Every job is a self-portrait of the person who does it. Autograph your work with excellence.
~Author Unknown
Are you ready to get serious about improving lead conversions? Here is what one medical tourism facilitator has done to invest in the customer service skills and knowledge his staff needed to grow his company’s customer base.
Meet Deepak Datta
After a career as an engineer with multinational corporations, Deepak Datta followed his entrepreneurial instincts and, in 2008, founded Medical Tourism Corporation. The company offers medical travel facilitator services with clients from the United States, Canada, Iraq, Trinidad, Nigeria, Kenya, Ireland, Portugal, UK, Germany and Australia among others.
Clients are referred for medical and dental services to affiliated health care providers around the world. The business has been extremely successful, doubling patient numbers since its inception.
Converting Leads into Clients
Deepak and his operations manager, Hazel Ramos, were looking for ways to increase the conversion rate of leads into actual patients when an email landed in Hazel’s inbox announcing the launch of on-line courses for medical tourism professionals. Hazel sent an email to Medical Tourism Training and that was the beginning of this solid business relationship.
Since that email more than one year ago, Medical Tourism Corporation has purchased the package of five courses – Introduction to Medical Tourism, Basic Medical Terminology, Telephone Skills, Email Etiquette, and Working with Upset Customers – for each team member.
The investment has reaped dividends. Here is what Deepak and Hazel have to say about their experience working with Medical Tourism Training:
Q. What factors influenced your decision to purchase training for your staff?
A. The content of the courses was the major influencing factor. So was customer service as our emails were answered promptly and the company worked hard to meet our needs. Price, too, was one of the things we considered. Medical Tourism Training offered a discount because we purchased multiple courses for our employees.
Q. What benefits did your business derive from the training received?
A. The major benefit the business has derived from the training is the enhancement of our case managers’ customer service skills. There is an improvement in the way our staff manages their leads, leading to more conversions. Calls and emails are handled better, more efficiently.
Since our employees completed the training, some of our customers have told us that they had been in touch with other companies but chose our company because of superior customer service and our professional approach. The results of the training set us apart from other facilitators and medical tourismcoordinators.
Q. What would you say to other organizations considering training their staff in customer service skills?
A. Customer service is an essential part of business across all industries, especially the medical tourism industry. Proper education and training in customer service skills for your staff is an investment that will yield positive results in the long run.
Q. What comments from your staff can you share with us regarding their training experience?
A. Some comments gathered from our staff include:
“My training experience was great. It helped me a lot in terms of communicating with clients and as well as doctors that we work with. I have learned more about the medical terms that I get to encounter almost every time that I work. It was easy to navigate it, but the only thing that made it hard for me was the pictures…some of them were too small. but overall, it was a great experience to undergo that kind of training.:)”
“I got tips for different situations that I am currently using for customer service. It was nice having illustrations and hearing someone speak to you as if it was a class. Well-organized material with examples necessary for being on the job….it was a nice training experience.”
“The training helped improve my case management skills by discussing customer service tips on email and call handling, refreshing my basic medical and biological knowledge, and providing a deeper understanding of the international medical tourism industry.”
Q. Will you continue to invest in training for your staff?
A. Yes, we want to continue to measure and improve the results we have already achieved by focusing on customer service skills. Our employees are happy with the training and appreciate that the company is giving them tools to be more effective at work.
Lessons Learned
Medical Tourism Corporation identified a problem – a lower than expected conversion rate of leads to clients – and found an affordable solution by investing in a package of training courses to deliver the skills and knowledge staff needed. With their additional skills and knowledge, the company’s employees are winning more clients with their superior customer service talents. Investing in staff training has given the company a competitive edge and happier employees.