BUSINESS

  MERCHANDISING

MERCHANDISING INNOVATION

THREE TIPS TO HELP YOU PROMOTE YOUR ADVANCED PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

INNOVATE OR die. This oft-heard theme in the business world is a harsh dose of reality to most small business owners. But innovation is what makes Practice A, who has been around just as long as Practice B, soar into success while Practice B struggles to survive.

Incorporating advancements into our practices elevates patient care, grows our patient base, and, often, brings financial growth. So, how do we uniquely merchandise “innovation?” Here are three tips:

1 DIFFERENTIATE

Innovate … or rather, differentiate. Back to Practice A and Practice B. They offer similar services and products, and staff around the same number of employees. The disparity of the two businesses lies in the different ways in which they run their practices.

Practice A takes a superior approach to innovation and differentiating itself from Practice B. For instance, both practices have equal access to superior contact lens technology. Existing in the same geographic location, they have the same sales reps. However, Practice A chooses to bring in its rep to educate doctors and staff on the newest lens technology, how to best fit a lens and how to position it in its practice mix. Practice A is proactive in merchandising the new contact lens to its patient base, and is eager to see how the lens will benefit both patients and the practice. Conversely, Practice B receives the new lens and reads minimal information on it — and it sits in the trial lens area collecting dust.

You can apply this scenario to any number of new products that come our way on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. Choose to embrace innovation for your practice or be ready to accept mediocrity.

2 ASK AND TELL

Ask patients what they want, and then be prepared to tell them what they want. As Steve Jobs once said, “People don’t know what they want until you show them.”

How many times has a patient been sitting in your chair and, after a lengthy discussion of his lifestyle and work environment, you present all the eyewear options that best fit his needs, only to have the patient ask, “What would you recommend I do?”

This is the perfect opportunity to introduce a new lens or frame design and explain how the technology behind it would best suit her needs.

3 CREATE OPPORTUNITY

Use innovation to create opportunity — starting with your current patient base. In today’s changing optometric landscape, the muddle of red tape and regulations we have to abide by can be overwhelming. Expanding your services and technology will create a more diverse portfolio of options for your patients and attract a wider patient base.

However, you have to merchandise and promote this technology. Typically the most effective way to do that is to reach out to your current patient base. For instance, let’s say both Practice A and Practice B invest in dry eye testing and treatment. Practice A actively promotes internally to its existing patient base, whereas Practice B decides to primarily promote externally, mainly to new patients. The likelihood of attracting a new patient vs. expanding the services used by an existing patient are far less for Practice B. Innovation may be appreciated by new patients, but your established patient base, who knows you and your practice, is the better target for opportunity.

LEAD THE WAY

Embracing innovation is what sets leaders apart from followers. Unique approaches to innovating your practice includes merchandising those improvements in innovative ways. OM

GINA M. WESLEY O.D., M.S., F.A.A.O., practices at Complete Eye Care of Medina, a Vision Source practice, which she opened in 2008. She was honored as Minnesota’s Optometrist of the Year in 2011. Email drwesley@cecofmedina.com, or visit tinyurl.com/OMcomment to comment on this article.