Protocol Has Improved Customer-Satisfaction Ratings, Repeat Business
Plymouth, Minn. (March 28, 2007) - Sonus, the largest professional hearing-care network in North America, is preparing for Better Hearing and Speech Month in May with a renewed focus on its renowned patient-education program. The Sonus Patient-Centered Approach has helped boost the company's customer-satisfaction ratings significantly by guiding all Sonus hearing-health professionals through a carefully crafted protocol that ensures patients receive the most up-to-date information about hearing technologies and a superior service experience.
"The Sonus Patient-Centered Approach protocol teaches our providers about the critical points for educating consumers throughout each patient-provider relationship," says Michele Fusco, Sonus senior vice president of professional development. "It starts from the first time a patient dials a Sonus provider until the patient is satisfied with his or her hearing product and our services."
The Sonus Patient-Centered Approach steers professionals through everything from scheduling a first appointment with a new client to presenting recommendations for hearing aids, and provides visual and written materials for practitioners to use while explaining the complexities of hearing loss. The protocol identifies crucial moments in a patient-provider relationship for education, yet allows the provider to customize the information for each patient's specific needs. The Patient-Centered Approach also standardizes the length of key appointments, such as the initial fitting of a hearing aid, so patients feel more comfortable and have extra time to ask questions.
"Hearing-health professionals spend so much time marketing and trying to bring in patients, so why rush them through the fitting process and potentially turn them off?" says Dan Quall, senior vice president of the Sonus Network who led the creation of the Patient-Centered Approach in 1999.
The Patient-Centered Approach goes beyond the Sonus office - newsletters, Web sites and grassroots marketing efforts also allow hearing-health professionals to share their knowledge about hearing loss and its solutions with their patients. All of these tactics contributed to Sonus' high level of repeat customers and word-of-mouth referrals.
Far from being a static document, the Sonus Patient-Centered Approach is constantly being changed and improved. Sonus providers frequently test new technologies and assessment methods and evaluate their effectiveness before integrating them into the protocol. For example, many Sonus professionals are now testing the Listening and Communication Enhancement (LACE) computer program in their practices, and their feedback will help determine whether Sonus adds LACE to Patient-Centered Approach.
About Sonus
Since its founding in 1993, Sonus has grown into the largest professional hearing-care network in North America. Today Sonus offers private-label and multi-brand products to hearing-impaired consumers at more than 2,000 locations in the United States and Canada, including company-owned clinics and independent providers who are licensed Sonus Network affiliates. As an innovator and leader in hearing health care, Sonus is committed to hearing-loss education, prevention efforts and optimizing customer satisfaction. For more information, please visit www.sonus.com or the Sonus Web Channel on Audiology Online at www.audiologyonline.com/channels/sonus.asp
About Amplifon
Visit www.amplifon.com for more information or the Amplifon Web Channel on Audiology Online at www.audiologyonline.com/channels/amplifon.asp
