So many lenses, so many practitioners;
How to make your practice stand out from the pack

Dr. Gary Gerber

This article is the first in a series of practice management articles from one of the foremost practice management experts in the US and founder of “The Power Practice”, a leading practice management consultancy . Dr Gerber has presented in the UK several times now and has seen many similarities between US and UK practice.

Charles Darwin said, “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.” Darwin would have made a great practice management consultant since he realized the importance of innovation and staying on top of technological advancements in the contact lens world.

To Darwin’s point, there are few practitioners fitting PMMA lenses as their lens of choice. The reason there are so few, if any, is because their resistance to change has made them professionally “extinct.”

But new technology and innovation is of course, not limited to our small contact lens universe. Your patients are inundated with it. Consider the life experiences of your next patient. They woke up to their iPod alarm clock and enjoyed hot coffee that was prepared by a timer directed coffee maker. While drinking their coffee, they were watching the morning news on an HD TV. During their drive to work, they were having a conversation on their blue tooth enabled car and mobile phone. Of course, once they were at their desk, sitting in their ergonomically perfect chair, they checked their email and voice mail.

Now, as they enter your office and are handed a copy, of a copy of a copy of a registration form along with a pen, they are thinking, “Paper? To enter information? Is this guy serious?”

My practice in the US started from nothing in an area of intense optical competition to become one of the most successful independent practices in the country. One of the key factors contributing to this was that it was extremely high technology driven – from diagnostic equipment that included VEP’s and ERG’s to the type of contact lenses we fit. The same goes for the clients we consult for. They have been able to separate themselves from their competitors by setting up a practice whereby patients come to expect, and are delivered, the latest in innovations – both with vision correction modalities and technology.

You may be thinking, “But, Gary – practices in the UK are fundamentally different than they are in the US.”

While that may, or may not be true, the fact remains that the core drivers for consumers and patients are identical all over the world. The reason a patient says “Yes!” to contact lenses is no different in New Jersey than it is in Manchester.

To demonstrate the similarities between patients, think about what makes consumers buy products other than contact lenses. Consider the Hummer H-2, an oversized army style 4 wheel drive. At about $75,000 (USD) it’s typically owned by Internet savvy yuppies. Like most in this demographic, extensive consumer research before a big purchase is typical. Upon doing this research, it’s discovered that even with its’ significant price tag, the SUV has significant problems. The air conditioning isn’t powerful enough to cool down the oversized interior. Much of the cosmetics in the interior are made of a lower grade plastic. Gas mileage is a mere 6 mpg. Yet, armed with this knowledge about all of the car’s flaws, these knowledge filled affluent professionals are mesmerized upon entering the H-2 showroom and choose to buy the vehicle.

This is because H-2 marketers sell to what they refer to as “the reptilian brain.” This area of the brain deals with the most basic of human instincts that relate to survival and the continuation of the species. Those who buy an H-2 do so because of its’ perceived inherent ability to protect them from vehicular disaster. Even though their research has told them on an intellectual level that other less expensive cars have better safety test records, reptilian brain selling wipes out that intellect and causes them to buy the car.

In our next article, we’ll discuss how this reptilian brain selling can help you in your contact lens practice.