There are products and companies out there whose customers simply can’t imagine life without them. Think about your favorite electronic device. Or your favorite restaurant. Perhaps a certain retail chain or online website you like shopping at …
Regardless everyone has a few products or services in their life that they can’t live without. When it comes to certain brands, we become very committed. I, for example, will eat just about anywhere as long as the food and service is decent, but take away my iPhone or shutdown Amazon and I would have a rough go of it for a while.
How about your organization? Have your patients developed a similar bond? If someone else opened a similar hospital, practice or office ten minutes closer to their house, would they still come to see you, or would they switch merely our of convenience?
When it comes to patient care, work to be the one your patients can’t live without. You may think it doesn’t matter, but we all know people who have been with the same doctor, dentist or hospital for years. No matter what, they continue to go to year in and year out. Why is that?
I remember when my second child was born. Despite the fact that we had moved an hour away, my wife insisted that we go back to the same hospital as the first for the birth (and all the pre-natal care). The reason was not the room or the equipment. I can guarantee it was basically the same as the one five minutes from our new house. It was the way the nurses, doctor and the staff made her feel and how they treated her. She also told anyone that would listen how great it was there. Go figure?
When it comes to patient care, establish loyal and committed patients who simply can’t live without you. You’ll be amazed at the positive impact it will have on your organization.
