Customer Service Beyond the Traditional Marketplace

We all expect good customer service in the marketplace. But what about applying customer service principles in organizations that aren't traditionally dependent on customer loyalty or satisfaction? Government agencies, civic offices, or libraries aren't normally competing for your money or attention. They aren't going to lose you to the competition. Health care is another area that has traditionally had a "take it or leave it" attitude towards customer service principles. There are signs, however, that this is beginning to change.

My wife and I had an appointment at the University of Iowa Hospitals last week. My wife experienced acute pain walking into her appointment. It may, or may not, have been related to the reason for her visit. Nevertheless, we were concerned. During one of her tests, the technician did something that exacerbated her discomfort. Meeting with the doctor after her test, we mentioned that she'd experienced this pain and we were concerned. The doctor did not appear concerned in the least, said that it could be almost anything, and ignored it altogether.

My wife was so distraught by the doctor's lack of concern that she had to leave the room. We left the appointment angry and frustrated. "If we were shopping for a hospital," my wife said later, "I would have walked out and never returned."

That night I went to the University of Iowa Hospital's Web site where I read that, listed among the patient's rights we should expect to "receive a timely response from your doctor or nurse whenever you report pain or discomfort."

What would I do if this had been a hotel or a department store where I received poor service? I would write and make my displeasure known! So, I scoured the hospital's Web site further to find that they had a patient representative. I wrote an e-mail detailing our experience that day, our resulting frustration and what we had expected. I sent the email late that same night.

The following morning my wife promptly received a call from the patient representative who had received our e-mail. She apologized for our experience the previous day, affirmed that my wife had every reason to be upset, and explained exactly what she was going to do to address the situation. She even asked my wife how she was feeling and asked about her pain. That afternoon the doctor with whom we'd had our appointment the previous day called to personally apologize and discuss the situation. We discussed my wife's pain and agreed on a follow up plan to try and identify and address the source of her discomfort.

Customer service should be the concern of more than just businesses hawking goods in the traditional marketplace. Any organization who serves other human beings should endeavor to apply basic customer service principles in everything they do.

Comments

[Kdoering]

I loved your post and every word is so very true.
I own a mystery shopping firm in Chicago and I can tell you first hand that we are getting more and more clients in the industries you mentioned because of the exact thing your wife experienced. Yes, even in healthcare mystery shopping is growing. In fact the American Medical Association is considering approval of this form of market research.

In the past year, healthcare and B2B clients made up the most "new" client requests we have seen. When you make people accountable for their behavior, things change for the better. What gets measured, gets done!

Thanks!

[Tom Vander Well]

Great comment. Thanks! Yes, we're seeing some of the same things in our client base, as well. While our group focuses on the traditional post-transaction surveys, the interest is growing among health care providers and government or civic agencies. It's a positive trend! Let's hope the economy doesn't squash it!