A tale of boiling water, bandages and brilliant customer care!

Whilst making Sunday dinner last week, I very cleverly managed to pour a pan of boiling water over my arm, resulting in a very sore arm, a ruined Sunday roast and a trip to A&E!

I was in and out of Royal Surrey County Hospital in two hours and was dealt with by a bunch of very professional and kind medical staff. I returned home with a bandaged arm and strict instructions to visit my local doctors’ surgery to get the burn re-dressed within 24 hours. Sounds simple enough!

At my local surgery, the appointment system is such that you have to phone at 8am to get an appointment that day (10 minutes later and you’ve missed your chance!). So having dutifully picked up the phone at 8am sharp, I tried to get an appointment for that day.

First hurdle – it’s only the District Nurses who do dressings. Ok.

Second hurdle – they only do dressings between 2 and 4pm. OK well that’s not too bad. It means leaving work early but if that’s what has to be done then so be it.

Third hurdle – you can’t speak to them so you have to leave a message on their answer machine. Bye.
So after much hand-wringing and message leaving, I finally secured an appointment with the District Nurse and had my burn re-dressed.

However, I had a completely different experience when I decided to try and get subsequent re-dressings carried out at the doctors’ surgery in a different town near to my office.

My call was picked up by an answering machine and I was told that my call was important to them, they were very sorry for any inconvenience caused and I was the first in the queue. When I spoke to the receptionist a few minutes later, I wasn’t prepared for the friendly, sing-song voice on the other end of the line, so used am I to the defensive hostility of my usual surgery.

I explained my situation and she replied that it was no problem at all and of course I could see their nurse. She then proceeded to book an appointment, at a time convenient for me, for every day that week and told me it was fine for me to carry on being treated there for as long as necessary. I found myself thanking her profusely, amazed by her customer-focused helpfulness!

It’s extraordinary that two very similar organisations can adopt such a differing approach to their customers, resulting in two opposing customer experiences. As a customer, if I could choose which surgery to visit, I would definitely go with the one where I felt valued. It shows that it’s not just an organisation’s logo, signage, advertising and marketing collateral that expresses their brand values and ethos. The customer experience is just as important.

As an Account Manager here at Mzuri, when I’m working on a new brand for a client, I always look at how they interact with their customers, so that every point of their customer contact thoroughly reinforces their brand values. But being on the receiving end of terrible and brilliant brand communication, has really reminded me of the importance of this sort of holistic branding. Administrative systems and telephone manner are just as vital as an eye-catching logo and corporate colours.

Oh, and my arm is still sore and icky but healing well!