The $20,000 phone call

When a homeowner decides to put his house on sale and calls a broker...

When he calls the moving company...

When a family arrives in town and calls someone recommended as the family doctor...

When a wealthy couple calls their favorite fancy restaurant looking for a reservation...

Go down the list. Stockbrokers, even hairdressers. And not just people who recently moved. When a new referral shows up, all that work and expense, and then the phone rings and it gets answered by your annoyed, overworked, burned out, never very good at it anyway receptionist, it all falls apart.

What is the doctor thinking when she allows her neither pleasant nor interested in new patients receptionist to answer the phone?