Getting your patients to purchase frames from your optical dispensary is getting harder than it used to. Now, with more options, your patients can take their prescription to online retailers, which takes profits away from your practice. Implementing a process can help you and your staff meet your patient’s needs while also increasing your profits.
Below are tips to help you create an effective optical dispensing sales strategy in your eyecare practice.
Tips For Creating An Optical Dispensing Sales Strategy
Greeting
Whether your patient enters your optical shop from the street or from the exam room, the way you greet the patient sets the stage for a potential sale. Greeting each patient as if they are an old friend will make them feel more comfortable and may help the patient open up about what they are looking for. Additionally, flashing a genuine smile can improve your optical dispensing sales and help build trust, lower stress, and can increase patient spending. You can greet your patients virtually as well. Whether it be via email or online, speaking or writing in a warm and inviting tone helps your patient feel more at ease.
Discover
After you greet the patient, it’s time to go into detective mode to figure out what’s going to work best for them. Asking open-ended questions and using active listening skills will help you discover more about the patient’s lifestyle and fashion preferences.
Educate
Once you’ve discovered what your patient is looking for, you can start educating them on the options that would help them meet their needs. This is why it’s vital that you know the products, price points, and value of the products you’re offering. When you pitch the products to your patients, lead with value and focus on the patient benefits to help influence their decision.
Close
After you have spent some time helping your patient select a few frame options, work with them to narrow down the selection and complete the optical dispensing sale. If the patient expresses objections to your selection or is hesitant about completing the sale, go back to the discovery step to gather more information, then educate, and close.
For more tips on how to boost your eyecare practice profits, read our eBook below:
Editor's Note: This post was originally published on Jan. 25, 2018. It has been updated for relevance and richness of content on June 15, 2021.