MBA Intelligence - Bi-weekly information and advice to manage optometric practices from the Management & Business Academy™ (MBA)

Sticky Situations

Dr. Dave Ziegler

A patient asks...

“Why do I need to pay $300 for a pair of glasses when I could buy a pair of ready-to-wear glasses at the drugstore for $20?”

The answer for patients who pose this question about the cost of eyewear may be that they should buy the $20 pair of glasses at the drugstore.

There are some people who function quite well with OTC readers. If the patient is a new presbyope with no significant distance correction, or an advanced presbyope with minimal intermediate demands, the single vision lens may be fine. If they aren't getting asthenopia from lenses that don’t provide high quality optics, they surely aren't going to hurt themselves wearing them.

Many doctors offer a higher quality pre-made reader in their offices just for price-conscious patients. These are priced at $40 to $60 per pair, and many patients buying OTC readers will try this better option. They may see a vision improvement with the better lenses, but more often they are drawn to the improved appearances and fit that these frames offer. A significant segment of the presbyopic market is quite happy and functional in their OTC readers.

Dr. Dave Ziegler, who lectures and publishes regularly, is a member of the MBA Faculty.

Super Service Pearls

Advice from service experts to enhance the patient experience

Engage Patient Emotions, Not Just Intellects

As highly trained medical professionals, optometrists focus on objective measurements and diagnoses of patients’ ocular health. While that is essential to great care, it’s not enough to assure strong patient loyalty or referrals.

That’s because patients take for granted the functional services that eye doctors deliver. Unable to judge the thoroughness of an exam or the accuracy of a diagnosis, patients assume that all eye exams are about the same. They consider the eye exam a commodity available in many places – a necessary, but unmemorable part of a visit to an eye doctor.

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How Does Your Practice Compare?

Marketing Expense Allocation

Typical independent optometric practices spend relatively little for marketing, typically just 2 percent of gross revenue. New practices typically spend about 5 percent of revenue on marketing. In established practices, an average of 27 percent of the marketing budget is spent for recall programs, and 21 percent is spent for internal marketing activities such as brochures, referral programs, open houses and patient mailings. Established practices spend just 18 percent of their marketing budget on media advertising, with newspaper ads accounting for most spending in this category. To attract new patients, new practices spend a somewhat higher share of their marketing budgets on media advertising.

Market Facts

Prescription Eye Wear

Two-Thirds of Eyeglass Wearers Use a Single Pair

According to Vision Watch data for the year ending December 2010, some 67 percent of eyeglasses wearers regularly use a single pair of prescription eyewear. Another 27 percent use two pairs. Older eyeglasses wearers are more likely to use multiple pairs.

Management

Jobson Optical Research reports that independent ECPs perform two-thirds of eye exams in the U.S. Practice Advancement Associates estimate that independents sell half of soft lens units. The difference in independent ECPs’ exam and lens unit shares represents the defection of soft lens patients to other providers. Based on these estimates, the “capture rate” of soft lens purchases by patients of independents is 76 percent. In other words, independents lose nearly one-quarter of their soft lens sales potential to other providers. Independents’ average gross profit margin on soft lens sales is 47 percent – a margin that has improved slightly over the past three years as the mix of lenses sold has slowly shifted to higher margin specialty lenses.

Best Practices of Contact Lens Management

MBA Updates

Upcoming MBA Seminars:

(COPE Approved Lectures)

Southern California College of Optometry:
Fullerton, Ca., August 26
Info: www.scco.edu

MBA: World Class Staffing:
Fort Lauderdale, FL.,
September 16-17 &
Berkeley, Ca.,
October 28-29.
Info: www.primaryeye.net/pio

Vision Expo West:
Las Vegas, September 24-25.
Info: www.visionexpowest.com

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Ask Neil

Dr. Neil Gailmard

A doctor asks...

“What tips to you have for doctors and staff to make patients feel really important to our office?”

There are many great ways, but I will focus on one that speaks volumes. It is the effective use of the patient’s name. Most doctors and staff never think about it, but the use of a patient’s name is very powerful. I discovered long ago that my staff members are extremely good at knowing our patients by name. I can simply describe a patient whom I saw months ago, and they usually know the name.

Dr. Neil Gailmard, who is widely known for his practice management advice, is a member of the MBA faculty.

New...

On MBA-ce.com

New MBA Program on World Class Staffing

A new MBA program on staffing will premier this fall with symposia held in both Florida and California. The program, “Total Practice Success: A Symposium for a World Class Staff,” was created by the Management & Business Academy™ (MBA), sponsored by CIBA VISION and Essilor. The 1.5-day program features lectures by three leading voices in the optometric field, as well as an in-depth workshop on selling that is geared to the entire practice. Participants also will receive a wealth of print and online resources that reflect the unique metrics-based mission of the MBA program.

July 30, 2011