CUSTOMER SERVICE SKILLS

Patient Care

NYU MEDICAL CENTER

OUR MISSIONOur mission is to provide all around service, to teach and discover. We at CMC are committed to

making world-class contributions that place service to human health at the center of our

patient care“Empathy [my own favorite customer service

word]. From our CEO to physicians and registration staff, our culture is one of genuine

compassion. We only want to employ people who care so much that some even have a ‘following’ of patients who ask for them by name. Our culture revolves around relationships, and ensuring that

the care we provide our patients reflects that ethic.”

CUSTOMER SERVICE SKILLS

Attitudes Manners Amenities Encountered Patient-Focused Service

IMPORTANCE OF DELIVERING EXCELLENT CUSTOMER SERVICE

Getting patients in the door

Keeping them

coming back

Patients feeling cared about

Long-term relationshi

ps

Repeat Business

Business Reputation

Creating Niche

Better Morale

8 CUSTOMER SERVICE SKILLS THAT EVERY EMPLOYEE NEEDS

The Customer Service Skills that Matter

PATIENCE If you don’t see this near the top of a customer

service skills list, you should just stop reading. Not only is patience important to patients, who often reach out for support when they are confused and frustrated, but it’s also important to the business at large:

Great Customer Service beats fast service every single time. Yet patient shouldn’t be used as an excuse for slothful service either? If you deal with patients on a daily basis, be sure to stay patience when they come to you stumped and frustrated, but also be sure to take the time to truly figure out what they want. They’d rather get competent service than be rushed away.

ATTENTIVENESS The ability to really listen to patients is

so crucial for providing great service for a number of reasons. Not only is it important to pay attention to individual patient interactions (watching the language/terms that they use to describe their problems), but it also important to be mindful and attentive to the feedback that you receive at large.

KNOWLEDGE The best forward-facing employees at

CMC should work on having a deep knowledge of how their department operates. It’s not that every employee at CMC is going to know all the ins and out of the company, but without being knowledgeable about the function of your department from front-to-back, you won’t know how to help patients when they run into a problem.

POSITIVE LANGUAGE The ability to use “Positive Language”

sounds like fluffy nonsense, but your ability to make minor changes in your conversational patterns can truly go a long way in creating happy patients.

ACTING SKILLS Sometimes you’re going to come across

people that you’ll never be able to make happy. Situations outside of your control (they had a terrible day, or they are just a natural-born complainer), will sometimes creep into your usual support routine, and you’ll be greeted with those “barnacle” patients that seem to want nothing else but to pull you down. Every great customer service rep will have those basic acting skills necessary to maintain their usual cheery persona in spite of dealing with people who may be just plain grumpy.

READING PATIENTS Understanding some basic principles of

behavioral psychology and being able to “read” the patient current emotional state will help. This is an important part of the personalization process as well, because it takes knowing your patient to create a personal experience for them. More importantly though, this skill is essential because you don’t want to mis-read a patient and end up losing them due to miscommunication and confusion. Look and listen for subtle clues about their current mood, patience level, personality, etc., and you’ll go far in keeping the patient interactions positive.

CALMING PRESENCE There’s a lot of metaphors for this type

of personality: “keeps their cool,” “staying cool under pressure,” etc., but it all represents the same thing … the ability that some people have to stay calm and even influence other when things get a little hectic. The best customer service rep know that they cannot let a heated patient force them to lose their cool; in fact it is their job to try to be the “rock” for a patient who thinks the world is falling down due to their current problem.

HANDLE SURPRISES Despite all the customer service skills

the world is going to throw you a curse ball. Whatever the case, it’s best to be able to think on your feet…but it’s even better to create guidelines for yourself in these sorts of situation. Let’s say, for instance, you want to come up with a quick system to when you come across a patient who has a problem you’ve never seen before…

Who? What? How?

EXECUTIONThere is a very specific, customer-focused

process called ‘AIDET’A – Acknowledge the patient quickly and

courteouslyI – Introduce yourself immediately with

your name and titleD – Duration – tell the patient how long he

or she can expect the visit to takeE – Explain simply yet completely what to

expect, what the outcome might be, etc.T – Thank the patient for choosing our

service

WORK ETHICGreat work ethic and a willingness to do

what needs to be done and (not taking shortcuts) is a key skills when providing the kind of customer service that people

talk about.