10 steps to awesome customer service

Poor customer service can destroy your practice, you may have the greatest clinical skills in the world and if you, your nurse, receptionist or any other customer facing member of staff does not treat your clients well, your practice and business could be being destroyed, along with your livelihood.

“Your patients and customers won't remember what you say, they won't remember what you do you will remember how you make them feel” the sole function of your customer service system is to make your patients and customers feel like they are the most important person in the world. This short article is going to give you 10 simple steps that when you implement them will  make your patients and clients feel really significant.

When your patients and clients feel significant, they are more likely to follow your recommendations and refer you new patients and clients. When this happens will it make over large or small difference to the desirability .sustainability and profitability of your practice and business?

 Listen

Effective communication is the most important tool in your customer service toolbox, and the most powerful form of communication you have. It seems to trite to use the well worn expression “You have two ears and one mouth use them in their ratio”, however glib this may sound there is much more than a grain of truth in it.

What can you do specifically so that you can you to listen or effectively to your patients and customers?

Anticipate

Sometimes listening isn’t enough, you have to mind read the patients and clients. “How can I do this?” I hear you asking. A great way to do this is to spend time really getting to know your patient and client base and discovering what is really important to them about this products and service you offer and any objections or hesitations that they may have the following your advice. A key source of objections and hesitations can be found by reading any complaint letters or leaving letters

How else can you anticipate your patient’s and client’s needs?

The human touch

Your patients and clients will only follow your recommendations if they trust you and for them to trust you there has to be a connection at a human level between you. Even if you are buying from a large organisation such as VW, Mercedes or Ford, it is unlikely that most people will make the purchase unless they have established rapport and connection with the salesperson. So whilst it is important that you build the brand of your practice and business is essential that you create the human touch.

How can you increase the human touch with your patients and clients?

 

Admit to your mistakes

Accidents happen and mistakes are made despite the best laid plans. One thing is certain you tell a lie the truth will emerge at some stage.  Imagine for a moment that you were a member of staff have told one of your patients or customers an untruth that may vary in size and colour from little and white through to big and black, how is your client likely to respond when the truth is revealed? I would suggest it is unlikely that they will ever trust you again, or will want spend any significant amount of time or money with you again.  If your nurse put the wrong date on a lab sheet and work won't be back as planned and your lab cannot get it through as an express service, the appointment was scheduled incorrectly, or you filled the wrong tooth, own up.

Where can you be more honest with your patients and clients?

Significance

The cliche, says “The customer is always right” and in the service industry you know that this isn't strictly to true. However, what is true is that your patients and clients need to feel that they are right. A feeling of significance is one of these six basic human needs which means that everyone to a greater or lesser extent is seeking at an unconscious or conscious level to have this need fulfil. There are some people  for whom the need to feel significant is so great that they will create a negative situation that puts them centre of attention during the event and every subsequent retelling of the story. Experience shows that there are far more constructive and inexpensive ways to make someone feel really significant such as using their name, looking out them when they are speaking, being genuinely interested me speak. Making your patients and customers feel significant is key to unlocking awesome customer service.

How can you make your patients and customers feel more significant?

Certainty

Problems in practice can materialise in many shapes and forms and one of the most insidious from the customers perspective and destructive to your business is uncertainty. Your patients and clients come to you because you are an expert and because of your reputation they not only expect you to be old answer their questions, they probably expect your staff to be to do so also. You are probably aware of the dangers of the vicarious responsibility, which makes you responsible for anything your staff may say, so do is imperative that your staff are not only well-trained, they also know the limits to the information that they can provide. In which case, it is could be essential from your patient's perspective that if your nurse, receptionist practice manager or treatment coordinator does not know the answer to your patients question, the “I don't know” is swiftly followed by and “I will ensure that I find out and get back to you, when and how is it most convenient but I do that?” If your staff don't know the answer to a question and indicate that they will find the answer and get back to your patient, your patient will find someone else who does know the answer to their question.

How can you provide your patients with more certainty?

 

Under promise and over deliver

I am sure that you have plenty of personal experiences of where a service provider let you down and destroyed your trust by overpromising and failing to deliver, it could be anything from a delivery that was guaranteed next day and arrived three days late or restaurants that promise to cook steaks just how you like them only to serve yours rare when you ordered medium rare. Equally, I'm sure you have examples of people that have delighted you are going the extra mile when you didn't expect it. I can remember a time when I was doing a cookery course in Padstow, our group were eating at the bistro and when it came to choosing desert I declined to order anything and made a throwaway comments what I really fancied was the Panna cotta that was on the menu in the main restaurant down the street. I was speechless when deserts arrived so did the Panna cott as it wasn’t on the menu.. Rick Stein and his team have mastered under promising and over delivering and provide incredible customer service.

Where can you under promise and over deliver?

Belonging

in many ways human beings behave like pack animals, and like to feel as if they ‘belong’. The fashion industry exists because people like variety and like new clothes for a new season and the sense of belonging that wearing the same style and trend as everyone else gives them. Social media and the Internet have created a wealth of opportunities for people to find a group or tribe of like-minded people to belong to. Many business owners have incorporated the need for belonging into their customer service very successfully. I've seen one practice that has a large wall in their reception area on which there is a world map, patients are invited to send the practice postcards from holidays which are then put on the wall creating a family like environment.

How can you create a sense of belonging your patients and clients?

Speak your patient’s language

55% of communication is your physiology 38% is totality and the remaining 7% of your communication is the words that you use. Effective communicators are eloquent because they have learnt how to use their body language and their tonality to be their primary way of building rapport and communicating. The icing on the communication cake is to ensure that you are able to use precisely the same words, metaphors and sensory system that your patients use. A useful way to think this is that your patients may all speak English and they do this using their own individual dialect, you can provide outstanding customer service when you learn to speak their dialect. These skills can be learnt from attending my NLP training speak the same language as your patients™

How can you speak the same language as your patients and clients?

Be constructive

Your patients and clients come to you because they already have or they fear they may do in the future have a problem that you can solve for them. You and your staff will provide great customer service when you adopt a constructive and inspirational attitude that you can solve any problem that your patient or client presents with. In practice it may not be you actually does the work, you may need to refer your patients on and yet you are the conduit that will ensure their problem is solved. What impact will make your customer service when words and phrases such as ”yes”, “of course”, ”I will ensure that gets to you” or “I will take care of that personally” become part of your day-to-day repertoire?

How can you be more constructive in your customer service?

 

These are just 10 tips of many,  that when you implement the improve your level of customer service I'm always interested in hearing what other people would recommend if you would like to share some of your most successful ways of guaranteeing awesome customer service please let me know using the comment button below.