image_pdfimage_print

Every successful service organization has them. Be it the “My pleasure” you hear at every Chick-fil-A. Or that you will never see a staff member pointing at a Ritz Carlton. Or how 5-star restaurants encourage employees to ‘Beat the Greet’ by welcoming patrons before they can say a word. Apple, Tesla, Amazon. The list who have documented service strategies and the customer loyalty numbers to match is impressive, but also remarkably short. Most organizations simply do not get it. If you ask what their secret sauce is to being the brand their clients can’t live without, you will either get a superficial response or, even worse, a vacant stare. The same can be said of health care. Most everyone recognizes the importance of staff engagement and patient care, but very few have gone through the trouble of building out a foolproof strategy to achieve either. For those thinking: ‘I know ours is pretty good, we have a great hiring, training and recognition program’. Please take an objective look at key metrics like 90-day survival rate, turnover and (if you have them) employee satisfaction surveys. Do the results reflect high engagement? For those thinking: ‘All our patients love us!’ Again, look objectively at your scores, patient feedback, retention rates and how many simply never return for another appointment. There are employees who have been with the same company for years and would never think about going anywhere else. There, also. are people in this world so loyal to certain brands (and certain medical offices, doctors, and health systems) that they would not think about going anywhere else. Develop a sustainable process that allows you to hire great people and then LOVE coming to work each day, then give them the tools they need to create patient loyalty that rivals the best of the best. Every metric you track will be world class!