When were you last at the dentist? Well if it was more than six months ago; you’d better get an appointment made. You know how important it is to look after your knashers.

I had a check-up yesterday with a new dentist. I wasn’t happy with the one I’d been using so decided to change. It wasn’t so much a lack of technical skills with the old dentist, it was a lack of communication skills. In other words, I couldn’t understand what he was saying half the time.

So yesterday I met with my new dentist and her name is Pearly Alex. Quite an unusual name and certainly a good one for a dentist. It would have been even better if her surname had been White!

But it wasn’t and I have to say, her customer service skills were excellent. She was warm and friendly, laughed at my jokes, (always a good sign) and explained clearly and concisely about my teeth situation.

Turns out that I need a few fillings, mainly cosmetic, and I go back next week to part with around £100, (that’s the real painful bit)

Pearly recommended that I use an interdental brush to clean out some of the caves at the back of my mouth. Perhaps I could use one of those brushes you use to clean the toilet, but she suggested something much smaller would suffice.

So I popped into Boots, the pharmacy, health and beauty store. I found the little brushes I needed and headed for the checkout. However, there was a long queue and only one person at the till. There were about 5 tills of course, but the staff there were probably all at the dentist.

I stood and waited for a while watching everyone in front of me with half the store in their baskets and me with my one little set of brushes. Eventually, I dumped the brushes and headed for the exit, or rather the Superdrug store next door.

Superdrug had similar brushes to the ones in Boots, but much cheaper and with fast moving checkouts.

Too many organisations complain of tough times in the retail market, and I’m sure some of these are warranted. But for goodness sake; grab every customer you can, particularly when they want to give you money.

Chances are, that in future, Superdrug will be my first choice for what I’m looking for instead of Boots. And maybe I might tell some other people that.

Having a good product range and other services that woo the customers is vital, but you need the right people, in the right place and at the right time for a successful business.

Make your product easier to buy than your competition, or you will find your customers buying from them, not you. ~ Mark Cuban