"Are my glasses ready yet?" "Are they ready now?" "Just checking on my order..."

[drk]

How do you avoid this?

[Uilleann]

Tale as old as time.

Set expectations early and firmly. We always tell patients to expect an average of 2 weeks, and sometimes longer.

The more complex the lens/frame, the more likely a spoilage occurs and everything resets to square 1. This will likely add another week - possibly 2. More often than not, they arrive sooner, and the pt is happy.

Most folks are reasonable enough to understand that high quality takes a little time, and that should be the vibe pts are getting from your products (and hopefully you too!) from the outset. Be very clear in letting them know you will contact them, and by what means. Our office switched almost exclusively to texts a couple years back and it's been great.

Finally, make sure they know you are always available should they have any questions at *any* time, but that they shouldn't worry about things until at *least* two weeks has passed. Again, 99.9% of the time, pt's are reasonable, and thankful for the estimate. If you're able to deliver sooner than that, you just achieved boss level awesomeness in their mind.

[AngeHamm]

Tale as old as time.

Set expectations early and firmly. We always tell patients to expect an average of 2 weeks, and sometimes longer.

The more complex the lens/frame, the more likely a spoilage occurs and everything resets to square 1. This will likely add another week - possibly 2. More often than not, they arrive sooner, and the pt is happy.

Most folks are reasonable enough to understand that high quality takes a little time, and that should be the vibe pts are getting from your products (and hopefully you too!) from the outset. Be very clear in letting them know you will contact them, and by what means. Our office switched almost exclusively to texts a couple years back and it's been great.

Finally, make sure they know you are always available should they have any questions at *any* time, but that they shouldn't worry about things until at *least* two weeks has passed. Again, 99.9% of the time, pt's are reasonable, and thankful for the estimate. If you're able to deliver sooner than that, you just achieved boss level awesomeness in their mind.

I've been doing this for about 20 years total, and I have learned two absolute truths:

1) It is incredibly helpful to very carefully craft a script for every facet of patient communication.

2) It doesn't matter how carefully you express something to about 10% of your client base, who will only hear what they want.

For example: "This is the most scratch-resistant coating on the market" becomes "I was told that these were scratch-proof lenses!" And "It generally takes two to three weeks to get these back from the lab" becomes "I was promised that these would be ready in a week!"

All you can do is communicate carefully and rest assured that you have done your part. The only really specific piece of advice I can offer is to never, ever, ever use the term "business days" to describe how long things take. The word "business" disappears from your patient's memory almost instantly.

[NAICITPO]

I've found that when I communicate with the lab about an order and I text the customer, most of the time they thank me for keeping them informed. It seems counterintuitive but it works.

Staying on top of your orders also helps! I can see when jobs will be done from a portal online but if I call into the customer service and a job is out around 10 days they usually put a fire under the lab about the order and I see it the next day. I don't ask for them to rush jobs unless it is a special circumstance but the fact that I know the reps and I am nice to them they want to help me be successful.

[Elvis Is Alive]

In addition to all of the above, using a quality lab will keep you from having the question asked 90% of the time.

[waynegilpin]

Under promise and over-deliver.

Don't say 7 business days. They hear 7 days.

I worked with an optician that was a great guy, but he would tell people, "We say 'about a week', but we call you when they're here. So if they're here in 2 days, we'll call."
What do you think happened every time? "Why aren't my glasses here? The other guy told me 2 days."
If I could do the jail time, I would have killed him a dozen times.

[KrystleClear]

I say one and a half to two weeks but I'm going to start just saying two weeks, because no one listens. They just hear one week and call exactly 7 days from the date they are ordered. Everyone else gave good advice.

[AngeHamm]

I say one and a half to two weeks but I'm going to start just saying two weeks, because no one listens. They just hear one week and call exactly 7 days from the date they are ordered. Everyone else gave good advice.

Same.

[DanLiv]

Prior to pandemic I used to schedule dispenses ahead of time. At the time of sale I would say two weeks, and ask to schedule their dispense time two weeks out. The vast majority were ok with that, and many appreciated eliminating unpredictability by getting something set in stone. They and I both knew exactly what the expectation was. I told them if you do not hear from me, everything is going as planned and just show up that day and time and I will be ready. We have an automated appointment reminder system so it texts and emails them the reminder when the appt is made, 2 days before, and again day of the appt. Worked wonderfully, and no one was calling because they knew their appointment. Of course you have to be very on top of your lab job flow to make absolutely certain the job is done by the appointed date, and if it won't be contact the customer and let them know to either reschedule or just cancel and you'll contact them when they are ready.


I abandoned it through pandemic because there was no need for that kind of efficiency, and I haven't resumed it because my labs just aren't as reliable as they were before pandemic. It's not very efficient to me to use a system that doesn't work 20% of the time.

[NAICITPO]

Prior to pandemic I used to schedule dispenses ahead of time. At the time of sale I would say two weeks, and ask to schedule their dispense time two weeks out. The vast majority were ok with that, and many appreciated eliminating unpredictability by getting something set in stone. They and I both knew exactly what the expectation was. I told them if you do not hear from me, everything is going as planned and just show up that day and time and I will be ready. We have an automated appointment reminder system so it texts and emails them the reminder when the appt is made, 2 days before, and again day of the appt. Worked wonderfully, and no one was calling because they knew their appointment. Of course you have to be very on top of your lab job flow to make absolutely certain the job is done by the appointed date, and if it won't be contact the customer and let them know to either reschedule or just cancel and you'll contact them when they are ready.


I abandoned it through pandemic because there was no need for that kind of efficiency, and I haven't resumed it because my labs just aren't as reliable as they were before pandemic. It's not very efficient to me to use a system that doesn't work 20% of the time.

When I worked for the evil empire we did that, and I didn't have a choice about doing it. Not working 20% of the time would be a good week for the labs we used I wasted so much time trying to make that system work. Felt like I was spinning plates on sticks and just waiting for several to all drop at once.

https://gifdb.com/gif/spinning-plate...u49iwofyw.html

[drk]

DanLiv, well put. That's exactly where we are.

[Uncle Fester]

DanLiv, well put. That's exactly where we are.

Daniel's posts are always a must read for me.

Sometimes I'm dying a slow death to read drk's but it can get me in trouble when I cross a line with my reply.

[EyeManDan]

It will never be eliminated. Patients will hear and assume what they want, even if its not what we tell them.

[Wes]

What's funny, is that even the Opticians themselves are guilty of similar things. When I send emails out confirming people's registration for our continuing education courses, there are always a few who reply back "does this mean I'm good to go" or "does this mean I'm registered?"