What Does Loyalty Mean?

• By Elisha Bury
• Apr 01, 2009

I recently adopted a 7.5-year-old boxer named Lincoln. As a former cat owner, I was used to being ignored when coming home, unless said cat was hungry. As a result, I'm pleasantly surprised by Lincoln's excitement to see me. The dog shakes uncontrollably as he gallops around the room. I truly feel like the most important person alive each time I open the door.

It struck me that this is the definition of true loyalty. Do your customers get excited to see you?

At The MED Group National Respiratory Network conference in San Antonio, I had the pleasure of participating in presentations covering the latest business practices. What I noticed was that each seminar had a similar thread.

In a presentation on sales success, Iris Fink, RRT, ResMed, questioned how customers evaluate a provider's success. She said customers can't evaluate expertise, they simply know how they feel. "If you're selling a service, you're really selling a relationship," she said.

In fact, Fink says that when asked, the top reasons referrals chose a company is because it felt like a good fit, or they really liked the people.

In another presentation, Cindy Gray, BS, RPFT, RRT, RCP, director of respiratory development, Advanced Home Care, discussing non-delivery oxygen systems, said that in many cases, her company has been able to get patients to bring in their portable oxygen concentrators for service. She says the patients do it because they feel like they're visiting an old friend. These patients truly get to know every person in the office. As a result, the company is able to build a stronger relationship as well as eliminate a truck deployment.

It's not just loyalty among referrals and patients that will make your company strong, however. You need that commitment from your staff as well. In a roundtable discussion with Dr. Gary Schwartz, we talked about relationship building within companies. It's no mystery that a positive attitude among employees will cause a chain reaction among patients and referrals. Still, with the economic downturn, tough reimbursement cuts and the sheer volume of work, it's all too easy to get bogged down in the negative. Schwartz says a good way to boost company morale is to share compliments from patients.

When times get tough, it's loyalty that shows you the true value of your company.

This article originally appeared in the Respiratory Management April 2009 issue of HME Business.