Ways to Grow your Facebook Page

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Define your ideal patient

One of the first things you’ll need to do to optimize your Facebook page* is to determine
who you want to attract to your practice. What are the demographics and
psychographics of your ideal patients. You know, THOSE patients you’d love to have booked in every appointment slot: they show up early for their appointments, they come every year for their annual eye exams, they buy a backup pair of glasses with their contact lenses, and they refer their friends and family on a regular basis.

Unfortunately, a common mistake many eye care professionals make (and, for that matter, many small business owners in general) is to assume they want anyone and everyone as a patient. “Just fill those appointment slots,” they’ll say.

This may work for awhile, but as seasoned marketers know, without defining your ideal patients, you won’t begin to understand how to find them, how to solve their problems, and eventually how to convert them to life-long patients who are ambassadors for your practice.

Now, more than ever, you’ll need to understand your potential patients’ needs and fulfill them with your products and services because industry “disruptors” like the growing threat of online eye exams, plus, ever changing medical and vision insurances are threats to your bottom line.

Because I believe this is such an important foundation for ALL of your marketing efforts, I have created a tool for you to define your ideal patient or patients. Click on this link to learn more about the tool and use it to begin the process of optimizing your practice’s Facebook page.

Define your most important keyword phrases

Now that you’ve defined your ideal patient(s), it’s important to define keyword phrases you believe these patients would type into Google’s or Facebook’s search fields to find someone like you who can solve their problems. If someone knows your name and types it into Google (if your web designer has done a good job) your company should appear on the first page of the search results. What you’re trying to capture are patients that don’t know your name, but are trying to find an eye doctor who can solve their eye care problem(s).

For example, if you provide specialty contact lens fits, you may want to create a list of keyword phrases that address this specialty, but from the point of view of a prospective patient. These keyword phrases may include: “hard to fit contact lenses,” “can I get contacts for astigmatism,” “are there bifocal contacts,” and any other phrase you think a prospective patient may type into Google to solve their problems. If you can optimize your Facebook page (and all other social media platforms while you’re at it) for these keyword phrases, you’ll be able to rank high on the results page of Google when someone types in those phrases. If your practice name continues to show up in the first, second or third position, an ideal prospective patient will start to believe you are the best solution for his or her problem.

By Dr. Sandi Eveleth

 

Exit Strategies for Your Business

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Entrepreneurs of several businesses are often merely focused on the entrance and growth strategy. They keep coming with plans for what their product would be, what their marketing would be like, and how will they keep growing the business further for a better return. However, it is not just enough to build a business that is continuously bringing in income; you also have to look at the exit strategy that will be put in motion to get your retirement.

Take it all

One of the strategies that the progressive owners use is to take out all of the money from the business on almost a daily basis. This means that they will allow themselves a large salary, then reward themselves with a huge bonus and if they issue out shares, they also certify themselves to achieve a dividend that is significantly higher than the other shareholders. A lot of the entrepreneurs like to re-invest the profits that their business garners. However, you can try to keep the business small and rather take out a chunk of the profits and keep it for yourself.

However, when you do this, do remember that the money that is supposed to go in your wallet should not be in such a significant amount that it becomes nearly impossible for your business to survive or that you investors start becoming enraged.

Pros

You get to take home a colossal salary which may even allow you to afford the luxury of your choosing. When you take out the money from your business, assuming that your business has been gaining a handsome profit, you get to take home as much money as you want and it can be a lot.

There is no specific processor documentation that has to go into pulling out the money which would take way too much time.

Cons

The way you take out the money could result in negative tax accounts. There can be tax penalties and you might get a higher percentage of tax deductions on the money that you pull out, leaving you with significantly less money than you intended to have.

Also, if you are not too careful you might end up taking out more money than you need to. This means that if you take out way more than your fair share you will leave significantly less money for your business to fall back on in the future. Even though you might not want to grow your business far too much, it will still be useful to have some money to a certain level of growth. You need to keep adding some money, even if small amounts to the business. It can be for renovation of the business, switch to a new place, give appraisals to employees, promotion of the employees, etc. For all of this you will need a steady supply of money coming into your business. Other than that, it is always helpful to have some money in the savings for the business. You may need emergency cash at any time.

Liquidation

The simplest, and the least taken, exit strategy is to simply call it quits. Just strip the business of the money, divide it between yourself and the investors, and then shut it all down. Liquidation means bringing the business to a finish and then distributing the money left and assets to the claimants. This is supposed to happen when the business can no longer operate properly but it has its creditors to whom it owes money. This is one of the best exit strategies since the business will not be left with any sort of debt that the owner may later be pursued for.

Pros

It is an easy and natural thing to do. The owner does not have to overstress themselves with a new rejuvenating strategy. They will not be troubled by the shareholders and creditors.

You will not have to worry about to transfer the control too and whether the person you choose will be able to save the company from dissolving or not. A lot of arguments can erupt from this sort of a process. If you plan on transferring the power to someone close to you, the directors or other top management folks of the business can put forth vehement objection of the move and things could get far worse than they actually are at the current moment.

You don’t have to deal with any sort of longstanding and painstaking negotiations of any sort.when you try to take loans you have to negotiate with the bank, when you decide to merge you have to take the opinions of your top management, when you wish to transfer ownership you have to negotiate with your directors and shareholders, everything but total and immediate dissolving takes a lot of mediation that can turn unpleasant really quick.

Cons

The problem with liquidation is that you will never get the market value of your company’s assets. Due to a majority of your assets going into paying off your creditors and shareholders from the sales of your

assets, you will be left with significantly less money, which will not allow you to benefit from the full price of the asset.

When you liquidate your business, you might be relieved that you do not have to go through a debilitating process of arbitration; however, you need to be aware that this will have a massive effect on your reputation as an owner, a leader, and business. This may be very consequential when you try to come with a new business. It will be much more difficult for you to gain your pool of stakeholders and shareholders.

This might leave a lasting impression on your current shareholders. They might think that you are a “quitter” and may lose confidence in you for the sake of your other business ventures. You might find it incredibly difficult to gain those shareholders back if you ever have any other opportunity. They might even spread the word about the town of your working methods and your backing out of the entire business. This will actually exacerbate the second point that had been made previously. The more your shareholders spread the news of your quitting the business the more difficult it will become to gain investors. The situation can get even worse if the owner does not check with the shareholders and the board of directors.

Selling it off

When you have a business and a vision, you will not be the only who possesses that vision there will be your board of directors, shareholders, managers who will be following in your passion and have the same vision as you do. They will definitely be happy to buy off the company from you if they have enough resources to do so. This may also include your customers, children, friends, or other family members. The reason it would be better to sell it off to someone who has been working in the business is that they know the business runs, what are its requirements, and what are its weaknesses. This will help the business in not having to start from square one and it can take off from where it had been present previously.

When you leave the business in the care of your family you will have to make sure to see whether your family is functional. Leaving the business amongst several children can prove disastrous as all of them might fight for a share of the business. This will lead the business to a slow decline without really experiencing any sort of growth. If you decide on that route then you will have to carefully plan the entire thing so as to avoid any tussle between the family members.

Pros

You will not have to go through a tedious and lengthy process of searching for the right person and then trial testing them to see if they are the right fit for the business. This takes way too much time and resources all of which are bad for the growth of the business. With a person of whom you know, you will know how the person is and what they are capable of, whether they are in it for the money or do they genuinely wish to see their business thrive. You will be familiar with their work ethic which will help define your search even better.

The person who has taken over the business from you is highly likely to be someone who believes in the same cause as you. This means that they will keep intact the main vision and mission of the business even if they make certain changes upon their appointment. When a business has been functioning for quite a long time they tend to develop a certain brand image that the customer becomes aware of and loyal to. If the vision of the business changes it can have an impact on the brand image or the new owner may try to change the overall brand image. Either way, it has a serious effect on the customer base of the business. They may end up losing them and will have to reevaluate their new customer base again and devise what sort of marketing campaigns and product variations to target them.

If a manager or director from your previous team steps into the role of being the entrepreneur they will work with the benefit of the company in mind since that is what brought them into the project in the first place.

Cons

You might be a bit too generous when you find out that a person from your circle is taking over the business that you might leave way too much money on the table. This will leave far less with you and far too much with them.

Your friend or family member might discover that you left far too much to be paid in taxes and they might get riddles in that issue which will cause them to dedicate far less time to the business though it would need ample of time, since it was already in a decline, and a new authority would mean significant changes. This could lead to strain in your friendship with them.

Leaving the business to one child or family member can bring about a lot of animosity amongst the members and they will be spending the rest of their lives brewing in jealousy. This would also lead to poor decisions being made on behalf of the business which will lead the business to a further decline.

Acquisition

This is when the owner of the business sells the firm to someone else in the same industry. The best thing about this is that the business has a high chance of thriving since the company of the same industry is taking over. The owner of the acquiring company will know full well what to do to grow the new business.

Pros

If you find a good acquirer then they may a lot more than what your business is actually worth. This will depend on: who the acquirer is, how much your business is producing, what the resources within it are worth, etc.

This can work in your favor on an even greater level when there is a bidding war between different companies about who will get to acquire your business. This way you can drive up the sales price as much as you want.

Subleasing Corporate OD Survey

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We are collecting information about sublease Corporate ODs.

This is long and detailed but please do your best to fill it out completely so we can compile and share the results. All responses are completely anonymous and will not be traced back to any individual. Thanks so much for your help and we look forward to sharing the results!

Click Here to Get Start!

Making the Competition Irrelevant: Be the Game Changer

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Business strategy is one of the most commonly used words by many in the business world yet its meaning hasn’t been properly stated or understood.
Business strategy is the concept of business which is concerned with the planning for the further success of the organization.   Optometry businesses fail to distinguish growth as an objective, and confuse it with being a strategy. When people say they wish to grow their business, they certainly mean that they want to increase income. A saturated industry, that has well established players, will require a different business strategy than a relatively new one. Your research of the industry will play a key role as it helps you uncover what is missing and what you can offer to obtain the desired market share and gain a competitive edge over others. If you look at history of businesses you will learn a tremendous amount of information about data trends, social response, business failures adaptation and innovation. An optometric business can thrive with the right motivation, mindset and perseverance even with increased competition with other retail opticals and online retailers. Be the game changer in your market. You don’t need to follow the others, create your own path of success. Why compete with an all ready highly competitive low margin marketplace? Develop your own unique strategy that innovates the industry.

The objectives that work towards the success of the optometry businesses are:

The growth of the business is a growth mindset 
This refers to the possibility of the optometry business to market well and the optometrists to gain more patients due to their growing reputation. Figure out a strategy to increase growth and continue to grow. An average practice should grow 2-3% a year. Evaluate your key performance indicators to scale your practice. Understanding how your practice compares to others would be a good benchmark for evaluating the business metrics of your practice. Having a growth mindset will see opportunities that others won’t and using failure as a motivation to learn and continue to work hard to push forward. Your growth mindset will create innovative ways to approach the challenges in the industry and identify what is lacking and pain points for your customers.

The competitive upper hand of the business –Be the Game Changer

This relates to the idea that despite there being other optometry firms in the industry, the business that is being worked on at the moment, flourishes much more than its competitors. Always respect your competitors. When your office has the competitive edge and you don’t respect your competitors or smaller businesses that is when you can be left behind. Blockbuster was number 1 at one point and didn’t see Netflix as a competitor. They even had a chance to buy them at the beginning but ignored it.   Your competition will have more income or resources but having the drive, motivation, and perseverance to continue to pursue what you want is the ultimate competitive upper hand. Many optometry offices can have a competitive edge with 3d printing eyewear, technology, value based services, personal brand and a unique localized social media strategy. Social Media is very powerful it brings influence to your target audience with reviews, blogs, videos and postings. Small businesses now have the ability to change a local market by creating fans instead of customers.  You determine what is your specific niche that you want your office to be known for and continue to relentlessly pursue it even when you are at the top!

Gaining higher profits
This is also linked to getting more customers; the more patients an optometry business has the higher its profits will be. You will get more customers by creating “fans” and providing niche value.
Be unique instead of being the best! A lot of the companies try to be the best when it comes to selling their product. They wish to have the best product, the best marketing campaign, and the best production line. They tend to believe that this is what’s needed to help them gain the largest customer market share. However, it is the exact opposite. In an industry where there are several companies that provide the same product, customers will find it difficult to choose between products of various available brands.
In such a scenario, there is a high chance that they choose the product with the lowest price. One way to overtake the competition is by investing to make your product unique. Either offer a feature that the other products do not have, or offer them in a more efficient manner, to distinguish your products from the rest.
This is called having a competitive advantage. A feature that sets you apart from your competitors. In the case of optometry, a business will have to design personalized service and quality that cannot be rivaled and sets a firm leaps and bounds above its competition. Increasing net profits can be achieved by vendor discounts, group pricing, cross trained staff, medical model technology and seeing more patients per hour.

Working with Competitors 

Reputation in optical industry is the key to success with working with competitors. The business owner that has integrity can easily work with others and will be successful. Take for example you are an OD with your own practice corporate or private can you work with the optician business owner see those patients and send them back for glasses? Building an alliance can increase your net profit. Providing that the optician could cut lenses cheaper than the lab, help out on vacation, use both businesses as leverage for equipment or other supplies , send patients that you can see medically and gain a great reputation in the area that opens doors for other opportunities.  Working with competitors in your local area can be a good way to use resources together that one office might not have and providing more added value to patients to with increase medical services and your office benefiting from the evaluation component of the procedure.  Working together to promote and progress optometry in general in your own state. This is not to be confused to be matching every move of your competitor but carving out areas that they are not focusing on.

Blue Ocean Strategy 

Blue Ocean strategy is about creating new untested waters, which has been a new way to think, compared to red oceans where the competition is fierce and can get bloody. Companies are making and shaping the industry with creative thinking.  Warby Parker had leveraged the industry to create its own competitive strategy. They broke out of the traditional eyeglasses and created their own market space that has become a billion dollar industry. They create a value innovation system with online services and products that were unique and low cost to the industry. They got out of the shark infested waters and into a clear blue ocean where they innovated to differentiate themselves on value, price and image , where in these clear waters there were less competitors. Consider to take a different path to social media where everyone is battling for Facebook/Instagram Ad space,  you might be on LinkedIn or Snapchat. Create an innovative approach where its easier to be profitable with less competitors. Some other companies that have done it are Netflix, Amazon, Starbucks and Uber.  Start a new process of thinking today!

 

Transform an Eye Exam with a Single OCT Scan

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If you’re looking for ways to promote better long term patient eye health and differentiate your practice, look into the OCT Wellness Exam:

• Gain Valuable Information to Aid in Diagnosis of Ocular Disease

• Create a New Revenue Stream to Offset the Cost of Your OCT

• Differentiate Your Practice and Retain Patients by Delivering a Higher Level of Care

 

Practice Gratitude in Optometry

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We might all be yearning to have a dream home that has come right out of a scene of Keeping Up with the Kardashians. Your optometry career is not keeping up with “Larger practices” We always want those nice cars and successful practices. We all dream about been sprawled on our own private beach under the sun having a margarita. However, not all of us get to live in such a manner. We might feel that as healthcare providers we should have everything, but it doesn’t necessarily make you happy. We can blame managed care plans, online retailers and big corporations for our short comings but it is up to you to see the great profession that optometry is. One way is to start with gratitude. It can change your perspective on optometry’s future overall.

The generation before us, our parents, would often just compare themselves with their neighbors because they didn’t have access to the internet and there was no concept of reality TV. However, we have been conditioned by reality TVs and movies that showcase the most extravagant mansions that the celebrities own. Social media also plays its part, where you can constantly see pictures of millionaires and their kids having the time of their lives. We can’t compare our optometric practices to the practices of the 70s. We have many obstacles, but we must see the horizon of optometry. We have changed our scope of practice, technology has advanced and has enhanced our quality of patient care. Some many great things have changed optometry and will continue to evolve. We need to see the positives  instead of the obstacles.

Whatever we have is not just based on our hardwork, but also luck has some sort of part in it. The type of people you meet, being in the right place at the right time, etc. all of this is true and it is all of this that will get you to the place where we all dream of going. At the moment we hate cooking for ourselves (if only there was a gourmet chef who would cook us spectacular meals everyday), we all hate doing our laundry (if only there was someone who would take our clothes to the laundromat and we could afford to get our clothes washed by them every few weeks), we hate traveling economy class (if only we had our private jet that served champagne and steak). We might not like the way things have changed our profession over the years but it is up to us to take our profession back!

“We are not responsible for what our eyes are seeing. We are responsible for how we perceive what we are seeing.” ~Gabrielle Bernstein

 

But we don’t need to get caught up in all the glamour and impossibly try to align ourselves with those standards. We need to learn to align our resources with the things that matter the most to us:

* Follow the example of the minimalist movement. This movement is primarily concerned with prioritizing your time and money around the things that you put most value in.

* Another important thing that you need to surround yourself with colleagues that will elevate you.

* Strike a balance between living in the now and the what if of the future.

* Be happy with what you have. We can be so easily sucked into the materialism of the world and forget that what we already have is enough. We always want the biggest and the better. We need to be thankful for what we already have.

  • Practicing gratitude will create a positive mindset. It is contagious! It will increase your satisfaction of optometry and will reflect on your patient care.  Practicing gratitude will help minimize burn out because you will be happy with what you are doing.
  • Some ways to start are keeping a journal of all the positives in your office or talking a walk during your lunch break to think about all the positive things you have accomplished even the smallest wins!
  • It will give you the positive energy to set your proprieties straight. Soon you will notice your strengths and contribution to others and creating engagement in your practice!

How Being a Parent Makes You A Leader in Your Optometric Practice

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Optometry entrepreneurs often take inspiration from various sources to enhance their skills of being a leader. This can be from different areas such as psychology, geography, history, literature, language, etc.

However, there is one major element that often tends to get overlooked as a valid source of inspiration: Parenthood.

Having to bring a new human being into the world, raising them, nurturing them, keeping them safe and sound, and at the same time transforming yourself as an adult and a human being comes with its own challenges and needs to take initiatives.

Pulling all-nighters because of a crying and irritated baby, toddler sick days, teaching to be empathetic while learning to be empathetic, and at the same time handling household and office demands can be overwhelming yet will also teach the most valuable lessons of life.

Having an optometry business is like having a child. You have to take that risk, and then nurture it into a full grown entity that the world recognizes, and deals with. This is why a lot of the optometrists have named being a parent as one of the best teachers of skills when it came to being a leader in the business.

Be farsighted

You will have to treat your business exactly like your child. It is not your responsibility and you will have to think of its future like you do with your child’s. The way you start thinking about what school your child would be at the age of 10 you will have to think where you see your business in 10 years. Have a plan for growth, a defensive strategy for the competition and exit strategy among the many things to consider.

Toddler communication

Communicating with a toddler who may be throwing a tantrum or being stubborn is one of the most important things a parent does. Parents who have dealt with their toddlers while they throw a fit and have negotiated with them to come to a deal which will keep peace at both sides has become a master at bargaining. A lot of parent optometrists have discovered that after having taken care of a toddler they are able to handle negotiations better and have learned patience. They are able to develop skills like active listening and communicating effectively.

You are not afraid of saying no anymore

Fresh optometrists might be a little afraid of saying “No” at first, so as not to come off as rude to the other person. This could also be so as not to risk losing good business as well. But as a parent, you become aware of what things are to be said yes to and what things are to be said no to. It takes some repetition of doing so but now that you have started to say no, it will become way easier for you. There will come a time when you can say no to an email or out loud to a stakeholder without another thought of hindrance. The parent optometrist can take on a lot but saying no to the little things can be open doors to more opportunities and have an authoritative  voice for your decisions.

Ways to change your Habits for Career Success

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Habits that can help ODs for Career Success

Wikipedia describes habits as “are routines of behavior that are repeated regularly and tend to occur subconsciously”

Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines habits as “a behavior pattern acquired by frequent repetition or physiologic exposure that shows itself in regularity or increased facility of performance”

The Free Dictionary says “habits are a recurrent, often unconscious pattern of behavior that is acquired through frequent repetition”

In the three definitions above there are a few keywords that have occurred more than once: pattern of behavior, repetition, frequent, and subconsciously. These are all the keywords that are used to describe habit perfectly. Habit is when you are triggered by a stimulus, this could be a location, ascent, time of the day, emotional state, belief, or some sort of stimuli like that. It can be a small thing such a ringtone or even texture of something. This can be slightly related to classical conditioning.

Classical conditioning and the nature of habit can be credited to Ivan Pavlov. This is almost similar to forming a habit. In psychology the word habit is often used to relate to a process in which some sort of an incident can automatically prompt a response from you, the incident and the action would be similar to the one that has happened several times before. This is exactly opposite to a conscious behavior in which a person has to put in the considerable cognitive effort. For example, filling out a form or driving to some new place. Habit is more of a subconscious element; this means that it is mostly ruled by the impulsive processing system of the brain where you have to rely very less on effort, control, intention or awareness.

The habit formation process is automatic. These habits become old habits and they eventually turn out too difficult to break.  However, through repetition new habits can easily replace the older ones.

The tough this about the science of habits is that they take some time to change, though the people wish to acquire them almost immediately. However, it is not that easy. The formulas exist for changing habits but the problem is that they are more than one.

Individuals and their habits are different from one another. This is why the rate at and the way in which the habit is changed is dependent from person to person.

However, all this does not mean that the habit cannot be changed. It just means that you will need to work harder and have more patience in order to succeed.

1. Identify the routine

You will have to understand the loop in which the habit resides. This becomes almost instantaneous. First, you will have to come to a realization that this is a habit and then try to look for ways that will replace that habit if you wish to. Though, it is not all that easy will take time.

You keep prolonging the change to the next day, but when that day comes you shift it to the next day and give in to your habit. This means that there is a habit loop that you need to find a fix. The first step is to identify the routine, then seek out the motivation behind the habit, and at the end ask yourself the reward that the habit brings and is it worth keeping the habit for.

2. Understanding the rewards

Rewards are extremely powerful because they are the reasons why we have certain habits in the first place. When you have a habit that you want to change, you have it mostly because it is something that satisfies some sort internal demand of yours.

3. Figure out the cues

On an everyday basis, we are bombarded with so much information and stimuli around us and the fact that we respond to each and every one of them will disallow us from understanding the cues that form our habit. They can be divided the common cues into the following different categories:

Location

Time

Emotional state

Preceding action

Other people

Use this list and fill out information regarding your surroundings and feeling on this list every day for a week. By the end of the week have a look at how you fared and what you discovered. It is a possibility that at least one word will be the answer to your cues to your habit.

4. Plan

The key to a successful change of habit is planning. When you plan you a certain guideline you can follow throughout the day or during a certain part of the day.