Why is Starbucks so successful in selling you a $4.00 cup of coffee when MacDonald’s charges $2.00?
Why does a stay at a Ritz Carlton hotel seem much different than at a stay at the Holiday Inn?
Most people today would answer that it’s all about ‘customer service’ when, in fact, they would be wrong! Both MacDonald’s and Holiday Inn offer incredible customer service. What Starbuck’s and Ritz Carlton understand is that it is about the customer EXPERIENCE!
Customer “experience” has become the new buzz word in business and I am not sure that most labs really understand it. ‘Service’ is what you offer your customers –internal or external—everyday as a trained lab management professional; it is personal and it comes from the heart. Customer ‘experience’ is about considering our customers’ experiences from the minute they make contact with our lab or our department until the minute they are done. This involves so many more people than just you.
Those organizations who purposefully examine every customertouch point—those opportunities we have to touch the customer from the phone, to a cross-departmental meeting, to billing and many more—are those who will excel at the customer experience. By driving the message of the experience throughout the lab, people realize that, no matter their title or contribution—part time or full time—they are part of the customer experience, they start to become more engaged. A 2018 study conducted by the Gallop organization, found that only 33% of Americans were engaged at what they do every day. By having everyone consider their specific customer touch points and how they can better that one experience, they automatically become more engaged at what they do and ultimately, the customer is the one who benefits.
The experience has to start with you getting as many people as you can, walking around asking, “What is the (fill in the name of your organization here) experience?” Then, figure out how to shatter the stereotype of the experience customers EXPECT to have with you, your department or with your organization. Ask yourself, “What small touch point could I focus on this week, that will ultimately shatter that stereotype?”
Imagine going to a new restaurant that has been touted as the best in town. You arrive at 7:50 for an 8pm reservation and are seated right on time. You go on to have the best service and possibly the best food you have ever eaten. At one point, the chef comes out to your table and explains how each of your dishes was prepared. The manager checks on you a few times. It is perfect. After dinner, you proceed to go outside, you proffer your parking ticket to the car valet and FIFTY FIVE MINUTES later your car arrives! Isn’t that part of the overall experience? Of course it is. But, let’s take this to the next step. It is now 3 months later and you have told hundreds of people to go to that new restaurant because the food is amazing and the service is outstanding. Then, you finish with one word. BUT! “…BUT your car will take forever to get to you after dinner.” I think my next book’s title should be, “What Comes After the But?”
What’s this got to do with lab management? Everything! The minute we get our people asking “What comes after the but” is the minute we start to become 100% customer-centric. “The receptionist is wonderful but I got lost in voice mail after that” or “I have always enjoyed working with Sally in the lab but today I had to work with somebody new”. We need to examine the touch points mentioned earlier and imagine what the customer might say. To start to make a shift from service to experience, begin by examining those touch points and see the world through THEIR eyes not yours.
Certified Speaking Professional Jeff Tobe speaks, consults and trains with healthcare organizations around the world in designing and implementing the ideal patient experience. His newest book, “The CX Edge: Critical Customer Experience Questions to Help you ATTRACT, KEEP and WOW Customers”, is a hot business book. Jeff was chosen as one of the top 15 speakers in North America by readers of Meetings & Conventions magazine. For more information, visit www.JeffTobe.com or call 412-759-5319.
