Mar 19, 2007

Customer Service is Marketing

I always say that marketing is "Everything you do to GET and KEEP patients." Jay Conrad Levinson said it best in his classic book: Guerrilla Marketing; I just said it more succinctly. So, following that idea, it just makes sense that customer service must be considered as part of your marketing effort. If you spend lots of great money on ads so that people will call and ask for your service, you must then follow through to be certain that the experience people have with your service is EXCEPTIONAL. EVERY TIME. (Sorry, I get carried away with the caps sometimes, but I want you to visualize how important this concept is.) If you have a great ad and you don't follow through when people call or when they come into your office for a first appointment, you not only have wasted your advertising dollars, you have cost your practice much more, because people tell others about their experiences.

Case in point: Our cat was having problems and we were going out of town last weekend. We needed him looked at by a veterinarian right away. My husband called the vet that someone had recommended. After "hello," he heard, "Please hold." And he waited. And waited. And waited. Finally, he pressed the "end" button and said, "I don't care how good Diane said they were; we won't be going there." We called another vet, got a friendly, helpful person on the phone, and we were able to bring the cat in immediately and be on our way.

See what I mean? Most professionals live on recommendations. That's the way it works. But if your front office people don't get it, you have a problem.

Marketers understand the psychology of the buying process. After someone makes a decision to "buy," they begin what's called "post-purchase behavior." That is, they begin to evaluate whether they made the right decision. So when they call the office to make that first appointment, and when they come in for that first visit, they are evaluating. This is especially true for chiropractic services, if they are unfamiliar with chiropractic.

Maximize your marketing dollars by creating a fantastic customer service system in your office:
1. Make sure each one of your staff members understands the importance of EXCEPTIONAL customer service.
2. Put in place specific protocols for phone service and first visit (and every other visit, for that matter), to be sure prospects and new patients are treated with courtesy.

Eternal vigilance.

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