Empty Chair or Open for Business?

It's funny how learning can occur in the oddest of places. This past weekend, I was having a pedicure to get the ole feet ready for spring and put a little glamour on my toes. I was intently focused on bracing myself for a little torture as I have incredibly ticklish feet and truly do not enjoy the pedicure process.

As I sat in my massage chair while my feet enjoyed a calm jacuzzi bath before their scrubbing of terror, I noticed how busy the salon was. There was only one open chair at 9:30am on a Saturday morning. This made me feel a little better about my decision to be there. If this many other people were willing to risk their dignity to have their feet dolled up, then I must have made the right decision by being there myself.

At that moment, a potential customer walked in to the salon. She looked wide-eyed at how full the chairs were and said, "Oh, you are full. I will come back later." I watched to see how the technicians responded. A few of them looked around and then, it became clear who the owner was. I watched as Tony sprung into action. In a flash he gracefully made it out the front door, and walked back in with young lady who had left only seconds ago because she thought the salon was full. In a moment, she had chosen her polish and was seated in the empty chair as Tony, the owner and manager, began to take care of her.

Tony made a brilliant decision when he went the extra mile to bring the potential customer back in. He knew that this one additional customer would bring him as close to 100% profit on a sale as he would ever get. He already had the team there, and the chair was available. His only additional expenses were the nail polish and other products used to treat the customer.

Then it hit me. How many times in a dental practice is the empty chair really open for business? Maybe we frown on walk-ins. Or perhaps we are afraid that the patient we work in before lunch will prevent us from being able to have lunch together as a team. Or, if we add the patient with a toothache into the schedule, we won't have time to place our dental supply order. No matter the reason, many times our empty chairs are not "open chairs." Take some time in your team meeting this week and look at how many empty chair hours you have. What would it take to turn them from empty... to open for business?