SOCIAL

  “ODs ON FACEBOOK”

CONSUMER IMPORTANCE

LET’S TAKE A MOMENT TO RECOGNIZE THOSE WHO KEEP US IN BUSINESS

ALAN GLAZIER, O.D., F.A.A.O.

WITHOUT OUR consumers, our practices would fail. Yet, many of us forget this, given the time-consuming issues of practice management and managed care. The good news: Many members of “O.D.s on Facebook” remind us of the importance of consumers.

Here are some examples.

A NICE SIDE EFFECT

One member of “ODs on Facebook” posted that day one of a “deeply discounted” frame and ophthalmic lens sale not only helped rid the practice of old stock, it also made her current patients happy and garnered a few new patients:

“ . . . 2 more days!!! We still have over 100 free frames left! We have never had sales like this!” she wrote.

This post received 36 likes and 11 replies. Examples of the replies:

• “Very cool! Your true perspective on this day will take years to develop. More patients are always good! Almost always!”

• “NICE JOB! Way to think out of the box and using your old inventory to gain new patients!”

(As a brief, yet related, aside, the O.D. credited mail merge email marketing, Facebook, two newspaper ads and word-of-mouth for the traffic that led to her sales and new patients.)

ENGINEERS ROCK!

A couple weeks prior to this next post, a member of “ODs on Facebook” wrote about a challenging encounter with an optics engineer.

For this post, she wrote that a retired medical engineer presented with a spreadsheet, tape measurer and credit card ready to buy multiple pairs of glasses:

“ . . . I have to say, engineers make for loyal and often high-spending patients once you make them happy. . .”

This post received 164 likes and 42 comments. Examples of comments:

• “I like engineers so much, I married one.”

• “And when you are good at refractions . . . you get all their engineering friends too.”

HE’S THE REASON

One member of “ODs on Facebook” posted that he recently saw an 11-year-old Hispanic boy who never underwent an eye exam and had failed his school’s vision screening. The boy’s mother refused to believe her son couldn’t see. His medical and ocular history was unremarkable, entering VA was 20/150 OU, he refracted to -2.50 sph OU and achieved 20/15. The member also wrote that upon placing trial lenses that represented the boy’s vision on the boy’s mother, she almost vomited. When corrective trial lenses were placed in front of the boy, the member wrote he had never gotten a “bigger smile from a patient (showing off his braces in all their glory.)” Spectacles were ordered, and a back-up pair was provided the next day. “THAT’s why we do what we do!” the “ODs on Facebook” member ended the post.

This post received 346 likes and more than 30 replies. Examples of replies:

• “Yay I was worried at first where that story was headed.”

• “Sad, but glad he can finally be seeing the world he is missing out on.” OM

DR. GLAZIER is founder of Shady Grove Eye and Vision Care, a five-doctor medical-model practice in the Rockville, Md. suburbs of Washington DC. He is an author, inventor, industry consultant and frequent lecturer on ocular disease and Internet marketing. He can be reached at aglazier@youreyesite.com. Be sure to follow him on Twitter @EyeInfo or PM him on Facebook.