Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Recording of RefracTRAK Innovations Webinar

We have made some improvements to the OptiTRAK/RefracTRAK program. Please check out the recording of the presentation from last week: http://www.box.net/shared/mml4d3p8sm

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

RefracTRAK Innovations

Please join us for a brief overview on exciting improvements to the RefracTRAK Program.

Our goal is to continue to enhance our products and services to our clients. In the coming days, we will be launching REV 3 of RefracTrak. There are some important changes that you need to be aware of that will affect the functionality and reporting of the system.

Please join us as we go over:

*New innovations in the program

*New reporting features

*Training on how to use the program more efficiently

*Details on more features to come

Register for a session now by clicking a date below:

Tue, Dec 22, 2009 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM EST

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Aesthetics Social Media Presentation

Slides from our Social Media Presentation with Conor Dixon of Trinity Level Marketing:

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Competitor Practice Phone Analysis

Oftentimes, we are asked what other competing practices are experiencing and how they might compare. By definition, competition is a business relation in which two or more parties compete to gain customers. Given the number of inquiries, we thought, "Why don't we find out?"

We are now offering a “Competitor Analysis” which will enable you to learn what specials your competitors are currently offering, compare prices, customer service skills, and much more ($349 per report or $35 per call).

Learn firsthand what your competitors are doing so that you can provide an advantage to gain more customers.

Monday, November 30, 2009

How Vision Practices Can Benefit From Offering Hearing Services

Hot Topic: How Vision Practices Can Benefit From Offering Hearing Services

Did you know?

• An estimated 1.7 million adults age 65 and over report both vision and hearing loss

• Eye care providers are trusted by their senior patients

• Hearing Services are expanding in Ophthalmology practices across the nation!

For Medicare aged patients, annual hearing evaluations can be offered at the same time annual eye evaluations are scheduled, offering two vital tests in one easy visit. In addition to the added service you are able to provide these patients, you may also benefit from the sale of hearing aids.

Please join us for a one hour webinar presented by Ron Greenberg, Managing Partner of EyeCanHear, to learn more about this opportunity for your practice.

How Your Practice Can Benefit From Offering Hearing Services

When: Tuesday, December 8, 2009
4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. (EST)

https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/794044570

Friday, November 20, 2009

Using Social Media To Attract More Patients

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last couple years you’ve probably heard about social websites such as MySpace, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Originally developed as methods for people to stay in touch and share information with each other, these sites have now taken on a new identity in the business world. As the prevalence of social media continues to expand at an alarmingly rapid rate, many practices have identified ways to leverage these social media channels to effectively reach their target audience.

This is what we call social media marketing, and when used correctly, it can be tremendously effective.

If your practice is not currently engaged in any viral marketing efforts, chances are you probably fall into one of three categories:

a) You don’t know much about social media in general, nor care to.

b) You are interested in it, but unsure about where to start and skeptical of its value.

c) You thought you tried to participate in social media marketing by setting up a profile on a site such as MySpace or Facebook, but did nothing to try and drive traffic to the site and therefore did not see results.

Despite all these concerns, in reality social media marketing is a very inexpensive, easy and manageable strategy to effectively increase your patient base.

The biggest opportunity that social media provides is the ability to actually build a relationship with your potential patients. This is because social media marketing is not overt advertising. If you’re too intrusive and users start to experience you as pushing a product, they are very likely to shut you out. The goal of social media is to show yourself as an authority over the service that you provide, and then establish an area (which is the social online network) to communicate back and forth with your past and potential patients in an unobtrusive fashion.

A successful social media marketing strategy will lead to more talk about your practice online, because when your message relates to the users, they will spread it between their own networks virally.

So now the big question: How does social media help your practice make money?

The bad news is - it doesn’t. However, the main source of new business for an elective surgery practice is referrals from past patients. Every practice that wants to grow needs their supporters to be willing to make purchases and recommend your service to others. Your network needs to continue to expand within itself.

The more supporters you have, the faster word spreads about your service. Social media allows us to stay connected to infinitely larger networks of people. By having a presence in this communication line, you have now given your supporters a more efficient and rapid method for sharing of information and referrals about your practice.

Still not convinced? Let’s look at a few more benefits of social media:

Increased Visibility – Think of the Internet as the ocean, and your prospects fish. You want to cast the largest net possible in order to harvest the most fish. By creating alternative sources of information about your practice, and leveraging social media’s ability to spread information, you will effectively increase the size of your net.

Better Targeting – The very nature of social media is based upon having something in common. These sites exist for people who share friends and interests to stay connected. Therefore, the people exposed to your network will either have an interest in your service or an interest in those people who have experienced your service.

SEO Enhancement – Social media marketing can dramatically increase the amount of general search traffic directed to your website. Why? Because links to your website = better search engine rankings. Most of the backlinks from your social media efforts will be recognized as natural and trustworthy, therefore boosting your organic SEO ranking in the eyes of the Googles and Yahoos of the world.

Great Return on Investment –The effectiveness of traditional forms of advertising and PPC (pay per click) advertising are decreasing at an alarming rate. Minus the time it takes to initiate and maintain social media efforts (which is a consideration), social media marketing is essentially free. There is also little technical skill required, only good communication skill.

It’s Complimentary - Social media marketing is contained within your network. Therefore, it doesn’t interfere with any other advertising or marketing campaigns you might run. In fact, it only enhances these alternative methods because now you have a much larger net to try and catch residual traffic from your general tier 1 advertising efforts.

Bottom line: If social media marketing is not a part of your overall marketing strategy, then you’re missing the boat.

Now I know I’ve talked a lot about the generalities of social marketing, touting its benefits. Noting specifics on how to implement it in your practice. Well, the good news is that will start our next blog post. Over the course of the next couple of weeks, I will share with you some do’s and don’ts, and specific ways you can effectively introduce social media into your practice, along with case studies and results.

-Conor Dixon, Trinity Level Marketing

Check out the upcoming webinar:

How to use Social Media Marketing for your practice.

When: Dec. 15th at 4 pm EST

https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/464278618

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

How Is Your Practice Measuring Up? Are You A Leader Or A Follower?

Since the Summer months, OptiCall has recorded a 40% increase in call volume nationwide! And more good news, month to date for November has already shown a 6% increase over October’s call volume. Why such a jump in volume? Simple...some practices have decided to advertise again. Patients are responding to well thought out marketing messages and appointments are being booked. There is one caveat to increased call volume this time of year. In addition to the marketing messages driving patient calls, this is the time of year when people are calling to check on pricing information for their Flex Spending accounts. Since they have to wait until 2010 to have surgery, they are putting off their consultation and surgery until their Flex Spending account kicks in. Of course, we will do our best to stress the importance of them having a consultation in this process to determine first if they are a candidate before committing the dollars.

What portion of this percentage increase in calls is yours? If patients are calling about Flex Spending accounts, do you have a way to follow up when they are ready to be treated? Do not assume these patients will call your practice back when it is time to be treated. It is your role to massage these potential patients by following up with a simple phone call, email or letter. Make your patients feel important so they choose your practice to perform their surgery.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Interesting stats on recent elective surgery call volume.

Here’s some interesting numbers on the calls we have taken in recent months for elective surgery practices across the country:

July- 2431 calls
Aug- 2665 calls
Sept- 3366 calls
Oct- 4057 calls. Call volume is up 40% over Summer volume.

Nov 1-9 calls 1219
Oct 1-9 calls 1149

November is 6% higher so far over the same snapshot of time for Oct.

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Potential drop in conversion rates this time of year

It is not uncommon to see a drop in conversions from call to consult this time of year due to people calling in to check on pricing information for their Flex Spending Accounts. Typically, a patient will call to find out the price only so they can put the money aside, however, they do not book an appointment because they cannot use the money until January of the next year (Jan 2010). January and February tend to be the busiest surgery months of the year because this is when the patients can use their Flex Spending dollars.


Friday, October 16, 2009

Live Replay Tuesday: "Is Your Practice Converting Consults to Surgeries?"

Live Replay Tuesday: "Is Your Practice Converting Consults to Surgeries?" https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/720743738

Good news...Refractive calls are up substantially across the country within the past 60 days. Bad news...a recent survey shows 65% of patients did NOT book surgery with the first practice they contacted because of poor customer service (information provided by American Network).

Please join us for a one hour webinar on how to enhance Lead Conversions in your practice. Brought to you by the Refractive Marketing Group on LinkedIn & Facebook.

What we will cover:

*Making lead conversion a focal point at your practice.

*Stand out and give your callers an experience they will remember.

*Learn what successful practices are doing to stay ahead.

SPECIAL OFFER: First 5 practice to register receive a free Lead Conversion Assessment ($500 value).

Speakers: Matt Jensen, Director of Vance Thompson Vision and Ed Cushing, Vice-President of OptiCall, Inc.

This event is sponsored by :

OptiCall, Inc.

Webinar Recording "Effective Patient Retention Plans For Life"

Here is the link from our webinar with Aesthetics360 on Wednesday on "Effective Patient Retention Plans For Life": http://www.box.net/shared/774cq7jbte

Here are the results from the polls on the webinar:

What is your average cost per lead?

$500 or above - 8%
$351 - $500 - 25%
$201 - $350 - 17%
Below $200 - 0%
Don't know - 50%

Do you use a program to track patients?

62% yes
31% no
8% not sure

What programs do you use to track past patients? (multiple answer question)

Excel 33%
CRM Program (i.e. Goldmine, ACT, OptiTrak) 33%
E-mail Program (i.e. Constant Contact, Outlook, What Counts) 33%
Paper 0%
Don't know 22%

What systems do you use to reach out to past patients? (multiple answer question)

Follow-up Cards, Thank you cards 92%
Phone calls 72%
Newsletters 67%
Birthday cards 50%
Loyalty Programs 58%

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Webinar Recording and Poll Results "How An Effective Phone Plan Can INCREASE REVENUE In Your Practice"

Here is the link to the webinar recording "How An Effective Phone Plan Can INCREASE REVENUE In Your Practice": http://www.box.net/shared/6ztifxjg1h

Poll Results from the webinar:

What has happened with your staff over the past 12 months:

20% reduced
40% increased
20% stayed the same
0% not sure

What has happened with your marketing over the past 12 months:

38% increased
13% decreased
50% stayed the same
0% not sure

Where are you spending your marketing? (multiple answer)

22% Radio
44% Internet
11% TV
33% Direct Mail
22% Newspaper

Who takes elective surgery calls in your practice? (multiple answer)

55% dedicated surgical coordinator/counselor
73% front desk
36% anyone that can pick up
0% doctor
9% answering service

How does your practice evaluate staff phone handling? (multiple answer)

22% mystery shops
11% review recorded quality control calls
22% do not
33% shadow the staff
44% gage by surgery volume

Are you attending ASPS in Seattle?

14% yes
86% no

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Consult To Booked Surgery Conversions Are Dropping…Why?

Refractive call volume has been on the rise these past few months; in fact some practices have reported they have had some of their best months. A large majority however are reporting their consult to booked surgery conversions have dropped even though their refractive call volume has increased.

So what’s changed? Why does it seem consumers today are harder to sell than just a few years back? We are doing the same thing we have always done and yet patients are not booking surgery like they used to. This actually may be the reason, think about this; from a marketing stand point, we are/were sending messages such as:

 Our doctor was the first in our area to perform LASIK or has the most experience.

 Our practice is the only/first one in the area to offer Intralase or the latest and greatest technology.

 We offer free informative seminars.

 Payment plans/Financing options.

 Offering great discounts.

By now your competitors are also sending out these same messages. Being the first at something is great but that “WOW” factor expires. It’s no longer enough to differentiate yourself from your competition.

Ron Kaufman an expert in customer service puts it this way…Name the first bank to offer the “ATM” service? With some research you could probably answer that but honestly who cares because now all banks offer “ATM” service.

In our industry this applies to us, our competitors offer great experienced doctors (sorry doc, we know you’re great but you’re not alone), the latest and greatest technology, payment plans/financing, discounts etc. Don’t get me wrong, we still need to continue to market. We have learned when we stop marketing we stop giving the prospective patients a reason to call us.

A prospective patient having trouble differentiating your practice from your competitor will eventually call your practice and will make their decision within the first 30 seconds of that phone call. A survey completed by America Network reported 65% of patients did not book surgery with the first practice they contacted because of poor customer service.

This is our greatest opportunity to capitalize on and the best way we can stand out from our competitors. We all have great doctors and great technology providing great results for our patients. It is time we strive for great customer service, create an unforgettable experience, starting with the initial phone call experience to the moment that prospective patient walks into your practice. The practices that are already doing this have the competitive edge…have increased their consult to booked surgeries and more over gained patients for life.

Learn how to improve consults at the upcoming webinar:
Is Your Practice Converting Consults to Surgeries? 10/7/2009 4pm EST https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/714029275

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Social Media – Embrace It!

Social Media – Embrace It!
“Social Media isn’t a fad, it’s a fundamental shift in the way we communicate.”
• 25% of search results for the World’s Top 20 largest brands are links to user-generated content
• 34% of bloggers post opinions about products and brands
• 78% of consumers trust peer recommendations
• Only 14% trust advertisements
• More than 1.5 million pieces of content (web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, photos, etc.) are shared on Facebook…DAILY
• Successful companies in social media act more like party planners, aggregators, and content providers than traditional advertisers


All information was taken from Social Media Revolution video on YouTube
To view video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIFYPQjYhv8&feature=player_embedded

Monday, August 31, 2009

Phones and Dogs

I recently had a huge addition into my family and am now the proud father of five rescued Mini Pinschers. Somehow in the process of helping a rescue organization, I discovered it’s much easier to keep them than give them away. I’m still not sure if this qualifies as a “success” or a “failure.” So, why am I writing about my very happy dogs and my insane over-collection of them in relation to work?

Of the myriad of functions I perform at OptiCall, one that I am most proud of is the development of our “phone training” both in house and as part of our “ACE” program for practices around the country. ACE is our call monitoring and coaching service that helps offices improve their own call handling abilities.

At work I was struggling to improve and elevate our own internal quality and style of phone handling. Then at home, I faced five cute but high energy dogs that I was also struggling to communicate with. Admittedly I was no expert with either situation. With the help of Barnes and Noble, I armed myself with the latest pop-culture work-philosophy self-help books and a pile of dog training books as well.

As I tackled both hurdles simultaneously it ultimately led me to an epiphany. Combining principles from the “E-Myth Revisited” by Gerber, and Cesar Milan’s “Be the Pack Leader” revealed to me an incredibly complete solution. Being organized and systemized as defined by the “E-Myth” book was only half the battle. Leading the process with “calm assertive leadership” as Cesar Milan “The Dog-Whisperer” professes, was the element that actually made the systemization and implementation equation work fully, both at work and home.

It was just a few months later that I had all five of my dogs walking beautifully by my side, returning to calm submissiveness when I reminded them. Our call center also quickly transitioned to capable people handling calls in a way that made us all, our own proud example. My dogs somehow understood my energy, but more amazingly, the people in front of me were performing beautifully and with little direction. I attributed both successes to simply having a good system to follow from the start, but mostly to delivering the training with calm assertive leadership. The attitude was simply, positive reinforcement of the inevitable change that was happening now.

Part of helping outside offices to better manage their own call handling process is always out of our control. Success is a relevant term when related to goals. You get out what you put in. Like a dietician, I can lay out an incredible path of healthful eating, but can’t dependably stop anyone else from eating the 4th brownie, including myself sometimes. So, the goals and the results vary.

I can recount several success stories where the leadership “buy-in” began with participation by management and doctors at the initial implementation visit. Their positive approach was always followed by predictable success. Of course the opposite was also true.

When a coordinator once sent me into another room to fix their staff’s “problems” as she continued her work elsewhere in the building, I knew immediately where the problem was not. I also knew immediately the lack of leadership and commitment displayed would undoubtedly transcend the entire course of the program. Over time, fighting their existing and flawed system (which was never allowed to be altered), proved to be an unproductive battle, but their belittled staff I insisted, was superb. To this day, I wonder what their perception of why I was there might have been. I can’t make any assumptions on their logic or approach, but their last several reports showed over 50% lost leads.

It’s usually the doctor or the business manager that displays the calm assertive leadership that I can only hope for upon arrival. The lack of fear and pre-existing trust displayed by our best clients goes a long way towards success. When I show up to find the doctors, call center staff, and middle management awaiting my presentation, I know without a doubt that I have a winning group in front of me. It takes strong leadership to acknowledge a deficit. To allow a foreign entity into the practice to help clean up those newfound existing flaws, takes an amazing level of leadership. For the right energy to occur, the ACE program requires their leadership to be at its best.

ACE was created as a teaching tool that creates a win/win for all through simple changes and systemization. It can be used negatively to point a finger at ineptness or create fear most anywhere. However, it’s so much more fulfilling for us to increase a practice’s surgical volume by 15% to 25% than abuse the inherent power. An improperly applied ACE program serves only to derail the positive accomplishments that could be obtained. ACE can only add value to a program that is actively and positively moving forward towards a goal. Positive leadership driving that forward goal oriented momentum is the ultimate key to success.

We have had many successes when the right energy and commitment to the program is delivered from the start. Common denominators in our few ACE “failures” were a lack in leadership and/or commitment to the overall ideals of the program, or an immobilizing fear of change by those implementing the program. This is exactly why practices that obtained the best results are the ones who involved everyone fearlessly from the start. With all involved, the starting point is acknowledged, the plan is engaged, and the success that arrives becomes a positive group accomplishment.

As an observer, I now watch with a different eye as many dogs in my neighborhood drag their owners. I also listen with different ears to a lot of poorly handled calls. Awareness allows the knowing to look at a lack in training as the first solution to correct the problem. Lack of training is a positive recognition by management that is easily moved beyond with the delivery of a ready and clear solution. However, all the training in the world won’t lead to success if leadership is not present to encourage and nurture it. “A mind, like a parachute, only works when it is open.” It is often leadership that makes the difference in opening the minds of others to imagine the change that is always available.

As far as the success or failure in owning five dogs, I know a few things. Their loyalty is undying, and they now answer the front door efficiently, warmly, politely and effectively. With the way they greet me when I come home from work; I only wish I could be half the person they think I am.

By: Allan Zuckerman- allanzee@opticall.com