When it comes to your customer loyalty or connecting with your patients, there are so many things involved that can cause a relationship to go down the tubes.
- The secretary answering the phone in a less professional manner.
- A
patient coming on the 'wrong' day. You know the day that you have
patients back to back to back, and then have an emergency come in, and
then your computers go down.
- A patient mishears you given advise to another patient.
- The list can go on and on and on.
The business strategies you have in place, often don't play much of a role in retaining customers. Or getting 'raving fans'. What helps make sales and bring back patients is the actions you and your staff take.
A good example of a dentist who is taking care of his patients, and actually responding to reviews and feedback from his patients, is Adrian Vande Merwe. Take a look at his responses to patient reviews on his Google Page.
If patients take the time to leave a review, then please take the time to reply to them.
There
are so many actions you and your staff can take to raise your customer
loyalty and connect with your customers on a personable basis. However,
for today’s purpose we will discuss the top five things you can do to
connect with your customers.
1. Watch For Warning Signs
Many
dentists and other healthcare professionals tend to overlook their
patients warning signs. This is a complete no-no! For example, if a
patient asks you for a copy of their dental records, it is possible they
are not happy with the service they are receiving and wanting to review
their records to go elsewhere or to look for a discrepancy. If your
patient stops communicating with you, missing appointments, etc. chances
are they are off in the distance finding a new dentist to replace you.
I
don't mean to scare you, because every doctor will have a few sour
patients, but if all of your patients tend to fall off after a couple
visits, chances are it is you and not them. By assessing the situation,
you can finally identify the issue and address them, so your patients
stop falling off the wagon.
2. Be Accountable
We
all get those pesky surveys at the end of a customer service call, am I
right? This is a great tool to gain insight into your patients'
attitudes. Conduct a survey here and there because many of times people
will answer them and give you their honest opinion. You may even receive
feedback about an issue you did not know you had.
However, a tip
to the wise, you should not have 5 pages worth of survey material. A lot
of people’s attention span are not that long and chances are from pages
two through four they will either “Christmas Tree” it or back out of
the survey because it is way too long.
3. Build relationships
Build
relationships; you are probably thinking you have so many patients and
don't have enough time in a day to get to know each and every one of
them. Well, that answer is wrong!
You need to stop worrying about
how many patients you have and build a personable relationship with the
each one. By having a personable relationship you can know what their
needs, wants, and what needs improvement in your business. Not to
mention, the better your relationships with your patients are, the
higher the chance they will tell their friends about you.
4. Be Responsive
Being
responsive is easy when things are going great. However, when things
start to get tough many companies shut up and do not say a word to their
patients. Well, that is what you will need to change. If you have a
huge problem effecting your office and patients, you need to address it.
Yes, there will be a lot of not so nice responses, but at least you did
your job. Your patients may not like the issue, but they will be
grateful that you informed them of the situation.
When informing
your employees and patients of the issue, you will also want to have a
solution to the issue. This will help relieve some tension and reflect
your company in a good light to your company.
5. Prove you’re worth it
You
have to prove to your patients you are worth every penny. You have to
show them that you are the one for them. What you can do for them, how
it will make their life easier, and why they should choose you over your
competition. This can vary from patient to patient, that is why you
need develop a personable relationship with each and every one of them.
These
are five easy tips to help you connect to your customers and develop a
great customer loyalty. It is vital that you implement these tips into
your business strategy for a long healthy business.
High rankings in the search engines mean nothing if you aren't building relationships that create a loyal following.