There are really only three reasons you seek out a doctor’s care, none of which are pleasant. First, there is the annual physical. I don’t know anyone who greets this visit with open arms. At the other extreme, there is the ER visit. Whether you’re a weekend warrior with a broken toe or a trauma victim delivered by ambulance, this is not a place you want to be. For most, it is something in between: the unexpected office visit.

I’ve experienced all three types in recent years, and come away with very strong opinions about the customer service provided. My most recent was today, when a small but painful eye infection sent me to the doctor for an unplanned office visit. It was also the best customer experience I’ve had in several years, demonstrating many of the best practices we demand from other businesses – but rarely from our caretakers.

Show interest in the customer
My regular physician was out, so I saw the physician on call. I had seen him once before (a wretched fall), and he took time to ask me how my ankle was doing – a year after he treated me. (Customer research re: past experience with our practice.)

Conduct customer research
After examining my eye (the source of the visit), he asked me what I thought was going on. My first thought was “You’re the doctor – you tell me.” But he quickly added that I know my body better than he does. Have these symptoms happened before? Is there anything else awry? What is my body telling me? In other words, customer research – in the truest sense of the word.

I gave him a brief description of why I thought it was one of two things (provided customer data points) and stated what I hoped – not thought, but hoped – was the answer. He considered the data points and examined additional areas of the eye. (Additional customer research based on new data.)

Make a recommendation, supported by customer data
In the end, he agreed with my assessment, and provided a detailed reason why he agreed with me. (Postmortem, although in this case the “mortem” refers to the end of the visit.)

He concluded by giving me a detailed description of how to treat the symptoms without fulfilling the RX, reflecting my previously stated preference to not go stampeded to the prescription counter. (Acknowledging customer preferences and working to accommodate them.)

He also gave me a prescription to fill in two days if the non-pharmaceutical approach did not work out. (Anticipating and proactively addressing the customer’s future needs.)

Thank the customer for his/her business
He ended by thanking me for coming in, shaking my hand and providing a card with instructions to call anytime over the weekend if I had questions or felt worse. (Proactively offering customer support.)
Outside of telling me to go left instead of right to find the exit – which he quickly corrected (identify missteps and take action to correct immediately), it was the perfect customer experience. (Providing positive customer feedback, closing the loop on the visit.)

• Folders
• File cabinet
• Recycle bin/box
• Separate “to shred” box
• USB key or other portable back-up device
• New office decorations

Step 1: Clean out your files

File cabinets are a great place to start any massive purge. Not only are you likely sitting on a ton of paper you don’t need, it makes room for all that paper on your desk we’ll be addressing in the next section. Plus, wouldn’t you like to be able to open your drawer without using a crowbar?

Prep your cabinet area. Position your recycle and shred boxes close, but in distinctly different places. You don’t want to recycle sensitive materials, and shredding unnecessary paper simply costs money.

Review each file. Yes, seriously. Re-read and assign each document as appropriate:

• To keep: materials you need to do your job now.
• To file: materials you need keep, but are not in active use now.
• To shred: sensitive materials you no longer need.
• To recycle: materials you no longer need that are not sensitive. When in doubt, shred.

Return the folders to the cabinet. As you re-file, check the state of the folder. Replace beat-up folders or use labels to clearly-write the folder name. If it’s over-filled, break the materials up into multiple folders. (Or at least get a rubber band.)

Step 2: Clean off the desk

This can be painful for pack rats, but it’s worth it. Here are some guidelines:

Review every piece of paper on your desk. Same rules apply as filing: keep, recycle or shred.

Install and store software. Have software sitting on your desk? Install it, put the disk away, and return it to IT (or store it).

Rearrange your desk for comfort. I spent nearly a year spinning in my chair and leaning to answer my phone before a co-worker made the obvious suggestion: Move the phone to the left. (I’m left handed.) Simple solutions can make a huge difference.

Edit and update your decorations. We constantly add things to our desk, but when was the last time you took something away? Update your kid’s artwork, review your gag gift collection and decide if that plant is really worth it. Can’t part with anything? Ask for shelves.

Step 3: Organize your professional library

I’m always amazed by the number of severely outdated books on office shelves. Unless you truly need to hang on to that HTML 1.0 book, take it off the shelf.

Step 4: Clean up your computer

Now that you have a clean desk, it’s time to update the space where you spend most of your time: the computer. Here are some guidelines to get you started.

Clear out your e-mail. Every interaction, from e-mail to calendar requests, contribute to your e-mail limit and bulge. To control the chaos, create folders (by business, client, project – your choice), and start filing. Review and delete mails that are redundant, unnecessary (”thanks” mails) or just no longer needed. Note that many major corporations require employees to delete mail after a certain time period. Check with your legal department for guidance.

Tackle your calendar. Delete the dentist appointments, coffee dates, long-dead project meetings and other detritus. Keep ongoing appointments and recent meetings that may come up in future conversations.

Check your Tasks list. This can also become a wasteland of long-forgotten errands that don’t need to sit on the server.

Organize your digital files. All those things you did with your files? Same thing applies here. But before you delete…

Backup! If you work for someone else, odds are they have a backup in place. Self-employed people, you are your IT department. Don’t neglect your back-ups. Do a mass back-up now, and then set regular back-ups going forward. (We’ll dig into this and other tidbits for the self-employed in Part 2 of the series.)

Step 5: Take home personal files

Part 2: Spending the end of year organizing your home office/business
Part 3: Spending the end of year on yourself

• Departure/meeting/return time
• What to bring (laptops? notepads? handouts?)
• Dress code

2. Confirm you have enough room for everyone—and everything—in your vehicle(s). If you have an early morning meeting, do this the day before. If you have an afternoon meeting, check in the morning in case you need to round up another vehicle and/or driver. Keep in mind the number of people riding, but also any materials they are bringing. (Two people might fit fine in your Volkswagen, but the giant display might prove challenging.)

3. Perform a dress-code check. Find a reason to stop by each person’s desk and ensure they are dressed appropriately. In my experience, people who were not dressed for meetings often volunteer that they are going to get dressed before the meeting. In one case, I had a team member who had forgotten about the meeting. Fortunately, he had time to run home and change. Have a sense of humor about it and your team won’t mind.

4. Make sure there is gas in the car(s). An unplanned stop for gas both eats time and adds stress to an already intense situation. You don’t have to fill it up, but do make sure you have enough gas to at least reach your destination without driving on fumes.

5. Give every driver directions. If you have multiple drivers, ensure everyone has directions, the complete address and cell phone numbers for people in the other car(s). Include any information about traffic, parking etc. that you learned in your preparations.

6. Never leave a person behind! Some team members might want to drive themselves, particularly if a meeting is at the end of the day. If someone asks to drive himself, trade cell phone numbers and ensure he leaves at the same time you do. I have made the mistake of leaving someone behind who was going to be “just five minutes”—and ended up returning to pick him up when he discovered his car battery was dead.

Previously:
Better Know Your Client
Prepping Your Team

To help keep your team on track:

1. Set specific deadlines for each person. If a team member is on point for developing materials, set a deadline before the meeting day to review the materials as a team. This gives each person time to provide feedback and revise if necessary. Also, ask each person to review plans or other materials relevant to the project before your deadline.

2. Put time on each person’s schedule to do the work. Book a meeting on each participant’s calendar to study, build their materials and/or prep for the meeting. There is no guarantee that they will use that time, but it is one more tool in your arsenal to help remind them that there is prep work to be done.

3. Pad your timing for the meeting request. Unless you are meeting at your offices, there will be travel time involved. Pad your meeting request by at least a half hour before and after the actual meeting time to ensure your team doesn’t get booked during that time. Include an explanation in both the subject line and the body of the e-mail. For example:

Sample subject line:
Meeting with The Writer’s Bloc – Leave office at 1 p.m., meeting at 2 p.m., back by 4 p.m.

4. Book a pre-meeting meeting. Yes, we all know that meetings about meetings are the definition of insanity. Come with an agenda, including a walkthrough of each person’s materials, meeting etiquette and dress code for the meeting. Be prepared to dismiss early if the team is clearly ready to go or needs the extra time to work on meeting-related materials. No one will mind getting back “free” time on their calendar.

Previously: Better Know Your Client
Next time: Final Prep

First impressions do matter—especially if they happen during a pitch. As project manager, it’s up to you to identify the factors that could make or break your visit. Between personal observation and contacts at the company (be nice to the admin—always), you should be able to answer these questions at least a few days in advance:

1. What resources are available in the meeting room? This is perhaps the single most critical issue, and yet it rarely gets asked. Do not assume that your conference room will have multimedia (e.g., a projector), white board or anything else that you might want to use during your presentation. DO tell your contact up front if you have special requests. Remember, no detail is too small. I have been in rooms where you can barely stand much less have the space to place an easel.

2. What is the vendor “Dress Code”?: The common Microsoft stereotype is that you are just as likely to speak to someone in a suit as someone wearing cut-offs and flip-flops. In my 9+ years running around campus, I’ve yet to see cut-offs… but I have seen a flip-flop or two. But I would never wear them myself to a client meeting. My usual attire is a nice pair of slacks and a blouse—even if I’m meeting with someone I know wouldn’t blink if I showed up in jeans. Why? Because you never know when someone important will be pulled into your meeting, or if you’ll have an impromptu meet-and-greet with the VP in the hall. Always dress professionally.

3. How long will it (realistically) take to get there? Yes, the mapping technologies and your GPS all give travel estimates. But they aren’t considering little things such as bridge/lane closures, construction, commuter congestion and accidents. If possible, drive the route beforehand at the same time you’ll be traveling. Also, add your local news radio station to your preset stations for traffic reports. And no matter what, leave early. Traffic is never completely predictable. If you arrive early (as you should), scope out parking and then head to the nearest café for last minute team review. Even though your goal is to arrive earlier than necessary, never go in the lobby more than 10 minutes early—it could be interpreted as poor planning on your part.

4. Where can I park? Is there parking nearby? Does the company validate? Do you need cash or can you use a credit card? These questions might seem banal, but they become the most important thing in the world when you’re up against the clock—and you don’t have five quarters to feed the meter. I was once in a situation where I had to send one person running to the meeting and another team member breathlessly dashing off to find a store to get change for a meter. All because the team leader assumed we could use a nearby parking lot that took credit cards. What he didn’t realize was that the garage had limited public parking—and all those slots were claimed by late afternoon. Always keep a little change on hand if you’re going to an area where you have to pay to park. We now keep a roll of quarters in the glove compartment, just in case.

Next time: Prepping Your Team

In my day, you simply created a quick META redirect and if you wanted to speed it up for modern browsers, you added some Javascript and/or VBScript to flip the page even faster. No more. These days, search engines are wary of these methods, which have been dreadfully abused by spammers and scammers. Now they want you to use ASP, PHP or other server side methods that include a message for spiders notifying them that the change is permanent so they can update their records based on a trustworthy source.

The article How to redirect a web page, the smart way by Steve Hargrove includes all of the code samples you need to pick your method and get started. I trained my client to use the ASP version, which will work on their site and took only seconds to customize:

<%@ Language=VBScript %>
<%
Response.Status=”301 Moved Permanently”
Response.AddHeader “Location”, “http://www.new-url.com/fullpathtonewpage”
%>

The best part is that it’s even easier to configure than a META redirect. The only downside is that you can’t use it to replace an existing HTM page. For that, you’ll probably need to try HTACCESS or one of the other methods. If you are redirecting the home page of a site or subdirectory and your server supports ASP, you can simply move or rename the default.htm and create a default.asp for the redirect and your server should find it (just as long as you don’t direct link to the old HTM page).