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THE CONSUMER VIEW: PART 2

CREATE AN ENJOYABLE EXPERIENCE, AND CONSUMERS WILL RETURN

HERE, in part two of this two-part series, I provide a look at the exam room and optical and what your team must do to create an enjoyable experience.

EXAM ROOM

You, the doctor, should:

• Shake the consumer’s hand. A handshake was shown to increase the likelihood of a favorable interaction, while also decreasing the impact of a negative interaction, reveals a study in the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

• Wash your hands. A total of 96% of patients think it is important for doctors to wash their hands before touching anything in a patient’s room, shows a study in the Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology journal.

• Prescribe specific solutions. Recommendations are passive. If you think a patient could benefit from a specific product, prescribe it, and then explain WHY. What is the benefit or advantage the patient/consumer will gain; or explain how it will help avoid something negative, like a disease, as this is also a WHY, or benefit!

• Hand off to the optician for a smooth transition. When patients hear your advice delivered to your personnel, they feel more confident that the prescription is important and that they’ll receive what you prescribed.

OPTICAL

Have your optician do the following:

• Introduce himself or herself and “connect” using the patient’s preferred name.

• Be enthusiastic. “Donna, I was just reviewing your Vision Benefits Plan, and yours is one of the absolute best, and I’ll help you maximize it to your best advantage, today!”

• Think retail. Although glasses are technically for vision correction, they have become a fashion accessory and should, therefore, be discussed in those terms. “Donna, this frame is from the exceptional designer Kate Spade; Kate has a direct influence on all her designs and colors; nothing boring or generic! This frame is handmade, so it’s like wearing unique fashion and art on your face; ladies say they love their new look and they feel comfortable! Isn’t that fun?” (As a sidenote, I have personally used this dialog to excite and engage the patient/consumer beyond price and get him or her thinking fashion and design in eyewear.)

• Exude confidence. Know your stuff; know about the brands of your leading design labels and know the difference between injection-molded frames and handmade acetates; YouTube has many videos that show how frames are made.

• Focus on benefits instead of features. Consumers don’t care about the features of a particular product unless they have to do with the consumer personally. So, instead of saying, “This frame has spring hinges,” say, “You see these spring hinges? They’re ideal for your active son or daughter because they can flex away from the frame, preventing damage and the need for frequent visits for adjustments.”

Keep it simple. Less really is more, and avoid salesy-sounding words, such as “guarantee,” which cause consumer and patient anxiety.

• Skip options, and provide a choice wherever you need to. Choice overload is a social psychology term that results in TMI and shuts down your consumer.

• If they don’t ask, don’t answer. For example, if the patient is already wearing photochromic lenses, it makes NO sense to say: “Did you want to get the photochromic lenses again this time?” (I hear this frequently when working with practices on-site, as well as other answers to questions the patient/consumer doesn’t ask…)

It does make sense to say: “Donna you are wearing the photochromic lenses, and this is so wise because when your sunglasses aren’t handy you’ll have added protection. I’ll be sure you have the same protection again!”

This is simply about reassuring the consumer when he or she already has a good thing! OM

MARK HINTON is CEO and president of eYeFacilitate. Email him at mark@eyefacilitate.com, or to comment on this article, visit tinyurl.com/omcomment.