By Amir Khoshnevis, OD
Most practices are experiencing a good start to 2012. As with any business, it is critical to avoid hubris and focus on making the most of your opportunities. Find ways to play offense vs. defense this year.
Increase your chances of continued growth by focusing on all the things that make people want to stay with you, purchase from your office and refer others to your practice.
1. Focus on patient experience. Reduce wait time, keep your staff happy, and anticipate the needs of your patients (e.g. give them the little things that make a difference during their visit such as bottled water, coffee, or maybe interesting reading material (something they want to enjoy reading and not just eye-related material).
2. Ask for referrals when you’re busy and not only when you’re scared. Here’s why: Higher potential for capture due to sheer volume, and avoiding the perception that a busy schedule means you do not need any new patients.
3. Boost your frame inventory and/or replenish your boards quickly.If you’re waiting for the frame reps to make their scheduled calls to your office (once every two to three months), you are going to miss out on many opportunities to sell and impress those in the office, but also the greater community, through happy, stylish patients. Besides, we certainly don’t need to give patients additional reasons to leave our offices and head to the local big-box stores.
4. Offer patients a chance to experience “new vision” by offering alternative ways to achieve great vision.This is especially true when you offer niche products to unsuspecting patients.Consider daily disposable contact lenses for spectacle-only patients, daily disposable color contact lenses for occasional use, and most significantly, work-related and task-specific eyewear beyond the primary pair.The other incredible opportunity for your practice may be corneal reshaping therapy (CRT).We are collectively missing the opportunity to give patients a higher quality of life, possibly reduce a myopic child’s total amount of prescription, and improve our practices’ image, marketing strategies and profitability.
5. Create a promotion to maximize your per-patient-revenue.At a time when you are happy with your number of patients, and hopefully high capture rates, you need to create ways to address all of your patients’ needs.We often get lazy during these times and neglect to capitalize on developing opportunities.This is the hubris I referred to at the beginning of this blog entry. When times are good, don’t let your pride get in the way of your creativity and assertiveness.Remember, while all engines need maintenance (defensive in nature), they need fuel to make them truly perform.
If you’re looking for a way to “leap forward,” look no further than the practice CEO in the mirror.
What steps are you planning to take to improve your offerings and continue to grow in 2012 and beyond?
Amir Khoshnevis, OD, founded Carolina Family Eye Care in 2003. He is a graduate of the Pennsylvania College of Optometry and is a member of several optometric associations. He is a presenter at AOA and SECO. Dr. Khoshnevis has a strong interest in specialty contact lenses and has built a medical co-management contact lens practice as well as a clinical investigation site for specialty lenses. To contact him: drk@carolinafamilyeyecare.com.
