People often ask me what our competitive advantages are at appointmed. Sure, we have great tech, reliable infrastructure, and we do things a little different than your average practice management system.
However, we are not alone in that space, and there are plenty of excellent products out there — each with their own strengths and weaknesses. What sets us apart, in my opinion, are two things: First, an incredible amount of focus on usability. Second, and arguably even more importantly, the way we handle support requests and talk to people in general.
Quick side note about appointmed:
appointmed is a company I co-founded in 2016. We build practice management software for healthcare professionals - mostly therapists and doctors. Our solution runs on all major platforms and enables our clients to have their practice in the palm of their hands. People don't need training or a manual to use our solution. Most customers spend 15 minutes in the app and simply "get it."
Head over to appointmed.com to learn more.
Recently we lost a client - let's call him Max - to one of our competitors. They offer better business insights and a comprehensive reporting feature, which was requested multiple times by Max. Unfortunately, we couldn't keep our promise to add this in an acceptable time-frame. Building software often means making tough compromises and shifting priorities from time to time. Naturally, he started looking into alternatives.
Fast Forward a Couple of Weeks
After a while, we got the termination notice and prepared a full data export so everything can be transferred to his new practice management software. – As we've done a couple of times over the last few years.
Since importing data is not always a straightforward process, every now and then, we get calls or emails from the developers working on the import. We always take the time to walk them through the process and point out any details that might be easy to miss. This is a service we offer for free since we don't want to leave a bad taste in a customer's mouth, even if they decided to move on. People like Max would be happy with the smooth transition, and we get the chance to form a friendly relationship with our competitors. Win-Win, right?
"Not Our Job!"
A couple of days after we delivered the files, Max called again and told us his new provider ran into some issues with the import. As always, I offered him to forward my number, and I'd be happy to help.
To his (and our) surprise, as soon as Max told them to contact us, the other software company's sales rep refused. Citing, "this is not our job," and it would be his responsibility to figure out how to prepare the data in a way they can work with. After Max pointed out that he has no clue how to go about this, the sales rep bluntly said, "Yeah, well, that's not our problem, and we will not talk to appointmed for you. It would be embarrassing to call one of our competitors for help." — 🤦
After a few more calls with different people at that company, Max finally gave up and decided to cancel the entire thing. Even though we still did not have the feature he desperately needs, the poor support and, more importantly, our competitor's overall attitude turned him away.
As a software company, it's hard enough to survive in an industry that generally doesn’t want to deal with any software in the first place. Our competitor lost Max as a valuable customer before he even got to use their product for a single day.
Why? — Because they are not running a friendly business and obviously care more about "conversion rates" and "sales goals" than forming genuine relationships with their customers.
Don't be like them. Care for your customers, and they will stick with you even if you're not offering the perfect package (yet).
