Fake News or Opportunity? Two Approaches to Client Feedback
Is the client’s perception of the gap between promise and performance so-called fake news? Provider commentary, often given to KLAS candidly, sometimes provokes an immediately negative response from vendors mentioned. Unfortunately, while such an emotional response is predictable, it means that vendors rarely see opportunities for improvement in the feedback. I have seen this more than a few times.
Recently, I met with a vendor CEO who insistently told me that a certain percentage of KLAS’ posted commentary on about the vendor was nothing more than fake news. As such, the vendor insisted that KLAS take down certain comments from our website immediately. After listening intently and absorbing as much as possible, I offered this CEO a slightly different perspective: What if this CEO’s clients were sitting in the room and heard the declaration that a certain percentage of their comments were fake news? How would the clients feel? What would they say to this vendor-partner executive about the partnership between them and the vendor?
Two Camps for Client Success
For over 22 years, I have enjoyed sitting with hundreds of CEOs from healthcare-software vendors and consulting firms. Regarding the commitment to client success, these CEOs generally fall into two camps.
In the first and larger group, CEOs assume that any regular client will be successful with their products and services. A client’s inability to achieve the targeted success can be attributed to the client’s failure to follow company instructions and take advantage of all the company has to offer, including a lack of participation and attention during trainings and implementations. Client comments given to KLAS that speak to vendor weaknesses (perceived or real) are then frequently relegated to fake news and ignored.
In the second and smaller group, CEOs see client success as their responsibility, and they see the products and services as designed to help the weakest client succeed. If a client will fail for sure, the vendor will choose not to have them as a client. In this perspective, the client comments are gold mines for finding weaknesses in the products and services that can be improved upon, elevating the overall success for all clients.
Why KLAS Cares
During that recent visit with the vendor CEO, I was reminded again why KLAS stands firm in this arena, despite threats of lawsuit and social media barrages. The opportunity to magnify the voice of providers so that the weakest of the weak can be heard is seen as a blessing by many provider organizations.
Where KLAS is not fulfilling our commitment to being honest, accurate, and unbiased, we invite critical feedback. But in every case that we have used KLAS’ research methodology to measure a client’s perspective on their vendor, we stand behind the comments and will continue to stand behind the ability of providers to report their personal perspectives on their vendors’ performance.
In KLAS’ perspective, the best possible news for both vendors and providers is that the world can see and hear about great performance. If performance can be improved in any way, then what a boon it is for vendors to have the opportunity to humbly step forward and raise the bar for themselves. In this way, both providers and their vendor partners have the power to succeed as teams, which ultimately means improving the lives of patients the world over.
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