March 18, 2015
Among sport eyewear sold, protective eyewear generates the most revenue for independent ECP practices, findings from 20/20’s 2014 Sport Eyewear MarketPulse from Jobson Optical Research suggest. Protective eyewear accounts for 13.6 percent of practice revenues, on average, while sport eyewear accounts for 10.8 percent of practice revenues on average. Ski/snow sport goggles accounts for 3.6 percent of practice revenues on average, and swim goggles accounts for 3.0 percent of practice revenues on average.
Practice management rule no. 1 is measure to manage. This rule applies to sport eyewear, as well. In many practices, sports eyewear is an afterthought. Yes, we carry sport eyewear, but it is not a priority. That is not the way to excel at patient care, at improving the lives of every patient we see.
This week, let’s take a different approach. Let’s take these five steps to prioritize sport eyewear:
Step 1: Measure to manage. Look back over last year. Fill in the chart to the left with your numbers for your sales for last year. Remember the first corollary of the first rule of practice management: As soon as you start to measure, things start to get better.
Step 2: Create a written goal for this year. Identify the increase in sales you would like to see for this year and put it into the chart. Above all, when explaining the goal to staff, make sure everyone understands that to achieve an increase in the number of sports eyewear sold means that more of your patients will be protected and fewer of your patients will be at risk of permanent eye damage. You are improving the quality of life of your patients by protecting more of them from potential damage.
Step 3. Create a written plan to achieve your goal for this year. What are you going to say different, do different or present different this year to achieve your goal? Do you need signage for marketing? Does every staff member understand the specific scripts and actions they can take to help achieve the goal? Do you have enough product displayed to convince patients that they can find what they need in your practice?
Step 4: Create accountability. Who is responsible for measuring your progress toward your goal? How will this be reported? To whom is this going to be reported? What actions are to occur based on the three possible situations that will be reported: not hitting the goal, hitting the goal, surpassing the goal?
Step 5: Plan to celebrate success. What do you want to happen if you hit the goal? What does staff want to happen? Create this celebration and help staff to visualize what success looks like, then keep the vision in front of everyone.
If you follow these five steps, you will improve the quality of life of more patients in your practice and, simultaneously, help your staff to understand the bigger picture of why we do what we do.
