Are You More "Uber" or More "Taxicab"?

I had a stupid-early flight recently. 6-am-stupid-early. Which meant being at the airport at 5 am. Which meant leaving home at 4:45 am (not a lot of traffic at that hour of the day).

I didn't want to ask my husband to drive me that early. So I called.....not a taxi. I called the car service, Uber. In fact, I haven't called a taxi in years. I either use Uber or a local guy who runs an informal but super-reliable car service.

Why did I give up on taxicabs, a long-established service that's supposed to provide exactly this service? Because....

• They are unreliable. I got tired of waiting for cabs that never showed up.
• It could be physically uncomfortable. I've been in cabs that haven't been cleaned in far too long, where the upholstery is ripped, or where clearly the driver all-but lives in the cab, which just gets weird at some point.
• It can be interpersonally uncomfortable. I've had cabbies wax eloquent about "those" foreigners, about Allah, about Jesus, about how they shouldn't have to take credit cards "just"  because it's convenient for the customer (hello, customer in the back seat here!), about how their cab companies are ripping them off, etc. etc. etc. I never initiated any of these conversations.
• They don't always know their way around the city. I live a whopping 1.5 miles from the US Capitol and I've had cabbies meander through the neighborhood because they didn't know how to get where I needed to go.
• I've been insulted for where I live. I've had cabbies bitch and moan and sigh dramatically about how they'll never get a "return" fare from this neighborhood.

Uber drivers, on the other hand, always have clean cars, the driver is always quiet unless I initiate a conversation, always has an up-to-date GPS system, and the driver is always cleanly and neatly dressed.

I can request an Uber car from my phone through an app. The app tells me how long the car will take to get to me, keeps me apprised of their progress, and gives me the car's license number and the driver's name and photo. I have a credit card on file with Uber so payment is automatically withdrawn from my account and tips are not accepted or expected.

In short, I gave up on cabs not because of their ability to drive, which is their primary responsibility. I gave up on cabs and chose Uber because they are an easier business to deal with and give me a more pleasant professional experience.

Why am I going on and on about this? My decision -- ditch cabs, embrace Uber -- is the same kind of decision a lot of our customers or potential customers make. Are we a good business to deal with?

When we panic about competition, it's not uncommon for us to start flailing around for that next modality that will save us or start offering crazy deep discounts in a desperate effort to lure people in.

How about, instead, we take a long hard look at the full customer experience?

• How easy is it to schedule an appointment with you?
• Is it possible to schedule an appointment last-minute with you?
• Is it easy to find your office?
• Is your website up-to-date and complete?
• Are your marketing materials (business cards, etc.) professional looking?
• Do you present a professional demeanor?
• Is your massage room professional and comfortable?
• Is it easy to get a receipt from you? How about invoices if that's appropriate for your business?
• Are you easy to reach by phone, text, and email?
• Is it easy to pay you (PayPal, credit/debit, invoice, cash, checks, etc.)?
• Do you offer to book the next appointment at this appointment?
• Do you have a referral for common needs, such as chiropractors, acupuncturists, PTs, orthopedists, etc.?
• Do you send appointment reminders?
• Do you offer sensible (not panic-driven) discounts or rewards for regular clients?
• Do you stay in contact with clients throughout the year?
• Do you raise your rates in a reasonable matter on a reasonable schedule, without apologizing all over yourself?

You don't necessarily have to offer last-minute appointments or accept credit cards but it is wise to ask if you are providing a good full experience for your clients? This is one of the big differences between a lot of us who are one-person operations and the bigger spas or massage chains. We'd like to think it's allllllllll about what happens on the massage table. What happens on the table is important but you're fooling yourself if you think that's all that matters.

Our clients feel happy or not happy with us based on the total experience. They don't make as sharp a distinction as we do between our "massage" side and our "business" side. It's all us to them.

Another example: I had a hair dresser I liked. But I gave up on her for the following reasons:

• My hair takes about 20 minutes to cut. She could take up to 90 minutes depending on how lost she got in the stories she told (she apparently couldn't cut and talk at the same time).
• It was a pain in the glutes to schedule an appointment. She wasn't good at returning calls. The other people in the salon wouldn't take appointments for each other. No one checked the voicemail.
• I usually got to the salon before she did for my appointments even though I had further to drive.
• She bitched and moaned about her (admittedly) crappy working conditions to me at every appointment. But she refused to move to another salon or strike out on her own.
• She always laughed, uncomfortably, when she told me how much I owed her. As though it were shameful for her to be taking money from me. Which made me uncomfortable.

I got a good haircut but I had a terrible business experience and I just couldn't take it any more. One of the things I love about the new place is how efficient and professional they are and how easy it is to work with them.

Maybe you can't do all of these all at once. You are allowed to grow in your professionalism over time. But what I want to always be creating is the best full experience for my clients, on the table and off. Which means taking my business practices as seriously as I do my massage practices.