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by Richard B. Prince, MD, FACS
and David H. Miller, MD, FACS Southampton, Pa.
These days, the topic of spectacles is more confusing than
ever for patients. Every day they are bombarded with messages
about inexpensive glasses, glasses that can be obtained in
an hour, bifocals without lines, glasses that are thin and
light, and glasses that are worn by fashion models and actors.
Unfortunately, when they bring their eyeglass prescription
to the advertiser's place of business, they often find that
the dispenser's major point of interest is not satisfying
their vision needs, but rather serving its own agenda. This
often includes upselling them into an extremely expensive
optical appliance that may or may not suit their needs. That's
why our practice decided 15 years ago to provide patients
with a real alternative to such establishments. We established
dispensing services dedicated to providing honest, reliable,
comprehensive service at reasonable prices, and we took steps
to make sure our patients understood that we provided this
service. Today, our dispensary is extremely successful. We
capture nearly half of all the prescriptions our physicians
write, and we're working to capture more. This year, our dispensary
will provide nearly a fifth of our practice income. We are
particularly proud of one more statistic: Almost 95 percent
of our optical's customers are repeat customers. Obviously,
we are doing some things right. To follow, we'll list a few
of them.
1. Show off
Many physicians are embarrassed about dispensing. They secretly
consider it a retail business inappropriate for a medical
practice and so they hide the optical in an out-of-the-way
corner and never mention its existence to patients. We feel
the opposite: We're proud of our dispensary. We feel it is
an integral part of our service. That's why we've positioned
the optical shop right next to our reception room, where patients
can't miss it. We have prominent window displays and eye-catching
display cases in full view. While waiting to be called for
their exam, patients can and do wander through the dispensary
to see what we have to offer. In fact, our front desk staffers
encourage waiting patients to visit the shop. Just a note
on this point. We strongly recommend against positioning your
optical shop in a separate location. We used this strategy
early on, and it significantly impeded our growth and capture
rate. Psychologically, once patients have checked out at the
front desk, they are ready to leave and go home or back to
work. They do not want to go to a separate facility to try
on glasses.
2. Tell them about it
Physicians have a tremendous amount of credibility with
patients. Because we believe so strongly in what our optical
shop offers, we have no qualms about using this credibility
to encourage patients to try out our optical shop. A typical
conversation during an exam goes like this: "You've been
to our optical shop before, haven't you?" If the patient
has not, we try to bring up several points: all of our opticians
are certified; we supervise all of our own work; our prices
are extremely competitive; we have more than 1,000 frames
to chose from; and their satisfaction is guaranteed. To help
us remember to bring up our dispensing services in the exam
room, we prepare a report every month that contains the "capture
rate" of each physician in the practice. This allows
us to measure ourselves against each other and trade ideas
on how to do it better.
3. Address price up front
Fifteen years ago, our practice opened its first dispensary
as an alternative to local opticians. That's when we established
a policy of telling patients exactly what they are getting
when they choose to buy from us. We use our own computer-generated
price comparison chart that shows warrantees, services, and
the prices of our competitors, including the major optical
chains. Patients are always surprised to find out how competitive
our prices are. Of course, our patients are free to fill their
prescription anywhere they want. But our chart gives patients
an idea of what's out there, so that if they decide to buy
from us, they know that they are getting a good deal and don't
have to shop around.
4. Make the transition
Once we're finished with the exam; we often take pains to
direct the patient back to the optical shop. Either the physician
or one of our staffers actually escorts the patient there
and briefly explains the patient's visual needs to the optician.
We think this is good patient care, and it also helps make
the point to the patient that buying the hardware and software
in one place is generally the best idea.
5. Offer convenient hours
If you really want to attract spectacle patients, you must
offer refraction and dispensing during convenient times. After
all, your competitors do. We offer extended hours three nights
a week and Saturdays, and find that these are among our busiest
times. We also accept all major credit cards, and we provide
a printout of the order for patients for insurance reimbursement.
6. Hire the right opticians
No matter how many strategies you use to get patients to
try your optical, it's all for naught if your optician turns
patients off. We try hard to hire optical employees who are
outgoing, honest, and who have a sense of humor. Most of all,
though, we want competent, experienced people. Everybody working
in our optical shop at one time or another managed a chain
optical. That said, it's important to state that all our employees
understand and embrace the idea of professionalism before
profits. We do not stress incentives to our opticians for
selling options and accessories. Rather, we tell them their
job is simply to provide the best care for our patients.
7. Take care of your customers
The most important reason patients come back to our practice
and our optical again and again is our ability to solve problems
in-house without getting the patient caught in a "tug
of war" as it were. We encourage every patient to return
if there is any problem with his spectacles, and patients
occasionally take us up on this offer. Most often it is because
they are displeased with some aspect of the vision provided
by their glasses. Some establishments are unsympathetic to
such complaints; they tell them that the problem is that the
glasses just take "some getting used to." Our policy
is completely the opposite. When a patient who is unhappy
with his glasses returns, we re-examine him and if necessary,
remake the glasses for free. This policy loses us money in
the short run, but we gain in the long run. Such patients
become die-hard repeat customers and tell their friends. Once,
a patient returned asking if he could switch frames. Although
the spectacles worked perfectly, on second thought, he was
disappointed in their appearance. We remade the glasses with
the new frames, free of charge, and he became a patient for
life. We thought it was a good deal, too. The last thing we
want is for him to tell his friends and co-workers that he
bought his "ugly" frames from us. We also encourage
patients to return for routine service if they require new
nose pads, screws, or if their glasses fall out of adjustment.
Additionally, our optical shop provides a one-year breakage
warranty on children's frames.
8. Make it a spectacle
We do not believe spectacles are inconsequential. They are
not only an important prostheses, but also a constant physical
reminder of the eye doctor's care. We serve our patients and
practice best when we are the providers of this important
service. Ophthalmologists who have or are thinking about starting
up their own optical should embrace this eye-care service
just as they do traditional comprehensive eye-care services.
Both Dr. Prince and Dr. Miller are comprehensive ophthalmologists
at Tri County Eye Physicians and Surgeons, PC. Dr. Prince
joined the practice in 1987 and is a clinical assistant professor
of ophthalmology at the University of Pennsylvania School
of Medicine. Dr. Miller, as the senior managing physician
of the practice, oversees daily operations and long-range
strategic planning.
1(Reprinted from the January 1999 edition of Review of Ophthalmology;
www.revophth.com/1999/january_articles/rpa9f2dispensing.html)
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