Going door-to-door

LifeSpring senior management spent half-a-day yesterday in the communities where we work, meeting our customers and gathering feedback from them on how we can improve our hospital to make it a better experience for them.

It was inspiring. And made me wonder why I spend so much time in front of my computer on a daily basis, when so many amazing ideas are catalyzed from being out in the communities. This was something I knew when I first arrived in India... but somehow began forgetting (or at least stopped applying), when I moved from being a "Fellow" to "Management".

Our CRM manager did a great job in the organization and pairings. I was matched with our Accounts manager; which was great. By the end, he had quite a few ideas around Marketing (and perhaps a better understanding of where exactly the marketing budget goes!), and I had a better sense of the types of questions customers have around their bill.

In the first house we visited, we were met by a set of happy, healthy twins -- just 18 days old. As is traditional in Indian custom, the woman went to her mother's community for delivery. Confident and proud, both mother and daughter talked about their decision to come to LifeSpring (which was actually much influenced by the father -- who had come to LifeSpring's opening ceremony two years ago). When asked why he didn't choose the government hospital, when a free delivery was available nearby, he shook his head in disgust, saying he'd never bring his family there because of the poor quality. As we're continually learning, decision-making at the BoP is just like decision-making for all of us -- extremely complex, driven by key influencers, and always involves more variables than just price.

One of my favorite activities when I first came to LifeSpring was night duty at our hospitals, required for each manager. Language barrier or not, it's amazing connecting with customers' families, who eagerly await throughout the night to hear those first cries. And when that finally happens, it almost feels as though you've become part of the family yourself.

This is almost as good.

Grandmother and mother proudly show off their new twins, less than a month old and delivered at LSH Vanasthalipuram. (Notice the LifeSpring calendar in the background!)

Our accounts manager listens to customer feedback from a woman planning to deliver at LSH next month.