. As a minimum, I would recommend that every quarter take a moment to reflect like this and write down more ideas and take action. If you have a team, get them involved! This means that your practice continues to grow, your service continues to increase, and you create more value for your patients. More value will likely mean the patient stay with you longer, and they will share their experience positively with others!

And most importantly, you are taking pride in your service. I enjoy our amazing smelling hand soap as much as our patients! Treat others as you would want to be treated and create a space that you would want to visit.

If this is something you already do, I would love to hear what 1% ideas you have implemented already! Together we learn and grow, so please share!

And if my challenge has sparked some ideas, what 1% ideas will you be implementing first?

I can’t wait to see you and your community grow.

With love,
Sarah