Comments on: Healthcare branding and the law of expectations http://www.thinkinterval.com/2010/02/healthcare-branding-and-the-law-of-expectations/ Welcome to the transformation Tue, 20 Dec 2011 22:42:09 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Mary Pat Whaley http://www.thinkinterval.com/2010/02/healthcare-branding-and-the-law-of-expectations/#comment-131 Mary Pat Whaley Mon, 01 Mar 2010 15:33:16 +0000 http://www.thinkinterval.com/?p=1790#comment-131 I liked this post very much, Chris. I agree that medical offices are coming very late to the game of customer service and good business practices. Office visits are very difficult to keep on time for lots of reasons, but the biggest one is that many patients refuse to keep their issues and discussions to a 10-minute slot (tongue-in-cheek). No question that the traditional practice doesn't worry about running late as it's the way medicine has always been. No question that the consumerist patient is here and as you did, they will vote with their feet. Patients need to speak up and discuss their concerns with their physician's manager and open a dialogue. Believe me, managers are struggling as hard with the fix to the problem as you are dealing with it as a patient. By the way, most practices that have the sign you speak of tell me that it originated years ago when patients did not check in and they just sat down, expecting the staff to know them. They put up the sign to encourage patients to come to the front desk! Best wishes, Mary Pat I liked this post very much, Chris.

I agree that medical offices are coming very late to the game of customer service and good business practices. Office visits are very difficult to keep on time for lots of reasons, but the biggest one is that many patients refuse to keep their issues and discussions to a 10-minute slot (tongue-in-cheek). No question that the traditional practice doesn’t worry about running late as it’s the way medicine has always been. No question that the consumerist patient is here and as you did, they will vote with their feet. Patients need to speak up and discuss their concerns with their physician’s manager and open a dialogue. Believe me, managers are struggling as hard with the fix to the problem as you are dealing with it as a patient.

By the way, most practices that have the sign you speak of tell me that it originated years ago when patients did not check in and they just sat down, expecting the staff to know them. They put up the sign to encourage patients to come to the front desk!

Best wishes,

Mary Pat

]]> By: Chris Bevolo http://www.thinkinterval.com/2010/02/healthcare-branding-and-the-law-of-expectations/#comment-130 Chris Bevolo Thu, 25 Feb 2010 00:36:02 +0000 http://www.thinkinterval.com/?p=1790#comment-130 We've gotten great feedback on this post, both here in the comments section and offline. (So thank you Valerie, Randy and Tom). It's of course one thing to point out a poor brand touchpoint such as the "wait 30 minutes" sign, and something altogether different to address the problems behind it. Those could be an organizational indifference to or misunderstanding of the importance of customer service and brand building. Or an inability to change embedded cultures, or any other number of ingrained issues. But wouldn't it be great if we started seeing the signs come down, just to start? What if we had a "wait 30 minute" sign bonfire, to cleanse ourselves of these symbols of indifference or inefficiency? Ahh, we can dare to dream. Keep the comments coming. Is there anyone who has taken this step, who has eliminated the waiting signs? What was the impact? Was is it positive or negative from a consumer perception perspective? Did it impact at all the actual wait-times? We’ve gotten great feedback on this post, both here in the comments section and offline. (So thank you Valerie, Randy and Tom). It’s of course one thing to point out a poor brand touchpoint such as the “wait 30 minutes” sign, and something altogether different to address the problems behind it. Those could be an organizational indifference to or misunderstanding of the importance of customer service and brand building. Or an inability to change embedded cultures, or any other number of ingrained issues.

But wouldn’t it be great if we started seeing the signs come down, just to start? What if we had a “wait 30 minute” sign bonfire, to cleanse ourselves of these symbols of indifference or inefficiency? Ahh, we can dare to dream.

Keep the comments coming. Is there anyone who has taken this step, who has eliminated the waiting signs? What was the impact? Was is it positive or negative from a consumer perception perspective? Did it impact at all the actual wait-times?

]]> By: Tom Thompson http://www.thinkinterval.com/2010/02/healthcare-branding-and-the-law-of-expectations/#comment-129 Tom Thompson Tue, 23 Feb 2010 20:35:42 +0000 http://www.thinkinterval.com/?p=1790#comment-129 Hi Chris, nice post. I'm going over to the clinic to remove that (^*#($* sign immediately. It's interesting to change the cultural chasm between changing consumer expectations and the provider-focused culture. Hi Chris, nice post. I’m going over to the clinic to remove that (^*#($* sign immediately.

It’s interesting to change the cultural chasm between changing consumer expectations and the provider-focused culture.

]]> By: Randy Bunker http://www.thinkinterval.com/2010/02/healthcare-branding-and-the-law-of-expectations/#comment-128 Randy Bunker Tue, 23 Feb 2010 17:16:16 +0000 http://www.thinkinterval.com/?p=1790#comment-128 Nice post, Chris. This is one reason I make the gas-face (sorry, bad 1991 reference) when I hear that 'employees don't own the brand.' I heard this again recently at a conference, and promptly pulled out the face. I do think that consumers own the brand perception, but employees are so important to creating the experience that shapes that perception. The only positive out of your experience is that the clinic, for better or worse, is honest about their brand promise (“chances are you’re going to sit a long time”). Not very aspirational, as you refer to in your post. A more egregious offense is if the clinic gave the illusion that you are important to them and you shouldn’t wait for more than 10 minutes, and failed miserably (think any Taco Bell TV spot related to your actual experience). Every employee owns the brand (our hospital’s CEO says we are all caregivers, no matter our role, and we firmly believe that), and at the point of intersection with the consumer is where you blow them away, or keep them away. Nice post, Chris. This is one reason I make the gas-face (sorry, bad 1991 reference) when I hear that ‘employees don’t own the brand.’ I heard this again recently at a conference, and promptly pulled out the face. I do think that consumers own the brand perception, but employees are so important to creating the experience that shapes that perception. The only positive out of your experience is that the clinic, for better or worse, is honest about their brand promise (“chances are you’re going to sit a long time”). Not very aspirational, as you refer to in your post. A more egregious offense is if the clinic gave the illusion that you are important to them and you shouldn’t wait for more than 10 minutes, and failed miserably (think any Taco Bell TV spot related to your actual experience). Every employee owns the brand (our hospital’s CEO says we are all caregivers, no matter our role, and we firmly believe that), and at the point of intersection with the consumer is where you blow them away, or keep them away.

]]> By: Valerie Hoven http://www.thinkinterval.com/2010/02/healthcare-branding-and-the-law-of-expectations/#comment-127 Valerie Hoven Tue, 23 Feb 2010 16:48:14 +0000 http://www.thinkinterval.com/?p=1790#comment-127 Nice article. For comic relief, it reminds me of the Seinfeld episode where Jerry gives his clothes to the laundry mat, and when he returns, the money he had in his hamper is missing, and the laundry mat owner points to the sign that says: "Not responsible for lost or stolen items." Just like the laundry mat as a license to steal, the doctor offices have a license to steal our time with those signs. Nice article. For comic relief, it reminds me of the Seinfeld episode where Jerry gives his clothes to the laundry mat, and when he returns, the money he had in his hamper is missing, and the laundry mat owner points to the sign that says: “Not responsible for lost or stolen items.” Just like the laundry mat as a license to steal, the doctor offices have a license to steal our time with those signs.

]]> By: Carole Chidester http://www.thinkinterval.com/2010/02/healthcare-branding-and-the-law-of-expectations/#comment-126 Carole Chidester Tue, 23 Feb 2010 16:23:04 +0000 http://www.thinkinterval.com/?p=1790#comment-126 Brilliant observations. Those of us who provide marketing for physician practices need to ensure that the messages being sent by the office are not counterproductive to our efforts. As a health care marketer and health care consumer, I find a big disconnect in many areas of service between what is promoted and what actually happens. Bravo for helping to raise the level of awareness on the patient experience and its connection to marketing. Brilliant observations. Those of us who provide marketing for physician practices need to ensure that the messages being sent by the office are not counterproductive to our efforts. As a health care marketer and health care consumer, I find a big disconnect in many areas of service between what is promoted and what actually happens.

Bravo for helping to raise the level of awareness on the patient experience and its connection to marketing.

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