 |
|
|
|
Editor: Neil B. Gailmard, OD, MBA, FAAO → CONTACT
|
|
|
|
The Power of a Busy Practice
|
|
August 27, 2003
|
| Advertisement |
|
As summer wanes, teens and their parents begin thinking about getting ready for the upcoming school year. It’s a great time for Eye Care Professionals (ECPs) to talk about contact lenses with these young patients. While the teens are considering a new wardrobe, they also might be thinking about trying contact lenses or a new eye color. The ease and comfort of ACUVUE® 2 Brand Contact Lenses and ACUVUE® 2 COLOURS ™ Brand Contact Lenses make them great choices for teen wearers – and their parents. |
|
Did you ever go into a restaurant around lunchtime and find it nearly empty? I don't know about you, but I would wonder what is wrong with the place. Conversely, when I see a restaurant with lots of customers, I'm immediately impressed and curious. If I'm seated quickly, receive great service, and the food is good, the restaurant has a customer for life. I'm very likely to return often and to tell others.
So it is with an optometric practice. There is real practice-building power in a busy office. Patients form impressions of your practice based on what they see during their visit. Since they can't understand all the technical aspects of optometry, they judge it by the things they do understand. If patients see several other patients coming and going, they assume this obviously successful practice must be doing something right. Business begets more business. If patients come to your office and rarely see other patients, however, it may actually create a negative impression.
But how do you get the business in the first place? What if you are not all that busy? I would still design the practice as if it were busy. I would use compression to see whatever patient volume I had in a shorter period of time. Rather than spread a small number of patients throughout a whole week, I'd see them in 2 or 3 days, delegating some tasks to staff and using automated instrumentation. Compression does two good things for the practice: (1) it makes the practice appear busier than it really is, which is good for the practice image, and (2) it allows the doctor to utilize the remaining days of the week when patients are not scheduled to work on marketing, staff training and management the practice.
|
Best wishes for continued success,
Neil B. Gailmard, OD, MBA, FAAO
Editor, Optometric Management Tip of the Week
|
|
Dr. Gailmard's new book, Practice Management in Optometry: A Blueprint for Success Based on the Optometric Management Tip of the Week, is now available on Amazon.
|
|
A Proud Supporter of
|
|
Send questions and comments to neil@gailmard.com.
Dr. Gailmard offers consulting services to eye care professionals through IDOC; information is available at idoc.net.
Please Note: The views expressed in Management Tip of the Week do not necessarily reflect those of the sponsor.
Published by PentaVision LLC Copyright © 2002 - 2017 PentaVision LLC. All Rights Reserved.
|
|
