Becky was laying in her hospital bed and staring at the whiteboard on the wall. It had a room number, the room’s phone number, and the date. It had the pictures of the pain scale, with happy-to-sad faces and ratings from 0-10. It noted when the last meds were administered and when the next meds were scheduled. It talked about goals for the day and key next steps. And it mentioned what diet she was on and what activities and precautions applied to her.
Maybe even more importantly, it listed her Care Team. There was Dr. Smith. There was her nurse, Victoria. There was her CNA, Rodica, her therapist, Sharon, and others as well. Next to each one of the caregiver names was a personal phone number.
Just by looking at the whiteboard, whether Becky was by herself or with family members, she knew what was going on. She knew what the next step would be for her care. She knew what she could and could not do. And she knew who to contact and how to contact them directly for whatever needs she had.
Even more so, any individual that walked in the room – whether family, friend, or caregiver – had all the exact same information right at eye level.
This was a simple communication tool. In the 21st century, a whiteboard doesn’t seem so valuable, but it was INCREDIBLY valuable to Becky!
So much of anxiety and fear relates to the unknown. So much of confusion or concern or potential conflict comes from being in the dark.
To build your customer’s confidence and their comfort level with your organization, find ways to make it abundantly clear exactly who to contact and for what in your organization. Find ways to make it abundantly clear what the customer has the capabilities to do on their own. Find ways to make it abundantly clear what the next steps will be and when they will happen.
To create a confident customer, make it abundantly clear.
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When you don’t know if the next step will solve the customer’s problem, give hope a chance. If you’re not certain how things will progress on their project, give hope a chance. If you want to end the conversation by having them feel positive, even if uncertain, give hope a chance.
In the world of customer service, to begin finding a resolution, sometimes we have to initiate conversation. To keep things moving forward, oftentimes we have to proactively engage in discussion. To have effective dialogue, we need to avoid those long periods of dead silence.
