Creating a better experience

Last week I co-presented at the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association’s annual convention about the positive effects that Virtual Hold has had on Blue Cross of Northeastern Pennsylvania’s customers. At that time, I told a customer care story about a recent healthcare experience I had that I think you’ll enjoy…

Two weeks ago, my daughter was very sick. Her temperature had been ranging between 101 and 103 for four straight days. Despite our best efforts to keep her loaded up on Children’s Motrin and Tylenol ’round the clock, the fever wasn’t breaking. On Sunday, my wife called the after-hours nurse for advice, which was to call the doctor’s office first thing Monday morning and get her in for a Strep test. Monday morning at exactly 8:01AM, we called the the doctor’s office and got a busy signal. We called 5 minutes later…same thing. Then we called again in a few minutes…still busy. Then my wife and I figured we could double our chances of getting through if we both started calling. So we did and we both continued hearing busy signals every few minutes until now it was 9:15AM. Boy, if ever a need for Virtual Hold! Then, I snapped and decided I was done and had enough.

“Everybody get dressed, we’re going to the doctor’s office!” I exclaimed to my family. Shortly thereafter, the Camulli’s were on the road.

When we arrived, I went inside and walked toward the desk where there were three workers handling the phones. I did not want my wife and daughter to witness anything bad that I might do next. One woman finished her call, looked up at me and asked if she could help me. I calmly explained the situation and about the difficulty getting through by telephone and asked if there were any openings today. You see, time “was of the essence” because my daughter’s birthday was in three days. If it was indeed Strep throat, then she could start taking meds immediately and probably feel tons better in just two days. If the test was negative, then we would just deal with the virus.

Back to our story: so the woman says, “my goodness, so sorry to hear that. Let me see if the doctor can squeeze you in right now.” If he couldn’t, then I was getting back in the car and driving to the ER to wait 5 hours and get a stupid 5-minute Strep test…the absolute last resort. So the woman rushed off to see if the doctor was available and I sat anxiously next to the fish tank.  As I was texting a status message to my wife in the car, I overheard a comment from one of the remaining desk workers to the other one…”we’re not supposed to take walk-in’s, you know,” she said quietly and a matter-o-factly. But I heard her snear loud and clear. She had no idea that when I used to go to the doctor’s office as a boy, that I had passed all of my hearing tests with supersonic accuracy!

So, the “helpful-one” came back and told me that the doctor could see us in about 15 minutes. I looked a little down and to the right for a name badge and saw her name was Elizabeth. “Thank you so much Elizabeth! You have done us a great service! Thank you so much!” You see Elizabeth had the right attitude and I was very excited to see that. She did what was right, not what was easy. She was willing to bend the rules a little in order to accomodate a customer. She showed a little hustle and determination amid an environment of nay-sayers. My friends, these are the kinds of employees you want. Find them. Keep them. And watch your organization flourish.

Oh right, the conclusion of our story…sorry ’bout that

 So the test for Strep came back positive. We immediately got our daughter on meds and three days later our little darling had a very happy birthday.

Eric Camulli is such a believer in Yammer that he wrote a testimonial for the business-related microblogging site.

What if I told you that I was learning a new language, like Spanish or Italian…? You might say, “Hey, way to go Eric, that’s fantastic!” You might be really impressed and in awe at my ability to do this. You might be wishing you could learn a new language too and be really jealous of me.  Well, guess what….I’m not learning a new language so there is nothing to get fired up about. But, l’ll tell you what I am doing, and to me, it’s just as exciting. I’m buying a new home computer!!!

Our current family computer, a Dell 4550 has lasted us a good 7 years, but due to what happens to computers after 7 years of usage, it’s now time to retire it. So this is pretty exciting news and my friends and associates are pretty excited too when I tell them that I’m getting a new computer. They say things like, “That’s awesome!” or “Oh, you’re so lucky!” But when I tell them that I’m getting a Mac…dark clouds roll in and the mood suddenly changes!

“What?! Are you crazy? Why? That’s ridiculous!” The Star Wars references are fairly prevalent as well. Because after all, I am switching to the Dark Side. Their exhuberance quickly turns into scorn… their respect for me starts sinking and my credibility as a technology leader is now going down faster than the Titanic. 

But why? The way I see it I’m just learning a new language. I’ve been speaking English and using Windows my whole adult life.  And you know what? I’m going to be speaking English and using Windows for the rest of my adult life. I have no choice because Windows is the language of business.  But there’s one problem: I’m really sick and tired of Windows!  So therefore I’m jumping ship and trying something new.  I want to see if it’s as easy to do the things I want to do with a computer as people say it is.  I want to save time.  I want to do new kinds of stuff.  Hey, some people like spending their Saturdays uninstalling and reinstalling programs. But I’m done with it. And another thing…you can throw out Mac Office too! I’m looking forward to trying some cool new tools to create stuff, which is why I’m buying Apple’s equivalent, iWork instead of Office (for a quarter the price.) 

Most of us 30-somethings grew up suffering with Windows and so we feel bound to it for life because of all the blood we’ve spilled.  So, I guess this makes all of us some kind of sick, twisted blood-brothers.  Well, I am breaking these bonds and leaving the brotherhood behind.

I used to be an Apple-Basher too, but I have overcome these prejudices. I am moving ahead towards something different and new.  I’m passionate about learning. But it only happens when you can overcome your hangups and imagine a new you. You can’t think outside the box, if you are locked inside it. I hope my example can unlock one of your boxes…whatever it might be. In a future post, I’ll give you an update on how it’s going with my new computer. Stay tuned!!!

If you have any comments or want to bash me too, it’s okay…please do!  :)