... the more some practice-building principles remain timeless

What a wild ride the last 12-plus months have been. What an even wilder ride our entire profession has seen in the last 12 years. Given how rapidly and unrelentingly COVID-19-related changes get hurled upon us, it’s difficult to keep up-to-date. If we don’t keep current, we might come up with a case of FOMO. (Talk about changes — 12 years ago, FOMO didn’t exist. More to the point, if you don’t know what FOMO means, you likely reflexively are attuned to “Google it” from your phone.)

And that’s the point. Things are constantly changing and even if you don’t know every small clinical or practice management nuance of those changes, eventually you’ll organically assimilate the changes and be able to hold your own. You might not know what FOMO is, but you have a phone in your pocket to find out — and you know how to use it.

TIMELESS PRINCIPLES

Yet, with all these changes, a recent email from a retired colleague reminded me that certain practice-building principles remain timeless. This colleague is an industry veteran who recently moved out of state and had an eye exam at a new practice. His email outlined numerous customer service misses, so much so that he felt compelled to ask me to forward an article to the practice — one that I wrote 19 years ago! The big point here is that when I reread that article, it struck me that certain practice- building fundamentals haven’t changed and are unlikely to change any time soon. (A lesser point that didn’t go unnoticed is that he remembered the article!) Expanding internet eye care services will likely continue to chip away at brick-and-mortar retail stores and optometry practices. COVID-19 changed everything forever. Yet, what remains unchanged are the most cursory embryonic DNA-driven business principles around consumerism.

Nineteen years ago, patients wanted to feel valued and cared for. That hasn’t changed. The only things that have changed are the tactics we use to demonstrate value and caring. Promptly responding to a patient inquiry by phone years ago is fundamentally the same as promptly responding to a text today. Providing value is timeless.

BUSINESS-BUILDING BASICS

The timeless basics to build your business by, regardless of being wired, digital or dealing with a pandemic, are:

1. Do what you say you will. It’s a cliché (with a twist) worth repeating: Make reasonable promises (why under promise?), and over deliver. If you say you’ll have a patient’s glasses done by next Tuesday afternoon, jump through fire to make sure that happens. If you promise to follow up for a telehealth consultation, make sure it happens.
2. Be available when patients want you to be available. Nineteen years ago, that might have meant nights and Saturdays. Now, the baseline expectation is a website/social media presence that runs 24/7. Make sure you deliver it.
3. Relentlessly train your staff to get in lockstep with your practice culture. Nothing kills a brand and reputation like an outlier. That now includes a staff member “going rogue” on Instagram.
4. Keep your practice spotless. Patients always wanted to be cared for in a clean, modern, well-kept environment. Now, they are actively seeking that out. Dust bunnies can kill your practice.

Yes, much has changed and will continue to change, and those changes require you to stay on alert. But remember to stay equally alert and to keep executing those things that did not change. OM

DR. GERBER is the founder of the Power Practice, a company specializing in making optometrists more profitable. Learn more at www.powerpractice.com .