Create a plan for when mistakes happen

Mistakes happen. Human error is inevitable; patients change their minds, and back orders, delays and lost orders are just a fact of doing business. How we respond to these issues and an upset patient, however, equals the difference between a satisfied patient or a lost patient.

Teach employees how to handle situations that arise as part of a smart business strategy and a crucial step in patient retention. I always recommend that practices develop a recovery plan, which should contain these seven elements.

1 DON’T TAKE IT PERSONALLY

The first thing you need to train your team on is not to take it personally when a patient is upset or frustrated. Our normal reaction is to get defensive, but that is not going to solve anything. Teach employees to take a deep breath, and respond calmly.

2 LET THE PATIENT VENT

Patients who are upset need to be heard and listened to. Employees should patiently wait while the patient tells his story. Sometimes, even the act of doing this and being heard helps to diffuse the situation.

3 APOLOGIZE

Follow this up with an “I’m sorry,” which will often calm the patient. (So many situations could be fixed with a quick apology.)

4 OWN THE PROBLEM

Even if it is not “their patient,” the employee needs to take control of this issue from now until it is resolved. You can make a customer even more loyal by fixing a problem completely.

5 FOLLOW A SOLUTION AND A SCRIPT

Example: Expired warranty.

Solution: “Mrs. Smith, it appears your warranty is expired. However, I checked and the part is available. We can offer you a 25% discount to replace that part.”

What’s more, empower your staff to come up with solutions for the most common patient complaints.

6 COMPENSATE WHEN REQUIRED

Most of the reasons a patient is upset is due to valid concerns that are our fault: delays, errors, breakages, mistakes, etc. So, if we are at fault and have inconvenienced a patient, we should consider some type of compensation. It does not have to be a full refund, often a $50 gift card or rebate will suffice.

7 FOLLOW UP

Once a patient has been upset, and someone in the practice is working at fixing it, there should be a plan in place to follow up and ensure the patient is satisfied with the outcome. Taking this one last time to apologize for the issues and inconvenience makes a positive impact on the patient.

LAST NOTE

It might take a little bit of time to put together the solutions and scripts and to train employees in a staff meeting, but this will come back tenfold to you in happier patients and less patients asking to see the “owner.” OM

MS. CHAREST is the co-founder of 4ECPs, a practice management resource company for eye care professionals. 4ECPs has six divisions, including eye care jobs, marketing, social media, payments, events and training. Visit www.4ecps.com , or email trudi@4ecps.com.