Customer Satisfaction: Elderly

There was an experience on the flight home that made me think about how we may treat the elderly sometimes. People may not mean to, or even be aware that they are, but sometimes the elderly are treated as children.

The flight attendant asked if I wanted cookies or peanuts. I wasn’t interested in either because I wasn’t feeling well. I asked what she had to drink, hoping some sort of diet white soda was available. Rather than answering my question, she literally leaned into my face and very slowly said, “No! Cookies or peanuts?!”

I was aghast at her condescending and patronizing attitude! After I calmed down a bit, I started thinking about times when I had, unfortunately, witnessed similar incidents in long-term care facilities. Rather than addressing the residents’ needs and answering their questions, how many times have we redirected them as though they were children so that we could finish our tasks?

Culture change really is about treating residents as individual adults. How we respond to them is critical!

Are there any stories you would like to share related to customer service and customer satisfaction?

Customer Satisfaction: You Expect What You Pay For

There is the phase “You get what you pay for.” There is generally truth to that statement.

It is also true that you expect what you pay for. The more you pay, the higher the expectations.

Some of the service we had in the hotel dining room would have been acceptable at a family-style restaurant. Considering what we were paying for each meal, however, we expected much better service!

The same applied to the hotel room itself. In lower priced hotels I don’t like it if they don’t leave soap and shampoo, but I deal with it by calling down and requesting what I need. When this hotel let us run out of shampoo, it was an issue! For as much as we were paying, something as simple as that should not have happened.

The more you want to be paid for your services, the greater the services you have to provide.

Customer Satisfaction Employee Privacy

The manager’s office was in the same hallway as the pay phone. Another day, while I was on the pay phone, I couldn’t help but overhear the manager disciplining an employee. That, of course, is something that should be private between a manager and the employee.

Treating disciplinary action privately is fair and respectful to the employee. Also, if customers overhear disciplinary action, it can reflect badly on the reputation of the facility. It may bring problems to the attention of the customer that the customer did not notice before. Also, it cannot be determined how the customer will react to the information or what he or she will do with it.

Sometimes it is necessary to correct an employee in public. For example, if an employee is about to give a resident the wrong item. It is critical to correct the employee in a very professional manner and as quickly and quietly as possible. Further discipline, if warranted, can be done later, in private.

Customer Satisfaction: What You Can Do, Not What You Cannot Do

The hotel was in a very remote location. No cell phone service! (That was quite a culture shock.) The hotel, although remodeled, was very old. During remodeling, attempts were made to keep it as close to the original as possible. This included no phones in the rooms. The only option for calling out was two pay phones off the lobby.

While we were on vacation, my mother had minor surgery. Before we left, I said I would call my brother to see how she was doing. I was not expecting pay phones!

The last time I used a pay phone was almost 35 years ago. At that time you could call collect and the charges would go on the other person’s phone bill. I thought that would still work. It didn’t. When my brother answered the phone the operator wanted a credit card number. I knew he wouldn’t know what was going on, so I hung up and went to the front desk for help.

I explained the situation and the clerk said she could not let me use the desk phones or the office phones. I hadn’t asked to do so! When I started to say something she interrupted and said employees did not have codes to the phone and could not call out, only managers could. So I asked what she suggested. She said she could give me change for the pay phone!

If she had just told me in the first place what she could do, and not what she could not do, the problem would have been solved faster, I would have been much less frustrated, and customer service would have been positive.

Always tell the customer what you can do for him or her. Only say you cannot if the customer asks for something that you truly cannot do.

Customer Satisfaction: Truth and Consequences

I do not know if one server lied to us or not. But the possibility that he did tainted our impression of customer service at this location.

I enjoy peanut butter and jelly on toast or an English muffin for breakfast. The first breakfast I asked if I could have that. The server immediately answered that of course I could.

The second breakfast I asked for the same thing. The server stated that they did not have peanut butter. I said that I had had it the day before. Then his story changed slightly. He said they were out of it, that they were out of a lot of things. (The last part is more truth than the customer needs!)

The next day, I ordered it again and the waitress said she didn’t know if they had peanut butter or not, but thought they must, because what kitchen didn’t have it? (That was probably sharing more of her thought process with the customer than was truly professional.) She looked and found peanut butter.

Of course, it is possible that the second day the restaurant was truly out of it. But the way the server answered and his body language made me suspicious. If you don’t know, it is always better to say so and then find the answer. And if you don’t want to take the extra effort to satisfy the customers, then it is time to look for something else.

Customer Satisfaction: Accuracy and Timeliness First

It was obvious at this hotel that all dining room servers were instructed to be friendly and to chit-chat with the customers. All asked the same type of questions such as “Where are you from?” And they all followed up with some information about themselves. “I used to visit there.” “I hear that’s a great place.” They were good conversationalists.

When this was combined with accurate and timely service, it was very nice! But it did not work that way very often.

One young man was excellent with accuracy, efficiency, organization, professionalism, and friendliness. He had a very busy section, but he carried it off grandly! My husband and I left that meal feeling that we had experienced really great service.

One young woman, however, spent so much time conversing with the table next to ours that we were left waiting with empty plates for the dessert menu, then the dessert, and finally the check. The other table may have thought the service was great. We thought it was terrible. Conversing and timeliness must be balanced. It is possible to be warm and friendly without taking a great deal of time.

Another young woman was also great with the chit-chat. But there were three errors with our simple breakfast order. Friendliness turns into flightiness when the accuracy is not there. Again, there must be a balance.

Customer Satisfaction: The Importance of Variety

The location where we stayed had one dining room and a very simple, casual café with limited hours and a more limited menu. Although the dining room was very nice, the menu upscale with good variety, and the food fantastic in both flavor and presentation, after two days we desperately wanted something different!

There really was not anything wrong with what was offered. There was an emphasis placed on using fresh, local food. The chef was willing to make modifications to meet our needs and wants. But we were seeing the same items everyday with one or two “chef’s specials” added.

My husband also works in long-term care. This was an eye-opener for both of us. If we were getting bored with the food after two days, what do residents feel after weeks, months, even years? And this food was much higher quality than what the majority of long-term care facilities can afford.

This experience really emphasized the critical importance of variety and choice. How satisfied would you be if you ate all three meals in your facility for a week? A month? A year?

Customer Satisfaction: It’s Everywhere

Every business is dependent upon good, or even great, customer service to survive. Long-term care is no exception.

There are many examples of good, great, and phenomenal customer service in other industries that can be used in long-term care. There are also many examples of where customer service is lacking or absent.

Recently my husband and I went on vacation. We stayed at an historic hotel in a beautiful location. The dining room had fantastic views, the menu was upscale, the food was extremely good, but the service varied from very good to poor.

There were many good learning experiences at this location that can be applied to long-term care. These, along with other customer service ideas, are what I will share with you this month.

As we go along, please share your ideas and experiences!