I went to the doctor last week for a checkup (I’m good!) and when I walked in the office another woman, I assumed a patient, was there. My doctor came out and talked to this woman for a moment, and let her know that No she did NOT have time to talk to her today, that she was out yesterday so just got the message this morning (it was 10 am) and that she could leave materials with the receptionist or send something for review. Then she turned to me and quickly took me back for my appointment.
Since my doctor knows what I do for a living, I got GREAT “frustrated eyes” from my doctor and a quick “seriously? what the heck lady?” comment from her.
So why do people pop into offices? I talked to a client today about this. It’s been working for him actually. But some industries, the pop in, isn’t a great option. And further more- have a plan. This woman didn’t have any materials to leave for my doctor, and seemed to be trying to force a networking meeting “my family created this program…” which obviously didn’t phase my doctor because she had a PATIENT waiting (patiently, and totally writing this post in my head).
Earlier this week I was at the vet for Hank (he’s good, it was just a booster shot), and a pharma rep popped in. She asked for the buyer, who was busy. So she left her card, and a stack of materials and mentioned there were some great deals going on right now. See, the gal had a plan.
If the pop in works for you, and your target market, great. But if it doesn’t either STOP because you’re burning bridges, or have a back up plan to leave materials. Or BETTER YET, schedule an appointment, it’s what the rest of us do.
