CLINICAL

  optical

Counting Down Your Career

To increase revenue in 2015, create a “bucket list”

DAVE ZIEGLER, O.D.

Whether you’re a new graduate with your whole career in front of you or nearing retirement, you only have a fixed number of years left to be an optometrist. Year-end goals can be meaningful when you start counting the number of years you have left in practice instead of the number of years you have practiced.

When you start to think like that, your “bucket list” for 2015 becomes easier to write. Here are a few goals to consider that will make your optical revenue grow.

1 Increase revenue per patient

There is no better way to increase revenue per patient than lens packages. The best way to do this is to bundle lens options to streamline the presentation of lenses to patients. The good-better-best model works well, and you can decide what each lens package includes depending on what you like to prescribe.

For example, your top-tier package might be a personalized free-form digital progressive lens in a high-index photochromic material with a hydrophobic AR coating that screens out high-energy blue light. Your other packages will step down from there.

2 Decrease your COGS

Even when revenues are flat, you can increase profit by decreasing your expenses. There are many different price lists at the lab, and you need to make sure you are getting the best price that you can. This may mean joining affiliations that give you better buying power. Or it could mean reducing the number of frame vendors you use to leverage better discounts by doing more business with fewer companies. Lastly, look at the way you order frames to reduce your shipping costs, which can be as much at 2.5% of your frame lab bill.

3 Increase capture rate

Another way to increase revenue is to keep patients in your practice for the purchase of their glasses. This starts by making personalized recommendations in the exam room and handing off the patient to the optical staff, who will reinforce your message.

4 Learn about frame board management

Most O.D.s don’t know their most popular frame, their frame turn rate, the price range of their frame selection, how many frames they have in back stock and whether there is frame style overlap within different frame brands.

Evaluate your frame inventory to learn about how to maximize this crucial profit center for your practice. Find out what the top sellers are for each frame vendor, and carry multiple colors within those styles. Most offices offer more frame styles than needed. Ask each staff what their top 10 favorite frames are for each brand, and cross-reference that with the vendors’ top 10 sellers. This way you can streamline your ordering and even bring in new frame lines when your inventory isn’t so deep in each brand.

Develop an action plan

As the leader, it’s up to you to create an action plan to improve in these areas. Move quickly and decisively, and don’t overanalyze things. Few companies change as fast as Facebook does. They have two mottos: “Move fast and break things” and “Done is better than perfect.” Write those words at the top of your 2015 goals. OM

DR. ZIEGLER IS A SENIOR PARTNER IN A GROUP PRIVATE PRACTICE IN MILWAUKEE, WISC., AND A FELLOW OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY OF OPTOMETRY. E-MAIL HIM AT DAVEAZIEGLER@GMAIL.COM, OR SEND COMMENTS TO OPTOMETRICMANAGEMENT@GMAIL.COM.