of our family. In these hard economic times, our boss wants to tap into our patients loyalty by making them feel like they are part of our optical family. The idea sounds good but having a hard time cominng up with ideas to implement our ideals. I appreciate your advice.
Newsletters, either snail mail or email.
- Regular inventations in for free fittings, glasses cleaning, or even just coffee.Originally Posted by hotrod129
- Taking the extra time to talk to them about non-business related things
- Make them feel welcomed. Thing about how you treat company at your house
- Good warranty to make them feel safe
If you rely upon patient loyalty to build your practice you will be skating on thin ice. The exams go where the insurance is and the product goes to the lowest price. While you may find exceptions to this you had better not count on the "loyal" customer to feed the bull dog.
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Last edited by obxeyeguy; 12-29-2008 at 07:37 AM.
How long has this practice been in existence? Are you trying to put into place something that doesn't just happen naturally? A staff that has an easy way with people, the smell of fresh brewed coffee, free adjustments and small repairs. A newsletter is a great idea but you have to decide if it's worth the postage. E-mail maybe but do people really read it? A thank-you card or a follow up phone call a week after the patient picks up their glasses is always a nice touch. It takes years for a practice to become known as "the friendly place to go" but it does work. We get a lot of new patients simply by word of mouth "you have to go there, they are so nice and helpful". Be the one who goes out of they way to help. Customer service rules in this economy.
all these are good suggestions. Giving patients the feeling that they are like family is the best way your practice can differentiate yourself from your competitors. I like to give patients one more thing than what they are expecting: can be as simple as replacing their worn nose pads at n/c when adjusting their glasses, without being asked to, or to providing them with valuable information on how to care for their eyewear. It doesn't take much effort to treat people the way you would like to be treated. Once you form good habits, it comes naturally.
I have found the best way to make our patients feel like they belong is something very easy. Let each patient know that your practice is a large provider of old glasses to the Lion's Club. Of course have the box out where they can see it. It is incredible the amount of people that just have old glasses as dust catchers at home. They feel so good about the whole experience in others getting some use out of something that they have voluntarily given of themselves. It seems so trite, but I view it as the largest, least expensive way of promoting your practice in a positive, sharing and caring manner. After all, most of us just want to feel as if we are a value in life, and this foots the bill for the majority of our patients.
The best front desk person I ever had was able to remember patient names from year to year. All they had to do was come in one time and from that time forward she knew them by name. She even remembered their family members names if they were mentioned. Every time they came in she would greet them with their name and something from the conversation that they had the last time they were in. Getting someone who has this skill is very rare. If you ever get one make sure you do everything you can to keep them. They will make your patients fell like family.
At one practice I worked in we organized a "patient appreciation day." We had the Dr's dressed in grass skirts and grilling hot dogs and we had a couple of vendors donate door prizes/cash for food. It was a huge success we had people sign up over about a 3 month period while we planned it so that they would be expecting the invite. Then we pulled pt's we had not seen in a while and sent them invites too. We did get 2 reps to come that day as a small trunk show and sold several pr's of glasses/sunglasses but mainly it was just a thank you to our patients. Our overall cost was low but we had over 250 people come by for the "open house" and from what I understand several patients still ask about it and when they are going to do it again.
drs dressed in grass skirts, hmmmmmmmmm... I would like to see that! Any pictures?
Yea, me too. Hard to picture some of our docs in grass skirts.It would be cool to hang in the breakroom though.
Family members want discounts, free merchandise and service after and before hours. Family feels that they can use and abuse you, say and do anything they like and you still have to love them. The family God gives you is more than enough.
If you are fool enough to treat them like family in turn (ask for favors an the like) they may oblige once but they will find somewhere else to do business.
Keep the customers at arm's length.
Chip
Last edited by chip anderson; 01-06-2009 at 09:54 PM. Reason: More "wisdom" to impart.
Get a hand mirror and practice your 'sincerity' look... whether you mean it or not.:D;)
... so when they come back in a year later you can greet them by name at the door. It works wonders.
We all try to use a patients name 10 times during their visit which helps us remember it. With 5000 patients we are not perfect but between the 5 of us when someone walks in we know their name more than 80% of the time.
We build on that with getting to know our patients personally, where they went to college, vacations etc, and we leave notes in their computer file to refresh our memory. We are still up 7% over last year despite the economy and we credit our patient relationship with most of it.
Sharpstick
I have an OD customer that when you go to his office, more likely than not he will be in the patient waiting area escorting a patient out or greeting everyone in there. I think he spends more time there than the exam room. He has the busiest two OD practice you have ever seen. The thing is, you can't manufacture something like this. He is genuinely a great guy that cares deeply about his patients and it is reflected in his success. Like all sucessful practices, it starts with the doc! His personality is reflected by his staff as well. Its contagious.
For those of us that don't have a mind like a Farley File the newer address books and E. Mail address books have space for pictures. Could help with those of us that have name/face recognition problems. I like many others I know have to have a chart in hand to know who we are seeing. My wife used to think I was either the rudest man in town or I had a store house of "other women" in town because whenever we went out all these women would come up and I wouldn't introduce her. In truth I couldn't remember the patient's names, could probably tell you everything I did for thier contacts over 20 years, but couldn't remember thier names (still can't). Wife still thinks I am the rudest man alive but for other reasons now.
Chip
Here is another tip. Not necessary aimed at making patients happy, but at improving your relationship with them.
Okay, so we have to put our consumer behaviour caps on. I am sure most of us feel that when a customer comes in, we give them something special. Our courtesy and know-how makes the customer feel a part of the store. But how many actually feel this way? Are we really talking about the majority here or are we just thinking of the feel special ones that we love?
Think about the person who just comes in for readers or distance glasses for driving. How much time do they spend in your practice? Maybe not a lot. I bet the interaction is minimal too. By the time they leave, you would not have enough time to show them that you are special. Two years later, where do they go? Maybe your store, but again, maybe somewhere else. There is little reason for them to return (not really any reason driving them away either). In many cases, they forget where they made the original purchase from.
This means it is time to build that awareness. Not only get them to think about you, but when they think about glasses, you are the first place to pop up. So now, it is time to have activities to encourage them to come back and see you several times within the next two years.
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