Most of us would rather not go to a hospital. When we do go, it often seems that most of the staff aren’t too happy to see us there either. Individual medical professionals and staff can sometimes be friendly one-on-one, but nobody greets you, nobody welcomes you, and you spned most of the time sitting around in uncomfortable chairs, reading dull magazines, and trying to not breathe the air in the cramped waiting rooms.

I don’t write this post as an endorsement of Kaiser, but I recently went to a Kaiser facility and was extremely surprised by the great service. It provides a great view into transforming of customer experiences. In the case of Kaiser, admittedly I was expecting the worst. The ‘Thrive’ branding seems so perfect, but how could a large company in such a tough industry transform such a typically negative experience into a positive one? Kaiser proved, at least in my case, that it could be done. Anyone who provides service to the general public could learn from the detailed and simple steps Kaiser has taken to make the customer experience far exceed the expectations.

While still expecting the worst, I entered the lobby and went to the reception desk to ask where I was supposed to go first. The woman, realizing I was a new member, first welcomed me to Kaiser and then explained where to go. There was a large open atrium in the center of the building, so it seemed like the air was more fresh than a typical medical center. On the second floor, there were open waiting areas and clearly marked paths for waiting lines and large service counters. This was in comparison to the typical sign on a small closed window to the administrative area saying, “please wait until you are called.”  I lined up and was quickly welcomed again as a new member and signed in.

Because they had my core information already on the magnetic card, I was not handed a clip board and forms to fill out, answering for the 100th time that I’m not allergic to any medicines. That was a welcome change. Without going into too many details, she suggested a couple of tests and set up a prescription. Down the hall, I stopped by the pharmacy (very convenient) and the pharmacist welcomed me as well to Kaiser and asked about the book I was reading and then proceeded to explain the prescription.

It was all going so smoothly, the people were unbelievably nice, and it just seemed like something should be more negative, like prior visits to the doctor. I asked the pharmacist where the lab was for the blood sample. He said it was down in the basement of the hospital area. OK, for sure, that must be like a dungeon, with the workers who don’t get to have windows work and are cranky, over-worked, under-appreciated and snappy with patients.

Upon entering the lab area, there were not long lines and angry people. On the wall was a “take-a-number” machine. I somewhat rolled my eyes and though, here we go…this should be about an hour of wasted time. But, again, there was a large and low service desk and big digital signs showing excatly which number (person) was being called. It was just sinking in at how efficient the whole system was, similar to how Southwest boards airplanes, and my number was called. The people were very friendly, talkative and just good people.

I left Kaiser feeling like I had not been to a medical appointment at all. It was almost confusing becasue the customer experience was so drastically different and better than my expectations. Looking back on the experience, it was completely differentiated mostly by very small details and simply an attention by everyone (facilities, waiting room architects, process flow designers and staff) to put a feeling of ‘Thrive’ into every aspect of the experience. If a hospital environment can be transformed, so can any mediocre and undifferentiated customer operation in any industry.

A few tips for designing your customer experience:

1. Map your customer’s ‘journey’ from the time they consider your services until the time they depart.
2. Identify the major steps they take (e.g., not knowing where to go, waiting in lines, sitting in waiting rooms)
3. For each step, identify where there are major negative aspects, or counter-points, to what the customer might expect. Identify where there are opportunities to positively impact the customer’s experience as a signature point of serivce. Look for those specific things you can do to live up to your brand promise. In Kaiser’s case, it was ‘Thrive’.
4. Engage your broader employee team in designing specific changes, such as the ‘take a number’ system if that works for you, or training on friendly greetings and customer service, or ropes to signify lines and a a feeling of efficiency and fairness in waiting. These small changes do not have to cost a lot of money, but they do need to be specifically planned, continuously improved, and delivered consistently by employees who believe that what they are doing makes a difference.

Michael Kanazawa is Chief Executive of Bedrock Dissero and co-author of Big Ideas to Big Results.

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