NEG Business Club

This article is all about making your life easier. It isn’t about ditching your NHS contract, though you’d still need this if you did. Think of the things that frustrated you about the way your practice used to work before Covid-19 turned everything upside down.

Maybe your list includes:  ‘Gappy’ appointment books without a system to fill them up  Routine recall letters filling a big chunk of your appointments book with ‘no change’  Full appointments books that still don’t keep the dispensing opticians busy  Recalled patients who were adamant that they’re “not buying anything today”  Patients who wouldn’t pay for your advanced eyecare services even though they cost less than a visit to a hairdresser  Having to use the profits from a single dispensing to subsidise two or three

‘no change’ poorly paid eye exams  People purchasing new spectacles reluctantly and occasionally

While this list reflects the norm for many practice owners before the pandemic, most of them have noticed that it hasn’t applied as much over the last year or so. It’s been seriously hard work and it’s been extremely stressful, but at least the things on this list weren’t an issue.

If your practice is like most practices over the last 18 months:  You refused all routine work and each patient had to declare that they had a good reason to visit before you even let them in  Most patients happily purchased a scan because they understood why it was a good idea. Sadly, for many the good idea was that you didn’t have to get too close to them if they had a scan

Which model is most like how your practice operated before Covid?

You tell patients when they need an eye exam

You tell patients when they need new specs

We totally ignore people between eye exams

Reluctant returners take up a high percentage of the book and every one of them who doesn’t dispense must be subsidised by a patient who did

Delivering optometry loses the practice money

You say: “You don’t need new glasses” – and they feel uncomfortable wanting new ones

There is a long time between purchases, so practices focus on increasing dispensing values

Patients tell you when they want an eye exam Patients tell you when they want new specs We actively encourage people to want more of what we do Appointments books are dominated by people who turn up because they have a compelling reason to buy something that you are offering Optometry is a profit centre

You say: “When you are [activity], I’d recommend [product]" – and they feel like getting some new specs People purchase more frequently so practices focus on increasing lifetime values

 You spent more time per patient  Your conversion rate kept on hitting all-time highs  People seemed very happy to spend, and average dispensing values shot up  In terms of sales per patient, it was probably your most productive time ever

If only you could get all of that without a pandemic. Actually, you can probably do much better. All it will take is some new systems and an open mind.

OBJECTIVES Compared to the pre-pandemic practice, we would like to:  Increase practice productivity  Increase the lifetime value of each patient  Reduce the number of loss-making eye exams  Make the same amount or more profit for less effort ACTIVE PLANS 1. Rely less on recall 2. Engage your database 3. Actively fill your appointments book 4. Make optometry profitable 5. Provide multiple pairs per patient

RELY LESS ON RECALL Vast numbers of patients are currently very overdue the awaited command to return. Recall is fundamentally broken, and practices are busy by patient demand. Most NEG Business Club members have replaced their old, “Our records indicate it’s time for your next test” letters (Command Model) with our, “We’re ready when you are” designs (Demand Model). The effect of this is that patients are returning when they’re ready to and are more motivated to spend.

Should we recall people at all then? The answer is yes of course because your patients expect it. However, instead of sending a series of messages saying the same thing, start sending something else. In the Demand Model, you make recall part of an ongoing communications calendar to strengthen relationships, educate patients and increase demand for more products and services. If you do it right, recall can also be replaced by advanced booking. On the NEG Business Club website, see the Post Pandemic Recall section.

ACTIVELY FILL YOUR BOOK The practice managers on our Big M programme have been working with our model to make sure their appointments books are always full of the right mix of patients. The result has been consistently busy, profitable days. Our Book Quality Scorecard enables them to create the mix of appointments offering the most profitable opportunities – and measure how well this optimum book has been achieved. Unsurprisingly, a high book quality score does not guarantee a good day’s sales, but a low score does guarantee a day of low sales. See the Book Quality Scorecard on the NEG Business Club website.

ENGAGE YOUR DATABASE I rarely meet a practice owner who thinks properly communicating with the practice database is a bad idea. I also rarely meet a practice owner who does it; and I meet even fewer who do it effectively. But if you get database marketing right, you can make your practice far more profitable without having to recruit more patients – because it increases patient retention and frequency of purchases. Here’s a quick guide to setting up database marketing.  Don’t ask people to give you their email address without giving them a compelling reason to do so  Ask how they would prefer you to contact them: email, SMS or post  Give them a choice of three or more mailing list topics so they can choose the sort of content that they will receive.  Create a rolling communications calendar for each list  Record each patient’s activities that involve them wearing their specs so you can send them task specific updates  For each communication, write a short message and design an attractive graphic  After sending hundreds of thousands of email messages on behalf of our clients and measuring the response, we are currently finding that sending each person three messages a month creates an optimum combination of high click throughs and low unsubscribes  If they click unsubscribe, have the link ask them which list they wish to leave  Embrace GDPR instead of fear it; it’s an excellent best practice guide to database comms Done properly, database marketing opens the door to repeat sales and higher lifetime values. Take a look at VIPx on the NEG Business Club website. If you sign up, we’ll do nearly all of the work for you.

PROFITABLE OPTOMETRY If you have a high percentage of people who are eligible for an NHS eye exam, you will find that a lot of them willingly upgrade their eyecare. Most over-60s can afford to upgrade their eyecare and they will if you stop selling scans and start selling the benefits of having an advanced appointment. If you’re not based in a low income area and you have a poor uptake of your advanced services, ask yourself how you could present the benefits in such a way that they realise what a great idea it is for such a low amount. See the Advanced Optometry section on the NEG Business Club website.

MULTIPLE PAIRS It’s very hard to dispute that owning multiple pairs is a good idea; in fact, it is undoubtedly in the patient’s best interest that they do. Our data shows that the practices that sell the most pairs per patient have a few things in common:  They constantly promote the wearing of different specs in different situations  They investigate the situations in which a patient wears their spectacles in detail  Every spectacle wearer receives very specific recommendations for different lenses in different situations during an eye exam  Frame selection always considers different styles for different situations  They appreciate that patients won’t purchase two or three pairs all at once, and continually present them with opportunities to return  They have a mix of premium and mid-priced frame and lens options so patients can choose how much they spend each time On the NEG Business Club website, see: 1) the new ‘I can help you with’ training centre and train your entire team to recommend multiple pairs; and 2) the ‘Look and lenses’ training and marketing assets in VIPx.

SUMMARY There has never been a better time to build a better practice than right now; a practice that builds stronger relationships with its patients and reaps the rewards accordingly. Over the next few months, we will be releasing more tools, advice and ongoing support to NEG Business Club members and we look forward to working with you.

Quality has come before quantity during the pandemic

Andy Clark is founder and managing director of Practice Building