Improving Customer Service in Your Practice, Isn’t Just a Good Idea, It’s a Financial Imperative (Part 1 of 2)

Posted March 14, 2025 in Uncategorized | 12 minute read

Today we are talking about the state of customer service in medical practices and what the effect has on patients, and equally important, what is the overall effect on physician profitability.

I’m sure all of us can remember an event where we were really impressed with service, whether it was in a fine restaurant, boutique hotel, or department store. Often, these experiences were more about how we “felt” because of the encounter rather than what took place that provided the positive outcome.

Bear with me while I provide some historical perspective, I promise I will get to customer service in medical practices.

It wasn’t very many years ago you could point to Nordstrom’s Department store chain as the epitome of high-quality service. So much so, a book written in 1995, “The Nordstrom Way”, hit the best seller list describing their high level of service and quality and how it could be applied to any business model. I had several plastic surgeon clients refer to the book and how they were adapting it to their offices. I was so impressed I met with Nordstrom’s management team at the time for an interview in 2000 to see how I could adapt their way of thinking to aesthetic practices.

Nordstrom’s exhaustive training program was developed to ensure that every employee understood how Nordstrom did things. The customer was always first, and as a Nordstrom customer, you felt that way. Their employees were taught to go the extra mile, and if you couldn’t find something, they would walk you around the store to assist you until you found what you were looking for. If you needed to return something, no questions were asked, and you were not treated poorly because of the return.

Unfortunately, this is a thing of the past. Once the family dynasty of management passed the baton to their third generation, they were much further away from the “Old School” than their predecessor parents and grandparents. The new management had no basis for what it was like in the “old days.” Like so many legacy companies’ new boards of directors, younger stockholders, and new management teams considered older methods to be out of date.

For example, why would you want to talk to someone on the phone when you could just text them? Having a real human answer the phone was no longer cost effective.

AI has been the hottest topic in every industry, from car manufacturing to airline reservations to computer software to writing term papers and, of course, retail operations. As robots get better at simulating human behavior, we will soon be able to avoid other humans most of the time.

I’m kidding sort of, but you do have to wonder to what extent can you avoid dealing with your customers and still be successful.

In most cases, when we have a great service experience, we cannot always define the exact issue that impressed us, but we can describe our feelings about the event while we were in the situation. To take it further, we can describe how we feel when someone goes out of their way to help us or to make a subpar situation better. It’s often a surprise, but it’s always welcomed.

On a personal note: As a “Million Miler” on Alaska Airlines, I routinely get this kind of extra treatment on the phone, but it doesn’t always trickle down to the plane ride. There, it can be hit and miss, but on most flights, I get a free chocolate bar and a “thank you” for flying with us for all those miles. I don’t mean to sound ungrateful, but can you imagine what it took to get there and how many hours my bottom was in an airplane seat? Wouldn’t it be nice to get this type of great service just because you are a flying customer? I point this situation out because, as owners, we can think what we are doing for our good customers is adequate, but in most cases, whatever we do is compared to what others in the same industry are doing.  I could go on and tell you what Delta and Singapore Airlines do, but I think you get my point, Alaska could do better to reward that level of client income, and you probably can too.

It’s a good idea to know what level of service your competitors are providing, and this will require some research on your part. You will also need to ask your patients what they think about your service in a non-threatening way via surveying.

I have been teaching customer service to medical professionals for 30 years, and it can seem like a revolving door for many physicians. I have often heard doctors say, “I’m sick of investing in training only to have them leave and then go through it all over again.” As a business owner, I’m inclined to say, “Come on, people, this is called life.”

If you are the practice owner, you care more than anyone else in your office about patient outcomes, perceptions of your care, and Google reviews. That’s a given.

Training is something you are going to do for the life of your practice. In addition to training your staff, another investment you will want to make is in leadership training for yourself and how to be the best possible boss you can be. There is a direct correlation between good management and employee longevity.

Research consistently shows a strong correlation between good managers and higher employee retention rates, with studies indicating that employees with positive relationships with their managers are significantly less likely to leave their jobs; for example, Gallup research found that employees who feel highly recognized by their managers are up to 45% less likely to turnover. There are hundreds of references here are three:  www.trinet.com (2022) Gallup Poll (2024), and www.worktango.com(2025)

Just because physicians appear to have the highest IQs in most rooms doesn’t always translate to emotional intelligence or the ability to lead successful teams.

So, let’s examine what patients are telling us and how we can improve the atmosphere in your office, increase staff retention, and develop a positive patient experience, which will lead to higher patient satisfaction and greater profitability.

To get you started down the right path, do a little research and read the reviews for the providers in your area who are in your same specialty. You’ll quickly see those who appear to write their own reviews and claim to have 100% 5 Stars. You’ll also see those who look real, and you’ll notice some poor reviews mixed in with the 5s. Keep in mind that anything under 4.5 is considered poor.

Reviews are not the only metrics that people use; they ask their friends and family, too. The best referrals are from people we trust, but gaining this level of trust doesn’t happen with average service.

My personal observations even when the staff knew they were being observed, is patients are often viewed as interruptions rather than as the focal point of their work.

This perception may stem from various systemic issues within the healthcare industry, but there are vital lessons to be learned from the retail sector that can significantly improve patient experiences and thus increase your revenue and your number of 5-star reviews. If you don’t think patients use reviews to shop providers, you are in for a surprise. Here are just 2 sources out of 24 on the first page of Google results

Forbes May 10, 2024 — The survey found that 73% of patients consider online reviews when selecting a healthcare provider.

Healthgrades Jun 24, 2024 — In fact, nearly 75% of patients turn to online reviews as the first step when searching for a new physician.

In Order to Correct the Problem, You Have to Understand it First

Systemic Issues in Medical Practices Customer Service

We all know the healthcare industry is complex, with numerous factors contributing to the perceived poor quality of customer service. Whether you are in orthopedics, sports medicine, or a high-profile plastic surgery office, your staff is dealing with high patient volumes, administrative challenges, regulatory compliance, and the inherent stress of dealing with medical and surgical situations. These pressures can sometimes result in staff becoming desensitized to the needs and emotions of patients, leading to interactions that feel impersonal or adversarial. Pain thresholds are a great example of becoming desensitized, and I saw this firsthand while sitting in the emergency room for 10 hours with my husband earlier this year. Moaning patients were just not acknowledged. It was hard to observe.

The Retail Model of Customer Service

In contrast, the retail industry thrives on customer satisfaction. Retail businesses understand that their success hinges on treating customers with respect, empathy, and attentiveness. Employees are trained to see customers as valuable assets deserving of excellent service. This model fosters loyalty, positive word-of-mouth, and higher satisfaction ratings—elements that are equally crucial in every aspect of the healthcare industry.

Medical staff are often hired to manage the phones and do administrative work, but there is no requirement or test for kindness, friendliness, or warmth. Most medical office roles are not looked at as customer service or sales roles but as administrative or physician support jobs. All you have to do is read a few healthcare job descriptions to see where the emphasis is placed.

The patients are often just a necessary part of the process and sometimes even looked at as an inconvenience. This feeling is rarely hidden, and patients are sensitive; they pick up on the negative vibe even when they can’t quite identify what’s wrong.

If the doctor or medical team are positive people and good with patients, this will filter down to the front and back-office staff. On the other hand, if the doctor is demeaning and not a good communicator, the staff will take its cue from him or her in this situation, too. On rare occasions, I have found a staffer apologizing to a doctor and trying to explain his or her bad personality as just being a little gruff.

These practices tend to have high staff turnover, which ultimately costs the practice dearly. I think you’ll have to agree these providers make their own choices and live with the consequences. The good news is this is rare and not the norm. In most cases, practices just don’t notice when their customer service is “just average” and could be better.

Every patient who goes through your practice for a non-insurance paid procedure will go through four stages, from their first inquiry to their last visit to complete the service. Whether they are getting nanofat injected for an aesthetic outcome or injected for joint pain, the retail patient is in your office by choice and not generally by physician referral. The better you and your staff are at understanding these four stages the more successful you will be.

Four Stages Every Patient Goes Through

1. Patient’s initial inquiry: By Phone, social media, and your website
2. The first Appointment and Consultation
3. Their Treatment
4. Satisfaction. Procedure Completed

Note: Every stage requires a follow-up strategy along the way

Every one of these stages has a customer service component to the stage. The happier a patient is at each stage, the happier they are at the end, when they are writing a review or telling a friend how much they enjoyed being your patient.

The outcome of having happy patients should be the criteria for raises and promotions. As a result, you will have happier employees in addition to happier patients. It is so much more fun to make people happy than to maintain a stern and inflexible demeanor.

Training Your Staff How to Implement a Customer Service Plan

Medical practices need to invest in regular training programs that emphasize patient-centered care. This helps your team determine where they can bring the greatest value to your practice.

If you think about it, the only way an employee can advance is with raises, or they must leave for a higher salary. Most owners hate to increase a salary just for the sake of an increase or for a cost-of-living raise. However, if you have employees who are getting more valuable, you can negotiate incentives. If the practice is making more money because of the team, doesn’t it make more economic sense to increase their earnings instead of having to retrain new employees every 12 months?

Training employees on how you want them to interact with your patients or clients is the only way you, as an owner, have a direct impact on customer service outcomes. Let’s face it: you are in the OR much of the time, so you don’t often see what is happening at the front end of the house. To ensure your training is worth the investment, your customers must have access to a feedback loop for how they rate your service. This needs to be ongoing for the life of your practice. There are many review platforms, but two of the best I have seen are https://birdeye.com/healthcare and https://www.realpatientratings.com.

At Tulip, we understand this service expectation better than most because we make instruments for you and your patients. Getting it right isn’t an option for us; we must get it right every time.  Being the newest member of the management team, I was impressed with Tulip’s extremely low complaint rate. We are required to monitor this as a part of our Quality Management System. I see this as comparable to practices monitoring their reviews, just like you need to know when something isn’t right so you can fix it, as device manufactures, we do too.

STAFF TRAINING NOW AVAILABLE AT TULIP MEDICAL

Tulip Medical may be the first medical device company to invest in staff development and sales training for its customers because we know this is one way we can grow your sales and ours simultaneously. Our goal is to help good doctors take better care of patients; when that occurs, everyone wins.

To schedule a training for your office, click here