Dental Tribune United Kingdom Edition

19Money MattersJune 13-19, 2011United Kingdom Edition A ttention to detail can turn an average dental practice into an out- standing dental practice from the patients’ perspective. Ask any retailer from ASDA to Agent Provocateur and they will confirm that one of the principal key drivers in re- tailing success is getting the detail correct. From the open- ing hour’s signage to credit card processing, from the team’s uniform to the vernacular sales assistants use when speaking to customers: it all conspires to generate a successful purchase. As customers, we are con- tinually collecting and simul- taneously evaluating informa- tion. We are searching for clues that either reinforce our buying motivation or, just as critically, reduce it. Curiously, we often experience a huge sigh of relief when we discover that the re- tailer is not living up to our per- ceived understanding of their proposition. The sense of relief is driven by the fact we can stop processing the vast amount of multi-level information (sight, sound or scent) we are being hit with and simply accept the fact that this particular retailer is not right for us. We are quite pleased to move on. How many times have you been motivated by a real need, marketing, or simply op- portunity and entered a new re- tail environment with an expec- tation that has been shattered in a matter of seconds by a dirty or foul smelling environment, slovenly staff, poor lighting, or perhaps vast amounts of threat- ening signage? These are the obvious conditioners to our per- ception of the retailer and will have a massive impact on buyer behaviour. However, in all hon- esty, these types of problems belong to a retailing world of the 1970’sandthankfullythesetypes of conditions would be most unusual to come across today. The conditioners that affect buyer behaviour today tend to be subtler. Typical Conditioners • The location of the unit: next door to an Indian takeaway as opposed to next door to Boots • Signage and packaging: how well does the signage commu- nicate the retailer’s core propo- sition to its target customers? Do customers understand what is being sold? • The welcome: how easy is it to find the entrance and how welcoming is it? What are you presented with first in terms of smell? Many supermarkets pump a chemical into their air management system that makes the air smell of baking bread, which research tells us makes us hungry (hungry shoppers buy more) or the universal fact that every su- permarket’s first aisle is fresh fruit and vegetables, designed to communicate a halo of good- ness and freshness over the en- tire 65,000 different products that are sold in a typical large supermarket • What can you hear? Have you ever sat in a hotel dining room and listened to some screech- ing female vocalist belt out a love song in an extreme Ameri- can accent whilst you are trying to eat breakfast? It’s incongru- ous, but worse it really spoils breakfast. Or how about PA systems operators in regional Retail is detail Jonathon Fine discusses the finer features of your dental practice page 20DTà Attention to detail is a winning device A-dec 200 The latest addition to the A-dec range offers no compromise and real A-dec value. Invest in reliability. Focus on the patient. Express your style. From the people who build the most dependable dental equipment in the world, A-dec 200™ provides you with a complete system to secure a successful future. Discover how you can gain assurance with A-dec 200. Contact your authorised A-dec dealer today. Chairs Delivery Systems Lights Monitor Mounts Cabinets Maintenance Infection Control ©2011 A-dec® Inc. All rights reserved. Durability. Performance. Assurance. To learn more, contact A-dec at 0800 233 285 or call your local authorised A-dec Dealer. Visit our website: www.a-dec.co.uk A-dec Dental UK Ltd Austin House, 11 Liberty Way, Nuneaton, Warks, CV11 6RZ. Tel: 024 7635 0901 Fax: 024 7634 5106 Email: info@a-dec.co.uk A-dec 200 no flash.indd 1 06/05/2011 13:49:30