If You Don't Set Your Customer's Expectation, They Will Set It For You

Hi, welcome to the Pelby Biz Podcast. Are you a pelvic health PT or ot struggling to start your own practice? This podcast helps pelvic health PTs and OTs get out of debt, gain the income they desire, be able to treat patients without insurance restraints and learn how to create time freedom for yourself and your family. I'm your host, Dr. Kelly Alhui, founder of Ortho, Pelvic Physical Therapy, Pelvic health Business grower and Pelvi Biz. Over the last two years I went from a solo entrepreneur to a seven person team in counting. I'm here to help provide a clear path to grow your pelvic health business as fast as possible so that you can gain the time freedom, decrease debt, increase income and live the life that you desire. Before we get started today, make sure you click the link in our bio to grab your ticket for Pelvi Biz. Now let's get into today's episode.

What's up guys? Welcome to Pelby Biz Podcast. I'm your host, Dr. Kelly Alhui. Today I wanted to come on and talk about setting expectations. I had this really interesting massage yesterday and I just thought it was very applicable to business so I wanted to come on and share. So setting expectations, what is it about setting expectations? And I think we can all learn from this. So I've been just to set this up, I've been to this massage therapy place. It's a very well known before and it's a very well known place and I was like, okay, I'm so excited, I'm pumped. So there's already expectation here that this is going to be an amazing massage because I've been multiple times and just been phenomenal. So I walk in and this is a place that you get a robe beforehand, you go sit in a lounge and then they come get you. Okay. So that was all fine. And I went with my sister in law, it was her birthday. So we get there and she gets called at the time that she's scheduled and I'm scheduled at the same time. But already one expectation is not met that my therapist is late. She's about seven minutes late before I even get called. Okay. And so that's expectation number one, be on time. So for us at Orthopelvic we don't have anyone really sitting in our waiting room. We just get them right in. And just meeting that mark just a little bit I think is super, super important in the fact that if you're already surpassing their expectation because what happens when you walk into a medical building. More than likely, their expectation is they're going to sit there, wait, have an aide come talk to them or a medical assistant, and then the doctor comes in. If you are, just do one thing. If you just do this one thing. If you. When the patient walks in, take the patient directly back to a room, you're already probably exceeding their expectations, and that is going to get a patient to buy in. So going back to my massage story here is when she pulled me back, she's already seven minutes late. Then she states to me, I just walk in the room. I'm in my rope. I go on to this one side of the table, and she sits down. She's like, I need you to come over here. Come over here. Not on that side of the table, this side of the table. She was very direct and very, like, forthcoming. And it was very weird. All of a sudden, the energy just shifted. It got very weird. And then she's like, I'm going to do a movement assessment on you. And I was like, well, to be honest, I don't want a movement assessment. I'm just here for a massage. And she was like, no, I'm going to do a movement assessment on you. Literally like that. And I was like, okay, this lady isn't backing down. And then she proceeds to tell me to put my phone down on the table, and I just put it in my rope. There were some glasses that were sitting there, and it looked like someone else's stuff was, like, in where I was supposed to put my stuff. So I just put my thing in my phone in my robe. She was like, no, take your phone out of your robe and put it to the side. And I'm like, all right. So then I just listened to the commands of that, and she started to have a little bit of just, I'm the best type of attitude kind of thing. And it was just really. It was very weird, very awkward. And now I'm stuck in a room with her for 50 minutes getting this massage, right? And I didn't want any confrontation because I'm there for a massage. I solve a lot of problems throughout the day. And I just was there to just not solve a problem and just veg out, right? Anyways, make a long story short, I get off the table the way I check out, and of course, people at the front desk were like, hey, how was your massage? And I just said, fine, because, again, I just didn't want confrontation. So this brings up my second point is, I know sometimes our front desk, or maybe you don't have a front desk. But sometimes I'll ask the patients, like, how was your session today? Sometimes patients just aren't willing or don't have the energy at that point to tell you truly what's going on. So just know that even if person says it's fine, well, maybe it wasn't fine. Okay. So then my mother in law sends me this text message this morning that this person wrote a review on Google on the same exact scenario that happened to me. And I was like, okay, I guess I should say something. Clearly, I don't want to write a review because I know as a business owner, reviews can really, you know, not do well for your business. So I just called and I said, hey, can I just speak to the manager? I just want to tell her about a scenario that went down yesterday. And I just, it got me thinking and I, as a business owner, it's a business owner. I just want to tell you the scenario, you know, and you know, I wanted nothing from this, so I just wanted to like let her know this is going on. I said, I've been to your place many times. I've had such an amazing experience. You guys have the best massage therapist. But I just want to let you know this person was very abrupt. This person wasn't on time and was really demanding. And the, you know, that doesn't come across when the expectation is, hey, I'm going to lie down on a table and get a massage. I was not there for a movement assessment because this manager immediately started going into, when I said like the scenario and she pulled up my chart, she's like, oh, you had this person? And she's like, oh, this person's the best massage therapist that we have at our place. She's amazing. Everyone loves her. And I was like, that's great, completely understand that. But the expectation was not met at all. The timeliness, the movement assessment is not the same as a massage. So she's going to do that and understand where she's coming from because trust me, we're movement specialists. But I said the expectation then has to be changed so that it matches. And it's just really interesting when someone, when a customer is telling you, this is what I expected and this was not met, don't come back to the customer saying, well, this is the best person that we have. Because in my eyes, if you're telling me that that's the best person you have at that facility and I don't, I didn't care for that person. That doesn't make that Person want to come back anymore. So instead, this manager should have been like, completely see where you're coming from and dig deeper into why I was calling her. She should have been like, okay, please tell me why you're dissatisfied. Please tell me what could have done, what we could have done better. Please tell me, you know, what about the expectations was missing, Something like that. So this brings up point number three, that if a customer calls and is not happy with service or says, oh, I can't afford it, or says, you know, I can't come anymore, cancel all my appointments, there is something that was not met. There is some expectation, and it could be very little or could be a big problem, right? But there was some expectation that was not met. And it could be triggering for people, or it could be, you know, it could be where you're just like, you know what? I just don't want to deal with that. And then they don't want to come back again. So think about that and think about, you know, if someone actually says something, because it does take a lot. And trust me, I'm a very forthcoming person. People that know me, I, like, speak my mind. But at that moment, my energy was like, I just need to, like, rest and relax. And I didn't want any. I don't want to solve a problem. I don't want confrontation, right? And I think the manager, I think by me talking to her, I think she 100% got it by the end of our conversation. But I think at first, she probably should have approached, you know, just hear what I had to say a little bit more instead of coming back. She's our best therapist. I actually had the same thing happen to me with one of my personal trainers. I had two personal trainers, and one of them just wasn't bringing the energy. And if people know me, I love the energy. It's all about the energy and having good vibes around you at all times, because that's what actually keeps you going. The same scenario actually happened. I told the owner that, hey, I just want to train with this one trainer and not this other one. Because this trainer that we just didn't. It wasn't our vibe, just didn't have the energy that we wanted. When we were working out, he came in kind of just like, you know, slagging, just like, okay. He's like, always a couple minutes late. Hey, guys, how you doing today? Like, instead of coming in there, like, man, let's go. Let's get pumped up. Like, that's why we have a trainer to motivate us to move, right? So anyways, when I told this other business owner about this trainer and just the energy, she actually said the same thing. She was like, this guy, he's our best trainer. Everyone loves him. He's our go to, like, I don't know how you couldn't like him. Like, he's so smart, he has all these advanced degrees and, you know, he's just like, really, he knows his stuff. Like, he really, really knows his stuff. And that's what she kept reverting back to. But she wasn't actually listening. She wasn't listening to what the customer wants. I wanted high energy. I didn't care about the skillset, but she was putting the value on his skill set. And in reality, that's not what the customer me wants. I want the energy. So whoever has the best energy is who I want to be my trainer. Because that energy is going to give me more energy for the day, which then is going to motivate me to then me motivate my clients and so forth. I don't care what technique is the best because I already know the techniques, right? I already know technically how to work out. So for me in my situation, stating that this is the best trainer that I have or this is the best massage therapist that I have is not a good comeback. When a customer is saying, hey, this is not my expectation, my expectations are not being met. Okay, so, and you guys are probably listening to this, like, wow, Kelly, you just have high expectations. Yes, that's another good point. I have high expectations. People that are around me, people that I hire, I have very, very high expectation. People that are in my masterminds, I have high expectation. This is why I interview guys, to see if we're a good fit. Because if you are on my team or if you are in my circle, I only need you moving in the right direction. Yes, we have mishaps, life's happen, stuff like that. But I only need positive energy to where you believe in yourself and you can do this and you can just reach the top and not being surrounded by all the negative people, and I think that's what also makes me successful, is because I can see and feel the negative energy and I know I have to get rid of it immediately. And if I kept that negative energy around, it would not be good for myself. Businesses, relationships, all the things. So when stuff you know is not meeting expectations, I can quickly turn around and pivot it and be like, nope, next thing, next person, next, whatever it may be. So point of the story is Set expectations. The second or even before they walk into the clinic. Tell them exactly on the phone. Our patients tell them exactly on the phone what they should be expecting. Okay, we're going to send you a video, Sally, on how to get to our clinic. I'm setting expectation. And then guess what? An email goes out. Sends an email and a video of exactly when you drive in. How to get to our clinic. And then when you walk in the door, where is our actual door? That's setting expectations. That's a win in our bucket. Okay, then setting the expectation of my method. This is my method. This is how it works. Okay. Once I do that, my website states it, my admin state it, and our PT stated that's three times that we are setting the expectation that this is the method that we use. When people hear that over and over again, they're like, oh, they're solid on what they do and what they believe in. Right? Setting expectations that they won't be waiting and then they come right in the door and they go right back. Setting expectations that by this many visits, this is the outcome that they are going to get. I am setting expectations on what should be happening. Setting expectations that in a pelvic health model that you are going to. It's not a linear approach that you're going to get better and then you're going to get slightly worse and then you're going to get better again and slightly worse. And that it is this like up and down thing. But overall your progress should be. Be. You should not be feeling the same kind of pain as you were before. That is setting expectation. There are so many setting expectation examples that I have. I can go on and on about this, but hopefully you guys are getting this on. Oh, here's another example. One more is like send that I'm going to send you, Sally, the links to your home exercise program. That's setting expectation. If Sally goes home and she doesn't get her home exercise program in, I don't know, 15 hours from when she left, Sally's gonna be calling back the clinic going, hey, you didn't send me my home program. Basically, we're not meeting expectations. That right there is enough for people to be like, you know what? These people are not organized. Bye, bye. Okay. And you know, this is the little stuff that actually goes a long way that's gonna really help build your business. So hopefully you guys have learned something today about setting expectations with everything. And this goes for employees, patients, different services that you enlist out in your own life. Set the expectations and accept nothing less than what you are expecting or what you're wanting. That's it.

If you are ready to change your.

Life, click the link in the show.

Notes to get your ticket to Pelviz. Let's go.