How do you handle the diagnosis portion of a service visit? Do you take a quick look at the problem area and bark out a price because you have somewhere else to go?

What do you say and how do you say it? Do you have a particular demeanor when you’re face to face with the customer during that diagnosis?

Before there were hospitals on every corner, there was the doctor’s house call. It was no different than the service calls you take today. If you didn’t feel well, even with a headache, the family doctor would respond. Doctors came to our homes from the beginning of our country on horseback until the mid-1960s.

The old-time doctor was respected. He was a professional we depended on. The performance of the old-time doctors can be broken down into four phases.

• Approach

• Meet and greet

• Diagnosis

• Consultation and prescription

Right on time

The customer or patient would call the doctor’s office and schedule an appointment. At the designated time, the doctor would roll up into the driveway.

He would then walk up to the front door wearing a suit and carrying a black leather doctor’s bag – where all the mysterious tools and potions were kept. He would knock gently on the door.

As you opened the door, his genuine smile gave you the feeling that you were old friends. It was a soothing smile that gave the comfort that help had arrived. You were glad to see him, and he gave the feeling that he was glad to see you, too.

After the brief ice-breaking ceremony, he would ask to be taken to the patient. Now, the bedside manner would begin. Upon greeting the patient, he would either pull up a chair next to the bed or sit on the edge of the bed. He tried to be eye to eye with the patient, never looking down.

Projecting concern

He would ask the patient questions like: How are you feeling? How long have you felt this way? Have you felt this before? Where does it hurt? He would listen intently, even though he had heard it all before. He understood that patients had a need to tell their story and share their pain. His warm smile projected a sense of gentility, warmth and caring to all the others in the room.

He would then place his hand on the patient’s forehead. But now, his facial expression would change from a smile to an expression of concern. He was now in his diagnostic phase. He opened his bag and carefully removed a thermometer from its wrapping. He held it between his thumb and his fingertips. Then, he shook it vigorously with a few quick snaps of the wrist. He then placed the thermometer beneath the patient’s tongue – the testing phase had begun.

Others in the room would watch intently as this important person displayed his craft. Almost in a trance, they watched every move, noticing every facial expression, trying to get a feeling for what he was thinking. Everyone knew he had studied a lifetime to acquire those skills. They were all trying to read his mind.

He would take the patient’s pulse as he studied the second hand on his wristwatch. He would remove the thermometer, hold it up to the light, and gaze at it with a serious and determined look. His eyebrows would go up, ever so slightly, and everyone in the room would gasp at the hidden meaning.

Careful words

Then he carefully wiped the thermometer, preparing it for its return to the dark corners of his mysterious bag. You knew that all the while he was formulating his opinion. He was getting ready to tell everyone his diagnosis. You would wait with patience and nervousness all at the same time. You hung on his every word.

Before uttering his carefully chosen words, he would lean closer to the patient and say something like, “You’ll be fine, everything will be OK. I’ll make sure of it.” The patient would smile, and everyone would feel as though a great weight was lifted.

Now began the consultation phase. He would make notes and sometimes write a prescription. But, he would always explain what he observed and what he believed to be the cause of the symptom. He talked so everyone could understand.

He would tell you what the next step was, and if there was anything you had to watch out for. He would say, “Call me right away if anything gets worse” or “Call me if the pain doesn’t go away.”

You always got the feeling that he was there to watch over everyone. He was the family’s protector. He was on your side and right there if you needed him.

Those doctors were masters at dispelling our fears, even under the worst conditions. That was very comforting. Sometimes he would collect his fee, and other times he would bill you. But rarely did anyone ever question the cost of his visits, because the perception of the value of what he delivered far outweighed the money.

The same basic skills

There was a genuine sense of value for his services. Price was never an issue. He had an image that commanded respect. He had warmth about him that made you feel safe in his care. He calmed your fears

The old-time doctors knew how to fix the customer, and they embodied the soft skills we must embody on every service call. The only difference between what you do today and what the old-fashioned doctors did is on the technical side. Different hard skills, but the same required soft skills. The formula is always the same. The formula is always consistent.

The next time you’re in a customer’s home to diagnose a problem, remember the doctors of yesterday. Make your customers feel the way they made their customers feel. And develop a bedside manner that makes them hang on your every word.