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Don’t Harp on the Customer’s Mistake - 6/24/25


Seth’s daughter, Sarah, had missed some swim classes, and Seth remembered that the aquatics center had several make-up classes available late in the summer.  So Seth pulled up the class schedule on his phone, found one that worked on his and Sarah’s schedules, and planned to attend a session Read more

Create Customers for Life - 6/17/25


Veronica has gone to the same automotive service shop for at least 20 years.  She bought a new car about a year ago, and this is the third car she’s brought to the shop instead of taking her car to the dealer where she bought it.  She’s had three Read more

Don’t Turn the Customer into the QA Department - 6/10/25


Roberta received a form with information filled in by the company after her conversation with the account rep.  Roberta just needed to review the information, fill in some of the blanks, sign it, and resend it in order to set up a new account. She noticed that the effective date Read more

Imitate to Improve - 6/3/25


Oscar Wilde said that “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.”  Now this doesn’t mean that plagiarism is the sincerest form of flattery.  Nor does it mean that great impersonators such as Rich Little, Dana Carvey, or Frank Caliendo are always offering flattering portrayals of those that they imitate. Wilde’s Read more

How the Customer Perceives a Truth as a Lie - 5/27/25


You’re the customer, you’re asking about an unused item that you’re returning, and you hear the employee say: “The refund process takes 7-10 days.”  You’re thinking: “Great!  I can get the refund check as early as a week from today!”  The reality is that the company means that they’ll Read more

Tell Customers What’s Next - 5/20/25


In most businesses that have been around for a while, how a process was originally designed is not how it currently operates.  Sometimes this change is referred to as “practical drift,” where the actual process moves further and further away from the documented steps over time.  Maybe the changes Read more

Questions to Guide You to Empathy - 5/13/25


“If I was him, I would do ABC…” If you’ve ever heard somebody say this - whether it’s a friend or acquaintance, whether it’s some TV reporter or podcaster - you may get as frustrated or as annoyed as I do. I get annoyed because we are not that other person. Read more

Negate the Nervousness - 5/6/25


The customer needed a loan, so he walked into the bank, but he was a little nervous.  He knew that launching his business would be easier if he had some working capital, but that’s about all he knew.  He was anxious because he didn’t know what to expect in Read more

Don’t Rush to Resolve Quickly - 4/29/25


The customer is angry, so you use the CSS LEAD technique as designed.  You, listen, empathize, accept responsibility, and deliver on a remedy.  But it doesn’t work.  The customer is still upset, and maybe even a little more frustrated than when you started…why?! If the use of this technique fails, Read more

Energy v. Apathy - 4/22/25


I asked a couple friends who are much more scientifically-oriented the question: What is energy?  I didn’t mean E=MC2.  I meant physiologically, what is energy? They described a lot of things that sounded really good, yet far too advanced for my non-medical mind. Part of the reason why energy is of Read more

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Own the Problem

Posted on February 18, 2010 in Business Advice, Education, Healthcare, Sports Please leave a comment

Personnel in a college athletics department were interviewed about the low attendance this season for basketball games. They discussed the reasons for it. ‘It’s the economy’s fault.’ Valid reason. But the student attendance is down, too. ‘It’s the players fault for not being more a part of the student body.’ Possibly valid. ‘It’s also the student leadership’s fault – they’re not doing a good enough job of getting the students excited about basketball.’ Possibly valid.

What’s interesting about these three reasons discussed is that none of them were the fault of the athletics department. Or put more politely, none of these were directly controllable by the athletics department.

So this implies one of two things. Either the athletics department has no impact whatsoever on attendance or they have an impact, but there’s nothing wrong with what they’re doing. They’re perfect.

This is the problem in organizations where the product is the most important thing. In sports, it’s the play on the court. In hospitals, it’s the clinical care. Too many people in these types of organizations feel that the product is not only the most important thing; it’s the only thing.

If this were true, why do athletics departments have “fan relations” positions? Why do pro sports team have “season ticket holder account representatives?” In hospitals, why are employees taught customer service skills?

Why? Because there should be some impact, some value, some effect from the efforts of these people.

If you’re in an industry where you don’t control the ultimate product, focus instead on what you DO control. And take more ownership over making an impact than did this one college athletics department.

Interested in improving your company’s customer service? See more information at: http://www.cssamerica.com/


BOOST Your Retention

Posted on February 2, 2010 in Business Advice, Healthcare Please leave a comment

Project BOOST is a concept being piloted by The Society of Hospital Medicine. They are working with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Michigan as well as the University of Michigan to reduce readmissions to hospitals. Modern Healthcare (http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20100201/NEWS/302019973/1153#) reported on this project as an example of some creative programs that can be put in place to reduce unnecessary readmissions, which is obviously preferable from the patient’s perspective and helps to manage costs from the facility’s perspective.

What’s especially interesting about the program is that it has a strong customer service component. The program includes a recommended follow-up visit to the doctor within two weeks of discharge to ensure that the patient knows whom to contact, what they need to be doing for themselves, and what to be looking for in terms of post-discharge issues.

To think about this in more general customer service terms, there is a built-in communication step after the patient has left the hospital which ensures that the patient is communicating their situation and their issues back to the physician and also to ensure that the patient is well-educated. To ensure that the patient and their family understand the information being conveyed by the physician/nurses/pharmacists, they use what they call the “teach back” method. This essentially involves the clinician asking the patient to restate what information they were just told.

This is a technique which CSS, our company, teaches to our clients as well. Whether you’re setting expectations or just wanting to make sure you’re on the same page with your customer in terms of what needs to happen next, who’s going to do it, and when it needs to be done, ask the customer to summary those key points back to you. If they can, you’re confident that you’re both on the same page. If they cannot, then you have more work to do to before you close out the conversation.

Learn from Project BOOST. Before the client leaves your business, ensure they’re on the same page with you in terms of what’s going to happen next. And after they’ve left, touch base with your clients a short time after the transaction has occurred to ensure they were satisfied and to keep that relationship-building conversation going.

Interested in improving your company’s customer service? See more information at: http://www.cssamerica.com/


Learn from the Operating Room

Posted on January 13, 2010 in Business Advice, Healthcare Please leave a comment

Andrea Hernandez at ledger-enquirer.com documented the steps taken by Susan Garrett, a Georgia Hospital Heroes Award winner who helped to improve patient satisfaction at her hospital. Ms. Garrett focused on four areas to improve patient satisfaction:

1. Communication with the families

2. Pre-operative education

3. Improving patient IV starts

4. Communication regarding unexpected delays.

Those four areas can be generalized to any business. If you want to improve customer satisfaction, improve customer communications. Be open, responsive, proactive with customers, addressing their questions, quickly handling issues, and anticipating needs.

Second, pre-operative education can be generalized to any business. Think of it as making your customers educated on what’s going to happen – what they need to do or what you’ll be doing. You’re setting expectations. Anything that can set expectations can improve satisfaction and reduce complaints.

Third, improving IV starts – now how do you generalize that? Think of that in terms of doing things right the first time with the customer. Make it as painless an experience as possible to do business with you.

Finally, communicate about unexpected delays. Don’t wait for the customer to complain. If you anticipate delays, address them proactively and restate a more realistic expectation.

Learn ways to improve your customer satisfaction by applying these hospital tips.

Interested in improving your company’s customer service? See more information at: http://www.cssamerica.com/


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