Monitor and read online reviews to find out what patients are saying about you and your staff. There are review monitoring services available to track and manage reviews or you can just log on to sites every day or two to see what’s being said. The reviews are basically free advice and it’s fairly easy to spot trends. You would pay a consultant thousands of dollars to give you the same information but online reviews are free and invaluable.
Talk to your staff about common complaints they hear. Your staff probably sees first hand the issues that cause complaints or compliments and are well aware of the challenges and issues.
Use the information learned from your research to implement changes in staff, training or office procedures and business practices. Often small changes in communication or business processes or even setting the right expectation to a patient can make a huge difference.
Don’t be afraid to speak to an unhappy patient. In most instances an unhappy patient just wants to know their concern is heard and you can disarm the situation before it gets worse. Just remember, be friendly, listen and don’t make the matter worse by saying something inappropriate or inflammatory and then use the information to help you and your staff to do better in the future.
Recognize employees for providing great customer service. Recognizing stellar service when it happens is a great way to emphasize a commitment to service. Tell your team member they did a great job and if possible share their success with the rest of the team to instill the value of providing great service within the team. Some practices measure service by using a rating kiosk like ServiceGuru to track the individual service provided by their staff using a leaderboard to encourage and recognize individuals. Recognition can go a long way to instilling a focus on going above and beyond for your patients and customers.
Need help developing an overall customer service or in handling online reviews. Let us know – we can help!