I invite you to read a blog entry my son Brannen (A very bright man), posted in response to a growing online eyewear frenzy! Read his post first and then come back here!
You may find this useful and may even wish to develop or refine your present strategy and smart script dialog! Of course, if you need help with this, Brannen and I with eYeFacilitate team are a keystroke away!
What we recognize is optometry is doing a good job in treating eye health and wellness and not doing such a good job with the cash cow dispensary including educating the opticians to ask questions to uncover need while delivering the benefits of the advised products and asking the all too critical question of the consumer: “Does this make sense for you?” Or “Would you like this too?”
Consumers ask the question: “How much?” When they don’t know what other questions to ask, and opticians aren’t asking the right questions to uncover need and help the optical client understand their own need! Argh! It’s really imperative to ask smart lifestyle questions in order to guide the patient into seeing for themselves that they would benefit from the products prescribed by the doctor and “advised” by the optical associate.
Unfortunately, optical associates, by and large, have not studied the “Art of sales”; and yet they are responsible for sales! Be prepared to meet the onslaught of the present 14% and rising online eyeglass requests by deciding to strategize and devise or improve your script and dialog with patients… or not. It’s not going away and for that matter, neither are the other patient objections and pushback you may encounter day to day!
My current thought is do not provide PD and measurements, as they are NOT part of the Rx AND they are the absolute responsibility of the online fabricators. This can be accomplished without insulting or ticking off your patient! Additionally, my feeling is if you provide these measurements to the patient to provide to the online fabricator, you devalue your service and send the message to your patient/consumer that online crap eyeglasses are OK! Do you really believe this? Of course you don’t!
Meanwhile, be assured that there are, and will be more kiosks that will be available in public areas for consumers to pop their heads into where accurate measurements will be delivered via internet to the fabricators with the simple swipe of a credit card. This will address basic need, BUT, as you are aware from reading Brannen’s blog post, the quality beyond the Kiosk will still be in question!
Consumers buy with emotion and justify with logic just like you and me! Opticians, optical associates, and practice owners, is it time to train your optical team and hold accountable to the art of asking good questions and engaging the patient in the realm of the importance and benefit of a product or a not-so-silly millimeter?
Opticians and Optical personnel reading these words, is it time to challenge yourself to what you know and what you do not know? How good are your questions? How consistent are you in asking those questions to determine need and bring it to the attention of your optical client? How good is your product knowledge and can you convey to the average consumer?
Remember, these savvy consumers are patients until the reach the optical and then they are consumers like you and me! Do you truly know the difference between a feature and a benefit? Some of you who we have worked with absolutely know the difference because you have enjoyed the advantage that your doctor employers have invested for you and in you by contracting eYeFacilitate services to help you achieve success. You are fortunate!
Consumers, just like you, buy benefits! What is the benefit of an AR lens? If you say “it stops glare at night from car lights, fire yourself!” What is the benefit of Transitions? Who should have Transitions and why? What is the effect of light on photoreceptors and why should you know and care? And how do you describe the benefits of High Def lenses in a simple and consumer friendly way? And what do you say to the consumer who says “Big Box is having a sale right now!” Are you prepared? How many patient/consumers are leaving your trusted care to buy somewhere else?
Get prepared and invest in yourself, your future, your optical team and your business practice! Get prepared now… It wasn’t raining when Noah built the Ark!