Executives Have No Idea What Customers Want, by Andrea J. Ayers, President of Customer Management for Convergys - a company that specializes in customer relationship management - appeared on Forbes.com on March 10. It's a bold assertion based on a sobering survey conducted by Convergys across 10 industries revealing that: "Nearly half of consumers (47%) say they don't believe company executives understand their experiences...More than one-third (41%) of the customers who take the time to complain don't think companies listen to or act on their feedback.... [of these] more than half will defect--leaving a company flatly--based on bad customer experiences, without ever telling the company why." Overall, she claims that: "17% of [all customer] interactions result in a customer leaving the company..." Is health care an exception. I doubt it. This is something health care leaders could do something about.
Hear No Bad, See No Bad, Do No Good
Ms. Ayers goes on to explain that good, or even great, customer satisfaction measurements among those who choose to respond to surveys does not ensure the majority of customers believe their needs have been met. Customers are far more likely to tell their friends about bad experiences (9/10 in the survey) than to report them to the company. So what we don't know can hurt us. And they are finding increasingly rapid ways of doing so - see below.
It's worth reading the 10 things the article suggests customers want to know as well as the steps companies can take to improve relationships and retain customer share. One example is creating multiple convenient channels for capturing (and responding to) customer feedback, suggestions, and beefs about their experiences - particularly for the growing millennial (social network linked) generation. This growing fraction of the population requires fast, accessible, preferably automated opportunities to provide feedback and "one episode" full resolution to complaints - lest they defect forever. Does your hospital or practice or health service use Twitter, for instance, to capture real-time feedback and respond instantly to today's experiences of care or service as seen by patients, doctors, nurses, and other customers? Probably not. Do your millennial customers broadcast their dissatisfaction using social networks? Don't bet against that. Are doctors and nurses also sharing their experiences and expressing frustration or disappointment using social networking? Could real-time field intelligence from employees help achieve operational improvements and efficiencies more rapidly?
Outside-In Feedback
Health care organizations survey frequently, generally using standardized instruments with benchmarking capability, and focusing on satisfaction with specific elements of care or experience presumed to be important to patients. Ayers terms this an "inside-out" approach which begins with the organization views as important to the customer. While this is important, and can be revealing, she advocates for an "outside-in" approach that increases opportunities for customers and employees to define what is important to them, what is needed, and how well expectations have been met. And, by implication, how to retain their loyalty.
A creative, multi-channel system for obtaining and responding to customers could turn out to be a great competitive advantage - not to mention an opportunity for health care leaders to quickly learn about how to solve problems and achieve operational efficiencies in hospitals and practices.
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