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Narrow Your Focus to Seek Excellence - 4/1/25


You’ve probably heard companies use phrases such as: “We want to go from being good to great.”  Maybe they’ve said: “We strive for perfection, and although we’ll never reach perfection, maybe we can achieve excellence along the way.” These organizations find some kind of a catch phrase or slogan, but Read more

Avoid the Unfriendly Ghost - 3/25/25


Last week we talked about the qualities of “PERKI Customer Service,” essentially what attitudes and actions are characteristics of those who provide great customer service.  This week, let’s take the opposite approach.  What are some of the mistakes that people make?  Maybe these are mistakes of omission or commission; Read more

PERKI Customer Service - 3/18/25


After having worked on hundreds of projects over the years with thousands of thousands of individuals, some things become pretty clear. There are certain traits held by people who are great in customer service.  Look at this list, and do a self-assessment.  Which apply to you? Positive and Patient Do you Read more

It Helps to Downshift - 3/11/25


One of the first tips I heard when I was learning how to drive related to what to do when the brakes fail - downshift.  Shifting into a lower gear can slow down a moving vehicle.  I would explain this in technical terms to you, but considering I’m not Read more

Patience is… - 3/4/25


Patience is a…pain in the neck.  Why is it so hard to be patient?  Those of us who work in customer service know that we constantly have to show patience with our customers.  We’re ready to move to the next step or the solution because we’ve heard this issue Read more

Everybody Doesn’t - 2/25/25


Joey received the compliment, but he was confused.  Paula, his boss, and Joey had their monthly one-on-one meeting, and Paula noted that, although he was new, Joey was already doing a great job!  While there were learning curves on some of the organizational policies and the technology that he Read more

A Simple Phrase to Transform Your Customer Feedback Approach - 2/18/25


I went to a restaurant called Big Ed’s (no relation) in Raleigh, NC recently.  It’s basically country cooking with fantastic breakfast options!  On the menu there was a quote that said: If you enjoyed your meal, tell a friend.  If not, please tell us. That was an excellent statement that embodies Read more

What Phones and Football Have in Common - 2/11/25


Congratulations!  You made it through weeks/months of hype for football’s Super Bowl!  You made it through hundreds of pregame shows and podcasts, endless debates on things endlessly inconsequential, 10 hours of pre-game shows on Sunday, what seems like 100 commercials designed specifically for the “Big Game,” and the longest Read more

Create Awareness of Alternatives - 2/4/25


Sandy was hungry, and she was on the move.  Driving between meetings, she saw the restaurant sign and pulled in.  The fast-food restaurant had two drive-thru lanes.  One was for any customer who wanted to place an order on the spot. The other was for mobile orders only.  The Read more

Listen with Your Eyes - 1/28/25


Out of the corner of his eye, Patrick saw the customer enter the lobby.  The customer was carrying a large shoulder bag with several papers in her hand.  The customer was shuffling the papers and looking down; then she stopped, looked up, and saw the staff navigator sitting at Read more

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Customer Waits Without the Hate

Posted on July 27, 2010 in Business Advice, Healthcare Please leave a comment

We’ve been saying it for years, and now more studies are beginning to confirm it. While customer wait times can be a cause for frustration and anger, organizations can positively impact the customer’s emotions, even if they don’t shorten the wait.

Take a hospital Emergency Room, for instance – one of the most vivid examples of the aggravation that is long waits. You fell off a ladder or were shot with a BB gun; you have a 103 degree temperature or a pain in your side. There are MANY reasons why you could be in an E.R. without a life threatening condition. Be prepared to wait…and wait…and wait.

In an article titled “ER wait times rise; proper communication soothes dissatisfaction” (http://www.cardiovascularbusiness.com/index.php?option=com_articles&view=article&id=23342&division=cvb&division=cvb), a 2009 study noted that E.R. wait times nationally continue to increase, now standing at 4 hours 7 minutes. That makes that 20 minutes of telephone hold time for your cable company not seem so bad now, doesn’t it? Well maybe it still does.

One interesting fact about the study was that patients who waited 3-4 hours had similar patient satisfaction levels as those waiting less than one hour. How could this be? Well according to the study authors, “frequent, proactive communication improves both the quality of patient care and the manner in which patients perceive their care." The communication helps the patient “understand the processes within the emergency department environment and shows them that staff has not forgotten them.”

Remember, satisfaction in any business is a measure of perception (as much or more than a measure of reality). How can you positively impact your customer’s perception of you and your business? When it comes to wait times, we have a key answer – it’s frequent and proactive communication.

Convey you care by keeping in touch with your customer.

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

Check out our new customer service book at http://www.amigreatat.com/


Decrease Paperwork. Increase Patient Satisfaction.

Posted on June 22, 2010 in Business Advice, Healthcare Please leave a comment

Paperwork – it’s one of the biggest roadblocks to patient satisfaction. You’re having pre-admission testing at the hospital. You’re getting registered for outpatient surgery. You’re there for treatment or a diagnostic procedure. And all the while – in this age of technology – you’re filling out the same information on paperwork over and over and over again.

Processes and the paperwork involved are huge drivers of dissatisfaction in hospitals and other healthcare facilities. The Valley Health System in Nevada is attempting to shorten the timeframe and paperwork involved in checking in for appointments. They’re adopting self-service entry as an option at its five hospitals.

Patients can enter information into a kiosk, sign consent forms, make payments, confirm insurance information, etc. Keep in mind that this essentially automates a manual process, but it does so in such a way as to eliminate some employee instructional involvement with the customers, engage the customer during waits, automatically update information in the hospital’s computer system without the employee having to key the data, and increase quality of data input.

You can draw several conclusions from the www.marketwatch.com article (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-valley-health-system-improves-the-patient-experience-with-self-service-check-in-from-ncr-2010-06-22?reflink=MW_news_stmp).

But the main conclusion I want to highlight is this – paperwork is a dissatisfier. Question EVERY piece of paper you create, every manual form you use, every data entry procedure that starts with someone writing information on a piece of paper.

Question EVERY piece of paper. It’s about more than “going green.” It’s about productivity, patient (customer) satisfaction, process quality, and reducing perception of wait time.

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


How Credible are You?

Posted on May 28, 2010 in Business Advice, Healthcare Please leave a comment

Granted, customer service is vitally important. We train companies on customer service and promote the importance of it day after day. But in order for the customer to believe what you say and to trust in you, you have to have a certain level of credibility. Remember, in many of these cases, what the customer is thinking about as you’re communicating with them is that they don’t know you, and yet you’re asking them to believe what you’re saying. So how do you overcome this inherent credibility gap?

Some of how you overcome is to use a tone of voice and body language that promote confidence and assuredness. But in many organizations, particularly in hospitals (where you are giving shots and putting patients into MRI scanners and giving them medication), how you communicate can only provide so much of an impact. In these situations, customers need to know your credentials.

Customers need to know if you’ve been a nurse 10 or 15 years; they need to know if you’ve done hundreds of MRIs; they need to know if you’ve drawn blood samples hundreds or thousands of times. Because in many situations, the reason why you’re trying to build credibility is not just to build trust, but it’s also to overcome and eliminate customer anxiety. If the customer knows your qualifications, if they know your experience, they know a little bit of history, then that knowledge can often help to build confidence and eliminate anxiety and concerns.

Make sure that you’re credible by appropriately conveying your experience and training.

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


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