When was the last time you reviewed your lease or building manual? Did you look carefully enough to see whose name is on the lease/mortgage?
You might notice that your name appears but written in indelible ink are your patients. Your patients own your practice, your brand, your revenue and your future. The issue then is flight, fright, or do what is right.
The reason why so many practices fail is their immeasurable narcissism. In other words, the culture, the leadership and the staff work with doctor focus. The thriving practice is patient centric. For example, which office would you rather visit with a front desk receptionist and doctor that are dismissive to patients, quote policy and procedure and invest little time in relationship. Or, the doctor and staff that get to know you, see you in the community and spend time getting to know you and are exceedingly service oriented.
Companies such as Zappos, Southwest, Disney, and The Ritz are revered because of their customer centrism. They realize that customers own the brand and conduct their business with the customer as the nucleus of the business.
For your own benefit, if your waiting room is light and your referrals are few and far between perhaps you need to shift the focus and culture to patient centrism. Becoming more patient centered decreases labor, marketing and worries.
What is the culture of your practice? What does it mean to you to be more patient centered?
© 2013. Drew Stevens PhD, all rights reserved.
Author of Practice Acceleration – The runaway bestseller for operating a successful practice now available at https://www.greenbranch.com/acceleration