Over the last several days, I’ve been watching the Net Promoter Score conference #NPS2010 tweets and updates. (Not familiar with NPS? Check it out here.) Just the tweets themselves have been filled with insight and education, so I can only imagine how great the conference was!
One well-tweeted bit of wisdom came from the Steve Bonner, CEO of the Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA).
What was so remarkable that many attendees felt compelled to share with their networks? This simple idea:
Cancer Treatment Centers of America starts every board meeting with a visit from a patient.
This isn’t about a technology or a new survey technique or about anything else. It’s about real connection.
Why this simple idea is so powerful:
- Data is great, but it’s not human. It’s easy to tell yourself stories about what it means.
- A real, live human telling you specifically about his or her experience with your organization connects on an emotional level.
- Insights gained from a STORY are typically better retained and internalized than those reviewed in a lofty report.
- Inviting all your stakeholders to take a minute before plowing through an agenda to connect with the real cause of your organization provides a focus for the entire team.
- The leaders of your organization can share a story with their team easier than sharing data.
This is one of the areas I enjoy most about customer experience: it’s about people. We are all trying to get through days that have too many complications, too much frustration, and typically lacking enough joy. Our experiences as customers matter. And organizations let us down over and over and over again, even when they have a 98% “satisfaction rate.”
CTCA of course has patients that are facing daily challenges few of us can imagine. So the organization takes responsibility for making their experience as great as it can possibly be. They share tons of data daily, too, but this little piece of their customer experience puzzle is remarkable for the simple way it connects leadership with the people they are truly there to serve. Kudos to them.
What can you do to connect your leadership with customers? Not through data, but through real, live interactions?
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1:09 PM on February 4th, 2010
I could not agree more. The patient’s story can be powerful and inspiring and speaks much louder that data or even the best powerpoint presentation. I work in community health and we too welcome patients to tell share their stories. They often need to tell them as much as we need to here them.
I often say that if I am having a bad day and feeling frustrated with work, I’ll go to one of our health centers and see how our work is touching so many lives. That will show me how real our work is and how important it is for those patients so that they have good stories to tell.
1:12 PM on February 4th, 2010
Thanks, Jim. Excellent way to tie your work to the impact it makes. And you’re right about the patients having a need to share their stories, too. Thanks for sharing.
1:57 PM on February 4th, 2010
This is a wonderful example of an organization not only using consistent methods to interact and learn from their customers, but in CTCA’s case a wonderful way to tie their mission and brand. In its advertising, CTCA has long been known for showcasing the voices of their patients to tell their story. By integrating this approach internally with this ‘simple idea’ , their brand positioning is all the more credible and powerful. Thank you for sharing this!
10:33 AM on February 5th, 2010
Great point about tying into the overall branding, Cristina! Thanks for the comment.
12:38 PM on February 7th, 2010
The idea is so great, i will use it in my workshop 2morrow and hope 2 achieve that @the end of the yr we do this also ! Creating real customer focus starts this way !
3:09 PM on February 8th, 2010
Glad to hear customer focus is also important in the Netherlands!
Thanks for the comment.
11:18 AM on February 4th, 2010
And Now, A Word from Our Customer – insights from a simple idea from the Cancer Treatment Centers of America. http://bit.ly/bAY0oT #nps2010
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
3:56 PM on February 4th, 2010
And now, a word from our customer: http://bit.ly/9Hjpoq (via @jeanniecw)
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6:10 PM on February 4th, 2010
Like it! Esp. “Data is great, but it’s not human.” RT @jeanniecw: Using a simple idea to put the customer first: http://short.to/1624z
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12:00 PM on February 5th, 2010
And now, a word from your customer: http://su.pr/2ZpEpT
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
8:37 PM on February 10th, 2010
Jeannie Walters comments on CTCA’s patient-centric model http://www.360connext.com/and-now-a-word-from-our-customer/
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
9:49 PM on February 10th, 2010
@jeanniecw comments on CTCA’s patient-centric model http://www.360connext.com/and-now-a-word-from-our-customer/
This comment was originally posted on Twitter