Who Are Your Customers?

There are two basic questions I always ask in my Customer Care Training Workshops. The first is “who are your customers”? I get various responses like; “my customers are my patients”, or “customers are those who buy services from us”. Then I ask the next question, “who is a consumer”? At this stage, a lot of people get stumped and ask “aren’t they the same”? Well, not really.

Your customer is someone who purchases a product (a service or a good) from you. The customer may not necessarily purchase the product for personal use or satisfaction.  A customer is also a person with whom you have dealings. A consumer on the other hand, is a person who actually uses your product and derives personal satisfaction from it.

In this context, a customer could be a Medical Insurance Company or a Health Management Organization (HMO) that purchases health insurance for a group of employees. The employees are the consumers. A customer could also be a parent who pays the dentist to do scaling and polishing for his daughter. In this case, the daughter is the consumer and the parent is the customer. A person who presents in the ER and pays for his treatment is both a customer and a consumer.

You must ensure you identify both the customer and the consumer in each case and provide the service that each needs. The consumer needs good health, while the customer expects value for money. Satisfying both is always a delicate balancing act. This is especially true with regard to Medical Insurance Companies and HMOs. Excellent service involves satisfying both the customer and the consumer.  However, the ultimate person is the consumer, who is the patient.

To satisfy the consumer, you need to understand the concept of the customer chain. But first, let us consider the various classes of customers encountered in a typical hospital:

• —  External Customers
• Internal Customers
• Corporate Customers
• Regulatory Customers

The external customers come from outside the hospital environment. They are the most important component in the customer chain. The external customer includes the patient, his/her relatives and friends. They require the services of the hospital. External customers can be both customers (purchase the service) and consumers (derive personal satisfaction from using the service).

The internal customers come from within the hospital environment. They include doctors, pharmacists, hospital administrators etc. They require the service of another service provider to perform their own duties. Internal customers are mainly consumers. They use/consume the services of others.

Corporate customers are also from the external environment. They differ from external customers because they do not consume hospital services. Rather, they provide service to the hospital. Examples are suppliers, pharmaceutical company sales reps, waste disposal companies etc. Without your corporate customers, you may not be able to meet the needs of your external customers.

Finally, the regulatory bodies monitor the activities of the hospital to ensure minimum standards of healthcare quality are met.

The Customer Chain

These different types of customers form a chain called the customer chain. The chain begins when the corporate customers supply drugs, consumables and other services to the hospital. The quality of service received from the corporate customers influences the quality of service the hospital will provide to its other classes of customers.

The customer chain continues when the external customer/consumer/patient requires treatment and presents at the hospital. The internal customers then ‘processes’ the patient through the hospital system.

For example, the front desk provides a service to the doctor by pulling out the relevant documents pertaining to the particular patient. The doctor also requires the service of the laboratory scientist to aid the diagnosis. He in turn provides service to the laboratory by requesting for the right investigation. The nurse is expected to carry out the instructions of the doctors.

The regulators ensure that all that takes place is acceptable and legal. The chain goes on to the last point of service the patient comes across before exiting the hospital.

If one person in this chain does a shoddy job, the customer leaves with an unsatisfactory service. A break in this chain leads to poor service. Shoddiness can result from misdiagnosis, wrong tests results, expired drugs, poorly filled prescriptions e.t.c.

Excellent customer service therefore begins from identifying your customers and consumers; ensuring each member of the medical team understands the customer chain and their position in it; and encouraging everyone to give their best at their respective work stations.

See you soon…..