The Official VisionWeb Blog

Taking stock of what can be improved in your practice should be a common occurrence, but there isn't always time to address and develop long-term solutions. No matter how many members of staff are in your practice, the amount of patient care work that has to be done daily can prevent you from conducting research into better business solutions.

We've been listening to these common problems through online forums, conversations at tradeshows, and interviews, and we wanted to offer a few software features that could be the answer to some of your concerns.

It's been awhile since we've provided you a downloadable infographic to share with your peers and your staff. Here are a few ways that you can address common roadblocks, issues, or obstacles you face in your day-to-day work as an eyecare provider presented as a simple infographic:

We're regularly searching for interesting and insightful ways to get eyecare practices noticed by potential patients and customers. In general, thinking of what to write for your practice's blog, social media accounts, and emails can be daunting when content marketing isn't something you've been trained in. Luckily, that's specifically the type of marketing we do for our own eyecare products and services, so we're well-versed in the methods of soft selling.

However, we aren't the experts in healthcare or any kind of patient care. Only you as an eyecare provider can know what is the best recommendation for your patient base. Therefore, we want to help combine the two places of expertise and give you a few (free!) ideas for content pieces. Let us know in the comments if you end up expanding on any of these.

Online retailers have been making an impact on your optical dispensing profits. And unfortunately, more consumers shop online now than ever. Luckily, when a patient enters your optometric practice, you have the competitive edge and face-to-face time with the patient. However, many practices leave the sales strategy to the optician.

By starting the conversations with your patients earlier, you can persuade the patient to not only purchase their everyday eyewear on the spot, but you may also get them to buy accessories or a second pair.

Below are tips on how you can use the exam lane to help improve your optical dispensing profits.

Finding the perfect fit for your practice's staff when hiring new employees can prove to be quite the task. On top of looking for candidates with the right skill set, you want someone who will be a pleasure to work with and stay with your practice for years to come.

Asking the right questions is the only way to find out whether a candidate is a good cultural fit. We’ve come across these interview questions that will help you gain insight to an candidate’s background and goals. No matter if you're looking for a technician, office manager, or even another optician to join your practice, these questions are designed to highlight important personality traits. Maybe they'll lead you to the optical practice addition you need?

Combatting and predicting lulls in patient flow into your practice will be more difficult moving forward, so that's why we suggest you have special marketing event ideas ready. Depending on what you're allowed or able to do, these events can bring your patients into your practice or just delight them if they were already showing up for their exam. Some of them can even provide good social media content, something that many ODs have said they struggle with.

We handled the brainstorming for you below with a few event ideas to carry you through until spring. Hopefully you implement these soon or they help you think of ideas more specific to your patient base.