Customer service is more than skin deep

I had a couple great customer experiences yesterday on a business trip. I blogged about one of them at http://jeremeyweeks.blogspot.com/2009/08/brush-with-excellence.html.

I've decided to post the second one here because it's about an organization inculcating customer care into their employees.

I'm talking about McCall Memorial Hospital.*

My presentation was scheduled to take place at the hospital. I was glad to come because I had worked there a few years before. I'll talk about my experience there in a bit. First I want to share my wife's experience at the hospital.

My wife came with me on the trip and did some shopping while I was in the meeting. She came in the hospital to pick me up. When we got in the car, she mentioned that there must be someone in town that looks like her. She said several people had stopped and said, "Hi, how are you?" in the hall. I smiled and said that the hospital is that way with everyone.

My experience with McCall Memorial began with two interviews. The first was with the IT director, Guy Rivers. It was a typical IT interview. The second interview was with all of the department heads, who came in pairs and interviewed me. It was a grueling experience that lasted for hours, but it was necessary. The hospital expects employees to work well with each other. What surprised me was the intensity considering I was there for a network position with no management responsibilities.

I got the job. Guy began teaching me the hospital philosophy by telling me this...

"I don't care if it takes you half an hour to get back to the office when you go get coffee. Stop and talk to people."

I learned not just to say, "hi" but to look at people and smile genuinely, investing some of my time in them. The interesting part of this was that these people all had different personality types. Doctors and nurses were friendly and not patronizing or coldly clinical. No-one was better than anyone else and departments were expected to get along. Patients were number one.

I think my wife encountered a little bit of McCall Memorial's attitude of service.

I don't believe that the hospital was perfect when I was there. There were agendas and perhaps business direction was lacking. But I believe that they had the most important thing down:

They're in the business of relationships.

McCall Memorial Hospital, thanks for a great lesson, one that I'm still learning!

*You may wonder if McCall Memorial is a customer of mine. They aren't. I was employed by McCall Memorial about five years ago and that's the extent of our relationship.