Over the past several days Ive been doing a mystery shopping campaign of Lasik surgery centers.

Lasik, as you may know, is a laser assisted eye surgery that enables people to restore their vision and to not need corrective lenses for many of their activities.

Ive called into several offices that advertise this service and Ive asked some simple questions, ones that they hear every day:

Do you do Lasik, there?

How much does Lasik cost?

Whats the difference between Lasik, which Im told cuts the eye, and other operations that dont?

Whats this I hear about halos and other problems after surgery?

The reception I have experienced has varied from incredibly dumb to very sophisticated.

In one memorable conversation, I asked: Do you do Lasik, there? and the answer I got, without further explanation was a flat, No.

Most folks would have heard that and have hung-up, moving on to the next vision center on their list.

I probed further. You dont do Lasik? Your web site says you do!

Well, we do and we dont, was the next jaw-dropping reply.

What does that mean? I asked, genuinely perplexed.

We do Lasik, but we dont do the operations HERE, she finally clarified.

Had she been trained well, she would have either assumed I was speaking about the availability of the procedure or she would have detected the possibility for misunderstanding and would have clarified my intention before responding with a yes or no.

Most offices failed to close the deal, which in this case means proactively asking me to come in for an appointment in a way that is persuasive, but also friendly and professional.

Some were evasive, contorting their answers in grotesque ways to avoid quoting even a ballpark figure for the procedure.

The most professional of the group over-talked, getting into details that might be of interest at a convention of ophthalmologists, but not to your casual Lasik candidate.

Some exuberantly slimed their competitors, which is never a good idea. Unless the caller brings up the subject, first, your rivals should not be mentioned.

So, if I were actually considering Lasik, where would I go, given the treatment I received at the hands of these functionaries?

Literally, I would go to the place that provides the best overall RECEPTION, inferring that if they care enough to handle my inquiry well, theyll also take great care of my eyes.

In other words, if I am going to invest up to $5,000 on a surgery that has some serious risks, Im going to entrust my vision to doctors who train their people, who invest in their quality.

That, of course, is the business Im in: teaching people telephone effectiveness, customer service, and professional selling skills.

It doesnt matter if you have one or one-hundred people answering your phones and interacting with potential clients, patients, or customers.

Failing to make them as effective as possible is operating below the proper standard of care in a professional practice.

If you work in a professional office, do a little benchmarking to see how you rate. Call your competitors, using simple questions. Or, bring in a professional to tell you where you stand, and exactly how to do a first-class job of customer reception.