A NEW APPROACH TO EYEWEAR COULD IMPROVE OUR PRACTICES

RECENTLY, WHILE ON a flight home, a gentleman sitting next to me asked what I did for a living. Instead of, “I am an optometrist,” and then the five-minute explanation of the differences between the three O’s, I answered, “I am in the eye care consultative business.”

THE EXPLANATION

I received the expected dazed look. I followed with, “Please, let me explain. I am an optometrist, and I see eye care, and even medicine, maybe a little differently than others do. What I really do is act as a patient consultant. In the end, it is the patients’ eyes and their health. They can do whatever they want. Essentially, they hire me to tell them what I observe, how their clinical signs and symptoms relate and what I can do about it now and in the future.”

I continued, “Even in cases where nothing is wrong, I educate and motivate them to be preventative instead of reactive, in terms of their own health. A consultant acts to fix a person or business by listening, identifying the problem, providing a plan to fix the problem and then educating and motivating their client on how to move forward and prevent this problem from continuing to happen. Medicine is the same thing. We are just dealing with people instead of businesses.”

“Well. . . that is definitely an interesting approach,” he said. “But what about when it comes time to write a prescription? Isn’t it just sales at that point? My eye doctor always gives me a script and then sends me to his sales staff.”

MY EPIPHANY

His statement made me pause and think, “Do all patients see the process this way?” If so, that explains why online sales, commercial opticals and many other competitors continue to grow. Maybe we, as O.D.s, are approaching this all wrong. Since contact lenses or spectacle lenses are just a form of treatment, we could tell patients what they need based on their challenges.

First, we must determine those challenges by asking the right questions. Then, we must provide the necessary solutions. In many cases, the solution may be multiple pairs of glasses or some combination of glasses or contact lenses.

What if we took the approach that this isn’t sales but rather our job as eye care consultants, and allow patients to see the best they can in as many environments or situations as necessary?

A NEW PHRASE?

After all, we can’t make patients purchase anything. We can only educate them about their options and how those options will solve their problems or improve their lives. Instead of saying, “Here is your prescription,” maybe we should say, “Here is your visual solution, and this is what it will do for you.” This could go a long way in improving our sales and the lives of our patients. Just a thought! OM.