Every Play, Every Way, Every Day
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When team sports are played, the desired outcome depends upon the players knowing the play that’s coming, knowing how to execute that play, and knowing their part in the play being called. When the play is called and the team members start to execute it, another factor enters in: every member of the team must actually do what they’re expected to do and to the best of their ability.
Imagine a football team being in the huddle where the quarterback calls the play. Every player in the huddle hears the play but thinks about another way to execute that play. Instead of the receiver running downfield for ten yards and cutting to the left, he decides that he’ll just go downfield for fifteen yards and cut right. The linemen hear the pass play called but decide to block for a running play. The backfield players decide to run in circles so the defense will be distracted. The outcome would be disaster! The opposing team would be more likely to score!
The same can happen in an optical practice. Our goal may be excellent, even legendary customer service, but our outcome may be disaster unless every player does their job to the best of their ability every time. As a way to help this become a reality in your practice, this article is designed to provide you with: a) A memorable phrase - “Every play, Every way, Every day” and b) A brief discussion of the essential nature of each element.
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Every Play(er): Okay, I changed the phrase a little. It takes every player on your team to provide excellent customer service. If every player except one gives excellence, you can almost bet that the very customer you don’t want to be mishandled will be mishandled by that one team member who doesn’t give excellent service. It’s a form of Murphy’s Law (If something can go wrong, it will go wrong, and at the worst possible time.)
The one patient you mishandle will be the one who Tweets, Yelps and Facebooks every contact they have about your poor customer service. Electronic communication about poor customer service is faster by far than word-of-mouth.
My daughter, our practice business manager, can post something on her Facebook page and her brother in Germany, her sister in Illinois, as well as her “friends” all over the country will be able to know about it in seconds! Okay, so all her friends in California or Illinois may never be turned off to our practice in Texas but do we really want that out there? No! When a bad experience at your practice gets posted, it’s out there for potentially everyone to see - possibly forever! Every player on your team must keep this in mind.
Every player must also have an attitude of excellent customer service. Your daily attitude is your choice. You can choose to have a bad attitude because you have problems or because you don’t feel well. You can also choose to have a great attitude, one that decides to overcome the difficulties being faced. It’s your choice but your practice needs for you to choose to have a great attitude that will deliver excellent customer service. Sports players who have a poor attitude – anything other than a winning attitude – pull their team down. Attitudes are contagious so make yours a positive one.
The second part of this first phrase is Every Play. Just like the team on the field, every play must be done with excellence. If one player decides to let down and goof off on one play, that could possibly be the play that dooms the team to losing on that day. Every team member must be committed to excellent customer service and they must be executing it with every patient. One letdown can become a lost patient and every lost patient represents at least $300 per year in lost revenue. How many of those can your practice stand? If you multiply that one, unhappy, lost patient by the number of people they tell about their bad experience, you have a very unhealthy return for that one letdown. Excellence on every play comes from excellent practice.
Do you realize how many hours are expended by players on a team practicing each play? They train in the ‘off season,’ in the pre-season and during the regular season. They get coached by those who know the player’s position. They have team drills, position drills and situation drills. They do weight training, quickness training and reaction training. They practice inter-squad drills. They scrimmage. They’re training all season long, practicing every play in the book just to be able to be good enough to win the game.
Does your practice have coaches for your position? Does your practice take training that seriously? Having excellent customer service does not come by accident. To the contrary, it comes by dedication, practice, training and great execution on every play by every player.
Every Way: Good teams find a way to win. This is true for team sports and optical practice teams. They do everything they have to do so that the outcome is favorable. That’s an optical practice team finding a way to win on every play.
Is one player not in the best health that day? Others help out. Is there a missing player? Others fill in the gap. Is something not going well? Someone steps in to make the play that’s needed.
Most sports teams will have what’s called ‘skill’ position players. It’s not that every position doesn’t require skill to play it. They all need that. However, some positions need people with a special set of skills to handle the job at that position. The same is true in an optical practice.
It takes a special set of skills to run an edger, diagnose why the patient “can’t see” with their glasses, or make sure the database is correct and up to date. In like manner, in your practice there will be people who have that special skill of being able to handle patients who bring all their troubles with them. Yes, I’ve heard that there are no difficult patients, only patients with difficulties. I also think the one who originated that phrase has never met the patients who seem to be able to find something wrong with the time of day! But then, that’s another subject. When those patients come in, turn them over to your skill player who hasn’t met a person who rattles them or gets them upset. This skill player seems to be able to take a curmudgeon and turn them into a smiling, satisfied patient who says, “Thank you” as they leave. That’s a valuable skill player. Use them where they’re valuable to the practice. Find a way to deliver excellence on every play and you will have a winning team.
Every Day: Excellent customer service is created by every player, on every play in every way giving their best every day. Your practice may be open every day and not observe a day of rest but there truly is no day of rest when it comes to customer service. Recently, I had a great customer service experience.
I went to a local store regarding the battery for my wife’s Smartphone. The woman there recognized us and asked how we were doing (even though we hadn’t seen her for several months.) When we explained the problem we were having with the battery, she responded with an assurance that, since we had purchased the protection plan, it was a simple fix. As she finished recalling our information from the computer, she told us that she would print out the information, call the company first thing the next business day and have the new battery shipped directly to our home without shipping or handling charges. We thanked her and, while walking away, I commented, “Now, that’s the way it’s supposed to work!”
Admittedly, we didn’t ask her to do something that wasn’t covered, as some of our patients do. We also didn’t ask for something free to which we weren’t entitled which, again, some of our patients do. The point is that we had excellent customer service by a friendly agent of the company without hassle. Our battery problem disappeared in our minds, knowing that it was solved and was solved in an excellent way.
A couple of days later, I received a message from the agent saying that the battery was out of stock so, to keep us from waiting, they were sending a check for the cost of a new battery. We could either wait for the check or go online and order one from a web site she recommended at a savings of about 50% and then deposit the check when it comes. If we had any other questions, she gave us her number and when she could be reached. Great follow-up!
In our practices, we must ensure that we are giving every day what will become legendary customer service. There simply is no letup allowable. Yes, there are days when your car didn’t start and you had to get to work some other way. Yes, now you have a repair bill gnawing at you. Yes, there are cranky coworkers, cracked coffee carafes and a host of other things weighing on your mind. Mostly, your patients could care less. They want excellent customer service in spite of your throbbing headache. That’s just life in the customer service lane, isn’t it?
All our personal struggles won’t go away with that patient who came in with a frown and left with a smile and a “thank you,” but, at the end of the day or week, you will know that you did your best to give excellence on every play, in every way every day. That will produce a long term success and build legendary customary service where people will want to come where you work. Now, go long and I’ll throw you one to win the game.
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