Does anyone do this versus calling/texting them when the eyeglasses are ready? How does it work out, any issues?
Does anyone do this versus calling/texting them when the eyeglasses are ready? How does it work out, any issues?
Originally Posted by Happylady
Sounds like a disaster. You don't get to delight the patient whose glasses come in before promise with an early call; you have to call and reschedule with the patient whose glasses are late.... mess.
We used to do appointments for pickup briefly at a Lux brand I worked at for awhile, but the appointment wasn't set until the notification call.
We just started doing it and other than not having to call patients I can see possible problems with it.
What if the person comes in for their appointment and all the opticians are busy? What if the glasses don't come in on time and the patient isn't notified and comes in? Of course the opticians should watch for this but I bet it will happen once in a while. How many patients will forget their appointment?
And you are right about delighting patients with an early call!
It seems like a headache for both you and clients. I'd hate to have to reschedule an appointment because their job is taking a little longer than expected. We just give them an estimated time frame. Call them when the job is finished and let them know they can come in at their convenience but for the love of god not 2 minutes before we close.
I did this for a little bit. It was difficult to make sure you had an optician that was free for the patient that had an appointment. The main idea was to reduce traffic jams in dispensing. Sometimes we had everyone pick up at once and this was designed to spread out the pickups. It never really worked well.
I ask my clients to call me at or after the designated time of completion to arrange an appointment for dispense.
All service, except for emergencies, is by appointment.
Science is a way of trying not to fool yourself. - Richard P. Feynman
Experience is the hardest teacher. She gives the test before the lesson.
We're all appointment, too, even the optical to the degree it can be.
It has its advantages. Nobody calling on the phone:
<brrinnng> "Are my glasses in, yet?"
"No."
<brrinnng> "Are they in, now?"
"No."
<brrinnng> "Hey, just how much longer is it going to be?"
"It's only been two days. We'll call you."
The down side is that you have to track jobs' process. That requires communication with the labs via fax, DVI, whatever, on the due date (a day before your dispense is scheduled). Not a bad thing, overall, though, to stay on top of jobs.
If the job is late, or fails QC, or frame's on backorder, etc., you have to reappoint.
I like my method...your glasses are ready you may come in at your convenience to pick them up.
Appointments? Really? Ya'll make this way too difficult.
When you preappoint glasses pickups, you do need to put the appointment out far enough that the glasses will be ready 95%+ of the time.
I noticed today that a pair was ready that the optician had preappoint for 8 days from now! I'm sure that's patient would love a call.
I inform the patient that we will notify them when their eyewear is available, and schedule only after they have been notified. Some of our patients will require additional time or appointments after business hours and I set appointment times for them.
I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it. Mark Twain
Our policy is: No appointments, come in at your earliest convenience during store hours. When I was a lab manager, I had one account that went by appointments. They must have always made pick up appointments too early, because they were constantly calling the lab desperate for orders to be ready. And our turn around for them was very good. We even had a delivery driver going there 2x a day. It seemed a lot more stressful in that office with the appointments.
The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten.
Just notify the customer that there order is ready and that they can come in at their convenience. Appointments are a hassle for both the business and the customer.
We call and notify the patient when their order(s) are in and ready for pickup. We also give them our hours that we are open so they are aware when we are open for business. Unless the patient requests a certain optician to dispense their orders, the next available optician does the dispense.
Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity
Accept for specials, most are ready in about 8 calendar days. I instruct my clients to call in 9 days. If I set up an appointment in advance, I'll note the appointment with 'confirm ready'. If the eyeglasses are not in my hands and inspected a day before the appointment due to unforeseen circumstances, I call the client imforming them of the delay.
If anything, to confirm that we are miracle workers. Seriously, that might have been due to vacation, etc., which can also be noted on the appointment book/calendar.I noticed today that a pair was ready that the optician had preappoint for 8 days from now! I'm sure that's patient would love a call.
Science is a way of trying not to fool yourself. - Richard P. Feynman
Experience is the hardest teacher. She gives the test before the lesson.
I think in pure opticals, appointing could be counter-intuitive. In a clinic with an optical, it does work well to pre-appoint. My optician works on a schedule so she has time right after each examination to do glasses selection. We can't have people dropping in for dispenses during this time. (Of course we'll get the occasional outside Rx at the "wrong time", or we'll have a walk-in adjustment or repair, but this helps control things.)
we do not require a appointment for pick up, Patient comes in anytime we are open unless more then 3 pairs or per person or a whole family come in. keeps it simple, has worked well for us.
Picture this scene, in the old West. A well known gun fighter, Doc Koliday, is sitting at a card table playing high stakes, go fish. A man walks into the card room and calls out, Koliday, " you and me, Koliday, high noon" Well, ole Doc has already been called out at high noon 15. No self respecting gun fighter is going to be called out twice in a hour. So he tells the man, he'll have to schedule with the man behind the bar. The lesson is that, Doc, understood that scheduling gun fights eliminated the possibility of pell mell running rapid on the streets of the old West.
I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it. Mark Twain
If you can assure me that I will be seen promptly (+or - 5 minutes) at 2:00 PM on Wednesday an appointment might work for me. However, if something unexpected come up in my busy schedule I might just not show up. Now, we have to play phone tag and try to set up another no-show appointment and on and on. I don't need the hassle and will seek out another provider. Its bad enough to have to cool your heels for a half hour waiting for an exam.
While I realize that it is all about you, do try to make some accommodation for the customer. You could also consider adjusting your staffing levels in order to provide good customer service. Cripes, opticians work real cheap and are a dime a dozen.
That's the idea.
We call that a 'no-show' in the biz. The rest of the world calls it rudeness. Do it a couple times and you get fired.However, if something unexpected come up in my busy schedule I might just not show up.
Ahh, you must like drive-through banking.Now, we have to play phone tag and try to set up another no-show appointment and on and on. I don't need the hassle and will seek out another provider. Its bad enough to have to cool your heels for a half hour waiting for an exam.
You're fired.While I realize that it is all about you, do try to make some accommodation for the customer. You could also consider adjusting your staffing levels in order to provide good customer service.
Cripes, opticians work real cheap and are a dime a dozen.
Science is a way of trying not to fool yourself. - Richard P. Feynman
Experience is the hardest teacher. She gives the test before the lesson.
Yeah!
You are being a Dick.
Customer is notified by text message, comes in and takes a queuing number, will be serviced shortly.
We are a somewhat rural practice. Its not all that uncommon for us to get calls saying they were in our area and if their glasses are ready. For these patients driving in an hour or more, I would want to save them a trip if possible.
I do explain that if they drop in during busy doctor times we may not be able to provide the level of care or personalized attention we would prefer. However we are always more than happy to work with them at their convienence if they will be patient with us.
Seems to work well.
Mr Assumption, it is for the benefit of the patient, period. The bottom line is that some patients require uninterrupted one-on-one time with us, dime a dozen opticians. I have to trouble shoot my Dr's Rx's that are done outside of our clinic, that requires trialing framing and an appointment. It's rare that our patients have cool their heels for half an hour, because we require an appointment. I have more to add but I've a patient scheduled to see me, because they have an appointment.
I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it. Mark Twain
I do pre-appoint every patient I can. We are not a drive-thru pharmacy, your custom made eyewear is not stapled in a paper bag with your name on it, ready to be handed out a window. If they really just want to pick up their glasses, sure they can do that any time if they choose. However, wouldn't you prefer to schedule a professional fitting with an optician? Yes it's inconvenient for patient's to have to schedule an appointment to walk in and pick up their stuff and leave. I wouldn't schedule anyone to pick up contacts, for example, because that really is just the drive-thru pharmacy. But I do not schedule to "pick up glasses", I schedule a professional service appointment. Plumbers schedule appointments to snake your toilet for $99. Are optical professionals who have, over a week's time, designed, made, and prepared to fit a $500+ medical device not worthy of at least a mutually agreed upon meeting time?
My patients seem to actually enjoy when I ask for a follow up appointment to fit their eyewear. "Mrs. B, I would like two weeks to custom make your eyewear. May I schedule a follow-up with you for that time? I will have your eyewear ready that day, and at that time I will fit and adjust you eyewear and ensure everything looks and feels excellent." If you are polite and professional, 90% of the time they whip out their smartphone and ask "what time is good for you?".
If they ask if they have to schedule now, of course not, when the eyewear is complete in two weeks I will call them and schedule the fitting then. If they complain about scheduling at all, I explain the appointment is for their convenience to guarantee the eyewear is perfectly prepared and an optician is ready to meet with them and perform a fitting. I do not want them to have to wait on us, I would like to wait on them. If they walk in unscheduled my opticians and I will almost certainly be meeting with scheduled patients (post-exams and dispenses) and they would have to wait. Even after all that some don't schedule, but when they come in to see me without an appointment they are always very understanding about waiting on me, and even apologetic for dropping in. I still help them quickly and professionally, and they appreciate our time even more then.
The benefits of pre-appointing for optical is it removes uncertainty for both us and patients about when and how long for their eyewear. They don't need to call to check (of course some do), we don't need to call to notify, I know exactly when I need pre-appointed jobs completed rather than every job being on a soon-as-it's-done timeline, I allow enough time that almost every job makes it by the appointment time (even enough time for a delay or breakage and still make the appointment). I make a specific date and time promise to my patient and on that date and time I am literally waiting for them with eyewear, case, cloth, and solution in a dispensing tray. Promise made, promise kept without incident, everything perfect and professional. The meeting is one between a professional and a client, not a customer and a product. If your patients don't agree and give too much pushback to this sort of arrangement, that is a clue they lack understanding of your value. If they don't understand why they should schedule with you, it's because they think the doctor's Rx and the finished glasses are all that matter, and you're just the worker that did what the doctor told him to do.
P.S. Oh and yes, if you go through all this and get your patient on board with you, you better make damn sure they eyewear is right and on time!
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