Dentaltown March 2018 - 16

professional courtesy
column

Goodwill Hunting
L.L. Bean is one of the greatest retail companies
of all time. Even if its "woodsy Maine" style doesn't fit
in your closet, you have to respect the company's total
commitment to customer satisfaction. The company
had an unconditional satisfaction guarantee
in place for more than 100 years with a
lifetime return policy. The founder,
Leon Leonwood Bean, launched the
policy when the majority of his first
batch of hunting shoes fell apart.
Bean not only fixed the boots but
also refunded each customer.
This move generated tremendous
goodwill with customers and led
to a better boot the second time
around.
Recently, L.L. Bean announced an
end to this generous return policy, because
of growing fraud. Over the past five years the
company lost more than $250 million to items returned
in such poor quality they could only be sent to a landfill.
How did they lose a quarter of a billion dollars in just
five years? Some people took advantage of the company
by returning items they purchased at a thrift store or
found in their attic decades after purchase. Others
would treat the policy as an annual opportunity to trade
their purchase for the latest model. Now, shoppers will
have just one year from the time of purchase to make a
return. It was only a matter of days before an individual
claiming to be "a loyal customer" filed a lawsuit. Last
time I checked, loyal customers wouldn't want their
favorite store to go out of business because buffoons are
taking advantage of their generosity. I digress.
Getting back to the business of
dentistry, this story begs the question:
How do you generate goodwill with
the patients in your practice? Whether
you realize it or not, goodwill is
something you should be generating
every day. A lifetime warranty on a
crown would be absurd, but replacing

a crown that fell off after six months would not be
unreasonable. Every procedure we complete has some
expectation for success. How you handle a case that
did not meet your expectations or the patient's will
have a huge impact on the growth of goodwill.
When you have to redo a procedure, it's an
opportunity to learn a valuable lesson
the same way L.L. did more than a
century ago.
Growing goodwill in your
practice is not just about providing a warranty or standing
by the quality of your work; it
can be as simple as staying on
schedule, calling patients after
treatment or sending a thank-you
note for a referral. A happy dental
team will keep your patients happy, and
happy patients will give some goodwill back to
you with a positive review. Building this intangible
goodwill adds value to your practice and ensures that
you will have loyal patients. It is a well-known fact that
retaining your existing patients is less expensive than
replacing them with new patients. You can then grow
your practice with referrals from your happy patients.
This added value is important when it's time to sell
your practice.
I don't want to overstate the financial value of your
goodwill when you retire, but I will say that having
goodwill in your practice can make it much easier to
get up and go to work in the morning. There will also
be times when you need to spend some of that goodwill,
such as when your schedule is running behind, a lab
case is delayed or a tooth is sensitive after it was filled.
Therefore, my best advice is to pay attention to the
many ways you can grow the goodwill balance in your
practice. Spend it wisely and be sure you have some left
in the account when you sell your practice.
Please feel free to comment on this article online
at Dentaltown.com. You can follow me on Twitter
@ddsTom and email me at tom@dentaltown.com. ■

by Thomas Giacobbi, DDS, FAGD, editorial director, Dentaltown magazine

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Dentaltown March 2018
