He immediately put out the day letters to the remaining prospective advertisers with the result he obtained better than $1,200 worth of business. Some did not answer so he forwarded another wire for immediate reply at his expense.
This is an illustration that a proper plan is effective under adverse conditions.
PLAN No. 361. EYE SPECIALIST
Perhaps one of the neatest and best conducted businesses I ever visited was run by an eye specialist in a city of the Northwest. I have known personally many specialists but few could compare with this man. No matter how full the office was one received prompt attention when he entered.
As soon as I entered his office I was met by a good, wholesome looking girl, card in hand, asking my name, address, phone and business; stated the doctor was very busy but that she would make a preliminary inquiry, on which I said my eye was affected and gave her a brief statement as to what I thought was the cause of it and a few of its symptoms. She asked me to be seated, saying she would prepare me for the doctor’s examination which I had called to get, and that it would take about an hour and thirty minutes for the atropin to take effect, at which time the doctor would promptly make the examination, and thereupon she put the atropin in my eye. This girl was a real saleswoman—no one escaped her.
After I was located the doctor appeared in person with the card, shook my hand and made me welcome, and showed real sympathy for my condition. After my hour and a half had passed I was ushered into a neat little dark-room, and finally taken to a third room where the doctor made a very careful examination. He told me briefly the trouble, asked me a few questions and listened attentively to my statement and later informed me what my trouble was. He accompanied me to the desk, handed the card with my name on it to the girl, again showing real concern for my unfortunate condition, dictated to the girl a good statement of my trouble and had her make a record of it, not omitting to give her all the medical phraseology. He requested the name of my doctor and dictated a letter to him.
When I left that doctor’s office I was impressed with the thoroughness of his service, and the prompt and business-like method in which he carried it out gave me confidence in him.
If other specialists would handle their business on as efficient and business-like a basis as he did they would have very few bills that would be lost.
The above plan, I can safely say, would double the business of the average eye specialist; no one who entered the office would leave it without receiving service and would be satisfied with it. Through the card plan the doctor knows who you are, the business in which you are engaged, and your general trouble, before meeting you.