I would like to hear from some of you who work in Dr's offices. What methods have you used to capture those prescriptions going out the door? The Dr's and techs are good at "recommending" us, but I need more. Many of our patients think we are high because we are in a Dr's office. I have checked prices in our area and we are in the middle. There are some higher and some lower. My optical shop looks expensive because it is "boutique-ish." Suggestions anyone?
Other than offering a fine display, good service and fair prices. It is illegal (besides being unetical) for you to do anything to capture same (Eyeglass 1 $1000.00 per incident). Do not offer discounted exams, very bad.
Of course you could try bad mouthing your competitors, it works for a while.
Dear Di822
Next to Harry's "Tips" I think this should be an incredibly useful topic. I'd like to contribute by saying that the relationship of the optician and the OD / MD in my mind has yet to be completely defined. It would be nice to say that optician is the contraction of optical and technician and let it end there. But, that would be as old as the initial definition as "nurse" and "doctor". I wrote a training program when I was at Benson that was presented to 6 ophthalmology schools. It was first called "These Glasses are Wortheless!" (A method of helping ophthalmologists understand the role of the optician in trouble shooting), and then later changed to "Opticians Triage". The use of the word "Triage" is universal and stretches across all industries from medical to computer. We have yet to use it. It was conceived back in the early 90's to help develop a relationship with a group of ophthalmologists in North Carolina called "Expecs", headed by Dr. Charles Sydnor. When you think of what a Triage Nurse does, you can see that opticians can go a long way in creating a professional and "patient useful relationship" that culminates in eyewear, not just starts there. The development of that relationship depends on the respect level between you and the doctor as well as your usefulness as an extension of the patient care process. In very basic terms . . . you need to offer yourself as that extension to the doctor. Someday, we'll all have coffee on the net (chatroom, maybe) and dig in. Try this for starters performing not as a selling optician, but as the patients agent. . .
Whether or not the doctor precribes glasses, offer yourself to the doctor as the exit counselor of his office . . .
1, Adjust HIS patients glasses
2, Discuss the prescription and advise the patient on improvements in technology wherever he may go.
3, Offer to check the fit of the glasses (And the Rx if delegated to you by the doctor)if made outside.
4, Recommend brand names when it is in the patients best interest.
5, Train the patient to demand certain features you consider essential in the proper fit of the glasses if made outside.
The bottom line is that you will provide the patient (with your professional conduct) a set of tools to compare with. In the majority of instances, you will at least balance their confidence in the competition, place price on shakey grounds as the only comparison, and will gain visibility and credibility that will strengthen a doctors perception of your role. If you impress the patient. . . they will doubtless ask what you would charge for the glasses. I have used this same answer for 15 years and won't change . . .
"Why don't you check with the people you planned to see and decide whether they can give you what we discussed today. If you have any doubts, let me know."
I will guaranty you that 1/3 of those "shoppers" will insist on staying with you. They will be too pooped to "compare" against your demonstrated professionalism. And, the number will get better every year.
P.S. If you are NOT ABO or have a Degree in Optics, you need to get as many CEC's as you can or "hob knob" around the ancient ones. That's where you'll learn to walk the talk.
There is NO script that replaces knowledge and experience that makes this sort of thing work for you. But, it works!
Di,
I have had the pleasure of working as an ophthalmic assistant for a pediatric ophthalmologist for the past 2 years. Prior to this I worked as a Licensed Optician and Manager for 12 years. Working as an assistant has given me the opportunity to hear things from parents as to WHY they get the glasses where they do. The top three reasons for going to retail stores that I get are....
1) They thought LC,Walmart,Pearle,etc were less expensive.
2) They had vision insurance that said they had to go to LC,Pearle,etc.
3) They didn't think the private/doctor's optical had enough to choose from.
When they give response #1, I say, I guess you get what you pay for because these glasses where made incorrectly. DOOP !!! Believe it or not, 90% of the time, this IS the case.
Response #2, I tell them the mark up at these retail stores is much higher than private opticals because they have SO MANY discount/insurance programs. Once they are discounted, you pay what you would have to begin with at a private optical and would have better service and warranty for NO extra charge! I also tell them that private optical can give you a smaller out-of-network discount where the bottom figure will be the same or less than your participating optical. I tell them to look at the "average" retail BEFORE discount.
And as far as reason #3, I tell them retail stores have serval colors and sizes of the SAME frame, so it just LOOKS like they have more, where private optical have professionals hand pick a better variety of the latest styles.
In our new office, I plan to display my License and Certification's on the reception wall next to the large opening to the optical and have an easle that says....
Free adjustments and repairs while you wait.
Our eyeglasses are a better VALUE than retail optical shops.
We accept ALL insurance plans out-of-network or in-network.
We take more than an hour to ensure your eyeglass prescription is filled properly.
We have a Licensed Optician with 15 years experience to help you with your optical needs.
I have found that people do not read brochures, but will read the easle's because they don't have to pick up anything or get up to grab anything, they just look and read.
Hope this helps and I hope the information I got from working as the assistant helps us in our new office.
My strategy on Rx's walking out the door is... let them go. We are not car salesman. We are opticians... eyecare professionals.
It has been my experience that you do not win chasing a patient out the door offering them discounts and everything else to get them to buy their glasses from you. We had a patient in our office the other day that came to us to get his examination. He has Medicare and a supplemental insurance that uses a third party vision plan for discounts on glasses (Coast to Coast Vision). Being that dope that he is, he didn't call Coast to Coast to see where the nearest provider is. He didn't even call them to see if we were participating providers with them. So he gets in the chair and has his exam. Then the doctor explains to him that he can improve his vision with a new Rx. The man then tells us about Coast to Coast and that he wants a copy of his Rx so he can get his glasses through a Coast to Coast provider. By the way, there is not a Coast to Coast provider within 50 miles of us.
So the doctor tells the gentleman that we will give him a 30% discount on his glasses if he will get them from us. Oh that suited him just fine. Then he sits down with me. He pulls out a bag with 5 pairs of very old glasses and wants me to put his lenses in one of these old frames. Great! We picked one out. I end up spending 20 minutes cleaning this old frame and explaing stuff to this guy while I had a stack of glasses that needed to be checked in and called. People who paid full price for their very nice eyewear and some that still owed half on these glasses. On top of that, I had 3 full price paying patients waiting in the waiting room to pick up their glasses. All this while this dude is wasting my time for a 30% discount.
Ok, after all is said and done, at checkout he said he didn't bring any money. He said he would pay for them when he picked them up. A frickin' waste of my time.
I have never found it beneficial to match price or offer discounts to keep people's Rx's. Let them go. If your prices are fair and your services are great, they will be back.
Sometime we have to sit back and let our service do the work. Yes offering better frames and have great recommmendations from the doctor are important, but not everything. Don't try to compete with those you have no control over. Yes it takes us longer to finish your glasses and final them but its worth the time. Also spending time with the customer and finding out exactly what they want is important. This is opposite of the previous post, but I firmly believe that even though that man made him do more work for lenses only, in the long run he will tell his family and friends on how he was taken care of.
Christina
I agree with Christina. The patients I have captured in the past who have followed me and referred friends and relatives to me are one's that I spend time and my expertise with no matter how aganizing. To me, that is not what we have to compete with the big retail optical's on, we have them beat no question on knowledge and service...it's the uneducated patient's who don't even walk in your optical to give you a chance that I am working on. It's easy to keep them once they are in, it;s getting them in that is a problem. The good thing is the current rx capture for a private optical is running around 70-80% on average.
We have used a lifestyle questionaire in the docs waiting room which has listed at the top "FREE EYEWEAR CONSULTATION." This has been very successful for us while also giving his patients some things to think about while waiting for their exam.
1. It reinforces the utility of multiple pairs.
2. It helps the doc to conssciously identify patients needs and make appropriate recommendations; if the patients hear it from the doc, it's almost like hearing it from God.
3. It identifies the appreciation for specialty products which enables you to offer and meet the patients optical needs better than the bakery counter selling style of many high volume retailers.
4. It enables the client to realize that their investment is also in your experience as you are able to compile the information they provided you and present what you have to offer. This helps to develop their confidence in your ability to meet their optical needs.
In addition, I would recommend for you to clip and save adds from your competition so that you could prove to your customers you are competitively or better priced. Otherwise, they may not return to buy just because they have too much pride to admit they were wrong for leaving you in the first place.
Last but not least, your semantics, dialogue, and body language are the first impression to influence or deter clients. Use the lifestyle questionaire to discuss similar interests before even discussing eyewear.
Kevin
This is really where I am today....I have been working in the same shop for 10 years, so I have a great clientele. It is those who head for the malls that I want to stop. I have two MD's, and together they see about 80 patients a day. I wish there was some way to find out how many actually get new glasses prescriptions. I haven't found a good way to track this. The techs and Dr.'s are no help. I probably get 10-15 Rx's a day. 70-80%...I don't know. But I doubt it. Thanks for everybodys good advice. It is really great to be able to talk to opticians that we are not in competition with. I think it allows us the freedom to be honest with each other. Diane, ABOCOriginally posted by pedseye:
[...it's the uneducated patient's who don't even walk in your optical to give you a chance that I am working on. It's easy to keep them once they are in, it;s getting them in that is a problem. The good thing is the current rx capture for a private optical is running around 70-80% on average. [/I]
Di, Now, did you say that it was your shop, or is it the doctors shop? You're doing 10-15 of their rx's a day and want more? How big is your shop?how many opticians?have a finish lab in house?what services can you do better for their clientele? As an independent optician, I lost some of my clients when a couple of md's put in their own shops a few years ago, but many came back. Boy did it change the doctors attitudes toward us when they became "competitors". People really don't appreciate being pressured to do business with the prescribing doctor's shop, takes out the "professional" relationship, to just being "business", many of our clients have asked us to refer them to another doctor. they also have charged these pts an extra $20 to take out their rxs, an offered them to discount that fee, if they get glasses from them. Then they switched all the Varilux wearers to Sola VIPs, and the pts weren't happy about that. One of the shops has shut it doors on occasion due to lack of an optician. Our bizz has thrived, and we just refer to area independent ODs now, have much better rx results, too!
Bravo Kevin! I forgot about the questionare.
I have heard good results from using those.
You hit the nail on the head with everything you said regarding keeping the patient from walking. Well, at least WE think alike.
AL, Al, Al,
Sounds like stereotyping. You are WAY off base with most M.D.'s optical's and their optician's. Well, at least un my area. M.D.s around here are VERY supportive of independent opticians, even if THEY dispense. There are several in my area and I only know of ONE OPTICIAN who falls in the catagory you are talking about. HE is the one who is arogant and uncooperative and charges too much. We all consult with independent optician's and go to the same CE meetings and get along just fine.
I do agree that this M.D.'s office is being unethical and unfair to independents.
[This message has been edited by pedseye (edited 03-05-2001).]
[This message has been edited by pedseye (edited 03-05-2001).]
pedseye, probably am off base in steroe-typing dispensing MD's. There is just a newer generation of them that don't have the same appreciation of opticianry, nor the ethics of their predicessors(sp). my business was built on a strong referral base of md's; we referred to them, and they referred to us. Medicare cut back surgical fees, and all of a sudden, we're not referring to each other, we're competing. Sure I know a couple mds in my area who are great and we try to send folks to them, but in genereal, when you've been burned, you stay away from fire! I know who you might be talkin' bout out your way. LOL. We ain't kin!
Di88: If you really want to know how many patient's in the doctor's office are for refraction and you can't get any co-operation from the office staff. Meet with the Doctor's and tell them this may be effecting thier bottom line. If he's greedy enough to be self referring (dispensing) he'll listen to anything he thinks is costing him money.
The optical belongs to the Dr...but most of our patients don't realize that. It is because I run the shop like it is mine. There are no independent optician stores in this area. I have told my husband for years that we should own a shop. He has never gotten the picture. Of course, working for the Dr. has it's benefits....but not in the way of $$$$. I am paid hourly plus a commission (percentage) based on the amount of money I collect. The only way for me to get a real raise is to sell more. This has been a thorn in my side for many years because I know that I must be underpaid...I wish I could know for sure.....but I have a hard time believing that a "man" optician could live on what I make...and support a family. I know that if my husband left me today, I could not support myself on my income. Well, this sounds like another topic, but I am trying to express my need for "capturing" more patients. I think the Dr. is happy with the bottom line. In answer to Al's question, I am the only ABOC optician. I have two ladies working with me, but they are not "seasoned" yet. The 3 of us sell about 40K a month. I have a shop inventory of about 35K in frames. Since I have nothing to compare, I don't know if this is a lot.
PS. Al...I am teaching a class on Opticianry at the local community college on Tuesday nights. I am doing this because I don't like what has happened to our profession. I can't do anything about the rest of the country, but I hope to be able to give some pride and education to this community. I am afraid that if we don't, opticians will become extinct. I don't want to be an Eyewear Specialist or a Frame Stylist or a glorified sales person.
Question for the ladies....Do any of you feel discriminated against when it comes to wages in this profession???? This could be another topic.
Diane, to answer your question...YES!!! I feel discriminated in many ways when it comes to gender in this business. First, our doctor is a woman...a lot of the people don't even call her "doctor" they call her Miss. They assume our one and only male optician is the doctor because he is a guy. They also assume I don't know how to do anything and a lot of times will say something like "do you have a guy here that can work on my gls for me" VERY INSULTING!! It is NOT that he isn't very good because he is, but so am I!! I would suppose that given other factors that the men do make more money also. No offense guys but this is the real world and I am pretty much aware of it. I will not settle in my next job. :)
Steph
Until we prove that men DO make more money just because they are men, we don't have a leg to stand on. Hey...any of you guys out there with more than 10 yrs. experience willing to admit that you make less than 30K a year??????????
First I want to say all responses are based on each indiviual instances. Our MD next store refuses to leave our medical center and our business is linked to hers even though my doc owns our side, we feel at this time we can't move. I feel as though they let too many rx's leave the md and and don't come to us, so its not worth it but my doc's stuborn. Md refuses to have optical. Don't depend on any mds if you can help it.
Second I know for a fact that most men are paid more in our industry. Someone dear to me told me what he was being paid when he came on to the place we worked at in Mn. Needless to say it was more then me and I had more experience and better technical abilities. I was told that there was a salary range and there was no way around it and they definitely did for him. This also happened at a lens manufacture that I worked for too. Let any quy admit to his salary being below 30k a year with 10 years experience and I'll send you a prize:-)
Christina
Di, First of all,I'd have to say that you are surely a very talented optician! Doing that sort of volumn, virtually without adequate staffing...amazing! A doctor called me a while back and asked what I thought was a fair salary for their shops manager. they didn't do contacts,had a seperate CL dept.. Their volumn was about 40K a month; my advice was to offer somewhere around $4500/month,plus some incentives. Di, I know that if you were 2 blocks away as an independent shop, you'd be doing at least that. This is what I have against MD dispensing, you are being seriously taken advantage of for the sake of their "bottom line". The women on our staff are paid the same as the men, have the same benefits and responsibilities..they contribute greatly to the success of our business, and always have. Wish you all the best.
OK Dear Ladies :) Here's a guys take on the whole thing.
In the past 15-20 years of this industry has become Equally influenced by fashion and technology which has made it easier for women to earn an impressive paycheck.
Open trade magazines and see page after page of trendy frame styles or attend trade shows and see isle after isle of fashion eyewear. Add to this reinforcement of sweet talking frame reps and scantly dressed women wearing some new designer line eyewear and you can see there are certainly women who make plenty of money in this industry.
Now the guys position in the industry is being "PROBLEM SOLVERS" which tends to favor the technology side. Our pride is developed on overcoming challenges and therefore we also tend to be a little more analytical and mechanical to achieve results. This may also mean servicing machinery to become elbow deep in bearing grease.
My point is that women have an easier time influencing men and other women on frame styling than men have. However, while men make a conscious effort to understand frame styling, color cordination, etc. many women don't share the same interest in functional technology of the industry.
Kevin (No Darts Please) T
1st for Al,
Thanks for your response and I do AGREE with you on many issues. May I enlighten you to a recent experience with my M.D. that I will be following to his new practice with an optical that I will be managing. They are EXTREMELY frustrated with how insurance companies have M.D.'s by the B***. Blue Choice currently will not give them a fee schedule because THEY decide case to case what THEY want to re-emburse. Secondly BC re-emburses LESS THAN MEDICAID! Yes, this is true. Other insurance comapanies are just as bad. Know wonder they want their optical to do good! The pressure is really going to be on me! THis M.D. is a GREAT guy and very fair, so I am not too worried. But, that's pretty crappy what these ins. companies are doing to these guys. The only way they make any money is non-covered services, optical and medicare/medicaid.
Di,
When I managed a retail optical in MN I made $35 a year with 12 years experience, when I transferred to Ga, the manager(a male) of the same size optical (2 million) made $60. He did have a few years more experience, but that's quite a difference. Also, if you read "working at Lenscrafters" post on optiboard, you will see what happened to me during a corporate to franchise buy-out where I was dooped and replaced by a man, then later so was the O.D., then the office manager of the Dr's side. I am alos very frustrated with the decline in respect of our field. When I first started working as an optician, you were considered a medical specialist, now your just a salesman. Yes, in reality we DO have to SELL, but we do so by recommendations and experience, not by trying to meet a quota like the retail stores. I am alos frustrated that most optician's get paid FAR LESS in private than retail. It make sense cost wise, but it sucks for us that to get better hours and a little more respect we have to settle for less benefits and pay. That's also another issue with my M.D.s new practice, can't get group insurance because there are not enough covered employees and the rates are sky high.
[This message has been edited by pedseye (edited 03-06-2001).]
I have worked on my equipment plenty of times. I will not say I know what I am doing always. Have been saturated in all kind of dirt and grease and still had a full day to put in looking like that. I am not above doing whatever kind of work that needs to be done. I have a term I use to describe the male pay rate but it is not appropriate on here and I don't want to get kicked off the Optiboard. I have also seen a lot of sweet talking male reps in my day. Maybe the girls do look better(I guess it depends on who you talk to ) but I would guess that the men are taken more seriously. I am not saying always I am just saying for the most part.
Steph
On the subject of abilities, how many of us here are "cross trained?" In other words, who can edge, fit, do repairs, dispense and etc? If I am correct, many of us are; I think many of us who post here are not an accurate sample of who is actually working out there in the bussiness.
The title of "frame stylist" has a bigger impact on the profession than just an educational issue. If you can hire a person part time to just sell or make glasses or dispense them then you don't need to hire someone full time to do everything for you. For companies, having less full time employees helps their bottom line. Why match benefits and such when you don't have to?
Obviously, this isn't occuring just in optics. The problem is optical retailing is still a health service. Now you have a dummied down workforce. In most large companies, employees don't have contact with other folks in the business so they don't know what life is like outside their store. Content with that, most of workers don't even know that there is more to what they are doing than they know. Companies are able to pay them less because they can. Experienced people won't work for those companies because they won't be paid for what they are worth. Private business owners realize that the area pay scale has slid backwards and also start to lower their pay rates.
Now bring licensure into the mix. This is where licensed vs. unlicensed has nothing to do with experience as much as it has to do with pay rates and it is still a double edged sword. If you are a licensed state surrounded by unlicensed states you have a salary edge. Not always a big one but still an edge. If all of the states became licensed, we would have stronger lobbying power but less leverage with regards to salary. If states deregulate companies will have a field day and drop the bottom out.
Uh oh, babbling again...
[This message has been edited by Jo (edited 03-06-2001).]
Kevin.....I am mostly referring to dispensing opticians since I am one. So it is not a matter of who is more technical or savvy. I am comparing apples to apples. My point is that if a man should fill my job tomorrow, I believe that he would be paid more just because he is a man. I think Al is right on. MD's think they are giving us such a deal to have good hours and working atmosphere that they can deduct it from our pay. And to be honest that is why I am where I am . I could go to the mall and make much more on commissions. I have let this happen so I really shouldn't gripe about it. Sometimes it just overwhelms me and then I get over it. Life goes on.
Kevin,
I think changing technology has a bit to do with it too. When I first started and everything was manual most females just wanted to edge and were hesitant about even touching a generator or cylinder machine. I remember replacing a wobble assembly once and being covered to my elbows in grease; the other women I worked with at the time thought I was nuts. Now the difference between males and females: when the tailstock on the generator got stuck in one position what does the guy do? He pulls out a sledge hammer and whacks it. Tailstock goes flying off the machine and lands on the floor; a few new parts later and yes it got fixed. A woman wouldn't have done that and it would cost less because it would have only had to have been fixed once.
Pedseye, I am certainly in sympathy with anyone dealing with insurance companies...they're all basically taking our profit from our patients for managing the quality and cost of the care being given, but look at this another way....say your ob/gyn or family practice doctor, who has the same insurance problems, decides to put medical supplies and a pharmacy in his practice, just because times are financially tough for him. Should the pharmacy industry just say, well, that's ok, the poor docs need the money? The MD is not an Optician, he is a trained physician and surgeon, and I admire them tremendously, but they should make a living doing what they do, not what we do. they can't remotely do that without you! Look, they do the same thing to RN's, and they are very highly educated, licensed professionals. But the doctors have a choice about participating in insurance programs, just like we do. They are suffering the consequenses of some really bad choices. They generally think that all glasses are filled identically to their prescription, no matter who fills it, just like they were pills in a bottle on the pharmacists shelf, count out 4 diopters of the blue ones, and take upon your face as needed. So, if there's no difference, we might as well be selling them ourselves! On our side, you get what you ask for, you want the job, so you'll take 30K, like Di, but please don't sympathize with the MDs position with insurance companies.
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