Patients Love to See You Smile

Patients Love to See You Smile details human skills needed by staff to make practice successful

A Local Eye Site book recommendation

By Paul Gerber

Hire for human skills first; you can teach technical skills. That recommendation isn’t always easy to follow. But a new book, Patients Love to See You Smile – For Eye Care Staff, spells out the human attributes of the staff you want to work in your practice.

This non-clinical primer on how to enhance the patient experience identifies personality traits to uncover as new staff members are interviewed. This enables evaluation of their emotional intelligence, which is so critical to successful patient interactions. And for those you hire, the book will sensitize them to patient preconceptions and emotional needs.

Stereotyping patients, prejudging patients’ ability to pay and a host of other common in-office patient/staff interactions are covered. You want staff that will be ready with the right responses to patients in order to avoid a negative experience and instead create patient loyalty.

In Review of Optometric Business, well known practice management consultant and practitioner Neil Gailmard, O.D., M.B.A., writes: “I especially like how the book lets staff members know how they will benefit by following specific advice. For example, when [staff] share your knowledge and educate patients, you establish your authority and build trust…. Most staff just don’t get it. They need to know that they are like actors on a stage, with specific roles to play and how to play them. This book provides concrete guidelines on how to play those roles at each stage of the office visit.

Dr. Gailmard added, “The book has organized and expressed all the key ideas that go into making a great practice, and there is a huge need out there for a book like this… I recommend it as required reading for new staff members. For existing staff, it well serves as the basis of ongoing staff meetings. The how-to coaching in this book will make every doctor’s practice a better place to work and a place that patients will more appreciate, enjoy and tell others about. In brief, the book is a joy to read, an inspiration for all.

“As the book says, ‘Never underestimate the value of your smile. It’s huge. Scientists have actually shown that your smile triggers an automatic [positive] chemical response in the brain of people who see you smile.’”

Here’s another OD’s review of the book from Corporate Optometry Reports; others are available on www.pca-ce.com:

Mark Lynn, O.D., Louisville, KY, in Corporate Optometry Reports: “The book makes staff think about the topic of customer service. We can talk about service issues all we want, but when it is in print and easy to read and understand, then it drives the point home. This book will help prevent staff from being lost in their own world and letting bad days and personal problems bleed into the patient experience. Staff will learn how to smile, inside and out, during all the patient experiences that happen in your office – from the time patients walk into the office until they pay their bill and all points in between.”

Patients Love to See You Smile – For Eye Care Staff, published by Patient Communication Advisors, LLC, is available on www.pca-ce.com, where you’ll find the complete book reviews.