3 Ways to Wow Your Patients After Giving a 5 Star Exam - E10
Let's face it, we spend countless hours and dollars (marketing, hiring staff, buying equipment, etc.) in getting patients into the office and giving them a 5 star experience. We have studied for years and continue with the education process long after we officially become doctors to give the best possible eye exams we can. It would be easy to say that after the exam we have done our part and the work is done. I am going to challenge you with 3 ways to up your game and give your patients/customers that same amazing experience after they leave your exam room.
Handoff
I do not care if you call the optician to your exam room or if you walk the patient to the optical after the exam, but you HAVE to do a handoff. I personally take the time to walk them to optical and specifically assign an optician to the patient. At this point I 1) build up my staff. I will say something like “Jill is going to take over at this point, she is way better at style than me and has all the details of your insurance.” This gives them credibility and will help the patient correlate your expertise with them. 2) Guide the optician/patient. I then reiterate what I discussed with the patient in the exam room to the optician in front of both people. I.e “Sam spends about 8 hours a day on the computer. Make sure you get him the non-glare coating and discuss the blue light filter and anti-fatigue lenses.” This will give your optician power when going over lens options and make the patient aware you want those options to solve his problems he told you about. 3) Remove Barriers. The biggest barrier to purchasing is the perception of things being “expensive”. We commonly hear “what does my insurance cover?”. We defuse that comment by having “value” frames (designated with colored tags) close together that are already priced with their allowance. We will say orange tag frames are covered, yellow tag frames are $5 and red tags are $15 after your insurance. Additionally, our average frame is around $200, and after your insurance, you would pay $40. This will get their guard down and let them buy based on what they like vs the fear of spending too much.
Dispensing
After they purchase their glasses, they usually have to wait around a week to get their new eyewear. You do realize they are spending $300-$700 and have nothing to show for it when they leave. In fact, they often comment that they have forgotten what their frame even looks like! You need to make their last interaction they have with you memorable because if you did your job, you probably will not see them again for a year. We make sure: 1) we do not merely hand them a pair of glasses in a baggie and send them on their way. We display the frames and case on a jewelry dispensing tray. We also like to add a branded cleaning cloth and cleaning solution that we refill free of charge whenever they bring it in. 2) The person dispensing is always excited and makes sure to tell the person how much they love the frame they picked out to reiterate that they made a great decision and they turned out great. The point is to have them leave happy and feeling good about their purchase.
Follow-up
If that is not enough, we always call every patient 3 days after they pick up their glasses. We want to ask them if they have any questions about their new glasses. You would be surprised how many little things come up. It's good for us to let them know a simple adjustment can stop the glasses from slipping down or remind them how to use their very first PAL. If there are any issues with vision I always have the staff put them on my schedule and 9/10 times I just let them know what they are experiencing is completely normal. That goes a long way coming from the doctor. Do not be the office that gives them their glasses, sends them on their way, and never sees them again because they had an issue that you could have fixed but they never told you about it!
There you have it my friends. Take these 3 easy steps TODAY and watch how much better your relationship is with your patients. And trust me, you'll be able to tell because they will keep coming back!
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