1) Measuring customer satisfaction is critical for refractive surgery practices to attract new patients, but many practices do not formally survey patients. 2) While patients are often satisfied with the results of LASIK, they may be dissatisfied with aspects of the customer service experience like long wait times. These service issues negatively impact customer satisfaction and referrals. 3) Practices should regularly survey all patients using simple questions to rate their overall experience and willingness to refer others. Gathering feedback helps identify areas for improvement critical to growing the business.

1. TODAY’S PRACTICE
I Can’t Get No …
Measuring the satisfaction of your customers is critical.
BY SHAREEF MAHDAVI
When it comes to satisfied customers
(meaning patients who are glad they “Failure to evaluate patient
had LASIK), refractive surgery suffers
from an identity crisis. Most people satisfaction may blind you to aspects
who have the procedure are trans- of your service that may hurt your
formed into raving evangelists who ability to attract future patients.”
leave their early postoperative visits
proclaiming that they will tell all their friends about
their new and improved vision. But, here’s the catch: if of focusing on how well they provide the product. Failure
everyone’s talking about it, why haven’t all those who’ve to evaluate patient satisfaction, however, may blind you to
heard the story raced in to undergo the procedure aspects of your service that may hurt your ability to at-
themselves? tract future patients. For example, although a patient’s
postoperative vision may be great, he may well remember
T H E S E RV I C E V E R SU S T H E PRO D U C T some irritating aspect of the total experience—such as
The answers to this question are many, but for now having to wait far too long to see you or not getting a sim-
let’s focus on customer service. Most marketing efforts ple question answered by your staff—that influences his
are, in the final analysis, an recommendation of your
attempt to fulfill a cus- practice to friends and
tomer need. And when family. Such experiences,
businesses serve customers which are all too common
well, the end result should in refractive practices,
be high ratings for cus- directly impact customer
tomer satisfaction. World- satisfaction.
class companies are ob-
sessed with finding ways to C U S TOM E R S AT I S -
improve customer satisfac- FAC T I O N I S K E Y
tion. They measure it con- In his newly published
stantly by surveying all of workbook, Do the Right
their customers, evaluating Things … Right: A Step-By-
the feedback seriously, and Step Guide to World-Class
endlessly trying to improve Performance, former
their product or the way Xerox executive Richard
they deliver it. C. Palermo, Sr, correctly
In refractive surgery, points out that customer
there’s a lot of confusion satisfaction is one of the
between satisfaction with three critical drivers of any
the end product (eg, better business.1 If you want to
vision as a result of LASIK) improve your business,
and the service that deliv- according to Palermo, you
ered that product (which need to focus on customer
would be you). Many pro- satisfaction, employee
viders have rested upon the motivation, and financial
laurels of LASIK itself instead performance.
SEPTEMBER 2004 I CATARACT & REFRACTIVE SURGERY TODAY I 95

2. TODAY’S PRACTICE
EVALUATING SATISFACTION dure but would not willingly refer others to your prac-
The first step in evaluating customer satisfaction is to tice, that is information you want to know! This and
actually measure how satisfied your customers are. other feedback about your service should be collected
Most practices conduct some type of post-LASIK sur- from every patient and then tallied into monthly, quar-
vey, but I am constantly surprised by the number of terly, and annual averages. It’s also wise to allow room
physicians who tell me that they never have surveyed for write-in comments, which often can be more telling
their patients or did so at one time but eventually than the scores themselves. These key statements can
stopped. Failing to survey patients is a mistake, because and should become the benchmark by which you
it denies you the opportunity to gain valuable insight measure your success.
from current customers into what you can do to better As I’ve stressed many times, customer satisfaction is in
serve future customers. So, if you are not consistently many ways more critical to refractive volume growth than
surveying patients, begin immediately with a simple the percentage of patients who achieve 20/20 or better
questionnaire that lets patients rate their experience UCVA. Although technology and skill can help achieve
with you and your staff. the visual outcome, equal commitment is required to
If indeed you are requesting patients’ feedback, are achieve similar levels of overall customer satisfaction. s
you asking the right questions? Many surveys begin as
earnest attempts to hear the “voice of the customer” Shareef Mahdavi draws on 20 years of medical device
but end up being so convoluted with poorly written marketing experience to help companies and providers
questions that the patients’ answers are not useful. In become more effective and creative in their marketing and
his guide, Palermo stresses that satisfaction can easily be sales efforts. Mr. Mahdavi welcomes comments at (925)
measured by asking customers to rate key statements 425-9963 or shareef@sm2consulting.com.
on a five-point scale. A key statement would be some- Copies of Do The Right Things … Right may be pur-
thing like: I would willingly refer friends and family to chased at www.strategic-triangle.com.
have LASIK at this center. On a scale of 1 to 5, 1 = totally
1. Palermo RC, Sr. Do the Right Things … Right: A Step-By-Step Guide to World-Class
agree with the statement, and 5 = totally disagree. If Performance. Rochester, New York: The Breakthrough Publishing Group; 2003.
patients indicate that they were happy with their proce-