Extract the Annoyance and Add Enjoyment to Delight Customers and Gain More Profit

by: donmitch
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Business models should be made as simple as possible. That means taking the steps for providing and receiving offerings and removing any unnecessary steps. For the remaining steps, it's valuable to make those steps simpler. In addition, thoughtfully find ways to customize what you offer and you'll make your offering more desirable and less expensive to offer.

Let's look at what remains. Some steps are unavoidable. There may be a law requiring a particular step. For instance, banks have to report a large cash deposits in an effort to cut down on laundering of illegal drug money.

Safety may require a step. You can't become immune from many dangerous diseases without either having the disease or receiving an immunization injection. Your life may depend on the step. Certain surgeries are the only known way to prolong life, yet few want to be operated on.

Rather than making these inevitable steps as simple as possible, sometimes we will do well to refocus the steps from their unpleasant aspects towards creating more enjoyable experiences.

Some hospitals are discovering such an approach can make a lot of difference to their revenues and profitability. Hospitals that attract the best surgeons often find themselves in competition with other hospitals around the world to attract the wealthiest and most reclusive patients.

Sometimes these patients have special security needs because they are heads of state. In other cases, the patients simply value their privacy. Other patients may want to be surrounded by their families during such a trauma.

A number of these world-class surgical locations now have special buildings or wings that provide luxury hotel amenities for patients, their families, and entourages. (If you have to be sick, you might as well enjoy the room service!)

Inside such areas, privacy is a must. Staff members are carefully trained to avoid identifying who any of the patients are or the names of those who have been treated there.

Such a shift in approach to making the unavoidable more pleasant only works, of course, if the medical treatment is first rate. Powerful, wealthy patients know how to check these things out, so you'll need to improve surgical and infection-avoiding performance as well.

Naturally, the profit opportunity is even better if you find ways to make the required unpleasant into something that's reasonably enjoyable. I had that experience recently when I needed cataract surgery. Without the surgery, I wouldn't be able to see well enough at night to drive. I didn't want to give that up.

My ophthalmologist sent me to a surgeon who specializes in such surgery as part of a huge practice that has worked hard to make cataract surgery as pleasant as possible. All of my prior surgical experiences were put behind me when I had my first operation.

I arrived at a beautiful office in downtown Boston with easy parking next door. Eager assistants smiled at me and made everything as easy as possible.

Once in the pre-op area, I was surrounded by nurses and doctors who made me comfortable, talked kindly to me, and kept things like. Within a few minutes, I was totally relaxed and was wheeled into the operating room where even more people were kind and smiling. Three nurses brought me extra blankets to keep me warm without my needing to request them. Within a few minutes, the surgery was done and my surgeon let me see through my improved eye . . . and it was stunning to see better than I had ever seen before.

I was eager to go back for my next surgery. Wouldn't you have been?

How can you make unavoidable steps into something that people will enjoy?

About the Author

Donald Mitchell is an author of seven books including Adventures of an Optimist, The 2,000 Percent Squared Solution, The 2,000 Percent Solution, The 2,000 Percent Solution Workbook, The Irresistible Growth Enterprise, and The Ultimate Competitive Advantage. Read about creating breakthroughs through 2,000 percent solutions and receive tips by e-mail by registering for free at http://www.2000percentsolution.com .  

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