Al Cleinman's Blog

You're Kidding, Right?

A reader, who happens to visit many optometrist's offices, sent me a copy of VSP's Promotional Literature for their individual plan.  This is the plan where VSP goes directly to consumers and convinces them that they can buy eye care and eyewear at a discount.  The premiums for this plan are, of course, paid directly to VSP.  Then, VSP shares these premiums with the provider in the form of paltry reimbursements.  VSP, of course, says that they're driving new patients to their providers and everyone wins.  The consumer gets a discount.  The provider gets a new patient.  And VSP gets a boatload of money.

Sounds like a logical plan.

But here's the amazing part.  This brochure was picked up in a provider's office.  Yep, right there in the waiting room.  This astute provider was telling his patients "Hey, you don't have to pay me what I usually charge, just join up with VSP and you can get a discount." 

There are two seriously big concerns with this.  First, VSP is no longer moving patients exclusively to private practice optometry...nope.  Today, they own their own retail operation within the Cisco Campus (not likely the one and only); they're sending your patients to COSTCO; and soon, logic says, they'll be sending more to COSTCO and others as VSP and the likes of COSTCO plot to develop a special plan designed exclusively for COSTCO members.

The other problem with this is that this particular provider has already secured the patient.  If they simply WOWed the patient, they wouldn't have to worry about the patient going elsewhere for service.  Why would you sell against yourself?

According to our research, the difference between gross charges and collected dollars has eroded by eleven percentage points over just the past five years.  That means that you have eleven percent fewer dollars to pay your staff; your overhead; yourself.  And it's not like you can make it up on volume; since VSP now demands additional discounts for second pair sales.

THROW OUT THOSE BROCHURES!  Fill the landfills.  It's time to cry "we're sick and tired and aren't going to take it anymore!"

Download VSP Vision Care Coverage - Individual Plan

What Words Should You Use?

In English, as with many other languages, the same word can mean many different things.  As just one example, the word "set" has over 450 meanings in the Oxford dictionary.  Words like run (396), go (368) and take (343) also have many, many meanings. 

Likewise, subtle changes in our languaging of marketing messages can have a dramatic impact on results.  I remember reading a study which reported that when stores changed their greeting from "may I help you" to "have you been in before" sales jumped by 15%. 

In marketing, thinking like your reader and communicating in terms they understand is key to generating the responses you desire.  For instance, many of your websites list "conjunctivitis" as something that you treat.  While the use of the word is technically correct, reality is that consumers understand "pink eye" far more than "conjunctivitis."  Further, when you communicate in emotional terms, results will soar.   We buy on emotion.  We rationalize our purchase with fact. 

This short video has a variety of profound messages, including the power of the careful use of words in your marketing messaging.  Enjoy!

Change Your Message

Milk for Twice the Price

During my lectures around the country, I often discuss the importance of branding and delivering value.  My audiences are often surprised when I describe that every consumer seeks luxury and that even to a homeless person, luxury is important...and might be defined as a clean pair of socks.  I talk about $40 a bottle water and $5000 hamburgers.

Those that think luxury is dead are grossly mistaken.  And those that think the new economy has eliminated the role of luxury are missing tremendous opportunity.  What's largely missing in our industry, is that we don't describe or offer our products using  luxury terms.  BOGO and discounting are easy; but these tactics only serve to destroy our universal industry brand.  To the average eyecare consumer, our industry is thought of as just above that of the proverbial used car marketplace.

Well, here's another example of how savvy marketers use luxury to define their product and...charge accordingly.  Enjoy the read.  And take action with what you learn.

Luxury Milk

No One Can Compete with Memories

Why does our industry continue to destroy it's overall brand through discounting?  Why do ECPs, who can't possibly compete on price, even make the attempt?  In the absence of anything else, yes, price prevails.  But it's so easy to deliver something besides price! 

One of the key messages that I deliver to my audiences as I travel around the country speaking is the importance of delivering memories.  I often say, "it's not just an eye exam, it's an eyecare experience."  Perhaps that's one reason why our clients realize growth at 4 times that national average?

Here's a video from Ken Blanchard and Barbara Glanz about an unusual individual and his simple tool for delivering memories...and bringing back customers for his employer...lots of customers.  Please note that you won't hear the word "price" mentioned in this video.

What can you do to deliver a memory...and great eyecare?  Enjoy...and share this message with your team. Then empower them to deliver.   Delivering Powerful Memories    

Let Go of the Reins

Ever wonder what it would be like to come to the office each day and not have to worry?  Can you imagine being surrounded by a team that takes care of what needs to be taken care of; largely without your direction?  Do you wonder what it would be like if you didn't have to concern yourself about what needs to get done; what hasn't been done; and what wasn't done correctly?  Do you find yourself feeling out of sorts when people take initiative?  Do you get critical when members of your team do take action?  Was the last great idea that you implemented the addition of a coffee pot to the waiting room in 2003?

Ours is a fast paced world that requires innovation and action.  Motivating your team to take initiative is often a challenge; largely because of whom you hire and how you lead them.  I find the study of motivation fascinating.  I hope you'll find this video both interesting and inspirational.  I encourage you to try the author's recommendation and report back on this post as to the results...I will.

Motivating Top Performance

Curiosity is the Key to Success

Show me a successful optometrist (or anyone else for that matter) and I’ll show you a professional student.  Certainly, Continuing Medical Education (CME) is a requirement of licensure.   But ask yourself this important question: what if CME was NOT a requirement of licensure?  Would you still invest the time and money?  And when you do attend, do you really pay attention or are you just there to get your ticket punched?  Your responses to these questions are potentially a precursor to your life’s accomplishments.  Are they not a signal of your attitude towards learning?

I am astounded at the number of professionals who have never attended a personal or business development program.  This is especially disconcerting when one considers that the typical professional has almost no training in the business side of their profession.  Education doesn’t stop with your diploma; indeed, in my opinion, receipt of cap and gown should be in celebration of a single step in a lifelong endeavor.  Investing in yourself through ongoing personal development will play an impactful role in your life’s success as well as provide a return on investment like none other. 

I don’t mean to imply that being a scholar has any connection with being economically successful.  Indeed, I personally believe that the opposite is likely true; that many very successful entrepreneurs were actually pretty mediocre students in terms of classic scoring methodologies (for a variety of reasons, most having nothing to do with intelligence).  But being academically bored is not necessarily the inverse of being a life-long learner.  I, for one, was completely turned off by the book-learning process yet have always been intensely curious.   I believe that it is my personal curiosity and my investment in life-long personal development that has provided what success I’ve enjoyed.

Curiosity, together with a healthy competitive attitude, is the blood that flows through the veins of most successful individuals.  Indeed, teaching curiosity and healthy competition at the earliest ages is critical, in my opinion, to the success of humanity.  Curiosity is the means by which we attain break-through while competitiveness (not necessarily with others) is the driving force behind the work necessary for success in any endeavor.

It’s interesting to observe this concept at work and our Cleinman Performance Network provides us with an amazing laboratory.  Who are the most successful participants?  They are those members who come back year-in and year out; who are committed to the process of personal development; who leave their ego at the door.  These individuals invest two weekends a year in taking an outside-in view of their businesses and themselves.  They take their weekends seriously; but not so seriously that they don’t have fun with the process.  They always have a positive attitude and they seek one or two good ideas that will take them to the next level.  They understand that these ideas won’t just appear; they have to work to obtain them.  They also understand that persistent implementation is the key to their success.  They don’t take the attitude of “I tried and it doesn’t work.”  Their attitude is always, “tell me how it worked for you.” 

Sam Walton believed in stealing ideas shamelessly.   He’d simply walk into his competitor’s stores and observe their operations.  He often said that there are no extra points for original thinking.  He believed that if you can copy an existing idea already in use by another it is much smarter than designing a solution from scratch yourself.  

"It is better to copy genius than to invent mediocrity"

Successful individuals invest energy in understanding what works for others; why; and how they can adopt these ideas to their own situations.  They’re always on the quest for knowledge and always share their insights.  They invest the time necessary to learn.  They read industry journals, but also business magazines and books.  They attend workshops and trade shows, both inside and outside of their industry.  They retain consultants to tap into the knowledge base of experience.  They’re innately curious. 

Learning is not something accomplished before age 25, after which one simply applies their learning in the workplace.  Learning is a life-long endeavor involving both formal and informal development processes.  However, learning shouldn’t be perceived as a destination, as in “I need to learn this or that.”   Successful individuals consciously understand that learning is a process that needs to be acculturated within themselves and their organizations.   It’s all part of your life’s investment.

I Can't Get "You" Down the Street

As I travel around the country, presenting workshops at our Business of Eyecare Forum programs, I often speak about the importance of building your brand.  Your competitors all provide exams, frames, lenses and contacts.  What will set you apart is not any of these, but your unique patient experience.  Developing a logo and presenting an empty promise in the form of a name or tagline is likely more damaging than it is productive.  When you consider your brand development, focus your attention on aspects of your patient experience that are not available "down the street."

Jeff and Sue Boudreau have certainly cracked the branding code.  And they've done so in ways that may surprise you.  Please enjoy some "Lessons from Main Street."

Boudreau's On Branding

The Words We Use

I recently took a short vacation in San Francisco.  Needing some things, I visited a neighborhood Walgreens.  Upon checkout, the friendly clerk, Chris, said, "Your investment today is $31.43."  My response was "WOW" and I shook Chris' hand.  Was the use of the word "investment" her idea or some corporate policy of Walgreens, I asked.  Chris smiled and said it was just her idea.  I left a raving fan of Walgreens.  Note that this was a simple transaction turned into a very positive experience by the use of a single word.

Several years ago, our firm performed a mystery shop by telephone of several non-client practices in a specific market.  "Hi, my name is John and I'm a contact lens wearer who just moved to the area," was our mystery shopper's opening line.  "I noticed Dr. Smith's advertisement in the yellow pages.  Please tell me, what makes Dr. Smith special?"  The response was truly memorabl.  "Nothing," said the receptionist, "he's no different than anyone else."  I've used this example of disastrous first impressions a hundred times over the past few years.  Note that this was a simple question turned into a very negative experience by the use of a couple of words.

Many years ago, I read about a study performed by a group of retailers.  They compared the impact of two different questions asked of customers to their stores.  The first was the classic "may I help you?"  The second was "have you been with us before?"  These questions both solicit yes/no responses.  However, it was the follow-on which was so important.  With the "may I help you" question, the follow-on is logical and standard.  But with the second question, the follow-on was carefully orchestrated:

Clerk:  "Good morning.  Have you been with us before?"

Customer:  "Yes/No"

Clerk:  "Please allow me to explain our special offer for returning/new customers."

This study showed a fifteen percent increase in the business with the use of the "have you been with us before" question.  That's significant.

So, how much business are you losing because you and your team aren't using the right words?  Do you know what your team are asking/telling patients and prospective patients?  

Work on your scripts.  One simple word change can move the dialogue from routine to memorable; from negative or neutral to a WOW.  One simple change can have a dramatic impact on revenue and profits.

Good luck! 

It's an Emotional Connection

Greetings from Vision Expo and New York City where today I attended The Global Leadership Summit.  One presentation stood out from the crowd; a program presented by Marc Gobe on "emotional branding."   

Designer, photographer, filmmaker, respected author and sought-after public speaker Marc Gobé focuses on connecting brands emotionally with people in a positive way. As President of Emotional Branding LLC, an experimental think tank, Marc and his daughter Gwenaelle Gobé, Creative Director, offer insight into the trends that move consumers and ideas that inspire marketers.

In Marc's presentation, he spoke about the old paradigm of marketing (push) vs. the new (trust and connection).  Marc reinforces our messaging to the members of Cleinman Performance Network; that the doctor, the science and the technology must be an integral part of your brand message.  Eyecare consumers must be emotionally connected to the science of eyecare; the technology of eyewear and to their optometrist and eyecare team.  This requires a) adoption of new technologies and b) education of the consumer and is critical to avoiding the commoditization of eyewear and eyecare...something that the mass merchants and managed care companies desire (with commoditization comes cost reduction and purchasing leverage).

Here's a message from this branding genius that I think you'll enjoy.

Emotional Branding

 

Determining the Recession's Bottom and Being Opportunistic

Jeff Johnson is a very interesting optometrist.  He doesn't see patients.  He doesn't teach optometry.  He's not even in the profession.  No, for the past six years this very bright man has been a Senior Research Analyst for Robert W. Baird and Company, a leading wealth management and private equity firm with client assets of more than $66 billion. Dr. Johnson follows the ophthalmic industry, among other health categories, writing about eye care stocks and the industry's performance from an investment perspective. 

During his talk, he shared an interesting assessment.  According to Dr. Johnson, the dental industry..and by extension the ophthalmic industry...appears to trough six months following the low-point in unemployment.

So, based on his assessment, with unemployment still climbing and likely not to peak until later this year, it's reasonable to plan that the current growth that most of our clients are experiencing will deteriorate in early 2010.  What Dr. Johnson is saying is that the impact of this recession is delayed for most of our industry.

I'm not sharing this to be a gloom and doomer.  No, for me, this spells opportunity.  What are you doing to be prepared?  Many of our clients have maintained an assertive and diligent practice-building stance for the past year as we've entered the downturn.  And many are seeing growth way in excess of 10%.  This growth appears largely fueled by managed care, as employees at risk of losing their jobs use up their benefits.  This phenomena may lull you into a false sense of security.

What you can't do is let up as the economy improves...because, according to Dr. Johnson, the impact of the recession will be delayed.  That's the bad news.  He also stated that health care is usually the last to be impacted in a recession and the first to recover.  That's good news!

What are you doing to take advantage of the opportunities?