How many times a day does someone call you to participate in a survey?  If  it’s an unknown number, you’re smart enough not to pick up the phone.  But often, it’s a familiar name—possibly a doctor’s office or some medical group.  When you see that on your caller ID, you feel a little nervous.  Did they find something wrong with your blood work?  But when you pick up, there’s a recorded message that they would like you to spend time answering their survey questions.  Bummer!  They’ve not only interrupted my dinner hour, they’ve resorted to scare tactics to make me answer the phone.  The moment I hear that message, I end the call.  No! I won’t answer your survey.

We have  gone to the same primary care physician for years.  It’s ridiculous for some hospital marketer  to call and ask what we think of him, and whether we were satisfied with the last visit.  What a waste of our time.   Yes, there have been times when we were treated by one of his colleagues, and weren’t exactly thrilled with his/her listening skills.  But doctors are human beings, remember.  If they’re seeing a patient they don’t know well, they might not ask the right questions or come up with answers we like to hear.  We absolutely would not give that doctor a poor rating just because of some isolated incident.

And if we’ve had our first visit with a new health care practitioner, we aren’t going to know  right away  whether they helped us or not.  Sciatica isn’t cured in a day. It’s way too soon to evaluate any therapist after the first or even second session.

Other places now follow up every service they perform with a survey.  Are you satisfied with your oil change?  Your furnace check?  How are you supposed to know if you’re satisfied until you’re sure things are running smoothly.

Have any of these marketing experts  heard that it’s rude to violate boundaries? Butting into quiet family time.?   Calling someone  during the news hour  with a recorded message? .  Most people hate annoying surveys and aren’t comfortable making  negative comments that could backfire on them. .  No! I won’t take part in your survey, so please stop calling.