BUSINESS

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RIPPING OFF A BAND-AID

MAKING FASTER INNOVATIVE CHANGES IN YOUR PRACTICE HELPS YOUR BOTTOM LINE

MY THOUGHTS on Band-Aid removal mimic my response to making innovative changes in your practice. You know it’s going to hurt. Because of that, you contemplate ways to reduce the pain — all the while delaying the inevitable. The fact is, it’s going to hurt whether you do it quickly or slowly. Why delay the inevitable? Rip it off quickly and move on!

MOVING FORWARD

Now that the Band-Aid is off, let’s talk about innovation in your practice. It’s a given that innovation is all around us, so I’ll spare you the stats and clichés. Instead, I’ll talk about what’s more important: How making faster innovative changes in your practice vs. making small, incremental changes, helps your practice’s bottom line.

There’s more to innovation than “bigger, faster, better, cheaper.” The reason to quickly rip off that Band-Aid is simple: Doing it slowly is readily seen by your patients, who will endure the pain alongside you.

Your patients don’t hear about new innovative products incrementally. They see them launched as “new” on TV and the Internet. New products aren’t slowly dribbled into your patients’ psyche. They hear about them from friends in one complete encounter — not throughout time. Offering new products slowly, and taking a “wait and see” attitude is totally out of step with your patients’ reality and puts your practice on the wrong side of genuine innovators.

BREAKING OLD HABITS

The tendency for optometrists to innovate via small, measured, titrated steps is logical and understandable when viewed historically. We, as O.D.s, are trained to think and practice that way: Examine a patient and collect data. Treating minimally for maximal effect is a tenet of years of science and training. Making “fell swoop” changes with innovative products goes against our DNA.

Yet, to survive we must acknowledge business Darwinism and not think in terms of being the strongest, but rather the most adaptable. And in this case, as others around us adapt quickly, we must do the same.

AN EXAMPLE

Here’s an example: Multifocal contact lens X is introduced to you as, “Finally, a lens that really does work for presbyopia!” Your response, based on hearing that at least 100 times before is, “In order to save the aggravation of having to take in a fitting set, learn how to fit the lens and, ultimately, disappoint a lot of patients, I’ll wait. I’ll wait until I hear that the lens is/isn’t working from colleagues. Let them go first.” In this instance, the Band-Aid is being ripped off slowly.

Please recognize that even if you DO choose to wait, the acid test of the success of this lens will NOT be what you hear from colleagues, read in a journal or hear from a podium. YOU are your own barometer of success, and only YOU will determine if this new lens is successful when you finally decide to try it.

Therefore, there really is little advantage in waiting, as you are the final arbiter of success anyway. The gains of waiting are minimal compared with the potential to grow your practice and help your patients — and be an innovator.

RIP IT OFF

With that said, I can attest that innovative changes in your office rarely carry the pain of removing Band-Aids and usually, no pain at all. So go ahead, rip it off — now! OM

GARY GERBER, O.D. is the president of the Power Practice, a company specializing in making optometrists more profitable. Learn more at www.powerpractice.com, or call Dr. Gerber at (888) 356-4447.