All labs today are vying for one prized possession – a big chunk of the customer’s revenue pie. With labs increasing in every nook and corner of the city, efficiency and effectiveness is one thing that separates a successful lab from an unsuccessful one. How can anyone measure the success of a lab? On what factors or metrics is a lab judged for effectiveness. To know the answer, read on…

Here are the 5 metrics that can be used to measure the effectiveness and efficiency of a lab.

TAT – Turn Around Time

One of the most critical factors that are responsible for an increased or decreased satisfaction of the customers is the Turn Around Time. Whenever a customer walks into a lab to get some tests done, he has an expectation that he should not have to wait too much for results and reports should be made available to him as soon as possible. Reducing turn around time of the reports would be beneficial for adding new customers to your fold and increasing the chances of getting repeat customers.

Customer Satisfaction from the process

In a world where homogeneity is becoming a major obstacle, how do you differentiate yourself from your competitors? Providing an exceptional customer experience is crucial. From the time customer makes an appointment for his tests to the end where they get reports of the tests conducted, all through the process the lab must try and give a superior lab experience. Have a customer feedback form ready for the customers as soon as they get their reports and ensure someone is following up on these feedback forms. Nothing is worse than the customer feeling that their feedback was unimportant to the lab. Ensure quick action is taken on the feedback and shared with the customers to let them know you are listening.

Complaint Redressal

Carrying on the point of customer satisfaction, it is utmost important to do a root cause analysis is done of every complaint received. It is one point to apologize for any mishap that happened, but the lab management must try to get to the bottom of why the mishap happened, what caused it and how can it be avoided in the future. No one is perfect, but if you do not understand or learn from your mistakes – you have bound the repeat the same mistakes over and over again. Labs should document all the negative feedback and complaint and understand their implication. A successful lab will always try to learn from their past and move ahead stronger.

Repeat Business

If you are not getting repeat business from the same client, it definitely shows that there is some problem with your system. A complete overhaul may be required if you are unable to control the damage at the minor level. A general rule of thumb in the business world says that 80% of your business is generated from the top 20% of your clients. This means you need to go the extra mile for customer satisfaction and keeping your existing clients happy. If you are able to get the majority of your business from repeat customers and customer retention is high – rest assure you are going in the right direction.

Understanding Uncertainties

Running a business is never easy, there is always a grey area where one needs to make judgement based on their past experiences or their gut feeling. But if you are planning to do business successfully and aiming for the top spot in your industry – you’d want this uncertainty to be kept to the minimum. Understand the uncertainties in the business and quantify results. It is important to identify, measure, address and reflect. Making informed decisions for your lab will go a long way in increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of your lab.

CareData Inc, is a leading healthcare IT organization in India, South East Asia and the Middle East which has designed some of the best solutions for labs, hospitals, and clinics.

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