If you’re reading this, you’re probably trying to learn about “The Patient Experience” or “Customer Experience” and what all the buzz is about. Or else, you’re a practice owner or manager, and you’re looking for information on how to improve the patient experience at your practice. Or maybe, you’re just trying to figure out if your practice even has anything remotely considered a patient experience. And you have no idea if it’s good or bad, because you’re really not even sure what a “Patient Experience” is in the first place.
Not understanding what “Patient Experience” means is common in medical practices.
Have no fear, it doesn’t matter which of these situations you’re experiencing, you’re in the right place. All these situations are common dilemmas among practice owners and managers everywhere. Over the course of this series of articles, I’ll do my best to help you arrive at an understanding of what the patient experience is, and why it matters to your practice. And most importantly, you’ll learn how to measure and improve the patient experience at your practice!
This new understanding, along with some tips and pointers from yours truly in articles to come, will give your practice a new edge. And you’ll also gain a whole new perspective into how your patients and customers see (and feel) your business. And why investing in your patient experience is the single most important thing you can do to grow your practice, increase revenue and take your organization to the next level. Maybe, hopefully, eventually, to world class, household name status too.
“An average band with a great drummer sounds great, a great band with an average drummer sounds average.” – Buddy Rich
Think about this quote for a minute. What Buddy Rich is saying is that you’ll never have a truly great band without a great drummer. The drummer, according to Buddy Rich, is the limiting factor in a band’s potential to become “great”. Now let’s apply this analogy to your practice. The service and experience that your patients feel, and share with others, is the drummer in the quote. The experience must be rock solid, dependable, predictable, and consistently of the highest possible caliber. Anything less than that is just mediocre, unremarkable and not remotely world class.
The upper limit of your practice’s greatness, is determined by customer service.
You work very hard, sometimes even crazy hard, making sure all the factors in your practice are of superior quality. But in spite of all your dedication, the upper limit of your practice’s greatness is determined by your customer service and patient experience. You can have great outcomes, great management and great cash flow. But if your patient’s feelings and emotions about you, your staff or your services isn’t great, your practice’s potential will be limited.
“Your perception of your patient’s experience is perception. Your patient’s perception of their experience is reality.” – Claudio Varga
There’s a reason that all the great companies you’re familiar with; Apple, Four Seasons, Nordstrom, Zappos, Amazon, etc., also have a reputation for a superior customer experience. You won’t find a great world class company that doesn’t also have a reputation for world class customer experience. Not gonna happen.
Customer service is the best opportunity to differentiate yourself from your competitors.
Many successful companies are only differentiated from their competition by superior customer experience. For example; Amazon or Zappos provide services and products that can be obtained a number of different ways. After all, there are a multitude of online merchants selling the exact same items at virtually the same price. Yet these household names thrive because their commitment to extremely high customer experience is a hallmark and core principle of their operations. In turn, their customers feel it, appreciate it and talk about it. They feel strongly enough to be extremely loyal and generate staggering revenue for these companies year after year. All the same rules apply to the business of medicine. Isn’t that kind of loyalty something that could propel your practice to new heights of success?
A great patient experience costs nothing more than awareness and compassion.
Are you worried about competitors eating into your market share, or low-cost, no-frills newcomers in your sector? Take heart. you’re about to learn how to reach new levels of patient loyalty and increased revenue. All these benefits can be yours when you commit to a level of customer service and patient experience your competitors can’t match. And the best part is that a world class patient experience is not about money – it’s about awareness, compassion and understanding your patient’s perspective. Delivering unbeatable value and seeing through the eyes of your customers, will lead to creating a loyal following of raving fans. Fans all too happy to spread the word of this amazing practice that “really gets it.”
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