The Personal Touch
A few weeks ago, our six year-old daughter was experiencing what we believed were seasonal allergies. Her symptoms weren't serious enough for an ER visit, so we took her to the Minute Clinic at the local CVS Pharmacy. The wait was short and the service was good. What impressed me was their follow up.
Within a few days, my daughter received a hand written note card from the nurse. It read..."Hi Jordan, I hope you are feeling better. Have a great time in 1st grade!" It was personally signed by the nurse.
Did she have to send that note? No. Will we go back to that clinic because of that note? You bet. Nothing replaces the power of customer service. I'm a firm believer in the power of personal note cards, and when you get one from an unexpected source, there is an immediate feeling of loyalty.
What can we do to continue to personalize the healthcare experience? Simply show we care. Let's send notes to our patients or make that quick follow-up call. That's how long-term relationships are built.
Comments
Dear Paul ,Thanks so much for your positive comments about MinuteClinic. Would you be willing to share the parctitioner's name? I'd like to share your comments with her/him and with others in our company. Good service IS part of good medical care. Becki Hafner, Medical Director, MinuteClinic
I had the opportunity while working at Provena to start a two physician group in a market that had grown from 7K to 30K people in four years. There were no other physicians in the immediate area. We bought land in the middle of the community and set up a triple-wide mobile office building with these two physicians. These physicians wrote personal notes to all their patients and called their patients to follow-up and check in on them. The office staff also greeted people by name. The whole office went above and beyond in terms of service, and as a result we were in the 99th percentile in patient satisfaction and we exceeded budgeted patient volumes by 200%. Our strongest marketing tool shifted from direct mail to word of mouth. There is a 35,000 sq. ft. medical office building in this location now and the customer service culture is still there.
I work in marketing in the health care industry. Prior to my job here, the company was doing very little, if no, marketing. One of my first suggestions, approx 2 yrs ago, was to send thank you notes to our patients. It was greeted with such resistance with comments such as "We don't have time". In a field where people have never had to do these things, it's very frustrating to try to get them to make "little" changes; yet, we have to do this if we are to survive in this ever increasingly competitive industry.