The High Cost of Poor Service

As we move forward as an organization into using Social Media to help market ourselves it occurs to me what a powerful tool the internet can be -- to build a practice or to help to destroy what you are trying to be.

It used to be that a dissatisfied patient would tell 10 friends, relatives and co-workers. In the internet/Social media age a dissatisfied patient may post to Facebook, Twitter, Yelp, and many other sites. Their message goes viral and you can bet that those who check these sites will see the bad review. Therefore we must be more and more vigilant about both preventing poor service and fixing problems when they inevitably occur.

What I suggest is that the OD as the CEO of the practice invite ALL of his or her patients to contact them if they are ever not completely satisfied with their experience in the office. How to do this? Something like this.... at the conclusion of the examination.

"Mrs. Jones I am responsible for everything that happens in this office. We try very hard to make certain that all of the professional and optical services (glasses or Contact lenses) that we provide to you are of the highest quality and completely meet your expectations. We want you to be completely satisfied with everything that we do. However, if there is ever any reason that you feel that we have fallen short of your expectations please contact me directly."

Then hand them your business card which has on it the office number, your cell number, and your business e-mail address. Welcome interaction with your less-than-satisfied patients as an opportunity to solve their problem to THEIR satisfaction. If necessary at your weekly office meeting (you DO have weekly office meetings!) discuss the incident and, if necessary, change office procedures to improve your services and prevent a dissatisfied patient from leaving your office and posting an adverse review for all to see.

I'd guess that most issues revolve around the Optical and Billing Areas of the practice. In Optical I would suggest that each frame stylist give each patient a business card along with the wording above. A critically important function is a call from the stylist to see how the patient is doing about a week after they receive their glasses. In fact, call-backs are required of all of our Optical Staff. Failing to do so if setting the practice up for a problem that you don't know exists.

Patient satisfaction is serious business.