Learn what Touchpoints are and how they affect your office
Touchpoints are any point of contact you have with your patient. If you pay attention to them, you can improve your practice and keep your patients.
Copy Experience September 4, 2018 No Comments Do you know what touchpoints are and how you can use them to your advantage? For all of us, the ideal practice would be one with a flow of new patients all the time. And this is precisely where we find a great challenge that is difficult to overcome. One of the best strategies we can adopt is to pay detailed attention to the so-called Touchpoints in our consulting room and office. By Touchpoint we refer to any point of contact between a customer (patient or prospect in our case) and a seller (supplier or staff who has contact with the patient). Remember that in this area, the basis for the business to prosper and to positively impact the lives of your patients is trust. Here is a list of the best ways to improve key touchpoints to maintain and strengthen relationships with your patients. How to improve touchpoints 1. Your patients are unique You may have this in mind; However, you have to learn to see it from their perspective. The truth is that they can understand that they are not the only patients, but deep down, they are only worried about themselves. For better or worse, they expect to be treated as if they were your only patients. Taking this attitude will cause a radical change in your relationship with your patients. 2. They have alternatives Nowadays your patients have the option of changing providers. It is very possible that long before reaching you, they had already looked for various options and alternatives. More than in other times, they are taking care of their investment. You have to keep this in mind, since they are going to change providers if they do not obtain the benefits they are n searching. 3. Access as a sample of your service Making it a priority to give access to your patients can become a very important competitive differentiator. The internet has created new expectations in your patients, not all of them realistic, but they are there. At the end of the day it’s about using the power of convincing and giving your patients options. Options to, for example, schedule appointments, obtain quick responses and valuable information. This will highlight your office and show it as a reliable option. 4. Recognize the type of call you are receiving Another of the touchpoints has to do with direct patient care. There are two types of calls you can expect at your office. The first is from patients you already know. They should be treated with familiarity, as friends, since they are surely dialing for an appointment. The second type of call is from potential patients. This case is a little more complicated because trust can be broken from the way you greet! What we have to look for here is to make them see that we have the solution to their needs. Staff must be trained to know how to handle both types of calls. 5. Ask your clients for referrals It doesn’t sound like something we want to do and it might even seem suspicious. But it is less aggressive and more effective than we think. It’s all about knowing how to ask. At this point, remember that they will be happy to recommend you if they are satisfied and appreciate your service. They can usually feel the desire to do it and it’s a great opportunity to help more people, but you have to ask. Share this information in your practice and office. Everyone has a role in internal marketing! The more congruence your touchpoints have, the more customers New people will arrive and most will stay long term. If you want advice on this and other topics, click here.
