From good to gold

When customers find a product or service good, it often comes down to small details. Companies that excel in customer experience set themselves apart from the average. These companies make the difference and often set the trend for an entire industry.

The secret is to ask customers about their experience. What do they find good? And what could be even better? Especially by exploring what could be better, new opportunities come into view. This picture is initially vague, and only becomes clearer when experts and specialists develop it further.

Let’s take an example from a dental practice.

A customer survey reveals that some people experience tartar removal as very painful. In line with the principles of Connecting Decision-Making, an effective starting question is formulated:

“What can we do to make tartar removal as comfortable as possible, knowing from a survey that some people find it painful?”

The ‘what can we do’ question usually generates multiple options. The most attractive option is developed further with a ‘how can we’ question.

In this dental practice, the team wants to stay continuously in touch with the patient experience and use it as a basis for refining their expertise. “How can we ensure that all our dentists interact with patients in a caring, empathic way, so that every patient experiences the six-monthly check-up as pleasant?”

This question produces a number of suggestions.

In the next phase, a concrete proposal is developed through dialogue, using the rapid refinement circle.

• HR manager: I suggest that all new dentists get a mentor who introduces them to caring patient interaction. Does anyone have an objection?
• Head dentist: I don’t think that’s enough. I’d add a period of written feedback where we ask patients how they experienced the treatment. We could ask whether they experienced any pain… Objection?
• Senior dentist: I’d have patients fill in the feedback after treatment on a form and discuss it regularly with the mentor. Objection?
• HR manager: Fine by me, but I’d have the feedback filled in on a tablet so the data can be stored and processed in a database straight away. Objection?
• Head dentist: I’d start with the paper version now. I suggest we request the tablet feedback from the software supplier… Objection?

The solution becomes more concrete and richer through the contributions of everyone present.

Connecting Decision-Making helps here because it enables rapid improvement. The members of this decision-making team use Connecting Communication and empathic listening to share their views with others in a positive way.

The decision is recorded by formulating a number of essential criteria (who, what, when, how):

• Jan develops the paper version of the feedback form and checks the questions with team members at the next weekly meeting before having the forms printed internally.
• Mie asks the regular IT coordinator to develop a feedback version linked to a database. She reports back at the next meeting on the cost of putting two tablets into use.

In six months the action will be evaluated again according to the principles: What is going well? What could be better?

Now the circle is complete. Continuous improvement becomes second nature. Frustration, discomfort and concern are each time impulses to focus on growth, quality and improvement. By trusting that the collective thinking power of a team makes the right decisions, an organisation grows in a natural way. Some changes will be more urgent and worked out quickly. Other changes are less pressing and secondary to continuing work within a quality routine.

Combined with feedback from customer experience and the shift from good to gold, a company ensures that loyal customers stay and new customers are pleasantly surprised.

“By approaching our patients with empathy, through efficient internal consultation and by using a connecting form of communication, we manage to continuously raise our dental practice to a higher level. Our patients feel the difference and it gives us the drive to work.” (Benedenti Group)