Heading toward a system of customer service
Heading toward a system of customer service
Positive standards, feedback sustain momentum
Do you ever feel that you’re losing a never-ending customer service battle? As soon as you think you’ve educated the entire staff and made your expectations clear, something happens that causes you to lose valuable ground. An irate customer calls, angry about the scheduler’s attitude, or a case manager complains that she’s been waiting weeks for clinical updates from one of your employees.
It may not be much of a consolation, but you are not alone, according to Gail Scott, president of Gail Scott & Associates, a training and organizational development firm dedicated to helping healthcare leaders build productive and healthy systems, partnerships, and communities. Scott, based in Meadowbrook, PA, also is the co-author of Achieving Impressive Customer Service: Seven Strategies for Health Care Managers, published in 1998 by American Hospital Publishing.
"About 75% of health care organizations have tried some version of Guest Relations or Service Excellence. Many have tried it more than once. Yet most people say the results were mediocre at best. Why? The reasons are simple. People didn’t understand that in order to get a spirit for service, you need a system for service. People tend to think of a communications workshop, but excellent customer service doesn’t happen by accident. You need a system," Scott says.
"Another problem had to do with managers and supervisors. They just didn’t get it, and they didn’t make it real for their people. Of course, it wasn’t entirely their fault. No one made it clear what they were expected to do, or they weren’t given the tools or techniques to be successful. That is why the work that people are doing now is heavily focused on helping managers learn what they can do in their own areas to improve service and satisfy customers," she continues.
How to achieve lasting improvements
Your organization can develop a system for lasting improvements with these steps:
• Create commitment and understanding.
Both managers and front-line employees must understand why the company needs to change. They need to know why "the organization is pursuing customer service at this particular time; how it fits in with everything else that is going on; and what every stakeholder has to gain by focusing on customer satisfaction," says Scott. But a dictated process to create a customer service vision won’t work. "It must be participatory and collaborative," she advises.
A good way to help staff see why customer service is important and where it needs improvement is to take them through what Scott calls "immersion experiences." Have them go through your system as a customer; either shadowing actual customers or acting as one themselves, she recommends. This includes going through employment interviews, intakes, and home visits.
You may wonder what can be learned from such exercises, since the employees being observed are bound to be on their best behavior, and the observers already know the system. However, "you can’t lose by having people walk through," says Scott. "If the system is screwed up, people will still do it as screwed up, and although people will tune it up, they will still show their weaknesses."
• Set service expectations and standards.
Once staff learns the importance of customer service, identify specific performance standards, behaviors, and service guarantees, Scott advises. "You must have an extremely clear vision of what excellence looks like, what standards you expect, and what customers need. Managers need to involve staff in identifying customers and discovering what matters most to them, and turning these into very clear job specific behaviors," she says.
For example, the standard "responding quickly" may have these specific behavior expectations:
1. For field staff: Answering pages within 30 minutes, or responding to voice mail messages within 24 hours.
2. For managers: Returning phone calls within one business day.
Some companies miss the service mark by not developing clear performance expectations. "They think the behaviors are very soft and you can’t attach standards to them, or that scripts take away personal creativity and humanness. But if you go to the service industry, those Ritz-Carlton employees know exactly what to say."
• Remove barriers and obstacles.
A host of issues can interfere with customer service, from out-of-date and inappropriate policies and procedures to poor teamwork and communication. To improve your company’s responsiveness for the long haul, obstructions must be eliminated.
Avoid the temptation, however, of trying to change too much at one time. Instead, focus on one or two key issues, Scott advises.
Choose issues that have the greatest customer impact, offer immediate results and involve most everyone in the company. Approach the problem using performance improvement-type analysis that looks beyond obvious answers. (See Private Duty Homecare, May 1998, p. 64.) For example, one solution to improving telephone responsiveness is to require that staff answer in a timely manner. However, other issues such as technology or the number of staff working during peak hours may greatly influence overall responsiveness.
• Promote learning.
"Classroom approaches don’t change behavior," Scott warns. Instead, make managers into mentors, and encourage coaching among peers. "Teaching is the greatest reinforcer of learning."
• Provide feedback; celebrate success.
Feedback is critical to sustained customer service improvements, yet many organizations fail to include it in their initiatives. "We talk about customer service; we build it up and make it important, then we don’t talk about it," Scott explains.
Two key questions that should be answered for each initiative are:
1. Did we implement what we said we would?
2. Did it reap customer satisfaction benefits?
To maintain momentum for change, provide feedback in every meeting, post it on bulletin boards and in newsletters and give it publicly. Most importantly, give front-line staff the opportunity to solicit feedback directly from customers.
Doing so not only allows them to see the direct benefits of their efforts, but also makes the feedback loop positive. Many providers structure systems based on complaints going to the top level of the organization. This tends to create a negative atmosphere focused on fixing problems, explaining actions, and covering mistakes, she explains. But having staff ask two or three questions at the end of their visit or phone conversation changes the equation.
While empowering staff to receive feedback, don’t leave yourself out of the loop. "Administrators have a tendency to get very far from the customer; so it’s important to schedule ways to get into it," Scott explains.
Every meeting should include some form of customer service feedback, even if it means setting a blow-up doll in a chair as a reminder to consider the impact of whatever you’re discussing, Scott advises. "Every time people get together, it is an opportunity to learn about and reinforce service. Managers need to find ways to use these natural forums to celebrate success, learn from mistakes, and build a sense of team spirit and we are in this together.’ Feedback and celebration go hand-in-hand. People love public thankings," she adds.
Source
• Gail Scott, President, Gail Scott & Associates, 1431 Mill Road, Meadowbrook, PA 19046-2531. Telephone: (215) 887-1021.
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