I have found over the years that customer service usually falls into one of the following four categories:

1. Poor, rude or simply no-interest to help.
2. Robotic, rote, reading from a manual “help.”
3. Over-the-top and insincere “help.”
4. Sincere, caring, and expert help – invaluable!

Let’s look at examples of each:

#1 - You have those that tell the customer, “Sorry, there’s nothing I can do…” or transfer you to another who would only tell you the same. This is a sign of “no interest.” The person represents the company, but really doesn’t care whether they treat you well or not. These personnel show up for work to collect a paycheck each week and lose your business at the same time.

This person will usually respond to a customer’s question, “I don’t know, sir.” Well, okay, who does know? Have they offered to transfer you to someone who does? Not usually; they simply want to end the phone conversation as quickly as possibly. They usually move on to the next customer in the same manner leaving each with a very poor image of the company and have not truly helped you.

#2 - is the robotic type. The customer service representative has been given a patter and told not to deviate from it. When you call with a question, they do answer you, but reading from a page. I have found this too often when calls are transferred to foreign countries for help. What’s wrong with this approach? You are treated like a number, another caller to whom they must give the same response each time.

Then ask a question for which there is no answer in the manual, BOY IS THIS IS A FRUSTRATING PROBLEM! You next ask for a supervisor or manager and are instantly told there’s not one available. AAAAAAAAAAH! Is it wrong to have a patter and know it well? No, of course not. But if your employee has not practiced it to the point of truly knowing how to fully handle the queries of each customer, then he shouldn’t being using it. You will again lose your customers.

#3 - is the over-the-top, syrupy-sweet person which can produce a gag reflex. This brings to mind one particular vendor my company used in the past. Our employee went to their offices on several occasions, and though they knew her by name, they treated her with only a pretense of care – completely insincere, overly kind and impersonal. Do they know the name of our company? Do they know what we do? I bet they really had no idea. They were so hungry for business they “sucked-up” to my employee each time, but in a way that she found false and irritating. Each time an order was placed their standard service action was to call back an additional three to four times to make sure the service was okay. That is over-the-top and ultimately a waste of my employees’ time.

#4 - This is worth knowing cold and practicing until all employees can fully understand it! You work hard to know your long-term clients by name, you know things about them and their lives, you ask how their family is; if you don’t know the answer to their question or are caught off-guard, you promptly assure them that you WILL help them resolve their specific situation and then do everything you can to do this in a timely manner. If you must call them again, you give them additional information and an ETA for full resolution – “I will get that answered for you and call you back by tomorrow at the latest.” AND YOU DO SO. This shows your customer you genuinely care and are committed to servicing them. If you have a front desk person/receptionist, they must have sufficient knowledge of the company, who to properly send such a call to, remain bubbly and alive, warmly welcoming each customer, whether on the phone or through the doors.

The truth is… your business would not exist long without your customers, so each one of them should be considered gold and should be treated honestly, promptly and with great respect.

Any company can spend thousands or even millions on promotion, and work a very long time to attain the best reputation and the best prices, etc., but if your customer service is not what it should be, you will most definitely lose your customers! If you do not service them well as in #4 above, they will seek to find someone who will. It’s a fact.

When you lose a customer, it is usually multiplied by five minimum, as bad word of mouth will surely lose you several more! The next time you yourself call a customer service representative ask yourself, “How well was I treated? Did they fully resolve my issue or question? Was I treated as a valued customer honestly and respectfully? Would you recommend them to a family member or associate?” Now you’re taking the perspective of your own customers, and honestly, if you can keep this in mind and ensure your employees do the same you will have a vast, happy client base.

Having held leadership positions most of my life, as well as training other business owners on management and leadership, I have found some of the key elements in this responsibility:

1.) Goals – These need to be completely clarified and communicated and large enough to attract attention, as well as move the group forward into the future. If these are mediocre, you will then have mediocre achievements. I have also found that you need to push your teammates a bit beyond what they think they can do, not so much that they cave in, but having enough faith and trust and value in them that you know they can do it! When they do, they feel great!

2.) Rules – You have to have established rules of the game; rules that WORK, not rules that simply stop action. They must be easily followed; they have to be made known and the penalties for violating them need to be made very clear AND carried out, as this sets the example that the rules have power. I have found sometimes that it is the rules themselves that are at fault and if you are the originator, another aspect of true leadership is the ability to be humble and correct your ways, especially when pointed out by one of your subordinates.

3.) Direction – You must be able to get people to do their jobs and validate them when they do.

4.) Protection – Protect those that are highly productive from the whims and hardships that do come about. At the same time, do not allow the group to become “infected” with someone that is not productive, who is harming others with their actions. However, in this category I have seen staff handled incorrectly, who were not productive and who were a bit destructive. What was actually missing was that they did not really know their jobs! They were not trained or not trained enough to hold their job and do well. They had a hard time working with others. Always try training first! People have value. Find that value and help them exploit it!

5.) Games – Creating actions that can be accomplished and having a reward at the end is a great thing for any group.

6.) Initiative – Demand this from yourself and those around you.

7.) Efficiency – Test your staff on their ability evaluate the importances of their duties. You will be surprised at how much time and money gets wasted on trivial tasks.

8.) Seriousness – Boy, get rid of this! The best staff members I have seen are so flippant, so care-free, yet responsible, that their non-serious attitude alone carries the group through hard times.

9.) Listen – This has to be one of the most important skills. In addition, it is also important to have the ability to stop the recurrence of wasted time and properly end a non-important communication in such a way that it does not invalidate another for what they’re trying to say.

10.) Plan – The steps for achievement must be fully studied and laid out in sequence so that they can be done, leading to goal attainment.

11.) Fun – Well, if it is not fun, what’s the point?!

In my experience, the best way to get more referrals from your patients is to ASK for them. That might seem over simplified, but you would be amazed at how many of my clients just didn’t ask for referrals before I suggested it to them. They were waiting for the patient to volunteer a referral. Given this basic idea, you can then get into the broader subject of HOW do you ask for referrals?

The first rule would be ask for the referral when the patient is doing better, and knows it. You have probably noticed that sometimes you have to show a patient they are doing better before they realize it. This is often true when the patient is still in pain. So make sure the patient knows he’s doing better before asking for a referral.

Then let the patient know you are happy he is doing better and relate it to your purpose as a professional, “That’s why I became a _______, I really love to help people improve their physical condition,” or something like that.

The next rule would be to ask for a name, not just “do you know anyone…” Ask something like “WHO do you know that has a physical condition I might be able to help with?” The question is designed to get the patient to LOOK for an answer. Otherwise, they can simply say NO without even bothering to look.

There is a lot more that could be said on this subject, but if you apply these simple points you will get more referrals from your patients and be able to help a lot more people. And after all, that’s what it’s all about, right?

Christina Panetta, PT

Panetta Physical Therapy in Long Island, NY

Practice Size Prior to Working With Survival Strategies: A space in the health club, another partner and a couple other staff. After TEN YEARS of this, I was up to about 150 treatments a week…and thought I was pretty hot. My referrals came from only five doctors, and 70% came from one doctor alone.

Practice Profile:  Panetta Physical Therapy includes a 30,000 square foot athletic club offering Physical Therapy, Massage Therapy, “Body Balance for Performance” (therapy to improve your golf game), “Virtual Snow” (state-of- the-art snow simulator), Personal Training specializing in weight loss, nutrition, improved strength, health, endurance, wellness, sports training and lots of TLC.

Practice Philosophy: At Panetta Physical Therapy, we use the latest hands-on techniques to treat our patients most effectively We can help treat neck and back pain, orthopedic and sports injuries, shoulder, arm, wrist and/or hand problems, knee, ankle and foot problems, arthritis, auto accidents, work related injuries, joint replacement, and more. We work in coordination with your own Doctor within his protocols.

Years working with Survival Strategies: Since 1997

Practice Goals Attained Since Working With Survival Strategies:

• We deliver 800 treatments a week out of 3 centers on Long Island.
• We average 250 referral sources per year, not 5, as in the first ten years.
• My partner and I regularly take weeks off out of the practice and the production rolls on.
• My staff and managers are able to take time off and cover for each other because they are all trained, not only as clinicians, but in the management and marketing skills related to their posts.
• We have an in-house study course room.
• I not only have my own cool stationery (joke), but we produce marketing materials that are the envy of the entire region. I have had doctors ask me to do their newsletters, they were so impressed.
• We pick and choose our insurance companies, evaluate them and fire them when they don’t meet our standards.
• While practices throughout the state of New York have been bankrupting and closing due to insurance cut-backs, we are on top of our finances. We have cash-based programs and enough depth that we, no doubt, will grow and continue to be viable.
• I am in “Phase II” as an owner, and have power of choice over my time completely. I have been able to get involved in some social betterment programs in my community, build our nutrition and wellness programs and help other medical professionals implement nutrition and wellness programs in their practices as well. I treat when I want to. The other day, I was laughing at how much fun it was to treat for a while just for the pure joy of it!

Unhappy customers are bad news for any company. It only takes one bad review online to cause considerable damage to your company’s reputation and can take months to repair.

There can be several reasons for a customer complaint; some may have unrealistic expectations and others may just have poor dispositions. However, we must be honest; the majority probably has a legitimate grievance.

Whatever the cause, upset customers are still your customers who (if handled properly) will continue to give you business.

You’ve heard the expression: “The customer is always right.” I have a slightly different spin on that. The customer may not always be right, but you never make the customer wrong. In other words, you never tell him that he is wrong or that you don’t believe what he is saying. That would only serve to further upset him.

Here are some basic steps to follow in resolving a customer complaint satisfactorily for both parties.

1. Don’t put off or avoid the matter. Get in contact with the customer as soon as you are informed about it.

2. Get the whole story. Ask them what happened and listen without interrupting. When they are done, give them a good acknowledgment so they know they have been heard. Sometimes that is even enough to diffuse the entire situation.

3. Sincerely apologize to the customer for the way the situation has made them feel. Do not give excuses for the problem or try to justify it.

4. Determine what the customer is seeking and work out the best solution. Often they’ll surprise you by asking for less than you thought you’d have to give—especially when they know your apology and intention is genuine. The cost to you in resolving the matter is likely to be far less than the potential loss of business by not handling it. Make sure you have the customer’s agreement on the final resolution.

5. Act on the solution with speed. Getting it fully resolved quickly to the customer’s satisfaction is your best chance of turning the situation to your advantage. They may be so impressed with your quick and considerate handling that they have to tell others about it.

6. Follow-up to ensure the customer is completely satisfied, especially if you had to enlist the help of others for the handling. Any headway you made will be for naught if the customer feels that you forgot about him as soon as you hung up the phone or he walked out of your office.

Mistakes can happen. It’s how you promptly acknowledge and handle them that really make a good impression on people. Customers will remember you, and happily give you another chance to service them when you choose to correct problems to their complete satisfaction.

Occasionally, clients struggle with one or more members of their team who simply will not cooperate and, while not expressing it verbally, in their actions you can read the “I-just-want-my-pay-check” attitude.

While it may appear to the naked eye that the fault lies in this person’s attitude, a responsible owner or executive would first assess their own responsibility on the matter by really establishing; does this person know company basics such as the purpose of the company, exactly what product or service we sell and deliver, what are some of the short-term and long-term goals of the company, how the company tracks performance, etc.?

The next thing I would find out is the person was trained for the position they are doing specifically and do they know what product or service they are supposed to produce? Has someone spent some time ensuring the person started to do the actions in the training successfully and was there someone nearby to answer the questions they may have had once put onto the activities of the position? Much too often, because we were lucky enough in the past to hire a very resourceful person that needed no supervision, we thought everyone was going to be like that.

One very important point beyond that would be to find out if they have a way to measure their own performance on the position, such as one or more statistics that really measure the quantity of the product or service they are to perform.

Only if you have checked the above beyond any reasonable doubt would I now turn the focus on the person’s ability or inability to do the position. Because it is only the knowledge of the role one has in a group that can create alignment in the actions performed. What is the non-team member other than someone who is not aligned with what the group is trying to accomplish?

I hope the above helps to do some soul searching of your own job as an owner or executive.

I was talking to a client recently and he asked me an interesting question: “What is the most cost effective way to increase new patient volume?” I gave him an immediate answer, then thought you might benefit from the answer as well. So here you are.

You have patients who are doing better because of your care. They know other people who might benefit from your care. So, ask them for a referral! Don’t just wait for them to originate on their own.

You know, most people like to help other people. If you ask a patient for a referral, all you are really doing is giving him an opportunity to help a friend, and you as well. What’s wrong with that? Nothing that I can see. In fact, there is a lot that’s right about it. If you don’t give your patient the opportunity to help you in return for the help you have given him, he may leave your practice with the feeling he owes you something. If someone really helps you, don’t you feel an urge to do something for him in return? I certainly do, and every client I have ever talked to has told me the same thing.

So now the question is, “How do you ask him for the referral?” Well, first of all let your patient know you are very happy he is doing better. Then tell him your goal is to help as many people as possible, and ask “Whom do you know that has a physical problem I might be able to help with?”

It’s really that simple. Give it a try. You have a lot to gain and nothing to lose.

Clients often ask, “What makes our Referral Increase Program the best referral program?”

While it is difficult to be objective about the subject, as I often see clients have more gain than even I expected, I will attempt to summarize the answer to that and why.

There are referral programs that concentrate on increasing the pieces they mail to their physician database many times over. While this can get you increased referrals, it is not a one-time fix and there is such thing as saturation.

How do you then achieve sustained increase on referrals? The answer to this is in developing a relationship with the physician, because in order for them to make a decision, they need to know about you. If the only thing they know about you is that you send them mail, how can they be expected to suddenly decide that you are the right person to service the needs of their patients?

One could argue that personal letters and phone calls can replace meeting in person for the purpose of developing a relationship. I have not seen that happen often, but it is, rather, the exception to the rule.

So, what is the best physician referral program? One that gives you fundamental principles, a path of proven successful actions, drills you on these and gets your nose to the grindstone on developing referral relationships with the physicians in your area. I know that is not the most popular in an e-society, but it is the one that works the best.

Making the workplace more fun does not consist of adding lounges for the staff, putting video games in the break room or making the atmosphere more lax. Your staff might tell you that’s what they want, but in reality that is not going to get you or them very far.

Let’s face it. You’ve hired employees because you want them to get work done that can be provided to your customers in exchange for money, and you have certain business/personal goals you want to meet. Your employees are there because they want to make a living and reach their own goals. Now doesn’t it follow that if you and your employees were reaching those goals that you would be having a lot more fun? Don’t you think they would be excited to come to work every day if they knew that it meant getting one step closer to their goals? How do you make that happen? It’s easier than you think!

In a nutshell, high production must be rewarded – the higher the production, the more reward/income your employees should be able to earn. This of course benefits the company as well. Every employee’s final product must be measurable. I’ll give you an example. The Marketing Director’s responsibility might be getting new patients, so their weekly product quota would be in terms of “# of new patients.” You would then work out a minimum “bottom line” number they must achieve each week as well as a higher figure that, when attained, gets rewarded with a bonus. And the higher their numbers, the bigger the bonus.

This works much better than annual raises based solely on longevity in which long term employees can just coast along, knowing they’re going to get their raise no matter what.

Another aspect of this might be profit sharing. You could work out a system that allows for disbursing a percentage of the profits to your employees when certain levels of income are achieved. In order for an employee to receive a share, they must personally be meeting or exceeding their individual “bottom-line” production levels.

In implementing these, you may at first run into some resistance from staff, but you will very quickly be able to weed out those who don’t actually produce enough and therefore don’t want to be put on the spot. The high producers will fully embrace it and thank you for implementing a system which appropriately rewards them.

I am often asked the question, “What bonus system should I use for my physical therapists?” My answer, seemingly vague at first, is that it should be based on their level of production being above average.

The result of any bonus system should be increased production in quantity and quality. If the bonus plan does not do that, it should be canceled and replaced by one that does.

Many clients have done well basing their bonus plans on number of visits in a period of time, as compared to the expected production. For example, if the expected production in a week is 60 visits, anything above 60 is rewarded with a bonus. This presents the problem of sacrificing quality if the person is money-motivated and will rush the actions to get the bonus. To avoid that, you can stop paying bonuses above the quantity that would sacrifice quality if you went above.

Now, if you really want to reward quality and quantity, I would give a bonus for successfully completed treatment plans, which could be defined as a treatment plan that results in the complete satisfaction of the patient per survey. Upon inspection it will be shown that the patient has received the amount and frequency of treatment prescribed at the evaluation and within the expected period of time. I would even add that all internal and external paperwork has been completed and turned in as well. Would this really measure that the therapist is doing a good job, in terms of quantity and quality? Absolutely!

While one bonus system can be very well written, another one can be very complex math-wise, another one can be too simplistic, etc. The only measure of whether it is working is if it is raising production and people are making it to bonus level. The more you depart from this concept, the more you are not benefiting as an owner from your staff’s work.