Teaming Up with HandCraft’s Service Team
The first strategy listed in HandCraft’s Linen Awareness Program is “Service Team and Consultants” and that was a purposeful decision to put this as number one. HandCraft has a dedicated team of specialists ready to answer any questions or help you with any issues that may arise. We take on the roles of adviser, expert, guide, problem-solver and advocate.
One person we need to round out the team is a facility-specific partner to implement action plans. Are you that partner? The tactic that will make the biggest difference in your bottom line is someone at your facility owning the linen management program. There is no one-time, check-the-box approach that will work. Upper management support is paramount to the success of the program and it takes a commitment to be successful.
Here are the HandCraft service team positions
1. The customer relations specialist (CRS) is the face of HandCraft and is responsible for providing the highest level of support to their assigned healthcare customers. The CRS routinely visits all our facilities and is a great resource for any concern or service question. They foster a culture of collaboration as they build and maintain relationships with key personnel to ensure customer satisfaction.
Since their role serves as the primary liaison for customer service issues, here are specific actions you can expect from the CRS:
- Conduct client visits and perform regular inventory RFID scans, answer questions, and document visit outcomes
- Know products and understand services offered by HandCraft with ability to make recommendations
- Facilitate effective practices to optimize efficiency through education, consultation and individual support
- Ensure resolution of linen and scrub quality or quantity issues and follow up on unresolved service issues
- Negotiate and renew client contracts
2. The CRS teams up with their assigned customer data analyst (CDA). The CDA works behind the scenes to provide useful information to assist in managing customer accounts. They provide support and recommendations to all clients using data analysis, tracking and trending. The CDAs examine and monitor data and can give a big picture view of a customer’s linen management.
3. The clinical liaison manager is a registered nurse who helps clinical staff and administrators implement and evaluate strategies to be good linen stewards. This role is available to clients to promote cost-effective and appropriate use of linen and to assist with educational needs. The clinical liaison manager can participate in administrative and clinical hospital meetings to share linen data and provide educational materials for linen awareness.
4. The district service managers (DSM) support the service team by improving and measuring the quality of customer service. They ensure resolution of customer complaints and collaborate with other department managers to discuss improvements to customer service. The managers also analyze data to determine HandCraft customer satisfaction. The DSMs facilitate process improvements with processing plants and customers including linen utilization cost reductions.
Working as a team to find solutions
The HandCraft service team’s objective is collaboration — to work together to fix solutions and find the root cause to avoid the issues in the future. This is where it is critical to have a partner to find a win/win solution. Collaborating involves active listening, analyzing input and identifying underlying concerns to find an integrative solution when both sets of concerns are too important to be compromised.
Let’s look at an example. If you call the CRS saying, “I’m running low on linen.” The service team can look at your data such as how much linen has been delivered and your average linen usage. Based on that, we would want to know if there have been any recent changes such as a census increase. The result may be a special delivery to get you through the concern or it may be a call or visit to see if linen is stockpiled in a different area. In addition, there can be a follow-up discussion to gain insight from you to understand the problem from your perspective.
Results need to be right for both parties and collaborating involves effective problem-solving skills which take time and commitment. The HandCraft service team is dedicated to fostering customer loyalty, strengthening relationships built on trust, addressing concerns and suggesting potential solutions to problems. This is one of the ways HandCraft makes a difference based on our founder’s philosophy of always going the extra mile, one customer at a time.
Contact HandCraft for more information
If you are looking for the right team to help prevent linen loss and decrease your linen loss costs, you found us. We have the experience, the industry-backed expertise, the technology and the professionals to help you achieve your goals. Remember to look at our Linen Awareness Program – healthcare linen management strategies that save costs and improve service.
Call us today at (888) 358-8671 or reach us here for more information on our services.
About the Author
Dyan Troxel, MSN, RN
Dyan is a registered nurse with experience in several clinical and non-clinical settings including Surgical ICU, Neonatal ICU, Education, Process Improvement, and Healthcare Leadership.
