Customers are going to Complain

Here’s a straight to the point article about how to handle a customer complaint.  This would be a great article to share with your staff at your next staff meeting.  You may think this should be common knowledge, but clearly outlining how you would like to handle certain situations can save yourself some headaches and hopefully help retain patients.  You could even role play past customer complaints to explore the best ways to respond in the future.

Make a customer mad and they’ll tell 10 people!  Make one happy and they just might refer a friend.

It cheaper and easier to retain the patients you already have than it is to get new ones.  I’m not saying we shouldn't try to get new patients, but our current patients should definitely be a priority.

This article gives a little five step program but I want to add one more to the beginning:

1. Don’t get defensive – It’s pretty natural for us to take pride in our practice, but being defensive does not help when it comes to dealing with a customer.  EVEN IF THEY ARE WRONG don’t get defensive.

2. Listen & Understand – “First, always listen to the customer. They are concerned about an aspect of your services. Let go of the temptation to respond in any quick fashion. Take the time to listen and truly understand what is driving their concern.”

3. Empathize – Put yourself in their shoes and bond with the customer.  Let them feel that you understand and that you want to help them

4. Offer a solution – Always focus on what you CAN do for them as opposed to what you can’t.  It might not be exactly what they are asking for, but staying away from “No” will always help.

5. Execute – You’ve done the hard part, but if you don’t do what you say the next storm will be twice as bad.

6. Follow up – Send them an apology card or call them and ask them if they are satisfied.  Extend an extra peace offering and they might just remember you for bending over backwards rather than the original complaint that they had.