Got Customer Service?
Posted by Mike Ferris on Friday, July 18, 2008 and posted in Home Health CareIn today’s competitive home care marketplace, increasingly the decision to use one provider over another is based solely on the agency’s ability to deliver noticeably superior customer service. The only way to consistently deliver superior service is by creating and maintaining a culture that is dedicated to customer service.
How to create that culture is one of the top questions I am asked. And unfortunately there is no magic answer. It takes a total commitment to creating the culture from the top to the bottom of the organization and time. The good news is that to outshine your competition may not take perfection right away. Also, as I like to point out, it costs no more to deliver great service than to deliver bad service. In fact, it can be shown that it is more cost effective to provide great service.
Home care is populated with incredible people; home care people are wonderful and caring individuals. Home care as an industry, however, does not get the credit it is due because of its longstanding poor customer service practices. Historically, agencies have not been compelled to invest in customer service. As a result, now they have to devise a program to make customer service a priority in their agency culture. If you were asked to name three companies that you admire most for their customer service experience, which would you name? A bank, a restaurant, an airline or a department store may come to mind, but probably not a home care agency.
A truly great example is Southwest Airlines. They have a very unique culture, one that has survived despite tremendous growth. Many parallels may be drawn between their business and a home care agency. Both have a workforce that is spread out geographically and don’t have the opportunity to all come together at one time. They both provide services that are dependant upon being on time and delivering on the expectations of their customers. And both must deliver extraordinary service while tightly controlling costs. One need only look at Southwest’s success to realize the value in creating a business model and a culture that are based on a foundation of customer service. An interesting statistic that belies this point is that the market capitalization of Southwest Airlines now exceeds the combined market value of all of the major airlines in this country combined.
You agency’s leadership must be steadfast in their belief that their unique advantage lies with the ability to provide great service. You must encourage your staff to find ways to add those little unexpected personal touches to what you do. Those small efforts will ultimately be repaid with enormous returns of goodwill in your community. This behavior is cultural and must be encouraged and empowered. After a time, these types of random acts of service will just happen naturally. Until that time the Customer Service Champion in your organization will need to watch for acts to recognize; dig for opportunities; help staff realize them; and of course, be on the lookout for overkill or acts that don’t make sense (financially or otherwise) or are not consistent with the agency’s values.
To your customers, the true mark of your agency’s commitment to service excellence will not be what is seen in your marketing brochure, but rather the way that your agency responds when something goes wrong.
By partnering closely with the other medical professionals involved with your patients’ care, you will make them look better as a result of your customer service focus. Since there is no blame in a true and strong service culture, it allows the physicians and others to be viewed as allies and not adversaries. This brings additional value to your relationship with these important health care professionals. And, it ultimately will increase their loyalty, and the number of referrals and recommendations that you receive from them.