Several years ago I had the pleasure attending a large Superconference for small business owners in Orlando, Florida. Over seven hundred entrepreneurs had the pleasure of being in an audience and hearing many great presenters, including the legendary Brian Tracy share their wisdom.
In amongst ninety minutes of pure pearls, Brian Tracy included a brief section on how to Create A Great Customer Experience. Although these points are only a brief component of what is really needed to create a complete customer experience, they do represent a good place to begin when contemplating an *Ultimate Patient Experience*. Here are Brian’s key points, which I will briefly expand upon.
- Warm friendly personable
- Make people happy to do business with you
- Fast resolution of complaints
Also
- Meet expectations every time
- Exceed Expectations every time
- Delight your customers
- Amaze your customers
- Would you recommend us to others?
So let’s have a look at these individually:
1. Warm friendly personable
It’s very difficult to provide a great customer experience and great customer service environment for your clients if you are not in a warm, friendly and personable mood. Think about it. Think about the opposites. How will the experience be if you are lukewarm, unfriendly and distant? In fact, even if you are missing on just one of these three, it will be very difficult to WOW! your customers or patients. I have covered this topic in previous blogs…when you are with your patients, you must be *WITH* your patients. Be there. Be there in the moment. Don’t be anywhere else.
2. Make people happy to do business with you.
This one is really quite simple. The experience your customer or patient has when visiting your dental office must be pleasurable and memorable in every way. Look at your processes and the steps involved in your business. Make sure that at every point, the patient is being pleased, and not discouraged. There’s no point offering a great clinical experience if the check out is an unpleasant process. Likewise, the nicest people in your office can’t undo an unpleasant treatment experience.
So check all the happiness meters in your office.
3. Fast resolution of complaints
There will always be areas of concern. Show me a business with no complaints and I’ll show you a business with no customers.
Be aware of these areas of concern and address them promptly. If they are occurring regularly, put procedures in place to address this. Don’t just pretend they are not there, and don’t consider for a minute that your customers are not concerned because they are not saying anything. So if you are running late, apologise to your patient in advance, and let them know that you think that lateness is unacceptable, even if they say it is not an issue for them. They will respect your integrity, believe me.
Another way to reduce complaints is to pre-empt them in advance. Let your patients know about the possibility of postoperative discomfort. Let them know in advance that some people feel your treatment is expensive, while others do not.
Make an exhaustive list of reasons to complain, and have your protocols in place to reduce their instances, as well as to reduce their impacts.
The next four points are my four favourite topics when discussing World Class Customer Service:
1. Meet expectations every time
This must be your gold standard minimum in your dental office.
For this to happen, your office must know the exact minimum that you and your patients should see and be delivered to them, so that it is a repeatable doable experience, time in time out.
These expectations for your office will always be higher than those expectations of clients and patients of your competitors.
2. Exceed expectations every time
It is mandatory in your office to always strive to exceed your customers’ expectations at every visit. This is what makes your dental office World Class.
If you are not exceeding your patients’ expectations then you really are just like every other dental office out there. You’re a commodity. Not a service.
Look at your processes. Look at your systems. Work out ways and where it is possible to exceed your customers’ expectations. Put protocols in place to do this, every time.
3. Delight your customers
Work out and find out ways to delight your customers. When one thing delights one customer, try that on other customers and patients. If it works well once, then it should work well on other occasions.
Turn these points of difference into systems.
4. Amaze your customers
Always look for ways to go above and beyond with your patients.
Brainstorm with all team members as to ways to WOW! your patients, in a way that leaves your patients astounded and asking, “How did they ever think of that?”
5. Finally, would you recommend our services to others?
A professional personal recommendation of a new patient from an existing patient is positive feedback that you have created a worthy relationship with that patient of record.
A new patient that comes referred by a patient of record is an invaluable asset for the dental office. The acquisition cost for a referred new patient is infinitesimal when compared to the same cost of acquiring a brand new patient to the dental practice!!.]
As I mentioned, these thoughts from Brian Tracy represent a great way to begin looking at your systems for Customer Service in your office.
They are not, and not intended to be the be-all and end-all of Customer Service.
Enjoy your journey into Customer Service.
Having grateful and appreciative patients goes towards the creation of a great environment for creating Great Customer Service, creating The Ultimate Patient Experience.
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Dr. David Moffet BDS FPFA CSP is a certified CX Experience coach. David works with his wife Jayne Bandy to help SME businesses improve their Customer Service Systems to create memorable World Class experiences for their valued clients and customers. Click here to find out how David and Jayne can help your business