In today's crazy world, there's a delicate balance between providing a great service and also making a decent profit.
I don't think these two things are separate, but when we do a great job, oftentimes we can profit.
Although, I must say, even though we do a great job, it doesn't mean we necessarily profit off that.
So, if we want to set up a decent profit-making machine, we've got to set up a business that really takes care of people.
One way to do this is:
- to automate the steps that don't need a human,
- and to really invest our effort into humanizing the parts of the process where nothing else can replace the human interaction.
This is summed up by a single line.
You can't automate a hug.
I love that saying but when it comes to this essential part of business, it's important to make sure that none of your patients fall through the cracks.
What do I mean by this?
Well, a lot of great providers have great intentions.
I remember talking to one of our clients, Nolan, and he said that he told every new patient after every new patient visit, “Hey, I'm calling you tonight to check in.”
He didn't need to say that, but Nolan cares about his patients a lot. In fact, he's one of the most caring dudes I know.
The problem is that, in the middle of the day when Nolan tells his patient he'll call, he's forgetting the fact that later that night, after he's seen his last patient, he has to
- clean up the office,
- run the vacuum,
- mop a little bit.
- He's dying to see his baby daughter.
- He's tired.
- And on the way home, he may forget to call that patient.
And it's not that he forgets to call because he doesn't care. In fact, he cares a lot.
But he's human.
One of the reasons we designed Clinic Gym Connect is that we wanted to make sure we induce those human qualities without putting an extra burden on the provider.
One thing we have are scheduled text messages. As the name clearly states, it allows you to write a text message and then schedule when it will be sent out.
So, if Nolan sees a new patient at 9:45 in the morning, he can schedule a follow-up text message to go out to them at 7:15 at night.
That message could read, “Hey, it's Dr. Nolan. I just wanted to check in and see how you're doing.”
The good news here is, at 9:45 in the morning, Nolan has plenty of energy to schedule that text message.
And through another one of our features, Saved Replies, he can construct that message literally in 10 seconds.
I'm not exaggerating – it will literally take you about 10 seconds.
The system never takes a day off, never forgets and never takes a holiday.
So as long as he has it scheduled, that message will go out at 7:15, checking in on that patient he saw earlier in the day.
What's the result?
It's essentially a digital hug.
You can't automate caring and checking in on somebody, however, you can automate when that message goes out.
And just to make sure that you're not tired and overworked by the time that you need to send that message, we allow you to have scheduled text messages. It's a huge difference.
All the computer's doing is checking the timing, but it makes people feel wonderful and cared for.
If you're interested in a system that allows you to never let patients fall through the cracks, but doesn't force you to automate a hug, check out Clinic Gym Connect.