Two doctors. Same 45 minutes. Completely different experience.

Last week I had two doctor's appointments, back-to-back.

Each visit ran about 45 minutes. Both moved me through efficiently. I walked out of both feeling fine.

And I had two completely different experiences.

The first appointment

I checked in. I barely sat in the waiting room. Everyone who touched my visit was pleasant, and each one told me what was happening next.

I had ample time with my doctor. She asked me — more than once — what other questions I had. She explained things in detail I understood; she was relatable. She answered all my questions, never appeared time crunched, though I imagine she was. As she left, she told me what would happen next.

Nothing sat idle. I was never waiting more than a minute or two, start to finish.

The second appointment

Checked in efficiently. Then I waited, well past my appointment time, before someone brought me into a room, only to move me to a second waiting room, until a room finally opened up…to wait.

The doctor spent maybe two minutes with me. He did ask if I had questions. I didn't, so he was on his way.

Two waiting rooms gave me plenty of time to notice something: this doctor had a lot of help so he could see the maximum number of patients.

Same 45 minutes. Two different businesses.

I'm satisfied with both experiences. I honestly don't know what more the second doctor would have done for me. That's what got me thinking.

The first experience felt like quality and care. I knew what to expect. I knew what was coming next. Someone asked how I could be helped, and then they helped me. Deep touchpoints, at every step.

The second felt like volume and efficiency. It’s built to move a lot of people through well; to have the doctor be prepped so he could minimize visit and transition time.

Here's what I want to be careful not to say: that one of those is right and one is wrong. A business can absolutely offer both. But — and this is the part that stopped me cold in that second waiting room — they have to be two different experiences (service offers).

What I realized about my own business

When founders think about scaling, the question that usually gets asked is: how do you want to scale? One version of scaling is doing more of the same thing, for more people, at the same time.

Sitting in that waiting room, it hit me that I have been building an experience that is trying to do both - deep touchpoints and space for deep dives, alongside volume and efficiency.

In my head, I thought I was still delivering the quality and care experience. I don't think it was a conscious decision to trade it for volume. Now I can see the line crossing not only complicates messaging, but it can also produce different expectations from what’s intended.  

That's probably part of why it hasn't felt as satisfying lately. I’ve been asking one solution to be both volume and care. Separately, each approach produces a good result. Combined is confusing. So, this week I'm rethinking things because I know which experience I want people to have with me.

More on what that looks like soon — I'm still in it.

Your turn

Where in your business might one offer be quietly trying to do both?

Where are you offering deep touchpoints in one breath and volume and efficiency in the next, inside the same service, without ever deciding to?