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Acting on the Guiding Principles for Great Customer Service - 11/19/24


In last week’s tip, we shared 5 Guiding Principles for Great Customer Service.  This week, let’s address what “taking action” looks like on those key principles.  If last week was about what to do and WHY, this week is about the HOW. Engage with Interest: To engage with interest, proactively Read more

Guiding Principles for Great Customer Service - 11/12/24


It’s hard to know every procedure, every policy, every technique possible to handle every situation correctly.  After all, maybe our procedures are standard, but our customers are not.  Maybe our policies stay pretty consistent, but our customers’ needs and issues, their attitudes and actions can change from customer to Read more

From a Simple Question to an Exceptional Experience - 11/5/24


Phyllis loves her job.  It’s not just because she loves being a customer service representative, not just because she really likes her co-workers, and not just because she enjoys her company.  It’s because she really appreciates her customers, as well. A customer had ordered a register book off the company Read more

Fix One Problem without Creating Another - 10/29/24


If you’ve ever had an issue with your dishwasher, this will sound familiar.  I’ve dealt with so many dishwashers over the years, and they always seem to have some kind of an issue.  Maybe it’s because of the mix of water and technology, but for whatever reason, these never Read more

Delight Your Customers - 10/22/24


Buddy the Bug Man was different.  His company was new, and the only reason why Janet tried him out was that the service she had used for years just wasn’t working.  Whether it was mosquitoes in the yard, ants in the kitchen, or cockroaches flying through on their way Read more

A More Complete Definition of Responsiveness - 10/15/24


I was purchasing something recently that was being custom-developed.  At one point, the company’s employee and I had a good 20 e-mails going back and forth - 10 from each of us.  Unfortunately, I broke my own rule, and I did not pick up the phone after 2 or Read more

Have a Game Plan to Address Their Anxiety - 10/8/24


It seems like we all get deliveries - whether it is UPS, USPS, FedEx, Amazon, the local courier, or all the above.  We order.  They deliver.  Or do they? It’s times like these, when we’re expecting that package, that item that we’re looking forward to or need urgently or are Read more

How Persistence Saved the Day - 10/1/24


Sherrie saw the customer walk into her store holding his cell phone, and Sherrie immediately knew that was William.  She had spoken to William on the phone about an hour ago, he said he would be at Sherrie’s cell phone store in less than an hour, and there he Read more

Notice the Little Changes - 9/24/24


“My, how times have changed.” Yes, times have changed.  As a matter of fact, one of the biggest reasons why an organization’s customer service deteriorates is that times have changed…customers have changed…and the company has not… If we think about customer service delivery today v. decades ago, changes in technology alone Read more

Don’t Hurry…Be Quick - 9/17/24


No, this is not a take off on the Bobby McFerrin song:  Don’t Worry Be Happy. It’s actually a take off on the John Wooden quote:  Be quick, but don’t hurry. When I read Wooden’s book with this title, I liked the concept, and not just because John Wooden was a Read more

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Tell the Patient What to Expect

Posted on December 7, 2011 in Business Advice, Healthcare Please leave a comment

A UK physician practice that had won a Customer Service Excellence Award addressed what they did to ramp up customer service in a PULSE article. In a nutshell, this is what they did:

  • They decided they wanted to win an award for customer service.
  • They did research with patients via interviews and surveys to determine what the patients wanted out of the customer experience.
  • They determined what needed improvement in the eyes of the customers.
  • They used this information to define expectations (or customer service standards or policies) that patients should have of their experiences with the practice.
  • But they also used this information to define expectations (or customer service standards or policies) that the practice had of patients.
  • They trained staff and changed processes to ensure that they could meet these expectations.
  • Then they continuously publicized these expectations.

Pretty simple stuff, right? Another way to view this approach is the following:

  • Define a Rallying Point (a near-term goal that explains why change needs to occur). Staff can buy-in to change a lot better if they understand the “why behind the what.”
  • Ask the customer what they want and expect.
  • Improve performance to address those expectations.
  • Define and communicate expectations that customers have of you…and that you have of customers.
  • Then deliver, deliver, deliver.

Create your own plan to become great at customer service.

Listen to our latest podcast episode of “Stepping Up Service” on The MESH Network at http://themesh.tv/stepping-up-service/

Read our New Book – “Ask Yourself…Am I GREAT at Customer Service?” http://www.amigreatat.com/

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


Let the Patient Decide How Much You’re Paid

Posted on November 17, 2011 in Business Advice, Healthcare Please leave a comment

In the Ocala.com article Medicare gives hospitals an incentive to please patients, the author notes how “Munroe Regional Medical Center officials in Ocala said the overhauled health care law could result in about $700,000 annually in lost Medicare revenues or as much in additional incentives, based on how other hospitals nationwide fare.” The Medical Center has about 400 beds, to that’s roughly a $1.4 Million swing for a 400 bed facility (or about $3,500 per bed per year).

Medicare will be basing its reimbursement on several aspects of performance including quality and patient satisfaction. And much of the feedback on which the reimbursement is based comes directly from patients and family members. Let me restate this – $1.4 Million in reimbursement is dependent on the customer’s perception.

Think of it this way – hospitals get paid for its procedures, treatments, medicine, etc. But soon, how much they are paid for those procedures, treatments, medicine will be based on the customer’s opinion. It’s almost like the patients are naming the price for the care they’re receiving.

Think about this relating to your business. Imagine that your customer could determine how much you’re paid for each encounter with your organization based on the quality of the product and their experience with you. Would you look to find ways to improve the quality of your products and services? Would you try to improve the attitudes and customer service skills of your staff? Would you try to make your processes quick and seamless? Would you try to be better than you are now?

I hope you just said “Yes” 4 times.

For most hospitals, they need to ensure that their staff (clinical and non-clinical) are well-trained in customer service skills, principles, and techniques. They need to ensure that processes are simple and self-evident. They have to create a culture of caring for the customer. They have to hire staff focused on the patient as much as the arm being X-rayed. They have to incent staff to create a great experience and hold them accountable when they don’t. They have to have management who understands how to create a culture of customer service as well as how to model Service Excellence. They have to understand how to redesign customer service processes to be more efficient. They have to communicate smoothly about patient needs and processes. They have to be all about the patient.

If they do these things great, maybe revenues will increase by $700,000; do them poorly, and revenues will drop by $700,000.

Medicare is making it all about the patient. If you’re not in healthcare, thank your lucky stars that you don’t have Medicare.

But still learn this important lesson – make it all about the customer.

Read our New Book – “Ask Yourself…Am I GREAT at Customer Service?” http://www.amigreatat.com/

Listen to our latest podcast episode of “Stepping Up Service” on The MESH Network at http://themesh.tv/stepping-up-service/

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


Customer Service Lessons from a Kidney Stone – An E.R. Story

Posted on October 27, 2011 in Business Advice, Healthcare 1 Comment

I was an Emergency Room patient recently thanks to a kidney stone. I learned some painful lessons about how I need to modify my diet. I learned some financial lessons about how to avoid the E.R. next time, now that I know how to read kidney stones symptoms. And I learned some customer service lessons from the experience.

Let’s focus on customer service. Here are a few lessons learned:

· Accessibility to service is a wonderful thing. To get my question answered about my symptoms, I was able to reach an on-call nurse at my physician’s office at 5:00 a.m. on a Monday. I was aware of that service, having used it before for less painful reasons, and that accessibility, that free advice is one of the things I love about my physician’s office.

· Employee knowledge is a component of the service delivered. That same nurse told me to go to the E.R. because she thought it was gallbladder-related. It turns out that she misinterpreted my symptoms, and the E.R. triage nurse knew immediately I had symptoms of a kidney stone, not a gallbladder issue. If the first nurse would have better “read” my symptoms, she may have saved me an E.R. trip (not complaining, mind you – just an observation).

· An hour wait is not an hour wait is not an hour wait. Wait times can be made to seem shorter or longer than they are in actuality. My wait time to see the triage nurse was only 20 minutes, but it seemed interminable. There was no dialogue during the wait, and I was told they’d see me “quickly” – a nebulous term at best, and one that led me to believe it would be immediate. However my 3.5 hour wait between when my x-rays were done and when the physician saw me wasn’t nearly as bad as you’d think. Although I wasn’t thrilled with the wait, I was given some pain medication early on, was checked on several times by the nurse, was taught how to use their funky television remote control, and was given a warm blanket and offers of other support by a volunteer.

· Much of customer service is about managing expectations. Whether it was my understanding of a next step in a process, understanding who would be my care giver, knowing what the diagnosis could be, understanding whether I’d be released that morning or whether I needed to be held – anything that the organization did to give me a clearer expectation of what would happen next and when it would happen helped to make the experience that much easier to bear.

Learn the lessons of my encounter with customer service during the attack of the kidney stone (sounds like a bad 1970’s movie title, huh?). Be knowledgeable and accessible. Communicate with customers, and “distract” them during waits. Set and manage customer expectations.

Relieve your customer’s pain.

Read our New Book – “Ask Yourself…Am I GREAT at Customer Service?” http://www.amigreatat.com/

Listen to our latest podcast episode of “Stepping Up Service” on The MESH Network at http://themesh.tv/stepping-up-service/

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


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