Contests, promotions and other interesting sales efforts are a simple way to boost revenue and gain new clientele.
Running contests, promotions, giveaways, and other special events in your dispensary is a great way to drive sales while generating customer loyalty and perhaps even bringing in new business. It can be a simple gesture or a big event—either way, the pay off will likely be greater than the expense.
At Lotus Vision in Alpharetta, Ga., office manager Danielle Norcross, COA, says that contests have helped the practice grow. In October 2008, when Ajit Nemi, MD, moved to the Atlanta area from Las Vegas, where he was previously practicing, he had no patients. But the business grew steadily from there and Norcross says that running contests and promotions has made a difference. “We’ve never had to advertise, other than the Yellow Pages or some flyers,” she says. “We have just done some little things to show our patients we care and it’s gone a long way.”
One of the successful giveaways that Lotus Vision ran was a drawing for a free three-month supply of contact lenses. As a practice that also offers aesthetics services, they’ve also done giveaways for free Botox treatments. Currently the practice is working on a drop-card box for business cards. “People can drop their business card in for a chance to win free Juvéderm,” says Norcross. “It’s a small investment to make to gain all of those contacts. And even if you develop just one long-term patient out of it, it’s worth the small expense. Dr. Nemi is the one who really drives these ideas. He has been a patient himself and understands the demographic. He knows that people need that extra kick in this economy.”
Even small prize giveaways really can make a difference. Nathan Bonilla-Warford, OD, FAAO, of Bright Eyes Family Vision Care in Tampa, Fla., says that patients enjoyed participating in a hot sauce giveaway he ran. Bonilla-Warford says he positioned a bottle of the hot sauce near the contact lens solution. There weren’t any promotions or announcements about it, but if patients happened to notice the bottle, and inquire what it was, they could get it for free. The only requirement was that they needed to have their photo taken with the bottle of hot sauce and by the Bright Eyes logo. Bonilla-Warford then had the photos posted online.
This simple giveaway packed a lot of benefits. It promoted the local hot sauce brand, which was sold by one of the practice’s patients, while also positioning Bright Eyes as a place that’s fun—but more importantly, as a place that’s memorable. “We want patients to see us as more than your run-of-the-mill eyecare practice,” says Bonilla-Warford. “Doing fun contests like this generates interest. Some patients were really excited to get a free bottle of hot sauce and thought the idea was kind of cool.”
Of course larger scale efforts are sure to be memorable as well. Fenton Family Eyecare in Fenton, Mo., recently ran a trunk show that office manager Mary Helton says had a big turnout. As a new business, open only a little over a year, they saw a trunk show as an opportunity to open the practice up to potential new clients. The trunk show specials offered 40 percent off of retail price for frames and featured two vendors—Coach and Kenmark. Refreshments were provided and it ran like an open house, with people coming and going anytime between 3 and 7 p.m. “It was better that way and not as hectic, and with the later hours people could come after work,” says Helton. Sara Day, OD, the practice’s doctor, made the decision to not run patients during the event so that she could mix and mingle with the crowd and get to know potential future patients. It meant putting out some expense but Helton says it most definitely paid off and generated a lot of interest in the practice. They plan to make it an annual event.
Getting the Word Out
Social media is a great way to promote an event or even be part of the contest itself. Tony Sterrett, practice administrator for Price Vision Group in Indianapolis, Ind., says he started a Facebook fan page for the practice about a year ago and currently has just under 3,000 fans. “Our latest Facebook campaign was an ‘Awesome Eyes’ contest,” explains Sterrett. “We asked our fans to post their pictures in our ‘Awesome Eyes’ album so other fans could vote for them. The contest ran for one month; any longer and we wouldn't have held their interest. The contest boosted our fan base because after entering their eyes, they would ask their Facebook friends to ‘Like’ our fan page so they could vote. We received 40 entries and added about 200 fans. The top three winners each received a pair of Maui Jim's Sunglasses.”
Sterrett says the practice will also offer discounts and other specials to Facebook fans from time-to-time. Most recently they offered a Buy-One-Get-One (“BOGO”) offer on LASIK where patients could pay for one procedure and get a second at half price. He says that while contests and promotions on Facebook can be a great success, that overdoing it can be a big mistake. “I think it is a mistake to alienate our fans by pushing too much marketing at them at once,” he says. “I monitor other fan pages and I see that mistake made often. If people see too many postings from me they may ‘Unlike’ us. Instead, we try to make it fun.” Sterett says he also tries to spread out contests and promotions. The timing is important!
Bonilla-Warford has also used social media to promote and run his contests. For a Coach sunwear giveaway he asked participants to post a comment on his blog or on Facebook and/or Twitter. The response yielded some highly creative comments. Bonilla-Warford says he has found that Twitter can also be a great place for these types of efforts. One of the contests he ran was for a free pair of Tiffany and Co. sunglasses. For the giveaway, all tweet replies counted for one entry and all re-tweets counted for 10.
Bright Eyes also hosted the area’s first-ever “Tweetup,” which is essentially a meet-up where people who use Twitter can mix-and-mingle in person. Bonilla-Warford partnered with a local restaurant to also provide food and wine tasting.
While most of these types of events require very little cost, they can leave a lasting impression on participants. The winner is likely to become a loyal customer and refer his or her friends and family. Plus, contests and other promotional events generate interest and that alone can bring in new patients. “In a nutshell, I think our idea has been to make everything as interactive and interesting as possible,” says Bonilla-Warford. “We want to give people a reason to become engaged and to share what we do with their friends. We’re in tough times right now but putting out all this good will is an easy way to get people interested in what we’re doing. And it really doesn’t take much money. In the end it’s something that’s fun for everybody to participate in.”
