contact
lens economics
To Script or Not to Script?
BY GARY GERBER, OD
How much are contact lenses? Does
my insurance cover contact lenses? Why are your fees higher than my last doctor's?"
Your staff members
have probably heard these questions and many just like
them
in the last hour. And the way they answer (or don't answer) them has a profound
effect on the economic health of your practice.
In a perfect world, your staff would
be a cloned extension of yourself and would deliver your perfectly scripted answers
to these nagging and recurring questions. But alas, the world isn't perfect, your
staff isn't cloned and, in our consulting company's experience, scripts rarely work.
Scrapping Scripts
The problem with scripting
answers to common contact lens practice-building questions are many. First, your
staff has to actually find the script. For example, when a patient calls and asks
how much contact lenses cost, will staff find the script filed in a draw under "F"
for fees, "P" for prices or "S" for shopper?
Next, assuming the receptionist
does indeed find the correct script and finds it in a timely manner, all but the
best academy award-winning actor will sound like he's reading from a script —
because, after all, he is! The caller will automatically perceive this artificial
answer as robotic
and impersonal, and it will work against the customized, customer-friendly aura
your office should project. The best answers to patients' questions should come
across as genuine, informative and conversational — something scripts can't
deliver.
Finally, having a staff person rely
on scripts can lead to brain freeze in the event that a patient asks follow-up questions
to which the answers aren't scripted. For example, when the patient says, "So, contact
lenses cost $65 for one box. But what happens if I buy four boxes at the same time?
Do I get a discount?" If you don't have that question scripted, then your staff
member may sound like he's floundering to answer it.
Teach Concepts
Instead of scripts, we
recommend that our clients have their staff memorize global concepts and practice
taking charge of questions. Using our above example, the real goal with this caller
isn't simply to answer the question about how much contact lenses cost; rather,
it's to turn the shopper into a patient! And that fact is the core concept that
staff members need to memorize.
Once they've ingrained that goal in their minds, they can redirect the answers to
any follow-up questions toward the original goal (which in our example is to convert
the shopper into a patient).
Role playing helps to reinforce
the memorization of global concepts. At your next staff meeting, start by stating
the topic goal. For example, "Let's discuss how to handle phone shoppers and how
we can convert them into patients." From there, have two staff members role play
a typical interaction. It helps to record the conversation and then play it back
and critique it. This allows you to interject comments such as, "Right here would
have been a great place to reinforce our availability of appointments" or, "After
you told the patient the lenses cost $65 for one box, you could have added, 'And
here's why you should get them from us.'"
This immediate interaction and reinforcement,
especially when repeated at future staff meetings, eventually leads to the memorization
of the goal concept — without scripts. Also, you can use the tapes with new
hires.
Question the Unsuccessful
If you're using scripts
without much success, then go through each one and ask yourself why you have it
and what your goal is for delivering the script. From there, you can focus
on reinforcing the main concept at your next meeting.
Dr. Gerber is
the president of the Power Practice – a company offering consulting, seminars
and software solutions for optometrists. You can reach him at (800) 867-9303
or DrGerber@PowerPractice.com.
Contact Lens Spectrum, Issue: June 2005