This year I turned 40. One of the joys of this is that I received the card in the mail from St. Vincent’s heart center that I should now get one of their $99 heart scans as a baseline.
So I did my duty and went to the heart center on the north side of Indianapolis. I got there very early and was not allowed to have coffee first. This did not put me in a good mood; I do not leave the house at any hour without my coffee. I managed and checked in at the center. I was called back pretty quickly to meet the woman behind the desk who gathers pertinent information and payment. In my tired state I sat on the chair and she stood up, put out her hand and said, “Nicole? It’s very nice to meet you.” What? She must be in a really good mood at 7am. This has not been my typical experience at hospitals or doctor’s offices so I was pleasantly surprised.
After completing my information and payment, I sat back down in the waiting room waiting for them to call me back for the scan. At that point, a man called to me, “Mrs. Bickett?” I stood up and he stretched out his hand and said, “I’m Andrew. It’s nice to meet you!”
Needless to say, I was surprised and even slightly awakened by this. Clearly, this is part of the systems of this heart care center to treat people not like the typical patient coming in for a test, but like a friend coming into another’s home. This is a step beyond for healthcare, and yet its a very simple system that requires only purposeful intent and training of staff. It put my mind at ease and made me want to refer my other 40 year old and above friends…which is helping the heart center accomplish its goals.
If something so simple can work for a large company like this, what things can you do in your business to go above and beyond your customers’ expectations and keep them coming back?