Chris Magleby

As a leader in customer satisfaction research, care providers often ask us for one or two best practices that will improve their customer satisfaction ratings. These inquiries led us to conduct an in-depth study of our data gathered from conducting over 600,000 surveys during the last 15 years. From this research we found seven behaviors common to the highest performers.

These seven tips encapsulate the most effective tools that any senior care provider can implement to improve the experience of each resident in their care.

  1. Treat everyone with importance — Resident interaction with staff members has the largest impact on customer satisfaction. When treated with importance, clients are more likely to forgive shortcomings. This rule is integral to all seven tips.
  2. Explain — Usually it is not enough to explain things one time, especially in senior care. To ensure adequate communication we need to explain what we are going to do, explain what we are doing, explain what we did and explain what to expect once the care provider has left.
  3. Exceed Expectations — To thrive in today’s economy we have to go beyond just delivering what is expected. Being good is not good enough anymore. To have a loyal customer base it is critical to WOW them with great service.
  4. Lose Wait — A common complaint from those receiving care is excessive waiting. Having to wait creates a high level of frustration and sends a message that the individual is not important. Sometimes waiting is unavoidable, but if communicated properly, the experience becomes much less frustrating. 
  5. Make Lemonade from Lemons — Sometimes negative things happen. The way you react to those problems can define your company. Embracing negative feedback can be a great way to build trust with your customers. Customers do not expect perfection, but they do want you to acknowledge fault and to take steps to correct it from happening again. 
  6. Bragging Rights — Celebrate successes internally, but don’t focus on bragging externally. Focus on improving the customer experience and your customers will do the bragging for you.
  7. Invest in Employees — This may be the most important of all the categories. Our national studies have shown that satisfied employees are the critical piece to having loyal customers. This point is not about spending more money on your employees but about treating employees with importance.

Chris Magleby is the Chief Operating Officer of Pinnacle Quality Insight.