Thank you letter

[kcount]

Does anyone send a thank you letter after patients pick up their products? I'm working on one and would love a sample to use as springboard.
KC

[braheem24]

Thanks for not cluttering our office by picking up your ****e.

Sincerely,

Dr. Jackass

[bigeyejim]

I think you would shock your customers/patients with a follow up call or letter, because no one does it. I would keep it short and sweet, and it should just blow them away.

Good luck!:cheers:

[Fezz]

Short, sweet, and......handwritten!*



*{Unless you are like me and write like a Neanderthal!}

[Johns]

Regardless of what you write, be consistent, and send it one to everyone. It can really open up a can of worm if you send one, and their mother didn't get one.

Also, include a gift card for them to give to a friend!:cheers:

[kcount]

Also, include a gift card for them to give to a friend!:cheers:

Great Idea!

[Fezz]

Great Idea!

He is full of them!

You should see what gems he shares over in the Pro Forum (paid subscription area of Optiboard)!

[kcount]

He is full of them!

You should see what gems he shares over in the Pro Forum (paid subscription area of Optiboard)!

I need to get over there.

[Crazy-bout-Optics]

At an office I worked at we sent them out to those that spent over $500. Why $500 I don't know, as it is what I was told we just do, Managers thing, not mine. Anyway, we just wrote what we wanted to, but generally I would write something along the lines of:

"Jenny, hope you are enjoy your new Prada glasses. Feel free to stop by for an adjustment or just to say Hi."

Kinda simple and to the point. A boss would want us to invite them in to "Check out new product that we will be getting in" but I think that trying to sell them in a Thank You note was kinda tacky. However I do think it is important to somehow invite them back in to the shop.

My 2 cents for the day :)

[snowmonster]

Thanks for not cluttering our office by picking up your ****e.

Sincerely,

Dr. Jackass

How did you know my office already sends those out???

[cocoisland58]

We once had pre-printed thank you cards that we could sign and add a note if we wished. I never thought it made a difference, one would think the sincere thankyou we give them verbally would be enough but if something seems to be working then by all means use it.

[Johns]

... one would think the sincere thankyou we give them verbally would be enough ...

In a perfect world...

[nooksak]

We do a 5 day call back after they pick up their glasses.....we had been sending letters along the lines of "Thanks for coming in, I really enjoyed working with you! If you need any adjustments or have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me or stop in...." did not seem to help....but who knows...GL!

Mike

[Fezz]

...." did not seem to help....but who knows...GL!

Mike

It did not seem to help with what?

[nooksak]

lol i should not be allowed on the computer before caffeine....did not seem to help with bring back business. Though what has been working is telling Pt's to come back in 3-4 months for a "tune up"...this keeps them coming in the door and when its time for their next pair it seems only natural to come back to us.

Mike

[scriptfiller]

Our O.D. office sends hand signed thank you letters to every pat. seen.

[Now I See]

I do a follow-up call about 1 wk or so after they pick up the specs. Just to see how everything is doing and make sure their glasses are as expected. It seems to go over well, people tell me they appreciate the call and, thankfully, there have been times when a problem has come up, but they weren't going to call me...and since I called, they came in and we were able to resolve issues. I also do a thank you note, with a small $'s off coupon attached, to anyone who refers a patient to me. I've seen plenty of those come back.

[Jana Lewis]

We give movie tickets with a nice hand written note thanking them for their purchase. Each optician writes their own and signs their name to it.

[braheem24]

how did you know my office already sends those out???

:p

[rbaker]

Does anyone send a thank you letter after patients pick up their products? I'm working on one and would love a sample to use as springboard.
KC

A thank you note is just a common courtesy (something that is sadly missing these days.) It need not be anything fancy but certainly should be personalized and hand written.

Think on this:

Years ago I worked with a practice in a downtown area just across the street from the home office of a major insurance company with 2500 employees. As the traditional retail shopping patterns were changing from "downtown" to the "mall" we found ourselves seeing a larger percentage of downtown office workers. We revamped our hours to meet the needs of the 9 to 5 Monday through Friday office worker and really concentrated on this as our core business. No more nights or weekends but we began booking at 7:30AM and booked our last exam at 6:00PM. We avoided taking lunch between 11;30 and 1:30 as this was a very convenient time to see our trade. We also gave preferential booking to these employees.

In order to optimize our position as the eye care provider of choice for this select group of customers we began sending a thank you note to everyone who receiver an eye exam, glasses or contacts. This seemed to provide a benefit to our business but we wanted to have some hard facts to back up this theory. We are taught in management schools that we must have a closed loop to effectively manage so the question was, how do you prove that thank you notes increase business and if so by how much.

We cleverly installed a new phone line which we referred to as our "inside line" and printed it on the thank you notes. We therefore had some means to track the efficacy of this marketing tool.

It soon became apparent that our thank you cards were having a positive impact on business. That being the case, why not send a birthday card also. Bingo, business grows. It also results in customers calling us to thank us for the nice card. Bear in mind, these two marketing pieces do not contain and coupons, discounts or any other marketing crap. They are the same nice cards with the same personal message that you would send to granny.

We ultimately found the return on this modest investment in time and labor yielded a remarkable return. When you hit upon something that works you push it too the limits. We purchased a ton of imprinted coffee mugs with our logo and of course that all important "Inside Line" phone number and delivered the thank you notes to the mail room in the cups. Again, big increase in business.

Coincident with this marketing plan we were able to approach the insurance companies human resources department who gave us free ad space in their company newspaper. Quite a number of years later after I had left the organization the real value of this relationship with the insurance company and its employees bore significant fruit. As I understand they were approached by someone selling an eyecare plan.

With all the competition out there you have to distinguish yourself from all the rest. Try saying Thank You!

[braheem24]

wonderful post rbaker,



I especially liked the part where you stated your thoughts in a clear concise manner without the need to call someone a liberal or conservative :D




we love u man :cheers:

[Bowmanconsult]

KC,

I applaud you (and all the others here) for doing this simple, but effective marketing strategy.

A phone call 'Thank You' doesn't work very well these days because people are so busy, and if you call them at work, you may catch them in the middle of a presentation or a project, and if you call them at home, you may be thought of as a tele-marketer. Postcards hands-down work the best, and there's no need for a sealed letter to cover any HIPAA issues because you're not mentioning any certain medical condition...this is just a simple 'Thank You'.

The timing of these postcards are pretty important, and I have provided three different ones here...one for the examination-only patient, and for an eyewear patient, and one for your contact lens patients (keep in mind that your contact lens patients should also be eyewear patients if done correctly, but that's another topic for another day).

The examination cards can go out immediately after the examination, the contact lens cards should go out after their first contact lens check, and the eyewear ones go out one week after the dispense of the eyewear UNLESS it's a progressive lens patient, and with that I recommend 3 weeks out.

A great way to monitor this is to make the Thank You card on the day of visit, and right where the stamp goes, you can write in the date you feel the card should go out. When that day comes, the stamp covers the written date, the card gets sent, and the patient is 'none the wiser'.

Keep in mind that most people are considered 'passive', and if they have a complaint, they may simple decide not to do business with you again instead of coming in and confronting you with an issue. The cards prompt the patient to notify you if an issue should arise so you can service them, thus avoiding the risk of losing the patient.

For those of you NOT doing this, I strongly recommend implementing it. Studies show that it doesn't have to be handwritten to be effective, and it doesn't need to be a superior quality (like a wedding invitation) to make it effective either.

You'll also notice on the following samples that it prompts the patients to refer others to you. Gotta love that!

You were looking for some wording, well here goes;

Eyewear;

THANK YOU !
We understand you have a choice in eyecare providers,
and we appreciate your trust in us!

Our mission has always been to exceed expectations,
and we know the only way to receive future referrals
from our patients is to continue to strive for this.

If you ever have any questions or concerns about your new
eyewear, please don’t hesitate to give us a call at 123-4567.

Thank you again for your trust in us.

The doctor(s) and staff at (practice name). (Logo)

Contact lenses;

THANK YOU !
We understand you have a choice in eyecare providers,
and we appreciate your trust in us!

Our mission has always been to exceed expectations,
and we know the only way to receive future referrals
from our patients is to continue to strive for this.

If you ever have any questions or concerns about your new
contact lenses, please don’t hesitate to give us a call at 123-4567.

Thank you again for your trust in us.

The doctor(s) and staff at (practice name). (Logo)

And examinations only;

THANK YOU !
We understand you have a choice in eyecare providers,
and we appreciate your trust in us!

Our mission has always been to exceed expectations,
and we know the only way to receive future referrals
from our patients is to continue to strive for this.

If you ever have any questions or concerns about your eye health examination, please don’t hesitate to give us a call at 123-4567.

Thank you again for your trust in us.

The doctor(s) and staff at (practice name). (Logo)

OK...there's my 2-cents

Tom Bowman
Practice Management Consultant
PracticeMentors@Gmail.com

[HarryChiling]

Very classy Mr. Bowman.

[sharpstick777]

Our O.D. office sends hand signed thank you letters to every pat. seen.

This is a great way to build business, you won't believe the number of referals you will get.

[kcount]

So this is what I came up with. Felt I should share the resulting letter.

With this is added a business card offering $50.00 off a complete pair of glasses.

Thanks, for the help and suggestions!

One more reason to support Optiboard. Its a great place to spitball ideas and share knowledge.

KC