The BridgeBlog

By Nancy Friedman, President of the Telephone Doctor

If your job entails taking calls or working with unhappy, irate customers, you’ve got your work cut out for you. Employees who work with this type of situation are especially vulnerable to outbursts from customers who are going through an emotional, stressful time.

Handling this type of customer takes time and training, but it can be accomplished effectively. Here are some of the Telephone Doctor’s best techniques for turning this situation into satisfied customers.

Get Off on The Right Foot

Realize that upset angry customers are not unhappy with you, but with the situation. Don’t take a customer’s hostility personally. You are merely the rod that redirects the violent lightening. You can do a great deal to diffuse the anger before you get to the customer. How? By smiling before you answer that call. You can really “hear” a smile over the phone. It’s very difficult to be rude to someone who is warm and friendly.

Four Steps to Handling the Irate Customer

There are four basic steps to handling an irate customer; we call them our ‘ASAP’ techniques.

A

Acknowledge the person’s feelings and apologize for the inconvenience the customer has encountered. Make an effort to be sincere. In today’s impersonal society, it’s incredibly rare to hear the words, “I’m sorry that happened. Let me get the ball rolling to fix it.” Those are MAGIC words. You’ll probably spend about 80 percent of your time massaging the caller’s feelings and 20 percent actually solving the problem.

S

Sympathize and empathize with the caller. Phrases like “I can understand why you’re upset” can help soothe ruffled feathers. Pretend it’s you calling. Then get busy solving the problem.

A

Accept 100 percent responsibility for the call. OWN IT. This is probably the toughest part. Chances are excellent that you had nothing to do with the problem. However, it’s your job to take the responsibility and help initiate a solution.

P

Prepare to help. Begin by re-introducing yourself – callers don’t usually remember your name. State that you will be able to help. Use the caller’s name, if possible. This helps to diffuse anger. A willing attitude is essential, because if the caller senses insincerity or indifference, it will cause them to stay angry. It’s exasperating to file a complaint with someone who obviously doesn’t care.

Excuses – When to Use Them

NEVER. Never make an excuse to a complaining caller. No one wants to hear “The computer is down” or “I’m the only one here.” That is your problem, not the caller’s problem. When you give an excuse, the caller automatically hears “I’m not going to help you.”

Transferring Calls

Sometimes you’re not able to solve the problem on the spot. Many times you need more information from another department. Perhaps the call needs to be handled by another person. Although these are legitimate courses of action, they usually upset your caller all over again.

If you need more information, TELL the caller. Ask them if they’re able to hold while you obtain it, or would they prefer a call back. “Joe, I need to check with our claims department in order to answer your question. It will take two or three minutes, are you able to hold/wait while I check?” Avoid untrue, frustrating phrases like “Hold on a second.” Nothing takes a second.

If you need to transfer a caller, if you can, let them know the name of the person they’ll be speaking with. It’s also good to explain a reason why you’re bringing in a third party. “Joe, Mrs. Smith in our claims department is the real expert in resolving your type of situation. May I transfer you directly to her?”

For more customer service tips, explore BridgeFront’s Customer Communications online education. Visit our website at www.bridgefront.com, send an email to info@bridgefront.com or call 1-866-447-2211.

————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Reprinted with permission of Telephone Doctor Customer Service Training, St. Louis, MO. Nancy Friedman, president, is a featured speaker at association and corporate meetings. She has appeared on OPRAH, The Today Show, CNN, FOX News, Good Morning America, CBS This Morning and many others and has written articles for USA Today and the Wall Street Journal. For more information, log on to www.telephonedoctor.com or call 314-291-1012.

There are two new ‘HIPAA sheriffs’ in town…both ready to monitor and audit your HIPAA compliance practices. Recently, the OCR granted the authority to assess healthcare’s HIPAA compliance practices to State Attorney Generals (AGs) and the firm KPMG under the 2009 HITECH Act.

Steps to Survive a HIPAA Audit

In preparing for a visit from your State AG or a HITECH auditor, BridgeFront and the OCR recommend these steps:

1. Implement an annual employee training program
2. Ensure you’ve documented patient information safeguards
3. Review privacy and security policies and procedures
4. Vigilant implementation of policies and procedures
5. Regular internal audits and risk assessments
6. A prompt action plan to respond to data breach incidents

OCR Announces State Attorney General HIPAA Authority

This spring, the OCR announced its new HIPAA training program for State Attorney Generals (AGs). Under the 2009 HITECH Act, AGs now have the authority to bring civil actions on behalf of state residents for HIPAA violations.

“Most state AGs are elected into office…which means there is more pressure to pursue HIPAA violations, particularly if there’s a ‘good story’ behind the data breach. They want to be seen as protecting the little guy,” says Jeff Drummond, health law partner in the Dallas office of Jackson Walker, LLP.

HITECH Auditors Set to Begin

Last week, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) awarded a $9.2 million contract to the consulting firm KPMG to launch its HIPAA audit program as mandated by the HITECH Act. The HHS will work with KPMG to roll out the program in three phases, says Susan McAndrew, OCR’s deputy director for health information privacy…starting later this year.

“This is just another opportunity for covered entities to take a moment for a self-assessment,” McAndrew says. “This will help them down the road in terms of building their own capacity for a robust compliance program…”

In a recent BridgeFront compliance study more than 60% of participants indicated they use online education as part of their compliance program.

BridgeFront is the leading provider of compliance online education. Visit us on the web for a free course trial at www.bridgefront.com/trial or contact us directly. Send an email to info@bridgefront.com or call (866) 447-2211.

By Nancy Friedman, Telephone Doctor Customer Service Training

It never fails. When management is asked to name one characteristic they’d like to see in an employee, overwhelmingly it’s always OWNERSHIP; to take responsibility.

Certainly, there are other traits they’d like to see, but without fail OWNERSHIP wins. When we talk about “what does ownership mean to you” there are several answers. To make it easy, we’ve taken the word OWNERSHIP and labeled a thought to each letter.

O
Operate as though it’s your business. Take responsibility. There’s no, “It’s not my job” in ownership. There’s only, “I will help you.”

W
Walk in the customer’s shoes. That’s the best way to be sure you understand what’s going on and to help. Pretend it’s you calling in and needing the assistance. What if this happened to you?

N
Never say “NO.” That’s right; even when you’re not able to help or even when the situation is hopeless (and let’s hope it never gets to that). The word NO is offensive, abrupt, unfriendly, overused and tired. There are dozens of positive alternatives we can use to let the customer down gently. To offer a few: “I wish we could” or “Let me double check on that” or “I’m going to take some time and see if we can work this out.” Bottom line, offering NO at the top of your conversation is useless.

E
Empowerment is strength. Having employees empowered to assist by themselves is a strong motivation to do well. The worst they can do is make one mistake; normally, easily corrected and move forward. Empower your employees!

R
Resolution. Sticking with the issue until it is solved. No matter how many phone calls, how many times we re-check something; it’s not over till it’s fixed. Resolved! The mentality needs to be, “Your issues are our issues.”

S
Sending confirmation of the resolution. This is so important. If something gets fixed or resolved and the customer isn’t made aware of it, they can still be upset. The other day we were to have been issued a credit from an airline. We never heard from them. After a third call from my husband to the airline, we were told, “Oh, that credit was on your bill a few months ago.” But, no one bothered to let us know it was coming or that it had been done. Send confirmation or call! Then close the issue.

H
Happiness is key. Happy people love to help. That’s a fact. Your customers love to be helped by happy people. That’s another fact. They can even make the bitter better. (Say that three times fast!) Walk into your job HAPPY.

I
Integrity. This is non-negotiable. Having integrity is a huge part of ownership. Do what is right ALL the time. And remember, having the right to do it doesn’t always ‘make it right.’ Integrity!

P
Personal commitment. Each and every person helping a customer needs to make their own personal commitment that they will take ownership. No more, “It’s not my job.” No more, “I wasn’t here when it happened.” No more, “I don’t know anything about it.”

What does ownership mean to you? Let us know by commenting on this article or send a message on Twitter to @bridgefront.

For more customer service tips, explore BridgeFront’s Customer Communications online education. Visit our website at www.bridgefront.com, send an email to info@bridgefront.com or call 1-866-447-2211.

Reprinted with permission of Telephone Doctor Customer Service Training, St. Louis, MO. Nancy Friedman, president, is a featured speaker at association and corporate meetings. She has appeared on OPRAH, The Today Show, CNN, FOX News, Good Morning America, CBS This Morning and many others and has written articles for USA Today and the Wall Street Journal. For more information, log on to www.telephonedoctor.com or call 314-291-1012.

By Lorraine Schnelle, Co-Founder and EVP of BridgeFront

Remember sitting or standing in a circle and whispering something into the ear of the kid next to you…then watching the faces as your message was passed from person to person. The looks on each face ranged from confusion, surprise, and laughter as you all played the “telephone game.”

This picture popped into my head as I was thinking about a survey question I asked participants in a recent online webinar. The webinar was on educational tools and techniques. The attendees were primarily healthcare finance professionals—many of whom are responsible for managing one or more areas of the revenue cycle.

The survey question was, “What educational activity do you rely on most when delivering staff education?” The top two answers were on the job (OTJ) and one-on-one instruction.

Sounds to me like it could easily turn into the “telephone game” played out in our everyday work world. Don’t get me wrong, the National Training Laboratory found the average retention rate of students participating in “practice by doing” educational activities is 75%. Their study re-enforces the value of OTJ training.

However a word of caution, don’t rely on OTJ or verbal instruction as the main ‘source of truth.’ Because this same study found that only about 5% of what a student hears is retained.

Ensure you have additional educational activities and materials that are and will be used by your staff to support and re-enforce key learning concepts. This material can be in form of online courses, written procedures, video demonstration, work flow diagrams, user manuals, screen shot job aid, etc.

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

For more information about BridgeFront’s online education, go to www.bridgefront.com or contact us directly. Call 1-866-447-2211 or send an email to info@bridgefront.com.

By Lorraine Schnelle, Co-Founder & EVP of BridgeFront

Improving the total patient experience is on the agenda of most healthcare organizations today. A newly published whitepaper suggests that customer service—throughout the revenue cycle—plays a vital role in the patient experience.

According to the whitepaper, The Revenue Cycle: An Essential Component in Improving Patient Experience by The Beryl Institute, good customer service—at each step of the revenue cycle process—is often more recognized by patients than quality healthcare; and good customer service often leads to increased patient satisfaction.

A typical revenue cycle in healthcare includes coding, insurance verification, third-party payers, financial counseling, billing, payment, or follow-up and collection. The whitepaper suggests that every step of the revenue process impacts the patient experience—beginning with the patient’s first interaction with the organization in scheduling his/her appointment, to discharge and communications with the finance department.

Here are four suggestions, noted in the whitepaper, for healthcare organizations to improve customer service at every step of the revenue cycle process:

1. Establish patient loyalty as an organization-wide goal
2. Educate employees on the new initiative
3. Train employees on essential interpersonal and soft skills
4. Ensure outsourced business providers also understand the new goals

The whitepaper’s research stems from the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) annual survey. The HCAHPS survey is the first national, standardized, publicly reported survey of patients’ perspectives of hospital care.

————————————————————————————————————————————————————

BridgeFront is a leading provider of revenue cycle and customer service online education. For more information on BridgeFront, go to www.bridgefront.com. If you have specific questions, please contact us directly. Send an email to info@bridgefront.com or call (866) 447-2211.

By Kent Lane, COO of BridgeFront

Companies with new products generally lack good customer support at the beginning of their product launch. However, when you find a product and company that does break the mold, you should shout about it—and ’shouting’ is what the new company Yard Rents just did.

Yard Rents is a new business in the Portland area. Essentially, they’re an outdoor and indoor equipment rental company that delivers and picks up what you need, when you want it and where you need it. Simply go online, select what you need and then ‘presto’ there they are with a van full of what you ordered.

This company is a perfect merger of internet freedom plus real live customer service. Upon delivery, they helped connect the equipment, instruct me on the usage, test the starting of the engine … and even made sure that I was wearing the right safety devices.

“Holly paradigm shift Batman!” (If you are old enough to remember the TV series Batman and Robin, you enjoyed that quote … if not old enough, sorry.)

These guys have taken the aloof sense of the internet and personalized it to the point where I feel as connected to them as I do any brick and mortar company I do business with. No more will I haunt rental companies, stand in their lines, and tout heavy equipment around … never again. Just point click and open the front door to a smiling, knowledgeable Yard Rents team member.

See them at www.yardrents.com (Portland, Oregon area only for now).

And … while you’re in the learning mood, take a look at your customer service departments. Would someone ’shout’ about them? One look and you may see a cross section of employees that certainly know how to communicate electronically…but can they successfully communicate to your patients and clients?

Give them the training they need to become ambassadors of your organization.  Our ‘Communicating with Customers’ e-learning series will transform any text’er to a successful verbal communicator. Courses are about 20 minutes each, and include real-life experiences and expert tips to handle any situation. Act today; take a look online and then call us at (866) 447-2211. Mention this blog post and get an additional 5% off.

By Nancy Friedman, the Telephone Doctor

We hear what bugs people a lot in customer service – and often. One of the most common compliants we’ve heard recently is that we’re told “no problem” from those serving us on the phone or in-person. Instead of a genuine “thank you” or something else that might be more appropriate, some insist on saying “no problem.”

When a customer is asking for something, most would rather hear, “I’ll be happy to get that for you” instead of “no problem.”

Did you ever wonder where the expression “no problem” came from? Ever been on a cruise? Well if you have, you know that if you wanted six more desserts, the waiter will tell you, “No problem.” In fact, everyone seems to be saying “no problem” everywhere on the ship for just about everything.

And, when you come down to it, it’s not a terrible thing to say to someone. Now, there are those that don’t find it offensive; however, it seems as though there are many more who do! It’s not a dirty word. It’s not a swear word. It is, however, an inappropriate word. It started in the islands and made its way to our country.

So today, we’re concentrating on eliminating “no problem” and sharing a few other phrases that are more “customer friendly.” Try using words that turn people on instead of turning them off. Example: The other day in a restaurant, I asked for some water without ice. And I got the old, “No problem.” The person with me asked, “Why would requesting water without ice be a problem?” I was used to the expression so I didn’t give it too much thought.

A more appropriate answer to my request might have been, “Certainly. I will get that for you.” Or, even mirroring my request like, “Water with no ice? My pleasure.”

So, when you are tempted to offer up a “no problem,” it is best you remember the public would like a genuine and simple “thank you.” Now why is that a problem?

Reprinted with permission of Telephone Doctor Customer Service Training, St. Louis, MO. Nancy Friedman, president, is a featured speaker at association and corporate meetings. She has appeared on OPRAH, The Today Show, CNN, FOX News, Good Morning America, CBS This Morning and many others and has written articles for USA Today and the Wall Street Journal. For more information, log on to www.telephonedoctor.com or call 314-291-1012.

For more customer service tips, explore BridgeFront’s Communication Skills e-learning. Visit our website at www.bridgefront.com, send an email to info@bridgefront.com or call 1-866-447-2211.

“The end is near” was a common thread throughout the recent American Academy of Professional Coders (AAPC) national conference in Long Beach, CA earlier this month—the end of ICD-9 that is. As  ICD-10 begins, many fear the worst as it will be an incredible challenge for healthcare organizations across the country adapt to the new codes.

BridgeFront’s VP of Sales, Mark Macdonell, attended the conference. He said, “One thing most don’t know is that the conversion will affect each and every healthcare employee, not just the coders. Even the American Medical Association (AMA) stated at the conference that it’s impossible right now to understand the breadth of changes for the healthcare community.”

Macdonell adds that ‘Armageddon’ came to mind as he listened to the woes of the healthcare organizations attending the conference and the speakers addressing the conversion to ICD-10 in the educational sessions.

The Centers for Medicaid and Medicare (CMS) website offers a quick overview of the ICD-10 requirements. The CMS says, “On and after October 1, 2013, ICD-10 codes must be used on all transactions, including outpatient claims with dates of service, and inpatient claims with dates of discharge. Otherwise, your claims and other transactions may be rejected, and you will need to resubmit them with the ICD-10 codes. This could result in delays and may impact your reimbursements, so it is important to start now to prepare for the changeover to ICD-10 codes.”

Despite the ominous outlook, there is light at the end of the tunnel. BridgeFront is in the process of developing a series of ICD-10 online courses for healthcare organizations. Stay tuned for more information on this new Revenue Cycle e-learning curriculum in the coming weeks.

For more information on BridgeFront’s current Revenue Cycle online education, go to www.bridgefront.com/solutions_education_revenue.php. You can also contact us directly. Call 866-447-2211 or send an email to info(at)bridgefront.com.

Next week we are flying to sunny Orlando for the 2011 Healthcare Compliance Association’s (HCCA) Compliance Institute—that takes place April 10-13. We’re excited about our debut appearance at the conference in booth number 109. Here are three reasons you should be excited too:

#1 Live Demonstrations of Our New Mobile Learning Platform

Did you know that 2011 was dubbed ‘the year of mobile?’ Mobile learning is catching on like wildfire and BridgeFront is one of the first e-learning providers to offer it. Don’t miss a glimpse at the future of e-learning by joining us for a 5-minute demonstration of the new mobile learning platform. Learn first-hand about the evolving world of e-learning.

#2 Chance to Win a SmartPen

Stop by and enter our drawing for a chance to win a SmartPen—this product is a great learning tool which converts written notes and audio into text, right on your own computer. This tool is ideal for seminars, conference sessions, workplace meetings, and much more.

#3 Meet BridgeFront Face-to-Face

BridgeFront team members Tamara Wanamaker and Chelsey Slack will be in booth number 109 ready to meet you and answer your questions. We are also attending the afternoon “speed networking” session on Sunday, April 10—it’s like speed dating, but for attendees and exhibitors to network.

The 2011 HCCA Compliance Institute, the nation’s largest compliance conference, is expecting more than 2,000 attendees. Here are some of the topics covered in the educational sessions: long-term care, privacy and security, physician compliance, legal and regulatory, auditing and monitoring, and quality of care. Learn more about the conference by visiting www.compliance-institute.org.

BridgeFront offers compliance online education, written compliance guides, template policies and procedures, and risk assessment services. Since 2002, BridgeFront has served more than 10,000 organizations with its educational services. Learn more about BridgeFront’s compliance education by visiting www.bridgefront.com.

By Nancy Friedman, the Telephone Doctor

When you take the “friendly” out of “Business Friendly” all you have left is business – business as usual; now, we all know that’s just not good enough.

Being “Business Friendly” is for all touch points of customer service. Any way you touch or reach out to your customers on the phone, in person, by email, voicemail, fax or snail mail, we need to be Business Friendly.

You may be asking yourself, “What the heck is Business Friendly’?” Well, it’s the middle ground between being too cold, impersonal, and uncaring, and the other extreme of being too overly familiar. We’ve all experienced both I’m sure.

Here are the five points in delivering Business Friendly customer service.

#1 Every Call is Unique – Don’t Become Desensitized

The customer transaction you have at the end of the day needs to be as upbeat and helpful as the first one of the day. Often times we get the same questions over and over, and it’s easy to become desensitized. We need to remember that to the customer, their question is new to them; and it’s the first time for them, no matter the time of day.

#2 Solve the Problem – Don’t Argue

You know the old saying: “the customer is always right.” Well, at Telephone Doctor we’ve changed that around to “the customer thinks they’re always right” and that’s the perception we need to deal with. There are indeed times when the customer is wrong and we as service specialists know and realize it. What value is it to tell them: “Oh Mr. Jones, you are WRONG.” None is there? So focus on the problem; don’t worry about whose fault it is. There is zero value in arguing with a customer. You will lose every  time. Focus on solving the problem.

#3 Show Empathy – Don’t Ignore What The Customer Says

The other day, I called a company and explained that a product they sold me wasn’t operating properly. The answer from the company representative? “Oh, OK.” AGGGGGG. That drives me crazy. First of all, it’s NOT OK that the product wasn’t working right. And secondly, where was the empathy? Where was some sort of acknowledgement that they indeed heard what I was calling about. You can have empathy in happy and good things, too. Empathy isn’t only for disasters and bad times. You can join in when someone mentions a birthday, a vacation, a wedding, or anything that is happy. Point is, don’t ignore what they say. COMMENT on it.

#4 Smile

Yup, the customer can hear it. We all know that. And since we all know that, we all need to do it. And by the way, smiling is showing your teeth. If your teeth aren’t showing, you’re only grinning – not smiling. Grins can’t be heard!

#5 Avoid Emotional Leakage

What? Okay, what’s emotional leakage, Nancy? Well, that’s getting mad at Peter and taking it out on Paul. Not right, not fun and not fair. It is wrong to take a negative thought or emotion about one person and transfer it to another. Here’s how to avoid emotional leakage immediately:

1. Take a deep breath

2. Regain your professional composure

3. Smile (Even if it’s phony)

4. Then start the transaction

Being Business Friendly will make a huge difference in customer satisfaction. Don’t be cool and aloof and don’t get too familiar; be the middle ground and deliver Business Friendly customer service.

Reprinted with permission of Telephone Doctor Customer Service Training, St. Louis, MO. Nancy Friedman, president, is a featured speaker at association and corporate meetings. She has appeared on OPRAH, The Today Show, CNN, FOX News, Good Morning America, CBS This Morning and many others and has written articles for USA Today and the Wall Street Journal. For more information, log on to www.telephonedoctor.com or call 314-291-1012.

For more customer service tips, explore BridgeFront’s Communication Skills e-learning. Visit our website at www.bridgefront.com, send an email to info@bridgefront.com or call 1-866-447-2211.