The importance of customer service

In a guest post on KevinMD’s blog, Susan Giurleo writes about “Why I had to fire my primary care doctor.”

She explains her plight trying to get an appointment to see her physician for a sinus infection. When she called the first time, a terse-sounding woman answered the phone and rudely placed her on hold for 20 minutes. Susan finally hung up and called back, only to be treated rudely again by the same person. She was further mistreated by the receptionist when she arrived for her appointment.
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She described her physician as knowledgeable, kind, and efficient, but she fired her because of this experience with her staff. She writes, “While YOU may be a fabulous practitioner, your staff may be undermining your good work and reputation without your knowledge.”

I thought this was an interesting account, because I often hear these stories from friends and colleagues. (On a related note, I had the complete opposite experience with my own primary care physician, whose staff was kind and helpful and who fully uses electronic medical records. So pleasant was my experience that I have referred him to three friends and counting.)

Clearly, customer service from the staff is hugely important, and you might not even be realizing how its reflecting on you.