3 Benefits of Creating An Alumni

If you're like most companies, when a member of your staff gives their two-week notice, you prepare the exit paperwork and say goodbye. However, a few companies have discovered the value in treating their exiting staff as alumni.

An alumnus (a former member of a group, company or organization) can be a great resource to your company. Here are three types of alumni that can benefit your company.

The boomerang

Not all staff members who leave are gone for good. Former employees may leave to receive more education, others may move on to a job where they can gain new and additional experience, and still others may leave because they think they may like a different company or position better. Whatever the reason, if they like your company while they are working for you, they may want to come back. In returning, they bring experience from working at your company before and a stronger knowledge base by gaining more education or working in other positions.

The way you handle the exit experience for your employees can make a big impact on the chances of hiring former employees back on again some day. Be sure to let your exiting employee know they are welcome back if they would ever like to return.

The referrer

A lot of times, employees leave not because they are unhappy, but because they want to continue to grow through education or new experiences. These employees who leave with a positive opinion of the company can be great at referring potential new hires. After all, they know why your company is great and they can encourage friends and family who would be a good fit for the position to apply.

Not only can former employees refer potential new hires, they can also encourage potential patients to use your services. Because they know firsthand how the company operates, former employees can tell potential customers all the benefits your company has to offer. To keep former employees up to date on your current achievements, ask exiting staff if they would like to receive a special alumni newsletter that shares milestones the company hits. 

The sounding board

If you're looking for people familiar with your company to give their honest feedback about your brand and customer experience, your former employees may be a good group to talk to. Since they are no longer receiving paychecks, they're more likely to provide objective feedback than employees.

Bragging Right

Part 3 of 7: Bragging right

7 Ways to Improve Patient Satisfaction

Celebrate successes internally, but don't focus on bragging externally. Focus on improving the customer experience and your customers will do the bragging for you.

Promote your successes internally

Your employees make your brand what it is. If they buy into your brand and its messaging, it's far more likely that your patients will experience what you tout your brand to be.

Make sure your employees know what their purpose is. If they feel they are doing worthwhile work and are making a difference, they will be better workers. Create a culture focused on success. Reward success.

Promote success, acknowledge shortcomings, build trust

When you communicate externally, it's important to acknowledge your shortcomings as well as promote your successes. Being authentic and transparent builds trust.

Measure to improve—not impress

Your purpose in measuring and tracking what your patients think about you should not be to impress others. Seeing how your company is performing provides you with a valuable resource to enable you to improve. All companies have weaknesses and strengths; each company is unique. Celebrate what you do well and look at your weaknesses as opportunities for improvement.

Consumers trust other consumers more than advertising

Don't take it from us, all you have to do is look on Amazon to see this is true. Consumers want to hear from other consumers what their experiences have been in interacting with a brand. If consumer reviews are low, your brand will have a much harder time attracting customers.

Encourage patients, family members, and employees to post reviews on Google and in other review venues that your potential patients search. The reviews show up on the right-hand side of the web page when someone searches your company name on Google.

Hospitals are also a key contributor to referrals. More and more, hospitals depend on star ratings to determine which companies to refer patients to. Working to improve your star rating and then promoting it to your hospital referral sources is important.

Promote honestly

Remember that more than your potential patients are listening to the messages you are sharing externally. Make sure that the messages you're telling potential patients are in line with the messages you're telling your employees. For instance, if you tell patients that they are your number one priority and you tell your employees that they need to focus on financial aspects of the company, your employees are going to see a mixed message. Dissonance in your messaging can injure your employee relationship, and it eventually makes its way to your potential patients.

For more ways to improve patient satisfaction, visit part 4: Explain (to the fourth).