Make Doing-It-Yourself Faster Than Getting Help In The Usual Way
Topics: cost, profit, speed, improvements, entrepreneur, leader, manager, planning, business model
What benefits can come from having beneficiaries, customers, and users doing more for themselves? In our harried lives, most people favor doing things themselves when that action saves their time.
That observation seems like a paradox. How can do-it-yourself be faster than having a service fully provided?
Part of the answer is that many offerings with full service are provided inefficiently. Here’s an example: Half the gas stations and vehicle repair shops near our home prominently advertise low-priced oil changes.
Go for one of those oil changes, and you’ll probably end up waiting two hours, even if you have an appointment. Be sure to bring a book or pick a location near where you can do some useful shopping.
Every 5 miles or so we drive, however, we’ll pass another choice — a quick oil-change emporium. If no one is waiting at the quick place, you can drive right into a bay designed to make oil changes fast. Unless you decide you want some other service, you’ll drive out of the bay again in about 10 minutes and be on your way.
What are the do-it-yourself elements? First, the quick emporium makes the timing of oil changes an impulse buy through allowing passing drivers to see when fast service is available because no customers are waiting. That aspect of the business model is like being a mass merchandiser. The customer helps himself or herself to an offering based on noticing the offering, rather than having a prior intent to purchase.
Second, the drivers never leave their cars. In essence, it’s like an improved version of a drive-through lane at a fast food restaurant.
We are often reminded of that comparison when we end up waiting in line longer for fast food in a drive-through lane than for an oil change. In part that’s because quick change places usually have at least three bays while fast food drive-through lanes usually have only one line served by a single window.
For the customer whose time has an economic value to herself or himself, the quick oil change emporiums offer a good value. You save almost two hours over standard “full service” by spending an extra $10 to $15.
Do-it-yourself time savings can be even greater for accessing a physician to help you solve a medical problem. Let’s look at an inefficient method first.
In the United States, seeking most such health solutions begins by visiting your primary care physician who is usually a general practitioner, an internist, or a pediatrician (for children). Primary care physicians are busy people, so you won’t get to see them for at least two weeks unless you are experiencing a near-emergency. Once there, you are sent out for tests.
Depending on the test results, you either come back to the primary care physician or are sent on to a specialist. If it’s still not a near-emergency, you will wait one to six months to see the specialist. The specialist will then examine you and order more tests.
Once the second round of tests is done, you’ll have another chance to make an appointment and see the specialist again in one to six months. At this point, you’ve been pursuing this health issue for more than two months, and no one has started to treat what’s wrong with you.
When you return for your second specialist visit, you can expect in some cases to be referred to one or two other specialists. Of course, unless it’s a near emergency, you cannot get into see them either for another one to six months.
After those visits and tests are over, you make an appointment to see the first specialist again. Once again, you wait one to six months. Chances are, too, that each time you visit one of these physicians, you wait to be seen.
Between travel, tests, waiting time, and more travel, you may have invested four days of your time by now. Hopefully, your medical problem has gone away on its own. Otherwise, you’re on a three-month to two-year treadmill that may or may not lead to a solution.
What’s the alternative? One choice that many people favor is to visit one of the famous diagnostic clinics. You’ll be poked and prodded continually for two to three days, and you’ll pay quite a lot out of your own pocket for the visit.
But you won’t leave until all of your physicians have received strict marching orders from the clinic for how to treat you. If you really need medical treatment, you’re now way ahead of the game.
What’s the problem? You may have to wait six months to a year to get an appointment at the diagnostic clinic. But that can be a big improvement over two years that may lead to inconclusive results. Some people gain an access advantage by simply scheduling annual checkups at such clinics.
What’s a faster, less time-consuming alternative? Conjure up a scary symptom, and you can simply head for the emergency room of the best hospital in your area. If your problem is serious, you’ll be admitted to the hospital within hours and you’ll have specialists checking you out within 24 hours.
Tests will also be accelerated. Two years of waiting may be compressed into a few days in the hospital.
As you can imagine, this do-it-yourself approach to health care is increasingly popular in the United States. Emergency rooms are overwhelmed with people, most of whom don’t need to be seen there. But the appeal of fast service brings patients in, much like the quick lube place with no lines.
Recently, more hospitals are getting smarter about this back door into accelerated care and now locate general-purpose outpatient clinics next to their emergency rooms. As you enter the emergency room area, a triage nurse figures out if you are well enough to go to the outpatient clinic and wait to be seen on a first-come, first-served basis.
This choice does speed things up for the patient by eliminating the need to wait to see your primary care physician when she or he next has an appointment opening. If such clinics can learn to affordably help people track down their health-care solutions faster and by spending less time, many patients will flock to these clinics.
Donald Mitchell is an author of seven books including Adventures of an Optimist and The 2,000 Percent Squared Solution. Read about creating breakthroughs through 2,000 percent solutions and receive tips by e-mail by registering for free at
Previous Articles Highlighter:
Best Travel Deals For Your Holiday (1)
If you find super off-peak dates that fall between major holidays, strike while the iron is hot. Book immediately with your discount travel broker. Never hesitate! 7.
Start Your Own Membership Site - A Checklist (2)
Design your site. It doesn't need to be complicated, but it does need to clearly and compellingly communicate what you are offering. Organize your site content in a clean, uncluttered, easily accessible way.
Go After The Long Trail To Build Your Search Engine Traffic (3)
According to the Long tail theory, you should rather use the keyword in a phrase such as "second mortgages for people with poor credit," which will narrow your specific target audience and also eliminate the amount of competition that you will have to face.
How To Use Performance Appraisals To Build Staff Success And Company Results (4)
Remember the goals outlined are focused on creating better results for the company. You want that. Focus on the plan. At the monthly meeting spend time to: Review the vision Review the accomplishments (What's going right?) Review the goals and score them: 60%; 85% When a goal is falling short use coaching skills to help figure out what the problem is and how to change it.
The Advantages Of Registry Cleaners (5)
This way, the registry is maintained in a good condition and the computer remains healthy. As computers represent the most important tools of this century, allowing them to run as fast as they can is very important.
Why Is A Good Registry Cleaner Necessary? (6)
These are created only when uninstalling or deleting software. Registry repair software scans the Registry in order to find the redundant data. Next, it removes the invalid entries, fact which leads to an error free operating system.
Managing Your Blog Emails (7)
There are many email providers that exist on the Internet that you can choose from, but the best and easiest email service comes from the company known as Google. Google's email service called Gmail, is a great program because it provides a lot of computer space and memory for all of the emails that you will receive from your blog's large Internet audience.
Discover The Most Popular Method Of Having A Royal Title In The World (8)
Topics: Unique personalized gift, Scotland, Scottish titles, highland, unique gift ideas, romantic, Scottish Gifts are one of the best ways to express how much you care and love. Giving a gift is an art of expressing your emotions.
How To Buy Tennis Shoes (9)
Some of the popular ones are Nike, Reebok, Adidas, Converse, K-Swiss, Lacoste, Puma, Shaq, Etnies, C1rca, Brooks, Adio, Fallen, British Knights and many others. Choosing Tennis shoes can be a tricky job sometimes.
Report Writing For Beginners - The Freebie Report (10)
If you offer a report of real value that shows your interest to help your reader you will gain a loyal list member in the process who will turn to you for information, advice and offers on new products and services.
Newer Articles Highlighter:
Tips For Traveling Safely In The US (1)
Make multiple copies of the identification page of your passport. This will assist in the replacement of your passport if it is stolen or lost. 2) Electricity. If you have brought appliances that would make use of electrical systems, be aware of the voltages used with these devices.
Offshore Outsourcing To India: Does Indian Outsourcing Have Specific Advantages? (2)
In other words, India is still highly cost effective for many businesses. Because India is a developing country, outsourcing is looked upon favorably by the most segments of the population.
How To Save Up To 75% Of The Cost Of Traveling To Almost Anywhere (3)
Care of pets Long distance phone calls Don't worry though. Your housing exchange company can help you put together a list, and give you ideas for preparing for your guests.
How To Guard Against PC Viruses (4)
Logic bombs are viruses that target specific computer applications, causing them to crash (for example, Windows). This can also be spread via email attachments or by innocently downloading it off the Internet.
Ebay My World Can Drive Traffic To Your Ebook Listings (5)
As you most likely know, the more traffic you can drive to your auctions, listings and store, the more items you will sell. The problem is always, how to drive traffic.
Landing Your Dream Job With A Perfect Resume (6)
Need that perfect curriculum vitae? Then drop by Mike Selvon portal at writingresumes.micronicherecommends.com to learn more about using creating a perfect resume, and drop us a note at our resume writing tips blog at www.mynicheportal.com.
How To Enjoy Your Brazil Travel (7)
These are of good quality and are suitable formulated for the conditions of the country. Get Hepatitis shots before leaving for Brazil. Hepatitis A, B and C cases are prevalent in Brazil.
0 APR -- Qualifications You'll Need To Get A Low Rate (8)
Sometimes, contacting your lender directly will allow you to qualify for such offers if you simply ask. Again, you need to know the specifications of the offer including fees and how finance charges will be applied if you do not pay the balance in full.
Sun Still Shining In Marbella (9)
The lifestyle in Marbella includes golf, good weather, beaches, tennis, restaurants, boutiques, marinas, yachts, and cultural activities all contribute to making the property market here an asset still in much demand as they have been for years.
Guide To Business Travel (10)
Here are some suggestions on how to keep your expensive business items safe: 1. Put your laptop inside a bag that will not indicate that there's a laptop inside.
Permalink to Make Doing-It-Yourself Faster Than Getting Help In The Usual Way