This month, we’ve explored Shareef Mahdavi’s book Beyond Bedside Manner. Insights on Perfecting the Patient Experience and his six pillars or drivers of patient experiences that create loyalty. To reiterate them once more, they are: Profession, Patients, People, Place, and—as we’ll describe in this week’s installment—Promotion and Price.
Promotion
I know of an office that does not believe in any paid advertising. I also know practices that spend a tremendous amount of resources on marketing. What if we shifted our resources from external marketing to creating a customer experience so rich that it becomes the foundation of engaging our patients to be our marketing? The greater the experience we create, the less we depend on paid advertising.
If you do advertise, know your audience. What's in it for them? Advertising should never be about the doctor's skills but rather about your solution to a patient's problems. Delegate advertising to someone who has the skill set for it. Visit your website. Call your office. It's harder to do now with caller ID, but I routinely called my office in the past and learned so much: our on-hold message wasn't working or someone was rude.
I challenge you to go through every touchpoint your office would have with patients and look at each step with critical eyes. What can be improved? What can be eliminated?
Price
The sixth driver, Price, is last on purpose because it should be the last thing that matters. It will be less relevant if you've done well with other aspects of the experience. Still, I think all of us—myself included—should pay particular attention to this pillar.
For some reason, we all took the class on devaluing our services in school. Recently, a patient asked me why our glasses were more expensive than other opticals. I've known her for quite a while and politely asked, "Are they?" I explained that, as with everything, you get what you pay for, and we try to keep quality products that are priced fairly in our optical because they won't let me get away with giving them anything that's not quality.
You need to find what's right for you in your setting. We open the office after hours to fix glasses in emergencies or help them with other issues. We regularly sponsor the high school baseball team, community wellness program, or the main street beautification project. We support our community, and we take care of our people.
People will pay for what they value, so provide an experience so valuable that price becomes the least important part of the patient’s journey.
Consumers now expect high-quality experiences everywhere, and word-of-mouth and online reviews can make or break a practice. We must grow and change how we provide care to foster loyalty. Patients with excellent experiences refer, advocate, and become your most powerful marketing engine.
We can provide a mediocre experience, or we can provide an exceptional one. I challenge you to look critically at your practice and make it a center for excellence. It's just good business.
This editorial content was supported via unrestricted sponsorship.