Apple customer service provides lessons for physician business owners

An email exchange last week with an Apple customer service staff member about an iTunes account problem provided me with enough fodder to acknowledge just how impressive a company Apple is when you dig behind the perfect design of their products (despite my Android phone!).

This excerpt from the first reply went like this:

Hello Philippa,

My name is Bev and I understand that the following items x, y and z are not showing up in your iTunes list. I can definitely see your concern and I will be happy to help.

Since this was cause by changing iPods, I have gone ahead and posted those missing items to your account. Please follow these steps to download the items: ...

... Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns. I'll be more than happy to assist you with whatever you need. Thank you for the chance to improve your iTunes experience.

Sincerely,

Beverly
iTunes Store Customer Support

Please Note: I am working Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Thursday 1:00 pm to 9:00 pm and then Tuesday to Thursday and Saturday 8:00 pm to 4:00 pm

Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to assist you. You may receive an AppleCare survey email; any feedback you provide would be greatly appreciated.

The latest email began this way:

Hi Philippa,

My name is John from the iTunes Store. I will be taking over for Beverly today. I see that ...

Please accept my sincere apologies for any frustration this has caused. I will be more than happy to take care of this...

... Philippa, I apologize but it is not possible to...

Thank you for your understanding. I look forward to your reply.

Have a great day, Philippa.

Sincerely,

John
iTunes Store Customer Support

Please note, I have Sat. off

Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to assist you. You may receive an AppleCare survey email; any feedback you provide would be greatly appreciated.

The takeaway lessons for me as a business owner were:

• The friendliness of the email's tone
• The courtesy with which my question was handled
• The timeliness of the responses 
• The lack of a cookie cutter reply. Other than the last sentence, the email from each of the  staff members differed enough to make me imagine that, at a minimum, each customer service rep was permitted to create his or her own email response template. Perhaps they even composed their own original emails!
• The sense of personal connection that was engendered by the rep giving his or her name right away and hours of availability, as well as the regular use of my name (spelled correctly!)
• The graciousness of the hand-off from one rep to another, creating a sense of continuity for me -- all conveyed in a brief introductory sentence.

This interaction provided me with a vital reminder that marketing is not only about attracting new customers. It also involves providing a deeply satisfying above-and-beyond experience for your existing and even former customers!

What's your plan to leave a sweet, juicy "Apple Impression" with your clients or patients?  

Comments

[Susan Giurleo]

Philippa, This is a great post. One area that many health care businesses "drop the ball" is customer service. In just one day this week, 3 separate clients told me they left a health care provider due to poor customer service. One said the office phone would ring and ring with no pick up, another talked about wait times for appts were too long, and a third said the front desk staff was so rude, they could not bring themselves to go back to that doctor's office!
Why are they telling me this? Because they were commenting on how unusual it was to get a quick phone call returned and get an appt in a reasonable amount of time. Those unhappy patients are now MY patients. For all I know those docs could be brilliant practitioners, but the poor customer service drove off patients. I posted a similar personal experience: http://bizsavvytherapist.com/im-firing-my-great-doctor-heres-why/

[Philippa Kennealy]

Way to go, Susan - you are a case in point and you deserve great business success. It is surprising how simple some of the keys to success are as an entrepreneurial healthcare service provider, isn't it?