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I study optometric practices
I teach optician classes
I know a crazy doctor,
she wears dark glasses
Things are going great and they're only getting better
I'm doing all right, when someone calls I'm jumping
The future's so bright,
I gotta sell something
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Sell is a four-letter word whose meaning can be hard to
grasp for ECPs in a medical setting.
Some common dictionary definitions of sell are: to
transfer goods to or render services for another in exchange
for money; to persuade or convince someone to buy something
being offered.
The question is, how does the word sell fit into your
practice?
Are you one of those ECPs that cringes every time you
think about having to sell something to a patient?
If a patient is in the office for an eye health exam we
don't always think of it as selling. Guess what? It is.
We did sell the patient something: a service. If they are
sitting in the exam chair, someone sold them on being there.
Does the doctor sell to the patient during the eye health
exam?
Maybe so. Maybe not. Not sure. Should they?
I believe the doctor should prescribe to the patient.
Sell? Prescribe? What's the difference?
Prescribe means to lay down in writing or otherwise, as a
rule or a course of action to be followed; to specify with
authority; to designate or order the use of as a remedy.
Therefore, sell means to offer and prescribe means to
order.
The doctor gathers information from the patient's exam
results and prescribes the remedy. The patient follows the
doctor's orders, if that's not happening, the future might
not look so bright. Calling all doctors (if applicable):
Relax, you can stop worrying that patients are thinking of
you as their doctor who is also a pushy salesperson. You say
the last thing that you want is for patients to think of you
as a shady character. Being a shady character is a good
thing! All of our patients should be wearing sunglasses.
Sunglasses aren't just to make a fashion statement or to
wear as a clothing accessory. Sunglasses should be the other
first pair of everyday eyewear. Unprotected sun exposure
begins early in life and can cause long term damage.
Children need to be taught the importance of wearing
sunglasses, just as we teach them to brush their teeth, use
sunscreen and wear a seatbelt. For safety reasons, children
should have impact resistant sunglass lenses. The lens of a
child allows 70% more UV rays to reach the delicate retina
than in an adult. Some studies say that up to 80% of a
person's lifetime exposure to harmful UV rays occurs by age
18. If it is bright enough outdoors for an adult to be
wearing sunglasses, then it's way bright enough for children
to be wearing sunglasses. We are doing our patients a
disservice by not prescribing, specifying with authority or
selling the importance of sunglasses to every patient. The
sun may be 93 million miles away from the earth, but no one
is exempt from its potential damage.
Moving right along to the famous 'either or' sell. You
know, the contact lens patient that doesn't own a pair of
eyeglasses. They have gotten away without having any
eyeglasses for years at their previous doctor's office. They
love to try and pull rank on ECPs and tell us they don't
need eyeglasses. They have decided that their eyes are just
fine without them. If a patient owns up to the
responsibility of wearing contact lenses for vision
correction, then they need to own a reliable pair of RX
eyeglasses. The doctor's authority should trump any excuses
that the patient can come up with to avoid this. It should
not be a negotiating process. It should not be based on
insurance coverage. Why do contact lens patients need back
up eyeglasses? The doctor said so. It's impossible to
predict the exact timing of eye emergencies, eye infections,
loss or abuse to contact lenses, or other issues related to
contact lens wear. Not having a pair of back up eyeglasses
when emergency situations arise is too late. Reverse your
thinking and prescribe contact lenses as a back up for
eyeglasses. Make sure you are practicing within the
guidelines of the law.
Due to the multitude of vision products available today,
it is impossible to keep up with every single one. Combining
the expertise of your practice's doctors, opticians,
managers, techs, etc to determine the patient's optimal
vision solution can be quite challenging. The key is to
overcome the interoffice sell which takes place daily in
practices everywhere. Decisions, decisions, what should we
do? Is this progressive lens better than that one? I think
so, but you don't. Oh yeah, you don't even wear eyeglasses,
how would you know if the patient is going to love them or
not? Can this anti-reflective treatment be ordered on that
lens? Is this lens supposed to be this thick? Why did we
order this lens material? Hey, what about the patient? They
may not be happy with this. I think they will, you say they
won't. And on and on. We won't always agree, however, there
has to be final decision maker that is sold on the vision
products that we are dispensing.
When serving patients practice speaking in terms of we
instead of he or she. If human error is involved, avoid
singling out the ECP by name. Pointing out co-worker's
errors in front of patients is uncalled for. Tattle tales
are for day care, not eye care. ECPs can't possibly be
selling patients on outstanding service while nana nana boo
boo-ing another team member. If you want to prove people
wrong in front of others, switch careers and become a judge.
Outstanding service is an easy sell if we always strive to
do our very best work and promptly correct any errors that
we make as a team.
Remember that our patients are most likely going to be
selling our practice to their family, friends and
co-workers, whether we want them to or not. And, the future
is going to come whether we want it to or not. So with a
bright bunch of law abiding shady characters, prescribing
remedies, it will be hard for us ECPs not to grasp the sell.
