Diagnostics: It’s all About Questions and Answers
You can take your car in for a diagnostic test to find out why it veers to the right, or your computer to an IT whiz for the lowdown on your WiFi slowdown, but perhaps the most significant diagnostic approach is the one you’ll receive from your doctor when something is wrong.
Typically, if you are not there for your annual physical, your doctor will begin by asking a few simple questions, starting with the obvious: Where does it hurt? How long has this been bothering you? Did something happen to cause the problem? Have you had this problem before? What other symptoms are you experiencing? And so on. This is how a doctor can assess what the problem is and look for a solution After all, the word “diagnose” means to identify the problem by examination of the symptoms.
Expert Window Diagnosis, Not a Sales Pitch
While I will be the first to acknowledge that a medical diagnosis is more significant, the same theoretical approach makes our job a lot easier. It allows us to get to the root of the problem(s) that have led you to seek out replacement windows. When we meet with customers, we ask; What issues have you been having? How long have you had these issues? What steps have you taken to mitigate the problem? And so forth. By diagnosing the problem area, we can look for specific solutions. If, for example, certain rooms in your home are especially cold, we can suggest a type of window that would help insulate and warm those rooms. By narrowing the problem we can get to the best solutions much more easily.
This approach seems quite logical, yet you would be surprised how many service providers are too busy selling you on their company, their background, their credentials, their latest products, the features, and all sorts of things you already knew when you decided to make an appointment in the first place. It’s like going to a movie and seeing the trailer for that very movie right before it starts. You’re already there…in your seat.
Imagine if you were injured and a doctor took the same approach. Rather than asking what is wrong, he or she started out by telling you where they attended school, that they were first in their class, how long they have been doing their job and how their website has glowing testimonials, all while you are anxiously awaiting medical attention. While that may be a bit extreme, there are many clients who have told us about sales folks who couldn’t stop selling long enough to listen and diagnose their problems.
In the end, whether someone is repairing your car, your computer, or replacing your windows, as a customer, you deserve a good diagnostician – someone who starts by asking the right questions and gets to the root of your problem.
Diagnostically speaking,
Joe Kelemer
Kelemer Brothers
410-299-0038
