Phone answering skills are critical for businesses. The telephone is still most business's primary point of contact with customers. And the way you answer your company's phone will form your customer's first impression of your business. These phone answering tips will ensure that callers know they're dealing with a winning business:
1) Answer all incoming phone calls before the third ring.
2) When you answer the phone, be warm and enthusiastic. Your voice at the end of the telephone line is sometimes the only impression of your company a caller will get.
3) When answering the phone, welcome callers courteously and identify yourself and your organization. Say, for instance, "Good morning. Cypress Technologies. Susan speaking. How may I help you?" No one should ever have to ask if they've reached such and such a business.
4) Enunciate clearly, keep your voice volume moderate, and speak slowly and clearly when answering the phone, so your caller can understand you easily.
5) Control your language when answering the phone. Don't use slang or jargon. Instead of saying, "OK", or "No problem", for instance, say "Certainly", "Very well", or "All right". If you're a person who uses fillers when you speak, such as "uh huh", "um", or phrases such as "like" or "you know", train yourself carefully not to use these when you speak on the phone.
6) Train your voice and vocabulary to be positive when phone answering, even on a "down" day. For example, rather than saying, "I don't know", say, "Let me find out about that for you."
7) Take telephone messages completely and accurately. If there's something you don't understand or can't spell, such as a person's surname, ask the caller to repeat it or spell it for you. Then make sure the message gets to the intended recipient.
8) Answer all your calls within one business day.
9) Always ask the caller if it's all right to put her on hold when answering the phone, and don't leave people on hold. Provide callers on hold with progress reports every 30 to 45 seconds. Offer them choices if possible, such as "That line is still busy. Will you continue to hold or should I have ________ call you back?"
10) If you use an answering machine to answer calls when you can't, make sure that you have a professional message recorded, that does the same thing as tip # 3, and gives callers any other pertinent information before it records their messages. Update your answering machine message as needed. For instance, if your business is going to be closed for a holiday, update your recorded answering machine message to say so and to say when your business will reopen.
Remember the phone call is the only impression the caller is left with, make it a positive one, thanks.
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Do you want to be better than just good?
Trying something new, going out on a limb – it can be a scary and sometimes expensive proposition. But...
“Why not go out on a limb? That is where the fruit is.” - Will Rogers
Let’s face it, we are creatures of habit, we stop at the same coffee house each morning, take the same route to work, check our emails and facebook page, and work each day into the next.
For many Ophthalmic practices, sticking to their true and tried methods of memorable patient care and scrutinizing the bottom line has and will continue to serve good enough. But is good enough really good enough? In the spirit of constant pursuit of improvement and profitability, we all should look for new ways, new ideas, and new approaches that not only compliment our successful methods of yesterday, but will ensure a successful business for tomorrow.
So rather than engage in the all too common, bland, and frankly unproductive method of pointing out the obvious issues practices struggle with, today I’d like to share with you actual success that practices are experiencing right now by trying something new.BoomerangTM – A Patient Reactivation program that focuses on bringing back your “lost” managed care patients. To define “lost” we are referring to your existing patients that are due or overdue for routine vision care appointments at which your traditional patient recall methods of yesterday have failed at bringing these patients back to you.
BoomerangTM Benefit Facts;
• Practices are benefiting on average of $10,000 of incremental revenue each month (based on conservative average appointment value of $150)
• Increased surgical volume such as LASIK and Cataract procedures.
• Doctor’s schedules are being filled.
• On average expect a 500% ROI
How BoomerangTM Works;
We partner with Brevium Inc. to install their patient reactivation technology, which syncs with your practice management system and identifies patients that are due or over due for appointments.
Our patient counselor personally calls your patients and schedules them directly into your practice management system.
Monthly reports are provided showing quantity of patients scheduled and revenue generated from these efforts.
How Much Does BoomerangTM Cost?
One time set up fee $750
$300 fee per month up to 3 doctors
$99 fee per month each additional doctor when applicable
$25 per appointment scheduled and KEPT
What Others Are Saying
BoomerangTM has saved numerous 'archaic' hours of tedious chart pulling for recall. I can honestly say it is extremely exciting to utilize, reporting is amazing, and the results are instantaneous!
In two years BoomerangTM program has added 446 cataract surgeries, 7,426 patients reactivated and over $2.78 million in receipts.
In just 12 months BoomerangTM program has added 200 cataract surgeries, 2,104 patients reactivated and over $380,000 in receipts.
BoomerangTM Guarantee
Guarantee positive ROI or your money back.
To learn more or start your 3 month trial, please feel free to contact us at (941) 893-2400.
Become a fan of OptiCall on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/opticall
Follow OptiCall on Twitter: http://twitter.com/opticall
“Why not go out on a limb? That is where the fruit is.” - Will Rogers
Let’s face it, we are creatures of habit, we stop at the same coffee house each morning, take the same route to work, check our emails and facebook page, and work each day into the next.
For many Ophthalmic practices, sticking to their true and tried methods of memorable patient care and scrutinizing the bottom line has and will continue to serve good enough. But is good enough really good enough? In the spirit of constant pursuit of improvement and profitability, we all should look for new ways, new ideas, and new approaches that not only compliment our successful methods of yesterday, but will ensure a successful business for tomorrow.
So rather than engage in the all too common, bland, and frankly unproductive method of pointing out the obvious issues practices struggle with, today I’d like to share with you actual success that practices are experiencing right now by trying something new.BoomerangTM – A Patient Reactivation program that focuses on bringing back your “lost” managed care patients. To define “lost” we are referring to your existing patients that are due or overdue for routine vision care appointments at which your traditional patient recall methods of yesterday have failed at bringing these patients back to you.
BoomerangTM Benefit Facts;
• Practices are benefiting on average of $10,000 of incremental revenue each month (based on conservative average appointment value of $150)
• Increased surgical volume such as LASIK and Cataract procedures.
• Doctor’s schedules are being filled.
• On average expect a 500% ROI
How BoomerangTM Works;
We partner with Brevium Inc. to install their patient reactivation technology, which syncs with your practice management system and identifies patients that are due or over due for appointments.
Our patient counselor personally calls your patients and schedules them directly into your practice management system.
Monthly reports are provided showing quantity of patients scheduled and revenue generated from these efforts.
How Much Does BoomerangTM Cost?
One time set up fee $750
$300 fee per month up to 3 doctors
$99 fee per month each additional doctor when applicable
$25 per appointment scheduled and KEPT
What Others Are Saying
BoomerangTM has saved numerous 'archaic' hours of tedious chart pulling for recall. I can honestly say it is extremely exciting to utilize, reporting is amazing, and the results are instantaneous!
In two years BoomerangTM program has added 446 cataract surgeries, 7,426 patients reactivated and over $2.78 million in receipts.
In just 12 months BoomerangTM program has added 200 cataract surgeries, 2,104 patients reactivated and over $380,000 in receipts.
BoomerangTM Guarantee
Guarantee positive ROI or your money back.
To learn more or start your 3 month trial, please feel free to contact us at (941) 893-2400.
Become a fan of OptiCall on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/opticall
Follow OptiCall on Twitter: http://twitter.com/opticall
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Nine Ways to Avoid the Average Practice’s Pitfalls in Refractive Call Handling.
Many Doctor’s and Refractive Coordinators are so swamped with the details of doing their job. The daily level of office activity leads to the false assumption that their phones must have been answered properly to have generated such a huge volume of work. Time and again, when real calls are recorded and reviewed, we see that Administrator’s and Doctor’s preconception of these calls does not necessarily match their reality.
We recently made over 1000 secret shop calls to practices nationally. During this time, we were able to reach a counselor directly only 66% of the time! The other 33% of calls were either transferred to voicemail, or asked to leave a message. Of the counselors reached directly, just under 1/3 of them, or in total about 18% of the calls, resulted in any effort to keep us as an active lead. We were amazed that in this economy so little attention to call handling is being made.
Many practices boast a 90% phone inquiry to consult conversion, but don’t actually capture every lead. In effect they only convert 50-60% of their inquiries into consultations because the only calls documented are those where the caller is willing to commit to a consultation easily and now. Everyone else became a lost lead. Talk about missed opportunity!
Here’s the “Monarch Note Version”… and the first few ways to improve your refractive calls and avoid the average practice’s pitfalls.
1. Ensure that your staff is kind and correct on every call.
2. Call your own office as a patient to experience and improve upon your own front office
3. Research your competition and improve upon their style
4. Allow your staff to answer refractive calls uninterrupted
The stakes are high when each incoming call represents upwards of $5000 a pair of eyes. If the initial caller does not enter your financial funnel, most likely they will find another. Our point, lead capture is essential when in today’s market and economy every call counts. It’s about quality over quantity. It’s the same reason that Circuit City is out while Best Buy survives. Extra credit if you can tell which one had better customer care. The ACE program’s crux is lead capture and cultivation, but that’s not all. There is much more involved in maximizing your potential along with bettering your potential client’s experience.
Treating LASIK and IOL callers as if they were regular ophthalmology patients calling for the first time is one of the biggest mistakes that practices make. Answering refractive calls like this……“Can you please hold? ,” or, “ The price? Oh it’s $2600 per eye. Is that all?, “ Ok then, bye now.” …are more common than you can imagine and have a grave effect on the bottom line. Remember, these folks do not consider themselves to be patients of yours yet, nor do they have the time or patience to deal with poor service.
In actuality, phones are often answered by unprepared, uninformed, unenthused and often uncaring staff. Most of us experience poor customer service in some form every day, but when delivered over the phone it is most frustrating. When poorly treated, the customer’s choice is to deal with it or go elsewhere. “Can you please hold?” Most people don’t want to!
Our goal as a leader in the ophthalmology industry should be to always stand out as exceptional. There are no second chances to make a first impression. A bad first impression in the competitive LASIK and IOL market, simply leads to your potential customer finding someone else. It’s hard to imagine how disposable your premium IOL and LASIK services really are. On recorded calls from practices across the country, we often hear the same potential client shopping price at competing practices. We’re here to tell you from experience, you are disposable until the caller has decided that you are the right place for them. The defining factor inevitably is call handling.
But how do you make the consumer realize that you are the best choice? The answer is to match your perception to your reality, and to become as excellent as you think you can be.
With our ACE program, we have the ability to listen to real patient calls for practices, we monitor every call. On average, before the ACE program is implemented, most practices were losing 30% of their new lasik leads by not capturing any information from the patient before ending the call. With a few changes we start with a goal to eliminate “lost leads”.
We’ve proven them a thing of the past for most practices that positively implement our ideals. Alright already…here’s the rest of our tips;
5. Capture every lead routinely
6. Ensure that calls follow a format that maximizes the potential of gaining new business
7. Assign informed and well educated counselor’s to handle your LASIK and IOL calls
8. Script your refractive calls in advance so you can dependably predict the outcome
9. Prepare to make mistakes and accept that they will be made. The key is to learn from them while maintaining morale which ultimately reflects on your call quality.
Imagine if every call were handled as if the caller had reached the most knowledgeable and kindest person in your office, every time, without interruptions or unnecessary holds. That’s our perception. It’s up to you to match our perception to what could be your own reality. We are here to empower you to do so. You may soon be busier than you ever imagined.
About the author of this article: Bill Mercier is the president and CEO of OptiCall, Inc, a provider of consumer communications solutions for the refractive industry which increases conversion rates of prospective callers into viable patient consultations.
We recently made over 1000 secret shop calls to practices nationally. During this time, we were able to reach a counselor directly only 66% of the time! The other 33% of calls were either transferred to voicemail, or asked to leave a message. Of the counselors reached directly, just under 1/3 of them, or in total about 18% of the calls, resulted in any effort to keep us as an active lead. We were amazed that in this economy so little attention to call handling is being made.
Many practices boast a 90% phone inquiry to consult conversion, but don’t actually capture every lead. In effect they only convert 50-60% of their inquiries into consultations because the only calls documented are those where the caller is willing to commit to a consultation easily and now. Everyone else became a lost lead. Talk about missed opportunity!
Here’s the “Monarch Note Version”… and the first few ways to improve your refractive calls and avoid the average practice’s pitfalls.
1. Ensure that your staff is kind and correct on every call.
2. Call your own office as a patient to experience and improve upon your own front office
3. Research your competition and improve upon their style
4. Allow your staff to answer refractive calls uninterrupted
The stakes are high when each incoming call represents upwards of $5000 a pair of eyes. If the initial caller does not enter your financial funnel, most likely they will find another. Our point, lead capture is essential when in today’s market and economy every call counts. It’s about quality over quantity. It’s the same reason that Circuit City is out while Best Buy survives. Extra credit if you can tell which one had better customer care. The ACE program’s crux is lead capture and cultivation, but that’s not all. There is much more involved in maximizing your potential along with bettering your potential client’s experience.
Treating LASIK and IOL callers as if they were regular ophthalmology patients calling for the first time is one of the biggest mistakes that practices make. Answering refractive calls like this……“Can you please hold? ,” or, “ The price? Oh it’s $2600 per eye. Is that all?, “ Ok then, bye now.” …are more common than you can imagine and have a grave effect on the bottom line. Remember, these folks do not consider themselves to be patients of yours yet, nor do they have the time or patience to deal with poor service.
In actuality, phones are often answered by unprepared, uninformed, unenthused and often uncaring staff. Most of us experience poor customer service in some form every day, but when delivered over the phone it is most frustrating. When poorly treated, the customer’s choice is to deal with it or go elsewhere. “Can you please hold?” Most people don’t want to!
Our goal as a leader in the ophthalmology industry should be to always stand out as exceptional. There are no second chances to make a first impression. A bad first impression in the competitive LASIK and IOL market, simply leads to your potential customer finding someone else. It’s hard to imagine how disposable your premium IOL and LASIK services really are. On recorded calls from practices across the country, we often hear the same potential client shopping price at competing practices. We’re here to tell you from experience, you are disposable until the caller has decided that you are the right place for them. The defining factor inevitably is call handling.
But how do you make the consumer realize that you are the best choice? The answer is to match your perception to your reality, and to become as excellent as you think you can be.
With our ACE program, we have the ability to listen to real patient calls for practices, we monitor every call. On average, before the ACE program is implemented, most practices were losing 30% of their new lasik leads by not capturing any information from the patient before ending the call. With a few changes we start with a goal to eliminate “lost leads”.
We’ve proven them a thing of the past for most practices that positively implement our ideals. Alright already…here’s the rest of our tips;
5. Capture every lead routinely
6. Ensure that calls follow a format that maximizes the potential of gaining new business
7. Assign informed and well educated counselor’s to handle your LASIK and IOL calls
8. Script your refractive calls in advance so you can dependably predict the outcome
9. Prepare to make mistakes and accept that they will be made. The key is to learn from them while maintaining morale which ultimately reflects on your call quality.
Imagine if every call were handled as if the caller had reached the most knowledgeable and kindest person in your office, every time, without interruptions or unnecessary holds. That’s our perception. It’s up to you to match our perception to what could be your own reality. We are here to empower you to do so. You may soon be busier than you ever imagined.
About the author of this article: Bill Mercier is the president and CEO of OptiCall, Inc, a provider of consumer communications solutions for the refractive industry which increases conversion rates of prospective callers into viable patient consultations.
Monday, January 31, 2011
10 Reels of Marketing Moves To Make Now
Here are Mike Malley's slides from our webinar last Thursday:
Friday, January 28, 2011
2010 Elective Surgery Phone Trends and Tips for a Successful 2011
Check outour slides from our recent webinar:
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
10 Core Values of Zappos
This is from the book Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh (CEO of Zappos):
1. Deliver WOW Through Service
2. Embrace and Drive Change
3. Create Fun and a Little Weirdness
4. Be Adventurous, Creative, and Open-Minded
5. Pursue Growth and Learning
6. Build Open and Honest Relationships with Communication
7. Build a Positive Team and Family Spirit
8. Do More with Less
9. Be Passionate and Determined
10. Be Humble
1. Deliver WOW Through Service
2. Embrace and Drive Change
3. Create Fun and a Little Weirdness
4. Be Adventurous, Creative, and Open-Minded
5. Pursue Growth and Learning
6. Build Open and Honest Relationships with Communication
7. Build a Positive Team and Family Spirit
8. Do More with Less
9. Be Passionate and Determined
10. Be Humble
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Have You Seen Bob Lately?
Initial Patient Presentation:
• 53 year old Male
• Cable repairman
• Last visited your office 2 years ago
• Bob is due for a vision check probably new glasses/contacts
• Bob is overdue for a glaucoma check
Patient Report:
• Bob has been in for a visit every year for the past 15 years until recently
• At last check, Bob had 20/200 vision
• Bob's family has a history of glaucoma
• Bob is nearsighted AND wears reading glasses
• Bob is married and has 4 grown children; all with their own families
Current Treatment:
• Wears soft daily wear contacts, glasses and readers
• Follow up plan: Annually
Bob is a prime example of your typical patient who needs to return for a check. He is also a personal reference for your practice through word of mouth to his spouse, children, and grandchildren. Practices today have thousands of patients who are overdue for their appointments, but simply have not made the effort to call and schedule.
Although most practices will send letters in an attempt to rebook overdue appointments, many patients do not make the effort to schedule on their own. While these practices may have a plan in place to reactivate patients, the results aren't meeting their full potential. Each patient represents an opportunity for thousands of dollars to your bottom line.
OptiCall's Patient Reactivation Program, aka Boomerang, powered by Brevium, identifies these "lost" patients in your system. Our professionally trained team of phone counselors will personally call your lost patients and schedule them directly into your practice management system.
FACT:
• Traditional recall efforts <50% response rate
• Cancellations and no shows add another 8% in lost monthly revenue
• A new patient costs a practice 5-6 times more than it does to retain an existing patient
OUR SUCCESS RATE:
• In 2010, our average practice has experienced in excess of 150 reactivated scheduled appointments each month.
• At a value of $150-$500 value per appointment, this program can generate up to $22,500 or higher each month!
• With similar results, you will have the ability to generate up to $270,000 or HIGHER annually.
MULTIPLE BENEFITS:
1. Offset recent Medicare reimbursement cuts.
2. Offset Refractive Surgery slump.
3. Fill gaps in schedules.
4. Increase surgery volume.
5. Improve patient outcomes.
6. Increase optical sales.
7. Review and update patient records.
8. Powered by BREVIUM Totall Recall Software, we set the parameters by the appointment type, and provider, which you would like called.
9. Measure results through detailed reporting
10. "Plant the seed" for LASIK and Premium IOL's for the cataract and eye exams we schedule for your office.
11. Low monthly fee with guaranteed positive return in your first full month, or your money back!
Testimonial from Melanie Boyd - Administrator: Eye Consultants of Texas:
"The Boomerang Program has been very successful in filling our schedule. We booked 276 new appointments in our first 4 weeks of the program!"
Testimonial from Nancy Shipley - Chief Executive Officer, Ophthalmic Consultants of the Capital Region:
"Our practice has averaged approximately 140 new patients per month from the Boomerang Program. Our practice, to date, has had a 660% return on investment from our relationship with OptiCall. We started the program in mid December, 2009, and continue to run the program monthly. We are sending all current recalls to OptiCall monthly as they continue to call the remaining available people."
Don't Leave Your LOST Patients Hanging! Live Web Demo August 18th at 4 pm EST
Click Here to Register: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/529438970
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
OptiCall Patient Reactivation (aka Boomerang) Testimonial
From time to time in every administrator’s mind, there is a nagging awareness that there are “missed opportunities” of recapturing all the patients from the routine recall system. As in most practices, the intentions are good, however the resources in personnel and time always seem to eliminate the ability to effectively follow-up with patients that receive a written reminder, however never call in to get an appointment. We ran a recall of all the patients that had not returned to the practice in 4 years and the results indicated 40,000 patients. This quantity is probably a bit unusual as the previous administration neglected to monitor that the receptionists were appropriately putting in recalls when the patients were last seen. Also, the practice did not schedule out longer than 6 months so almost every patient was to leave with a “recall” in the system. In one way, this was a great opportunity to reach out to former patients of the practice and get them to come back. I knew our existing staff and telephone capacity would not handle this additional project.
I was familiar with professional telemarketers as part of an effective LASIK marketing strategy. So, I sought out Opticall, as they had years of experience in ophthalmology and LASIK marketing. I requested Opticall to help us quickly and in a dedicated manner to perform telephone follow-up to a letter we were sending to 40,000 patients. The letters had a dedicated telephone number directly to Opticall. Our marketing manager trained the Opticall call center personnel to be able to use our patient scheduling system. Also, our staff trained the call center personnel about the practice, the 5 locations, directions, specialties of each of our 7 providers and what type of appointments we wanted scheduled with each provider and which payors each provider participated with. Opticall answered the telephones as a seamless part of our practice. Not only did they answer the telephone of patient initiated calls, the call center personnel placed daily outgoing calls to the patients from the recall mailing list proactively and personally invited the patients to schedule an appointment.
The practice has averaged approximately 140 new appointments per month from this program. The practice, to date, has had a 660% return on investment from the relationship with Opticall. We started the program in mid December 2009 and continue to run the program monthly. We are sending all current recalls to Opticall monthly as they continue to call the remaining available people from our 40,000 piece mailing.
Nancy Shipley, CEO
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Bring LOST Patients Back to Your Practice
Check out the Boomerang SlideShare Presentation:
Bring LOST Patients Back to Your Practice
View more presentations from OptiCall.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Bring Back Lost Patients to Your Practice
Bring Back Your Lost Patients Now!
Tips for More Effective Recalls
Provided by Brett Gerlach, President of Brevium:
• Keep recall notices brief. A brief card will generate twice as many appointments as a long letter, so don't mix practice news or new doctor introductions with recall notices. Just remind patients it's time for a visit to take care of their eyes and ask them to call your office.
• Send out recall notices frequently, in small batches. Sending recall notices out generates incoming calls. Big, infrequent batches generate big spikes in call volumes that will tie up telephones and turn off patients. Divide notices into small, frequent batches to smooth out the load on scheduling.
• Schedule appointments 12 months or more into the future to avoid overusing recalls. Once an appointment is made, the probability of a patient returning for a visit rises significantly, so avoid using recalls unless absolutely necessary. If you can, always schedule a return appointment before the patient leaves the office.
• Follow up with patients who don't respond to recalls by developing an outbound calling system. Also, follow up on patients who cancel appointments or fail to show up for a scheduled appointment so these patients return for needed care.
OptiCall and Brevium have partnered to help you identify and bring back your lost patients. Utilizing Brevium's specialized software, our team of highly qualified phone counselors will personally call to reactivate these missing patients in your existing patient database.
Our Success Rate:
• On average, 100 reactivated scheduled appointments each month
• At an average value of $150 per appointment this program can generate $15,000 or more each month
• An expected $180,000 or higher generated annually
You don't want to miss our next webinar on May 26th, presented by Bill Mercier of OptiCall and Steve Gottfredson of Brevium.
Increase Practice Volume By Bringing Lost Patients Back
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/711582634
Tips for More Effective Recalls
Provided by Brett Gerlach, President of Brevium:
• Keep recall notices brief. A brief card will generate twice as many appointments as a long letter, so don't mix practice news or new doctor introductions with recall notices. Just remind patients it's time for a visit to take care of their eyes and ask them to call your office.
• Send out recall notices frequently, in small batches. Sending recall notices out generates incoming calls. Big, infrequent batches generate big spikes in call volumes that will tie up telephones and turn off patients. Divide notices into small, frequent batches to smooth out the load on scheduling.
• Schedule appointments 12 months or more into the future to avoid overusing recalls. Once an appointment is made, the probability of a patient returning for a visit rises significantly, so avoid using recalls unless absolutely necessary. If you can, always schedule a return appointment before the patient leaves the office.
• Follow up with patients who don't respond to recalls by developing an outbound calling system. Also, follow up on patients who cancel appointments or fail to show up for a scheduled appointment so these patients return for needed care.
OptiCall and Brevium have partnered to help you identify and bring back your lost patients. Utilizing Brevium's specialized software, our team of highly qualified phone counselors will personally call to reactivate these missing patients in your existing patient database.
Our Success Rate:
• On average, 100 reactivated scheduled appointments each month
• At an average value of $150 per appointment this program can generate $15,000 or more each month
• An expected $180,000 or higher generated annually
You don't want to miss our next webinar on May 26th, presented by Bill Mercier of OptiCall and Steve Gottfredson of Brevium.
Increase Practice Volume By Bringing Lost Patients Back
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/711582634
Friday, April 9, 2010
Headed to ASCRS?
This has been an exciting year for Opticall! We have expanded our services into several patient service venues within ophthalmology.
Since inception, our specialty has been managing patient communication calls for new refractive inquiries, either on a full or part-time basis, and converting those inquiries to consults for our clients.
Our team is now strategically aligned with many health care service organizations with an emphasis on delivering business tactical solutions to your practice.
Hoya Surgical Optics is hosting a Business Tactics Experience Room at the upcoming ASCRS. There are several "invitation only" seminars that we believe can provide great value and insight for all ophthalmology practices.
We would like to recommend that you review the following seminars and let us know which of these may interest you. Each addresses:
• Enhancing the overall quality of care for your existing patient base
• Adding health care benefits as a service to your patients
• Maximize profits from existing patient services you may now be offering
• Adding additional services that provide revenues from today's patients
• Optimize staff time and your time, resulting in greater patient care and efficiencies
Saturday, April 10, 2010:
• Business Tactics for the Eye Care Industry 8:45 a.m. - 9:30 a.m.
• Dual Sensory Loss: Vision and Hearing 12:30 p.m. - 1:15 p.m.
• Adding Hearing to Your Practice 4:15 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Sunday, April 11, 2010:
• Maximizing Profits with Premier OptiCal Services 8:45 a.m. - 9:30 a.m.
• Adding Hearing to Your Practice 1:15 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.
• Benchmarking your Practice 2:45 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
• Business Tactics for the Eye Care Industry 4:15 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Monday, April 12, 2010:
• Dual Sensory Loss: Vision and Hearing 3:30 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.
• Maximizing Profits with Premier Optical Services 4:15 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Click here to register for the sessions
Upon hearing back from you, we will place you on the seminar schedule and will also personally confirm your attendance once we are all in Boston.
We look forward to seeing you in Beantown! You can learn more at booth #2550.
Since inception, our specialty has been managing patient communication calls for new refractive inquiries, either on a full or part-time basis, and converting those inquiries to consults for our clients.
Our team is now strategically aligned with many health care service organizations with an emphasis on delivering business tactical solutions to your practice.
Hoya Surgical Optics is hosting a Business Tactics Experience Room at the upcoming ASCRS. There are several "invitation only" seminars that we believe can provide great value and insight for all ophthalmology practices.
We would like to recommend that you review the following seminars and let us know which of these may interest you. Each addresses:
• Enhancing the overall quality of care for your existing patient base
• Adding health care benefits as a service to your patients
• Maximize profits from existing patient services you may now be offering
• Adding additional services that provide revenues from today's patients
• Optimize staff time and your time, resulting in greater patient care and efficiencies
Saturday, April 10, 2010:
• Business Tactics for the Eye Care Industry 8:45 a.m. - 9:30 a.m.
• Dual Sensory Loss: Vision and Hearing 12:30 p.m. - 1:15 p.m.
• Adding Hearing to Your Practice 4:15 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Sunday, April 11, 2010:
• Maximizing Profits with Premier OptiCal Services 8:45 a.m. - 9:30 a.m.
• Adding Hearing to Your Practice 1:15 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.
• Benchmarking your Practice 2:45 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
• Business Tactics for the Eye Care Industry 4:15 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Monday, April 12, 2010:
• Dual Sensory Loss: Vision and Hearing 3:30 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.
• Maximizing Profits with Premier Optical Services 4:15 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Click here to register for the sessions
Upon hearing back from you, we will place you on the seminar schedule and will also personally confirm your attendance once we are all in Boston.
We look forward to seeing you in Beantown! You can learn more at booth #2550.
Friday, February 19, 2010
Recording to "Elective Surgery Phone Trends And Tips On How To Improve Conversions"
Thank you to all that attended Wednesday’s webinar “Elective Surgery Phone Trends and Tips on How to Improve Conversions”.
Here is a link to the recording of the event: http://www.box.net/shared/552ev4i5jn
You can also get the slides at www.slideshare.net/opticall.
Here are the stats from the live polls on the call:
How does your practice handle elective surgery calls?
74% Dedicated staff member/surgical coordinator
19% Multiple staff members/anyone available
0% Surgeon takes them
7% Answering service
How do you track phone leads at your practice?
4% Paper form
31% Excel spreadsheet
42% CRM (i.e. Goldmine or ACT)
19% No formal system
4% Not sure
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Slides from Phone Trends And Tips on How to Improve Conversions 2-17 2010
Check out this SlideShare Presentation:
Phone Trends And Conversions 2-17 2010
View more presentations from OptiCall.
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.
| ||||
|
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Aesthetics Social Media Presentation
Slides from our Social Media Presentation with Conor Dixon of Trinity Level Marketing:
Aesthetics Social Media Presentation
View more presentations from OptiCall.
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.
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.
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
How your vision practice can benefit by offering hearing services
Check out this SlideShare Presentation:
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
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
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
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