Insights From Our Editors

Market Opportunity: Stress the Benefits of New Eyewear

August 31, 2016

Consumers may be more open to purchasing eyewear when needed, but many are still finding reasons to put off making those purchases, The Vision Council VisionWatch March 2016 Economic Situation Study suggests. When compared to April 2009, there are more consumers indicating that the positive gains in the economy are encouraging them to purchase eyewear. And there are fewer consumers reporting that the state of the economy will impede their intentions to purchase eyewear, or have a refractive surgery procedure. However, many eyewear users are still claiming that they are going to wait longer periods of time between the purchases of new eyewear—despite the relatively positive state of the U.S. economy.

How effective are the systems in your practice in getting people to buy from you? Your capture rate will give you the answer. The average practice is about 60 percent effective. That means that even when four people out of 10 know they need a product you sell, they still leave your practice without purchasing from you.

Our goal is to help improve the quality of life of every patient we see. That means if we prescribe it, the patient’s quality of life is not improved if they don’t get it from us. And if they take the prescription somewhere else, we can’t guarantee quality or exactness if they don’t get it from us. So, yes, we want our patients to purchase from us. And if they do, that will show up in improved capture rate numbers.

One way to improve our capture rate is to make sure our doctors and staff are trained in closing techniques. With closing techniques, it is not enough just to train doctors and staff, but they must become proficient in these techniques. That is going to take some effort on everyone’s part.

The top three closing techniques your doctors and staff should be proficient in using are: the Assumptive Close, the Take Away Close, and the Relationship Close.

Here is a short description of each technique.

The Assumptive Close

Rather than waiting to see if the patient will purchase, from the beginning, your assumption is that the patient will purchase. The expert in the assumptive close checks along the way to make sure the patient is following along with your assumptions. The best assumptive sales technique is a low-pressure presentation. You are not trying to convince a patient they need something, you assume they want to purchase and agree to move forward. The assumptive close only works when you have set it up by making sure each step of the sales cycle has been handled.

Source of information in box: the balance: The 7 Stages of the Sales Cycle

The Take Away Close

The Take Away close is used when you are selling something that comes in more than one configuration and has more value when additional features are added. That sounds like spectacle lenses. Add Transitions to the lenses and more value is added. Add glare-free and even more value is added. When using this technique, revisit why a patient requested the additional features and explain how the original problem will not be fixed. “Mr. Johnson, I remember you saying when you came into the office today that your old glasses were heavy and made your nose sore. That’s why we put you in thinner and lighter lenses this year. If we go back to a standard lens, then you will still have the problem of the heavy glasses. You don’t really want that, do you?”

The Take Away close should never be used as the first strategy for closing. Knowing when to use it requires mastery of the technique.

The Relationship Close

The golden rule of sales is if a patient likes you, they will find a way to buy from you, and if they don’t like you, they will find a way not to buy from you. The focus of this technique is building rapport, and from there, relationships with patients. A critical error rookies make with this technique is trying too hard to get people to like them. Patients often view these errors as fake and insincere and that kills closing the sale. The master of this technique is genuine and relaxed as they make their presentation to the patient. Relationships are built on trust, and trust is why the patient will buy from you rather than somewhere else.

References
You can read more about these closing techniques and others HERE.

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