Episodes

Charge What You're Worth! - E67 Highlights from this episode: Charge What You're Worth (00:35) Office Talk: Dropping a Frame Line, Chats with Ultimate O.D.'s (12:31) Think about it: your prices dictate the kind of person that will pay it. Right? When I started my practice, I thought my edge was going to be charging the lowest price for my exam. As it turned out, I learned a valuable lesson about setting prices and expectations to get the kind of patient you want to build your practice on! (00:35...

Ultimate O.D. Nugget - Recalls on Steroids Welcome back to our Ultimate O.D. Nuggets! These are quick mini-episodes where we bring you a valuable pearl that you can use to start your week out right. In this week's nugget it's all about how to communicate your message effectively to patients and keep your practice top of mind for when they need you (aka Recalls on Steroids). Enjoy! Join in the fun and subscribe to the podcast to keep up with all the great content coming down the pipe! For exclusi...

Top 5 Tips to Connect With Your Patients - E66 Highlights from this episode: Top Tips to Connect With Your Patients (00:36) Office Talk: Sustainability, MCO Student Project, & Setting Expectations (12:13) In our profession, we are constantly creating and building relationships (or we should be). You know those people who are just amazing at connecting with others and make you feel like you're the only one in the room? You can do that too! In fact, you NEED to be doing that with your patients. Yo...

Ultimate O.D. Nugget - What Are You Worth? Welcome back to our Ultimate O.D. Nuggets! These are quick mini-episodes where we bring you a valuable pearl that you can use to start your week out right. In this week's nugget it's all about what you are worth. What do you charge for your services? Whatever price you set will convey a certain attitude and attract a certain type of person. Enjoy! Join in the fun and subscribe to the podcast to keep up with all the great content coming down the pipe! Fo...

Case Studies on Customer Service - E65 Highlights from this episode: Case Studies on Customer Service (00:40) Office Talk: Staffing & Intern Update (21:05) Don't you ever wonder if other practitioners have the same experiences as you? And, do you sometimes wonder how in the world they handle them? In today's Run Down, I give you 4 situations from just the past few weeks that I've had in my practice, and how I dealt with them. Sometimes it's nice to just know you're not alone with some of this st...

Ultimate O.D. Nugget - What You Talk About, You Get Welcome back to our Ultimate O.D. Nuggets! These are quick mini-episodes where we bring you a valuable pearl that you can use to start your week out right. In this week's nugget it's all about what you talk about in an appointment. Believe it or not, it makes a difference and people actually listen more than you think. See how the power of suggestion can make a difference in your practice. Enjoy! Join in the fun and subscribe to the podcast to ...

3 Keys to Being a Successful Leader in Your Practice - E64 Highlights from this episode: 3 Keys to Being a Successful Leader in Your Practice (00:39) Office Talk: Referrals, Cohesive Team, & Office Causes (15:40) If you want a successful, thriving practice, you have to do what it takes to create such a thing! There are 3 basic things I think good practice leadership boils down to and I list them all out in this episode and share how I put these things into practice in my own office. Let's get ou...

Ultimate O.D. Nugget - Marketing Welcome back to our Ultimate O.D. Nuggets! These are quick mini-episodes where we bring you a valuable pearl that you can use to start your week out right. In this week's nugget it's all about marketing. Your goal is to grow your practice, so what does that mean in regards to marketing and the service you provide? Enjoy! Join in the fun and subscribe to the podcast to keep up with all the great content coming down the pipe! For exclusive content, be sure to regis...

5 Big Picture Things You Can Do to Give a Better Patient Experience - E63 Highlights from this episode: 5 Big Picture Things You Can Do to Give a Better Patient Experience (00:41) Office Talk: Staff Reviews & Office Intern (26:44) There are a million little things we can do to improve the patient experience throughout their visit with us. However, if you don't get the big picture things right first, those little things won't make the difference you need them to. It all starts at the top so I hav...

What Do You Do Here? - E62 Highlights from this episode: What Do You Do Here? (00:48) Office Talk: Finding your sweet spot, Community, etc. (12:16) I'm bringing back a famous John F. Kennedy story to illustrate the bigger vision of what we do every day. You need to know for yourself what your purpose is in your practice, community, staff, etc. Once you have this figured out, you can direct your time and energy to things that actually matter and not waste time with things that don't. (00:48) I ha...

5 Things a Door to Door Salesperson Can Teach You - E61 Highlights from this episode: 5 Things a Door to Door Salesperson Can Teach You (00:37) Office Talk: Sweet Spot, Student Intern, & Community Involvement (13:00) Door to door sales is hard. I would know, that was my summer job at one point in college. I canvased for a roofing company and as crazy and hard as it was, I learned a TON. And, looking back now, I realize there are things that have stuck with me that I continue to use today. So, I ...

What Football Taught Me About Optometry [Holiday Episode]- E60 Highlights from this episode: What Football Taught Me About Optometry (00:42) Office Talk: Scleral Clinic Update, Docs going the extra mile, New Office low down (25:53) You may not be able to tell by looking at me but, I played college football. Football was a huge part of my life for many years and consequently taught me many things and shaped me to be who I am today. Given that this is Labor Day weekend and the "start" of football ...

7 Reasons Your Patients Are Firing You - E59 Highlights from this episode: 7 Reasons Your Patients Are Firing You (00:56) Office Talk: Solution Reach, Patient Communication, & Networking (14:00) In our profession being "fired" by a patient doesn't necessarily mean someone is in our office blowing a gasket on us and storming out. No. For us, it's a quiet "firing". The patient will leave your office and just never come back. In this episode I go over all the reasons why a patient will fire you and...

Step-by-Step Guide to Building Your Organizational Chart - E58 Highlights from this episode: Step-by-Step Guide to Building Your Organizational Chart (00:44) Office Talk: Ruth's Chris & New Schedule (11:28) If you've listened to past episodes, you've heard me mention the importance of having an organizational chart. First, you get the right people on the bus, THEN you need to get them into the right seats! Having an organized structure for your practice will help you become more efficient as wel...

The Curse of Knowledge in Optometry - E57 Highlights from this episode: The Curse of Knowledge in Optometry (00:43) Office Talk: Rebranding my practice, new frame line update (14:04) Not to sound arrogant, but we are pretty smart people as optometrists! It takes a lot of work and a lot of schooling to do what we do and with that, I think we can sometimes forget how it feels to NOT know something about the eye. Welcome to the rest of the world! Something that can make or break your patient's expe...

Optometry's Purple Cow - E56 Highlights from this episode: Optometry's Purple Cow (00:48) Office Talk: Recruiting a Doctor, Ruth's Chris, & Office Updates (15:30) The Purple Cow is a book by Seth Godin and I would highly recommend it! In this episode I apply the concepts in this book regarding marketing to our practices. Listen in and see where you fall in the Innovation Adoption Cycle and how you can use that to make your business better! (00:48) In this week's office talk I talk about my strug...

3 Ways to Grow Your Practice 2X - E55 Highlights from this episode: 3 Ways to Grow Your Practice 2X (00:) Office Talk: Convo with my Mentor (13:41) There are so many little tricks out there claiming to be the "silver bullet" to success. Well, this one my friends just makes sense intuitively. If you have a goal, what is something you can do that may not GUARANTEE you hit it but it will vastly increase your chances and in all reality, it will force you to grow and learn even more than you had thou...

Step-by-Step Guide to Amazing Customer Service: Part 2 - E54 Highlights from this episode: Step-by-Step Guide to Amazing Customer Service: Part 2 (00:42) Office Talk: Managed Care, Practice Purchases, & New Rules (14:37) In this week's episode, we are picking up where we left off last week in our guide to Amazing Customer Service. In part 1 we talked about: analyzing the Rx, knowing the patient's pain points, and style. Today we wrap it up with the last few steps to make that stand-out experienc...

Step-by-Step Guide to Amazing Customer Service: Part 1 - E53 Highlights from this episode: Step-by-Step Guide to Amazing Customer Service: Part 1 (00:43) Office Talk: Growing the Practice & Office Culture (22:59) We talk about this all the time on this podcast and that is the importance of customer service. In this episode I give a step-by-step guide to implementing that in your optical. I'm talking from how to set it up and explain it to your staff to the actual practice of doing it. I had to b...

Are You Meeting Patient Expectations? - E52 Highlights from this episode: Are You Meeting Patient Expectations? (00:54) Office Talk: Blood in the Water & Staff Perks (18:06) What makes a great patient experience? The answer is meeting (or exceeding) the patient's expectations. The first step in this is figuring out what your patients' expectations actually are. You might be doing things that you think far exceed what's expected but the patient views it as a given. This segment is all about how t...

3 Keys to a Successful Optical Patient Experience- E51 Highlights from this episode: 3 Keys to a Successful Optical Patient Experience (00:42) Office Talk: Luxury Frame Lines & Staying Cutting Edge (19:28) In most practices, optical is a huge profit center. Patients will spend more time in optical than with you and since it is such a huge chunk of their time in your office, you need to make sure they are blown away by the service and care they receive there. Not to mention, whatever they come ou...

5 Keys to a Great Office Culture - E50Highlights from this episode:5 Keys to a Great Office Culture (00:38)Office Talk: Recalls, Favorite Tools, & Culture Index (13:07)If you have ever had a GREAT employer, you can probably attest to the fact that it had a great culture. That, my friends, is the secret sauce of an amazing workplace for both the owner/doctor and the rest of the staff. Creating this great culture and then KEEPING it despite the inevitable turnover of staff is crucial. In this...

5 Hats You Need to Wear as a Practice Owner - E49 Highlights from this episode: 5 Hats You Need to Wear as a Practice Owner (00:56) Office Talk: Morning Huddle, New Hire Progress (15:57) As a practice owner, it can be easy to get lost in the weeds and not spend your time and energy on the most productive things. Learning what is worthy of your attention is the first step. It has taken me a decade to figure this out and as my practice grows and changes, I believe these 5 things will continue to h...

4 Keys to Starting an Office - E48 Highlights from this episode: 4 Keys to Starting an Office (00:45) Office Talk: New Office Design, Marketing (15:50) Having started one practice a decade ago and staring down the barrel of opening another one, I am acutely aware of several things that I believe are a top priority to make a successful new office. Some of these I've had to learn the hard way over the years and I will not underestimate their importance again. (00:45) Big things are happening with ...