The Power of a Service Guarantee…NE Delta Dental
Every now and then I run into a service leader that is an example of what I have been preaching for the past 40 some years. A service leader that truly understands the power of incredible customer service. The service leader I am talking about is…Tom Raffio, CEO of Northeast Delta Dental.
NE Delta Dental sells dental insurance to organizations. They specialize in the administration of dental programs and it is a very competitive industry. They excel and are the leaders in using Superior Customer Service as a marketing tool to dramatically improve their market share and revenue. They sell Dental insurance to organizations…it’s a very competitive industry. They are a nonprofit. Look at the profits of $12,349,632 and the reserves of $131,063,348. It’s strange that NO insurance firm in the world has copied NE Delta Dental
If you want to view the results visit here. The results are also in my book, Achieving Excellence Through Customer Service
In April of 1990, Tom Raffio started this with Dr. Robert Hunter of Massachusetts Delta Dental. He moved to NE Delta Dental as President where he implemented the Guarantee of Service Excellence. They identified areas that are critical to their customers and then instead of saying I am sorry they backed it up with money for every time they failed to deliver. (I have never seen any firm in the world with the guts NE Delta Dental has).
Their Number 5 Guarantee is their ID cards. Accurate identification cards will be mailed within 15 calendar days upon receipt of a completed enrollment form or request. This means if a firm with 300 employees signed up and the ID cards were mailed 16 days later they would have to pay out $7,500. In 2017 they only had one payout on ID cards of $25. Not bad. Customers do not want the money, they are buying piece-of-mind that NE Delta Dental will deliver without fail on 7 critical areas to the customer.
In 2017 total payouts were $5,747.26. They had 111 claims for an average payout of $162.78. All the results are on the link here
You could do the same thing with your firm. They track the results monthly and yearly. Each year they get better. $370,296,099 revenue in 2017 for a nonprofit is pretty darn good.
Since the inception of GOSE, Northeast Delta Dental’s market share has increased from 20 percent in their three states to 65 percent in Maine, and 75 percent in both New Hampshire and Vermont. Unbelievable.
GOSE 2017
I believe CEO’s are only interested in MONEY. They want to see results. NE Delta Dental is an awesome example of the power of the Service Strategy.
|
|
Revenue |
Subscribers |
Insurance/Reserves |
|
2014 |
326,073,331 |
389,342 |
103,543,713 |
|
2015 |
340,848,289 |
410,479 |
108,716,649 |
|
2016 |
353,057,301 |
426,942 |
119,428,749 |
|
2017 |
370,296,099 |
442,621 |
131,063,348 |
Our 2017 Statistics
Total Revenue: $370,296,099
Total Profit: $12,349,632
Total Full-Time Employees 178.4
Our 2017 Training Summary
Amount spent on training in 2017: $155,098
Dollars per Full-Time Employee: $869.28
% of payroll: 1.14%
NE Delta Dental has 178 full time employees. I have many people that say show me examples of firms with less employees. When you are a service leader growth is rapid. You also have to be willing to invest in developing your workforce. I suspect very few firms in the world invest $869.28 per full time employee.
I challenge you to implement your own Service Guarantee. It separates the men from the boys.
Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left behind by those that hustle.
– Abraham Lincoln, sixteenth President of the United States
P.S. Tom Rafio recently co-authored a book with organizational leadership expert, Annabel Beerel, PhD. The book titled, Mindfulness. A Better Me. A Better You. A Better World, will be available on Amazon in the coming weeks.