{"id":5215,"date":"2018-11-13T09:06:10","date_gmt":"2018-11-13T15:06:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pmaworks.com\/observations\/?p=5215"},"modified":"2019-11-11T12:55:43","modified_gmt":"2019-11-11T18:55:43","slug":"how-to-deliver-goal-driven-extra-ordinary-customer-service-part-2-of-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pmaworks.com\/observations\/how-to-deliver-goal-driven-extra-ordinary-customer-service-part-2-of-2\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Deliver Goal Driven Extra-Ordinary Customer Service (Part 2 of 2)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cOur future will be our results.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0 <\/em>Clarence Gonstead, D.C.<\/h2>\n

How do we overcome these barriers to extra-ordinary service?<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s first define \u201cservice.\u201d Service in a professional service firm or professional practice includes two categories:<\/p>\n

A. Outcomes.<\/strong> These are the results from the provider.
\nB. Customer experience.<\/strong> This comes from what the customer experiences as they move along their pathway through your business.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s begin with your goals.<\/p>\n

1. Define and Commit to Your Highest Goals.<\/strong><\/h2>\n

To create world class outcomes and service, you first need to review your most senior goals. Then, you have to ensure everyone understands them, agrees to them, and commits to doing everything possible to achieve them.<\/p>\n

Setting purposeful goals over a lunch meeting does not take into account the sacrifice and effort that will be necessary to achieve them. You may commit to your own goals, but like New Year\u2019s resolutions to go to the gym, you get distracted and discontinue after a few weeks. Some of your team may say they understand the goals \u2013 even agree to them \u2013 but in fact are only passengers along for the ride.<\/p>\n

So, you should review and recommit to your goals each week. Be insistent, allowing for shortfalls now and then, but not compromising in the long run. Be true to your goals or make new ones. Spend time on these three:<\/p>\n

a) Mission<\/strong>
\nThis is the purpose of your office. It should be short and to the point and should include something about excellent service and outcomes and helping as many as possible.
\nb) Core Values<\/strong>
\nThese are the standards for professional behavior and performance. List what values you consider most important in providing health care.
\nc) Patient Outcomes<\/strong>
\nDefine where you are taking your patients. Relief care only? Or are you taking them further to better health and wellness?<\/p>\n

Be true to your goals.<\/strong><\/p>\n

2. Outstanding Outcomes Come from Expertise<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Because of your clinical skill, you can produce wonderful outcomes. But can you do even better? Here are some masters in their field as examples of professionals that never stopped improving their craft:<\/p>\n

Music: Pablo Casals<\/strong><\/p>\n

Pablo Casals was a cellist \u2013 regarded as the best that ever lived. He was born in 1876 in Catalonia, Spain. In 1963 he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President John F Kennedy, and in 1971, two months before his 95th birthday, he performed for the United Nations and accepted the U.N. Peace medal.<\/p>\n

Casals was talented, but he practiced daily. There is a story about Casals and his training regimen:<\/p>\n

He [Casals] agreed to have Robert Snyder make a movie short, \u201cA Day in the Life of Pablo Casals.\u201d Snyder asked Casals, the world\u2019s foremost cellist, why he continues to practice four and five hours a day.<\/p>\n

Casals answered: \u201cBecause I think I am making progress.\u201d<\/p>\n

Food Preparation: Chef Jiro Ono<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you want and value good sushi, Chef Jiro Ono is your guy. He was 92 at the time of this writing. He still works in his small restaurant in Tokyo that holds only 20 people at a time. The waiting list can be over a year. Still, at his age, he works on perfecting every aspect of the sushi, from selecting the exact right fish early at the fish market, to the exact texture of the rice. And every night he considers how he can improve on that day\u2019s production. He is considered the foremost sushi chef in the world. (Jiro Dreams of Sushi, David Gelb 2011 documentary, Wikipedia)<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce you decide on your occupation… you must immerse yourself in your work. You have to fall in love with your work. Never complain about your job. You must dedicate your life to mastering your skill. That’s the secret of success…… Even though I’m eighty-five years old, I don’t feel like retiring.\u201d Jiro Ono (Jiro dreams of sushi, 2011)<\/p>\n

Health Care: Clarence Gonstead<\/strong><\/p>\n

Clarence Gonstead was a chiropractor, born in 1898 and grew up in Wisconsin. In 1923, Dr. Gonstead graduated from Palmer Chiropractic College and began practicing. In 1939, he built a new chiropractic office in Mount Horeb, Wisconsin.<\/p>\n

Because of the growth of his practice, a new Gonstead Clinic of Chiropractic was completed 1964. It was a two-level facility with 29,000 square feet. In 1965, adjacent to the new clinic, a full-service motel was built. Gonstead\u2019s reputation as a remarkable chiropractor had spread beyond the United States and he had patients flying in from all over the world. To assist these patients, he set up a limousine service between the Madison, Wisconsin, airport and the Gonstead clinic about 30 miles away. Patients with their own private planes could fly in and land at Gonstead\u2019s personal airport located next to his home on the outskirts of Mount Horeb.<\/p>\n

With no marketing, his practice grew so that that he was seeing over 250 patients per day, working six-and-a-half days a week. He often treated his last patient at 2:30 in the morning.<\/p>\n

Gonstead studied and improved his craft. He was not, as a founder of a chiropractic college would later say, a \u201ccommercial chiropractor.\u201d He was focused on results and said: \u201cOur future will be our results.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eventually, he began teaching others his system which is now recognized around the planet as one of the most effective and popular forms of chiropractic technique. He encouraged other chiropractors to study and to \u201cPractice. Practice. Practice. Never stop.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, be like Jiro, Pablo, or Clarence! Use \u201cdeliberate practice\u201d and look to see how you can improve your skills and methods so that your customers can achieve their goals faster and better.<\/p>\n

Never stop improving your craftsmanship.<\/strong><\/p>\n

3. Delegate Administrative Duties to a Goal Driven Team<\/strong><\/h2>\n

It is almost impossible to focus on excellent patient outcomes and run a growing business at the same time. You need a strong support infrastructure. This means professional team members that are trained and motivated to apply procedures that are both simple and effective.<\/p>\n

Chiropractic works. Not having a smooth-running support structure is the primary element that is in your way from developing your practice to its full potential.<\/p>\n

This has been the major focus of our work over the last 30 plus years. We have found that the better the support, the better the outcomes and the happier the doctor and staff.<\/p>\n

Improve your people and systems.<\/strong><\/p>\n

4. Create an Upbeat and Supportive Work Environment<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u201cIf you go into any organization that’s customer-facing, you can tell in five minutes when the employees are feeling abused. They retaliate on the customers.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 Jeffrey Pfeffer, professor at Stanford University<\/p>\n

The way the employees are treated directly affects the service that they will provide to the customer.<\/p>\n

Sure, work can be stressful at times. Maybe someone snaps at someone else. This happens in any high-performance activity. But as long as we all share the same mission and values, we can address our personal slights to each other and move on.<\/p>\n

It is everyone\u2019s responsibility to create a cheerful work environment for each other. If you are having fun, so will our patients.<\/p>\n

Smile more — and make work fun!<\/strong><\/p>\n

5. Give Your Patients Information. Educate Them!<\/strong><\/h2>\n

“If I’d asked customers what they wanted, they would have told me, ‘A faster horse!’.” Henry Ford.<\/p>\n

Of course, you give people want they want \u2013 what they consider urgent and important.<\/p>\n

But people didn\u2019t want a faster horse, they just wanted faster transportation. Horse, car, airplane\u2026 they wanted to get to where they wanted to go \u2013 faster. They just didn\u2019t know about how simple, fast, and easy a Model-T was.<\/p>\n

You must show them through education that you have what they want and need.<\/p>\n

Most offices provide relief. That is what the patient is aware of and willing to pay for. But since you are providing a product that is not tangible<\/span> using procedures that are invisible,<\/span> your customer may have a difficult time understanding anything beyond the \u201cquick fix.\u201d<\/p>\n

They may know they want more but lack the understanding of what is available.<\/p>\n

I know I need to pay my taxes, but what I really want is to pay as little as possible. I also would like to contribute to my children\u2019s education. With some education, my accountant could make me aware of different strategies that would take me to my full goal.<\/p>\n

\u201cCustomers are thirsty for more information and knowledge,\u201d<\/span> according to studies by ThinkJar, a customer strategy consultancy.<\/p>\n

To deliver your best and complete outcomes, you need your patient\u2019s motivation to do so. It is a path and a partnership that you travel together.<\/p>\n

The better that they understand their condition and your unique remedy, the easier it will be for you to help them achieve the best outcome possible.<\/p>\n

The more they know — the further they\u2019ll go!<\/strong><\/p>\n

6. Making the Patient\u2019s Experience Extra-Ordinary<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Making the patient experience \u201cWOW\u201d takes a team effort.<\/p>\n

If studies show that customers discontinue a service mostly because of a lack of interest on the part of the service provider — and your own personal experience validates this fact, then the solution is simple. Just be genuine and interested in your patients. Be empathetic. Take the time to be totally present, in the \u201cnow,\u201d and have \u201cpresent time consciousness.\u201d You only have 1 patient, and that is the one you are with, or about to see.<\/p>\n

Then, when you practice with your team at team meetings, focus on this: the level of honest interest, curiosity, and care.<\/p>\n

Practicing scrapes off the \u201cbarnacles\u201d that attach to us all as we soldier through our work days. Here are some training tips for working on improving customer service with your team:<\/p>\n

a) Review the Customer\u2019s Journey<\/h4>\n

Lay out the pathway to and through your services. Do this with your team.<\/p>\n

This begins even before your patients contact you. Who are they? Mom\u2019s, seniors, kids? What brings them to you? What other solutions have they tried before they came to you? Get to know them and empathize with their condition.<\/p>\n

b) Flow Chart<\/h4>\n

Then, list the sequence of actions, or a flow chart of what occurs from first contact through their first service and leaving. Drawing this out with your team will expose many areas for improvement.<\/p>\n

c) The Walk-Through<\/h4>\n

Against this flow chart, you and your team can now look at where you can add more benefits for your customers.<\/p>\n

I have found that practicing a \u201cwalk-through\u201d reveals many hidden plusses \u2013 and embarrassing weaknesses, in service. The doctor or a team member takes on the role of a customer. They then travel some portion of the patient pathway with the usual team in their roles, acting as if they are dealing with an actual patient.<\/p>\n

You are guaranteed to find areas where service can be improved.<\/p>\n

d) Add More Value<\/h4>\n

Bain Consulting, an international management company, identified 30 different elements of value relative to consumer needs in an extensive study. They categorized these customer values into four categories:<\/p>\n